Chapter of the Week: #35

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• Carl

  October 2007 edited November 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 35
  Have in your hold the great image
  And the empire will come to you.
  Coming to you and meeting with no harm
  It will be safe and sound.
  Music and food
  Will induce the wayfarer to stop.
  
  The way in its passage through the mouth is without flavor.
  It cannot be seen,
  It cannot be heard,
  Yet it cannot be exhausted by use.
  
  Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
  Read notes on translations
• Carl

  October 2007 edited December 1969

  [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.
  
  It is ironic how the more we chase what we desire, the further away it gets, if not literally, then figuratively in the that even if we succeed, the success is fleeting. Then, we just leap out and chase something else. By ceasing to pursue, the 'end' we sought 'comes home to papa'. It is remarkable how this 'let go so that it come to you' plays out in daily life, e.g., music, relationships, learning, work, and the enjoyment of life in general. Hanging on to the great image rather than bits and pieces, while [chref=70]easy to understand[/chref] can be difficult to [chref=78]put this knowledge into practice[/chref]. Although, it is [chref=21]something that can be tested[/chref], and each time I do, I verify to myself emotionally that it is so, and that make it increasingly easier to put into practice. Now, all I need to do is live to be 1001 years old and I'll be almost perfect at it.
  
  The literal Chinese goes like this:
  hold (stick to one's view, observe) big elephant (appearance, shape, image)shape
  heaven under go (in direction of, toward).
  go (toward) but not harm peaceful even great.
  happy (enjoy) give (and, together with_take part in) entice,
  passing traveler stop (till, to).
  way of speak (exit) tasteless (thin, meaninless) lofty its nil taste.
  look at (regard, inspect, watch) of not serves to show. ...not enough see
  listen of not serve to hear.... not enough hear
  use of not serve to already... not enough already
  
  Which to me comes out looking like this:
  Grasp the great appearance and all under heaven comes toward you.
  Coming toward you but without harm, with great tranquility and equanimity.
  Enjoyable and enticing, passing travelers stop.
  Of the way speech is meaningless, so lofty its non-flavor.
  Of watching it, never see enough.
  Of listening to it, never hear enough.
  Of using it, never ready enough.
  
  In comparing these two, not surprisingly I like mine a bit better! It may be more than just the possibility that I just enjoy the sound of my own voice more. Compare, for instance, The way in its passage through the mouth is without flavor with Of the way speech is meaningless, so lofty its non-flavor. The latter seems deeper. Not because of anything I did. It is deeper in the original literal. Perhaps in attempting to make it more poetic, which his is, D.C. Lau loses some of the meat? Also, notice what he says will induce the wayfarer to stop. In the literal it sounds more like the great appearance (the great image) is enjoyable and enticing, passing travelers stop. Of course, this criticism is not meant to be such. I love D.C. Lau's translation. And, as the knowing lies with us rather than through external sources, it hardly matters how he puts it in the end. One's own inner knowing will 'interpret' the words to match that knowing, if there is depth there to begin with. Finally, there is a good chance I'm simply being swayed by the 'novelty of the new'. Although honestly, 'music and food will induce the wayfarer to stop' never did much for me, so I'm happy to have another angel to view it from.
• Joe

  October 2007 edited December 1969

  What I notice in my life about things eventually coming to me, is that usually what comes back is not the desire I was pursuing. But rather getting what helps remind me of the "mystery". That song is true; you don't get what you want, but you may get what you need. I guess the turning away from desires, helps me to "clear the spiritual palate", so to speak, so that I can be more aware of, and appreciative of, the big picture, the wonder of life.