Commentary on the Tao Te Ching (8): The Highest Good is Like Water Governing; Water Benefits All Things Without Contending, Dwelling in What People Despise, Thus Approaching the Tao.
Original Text: The highest good is like water governing. Water benefits all things without contending, dwelling in what people despise, thus approaching the Tao. In dwelling, be good at the place; in the heart, be good at the depth; in associating, be good at benevolence; in speech, be good at trust; in governance, be good at order; in action, be good at capability; in movement, be good at timing. Because it does not contend, there is no blame.
Explanation:
The best behavior is to be good at governing water. Water is good at benefiting all things without contending with them; this is precisely what most people are not good at, so it approaches the Tao.
When farming, one must be good at choosing land; when thinking, one should be as deep as a deep pool; when interacting and cooperating with others, one must emphasize benevolence; in daily speech, one must be trustworthy; in governance, one must be good at managing; in doing things, one should always achieve results; and when encountering opportunities, one must be good at seizing the timing. Avoid contention, so there is nothing to blame.
In later versions of the Tao Te Ching, it was changed to “The highest good is like water.” This is because the meaning of the character “govern” is too high, so it was changed to the character “like.” The character "govern" is higher than the character "like,” because "govern" not only comprehends the true meaning of water but also utilizes it for transformation, whereas the character "like" merely implies imitation, lacking the higher connotation.
Common interpretations of this text often mistake the “good” as the “good” meaning kind or virtuous, which is a major error. The Tao Te Ching is a book that reveals the constant principles of all things, describing the unified concept behind all phenomena; it is not a vulgar book of moral exhortation.
If this text were merely speaking of the "good" in the sense of "kindness" (a good nature), first, the scope would likely be too low; second, it would be abrupt in the text, with no consistency before or after.
Looking at the entire Tao Te Ching, the character “good” used in various places should be interpreted as “skilled at” or “good at,” which is appropriate and allows for a unified understanding.
Those who understand Daoist culture know that Daoists like to use water as a metaphor, but why?
From a biological perspective, whether plants or animals, water is also a very important element. Most material movements required by living organisms need water as a transport carrier, including absorption and excretion, which cannot do without water.
Water is the primary element of life; all these aspects reflect the wisdom of Daoism.
Is there a deeper level?
In 1993, in the bamboo slips from Tomb No. 1 at Guodian, one can see a deeper description regarding water, stating: “The Great One generates water. Water assists the Great One in return, thus forming Heaven. Heaven assists the Great One in return, thus forming Earth. Heaven and Earth assist each other in return, thus forming the Divine Spirits. The Divine Spirits assist each other in return, thus forming Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang assist each other in return, thus forming the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons assist each other in return, thus forming Cold and Heat. Cold and Heat assist each other in return, thus forming Dampness and Dryness. Dampness and Dryness assist each other in return, completing the year. ”
It discusses the process of the formation of heaven, earth, and all things, and in this process, water plays a significant role.
Including from the perspective of natural climate, it also has an important regulatory function. For example, when the summer weather is hot, water becomes rain, so summer also has coolness, and all things are not destroyed due to excessive heat. In winter, when the weather is very cold, water absorbs the cold energy and condenses into ice, and only begins to melt when the temperature rises, mitigating the negative effects brought by the cold heaven and earth.
It is precisely because of water that it has an impact on dampness, dryness, cold, and heat.
The cosmology of “The Great One generates water” sounds incredible; why is it water?
In 2010, scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, using the world's largest particle accelerator, the “Large Hadron Collider,” recently discovered a disruptive phenomenon: at the moment the universe was just born, a liquid with a temperature of up to 10 trillion degrees Celsius formed immediately.
Similarly, because all things are holographic, when the Earth was formed, water must have been produced first. However, the general scientific community believes that the Earth was originally dry, and water was brought by external planets, but is this true?
On October 31, 2014, in the journal Science, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that water first appeared on Earth and in the inner solar system earlier than previously imagined. Earth was likely a “wet” planet completely covered by water. This study suggests that water and rocks on Earth likely formed simultaneously. When Earth took shape, it was a wet planet with its surface entirely covered by water."
Therefore, “The Great One generates water” is not wrong, and here we can make several further scientific predictions that will be proven in the future:
1 The appearance of water is earlier than that of rocks.
2 The tilt of the Earth's axis is related to the oceans on Earth.
3 The entire universe also has a temperature distribution; although uneven, there are also abstract concepts similar to spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
From the perspective of the natural ecological environment, benefiting all things means that humans make the natural environment better, and as the natural environment improves, this effect will feedback to humans with more benefits.
Humans continuously cut down forests, destroy the natural environment, and pollute rivers, leading to severe ecological deterioration. When I was young, walking along a river, I could see clear water with fish playing in it. However, now, all I see is a stinky ditch.
After water is polluted, it emits bad odors, causing a decline in air quality in an area, and human health is damaged. In some regions, groundwater is polluted, with high levels of estrogen and no means of treatment, leading to health problems for many people and affecting their fertility.
“Heaven and Earth can endure long and forever because they do not live for themselves, thus they can live forever.” Water benefits all things, thus approaching the Tao; this is also the reason.
Humans only care about continuous索取 (taking), and the cost is very serious. The correct approach should be like water, benefiting all things, planting more trees, and improving the ecological environment, so that humans can have a better living environment.
In Daoism, if one opposes something, it is usually because there are reasons for opposition.
For example, opposing human gambling behavior. Why?
In game theory, there is a concept called zero-sum game, with the following rules: among the participants, there are winners and losers, and the winners always gain from the losers; in fact, the total return is zero.
Zero-sum game is an unsolvable contradiction because there will always be losers and players, and the total return of the participants cannot be increased.
In gambling, sometimes it is not just a zero-sum game, but the total return is definitely negative (because the house takes a cut, or due to unequal probability conditions).
Understanding this principle, one should realize that gambling clearly violates the Tao of benefiting all things without contention. They are confined within fixed game rules and resources, engaging in mutual contention, which constantly stimulates and amplifies the desires of the participants.
On one hand, it cannot produce a positive effect that is more beneficial to the whole; on the other hand, in this process, there is always consumption, which is not conducive to the collective return from an overall perspective.
Therefore, this is opposed in Daoism.
It should be noted that going too far is as bad as not going far enough,many people talk about “not contending” and “non-action,” but they use these words one-sidedly, because Daoist thought is not “non-action and non-contending,” but rather, when capable, there is no need to contend; through non-action, everything is accomplished.
"Not contending" has a premise, which is to have good consciousness, guide one's own behavior, do what one is good at, and do every task well, so that one can truly achieve "not contending,” rather than "unable to contend."
Thus, the one who does not contend achieves everything by not contending. In this way, seeking without asking leads to self-obtaining; not searching but it comes; all things follow me, rather than me following all things. This is called the ladder of the Tao.
Similarly, in many qigong practices or some xianxia novels, there is full of misleading statements saying that one should absorb the good and beneficial qi from heaven and earth into one's own body and expel the turbid qi.
In fact, this is incorrect. The reason heaven and earth endure long is that they do not live for themselves but generate all things. If one一味ly takes the beneficial from heaven and earth, where fortune lies, misfortune leans; taking from it will inevitably be accompanied by unfavorable parts.
If one cultivates in this way, over time, one's own luck and fortune will continuously suffer; not only will the body not necessarily be healthy, but mental problems will also arise. Is this really cultivating the Tao?
All things come from the Tao. In the Zhuangzi, Outer Chapters, “Zhi Bei You,” it also says “The Tao is in excrement.” Since this is the case, what should be done?
This article does not elaborate; leave it for self-realization.