The Power of Compassion | Tao Te Ching Chapter 67 Explained (Part 1)

Everyone under heaven says that my Tao is great and beyond compare. Because it is great, it seems different. If it were not different, it would have vanished long ago. I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy. The second is economy. The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage. From economy comes generosity. From humility comes leadership. Nowadays, men shun mercy but try to be brave. They abandon economy but try to be generous. They do not believe in humility but always try to be first. This is certain death. Mercy brings victory in battle and strength in defense. It is the means by which heaven saves and guards. So this chapter stands out to me a lot, largely because of the section where Lao Tzu states that there are three treasures which he holds and keeps. To put this in context, remember, this is Taoism we're talking about here. You know, Taoism, that philosophy that's all about letting go of things. And here we're told that even with that in mind, there are three things that Lao Tzu considers to be so important that they are not subject to this rule of letting things go. What are these things? Mercy, also translated as compassion. Economy, also translated as moderation. And daring not to be ahead of others, also translated as humility or daring not to take the lead. It seemed to me that these three attributes were so important that they really needed to be addressed individually. And so to accomplish this within the demands of my time, I decided to make this chapter into a three-part, one video for each attribute, and each video taking a look at a different translation of the same chapter. So with that, we'll waste no more time and dive into the first attribute, mercy. So the translation I used for this chapter was the Jia Fu Fang, I hope I'm saying that right, but the Jia Fu Fang and Jane English translation, which I appreciate because of its clarity, conciseness, and tendency to adhere to the overall average of what all the other translations are saying. The way I interpret it, if you take and line up all the different translations of the on a spectrum, at least the ones that I read because there are literally hundreds of them, it seems that the Jia Fu Fang usually falls about in the middle. I don't usually see it making any crazy divergences from the other translations, and overall it seems to me to be a pretty good one for getting the general idea of what's being said. So with that, this translation renders the first attribute as mercy, but other translations that I will use for this chapter call it compassion. So why does Lao Tzu set so much store by compassion? Well, if you read throughout the Tao Te Ching, you will see the idea of compassion and other-centeredness coming out all over the text. We've talked about the idea of primal union, or oneness with all things, being defined as an ability to take all things as part of yourself, by conflating their interests and needs with your own. This is love in the truest sense, to identify others as being a part of yourself, and caring for them as much as you would for yourself. But looking again at chapter 67, Lao Tzu says something very interesting. He says, Another translation says, And still another puts it as, But what does this mean? How does compassion lead to bravery? To figure this out, let's consider the idea of courage for a minute, and examine the different motivations for courage. There have been many brave and courageous acts done in the world, but they have been done for many different reasons. I think that when we really examine these reasons though, we can largely divide them into two categories, courage for the sake of the self, and courage for the sake of others. A person may do a brave thing in order to get something they want, courage for the self. They may also be brave for the sake of impressing others, also courage for the self. On the other hand, they may be brave for the sake of helping others to be brave, which I suppose would go under courage for others. Or they may be brave in order that somebody else might gain something, or be saved from something, which obviously goes under courage for the sake of others. There may also be times when a brave act serves both the person acting and somebody else, but I don't think this deserves its own category, since this instance only borrows from the other two categories, rather than bringing something else to the table. So now let's examine these two categories a bit more. Courage for the sake of the self can be motivated by desire, ambition, lust, greed, or selfishness. Bravery on behalf of others is motivated exclusively by true love. You cannot do anything for anyone else, for any reason other than love. If you do something for someone else and you are motivated by pride, glory, or a desire to look good, or even a desire to be the kind of person that does things for others, you are not doing things for others at all. You are doing it for yourself. This action may serve someone else, but at the end of the day, it wasn't for them that you did it. In doing the action, you are thinking primarily of the self. Therefore, bravery that truly occurs for others can only be motivated by love. Now, when a person does a brave thing, it does in fact matter where the motivation comes from. If a person is brave in doing something on behalf of the self, their bravery will only last until the desire they are being brave for is overcome by a stronger selfish desire. Let's say hypothetically that you want to attack another person to take their money. It does take a certain amount of courage to attack another person head on. You're willing to muster this courage in order to gratify your desire for this person's money. However, let's say that you run over to attack them and realize that they are holding a weapon and you have none. Will you proceed to show bravery in the face of danger to gratify your desire for their money? You probably won't. You'll probably get out of there as quick as you can. Why? Because your self-serving desire to avoid injury or death is greater than your self-serving to have their money. Bravery that is motivated by a selfish desire always runs the risk of being overcome by another selfish desire. Bravery that is motivated by love, however, seems to have the power to overcome even the greatest self-serving desires. Perfect love has the ability to overcome fear. History is full of people, known and unknown, who are able to show spectacular bravery in the face of danger and opposition because of love. When you choose to put someone else's needs above your own, and you go to great and courageous lengths in order to meet them, you have access to a greater courage and power than can be harnessed by a person acting under selfish desires alone. This is the power of Tao. Love, compassion, oneness with all things, this is the nature of the Tao's influence on the world. The end of the chapter tells us, mercy brings victory in battle and strength in defense. It is the means by which heaven All that the Tao does is done by love. It cares for everyone and everything, and it does so without any desire to be recognized or compensated. In short, the Tao takes care of all things by compassion, mercy, and love. The closer we get to Tao, the more we likewise come to embody this same kind of selfless love for all things. I don't know if the order is significant when Lao Tzu names his most prized treasures, but I do find it interesting that he makes mention of this one first. May we all come closer to Tao, so that we can likewise possess this same love. Thanks for watching, join the discord if you want to talk more about this in depth, and I will see you all tomorrow for part 2 of chapter 67. Peace and blessings.