Tao Te Ching Commentary (Part 3): Not Exalting the Worthy Prevents People from Competing

Original Text: Not exalting the worthy prevents people from competing; not valuing rare goods prevents people from stealing; not displaying objects of desire prevents the mind from becoming confused. Therefore, the governance of the Sage: empties their hearts, fills their bellies, weakens their ambitions, strengthens their bones, and constantly keeps the people without knowledge and without desire, so that the wise dare not act. Acting through non-action, there is nothing that cannot be governed.

Explanation:

Some say this is about fooling the people? If understood simply as fooling the people, the level of thinking is too low.

First, let's explain "worthy". The meaning of the character "worthy" in early times referred to people who managed money. Therefore, the "worthy" here refers to the meaning of distributing wealth to others, not the so-called virtuous or capable people.

The Zhuangzi · Xu Wugui states: "Distributing wealth to others is called worthy."

Therefore, this means one should not esteem wealthy people, thereby preventing people from competing; one should not seek precious goods, thereby preventing people from stealing. One should not let them see things that can generate desire, so that the people's minds remain undisturbed. Thus, the method of the Sage's governance is to empty their hearts, fill their bellies, weaken their ambitions, and strengthen their bones. Constantly keeping the people without knowledge and without desire, so that the wise dare not act recklessly. Acting through non-action, there is nothing that cannot be governed.

"Constantly keeping the people without knowledge and without desire, so that the wise dare not act"—what does this mean? Here, "the wise" refers to common wisdom. The "common wisdom" here does not refer to high intelligence, but rather to the ordinary wisdom of mortals, just as Jia Yi in Zhi An Ce said: "The wisdom of ordinary people can see what has already happened, but cannot see what will happen."

Therefore, what is discarded is the small wisdom of the people, while what is sought is great wisdom. Great wisdom appears foolish, so one must discard wisdom, appearing foolish but not actually being foolish.

This passage opposes being solely profit-driven, as will be pointed out in the subsequent text of the classic: "All the bustle in the world is for profit; all the hustle in the world is for profit."

The so-called "profit" does not merely refer to money, but also includes everything one desires to obtain. If everyone wants to obtain something, desires will arise. Once desires arise, people will resort to any means to satisfy them.

Taking the current e-commerce platform Taobao as an example, because high sales volume leads to higher rankings, the original intention was good, believing that goods with good sales are recognized by the public. However, reality is not always so. Many merchants, in order to improve rankings, will fake sales and continuously fake reviews. This phenomenon is widespread, not just on Taobao, but also on Meituan or other platforms.

For merchants, a newly opened shop has no customers. If no one fakes sales, the shop cannot get off the ground. The same applies to physical stores in reality. Newly opened shops always gather a large group of acquaintances to support them, making it seem lively, thereby accumulating customers, and then becoming lively. So, although this behavior by merchants involves fraud, it is also caused by the environment.

For consumers, because there are too many choices, a guide is needed. The best way to identify is to look at reviews. Through reviews, one can see how the product is, and through sales volume, how many people have bought it. Shoppers need such guidance, and through reviews, merchants can be prompted to provide better service. For shoppers, this is not wrong.

In this sense, it seems no one is wrong. So where is the problem?

The opposing sides of merchants and consumers are that shoppers want to read reviews to understand products, while merchants want to provide reviews to attract shoppers. At this point, two "desires" appear. How is this "desire" generated?

Because some consumers have spent money foolishly, fearing being deceived again, and because there are too many merchants engaging in false advertising, it is necessary to look at merchant reviews to decide whether to buy. But this is then exploited by unscrupulous merchants, leading to continuous fraud and deception, thus constituting the contradiction between buyers and sellers.

Consumers fear deception, so they use wisdom to judge merchants; merchants then use wisdom to counter-act deception against consumers.

If all merchants did not deceive consumers and always provided the best products and services, consumers would naturally not need to look at reviews and sales volume for shopping.

This would be a healthy development for the entire consumption environment.

However, why do merchants deceive? The answer is for money, for profit, so they resort to any means.

