Chapter of the Week: #15

Carl

[cite] Lynn Cornish:[/cite]...Give me a quiet day .... Is that chasing fun? ... but then I come around to my senses.

This brought to mind the nature of contrast and the process of balance. To truly enjoy rest we [chref=36]must first[/chref] work, to truly enjoy enough we [chref=36]must first[/chref] be hungry, to truly enjoy death [chref=36]must first[/chref] live life fully. 'Life' correlates to the 'work and hunger' side of the coin, death correlates to the 'rest and enough' side. I've found that being continually aware of these 'stakes' makes me less [chref=70]ignorant[/chref] which helps me avoid expecting the impossible and overlooking the possible. Of course, a deepening sense of [chref=56]mysterious sameness[/chref] pulls these two sides toward the center... the 'golden mean'. But that's another story and besides, my paragraph is up.

Carl

Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.

Chapter 15
Of old he who was well versed in the way
Was minutely subtle, mysteriously comprehending,
And too profound to be known.
It is because he could not be known
That he can only be given a makeshift description:
Tentative, as if fording a river in winter,
Hesitant, as if in fear of his neighbors;
Formal like a guest;
Falling apart like thawing ice;
Thick like the uncarved block;
Vacant like a valley;
Murky like muddy water.

Who can be muddy and yet, settling, slowly become limpid?
Who can be a rest and yet, stirring, slowly come to life?
He who holds fast to this way
Desires not to be full.
It is because he is not full
That he can be worn and yet newly made.

Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations

Carl

[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read, :? the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]

This chapter is another favorite. I felt today that it was describing how we truly are. Alas, we carefully keep this becoming, our original nature, hidden beneath a parochial paradigm-parroting facade (oh, that's a mouth full). The jewelry and clothes we wear to 'enhance' our body, the beliefs we ruminate over and over to 'enhance' our mind. It appears that we aren't that [chref=46]content[/chref] with our original equipment... tentative, murky, vacant and thick. Still, some of it sounds pretty 'cool', eh?... mysterious, subtle, newly made, profound. These 'cool' qualities bring to mind the arch typical 'James Bond' facade that charms us, never realizing that Nature only offers balanced deals. So we spend our lives adoring an illusion, struggling to claim the 'benefits' and escape the 'cost'. The irony is that in doing so we end up losing the true 'benefits', yet still pay the 'costs'. [chref=41]The way that leads forward seems to lead backward[/chref]. Ah-ha! Fool me once... fool me twice... fool me... how many times till I get a grip on my 'self'? :roll:

Here's the literal Chinese as good as I can get it (*)
of ancient adept do scholar, minute subtle black (profound), open (through, whole), deep not can know.
man only not can know, hence strong serve as of hold (tolerate, allow).
prepare as if winter fording river; just as like fear four neighbor;
solemn that is like hold (tolerate, allow); vanish like of ice handle let go, (dispel, clear up);
honest (sincere) that (such) like simple (plain); vast (free from petty ideas) that (such) like valley;
mix (drifting) that (such) like muddy; tranquil that (such) like sea;
who can muddy use of still slowly clear.
who can peace use of move slowly grow (bear, get, live).
keep (maintain) this way not desire be full.
man only not be full of. therefore can conceal and new become.

Here it is after taking some poetic license.
Of old, the adept student became minutely subtle, whole and deep beyond words.
He only cannot be known, thus his strength lies in allowing.
He prepares as if fording a river in winter; as if like in fear of neighbors;
Solemn that seems to allow; Vanishing like ice that melts away;
Honest that is like simple; broad that is like a valley;
Blending that is like muddy water; tranquil that is like the sea.
Who can be muddy and using stillness become clear.
Who can be at peace and using movement slowly rise to the occasion.
Keep to this way, he desires not to be full.
Therefore, only he who is not full can conceal and yet newly become.

(*) Note: words in parenthesis ( ) are some of the tangential meanings so common in Chinese. I include as few of these as possible, other wise it would be impossible to read, I reckon.

Lynn Cornish

These are beautiful sentences. One could take one and just be with it for a long long while. Maybe today I'll be "falling apart like melting ice." Doesn't that sound good and right?

I can see how all of us are all these things; what a joy. Even if we don't know it, we still are. Once everything else falls away, here we are.

Leslie sent me a book, "Loving What Is." There it is in a nutshell. The word loving may be loaded; maybe "Returning to What is" would be better in this forum.