“The best of men is like water” is quoted from Laozi: “The best of men is like water; water benefits all things but never competes with them,” which means the highest good is like the quality of water—benefiting everything for nothing.
Laozi then furthered his explanation: “The best of men is like water; water benefits all things but never competes with them; this is the virtue of modesty. All rivers run into the sea, making it the king of valleys, because it stays in the lowest place. Water is the softest thing in the world, but it can go through the hardest thing; this is the virtue of softness. That is why softness can beat hardness and weakness can win strength. Its shapelessness helps it crack into things that have no interstices, from which we can see the lesson without words and the benefit without actions.”
Laozi admires water most among all things in nature, because the virtue of water is the closest to the essence of “Tao”. The ideal “Saint” is the embodiment of “Tao”, because his words and deeds are similar to water. Why saying that the virtue of water is the closest to the essence of “Tao”? Wang Fuzhi gave his explanation: “Among the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth, held by the ancients to compose the physical universe), water is the tiniest and simplest. Wise Taoists prefer its tininess to its popularity. And it always benefits others first while staying behind others.” To fight without fighting and to be selfish through selflessness are the most prominent qualities of water. Water is willing to stay in the lowest and dampest place, moistening everything but for nothing. In the following seven parallel sentences, there are elaborations of water’s virtue and at same time introduction of qualities required for virtuous people. Moreover, Laozi lists seven “Virtuous points” out of the inspiration of water. The final conclusion is that the key of living in a society is “not to fight”, which is to say that you would stay where others hate rather than compete with them, and thus others would never have resentments.
The best of men is like water; water benefits all things but never competes with them. It dwells in places that all people disdain wherein it comes nearest to “Tao”. The virtuous person is good at choosing places for dwelling; he keeps his heart peaceful and fathomless; he treats others with genuineness, friendship and selflessness; he keeps his promise; he can govern the country with simplified procedures; when dealing with affairs, he can extend his abilities; when taking actions, he can seize the opportunity. In the virtue of not fighting, the virtuous person have no mistakes, and thus have no complains.
“The greatest virtue carries all things” refers to cultivate people with greatest virtues. Today, it often refers to cultivate students with high morals and extensive knowledge.
It is quoted from the hexagrams of Zhouyi: “Like the Heaven moving ceaselessly, a gentleman must be pressing forward no matter what; like the all-encompassing Earth, a gentleman must be broad-minded to carry everything.” Ancient Chinese believe that the heaven and earth are the largest, because they contain everything. Heaven and earth together generate all things and four seasons. There will be nothing if there are not heaven and earth. In their opinions, heaven and earth compose the universe and the universe is just heaven and earth. This is ancient Chinese view of naive materialism of the universe. Heaven is high and moving ceaselessly; Earth is thick and carrying all things. Then a philosophy of life can be concluded from the explanation of Qian hexagram and Kun hexagram, which is that life should be as tall as Heaven and moving ceaselessly, and as solid as Earth and carrying all things. |
“Profound sense is intangible” refers to that the most penetrative sense can not be explained through words.
In chapter 41 of Laozi, it writes:When the highest type of men hear “Tao”, they try hard to live in accordance with it. When the mediocre type hear it, they seem to be aware and unaware of it. When the lowest type hear it, they break into loud laughter—If it were not laughed at, it would not be “Tao”. Therefore there is an old saying: “Who understands ‘Tao’ seems dull of comprehension; who is advance in Tao seems to slip backwards; who moves on the even ‘Tao’ seems to go up and down. Superior character appears like a valley; broad character appears like deficiency; Great character appears like infirm; Pure worth appears like contaminated. Sheer white appears like tarnished; Great space has no corners; Great talent takes long to mature; Great music is faintly heard; Great form has no contour; And ‘Tao’ is hidden without a name. It is this ‘Tao’ that is adept at lending its power and bringing fulfillment.” |
