28/04/2026
GOOD PERSONS
Many people can quote these lines from the Dàodéjīng with the word “good” in them:
"All know goodness as good—because they already know bad." (chapter 2) Or: "The highest good is like water."
It's helpful to see which word Lǎozì selected for "good," because there are several. The word he chose was shàn 善. It means, "improve; perfect; good (virtuous); excellent; benevolent; charitable; well-disposed." The ideogram combines words 言 with the glyph for sheep and goats 羊. (These animals symbolize goodness and reverence because they appear to kneel when they lie down.) A shàn person speaks with virtue.
This is significant for a book with "virtue" in the title: shàn is goodness as a virtue, excellence, benevolence, and charity.
When we consider the term shànrén 善人, we usually translate it as "good person" or "excellent person." That might imply a person who's skilled and cultivated. But the message is starker than that.
"So the good person is the teacher of not-good persons. Not-good persons are provided for by good persons." (chapter 27)
That is a spectacular challenge to us all. Can we each accept the charge to serve others, even if it includes helping “not-good persons”?
Imagine that you are with someone who was feeling desperate. When you ask, “How are you?” they might respond with, “not-good.” This is why we shouldn’t rush to see bùshàn 不善as merely “bad.” Your friend is feeling “not-good,” but we don’t think they’re bad people because they feel overwhelmed.
Translating “not-good” as bad or evil overlooks a deeper view of human existence. All people suffer. Chapter 13 declares: “Why speak of costly and great suffering to one’s person? I have great suffering because I have a body. If I had no body, how would I suffer?” In other words, everyone suffers.
Therefore, a person may be “not-good” because they are in distress, have been struck by a terrible misfortune, or are facing illness or death.
Pairing “good” and “not-good” underscores the text’s linguistic strategy. “Not-good” is transformed into good with care. A suffering person should not be abandoned. Their behavior can change from bùshànrén 不善人 to shànrén 善人, leaving the “person,” rén 人 intact.
There are criminals, liars, and corrupt people in the world. We have to deter them. First, that saves many other people. So that’s shàn. We have to intercede because there almost always is a history of pain and abuse in the background of the criminal. That’s shàn. And we don’t just slaughter people left and right as they did in ancient times but we try to save the criminal even if it takes decades. That’s shàn.
Is it worth it?
"Heaven’s Dào is impartial: it is constantly with good persons." (chatper 79)
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This series shares introduces key thoughts and shares the process for my upcoming book:
The Complete Dàodéjīng
Lǎozì’s Classic on Wisdom and Harmony
A new translation with commentary
Deng Ming Dao
6 x 9 inches, hardcover, estimated 480 pages
Estimated publication date: November
