Translation
Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
Man alone faults this disease; this so as not to be ill.
The sacred person is not ill, taking his disease as disease.
Man alone has this disease; this is because to him there is no disease.
1) know (realize; tell) no (not) know (realize; tell) upper (up; higher; superior; better), no (not) know (realize; tell) know (realize; tell) disease (fault; defect). 知不知上，不知知病。(zhī bù zhī shàng, bù zhī zhī bìng.)
2) husband (man) only (alone) disease (fault; defect) disease (fault; defect), <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) no (not) disease (fault; defect). 夫唯病病，是以不病。(fū wéi bìng bìng, shì yĭ bù bìng.)
3) sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people) no (not) disease (fault; defect), use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) his (its, he, it, that; such) disease (fault; defect) disease (fault; defect). 圣人不病，以其病病。(shèng rén bù bìng, yĭ qí bìng bìng.)
4) husband (man) only (alone) disease (fault; defect) disease (fault; defect), <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) no (not) disease (fault; defect). 夫唯病病，是以不病。(fū wéi bìng bìng, shì yĭ bù bìng.)
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/dO0NuSi0Jv0 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?
In reading this today, I felt using the similar word illness for disease was superfluous. Better to just keep it simple… disease says it all.
Reflections:
Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
This line has been a constant throughout my final decades of life. I’m relentlessly returning to this Taoist gem. I feel now that it is the most essential Taoist observation of all. When I honestly bite down on Realizing I don’t’ know is better, life become so much simpler! This applies to all thought, from my most mundane personal mind chatter to my most ‘big picture’ observations. The fact is, all thoughts are in one way or another, projections of fear and by extension, need. This is why actually Realizing I don’t’ know is better is likely the most difficult of life’s challenges—period! Our sense of self-identity and our story are utterly entangled. (See The Story Trumps Truth and Fear is the Bottom Line)
Thus, for me this first line is a perceptive jewel even rivaling the first two lines of chapter 1. It states what purports to be a fact, but is this fact the truth? Isn’t the Tao Te Ching just a reasonable facsimile of the truth? To paraphrase the first lines of chapter 1, “The truth possible to think and know, runs counter to the constant truth. The truth possible to express runs counter to the constant truth.” What a remarkable disclaimer those two lines are! Surely, this is why Realizing I don’t’ know is better.
Truth—like the way—is akin to balance. You can’t acquire and hold onto balance, you can only maintain balance in the moment to moment of life. Balance requires constant watchfulness (awareness, care). Buddha’s Second Truth applies here, i.e., “The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things“. The constant truth, as described above, is not some ‘thing‘ to which one can own. One can’t cleave to truth. Real truth—reality—is ‘alive’ and like balance, can only be experienced intuitively, i.e., beyond any ability to nail down and express.
Keeping truth alive is a labor that never ends, which probably makes it unappealing. It’s far easier to hold onto guises of truth in what are naturally deceptive forms of thought and belief. The most we can say is there is perhaps an element of truth, of reality, in every myth, thought, or belief.
In addition, cleaving onto guises of truth creates and maintains an illusion of self. In a sense, once this illusion originates, survival emotions surge to maintain the illusion by a continuous cleaving to those facsimiles. All this amounts to something of a vicious circle of self-fulfilling prophecy. Any attempt to disengage from this cycle can feel a bit like suicide… a death of the illusion of self.
Because every thought we have is a very incomplete facsimile of truth, it is wise to be constantly cautious in our thoughts. Again, as chapter 71 warns, “Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease”. Like maintaining balance, this “realizing” must be maintained moment to moment, as a constant of awareness. Otherwise, the self’s mind rushes back to its treasured holdings and cleavings.
This brings me to chapter 40…
Possessing knowledge is “having”. Having something maintains the illusion of self. The illusion of self is akin to NOT realizing I don’t know. Indeed, the illusion of self is a result of failing to realize I don’t know. Realizing I don’t know and the illusion of self are as incompatible as water and oil. To be sure then, In the opposite direction, of the way moves is a reality of life. Thus, having knowledge of anything is a bit of a trap. Indeed, because Having is born in nothing, it is in the nothing and the loss through death that immortality – truth – lies. Ah yes, as chapter 78 puts it, Straight and honest words seem inside out.
