Tao Te Ching

The second stanza establishes the value in conducting life without the unecessary things. By calling the lifestyle of the enlightened "this," it is that definition of the lifestyle is impossible, that it holds endless possibilities. The implications of the degree of severity in recourse for merely acting as a normal person is that once exposed and open to aesthetic appeals, it is impossible to reclaim virtue lost, just as it is impossible to regain sight once blind and hearing once deaf. To become blind is to be stripped of the ability to see anything; similarly, to be deafened is to be incapable of hearing. tion serves to emphasize how the usually harmless unnecessary products of society detract from quality of life rather than furthering it. The implication of these lines is that once having experienced commodities, acuteness of the most obvious senses is stripped of a layer that can never be reconstructed.

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**Bibliography**

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This chapter, found relatively early in the Tao Te Ching, establishes many of the most important doctrines of Taoism by applying them to real life experiences and using tangible examples of what may tempt, and what results in giving in to temptation. The choice of becoming a sage is a decision to live life without the comforts of tangible belongings, but with internal worth. Both loses are irrevocable, as is the loss of virtue. Exposure to just five varieties of seemingly benign senses could result in blindness, deafness, and tastelessness. Defining the lifestyle of the sage as one with infinite potential is to decree the lifestyle most desirable/virtuous.

The deliberately underscored number of colors, tones, and flavors (only five) accentuates how even the smallest amount of excess can be extremely detrimental.