Why resort to any means for money? This is because the social ethos esteems wealthy people, believing that being wealthy is a sign of success and that money can bring more material enjoyment. Thus, everyone wants to become wealthy. Once this desire arises, to satisfy it, fraud is born. This only receives negligible punishment or moral condemnation. Compared to the ethos of esteeming the wealthy, merchants feel it is worth it.

From a historical perspective, attempts to curb people's attempts to gain benefits through improper means through pure ideological guidance, moral education, and severe laws have failed.

Confucianism says: "The gentleman loves wealth, but obtains it in the right way." Any Confucian scholar understands this, but those who become officials and engage in corruption are also Confucian scholars.

Relying on ideological education and moral influence is clearly ineffective.

So how should this problem be solved? Naturally, it is to resolve the contradiction between buyers and sellers. But when everyone possesses great wisdom and does not use small wisdom or cunning wisdom to commit fraud, there will be no problem.

First, one must empty the heart. Why empty the heart? Only when the heart is empty can it accommodate larger things. When the heart can accommodate more things, one will take everything lightly and not be tempted by profit.

Then, one must fill the belly. Why fill the belly? Filling the belly solves basic physiological needs, so people will have "when granaries are full, they know propriety." If facing starvation, how can one expect not to be tempted? Artists who can endure hunger are few, and cultivators who focus on asceticism are also few. Governing the world targets all people, not just these few.

Next, one must weaken the ambition. Why weaken the ambition? What is ambition? Guiguzi · Yin Fu states: "Ambition is what drives desire." Here, ambition does not refer to aspirations or spirit, but rather to thoughts driven by desire. Only by eliminating such thoughts can fraud be prevented.

Finally, one must strengthen the bones. Why strengthen the bones? Bones refer to the inner fundamental aspects of a person. When the inner self is full, one naturally feels satisfied and is not disturbed by external things.

The purpose of "keeping the people without knowledge and without desire" is not to make the people do nothing, but to eliminate these desires, not to create conditions that would lead the people to deliberately fake goods or commit fraud. Thus, there is nothing that cannot be governed.

As mentioned earlier, action leads to hypocrisy; if there is non-action, naturally there is no hypocrisy.

The principles described in the Tao Te Ching can also be applied in life. However, how to apply them to cultivation?

In daily life, people are easily disturbed by external things. After being disturbed, the reaction is usually not immediate but lies dormant. When people are idle, these thoughts emerge.

A thought appears because one cares about it. Therefore, Taoism has the concept of refining oneself, requiring a state of tranquility. One must be able to have no single thought when quieted down. This is the true letting go of all conditions and is the foundation for entering the Tao.

The so-called "clear heart and few desires"—as long as the heart is clear, desires will naturally decrease.

Taoism does not let you "eliminate desires," but rather "reduce desires." Pursuing the elimination of desires results in "eliminating for the sake of eliminating," which becomes another desire, which does not conform to the natural way.

So, will clearing the heart and reducing desires, like Confucianism, be used by rulers to fool the people and cause national decline?

Historically, in the early Han Dynasty, the Huang-Lao school was practiced, allowing people to rest and recuperate, leading to great national development, even to the point of shouting, "Those who offend the strong Han, no matter how far, will be punished."

During the Tang Dynasty, when Taoism was prosperous, the world was well-governed, and national power was strong. All religions coexisted. Whether it was the foreign Zoroastrianism, or Islam, or a branch of Christianity considered heretical that came to China, they all lived comfortably. This is because Taoist thought is extremely open. Since everything in the world is Tao, everything can exist.

Taking history as a mirror, many famous contributors in history were also Taoists. Taoism has made many contributions to science and technology because Taoism seeks the Tao, and the scope of the Tao encompasses heaven and earth. Thus, music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and all crafts have no place they do not touch. Including the highest achievement in Chinese mathematical history, the Tianyuan Shu, is also closely related to Taoism.

Therefore, the purpose of clearing the heart and reducing desires is to seek the true Tao, and the true Tao can only be realized through this.

Thus, the Qing Jing Jing states: "If people can always be clear and quiet, heaven and earth will all return to them." This is the same principle.

