Harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy

In the Way, nothing is personal. You are merely an instrument in the hands of the forces, participating in the harmony of balance.  You must reach a point where your whole interest lies in the balance and not in any personal preference for how things should be.
Michael Singer, the untethered soul, page 171


I was surprised to see a chapter about the Tao in the untethered soul.  I forgot about it.  I was even more surprised to see how the above quote relates so beautifully to the next eight verses I am presently on. There reall is an underlying truth to all great teachings, isn't there?

Chapter/Verse 42

All things leave behind the obscurity(out of  which they have come) and go forward to embrace the brightness (into which they will emerge), while they are harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy.

Hmm! This one got me thinking. :) All things, that started as one thing becoming two, then three and then  multiplying into "the ten thousand things," other versions speak of, come from nothing or the 'unknown'.  I believe that is what Legge meant by obscurity.

Once they emerge, appear  or are manifested, created, or come into the world of form, they immediately proceed to go forward to 'embrace the brightness'.  I take that to mean that they begin their journey of moving toward the light...toward enlightenment, truth, knowing who they are.  From the moment they are born their journey is a spiritual one...to get to the point where they can embrace the brightness (God...though Lao Tzu doesn't use that reference).

They (all creations, all beings)  are harmonized, brought to a state of balance or homeostasis by the Breath of Vacancy.  What is the Breath of Vacancy?  Legge capitalized these letters so I assume he meant that it was the  divine force.  Of course the Breath could be that breath...that force that sustains us...that makes the non living...living. It is breath that makes the non living alive and vice versa, right?  The yogis refer to this as 'prana'.

He also said it was a Breath of Vacancy. What does Vacancy mean, here?  I think of the Buddhist Shunyata or emptiness, the still spaciousness that is infinite and empty. Hmm! This Breath of Vacancy is the eternal Life force that balances things between heaven and earth? It is the life force that comes from the empty center.  It is the Tao?

He goes on to say that men do not like to have no attachments, no direction or no identification?  Though those who strive to lead know they must leave these things behind. Some things become greater when they have less...and some things are diminished by having more. 

Lao Tzu then says, according to Legge's translation, that he wants the basis of his teaching to be that men who are violent and aggressive will die possibly in this way ( not their natural death).  Is he basing his teaching on the importance of gentleness, humility and peace?

Chapter/Verse 43

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest...

Here again I believe Lao Tzu is saying that gentleness, humility and peace are much stronger than hard aggressive force.  He may also be talking about the strength of the spiritual (the unseen, the formless) against the hard form the physical world provides.  Spirit can enter anywhere because it has no form. Instead of forcing our way through life ( acting, fighting, struggling) there is an advantage to doing nothing and simply being. Few will "get it"...if taught without  words or mental concepts; ...that it is better to be than to act.

Chapter/Verse 44

This was another rhyme scheme verse in the form of a riddle lol.  Basically what Legge is telling us that Lao Tzu is saying that we have a choice.  We can choose Life..."the Breath of Vacancy" or we can choose ego cravings, attachments and ideas: riches, fame, fear, blame etc.  We can't have both.  If we choose ego we do not live in spirit or "the Way".  If we choose the way...we won't need any of these things.

Chapter/Verse 45

Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.

This is an important line I think and it brings me back to "being harmonized by the Breath of Vacancy".

It also reminds me of Michael Singer's analogy in his reference to understanding the Tao(the untethered soul).  We can look at the laws  of Life like the force that that moves a pendulum back and forth.  Each side of the pendulum offers equal but opposing forces.  On one side you might find what is considered "happiness" .  With a small nudge, the pendulum will swing an equal distance in the opposite direction and we will find an equal amount of "unhappiness or sadness".  But without movement, without outside forces be they mental or actual...the pendulum does not move. It stays still and pure in the center. He described this as being with the Tao.  If we can stay centred and are not fluctuating back and forth between feeling good about our deeds or feeling ashamed we are harmonized, balanced, living the Tao??? Do thou what's straight still  crooked deem.

I might be right off the tracks on this understanding lol.

Chapter/Verse 46

Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.

Contentment with "what is" is something that will last and not pass away as things around us change. To be able to accept Life as it is, is the greatest achievement. It is the way of the Tao. When we regard the Tao we are humble and use what we have to do humble things ( using our horses to carry the dung-carts). When we disregard the Tao we anticipate a need for defense and attack, we prepare for it by breeding our horses to go to war.  Preparation for violence is a world without the Tao. The ordinary moment to moment stuff is ignored. Seeking ambition will lead to guilt; being discontented with one's lot in Life will lead to calamity; and wanting, craving and striving are faults.  

If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.  simplicity is extremely important for happiness. -Dalai Lama

Chapter/Verse 47

Without going outside his door one understands (all that takes place) under the sky

I love this!  All we need to know is not "out there", it is "in here."  We can understand Life and the world by going inward. The answers lie within the True Self and the further we get from that Self, the less we will understand and know.

and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so

We can follow in the sample of the sages who gained their knowledge from within and did not seek, or strive to get it.  They simply were and allowed it to come to them without "the purpose of doing so".  They were not attached to outcome.

Chapter/Verse 48

Those who daily practice and seek knowledge will gain it; those who daily seek the Tao will diminish their doing. The seeker reduces his doing and reduces it some more until he is doing nothing. And when he reaches this state of non-action, there is nothing he cannot do.

Hmm!  The best most productive action comes from not acting...choosing Being over doing. It is struggling to achieve that creates trouble and our inability to get what we are wanting. We must not strive, struggle or fight to achieve.  We must be unattached to outcome.

Chapter/Verse 49

The sage has no invariable mind of his own...

Lao Tzu is saying that he is good to people who are good to him; and he is good to people who are not good to him...that way he is good to all and all get to be good.  He does the same with his sincerity.

He remains indifferent, not judging based on how he is treated by others.  He does not say who deserves his kindness and sincerity and who doesn't...he treats all the same regardless.  This makes him appear indecisive and indifferent but it is equanimity he teaches. This is what makes people follow him.

Those eight chapters were a little easier on the brain cells.  :) 

All is well.

James Legge (1895) Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching https://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm

Michael Singer (2007) the untethered soul. New Harbinger.