#60 Individual Sovereignty
Tao Te Ching 60: Delve deeper into Lao Tzu’s insights on managing human affairs. And the idea of enlightened self-governance.
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
This week, we delve into Chapter 60 of the Tao Te Ching.
Lao Tzu advises adopting the policy of restraint and care when dealing with domestic affairs.
More importantly, Lao Tzu’s teaching inspires personal awakening.
Let’s find out.
**60**
治大國，若烹小鮮。
以道莅天下，其鬼不神；
非其鬼不神，其神不傷人；
非其神不傷人，聖人亦不傷人。
夫兩不相傷，故德交歸焉。
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
Rule a big country as you would fry small fish.
Who rules the world in accord with Tao
Shall find that the spirits lose their power.
It is not that the spirits lose their power,
But that they cease to do people harm.
It is not (only) that they cease to do people harm,
The Sage (himself) also does no harm to the people.
When both do not do each other harm,
The original character is restored.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
Governing a large country is like steaming small fish.
When you employ the Way to approach the world,
Ghosts will have no spirit.
Or rather it is not that ghosts have no spirit, it is that their spirit
cannot harm people.
In fact, it is not that their spirit cannot harm people, it is also
that the Sage does not harm people.
Since neither does them any harm,
Therefore,
Their life forces intermingle and come back to them.1
#3 D. C. Lau’s version
Governing a large state is like boiling a small fish.
When the empire is ruled in accordance with the way,
The spirits lose their potencies.
Or rather, it is not that they lose their potencies,
But that, thought they have their potencies, they do not harm the people.
It is not only they who, having their potencies, do not harm the people,
The sage, also, does not harm the people.
As neither does any harm, each attributes the merit to the other.2
Deeper dive
After laying out the foundations of his political philosophy (see chapters 57, 58, and 59), Lao Tzu delves into domestic public affairs.
In essence, Lao Tzu’s basic stance toward managing human affairs is represented by the principle of wu-wei. It means being conscious of meddling and interventionist policies and their consequences.
Power has always been a desirable thing for individuals with political ambitions. Yet, going through the struggle to obtain power and possessing the craft of wielding it are different things.
In Lao Tzu’s political thinking, whoever has the power to influence the state of public affairs should exercise caution and avoid damaging the country.
Do not harm
As the first line of this chapter states, “Rule a big country as you would fry small fish.”
Lao Tzu cautions against the misuse and abuse of power in public affairs. Instead of perceiving his words as a principle derived from reasoning, it is more of a lesson from observing the state of things in his time and learning from history.
In a particular social and political context, political authority is inherently possible to harm the people and society.
The fundamental reason for this situation is the imbalanced power relations between the political authority and the ordinary people. In other words, social forces and individuals may not have sufficient power and resources to check the impulsive political establishment.
We may think perceiving the state-individual relationship as ruler-subject dynamics is remote because we live in a modern state.
We may overlook that political damage and harm can manifest in various forms, regardless of the regime type.
Take freedom as an example. In particular political and social circumstances, a predatory and restrictive political order can attack freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of conscience.
Political harm can also be channeled into the economic sphere, such as the weakening purchasing power of ordinary people due to inflation and economic mismanagement.
Likewise, public institutions that manage trade policies may adopt protectionist policies (continuing mercantilist practices) to raise tariffs to protect particular industrial sectors and interest groups. In this case, ordinary people who cannot influence trade policies may have to bear the cost of policy adjustment.
As the power vested in public institutions keeps enlarging, the risk of potential harm done to society and the average person will likely increase.
From Lao Tzu’s perspective, governing with the Tao (guided by the principle of wu-wei) is the path that leads to peaceful coexistence.
When all the people in a society do not feel the invisible pressure and meddling power of the government, they can focus on building their own lives.
From working on the tasks that elevate personal life, individuals can craft a space within which they can operate with their ingenuity, will, and power.
As Wang Bi (226 - 249 AD) noted, “When the world is in harmony with Tao, then the sage will not hurt the people. When the sage does not hurt the people, they do not know the sage as sage either.”3
This will be the scenario of governing with the Tao and living in a natural order.
Spiritual Taoism
The idea that “the sage does not harm the people” reminds us, from an individual’s perspective, of the importance of preserving autonomy and our ways of life.
We can use the metaphor of the fish in the river to understand better the delicate relationship between political order and individual freedom.
Fish swim and thrive without feeling grateful toward the water. Similarly, in a natural order, individuals achieve self-establishment and transformation, which, in turn, makes the environment a better place for all.
The awakened individual
Political awakening means refreshing the perception of the government-individual relationship.
Spiritual liberation is a personal matter that indicates a transcendent mode of seeing the relationship between the inner self and the world.
Fundamentally, it requires us to be aware of our thinking and actions from an observer’s perspective.
This means that we are able to detach from particular perspectives or views. We can observe and trace why we are attached to particular narratives and thoughts.
In terms of perceiving one’s relationship toward the political order, individuals do not need to feel beholden to political authority or government, regardless of the form it takes.
It is the fundamental responsibility of the government to provide public services and maintain social order. Governments are economically supported by the people, and this support does not warrant undue reverence or gratitude.
In a natural order, there is no place for political worship or the deification of rulers, as that would indicate a spiritual subordination of the individual.
The sage and enlightened sovereign, in this context, are to serve the mission of assisting people in realizing their potential for self-transformation and establishment. In doing so, they encourage people to forget about the sage leadership itself.
Any sage or enlightened political leader who considers themselves doing the right thing for the people, to the extent of self-righteousness, is not a real sage or enlightened sovereign.
From Lao Tzu’s thinking, the virtue of the sage or enlightened sovereign is manifested by their silent workings and non-contending philosophy.
When his task is accomplished and his work done
The people all say, 'It happened to us naturally.’(Chapter 17)
The reason is simple. Lao Tzu has told us that people recognize that they are the architects of their own establishment despite their appreciation of the favorable conditions offered by the natural order.
Lao Tzu demands an extremely high standard for moral leadership. As he describes,
“The man of superior character is not (conscious of his) character, Hence he has character.
The man of superior character never acts,
Nor ever (does so) with an ulterior motive.”(Chapter 38)
So, for spiritually awakened individuals, this philosophy requires a shift in perception. A mentality that allows room for worship and blind obedience to political power does not fit.
Instead, it is natural to develop an understanding that our achievements are the result of mutual interdependence with others in society, the political order, and our creative endeavors.
Nevertheless, the natural order in Lao Tzu’s conception, with its ideal of harmonious coexistence, is still an optimal scenario that may be impossible to realize in the human world.
In real-world circumstances, it becomes necessary to resolve conflicts and discord, find consensus, and reach agreement through cooperation and negotiations.
Therefore, delegating individual responsibility to others is wishful thinking, and assuming that we cannot make meaningful changes in our personal lives is to give in to a defeatist attitude.
Only by taking the responsibility to move forward with awareness and clarity can the possibility of preserving the natural order be realized.
Thanks for reading!
Wishing you strength and wisdom,
Yuxuan
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 125.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 67.
「道洽，則聖人亦不傷人。聖人不傷人，則亦不知聖人之為聖也。」See Wang Bi et al., Four Kinds of Laotse 老子四種 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2016), 53.