Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

Tao Te Ching · 80 of 81

Chapter 80

In a little state with a small population, I would so order it, that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove elsewhere (to avoid it).

Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp weapons, they should have no occasion to don or use them.

I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead of the written characters).

They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment.

There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any intercourse with it.

Asked of Guide

Why does Lao Tzu want people to stop using clever people, writing, and travel in a small state?

Lao Tzu wants a small state where simplicity holds sway so people’s desires stay small and danger stays away: skilled people are left idle, boats and weapons sit unused, and knotted cords replace written characters. The scene he paints—people finding coarse food sweet and plain clothes beautiful—keeps life slow, contented, and without causes for envy or conflict.

This chapter models a political vision in which removing inventions and honors preserves harmony; it echoes themes in Chuang Tzu about simplicity and sincerity, and it matches the Tao Te Ching elsewhere where less striving produces peace. The point is practical: shrink incentives that produce movement, competition, and war, and the community endures.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.

Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoism81. 1. Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tâo) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know The Ethics of Confucius · Confucianismsincerity that can exist under Heaven, who can transform." (Doctrine of the Mean, c. xxiii.) This is but one of the many alluring rewards that the sage saw to attend sincerity, whi The Sayings of Lao Tzu · Taoismare not fine; fine words are not true. The good are not contentious; the contentious are not good. This is the Way of Heaven, which benefits, and injures not. This is the Way of th