Translation
Were I mindful yet had knowledge,
Going in the great way, alone bestow this respect.
The great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths.
The government is very removed, the fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty.
Colorful clothes, culture, belted swords, satisfied of drink, food, wealth and goods to spare.
This is called in praise of robbery.
This does not conform to the way either!
1) send (tell to do; use; employ) I (we) be situated between (take seriously <frml> upright) right (correct; so; like that) have (exist) know (realize; tell; knowledge), 使我介然有知，(shĭ wŏ jiè rán yŏu zhī,)
2) go (travel, do, be current) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) big (great; fully) road (way, principle; speak; think), only (alone) carry out (hand out; impose) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) fear (respect). 行于大道，唯施是畏。(xíng yú dà dào, wéi shī shì wèi.)
3) big (great; fully) road (way, principle; speak; think) very (extremely; more than) smooth (safe; exterminate <old> foreigner), <conj.> and (yet, but) human (man; people) good (be easy_like; be fond of) path (track; way; means> straightaway) 大道甚夷，而人好径。(dà dào shén yí, ér rén hăo jìng.)
4) government (dynasty; facing; towards) very (extremely; more than) get rid of (except; besides <forma> steps to a house; doorsteps), field (farmland; cropland) very (extremely; more than) over grown with weeds (grassland; mixed and disordered), storehouse (warehouse) very (extremely; more than) void (emptiness). 朝甚除，田甚芜，仓甚虚。(cháo shén chú, tián shén wú, cāng shén xū.)
5) clothes (dress; serve; obey; be accustomed to) language (culture; civil) color (colored silk), belt (zone; take; bring; carry) sharp weapon (good tool) sword (saber), be disgusted with (be tired of; be satisfied) drink (a decoction of Chinese medicine) bring food to (feed), wealth (money) goods (commodity; money; idiot) have (exist) surplus (more than; over). 服文彩，带利剑，厌饮食，财货有余。(fú wén căi, dài lì jiàn, yàn yĭn shí, cái huò yŏu yú.)
6) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) steel (rob; thief) exaggerate (overstate; boast; praise). 是谓盗夸。(shì wèi dào kuā.)
7) wrong (not conform to) road (way, principle; speak; think) also (either) zāi (exclamatory or interrog. part.). 非道也哉。(fēi dào yĕ zāi.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/XXEd2SfByow 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?
None this time
Reflections
Were I mindful yet had knowledge,
I see all living creatures as being mindful, yet only humans have knowledge. First, I need to emphasis the have aspect of this. Knowledge is to have knowing, i.e., 有知 = have + know; realize; be aware of. Next, I chose the word mindful to represent the literal: 使我介然 = use + I + take seriously + like that).
All sentient (aware, awake, mindful) creatures feel attraction and aversion (a.k.a, need and fear). However, except for humans, they don’t have the cognitive capacity to have a tangible memory of such feelings… at least to the extent we do. They are spontaneous, in the moment, and after the moment passes, they move onto their next moment, by and large.
Our ability to have life experience stored in memory long term, bestows on us a powerful ability to manipulate our environment. The downside of this, is an ability to dwell on our past experiences and any judgments we make. We carry our past with us like so much baggage. We appear to be too intelligent for our own good, at least since the advent of civilization and the need to “govern the country”. As chapter 65 suggests.
Chapter 47 nicely identifies one difference between know and knowledge born of intelligence.
Going in the great way, alone bestow this respect.
While we are loaded down with our knowledge, we are also capable of being mindful. The blending of these two facets enables us at our most tranquil moments to alone bestow this respect… a respect for the way. As chapter 34 says, The great way flows, such as it may left and right. All things on earth depend on it for existence, yet it never declines. Humanity obviously has a deep-seated respect for the great way going back to humanity’s earliest days of language and memory (cognition). These excerpts from chapter 21, 51, and 62 paint a picture of this respect…
The great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths.
