The ablest soldiers say the same things:
I don’t dare act as the host
I act as the guest instead.
I don’t dare advance an inch
I retreat a foot instead. 5
We call this
Marching without marching
Taking off the gloves without baring your hands
Attacking without opponents
Fighting without weapons. 10
No calamity is worse
Than taking enemies lightly.
Taking enemies lightly
I risk losing my treasure.
Thus when two armies battle 15
The one that can grieve will know victory.
***
NOTES
line 8: More literally, “Baring (one’s arms) without arms.”
COMMENTARY
Poem 69 focuses on military concerns, as do poems 30 and 31. The wisdom of the ablest soldiers, recited in lines 2–5, is condensed in poem 76 to one line: The army that does not know how to yield, loses. Here in poem 69, Laozi roots the soldiers’ wisdom in the paradoxes typical of Dao, with lines 7–10. But he immediately makes it plain that, when he talks about marching without marching etc., he is not joking. He knows these are matters of life and death, that’s why he stopped long enough to write this down. The theme of poem 22, Yielding, you become whole, is what Laozi means by fighting without weapons here. These are both different expressions of non-action (see Introduction section IV.3). Non-action in turn is based on an understanding of unity (see Introduction section IV.8), and the reality of unity is a treasure that Laozi is not willing to lose. The recognition of unity keeps you from taking enemies lightly: To take them lightly is to believe they are not you. When you know better, victory must bring grief.
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 