The Dinosaur Story
Dinosaur’s evolved increasingly larger body sizes. Presumably, that became a survival advantage, until the comet hit the earth 50 million years ago. When evolution leads to ‘too much of a good thing’, that advantage can become a huge disadvantage—a disease. Our extreme cognitive development has been a great survival advantage. So much so that we are the brain equivalent of the dinosaur’s run away body size, and so undoubtedly, Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
Man alone faults this disease; this so as not to be ill.
Man alone faults this disease and Man alone has this disease uses the character 夫 (fū) which translates as porter, husband, and man. I assume that several thousand years ago this character principally meant man, mankind, or humankind. In any case, this is the only way it makes sense. Clearly, humanity overall suffers from the disease of believing that thoughts represent an objective reality, when that is clearly—biologically—not the case. (See How the hoodwink hooks and see Peeking in on Nature’s Hoodwink)
Of course, back then our ancestors had no MRI’s to probe the mind, nor did they have the scientific resources to show the profound extent biology and evolution play on all living things. Nevertheless, they knew our cognitive prowess was a disease of sorts if we didn’t concurrently and continually realize how extremely inaccurate, subjective and limited that “strength” actually was. The interesting thing for me is how utterly pervasive the disease obviously is, yet how blind we can be to its reality until we are able to take it to heart. This is the blindness that arises from simply—and only—seeing what you feel like seeing. Fear and need powerfully influence perception… period. (See Fear & Need Born in Nothing)
The sacred person is not ill, taking his disease as disease.
Taking his disease as disease is what transforms a “normal” person into a sacred person. It takes the deepest humility to accept that one doesn’t know. More importantly, it takes the deepest level of resolution to maintain an active sense of knowing I don’t’ know is better. This ties in nicely with Buddha’s first two steps on the Noble Path—Right Comprehension and Right Resolution. When I think about it, these two are all that is necessary to regain and maintain balance. Once balance is at hand, the other six steps just play out naturally. And yes, of course, this is not any one and done deal. Indeed, the whole process, or deeper comprehension followed by deeper resolution plays out until we take our last breath. In this way, one’s wisdom deepens year by year until the end of life’s journey. (See Buddha’s Four Noble Truths)
Man alone has this disease; this is because to him there is no disease.
Rather than accept that humanity has evolved too much of a good thing vis-à-vis cognition, we tout our superiority as a species. We can’t accept we have this disease. I feel this is really quite natural. I assume we have a built-in avoidance to recognize anything that is impossible to change. Our need to make progress and control outcomes determines much of what we focus on, and also what we stick our heads in the sand over.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/TO4yeR2WIrY
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
There are no corrections per se, although it feels like there should be ;-). At the end of Reflections, I include the Word-for-Word again to broaden the meaning of my particular choice of words for the translation. This time, the odd thing is the repeated use of the word fū (夫).
Fū (夫) in the high tone translates as husband; man, porter, manual worker, scholar, old fogey; conscripted laborer (old). In the rising tone, fú it translates classically as: this, that; he, she, they; (exclamatory final particle); (initial particle, introduces an opinion). In the Word for Word, I just put the common current usage, which here falls short. However, none of these other meanings makes that much difference, at least to me. It really boils down to how a reader interprets the meaning of whatever word occupies that position. The next best choice as I see it would be: this, that; he, she, they, but as you see that isn’t much different from the generic Man.
Reflections:
Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
First, simply realizing this in a static way is not sufficient. It is essential to maintain an active, moment-to-moment ‘apprehension’ of this realization. Apprehension is the perfect word here. It combines a sense of fear, with an apprehending of something… like realizing I don’t know is better. Fear focuses the mind; we take what we fear seriously. Note: It will be useful to ‘apprehend’ the root meaning of fear here. See Fear & Need Born in Nothing and perhaps Fear Is The Bottom Line.
