The Dao of Heaven
Can be likened to the drawing of a bow:
Its high point comes down, its low point goes up –
The excess decreased, the scanted increased.
The Dao of Heaven 5
Takes from that which has too much
And gives to that which has too little.
People follow a very different way:
They take from those who have too little
And give to those who have too much. 10
Who can have too much and give it to the world?
Only the person who has Dao.
Therefore
The Sage acts and seeks no recognition
Accomplishing and letting it go 15
With no yen to appear special.
***
NOTES
line 8: More literally, “The dao of people is not like this.” Laozi is making an important distinction between the way of Heaven, which is the Way (because Heaven, like nature on Earth, is never out of sync with Dao), and the way of people, which is just the way any jerk will carry on when they think they know better.
COMMENTARY
The memorable opening image of a functioning bow – upper tip lowered, lower tip elevated – provides poem 77 with an apt metaphor for the operation of Dao. The simple breakdown that follows with lines 5–10 has become one of the most frequently quoted passages in the Dao De Jing. A deserved renown, with Laozi making plain the underlying natural current at work, even as people keep rowing in the opposite direction. This is why starvation occurred during the Warring States Period, as poem 75 makes clear, and it remains the reason why starvation exists today. When too much is given to Sages, at least they know how to share it. So you should follow their example of acting without seeking recognition and accomplishing and letting it go. These last lines of poem 77 are also a subtle restatement of the themes elaborated in poem 51 – Dao produces them but does not own them – and referenced in poems 2, 10, and 34.
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 