commentary on chapter 5

Commentary on Chapter 5 of the Dao De Jing

By C.L. Babcook

Heaven and Earth have no favorites; they treat all beings with dispassion. The sages have no preferences; they treat all people with dispassion.

The space between Heaven and Earth is like a hollow bamboo. Although empty, when moving more and more is created from it. The many words attempting to describe this soon bring about exhaustion and misunderstanding. Better to remain centered and in a quiet state than to try to understand the many words.

We all like to feel we are special, but according to the Dao De Jing, the forces of Heaven and Earth favor no one. Likewise the sages have no preference or favorites. The sage is the Dao’s representative who cares for all people equally, and the sage’s caring is concerned with the evolution of a person’s spiritual being and their union with Dao. Because of this, sages are very careful not to feed an individual’s personality in such a way that egoic tendencies will develop. The sage treats all people equally in his hopes for them to have union with Dao, to be free from all attachments.

At times the sage may affect preference as a teaching technique, but ultimately that seeming preference is a tool to reduce attachment on the part of the student. As such, the sage treats all people with dispassion; no one is ever particularly special in the sage’s heart. All people are special to the sage; all special but none preferred. From our reading of Chapter 2 we noted how having preference of one thing over another leads us to an unbalanced awareness. Like the scales Lady Justice holds, we must be balanced in body, mind and spirit. We strive to be dispassionate like Heaven and Earth. Passions are thieves that rob a person of his quiet, balanced nature. If our minds are filled with passions and ideas, we block the intuitive aspect of ourselves and then we are not open to the Dao.

There is a space between Heaven and Earth; it is empty like the hollowness of a bamboo flute. Although it is empty, when breath is applied, movement begins and more and more sounds are created. This is an image of the creative process. From the emptiness of the hollow bamboo flute emerges melodies simply by having air move. So too from potential energy is born the various vibrations that create the forms, which make up life and the universe. This is the breath of Dao.

Instead of contemplating and intellectually analyzing the process of creation, Lao Zi urges us to be quiet and centered in our being. Lao Zi is recommending that we give up using the intellect as a way of knowing and that we embrace meditation and intuition as a means of knowing. For the Daoists, much of reality is revealed from inside one’s body; one simply needs to fully engage in one’s meditative practice.

By means of becoming empty, one may become united with Dao and various meditative practices are tools to help us become empty.

Sources

All quotes from the Dao De Jing are from the Richard Wilhelm editions.

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