Years ago now, when I was first dating my wife (Aysem), I read poems from the Tao Te Ching to her. So it seemed fitting, as we approach our seventh year together and our sixth year of marriage, to read something Taoist in nature. Lately we have been reading the works of Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements and The Mastery of Love) and books about Spanish language. The Tao Te Ching’s wisdom and subtle humorous outlook on life runs deeply through Ruiz’s works, which makes great sense because Ruiz draws form the teachings and thoughts of other great ancient thinkers. After reading Clay Burell’s blog about his experience reading The House on Pooh Corner to one of the elementary classes, and then reading his latest posts about classical literature not sucking, I found myself going to the library and checking out a copy of The Tao of Pooh to read to my wife. It has been years since the last time I read it, but once again it has captivated me. Miguel Ruiz, Lao-tse, Benjamin Hoff, and Clay Burell (not bad company, eh Clay?) were all such an inspiration to me that I feel compelled write some blogs about Taoism and the classical text The Tao Te Ching. Because, as Clay’s blog about Gilamesh explained, the classics don’t suck, but rather they are often taught by teachers who aren’t truly interested in them. A lack of passion leads to a lack of learning.
I will be using the text Tao Te Ching, by Lao-tse, translated by Stephen Mitchell. I like two aspects of the Mitchell translation: one, he attempted to capture the flavor of Taoist, instead of the exact translation of the Chinese characters; two, he switches the pronouns for the Tao back-and-forth between masculine and feminine, instead of always using he. The Tao is not male or female, so always using he is a misrepresentation of the concept of Tao.
Chapter3 (Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell, HarperPerennial, 1991)
If you over-esteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal.
The Master leads
by emptying people’s minds
and filling their cores,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything
they know, everything they desire,
and creates confusion
in those who think that they know.
Practice not-doing,
and everything will fall into place.
The Master, Lao-tse, provides several valuable lessons in one small poem. Why does over-esteeming great men make the people powerless? We see this today. People need a hero in order to get anything done, but the people have the power to accomplish on their own. When we value the famous individuals more than the normal ones, only famous people matter. The same problem comes with possessions; once something is considered “valuable” people desire to own it. Look how simple and true these concepts are! That is the magic of the Tao — truth.
The Master leads by emptying minds of fears, problems, conflicts and fills their cores. How many times have we see administrators add assignments, duties, professional development programs, extra classes, advisory/homerooms, etc. to the schedules of their teachers, when all they really needed to do was to complement the teachers on a job well done. Hearing praise and encouragement builds the person from inside; the outside takes care of itself. Again, simplicity, simplicity, simplicity — less truly is more.
To do without doing — to do without forcing. The best teaching is always done through example; the best learning always comes through doing. Don’t push, suggest! Who are the people who always seem to accomplish the most? The ones who appear to accomplish without effort.
