Translation
Govern a big country as if boiling a small fish.
So that the way is present for all under heaven,
Its spirit is not magical.
Not only that its spirit is not magical,
Its magic does not hinder the people.
Not only that its magic does not hinder the people,
The wise person does not hinder the people.
Neither assists in hindering,
Therefore, each ascribes virtue to the other.
1) rule (govern; order; peace; > government; cure; control) big (great; fully) country like (as if, seem) boil small fresh (bright; delicious; aquatic foods). 治大国若烹小鲜。(zhì dà guó ruò pēng xiăo xiān.)
2) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) road (way, principle; speak; think) arrive (be present) land under heaven, 以道莅天下，(yĭ dào lì tiān xià,)
3) his (its; their; they; that) ghost (spirit; dirty trick; terrible> clever; smart) no (not) god (supernatural; magical; smart). 其鬼不神。(qí guĭ bù shén.)
4) wrong (not conform to <infrml> must) his (its; their; they; that) ghost (spirit; dirty trick; terrible> clever; smart) no (not) god (supernatural; magical; smart), 非其鬼不神，(fēi qí guĭ bù shén,)
5) his (its; their; they; that) god (supernatural; magical; smart) no (not) wound (develop an aversion to sth.; distress; hinder) human (man; people). 其神不伤人。(qí shén bù shāng rén.)
6) wrong (not conform to <infrml> must) his (its; their; they; that) god (spirit; mind; smart) no (not) wound (develop an aversion to sth.; distress; hinder) human (man; people), 非其神不伤人，(fēi qí shén bù shāng rén,)
7) sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people) also (too) no (not) wound (develop an aversion to sth.; distress; hinder) human (man; people). 圣人亦不伤人。(shèng rén yì bù shāng rén.)
8) husband (man) two (both; either) no (not) appearance (<frml> assist_mutually) wound (develop an aversion to sth.; distress; hinder), 夫两不相伤，(fū liăng bù xiāng shāng,)
9) reason (cause; on purpose; hence) virtue (moral character; heart) hand over (give up; meet; join) go back to (return; give back to; come together) here (herein; (usu. negative questioning) how; why). 故德交归焉。(gù dé jiāo guī yān.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/v7a49MJitzQ 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 seriously tempted to change the character 神 from magical to supernatural. The question is, would this be less prone to misinterpretation? Today, supernatural feels like it may convey the reality better.
Reflections
Govern a big country as if boiling a small fish.
So that the way is present for all under heaven,
When boiling a small fish impatiently, the roiling water easily disintegrates the fish. Governing a big country impatiently is likewise destructive. The tug of war between the conservative and liberal factions of society tends to slow down the government actions of society. This helps to Govern a big country as if boiling a small fish, and in the process, upsets each faction impatiently wanting the pendulum to swing their way.
Naturally, this advice can also apply to how I govern my life. I tend to be much more patient and watchful when dealing with the major ‘big fish’ events in life, and much less so during the daily mundane small fish events. Why? I feel in a hurry to get results when I take the eternal moment for granted. I’ve accepted the benefit of being present—watchful in the moment—for 60+ years. However, youthful biology has often made implementing this in practice challenging. Only as I become elderly am I more easily able to live true to this ideal. Why?
If nothing else, life is a life-long learning process. Over time, life experience gradually generates intuitive knowing which confirms (or disproves) the general conceptual knowledge I’ve picked up earlier in life. Only then can I really practice what I preach. (See We only understand what we already know.) A large part of this lies in how circumstances force me to be much more watchful now so I don’t hurt myself! Importantly as well, I have no choice but to seriously face the question, “If not now, when?” The lesson here: A genuine sense of necessity is the emotional fuel required to transform ideality into reality.
So yes, as I age, I am able to make it so that the way is present for all under heaven… at least for most all under my heaven. Aging is a difficult journey toward the end, yet well worth the ride because one has the final opportunity to live out one’s remaining days with utmost authenticity. As chapter 25 concludes, And the way follows that which is natural and free from affectation.
Its spirit is not magical.
Not only that its spirit is not magical,
Its magic does not hinder the people.
I had to refer to the Chinese character for the word magical. Magical didn’t seem to make complete sense. The character 神 translates as god (supernatural; magical; smart). While god may be the closest in meaning, I’m certain I avoided using god because it would lead to many misleading interpretations. I suppose now the same may be true for magical. Today I feel supernatural may be the least prone to misinterpretation, and yet?
