Expressions of the Tao

老子

六

~What does weakness mean as an expression of Tao? How does it express the Tao?

~What does humility mean as an expression of Tao? How does it express the Tao?

~What metaphors do Lao Tzu use to illustrate the expressions of Tao?

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Pas, 1998

Tao is like water: Water is weak and soft, yet can be extremely powerful and wear down the hardest things, such as rocks. It has the strength of weakness. Water connects with other symbols of weakness: woman, mother, the valley, the infant. 

Water is often used as a basis of comparison for things that are hard to explain and describe mainly because of its universality and of its very nature. Lao Tzu have utilised water in the same sense, drawing a sense of the Tao to explain and not explain what the Tao really is. It is true that water can be contained and that is its weakness but its being contained can also depict power that can destroy the strongest wall. It’s just like what they say: still waters run deep. Like the Tao, water is formless and it can only take form by filing the nothingness of a jug.

Tao Te Ching, 78

There is nothing softer and weaker than water,

And yet these is nothing better for attacking hard and

strong things.

For this reason there is no substitute for it.

All the world knows that the weak overcomes the strong and

the soft overcomes the hard.

But none can practice it.

Tao is the Mother: “it produced all things, and continues to produce them, until they all return to their roots (Pas, 1998).” As it is the Mother, it is the symbol of fertility and the source of all life. It becomes a mother-nurse, nourishing everything. And the Tao is also the womb: the one that generates Heaven and Earth, which is the source of life (Tortchinov, 1999). In Carl Jung’s archetypes, the Mother archetype refers to the one who feeds, nurtures, and soothes. The Mother has also been used to symbolise the Earth, the woods, the sea, and the well. Jung considers the Mother as a major archetype because of she contains mostly everything. Similar to this, Jung provided another archetype that deeply echoed the first verse of the chapter 28 of the Tao Te Ching: He knows the male (active force) and keeps to the female (the passive force or receptive element)- the anima and the animus. Like an infant who does not differentiate between male and female, one should embrace the anima or the animus within them. Keep to the formless and return to the state of simplicity. 

The Tao as the infant: “Weak and helpless, a young infant is nonetheless full of vitality, its vital energy is unimpaired, and, being helpless, all its needs are taken care of. Likewise, the Tao appears to be helpless, yet, in fact, it is all-powerful.” And since it is an infant it is full of energy and cannot be exhausted.   

The chapter 9 of the Tao Te Ching tells us when to step back gracefully. It is noted that “withdrawing” does not mean that one should abandon all that has been done but instead, it tells us to step back so as to avoid attachment with the fruits of our work. There are things in life that are not eternal and we, human beings as we are, cannot go one forever. At some point we have to stop for if we do not we become exhausted, all burned out. We should not force things. We should not force nature. Let it fall into place and it will unravel when the time comes. Let one be reminded that the Tao works and it does not. Silence, at times, proves to be more meaningful than the abundance of words. 

Tao Te Ching, 43

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.

Non-being penetrates that in which there is no space.

Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.

Few in the world can understand teaching without words and the advantage of taking no action.

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