#12 Transcending Obsessions to Regain Control of Life
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 12: Discover the Taoist guide on simplicity and restore balance to life in a materialistic world.
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
Today, we are reading the twelfth chapter of the Tao Te Ching.
The key message of this chapter is transcending material enslavement to recover spiritual autonomy.
After grasping the idea in this chapter, you will learn why simplicity as a life principle is fundamental to Taoists.
More importantly, you will learn how it can help you live a fulfilled and non-conformist way of life.
Let’s get started.
**12**
五色令人目盲，五音令人耳聾。
五味令人口爽，馳騁田獵令人心發狂，難得之貨令人行妨。
是以聖人為腹不為目。故去彼取此。
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
The five colors blind the eyes of man;
The five musical notes deafen the ears of man:
The five flavors dull the taste of man;
Horse-racing, hunting and chasing madden the minds of man;
Rare, valuable goods keep their owners awake at night.
Therefore the Sage:
Provides for the belly and not for the eye.
Hence, he rejects the one and accepts the other.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
The five colours turn a man’s eyes blind;
The five notes turn a man’s ears deaf;
The five tastes turn a man’s palate dull;
Racing through fields hunting turns a man’s heart wild;
Goods hard to obtain cause a man’s progress to halt.
For this reason,
The ruling of the Sage is by the belly not by the eyes.
Therefore,
Reject the latter and take up the former.1
#3 D.C. Lau’s version
The five colours make man's eyes blind;
The five notes make his ears deaf;
The five tastes injure his palate;
Riding and hunting
Make his mind go wild with excitement;
Goods hard to come by
Serve to hinder his progress.
Hence the sage is
For the belly
Not for the eye.
Therefore he discards the one and takes the other.2
Deeper dive
This chapter starts with an observation on the most common and most easily overlooked distractions in life: external attractions.
Beauty and art, great food, and splendid music are all the things that can arouse our senses. They symbolize those objects outside the inner self.
These attractions can agitate our desires, impulses, and passions through the five senses.
To a significant degree, if we allow sensual pleasures to run wild without being able to contain them, we are fundamentally trapped in self-imposed enslavement.
All it takes is for the awakened individuals to see through the enchantment of excessive desires and wants.
Wang Bi’s (226 - 249 AD) comment on the sentence, “Therefore the Sage: Provides for the belly and not for the eye. Hence, he rejects the one and accepts the other,” explains the choice of the sage as follows,
“A focus on what provides for the belly is to regard material things as serving the individual. While an obsession with what provides for the eye enslaves the individual. Therefore, the sage does not fall for this obsession.” (「為腹者以物養己，為目者以物役己，故聖人不為目也。」)3
To break away from obsessions is to regain control of the self.
Spiritual Taoism
Taoism, therefore, introduces the idea of simplicity to confront the irresistible appeal of external things.
Simplicity is possible when one draws attention and focus within to cultivate and elevate the inner self.
The more we fall into the spells of materialism and external pursuits, the more we deviate from spiritual tranquility.
Simplicity as a way of life assumes that individuals can transcend beyond human desires for possessions and intangible pursuits.
This further implies that two selves reside in every one of us.
The higher self directs us to see and recognize our shortcomings, weaknesses, and imperfections. It also enlightens and encourages us to rise above these shackles.
Chuang Tzu reminded us of the temptation of endless possession and the inevitable danger of being possessed. He says, “He is a thing, and yet he is not a mere thing; therefore he can treat other things as mere things. He who clearly understands that in treating other things as mere things, he himself is no longer a mere thing.”4
If we subject ourselves to simply mingling with material things, we bow to the lower self. In this way, we corrupt our authenticity and original nature.
Each individual has unique natural endowments and traits. Lao Tzu advises carefully preserving a balance between guarding our inborn nature and dealing with the outside world.
When we allow desires and wants to dictate our thoughts and actions, those external things harm, drive, and redefine us.
Similarly, when we unthinkingly follow prevailing opinions, trends, and beliefs and swim with the tide without being open-minded, we will lose our authenticity and spiritual autonomy.
Therefore, the Taoists adopt a can-not-help attitude toward daily interactions with life.
They see it necessary to make peace with the inevitable things of the world but not single-mindedly submerge into external pursuits at the expense of independence, inner freedom, and peace of mind.
When we go along with things and let our minds wander freely, we control how we position ourselves in the ever-changing situations in this life.
Thank you for reading!
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Until next week,
Yuxuan
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 27.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 16.
Wang Bi et al., Four Kinds of Laotse 老子四種 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2016), 9.
The Complete Works of Zhuangzi, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), 82.