The opening of moral character allows only the way through.
Of the way serving the outside world, only suddenly, only indistinct;
Indistinct and suddenly, amid which exists a shape.
Suddenly and indistinct, amid which exists the outside world;
Deep and dark amid which exists the essence.
Its essence is more than real.
Amid which exists trust.
From ancient times up to the present,
Its reputation never left because of the experience of the multitude.
Why do I know the multitude is of just this condition?
Because of this.
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Word for Word
Limits: Translations, even the nearly literal one above, lose some of the original meaning due to the cultural context of contemporary words. Studying the numerous synonym-like meanings of the Chinese characters in the Word-for-Word translation mitigates this.
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(Trump era)
Archive: Characters and past commentary
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/pjPR1Pi2l_U is the link to the Zoom video of this month’s Sunday meeting. The shorter first part of the meeting begins with a chapter reading followed by attendeesā commentary, if any. A little later on begins the longer open discussion part of the meeting when those who wish to discuss how the chapter relates to their personal experience.
Corrections?
None this time.
Reflections:
The opening of moral character allows only the way through.
Of the way serving the outside world, only suddenly, only indistinct;
Indistinct and suddenly, amid which exists a shape.
This chapter is one of the most profound in the Tao Te Ching. It prompts my mind to inspect the nature of consciousnessā¦ not the usual definition of consciousness to be sure, but a more universal, and for me a deeper and truer characterization of consciousnessāin Hinduism, Brahman. The Bhagavad Gita, 2:28, parallels this consciousness continuum nicely: āInvisible before birth are all beings and after death invisible again. They are seen between two unseens. Why in this truth find sorrow?ā
What is the opening of moral character? This is tricky for the word moral invokes whatever culture baggage we impart to the word. To avoid this trap, it will help to consider this chapter as speaking to all living things, from viruses on up. This acultural perspective invites an impartial view that allows the way to apply to all living things. One of the main barriers to seeing the āwholeā is the failure to entertain the profound sameness that underlies existence. As chapter 56 notes, Knowing not speak; speaking not know. The reason speaking not know is due to the nature of language and the words used to build our stories.
Words only exist in contrast to their opposite. There is no good without a bad, no high without a low. The human mind, by relying so heavily upon words to depict this āIndistinct and suddenly, amid which exists a shapeā, has great difficulty perceiving natureās unity, its profound sameness. As a result, understanding reality is limited to either a shape being one way or the other, more or lessā¦ black, white, or shades in-between. Indistinct and suddenly feels unknowable and terrifying. Simply put, words permit us to avoid the Indistinct and suddenly, but we pay for that cognitive security with an uncomfortable and fragmented sense of reality.
To allow only the way through, chapter 56 advises us to, Squeeze exchange, shut the gates, Subdue its sharpness, untie its tangles, Soften its brightness, be the same as dust. All this is a poetic way of saying āDonāt be so damn certainā, or as chapter 71 notes, Realizing I donātā know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. The more sincerely you realize you donāt know, the more readily true knowing emergesā¦ This is called profound sameness.
Note, realizing I donāt know must truly occur at the word level to be most effective, i.e., it is not only being less certain of the thoughts words fabricate, but the actual word meaning itself. See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations.
Suddenly and indistinct, amid which exists the outside world;
Deep and dark amid which exists the essence.
Its essence is more than real.
Amid which exists trust.
This chapter invites us to peek beneath the chaos, the only suddenly, only indistinct, to savor the constant. The difficulty here lies in how the comings and goings of daily life, the Suddenly and indistinct, amid which exists the outside world, are constantly pulling our emotions and resultant thoughts into the drama of the moment.
Its essence is more than real. Amid which exists trust. Trust is the common denominator that connects all living things, from the first blue green algae billions of years ago on up to all life in the present. Think of this as, all life trust the process of nature and of survival. Here again, the word trust can be misleading because of cultural connotations. Genuine trust is innate, universal, and beyond words.
From ancient times up to the present,
Its reputation never left because of the experience of the multitude.
Why do I know the multitude is of just this condition?
Because of this.
The this is the flowing moment which trust calls home. Trust does not exist in any past or futureā¦ only now. Its reputation never left because of the experience of the multitude. I see this as a recognition that all living thingsāfrom the first scrap of DNA, up to the present momentātrusts the process of life. No matter which fork in the road any life form takes, trust is the essence, which pulls it along that path.
This is a most challenging chapter to comment on because it reaches so deep into the āmeaning of lifeā, especially in a way that doesnāt match our typical sense of that issue. How much of this commentary make sense to anyone is the question.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/lubrCzcIumE
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting