Chapter 78 of the Tao Te Ching

This entire chapter should be taken figuratively. Its purpose is to show the superiority of those who practice the Tao (who imitate its apparent weakness, humility, and flexibility) over those who neglect it and eagerly seek power, glory, and exaltation.

E: Among all things in the world, there is nothing softer or weaker than 水 shuǐ; however, if it attacks the hardest and strongest bodies, they will yield to its power and never be able to overcome it. Thus, among all things in the world that can attack (and overthrow) hard and strong bodies, there is nothing that can replace 水 shuǐ.

刘骏 Liú Jùn: Among all things in the world, there is none that can, as well as 水 shuǐ, take all forms and directions. Sometimes it bends, sometimes it rises; it fits both square and round vessels. If you block it, it stops; if you open a path, it flows where you want. Yet, it carries boats, rolls rocks, carves valleys, pierces mountains, and supports heaven and earth.

B: 水 shuǐ is extremely soft, yet by seeping drop by drop, it can carve the hardest rocks of its banks. Mountains and hills are extremely solid, yet it can topple them with its invincible force.

We saw in the previous note that the words 无以易之 wú yǐ yì zhī mean, according to E, "no thing can replace 水 shuǐ, be substituted for 水 shuǐ."

刘骏 Liú Jùn: Though 水 shuǐ can bend, fold, and take all forms, it never loses what constitutes its nature. To overthrow what is hard and solid, nothing surpasses it.

B: What I advance has been and remains an unchanging argument.

This difference in interpretation comes from the fact that the word 易 yì means "to change, be changed (mutari) and to exchange (permutare)."

E: In the world, all men know the benefits that come from flexibility (the opposite of stiffness) and weakness; but in the end, no one knows how to be soft and weak. They regard firmness and strength as a title of glory, flexibility and weakness as a subject of shame.

E: The word 垢 gòu (vulgo "sordes") means here shame. Shame and calamities are things that the multitude cannot endure. Only the man who is soft and weak (according to the Tao) can endure them with joy and without complaint (literally "without contestation"). By means of his softness (the opposite of hardness, inflexibility of character) and weakness, he subjugates the firmest and strongest men in the world. This is why he can preserve the right to offer sacrifices to the genies of the earth and grains and become the master of the empire.

The same commentator cites several historical examples to support Laozi's thought. 勾践 Gōu Jiàn, king of 越 Yuè, entered the service of the king of 吴 Wú, and soon became the chief of the vassals. Prince 刘恒 Liú Héng did not avenge an insulting letter, and the prince of the 匈奴 Xiōngnú came to seek his alliance and kinship.

B: The one who does not cowardly evade danger, who blames himself for the kingdom's scarcity and the crimes of a common man, can become the ruler of the entire empire.

E: Men of the age say that one must be of low character to endure insults; but the Sage expresses himself differently (i.e., recommends, on the contrary, to endure them without complaint). One sees that if his straight words seem absurd and contrary to reason, it is not because they actually are so; this comes solely from the fact that a few people examine them from the viewpoint of the crowd.