Five Fragments from the Teachings of
Lao-Tzu
Thomas
Cleary (Tr.)
Lao-tzu, or Laotse, an image according to legend
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Editorial Note
In “The Secret
Doctrine” (volume I, p. XXV),
Helena Blavatsky
reports that Lao-tzu is said to have
written one thousand books. The most famous
among
them is, of
course, the Tao Teh-Ching. Two other valuable
books with
Lao-tzu’s teachings are at present available in
Western
languages: the Wen-tzu and the Hua Hu Ching.
The following
paragraphs are reproduced from the “Wen-tzu”.
(CCA)
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1. Contentment
Lao-tzu said:
Nothing in the world is easier than doing what is
good, nothing is harder than doing what is not good. Doing what is good means
being calm and uncontrived, suiting your true condition and refusing the rest,
not being seduced by anything, following your essential nature, preserving
reality, and not changing yourself. Therefore doing what is good is easy.
Doing what is not good means assassination and
usurpation, fraud and deception, agitation and covetousness, denial of human
nature. Therefore it is said that doing what is not good is hard.
That which now causes great troubles arises from lack
of a normal degree of contentment. Therefore it is imperative to examine the
grounds of benefit and harm, the borderline of calamity and fortune.[1]
2. The Mind
The vital essence of mind can be influenced
spiritually but cannot be guided by talk. The fact that sages can govern the
world without leaving their chairs is because feelings reach farther than
words.
So when there is trust in verbal agreements, the trust
is there before the words. When there is action on common directions, the
sincerity of the action is there apart from the directives.
When sages are in positions of leadership, the people
are influenced as if spiritually, being led by means of feelings. [2]
3. Common Sense
Lao-tzu said:
Noncontrivance means mastering the strategy of
noncontrivance, looking after uncontrived affairs, and employing uncontrived
wisdom.
The master hides in formlessness, acts without
laziness, does not initiate prosperity or start misfortune.
Beginning in formlessness, acting when there is no
choice, if you want good fortune, first let there be no calamity; if you want
what is beneficial, first remove what is harmful.
So those who are at peace by noncontrivance are
endangered when they lose that whereby they are at peace. Those who are orderly
by noncontrivance fall into chaos when they lose that whereby they are orderly.
Therefore they do not want to be lustrous like jewels or plentiful like stones.
[3]
4. Humaneness
When Wen-tzu asked about humaneness, Lao-tzu said:
If you are in a superior position, don’t be proud of
your success; if you are in a subordinate position, don’t be ashamed of your
problems. If you are wealthy, don’t be arrogant; if you are poor, don’t steal.[4] Always keep impartial universal
love and do not let it fade. This is called humaneness. [5]
5. The Sages
Sages do not want anything and do not avoid anything.
When you want something, that may just make you lose it; and if you try to
avoid something, that may just bring it about. When you desire something in
your heart, then you forget what you are doing. [6]
NOTES:
[1] From “Wen-tzu, Understanding the Mysteries”, Further
Teachings of Lao-tzu, translated from the Chinese by Thomas Cleary, Shambhala,
Boston and London, 1992, 184 pp., see chapter 131, pp. 126-127. The book has
very short chapters.
[2] “Wen-tzu, Understanding the Mysteries”, Thomas
Cleary, chapter 25, p. 30.
[3] “Wen-tzu, Understanding the Mysteries”, chapter 45,
p. 46.
[4] In order to adapt these sentences to modern nations,
we would have to add: “And if you are wealthy, also do no steal.”
[5] “Wen-tzu”, chapter 74, p. 65.
[6] “Wen-tzu”, chapter 131, p. 127.
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The above selection of fragments from the Wen-tzu is part of the September 2016
edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”,
pp. 15-17. Original title: “Five Fragments from the Wen-Tzu”. On 20 February 2019, the text was published as an
independent article in our associated websites.
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Read “Lao-tzu, on All-Around Mastery”.
See at the
associated websites the ancient book “The Tao Teh Ching”, in the
version prepared by Lin Yutang.
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On 14 September 2016, after examining the
state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to found
the Independent Lodge of Theosophists. Two of the priorities
adopted by the ILT are learning from the past and building
a better future.
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