Man alone faults this disease; this so as not to be ill.
The sacred person is not ill, taking his disease as illness.
Man alone has this disease; this is because to him there is no illness.
It is my sense that, in our heart of hearts, way deep down, we know that we don’t know. The symptoms point of view is a tipoff. We put those who seem to know on a pedestal, and worry about not knowing what we ‘should’. Generally, we are quite insecure about our knowledge. The Blind men and the elephant depict our desperation to be certain. All this comes across to me as a symptom of the fact that we intuitively realize that we don’t know, but don’t realize that it is better to realize that we don’t know. Knowledge is power, and hierarchical instincts, along with fear generally, drive us to pretend that we know. The drive is so strong that it blinds us to the reality (1).
So in a way line 2 and line 4 are both true. Part of us knows we have this disease. We respect and value any displays of humility that exemplify this. On the other hand, we suffer from this disease because we are generally in denial that this is a disease. We are too preoccupied with knowing to apprehend fully that we don’t and can’t know. Another symptom is our myths of sages (Jesus, Buddha, etc.); they keep our hopes alive that knowing is possible.
That leaves us with the question of the sacred person. I assume that the more a person continually apprehends this knowing, the more sacred. I suppose self-honesty is essential for such humility; self-honesty cuts down on hypocrisy. Finally, self-honesty increases with age, in my experience anyway.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
This is perhaps the most useful chapter of all, for me anyway. That says a lot considering how superb the Tao Te Ching is as a whole. My first issue concerns the word bìng (病) which means ill; sick; disease; fault; defect (1). Of the thirty-two characters comprising this chapter, one third of them (10) are bìng! Bìng is a big deal. Currently I use fault and illness, but I have also used defect and disease. Disease can be especially good if understood as dis-ease… a cerebral dis-ease. Try substituting dis-ease for illness here and there, as you read it. I’ll do this in SUGGESTED REVISION, B: below.
Next: The word fū (夫) means husband; man; <old> a person engaged in manual labor. It occurs throughout the Tao Te Ching, often in a sage-like context, but also when referring to the common person. It occurs twice here, in line 2 and 4. In my view, it refers not to the sage-like man, but rather to the common man. Line 3, by contrast, specifically refers to shèngrén (圣人) meaning sage; wise man.
Finally: I don’t feel as alone in my ‘put truth ahead of beauty’ approach when I read the Wikipedia on Arthur Waley. In his translations of Chinese, he was apparently careful to put meaning ahead of style. Here is Waley’s translation of this chapter. Alas, he does add concepts not present in the original, (e.g., “making people recognize their disease…”) as you can see. Nevertheless, he nails the core meaning.
To know when one does not know is best.
To think one knows when one does not know is a dire disease.
Only he who recognizes this disease as a disease
Can cure himself of the disease.
The Sage’s way of curing disease
Also consists in making people recognize their diseases as diseases and thus ceasing to be diseased.
Commentary:
Thinking that I know is very blinding. Where There’s Passion (fire), There’s Blindness (smoke) touches on this. Well, probably half my posts touch on this in some fashion. A sense of this dis-ease rarely leaves my mind. Reserving a corner of my awareness for remembering that thinking I know is a dis-ease, lessens this illness’s impact on my life.
In my mind, this is no different that paying attention to the road when I’m driving, or where my fingers are when I’m using a table saw. The more sincerely cautious and alert I am to this trap, the easier it is to nip slip-ups in the bud. Chapter 15 speaks to this caution: He prepares as if fording a river in winter; as if like in fear of neighbors as does Buddha’s R. Understanding, R. Mindfulness, R. Attentiveness, R. Concentration.
Ah Ha!
An interesting connection between sincerity and thought just occurred to me. Looking back, I can’t remember ever meeting a non-human animal that wasn’t sincere. They are authentic, for lack of a better word. Thought enables us to don a virtual persona and be someone else on the outside. Non-human animals don’t pretend.
