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Chapter of the Week: #57
Being the ‘go with the flow’ fatalist I’ve become, I figure what ever will be will be… ‘que sera, sera’. The main problem would lie in the finality of “one accumulative interpretation”. All I am doing is simply writing down my current observations. Each time I ‘tune in’, I see another part of the elephant. How fortunate we have this internet now where I can post my views of the elephant over the years, and have them available to anyone who wants without cutting down any trees.[cite] TheNowSeeker:[/cite]I guess i was trying to find the right words of asking you if you think you would ever consider publishing or 'submitting' - Tao Te Ching translation by Carl Abbott 200?I wonder, would “one accumulative interpretation” be like pushing a round peg through a square hole? Perhaps I don’t exactly know what you mean.
Your right about “cross pollination being another of nature's ways to have fun”. Perhaps one day I’ll sort and consolidate this stuff and make a print-your-self PDF. I do have to keep a low profile you know. After all, you know what ‘they’ do to heretics!
A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, "Sir, there are living here in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on forever, and so forth. What, Sir, would you say concerning them?"
The Buddha answered, "Once upon a time there was a certain raja who called to his servant and said, 'Come, good fellow, go and gather together in one place all the men of Savatthi who were born blind... and show them an elephant.' 'Very good, sire,' replied the servant, and he did as he was told. He said to the blind men assembled there, 'Here is an elephant,' and to one man he presented the head of the elephant, to another its ears, to another a tusk, to another the trunk, the foot, back, tail, and tuft of the tail, saying to each one that that was the elephant.
"When the blind men had felt the elephant, the raja went to each of them and said to each, 'Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?'
"Thereupon the men who were presented with the head answered, 'Sire, an elephant is like a pot.' And the men who had observed the ear replied, 'An elephant is like a winnowing basket.' Those who had been presented with a tusk said it was a ploughshare. Those who knew only the trunk said it was a plough; others said the body was a grainery; the foot, a pillar; the back, a mortar; the tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a brush.
"Then they began to quarrel, shouting, 'Yes it is!' 'No, it is not!' 'An elephant is not that!' 'Yes, it's like that!' and so on, till they came to blows over the matter.
"Brethren, the raja was delighted with the scene.
"Just so are these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and unseeing.... In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus."
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by uttering this verse of uplift
O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing.
Comments
Chapter 57
Govern the state by being straightforward; wage war by being crafty; but win
the empire by not being meddlesome.
How do I know that it is like that? By means of this.
The more taboos there are in the empire
The poorer the people;
The more sharpened tools the people have
The more benighted the state;
The more skills the people have
The further novelties multiply;
The better known the laws and edicts
The more thieves and robbers there are.
Hence the sage says,
I take no action and the people are transformed of themselves;
I prefer stillness and the people are rectified of themselves;
I am not meddlesome and the people prosper of themselves;
I am free from desire and the people of themselves become simple like the uncarved block.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Now, do it too at Wengu!
Take no action and everything will work out alright, eh? Do nothing is a difficult pill to swallow given our culture’s love of action. On the other side we do have sayings like, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. The Taoist version is more like 'even if it is broke, don't fix it'. I interpret this as a precaution; we need to more carefully evaluate circumstances. After all 'broken' and 'not-broken' are relative value judgments. These just tend to pave the road to hell with good intentions.
All in all, much of what I deem 'broken' is more a reflection of what I [chref=37]desire[/chref] and my idealistic version of life in a [chref=45]perfect[/chref] world . Moving away from the edge of that judgmental precipice brings contentment; I [chref=48]do less and less[/chref] which frees me up to notice and [chref=64]deal with things while they are still nothing[/chref]. Yes, the unintended consequence of being meddlesome and poking into things that don't need fixing distracts me from watching out for that which really does and to [chref=64]deal with it before symptoms develop[/chref]. The model for me is nature. What is 'broken' about nature? Nothing. Although, fortunately my dispassion leaves the moment I break a leg. Then me and my body will do all we can to fix it.
This is how the literal looks to me today
Take honesty to maintain order,
Take surprise when using force,
Take no responsibility when adopting all under heaven.
How do I know so? Because of this.
The wider spread the taboos, the poorer the people.
The sharper their tools, the more confusion grows.
The more clever they are, the more strange things appear.
The more law multiply, the more conspicuous the robbers.
For this reason, the holy person says,
I do nothing and the people transform themselves.
I love stillness and the people straighten themselves.
I am without responsibility and people thrive themselves.
I am without desire and the people simplify themselves.
Literally the literal:
use (take, because of) straight (upright, main, honest) rule (manage, order) country,
use (take, because of) strange (rare, surprise, wonder) use military forces,
use (take, because of) without matter (affair, thing, responsibility, business) take (seek, adopt, choose) heaven under.
we (I) why know its right (like that, so)? use (because of, take) this.
heaven under many taboo and(as well as) people full (overflowing, more) poor (deficient).
people many sharp tools country grow (more, multiply, burst) dusk (dim, confused).
people many ability clever strange (rare, surprise, astonish) things drip (trickle) arise (appear, pull, get up).
laws (decrees) multiply (grow, more) clear (evident, conspicuous) robbers many (more, too many) have.
reason (hence, cause) holy (sage, saint) says,
I nothing do (act, be, serve as) and people self change (turn, transform, convert, influence)
I like (love, be fond of, be liable to) still (calm, quiet) and people self straight (upright, main, honest)
I without matter (affair, thing, responsibility, business) and people self rich (wealthy, abundant, prosperous)
I without desire (wish, want) and people self simple (plain).