{"product_id":"tao-te-ching-isbn-9781585426188","title":"Tao Te Ching","description":"In the hands of Jonathan Star, the eighty-one verses of the \u003ci\u003eTao Te Ching\u003c\/i\u003e resound with the elegant, simple images and all-penetrating ideas that have made this ancient work a cornerstone of the world's wisdom literature.\"It would be hard to find a fresh approach to a text that ranks only behind the Bible as the most widely translated book in the world, but Star achieves that goal. . . . As fascinating to the casual scholar as it is for the serious student.\"\u003cb\u003e -\u003ci\u003eNAPRA ReView\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \"Jonathan Star's Tao Te Ching achieves the essential: It clarifies the meaning of the text without in the slightest reducing its mystery.\"\u003cb\u003e -Jacob Needleman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eABOUT THE TRANSLATORS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGia-fu Feng was born in Shanghai in 1919, was educated in China, and came to the United States in 1947 to study comparative religion.  He held a BA from Peking University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.  He taught at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and directed Stillpoint Foundation, a Taoist community in Colorado.  Gia-fu Feng died in 1985.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJane English, whose photographs from the integral part of the book, holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in experimental high energy particle physics.  In 1985 she found her own publishing business, Earth Heart.  Her books and calendars include \u003ci\u003eDifferent Doorway: Adventures of Caesarean Born, Mount Shasta: Where Heaven and Earth Meet \u003c\/i\u003e(with Jenny Cole) and the yearly \u003ci\u003eTao Te Ching Calendar.  \u003c\/i\u003eShe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChuang Tsu\/ \u003ci\u003eInner Chapter \u003c\/i\u003e(1974), a companion volume to Lao Tsu\/ \u003ci\u003eTao Te Ching\u003c\/i\u003e, is a direct outcome of the successful collaboration between Gia-fu Feng and Jane English on the Tao Te Ching.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Gateway to All Marvels\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao that can be Told\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Is not the True Tao;\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Names that can be Named\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Are not True Names.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Origin of Heaven and Earth\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Has no Name.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Mother of the Myriad Things\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Has a Name.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Free from Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Contemplate the Inner Marvel;\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e With Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Observe the Outer Radiance.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e These issue from One Source,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But have different Names.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They are both a Mystery.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Mystery of Mysteries,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Gateway to All Marvels.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The River Master\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao that can be Told is the mundane Tao of the Art of Government, as opposed to the True Tao of Nature, of the So-of-Itself, of Long Life, of Self-Cultivation through Non-Action. This is the Deep Tao, which cannot be Told in Words, which cannot be Named. The Names that can be Named are such worldly things as Wealth, Pomp, Glory, Fame, and Rank.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Ineffable Tao\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Emulates the Wordless Infant,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It resembles\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Unhatched Egg,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Bright Pearl within the Oyster,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Beauteous Jade amongst Pebbles.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It cannot be Named.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist glows with Inner Light, but seems outwardly dull and foolish. The Tao itself has no Form, it can never be Named.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Root of the Tao\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Proceeds from Void,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From Non-Being,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It is the Origin,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Source of Heaven and Earth,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Mother of the Myriad Things,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Nurturing All-under-Heaven,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As a Mother Nurtures her Children.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Magister Liu\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The single word Tao is the very Core of this entire Classic, its lifeblood. Its Five Thousand Words speak of this Tao and of nothing else.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao itself\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Can never be\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Seen.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e We can but witness it\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Inwardly,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Its Origin,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Mother of the Myriad Things.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao itself can never be\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Named,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It cannot be Told.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And yet we resort to Words, such as Origin, Mother, and Source.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Every Marvel\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Contemplated,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Every Radiance\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Observed,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Issues from this One Source.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They go by different Names,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But are part of the same\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Greater Mystery,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The One Tao, the Origin, the Mother.