《道德真经注(吴澄)》Vol. 3

A truly sincere person does not deliberately make their words pleasing to hear. Beautifully phrased words are often embellished and exaggerated, rather than true to the facts. A truly capable person is not given to boastful talk. Those who love to argue and praise themselves with words are not necessarily able to do things well. A truly discerning person does not make a point of ranging widely across subjects. Those who single-mindedly pursue learning and appear to know everything may not truly understand how things work.

Wu Cheng believed that the book ends with these words to show that its style is calm and concise: it does not favor argument or prize broad learning. Its words are true because they arise from genuine good will and insight, without relying on ornate language for decoration.

The sage does not hoard private possessions. The more they help others, the more they themselves have; the more they give to others, the richer they become.

“Not hoarding” means keeping the mind empty and still, without claiming things as one’s own. One can help others by telling them what one believes will benefit them, and give to others by sharing the principles one understands. When the mind does not cling to possession, it can respond to others without running dry. If hoarding is treated as ownership, what one can give will always be limited. How, then, could giving lead to having more? Zhuangzi said, “If you regard what you have stored up as insufficient, you will not hoard or possess it, and so you will have more.”

The Dao of Heaven benefits all things without harming them. The sage acts, yet does not contend with others.

“Benefit” stands opposite “harm”: deliberately seeking benefit often brings harm as well. The Dao of Heaven seems to bring benefit to all things, yet it does not benefit them by competing to gain advantage, and so causes no harm. “Acting” can become the beginning of conflict; deliberate action often provokes rivalry. Though the sage acts, they do not contend with others. They accomplish things without clinging to anything, and so do not give rise to contention.

This is Chapter 68. Wu Cheng said that it concludes the two chapters before it, showing that the principles expressed throughout the five thousand words of the Dao De Jing amount to these alone.

The Book of Laozi contains many textual corruptions. I gathered several dozen editions, compared their differences, and used the evidence to examine and correct the text. The edition handed down by Zhuang Junping is divided into seventy-two chapters; editions transmitted by other schools are divided into eighty-one. Yet some passages were divided into chapters when they should not have been. I have therefore reorganized the entire book into sixty-eight chapters: thirty-two in the first part, totaling 2,366 characters, and thirty-six in the second, totaling 2,926 characters. The whole book contains 5,292 characters.

Inscribed by Wu Cheng of Linchuan.

End of Volume Four of Commentary on the True Scripture of the Dao and De.