23

Whispered words are natural a gale doesn’t last all morning a squall doesn’t last all day who creates these Heaven and Earth if Heaven and Earth can’t make things last how much less can Humankind thus in whatever you do when you follow the Way be one with the Way when you succeed be one with success when you fail be one with failure be one with success for the Way succeeds too be one with failure for the Way fails too

WU CH’ENG says, “‘Whispered’ means not heard. ‘Whispered words’ mean no words. Those who reach the Tao forget about words and follow whatever is natural.”

WANG CHEN says, “Whispered words require less effort. Hence, they conform to the natural Way.”

LU NUNG-SHIH says, “Something is natural when nothing can make it so, and nothing can make it not so.”

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “If the greatest forces wrought by Heaven and Earth cannot last, how can the works of Humankind?”

SU CH’E says, “The words of sages are faint, and their deeds are plain. But they are always natural. Hence, they can last and not be exhausted.”

TE-CH’ING says, “This verse explains how sages forget about words, embody the Tao, and change with the seasons. Elsewhere, Lao-tzu says, ‘Talking only wastes it / better to conserve the inside’ [verse 5]. Those who love to argue get farther from the Way. They aren’t natural. Only those whose words are whispered are natural. Lao-tzu uses wind and rainstorms as metaphors for the outbursts of those who love to argue. They can’t maintain such a disturbance and dissipation of breath very long. Because they don’t really believe in the Tao, their actions don’t accord with the Tao. They haven’t learned the secret of how to be one.”

CHIAO HUNG says, “Those who pursue the Way are natural. Natural means free from success and hence free from failure. Such people don’t succeed and don’t fail but simply go along with the successes and failures of the age. Or if they do succeed or fail, their minds are not affected.”

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Those who pursue the Way are able to leave their selves behind. No self is the Way. Success. Failure. I don’t see how they differ.”

HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Those who are one with success enjoy succeeding. Those who are one with failure enjoy failing. Water is wet, and fire burns. This is their nature.”

Success, failure, both lead to the Way. But the path of failure is shorter. Many commentators have found the latter half of the standard version of this verse confusing and marked by an awkward use of rhythm and rhyme. I have used the simpler and smoother Mawangtui version. However, in lines ten, twelve, and thirteen, I have followed the Fuyi text’s use of te (succeed) in place of te (virtue). Both characters were interchangeable when the Taoteching was composed, but using “virtue” here leaves one with the problem as to how one can lose virtue and still be one with the Way. The Wangpi and Fuyi versions add this couplet to the end of the verse: “Where honesty fails / dishonesty prevails.” But these lines appear to have been interpolated from verse 17 and are not present in either Mawangtui text. Nor do they follow from the rest of this verse, in rhyme or in meaning. This verse is not present in the Kuotien texts.