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Chapter of the Week: #25
[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.]
Christ said, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it", which sound quite opposite from the way is broad, reaching left as well as right. However, I no longer see these as that different. :shock: The last phrase, "few there be that find it" is right in line with [chref=70]yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice.[/chref] Even the first part rings true when we are talking about balance. The ability of words to point in various directions demonstrates the wisdom of not placing all our awareness eggs in the [chref=23]word's[/chref] and [chref=32]name's[/chref] basket. But, that's a tall order considering how tightly we link awareness with the words we [chref=71]think[/chref].
Even so, I prefer the view that 'the great way inundates the same, left or right.' But then this sound more like the omni presence of God to which Christians refer. When I dig down deep to feel the pre-word origins I see great similarity everywhere and in everything. Words and names divide the whole - [chref=10]the One[/chref]. It sure is easy to get sidetracked haggling over issues, which if we dug deeper we would find peace giving similarity. Of course, half of life - the yang half - is supposed to be contention and struggle. Perhaps the balance is off and we have more contention that harmony. Or perhaps we want to have our cake and eat it too.
The literal Chinese:
big (great) way inundate ( flood, float, nonspecific) its same left right.
10,000 things depend on of use (because of, so as to) birth (life, existence) and not decline (take leave),
meritorious service accomplish and not name have.
clothes support 10,000 things and not act as master, always without desire can name small.
10,000 thing return herein, but not act as master, can name act as big.
use (because of) its end (death, whole, eventually) not self act as big,
hence can accomplish its big
Prettified as little as possible:
The great way inundates the same, left or right.
All depends on it for existence and it never declines,
It accomplishes its meritorious service anonymously.
It supports all yet without acting as master,
It always is without desire and so seems small.
All return to it, yet by not acting as master, it can be called great.
Because of its ultimate non-self, it becomes great.
Hence it can accomplish greatness.
Christ said, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it", which sound quite opposite from the way is broad, reaching left as well as right. However, I no longer see these as that different. :shock: The last phrase, "few there be that find it" is right in line with [chref=70]yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice.[/chref] Even the first part rings true when we are talking about balance. The ability of words to point in various directions demonstrates the wisdom of not placing all our awareness eggs in the [chref=23]word's[/chref] and [chref=32]name's[/chref] basket. But, that's a tall order considering how tightly we link awareness with the words we [chref=71]think[/chref].
Even so, I prefer the view that 'the great way inundates the same, left or right.' But then this sound more like the omni presence of God to which Christians refer. When I dig down deep to feel the pre-word origins I see great similarity everywhere and in everything. Words and names divide the whole - [chref=10]the One[/chref]. It sure is easy to get sidetracked haggling over issues, which if we dug deeper we would find peace giving similarity. Of course, half of life - the yang half - is supposed to be contention and struggle. Perhaps the balance is off and we have more contention that harmony. Or perhaps we want to have our cake and eat it too.
The literal Chinese:
big (great) way inundate ( flood, float, nonspecific) its same left right.
10,000 things depend on of use (because of, so as to) birth (life, existence) and not decline (take leave),
meritorious service accomplish and not name have.
clothes support 10,000 things and not act as master, always without desire can name small.
10,000 thing return herein, but not act as master, can name act as big.
use (because of) its end (death, whole, eventually) not self act as big,
hence can accomplish its big
Prettified as little as possible:
The great way inundates the same, left or right.
All depends on it for existence and it never declines,
It accomplishes its meritorious service anonymously.
It supports all yet without acting as master,
It always is without desire and so seems small.
All return to it, yet by not acting as master, it can be called great.
Because of its ultimate non-self, it becomes great.
Hence it can accomplish greatness.
Comments
Chapter 25
There is a thing confusedly formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
Silent and void
It stands alone and does not change,
Goes round and does not weary.
It is capable of being the mother of the world.
I know not its name
So I style it 'the way'.
I give it the makeshift name of 'the great'.
Being great, it is further described as receding,
Receding, it is described as far away,
Being far away, it is described as turning back.
The way is great; heaven is great; earth is great; and the king is also
great. Within the realm there are four things that are great, and the king
counts as one.
Man models himself on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the way,
And the way on that which is naturally so.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
'And the way on that which is naturally so' is the key reason I discount all human authority and observe Nature as carefully as possible for guidance. Discount doesn't mean reject out of hand, but just to consider the 'source'
The raw literal translation:
have thing mix (blending, muddled, confused) become (finished, grown) before heaven earth born.
still silent along stand not change, goes round (all) go (do, circulate) but not danger (nearly almost),
can do (serves as, mean) heaven below (under, next) mother.
I not know its name, strong (powerful, better) of word say (call, name) way.
stong stand for (support) of name say big (great, vast, fully, major).
big say (call) depart (pass away, die), depart call far (remote), far call reverse (turn over, opposite direction).
hence, way big, heaven big, earth big, man also big.
field middle have four big, but (and, as well as) man dwell its one herein.
man law (method, way, follow, model) earth, earth law heaven, heaven law way, way law self true (natural, free from affectation).
Now, simmered with some grammatical fixins':
Some blending finished before heaven and earth were born.
Still and silent it stands unchanging, with all circulating it without danger,
It serves as the mother of all under heaven.
Not knowing its name, the strongest of words names it the way.
Of names, the strongest supports calling it vast.
Vast we say it is departing, departing we say it is far away, far away we say it is returning.
Hence, the way is vast, heaven is vast, earth is vast, man is also vast.
The center has four vast things, and man lives his herein.
Man follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the way, and the way follows self truth.
(*) Certainly, couched in superfluous bull___ is also naturally so. Nevertheless, [chref=73] heaven hates what it hates[/chref] (which lets me off the hook, eh?
When I'm focused on some desire, if I'm able to let go and turn back to the mysterious sameness in reality, instead of blindly pursuing my desire, I'm more likely to let go of that desire. Without having to fulfill the desire and probably just causing myself more trouble.
This really comes up in my interactions with my 12 yr. old daughter. As she develops more independence, sometimes it's easy to just tell her what to do, not allow discussion, and expect things to happen the way I want them to. And then get worked up and push things, to "hammer it to a point". But if I turn away from that intensity of my individual desire, I open up to the mysterious sameness in life. Which translates to seeing us all as the same, which allows more compassion, more openness to considering her point of view, her desires in the situation.
Let's face it, life's way too murky to think that we can just pursue our individual desires to the exclusion of everything else. That we can nail things down, and that pursuing our individual desire is the "answer" to being "happy".