#64 Small Steps, Careful Endings, and Lasting Impact
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64: Digest Lao Tzu’s life principles for personal well-being and breakthroughs.
Welcome back to The Wisdom of Lao Tzu.
This week, we delve into Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching, which can be read as part two of the previous one.
In both chapters, Lao Tzu emphasized the importance of being careful with the beginning.
Everything in life starts with a first step. Yet Lao Tzu also reminds us to focus on the end to avoid failure.
Let’s dive into it.
**64**
其安易持，其未兆易謀。
其脆易泮，其微易散。
為之於未有，治之於未亂。
合抱之木，生於毫末；
九層之臺，起於累土；
千里之行，始於足下。
(為者敗之，執者失之。
是以聖人無為故無敗；
無執故無失。1)
民之從事，常於幾成而敗之。
慎終如始，則無敗事。
(是以聖人欲不欲，不貴難得之貨；
學不學，復眾人之所過，以輔萬物之自然而不敢為。)
Border-crossing: English translations
#1 Lin Yutang’s version
That which lies still is easy to hold;
That which is not yet manifest is easy to forestall;
That which is brittle (like ice) easily melts;
That which is minute easily scatters.
Deal with a thing before it is there;
Check disorder before it is rife.
A tree with a full span’s girth begins from a tiny sprout;
A nine-storied terrace begins with a clod of earth.
A journey of a thousand li begins at one’s feet.
He who acts, spoils;
He who grasps, lets slip.
Because the Sage does not act, he does not spoil,
Because he does not grasp, he does not let slip.
The affairs of men are often spoiled within an ace of completion,
By being careful at the end as at the beginning
Failure is averted.
Therefore the Sage desires to have no desire,
And values not objects difficult to obtain.
Learns that which is unlearned,
And restores what the multitude have lost.
That he may assist in the course of Nature
And not presume to interfere.
#2 Edmund Ryden’s version
While it is at rest, it is easy to master;
While no sign has yet emerged, it is easy to plan.
While yet small, it is easy to nip off;
While yet minute, it is easy to destroy.
Undertake before it has come to be;
Regulate before it is yet disordered.
A tree you can hug sprouts from a downy shoot;
A nine-layered altar rises from a basketful of earth;
An ascent of 100 paces begins beneath your foot.
Those who overdo anything destroy it,
Those who grasp anything lose it.
For this reason,
The Sage
Is without action, therefore he never spoils anything.
Without grasping, therefore he never loses anything.
When the people undertake things, always on the point of completion they spoil them.
Therefore it is said:
The key to approaching things is:
Be as careful of the end as of the start, then there will be nothing spoilt.
For this reason,
The Sage desires to not desire and does not appreciate goods hard to obtain;
Learns what others fail to learn;
Walks on paths where all others went too far.
For this reason,
Follow the naturalness of the myriad things and do not dare
to act outside it.2
#3 D. C. Lau’s version
It is easy to maintain a situation while it is still secure;
It is easy to deal with a situation before symptoms develop;
It is easy to break a thing when it is yet brittle;
It is easy to dissolve a thing when it is yet minute.
Deal with a thing while it is still nothing;
Keep a thing in order before disorder sets in.
A tree that can fill the span of a man’s arms
Grows from a downy tip;
A terrace nine storeys high
Rises from handfuls of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles
Starts from beneath one’s feet.
Whoever does anything to it will ruin it;
whoever lays hold of it will lose it.
Therefore the sage, because he does nothing, never ruins anything;
and, because he does not lay hold of anything, loses nothing.
In their enterprises the people
Always ruin them when on the verge of success.
Be as careful at the end as at the beginning
And there will be no ruined enterprises.
Therefore the sage desires not to desire
And does not value goods which are hard to come by;
Learns to be without learning
And makes good the mistakes of the multitude
In order to help the myriad creatures to be natural and to refrain from daring to act.3
Deeper dive
No one likes crises or emergencies in life.
However, Lao Tzu challenges us to view a crisis positively.
One of the essential takeaways from his life principles is about crisis management.
Live with crisis
In the beginning statement, Lao Tzu says that things are relatively easy to manage in the beginning. It is less demanding to tackle potential problems while they are still undeveloped or before their symptoms manifest.
He reminds us to pay attention to minor, invisible problems that could become big troubles.
Therefore, the most effective and yet difficult method to address a crisis is to eliminate it in the beginning or early stage of its development.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, small beginnings can actually lead to unexpected outcomes on a large scale.
Yet, bound by human nature, we often become impatient with these tiny little steps. We are inclined to rush things, contend for fast results, and give up in the process because we think it takes too long and becomes dull.
The key to accomplishment is enduring the repetitive and unexciting part of the journey.
Lao Tzu further stresses the importance of holistic thinking by showing examples of building a nine-story tower or finishing a thousand-mile journey.
He encourages us to bravely take the first step and walk with consistency, determination, and clarity.
Empowered by a holistic understanding, we see the forest with a perception of our positioning in the journey of exploring it.
With a grasp of the big picture, we can concentrate on the beginning and the very first step.
