Balance, Rocks, and Flowers

“The gentlest thing in the world

overcomes the hardest thing in the world.

That which has no substance

enters where there is no space.

This shows the value of non-action.

Teaching without words,

performing without actions:

that is the Master’s way.” (Daodejing #43)

I had to read this a couple of times to somewhat gather an understanding of the poem. To be honest, I am still confused. In essence, I see this poem as a way to try and define balance and how two polar opposites always cancel each other out. In the first stanza, you have the softest object, like a flower, going against something hard, like a rock. A rock may crush a flower, but in the end, the rock did not win the fight, but rather the flower. In this case, the flower is able to grow. Maybe there is a biological advantage for the flower to grow under a rock. There could be a type of bee that lives on a rock and is able to pollenate the flower. I am way off track, but what I am trying to say is that there is balance to the relationship between this rock and this flower, and maybe the possibility of bees on the rock. The flower may be smushed, but it overcame the hardness of the rock. It survived. Showing that there is balance in the natural world, not everything will succeed because it is tough, or looks dangerous. The final stanza is something that I took a lot more out of.

To me, this stanza is also talking about balance. You need two ways to teach, which is through talking, but there is also comprehension on the student’s part. The relationship needs to be balanced. If the student is not comprehending anything, it is like the teacher is just lecturing to the rock that somehow has a flower under it. The same thing for a performance. There needs to be action, but is it a performance if there is not an audience?