Daodejing Part Thirteen

LYRICS: Favor and disgrace arrive like thunder in the chest, Honour shakes the heart the same as shame and bitter loss. Raised to lofty heights is like standing over depth, One who knows true value never boasts in wealth or rank. To receive with fear, to lose with fear — the shock is one, Walking narrow bridges where the fall is always near. Why do great misfortunes follow closely after us? Why does fear take root so deeply in the sense of self? All great suffering is born from having flesh and name, Where there is a body, there is danger, want, and blame. Ask again what favor is, and what disgrace reveals: Honor lifts you high where every step becomes a risk. Loss returns you downward, trembling at the wound of fate, Both are storms that rise because the self is still held tight. If I had no body, what disaster could remain? Free as clouds ascending, passing walls without a trace. Why do great misfortunes follow closely after us? Why does fear take root so deeply in the sense of self? All great suffering is born from having flesh and name, Where there is a body, there is danger, want, and blame. Those who rule the world by cherishing their private gain Cannot bear its weight nor hold it steady very long. But who loves the body not for self, but all the land, As a parent guards the fragile life within their arms, They may carry heaven’s trust without collapse or fault, And remain unbroken through the turning years of rule. Why do great misfortunes follow closely after us? Why does fear take root so deeply in the sense of self? All great suffering is born from having flesh and name, Where there is a body, there is danger, want, and blame. Let the self grow light, let fear dissolve into the Way, What is truly held is never shaken, never lost. Care for life as life, not as a fortress for the name, Then the world may rest within your keeping — free from blame. DAODEJING PART THIRTEEN: Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions. What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position. The getting that leads to the apprehension, and the losing it leads to the fear of - - this is what is meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared. And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body; if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me? Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.