Introduction

This verse frequently serves as a launching point for reading Confucianism or other schools of Chinese thought into the Daoist worldview. Reading about war in the middle of a manual on meditative living, immediately preceded by a verse called (y)in-action, is a little jarring. Fortunately, some of the verses we have encountered previously (like Verse 16: Returning to the Root) provide context that is helpful to understanding the metaphor.

I took more poetic license than usual to smooth out the English rendering. Nothing too crazy. I switched a couplet and used modern terminology intended to convey both meaning and feeling instead of blander technical language, like God-complex instead of hubris.

I also made a significant technical leap by re-including a line from the oldest known version of the Dao De Jing. This line is omitted in every more recent version I have read. I believe it is omitted because it’s really fricking hard to make sense of it. As I contemplated the line, it came to me that substituting the often interchanged homonym 常 (cháng) for the 长 (cháng) in the text solved the mystery.

Translation

One who uses the Dao
in service to the Leader
does not want force to be
used on the World.

Actions have consequences.

Anywhere the forces stop,
thorns and brambles are born.
There are always ramifications
following a great battle.

Perfection is in the result,
not in getting it through force.

Get results
without being tacky.
without showing off.
without developing a God-complex.

Results are not your reward,
living like this is called “fruition without force.”
Results will be consistent with natural law.

Things strengthen and then weaken,
this truth is hard to accept.
Not accepting it hastens ruin.

Commentary

One who uses the Dao
in service to the Leader
does not want force to be
used on the World.

Who is the one who uses the Dao? Who is the Leader?

You are!

Verse 25 tells us, “Weaving the Way shapes the Dao.” We are the fountainhead of the “bottomless wellspring” (verse 4) from which the Dao flows. Verse 16 tells us that the Leader bridges our actions in the world and our connection to source. I don’t think it’s amiss to relate the Leader, approximately, to the notion of the Higher Self popular today.

What is force? What is the world?

Force points to “the act of inflicting or forcing something (typically undesirable) on someone.” This someone is The World.

In the complex language of this text, the World means everything we perceive, as discussed in verse 29. This can be conflicting thoughts/emotions within, in social organizations we participate in, or anything else under the sun.

Actions have consequences.

Again, verse 16 is evoked. Karma, baby! No thought, word, or deed will not have an effect on the world. Every behavior has a consequence. Crappy ones have crappy consequences; good ones have good consequences. Apple seeds grow apples, orange seeds grow oranges, all that stuff.

Anywhere the forces stop,
thorns and brambles are born.
There are always ramifications
following a great battle.

This stanza is best understood as indiscriminately and simultaneously pointing to the application of force within ourselves and upon the “exterior” environment.

Most of us have had the experience of trying to force what we want into a situation and having that go poorly. You may have noticed that there is a fallout when the event finally explodes and comes to completion. That fallout can be material, such as loss of a job, relationship, living circumstance, etc. It may be emotional, such as persistent traumatic distress, development of unhealthy behaviors and belief structures, avoidance, or repression. Most likely, there is some aspect of both. In the instances where we successfully force ourselves onto the world, the thorns and brambles may be more challenging to see. There is often damage to relationships, a compromise of integrity, and ensuing emotional disturbance, such as a feeling of emptiness despite getting what was desired.

When we pay attention to the consequences of our behaviors, force loses its appeal. This may incline us to think that the teaching of meditative living is an accepting, yielding doormat devoid of personality or direction. Not so!

Perfection is in the result,
not in getting it through force.

Meditative living means moving through life without creating unnecessary disturbances. Success is reframed from “getting it the way I want it” to “arriving at my destination.” Arrival at a destination still requires intention, direction, and the completion of tasks. Doing these things in tune with the infinite potential for life to unfold is often beautifully unexpected. When we release our individual “shoulds” and “if onlys” life becomes productive and pleasant. Not “should-ing” on ourselves or anyone else has been a theme throughout the text already (see Verse 22: Beneficial Modesty).

Get results
without being tacky.
without showing off.
without developing a God-complex.

Weaving the Way is consistent about what behaviors are contrary to it. Two of these three qualities were also listed in Verse 22, where they were phrased positively as unrestrained (meaning engaging wholly and vulnerably) and selfless.

The part that seems emphasized in this verse is recognizing that life unfolds according to cause and effect, with or without you. Anything good that happens in your life isn’t solely based on your efforts. Likewise, no single person or situation is entirely responsible for the bad in your life. Life is a giant, cosmic web that we get to shake in our small way. But just because we are the gods of our personal experience does not mean we are the gods of the whole universe. We are just one intersection of uncountable googolplexes (that’s a 1 with 10^100 zeros behind it) of intersections. Whatever happens in the world is more a mysterious combination of unimaginable complexity than something we make happen.

That may seem kind of defeating and that it makes our efforts insignificant, but it doesn’t. Instead, it opens us up to being with the Flow of the Dao in a much more expansive and relaxed way. However, as the title suggests, we are responsible for applying the necessary energy at the appropriate times.

Results are not your reward,
living like this is called “fruition without force.”
Results will be consistent with natural law.

Fruition without force is pretty cool. It means that we strike a balance between intention and openness. We trust things to work out somehow, provided we keep our goal in mind and our options open. We don’t have to try very hard; we just need to decide where we want to go and Weave the Way until the tapestry of that reality comes into shape before our eyes.

Guess what, though. There is no shortcut. As Created beings, we must follow the rules of natural law.

Things strengthen and then weaken
this truth is hard to accept.
Not accepting it hastens ruin.

The rules are that everything changes in a dynamic interplay of Earthly (yin) and Heavenly (yang) forces, cycling between creation, duration, dissolution, and cessation. We can’t stop natural laws; we can only play within them. Fighting against what is wears us down. Fortunately, being ground to dust can be a profound spiritual awakening and personal transformation.

Some people get it, accept it, and live their lives by it in a way that seems effortless without repeated cosmic bashings.

The good news is that not accepting it hastens ruin. What is grinds you to dust until you break open or break down, which is kind of the same thing depending on how we take it. I broke down unsuccessfully a few times before I understood I was being broken open.

If you can just get it, do that! If you’re like me and need ground to dust, good luck. Hopefully, your next breakdown will be the golden opportunity to break open instead.