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Tao Te Ching Verse 28

translated by Yi Wu

One keeps weakness while knowing what strength is,
And serves as the humblest brook for the world.
Being the humblest, one can receive best
Until one returns to be the weakest infant.
One keeps to the dark while knowing what the light is,
And serves as a basic model for the world.
Being the basic model, one can receive properly
Until one returns to the oneness without polar opposition.
One keeps disgrace while knowing what glory is,
And serves as the lowest valley for the world.
Being the lowest, one can receive enough
To return to the most original simplicity.

Followed by people, this simplicity can shape the world
The wise use it as the example for the government.
The big system is, therefore, an indivisible simple whole.

Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash

Keeping close to my original, or inner nature

I recently had an experience where, in meditation, I felt this little glow inside of me.  Maybe you’ve felt this before.  It didn’t feel warm, but that’s how I might describe it.  And as I kept my attention on this feeling, I became more aware of it.  I realized that for me, I was experiencing my original nature as I understand it for right now.

Being aware of the Male but keeping to the Female, to me, means something like yes, I can take action, but I don’t always have to take action.  Sometimes, instead of giving, I can receive.  Sometimes, when I feel the need to be aggressive, I can choose to be passive.  Do you remember when we talked about the solid being the master of the light, and stillness being the master of action in verse 26?  I feel like this is the same principle.  Knowing the male but keeping to the female, put into language of verse 26, sounds like non-action is the master of action.  In other words, action is produced from a place of non-action.  So I can know that I have the option to go out and exert myself on the world, but if I abstain from that, I become what Lao Tzu calls the valley of the world.

Uh, ok, so what’s that mean?  Remember in Verse 6 we talked about the Spirit of the Valley?  The Valley is the space of nothing, yet everything flows into it, and therefore it holds all of life.  So if I realize that I can take action and exert myself on the world but don’t, I allow things to come to me instead, and instead of the taker, I am the giver.  I am the Valley.  I am the servant.  I am closer to my personal inner nature, which of course is the Tao within.  The Tao within, in my interpretation, seems to be the ‘purity of the child,’ or the innocence of youth.  It’s that sense I have when I am brand new in the world, before I start crafting my sense of me, mine, my sense of identity, my sense of ambition.

I think the main takeaway for the first part of this verse is this: when I can connect with that inner, original nature that we all have inside us, I start to realize what’s really important.  Yes, paying bills, having a career and family is important - for the external reality - but those things are not the drivers of inner fulfillment like I once thought they were.  It turns out that that inner fulfillment is actually always there - I just have to abstain from thinking that the external world will produce that feeling of contentment, of wholeness.  I can actively practice connecting with that feeling by giving rather than receiving, by accepting, rather than trying to change things, and by actively practicing humility rathe