Standing Alone

Weaving the Way, verse 80

Introduction

After laying out the Burden of Truth and the Burden of Kinship, this verse presents a utopian alternative to those burdens: Standing Alone.

In typical Dao De Jing fashion, we’re being taught through irony. However, this verse does not stage an internal contradiction to make its point; its irony is only evident in the context of the entire work. While this verse’s language is elegant and image-rich, which warrants exposition, I have decided to forgo my standard commentarial method. Instead, I will invite you on a journey back through the beginning verses of this text and encourage you to take your seat as an interpreter.

Translation

A small state with few people.

If 1,000 people were to have tools,
and yet make no use of them;
If the people feared death
and moved away;
There would be chariots,
and nowhere to ride them;
There would be soldiers,
and no place to form ranks.

If people revert to primitive ways,
and because of this:
They took pleasure in their food.
Beautified their clothes,
Delighted in their customs
Rested in their homes.

Neighboring states gaze upon each other,
The sounds of chickens and dogs,
drift between them.
The people live out their lives,
Never travelling back and forth.

Commentary

For the last 79 verses, we have been exhorted to leave behind material concerns and self-centeredness in favor of harmoniously engaging with life’s dynamic unfolding. We have been told that the Burden of Truth is the realization that neither blind assertion nor complete passivity is Integrity. In The Burden of Kinship, we learned that true kinship requires a selflessness that holds everyone and everything accountable. Hardly a set-up for utopia being a stand-alone affair!

In verse 1, we were told that the unnameable is the embryo of existence, and that naming gives birth to all things. We are fundamentally one interconnected experience, sliced and diced by our remarkable capacity for subjectivity. There is no such thing as “Standing Alone.”

In verse 2, it says that opposites create themselves through their relationship to each other. This principle leads to essential non-acquisition because there is nothing to acquire in a unified field. Such a view is central to the Weaver’s understanding of harmony.

In verse 3, we are instructed to release attachments, nourish our being, soften our opinions, and strengthen our confidence (in our fundamental wholeness) as key components of inner peace. In verse 5, we are told, “excessive seeking hurries destitution.”

In verse 7, it says, “being other-made enables immortality.”

Verse 8 tells us that water is a most excellent role model because it benefits all things without reason; to do so, it is willing to abide in low places. In other words, we must be willing to be humiliated and looked down upon if that is what Integrity (德, dé) demands. A stark contrast to the honor-based, performative virtue of the sociohistorical context in which this wisdom text emerged.

Verse 9 warns against excessive accumulation and notes that wealth and pride lead to our demise. Only the wealthy and proud indulge in fine food, spend time and money on beautifying their clothes, delight in ritual performance, and stay isolated in their homes.

Verse 12 demands that we Examine Desire and the impacts of having our attention pulled about by the Five Colors, Five Sounds, and Five Flavors. “Racing around on the hunt” for satisfaction in external beauty, food, and ritual “causes madness in the mind.”

Verse 13 reminds us that “honor and shame are extras, regard caring as your core.” Further, “when love is the essence of all, the world is in hand.” That doesn’t read like a set-up for Standing Alone.

Verse 15 suggests that “one who maintains the way does not pursue fulfillment.” Utopia includes all the mess of being interconnected; as this verse says, “Who can patiently purify the silty water? Who can serenely clarify this existence?”

Verse 17 points out that a Master Weaver is so transparent and effective in acting “just so” that people love them yet barely register their influence on events. Again, a stark contrast to isolation!

Verse 19 offers a message that may seem to support the idea of utopia presented in this verse: to end knowing, competition, and falsehood on the way to achieving purity, protecting simplicity, lessening conceit, and reducing greed. However, the message of verse 19 is that these are ideal ways of being in a relationship, not that we should end relationships to reduce these qualities artificially.

Verse 20 sharply criticizes any approach to life that emphasizes hedonistic pleasures as a means to ultimate satisfaction. Proper nourishment only comes from our relationship to the Mother (i.e., being), which we learned in verses 1 and 16 (and others) is the origin of all that exists (i.e., becoming) and that to which all returns. This endless, interpenetrating cycle is reinforced in verse 25.

Verse 22 tells us the wise “single-mindedly shepherd their world” and that “through cooperation the world harmonizes with them.” A clear message of right relationship is essential to Weaving the Way.

Verse 27 declares that “Weavers cultivate empowering others, never abandoning them.” It goes on to express the profundity of engaging in mutually beneficial relationships as a means of ‘seizing light.’

While we could continue through all 79 verses this way, I will conclude with the closing message of verse 28:

Simplicity, free and unfettered, is a tool
Weavers of the Way cultivate this tool,
in service to Creation.

Isn’t the greatest command,
harmonious coexistence?