Tao Te Ching Chapter 77
The Tao of heaven is like the
bending of a bow.
The high is lowered, and the low
is raised.
If the string is too long, it is
shortened;
If there is not enough, it is
made longer.
The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much
The Tao of heaven is to take from those who have too much
and give to those who do not have
enough.
Humanities' way is different.
We take from those who do not
have enough
to give to those who already have
too much.
What person has more than enough
and gives it to the world?
Only those of the Tao.
Therefore the sages work without recognition.
Therefore the sages work without recognition.
They achieve what has to be done
without dwelling on it.
They do not try to show their
knowledge.
Also Paraphrased as:
The way of the Tian is like archers drawing their bows.
To hit something high in the air,
they pull the string downward;
To hit something lower, they pull
the string upward.
They do not try to show their
knowledge.
When they have drawn the string
too far back they let some go,
And when they have not drawn it
far enough they pull harder.
The way of the Tian is also to let some go where there
is excess
And to augment where there is not
enough.
The way of Human Beings on the
other hand is not like this at all.
It is instead to take away from
those who do not have enough
In order to give more to those
who already have too much.
Who then in having too much is
able to draw on this excess to make an offering to the world?
Perhaps only those who are
way-making (dao or tao)
It is thus that sages act on
behalf of things but do make any claim on them,
They see things through to
fruition but do not take credit for them.
It is in such a way that they
refrain from making a display of their worth.
Commentary, Insight, and
Reflection:
The way of the world in which we
live is one of sustained equilibrium (and/or balance), some translations
mention Tian as ‘Heaven’s Road’,
chapters 9 and 73 do this. Chapter 73
speaks of “Tian’s net is cast wide, And
although course in its mesh, nothing slips through it” consistent with Calvinism’s
total omniscience of God as well as a demonstration in Indian Buddhism of the
total omniscience where all individual characteristics (svalaksana) are
available to the omniscient being. The
Metaphysics (specifically the epistemology) of Indian Buddhism also speaks of
the possibility of omniscience through apprehending the selfless universal
nature of all knowables, by examining what it means to be ignorant and the
nature of mind and awareness. Many
theologians and philosophers have agreed "And yet again, there is Gods knowing of all things by a simple act of
knowing. And there is Gods distinctly seeing with Gods divine, all-seeing, and
immaterial eye all things at once" Chapter 9 of the Tao reminds us
“To retire when the deed is done is the way that Tian works” just as the first story of the Bible, the story of Job
reminds us in Job 1:21 “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken
away; blessed be the name of Jehovah”. Chapter
77 goes on to remind us of the excesses and insufficiencies in our
various ecological environments which most certainly do occur, but in the
course of time they are righted through a process of redistribution, and
balance is restored. In this way Matthew
20:16 “So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last” is congruent
with the sustained equilibrium metaphorically represented in chapter 23 of the
Tao which observes, “Violent winds do not last a whole morning and torrential
rains do not last a whole day.” These
concepts have even spilled over into similar teachings in Kabbalah and Hassidic
Judaism from the Torah’s Bereshit (In
the beginning aka Genesis) where “YHVH placed his bow in the clouds, as a sign
that the great flood would not recur.”
Other translations of Genesis 9:12 are “And God said: This is the sign of the covenant,
which I am placing between me and between you, and between every living soul
that is with you, for everlasting generations.”
While we human beings would do well
to imitate the pattern of sustained equilibrium, we instead tend to create a
vicious circle in which the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Chapter 75 states what is a familiar refrain
in the (DaoDeJing) Tao Te Ching: “The people’s hunger is because those above
are eating too much in taxes.” It is
only the enlightened among us who are able to coordinate fully their
participation in their natural, social, and cultural environments, and who in
so doing, extend the way forward for all concerned. The bonus, of course, is that while sagacious
conduct conduces substantially to a thriving world, the persons responsible
make no claims upon the dividends that such efficacious living produces. Chapter 78 closes with “Appropriate language
seems contradictory” The classic (Dao) Taoist example of the inseparability of
opposites is an insight into the working of things that seems obvious enough to
everyday experiences: There is no down without up, no external without
internal, no front without back, no hot without cold, no left without right, no
within without outside, being without unbeing; although few people are able to
apply it to the way they live their lives.
When this characteristic of experience is applied to the political
order, privilege invariably entails responsibility, and the attainment of high
office is anything but an umixed blessing.
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