The other character here, 鬼, is also somewhat easy to misinterpret. It translates as ghost (spirit; dirty trick; terrible). Ghost fits, but would be misinterpreted more easily. ‘Spirit of the way’ rather than ‘ghost of the way’ conveys the intended meaning better.
Accordingly, its spirit is not supernatural. Supernatural means beyond or outside of nature. Nature is foundational, which makes the way anything but supernatural. This is important to declare because of what I’ve found to be a pronounced tendency to regard “The Tao” as a kind of supernatural or god kind of ‘thing’.
Simply put, the way is not an object to worship or to be pigeonholed and revered. After all, as chapter one begins, The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way. Of course, we can’t help our fear induced urge to name reality, to pin it down so we can understand it and manage it. This all begins with the urge to name ourselves. The illusion of self begins with a name to cleave onto. As Buddha put it in his second truth, The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things.
Not only that its magic does not hinder the people,
The wise person does not hinder the people.
Being in accord with the way means that a person allows reality to flow… allows evolution to play out the way. Of course, this goes against the survival instincts that impel us to manipulate circumstances to match our ideals of how life should be. Undoubtedly, every animal experiences this urge to a degree. However, our massive imagination allows us to greatly overdo this impulse to control. We are larger than life in our imagination. Indeed, imagination has over taken our sense of reality, skewing it to picture what we want in lieu of what we have here and now. We live in an imagined landscape of past, present and future.
Certainly, this has enabled us to become the apex predator that we are. Imagination along with our versatile thumbs and fingers has been an incredible survival advantage. Not surprisingly, humanity must pay a price for this. I call it natural justice, i.e., every advantage comes with some type of equal and opposite disadvantage. Unsurprisingly as well, we are much more proud of our advantage and rather oblivious to, and un-accepting of, the cost we must pay. We want to have it both ways… “We want to have our cake and eat it too”. Is this a human fault? Not at all… it is a simple natural instinct to get all an animal can get with paying as little for it as possible. After all, in the wild this would be a survival advantage.
Neither assists in hindering,
Therefore, each ascribes virtue to the other.
This reminds me of chapter 77’s conclusion…
The holy person uses this to serve, yet does not rely on,
Meritorious deeds result, yet not dwelled within.
Such absence of desire appears able and virtuous – how odd!
It all boils down to how deeply the “illusion of self” is ingrained in a person. Claiming merit for our works in life becomes just another thing on which to cleave. And why do we cleave to things? Insecurity! Fear of loss, failure, and death (entropy) drives us to find things to hang onto. Cleaving onto virtue in particular is the result of the fear of being socially insignificant. In addition, when we feel little personal merit, we identify with those who we deem to have greater merit. Through empathy with them, some of the merit we ascribe to them rubs off on us. We can bathe in the glow of the spotlight we shine on our heroes.
Note, does any of this sound like criticism? If it does, this may be a ‘shoot the messenger’ matter. I am simply attempting to point out the biological forces I see at work in how we behave.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/pAIytdz4o8s
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Reflections:
The first two lines are straightforward enough. The problems with boiling small fish come with not giving the task enough care, so it disintegrates. We seem instinctively to ‘budget’ our care and attention to focus on big important issues and ignore the mundane ‘small fish’ of life. The misstep here is simply not realizing that those big issues we care so much about have their foundation in the small. Feeling the way is present for all under heaven, is the result of caring for the mundane. This is life built on an all under heaven foundation of the mundane. This echoes chapter one’s the constant: The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way. The constant is the character, cháng (常): ordinary; common; normal; constant; invariable; frequently; often; usually… what could be more mundane? Also, something Jesus said parallels this, “for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great”.
I know lines 3 to 6 read a little strange. Reading it over a few times helps; you really need to use the comma at the end of line 4 to feel how the case builds. The word magical also helps confuse. However, this is better than the likely misunderstanding that can result from rewording. It will help to consider the various meaning of the character here, and its use as either a noun or an adjective.
shén (神) Noun: god; deity; spirit; mind; expression; Adjective: clever; supernatural; magical; miraculous
The last lines of this chapter put me in mind of other chapters (excerpts below) that speak to the knack of stopping in time, which is the key to moderation. Of course, knowing where the balance point of moderation involves the same careful moment-to-moment that boiling a small fish requires.
Those most adept have results, yet stop, not daring not to seek better.
Man handles the realization to stop.
Knowing to stop [he] can be without danger.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
There was a suggestion to change line #4 to read, Not only is its spirit not magical, Its magic does not hinder the people. This flows off the tongue better, and uses one less word to boot! It is a win win. Punctuation switch also seems in order: Govern a big country as if boiling a small fish,
So that the way is present for all under heaven.
