2024

[Author’s Note: This being the first article of 2024, I want to wish all the wonderful and kind people I’ve had the opportunity to exchange ideas with here a Happy New Year and my best hopes and wishes, may you obtain all that you strive for in 2024. Your feedback and comments are appreciated more than you can ever know. Thank you.]

HanFeizi (Master HanFei) lived during the turbulent times of the Warring States Period (280-233 BC) and would become known as the flagbearer of the Philosophy of Legalism, a practical and unvarnished way of thinking about government and leadership that continues to influence (for good or ill) societies today. Legalism is emotionless, rules and results driven, throws tradition out the window, and embraces brutality in a way that many readers today will find distasteful - and tragically all too familiar. My political tendencies go in the opposite direction, but that’s for another time. We’re not talking about the real-world applications of Legalism to government today.

Though on the face of it I shouldn’t, I found that I enjoy reading Hanfei. The writing is clear and concise, logically presented, and engaging. Importantly, he was very likely a real person who actually authored some of the material that is attributed to him, and we know some specifics about his life. I think he sincerely believed in The Dao, and in his way cared for his fellow man and society. He speaks against chaos and aims for a harmonious society, though at the expense of many freedoms we take for granted today. But in person he must have been kind of a jerk and often difficult to be around. In his writing, he pulls no punches, spares no names, and aggressively pushes ideas that in his time, really in any time, would be controversial. He was a say-the-quiet-part-out-loud kind of guy that would have been a nightmare debate opponent but for a pronounced stutter that kept him from the limelight for much of his short career (he died young, of treachery) and probably was a source of great personal bitterness. He was a person concerned with the here and now, the facts of life, living, and governing. He despised insincerity and went right after the sages of his time that in his view were mere marketers, empty influencers, and the cause of great misery in society. Among those that come under withering fire are Confucius, Mozi, and many others. I find my contrarian streak greatly tickled. If we cannot take criticism, do we really have belief in our convictions? Can we really evolve and improve on our ideas while extolling old belief systems as without flaw? Often in conflict we find the best lessons.

I admire Hanfei’s place in history and his philosophy, and I started reading him because of the Daodejing, but what really captured me in his writings and surprised me was something different. I think a lot about my own development as a person; how to stay motivated, how to set life-long goals, how to pull value from an impersonal existence. Yes, I am susceptible to the siren calls of motivational speakers and HanFei oddly hits a lot of those same notes. Read him as an advisor giving you personal advice that applies only to your inner life, bear with me, and you may come to agree. Presented here are six quotes from HanFei’s essay, “Eminence in Learning”, translated by Burton Watson.

“He who claims to be sure of something with no evidence is a fool or an imposter.”

Be a believer in facts and a seeker of truth. Watch out for those who say they have the answers but don’t offer quality evidence or live their own advice. They betray their selfish agendas. In the area of health and fitness, I used to chase down the latest news about this or that vitamin or “super food”, afterwards often wondering why the results weren’t just like as advertised. I can remember my shock (shock!) when I learned that GNC is mostly marketing and nonsense. A lot of time and effort had to be invested in sorting through the mountain of misinformation. The answer turns out to be a lot of simpler and more difficult to implement, but armed with facts, we can move forward.

“In a strict household, there are no unruly slaves, but the children of a kindly mother often turn out bad. From this I know that power and authority can prevent violence, but kindness and generosity are insufficient to put an end to disorder.”

Discipline leads to personal freedom. This appears counterintuitive and many days I wish it wasn’t so, but... if we indulge in our every whim and impulse, we will certainly fail to reach our full potential and the world will be the less for it. Kindness and self-love are important but we have to be honest and hold ourselves to account if we expect to stick to our goals and achieve what we really want.

“When a sage rules the state, he does not depend on people doing good of themselves; he sees to it that they are not allowed to do what is bad.”

Stay with me for a minute. We come into the world with all sorts of inborn tendencies and biases unsuited to modern times. Conscientiously ordering our lives to manage temptations relieves pressure on our impulse control. Think of taking a different route home after work that doesn’t go past the Dunkin’ Donuts. Having that running outfit and shoes prepped the night before. Cultivate relationships with people who have routines and habits you want to emulate. There are situations when we just can’t trust ourselves, but these can be catalogued and guarded against. It isn’t weakness, it’s understanding.

“If you depend on arrow’s shafts becoming straight of themselves, you will never produce one arrow in a hundred generations.”

We are ultimately responsible for whatever positive change comes about in our lives. Chaos and random chance may dominate the broad path but we’re the ones here, so it falls to us to write the script. Set goals and make plans, select skills and practice consistently. Patiently wait and prepare for luck to come to you, and be ready to pounce on the moments of good fortune chaos affords us.

“Wisdom is a matter of man’s nature, and long life a matter of fate, and neither human nature nor fate can be got from others.”

Wisdom comes from experience, and experience from getting involved, exposing ourselves to new subjects and people, and having high expectations, weathering all embarrassments and mistakes along the way. Fate encompasses the circumstances of our birth, and all the chaos of the world during the time we are a conscious part of it.

“You may admire the beauty of lovely women all you like, but it will not improve your own looks. If, however, you apply rouge, powder, and paint, you make yourself twice as attractive as to begin with.”

Work with what you have, appreciate yourself as an individual, and take responsibility for your own improvement. Wistfully comparing to others and imagining how perfect their lives are, when we don’t really know anything about them, is a corrosive waste of time. The tools of modern society are ever more effectively wired to tap our brains attraction to spectacle, to get-blank-quick schemes, and to prophets with answers to trivial questions. How do we stand a chance? We lose sight of ourselves in the shimmer of these mirages.

I hope you can see, as I do, that when focused on the individual, one could find some good in the philosophy of Hanfei. Did I bring you on board a little bit? I don’t know why I try to rehabilitate this guy, but there may be lessons in the attempt. His views and mine diverge on the core subjects of society and governing, and I’ll probably put some thoughts to paper about that some other time. As I often am, studying this man brings to the front of my consciousness how really close we all are across time and space. If we can relate to a man who lived 2300 years ago in a society that we find mercurial and unrelatable, then I think we can always find common cause with our spouses, our kids, the people riding on the same bus, and even those we disagree with on the internet.

[Pictured: A duck followed us back from Nanjing, taken by author's family in Shenzhen, Winter (Jan) 2024]

Chapter 21: The Dao Guides

Anywhere the Daodejing mentions “Dao” as a noun, I think of Nature. Nature as in, “the Universe and Everything in it”, specifically the natural physical and chemical processes that caused us to be here and to have the behaviors that we have. This chapter 21, like so many in the Daodejing, is layered so heavily that a person could meditate on its meanings and go on for days without considering the same idea twice. The origins and impermanence of life, the very existence of life as a fact or something else, and what meaning, if any, this has on today’s events, it is all here in a few characters/words. It tries to answer the unanswerable, as if to say, something must be there. Right? Yet it fails to convince itself. Or me. Nature is enticing, tempting, and real. Indeed, it is “latent with trust”:

“The revealing of great virtue finds its only guidance from the Dao. The Dao, as it acts, is so fleeting, so alternating. Alternating and fleeting, there appear shapes in between; fleeting and alternating, there seem to be things around. It is so quiet and so very deep that there must lie feelings of life. Such feelings are real and latent with trust. From the ancient times till this day, the name of the Dao would always stay; it has been guiding us to know how all beings originated. How do I know the very origin of all things and creatures? It is through the Dao.”

People often say that “it’s in his/her nature to do such-and-such a thing.” Can I fall back on my “nature” to determine the right and wrong of my actions? If those answers lie in that elusive place in the back of my intuition, could I be conditioned to reliably go to that place and interpret the signals correctly?

It may not matter. My actions are not determined by my conscious self, but by a mind evolved and shaped by millennia of experimentation and ever-more-complex tit-for-tat strategies. One could argue over which mattered more, the conditioning and instincts of millions of years ago, or the recent who/where/when of one’s birth. The consciousness merely interprets, crafting reasons, myths, and stories, then drawing conclusions. The past becomes memory, eventually indistinguishable from scenarios dreamed up where events unfolded differently, and I was different. Not as I was, but how some of me wished I was.

This is the wisdom of age. Being able to say, this is what really happened, but if I could do it again, if I was someone else, this is how it could have gone. I can never be someone other than myself, but everyone else is. Wisdom of this kind is a treasure and meant to be shared. If the consciousness of experience is shared in an honest way, I believe that we can become better, and we might eventually understand where we came from and even where we are being taken.

[Pictured: (Above) He stands alone, dignified, taken by author's family in Shenzhen Bay, Winter (Jan) 2024

(Below) Bookstore in old town, Laomendong, Nanjing, December 2023.]

Chapter 22: Partial Is Complete

[Author’s Note: Written week of October 30, 2023. Found writing this difficult, reworked from scratch many times over two weeks. I was going through a difficult period, hope this does not show too much on the page.]

Imagine yourself a strategist, the career philosopher-strategist, advising your emperor, the sage-ruler of the empire. He or She (yes, there are examples of female emperors in China’s past) wants to know what you have to say about governance. The emperor professes to wish to be the example for the people, to guide their moral behavior. He wants the land to prosper, but most of all, he wants to survive, and you know this. The empire will always endure, but dynasties of men need constant attention and reinvention, or they collapse. How does a ruler ensure the success of his line? The advisor we named and know as Laozi (in some tellings) was a kind of Court Librarian, the Master of the Archives, as well as a gifted scholar and orator. He had the knowledge, the reputation, and the access to submit an opinion on this most important of questions. His emperor would have asked, and maybe he answered in this way, beginning from first principles:

“It is partial, therefore it is complete. It is crooked, therefore it is straight. It is empty, therefore it is full. It is used up, therefore it is new. It is less, therefore it is more. It is more, therefore, it is confusing. That’s why the sage holds the Dao, setting an example for the world to follow. He does not reveal himself, so he sees clearly. He does not assert himself, so he stands out. He does not brag about himself, so he succeeds. He is not arrogant, so he excels. He never competes against anybody, so no one earth can compete against him. How could it be just some empty words that ‘it is partial, therefore it is complete’ as said in the ancient times? Be true to yourself, and you would be you again in a complete sense.”

We can’t blame Laozi for taking a paradoxical approach and setting out an impossibly lofty standard, laying the foundation of his position with innate contradictions, contrasting, and equating partial and complete, crooked and straight, and empty and full. The ruler must hold the Dao, for everyone, which he can do as no one else can. The sage ruler has, after all, the Mandate of Heaven. Until, of course, he doesn’t. He has all the power, and yet has none. A dangerous person to disappoint if ever there was one, and yet also as fragile as a dandelion is to a breeze. If only once his intentions and opinions are revealed, his ministers, advisors, allies, and hidden enemies will conceal their true thoughts and he becomes blind. If only once he brags and acts arrogantly, fear is revealed to all, and challenge is certain to come. I can see an older man delicately imparting his wisdom with the best of intentions, and yet we know in our hearts he felt his words would not be heeded, and despaired of his ruler and society improving, because soon after Laozi departed the Zhou court to journey into the West alone.

Four hundred years later, Legalist philosopher HanFeizi must have been deeply affected by these words of Laozi and the problem of good governance. Much of his writings deal with the practical application of these core tenets. His advice to a ruler loses none of its extremity in day-to-day practice, indeed HanFeizi goes further with detailed advice. Never show your opinion, whether you be ruler or advisor. To be successful, the sage king must never trust anyone (and that means anyone), and judge worthiness only by matching words to deeds in the strictest possible way. Rule by and through fear but be above fear yourself. It’s strong stuff. The fatal flaw of the HanFei’s philosophy is his foundational belief that there is and must be a Supreme Leader who has an unassailable right to rule - a Mandate of Heaven. He accepted that rulers could cede influence to their ministers, even losing their power, and their lives, in the process, but at the same time his expectation for the behavior of the ruler is so extreme that no real living person then or now could ever hope to live up (or down as the case may be) to the emotionless and frigid brutality required. The inevitable result of leading without empathy and giving nothing in exchange is isolation, irrelevance, and failure. HanFeizi’s life was ended early through the actions of a former pupil while imprisoned by a ruler who admired him above all others.

A purpose of this experience in writing is to look at myself and confront what I find there. Writing brings the senses together, freezing thoughts in time. I had read many philosophers over the years, and though I admire and recognize the greatness of so many, a few emerge that stay with me, though I’ve never considered why. When I first read the Daodejing, there was just a click and a certainty that this could stimulate my thought for a lifetime. The context and personalities involved, the history and the culture that emerge later brings a richness that underlines the attraction. The essays of HanFeizi, the core selection of writings that make up one of the Warring State’s Hundred Schools of Thought is another work and a personality that just clicks with me. A darker applied interpretation of Daoism from a man whose memory would not have been predicted to long outlive him, he overcame disadvantages to found what is known today as the Legalist School.

There is one other book that is never too far from my reach and my thoughts. I’ve long been a fan of his for many years as a respected and infamous philosopher who has had a cultural impact far larger and more enduring than during his lifetime: Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince. Here is another tragic figure who got close to power but was frustrated with his impotence. Following an educational, exciting, and much-loved career as a diplomat for the city state of Florence, Niccoli was tortured and exiled when Medici rivals returned to take power. He spent the rest of his life in a country estate, writing and pining for his past days of glory close to the action. His short book The Prince is infamous for advocating rulers to place the application of fear above all, to act immorally when necessary, and that the ends justify the means. Yet there are many who view Niccolo as a patriot of early Italy, a man of his times who honestly described what he saw and faithfully described an approach to a type of success that some are driven to chase.

Why am I attracted to these authors? I do not know. All these men, during their lives, experienced failure. Maybe I am fascinated by the prospect and experience of failure. Afraid of, and fascinated by, failure. I hope they found peace, personal growth, and happiness later in their lives as I aim to do.

“Be true to yourself, and you would be you again in a complete sense.” We become who we are while we’re busy doing other things, and only later we consciously attempt to work out the kind of person we can be. I think this inner search is taking me on an outward journey, and for the first time, I believe that I want to go.

[Pictured: The Humble Administrators Garden, Nanjing Winter 2023]

Chapter 23: Let Things Run Their Own Course

I used to spend a lot of time thinking about what my best courses of action might be. I considered ways to minimize risks and maximize profits, not only financially, but physically, mentally, and in my relationships. Keep your circle small, I would tell myself, concentrate on a limited number of subjects that promise a good return. Save for the future, you will have the chance later. Your time will come. What I didn’t realize until recently, and when I think about my actions then and now, is that I was moat-building, a barrier behind a castle wall that I could feel safe behind. But every castle is a sandcastle when the right wave comes along. What’s more, the emotions and urges I was denying ate at the walls of my castle from the inside. When we deny our nature – the nature – it is only a matter of time.

“Say less, let things run their own course. A whirlwind can’t blow for a whole morning. A rainstorm doesn’t last for a whole day. Who brings the whirlwind and rainstorm? It is Heaven and Earth. If even Heaven and Earth can’t make them last long, what can humans do? Therefore when you do things in accordance with the Dao, you will be one with the Dao. When you do things in accordance with virtue, you will be one with virtue. When you act to lose both, you will be one with the loss. When you are one with virtue, the Dao will be one with you. When you are one with the loss of it, the Dao will lose you.”

For me, The Dao of The Laozi is a kind of reference to “Nature”. Our nature. My nature. The evolved nature that rests in our primitive history expressed through our instincts and through our cultures and societies. These instincts nudge us toward behaviors that support our survival as a species. The Laozi suggests, “...when you do things in accordance with the Dao, you will be one with the Dao”, and I believe in this. When we take care of our needs, we feel good, and we know it. Scratch that itch, go for that morning run, show up on time for that interview, hug your kids; it feels good to do right by yourself. We love our parents, spouse, children, and close friend group and make their goals, worries, and daily challenges our own. We can be happy for the successes and growth of our coworkers, and even feel part of a company or a founder’s achievements. The impression of a set of circles centered on myself begins to come into focus, the most intense concern for well-being in the very center, on myself, and radiating outward in decreasing intensity. The concern can diminish rapidly with distance, grow in intensity as we realize importance neglected, or suddenly crash in betrayal and disappointment.

That must be okay, I have to be okay with that, because how can I be responsible for everyone and still survive myself? An evolved nature confers a morality, a sense of right and wrong, and if we get in touch with and follow that moral code, a potential sense of happiness and contentment results. I want nothing so much as to close my conscious eyes, lean back, and allow the current of knowing that what I am doing is “right” carry me along.

Maybe Nature doesn’t guide us to act solely for our benefit, and maybe – certainly - we aren’t the center of the universe. We can look closely at this, bending our consciousness to analyze the aftermath and the implications, pulling our perception back, and then we feel doubt, dancing just ahead of expression. I feel like an observer in my own life. Watch this or that storm come and blow itself out. Say less, follow the signposts supplied, yes, we’re going somewhere, but getting you there was never the point. A collection of cells of differing but complementary specialties existing only to copy, multiply, and live on, while thanks to consciousness we are compelled to watch and wonder. I ramble on today. Words fall short of meaning.

I tell my sons to always take care of themselves first. Health, mental and physical, continuing to educate and improve yourself, cultivating positive relationships, and never ever exposing or suborning their goals to anyone or anything that wouldn’t and isn’t doing the same for them. If you take care of yourself, then you can take care of others that you love. If everyone does this, the invisible hands of prosperity and improvement take over, and our world must be a better and better place. The world will never be perfect, but better is all right.

[Pictured: Above: Hanshan Temple, Nanjing Winter 2023, Below: Laomendong, Nanjing Winter 2023, both taken by Author]

Chapter 24: Be Solid and Modest

They say that youth is wasted on the young. Now that I cannot consider myself young (I’m close to 50), I believe in its truth. Have you ever said, “If I knew then what I know now...”, then you must be human, because this appears to be part of our condition. This condition of consciousness, that makes reflection a reflex, returning to past events as if these imagined milestones really have relevance, which in truth are excess weight. My thoughts often go to how I can set that weight down.

“He who stands on tiptoes can’t stand firmly. He who takes big strides can’t go far. He who shows himself can’t see clearly. He who asserts himself can’t stand out. He who brags about himself can’t succeed. He who acts arrogantly can’t excel. Looking from the Dao’s perspective, these behaviors are like the leftovers of a meal, or the excessive meat on a human body. People generally feel disgusted about them. Those who follow the Dao will do none of the above.”

When I think on these warnings, all are examples of stepping away from stability. Standing on tiptoes, going beyond our standard reach to grasp some imagined prize. Taking over-large strides, moving more quickly than we can peer ahead and process the wisdom of our direction. Stepping out of the norm, asserting ourselves, rather than being noticed for our qualities, throwing open the door to hubris. Then the worst risk of all, arrogance, leading to blind spots of all kinds: lost trust, concealed and resentful enemies, and foregone personal growth. All these signs of being out of position. Out of position with the Dao of your highest potential.

Following the Dao means following your nature and the general nature of the world that we inhabit. When we fall for the belief that we are driving the events of our present and future, steering Nature, we are standing on tiptoes, taking the big strides, and arrogantly buying into the idea that we have ultimate control, because only arrogance of the most disgusting variety could justify such waste. The Dao is like a river, the flow strong, and while we might strain ourselves to shift the course, eventually the flow of Nature takes us where it will. We have no say in where and when we enter the current, how fast or slow, turbulent or serene, whether there are rocks or bends ahead.

As a young man, I behaved as though my actions could move my world. Not so. The world moves us, and it is for us to read the flow and maneuver to be moved. Our circumstances do a lot to define us. As my case, finding myself amid an unprecedented 1990s economic miracle occurring between the United States and China. I didn’t kick off that process, and when it finally ended twenty-some years later, nobody asked my permission. How dare they.... I was so far out of position, leaping ahead, that a knocking about was as foreseeable as it was inevitable. A return to the Dao’s natural current was inevitable, but it was a near-run thing and I’m happy to see what nature has yet for me to experience and share.

As I’ve said in previous articles, this spending of time in the past is unhealthy if done at the cost of the present. When done in the service of the present; reflecting and drawing lessons from the past can be turned to experiences of value if shared with those who would find it helpful. Experience becomes wisdom. This is how we exercise our minds, remind ourselves who we are, and put down that excess weight.

