Long ago
Its unity was attained.
Heaven, having unity, has purity.
Earth, having unity, has tranquility.
The Shen, having unity, is empowered. 5
The valleys, having unity, reach fullness.
The ten thousand things, having unity, live.
Kings and princes, having unity, are just.
All from unity!
Heaven’s purity, I’m afraid 10
Might rupture without unity.
Earth’s tranquility, I’m afraid
Might collapse without unity.
The Shen’s power, I’m afraid
Might shrivel without unity. 15
The valleys’ fullness, I’m afraid
Might dwindle without unity.
The ten thousand things’ lives, I’m afraid
Might extinguish without unity.
Kings and princes’ status, I’m afraid 20
Might be pulled down without unity.
Thus honor’s foundation is in the humble.
Thus nobility is based on lowliness.
Thus kings and princes refer to themselves
As orphaned or spouseless or unworthy. 25
Isn’t this because
Honor’s foundation is in the humble?
The ones who merit praise the most
Are the ones who need it the least.
Don’t just tinkle like jade wind chimes. 30
Rattle like rocks.
***
NOTES
line 2, unity: See Introduction section IV.8.
line 5, Shen: Spirit. See Introduction section IV.2.
line 6, valleys: This association between Shen and valleys is explicit in poem 6.
lines 24 and 25: Poem 42 also refers to the humbling titles assumed by royalty.
COMMENTARY
If unity – the root – was the unspoken point of poem 38, here Laozi never stops making the point, citing unity fourteen times in the first twenty-one lines of poem 39 – the longest in the Dao De Jing at 134 Chinese words. But unity is the thing upon which Heaven and Earth and Shen and valleys and the ten thousand things and kings and princes all depend – yes, All from unity! So turning to it is extremely useful, not least of all because unity reminds you that social hierarchies are as artificial as all other discriminations, an insight that releases humility. Laozi concludes poem 39 by exalting humility in a range of aspects from people to rocks. When he insists that The ones who merit praise the most / Are the ones who need it the least, he’s thinking of the Sages: people of the highest virtue who are unaware of virtue and who thus have De. What praise could improve upon that?
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 