On the idea of “That which lies still is easy to hold,” Wang Bi (226-249 AD) had a very insightful note worth mentioning here.
He said, “When in peace, one should never forget danger. When in possession, one should never forget the loss. One should plan a thing before it is accomplished, so it is referred to as easy.”4
I think Wang Bi is trying to illustrate the psychology of the sage mindset — a way of finding calm and security in uncertainty. It inspires one to embrace the constant flow of change, seize opportunities in uncertainties, and take crises as a constant.
By doing so, one is always planning, executing, and moving around while carefully observing the changing tide of things.
Wisdom in action
The building of the Singaporean nation exemplified Lao Tzu’s teachings in practice.
Under the leadership of the island nation’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore went through a series of internal and external crises that could jeopardize its state-building in the beginning.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Lee led the fight against Communism with a firm grasp of its threat.5
In his words, “If we don’t try, Singapore will become Communist. If we try and fail, it will become Communist. The important thing is for us to try.”
The fight against the communist takeover in Singapore is a proper case story for Lao Tzu’s statement, “Deal with a thing while it is still nothing; Keep a thing in order before disorder sets in.”
The political climate constantly shifts. After being expelled from the Malaysian Federation in 1965, Singapore had to find its right position in a new direction.
Under the circumstances of the Cold War, Lee shared his vision with his people, and together, they built a modern Singapore based on multi-racialism, multiculturalism, universal values, and an inclusive nation.
During unusual and chaotic times after the Second World War, Singapore had to find pragmatic ways to build its economy and improve ordinary people’s lives. Without economic independence, the country could become powerless in navigating international affairs.
Therefore, Lee Kuan Yew and his team secured the establishment of British military bases in Singapore, which became a critical source of employment and the national economy. At one point in the late 1960s, Britain’s withdrawal from the bases resulted in the loss of about 150,000 jobs in Singapore.
Yet Lee and his fellow countrymen observed circumstances with patience and seized opportunities when the right moment came.
When the U.S. was dragged into the Vietnam War, about 15 percent of Singapore’s national economy benefited from providing military procurement to the American government.
Through decades of pragmatic state-building, a resilient and forward-looking Singapore emerged from the geopolitical storms and changing international relations and continues to write its own stories in a new age.
Spiritual Taoism
Perhaps the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one’s feet,” is still the most famous or popular quote from the Tao Te Ching.
This statement can be taken as a principle for moving forward in whatever we do in life.
Yet, Lao Tzu also reveals his secret to avoiding failure: never bathe in complacency and always treat the end with care and focus. The consequence of a tiny misstep approaching the end of a journey can be deadly. In his words,
The affairs of men are often spoiled within an ace of completion,
By being careful at the end as at the beginning
Failure is averted.
A relevant point from reading Lao Tzu is the notion of not losing. He does not discuss winning as a strategic goal.
Instead, the fundamental spirit of using strategies, cultivating awareness, and developing clarity is about not losing.
As this chapter shows, we are often the culprits of our own failures by not treating the beginnings and endings with sufficient care and caution.
Lao Tzu does not dwell on winning because it requires a combination of external conditions and uncontrollable factors.
And from Lao Tzu’s thinking, all things evolve and transform constantly instead of remaining static.
So, we can imagine Lao Tzu asking this question: What is the point of winning if all gains will eventually wear themselves out?
This way of looking at things gives the Taoist a radical sense of calm from non-attachment and a heightened awareness derived from a holistic understanding of things.
In essence, compared to winning and gaining and focusing on specific outcomes, it is preferable to preserve what is already within our control and let go of excessive wants.
Chuang Tzu says, “A good completion takes a long time; a bad completion cannot be changed later. Can you afford to be careless? Just go along with things and let your mind move freely. Resign yourself to what cannot be avoided and nourish what is within you—this is best.”6
This principle is versatile—it can be applied to building long-lasting relationships, sustaining high levels of productivity, or achieving personal growth.
Essentially, it is a way of life that requires careful attention to the endings and a receptive attitude toward continually evolving and transforming.
Thanks for reading!
Wishing you peace and wisdom,
Yuxuan
According to another textual tradition and research by some contemporary scholars, this statement and the last sentence may be misplaced or even redundant as they differ from the main message in this chapter. For the time being, I just put them here with brackets.
Daodejing, trans. Edmund Ryden. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 133.
Tao Te Ching, trans. D. C. Lau. (London: Penguin Classics, 1963), 71.
「以其安不忘危，持之不忘亡，謀之無功之勢，故曰『易』也。」See Wang Bi, et al., Four Kinds of Laotse 老子四種 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2016), 56.
On the real, pernicious, and long-lasting danger posed by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), see this article by Bilveer Singh, “The communist threat in perspective.”
Burton Watson, “In the world of men,” in The Complete Works of Zhuangzi (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012), 28.
Thanks for yet another great piece. I admire your discipline consistently churning out 2 pieces every week! Not easy.
This quote resonates with me. ‘Those who overdo anything destroy it, Those who grasp anything lose’. As I have a tendency to overly focus and overdo when I am passionate about something. Also thinking that we live in a ‘monetize and scale fast’ society so this is a timely reminder.