Inspirations from Tao Te Ching

By Bai Yansong

Inspirations from Tao Te Ching

By Bai Yansong

I was amused when reading chapter 17 ofTao Te Ching.The lines go as:“The best leaders are in harmony with their followers.The next best are those who are respected. Then come those who are feared.The worst are those who are despised.”

These lines comment and distinguish leaders into four classes.Lao Tse says the best leader is a kind of existence.He leads his team in a natural way.He does not hold meetings day by day,yet everybody plays their strengths and works hard actively.Everything goes smoothly and effectively.The best leader is that his followers do not feel his existence. Second best leaders are those praised by his team members;whereas the third class are those feared by his subjects. The worst of all are those cursed by his fellow workers every day.

This kindof classificationleaves much for us to think about.Towards the end of the Cultural Revolution,teaching orders had been returned to normal, even in remote areas like Hulunbuir of InnerMongoliaAutonomousRegion. My mother was a teacher in a school there.She once said,“In fact,here is pretty good.Everybody works by the bellman’s ring even if the head master is away.”This comment caused her tobe criticized of disobeying the Party’s principles and lacking organizational discipline.

Years later,when my mother’s classmates got together,they always repeat these sentences for fun.These honest words described an ideal state of school orders.It meant that the schoolmaster was skillful at management.He did not have to teach his staff how and what to do and everybody worked hard on their own post and all ran smoothly.

I have my own pointofview, which I named the Bai’s Theory.For anyorganization, anymeansthat stress on work attendance,is most probablyonits waydown.Ifa company is moving upward,its workers are self-motivated to do their best.They may walk in the office at 10 am and missed the 8 am timecard cut-off time, but they will work till 3 am the next morning voluntarily without supervision.

During the initial stage of CCTV’s columnOrientalHorizon,wenever punched for work,nobody urged us to. We worked with initiative and effectively.We devoted so much that we lived in the office day by day.When the director mentioned discipline time and again,the influence of the column began weakening.

The classification does not just comment on leaders and officials,it also reveals a kind of order and realm of life.

The 36th chapter ofTao Te Ching says,“When he is going to despoil another,he will first have made gifts to him.”It means one must give you something when he wants totakesomething from you.

This book recorded deep explorations intomaterialsand human nature.In a narrow sense,it says that gentlemen love wealth and take it in a proper way.The more of this you have,the more of others you lose.In a broad sense,a country’s position in the world and its rises and falls of the past dynasties obeys its specific rules.Empire in which the sun never sets will see its sunset one day.

Every single life,me included,experiences its ups and downs cyclically.I often have sound sleeps while in frustra-tion,because I know I have no more to lose.However,when on the high ropes, I feel nervous,for fear that I may go downhill.

In the year 2000,I was very popular. Iwashonored“NationalTop10 Youth”.I broadcast the Sydney Olympic Game lively,and was granted an audience with state leaders after returning. Coachesofworldchampionsshook hands with me positively.God knows how happy I was!

Writer Liu Heng warned me,“Bai, you are now in the full flush of success, but the sun may set.”I answered him:“Do not worry,brother.The sun will rise again on a new horizon.”Thereafter about one year’s time,I switched off my mobile phone and thought over a new program.This year was very important for me.It restarted the engine of my work.

The day ahead of my birthday in 2003,I resigned from producers for three movies.My resignation brought my colleagues a lot of opportunities. Three vice-producers were promoted to producers.A dozen of editors-in-chief became vice-producers.And many new editors-in-chief were named.

Tao Te Chingexpresses a philosophy of great value to us all.When a cup is filled with water,what you should do is to splash some of them.Only by doing this will you be able to fill the cup with water again.That was the right reason I chose to resign from producers.

Someone asked,why you refuse all (money,reputation,etc)when you are given?This is not correct.You should receive that belongs to you,no more,no less.You should feel contented.Tao Te Chingsays,“He who is satisfied with his lot is rich,and he who dies and yet does not perish,has longevity.”

Nowadays,a number of officials were arrested and put into jell for corruption. They might have not readTao Te Ching before.If you give one to each of them, they may regret to die that they did not know the real meaning of satisfaction. Yet how can they readTao Te Ching carefullyandfollowthephilosophy when they are on a high-power career track?Who knows.

Note:[1]Tao Te Chingis a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism written around 6th century BC by the sage Lao Tse.

(FromBai’sSpeechespublishedby Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House,andproducedby Changjiang New Era.Translation:Joseph Ma.Illustration:Niu Li)