Chapter 54 of the Dao De Jing – Tao Te Ching explores how cultivating inner virtue (De) naturally extends from the individual to family, community, nation, and ultimately the world. It emphasizes the organic growth of ethical influence through non-coercive alignment with the Dao.
What (Dao’s) skilful planter plants
Can never be uptorn;
What his skilful arms enfold,
From him can never be borne.
Sons shall bring in lengthening line,
Sacrifices to his shrine.
Dao when nursed within one’s self,
His vigour will make true;
And where the family it rules
What riches will accrue!
The neighbourhood where it prevails
In thriving will abound;
And when ’tis seen throughout the state,
Good fortune will be found.
Employ it the kingdom o’er,
And men thrive all around.
In this way the effect will be seen in the person, by the observation of different cases; in the family; in the neighbourhood; in the state; and in the kingdom.
How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the sky? By this (method of observation).
Note
At the very beginning, Laozi mentioned that:
- What is well-established cannot be uprooted;
- What is firmly embraced cannot be stripped away.
It refers to grounding oneself in Dao’s principles and unwavering adherence to virtue(De).
Then Laozi outlines a natural progression: personal virtue radiates outward to family, community, nation, and the world.
Finally, Laozi advocates one way to perceive the world, the self-observation.
Since the cultivation of De benefits the people, family, community, nation, or the world at different levels. And the outcomes of inner spiritual work can be observable. We can evaluate the effectiveness of one’s inner cultivation of the Dao and De by observing the external manifestations.
Related Reading
Chapter 47 and Chapter 52: These chapters share the same lineage in their epistemological approach. Chapter 47 proposes “one can know the world without going out the door,” and Chapter 52 advises “know the children, yet hold fast to the mother.” The present chapter further concretizes this method into the cognitive path of “observe the self through the self, observe the world through the world,” which involves extending understanding from oneself to others.
善建不拔，善抱者不脫，子孫以祭祀不輟。修之於身，其德乃真；修之於家，其德乃餘；修之於鄉，其德乃長；修之於國，其德乃豐；修之於天下，其德乃普。故以身觀身，以家觀家，以鄉觀鄉，以國觀國，以天下觀天下。吾何以知天下然哉？以此。
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