[Pictured: Above: Almost the Year of the Dragon!, Shenzhen Park Jan 2024

Below: Hanshan Temple, Nanjing Winter 2023, both taken by Author's Family]

Chapter 25: The Dao Submits to Natural Law

What difference does can a word make? Well, in my opinion, specifically relating to The Laozi, all the difference in the world – and none at all. That being a paradox, I think the “Old Master” would take notice, but I owe an explanation. Being now 25 chapters, about one third, into this study of The Laozi and myself, a pause wouldn’t be out of order, to share a bit of the idiosyncrasies and complexity of this profound and elusive collection of aphorisms.

The Daodejing (The Laozi), is famously opaque and difficult to translate for several reasons. First, it is old, very old, thought to have been written around 400BC. That’s five hundred years before the invention of paper. Writing was recorded on strips of bamboo tied together and rolled up like a scroll. Picture a flexible picket fence. Perishable, difficult to store and preserve, slow to copy and transport - we can imagine the problems. Second, not only would languages have changed over the centuries, Chinese characters and turns of phrase carry a lot of implied meanings. Many words have simply changed meanings or fallen out of use, and only then translation into foreign languages begins. Finally, but not exhaustively as I am not a scholar at all, there are many versions of The Laozi, and those were edited many times by many different editors over the years. Some editors took a hands-off approach to the material, and some were less then reluctant to interject their own opinions, changing the substance and order of the text, even adding and deleting chapters. We will never know the true Daodejing, because there is not one but many, all as valid as the others.

I rely on the translation from World Academic Classics for most of my output here, which helpfully explains in the introduction that their version is based on the 1991 translation by Feng Dafu who translated from classical Chinese to modern Chinese. Professor Feng claims to have based his work on twenty-six editions of the Daodejing, including the Text A and Text B of the Mawangdui texts discovered in 1973. That’s right, new editions are still being unearthed. I only offer this to drive home the point; we owe so much to many academics who continue to break new ground in this area.

Anyway, here is Chapter 25. This edition gives every chapter a title. Not every translation gives titles, and I find this confusing, but let’s talk about it after. From the translation by World Academic Classics:

“The Dao Submits to Natural Law

There is something that can be conceived of as a whole, born before Heaven and Earth. Soundless and formless, it stands on its own and never changes. It never stops circulating in motion. It can be called Mother of Heaven and Earth. I don’t know how to name it, so just call it Dao. If forced to call it differently, it can then be Great. Great means there is nowhere it cannot go. To say there is nowhere it can’t go means there is no place it can’t reach. To say there is no place it can’t reach means it will return to where it originates. So the Dao is great. Heaven is great. Earth is great. The people are also great. These are the four greats in the world, including the great people. Humans submit to Earth. Earth submits to Heaven. Heaven submits to the Dao. The Dao submits to Natural Law.”

See my objection? The Dao cannot even by named, as language implies limits, and The Dao is limitless (Chapter 1). The Dao predates Heaven and is the origin of all things and creatures in the universe. In my mind, I’ve equated Dao with Nature, the physical laws of the universe that gives rise to human nature; a fuzzy concept admittedly, but I feel allowed. This chapter follows this thought and continues in a logical way, connecting heaven, then earth, then the people to The Dao in a hierarchy of greatness. Then, in a seemingly tacked on way, concludes with, The Dao submitting to “Natural Law?” Suddenly my neat and tidy premise is thrown into doubt, and I stand before you chagrined, not as an aspiring individual of ever-growing knowledge to be read and nodded along to, but just confused, flailing about, my well-ordered philosophy turned inside out. (theatrical sigh)

Fueling my interest, or is it an addiction?, I am slowly building a collection of Daodejing translations. I try not to have favorites as all are unique and equal, standing on their own. Here is Chapter 25 according to the Penguin Classics version of the Daodejing, translated by Professor D. C. Lau (1963):

“XXV

There is a thing confusedly formed,

Born before heaven and earth.

Silent and void

It stands alone and does not change,

Goes round and does not weary.

It is capable of being the mother of the world.

I know not its name

So I styled it ‘the way’.

I give it the makeshift name of ‘the great’.

Being great, it is further described as receding,

Receding, it is described as far away,

Being far away, it is described as turning back.

Hence the way is great; heaven is great; earth is great

and the king is also great. Within the realm

there are four things that are great, and the king

counts as one.

Man models himself on earth,

Earth on heaven,

Heaven on the way,

And the way on that which is naturally so.”

I do not know which original translation Professor Lau was working from, but it feels suspiciously like some editor inserted the “king” as an obsequious move. My modern sensibilities, my American heritage and all that, reacts badly to the elevation of any individual over the rest of us. “The people” is a much more intuitive and satisfying choice. The belief even lacks conviction, stating the king counts as one, yet the word “king” is abandoned in the next line in favor of “man”, so instead of “the king models himself on earth”, we get “man models himself on earth”. This sticks out as being an odd choice. However, I do like the way he conveys the mystery of The Dao and poetic flow. You really get the sense that language is not up the task as he humbly fumbles about doing the best that he can.

Another great author who takes The Daodejing and supplements each chapter with collected excerpts of related ideas from Zhuangzi, Confucius, Mozi, etc., to better express the concepts in modern language is “The Wisdom of Laotse” by LinYutang (1948). This comes in two volumes and may be hard to come by outside Asia:

“The Four Eternal Models

Before the Heaven and Earth existed

There was something nebulous:

Silent, isolated,

Standing alone, changing not,

Eternally revolving without fail,

Worthy to be the Mother Of All Things.

I do not know its name.

And address it as Tao.

If forced to give it a name, I shall call it “Great”.

Being great implies reaching out in space,

Reaching out in space implies far-reaching,

Far-reaching implies reversion to the original point.

Therefore: Tao is Great.

The Heaven is great,

The Earth is great,

The King is also great.

These are the Great Four in the universe,

And the King is one of them.

Man models himself after the Earth;

The Earth models itself after Heaven;

The Heaven models itself after Tao;

Tao models itself after Nature.”

Lin Yutang focuses right in on the four models and opts for the king, but I can’t help to notice and agree with how the idea of the “king” is abandoned again in favor of “man”. Maybe I lack the knowledge to grasp the significance of “king” in this context? But this is also another explicit suggestion that The Dao ranks below Nature. Nature is somehow higher than The Dao, the highest of the Four Greats? Referring back to Professor Lau’s closing expression above, “And the way on that which is naturally so”, artfully skirts the issue.

Finally, I want to draw attention to a translation on Medium from Richard Brown. His chapter-by-chapter presentation and explanations are high quality and entertaining reads. His satisfying alternative, and my favorite, takes up both the issues of the “king” and The Dao’s linking to Nature, in a very pleasing and complete way:

“.....Therefore, the way is supreme;

Heaven is great;

Earth is great;

Humanity is great.

There are four great powers in the universe;

Humanity is one of them.

Humanity models itself on earth.

Earth models itself on heaven.

Heaven models itself on the way.

The way follows its own nature.”

Humanity includes all of us, past, present, and future, and puts weight behind the important modern concept of equality. This means more to me in my time than it would have to past editors and authors, I know that. But what I really applaud is, “The way follows its own nature.” What a good solution to this issue of inconsistency with previous chapters!

Thank You for reading this far and indulging me. But does this agitation really matter? I believe the answer is yes, because these are important and complex ideas, and every reader being different, one word or one phrase changed, and the reader might miss the concept entirely or have a eureka moment. And also, equally and paradoxically, nope, it doesn’t matter at all. To truly grasp and enjoy the Daodejing, we must look past the words to the deeper meaning; as much a responsibility of the readers as the authors and editors. In a way we are all contributors to this tradition of asking the foundation questions that started many centuries before.

[Pictured: Above: The detritus of a passing season, Shenzhen Park Feb 2024

Below: Waiting for something to happen, Shenzhen Park Feb 2024, both taken by Author's Family]

The Worst of HanFeizi (Part I)

I invest a fair amount of time into the essays of HanFeizi and the philosophy of the Legalist School. In fact, a series appears to be developing. More than once I’ve brought up my fascination with and enjoyment I get from his writings, and I especially have fun presenting bits and bobs free from context to surprise and stimulate thinking. All too often philosophy and the “real world” are oddly opposed, making application a random and chaotic mess of disappointment and disillusionment. There is a need for Practical Philosophers who occupy the space between theory and practice, dare I say between the thinkers and the doers? Hanfeizi might have seen himself in this way, more a professional philosopher-advisor, firmly grounded in unvarnished reality, discarding worthless and unprovable theories, using only what works. He might agree with that.

To understand HanFei we must start with the world he was born (280bce) into and died during (233bce), which was the region we know today as China during the later part of the Warring States Period (475-221bce). During this tumultuous period, the region was broken up into states of varying size and strength and was characterized by frequent military conflict and constant shifting of alliances and court intrigue. There were many competing “schools” of thought on how to govern effectively, among them Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, the Yin-Yang School, Legalism, and many others.

HanFei, uniquely among the leaders of other schools, had a noble birth, which came with pros and cons. Resources and time to study are positives, obviously, but as a nobleman, he was inextricably tied to his home state, Han, a small and weak state always threatened by larger neighbors. He was unable to travel for this reason as many of the other philosopher sages did. Chance gave HanFei a further challenge, a pronounced stutter. This was a real disadvantage in a profession that thrived on oratory and live debate. To compensate, he focused on writing, and we are the beneficiaries. His essays became so widely read during his lifetime, that the ruler of the powerful neighboring state of Qin became a great fan of his ideas.

This was the Qin king who would ultimately conquer and rule all of China and be the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, named QinShiHuang. He used many of HanFei’s ideas about leadership to achieve this dream of his, but that’s another tale. To make a long story short, the ruler of Han sent HanFei to Qin as an emissary in an effort to maintain peace between the two states. Despite his admiration for HanFei, rival advisers in the court put it about that HanFei could never be trusted because of his loyalty to the Han state, and he was imprisoned, where it was contrived that he commit suicide by poisoning. A sad ending for a man whose profession was advising rulers how best to maximize their survival. He would have been in his forties.

HanFei wrote a number of essays concerned with successful governing, staying at the top of government, and also for those advisers working with the ruler. He said a lot of things: some shocking, a fair number mundane, others amusing, and a few, infuriating. The time has come to shine a light on the infuriating.

My motivation for making this selection is recognizing that these beliefs have been with us for a long time. Each generation has the responsibility to consider and work against these ideas to better the society we live in. If you feel your blood pressure rising as you read these passages, I want you to know I feel it too. Looking away gives them power and room to spread. Remember the world he lived in, and reflect on how each of us has a part to play in our experience and the experience of those we care about.

All passages are quotations from the translation by Burton Watson (1964), “HanFeizi Basic Writings”.

From the essay, “Eminence in Learning”:

“Now if men start out with equal opportunities and yet there are a few who, without the help of unusually good harvests or outside income, are able to keep themselves well supplied, it must be due to either hard work or to frugal living. If men start out with equal opportunities, and yet there are a few who, without having suffered from some calamity like famine or sickness, still sink into poverty and destitution, it must be due either to laziness or to extravagant living. The lazy and extravagant grow poor; the diligent and frugal get rich. Now if the ruler levies money from the rich in order to give alms to the poor, he is robbing the diligent and frugal and indulging the lazy and extravagant. If he expects by such means to induce the people to work industriously and spend with caution, he will be disappointed.”

This is a good place to start, with an idea that has existed across time and culture, as long as humans have had communities. The belief that some people are just born lazy. Some people are born industrious. Therefore, people deserve what they get in life. Those that are down should receive only tough love. This belief comes from fear, because inside we know intuitively that luck, the random and chaotic nature of life, mostly determines position and material possessions. It could all go away tomorrow....

When this thinking exists at the center of government, only an unjust, top-heavy society can result, eventually doomed to collapse spectacularly, or experience a crisis that expunges this concept from the core. History bears this out. There will always be some level of inequality. Every culture and society across human history has had inequality and a tipping point where the worst collapse under this hypocrisy. HanFei misunderstands one of the core responsibilities of government: To protect the most vulnerable.

From the essay, “The Way of the Ruler”:

“This is the way of the enlightened ruler: he causes the wise to bring forth their schemes, and he decides his affairs accordingly; hence his own wisdom is never exhausted. He causes the worthy to display their talents, and he employs them accordingly; hence his own worth never comes to an end. Where there are accomplishments, the ruler takes credit for their worth; where there are errors, the ministers are held responsible for the blame; hence the ruler’s name never suffers. Thus, though the ruler is himself not worthy himself, he is the corrector of the wise. The ministers have the labor; the ruler enjoys the success. This is called the maxim of the worthy ruler.”

I consider the Legalist philosophy as an extreme application of the maxims recommended by The Daodejing. Therefore, Hanfeizi is a Daoist. A leap not so far-fetched as it seems. It takes little effort to think of contemporary examples of belief systems with altruistic and pure tenets at the core but twisted by fanatical believers into the most perverse real world practices. The above belief is a perversion of Chapter 3: Act Without Acting. How could this be considered worthy or enlightened?

An amusing tip of the hand toward the end, when he says, “though the ruler is not worthy himself.” People who are not worthy can become rulers? Everyone has the same opportunities to succeed, huh? Not then, not now.

From the essay, “Precautions Within the Palace”:

“The carriage maker making carriages hopes that men will grow rich and eminent; the carpenter fashioning coffins hopes that men will die prematurely. It is not that the carriage maker is kind-hearted and the carpenter a knave. It is only if men do not become rich and eminent, carriages do not sell, and if men do not die, there is no market for coffins. In this way, when concubines, consorts, and heirs apparent organize, they long for the ruler’s death, for unless he dies, their position will never be strong. They have no feeling of hatred, they merely stand to profit by his death. Prepare as you may against those who hate you, calamity will always come to you from those you love.”

Finally, we close with a view that sets the lowest possible standard for humanity. In the words of Hanfeizi, we are reduced to the basest craving for profit. No basic decency, no moral code, no love, not from family or stranger. Human interaction is boiled down to black and white, ones and zeros. Is this person useful to me? What value can I extract and at what cost? Another’s misfortune is my gain; therefore, I wish them ill. Zero sum is the only game in town. I recognize elements of this belief system in our societies. I do hope that those working to create powerful new AI tools remember that some of the ones and zeroes are living and breathing beings.

If you made it this far, thank you for staying with me. We should remember the chaotic and tumultuous world that HanFei was born into and not judge him too harshly. It is also worth taking onboard the necessity in the real world to make difficult decisions and compromises if we want to make a wide-ranging and significant impact. I reflect on the imperfect world of today, one that is so much safer, prosperous, and free than the world HanFei grew up in, and for that I am grateful and determined not to waste the opportunity.

Pictured: Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang, Winter 2023

Chapter 26: Act Discreetly

As I continue this public-personal journey, on to Chapter 26, I realize, not for the first time, that I need to be kinder to myself. This is not about being lax, or lowering expectations, or letting promises to myself slide, but about being kind in a moment-to-moment kind of way.

“Heaviness is the root of lightness. Quietude subdues impetuousness. So a gentleman would travel all day long without leaving his heavy supply cart behind. The view from the road might be splendidly beautiful, but he could sit quietly letting all things pass. How can the ruler of a big country act discreetly toward the people that he rules? Indiscreetness is to lose the root, and impetuousness is to lose control.”

I can react very heavy-handedly towards my own actions. As my consciousness sits on the sidelines, observing the action, maybe taking notes, he also cannot help making a running commentary on the action. A commentary that leans critical, belittling, and second-guessing. What I’m saying is, he’s the worst kind of backseat driver.

Just this moment as I sat down with my coffee at my favorite local Starbucks, book open, settling down to a good thirty minutes (if I’m lucky) of uninterrupted writing; but look, I forgot to pull a few napkins from the dispenser. You *idiot* says the voice. So, up I get to correct that mistake I shouldn’t have made because I should have remembered. That’s my consciousness expressing the view he plans to record as the lasting memory of this session. Not the unseasonably pleasant warm weather and clear blue sky that made the short walk here so enjoyable and relaxing, or that I’m following through on my commitment to myself and doing something important to me. All is ignored. He would choose not to recall my good luck today. The seat I like at the window is open (Starbucks is always so crowded), or that the process of ordering went off without a hitch. I’m quite introverted and shy, and even after so many years, I still find any Chinese language interaction intimidating.

But today, something is different. As I began to gear up for a beating, another voice said,

“Why do you do that to him? Run him down all the time.”

And again: “It’s not a big deal. This isn’t going to ruin his day.”

And just like that, out of impetuousness and heaviness, quiet and lightness return. These are the root of peace and progress, as order requires chaos, and existence requires nothingness. I cannot always be at peace, surrounded by grounded and calm people, never experiencing a storm that will threaten to compress and crush my dreams for the day. I will steer into storms, by chance or design, and come through changed.

Pictured Above: Spring Arrives, Shenzhen Bay Park, February 2024

Pictured Below: See The Bee?, Shenzhen Bay Park, February 2024

Chapter 27: Value Your Teachers

Some chapters of the Daodejing are pure joy and flow smoothly from beginning to end. Then there are others that leave me confused, grasping at a deeper meaning that dances just outside my ability to articulate. There is a flow of sorts, a flow from suggestion to lesson perhaps. Who is bringing this invitation to question our mind and intentions, who could he possibly have been?

"He who is good at travelling leaves no traces behind. He who is good at speaking leaves no flawed words behind. He who is good at counting can count without using counters. He who is good at closing can shut the door without using a bolt. He who is good at making knots can tie things together without using a rope. Therefore the sage is always good at helping people so no one is left with no help. He is always good at helping with things so nothing is left with no help. That is called unspoken intelligence. Good teachers are the teachers of good people. Not-so-good people are the resources of good people. If you do not value your teachers or treasure your resources, you will be at your total loss even if you are intelligent. This is the top secret of life.”

The slim disjointedness has a likely and simple explanation: there were many authors and editors. At least three authors and an editor to piece together the collection, and innumerable small adjustments over the centuries, molding the phrases to what we read today. Simply by removing a few connecting words, three lightly connected-but-distinct suggestions emerge, and some of the mind and personality of the men who did the work:

By the end we know that we’re not talking about tying knots, or closing doors, but being connected to our inner nature. Only trust your intuition, and you will find that nature prepared us to make the right decisions, just so long as we don’t let our endless thinking get in the way. Coming to terms with the consequences of the decision we know that we want is the hardest part.

"The sage is always good at helping people so no one is left with no help. He is always good at helping with things so nothing is left with no help. That is called unspoken intelligence."

The sage seems to be everywhere and nowhere. The center of attention and ignored as the world goes about its business. He seems to have no enemies, though everyone should want to be him and have what he has. Why did I struggle so much with minding my own affairs? Nature is flowing just fine without us; we can simply bask in our portrayal of our time. Most problems are not ours. Events rise, agitate for attention, dissipate, and finally vanish from sight all on their own.

"Good teachers are the teachers of good people. Not-so-good people are the resources of good people. If you do not value your teachers or treasure your resources, you will be at your total loss even if you are intelligent. This is the top secret of life."

There is a cyclical relationship between teachers and students. A teacher is judged by the quality and accomplishments of his students; therefore, a good student implies a good teacher. A good start and momentum can carry us a long way. There is a profound lesson here about the importance of beginning well. A good start feeds success, while the danger of an early setback is hard to overcome, so is this the top secret of our lives? Find and listen to good teachers, and know good teaching when you witness it? Always be beginning. When we begin continuously the past remains where it belongs. Make small, intentional decisions, and those days, months, and years past be the teachers showing the way to the future.

[Pictured: Hanshan Temple, Nanjing, Winter 2024]

What Laozi Said To Confucius

[Author’s note: If you’re thinking this is highly personal to me and directly experienced, you’d be right of course. One should not resent the past or spend too much time wallowing in memories of it, but there is catharsis in the act of sharing. Maybe a lesson or two. Thank you for listening, this means more than you can know.]

Everyone faces change, which “they” say is constant. Modern business consultant-speak favored by CEOs warns their teams and staff that “The only constant is change”, as if they are the philosopher-sages of today admonishing small children ignorant of such facts of nature. Bow down to your betters, for they have spoken!