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In freedom from Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e We look within\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And Contemplate\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Inner Marvel,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Not with eyes\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But inwardly\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e By the Light of Spirit.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e We look outward\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e With the eyes of Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And Observe\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Outer Radiance.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Desire itself, in its first Inklings, in the embryonic Springs of Thought, is born within the Heart-and-Mind. Outer Radiance is perceived through Desire, in the World, in the opening and closing of the Doors of Yin and Yang. This is the Named, the Visible, these are the Myriad Things. Thus, both with and without Desire, we draw near to the Mystery of Mysteries, to the Gateway that leads to all Marvels, to the Tao.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e John Minford: The Tao and the Power says to its reader at the very outset, \"Only through experience, only through living Life to the full, in both the Inner and Outer Worlds, can the True Nature of the Tao be Understood and communicated. Not through Words.\" Desire and the Life of the Senses are part of that experience. Through Desire we witness and enjoy the Beauty of the World, we Observe the Outer Radiance of the Tao. We live Life, we bask in its Radiance. Taoists do not deny the Senses. But Contemplation, the Light of Deep Calm, of meditative experience, goes further. It reveals the Inner Marvel, the Mystery of Mysteries. Outer Radiance and Inner Marvel issue from one and the same Source, which is the Tao. This twofold path is one of the central themes in Magister Liu's commentary, one to which he returns again and again, exhorting the Taoist Aspirant to begin from Observation of the Outer Radiance, and to proceed through Contemplation of the Inner Marvel to a deeper level of Self-Cultivation, to a deeper Attainment of the Tao. \"It is Contemplation that gives spiritual significance to objects of sense.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Book of Taoist Master Zhuang: The Great Tao cannot be Told. The Great Discussion lies beyond Words . . . Where can I find someone who Understands this Discussion beyond Words, who Understands the Tao that can never be Told? This True Understanding of the Tao is a Reservoir of Heaven-and-Nature. Pour into it and it is never full. Pour from it and it is never exhausted. It is impossible to know whence it comes. It is Inner Light.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Arthur Waley: Not only are Books the mere discarded husk or shell of wisdom, but Words themselves, expressing as they do only such things as belong to the normal state of consciousness, are irrelevant to the deeper experience of the Tao, the \"wordless doctrine.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Jan Duyvendak: The ordinary, mundane Tao (the one that can be easily Told, or talked about) is unchanging, static, and permanent. The True Tao is Elusive and Ineffable, is in its very Essence Perpetual Change. In the Tao, nothing whatsoever is fixed and unchanging. This is the first great paradox of this Classic, the ever-shifting Cycle of Change, of Being and Non-Being, in which Life and Death constantly yield to and alternate with each other.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Richard Wilhelm: In the Taoist Heart-and-Mind, Psyche and Cosmos are related to each other like the Inner and Outer Worlds.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e JM: A Tao that could be Told might be any one of the Prescriptions for Living and Ruling that were being proposed in the ferment of the Chinese Warring States period (475-221 BC). All of them would have been called a Tao, a Way, a Recipe for Life. One such Tao, for example, was contained in the little book from that period known as The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa), whose \"author,\" Sun-tzu (Sunzi), is every bit as lost in the mists of legend as Lao-tzu (Laozi). The Deep Tao, the True Way, and the inexhaustible Inner Power or Strength that flows from the experience of the Tao, are the subjects of this whole Five Thousand Word text. But they are beyond Telling. Words and Names are nothing more than disjointed bits and pieces; they fragment the whole, the One Tao. The paradoxical Mystery of Mysteries is that the Taoist fuses Being on the one hand (the Radiance, Magnificence, and Beauty of the Outer World, as perceived through the Senses, through Desire), and Non-Being on the other (the Dark Intangible Marvel and Mystery of the Inner World). This fusion, this Gateway to Marvels, does not lend itself to any simplistic Name or Label. Names were the preoccupation of more worldly schools of thought, especially the Confucians, for whom Names needed to correspond precisely to Things. As with so much of this short and densely ambiguous Classic, the Chinese word used here for Name, ming, has more than one meaning. It also means Fame, Renown, or Reputation (it is after all by being Famous that one acquires a \"Name\" for oneself). Taoists care nothing for Fame. They hide their Light. They are incognito. And yet, despite these protestations about the vanity of Words and Names, and the powerlessness of Words to describe the True Nature of the Tao, despite the futility of even attempting to define or dissect the Tao, paradoxically, The Tao and the Power itself is written in an intensely poetic language (sometimes mesmerizingly and bafflingly so), which edges imperceptibly toward the Wordless Truth, it is an inaudible Song with neither Words nor Music, it sings the Silence that is the Tao. The Tao needs to be experienced, not talked about. This Classic and its countless Commentaries do talk, they propose all manner of Images (see the Taoist Florilegium appended at the end of my translation for a selection of these). But these are merely pointers toward the Tao, toward the gnosis of Taoist experience, parts of a hermetic vocabulary for initiates. In that sense these Names are No-Names.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Arthur Waley, whose translation from the 1930s remains one of the best, gives us a pithy summary of this first Chapter and of the whole book. \"In dispassionate Vision the Taoist sees a world consisting of the things for which language has no Name. We can call it the Sameness or the Mystery. These Names are however merely stopgaps. For what we are trying to express is Darker than any Mystery.