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Chapter of the Week: #39
From the word "what" to "why" is comparing Earth and Heaven.
In my experience, questioning "why?" does not return me to what is naturally so. I feel that by accepting what is, embracing what is (when I am able to) brings me to the stillness I understand as The Tao. I don't believe there is any answer to why the universe is as it is--no answer that I can comprehend anyway. So for me, wondering why takes me away from what is important.
I must say, however, that questioning why is what brought me to the point of understanding that why is not the question. That took a lot of years.
Comments
Chapter 39
Of old, these came to be in the possession of the One:
Heaven in virtue of the One is limpid;
Earth in virtue of the One is settled;
Gods in virtue of the One have their potencies;
The valley in virtue of the One is full;
The myriad creatures in virtue of the One are alive;
Lords and princes in virtue of the One become leaders in the empire.
It is the One that makes these what they are.
Without what makes it limpid heaven might split;
Without what makes it settled earth might sink;
Without what gives them their potencies gods might spend themselves;
Without what makes it full the valley might run dry;
Without what keeps them alive the myriad creatures might perish;
Without what makes them leaders lords and princes might fall.
Hence the superior must have the inferior as root; the high must have the low as a base.
Thus lords and princes refer to themselves as 'solitary', 'desolate', and 'hapless'.
This is taking the inferior as root, is it not?
Hence the highest renown is without renown,
Not wishing to be one among many like jade
Nor to be aloof like stone.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
My comment for this chapter is reflected in the polished version below. Compare Lao's 'Of old, these came to be in the possession of the One' with my 'All that came before rests on the One.' For me, Lao's prose says the same thing, except that the more literal may say it more directly. Then note Lao's Gods versus mind below. Here, the literal shen translates as: god; deity; supernatural; spirit; mind; expression; smart. Not being a believer in god, deity, supernatural and such, I chose the later definition. God is in the mind of the believer, or so it seems to me (not that I believe in mind either.
The polished literal version first:
All that came before rests on the One.
Heaven rests on the One to be clear.
Earth rests on the One to be tranquil.
Mind rests on the One to be effective.
Vally rests of the One to be full.
Everything rests on the One to exist.
Rulers rest on the One to gain loyalty.
Its service causes.
Without what makes heaven clear, prods dreadful splitting.
Without what makes earth tranquil, prods dreadful waste.
Without what makes mind effective, prods dreadful stoppage.
Without what makes the valley full, prods dreadful exhaustion.
Without what makes existence, prods dreadful extinction.
Without what makes loyalty, prods dreadful setbacks.
Hence, the lowely serves as the foundation of value.
The low serves as the base of the high.
And so the nobleman and king call themselves solitary and scant.
The lowly never serves as the root of evil nor the lofty.
Extreme reputation is without reputation.
Not to desire is comparable to beauty.
Jewelry is comparable to stone.
And now the raw literal rendered as best I can:
the past (former time) of must (need, get, be finished) the one.
heaven must (need, get, be finished) one so as to clear (unmixed, settle).
earth must (need, get, be finished) one so as to tranquil (peaceful).
god (deity; supernatural; spirit; mind; expression; smart) must (need,
get, be finished) one so as to effective (quick, spirit).
valley must (need, get, be finished) one so as to be full (have a surplus of).
10,000 things must one so as to give birth to (exist, have, life, raw).
nobleman kind must one consider heaven under loyal (faithful).
its send (extend, deliver; incur; cause) of.
heaven without so as to clear, bring (prod) fear (dread) split.
earth with so as to tranquil, bring (prod) fear (dread) waste.
god (mind) without so as to effective, bring (prod) fear (dread) stop.
valley without so as to be full, bring (prod) fear (dread) use up.
10,000 things without so as to exist, bring (prod) fear (dread) extinguish.
nobleman king without so as to loyal, bring (prod) fear (dread) setback.
hence, value so as to lowly (base) serve as foundation,
high so as to below serve as base.
this so as to noblemand king self name solitary, scant, no valley.
this wrong (run counter to, never) so as lowly serve root evil? wrong (run counter to, never).
extremely (to, until) reputation (fame) without reputation (fame).
not desire (longing) can compare with (as if, like) beautiful.
neck ornament can compare with (as if, like) stone.