True from a certain point of view, everything: businesses, societies, ecosystems, and people; all must adapt to a universe in motion. For nearly thirty years in the corporate world, I listened to this aphorism and many others delivered in all kinds of settings, usually involving a raised dais in a conference hall. A few times I was the keynote speaker on the stage spouting the nonsense. In those conditions, one learns not to ask questions. Nonetheless with the benefit of time and distance, one can detect the cloying scent of poison in the delivery, planting the seed of unsafety instead of optimism in the mind, inviting us to feel uncertain about the direction of change, that the destination is less than desirable, that while change is certain, it is unwelcome, dangerous, and protection against the threat is needed. You need my protection, don’t you see? I know things you don’t.

Rouse yourself, look around, and see how much was set up for your benefit, to keep you locked in. The enclosed space, the relentless schedule that drives deep into the evening, the meager meals, the constant need for external enemies to vilify. Don’t you know they are coming to get us? This is what abusers do.

The excerpt this week comes from the appendix of a (truly excellent) translation of The Daodejing by Lin Yutang, “The Wisdom of Laotse (1948)”. He recounts a story where Confucius had come to ask advice of Laozi, who gives us and Confucius the counter point to the malady that the pretend leaders of our today find so addictive and effective in the place of real leadership. Confucious was always frustrated by the reluctance of the leaders of his day to respect the rituals of the past and to contract him and his disciples for their counsel. Laozi offers Confucius the needed perspective:

“The vegetarian animals do not mind changing their feeding ground. Insects that live in water do not mind changing of water. This is because the changes are minor and do not affect their vital needs. Happiness and anger, joys and sorrows, should not enter one’s breast, for this universe represents the unity of all things. When one perceives this unity and is united with it, he regards his bodily form as dust of the earth, and the cycle of life and death but as the alternation of day and night. He cannot be disturbed by such accidents, much less by the occurrences of fortune and misfortune. He shakes off an official position as he shakes off dirt, knowing that his self is more precious than rank. His aim is to keep his self without allowing it to become lost in external changes. For the process of change going on in all things is continuous and endless. Why should one let one’s mind be troubled by it? One who knows Tao will understand this.”

I imagine Laozi would have wanted to help Confucius, patiently listening to his idealism, his reverence for the past, his hunger for recognition, and recognizing his respect for Laozi as a learned master. He would have chosen his words carefully. After all, Laozi was an old man and had spent the better part of his life in government service himself, observing and being a part of society’s chaos. He’d been young once, too. His early idealism and dynamism had long cooled, replaced by frustration and a sneaking conviction that nothing ever really changes. Confucious couldn’t understand the view looking back at the end of the journey. He doesn’t understand the Dao. So, Laozi did what has been done so often before and since. He showed pity.

Early on in my career, long before I had earned a reputation to replace the reputation circumstance started me out with, there were wise men who tried to warn me. There was one I cannot forget, a veteran engineer who knew me and what I was going to do, and he said, “Learn how to say No. They will keep asking you do to do more, until you learn how to say No.” I answered that, yes, I understood. He could see that I didn’t, but what could he or Laozi do with me or Confucious, and the hubris of youth. Many years later, I learned how to say No. That is the lesson we often need a lifetime to learn, that self is more precious than rank, and the process of change is continuous, not to be feared, and working for you.

[Pictured: The man himself, Confucius, at his temple in Nanjing, Winter 2023]

Chapter 28: Great Governance

This week was one of “those” weeks. A thing happens, seems to not matter what; a cloud of melancholy descends and tints every thought and action. The thing is inconsequential, embarrassing even to talk about in a specific way, and yet, why does it have such gravity? The thing could be a news event from the other side of the world; the senseless loss of life in war, a slip of the tongue over breakfast, or a throwaway line offered or received, instantly regretted. Disappointment infused with surprise is the shock that knocks me off an unstable perch. The sage needs to know not only how to descend safely, even more so, the sage stays in the mix and remains unchanged.

“Know your masculine strength, preserve your feminine softness, and you will become the stream of all people. When you are the stream of all people, you will keep the Heaven-given character, and regain the natural innocence of the infant. Know what is white, preserve what is black, and you will become a role model for the world. When you are a role model for the world, virtue will not be tarnished, and things will return to the Dao’s original state of nothingness. Know the glory, preserve the insult, and you would become the valley of all people. When you are the valley of all people, virtue will be abundant, and things will return to their simple state like an uncarved block of wood. When an uncarved block of wood gets cut, it would become all kinds of utensils. The sage, however, would use the Dao to serve as the head of officials. Great governance takes no cutting.”

This speaks to me about how we manage or navigate the various encounters we meet day to day. The people in our lives. Sometimes difficult, complaining, unhappy, demanding, but also loving and dependent in ways that give us pressure to want to be more to them. We cannot hide away and be as the wood block of Laozi, remaining uncarved, with the potential to be anything, but useless until a decision is made. How hard this is, and unseen, the struggle taking place in the isolation of our minds.

We are each of us the stream of all people, capable and cursed by chance to feel every injustice, mourn every loss, and never able to know for certain that anyone could ever understand. So easily the emotion becomes all too much. But listen, hunker down, pull inward, keep your character, and then care for yourself. When we were infants, we fully accepted dependence on others, and loudly demanded our needs be met. And the world moved. The world will move again for us, provided we can preserve the character of our virtue. It is not ours to shoulder any other’s burdens. Those loads are part of this play and theirs to carry. Our burdens are unique, but we all share the feeling of weight. Carrying our burdens with grace and understanding puts us firmly in the stream of all people and well on the path to nothingness. Great governance of ourselves requires no change, only that we manage our time exploring Heaven and Earth as best we can.

[Pictured Above: Finally a Clear Day, Shenzhen Bay Park, Spring 2024

Below: The Colors So Clear Today, Shenzhen Bay Park, Spring 2024]

Chapter 29: Don't Act Against The Dao

I’ve been thinking about how much influence I have over anything lately, and Chapter 29 appears to warn me that despite all appearances, not only can I do little to act upon the world, but that also not doing so is the way to a positive life of significance.

“If anyone attempts to rule the world by acting on it, I suppose he will not succeed. This mysterious world under Heaven can’t be acted on, nor can you hold it in your grasp. If you try to act on it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it in your grasp, you will lose it. Things are all different in the world: Some lead and some follow; some are cold and some hot; some are strong and some weak; some are safe and some in danger. Therefore the sage shuns insatiable desires for carnal pleasures, extravagance, and indulgence.”

Starting conditions determine so much of the course and outcomes of our lives. My parents are above average height, so I’m above average height. My mother’s eyes are blue, so mine are. As I grew up, chance encounters and limiting conditions sharpened probabilities to almost the inevitable. I grew up in a small Midwest town in the 80s and 90s. My parents were happy enough, successful enough; so therefore am I.

Do we really have choices when the future appears so unknowable and a step in one direction so obviously better than the others? Take that step. The next is easier. A brightly lit path lays itself before us, and before long we say, “this is what I’ve always wanted.”

The Dao encompasses all, including me. If I attempt to take control of myself through action, I will not succeed. This mind cannot be acted upon or constrained. The more I fight to nudge my mind the closer ruin beckons. I will let go of emotions and the expectations born of fears that feed them. What comes does so with or without my permission. Summers are hot, Winters cold, some days it rains. The people I care for will face dangers, doubts, and achieve great things. I am there for them through it all, knowing that doing less is already the most anyone can do.

[Pictured Above: Blooming in the Sun, Shenzhen Bay Park, Spring 2024

Below: New Life, Shenzhen Bay Park, Spring 2024]

Chapter 30: When Life Reaches Its Prime

What role do emotions play in the ups and down of life’s great events? Savage nature and corporate culture seem to be in complete agreement about how to approach existence. We learn their lessons early on. Maybe from our families, school, or the sports field, and certainly these will be heard in business. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. Survival of the fittest. You keep what you kill. I am sure we all could come up with examples. But who or what does this serve, and is this correct? The Laozi does not believe so:

“He who uses the Dao to assist a ruler would advise against using armies to conquer. Violence begets violence. Where armies camped, thorns and brambles grow. Those who are good at using force stop right at having achieved their purpose; they dare not show their strength. Having achieved your purpose, you do not aggrandize it. Having achieved your purpose, you do not glorify it. Having achieved your purpose, you do not want to be arrogant. Having achieved your purpose, treat it no more than having done the necessary. This is to say you only want to achieve a purpose, not to show your strength. When things have reached the prime of life, what happens next is to get old, as dictated by the Dao. Anything that goes against the Dao dies early.”

If you take these aforementioned lessons on, you learn that it is safer to attack first before the other does you in. There are only two camps, are you with us or with them? That you are a predator, or you will be prey. You will learn that winning is everything, and to the winner goes the spoils. Some things must die for you to have what you want, right? Life is all about competition. Psyching ourselves up to the max, grinding in the dark, always doing more than the other guy, then taking the field and the glory. Is this what Nature, innate nature, is telling us? Should we forget about cooperation and trust? All these aphorisms are about a world where there are haves and have-nots, where many lose so some can win. And you want to be that winner, right? Life is not a sport nor a game, and life should not be gamed. Sports have rules everyone can understand and games end with clear conclusions. We walk away from games. Life is a haphazard struggle of unpredictable peaks and valleys, and life ends.

What was I doing. Goaded to win at all costs, seeking approval from anyone but myself. Every interaction was a battle, every season a war. Negotiating to win meant the other side had to give in; to not just lose but be destroyed and never threaten again. Forget win-win. We’ve all heard these slogans. Laozi would recognize this awareness. If we have heard of “win-win”, then that is how losing is defined. Now you know what no-mans land is. Nothing grows there but thorns and brambles. Driven there by our fears, and fear is all that we find there.

Our nature, and our experience if we open ourselves up to it, shows us that there is no winning at life, just as there is no losing. There are ups and downs, entrances and departures, a gamut of emotions, and nobody makes it out alive. Have I achieved my purpose? Life is more a mixed-up drama, endlessly cycling through season after season, an ever-evolving cast of characters, with cliffhangers and so many surprises. We endure and revel in the action. Suspense, anticipation, elation, and disappointment, but shared with others like a grand chaotic block party. This is enough, to share what we’ve learned along the way.

[Pictured Above: Offerings at Guangyin Temple, Foshan, Spring 2024

Below: A metal tree at He Art Museum, Foshan, Spring 2024]

Chapter 31: Do Not Glorify Victories

Many consider The Daodejing to be two books, or at least two major sections, put together. Somewhere around the halfway point there is a transition from a more mystical and introspective focus on The Dao to a more direct dispensing of practical advice to rulers. Some of the advice is very of the time, but the lessons we can take into our lives are timeless. The controversy comes in where exactly the first section ends and the second begins. Different excavations have yielded unhelpfully conflicting evidence, including a different number and order of chapters, and lost (only mentioned) introductions. The end of “Book 1” might be 34, 36, or 37 depending on the authority! The version I’m quoting in this series saying that chapter 37 is the end of Book 1, but to me, chapter 31 is quite particular in its audience:

“Weapons are instruments of bad omen, not the tools of a gentleman. He will not use them unless it is an absolute necessity. Be indifferent to fame or gain, and do not glorify victories. Those who glorify victories of war take delight in the slaughter of men. Those who take delight in the slaughter of men will not win the hearts of the people. Because weapons are instruments of bad omen, all people hate them. Those who follow the Dao will not use them. The gentleman favors the left-hand position at home, but values the right-hand position in a battle. As is known, the left-hand position in the position of honor on happy occasions, and the right-hand position the position of honor in mourning misfortunes. The commander-in-chief take the right-hand position and the lieutenant commander the left-hand. This is to say they treat the battle as a funeral rite. If masses of people are slaughtered, they mourn the dead with grief and lamentation. If a battle is won, they treat the victory as a funeral.”

I think about the times boasting and threats have been rolled out to hide weakness. Fear drives the committing of aggressive and brutal acts, often only serving to draw attention to the weakness that led to the fears in the first place. Countries parade their military hardware and loudly protest this treaty, or that ship passing whatever line, or this population saying this or that. Are they aware of the weakness they advertise? The threat to their safety that such shouting encourages in more quiet, hidden adversaries. Another country may fall for their own propaganda, invade a neighbor, only to find the neighbor is more determined than originally thought, throwing everything to the wind. And for what? To put expression to fears of the past repeating itself, and to make true the bleakest view of the future. Bravery is demanding respect while giving the same and demonstrating the usefulness of compromise and cooperation.

Yet we must fight when attacked. At no time does Laozi say not to fight wars. Battle is part of nature too. Fear is a part of the human condition, of our nature, and fear fosters fanaticism. Fanatics are difficult to dissuade. Some threats are real, and some fights cannot be avoided. I draw a distinction between using weapons in attack and defense, though granted some defenses appear much the same as attacking. A gentleman will not use these weapons of bad omen but will defend his values when necessary. Such a victory’s losses would be mourned, but not lessen the necessity.

[Pictured Above: Flowering Trees on the Path, Wuyuan County, Spring 2024

Below: Art Piece, Sanbao Village, Spring 2024]

Chapter 32: Know Where To Stop

Most people, most of the time, do not want to have an honest conversation. As much as one might want to, others aren’t in the mood to listen. Say less that matters, know when to stop, and stay safe from dangers. So much interaction is empty platitudes and placation, performative harmony. That is the lesson a life in this nature taught me.

“The Dao is eternal, nameless, and as simple as an uncarved block of wood. As small as it may be, no one in the world can reduce it to what it is not. If kings and princes hold onto it, all creatures and things will run their own natural course. When Heaven and Earth are one in harmony, sweet rain will fall. With no order coming down, people can share nature’s givings on their own. As soon as social institutions are established, there would be names of status. Once there are names of status, one should know it is time to stop. He who knows where to stop will be free from dangers. The Dao works in the world just like valley streams flowing to rivers and seas.”

People are a mystery to me. I don’t know what they are thinking and it’s too difficult a puzzle. I’m talking to myself even when someone is right in front of me. Like there are three people talking instead of two, a third is, or in, my mind. He needs a response. Am I selfish? Perhaps I am only self-absorbed. Maybe that is why I sought refuge in familiar places and people. The unknown really is the unknowable. How can that be overcome? HanFeizi said, “The difficult thing about persuasion is to know the mind of the other person and to be able to fit one’s words to it.” But I don’t know myself.

Sometimes our loved ones just need to talk. Thoughts need to be freed, expressed in sound where another can hear them. These cares need to be expressed or they fester and seethe. It is then that time and space need to be made safe by listening. Exercise compassion and allow people to open the window to their natures. Knowledge and experience flow from person to person, generation to generation, through time, invisibly connecting us like streams flowing into rivers and seas. We hunger to feel part of something larger, and all we have that can touch that is the momentary contact with another mind as unknowable as our own.

[Pictured Above: Looking to a Cloudy Horizon, Wuyuan County, Spring 2024]

Another Exchange Between Laozi And Confucius

In his 1938 book, “The Wisdom of Confucius”, LinYutang recounts an exchange between Confucius and Laozi that took place when Confucius came to meet Laozi at his home in Chou on a pilgrimage to study ancient rites and ceremonies. Much has been speculated about the mythical exchange between these highly esteemed thought leaders. Confucius would have been the younger man at the time, Laozi being already an old man nearing retirement. Imagine what they must have talked about, the younger Confucius showing respect and eagerness to learn from the elder Laozi, who for his part might have been privately amused at this idealistic youngster full of ideas but lacking the tempering influence of experience. When their time together was past and the time had come to depart, Laozi, feeling some positive regard for this fellow who shared his dreams of a benevolent society, could not let the moment pass without dropping these words of advice. Advice often passed from the older to the young, and just as often ignored:

“I have heard that rich people present people with money and kind persons present people with advice, and I am going to present you with a piece of advice: A man who is brilliant and thoughtful is often in danger of his life because he likes to criticize people. A man who is learned and well read and clever at arguments often endangers himself because he likes to reveal people’s foibles. Do not think of yourself only as a son or a minister at court.”

I like that opening line so much that I will use it myself before imparting my wisdom to others (cue big laugh). Such humility! When someone leads with that, are you the sort of person who will listen to what follows? The message is self-sorting, distracting those who can’t follow what comes after, absolving the speaker of responsibility for comprehension. Did Confucius get the message? The Daoists have such fun at Confucius’s expense; it is so mischievous and petty, and I love it.

We are so many characters to so many people throughout our lives. We are a smear of traits and memories in the eyes of others as a son or daughter, a husband, wife, partner, mother, father. A taxpayer, a prospect, a customer and supplier, a trusted employee, a product, and project, all of these too and more. Everyone having ever come into any contact with us, however slight, imagines us as an individual unique from every other. From year to year, second to second, I change and become another.

What a universe of opportunities and dangers opens before each of us! How arrogant we are to think we can get our minds and arms around the possibilities and pitfalls! I am not only a son, not only a vice-president, not only an aspiring-whatever, but a spectrum of potential and misfortune, courting the upright and unsavory in equal measure. Here we are setting goals with our day planners, making resolutions, having team meetings, making bold statements about our wants. I have the biting humor of Laozi this morning and laugh out loud.

Confucius is famous today because of his failure to achieve his single-minded goal. You may find this take surprising, but it is mine. He wanted so much to have the reins of power entrusted to him and prove his ideas about governing, but no ruler ever acquiesced or was convinced to go far enough. If he had gotten what he wanted, what might be different today? History is replete with examples of people who got what they wanted and found that thing wasn’t really for them. I wonder if Confucius felt fulfilled at the end of his life. If he saw himself only as a minister at court, that would be sad. Maybe we should just put down the plans, dive into what drives us, roll the dice, and live to the best potential that others see in us.

[Pictured Above and Below: Summer Arrives, Shenzhen Bay Park, 2024]

Chapter 33: On Wisdom

Where do we get our lessons from? We are born with little but the instincts to eat and absorb lessons from our environment. The people closest to us provide the examples and tutorials that inform our view of the world. But are they wise? Well-meaning teaching with intention is paired, no correct that, swamped by unintentional lessons delivered to unwary pupils. We don’t know ourselves, blundering about, knocking into life, most of our impact never to be known. The Laozi has things to say about the purpose and meaning of life, but the understanding slips from my grip.

“He who knows others has intelligence. He who knows himself has wisdom. He who conquers others has strength. He who conquers himself has power. He who is content with what he possesses is rich. He who does things with persistence has will. He who does not lose his center extends. He who is died and remembered enjoys long life.”

Those of you who know a little “about me” know that I have had some exposure and success in the business world. Some may recall that I threw myself into challenging work at a young age out of a misunderstanding of purpose. Please do not mistake me, taking the plunge into the unknown and accepting the challenge was the right thing to do. One can surely do the things they have to do while searching for the things one needs to do. And I was good at the work. Right person, right place, right time. I was exceptionally good, as if born to it. Here’s the point where things started to slide. My have-to-do was always someone else’s need-to-do, and I mistakenly made it mine. Inexorably, I stopped the search and daily practice of finding my own interests and purpose, until inevitably I was trying to be someone else for others. Again, please understand, all the external events of my life, all the wonderful things I’ve gotten to do and the people I’ve grown close to, I have gratitude and regret none of it. The battle was all internal to me. There was time. Time to work on myself. Time to take care of myself.

Remember me for this. Not knowing what to do is a normal condition of life. The best reaction to this natural confusion is not to grab hold of whatever purpose happens to be at hand. That purpose will belong to someone other than you and the fit will eventually chafe. You cannot change yourself to another’s mold and expect to not be damaged. Accept the time to explore and test yourself through trial and error, always learning along the way. You don’t know the destination but if you’re learning, trust in the path. This is wisdom. The power over your fear is the only wealth that counts in this existence.

[Pictured Above: Shenzhen Bay Park, Rainy Season, Summer 2024

Below: Shenzhen Bay Bridge to the New Territories]

Chapter 34: On Greatness

The first time I read The Daodejing, I felt that I had a hold of something special. As an early set of educated guesses about the nature of, well, Nature, The Daodejing is an often-amazing bit of early science. The philosopher-observers of the age sensed an organizing principle behind everything they witnessed, and they were right. We might call it Physics, the mathematical underpinnings of reality. We look up at the stars, at the vast diversity and intricacy of life around us, the enormousness of it all, and experience the same sense of awe. The same need to express in words what we feel in our minds. They called this organizing impulse The Dao.

“How omnipotent the Dao is! It can go left or right as it pleases. All things and creatures are born of it, and yet it does not say a word. It does not lay claim to whatever it accomplishes. It clothes all creatures and things, and yet has no desire to be their master. This can be called “small” in desire. All things and creatures submit to it and yet have no idea who the master is. This can be called “great”. The Dao never sees itself as great, and that is how greatness is achieved.”

