Chapter of the Week: #16

Carl

Hi, this is my first post. I have enjoyed all I have been reading and studying. My comment is about "knowing honor, But keeping to the role of the disgraced"
And doing so, returning to being the uncarved block.

There is pride in the business of living and there will be times when in order for a person to be up, another must be down, take for example the zero sum game such as trading or winning at gambling. Would thankfulness and appreciation for this winning be enough to keep from being separate from the whole? Is this "being disgraced" or "being humble". Are they the same? Or should this kind of "living" simply be abandoned?

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 16
I do my utmost to attain emptiness;
I hold firmly to stillness.
The myriad creatures all rise together
And I watch their return.
The teaming creatures
All return to their separate roots.
Returning to one's roots is known as stillness.
This is what is meant by returning to one's destiny.
Returning to one's destiny is known as the constant.
Knowledge of the constant is known as discernment.

Woe to him who wilfully innovates
While ignorant of the constant,
But should one act from knowledge of the constant
One's action will lead to impartiality,
Impartiality to kingliness,
Kingliness to heaven,
Heaven to the way,
The way to perpetuity,
And to the end of one's days one will meet with no danger.


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.]

Ah, this is yet another favorite of mine. Oh, I have got to stop saying that -- [chref=79]favoritism[/chref], you know. Anyway, how much simpler can it be said than 'I do my utmost to attain emptiness; I hold firmly to stillness'. Everything else is fluff. So, on to my fluffy stuff.

'[chref=1]The constant[/chref]' is a term often used, from chapter one onward. The literal translation removes some of the mysterious quality that this term, '[chref=52]the constant[/chref]', imparts, at least to me. I mean, what is [chref=55]the constant[/chref] anyway? Well, without further fluffy ado...

Here is the literal Chinese: (various synonym-like translations in parenthesis)*
send (devote effort to) void (emptiness) utmost guard (observe, near) still sincere.
10,000 things merge (simultaneously) do (rise. make), I watch recover (repeat, duplicate).
man thing all each recover return (coverge) their origin (root, cause).
return origin called still (quiet, calm), is meaning recover life (order, destiny);
recover life called ordinary (normal, constant, invariable),
know ordinary called bright (light, distinct, honest, know).
not know ordinary, absurd (rash, presumptuous) do (make, rise) ominous (terrible).
know ordinary hold (contain, allow), hold be (only then) common (impartial, just),
impartial be complete (whole), whole be sky (day, heaven, nature), heaven be way, way be long,
sink (rise beyond, die) body not danger.

And now 'for what it's worth':
In devotion to the void, I watch stillness with utmost sincerity.
Everything arises side by side, and I watch the recovery.
All things recover and return to converge on their origin.
Converging on the origin is called stillness, this means life recovers;
Recovering life is called normal, knowing normal is called honest.
Not knowing normal, terrible rashness arises.
Knowing normal holds all, holding all thereupon impartial,
Impartial thereupon whole, whole thereupon natural,
Natural thereupon the way, the way thereupon eternity,
Rising beyond the body's death, there is no danger.

'Normal, ordinary, invariable and constant'. Thus, 'The way that is named is not the normal way'... etc. Ha! This puts a whole new light on normal and ordinary for me. My ex-wife and my mother (to name but two) always complained that I "was not normal". Or rather, I didn't fit their [chref=1]named[/chref] civilized version of 'normal'. Now, I can take that as a compliment; well, I always did, really. Notice how 'normal, impartial, whole, natural, and eternity' are all linked in a 'thereupon' relationship.

Hasn't humanity's main reason for civilizing itself been to get as far away from the natural as possible... the natural and normal discomfort and insecurity side of life in the wild. Alas, who knew there would be so many unforeseen consequences? So indeed, woe to a species who willfully innovates while ignorant of the constant. It is slightly ironic that civilized ways are seen as normal. We have gotten ourselves so far out on our civilized limb, we no longer know how to act from knowledge of the constant. We are in such a rush to go [chref=41]forward[/chref], doing our utmost to attain emptiness undoubtedly sounds [chref=41]laughable[/chref] to the [chref=20]joyous multitude[/chref].

* The Chinese characters often have synonym-like meanings, of which I sprinkle in a few. Nothing like this exists in English really, which makes translating the Tao Te Ching such good sport. We really do have to look beyond the [chref=43]words[/chref] to get it, i.e., [chref=70]to understand them[/chref]. How appropriate!