The Sage Has No Fixed Mind, Taking the People's Minds as Their Own
This chapter describes a form of leadership built on extending trust and goodness universally, even to those who haven't earned it, on the theory that this consistency is what actually produces trustworthy and good behavior in return.
Laozi opens by saying the sage has no constant mind of his own (聖人無常心), but takes the mind of the common people as his own mind — a description of leadership defined by responsiveness rather than a fixed personal agenda imposed from above. He gives two parallel examples of how this plays out: those who are good, the sage treats with goodness; those who are not good, he also treats with goodness — and this yields genuine goodness (德善); those who are trustworthy, he trusts, and those who are not, he also trusts — and this yields genuine trustworthiness (德信). This isn't naive credulity so much as a claim about cause and effect: universal, unconditional treatment is presented as more effective at producing the desired quality in others than a conditional approach that only rewards people already displaying it. The chapter closes with an image of the sage living in the world in a withdrawn, wary manner, blending his mind for the world's sake, while the common people fix their eyes and ears on him and the sage treats them all like children — attentive, protective, without favoritism.
Those who are good, I treat with goodness.
Tao Te Ching
Written about in
- What Taoism says about leading others
The sage keeps no constant mind of his own and takes the people's as his. The operative claim is about unconditional treatment: trust the untrustworthy and you get trustworthiness, a bet that conditional leadership mostly produces the behaviour it was screening for.