The Short of It:
Good government is structure, not interference.
57. ‘The Genuine Influence.’
57.1 A state may be ruled by (measures of) correction; weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity; (but) the kingdom is made one’s own (only) by freedom from action and purpose.
57.2 How do I know that it is so? By these facts: In the kingdom the multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people have, the greater disorder is there in the state and clan; the more acts of crafty dexterity that [people] possess, the more do strange contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the more thieves and robbers there are.
57.3 Therefore a sage has said, “I will do nothing (of purpose), and the people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to the primitive simplicity.’
57. Genuineness.
Make the upright rule the nation. Make the crafty conduct the army. Make [them] who [take] no measures emperor.
How do I know that this is what ought to be done? I know it from this: When the world has many prohibitory enactments, the people become more and more poor. When the people have many warlike weapons, the government gets more into trouble. The more craft and ingenuity that [people] have, the greater the number of fantastical things that come out. And, as works of cunning art are more displayed, thieves multiply.
Therefore the sage says, “I do nothing, and the people are spontaneously transformed. I love quietness, and the people are spontaneously rectified. I take no measures, and the people become spontaneously rich. I have no lusts, and the people become spontaneously simple-minded.”
57. Simplicity in Habits.
57.1 With rectitude one governs the state; with craftiness one leads the army; with non-diplomacy one takes the empire. How do I know that it is so? Through IT.
57.2 The more restrictions and prohibitions are in the empire, the poorer grow the people. The more weapons the people have, the more troubled is the state. The more there is cunning and skill, the more startling events will happen. The more mandates and laws are enacted, the more there will be thieves and robbers.
57.3 Therefore the holy [person] says: I practice non-assertion, and the people of themselves reform. I love quietude, and the people of themselves become righteous. I use no diplomacy, and the people of themselves become rich. I have no desire, and the people of themselves remain simple.
The Long of It.
Chapter 57 is a sloppy, hot mess. Mostly because the translators are doing their best not to intuit what is clearly an intuitive chapter.
Lao Tsu loves to let us solve paradoxes he sets up (see Chapters 2, 9, and 28 for good examples). And he tries with Chapter 57 too.
But the translations here treat Chapter 57 like a scrapbook of disorganized truisms, rather than a unified paradox.
We have to bring ourselves, and what we know about Lao Tsu’s philosophy, to the table if Chapter 57 is going to shine.
Lao Tsu has given us advice before about good government. It should “secure good order” (Chap 8), but with “no violent measures” (Chapter 28).
He has also given us advice about weapons: a sage “does not use weapons to force the people” (Chapter 30); and the army, “who has killed multitudes of [people] should weep” (Chapter 31).
Hidden paradox.
But Chapter 57 really starts to pop when we dig for Lao Tsu’s familiar paradox.
The first stanza sets up the paradox, the second stanza describes the paradox chain, and the third stanza solves the paradox. Lao Tsu describes the paradox chain in stanza #2 like this:
1. Too many laws make people poor. 2. Poor people become ambitious. 3. Ambitious people create (or offer) cool stuff. 4. Cool stuff needs more laws to protect it (or against it). 5. Too many laws make people poor (the cycle starts over).
The cool stuff Legge refers to as “strange contrivances,” Chalmers as “fantastical things,” and Suzuki as “startling events.”
And the cycle back to more laws is implied once thieves and robbers appear.
Chapter 57 is not Laos Tsu’s neatest paradox.
The prestige.
The solution needs a little help as well. Because as is, we are in danger of seeing the Sage as a passive fool who expects order by default. They are not.
As Lao Tsu has repeatedly told us, the sage never does “nothing.” They act inaction (see Chapters 3, 26, 29, 37, 43, and 48), which is different than doing nothing.
The proof is in the opening stanza:
People create governments to have order, then create armies to protect the governments. But only the best governments can resist turning those armies on the people that created them.
This is the paradox! You don’t have to beat people over the head. Just give them structure and they can figure things out. If you want people to be a-holes, just keep smacking them in the face when they make mistakes. If you want people to be productive, responsible adults, treat them with respect. Help them when they need help, give them a safe environment to learn in, and leave them alone.
It’s not rocket science people. It’s Tao in-action. Get it?
-TB
