Indian stream·Tao Te Ching·Chapter 29 — Letting the World Be
The world is a sacred vessel; you cannot improve it
He who would seize the world and act upon it — I see he cannot succeed. The world is a sacred vessel; whoever acts on it spoils it. The sage avoids extremes, avoids extravagance, avoids excess.
Source context
- Theme
- non-interference with the sacred nature of the world as the ground of right action
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Vedanta — nishkama karmaThe Bhagavad Gita's teaching on action without self-willed desire for results shows cross-tradition congruence with Chapter 29's insistence that the world cannot be forcibly improved without injuring its inherent order.
- Buddhist — anatta and non-graspingThe Buddhist principle that grasping at phenomena produces suffering runs structurally parallel to Chapter 29's declaration that those who act on the world with possessive force lose it.
- Aristotelian — phronesis and the limits of techneAristotle's distinction between prudential wisdom and technical manipulation shows cross-tradition congruence with Chapter 29's warning that instrumental intervention in the nature of things produces opposite effects.
Chapter 29
If any one should wish to get the kingdom for himself, and to effect this by what he does, I see that he will not succeed. The kingdom is a spirit-like thing, and cannot be got by active doing. He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his grasp loses it.
The course and nature of things is such that What was in front is now behind; What warmed anon we freezing find. Strength is of weakness oft the spoil; The store in ruins mocks our toil.
Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.