Daodejing Chapter 19 breakdown: undyed silk

Chapter 19 of the Daodejing encourages a return to a more natural and simple state of being, where artificial constructs of wisdom, morality, and desire are minimized to reveal the inherent and spontaneous order of the Dao. This return is beneficial not just for you as an individual but for society as a whole, leading to a more harmonious and compassionate world.

Section 1
Do away with the sages,
Discard the wise,
The people will benefit
A hundredfold.

The chapter begins with a radical call to reject the self-styled intelligentsia, who have lost touch with the spontaneity of the Dao and are stifling society with the atrophied intellectual and moral conventions they espouse.

Section 2
Do away with benevolence,
Discard rectitude,
The people will return to
True filial devotion and compassion.

By calling for the artificial virtues of benevolence and rectitude to be discarded, the text recommends that the formal, external aspects of morality should be replaced with a more innate, natural form of goodness. This is not a call to abandon morality but to return to a state where compassion and filial devotion arise naturally, not from societal imposition but from genuine, simple human interaction.

Section 3
Do away with cunning,
Discard profit,
There will be no thieves or bandits.

The text also declares the elimination of craftiness and profit as essential to prevent avarice and envy caused by the creation of unnecessary desires. The best way to stop crime is for everyone to lead a simple life free of ostentatious luxuries that lead to artificial and harmful distinctions and conflicts.

Section 4
If these three injunctions
Are insufficient to establish a pattern,
Draw on the fundamentals.
Cherish the plainness
Of undyed silk.
Embrace the simplicity
Of the uncarved block of wood.
Reduce selfishness.
Minimize desire.

To hammer home these core messages, the text adds a call for a return to simplicity and potentiality exemplified by undyed silk and an uncarved block of wood. It encourages you to value things in their natural, unadorned state, where they retain the capacity for spontaneous and genuine expression, free from the constraints of societal expectations and artificial constructs.

By returning to state of selflessness, you can live more harmoniously with others and the natural world.

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