Dao produces them, De nurtures them
Things shape them, conditions complete them.
Therefore
The ten thousand things honor Dao and esteem De.
That Dao is honored and De esteemed 5
Comes not by command but naturally.
Dao produces them, De nurses them
Fosters them
Protects them
Matures them 10
Sustains them
Covers them.
Dao produces them but does not own them
Assists them but lays no claims upon them
Develops them but does not control them. 15
We call this hidden De.
***
NOTES
lines 13 and 14: These lines also appear in poem 2 and are referenced in poem 34.
lines 13–16: These lines also appear in poem 10.
line 16: This line also appears in poem 65.
COMMENTARY
Poems 2, 10 and 34 also deal with this subject, although from different perspectives; but it is here in poem 51 that Laozi offers his fullest explication of De’s effect. Significantly, he still acknowledges the extent to which things and conditions inform who we are. Yet the point is clear: Dao generates and De formulates. That’s why Dao and De are naturally honored and esteemed – just as people would naturally honor and esteem their own parents, if it weren’t for the commandments imposed upon them to do so, which only alienate them from their natural feelings. In other words, poem 51 also joins poems 18 and 19 in criticizing the Confucian ethic of filial piety. In poems 2 and 10, we are told to do what poem 51 tells us is done by Dao and De. So it’s clear that anything is available if you are constant in following Dao and releasing De. That the released De is hidden is what happens when no claims are laid: It all seems to have happened by itself, as poem 17 phrases it.
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 