Dao De Jing – Chapter 7

Chapter 7 of the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching) articulates a fundamental principle of Laozi: “The movement of the Dao lies in reversal‌.” Every phenomenon inherently contains the seeds of its own negation‌.

Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure. Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?

Note

Heaven and Earth, as metaphysical entities, transcend cycles of creation and destruction‌. Acting as an energetic duality, they interpenetrate and mutually transform, thereby engendering existential multiplicity‌.

The Sage embodies egolessness and detachment‌. By prioritizing collective welfare over self-interest, they diminish individuality to magnify the collective‌. This attitude garners universal respect‌. Paradoxically, it is precisely their selflessness that enables their fulfillment through the fulfillment of others‌.

Further Reading

The statement in Chapter Seven, “Heaven and earth endure because they do not exist for themselves,” echoes the transcendence of “Non-being” in Chapter One’s “Non-being is the beginning of heaven and earth.” While Chapter One emphasizes that the Dao is ineffable and beyond subjective will, Chapter Seven reveals selflessness as the essential attribute of the Dao through the example of heaven and earth “not existing for themselves.” Together, they construct the philosophical framework that “selflessness leads to eternity.”

The line in Chapter Seven, “Is it not because they have no self-interest that they are able to fulfill themselves?” and Chapter Eight’s “The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contention” complement each other. Chapter Eight uses water as a metaphor for the virtue of selflessness, while Chapter Seven explains the practical significance of selflessness from the perspectives of heaven, earth, and the sage. Together, they embody the Daoist dialectical wisdom of “achieving self-fulfillment through selflessness.”

The idea of “achieving self-fulfillment through selflessness” in Chapter Seven resonates with Chapter Eighty-One’s “The sage does not accumulate. The more he does for others, the more he possesses.” Chapter Seven reveals the dialectical relationship between selflessness and self-fulfillment, while Chapter Eighty-One further elaborates on the ultimate wisdom that benefiting others is benefiting oneself through the phrase “the more he does for others, the more he possesses.” Together, they refine the Daoist system of dialectics.

天長地久。天地所以能長且久者，以其不自生，故能長生。是以聖人後其身而身先；外其身而身存。非以其無私耶？故能成其私。