This is fairly incredible. Insightful enough to see that all things originate from a single source, and more, to perceive that there is no claim, desire, or judgment attached to that force. Or maybe momentum is a better descriptor. Human emotions and desires were not overlaid or assigned to this momentum. Today we know that all life is related and has a common origin. The search continues to find alternative life or contradict what evidence points to us as certain, but until then, this is what we know. All natural processes, all life included, submits to these rules of thermodynamics, because really, what choice do we have? It is part of our nature.

More than ever before, encouraged by The Laozi, I perceive looking inward and connecting to our nature as the likeliest track to fulfillment and flourishing. You’re not going to find the answer outside; nobody else is you, can even understand you. They can honestly try to offer their path as an example using the imperfection of words available to us, but the best we can hope for is clues and comparisons. There isn’t one perfect hobby, one correct religion, one effective diet, one exercise protocol, or one approach to life. We are all unique, never to be seen before or since, made of stardust, and yet seeing ourselves as part of something larger is the way to achieve something that could be called great.

[Pictured Above: Peering out on the World, SanBao Village, Spring 2024

Below: See the Bearded Old Man?, SanBao Village, Spring 2024]

Six More Times HanFeizi Got It Right

Here we are again, scrutinizing the writing of the controversial Master HanFei (280-233BCE), considered the greatest of the Legalist School of Philosophy. Born to a noble family, HanFei enjoyed the excesses of privilege and the restrictive baggage that comes with titles. He gained and lost in equal measure during his life. The political climate of his day welcomed him with one hand, giving him a platform, an audience, and fame to hone his ideas, and with the other, handing him treachery ending in despair and suicide. A story for another day.

Legalism as a philosophy of government places all the responsibility and pressure on the figure of the king, the emperor, the supreme ruler. He must be superhumanly insightful, a master of his inner mind and emotions, a profound expert on his fellow man, confident to the point of godliness, immune to all manner of temptations, handsome and dashing (those last two my additions. I mean, why not?). If that sounds like an implausibly perfect sort of person to hinge on a single point of failure, yep, I think a lot of people would agree with you. The great weakness in Legalism’s proposal is the assumption of an absolute ruler. The inherent instability of this arrangement, even if only around the times of succession, is a red flag that HanFeizi ought to have spent more than a few cautionary notes on. But before we bin the whole concept, we should also in a spirit of fairness note that every philosopher of the period, whether Confucious, Mozi, Mencius, Xunzi, even The Laozi, all simply assume the necessity and existence of a Supreme Leader, given the Right to Rule from “above” (Heaven). That condition is the context in which all these ideas need to be viewed.

In his 47 years, Master HanFei earned his place in history. He is a real person, a more unique sagely attribute than you might think. When he speaks there is earned knowledge underpinning the words and a call to us to heed his warning. Read him as though a personal advisor is giving you advice. Presented here are six quotes from HanFei’s essay, “The Difficulties of Persuasion”, translated by Burton Watson.

“On the whole, the difficult thing about persuading others is not that one lacks the knowledge needed to state his case nor the audacity to exercise his abilities to the full. The difficult thing about persuasion is to know the mind of the other person and to be able to fit one’s words to it.”

If only we could achieve our dreams on our own! Alas, anything truly big and impactful depends on the support of others who bring resources, connections, skills, and experiences to a partnership. Negotiation is an essential skill, in business and personal life. Remember that all sides have the same problem: understanding the viewpoint of the other sides. The most Dao-approved strategy is the honest path. It is hard enough to reach a positive agreement when the parties are being deliberately underhanded. Young negotiators fall into this mistake; no deal is often the best outcome for everyone. If there’s no deal, don’t force one. Who wants a deal where the other side misunderstands what you wanted? Over the long term, honesty is the best policy.

“Shouldering hard and demeaning tasks cannot be avoided in the pursuit of advancement. Therefore you too should become a cook or a slave when necessary; if this enables you to gain the confidence of the ruler and save the state, then it is no disgrace for a man of ability to take such a course.”

To achieve anything worthwhile, hard work is a requirement. We are all born with gifts. Some have inheritances, and others find themselves in the right time and place. Fame, notoriety, wealth, these are not achievements without the hard work. The hard work over years is the achievement. Young people need to constantly review what they want and where they want to be in life and throw themselves into learning skills and gaining experience that bring them closer to these dreams.

“The dragon can be tamed and trained to the point where you may ride on his back. But on the undersides of its throat are scales a foot in diameter that curl back from its body, and anyone who chances to brush against them is sure to die. The rulers of men too has his bristling scales.”

We want to be close to power, but that is not the same as having power. The distinction can become lost in the weeds of everyday interactions, the trappings of respect and influence draped over you like an ill-fitted suit. The truth is you’re only valuable to them while you are useful, and the second you stop being useful, that’s the end, and it’s not up to you. Do not become addicted to influence, it can get hold of you, and you will resent its absence.

“When high ministers and enfeoffed lords are too numerous and powerful, they pose a threat to the ruler and oppress the common people. It would be better to confiscate all titles and stipends after the third generation, reduce their ranks and salaries, and employ only those who have proved themselves able and experienced.”

The Chinese have a saying, “you can only keep wealth in the family for three generations.” I’ve heard a similar European version. I have personally witnessed the pernicious corrosion of nepotism. Gifting positions of influence and resources to people for no other reason than sharing slightly more DNA than a stranger. I understand, really, I get it. The giver is aging and fears losing what he/she has, fears for the future of the people they have attachments to, and fears developing trust with others open to coercion. Shortcuts are easier. It is tempting to lean on pre-existing relationships rather then taking the chances on new trust.

The ruler, whether an individual or the voters in a democracy, who want the society to remain strong, will put in place robust laws to assist good fortune by recycling wealth back into the system, encouraging education and the promotion of worthy individuals, and rewarding creativity and risk-taking by helping lift those who good fortune has not yet chosen.

“It is obvious that water will overcome fire. It is just as obvious that government should be able to put an end to evil. But if a kettle comes between them, as when officials whose duty it is to uphold the law instead play the part of the kettle, the fire goes on burning merrily underneath, while the water boils and bubbles away completely dry on top.”

Do people get the government they deserve? I do not think this is a fair or correct statement. I’ve visited and lived in many places where to say this is unnecessarily cruel. The cultures that spawn systems of governance take decades and centuries to develop. If getting here took more than a lifetime, real change does not require less. But people can lose their freedoms quickly. We all get riled up over the issues of the day, the list is long. But the bare minimum expectation for any politician should be to protect by word and action the founding principles of their system of government, and the population has a duty to hold them to that responsibility, or face the consequences.

“In general, those who disapprove of changing old ways are simply timid about altering what the people have grown used to. But those who fail to change old ways are often in fact prolonging the course of disorder, while those who strive to gratify the people are after some selfish and evil end. The ruler of men must be enlightened enough to put change into effect. Though it means going against the will of the people, he will enforce his rule. For the people, in their stupid and slovenly way, will groan at even a small expenditure and forget the great profits to be reaped from it.”

All right, that last sentence is gratuitous, and I could have omitted it, but Master HanFei has his way with words. The guy never had to address “the people” directly. Authentic leadership requires leading from the front, particularly when the decision brings short term pain. The true leader is responsible to explain the vision and show the positive balance of short-term sacrifice and long-term gain. Be wary of those who extol the “good old days”, when government was righteous, when men were men, and women were women, and run the other way when a person says, “only I can fix it”. There is no greater lie.

I was educated in the West and the only Eastern philosopher who got a mention was Confucious. After living and working in China and Asia for nearly 30 years, Master HanFei and Legalism only recently came to my attention through exposure to the Daodejing. These are rich and complex characters, and there are authors who have done years of hard work translating and piecing together their world. Their struggles with the hard questions of here and now echo through eternity and come to us, sounding so familiar one would think nothing has changed. Thank you for spending your time with me in this look at one of my favorite misunderstood and lesser-known philosophers.

[Pictured Above: Musing on the Morning, Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024

Below: Summer in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024]

Chapter 35: The Dao Will Do You Good

At the time of writing, I’ve had a stomach flu for the past two days. Nothing serious, but the absence of energy, the urge to sleep all day, made me think about how much we depend on our bodies and external conditions to inspire our mood and impetus to just go forward and do anything. I am a fit guy, nothing exceptional to look at, not setting any performance records, but I prioritize living a full life for as long as possible, even into my marginal decade. In time, the memories, connections, and consequences of the sum of my decisions will be all that remains to carry me.

“Hold on to the Dao, and you will see the whole world come to you. They come with no intention to harm; what they bring is tranquility, peace, and harmony. Music and the smell of food would stop the steps of a passersby, and yet bland and tasteless are the words of the Dao. When you look at it, it is invisible. When you listen to it, it is inaudible. When you use it, it is inexhaustible.”

This is a subtle, crafty message, is it not? The whole world coming to me, and more besides, bringing only goodness and without intention to harm. They come with open arms, and yet, we are regularly harmed, are we not? All that peace and tranquility, sublime music, enticing food, beautiful forms, and honeyed tongues. Does it only serve to pull us away from what matters? The world was coming to me from the moment I was born. Maybe, it was coming for you too.

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, in the gangster movie Goodfellas, his inner voice reminds the audience, “See, your murderers come with smiles, they come as your friends, the people who’ve cared for you all your life.” This is the consequence at the end of that world, when there is nothing left to siphon away. The gravity well of convenience and abundance, to take up the purpose of pursuing these as ends, for the bloated satiation of others, this is the tale of how I became exhausted.

But we can begin again. We can set down the misadventures and misunderstandings of the past, take those lessons and go on. Our Nature was always there and remains. That Nature is what drew the world to us in the first place, our potential for peace and harmony, the capacity to heal the hurts, to bring a bit of value to all this excess. I can learn to trust again. Sharing without taking, giving without holding back, growing together without growing dependent.

[Pictured Above: Abundance in Jingdezhen, Spring 2024

Below: Eager for the next, Cigong Jingdezhen, Spring 2024]

Chapter 36: Hidden Intelligence

The editors of The Daodejing shaped the narrative for an audience with a method that we can begin to discern. The Dao lies at the root of all and non-existence, circular and ever-renewing. Now apply the principle to practice. Finally bring out the deduction, the conclusion that delivers to the primary audience, the ruler and leader of government, the actions that will preserve his mandate.

“If something is ready to shrink, it must have expanded too much. If something is ready to abate, it must have been reinforced too much. If something is ready to go, it must have been held too long. If something is ready to be taken, it must have been promised to give. This is what is called hidden intelligence. The soft wins over the hard, and the weak defeats the strong. Fish can’t be taken away from water, and the weapons of a state can’t be shown to people.”

I mourn for things lost in the past way too often and too intensely. Man, just let it go. In a roundabout way, this chapter was the subject of a conversation I had yesterday with someone I love very much. Through that conversation, I realized I am not the person that I was.

No. That’s not right. I have a new perception of who I have been. Let’s call him Person Zero.

Person Zero had a world view that was typical and familiar, very forward-pushing, mission-oriented, externally assertive, and self-assured. Person Zero’s worldview was narrow and had walls around preventing contact and foreign ideas from getting through. Person Zero didn’t spend much time in introspection.

Zero’s fictions couldn’t be sustained, and his beliefs fell apart. Let’s call it a mid-life crisis and leave the subject for another time. What emerged from that chaos was Person One. One is horrified and ashamed of Zero; what he did, and who he was standing up for. He’s trying to make a new path, based on something closer to truth. He doesn’t assume much, and is confident only in that he cannot, will not, go back to the blissful and callous blindness of Zero. One tries not to blame others for Zero’s failings, and he knows Zero cannot be blamed for what he couldn’t see, but still damns him for being himself. One is guilty of that loathing of where he came from.

One and Zero coexist in an uneasy peace, ever debating who casts the shadow. One faces the world. Zero haunts over his shoulder. But there are people and places, where due to expectations or familiarity, where Zero has the advantage. These are the uncomfortable times. My greatest fear is falling back into old habits and exposing my family and friends to the attitudes of the past. One is better than that, but untested, questioning his capabilities.

Chapter 36 is so universal, there are a dozen easy paths to take. Sometime wan revisit this chapter. Who would guess this one would bite so deep (the last was Chapter 20). But this one was for me. Maybe not so polished or clear, but today, I don’t care. It’s okay. I’m not ready to let this go.

[Pictured Above: Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024

Below: Cafe suspended over a river in Sanbaocun, Spring 2024]

Chapter 37: How To Check Desires

This is the last chapter before the so-called second half of The Daodejing. The introduction to the translation we’re using says the first half is referred to as The Dao Jing (1-37) and second half The De Jing (38-81). We are also told of the Mawangdui silk texts dug up around Changsha, Hunan in 1973 had this order of chapters reversed. So, make of that what you will.

Experience has conditioned us to be wary of statements that veer into speculation, and The Daodejing has served as the tool and vehicle for all manner of fantasy and machinations. It is said that the content of the Daodejing becomes more practical from here on, speaking more directly to the regular challenges and daily tasks of governing a state. Perhaps with an eye to that end, Chapter 37 reminds us of the inadequacy of language to describe The Dao that we were introduced to in Chapter 1:

“The Dao is eternal and nameless. If kings and princes hold onto it, all things and creatures will run their own natural course. Desires may rise when they run their own natural course. I will use an unaffected and unnameable simplicity to check the rising of desires. When there is no desire for contention, things will quiet down, and the world will return to its own order.”

You have watched me struggle with the consequences of being me and share indistinct experiences that haunt my psyche. There was joy too, like an exultant roar of rushing ahead, crashing headlong through barriers real and imagined. That roar comes back to me now, and I examine and reflect on the memories.

Why did I hunger so badly for validation? That desire to feel like a winner, to be seen by others as a winner, was like an addiction that grew and grew out of all proportion to reality or sense. A dependency with the cruelest downside, a descent into the fear that was always there. Fear of failure, of being swallowed by life. So the risks got more outrageous, the displays more flamboyant, liking hurling myself against the bars of a cage. A cage used by many, a cage I crafted for myself.

But enough. By luck, guile, and more help from others than I can ever express enough appreciation for, I got through. Looking back on those exploits, through sometimes by the feeblest of margins. Now I can only laugh at the memories. I begin to understand and accept why. My Nature was always there in the background, and sometimes I checked those desires through connection to it. The Dao encompasses everything. Nothing in all of existence and emptiness falls outside of it, including that fear that pushed me on.

The fear pushed me halfway around the globe, into dangers, but also into opportunities. It held me back at key moments and pushed me forward at others. I suppose I have much to be thankful for. So, desires may rise, and having a natural course, they take us places that if nothing else entertain and give us stories to tell. I don’t think I want to check those desires. No, Laozi, you haven’t converted me yet. I still want to contend.

[Pictured Above and Below: Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024]

Chapter 38: High Virtue Shows No Virtue

The second half of The Daodejing, the De Jing, is reputed to be more practical, so I will endeavor to be more practical, dipping into more actual experience and what I took the lessons to be. Do not trust me to hold to this commitment. The Daodejing probably doesn’t either, so here goes.

He who is of high virtue shows no virtue, so he has virtue. He who is of low virtue shows virtue, so he has no virtue. He who is of high virtue not only doesn’t act but also has no motivation to act. He who is of high benevolence acts though he has no motivation to act. He who is of high righteousness not only acts but also has his motivation to act. He who is of high proprieties acts, and will roll his sleeves up and force others to do the same if they do not follow. Therefore, when the Dao is lost, there would be virtue. When virtue is lost, there would be benevolence. When benevolence is lost, there would be righteousness. When righteousness is lost, there would be proprieties. Proprieties lack in loyalty and truthfulness; worse, they can incubate chaos. He who claims to be a prophet is no more than an ignorant man holding the Dao like a flower. What’s why a true man dwells in what is thick, not thin, and in what is substantive, not flowery. So he discards the latter and keeps the former.”

I find it helps to read this chapter frontwards and backwards. When I do this, the intended meaning becomes more clear. This is similar to the screed against Confucius and his followers (Chapter 18, Go And Talk To Confucius). The Laozi feels that when teachers have the need to talk about benevolence, the existence of spite and miserliness not only exists but is created. When proprieties [defined the Oxford Dictionary as meaning, “rules of behavior generally considered to be correct.”] are rigidly defined and reinforced, there are the accused and the judged, leading directly to haves and have-nots, and thus the seeds of chaos are sown and encouraged to explode.

The Laozi never saw a rule, or a propriety, that he liked. No wonder he despaired of Confucius and his disciples, with their admiration and strict adherence to “rituals and music”. The myriad creatures resist contrived control. Life grows and expands, populating places, both physical and of thought, that had seemed ill-suited. The past has valuable lessons to teach, but one of the lessons is not to be a slave to the past! That’s a causality loop that Laozi could get behind.

The further we move from Nature, our base natures, the more time, and the more energy we spend trying to “fix” things. We have reminders and chiding to get us to remember. Errands and side quests proliferate, boosted by incentives, but incentives that push us off the natural path. Often the first club to be picked up is punishments, and it is always the weakest managers who opt for that club.

Let’s have an example from the world of retail. If you aren’t familiar with licensing, a brand licenses a local business owner the rights to open stores under the brand and retail the brand’s products. Contracts define territory, which might be a city, part of a city, of a district, and duration, usually in years, and expected practices and incentives.

Ideally for the brand owner, you would want to sign partners covering the entire population of customers, with no unserved areas, and maximize potential sales within each territory. As a matter of course, partners territories will butt up against each other. This is where human nature kicks in. Partners want to expand, they don’t know or like each other, and we get cross-selling and other tactics to undermine neighbors. Chaos grows from the ground up, clashing with the rules of control management sent from the top.

Here’s the trick that separates good managers from the rest. A good contract defines incentives and punishments but leaves enforcement vague and in the hands of the manager. Good managers work to maintain a level of under-handed competition that serves theirs and the brand’s interests. To the poor manager, this sounds like hard work and a shifting environment of uncertainty. To some of you, Dear Readers, this sounds like an open door for corruption.

That’s because it is corruption. Or is it? What rules are being broken? A weak contract doesn’t have the strict definitions or the force of law behind it. Human nature is merely expressing itself, and there is no law there, only a cloudy sense of moral certitude about what is right. What am I saying?

Business practices that flow with natural behavior and encourage natural reactions work best and proliferate. Works best in business is what is right. Keep the rules pliable, even when that means accepting some leakage of short-term gain. Business isn’t a moral contest; it is a contest of profit and loss. If you can preserve yourself in that environment, then you are on the way to sagehood.

The philosophies of Laozi and Confucius have much overlap but differ and clash in this key area of how much organization a peaceful society requires. Laozi is noncommittal but certain that nature provides the answers. Confucius stands more firmly with his strict and detailed “rituals and music”. Both grow out of the past. I find it endlessly amusing and baffling that HanFeizi accepts the most from Laozi, is scornful of Confucius, yet places the most stock in his “names and forms”. Signs of confusion point the way to greater learning. Maybe this is the lesson.

[Pictured Above: Flirting from afar in JinLi Ancient Street, Chengdu, Fall 2023

and Below: Dragon Bell at Buddhist temple in Huanglongxi, Fall 2023]

The Worst of HanFeizi (Part II)

Welcome to the next installment of the HanFeizi Series, a selection of his worst ideas. Sometimes we like to watch or experience a thing that makes us uncomfortable. We like to experience discomfort in a controlled setting, where we can stop the streaming or put down the book whenever we want. I think this is our way of confronting our anxieties and satisfying our curiosity without risking anything real. Master HanFei, representative of the Legalist School par excellence, meets those criteria for me. I get caught up in wondering who this guy was, what really drove him, and what would meeting him be like.

The world HanFei (280-233bce) was born into was the later stages of the Warring States (475-221bce). Life really was nasty, brutish, and short for many millions, and you didn’t know from where and when the end was coming. It seems like everyone was at war and nobody could ever feel safe. A more opposed contrast to my own life I could not imagine. Was he as brusque and unforgiving as his advice or was he ever a commentor on the sidelines? How self-aware was he? Was he a fanatic? At any rate, he was under great psychological strain, as everyone at that time. Out of times of desperation and despair extreme conclusions find their way to the surface.

