To shorten something
You must first let it lengthen.
To weaken something
You must first let it strengthen.
To reject something 5
You must first let it advance.
To deprive something
You must first let it enhance.
We call this the illumination of the subtleties.
The weak and yielding overcome the hard and unyielding. 10
Just as fish should not be taken out of the deep waters
The state should not display its useful tools to the people.
***
NOTES
line 10: Laozi elaborates on this idea in poem 78.
COMMENTARY
The opening of poem 36 shares the wisdom of poem 2, its insight into the interdependence of opposites: High and low size each other, etc. The counterintuitive advice Laozi gives in the first eight lines is the same instruction that tells today’s drivers to regain control of their skidding vehicles by turning in the direction of the skid. It’s also how you extricate your fingers from Chinese finger traps – a toy to help teach children that subtleties exist and must be illuminated, if you are going to control them rather than let them control you. Observing this subtlety, and letting it work to your advantage, is a perfect instance of non-action (see Introduction section IV.3). That use of weakness to overcome something strong leads to Laozi’s simple statement of fact in line 10. This poem’s concluding lines, however, run on a different track; the kind of display discouraged can range from military parades to ministers who advance themselves in the media, but they all expose things that people are better off not having to deal with.
Links To:
The Classic of Dao and De by Laozi: Contents
For more on Daoism, see:
Film Dreams: Frank Capra
Music: KALW Radio Show #3, Ancient China in 20th-Century Music
Music: SFCR Radio Show #8, Daoism in Western Music, part 1
Music: SFCR Radio Show #9, Daoism in Western Music, part 2
NICOLE V. GAGNÉ 