Favor and Disgrace

Favor and disgrace alarm one alike. Great trouble comes from having a body. What does it mean that favor and disgrace alarm one alike? Favor is something inferior - gaining it alarms you, losing it alarms you. What does it mean that great trouble comes from having a body? The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body. If I had no body, what trouble could I have?

Favor and disgrace alarm one alike;
great trouble comes from having a body.

What does it mean that favor and disgrace alarm one alike?
Favor is something inferior.
Gaining it alarms you; losing it alarms you.
This is what it means that favor and disgrace alarm one alike.

What does it mean that great trouble comes from having a body?
The reason I have great trouble
is that I have a body.
If I had no body, what trouble could I have?

Therefore, one who values the body as if it were the world
can be entrusted with the world.
One who loves the body as if it were the world
can be entrusted with the world.

Term	Pinyin	Meaning
宠辱	chǒng rǔ	favor and disgrace - both are external judgments from others
若惊	ruò jīng	as if startled, alarmed
贵大患若身	guì dà huàn ruò shēn	treating great trouble as precious as one's own body
有身	yǒu shēn	having a body - having a self, having attachments and desires
寄天下	jì tiān xià	entrusted with the world - given stewardship
托天下	tuō tiān xià	entrusted with the world - given the mandate to govern

'Favor and disgrace alarm one alike; great trouble comes from having a body.'

Both favor and disgrace are external judgments - they alarm you because you are attached to them. The root of all trouble is having a 'body' - meaning having a self with desires, fears, and attachments.

'Favor is something inferior. Gaining it alarms you; losing it alarms you.'

Favor is inherently inferior because it puts you in a dependent position. You are at the mercy of the one who grants favor. The anxiety of gaining and losing reveals its nature.

'If I had no body, what trouble could I have?'

Not literal self-destruction, but transcendence of ego-attachment. When you no longer cling to the self, external circumstances lose their power to disturb you.

'One who values the body as if it were the world can be entrusted with the world.'

Paradox: only one who values themselves correctly - not too much (ego), not too little (self-destruction) - can be trusted with great responsibility.

'Having no body' means suicide or self-denial.

It means transcending ego-attachment - not destroying the body but freeing the mind from identification with it.

Laozi says we should not care about anything.

He says we should not be enslaved by external judgments. Caring deeply while remaining free is the goal.

💡 Social Media & Self-Worth

Likes, followers, and comments are modern 'favor' - gaining them excites you, losing them depresses you. Laozi warns: don't let external validation define your inner state.

🏢 Leadership & Ego

A leader who craves praise (favor) and fears criticism (disgrace) is compromised. The best leaders act from principle, not from the desire for approval.

📚 Emotional Resilience

Practice observing praise and blame without reacting. This is not indifference - it is equanimity. You can receive feedback without being destabilized by it.

Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249 CE)

'Those who are alarmed by favor and disgrace are those who value the self too much. If one could forget the self, favor and disgrace would have no hold.'

Emphasizes self-forgetfulness as the path to freedom from anxiety.

Heshang Gong 河上公 (Han dynasty)

'Favor means being elevated by a superior; disgrace means being cast down. Both disturb the mind.'

Practical interpretation: favor and disgrace are political realities that create anxiety.

Chen Guying 陈鼓应 (b. 1935)

'Laozi is not advocating body-denial but detachment from the ego's dependence on external validation.'

Modern philosophical reading: transcendence, not negation.

🔗 Cross-References

📖 Within the Tao Te Ching

Ch.44 - Fame or self, which matters more? Ch.56 - Those who know do not speak Ch.74 - If people do not fear death

📚 Other Classics

Zhuangzi · Xiaoyao You: Free and Easy Wandering - transcending external judgments Stoicism · Epictetus: 'It is not things that disturb us, but our judgments about things'

🌍 Modern Thought

Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability vs. armor CBT: Distancing from automatic thoughts about external events