From HanFei’s essay, “The Difficulties of Persuasion”:

“Praise other men whose deeds are like those of the person you are talking to; commend other actions which are based upon the same policies as his. If there is someone else who is guilty of the same vice he is, be sure to gloss it over by showing that it really does no great harm; if there is someone else who has suffered the same failure he has, be sure to defend it by demonstrating that it is not a loss after all. If he prides himself on his physical prowess, do not antagonize him by mentioning the difficulties he has encountered in the past; if he considers himself an expert at making decisions, do not anger him by pointing out his past errors; if he pictures himself a sagacious planner, do not tax him with his failures. Make sure there is nothing in your idea as a whole that will vex your listener, then you may exercise your powers of rhetoric to the fullest.”

In another time period, HanFei could have been a wildly successful entrepreneur. Only a sociopath could view the world through lenses as twisted as this and live with himself. Reducing every person to an unintelligent set of reactions and responses that can be manipulated wholesale into anything just so long as you push the right buttons. The disrespect is off the charts. Sounding familiar? Looking at you, tech barons.

Mass manufacturing relies on precisely consistent raw materials and operations to produce precisely identical products. Much energy is spent improving this quality, or low variation in engineering-speak, and now that our society mainly manufactures Content, Comments, Likes, and yes, Claps, the algorithms that thriv on consistency for efficiency and profitability are working their pressure to mold us to conform and fit our creativity into a box for branding, packaging, and wholesale.

Imagine you are the ruler of your mind. Are your advisers telling you just what you want to hear, just when you need to hear it? Manipulation and propaganda weren’t invented yesterday.

From the essay plainly titled, “Mr. He”:

“Lord Shang taught Duke Xiao of Qin how to organize the people intro groups of five and ten families that would spy on each other and were cooperatively responsible for crimes committed by their members; he advised him to burn the Book of Odes and Book of Documents and elucidate the laws and regulations, to reject the private requests of powerful families and concentrate upon furthering the interests of the royal family; to forbid people to wander about in search of public office, and to glorify the lot of those who devote themselves to agriculture and warfare. Duke Xiao put his suggestions into practice, and as a result the position of the ruler became secure and respected, and the state grew rich and powerful. But eight years later Duke Xiao passed away, and Lord Shang was tied to two chariots and torn apart by the men of Qin.”

So, we have a minister who provided guidance to his sovereign, that advice was effective in securing the ruler and benefiting the state, and the story ends with the minister meeting a grisly end. You might have a few questions. Like, what point is HanFei trying to make? Doesn’t this passage contradict the passage above? Is a minister doomed from the start by the very nature of being a minister, so best not to even try? Is it possible that the inherent instability and unreliability of the hereditary system is being subtly pointed out?

Who can say. Never in my reading does HanFei come close to touching that subject, much less suggesting any alternatives. And the policies Shang advocated are in keeping with Legalist recommendations, so we can presume HanFei supported neighbors, friends, and family spying and reporting on each other. I find that particularly nasty. Not less nasty than burning books or concentrating wealth in the hands of the fewest possible, but close.

If I couldn’t think of contemporary examples of just these types of policy recommendations being advocated and practiced, I might have let this slide.... but here we are. Legalist theory should be more widely and openly studied because somebody somewhere is quietly reading and thinking about it.

The Qin Emperor adapted HanFei’s concepts and put in place the most draconian and rigid system of government and society the world had known to that point, and maybe in all of history. He failed quickly, and his dynasty lasted only two generations. Not for lack of trying, insufficiency of resources, or cooperation. No outside heroes came to the rescue.

These ideas failed on their merits, in the field, and one would think lessons should be drawn that lead to serious introspection when the underlying ideas percolate up to the halls of power in our time. It just shows that each generation is responsible for its own fight to build a better society. We can get continuously better. Studying the story of the Legalists is one of the ways to put the past to best use.

[Pictured Above: Patience, Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024

and Below: One Angry Frog, Huangling Village, Spring 2024]

Chapter 39: Nobility Has Humbleness as Base

[Author’s Note: This series helps me experience, express emotions, and learn about myself. Reading back over, I should feel something. There is rage here, a red rage, though who or what to direct it at? I used to think I knew. I have come into adjacency with thousands of business leaders. Any resemblance to individuals you may know, or believe I have known, is purely coincidental. I neither confirm nor deny.]

As it ever was, so shall it ever be. The Laozi records foundational truths about the Universe, or Nature, or Human Nature, that were common to all of us regardless of birth, rank, or beliefs. Fundamental compulsions that act on each of us, paying no attention to time or space or circumstance. The problem was, and is, how to get anyone to see the foundations underpinning our actions, much less get anyone to actually work for the betterment of those less fortunate, or even to make ourselves more resistant to the temptations that are part and parcel of success. In Chapter 39, Laozi lays out the case so a toddler could grasp his meaning:

“It has always been the case since ancient times: Heaven, when it is one with the Dao, will be clear and bright. Earth, when it is one with the Dao, will be calm and quiet. Spirits, when they are one with the Dao, will be divine and active. Valleys, when they are one with the Dao, will be full and abundant. Kings and princes, when they are one with the Dao, will be true leaders. To further the reasoning, Heaven, if not clear and bright, would probably crack. Earth, if not calm and quiet, would probably tear apart. Spirits, if not divine and active, would probably vanish. Valleys, if not full and abundant, would probably dry up. Kings and princes, if unable to govern while in power, would probably fail. There the nobility has humbleness at its root, and high has low as its foundation. And that is why Kings and princes call themselves “a lonely man, a man of no virtue, or an unworthy.” Is it not that they regard humbleness as their foundation? Is it not? Therefore, high honor equals no honor. Do not desire to shine with a piece of good-looking jade, nor do you want to be a hard and easy-to-break rock.”

Mastery of our Self and the leadership of others, confers the greatest euphoria the human experience can bestow. We are indoctrinated and trained to strive for these heights from a young age. Those who have reached the pinnacles – always and only the top best – are lauded and worshipped beyond all sanity. The god-emperors of Rome, the Rockefellers of the last century, and the Putins and Musks of our present. But these are not Laozi’s humble “kings and princes”. However they might have started out, they lost The Way.

We all know who I mean. Dear Readers, many of you know them personally, they might even be close to you. The leaders of false humility, polishing their high honors, groveling for admiration in a bait-and-switch of mindless worship for integrity.

They often begin with an extraordinary start in life. Wealth, position, fortunate timing; they are in the right place at the right time. This is not their fault, nor is it the start of the wrong path. Do not hold this against them. Do not mistake me. Randomness of circumstance is part of The Dao. What parent doesn’t want to shower their children with resources, support, and the safest future possible? Random events in a chaotic universe are what insures the survival of life. If this is foundational, how can it be denied? We cannot blame some for veering into excess. No, there is no fault with the individual for how he begins.

These lucky few lose their way somewhere along the journey. I know how easily it happens. You can see it in businesses that start small and grow large too quickly. Leaders lose direct control. They fear not knowing what is going on. Where once they knew everyone, and everyone knew them, now there are unfamiliar faces around the boardroom table. Now a leader can tell strangers what they want them to know...

Experts with specialized knowledge become necessary, skills the leader could never have. They begin to feel less special. They were big fishes in a small pond, now merely a small fish in a growing lake, and they get scared. Even if they own the lake...

The signs of a leader who has lost the way are visible to those with the eye:

They take credit for things they didn’t do.

They place themselves at the center of events they were never part of.

They shine the lights of center stage on themselves at every opportunity.

They rewrite history to remove key characters who are unable to right the record.

They favor origin stories that showcase insurmountable odds that only they could have overcome.

This is the science of corporate myth-building. The making of leadership cults. As shameful as such things are, The Dao encompasses them too, as it does everything between nothingness and existence. The Universe doesn’t concern with what we think.

But there is a way forward that preserves our integrity and virtue. Just don’t buy their guff. None of the dog-and-pony show need affect us. Buy the best value products that suit your needs and principles. Vote for the politician that best demonstrates through actions your morality and practical needs. We can work for them, work with them, and still preserve our integrity. Your concern is you. My concern is me. There is so much about the world to lament, but our responsibility is only our own integrity and what we do with our circumstances.

I used to think they could go to hell in their own handbaskets. What I think doesn’t affect them, they being beyond caring, having replaced people with myths and archetypes. Do not forgive or forget, remembering that the weak eventually defeats the strong, indiscreetness is to lose the root, and anything that goes against the Dao dies early.

[Pictured Above: Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang, Summer 2023

and Below: A puppy in Dongbucun, Spring 2024]

Chapter 40: The Dao Moves Opposites

Like a swinging pendulum, The Daodejing moves between styles. Now esoteric, then explicit, and back again. There might be a rhythm, laying a foundation for understanding before instructions are directly downloaded. Maybe the chapters are not so random, these editors of antiquity arranging insights to some cosmic numbering scheme. Yeah. So much for the promised practical advice.

“Reversion is the movement of the Dao, and moving from weakness is the functioning of the Dao. All things and creatures in the world are born of existence, and existence is born of nothingness.”

Nature is about limiting factors and change. Change driven by limiting factors. Alive or unalive, everything is in motion. There are limits to the level of order nature will accept. Disorder and order are attracted to each other yet never touch, forever warily circling, compelled to move. Conditions favor expansion and life erupts. A niche forms and new life evolves to exploit it, scaled to the limits of resources. Supply and demand vie in a never-ending cycle of one-upmanship. The Dao is always in motion from one thing to another.

Yet in some twist of cruel cosmic amusement, the evolving universe conjured up a consciousness that not only resists change but wants to forget the inevitable reversion from nothingness to existence and back again. This is lived experience much of the time.

After a memorable day: “Why couldn’t this moment last forever?”

“Those were the days,” recalling those days years later.

We forget that the giddy power of youth is temporary. We fail to save for the rainy day. We imagine staying on top forever.

Glittering and gloomy memories should be allowed to fade. I should want that. Fade and be forgotten, only infrequently and randomly summoned back into consciousness at intervals sparked by some external reminder, to be finally forgotten in the mists of my aging brain. I don’t want disappointment to linger forever on at the front of my mind. If the letting go of pride and satisfaction meant also letting go of the disappointment and the resentment, would I? We are not in control of what we can forget any more than of what we know, so the question is moot. The disappointment and the downfalls, coupled with the triumphs, these are what make us real, unique, and honest.

[Pictured Above: Birds in Shenzhen Bay Park, Shenzhen, Summer 2024

and Below: Flowering pair in NgongPing, HK, Summer 2024]

Chapter 41: A Great Voice Is Barely Heard

I have sung the praises of “my” version of The Daodejing, this from World Academic Classics, before in this series, but please indulge me one more time. I have reviewed English versions that approach the source material too literally, the result being useless word salad. Other translators so obviously infuse their personal beliefs and biases into the text that they might as well just write their own book. Yet others simplify and modernize so much that the mystery is lost. That is the risk with simple ideas. An idea that underpins everything is everywhere, can be sensed everywhere, and all readers can see what they want to. More on that another time.

Translating the Daodejing is devilishly difficult with the ancient language and writing, the limited and sparse writing materials, and the complexity and vagueness of the subject. An impossible task if there every was one, but so rewarding when we touch upon a choice of words and phrasing that stirs our spirits. A shudder of emotion passes through me; this is the sign of a successful translation. I get that reaction from this version you’ve been reading with me more than any other.

But not this week, this chapter is confusing. I follow my intuition, and it says to pick this apart. So, we’re going to do two things. First, identify the sections (3) that make up this chapter, and second, bring in an alternative translation for comparison. My second favorite translation is from Penguin Classics. Granted, it is a not a close second. The English can be clunky, but the mystery remains.

The First Section from World Academic Classics (WAC):

“When a man of high echelon hears about the Dao, he practices it with all diligence. When a man of middle echelon hears about the Dao, he is half-believing and half-doubting. When a man of low echelon hears about the Dao, he laughs at it out loud. The Dao, if not laughed at, would not be the Dao.”

Now Penguin Classics (PC):

“When the best student hears about the way

He practices it assiduously;

When the average student hears about the way

It seems to him one moment there and gone the next;

When the worst student hears about the way

He laughs out load.

If he did not laugh

It would be unworthy of being the way.”

In my imagination, a ruler selecting advisers, men of high echelon, or potential advisers like Confucius are evaluating the ruler for evidence of divine right. WAC always cleaves tightly to the Daodejing-as-governing-manual. PC brings in the individual, as the students that we all are, seeming to give our teachers a measuring rod to sort us. There are endless ways to run from reality. By observing closely through their actions, we can discern who is practicing assiduously and who bounding rashly wherever they happen to be led. Doing the right thing will always be hard because we cannot rely on praise or ridicule from others as guidance, since these reactions will exist at every turn. We must decide for ourselves.

The Second Section, WAC:

Therefore there have been such ancient sayings: He who understands the Dao seems slow-witted. He who goes forward with the Dao seems to go back. He who has an easy journey with the Dao seems to travel on a rocky road. He who is of high virtue feels like the virtue is too deep a valley. He who is of expansive virtue feels like the virtue is insufficient. He who builds virtue feels like the virtue needs to be concealed. He who practices pure virtue feels like the virtue has been changed. A great fullness looks eclipsed. A great square sees no corners. A great talent takes time to produce. A great voice is barely heard. A great form has no shape.”

And PC:

“Hence the Chien Yen has it;

The way that is bright seems dull;

The way that leads forward seems to lead backward;

The way that is even seems rough.

The highest virtue is like the valley;

The sheerest whiteness seems sullied;

Ample virtue seems defective;

Vigorous virtue seems indolent;

Plain virtue seems soiled’

The great square has no corners.

The great vessel takes long to complete;

The great note is rarified in sound;

The great image has no shape.”

We already know who the “He” the WAC is referring to. His right to rule is grounded in knowledge, foresight, and fortune, though by all appearances He may appear to be leading us backwards! Oh, The Daodejing is such a dangerous read, like a highwire act with a yawning abyss below, and paradise in front. PC takes an impersonal tact, generalized, and we get the sense of the value in trusting the process. So what if our bright future lies beyond the horizon? There are difficulties on all roads to greatness and worthwhile accomplishments.

The Final Section, WAC:

“Though hidden and nameless, the Dao begins well and ends well.”

And PC:

“The way conceals itself in being nameless.

It is the way alone that excels in bestowing and accomplishing.”

If only we could go back in time and speak to the writers, compilers, editors, and readers who valued this text almost more than any other possessions, so much so that they insisted on being buried with their favorite copies. Yes, if only, and if we did, we would only add to the already long list of unique interpretations, but the experience would surely be surprising. A Sisyphean task; The Dao tells each of us what we most want to know. WAC assures me that My Dao began well, and whatever happens throughout, My Dao will end well. The world will go on. PC brings us to the middle, telling us that when we adhere to our true selves, our true natures, this is when we truly accomplish acts of value.

The complete picture is one of not taking the easy road. What we truly want is not right in front of us. It is far off, where we can sense but not catch a glimpse of it. I suppose many of my old colleagues and pals would view me as moving backward. Some would laugh. Several would be worried. Most would misunderstand. To tell the truth, I don’t know what I’m building towards. In the space of the previous five days, I went from exuberant to stunned to depressed and back again. Through it all, buried deep but always there, is the sense of rightness, and that because I am finally aware that I don’t know. Hidden, concealed, shapeless, but once you grab on, do not let go.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these two interpretations of Chapter 41. Please, feel no pressure to choose one or the other, the difference is no greater or lesser than any of the other hundreds of versions available. But I know when I read this later, my feelings will be changed. If I can change one day, a month, or a year to the next, then your thoughts are all unique, and I would really like a glimpse into your minds.

[Pictured Above: The clouds have been amazing in Shenzhen Bay Park, Shenzhen, Summer 2024

and Center: That would be telling.

and Below:Blue Sky in Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024]

Who Can You Trust? (A HanFeizi Parable)

[Author’s Note: After feeling a bit heavy, and noticing that melancholy reflected in my writing, here is a lighter take on a heavy-hitting personality of antiquity, my favorite poster boy of misunderstanding, Master HanFei.]

The ideal world is only ever black and white. There is right, there is wrong, and there is authority to tell us the difference through the swift application of rewards and punishments. Supreme authority rests with the perfect man (always a man) who need do nothing more than trust to these names (laws) and forms (rewards and punishments). Or it would be, so says Master HanFei in his idealized (and completely fictional) perfect world. A perfect world that lies within our reach. We can reach out and grasp this future for ourselves because nature itself operates at scales big and small to show us the truth. Here, a parable to demonstrate the point:

“A certain man of Cheng was going to buy himself a new pair of shoes. First he took measurements of his feet, and left them in his seat. These he forgot to bring along when he went to the streets, and after entering a shoe shop, he said to himself, ‘Oh, I have forgotten to bring along the measurements, and must go back to bring them.’ So he did. But when he returned, the shop was closed already and he failed to buy any shoes. Someone said to him, ‘Why didn’t you let them try the shoes on your feet?’ And the man replied, ‘I would rather trust the measurements than trust myself.’”

I find this story hilarious and guffawed in public most impolitely when first reading it. This “certain man of Cheng” is my brother in spirit and time. When buying anything, especially shoes, I must start with the size (45Euro/11.5US) because I certainly cannot trust my own judgement of fit and comfort in the heat of the moment. It is like my judgment and senses completely betray me and I end up the next day at home with shoes that pinch or are so loose that I wonder what drugs the store puts in the air supply! So, I have achieved some level of awareness and set guidelines for myself. These are not rules, much less laws; they are, as Captain Barbossa said, “really more a guideline than actual rules.” Call them habits and routines. They protect us from ourselves.

Master HanFei missed his calling, and his millennia, as an internet age motivational speaker. He is a Jordan Belfort, a James Clear, an Adam Grant! [Insert your guru here.] I am entirely certain that I am the first adherent to his new university of self-improvement and motivation, but dang if I will not be the last! His image can be rehabilitated! He has been unlucky in his superfans until this point, but now he has me.

[Pictured Above: Three Brothers on a Lake, Chengdu, 2023

and Below:Summer at Shenzhen Bay Park, Shenzhen, 2024]

Chapter 42: The Dao Produces All

One thing leads to another. How many times did I hear that worded as a warning. Makes me go back, thinking of the riskier adventures. The parties. The drinking. The excess in everything. And a few times, I was explicitly told, “to sacrifice your(my) body.” I’m not kidding. For what? For business. What won’t we do to belong to something, huh?

Poor habits have a flow all their own. We take one step down a route that carries intrigue, excitement, promise, and the lure of the unknown, and we’re encouraged all the way. The next step, then another, and you’ve got a lifestyle. You’re a brand! People know of you. One thing leads to another.

“The Dao produces one. One produces two. Two produces three. Three produces all things and creatures. All creatures and things carry yin and embrace yang. These two flows of energy interact to produce a third flow of energy: harmony. What people hate to be is “a lonely man,” “a man of no virtue,” or “an unworthy”. But that is exactly what kings and princes would prefer to be called. Often things grow when one intends to diminish, and they diminish when one tries to grow. I teach what others have taught: “He who exhibits force and commits violence doesn’t die a good death.” I shall make this the basis of my teaching.”

The ride up is enjoyable. To the top of society, to the top of our earnings, to be close to, and wield, power. But these are external things, only conditions like weather. There is a peaking of external ambition. Going past that peak is overreaching. Overreach in business. Overreaching in life. After the peak, comes the crash into the valley. The Dao speaks of the valley as superior to the mountain, but I didn’t see the valley coming at me fast. It is all right now, now is the time to cultivate harmony.

There is a time and a place for everything. It is for us to recognize the converging of time and place with our ambitions and abilities, and to accept what is there for us. I tell my sons to appreciate the time they have, wherever that place may be. School is a gift. We all have days we want to be anywhere else, but we all will miss it years later. Yes, we do learn now so we can use the knowledge later. Yes, some of that knowledge will never be used, but most will be.

Make the effort to match your interests with a profession that pays but accept that your guess will be imperfect and need continuous learning and shifting. When we have youth, we use it. Hard work and long hours are part of The Dao as much as weekends. When you meet that special person, you’ll be ready, and you will know it. You get there by being open to experiences, welcoming new people into your life, and bidding farewell to most of them. While you are building your earthly empire, keep an eye on the horizon, because things that we build diminish. Be mindful of your time. It we stay true to our nature, there is more than enough to be well-remembered.

