Tao Te Ching, 10

Can you keep the spirit and embrace the One without departing from them?

Can you concentrate your vital force and achieve the highest degree of weakness like an infant?

Can you clean and purify your profound insight so it will be spotless?

Can you love the people and govern the state without knowledge (cunning)?

Can you play the role of the female in the opening and closing of the gates of Heaven?

Can you understand all and penetrate all without taking any action?

To produce things and to rear them, To produce, but not to take possession of them, To act, but not to rely on one's own ability, To lead them, but not to master them - This is called profound and secret virtue. (Tao Te Ching, 10)

Today, I would try to interpret the above text which is translated by Wing-Tsit Chan.

From the text above, it can be understood that the Tao or the profound and secret mover is not for strength and might. It the text it uses the metaphors of infant and female which indicates weakness.  This means that the Tao is not promoting war or any violent action. He is not up for those who aim reform by intensive planning or by the use of force. Lao Tzu’s Tao is for reform done by the use of non-action; doing nothing that will violate the natural pace of man and things. For Lao Tzu, man is originally good, therefore, he is pure and innocent of the world. What the man does is based on his natural instincts and not as a product of greed in the world. He does what is naturally to be done.

It can also be understood from the text that the Tao Te Ching is preaching about being humble. For example, in the above passage, it was stated that one act yet he cannot rely on his own ability. In here, what the excerpt is saying is that, one must understand that he is not the one in control of things. Nature has its own take or way of things and it is in control of its self. Man, being only living and relying on nature must not take control of things. He must be humble enough to accept the fact that he cannot or does not have the right to manipulate nature as it has its own take on things. He must not base all the decisions to his self as he has no control over things.

Based on the text, Lao Tzu is teaching man that its natural capacity is to be weak. This means that man is not born to exert some force in his doings. What he has to do is to abide his natural way or take on things. Man is not born to have ambitions of the world for he has no control of it. He cannot control anything, thus he must not force to control it. Controlling it means he violated his natural way.