Tao Te Ching, 47

One may know the world without going out of doors.

One may see the Way of Heaven without looking through the windows.

The further one goes, the less one knows.

Therefore the sage knows without going about,

Understands without seeing,

And accomplishes without any action. (Tao Te Ching, 47)

Today, I would try to interpret the above text from the topic " No Knowledge, No Desire ".

From the book of Ralph Dale, which was about the Tao Te Ching, it was said there that Lao Tzu has no trust in understanding things that comes from experience or by perception. From this I interpret his words in a way that Lao Tzu is saying that in order to explain things, one doesn't need to experience all because we do have theories and studies that could explain it. A sage can explain things with the use of these theories and not just basing it all to the person's experiences. The experience of that person may not be true to all and when one explains through it, he may come up to wrong conclusions. An explanation to things must not solely base on the experiences of the person as experience are relative.

In the text, it is saying that one may know things through others explanations. Explanations that are valid, with proofs and not just by perception or mere experience. On the last part though, I disagree in that one can accomplish something without doing anything. I think that Lao Tzu is agreeing with Confucius in a way that the sage for Confucius also doesn't do anything. For him, a sage only inspires people and let man do his part and I think that is what Lao Tzu meant too. I disagree on that as the thing that inspires people is the actions of the sage. It is how truthful he is in his words. That is what inspires people, therefore he accomplishes things because of his actions.

The text is under the topic " No Knowledge, No Desire " because it is in a way letting the sage accepts to his self that he doesn't know anything. His experiences are not sufficient enough to explain everything. When one accepts that he doesn't know, then he will not have a desire to be someone great. He will not boast himself to be someone who knows everything.


_______
Reference
Dale, R. Tao Te Ching: A New Translation and Commentary. (2002). Watkins Publishing. London.