If the great way is very smooth, why is it that life can be so uneven? It is only possible to feel that the great way is very smooth when you are wholly impartial, “rising nearly beyond yourself”. As chapter 16 concludes,
Rising nearly beyond yourself is not the norm in life. Life is work, striving diligently to survive. Emotions—need and fear—permeate our every waking moment, to one degree or another. How can one perceive the great way as being very smooth? As we are walking on the fires of life, the way feels anything but smooth. (See https://youtu.be/_o5OxgCIlKk)
This is where respect enters the picture. One can respect and value a reality even if one does not personally experience or participate in such. I suppose mirror neurons are at play here. Personally, I find it helps to imagine my death. Only after I’m dead will the great way ‘feel’ very smooth. I can vicariously appreciate that time coming to pass, as it has for countless generations… and now at my age, all the more so.
D.C. Lau translated paths as by-paths. I long agreed with that and judged others and myself for foolishly taking by-paths. Translating it correctly, 徑 = jìng = footpath; path; track; way; means, says nothing about “by”, and so avoids that bias. View more deeply, all living things are fond of paths! For example, animals gradually form and then follow paths to water holes and food sources. The paths any animal (including humans) follows is a result of their needs and fears… their process of living life as they intuitively know how.
The notion of people taking by-paths implicitly implies we have free will and are in control of our lives overall. This notion is contrary to all the evidence. We believe in free will because belief “proves” we have the control over life we desperately yearn for. I suppose this is a type of self-fulfilling prophesy that only fulfills the initial illusion. Belief doesn’t make it real, it just makes it feel real. This is what makes religious myth so compelling… yet, unlike free will, there is no evidence to the contrary. (See Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking?)
The government is very removed, the fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty.
Colorful clothes, culture, belted swords, satisfied of drink, food, wealth and goods to spare.
This is called in praise of robbery.
This harsh judgment is another example implicitly suggesting that people have free will and are in control of life overall. Truth be told, this situation would never exist in hunter-gatherer times. This is a result of the unintended consequences of civilization. (See The Tradeoff).
Perceiving nature—the way—in its ruthless reality is extremely humbling. The illusion of self (ego?) can’t tolerate this view and so seeks scapegoats (causes) to blame for the injustices it perceives. Examined closely, I notice the judgments we make, the faults we see, are simply a projection of our personal agenda, which in turn, arises from our innate needs and fears. That is why we slaughter one form of life without blinking an eye, yet decry the slaughter of those forms of life we value. Robbery for one person is just hunting and gathering for another. “It all depends on whose ox is being gored” as they say. Such hypocritical self-serving points of view are “not of the way” as chapter 18 suggests When intelligence increases, there exists great falseness. Such hypocrisy is the certain price we pay for believing that humans have the capability of free choice.
The only way to avoid paying the heavy price of hypocrisy is through taking the lower position chapter 61 refers to, Of all under heaven, The female normally uses stillness to overcome the male. Using stillness she supports the lower position. From this humblest vantage point, it becomes possible to accept and own the failing we perceive instead of seeking scapegoats. I suppose this parallels the notion of “Christ dying for our sins”. However, here it comes down to each one of us taking on the humiliation, and not just placing it all on the back of an individual Christ. As chapter 78 observes…
Chapter 28 hints at how taking the lower position is the path to ultimate simplicity. Of course, the exceedingly hierarchical social nature of civilization makes this path quite emotionally challenging to embody. However, just knowing this is the way only then sufficient certainly motivates me to at least remember this verity…
Ultimately, this chapter speaks to us personally—our inner world. The government is very removed would correspond to the body, or perhaps more specifically to the mind—thoughts and emotions. Our attention is easily distracted by our passion for colorful clothes, culture, belted swords, drink, food, wealth and goods, at times when we might more wisely pay sincere attention to important matters, like our body’s well being… the fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty. As individuals, we take so much for granted just like the government. We commonly regard the body as precious only after illness strikes.
The failing of society’s governments are simply an extension of the failings we encompass in our personal lives. Yet, ironically, we expect the government to be better. That is truly passing the buck.
This does not conform to the way either!
Today I saw this very differently than previously and perhaps more honestly as well. Up to now, I took this to say that robbery and the like were not of the way. That moral judgment never sat well with me, but I just attributed it to ‘human error’. Today I saw this as perhaps saying that this critical judgment, born of knowledge, was the deeper issue that didn’t conform to the way either. The word either (too, also) is telling.
