Chapter Eight
A person of great virtue is like the flowing water.
Water benefits all things and contends not with them.
It puts itself in a place that no one wishes to be and thus is closest to Tao.
A virtuous person is like water which adapts itself to the perfect place.
His mind is like the deep water that is calm and peaceful.
His heart is kind like water that benefits all.
His words are sincere like the constant flow of water.
His governing is natural without desire which is like the softness of water that penetrates through hard rocks.
His work is of talent like the free flow of water.
His movement is of right timing like water that flows smoothly.
A virtuous person never forces his way and hence will not make faults.
The Analysis of the Chapter
Tao Te Ching was written in ancient Chinese by Lao Tzu. Due to the scholarly prowess of Lao Tzu, was later translated to English. In his poem, Lao has used imagery to bring in visualization of water achieving superficial deeds, “ A virtuous person is like water which adapts itself to the perfect place,” ( Dereklin.com , 2018). From this excerpt, the reader is left with pictures how water flows through different situations and how it manages to adapt itself along the way. The picture is then drawn clearly when a virtuous person is compared to water in his movement, “ His movement is of right timing like water that flows smoothly,” ( Dereklin.com , 2018). Water flows smoothly but the reader is shown the smooth flow is not by default but a calculated move by water for perfect moves at the right time. There are several other examples within the chapter that strongly show the mastery use of imagery in the poem.
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The chapter employs symbolism where water is depicted as the master or great teacher who shows how to be close to the way of life. The whole chapter is about lessons from water that we can learn and achieve higher satisfaction just like water is shown to have achieved in the book, thus: “It puts itself in a place that no one wishes to be and thus is closest to Tao,” ( Dereklin.com , 2018). The author of the book portrays his true character through the speaker in the chapter since his intentions are for the book to be used as a guide and not for artistic purposes. From the tone that is informative, the speaker already practices the teachings as he refers to water with a lot of familiarization, hence: “A person of great virtue is like the flowing water,” ( Dereklin.com , 2018). Furthermore, the word “His” has been repeated to emphasize the characters of water and makes the writings to be enjoyable to the audience.
References
Dereklin.com. (2018). Online Translation - Derek Lin Books. Retrieved February 2, 2019, from https://sites.google.com/a/dereklin.com/author/Tao-Te-Ching/online-translation
