After a Great Quarrel, Some Resentment Must Remain
Chapter 79 pushes back on the idea that reconciliation fully erases harm, offering instead the image of a creditor who holds his claim without pressing it.
Laozi states the problem with unusual bluntness: when a great grievance is reconciled, some resentment inevitably remains — how can this be considered good? The observation cuts against any easy assumption that an apology, a settlement, or a treaty fully undoes harm; residue persists even after formal reconciliation. His response is not a cure for the residue but a stance toward it: the sage holds the left-hand tally — in the debt-tallies of the period, the creditor's half, recording what was owed to him — yet makes no demand of the other person, in contrast to the person of little virtue, who holds the tally and presses for payment. The chapter ends with a claim about impartial cosmic favor rather than moral technique: the way of heaven has no favorites, yet it constantly sides with the good person — good conduct is recommended not because it clears every debt but because it aligns with how the larger order tends to run.
Even after a great quarrel is settled, some resentment always remains.
Tao Te Ching
Written about in
- What Taoism says about anger
Unusually blunt for this text: settling a grievance does not clear it, and a residue stays. The stance offered is to hold the claim without pressing it.