Chapter 81

Original Text

信言不美。美言不信。善言不辯。辯言不善。知者不博。博者不知。聖人不積。既以為人己愈有。既以與人己愈多。天之道利而不害。聖人之道為而不爭。

Translation

Trustworthy words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not trustworthy. Good words need no argument; argumentative words are not good. The knowledgeable are not broadly learned; the broadly learned do not truly know. The Sage does not accumulate. The more he acts for others, the more he himself possesses. The more he gives to others, the more he himself has. The Dao of Heaven benefits and does not harm. The Dao of the Sage acts and does not contend.

Word Notes

• 博 — "broadly [learned]": wide, extensive.

Chapter Explanation

Trustworthy words are not refined and beautiful. Refined and beautiful words are not trustworthy. Good words do not require disputation. Words of disputation are not good. One who possesses knowledge does not seek broad learning. One who seeks broad learning may not necessarily possess knowledge.

For this reason the Sage does not seek to accumulate everything upon his own person. Although he does not seek to accumulate upon himself, yet because he does everything for the sake of others, he himself grows ever more in possession. Because he yields everything to others, he himself grows ever more in abundance.

The Dao of Heaven benefits the myriad beings and does not harm the myriad beings. The Dao of the Sage takes all affairs within the cosmos as matters within his own nature and shoulders all responsibility, yet does not contend with others.

Discourse

Confucius said: "One's words need not always be trustworthy; one's actions need not always bear fruit." The Buddha also often used expedient teachings in preaching the Dharma. From this we can see that the ancient sages did not rigidly cling to trustworthiness. But the sages were not deceiving people. It was for the sake of transforming and ferrying all beings — teaching in accordance with each person's capacity. If they had spoken the true principle directly, people would not have been able to believe it. Since people could not believe it, the sages had no choice but to proceed as they did. But this kind of non-trustworthiness is the idea of teaching through expedient adaptation.

What Laozi says — "trustworthy words are not beautiful" — goes a step further.

For trustworthiness is the name of the teaching that is most earnest and solid. Trustworthiness belongs to the element earth; deep De is sufficient to bear all things. Moreover, it contains true humaneness, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom within it.

Therefore, in Confucius's teachings, it is in the era of the Great Unity that one first speaks of "practicing trust and cultivating harmony." Laozi, in places where he disparages humaneness, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom, never disparages trustworthiness. Only in this chapter does he say "trustworthy words are not beautiful" — which seems different from what came before.

What people do not realize is this: the earlier emphasis on trustworthiness was spoken for the era when the Great Unity is first inaugurated. This statement that "trustworthy words are not beautiful" is spoken for the era when the Great Unity has evolved to its ultimate extreme.

For at that time, everyone would already practice trust and cultivate harmony. Then a further evolution must occur: even trustworthiness itself would no longer be needed. When people devote themselves to trustworthiness, there arises a calculating mind about how to establish trust — this inevitably falls into attachment to marks. Therefore even trustworthiness must be cast off. People would simply act from their innate nature and move at Heaven's impulse, no longer knowing what trustworthy or untrustworthy means. Whatever should be said, they say; whatever should be done, they do. Not only would they have no mind to establish trust in themselves, they would have no mind to demand trust of others. Everyone would simply forget one another's merit and be joyful together.

This at last reaches the realm of divine transformation.

The phrases earlier in this chapter — "good words need no argument" and "the knowledgeable are not broadly learned" — all carry this same meaning. Were one to take post-celestial reasoning to discuss this, how could it ever be understood?

But evolving to this level is by no means easy. It requires a great sage to emerge several thousand years beforehand and begin to advocate: taking the affairs of the cosmos as matters within one's own nature; possessing a capacity for shouldering responsibility as rich as Yi Yin's; embodying the Dao of Heaven that benefits all under Heaven without harming it; in all things acting for others, not for oneself; yielding to others, not seeking precedence. Only in this way can it gradually be brought about.

I, this young student, humbly believe that the present time is precisely the era of practicing trust and cultivating harmony. It is also an era when heterodox doctrines run rampant and right and wrong must be distinguished. It is an era when the teachings of all lands and all ages lie jumbled together, needing to be integrated and unified.

Laozi's several phrases about beautiful words not being trustworthy — these must still wait for a future day to be put into practice.

But the words about acting for others and not for oneself, yielding to others and not seeking precedence, shouldering the affairs of all under Heaven and all ages, embodying the Dao of Heaven in benefiting others without harming them — these are the exact medicine for today's ailment. There is not a moment to lose.