Bringing harmony to the greatest hatreds
Some hate will still be unresolved.
How can it ever be made right?
Therefore
The Sage lends without attempting to collect. 5
Having De, you make good on your promises.
Not having De, you make collections.
The Dao of Heaven shows no favor.
It is always there for good people.
***
NOTES
line 5: Literally, “The Sage holds the creditor’s tally but does not make claims on others.” See notes to poem 27, line 3.
COMMENTARY
In poem 79 Laozi makes the astute observation that the worst animosities can never be balanced out completely, that all sides will continue to feel justified in some of their hatreds. Rather than try to take away emotions that people want to hold on to, the Sage sets the example of doing what’s best at the moment and looking beyond recompense. When you don’t follow the Dao of Heaven, the release of De is blocked; and the less defined your character is, the more dependent you will be on what you have rather than who you are. In poem 73 the Dao of Heaven is described in paradoxes, and that tone appears here too, with poem 79’s conclusion that it shows no favor and is always there for good people. These lines are a balance to poem 5, where we’re told that Sages, like Heaven and Earth, are not humane. Their goodness is not an ethical value, it is a natural impulse, the goodness of De, to quote poem 49. And the goodness of De is simply a reflection of the goodness of Dao. So when people are good, it’s because they’re favoring Dao, not because they’re expecting any favors from it.
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 