[Pictured Above: Daytime Moon in the Park, Shenzhen, Summer 2024

and Below:Butterfly doing Butterfly Business, Shenzhen, Summer 2024]

The Frog And The Turle (A Zhuangzi Parable)

Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang) was a philosopher who lived in the 4th century BCE and is credited with authoring The Zhuangzi, a book that stands next to The Daodejing as a foundational text of Daoism. His book is in one sense more readable than Laozi’s, due to the reliance on fables and stories, but knowing something about Chinese history helps improve the experience. The use of parable and humor makes The Zhuangzi a more entertaining read than The Daodejing for many.

My first introduction to the concepts of Daoism were through The Zhaungzi. I picked up a good Penguin translation in 2019 at a bookstore in Shenzhen on a going-out-of-business clearance sale. I loved that store and love that book. The Zhuangzi introduced me to Laozi, and led up to the work I am doing today.

So why not write about The Zhuangzi? Well for one, the story format is harder to add to. I don’t feel qualified to just tell people what I think the lessons are. I am no sage. For another, more knowledge about Chinese history, dynasties, and culture helps, and I am no scholar. Finally, The Daodejing came first, and convinced me to start writing. The subject is more foundational and the chapters more amenable to analysis.

So, the story that follows has been known to me for many years. Why do I feel differently now, and why add it to our story at this point? Again, I give thanks to Linyutang (link) and acknowledge the contribution of a master translator. This version comes from a small book of his collected short stories of many authors of antiquity. Why did he choose this one of all the other Zhuangzi fables? I will never know. Reading his words, with such flourish, brings tears to my eyes. But I think I’ve grown, in acceptance and understanding, so here goes.

The frog said to the turtle of the Eastern Sea, ‘What a great time I am having! I hop to the rail around the well, and retire to rest in the hollow of some broken bricks. Swimming, I float on my armpits, resting my jaws just above the water. Plunging into the mud, I bury my feet up to the foot arch, and not one of the cockles, crabs, or tadpoles I see around me are my match. Besides, to occupy such a pool all alone and possess a shallow well is to be as happy as anyone can be. Why do you not come and pay me a visit?

Now before the turtle of the Eastern Sea had got its left leg down, its right knee had already stuck fast, and it shrank back and begged to be excused. It then told the frog about the sea, saying, “A thousand li would not measure its breadth, not a thousand fathoms its depths. In the days of the Great Yu, there were nine years of flood out of ten; but this did not add to its bulk. In the days of Tang, there were seven years of drought out of eight; but this did not make its shores recede. Not to be affected by the passing of time, and not to be affected by increase or decrease of water – such is the great happiness of the Eastern Sea.” At this the frog of the shallow well was considerably astonished, and felt very small, like one lost....

Poor, silly, little frog. He must have been so happy and fulfilled. Every day he worked and played in his shallow pool. Confident in his world, he knew nothing of fear. No other being was his match. So confident he was, and so generous to share his happiness, that he invited the Eastern Turtle to experience his paradise. Maybe they had an email correspondence or met at an industry conference? Every really good story has plot holes. We will set aside how Frog knows Turtle yet knows nothing of the world beyond his shallow pool.

The Great Turtle of the Eastern Sea, how surprised he was to place his foot in the pool of his friend. Yet Frog’s pool was a danger to him, and he was unable to enter. How awkward Frog’s embarrassment and confusion! How urgent Turtle’s panic and haste to explain. Turtle didn’t understand Frog’s world any more than Frog understood his. And so, tragedy strikes.

.... and the frog felt lost. I feel lost. My little splash-pond-world was taken from me. Taken by degrees and many people. Taken by my hubris and my unrealistic views of what I could and should do. Pushing the limits of trustworthiness past the limits of what anyone with a degree of sense could see. In my heart, I could see it too. Does the frog blame the Eastern Turtle? Did the turtle know what he was about to do?

What does the frog do now? I like to think he could leave his shallow pool behind and explore the Eastern Sea, immersing himself in the vastness and getting really comfortable with the idea and reality of being small and lost. I don’t know if he can reconcile this vision of himself with the past. He might try building new walls, attempting to recreate his shallow little pool of comfort and cowardice. Because it would be cowardice, now that he knows more about the world.

This parable is about the dangerous nature of knowledge and the pleasant confidence of ignorance, but also its fragility. Both characters are blind to their own place in the world and the effects they have on others. Is there peace of mind in that constant push forward, to explore more truths? I don’t know, but when we stop growing, stop learning, we place ourselves in danger.

Language fails me when most needed, or I yet fall short of the understanding and skill to express myself. I am not Linyutang. This will have to do. Frog and Turtle will see us again.

[Pictured Above: Lucky Frog, Chengdu, Summer 2024

and Below:Lotus in rain, Shenzhen, Summer 2024]

Chapter 43: The Soft Wins Over The Hard

This week The Daodejing weaves back into the obvious. We call this hard science, lionizing Darwin for formalizing the basic formula of evolution, lauding Richard Dawkins for spotting that even thoughts spread virally, when all that anyone had to do was sit still, unchanging, observing, for a long enough moment, to notice the truth. Life finds a way.

“The softest things in the world go through the hardest. They come out of nothingness and enter where there is no space. That is how I understand the benefit of acting with no action. Few in the world appreciate the value of teaching without words and the benefit of acting with no action.”

Change, whether new life, or new businesses, always slips into the space unappreciated and unnoticed by what was there before. There is no need to teach this. Merely look at what came before and how they rose to supremacy. Everything of significance today started small yesterday. Is there really any difference between the town square farmers market and the online marketplaces of today? What couldn’t superficially be more different is principally the same. Ideas as old as humanity are always paired with new technologies to create something that appears new but is often simply new in scale.

Talk about the folly of forcing things! I reach toward a new understanding of my immaturity and my move to Asia, all the while not having any feeling for my purpose. Letting that flow of opportunity catch me up and sweep me along. Doing so many stupid things along the way. Leaning blindly on luck, so many times. The flow of business was always there, unnoticed but intuited. This is truth, and the sages of the business world have a feel for the places where there is space and enter. Timing matched with opportunity. Maximum return on minimum effort yielding high profits. I played hard, rolling and rolling. I knew winning couldn’t go on forever. There’s a perverse pleasure in risking the odds. By the end, you might welcome the fall just to start again.

Life moves like this. The lowest could be the highest. Where others see nothing, space waits to feed those who move. An unknown world of potential and new nothingness. I finally meet a true good person, who I still bring to grief, and fall short of fully appreciating, but moving forward together. I forgive myself for past choices. I forgive myself! There was much good back there. The only thing was it distracted me a little from myself. You know?

[Pictured Above: Vibrnt Nature at Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024

and Below:I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am; Chengdu, Summer 2024]

Confucius Understood Human Nature...

In my readings, the phrase, “So-and-so understood human nature...” frequently makes an appearance. Everyone wants to make progress in this comprehension of our basic motivations. So they should, for what wonders could be accomplished! An end to misunderstanding and grievance, the means to muster the collective good of humanity to dispel injustice, right wrongs; everything, and everyone, in their place. Ha! Let’s hope we never get there.

Confucius was first and foremost a historian, maybe the most eminent of his age. A widely traveled man when most never left their villages. An administrator who dispensed justice, both avoided and prosecuted wars, gained friends, earned enemies, and has never not been venerated or forgotten since. He did all of this, and this is important, perhaps the key, in a spirit of good humor towards himself and others. Judge for yourself against his words. Did Confucius understand human nature? Did a lifetime of adventures allow him a glimpse, to brush up against understanding?

Confucius said, “Food and drink and sex are the great desires of mankind, and death and poverty and suffering are the great fears or aversions of mankind. Therefore desires and fears are the great motive forces of the human heart. These, however, are concealed in the heart and not usually shown, and the human heart is unfathomable. Therefore man is the product of the forces of heaven and earth, the incarnation of spirits and the essence of the five elements. Therefore, man is the heart of the universe, the upshot of the five elements, born to enjoy food and color and noise.....”

We do ourselves no good denying our nature. Listening to our unfathomable heart is a surer recipe for flourishing than denial and abstinence. Abstinence from life’s chances. I am curious, wanting to see to believe. I am shy and awkward, wanting to share honest contact. I am passionate, wanting to let go of standards. Putting consciousness to work crafting an individuality and environment aligned to our nature moves us forward.

What a blessing that each generation is born without experience. We can learn from the past but must experience to understand. We were born to experience the flavors, the passions, the triumphs, and the failures. Tuned to revel in a chaotic existence. To understand human nature is to understand that we can’t be controlled, explained, or programmed. Some excess does the heart good. Confucius would agree.

[Pictured Above: Bold Pink at Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024

and Below:Absolutely at Peace, Shenzhen, Summer 2024]

Chapter 44: Have a Contented Mind

A repeated theme The Daodejing comes back to over and again is the difficulty inherent in knowing what we want, realizing when we have it, and then letting go.

“Which is intimately closer to you, fame or life? Which is more important to you, life or wealth? Which is more harmful, gain or loss? Unchecked love of fame carries a high price. Excessive accumulation of wealth leads to more losses. A contented mind risks no loss. Knowing when to stop makes one fear no danger. That is how things endure.”

Look to Chapter 5, where the indifference of Nature to us, to outcomes, and to consequences is put forward as a model for the sage. All things come and go. Attachment will leave you stranded. Better to hold to the middle.

Chapter 9 warns the get-up-and-grinders and the goal-setters to be cautious what we wish for. Goals proliferate and procreate of their own accord, substituting for meaning, standing in for purpose. We drift further from the center until we are disconnected. The goal is to be uniquely gifted, successful, noticed, and consequently, far out of reach when the fall inevitably comes. What folly. Better to recognize when enough is enough and recede.

And finally, we come to the downfall that drives the cycle of civilizations. Attempting to make the world what it is not. Chapter 32 tells us that Nature is fundamentally chaotic. Extreme diversity is the direction of nature’s momentum. Diversity at the start, diversity of outcome, and indifference to struggle. We try to temper the adversity and smooth the curve, when all we really can do is catch those of us who fall, return them to their center, and send them back out into the world.

There is a trick being played on us here, to help us open our minds to the truth of Nature. As many of us appear to value fame and wealth over our lives day to day, the answer is meant to be obvious to everyone. But which is more harmful, gain or loss? When we consciously attach value to either, the answer is both.

We desperately want to believe we influence events and outcomes. There is as little conscious impact on daily reality as the circumstances and lottery of our birth. We strive and struggle and work hard every day because it is in our nature to do so. We attach value to the outcomes of all this agitation because we want it to mean something. A contented mind accepts the diversity of Nature, joins the momentum of Nature, appreciates the sunrise and the coolness of rain, and practices empathy and compassion for our fellow beings that an indifferent Nature made this way.

[Pictured Above: A Reflective Sunrise in Shenzhen , Summer 2024

and Below:Reflection on Ourself, Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024]

Chapter 45: Calm and Quiet Rules

As sufficiently advanced technology appears to be magical, so does an expert in his/her skill dazzle their audience...but so amusingly can expertise be read as foolishness. Nature is full of such juxtapositions. Unexpected results protect us from boredom.

“A great synthesizer, one who sees himself as lacking, has a use that never wanes. A full learner, one who sees himself as empty, has a use that never ends. A straight talker can appear to be crooked. A multi-skilled talent can appear to be clumsy. An eloquent debater can appear to be tongue-tied. Quick movement can bear the chill. Tranquility can sustain the heat. He who is calm and quiet rules the world.”

A shorthand of nature is that things in motion signify life; the fixed and unmoving, death. The necessity of continued movement is built into our nature. An army on the move is better protected than one sheltered in a fortress. A skilled general will show the enemy one strategy to conceal another. Political power rests in being indispensable to others. Would you be surprised to know that The Daodejing is viewed by many in China as a martial manual?

This is one of the practical chapters, yet still the lesson is timeless and readily applies to modern experience. Learning is a never-ending process, to be sustained throughout our lives. When we lose sight of that, pausing to bask in the radiance of our own magnificence, we court real danger. Everything that has gone sideways in my life can be traced to lack of attention to learning. Whether by luck or skill, we find a winning formula that takes us to the top. Then we ride it straight into the ground. You know what? What happened was nobody else’s fault. I still don’t want to shoulder the blame, but only I could have gone a different way.

I like to say my “second half” started this year. Optimism is my new outlook. Continuing to learn as we age is crucial to staying engaged with the world. Staying up to date not just on the latest technology, but of current thought. We need to maintain friendships with people of differing beliefs and experiences, both younger and older than ourselves. See as much of the world as we can, however we can, and ask questions. Questions reinforced by bravery, fortified by respect, so that the eloquent debaters and straight talkers who aim to rule the world have their quiet tested.

[Pictured Above: Clouds over Shenzhen Bay Bridge , Summer 2024

and Below:Delicate leaves, Shenzhen Bay Park, Summer 2024]

Master HanFei, Daoist Sage (I)

We have heard Master HanFei tell us what it takes to be recognized, heeded his warning that everyone is out to get us, and taken on board his encouragement to appreciate ourselves. Legalism is remembered as a ruthless and strict doctrine of governing and leadership that presumed man was motivated by self-interest, a doctrine that was tested at the highest level (Qin Dynasty 221-206BCE) and explicitly failed in the field.

And yet, what a fascinating time, and a fascinating man. I am not alone in my respect for Master HanFei, only very nearly so. I may have happily run across a scholar of much more eminent qualification who at least understands and appreciates the work and importance of this Daoist figure. Yes, I said Daoist figure. I see the founding tenets of The Daodejing in all the writings of HanFei, though the confrontation with a bruising reality led to an arguably twisted application.

LinYutang (1895-1976) was an inventor, novelist, philosopher, and translator who authored many books and translated many classic Chinese texts into English. His writing is clever, humorous, and authentic. I’ve read his Laozi and Confucius studies, but there is so much more to get to. I did not know Linyutang had written concerning Master HanFei, but there I was at the Shenzhen Library, and we found this little book of essays he had selected from various authors, and some choice selections from HanFei were included. Linyutang’s brief introduction is so perfect in its tone, so concise in its facts, so heartful, that nothing I could say would ever come close.

Here is the perfect introduction of Master HanFei, Daoist Sage, by LinYutang:

“The boiling ferment of Chinese thought of different schools

had settled down in the third century BC more

or less in favor of a none too idealistic political philosophy

of legalism, with a good deal of practical Machiavellian

wisdom, such as shown in Han Fei. The strangest

transformation from Laozi’s philosophy of laissez faire

and inaction to a government of stringent laws had been

accomplished. Han Fei merged the philosophy of Daoism,

the Confucian “restraint” of Xunxi, and the learning of

the legalists into one of his own. He was wisely cynical,

as seen in the present selection. However, he was made

to quaff poison while in jail by a rival politician-scholar,

Lizi. The king of Qin, who was his great admirer,

wanted to pardon him but it was too late. His cynicism

did not save his life, but he wrote beautifully, in content

of thought, in graceful expression, and in clever use

of anecdotes. He understood human nature.”

-by LinYutang

Master HanFei indeed understood human nature, and we continue to learn from him. This series takes quotes from “Wielding Power”, an essay by HanFeizi, translated by Burton Watson (2003).

“Fragrant aromas and delicate flowers, rich wine and fat meat delight the palate but sicken the body. Fair lineaments and pearly teeth warm the heart but waste the spirit. Therefore, renounce riot and excess, for only then can you keep your health unharmed.”

Too much of any good thing becomes toxic. The things we own end up owning us. Fair advice for us all, wherever we land on the economic spectrum. What an irony that wealth can make us sick! HanFeizi knew that health was the most important thing. Hyman Roth (link to YT) said the same thing to Michael. Even the most suspect of messengers can impart valuable lessons.

“Do not let your power be seen; be blank and actionless. The sage holds to the source and the four quarters come to him. When all within the four seas have been put in their proper places, he sits in darkness to observe the light.”

Good fortune finds us when we stop looking for it. I’m not a manifestation guy. Nothing happens just because we want it to. Like is attracted to like. I learned that in business, where I observed most of my early lessons in human nature. Businesses, like people, have personalities and reputations. As with people, reputations precede businesses. Much wealth is spent trying to distract us from that fact, but what goes around, comes around.

“Things have their proper place, talents their proper use. Let the cock herald the dawn; let the cat catch rats. When each exercises his ability, the ruler need do nothing.”

There is a time and a place for everything. Nobody and nothing lasts forever, and thank goodness for that. What a perfect world we would have if every individual was able to find true fulfillment, maximizing their utility and contributing in the way best suited to them! HanFeizi is describing a utopian society. One we will never reach, but every degree closer is a flowering of flourishing. Like any conscientious person living in difficult times, he searched for ways to make life better.

“If the ruler tries to excel, then nothing will go right. If he boasts of an eye for the abilities of others, he will invite deceit among his subordinates. If he is lenient and fond of sparing lives, his subordinates will impose upon his kind nature.”

HanFeizi was a big one for being outwardly humble to a fault, while inwardly being supremely confident. So humble, so quiescent, that people stop looking for signals to suggest their actions. So supremely confident, so preeminent, that doubts literally disappear. As a system of government or society it’s a bit fantastical. Okay, it’s pure fiction. For the individual, is this not what we all aim to strive for day and night?

The principles of acting without action, accepting our place in nature, and the cycle of life and death, all foundational ideas of The Dao. Master HanFei needed more time. Time to see his ideas tested. Time to learn and evolve. Most of all, time to mature. He was forty five years old when he died. Was he cheated of the opportunity to reflect on the consequences of his early statements? Were we?

[Pictured Above: Gone Fishing at Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall 2024

and Below:The Red Wall and Bamboo at Wuhou Temple, Chengdu, Fall 2024]

Chapter 46: Greed Kills

Countries and companies are human creations. Though we endow these constructions with motivations, see lifetimes in their rise and fall, and even bestow human attributes in law, these constructions of our fancy are not people. People suffer; countries and companies do not.

The work of being content requires constant vigilance and defense against what seems like everything and everyone. The Daodejing is preoccupied with humanity’s preoccupation with bucking the natural order.

Chapter 5 advises to hold the middle. We could say, be wary of overextending yourself. Being caught unawares and out of position by unexpected events, people, or attacks is how we learn the hard way that nature not only behaves with indifference; nature is indifference.

After we achieved success beyond our dreams on the backs of others and hoarded our treasures while others struggle, Chapter 9 reminds us of what awaits all, the road to ruin. We could say, what goes around comes around. The cyclical path of nature. The lamentable tendency to overextend, overgrow, is as natural and inevitable as the following collapse.

Chapter 46 offers us another view of what awaits us and a warning for all those who think their reality responds to schemes to wrest control from nature.

“When a country follows the Dao, battle steeds will be retired to till the fields. When the country goes against the Dao, warhorses will breed outside the city walls. No guilt is greater than greed. No disaster is worse than discontent. No calamity is more destructive than the desire to get more. Therefore the contentment from a contented mind endures.”

I had a moment to reflect today on the value of small consistent steps forward. Dig into the story of any health transformation and we will find small dietary adjustments, a progressive ratcheting up of physical activity, and a lifestyle that changed so slowly that nobody could see the change week to week. A social media account grown organically is more rewarding, stable, and valuable. A business that grows through patient reinvestment rather than through acquisition is more likely to retain the culture that brought success than one that swallows competitors whole and chokes. Relationships that grow over time, that we work on, with trust as the foundation, are the greatest investments a person can make in themselves.

Where does this impatience come from? We are taught from a young age to never be satisfied. To always stay hungry. As if contentment was a curse. We always want a shortcut, to move as quickly as possible, to get there. Instant gratification is like standing still, and there I believe we see what drives us to these ends. The wish to stand still, to stop time, stop change. How tempting.

A solution to much of the greed and envy that we regret is turning our attention away from the end of our hero’s journey and focusing on their beginnings. Most of the time, the answer to why we don’t have what we think we want is that we’ve misunderstood the small steps taken along the way, from the beginning onward. Emulating what a successful person does today will not make us successful tomorrow or any time. That greed to get anywhere quick feeds our discontent and breeds disappointment. A cycle that is also natural, part of The Dao, but one that we are not doomed to suffer.

[Pictured Above: Potted Life at Qoingyang Palace, Chengdu, Summer 2024

and Below: Fall makes itself felt, at Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall 2024]

Chapter 47: Know the Dao, Know the World

I grew up in a rural Wisconsin community of 2000 souls in the 80s. Many of those souls never left the state, much less the country. That is not a critique, merely an observation. I always felt an outsider, and was treated as such, because our family had moved there when I was five and everyone there had deep roots going back generations. Our heritage wasn’t Polish or German. Believe me, somehow that matters.

