Tao Te Ching Verse 61: Practicing Vulnerability

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

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Tao Te Ching Verse 61

translated by Lin Yutang
A big country (should be like) the delta low-regions,
Being the concourse of the world,
(And) the Female of the world.
The Female overcomes the Male by quietude,
And achieves the lowly position by quietude.
Therefore if a big country places itself below a small country
It absorbs the small country.
(And) if a small country places itself below a big country,
It absorbs the big country.
Therefore some place themselves low to absorb (others),
Some are (naturally) low and absorb (others).
What a big country wants is but to shelter others,
And what a small country wants is but to be able to
come in and be sheltered.
Thus (considering) that both may have what they want,
A big country ought to place itself low.
Photo by Max Kleinen on Unsplash
Being Vulnerable with the Tao

I find that I’m simultaneously the big country and the little country, depending on the situation in which I find myself. When I think about the Tao, I automatically place myself in the position of the little country - I want to be sheltered and looked after. I have no problem - most of the time - being lower than the Tao, because I know that when I can exercise humility and join it, I am in Harmony and therefore at One with the Tao.

Which makes me the Tao! And then I become the big country - the One. I can then participate in sheltering and protecting others. I can allow the Tao to operate in my life and use it to help other people find joy, peace, and contentment. Idk about you, but I do enjoy bringing a smile to someone’s face.

Let’s pause for a moment and wonder what it would look like if the Tao didn’t lower itself as the big country. Sometimes a bigger country in the world, instead of lowering itself to others, puts itself above them. And what happens? Oppression, strife, and uncared for people, both inside and outside the country. And if little countries don’t lower themselves to bigger countries? They become belligerent and usually create international messes that end up affecting people outside and inside. We can see this pattern occurring over and over throughout our human history.
The Tao is always lower, isn’t it? Just like the spirit of the Valley, the Tao is always ready to receive. It is always giving. It is always there, waiting. That’s good, because since I am not always in a place of lowering myself, I’ve got to start somewhere, and if the Tao wouldn’t do it then I surely wouldn’t. I would become the belligerent little country. I have been that belligerent little country more times than I care to admit.

So if the Tao is always lower, I guess the main question is: how do I lower myself to the Tao? How do I allow the Tao to absorb me? I think the answer to that is what we’ve been discussing all along, actually! The practices of acceptance, humility, and compassion have been allowing us to get to a place where we can willfully exercise putting ourselves below the Tao. We have but to practice these things as best we can, and then - by allowing things and situations to develop as they might, without fighting, either internally or externally, we lower ourselves to the Tao and receive its care and aid with everything.