Translation
Infrequent speech is natural.
Fluttering breezes change direction, sudden showers can’t last the day.
What does this? Heaven and earth.
Even heaven and earth unable to long continue,
And so what about people?
Hence, following the way is the same as the way.
Following virtue is the same as virtue,
Following loss is the same as loss.
Together in the way, the way happily satisfies;
Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies;
Together in loss, loss happily satisfies;
When trust is not sufficient herein, there exists no trust herein.
1) hope (rare; scarce; uncommon) speech (word; say; talk) at ease (natural; free from affectation). 希言自然。(xī yán zì rán.)
2) hence flutter wind no (not) end (death; after all) facing (towards), sudden (abrupt) rain no (not) end (death; after all) sun (day; time). 故飘风不终朝，骤雨不终日。(gù piāo fēng bù zhōng cháo, zhòu yŭ bù zhōng rì.)
3) who (which; what) do (act; act as; serve as; become; be; mean) this (者)? heaven and earth (world; universe; field of activity). 孰为此者？天地。(shú wèi cĭ zhĕ? tiān dì.)
4) heaven and earth (world; universe; field of activity) still (yet; set great store by) no (not) can (be able to) for a long time (long), 天地尚不能久，(tiān dì shàng bù néng jiŭ,)
5) <conj.> and (yet, but) condition (situation; compare;> moreover; besides) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) human (man; people) 乎 (<part> expresses doubt or wonder)? 而况于人乎？(ér kuàng yú rén hū?)
6) hence be engaged in (deal with) in (at, to, from, than) road (way, principle; speak; think) (者), same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) road (way, principle; speak; think). 故从事于道者，同于道。(gù cóng shì yú dào zhĕ, tóng yú dào.)
7) virtue (moral character; heart) (者) same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) virtue (moral character; heart). 德者同于德。(dé zhĕ tóng yú dé.)
8) lose (miss; fail; mistake) (者) same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) lose (miss; fail; mistake). 失者同于失。(shī zhĕ tóng yú shī.)
9) same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) road (way, principle; speak; think) (者) road (way, principle; speak; think) also happy (cheerful; enjoy) get (result in; satisfied_need; must) of; 同于道者道亦乐得之；(tóng yú dào zhĕ dào yì lè dé zhī;)
10) same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) virtue (moral character; heart) (者) virtue (moral character; heart) also happy (cheerful; enjoy) get (result in; satisfied_need; must) of; 同于德者德亦乐得之；(tóng yú dé zhĕ dé yì lè dé zhī;)
11) same (similar; together) in (at, to, from, than) lose (miss; fail; mistake) (者) lose (miss; fail; mistake) in (at, to, from, than) happy (cheerful; enjoy) get (result in; satisfied_need; must) of. 同于失者失于乐得之。(tóng yú shī zhĕ shī yú lè dé zhī.)
12) true (trust; believe) no (not) foot (sufficient; as much as) here (herein; how; why) have (there is; exist) no (not) true (trust; believe) here (herein; how; why). 信不足焉有不信焉。(xìn bù zú yān yŏu bù xìn yān.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
Infrequent speech is natural.
Isn’t that one reason we say, “Silence is golden”. When I observe nature, I see it in constant flux, constant flow. Nature holds onto nothing, except perhaps for squirrels who store nuts for the winter. When nature holds on, it appears to be for practical reasons. Speech is a little different. It begins as words, symbolic representations of nature’s reality we soak up from infancy. Next, we weave these words into stories that invariably arise from some personal agenda — whether fear or need, shallow or deep. Yes, exactly what I am doing here. After that come the listeners of speech who interpret what they hear in the context of their own personal story and voilà! Misunderstanding is born. Speech and the cognitive story land it inhabits is more virtual reality than natural reality. That is not to say, virtual reality is not natural in the ‘big picture’ sense of the word nature. Even so, speech tends to make mountains out of molehills.
Fluttering breezes change direction; sudden showers can’t last the day.
What does this? Heaven and earth.
Even Heaven and earth are unable to long continue,
And so what about people?
Change is very unnerving, especially in circumstances of civilization. Civilization requires a certain degree of stability and constancy at the material level. The constancy that chapter 1 refers to — The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way — just can’t cut it. We do all we can to ‘nail things down’, e.g., traditions, art, music, laws, morality, religion, economics, science… knowledge. The increased disconnection from nature these circumstances create helps to conceal much of nature’s ebb and flow from us. We can never adapt to the flow, and so we experience any change as disproportionately greater than it is. Such making of mountains out of changing molehills is another side effect of civilization.
Hence, following the way is the same as the way.
Following virtue is the same as virtue;
Following loss is the same as loss.
‘Following’ gives dynamic meaning to the more static nature of these words — or any words for that matter. We dream up stories with future scenarios, goals, ideals, etc., and press on through life chasing after them. We begin ‘here’ and hurry to get ‘there’. Experiencing the following as actually the end goal helps to connect ‘here’ and ‘there’. When you feel the following as the end, the difference between any beginning and any end dissolves. Profound sameness is all that remains.
Together in the way, the way happily satisfies;
Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies;
Together in loss, loss happily satisfies;
When trust is not sufficient herein, there exists no trust herein.
‘Together’ in what ever side of life we experience offers a sense of connection. The word happily can be a little misleading if we try to peg down the meaning of what happy actually is. We happily follow as long as it gives life meaning. Life meaning and the validation of the sense of self is the psychic glue that binds, whether it be pleasure or pain, gain or loss. Together in __(fill in the blank)____ is what actually drives us to do what we do, not free will. The sense of connection, by whichever way we come to feel it, holds us there until it ceases to connect. Then we move on to the next promise, unless perhaps, all we are doing is following.
