From Dao there is the One.
From the One there are the Two.
From the Two there are the Three.
From the Three there are the ten thousand things.
Backed by Yin 5
Embracing Yang
Uniting with Qi
All attain harmony.
People hate to be orphaned or spouseless or unworthy.
But kings and nobles lay claim to those titles for themselves. 10
Deprivation can sometimes advance
While advancement can sometimes deprive.
What others teach, I teach:
The violent and aggressive come to a bad end.
That is the basis of what I’m teaching. 15
***
NOTES
lines 5 and 6, Yin, Yang: See Introduction section IV.1.
line 7, Qi: Energy. See Introduction section IV.2. Poems 10 and 55 also reference Qi.
lines 9 and 10: Poem 39 also refers to the humbling titles assumed by royalty.
line 14: come to a bad end: I have taken a liberty here. More literally, the line reads, do not receive a natural death.
COMMENTARY
As discussed in the Introduction section IV:2, with the opening lines of poem 42 Laozi offers a simple cosmology: From Dao there is unity, from unity arise Yin and Yang, from Yin and Yang arise the Three Treasures of Jing, Qi, and Shen, and from their interaction you get everything. Yet despite the centrality of Yin and Yang to Daoist thought, the only direct reference to them in the Dao De Jing occurs here in poem 42, and the way they’re referenced almost re-creates their original meaning: When you’re backed by yin and embracing yang, you’re like the mountain with its shady and sunny sides – only you have the breath of life, Qi, energizing you. That’s why you mustn’t be taken in by any prattle about the glories of endless growth and the evils of loss – otherwise, you’ll get confused when the world shows you how advancement and deprivation interlock, the same way being and non-being do – or difficult and easy, long and short, before and after, to cite poem 2. Many of those who do get taken in will prefer to fight rather than stop growth or assume loss. That’s why Laozi concludes with an admonishment about the futility of violence: Pushing a mistaken view of reality to violent extremes, you never get what you want.
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 