Use routine in running the government.
Use surprise in military campaigns.
Use non-interference to win the world.
How do I know this is so?
Truly 5
The more bans and taboos that are imposed
The more people are made poor.
The more people can access dangerous weapons
The more chaotic the state will grow.
The more people strive to be crafty and cunning 10
The more distortions occur.
The more laws and edicts that are declared
The more criminals the state will know.
Therefore
The Sage tells us: 15
I use non-action, and people naturally evolve.
I invite stillness, and people naturally are correct.
I use non-interference, and people naturally prosper.
I am free of thought, and people naturally are the uncarved block.
***
NOTES
line 19, the uncarved block: See Introduction section IV.4.
COMMENTARY
Poem 57 begins like poems 24 and 26, with statements of the obvious that are equated with paradoxes. Clearly, something intended to serve others and be enduring requires routine, and something that responds to an emergency needs to be swift and sudden. How non-interference wins the world is also discussed in the last lines of poem 48, but the real reference here is to the central Daoist concept of non-action (see Introduction section IV.3), which Laozi references explicitly in line 16. The social damage exacted by government interference is described in lines 6–13. In the face of such destructive foolishness, the Sage offers the usefulness of non-action and stillness and non-interference and freedom from thought – all four of which are the same thing, and it’s called following Dao. How do I know this is so? Because the evolution and correctness and prosperity and simplicity that people experience as a result are all achieved through De, which means they are achieved naturally, with no contrivance or agenda on their part.
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 