Tao Te Ching Verse 30: Setting Boundaries with the Tao

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

Tao Te Ching Verse 30
translated by Cheng Lin
Those who use Truth in assisting the ruler do not resort to war for the conquest of an Empire.
War is a most calamitous evil.
Wherever armies are quartered, briars and thorns become rampant.
Famines inevitably follow in the wake of great wars.
The good rulers are satisfied when an attack is stopped, and they do not venture to pursue conquest for supremacy.
Victories do not make them vainglorious, aggressive, arrogant, or anxious to pursue conquest for supremacy.
It is contrary to Truth for the strong to do harm to the weak.
Those who act contrary to Truth are sure to perish early.
Photo by Connor Dugan on Unsplash
Force begets force

We can see evidence anywhere and anytime we look that supports what Lao Tzu says in the first part of this verse: that where force is used, it brings scarcity later. Force causes more force, and it only stops when there is no more energy left to support it.

I think that on a modern, international and even domestic level, we can all observe this. So the first two lines of the verse resonate: they say that any person who wants to support their leadership does the best job when they strive to support by showing them options that are in harmony with the Tao.

Given our social systems, our social norms, given the economic strata that separate those with incredible influence from those without, how do we, as humble students of the Tao, propose to help our leaders lead not with force but with the Tao?

Gandhi told us to be the change we would want to see in the world. Initially, looking at the disparity between what I sense is the current state of things and what I desire is discouraging. How do I effect great change - like changing an entire world order?

This may be not so impossible, I think.

The world has seen many luminaries change things for the better. And what’s interesting is these folks have made long lasting changes on humanity as opposed to the empires to which they belonged. To name a few, I’m talking about Lao Tzu, Chuang-tse, The Buddha, Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed (Peace be Upon Him). We have modern day luminaries that gift us with a remembrance of the truth about us: Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Ram Das, Deepak Choprah, Paramahansa Yogananda, and Eckhardt Tolle. These are just a small representative handful of people who are encouraging lasting, more powerful changes to humanity.

So a quick question: Are they heads of governments? How does their influence compare to the influence of empire of government? Because it is seemingly benign, these people and their work have largely been left intact, and it continues to shape who we are as humans as we live on Earth, generation after generation.

And the wonderful part of our examples is - all of them needed only a connection to human spirituality and a means to express their experiences to get started in changing things.

It is in the way we live our lives that we create ripple effects across our human family that, while in the moment seem insignificant, affect many more people than we think. So if we pause for a moment and consider that force begets force, can we also take its opposite and consider that compassion begets compassion? Love begets love? Humility begets humility? If we are the change we want to see in the world, doesn’t that eventually affect people in a way that reflects back at us?