No One Is Thrown Away

Is there someone you have quietly given up on?

Original

善行無轍跡，善言無瑕謫，善數不用籌策……是以聖人常善救人，故無棄人；常善救物，故無棄物。是謂襲明。故善人者，不善人之師；不善人者，善人之資。不貴其師，不愛其資，雖智大迷，是謂要妙。

In plain words

A good walker leaves no tracks; a good speaker leaves no flaws to pick at; a good counter needs no counting sticks… So the sage is always good at saving people, and no one is thrown away; always good at saving things, and nothing is thrown away. This is called carrying the light. So the good person is the teacher of the not-good, and the not-good person is the good person's material. Not to honour your teacher, not to value your material: however clever you are, you will be badly lost. This is the subtle key.

Key words

襲明xí míngTo carry on the light and keep it from going out.
資zīMaterial to learn from, a mirror. Teacher (师) and material (资) together make 师资.
要妙yào miàoThe essential, subtle point.

Reading it step by step

Yesterday Laozi asked us to treat even the unkind with kindness. Today he goes one step further: there is no person who deserves to be thrown away, and no thing either.

First: 善 here means “good at.” A good walker leaves no tracks; a good speaker leaves no flaws; a good counter needs no counting sticks. The chapter goes on: a good closer shuts a door with no bolt and it can't be opened; a good binder ties with no rope and it can't be undone. Picture someone in a film crossing a minefield: they step only in the footprints of those who went before, never breaking a new path, so they stay safe and leave no tracks of their own. Real skill doesn't show the effort. A word that truly reaches someone's heart binds more firmly than any contract.

Second: “always good at saving people, so no one is thrown away; always good at saving things, so nothing is thrown away.” How can the sage manage that? Because he sees from the Dao. Everything was born from the Dao, and each thing has its own place in the world that nothing else can fill. In a mother's heart, no child is beyond help. Things are the same. When the Jin dynasty general Tao Kan had ships built, he ordered the sawdust and bamboo offcuts kept, and no one understood why.

Later, after a snowfall turned the yard in front of his hall to slush, the sawdust was spread over it so people could walk; the bamboo ends later became pegs for ships. Japan's kintsugi has the same spirit: a broken bowl is mended with lacquer and gold, and the cracks become part of its beauty. Laozi calls this “carrying the light”: keeping it from going out. Take compassion one step further and you reach frugality: the reluctance to waste anything.

Third: the good are teachers to the not-good, and the not-good are “material” for the good. 资 means a mirror, something to learn from. Good people show you what to do; people who aren't good show you what to avoid. Together the two words make 师资, the Chinese word for a teaching staff. Fail to honour the teacher or value the material, and even a clever person gets lost. And in a world this specialised, you are the teacher in one field and the student in the next. We need each other; no one has to be ranked above anyone.

the good

teacher of the not-good

shows what to do

the not-good

material for the good

shows what to avoid

Honour the teacher, value the material: both are needed

Bring it home. The new hire who keeps making mistakes: someone to throw away, or material? The broken thing at the back of the drawer: rubbish, or still mendable? We have grown used to replacing: phones, clothes, sometimes even a person who can't keep up for a while. The next step of compassion is to practise one question first: can this still be saved?

A person who sees that nothing is waste has bright eyes.

One line to carry

No one is waste, and nothing is waste.

Today's question

Pick one thing you were about to throw out, or one person you've stopped hoping for. What use or possibility is still left in them?

Quick check

In “the not-good are material for the good,” what is 资?

Next pageEnough Is Always EnoughPage 27

IV · Three Treasures to Live By — Compassion, frugality, not rushing to be first

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