Commentary:
This presents an odd picture; how many who govern countries also boil small fish? Perhaps if they did, and appreciated the parallel they would serve better… but that is just silly fantasy speaking.
One needs to take great care when boiling a small fish otherwise it easily dis-integrates. The promise of the way is a feeling of integration with the whole (self, family, nation, world, universe, eternity…). This is how even the greatest control never cuts or as Lau puts it, Therefore the greatest cutting does not sever. Govern as if boiling a small fish means action that maintains (or at least is coming from one’s sense of) integration (even though, in another persons eyes that may look and feel like dis-integration).
The difference in whether governance is integrating or dis-integrating is extremely subtle and so the idea of magic suits. That said, magic also conveys something much deeper than what we interpret as magic generally (tricks, magicians, Houdini). Consider the range of meanings for the character 神 (shén): god; divinity; supernatural; magical; spirit; mind; expression; look; clever.
When I reconsider this, I’m tempted to change magic to clever, although that is so far down the meaning ladder from the usual usage… or maybe not. It also means God, but what does God mean?
Everyone argues about that, which means God’s meaning is in the eye of the beholder and nowhere else. Of course, true believers will see it otherwise… meaning absolute and external to their point of view. The same applies to true non-believers of course. Oh my, the odd tricks our minds play on us.
Well, I’ve done enough damage for one day. The last point I’ll make: Try rereading chapter 60 replacing the word magic for the other meanings of 神 God; divinity; supernatural; magical; spirit; mind; expression; look; clever. Which word do you vote for?
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
This chapter reminds me of how easy it is to go to extremes. Balance is so hard to maintain, and perfect balance is impossible to realize(1). Fortunately I eventually came to realize this is natural, i.e., balance is balanced by imbalance. Ah yes, straightforward words seem paradoxical. For me, life is a process of getting closer and closer to the happy medium between too much, and too little. In other words, circumstances bring me to maturity. Cooking an egg, like boiling a small fish, takes less action (heat) than beginners imagine, and so the inexperienced overcook it. Likewise, in life we tend to over do, over protect, over plan, over think, over desire… . In the natural wild, heaven and earth’s ruthless edge would push back on us, slow us down, resulting in a happy medium of sorts. Freeing ourselves from nature’s restraints, as we have, makes maintaining reasonable balance all the more challenging. Ironically, the more we are able to satiate our every desire, the less we are able to know contentment.
Boiling a small fish reminds me of the saying, “too little, too late”. If we were not so preoccupied with doing what requires less doing, we would be aware of what truly needs “more, sooner”. Eagerly jumping into actions is symptomatic of deep seated personal fears and needs, projected outward in those action. When life is action-packed-full there is no space to see. Hold firmly to stillness to watch our needs and fears, rather than jumping in, gives us space to see when action would be most timely (2). Ironically, such delayed gratification results in constant ‘gratification’. (i.e., short term pain; long term pleasure).
As I see it, words such as spirits and God symbolize for us what exists beyond what we think we know. We are much better at defining existence than the ancients were. Having less factual knowledge at their disposal, they relied on ‘fuzzier’ rationales to support their myths. For example, someone getting sick might be seen as the body being hindered by bad spirits. Now, we get out the microscope and see E. Coli by the millions… Ah ha! But really, isn’t this simply an undated version of the “what we think we know”.
The crux of the matter is not that different. The ancients thought they knew; we think we know; future generations (10,000 year from now perhaps) will look back on our quaint understanding at their future time when they think they truly know. Nothing will have changed. Only when we face the void, will we be truly be capable of not knowing anything. The older a person gets, the more that becomes possible, i.e., death is moving closer. Still, I wouldn’t hold my breath!
So, why do we need to think we know? I’d say fear drives us to see the indistinct and shadowy… distinctly! Names and words help us nail that mystery upon mystery down. This utility of names and words makes language inevitable… and natural I might add. Nevertheless these deceive us. Still, when conditions are fairly balance, neither assists in hindering, therefore, each ascribes virtue to the other.
(1) Perfect balance is impossible to realize only in the sense that impossible expectations are impossible to realize. I see nature as being in a dynamic state of perfect balance. My desire to hold onto any moment creates an impossible expectation. I am my own worst enemy.
(2) Watching our needs and fears, rather than jumping in may be a good example of chapter 70’s My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or put them into practice, especially the “put them into practice” part! Still, it helps to know the way.