As soon as I could, I fled (drove) six hours away to Iowa State. That first attempt didn’t land too far, I know, but the next step overcompensated. Depositing myself in Southern China in 1997 was as far as I could physically go. Since then, I have seen a lot, experienced some experiences, and learned some lessons, among them to question my assumptions. But it has taken me thirty years (and counting) to absorb the lessons of Chapter 47. Laozi perceived something fundamental to all of us.

“Not going out the door, one can still know the world. Not looking out the window, one can still grasp the essence of the Dao. The further one goes, the less one sees. Therefore the sage gets to know without going to know, gets to understand without seeing to understand, and gets to accomplish without acting to accomplish.”

Is there really no value in travel? This is obviously false. The Laozi is not saying that physical and mental travel is bad, that learning of other’s lives is without value, or that one cannot perceive one’s own culture more clearly by living with another.

What this could be encouraging us to see is that despite all the differences we can name from country to country, culture to culture, and person to person, the innumerable differences are swamped by the commonalities. The myriad creatures sprang from a common source, share common motivations, and experience the familiar fears. We are not so different, not even a little, after all.

I was looking for belonging. A belonging that I could never get at “home”. And you know, I didn’t find it here either. Neither in Beijing, not Taipei, certainly not in Shanghai. I didn’t find it on the factory floor, nor in the executive suite. Looking for something I did not need to have, an imaginary yearning. I didn’t need to belong anywhere. I am enough.

This is the lesson that has taken me thirty years. A realization that I still fail to apply consistently. That we are enough, that change for anyone other than ourselves is going down a dangerous path. To truly see the world, be still. The world will come to you.

[Pictured Above: A Full Moon for Moon Festival, Shenzhen, September 17, 2024

and Below: A Full Moon for Moon Festival, Shenzhen, September 17, 2024]

HanFei Says You Too Can Be A Sage!

Welcome to the second instalment of the Daoist Sage Series. Master HanFei appears to me as a man out of his time, a man who needed more time to explain, and I believe would have, if there had been a chance. A man who would have continued to revise and rework his ideas for the betterment of humanity. His work was frozen in a moment, and comes to us incomplete and unrefined, and yet in some ways tantalizingly close to wisdom.

LinYutang, my fellow fan of HanFeizi, has already provided the perfect introduction in Part One, so let’s jump right in. All quotes are taken from “Wielding Power”, an essay by HanFeizi, translated by Burton Watson (2003).

“The sage does not reveal his true nature, and his subordinate are open and upright. He assigns tasks according to abilities and lets them settle things for themselves. He hands out rewards according to results. He establishes the standard and abides by it. When rewards and punishments are certain to be handed out, then subordinates will show their true natures.”

Let’s choose to interpret true nature as own opinion, and what we have here is just solid, foundational business and parenting advice. Master HanFei was a team player! As parents, we do our best teaching when we show by doing, living our beliefs and values in full view. We give love, comfort, and clear feedback while standing to the side and allowing our children to experience and grow from their efforts. As business leaders, we hire the most capable team members, provide the resources necessary to achieve the goals, and distribute the rewards fairly and without favor.

“Attend diligently to these matters, await the decree of Heaven, so not lose hold of the vital point, and you may become a sage.”

Master HanFei knows two things about the world that the successful never forget, and the greatly lucky are blissfully unaware of. That all of nature is cyclical, down and up again, in a spiraling forward that never ends. There is tension, the vibrations of supply and demand, predators and prey, the whirling of the seasons, all generating the momentum of change. Keep your eyes on that churning change but hold yourselves constant. Remember what makes the difference; the person next to us, and our acceptance, or what happens and our contribution. Can we be patient enough to let things run their course?

“Discard wisdom and wile, for, if you do not, you will find it hard to remain constant. When the ruler uses them, his state faces peril and destruction.”

Here is HanFei, the Master of Manipulation, the Professor of Persuasion, advising us quite clearly that “honesty is the best policy.” The nature of humanity is to live and tell the truth. Lies sap our energy every second we endure them. Master HanFei observed this, knowing that each lie must be remembered, catalogued, and recalled on demand to maintain the fiction. The mind and body squirm under the pressure of suppression, leaking the truth every way they can. Anyone living a life of lies truly suffers and are objects of pity.

“Follow the Way of Heaven (Nature), reflect on the principle behind human affairs; investigate, examine, and compare these things, and when you come to the end, begin again.”

We are the greatest subjects we will ever study. Our beauty and capacity for art and wonders holds no bounds. Our viciousness and terrors know no limits. Being part of and one with Nature, experiencing from the inside, the lessons we apply and the actions we take, fuel the momentum of change that drives Nature forward. The process of learning always depends on beginning again.

Master HanFei accepted that we are all one with The Dao, the all-encompassing, and inarticulate Dao. He knew that the humble life was preferred, and that learning must never stop. One more thing, perhaps the most unexpected lesson from this man of iron-willed advice, was that we need each other.

[Pictured Above: It's Been A Rain-Filled Week, Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall, 2024

and Below: All Smiles, GanKeng Village, Shenzhen, Spring, 2024]

Chapter 48: Lower Desire to Act

[Author’s Note: Perhaps more obviously than other chapters, my tone is directed towards my sons and the generations that will follow them.]

Have you ever seen an athletic person and wondered why that isn’t you? There is an effortlessness in an athlete’s actions. An air of calm that speaks of ease that puts me in awe. Is this a learned and practiced skill? To some extent, yes, as a sword can be sharpened and made a deadlier sword. But try to sharpen a wooden club. What you get is a sharper wooden club, yet what we wield remains a club. I am a wooden club. On the football pitch, or across the ping pong table, I lumber and smash. I was meant to admire elite athletes, not to be one.

“He who learns has his knowledge increase with each passing day. He who practices the Dao lowers his desire to act with each passing day. With this continuous lowering of the desire to act, he can attain the realm of taking no action. When no action is taken, nothing will be left out while acting in their natural way. He who intends to rule the world lets things act in their natural way. When he intends to act his way, he will be in no position to rule the world.”

Nature progresses through random chance. To win the game, Nature plays many numbers. Me and you, that bird outside the window, an invisible bacterium in a puddle, all have the chance to succeed. There is a space and time where our diversity falls into place and energetic chemistry arises. This energetic expansion could manifest in an infinity of possibilities and combinations. Our earnings might rise, fame finds us, we start a large family, or our mindset grows. Success is not hard to define only because of perspective, but because there are so many kinds of success.

I was not made to be an athlete, I was not made to do anything, but there are things I could do that aligned with my nature. These paths open for us sometimes. I had stumbled into one of those paths for a time. Energetic success found me when I moved to Asia. How can I explain in a few words? The United States was riding high on dotcom productivity and confidence while China was building and hungry. My industry hadn’t experienced investment or disruption since the 1960s. It was bone dry kindling awaiting a match.

If I had been two years earlier, nothing much would have happened, besides getting burnt out spending hours driving through mud tracks and fighting for a shipping container here or there. A few years later, the same thing, only due to not enough time to learn and get ahead of those who got there first. I’ve debated myself, written and revised, how to explain what I did, but it would be so boring. That isn’t why you and I are here. I memorized product codes and schedules, thousands of them. I coordinated factory owners, designers, and inspectors, to pump out ever greater number of tables, chairs, desks, whatever. I could read people and matched designs to talent. I remember struggling to ship twenty containers in a month and achieving our first 100 container day, all in less than a year. Existence had never been simpler.

There are places and times for all of us. We need to try our hands and minds at many things, and like water flowing to the valley, go where the path of least resistance leads. Yes, take your easiest road. Do not fear, that road will still be hard, harder than anything you’ve ever done before. What we accomplish will appear like miracles to others. Others have different paths, not accessible to us, but welcoming to them. And when that adventure has had its time, I hope you recognize the ending early, and stay on your path, to your next adventure.

[Pictured Above: Dawn at Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall, 2024

and Below: Hot Egg Yolk Buns at Fan Lo Restaurant, Shenzhen, Fall, 2024]

Chapter 49: Be Kind To All People

I screamed for three days, or so my mom tells the story of my first days. A natural birth, and backwards. Quite painful for everyone involved. Thank you, Mom, I don’t say that enough, for going through that with me and much else besides. Fists clenched, not breathing, unable to eat. Nobody knew what they were doing, I know this for certain. Today I have a family of my own, and I’m just doing my best and hoping for the best. This is all any parent does.

Chapter 49 is about trust. To trust, it helps to be capable of forgiveness.

“The sage has no fixed mind; he accepts the minds of the people as his. People that are kind I would treat with kindness. People that are not kind, I would treat with kindness, too. That is how kindness is acquired. People that are trustworthy I would trust. People that are not trustworthy, I would trust, too. That is how trust is nurtured. The sage governs the world in a peaceful way to meet with the hearts of the people. And the people, in return, become the ears and eyes to the sage who sees himself as their child.”

The Laozi would like us to be so understanding. Are we to believe that by repeatedly trusting those who demonstrate their duplicity over and over, they will be converted? Can we afford to meet selfishness, bullying, and greed with kindness? If this is what it takes to be a sage, then I am no sage. Let someone else be the Son of Heaven.

The world has always seemed to push back at me. I always felt under pressure, as though besieged, surrounded by enemies both revealed and potential. I was angry and lashed out where my fear allowed me; usually at people, institutions, or competing businesses I didn’t know and would never meet. Over time, that feeling of being hemmed in became real walls. Walls of limited relationships, constrained experiences, and foregone education. Soon I had manifested my fears and had real enemies. Well, that is an exaggeration. Who has real enemies? Let’s only say I was in the way.

No longer in the way of anyone, yet the anger remains. Sometimes so angry that my body seizes up until I roar at the reflection in the mirror. I am embarrassed to admit, but this is part of me. The Daodejing has opened the way for me to begin to accept that this is my nature. There is nothing wrong with my nature. Labels of right and wrong don’t even apply. It just is. I just am. I am learning to accept who I am, accept what has happened to me, and accept what will happen.

Can one say that Laozi’s instructions to be kind to those who lack kindness, and trustful to those who lack trustworthiness, have any real value in modern society? The question is beyond my abilities. Perhaps each individual must decide what they can accept. I can be kind to those who lack kindness. Ask nothing, expect nothing, leave them to their own devices. We can trust those who are untrustworthy. Trust people to be who they are, understanding that nobody needs to change for anyone. The people will be what they always were. My nature doesn’t allow me to forgive, but I can accept myself with kindness that I haven’t always been worthy of and trust myself to do the best I can.

[Pictured Above: Fall Flowers in Shenzhen Bay Park, Winter?, 2024

and Below: Fall Colors in Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall, 2024]

To Those Who Venerate The Past (HanFeizi)

[Author’s Note: This is one of the rare instances where time is central to the story. Today is October XX, 2024.]

Like many great orators, Master Hanfei has a way of framing complex topics in simple language. He can relate world-changing events to our everyday. As he does so below, at once raising up his personal value, putting the fear of ridicule into his target audience, and demolishing the Confucian opposition in one fell stroke:

“There was a farmer of Song who tilled the land, and in his field there was a stump. One day a rabbit, racing across the field, bumped into the stump, broke its neck, and died. Thereupon, the farmer laid aside his plow and took up watch beside the stump, hoping that he would get another rabbit in the same way. But he got no more rabbits, and instead became the laughing stock of Song. Those who think they can take the ways of the ancient kings and use them to govern the people of today all belong in the category of the stump watchers!”

Soon citizens of my country will be exercising the right to elect their next leaders. I address this to them. They would do well to weigh the wisdom of Master Hanfei before making their decision. One side holds up the past as a time of better values and clarity of purpose. If you, in your heart of hearts, believe that you would fare well under those conditions, then vote your true conscience. But do not lie to yourself about why. The other side represents the chance for change and a better future for all. Only a chance, and a temporary chance at that. But if you look to the past and believe that we can be better, that the past would wish nothing else but for us to be better, then by all means, vote your conscience.

If you believe the issues are more complicated than this, then my message is not for you, and you should get on with your day.

[Pictured Above: This is Winter?! in Shenzhen Bay Park, Winter, 2024

and Below: Fall or maybe Winter Colors in Shenzhen Bay Park, Winter, 2024]

Chapter 50: Life Begins And Ends

A week ago, I decided to take up the habit of a morning walking in the park near our home. I already prefer to wake before sunrise and see what light show nature has planned. The particularly exciting sunrises get featured on Instagram. I walk without a destination, find a bench, and look about. Maybe try to meditate a bit, though to describe anything I do as meditation feels like cheating. I bring a notebook. Sometimes I sketch, always scribble, about the life that happens to us between birth and death.

“Life begins when it is born, and ends when it dies. Out of ten who are born, three survive. Out of ten who survive, three die. Out of ten who strive excessively to preserve life, three die of excessiveness. Why is it so? It’s because of their excessiveness in preserving life. It is said that he who is good at preserving life will travel the land not bothering to avoid rhinos or tigers, enter a battlefield not wearing a suit of armor or carrying weapons. Now rhinos would have no target to use their horns, tigers would have no target to use their claws, and weapons would have no target to use their sharp edges. Why is it so? It’s because he is treading no death land.”

For the math enthusiasts, Laozi calculated the chances of living to old age as 1 in 7. He was overly optimistic, or maybe excluded a large portion of the population. This interesting look at the Wang Genealogy around 1500AD indicates that the chances for males living past 80 was more like 1 in 12.

As I sat on that stone bench, lost in the thoughts of all the projects created for myself; the writing, the reading, the exercise, this new walk-in-the-park habit, a feeling of sadness stole over me and stayed with me all day. I can still recall it; it was only yesterday. Not what One would expect from a meditative session in the park.

My mind conjured this state of being. Where did this come from? As I sat there, and continued thinking throughout the day, the real sadness began to hit me: I’m wanting to be noticed, to be paid attention to. Lonely, valueless, I miss being cared for, being important, constant validation every second of the day. One misses his old life.

A life at the center of the action. Always on the move; a new hotel every night, new products to judge, new customers to bag; decisions, decisions. It was fast and never stopped; a riot of food, and color, and noise. The life that I deride and profess to hate. I must be honest with myself and with you. I miss it, even six years later.

Purpose, any kind of purpose, regardless of the source, given enough time and compression, molds us to acceptance. Realizing this did not make me feel any better. Sometimes we think perceiving a problem leads to the solution, even can be the solution. This is not true. Hiding behind lies is no help, but leaving this as a warning to others is the least I can think of doing today. Reaching for a better state of mind still lies ahead.

[Pictured Above: New life on Yinhushan, Shenzhen, October 2024

and Below: Fall temps are coming to Shenzhen, Shenzhen Bay Park, October 2024 ]

Why Worry? (HanFei Daoist Sage #3)

Welcome to Part 3 in the Daoist Sage Series. By this time, I expect you are slightly swayed to the proposition that Master HanFei (HanFeizi) has something to offer everyone searching for answers to life, love, and our relationship to nature.

History is written by the winners, that is what they say! HanFeizi did a lot of writing, but he didn’t write his place in history. Let us muddy the waters of history for ourselves. Who can say what people will see when the stream clears?

This series can be read in any order, but if this is your first, I do recommend circling around to Part 1 for the excellent and perfect introduction of HanFeizi by LinYutang.

All quotes are taken from “Wielding Power”, an essay by HanFeizi, translated by Burton Watson (2003).

“Be empty, quiet, and retiring; never put yourself forward. All the worries of the ruler come about because he tries to be like others. Trust others but never be like them, and the myriad people will follow you as one man.”

Can more be said on the benefits of being ourselves? Master HanFei takes the idea further. He saw that a functioning society that brings prosperity and safety to all depends on everyone being encouraged and free to find their own place. He suggests that trusting all others to do the same, we will each welcome our fellow man, celebrating both the diversity and the contribution to the whole. If only we can rule over our passions and fears. He was so close.

“The Way is vast and great and without form; it’s Power is clear and orderly and extends everywhere. Since it extends to all living beings, they may use it; but though all things flourish through it, it does not rest among things.”

The Way, or if you like, Nature, or The Universe, is the source of all that makes us what we are. We can sense the order, study, and search for formulas to describe it. We have derived much technology and methods of expressing it. Yet we do not fully understand this Universe, or Way, and better that we do not. There is purpose in the search and the myriad expressions. What would we do after finding all the answers we think we want?

“The Way does not identify itself with the myriad beings; it’s Power does not identify itself with the yin and yang, any more than a scale identifies itself with heaviness or lightness, a plumb line with bumps and hollows, or a ruler with his ministers.”

As much as we may want the world to be different, as much as I might wish to go back and run it again, The Dao remains unconcerned, flowing forever where it will. We can only compare ourselves to the yardsticks of generations past, of ideals present, to daydreams unrealized. This is about acceptance. We went light when we should have gone heavy. Zigged when we could have zagged. The Dao flows onward unperturbed by our churn, our bit of turbulence. The stream settles and flows on.

The words of Master HanFei inspire us to be confident. Confident in ourselves, in our natural intuition, and to accept what happens and do the best we can. I really do believe, he did the best he could.

[Pictured Above: Happy Halloween, Whitehorse Temple, Luoyang 2023

and Below: Another bit of horror at Whitehorse Temple]

Chapter 51: Be No Oppressor

The Dao equates to Nature and the Universe, a sufficient definition thus far for my study of The Daodejing. A distressing conclusion that I just cannot avoid is how little – none, actually – Nature concerns itself with me, my struggles, my loves and fears, my experience, in really any way. There is a purpose, and you could say I’m following it, but it doesn’t matter if I do, or I don’t. The words we use, like care for, concern with, purpose, these mislead and imply something that feels like it should be there. Words are inadequate for describing the Dao, that the sages got right.

“The Dao creates all creatures and things. Virtues rear them, materials shape them, and conditions complete them. Therefore all creatures and things revere the Dao and hold virtues in high esteem. They respect the Dao and hold virtues in high esteem of their own accord with no orders from anybody. So the Dao creates them, and virtues rear them, grow them, nurture them, complete them, mature them, care for them, and protect them. The Dao creates, but claims no ownership; serves, but attaches no conditions; and governs, but be no oppressor. These are called high virtues.”

It has recently come to my attention that I have been shaped against my will and without my knowledge. Even worse, this shaping has hardened in form and function, so that continuous molding becomes more costly. I have talked about the inevitability of probability (link ch42). One likely action, then an obvious choice, followed by an easy decision, and you find yourself there. There, where? For so long, I thought I was smart, abandoning hope, trusting the future to just be. I was, and am, a fool. The future doesn’t take care of itself, and it sure doesn’t make accommodation for you.

I recall someone, maybe Richard Dawkins, debating creationists who maintained that the human eye was too complex to be the product of evolution. Of course, the answer is endless time and opportunity, which also explains why the human mind struggles to comprehend such a process. But it is quite astonishing, when you realize how every single successful step of the evolutionary path from a light-sensing amoeba to the human eye had to be functionally superior to the previous step. It is like a unicycle, a good enough design, evolving into a bicycle, a much more useful design, by changing one small thing at a time. Each change must result in a superior mode of transportation to be selected.

I am still who I was. This is the starting point. The virtues that reared me will be with me always. The materials that shaped me left behind memories and experiences I can only feel certain ways about. My conditions have changed, leaving me like a fish flopping on the beach, needing to learn to breath new air, or uncover that third eye that will let the way forward be seen. The molding process continues. We will see what new pressures will shape me into next.

[Pictured Above: Reflecting from Above in Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall 2024

and Below: Late blooming in Shenzhen Bay Park, Fall 2024]

Chapter 52: Mother Is The Dao

Knowing how a thing began is a good way to predict where and how a thing will go in the future. People change slowly, if at all, and peoples change slower still. Perhaps they do not. How much is nature, and how much nurture? A good question. Nurture emerges from nature. When we center our attention on our individual selves we miss the point of existence. Nature does not make accommodations for individuality.

“The world has its origin, and it can be regarded as Mother of all things and creatures. If you already know Mother, you can proceed to know all things and creatures. If you already proceed to know all things and creatures, and hold on to Mother, you can be protected from dangers your whole life. Close your mouth and your ears and eyes, so you can protect yourself from falling ill for your whole life. If you uncover life’s openings and increase your involvement with things, you will throw yourself into a state of no rescue for your whole life. Seeing things that are small makes you see the world clearly. Preserving what is soft and weak will get you strength. Use the light of the Dao, return to the state of seeing the world clearly, and spare yourself disaster. That is the use of the eternal Dao.”

When I embarked on my career, let’s call it, in home furnishings, though the reality is more accurately described using other words, I knew what I was doing. Youth is not an excuse for ignorance or over-confidence. We know, deep down, we know. I must declare to you today that I cannot honestly claim that I didn’t know what I was doing, who I was working with, and what they represented. Part of me even agreed, and still does today, through cold and sterile eyes. They had something I wanted, to massage my fears and fictions, and they needed the time and energy I was offering to trade.

A fair deal, in other words, reached by willing parties. Nature, in its indifference, shapes us as optimists, eagerly willing to look ahead on the ride up, and ignoring the depth of the fall. After all, what matter that many fall as so many others are riding up? If we can remain close to (Mother) Nature, we might ride the curve with less surprise. We might even enjoy the ups and the downs. My usefulness to them ran out of time before theirs ran out for me. The incongruity was bound to happen, and there I was, knowing but not accepting. Ha! Learn this lesson or there will be no help for you.

[Pictured Above: The character "Chan", or Zen, in Kaiyuan Monastery, Quanzhou, Winter 2024

and Below: What Zen looks like, on Qingyuan Mountain, Winter 2024]

HanFei, Daoist Sage #4

The three passages today have a strong connection to each other and bring back many memories in the tumult of the business world. Today the CEO, executive officers, and division leaders are the counts, dukes, and marquis of HanFei’s time. They fight openly and in the shadows, selfishly rising and falling to their own ambition. Their vision goes as far as their own noses.

Master HanFei didn’t sweat over the fairness of existence. He didn’t question the system and society that contrived to both bury him and raise his writings. His only wish was to equip someone, anyone, with the skills to bring lasting peace to his world. In that pursuit, he reached an understanding of human nature. But did he accept it?

This series can be read in any order, but if this is your first, I do recommend circling around to Part 1 (link) for the excellent and perfect introduction of HanFeizi by LinYutang.

All quotes are taken from “Wielding Power”, an essay by HanFeizi, translated by Burton Watson (2003).

“The ruler and his ministers do not follow the same way. The ministers name their proposals, the ruler holds fast to the name, and the ministers come forward with results. When names and results match, then superior and inferior will achieve harmony.”

If only laws were applied equally to the rich and influential the same way as the rest of us. Well, we can dream, work while awake, and find some comfort in the long arc of history, which I believe does bend toward a better existence for all. But I doubt HanFeizi and I would interpret The Rule of Law in the same way. He was a man of his time and couldn’t see past his world as it was. I prefer to view his advice from a more personal perspective.

When we find calm, we know what is right. The right can be different for all of us, but we can find harmony when we craft our environment, habits, and routines in alignment with our values. Like the ministers naming proposals, we try this and that, growing from the experience, flinching from the pain, repeating what works, chasing ourselves through time as we age. Harmony is elusive and fleeting, but not illusory.

“This is the way to listen to the words of others: be silent as though in a drunken stupor. Say to yourself: Lips! Teeth! Do not be the first to move. Lips! Teeth! Be thicker, be clumsier than ever! Let others say their piece – I will gain knowledge thereby.”

You just know that HanFeizi struggled personally with listening. I recognize the frustration. His words reveal his inner voice. Nature abhors a vacuum, and silence demands to be filled. Any pause in a conversation is a signal to spill my thoughts. Some people have this trait, finding peace in moments of quiet, and the generosity, perhaps the greed, to allow others to say their piece.

My Dad has this skill, and one of my earliest memories in my career was watching him perform. A group of us were attending a meeting to review some factory issue that involved several departments and an outside contractor. I was the most junior person there, just an observer. Really, I had no justification for being there. He sat quietly, listening, while each person explained their role and view, instead of dominating the discussion, yelling, and stressing the seriousness of the issue. He spoke only at the end, from a place of such knowledge and authority that I was blown away, never to forget. There is a leader, I thought.

Some years later, the man he and I both worked for was telling me his story of witnessing my father patiently and artfully drawing information and trade secrets from suppliers and competitors alike. I thought at the time, was he craftily suggesting that I would be better to follow my father’s example? But now I realize the man was like me, envious. The man was a poor listener. If I had known how to calmly leave the space for him to keep talking, there were warnings to be had that would have led me to realize important truths earlier. But I wasn’t, and I didn’t. Such is life.

“Though right and wrong swarm about him, the ruler does not argue with them. Be empty, be still, be inactive, for this is the true nature of The Way. Whether you move or stay still, transform all through inaction. If you show delight, your affairs will multiply; if you show hatred, resentment will be born. Discard both delight and hatred and become the abode of The Way.”

So very much of the hustle of the world gyrating around us is irrelevant noise. Media, politicians, all manner of cults, aim to degrade our consciousness, dragging us into emotional reactiveness where we subsist in rage, fear, and despair. Fear is the low-hanging fruit of productivity. Low yield but effective in massive volume. There is a way to positively engage with the world, if we are brave enough to accept and willing to practice, and it starts with facing the thing holding us back.

Emotions are the enemy of our tranquility. HanFeizi knew the truth of The Way. Whether in motion or staying still, whether confronted by right or wrong, it is our judgments that doom us. Our faces and bodies betray us, leaking our feelings into the world, fortifying our enemies, limiting our potential in the minds of our allies. Narrowing our options. Can we but wait for the mud to settle (link to 15) and bring us into clarity? This is what acting without action (link to 3) means. Acceptance of the world as it is. Movement through existence without attachment. Let them come, finding you ready.

[Pictured Above: Single File at Shenzhen Bay Park, Winter 2024

and Below: Throwback to Gingko in Changsha, 2023]

Chapter 53: Don't Rob The People

[Author’s Note: I have alluded to anger issues before (ch39 and Halfway), and while I wish to be positive and honest on this little journey of self-discovery, these goals can at times sit uncomfortably. I therefore beg your indulgence for my directness.]

I read somewhere that the simplest definition of wealth is having choices. This wealth makes sense. Walk into a modern supermarket and choose from a myriad of products, a hundred variations of cranberry juice alone, and one understands why having currency is not enough to be wealthy. We require things to exchange currency for. We’re talking about the economic concept of wealth, not the philosophical. But what does economics have to say about the wealth of controlling others’ choices? Does restricting others’ freedom equate to having more wealth? Laozi had something to say to these robbers of choice.

“If I firmly believe I am enlightened, I would travel the journey of the Dao and fear only going astray. The road of the Dao is broad and level, but people often go astray. The palaces are immaculate, the fields are overgrown with weeds, and the granaries are empty. They wear elegantly embroidered robes, carry sharp swords, indulge in hedonism, and stock goods and wealth they no longer need. They are the ringleaders of robbers. What they practice goes against the Dao.”

I seem to have an axe to grind with the wealthy. Experience and fresh perspective have sensitized me to the inhumanity and callousness that exaggerated wealth can appear to confer on those lucky (or unlucky) enough to have it thrust upon them. I want to address those feelings here.

A triggering event overcame me this week and sent me into a spiral of anger and hatred, directed at others but also myself. It was nothing really, a casual statement, a small issue with apparent solutions, but it walloped me into the past. I recovered quickly enough and am fine now, and these feelings need to be examined as far as I can. Nobody likes to be coerced, limited, or taken advantage of. Remembering those times, and realizing it is still happening, I am still affected, makes me burn with rage. I need to consider if this anger serves me.

Wealthy people do not upset me, though some do. Giving a good example is hard because it is so personal. Musk, Bezos, and Ma (Alibaba), turn me off in ways that Buffet or Gates never did (indulge me if these comparisons age poorly). There is something stomach churning about the conduct of the former, the way they carry and present themselves. The state of being outrageously wealthy is not sufficient. I have experienced immediate revulsion for people of middling means also. I met them through shared experience, working alongside in the same team. I met them in contractors who owned or represented the companies I bought from. I met them in customers. People go astray all the time and under any circumstances. If one is not to be blamed for poverty, another is not to be blamed for wealth.

Therefore, a sharp sword does not make you a robber, nor do embroidered robes. As for hedonism, what does that even mean, so I will leave it, only to suggest that a 2500-year-old document need not guide us in all specifics. Humanity has made progress since. I only say that what one has does not dictate what one does. I must go further today and give voice to these feelings.

What do I have to say to the ringleaders of robbers? To those who wealth entitles, you may own the businesses. The profits are yours. Businesses exist to generate profit. You are entitled to what you lucked into and leveraged. But do not think that you can bribe, coerce, threaten, intimidate, or divide people against their interests, and then attempt to perpetuate the myth that you’re some aspirational daydream for the masses.

So, hide. Cower behind your façades of respectability. Everything that you raised will die early, and those names on buildings, and the monuments to your false generosity will serve nothing but to remind that for every person you raised to salve your ego, a multitude were stepped over, and they have longer memories.

Those that take the self-respect and self-worth of others, drawing credit to themselves, contriving opportunities to gather adoration, crafting myths of their unique abilities and right to rule, these are the basest of thieves. Anger is justified and allowed. I can accept it as part of me, for now.

[Author’s Note: Your patience and support are more important than you realize. A kind word, a hug, gentle encouragement; let others know they have value today.]

[Pictured Above: Surveying his domain, at Shenzhen Bay Park, Winter 2024

and Below: Longmen Grottoes, Luoyang, 2023]

Letting Oneself Run Away With Desires - A Zhangzi Parable

I began writing in late 2019 because there was nothing left I could think of. At that time, an entirely alien future stretched before me. Three decades of routines, habits, and assumptions just unraveled. Not without justification, mind you. My time had passed, my particular set of skills and the situations calling for them had been dwindling, and hey, who knew better than me the people I was working for? There I was, kind of a mess, with nobody to talk to, things that needed to be said, and walking through a bookstore there was a journal for Stoics. One of those daily react-to-this-quote journals. I did react, every day, for a year. It was a step forward for me, but a small one.

Then The Daodejing fell into my hands. I do not remember how it happened, but I know I have my wife to thank. She is where my gratitude begins. This philosophy has roots in something I could call truth. I thought working with these old ideas might help me rationalize my confusion, aimlessness, and resentment. That experiment in writing brought me to Medium, but most important, to each of you who take the time to read, encourage, and share your own struggles and frustrations. Much more gratitude. The search that started in that bookstore led to Laozi, and yet further, to HanFeizi, LinYutang, Confucius, and now, Zhuangzi. Sometimes we read something, and our view is pulled from ground level up, as if to a great height:

The clever man is unhappy when he is not thinking of new ideas.

The eloquent man is unhappy when he is not leading a discussion.

The able man is not happy when he is not dealing with difficulties.

The savior of his country wants to make his country strong.

The middle-class scholar wants to obtain official honor.

The brave fighter wants to show off his prowess in an emergency.

The brave man wants to volunteer himself in trouble.

The soldier loves fighting. The retired scholar loves fame.

The farmer is not happy when he is not tilling his field.

The merchant is not happy when he is not making transactions.

The common man busies himself when he has something to do in the spare hours of the morning and evening, the artisan feels good when he is working with his tools.

When wealth is not hoarded, then the greedy rich is depressed; when he does not reach a position of power, the self-important man is disappointed.

These students of human affairs watch with happiness the changing of circumstances and the arrival of opportunity, and whenever they can do something, have a chance to do something, they cannot sit still. And so all these people follow their routine year in, year out, submerged in their own affairs, and cannot get out. They let their bodily desires run away with them and get tangled up in the thousand and one affairs until they die. Alas!

For my feelings to make sense, I must first share some of my earliest career experience. Of all the years of work in Asia, the time I look back on the most warmly is the last eighteen months of the first two years in China. After a few months training in Taiwan, followed by a couple months treading water in the China trading office, I was miraculously put in charge of that office and development of business in Southern China. Finally, things got going.

Let me describe the daily work. I was largely left alone by management. Americans didn’t want to make business trips to third world countries. Every day, at 6am, I would get up and review the night’s faxes – soon joined by dialup emails – and give instructions to distribute the product orders, new designs, and issues to vendors and my staff in the factories. Then I would get in the car with my driver and go from factory to factory following up on schedules, troubleshooting problems, making phone calls all the way on this giant brick phone. Late at night, after faxing replies, making a few long-distance calls, to bed. Hopefully before midnight.

Rinse, repeat.

I was tired all the time, and furious a dozen times a day. Always dialed to eleven. Very soon things got more complicated, more people were sent to manage the growing business, and this time passed. The simplicity and feeling of progress are what I remember vividly.

As many of you will know, my fondness for the Daodejing has led not only to other writers, but to an interest in seeing the places where the authors lived and where the events that shaped their lives took place. I wrote the first Travelogue in March and have published 28 so far. This pursuit is gaining a momentum of its own. I know that in later years I will look back on this time as some of the best years of my life. I love reading the books, researching the places, and planning the trips. Going to see, feeling the history, measuring the progress, and returning home to write about the experience, before doing it all again. Do you see where I am going with this?

My view from far above reveals that somehow, by some way, I am again finding a particular pattern for a particular set of skills. Am I the common man entangled in the thousand and one affairs? My upbringing, culture, and past work hard to shape me. They make up my nature. Make one decision; say yes, say no, and we find ourselves in a place we didn’t anticipate. Is this just what I do?

But I do not think this is the same. The exhaustion and emotional grinder are only memories, not my present circumstances. Now I have experience, knowing what went right and wrong. What happened then made today possible. Huh! Look at me, grateful for the experiences that led me here. Now that is progress.

[Pictured Above: Shenzhen Bay Bridge to HongKong, Winter 2024

and Below: Happy Holidays from Yuanmiao Temple, Quanzhou, Winter 2024]

Chapter 54: Cultivate Virtues

We can guess an awful lot about a person just by looking at them. Often with even less than that, only by being told where they came from, we can draw all manner of deductions. Our minds are pattern recognizers and sorting engines, evolved to assess danger and seek opportunity. This is just what we do, but it is never all that we need to do. Every individual is unique, that is where the interesting bits come from. What makes Sherlock Holmes fiction is how seldom he is wrong. Therefore, it is always funny when he makes a mistake. We are imperfect, constrained by evolution, always starting from our constraints. We fall short of our aspirations, yes, but better times begin with accepting who we are before carrying on.

“He who is good at building won’t uproot what has been built. He who is good at holding won’t let go what has been held. Following the virtue, one generation after another will carry on ancestral sacrifices. If he practices the Dao on himself, his virtues will be real. If he practices the virtues in his family, his virtues will continue. If he practices the Dao in his village, his virtues will be long lasting. If he practices the Dao in his country, his virtues will be abundant. If he practices the Dao in the world, his virtues will shine everywhere. Therefore when I look at a person, I look at how he cultivates himself. When I look at a family, I look at how family members cultivate themselves. When I look at a village, I look at how villagers cultivate themselves. When I look at a country, I look at how fellow countrymen cultivate themselves. When I look at the world, I look at how people of the world cultivate themselves. How do I know how things run in the world? That is how I know.”

I have complicated feelings toward culture. We celebrate cultures. There is much to be celebrated. The collective arts and intellectual achievements of human society are not something to scoff at, dismiss, or criticize, but these are the outputs of culture, not culture itself. What we can see, hold in our hands, this is not all of culture. All the ideas of human society, customs, and social behaviors are culture too. Some of these are wonderful and some outlive their usefulness and become a detriment, an anchor that people wish to shake off, but society collectively seems powerless to abandon.

One effect of getting older is the chance to see decisions leading to outcomes, leading to decisions, leading to outcomes, around and around. We begin to see the cycle. The cycles of expectations within families. The flows of finance, money sloshing here, pooling there. Boom and bust propagating like ripples in a pond. The same old hunger for power, and worst of all, those individuals who believe they alone can change the direction dictated by the culture that collectively grew out of hundreds of lifetimes. What folly! Little wonder these men can be spotted by their singular failure, the devastation, and the loss of life they leave in their wake.

Is this what immortality would be like? Witnessing the same patterns repeated, usually faster, equipped with ever-shinier technology? So boring. How could one resist trying to change things, and falling into the trap of despotism and suffering? At least one would be finally outside of the cycle, somewhere new, where life and death are no longer locked in an eternal dance.

Wait a minute.

Is this what Laozi was attempting to achieve? Laozi was an old man when he left the State of Zhou. Having given up on their society, he traveled “west” looking for something undefined. As the story goes, he wrote these chapters at the last pit stop before disappearing forever. Put yourself in his place. When he looked at families, villages, and the country, he did not see right virtues being cultivated. What did he see? He saw leaders who believed in laws and ruling past their time. He saw estranged parents and children, fearful and controlling. The people of the world had lost their way. He looked. That is how he knew.

And he left. He left us this warning. A final entreaty to us, to leave our fears and greed, to pause just for a moment, and look around at how things are. Do we like what we find? Those who would build a better world will not uproot what came before, nor let go of what they have learned. They would step outside the constraints of culture and be free of it.

[Pictured Above: Blooming in Winter, Shenzhen Bay Park, 2024

and Below: Sunrise on a nice walk, Winter 2024] and Far Below [Bonus: When did I become the shortest one??]

HanFei, Daoist Sage #5

A Daoist sage he might have been in antiquity, but in our modern vernacular HanFeizi could be a famous, and famously divisive, historian, philosopher, and management guru. A formidable combination of Yuval Noah Harari and Stephen Covey. Um, perhaps not Stephen, that is a little too much Mr. Rogers. I’ve got it – Jack Welch. Bend your mind around that!

Have you taken in LinYutang’s introduction (read it here) to HanFei? Then we may begin. In these three quotes from “Wielding Power”, translated by Burton Watson (2003), HanFeizi instructs us on the importance of delegation to the rulers of today, the captains of industry.

“The ruler does not work side by side with his people, and they accordingly respect the dignity of his position. He does not try to tell others what to do but leaves them to do things by themselves.’

Why do we celebrate the generals of antiquity who personally led their armies into battle, and lament the business leaders who continually sticks their nose into specialists’ daily work? This leading from the front is celebrated in histories, but reacted to with horror in stories we can relate directly to. Imagine the feelings of a front-line soldier, turning to his right and seeing the general standing there, sword drawn. Who is directing the army?! Who would want the CEO joining the sales call or product testing the new coating?

The myth of the general who could fight as well as organize and direct the army is just fiction. The modern myth of the chairman-CEO who personally has the creative insights, makes the sales, and designs the chip-engine-battery-cloud-whatever, should be put to rest too.

“Those who merit reward are rewarded; those who deserve punishment are punished. Reward and punishment follow the deed; each man brings them upon himself. Therefore, whether the result is pleasant or hateful, who dares to question it?”

The sweet spot of every business is the alignment of resources and customer demand, with the incentives to bring them together. This is the job of the business leader. A job that is much more difficult than it sounds. While some may find the formula for a time, it never lasts long. The business leader should therefore not dilute his or her time in pursuits outside of this mission.

We can apply this insight to our personal lives. Recognizing our aptitude and the needs of society, and developing the talents that bring them together, this is flourishing. If only society more efficiently rewarded such efforts. Let’s get to building that society.

“Would you order the affairs of the palace? Delegate them and be intimate with no one. Would you order outside affairs? Appoint one man to each office. Let no one do as he pleases, and never permit men to change office or to hold two offices at the same time. Never enrich a man to the point where he can afford to turn against you; never ennoble a man to the point where he becomes a threat; never put all your trust in a single man and thereby lose your state.”

Many businesses never outlive their initial favorable starting conditions or the brief careers of their founders. Many were never meant to, a lesson I took some years to become aware of. For however long any business is destined to exist, the more mature the structure and the less influence of favoritism, the more successful it will be. Nepotism, insider connections, these risk business longevity.

The art and science of delegation, perhaps the most important skills for any manager. A skill whose value and importance rises exponentially as the position gains altitude. The more value one is responsible for, the better he or she should be with delegation. The higher a government position is, the more specialists need to be around, and the more empowered they should be. Master HanFei tackled the confrontation of Daoist theory with Realpolitik. His lessons and the warnings still inform us today.

[Pictured Above: Sunrise over Shenzhen Bay, 2024

and Below: Tiny Buddha on Qingyuan Mountain, Winter 2024]

Home