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Tao-te ching, ch. 3

Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones. He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal. (James Legge's version).
 

• Comments

The key to this fragment is its last sentence: "When there is this…". Abstinence from action or nondoing is the key. However, in this case nondoing is not just pure passivity. Many tell us that Taoism preaches a kind of passivity towards life seen as a technique or way of being. That is a misinterpretation.

In this fragment nondoing is related to the knowledge that Lao-tzu does not encourage (he even discourages it - cf. "He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge").

We're not talking here about any kind of knowledge, but about the study imposed by the Confucianist standards which lower the mind and finally lead to wrong actions. Lao-tzu tells us that studying this way is no good and that the action led by this study must be suppressed. Only then will things reenter their natural course. Paper by Jhian Yang

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