#repudiated

cecilia

This one is a good advice one.

"Lao-tzu said:

Don't pursue actions that can be repudiated, but don't resent it if people repudiate you. Cultivate virtues worthy of praise, but don't expect people to praise you.

You cannot cause calamity not to occur; but trust in yourself not to beckon it. You cannot cause fortune to arrive; but trust in yourself not to reject it. When calamity occurs, since it is not your doing you do not grieve when in straits. When fortune comes, since it is not your achievement you are not conceited when successful.

In this way you live at ease and enjoy effortlessness, yet there is order."

Alright, first of all I will define repudiate because, while I have a decent-sized vocabulary, that is not a word I would use everyday and I'm betting you're the same.

Repudiate: (verb)

1.refuse to accept or be associated with.

2.Deny the truth or validity of.

So, Lao-tzu is saying not to do things that are unacceptable but don't resent it if people aren't accepting of you or question all your choices. Life is like that but you shouldn't worry about it. 

So, here's another bit of semantics about translation... as I've posted before, "virtue" typically means your truest/real inner nature - who you really are, but in this sentence I think that "virtues" has the more western meaning of "positive attributes". So, cultivate things that make you a good person but don't expect people to give you praise for being a good person.

You can't decide or know anything about when bad things happen to you but if you are right with yourself and right with the Tao then you can trust yourself to not accidentally or purposefully sabotage yourself. Conversely you also can't decide or know anything about when good things happen to you but if you are right with yourself and right with the Tao (same thing really) then you can trust yourself to not accidentally or purposefully throw the good stuff away.

This is good because then if bad stuff comes your way you won't beat yourself up over it. It just happens, it's not your fault. And if good stuff comes your way you won't brag about it because you didn't bring it upon yourself.