The heavy is the root of the light.
The still is the ruler of the restless.
Because of this, the noble man throughout the day never abandons seriousness.
Even if he flourishes, watches, enjoys and dwells detached.
How wasteful to be in charge, yet take life lightly.
Light follows the loss of the root.
Restless follows the loss of the ruler.
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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/ABx0ygn6EvA 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 attendees’ 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?
I am tempted to change The heavy is the cause of the light to The heavy is the root, (or even origin) of the light. Of course, this exposes a larger problem with words. Our personal life experience imparts its own slant on word meaning. Having a few synonyms for most of the Chinese characters helps neutralize some of the baggage we bring to some words. All we need to do is check them out in the line by line section.
Oops, so I see root is already used in the one-line chapter, but is still cause in the book. So, I’ll go with root everywhere. Root certainly feels more viscerally correct.
Reflections:
The heavy is the root of the light.
The still is the ruler of the restless.
Because of this, the noble man throughout the day never abandons seriousness.
Even if he flourishes, watches, enjoys and dwells detached.
The heavy is the root of the light reminds me of the heavy ballast placed at the bottom of sailing ships to keep them from toppling over. Similarly, a person needs a ‘ballast’ to keep him from toppling over, especially in these time. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors needed no ballast—nature’s wild side kept them balanced, just as it does for the rest of life on Earth. With the dawn of agriculture, humanity has steadily increased its need for ballast. (See The Tradeoff)
Buddha’s 4th Noble Truth offers a fundamental description of the ballast that works best, i.e., The Fourth Noble Truth is the Middle Path that leads to the cessation of suffering. There is salvation for him whose self disappears before truth, whose will is bent on what he ought to do, whose sole desire is the performance of his duty. He who is wise will enter this path and make an end to suffering. Eight steps on the Middle Path are: 1. Right Comprehension, 2. Right Resolution, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action, 5. Right Living, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Thought, 8. Right State of Peaceful Mind.
Notice how these Eight steps parallel basic religious morality. It seems that religion is a result of the human need for ballast. However, the real ballast lies in “ought to do” and “performance of duty“, in whatever ways duty turns out to be, e.g, diet, work, hobby, art . . . you name it.
Constantly maintaining some type of mental/emotional ballast is a less poetic way of saying, The noble man throughout the day never abandons seriousness. Seriousness may be another word that carries some negative baggage. I think of seriousness as deep sincerity. Being as sincere as possible is the ballast I need to keep me balanced. The times when I “forget” myself always leave me feeling uncomfortable afterwards. This “forgetting” often occurs when I’d get carried away in debate. Thankfully, age has done a lot to curb that folly.
Even if he flourishes, watches, enjoys and dwells detached is another way of saying I can be serious and sincere, and yet still enjoy life to the fullest. In fact, I can enjoy life all the more if I don’t “forget” myself.
How wasteful to be in charge, yet take life lightly.
Light follows the loss of the root.
Restless follows the loss of the ruler.
How wasteful to be in charge, yet take life lightly applies to each person personally. In the end, we are in charge of our life, despite any external demands and limits placed upon us. The buck stops with each of us when it comes to self integrity.
Naturally then, we hope that the people in charge of society’s affairs remain rooted and never abandon seriousness. Alas, they, like the rest of us, are only human. Our ideals seldom comport to reality. I suppose our tendency to hold so firmly to ideal stems from our inability to maintain ballast. We feel that, while we can’t, surely some sage can. I assume such “magical thinking” results from an inherent trust given to leaders of the group. In our distant ancestral times this would manifest itself in more egalitarian ways that it does now in the hierarchical social systems of civilization.
Light follows the loss of the root is this “forgetting” self I experience. Restless follows the loss of the ruler is being totally carried away in the uprooted chaos of the moment.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/kD2ymQPngis
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting