Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Chapter of the Week: #69
I came to Taoism as an environmentalist, atheist, anarchist. Now I can't tell the difference.
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Comments
Chapter 69
The strategists have a saying,
I dare not play the host but play the guest,
I dare not advance an inch but retreat a foot instead.
This is known as marching forward when there is no road,
Rolling up one's sleeves when there is no arm,
Dragging one's adversary by force when there is no adversary,
And taking up arms when there are no arms.
There is no disaster greater than taking on an enemy too easily. So doing
nearly cost me my treasure. Thus of two sides raising arms against each other,
it is the one that is sorrow-stricken that wins.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Now, do it too at Wengu!
‘I dare not play the host but play the guest’ strikes at the core illusion, namely that I am actually alive. It is poignant how tenaciously all life plays the host which tells me where my ‘I am’ illusion originates… the survival instinct common to all life. The only difference is that I [chref=71]think[/chref], while my fellow amoeba just ‘feels it’. How do I know this? Amoebas and humans are sooo different. Or are they? Surely, difference and [chref=56]sameness[/chref] are in the eye of the beholder. Of course, I guess that’s just another way of saying ‘we see what we want to see’.
How does one ‘march forward when there is no road’ (do without doing, go without going)? This, to me, is simply another facet of ‘seeing what we want to see’. The key lies in the ‘want’. Our [chref=64]desires[/chref] hinder us in this, just as they do in seeing things as they are rather than as we desire. In short, I see the 'road' here is desire plain and simple; 'there is no road’ when there are [chref=19]as few desires as possible[/chref].
One of the most striking things to me is how something so simple, obvious and straightforward is so difficult to perceive by many (at least in my limited one-on-one experiences). But, what else should I expect given the axiom: ‘we see what we want to see’. Of course that applies to me stipulating this an axiom. Round and round… I [chref=32]ought to know that it is time to stop[/chref]. :roll:
A literally simple translation:
Those who use weapons have a saying,
We dare not act as hosts but act as visitors.
We dare not advance an inch but withdraw a foot.
This is called do without doing, go without going.
Grabbing without an arm.
Cast aside without opposing.
Taking charge without weapons.
Of misfortunes, none is greater than rashness.
Through rashness I nearly lost my treasure.
Therefore, in contending militarily with each other, add sorrow to victory.
A literal translation:
use (employ, need; hence, therefore) weapons have speech (word, say, talk, speak).
we not bold (dare) do (act, act as, serve as) host (master, be in charge of) but do (act, act as, serve as) visitor (traveller, customer, be a stranger).
not bold (dare) advance (enter, come or go into) 3cm but move back (retreat, withdraw, quit, return) 0.5 m.
this call (meaning) go (travel, temporary, circulate, do) nothing (nil, without) go (travel, temporary, circulate, do).
grab nothing (nil, without) arm.
throw (toss, cast) nothing (nil, without) enemy (match, oppose, equal).
hold (manage, take charge) nothing (nil, without) weapons (arms, soldier).
misfortunes (disaster, calamity) none great than (by /in /at / to / from /out of) light (gently, rashly) enemy (oppose, match, equal).
light (gently, rashly) enemy (oppose, match, equal) nearly lose I (we) treasure.
therefore resist (contend with) weapons (military) each other (mutually) add (increse, augment) sorrow victory.