What makes moving on to the next promise different from following? When following is an end in itself, you are following the process rather than a particular object or end result. Then, the ‘how’ takes precedent over the ‘what’ — quality over quantity. Naturally, all this is easier said than done. Chasing after this or that is instinctive. This biological hunt and gather drive is a boom in the wild; only in civilized circumstances does it become ‘too much of a good thing’.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
This chapter only needed a little punctuation improvement today. Really though, isn’t punctuation the least problematic issue in the Tao Te Ching? Sometimes it may helps I suppose. I also added the verb “are” in line 4 to help it read better.
I realize the words I choose may not convey the message all that well, but then I can’t find a better way. There is always the temptation to ‘explain’, but that usually makes it even worse. It is a conundrum and I suppose I enjoy the challenge. Beside, it truly is in the mind’s eye of the beholder when all is said and done (i.e., We only understand what we know)
Commentary:
I interpret long continue (Line 4) in the sense that change is inevitable, change is the rule, change is the constant. As all encompassing as heaven and earth are, even heaven and earth conform to this constant. Anyone who thinks they can circumvent this is dreaming. Chapter 24 alludes to this: What we look forward to, does not exist; What we chase after, will not prevail. It is easy in life to fall into the illusion that permanency is possible, that the status quo can be maintained—what we chase after, our desires, and our worries insist it be so!
We fear change, for change holds the potential for loss (‘danger’) as well as gain (comfort and security). A loss of benefit is more emotionally stressful than any possible gain of benefit, i.e., we may not have much but at least we have what we have. Thus, we tend to hold fervently on to our particular status quo.
Coming to terms with the impossibility to “long continue” is simply coming to terms with loss, however loss manifests itself (e.g., loss of limb, fortune, name, face). The secret reward of accepting the inevitable is that loss ALWAYS results in gain (i.e., ‘Nature abhors a vacuum’). The one caveat: this unseen opportunity won’t ours to seize until we truly begin to surrender to the loss. As the Bhagavad Gita say:
“For concentration is better than mere practice, and meditation is better than concentration; but higher than meditation is surrender in love of the fruit of one’s actions, for on surrender follows peace.”
The rest of this chapter speaks to the inherent unity of experience, despite how involved and nit picky our thoughts can get sometimes. This parallels my rule of thumb that goes like this: differences are illusionary; similarities point to truth and reality.
More specifically, Following the way is the same as the way points to the common denominator or background ‘profound sameness‘ of my life over the decades. No matter whether I feel up or down, success or failure, gain or loss, that background thread has always been there. Clearly, there is no ‘sensible’ way to put this into words, or describe it because it is there in the background of every possible left or right; up or down; good or bad. This is the ‘way‘, which we all return in times of silence, meditation, emptiness, sleep (especially). It is that which we all yearn for and yet when coming face to face with ‘it’ feel unsettled.
That’s why although the great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths. Sure, I’m constantly suckered into following one path or another. Fortunately, this becomes less as I become more keenly aware that the bio-hoodwink is pulling my leg. This affords me all the opportunity that I truly want to follow the way, or as I awkwardly put it, following the way is the same as the way.
Suggested Revision:
Infrequent speech is natural.
Fluttering breezes change direction; sudden showers can’t last the day.
What does this? Heaven and earth.
Even Heaven and earth are unable to long continue,
And so what about people?
Hence, following the way is the same as the way.
Following virtue is the same as virtue;
Following loss is the same as loss.
Together in the way, the way happily satisfies;
Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies;
Together in loss, loss happily satisfies;
When trust is not sufficient herein, there exists no trust herein.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
Infrequent speech is natural. Okay, so what pray tell is not natural? Frequent speech? We commonly think of natural as pertaining to nature. If nature is natural and our species are part of nature, how can we say some human activity isn’t natural? The natural inconsistency in saying some human activity isn’t natural resolves itself a little if we consider the concept of natural, especially via the Chinese translation.
Natural is translated as zìrán (自然): natural world; nature; naturally; in the ordinary course of events; of course; naturally. This word is made from two characters, zì (自): self; oneself; one’s own; certainly; of course; from; since, and rán (然): right; correct; so; like that. Combining these we get the following: self right; one’s own so; certainly so; self so; certainly right, and so on.
To me this all adds up to say natural is how things are, just so, unqualified and without judgment. One primary purpose of language ( words and names) is to qualify and judge things. So, in this sense, ‘Infrequent speech is natural’ is consistent with the larger meaning of natural. Moreover, words are not the thing, but rather symbolic shorthand for the thing. As a result, words break the connection between what is ‘out there’ and what is perceived ‘in here’. Ironically, words and names are not what they pretend to be. (Of course, this is impossible to notice if you believe words and names real, e.g., “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. )
‘Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies‘ (or, he who conforms to virtue is gladly accepted by virtue) parallels my sense that what we see is what we want to see. Our experience of life is a reflection of what we want (or don’t want) from life. One ‘matches’ the other. I suppose it is an identity thing, as some would say. The down side: What we identify with happily satisfies us and eventually ‘takes over’. Identity with what can be named allows us to cling to it. And as Buddha said, The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving (cling, adhere or stick fast) to things. Another way to put this: Our hates originate and manifest themselves in our loves.
This makes the idea of being ‘together in the way‘ liberating. After all, the way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. Taking this to heart (trusting it completely) pulls me to notice ‘the thread running through the way’. Each moment of experience shares an essence with past and future moments. Trusting this, I can become the same as the way. However, this trust is either here or it’s not. When it isn’t, all I can do is shut up and listen for it again.