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tang dynasty poet Bo Juyi (772-846) jested:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Those who speak\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Know nothing;\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Those who Know\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Are silent.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Those Words, I'm told,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Were uttered\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e By Lao-tzu.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e If we're to believe\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That he himself\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Was someone who Knew,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Why did he end up\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Writing a Book\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Of Five Thousand Words?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 2\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A Wordless Teaching\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That which All-under-Heaven\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Considers\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Beautiful\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e May also be considered\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Ugly;\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That which All-under-Heaven\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Considers\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Good\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e May also be considered\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Not-Good.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Being and Non-Being\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Engender one another.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Hard and Easy\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Complete each other.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Long and Short\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Generate each other.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e High and Low\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Complement each other.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Melody and Harmony\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Resonate with each other.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Fore and Aft\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Follow one another.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e These are Constant Truths.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist dwells in\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Non-Action,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Practices\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A Wordless Teaching.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Myriad Things arise,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And none are rejected.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao gives Birth\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e But never Possesses.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist Acts\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Without Attachment,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Achieves\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Without dwelling\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e On Achievement,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And so never loses.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The River Master\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist rules through Non-Action, through the Tao. The Taoist guides through Wordless Teaching, by example. The Primal Breath-Energy of the Tao gives Life to the Myriad Things, but never Possesses them.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Tao seeks\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e No recompense.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Having Achieved,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Retires to Seclusion\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And never dwells on\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Achievement.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Magister Liu\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Non-Action and Wordlessness are the Core of this Chapter, Freedom from so-called Knowledge. Whosoever goes beyond False Knowledge is freed from \"opposites\" such as Beautiful and Ugly, High and Low. From this Higher Knowledge flows a Life without Possession or Attachment. The Heart-and-Mind of Opposition (such as that between Beautiful and Ugly) brings a Diminution of Life-Essence, a loss of Spirit, a confusion of Emotion. All of these damage Life. The Taoist abides in Non-Action. Freed from all such distinctions, which melt away in the Taoist Heart-and-Mind, the Taoist Returns to Non-Action, to the Wordlessness that leaves no trace.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e White is contained\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Within Black,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Light shines\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In an Empty Room.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This is the Taoist Vision.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist finds Joy\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In unalloyed\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Serenity and Calm.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Book of Taoist Master Zhuang: Every That is also a This, every This is also a That. A thing may not be visible as That, it may be perceived as This. This and That produce each other. Where there is Birth there is Death. Where there is Death there is Birth. Affirmation creates Denial, Denial creates Affirmation. Right creates Wrong, Wrong creates Right. The Taoist's This is also a That, the Taoist's That is also a This.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Waley: The first great principle of Taoism is the relativity of all attributes. Nothing in itself is either long or short. If we call a thing long, we merely mean longer than something else that we take as a standard. What we take as our standard depends on what we are used to . . . All antinomies, not merely high and low, long and short, but Life and Death themselves, merge in the Taoist identity of opposites. The type of the Sage who in true Taoist manner \"disappeared\" after Achieving Victory is Fan Li (fifth century BC) who, although offered half the kingdom if he would return in triumph with the victorious armies of Yue, \"stepped into a light boat and was heard of no more.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The poet Su Dongpo (1037-1101):\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Truest words\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Cannot be spoken.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Truest sound\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Cannot be heard.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The tides of the Ocean\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Reach beyond the Mountains,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The subtlest echoes\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Are deep in the clouds.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e 3\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Non-Action\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Not to Honor the Worthy\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Puts an end to Contending\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Among the folk.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Not to Prize Rare Goods\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Puts an end to Theft\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Among the folk.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Not to Display Objects of Desire\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Removes Chaos\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From the Heart-and-Mind\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Of the folk.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist rules by\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Emptying Heart-and-Mind\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And Filling Belly,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e By softening the Will to Achieve,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And strengthening Bones.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist frees the folk\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From False Knowledge and Desire.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Those with False Knowledge\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e No longer dare to Act.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Taoist Accomplishes\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Through Non-Action,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And all is well Ruled.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The River Master\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Worthy are those who have Achieved High Rank, and have as a consequence become estranged from the Tao, by involving themselves in worldly affairs. If however they are not publicly rewarded, if they do not receive Honor and Riches, then ordinary folk are not driven by ambition to emulate them and strive for Fame and Glory. Instead they can Return to the Calm of their True Nature. If Rare Goods are not prized in public, then ordinary folk will not be driven by Greed to Acquire them. If the Ruler returns gold to the mountains, casts pearls and precious pieces of jade back into the waters of the Abyss, if the Ruler is pure and uncorrupted, then the common folk will not feel Greed. The Taoist Rules the Nation as if it were Self, emptying Heart-and-Mind of Desire, and the folk Eschew Chaos and Confusion. The Taoist Fills Belly with the Tao, with the One. The Human Heart-and-Mind grows Supple and Soft. The folk no longer Contend.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Marrow grows full,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Bones firm.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Free from False Knowledge\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The folk Return\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To Calm,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To Simplicity and Purity.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They find Peace\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In Non-Action,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e In the Rhythms of Nature.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Magister Liu\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Once False Knowledge and Desire have been extinguished, once the Worthy are no longer honored and Rare Goods are no longer prized, then there is no Contending, no Theft, but instead there is Order, a full Belly, and firm Bones. When the Multitude see such things as Fame and Wealth lying beyond their grasp, they will strive to Acquire them. When rare and highly prized Objects of Desire are put on show, they will steal in order to lay their hands on them.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Heart-and-Mind,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Free of Desire,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Turns inward\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To True Knowledge,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e To the Knowledge\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e That Knows without Knowing.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Then Action is Eschewed,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And all is Accomplished\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Through Non-Action,\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Through the Pure Breath-Energy\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Of the Tao.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e JM: Confucius advocated Honoring the Worthy. So did Master Mo (the \"neglected rival of Confucius,\" advocate of Universal Love, ca. 470-ca. 391 BC). One whole section of the Book of Master Mo is entitled \"Honoring the Worthy,\" and contrasts with this teaching of Lao-tzu:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This prevalence of poverty, scarcity, and chaos arises because Rulers have failed to Honor the Worthy and to employ the capable in their government. When the Worthy are numerous in the state, Order will be stable; when the Worthy are scarce, Order will be unstable. Therefore the task of the Ruler lies in multiplying the Worthy.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This conventional Honoring of the Worthy was a pillar of the Chinese meritocracy for centuries, and has lasted to the present day, with all of its concomitant ills-an obsession with social status, ambition, corruption, nepotism, and deadening conformity. The Taoist shuns all of this. In an important sense, Non-Action implies Anarchy.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tarcher","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305134379237,"sku":"NP9781585426188","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781585426188.jpg?v=1767737790","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/tao-te-ching-isbn-9781585426188","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}