Act without action.
Work without working.
Savor without flavor.
Enlarge the small.
Enhance the few. 5
If you’re treated badly, De is your response.
Cope with difficulties while they’re still easy.
Deal with big deals while they’re still small.
The difficulties of the world begin with easy things.
The big deals of the world start with small matters. 10
Therefore
Sages make no play for greatness.
That’s how they become great.
Truly
If you give your word lightly 15
You’ll inspire little faith.
If it all seems easy to you
It all will become difficult.
Therefore
Sages know difficulties for what they are. 20
That’s why their lives are not at all difficult.
***
NOTES
line 6: Authentic character exists above contention, an insight made explicit in poem 68. See also note to poem 81 lines 3–4.
lines 7–10: This theme also appears in poem 64.
lines 12 and 13: A somewhat modified version of these lines appears in poem 34.
line 20: This line also appears in poem 73.
COMMENTARY
Poem 63 begins with the paradigm of non-action (see Introduction section IV.3), a paradoxical model that Laozi then uses to define other ways of engaging; the point being to step aside and permit natural processes to take over, through which the small are enlarged and the few enhanced. Following Dao in this manner, the release of De is inevitable, regardless of who understands it or not. The personality that is refined through the natural process of De is beyond criticism, in the same way that a tree or a cloud is beyond criticism. And to ease the way for big changes, the secret is not to ignore issues that are still small. Sages, appreciating the smallness of things, come to reverence their own smallness as well, which makes greatness a non-issue – and enables greatness to come to them with no contrivance on their part. So Laozi urges you to emulate the Sages and take care in weighing your words, just as they do in poem 17, and not to be fooled by the current smallness of difficulties. Sages never are, as poem 63 concludes – and poem 64 makes even more explicit – and so their lives are not at all difficult.
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 