In other words, if the intention of a ‘Lao Tzu’ was to clearly state that robbery, does not conform to the way, I don’t see the reason for ending the last line with 也 (also; too; as well; either). If anything, the literal Tao Te Ching is ultra succinct, wasting no words. To me this is the true beauty of the Tao Te Ching. Great pithiness leaves much open for interpretation and/or misinterpretation, i.e., our interpretation can only reflect our own degree of self-honesty and self-understanding, both of which continue to deepen over our lifetime.
The value in great pithiness lies in the fact that we can only understand what we already intuitively know (see We only understand what we already know). The brevity of the Tao Te Ching permits a readers’ interpretation to match his/her intuitive sense of life… unlike these commentaries that I ‘must’ write. 🙂
Anyway, I now am confident that either way of interpreting it is fine, because the reality we perceive is simply a reflection of ourselves. Indeed, to paraphrase chapter 1’s opening lines the way possible to think, or the name possible to express runs counter to the constant [reality]. This is why chapter 71 warns us, Realizing I don’t know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Of course, this viewpoint is not how I began this journey 60+ years ago, but rather where I’m ending up.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/gv4-J83StTk
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
There are none that I can see; isn’t that sweet! Although, I feel I am becoming a lot more forgiving as this “work in progress” progresses. So much comes down to “six of one; half a dozen of another” as they say. Add to this, the fantasyland that is language, we only understand what we know, plus the fact that I’m dealing with the Tao Te Ching. I’m surprised I’ve hung in there as long as I have. I suppose I just like to hear myself think. 😉
Commentary:
Were I mindful yet had knowledge… This suggests to me the innate animal watchful—mindful—state that exists distinct from knowledge. Knowledge easily lulls us into a sense of false security, where we feel less need to be attentive in the moment.
Going in the great way, alone bestow this respect… Contemporaneously facing what ‘is’ intuitively, in contrast to what I think ‘is’ (i.e., the filters of memory and knowledge), I find that bestowing a sense of awe and respect comes naturally.
The great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths… The view that any path, not just Lau’s by-paths, helps deepen the point. What makes the great way rough lies in how we approach life. Our fondness for a particular defined way makes any other way feel less smooth, by definition. Traveling ‘outside the box’ can feel scary. The irony is that life is so chock full of other ways, we usually end up in a dead end when getting to fixated on one way—one path. I reckon this fondness for paths applies to other animals somewhat as well. Paths are efficient ways to deal with life in many respects. That characteristic makes hunting easier; just lie in wait along the path. However, being thinking animals, paths (ways) are even more problematic for us I would imagine, i.e., The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way. Human thought fixates us in ways “possible to think”, with undesirable long-term consequences.
The government is very removed, the fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty… The general disdain many have for government (esp. bureaucracy) stems from the fact that Government is very removed. Of course, anything else would be impossible, although many have pushed various versions of utopian government. Naturally these all fail given that The greatest heights exist below what we realize. Government is a makeshift artificial arrangement to facilitate massive populations living together as civilly as possible. In a very surreal sense, it is an illusion maintained by us, the followers of ‘the government‘.
Colorful clothes and culture, belted sharp swords, satisfied with drink and food, wealth and goods to spare…The perks of civilization all exact a payment from the natural wild. Like any animal, we strive to get all we can with as little payment-in-kind as possible. While balanced in the wild; human cleverness tilts the balance extremely in our favor.
This is called in praise of robbery… We can’t help but ‘rob’ Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes. To do so without bestowing respect is to praise robbery. We, like all animals, instinctively seek to gain the upper-hand advantage. A major difficulty for us is that we, unlike other animals, can actually do so.
This does not conform to the way either!…Okay, then what does? This makes the most sense if I think of it in the context of subjective awareness. When I’m rushing around, impatient and gobbling up life, I don’t feel the way immanent. This is a statement more about my state of mind than about the reality of my actions conforming to the way. That is why four of Buddha’s eight ‘steps’ deal with the mind. In the large view, nothing is outside ‘the way’, including Nothing. 😉
Suggested Revision:
Were I mindful yet had knowledge,
Going in the great way, alone bestow this respect.
The great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths.
The government is very removed, the fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty.
Colorful clothes and culture, belted sharp swords, satisfied with drink
and food, wealth and goods to spare.
