Lao Tzu Quote - Tao Te Ching

[Ya know]

XIX Book One

''Exterminate the sage, discard the wise,
And the people will benefit a hundredfold;''

What do you think this means? Do you think that you would have benefited from Leo never existing? If we had never discovered his work? What are the benefits of having no mentor? No Sage?

Would we become in tune with our own god if there were less teachers? With less distractions we would become aware of our inner nature?

 

 

[Ya know]

This is the full quote for context:

Exterminate the sage, discard the wise,
And the people will benefit a hundredfold;
Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,
And the people will again be filial;
Exterminate ingenuity, discard profit,
And there will be no more thieves and bandits.

These three, being false adornments, are not enough
And the people must have something to which they can attach themselves:
Exhibit the unadorned and embrace the uncarved block,
Have little thought of self and as few desires as possible.

[Preety_India]

 

Get rid of all attachments and desires

Be in flow with the natural flow of the universe 

 

That's the meaning of Tao De Ching.

Nothing is lesser. Nothing is greater. No wisdom can ever fulfill man because it's a whirlpool leading you nowhere 

 

Be your natural self. And nothing extra. Don't try to improve because you will keep improving. 

Follow the Tao in every moment 

Every effort you put consciously is always against the Tao.

Tao flows and so should you. 

Everything has the Tao. The river has a Tao. Your chair has a Tao. 

Tao is in everything 

You learn to embrace the Tao. You crack open the universe.

Or else you will always be restless in the search for truth and it will always elude you. 

Embrace the Tao and you'll be free. 

Thats the essence of Tao De Ching.

 

[tsuki]

"the sage", "wise", "benevolence", "rectitude", "ingenuity" and "profit" are labels that make us judge things as desirable.
When we think of judgement, we usually think of "negative" labels such as "fatty", "fa*", "idiot", etc.
Lao tzu asks you to stop judging whatsoever. Remember that "I" is implicit in "you".

[Zanoni]

It depends on how you view the spiritual scripture. 

Like the Bhagavad Gita, you can read Krishna guiding Arjuna on the battlefield. Even the killing of his family members to slay the greedy King and his army. And some people today give this as an excuse for war. 

However, this can be also seen as a "war within".  Where Arjuna is the Soul/person and Krishna is the "Higher Self" guiding the Soul in his battlefield (mind) within.

Obviously, who would advise spiritual teachings at a time of mortal combat? There could have been a war tho, but definitely not like that! 

As for the Buddha. 

Why are you gonna search the Buddha outside of yourself? He is within. Kill the notion that his out "there" and remain in your own buddha nature. 

So, it does not mean we should discard the Sage that is outside of us but in our minds. In the end, you must transcend the Sage you learn from that is outside of you in order to find the Sage within so to benefit a hundredfold. As the inner ONE is wiser than all the outer combined. All Sages know this and point the student toward their inner sage/wisdom, which they have already found. But that can be tricky and that is why  “All instruction is but a finger pointing to the moon".

It is a metaphorical text, like many other spiritual and religious texts.

 

[RichardY]

http://www.with.org/tao_te_ching_en.pdf

This translation sounds more logical to me.

Chapter Nineteen
Transcend the saint’s teaching and conceal one’s wisdom for potential use, shall benefit the people a hundred fold.
Extend kindness to its ultimate and then polish to refine one’s righteousness shall help the people or regain filial piety and compassion.
Employ one’s subtle true nature with exquisiteness and extend one’s personal benefit to share with others, shall eliminate robbers and thieves.
These three statements are apparent superficial and not sufficient to express the natural “Way” of the great Tao. Hence, this is what people should do: Return to their original true self and embrace the pure “Oneness.” Refrain selfness and diminish worldly desires.

Edited April 21, 2020 by RichardY

[bejapuskas]

At one point, no sage or wise person can help you on your journey, asking them won't benefit you at all.

[Gnosis]

No one here understood this line.

絕聖棄智
民利百倍

To understand this line and chapter, first read the previous chapter with an open mind.

A different translation is not going to help you if you want to understand Lao Tzu's intended meaning.

Classical Chinese is very, very concise. All English translations have more added interpretation.

 

3 hours ago, Zanoni said:

So, it does not mean we should discard the Sage that is outside of us but in our minds. In the end, you must transcend the Sage you learn from that is outside of you in order to find the Sage within so to benefit a hundredfold.

No, precisely the opposite of what Lao Tzu intended to express. That "inner" Sage goes too.

Read the previous chapter of the Tao Te Ching, your statement applies there.

However, most likely you won't understand it either, because Lao Tzu also says it in a back-handed way. The previous chapter has nothing to do with "hypocrisy".

 

2 minutes ago, bejapuskas said:

At one point, no sage or wise person can help you on your journey, asking them won't benefit you at all.

This was the closest. Just understand that this statement includes Yourself.

 

15 hours ago, Zanoni said:

if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him

Get on the road first, then we can talk about killing "the Buddha".

[Adam M]

The Tao is to be read with the utmost care and discernment.

The idea is here is not to attach oneself to ideas of goodness.

When one is attached to ideas of goodness, they will suffer when their goodness is gone.

However, if one remains neutral, then one is free.

How can you steal from someone who does not cling to their possessions?

[Zanoni]

@Gnosis  Guess, I am not that knowledgeable in this type of eastern spirituality like i thought i was, haha

Edited April 22, 2020 by Zanoni

[bejapuskas]

10 hours ago, Gnosis said:

This was the closest. Just understand that this statement includes Yourself.

HAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAH Good point!!