People starve
Because their taxes are too high
To benefit a wealthy few.
That’s why they starve.
People become ungovernable 5
Because of their government’s
Interference with their lives.
That’s why they become ungovernable.
People don’t take death seriously
Because they see an elite class 10
Attempting to live life too much.
That’s why they don’t take death seriously.
Truly
Only those who don’t pursue life
Can excel at honoring life. 15
***
NOTES
line 11: This line also appears, slightly modified, in poem 50.
COMMENTARY
Although not the focus of poem 75, death is part of the conversation, starting implicitly with the first line’s reference to starvation, then becoming explicit with lines 9 and 12. The failings Laozi laments in his society have continued to bedevil our own, so the problem must reside not with our different forms of government but with the sameness of people. So of course taxes take from those who have too little / And give to those who have too much, as poem 77 phrases it; of course brutal policing and systemic obstacles and prejudices produce riots – even revolutions, as poem 72 implies; of course elite classes glamourize over-indulgence and legitimize corruption, enticing the rest of the population to imitate these fatal delusions on their own meager scales. The example that refutes all this sameness is the exception of the Sage, the person who knows that life is not a pursuit but an honor.
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 