3 - Managing People

Not raising the clever, causes the people to not compete.
Not valuing treasures that are difficult to acquire, causes the people to not become thieves.
Not seeing that which can be desired, causes hearts to not become unstable.
Therefore this is the way that sages rule [others],
By emptying their minds and filling their stomachs,
By weakening their ambitions and strengthening their bones.
Always causing the people to be without knowledge and without desire.
Letting them know non-daring, non-action, that is all.
Thus, nothing is not managed.

不尚賢，使民不爭；
不貴難得之貨，
使民不為盜；
不見可欲，使心不亂。
是以聖人之治，
虛其心，實其腹，
弱其志，強其骨。
常使民無知無欲。
使夫知不敢弗為而已，
則無不治矣。

This chapter discusses how to manage people (whether a country, a state, a company, or a team).

By avoiding behaviors that cause others to become toxic, one is able to keep their state or team stable, happy, and peaceful. The sage can manage their team by:

  • Filling their stomachs; this refers to physiological needs (such as hunger)
  • Emptying their minds; this refers to being free of superfluous knowledge and delusions (that will lead to mental static and new desires, and thus unhappiness and instability)
  • Weakening their ambitions; this refers to reducing competitiveness (selfish behavior that leads to one winning at the expense of everyone else)
  • Strengthening their bones; this refers to improving health
  • Non-daring; this means not presuming to be a hero and doing dangerous things
  • Non-action; as discussed in chapter 2
We can also see how modern society's desire for expensive academic credentials, luxury brands, and gourmet foods only causes unrest and unhappiness in the minds of the people. The desire for such things is in large part artificially created by society and not about intrinsic value - for example, in North America, lobsters were considered an undesirable, peasant food only 100 years ago, but today are expensive cuisine - yet lobsters are lobsters.

This chapter has additional meanings when interpreted from a cultivation standpoint:

  • "Filling the belly" means filling the lower dantian with breath and mind.
  • "Emptying the mind" is similarly also part of cultivation practice.
  • "Weakening the ambitions" is the same as reducing desires.
  • "Strengthening the bones" refers to body-strengthening practices as in martial arts.
Thus, this chapter is also a suggestion to cultivate the three aspects of body, breath, and mind.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preface

Image
The Daodejing (道德經) , or "Classic of the Way and Integrity," was written around the 5th century BC by Laozi (老子) , but "Laozi" just means "old master" - true to Daoist ideals, we aren't sure who he was, or even if he was just one person or more. Since its penning, the Daodejing has remained the primary text of Daoism, one of China's traditional philosophies. Unlike the studious but stuffy and hierarchical Confucianism , Daoism has long presented a freer and deeper counterview to its more famous and influential (in Asia) rival. More than half a millenium later, Buddhism from India entered China to become the third of the "three teachings" of China that would long coexist with each other, in part because Daoists found in Buddhism many similarities with their own teachings, and so initially thought that the Buddha was Laozi himself, who after all was said to have departed westwards after penning the Daodejing. Thus, Buddhism was initial
Read more

8 - Like Water

The highest goodness is like water. Water is good at benefiting the myriad things and quietly occupies the places hated by the masses; thus it is near to the Way. Abodes are made good by their place, minds are made good by their depth, predictions are made good by the heavens, speech is made good by its trustfulness, governing is made good by its administration, tasks are made good by ability, movement is made good by timing. It is only by not competing, thus there is no fault. 上善若水。 水善利萬物而有靜， 居衆人之所惡， 故幾於道。 居善地，心善淵， 予善天，言善信， 正善治，事善能， 動善時。 夫唯不爭，故無尤。 This chapter uses water as a metaphor for the Way. Water helps all, and yet is quiet and non-competitive in its demeanor. By not competing, and by being cognizant about the subtle paired qualities that enable success, there can be success. For cultivators, "discarding the self" and not competing (losing in order to learn) is a prerequisite for training many skills, such as taijiquan push hands
Read more