Bravery taken to recklessness leads to death.
Bravery not taken to recklessness leads to life.
These two sometimes help, sometimes harm.
Who knows why Heaven will despise some appeals?
Therefore 5
Sages know difficulties for what they are.
The Dao of Heaven
Does not contend but excels at conquest
Does not talk but is exceedingly responsive
Cannot be summoned but arises naturally 10
Unhurried and excellent at planning.
The net of Heaven is cast
On a scale vaster than vast
Yet not a thing can slip past.
***
NOTES
line 4: More literally, “What Heaven hates, who knows the reason?”
line 6: This line also appears in poem 63.
COMMENTARY
Five of the last nine poems in the Dao De Jing discuss death, and the first of these is poem 73 – with its very first line. While the difference between being brave and being reckless is acknowledged, along with the latter’s higher mortality rate, Laozi is nevertheless forced to throw up his hands and admit, Who knows why Heaven will despise some appeals? And if you can’t be certain of always having Heaven on your side, then you better know what all your obstacles and problems in life are, otherwise they will undo you. Knowing them, you can conquer them through following Dao, which excels at conquest because it is all-pervading and cannot be evaded.
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 