Governing the country is like cultivating the Tao. Regulating one's own body and creating a good environment for the body to develop in a good direction is the capital for cultivation.

Historical Taoist priests often had white hair and youthful faces, or lived long without decline, or were old and healthy. In short, their bodies were not poor, because this is the capital for cultivation. Or rather, during the process of cultivation, the body tends to be relatively healthy. This is a benefit brought by cultivation itself.

"Empty the heart, fill the belly." Explained using the Eight Trigrams, the heart is the Li Trigram, which is hollow in the middle. The belly is the Kun Trigram, with three broken lines. If the middle becomes solid, it becomes the Kan Trigram. This refers to the need for true qi to fill the abdomen.

This explanation has some merit but is somewhat rough. First, it does not reflect the subtlety of its original meaning, such as the art of governing people. Second, the meaning is greatly narrowed. Every word in the Tao Te Ching is a gem; how could it be so simple?

Interpreting according to the post-heaven method, the so-called "people" includes everything in the human body. If one cultivates to the state of no-body, then taking no-body as having a body, and placing the body outside so the body survives, this is another realm, which is not discussed here.

Some people get cancer. After getting cancer, it is always difficult to cure. Why? Because the body does not consider cancer to be malicious; instead, it considers it normal tissue. Once surgery is performed, the body thinks it has been injured, so it quickly repairs itself, and then cancer cells spread rapidly. This is why some people die from cancer spread shortly after surgery. Naturally, there is another explanation that the cancer had already spread before surgery, so it has nothing to do with surgery. However, anyone with rational thinking should find this explanation somewhat far-fetched.

This situation seems helpless because it is a spontaneous activity of the body. But is it truly helpless? What is the root cause?

The root cause is simply that the body is chaotic, thus producing cancer cells. The reason it cannot identify correctly is that it has lost the ability to identify correctly. Why say this? Because normal people also have the possibility of cancerous changes. Why don't they get cancer? Because the body is normal; even if signs appear, it can adjust in time.

Cancerous change is evil, and the method to treat evil is naturally to support the righteous. Supporting the righteous means treating the body. Treating the body is like governing the country and the people. If one does not know how to govern, it is easy to pacify here and chaos arises there, or pacify there and chaos arises here, busily putting out fires everywhere, until it becomes uncontrollable.

Actually, is this difficult? Not at all. As long as one cultivates seriously and regulates the body, when the body is at peace, the constitution is stable; when the country is at peace, the people are obedient. Even if cancer cells cannot be removed, they cannot spread because the conditions for such are absent.

This is also why some people, although they get cancer, are fine for decades.

"Empty the heart"—because the heart is the residence of the spirit. When human thoughts move, the spirit moves. By emptying the heart, the heart can encompass heaven and earth, and the spirit is also within heaven and earth. Although it moves, it does not escape its number. When the spirit is in the residence, it is at peace, just like a person staying in a comfortable home.

"Fill the belly"—the belly receives a point of primordial yang from the parents and stores it within. It is visible externally but cannot be seen. When people are disturbed by the seven emotions and six desires, their primordial yang is consumed, thus becoming the Kun Trigram with three broken lines, like the Death Door, which is the cause of human death. Only by filling the belly can the primordial yang be full and sustain long-term treatment. The primordial yang is the wealth for cultivation. Cultivation can replenish the primordial yang but also consumes it. This is just like governing the country and developing the economy,生生不息 (endlessly generating and growing).

"Weaken the ambition"—what desire drives. Humans are trapped by desire. However, humans can have desires but should not be driven by them. As the Confucian saying goes: "Arising from emotion and stopping at propriety," this is the same meaning.

"Strengthen the bones"—internally weak means weak. Externally strong but internally dry is ultimately not the right path. Cultivators should seek internal strength, and strength should enter the bones and the interior, not float on the surface. One must be solid in doing things, and solid in cultivation. One must cultivate deeply and precisely to be called having "bones." Like cultivating martial arts, one first cultivates skin, flesh, and muscles, then strengthens the bones internally, only then can one achieve great success.

Also, constantly keeping the body without knowledge and without desire. Without desire, one is strong. Strong means penetrating the bones. Therefore, the wise dare not act.