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Applying Laozi’s Dao De Jing in Business

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Abstract

China is a country with a long-standing and rich history. This rich history is also expressed in its cultural, religious and philosophical diversity. One of China’s most prominent and influential philosophical strands is Daoism, which is still practiced today despite the political turmoil of the 20th century. It came into existence at roughly the same time as Confucianism. This paper focuses on a particular work of the Daoist canon, which at the same time is one of its most prominent ones: The Dao De Jing by Laozi. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate in how far the virtues described in the Dao De Jing are applicable in a business context. Thereby this paper presents a first draft to turn the Dao De Jing into a “virtue ethics for business” by a thorough and comprehensive analysis of all 81 chapters based on drawing on eight different translations.

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Notes

  1. Wu wei is still many times translated with words related for instance to “takes no action” (DDJ 37, Chan; DDJ 43, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Lin; DDJ 63, Lau), “never does” (ibid., Waley, Lin), or translations related to “non-doing” and “do-nothing” (DDJ 63, Waley, Lin, Clearly, Feng and English; DDJ 48, Lin, Cleary).

  2. For “non-interference” see DDJ 48, Waley; DDJ 64, Lin.

  3. For “no personal end” or related see DDJ 48, Henricks; DDJ 63, Lin.

  4. For submissiveness connected to being strong see in particular DDJ 43, 52, 78, Lau.

  5. For “gentleness” connected to being strong see in particular DDJ 52, 76 Lin.

  6. For soft and softness connected to flexibility see in particular DDJ 43, 52, 76, 78, Cleary.

  7. For “superiority” connected to weak or delicate see in particular DDJ 76, Chan, Henricks.

  8. See further Cleary, Lau for a translation related to “making small things big”, and Henricks “regard the small as large.

  9. See Lau, Waley, Cleary

  10. The approaches by the translators vary here. While some say favour and disgrace are “alarming” or “startling” (see Lau, Henricks, Cleary), others go for a translation related to “accepting both grace and misfortune” (see Wu, Feng and English).

  11. See for translations related to “storing too much” Wu, Lau, Henricks; for translations related to “hoarding” Chan, Waley and Lin.

  12. See for translations related to “following one’s desires” Chan and Henricks.

  13. For “hoarding” see Wu, Lau, Waley. For “accumulating” see Chan, Henricks, Lin and Cleary.

  14. The translators used different words here with meanings of varying intensity. It ranges from mere “greed” (Cleary), over “calamity” (Wu, Chan) to even “sin” (Feng and English) and “crime” (Lau, Henricks).

  15. See for guiding without authority DDJ 10, 51 Lau; for “not ruling” ibid. Henricks; for “not dominating” ibid. Cleary and DDJ 10, Feng and English. For translations related to “letting people grow or develop” see DDJ 10, Chan; DDJ 10, 51, Cleary.

  16. For translations related to “putting oneself behind” in order to lead see Wu, Henricks, Waley, Lin, Clearly, Feng and English. Lau and Chan use translations related to “follow”.

  17. See here particularly chapter 8, where Chan and Hendricks use “compete”, while Lin, Lau and Cleary refer to “contend” or “non-contention”, and chapter 66, where Chan, Fee and English use “compete” and Lau, Henricks, Lin and Cleary refer to something related to “not contend”.

  18. See here translations by Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Waley, Lin, Cleary.

  19. See here translations by Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Waley, Lin, Cleary and Feng and English.

  20. For “selfless” see DDJ 7 Wu, Cleary, Feng and English. For no “personal end” see Waley, for no “self-interest” see Henricks. In 19 all translators take up a translation related to reducing or diminishing “selfishness”.

  21. For having “ability” see Lau, Henricks, Lin, Cleary; for “competence” see Chan, Feng and English, for “efficient” in particular see Wu, for “effective” see Waley.

  22. For translation related to “completion” see Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks. Waley, Lin and Cleary link “being good” or “doing good” with “effective.

  23. See here translations by Lau, Chan, Henricks, Lin, Cleary and Feng and English. Waley and Wu furthermore mention to having “patience” in the end.

  24. For “proud” see particularly DDJ 22 translated by Waley, Lin and Cleary, and Chapter 30 translated by Wu, Chan, Lin, Cleary, Feng and English

  25. For “arrogant” see DDJ 30, translated by Lau, Henricks and Cleary

  26. For “boasting” see DDJ 22 Wu, Chan, Waley, Lin and English; 24 Wu, Lau, Chan, Waley, Lin, Feng and English, 30 ibid.; for “bragging” see 22 Lau, Chan, Henricks, Feng and English, 24 Lau, Chan, Henricks, Feng and English, 30 Lau, Chan, Henricks.

  27. Staying on the side-line is translated in the DDJ as to “not show himself” (refers to the Sage) in 22 by Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Waley, in 24 by Lau, Chan, Henricks, in 72 by Chan, Henricks, Waley, Lin; it is also translated with to “make no show” in 24, 72 by Feng and English and 22, 72 by Wu. Lin also uses “not to reveal himself” in 22, 24

  28. For not “expecting” or not “presuming” gratitude see DDJ 10, 51 by Lau and Cleary; for “taking” or “claiming” credit or merit, see 10, 51 by Feng and English, 77 by Lau, Chan and Lin; for “not setting store” see 10, 51 by Wu.

  29. For “no credit” see DDJ 24 by Chan, Henricks, Lin; for “no merit” see DDJ 24 Wu, Lau, Cleary

  30. For “no lasting effect” see “not endure” in DDJ 24 by Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Waley, Feng and English; see “not last” in DDJ 24 by Cleary

  31. For “being superior” see Lin, DDJ 77 or a “better man” in Lau and Waley; for “knowledge” see Feng and English, for “worthiness” Henricks and for “excellence” Chan.

  32. For “insight” see Wu, Feng and English, for “discernment” see Lau, Henricks, for “enlightenment” see Chan, for “clarity” or related see Lin, Cleary.

  33. For “no anger” and related see Wu, Lau, Chan, Waley, Lin, Feng and English.

  34. For “violent” see Lin, Feng and English, for “oppressive” see Chan, for “aggressive” see Wu.

  35. For “gentle” see, Wu, Waley, Feng and English, for “kind” see Wu, Lin, Feng and English, for “benevolent” see Chan and Cleary.

  36. For “mercy” see Wu, Clearly, Feng and English, for “compassion” see Lau, Henricks, for “pity” see Waley, for “love” see Chan, Lin (here most possibly not eros love is meant but agape love).

  37. For “vengeful” see Feng and English

  38. For traits related to “petti-mindedness” see Lin. Wu, Henricks, Lin and Waley translated the passage with a meaning related to not engaging in the conflict.

  39. See Feng and English for a translation related to “doing for others”, Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, Waley, Lin, Cleary for a translation related to “giving to others” or “using what one has for others”.

  40. For “decay” see Wu, for “exhaustion” see Feng and English; Chan, Henricks and Lin used a translation related to “things age after its prime”.

  41. For the link between frugality and generosity or magnanimity see Wu, Chan, Henricks, Waley, Feng and English.

  42. Also putting the Principles in a business context is unfortunately not possible here, as space is too limited.

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  1. School of Economics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen Graduate School, HIT Campus ShenZhen, University Town, XiLi, ShenZhen, 518055, People’s Republic of China

    Alicia Hennig

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Hennig, A. Applying Laozi’s Dao De Jing in Business. Philosophy of Management 16, 19–33 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-016-0048-4

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