This is called in praise of robbery.
This does not conform to the way either!
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
‘This does not conform to the way either’, or as D.C Lau puts it, ‘Far indeed is this from the way‘ raises a question. In chapter one we read the ‘Taoist disclaimer’, ‘the way that can be spoken of is not the constant way‘. Saying what the way does not conform to something is just describing the way from the other side of the coin, so to speak. ‘The fields very overgrown, the storehouses very empty‘ helps reconcile this seeming contradiction when I bring it down to my personal experience… my ultimate test of ‘reality’.
I don’t worry about your fields being overgrown because I won’t accept responsibility over that. I do worry about whether my garden fields being overgrown because I’ve taken gardening ‘fields‘ as a personal life way. A by-path for me would be to neglect it. Balance between caring for the garden and enjoying the sensual pleasures of life, drink and food, wealth and goods, etc., is the key. The by-path is having too many desires and pleasures that bring me out of balance. In other words, it is where a path takes you that determines how much of a by-path it will be, not the desire or pleasure per se.
I feel the way is more about follow-through in doing what I know (in my heart of hearts) to be my life’s path – my duty, my Dharma. This constancy is why the name that can be named is not the constant name. The way is not a ‘what’ that can be named, it is an approach we innately know is ‘right’ for us personally, but which we are often distracted, for a host of reasons, from giving follow-through ( …known as following the constant.) Without that follow-through, life feels a bit ‘yucky’; with balanced follow-through, life feels just about right. It is possible to know contentment.
At the top of this chapter, D.C. Lau translates, ‘I would, when walking on the great way, fear only paths that lead astray. The great way is easy, yet people prefer by-paths‘. Comparing this the more literal translation reveals something interesting: Going in the great way, alone bestow this respect. The great way is very smooth, yet people are fond of paths. People are fond of paths, not ‘by-paths’! (Although, I’ve always liked using the term ‘by-path’.) I’m reminded of how animals prefer following paths. That behavior is what gives predators a great advantage. I imagine animals, including us, are fond of paths because they can relax and not be as keening aware (and thus responsible) of where they are going. It is not really by-paths that are problematic, it is ALL PATHS, at least all that can be ‘spoken of’ or ‘named’ that allow us to go-on-automatic. The Great Way, then, is more like an intuitive responding to each moment to moment with, as Buddha put it, Right Attentiveness, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Effort. That’s work; no wonder we all fond of paths.
It is also helpful to see all this from a symptoms point of view.
The hunter-gather instinct drives us to jump ahead, seeking benefit – to hunt and gather. The safe and advantageous circumstances of a civilized life allow us to do this without restraint (i.e., follow-through on that drive). In the wild, natural circumstances keep instinct in check and help maintain balance. With less ‘natural-push-back’ we can ‘gather benefit’ relentlessly as we pile on more colorful clothes, culture, belted swords, drink and food, wealth and goods. (Note: if helps to think of belted swords as a metaphor for adult toys: ‘hot’ autos, ‘cool’ electronics, and most everything related to recreation or comfort. Belted being the key word… i.e., frivolous. Now, I’m not saying these toys are bad, I am saying we have difficulty knowing when to stop)
Confident in our knowledge, we overlook our priorities and rationalize our push for ‘gathering’ more. Over-the-top examples of this seen in the rich people are simply a path that plagues us all. However, people often fail to see this universality, and instead focus on ‘them’… the government and wealthy people. Here, the ‘fairness’ instinct (see Unfair Trade) drives us to judge and criticize the government and rich people and corporation for what feels to us like robbery. It is easy to get trapped in the gut instincts that drive our lives. A major step to being possessed of the least knowledge may be just recognizing and accepting this simple fact of life (i.e., what we think that we know is largely driven by what we feel).
Possessing things (even possessed of the least knowledge) is the same as being possessed by those possessions. We think (i.e., feel) we own them, when in fact they own us. In holding on to these, they provide the anchor for our imagined self. What we hold on to makes the illusion of “I’ feel real, as Buddha so nicely pointed out in his Second Noble Truth, “the illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things”. To let go of those ‘possessions’ is tantamount to committing suicide, in that we would be letting go of “I”.