Introduction

This verse is often read as a lesson to “be soft, not hard.” But that misses the point. The principles of meditative living don’t ask us to yield because yielding is more virtuous; they ask us to develop a strength that knows when to wait, when to yield, when to stay the course, and when to act.

The verse closes with echoes of Verses 45 and 46 (among others), which offer instructions for the advanced internal meditative practices required for Integrity; practices that depend on precisely this kind of strength. Becoming adept in these disciplines and integrating the philosophical insights that emerge from them is the key to gaining the most benefit from Weaving the Way.

Translation

A person’s generative force:
  Soft, pliant.
Their stillness:
  Persisting, enduring, able, strong.

All manner of living things,
  Soft, delicate.
Their death,
  Stiff, brittle.

Therefore it is said:
  Solidity
    Stillness’ disciple.
  Subtle yielding
    Generative’s disciple.

It is such that:
  Martial strength is not victorious;

  Wood’s strength is enduring.
Great Power
  abides beneath.
Yielding subtlety
  abides above. 

Commentary

A person’s generative force:
  Soft, pliant.
Their stillness:
  Persisting, enduring, able, strong.

The verse begins with a juxtaposition of opposites. What I translate here as “generative force” is 生 (shēng), a term that condenses nearly 40 classical glosses pertaining to life, existence, production, vitality, etc. into its structural function. Stillness is my context-dependent translation of 死 (sì). 死, usually translated as “death,” here functions more precisely as the stillness of the ground of being. This verse primarily uses this pair to describe metaphorical forces where generative force represents yang and stillness represents yin. Though, as we’ll see, it makes a brief detour to use the same terms as objective states in making its point. 

On first glance, the characteristics applied to generation and stillness seem inverted. It would be reasonable to think that creating something is about persistence, endurance, ability, and strength. Meanwhile, stillness would be about softness and pliancy. Indeed, this narrative dominates in our culture and modern spiritual language.

When do insight and intuition actually arise? Certainly not when we’re pushing and forcing! They appear when we’re intentionally receptive and when tension has given way to openness.

And when we do hold a position with integrity, what sustains it? Not rigidity, or fragility, but a practiced and quiet immovable presence.

The following lines drive the point home, tangentially, by directing our attention to signs of vitality in the world around us.