#5 On Disenchantment
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 5: Lao Tzu shares his advice on breaking free from the worship mentality and seeing through political manipulation.
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
This week we are reading the fifth chapter of Tao Te Ching, one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented chapters in the text.
In fact, without a comprehensive understanding of Taoist thought, it is quite easy to cherrypick ideas in this chapter and conclude that Lao Tzu suggests using manipulative political practices in governing.
Is this truly his intention?
Let’s find out.
**5**
天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗；
聖人不仁，以百姓為芻狗。
天地之間，其猶橐籥乎！
虛而不屈，動而愈出。
多言數窮，不如守中。
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
Nature is unkind:
It treats the creation like sacrificial straw-dogs.
The Sage is unkind:
He treats the people like sacrificial straw-dogs.
How the universe is like a bellows!
Empty, yet it gives a supply that never fails;
The more it is worked, the more it brings forth.
By many words is wit exhausted.
Rather, therefore, hold to the core.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
Heaven and earth are not benevolent:
They treat the myriad things as a straw dog.
The Sage is not benevolent:
He treats the common people as a straw dog.
Heaven and earth are like the bellows and the blow-tube:
As emptiness increases, they inhale less and less;
As they press together, they expel more and more.
To talk too much is merely chatter;
It cannot match retaining emptiness1.
#3 D. C. Lau’s version
Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs;
The sage is ruthless, and treats the people as straw dogs.
Is not the space between heaven and earth like a bellows?
It is empty without being exhausted:
The more it works the more comes out.
Much speech leads inevitably to silence.
Better to hold fast to the void2.
Deeper dive
Straw dogs are used in sacrificial rituals as offerings, and are usually discarded after the rituals are finished.
Lao Tzu’s concept of the Tao stands apart from conventional views of divinity. He describes the Tao as operating impartially, without preference or favor.
This challenges the common view among people to humanize divine or mysterious forces, believing humanity is preferred over the rest of the living things in the natural world.
Lao Tzu, however, encourages us to understand the Tao as something beyond human concerns—a natural force that governs all things equally.
The impersonal Tao
Lao Tzu’s perspective on the Tao offers a crucial insight. For spiritually awakened individuals, they realize they are not controlled by an external power.
Instead, they possess the agency to consciously shape and transform themselves. (See Chapter 57 on self-transformation.)
He Shanggong (approximately 200 BC - ?), an early commentator on the Tao, observed that the phrase “Nature is unkind” (天地不仁) reflects the way heaven and earth nurture all things—not through kindness or benevolence, but through natural processes.
He explains, “Heaven and earth cultivate and transform all things, not out of benevolence, but by following the principle of naturalness.”3
Similarly, the sage, by following the Tao, takes care of people without playing favorites. Instead, the sage emulates the naturalness of heaven and earth.4
The agency of the awakened individual
Wang Bi’s (226 - 249 AD) comments share a similar meaning to He Shanggong’s insights. Both authors touched on the core idea of naturalness in Taoism.
But Wang Bi pointed out a crucial point: the agency of the myriad things for self-governance.
His interpretation is important in that it captures the analytical framework of Taoist thinking — human actions need to model after the natural workings of the Tao.
He said,
“Heaven and earth operate naturally, and they follow wu-wei (nonaction) and do not construct (falsify). The myriad things achieve self-governance without considering heaven and earth as benevolent. He who is benevolent is inclined to intentionally cultivate and make changes, giving favors and acting purposefully. To construct, establish, cultivate, and make change will cause things to lose their purity. Giving favors and acting purposefully will not help all the myriad things preserve themselves… By applying the principle of wu-wei, the myriad things can find ease with themselves, which is sufficient.”5
Spiritual Taoism
Political opportunists are masterful at manipulating lofty ideas and slogans for their private interests. They do so with a penetrative understanding of human nature.
When we are greatly confused by life’s situations, we want directions and clarity.
Most often, thinking things through, investigating the root causes, and finding solutions for problems are simply beyond our capacity. We all have commitments in various directions. This is a part of life.
So, our entanglements in life leave room for those political speculators to take advantage of our lapse in political consciousness.
In this context, Lao Tzu reminds us to be careful and watchful when navigating the muddy political climate.
There will always be political agents who would package themselves as benevolent, impartial, and just rulers, while in reality, they were the opposite of these qualities.
Therefore, we are dealing with the issue of political judgment, which has become a critical challenge in times of great confusion and mindless conformity.
Yet, at the same time, having the ability to step back while others unconsciously conform can be a valuable skill.
It allows us to stay awake in our entanglements. It empowers us to have a healthy dose of self-doubt and, therefore, adjust to life’s complex scenarios.
One of the most daunting challenges of modern times is not a lack of information but arriving at intelligent judgment and decisions through connecting and rising above the sources of information.
In this sense, cultivating independent judgment is challenging but a necessary step toward rising above the trap of enchantment.
Thanks for reading!
Until next week,
Yuxuan
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 13.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 9.
「天施地化，不以仁恩，任自然也。」See Wang Bi, et al., Four Kinds of Laotse 老子四種 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2016), 82.
「聖人愛養萬民，不以仁恩，法天地，行自然。」Ibid., 82.
「天地任自然，無為無造，萬物自相治理，故不仁也。仁者必造立施化，有恩有為。造立施化，則物失其真。有恩有為，則物不具存。... 無為於萬物而萬物各適其所用，則莫不贍矣。」Ibid., 4-5.