Indian stream·Tao Te Ching·Chapter 60 — Governing a Great State
Like cooking a small fish
Govern a great state as you would cook a small fish — do not turn it too often. When the Tao governs the world, demons have no power. Not that they have no spirit, but their spirit does not harm; the sage also does not harm. Neither harms the other, and virtue returns to the people.
Source context
- Theme
- governing complexity through non-interference — the ruler who does not stir up spiritual forces rules without harm
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Daoist Wu-wei principleThe injunction to govern a large state as one fries small fish — with minimal agitation — exemplifies the Daoist wu-wei doctrine: efficacious action through deliberate non-interference with natural process.
- Vedantic concept of nishkama karma (Bhagavad Gita)Cross-tradition congruence appears in the Gita's teaching that action without ego-driven intervention preserves cosmic order, paralleling Chapter 60's claim that restrained governance prevents demonic forces from gaining hold.
- Platonic political philosophy (Republic, Book IV)Plato's account of the well-ordered soul and city resting on each part refraining from overstepping its proper function shows structural congruence with Chapter 60's image of ruler, people, and spiritual beings each holding their station without encroachment.
Chapter 60
Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.
Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the manes of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy. It is not that those manes have not that spiritual energy, but it will not be employed to hurt men. It is not that it could not hurt men, but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.
When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good influences converge in the virtue (of the Tao).