As you might notice I capitalise words when they seem to be alternative names for the Tao/Way/Constant Virtue etc.
39: One and Rulers
昔之得一者
In the past, those who had One:
天得一以清
The sky had One and was clear.
地得一以寧
The earth had One and was settled.
神得一以éˆ
The spirits had One and were responsive.
谷得一以盈
The valley had One and was filled.
è¬ç‰©å¾—一以生
The 10,000 things had One and were born.
侯王得一 以為天下貞
The rulers had One and were examples to the world.
其致之
All these outcomes were caused by One.
天無以清 å°‡æ裂
The sky ,without That which clears it, will horrendously split.
地無以寧 å°‡æ廢
The earth, without That which calms it, will horrendously decay.
ç¥žç„¡ä»¥éˆ å°‡ææ‡
The spirits ,without That which makes them responsive, will horrendously expire.
谷無以盈 å°‡æç«
The valley, without That which fills it, will horrendously run dry.
è¬ç‰©ç„¡ä»¥ç”Ÿ å°‡ææ»…
The 10,000 things, without That which births it, will be horrendously extinguished.
侯王無以貞 å°‡æ蹶
The rulers, without That which makes them an example, will be trampled upon.
故貴以賤為本
Indeed, the refined is based on the unrefined,
高以下為基
the high is built upon the low.
是以侯王自稱å¤å¯¡ä¸ç©€
Hence the rulers claim themselves to be powerless, small and unworthy.
æ¤éžä»¥è³¤ç‚ºæœ¬é‚ª
Is such an action, by not being based on the unrefined, evil?
éžä¹Ž
We need not even ask.至è½ç„¡è½
The greatest honor is no honor.
ä¸æ¬²çç如玉 çžçžå¦‚石
Not wanting to shine like jade or sparking like jewels.
The most difficult part for translators is the part in bold. I sensed some sarcasm and frustration here, so it seemed to mean that Lao Zi is complaining about rulers using refined speech to claim that they are "powerless small and unworthy".
While shen (神) translates first as spirit, I favor using its secondary meanings, mind. It is my sense that from mind comes spirit, i.e., what we see is a reflection of our subjective experience, so I might as well just call it as I see it. There is no there, there. The objective ‘reality’ we see is an illusion mirroring our innate needs and fears. Admittedly though, I’m taking liberties in the translation. :oops:
I have tasted the ruler position and also found myself “powerless, small and unworthy”. As they say, it is lonely at the top. This is an example of how experience and ‘knowing’ are intertwined. Furthermore, one does not actually need to be a ‘great’ ruler to experience the role of ruler. It is only necessary to fully experience the ‘upper position’ to realize how powerless, small and unworthy it actually is (and not what instinct promises us). Fully experience? That is the trick. Mundane daily life presents us with myriad ‘upper position’ and ‘lower position’ moments. We need only watch carefully to notice. Only? :roll:
Being a ruler, or what we might think of as the Yang/Higher/Dominating position, is not as powerful as it seems. The logical mind likes to think that an effective ruler is one who is Big, Powerful and Worthy (descendant of some noble line, or perhaps full of awards etc). Of course the Taoist ideal of leadership is a leader who knows how to delegate to other people such that things operate naturally. Because he delegates so much work he rarely does any himself, so he becomes "Small and Powerless". He is an expert at lowering himself to inspire his subordinates, so he becomes "unworthy". At some point, as a response to Taoist writing, it might have even been fashionable for a leader to say "I am a great and deserving leader because I know than Man is small and powerless compared to the power of Heaven, and I am unworthy because I am equal to my fellow man."
Laozi then probably wanted to say "If you were really so great and deserving then you would just shut up and do your job. Stop pretending to be virtuous, I know you're using fine speech to cover up for your inadequacies. Is this against the way? Hell YEAH!"
And it's true, every day we alternate between Yin and Yang positions in our numerous social interactions. Being able to treasure each of them takes patience and calmness.
That is, if Lao Zi would have said anything at all.
Speaking of new years, I was in Singapore one year during Chinese New Year. Now that's a party! Especially if you like setting off countless 10 foot long+ stings of firecrackers!
My government banned those firecrackers a long time ago, lol. We still have the Chingay procession, which is this procession of Chinese themed floats and stuff. As I am such a nonsense citizen, I'll be spending the time playing Japanese video games.