“Where the government stands aloof
the people open up
where the government steps in
the people slip away
happiness rests in misery
misery hides in happiness
who knows where these end
for nothing is direct
directness becomes deception
and good becomes evil
the people have been lost
for a long time
thus the sage is an edge that doesn’t cut
a point that doesn’t pierce
a line that doesn’t extend
a light that doesn’t blind”
-Lao-tzu-
(Taoteching, verse 58, translation by Red Pine)
HSUAN-TSUNG says, “To stand aloof is to be relaxed and unconcerned. To open up is to be simple and honest. The ruler who governs without effort lets things take care of themselves.”
WANG PI says, “Those who are good at governing use neither laws nor measures. Thus, the people find nothing to attack.”
LI HSI-CHAI says, “When the government makes no demands, the people respond with openness instead of cleverness. When the government makes demands, the people use every means to escape. The government that stands aloof leaves power with the people. The government that steps in takes their power away. As one gains, the others loses. As one meets with happiness, the other encounters misery.”
WANG P’ANG says, “All creatures share the same breath. But the movement of this breath comes and goes. It ends only to begin again. Hence, happiness and misery alternate like the seasons. But only sages realize this. Hence, in everything they do, they aim for the middle and avoid the extremes, unlike the government that insists on directness and goodness and forbids deception and evil, unlike the government that wants the world to be happy and yet remains unaware that happiness alternates with misery.”
LU NUNG-SHIH says, “Only those who are free of directness can transcend the appearance of good and evil and eliminate happiness and misery. For they alone know where they end. Meanwhile, those who cannot reach the state where they aren’t direct, who remain in the realm of good and evil, suffer happiness and misery as if they were on a wheel that carries them farther astray.”
TE-CH’ING says, “The world withers, and the Tao fades. People are not the way they once were. They don’t know directness from deception or good from evil. Even sages cannot instruct them. Hence, to transform them, sages enter their world of confusion. They join the dust of others and soften their own light. And they leave no trace.”
WU CH’ENG says, “A sage’s non-action is non-action that is not non-action. Edges always cut. But the edge that is not an edge does not cut. Points always pierce. But the point that is not a point does not pierce. Lines always extend. But the line that is not a line does not extend. Lights always blind But the light that is not a light does not blind. All of these are examples of non-action.”
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Wu Ch’eng actually combines today’s verse with the previous one. And, that makes a lot of sense, since it is a direct continuation of the previous verse’s theme. Directness is certainly one way to govern a country, but it leads to deception. Better is indirectness. Non-action. Standing aloof. Letting things be. Then, the people open up. Where the government steps in, the people slip away. This reminds me of a classic line, with which I am sure most of my followers are familiar, “The more you tighten your grip, the more we will slip through your fingers.”
You can’t make people happy. This, after all, is the claimed purpose of the government’s interference in the people’s affairs, to make them happy. But force is not the Way. Force it, and you will get misery. Directness becomes deception. Good becomes evil. Happiness becomes misery.
We can transcend this endless wheel, but only by indirectness, by non-action, by non-interference, not intervening, not forcing, and not trying to control.