Chapter of the Week: #37

Carl

hehehe~

so by that there is no learning?

or have you forgot to post learn and move on from learning, hehehe~

I love tao postings~

kudos~

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 37
The way never acts yet nothing is left undone.
Should lords and princes be able to hold fast to it,
The myriad creatures will be transformed of their own accord.
After they are transformed, should desire raise its head,
I shall press it down with the weight of the nameless uncarved block.
The nameless uncarved block
Is but freedom from desire,
And if I cease to desire and remain still,
The empire will be at peace of its own accord.

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.

Someone suggested I put the grammatically polished version first followed by the awkward mind numbing literal version. Probably a good idea, so I will.

Now I usually prefer the way D.C. Lau phrases the chapters, especially having read it this way for 40+ years. Even so, sticking closer to the literal, even when polished a little, opens up the view - for me anyway. For example, compare Should lords and princes be able to hold fast to it with the more literal, If kings and noblemen can abide by this. And though I chose to use abide, it comes from a longer list of equally fine synonyms: keep watch, observe, near, close to... (plus a few more I didn't include). 'Hold fast to' is a fine way to put it, but I do appreciate the element of 'keeping watch' and 'observing'. Oh well, enough nit picking for today.

The most beautiful part of this view is the precious utility of nothing and nameless simplicity. As they say, nature abhors a vacuum (the simplest nothing of which I know). That nothing gets the work of the universe done. That nothing, translated into my daily life, is patience. Above all else, patience gets my life's work done with a minimum of unforseen consequences that otherwise follow in the wake of a life driven by [chref=57]desire[/chref].

The polished version first:
The way always does nothing, yet there is nothing not done.
If kings and noblemen can abide by this,
Everything takes care of its own self changes.
Change yet desires rise, we press this down with nameless simplicity,
Of nameless simplicity, man also leads without desire.
Without desire and still, all under heaven fix themselves.

And now a literal rendering as best as I can:
way always nothing doing, yet nothing not do (become, be).
nobleman king like (as if, if) can keep watch (observe, abide by, close to),
10,000 things support (take care of, lead) self change (transform, influence).
change yet desire (just going to) do ( rise, make, become),
we take (lead) press down of use without name of simple.
without name of simple, man also support (lead) without desire.
no desire as well as still, heaven under support(lead) self calm (stable, settled, certain).