Chapter 39 · Things That Have Attained Oneness

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are-- Heaven which by it is bright and pure; Earth rendered thereby firm and sure; Spirits with powers by it supplied; Valleys kept full throughout their void All creatures which through it do live Princes and kings who from it get The model which to all they give. All these are the results of the One (Tao). If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend; If earth were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend; Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail; If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale; Without that life, creatures would pass away; Princes and kings, without that moral sway, However grand and high, would all decay. Thus it is that dignity finds its (firm) root in its (previous) meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness (from which it rises). Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,' 'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without a nave.' Is not this an acknowledgment that in their considering themselves mean they see the foundation of their dignity? So it is that in the enumeration of the different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it answer the ends of a carriage. They do not wish to show themselves elegant-looking as jade, but (prefer) to be coarse-looking as an (ordinary) stone.

Orphan and Nobody

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

Old idea: everything that holds together got that from the one thing underneath. The sky's clear because of it. The ground's steady because of it. Things are alive because of it. The people up top stay upright because of it. Take it away and the sky cracks, the ground heaves, things die off, the high and mighty fall. The big stands on the small. The high stands on the low. That's why the ones in charge call themselves "orphan" and "nobody" - they remember what holds them up. Pile up too much honor and you've got none. Don't try to ring like fine jade. Be plain like a rock.

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