Chapter 35

Original Text

執大象，天下往。往而不害，安平泰。樂與餌，過客止。道之出口，淡乎其無味。視之不足見，聽之不足聞，用之不可既。

Translation

Hold the Great Image, and all under Heaven will come. They come and are not harmed -- peace, calm, and stability.

Music and fine food make the passing traveler stop.

But when Dao is put into words, how bland — it seems to have no flavor. Look for it — there is not enough to see. Listen for it — there is not enough to hear. Yet use it — and it cannot be exhausted.

Word Notes

• 泰 — "stability": Steady, composed, weighty; carrying connotations of solidity and security.
• 餌 — "food": Bait; here fine food or delicacies used to lure.

Chapter Explanation

If one takes hold of the formless Great Image and uses it to address all under Heaven, the people of the world will naturally come in submission. When they come, they are not harmed but are made to be at peace, calm, and secure.

If instead one resorts to stratagems — setting out music and fine food as bait to lure people — even a passing traveler can be made to stop. But when the music and food run out, the traveler departs all the same.

When Dao is spoken aloud, it is bland and without flavor. Look at it — it has no form, nothing to see. Listen to it — it has no sound, nothing to hear. Yet try to use it, and it proves inexhaustible.

Discourse

In Laozi's era of warfare, there must have been many unscrupulous characters traveling among the states, instigating military conflict and stealing power and profit for themselves. The rulers and ministers of that time, seeing that the rhetoric of these men was enough to stir people to action — and enough to do harm — inevitably made use of them, keeping bands of retainers to expand their influence. Yet these retainers sat idle and ate without working, draining the state's resources. They sought only their personal comfort and inevitably brought harm to all under Heaven.

And so Laozi could not but expose this great evil in advance. Savor closely the six characters "music and fine food make the passing traveler stop" — they capture perfectly the treacherous hearts and ugly faces of those who became retainers.

Those who became retainers were generally men without the standing of citizens. Had they possessed the standing of citizens, they would have been called hosts, not guests. Laozi calls them "passing travelers" because they had no constancy, no love for their country — they held only to the creed of eating and watching plays. Like the cock-crowing and dog-stealing types of Lord Mengchang's household, they wheedled a few coins here and there. Day after day they haunted the singing halls and dancing pavilions, listening to music and melodies, squandering the state's currency and treasures. Day after day they feasted on lavish banquets, devouring the fat and marrow of the people. When the state fell and the race was extinguished, they slipped away with perfect composure — casting off the old coat, marrying the new groom. They found the sage-ruler Liu quite superior to "that boy from the Sima family." (When Liu Yao conquered the Western Jin and carried off its empress, he asked her: "How do I compare to that boy from the Sima family?" She replied: "Your Majesty is a sage-ruler who founded a dynasty; he was an incompetent lord of a ruined state.") People like this are just like travelers at an inn — beyond occupying their room, eating their meals, and watching their entertainment, they are utterly indifferent to the innkeeper, the inn itself, and their fellow guests. No matter how well the innkeeper treats them, they cannot be kept for long.

Seeing this, those who hold power and influence would do far better — rather than using music and fine food to nourish these cock-crowing and dog-stealing types so lavishly — to take Dao as their master, to cease coveting influence, to stop employing petty men, and to govern through quiet nonaction. For nonaction can accomplish everything. From nothing, it brings forth something. This is the Great Image of all under Heaven. Hold fast to this Great Image and one can bring peace to all under Heaven. All under Heaven will naturally submit, and those who submit can be made to dwell in peace and security, free from the least anxiety.

This Dao, though its words come out sounding bland and flavorless — though it cannot be seen or heard, and lacks the bluster of the retainers' rhetoric — yet possesses this wondrous efficacy. It is nothing like those greedy devourers of music and fine food, those passing travelers who merely talk a fine game and accomplish nothing real.