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Dhammapada · narration sample

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Tao Te Ching · 5 of 81

Chapter 5

Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of grass are dealt with.

May not the space between heaven and earth be compared to a bellows?

’Tis emptied, yet it loses not its power; ’Tis moved again, and sends forth air the more. Much speech to swift exhaustion lead we see; Your inner being guard, and keep it free.

Asked of Guide

Why does Lao Tzu compare heaven, earth, and sages to indifferent caretakers?

Lao Tzu shows that heaven, earth, and sages act without favoritism: they “deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with.” This indifference is a model of order that doesn’t impose willful benevolence but preserves balance by treating everything according to its nature.

He then shifts to an image of the bellows to teach restraint: empty yet powerful, moved and sending forth more air, a symbol for conserving speech and inner resources. This theme connects to Chuang Tzu’s praise of the valley spirit’s quiet productivity, where silence and receptivity accomplish what force cannot.

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 · Taoism6. The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; The female mystery thus do we name. Its gate, from which at first they issued forth, Is called the root from which grew heaven and eart On the Nature of Things · ClassicalThe genial life and propagate their kind; Wherefore she owneth that maternal name, By old desert. What was before from earth, The same in earth sinks back, and what was sent From s Atharva Veda · Hinduismforth in olden time, the everlasting, high over all that is was she, the Ancient. The mighty Goddess of the Morn, refulgent with one eye, looketh round with one that winketh, 31. K