Chapter of the Week: #27

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• Carl

  August 2007 edited September 2007

  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 27
  One who excels in traveling leaves no wheel tracks;
  One who excels in speech makes no slips;
  One who excels in reckoning uses no counting rods;
  One who excels in shutting uses no bolts yet what he has shut cannot be opened.
  One who excels in tying uses no cords yet what he has tied cannot be undone.
  
  Therefore the sage always excels in saving people, and so abandons no one;
  always excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing.
  This is called following one's discernment.
  
  Hence the good man is the teacher the bad learns from;
  And the bad man is the material the good works on.
  Not to value the teacher, Nor to love the material
  Though it seems clever, betrays great bewilderment.
  This is called the essential and the secret.
  
  Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
  Read notes on translations
• Carl

  August 2007 edited October 2007

  [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.
  
  Declarations like 'One who excels in traveling leaves no wheel tracks' inspired a lot of the spiritual quackery we find throughout history. I mean, the child within wants to believe in the 'Harry Potter', the 'walker on water', the '[chref=19]sage[/chref]', and such. Here we have the 'Taoist Sage' who is so stealthy he makes no slips. As a parent, I found a good balance was neither to bolster nor invalidate my children's belief in 'Santa Claus'. Chapter 65 tells us to [chref=65]not use [the way] to enlighten the people but to hoodwink them[/chref]. Certainly, doing either intentionally is loaded with [chref=18]cleverness[/chref]. In challenging beliefs am I 'attempting to enlighten'? Of course maybe I’m misleading people, but that would be hoodwinking I suppose. Maybe I’m hoodwinking everyone no matter what I do. After all, [chref=56]one who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know[/chref]. So should I keep my mouth shut? Ah, but that would be no fun! Maybe someday, when I'm old enough to know better.
  
  In the meantime, here's my literal translation of the Chinese: (*)
  adept at go (prevail, circulate, do) without wheel rut (way, idea) mark (trace, outward sign).
  adept at speech without flaw (have no time) blame (censure, banish).
  adept at enumerate (list, count) not use counter (plan) strategy (bamboo slips for writing)
  adept at shut (close, obstruct) without shut lock yet not can open
  adept at tie (knot, form, conclude) without arrange (restrain) yet not can divide (explain, interpret).
  is use (take, because, as well as) wise person
  always adept at rescue (save, help) people, reason (cause) not discard people.
  always adept at rescue (save, help) things, reason (cause) not discard things.
  is say (call, meaning, sense) follow the pattern bright (clear, honest, open).
  reason (cause) adept at people, not adept people of teacher (model, example).
  not adept at people adept at people of support (natural ability).
  not value its teacher, not love its support,
  although wisdom, big confused (perplex, fascinate),
  is called important (essential, want) wonderful (subtle, excellent)
  
  And my feeble attempt to take out some of the twists and turns:
  Adept at prevailing without the trace of an idea.
  Adept at speech with no time to blame.
  Adept at listing without a plan or paper.
  Adept at closing without locking yet cannot be opened.
  Adept at concluding without restraining, yet cannot be explained.
  Using this, the wise person is:
  Always adept at helping people because he discards no one.
  Always adept at helping things because he discards nothing.
  This says he follows the pattern honestly.
  Thus, those who are adept are models for those not adept.
  Those not adept support those who are adept.
  Neither value the model nor love the supporter.
  This wisdom, although perplexing,
  Is called an essential subtlety.
  
  (*) Don't forget, the words in parenthesis are a character's other principle meanings. Also, note that the Tao Te Ching isn't telling us something we don't already know. The more [chref=20]muddled, drowsy and blank[/chref] the mind, the better we can access that which we don't 'know' that we know. This helps get [chref=71]thinking[/chref] out of the way of knowing. (I know, it is just so weird... but wonderful!)
• Joe

  August 2007 edited December 1969

  The part about the sage excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing, relates for me to being 100% present. When I'm totally present in a situation with someone, the judgments tend to drop away. My thinking, my biases often come into play, and then I have the tendency to abandon things; I lose compassion, understanding, acceptance. Of course, you can imagine how often I'm able to totally stay present, and not go off on emotional tangents.
  
  That's part of the "mystery" for me - when I haven't hammered things to a point, and I think I've got things nailed down. Then I've moved toward the illusion of my desires about a given situation, and away from just being with the reality of the situation. Then I'm being clever, showing great bewilderment, and losing appreciation for the mystery, the essential.