Considering the high virtue value we place on sincerity (and its synonyms: honesty, naturalness, genuineness, authenticity, earnestness, seriousness), it is surprising that thinking is not sincerely acknowledged for the insincerity, unnaturalness and dishonesty it enables. To my knowledge, only the Tao Te Ching focuses on the difficulty thought causes. Naturally, there could be no thought or speech without names; here are a few chapters covering this: ch.1; ch.32; ch.37; ch.56.
On second thought, it isn’t surprising at all. Believing what we think makes it impossible for us to suspect the thinking that props up the belief in the first place. Is the not a quintessential Catch-22? (i.e., a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.)
Suggested Revision:
A:
Knowing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is illness.
Man alone faults this illness; this so as not to be ill.
The sacred person is not ill, taking his illness as illness.
Man alone has this illness; this is because to him there is no illness.
B:
Knowing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
Man alone faults this disease; this so as not to be ill.
The sacred person is not ill, taking his disease as illness.
Man alone has this disease; this is because to him there is no illness.
(1) Wanting to leave no stone unturned on how bìng (病 ill; sick; disease; fault; defect) relates to this chapter, I looked into English meanings:
Dis·ease noun, verb, -eased, -eas·ing.
1. a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.
2. any abnormal condition in a plant that interferes with its vital physiological processes, caused by pathogenic microorganisms, parasites, unfavorable environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors, etc.
3. any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society: His fascination with executions is a disease.
Sick adjective, -er, -est, noun
1. afflicted with ill health or disease; ailing.
2. mentally, morally, or emotionally deranged, corrupt, or unsound: a sick mind; wild statements that made him seem sick.
3. characteristic of a sick mind: sick fancies.
Ill adjective, worse, worst, noun, adverb
1. of unsound physical or mental health; unwell; sick: She felt ill, so her teacher sent her to the nurse.
2. objectionable; unsatisfactory; poor; faulty: ill manners.
3. hostile; unkindly: ill feeling.
4. evil: to know the difference between good and ill.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is ill.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is sick.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is disease.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is defective.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is illness.
Knowing I don’t know is best, not knowing this knowing is sickness.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
Knowing I don’t know puts the unknown (questions) ahead of the known (answers). The void, Nothing, empty and silent all correlate to the unknown, the question… reality! Not knowing this knowing is defective because it becomes all too easy to think I know the answer. Conversely, ‘to know yet to think one does not know‘ values the question far beyond any answer.
Ever since receiving my sobering wake-up call from correlations, I’ve regarded questions and problems as being akin to invariable reality, and any resulting answer or solution as merely transitions to yet deeper questions or problems. Whether or not this is true makes little difference, practically speaking, as long as it makes my life a saner experience. I need all the help I can get. 😉
Animals, including us, generally fear the unknown. This fear makes us impatient to know ‘the answer’ yesterday. Answers allow us to think that we know, and that promises us peace of mind. Some of this may also result from an urgent need to fill our big-brain’s imagination space. Like they say, nature abhors a vacuum. We’ve got to fill it with something; filling mind space with questions (as a child does), more than answers (as adults do) helps us avoid thinking our way into a corner. This is not saying to avoid answers; just know what is at stake. In other words, well placed questions bare useful fruit. Only such fruit will holds the seeds for even better placed questions… a virtuous circle, as they say.
Being alive to difficulty is accepting that life is difficulty. As Buddha said, birth is suffering; growth, decay, and death are suffering. Sad it is to be joined with that which we dislike. Sadder still is the separation from that which we love, and painful is the craving for that which cannot be obtained. The more I try to avoid or escape difficulty, the more difficult life ends up feeling. The courage to bite the bullet, take this defect as a defect, and get on with living, especially as Buddha puts forward in the other three truths, is actually the easiest to live. Yet, our pleasure seeking nature is always dragging its feet. It wants comfort and safety above all else. And so we struggle, torn between what we ideally desire from life, and what we are really faced with in life.