-Lao Tzu (last line of Legge's translation of Tao Te Ching)
Without intending to I have been doing eight verses of the Tao a month. I mean, I know I was translating a translation but I didn't realize I was doing it monthly lol. Anyway... I thought I would finish them up.
Verse/Chapter 75
The only reason why people suffer famine is because of the amount of taxes their superiors charge them so they can live in wealthy excess. This awareness of inequality makes the people hard to govern. They do not fear death and that cannot be used as a means to control them. They make light of death because they are starving. What have they got to lose when do not set a high value on their lives?
Note: I may have implied too much here in my own translation of the translation.
My Take Away: We cannot govern and lead others in an effective way if we are more interested in exploiting the little they have for our own material gains. If we put them in a situation where they have so little they are fighting to survive eventually their lives will mean little. A better and more equal distribution of wealth will be more effective?
Verse/ Chapter 76
Man is supple and weak at birth, strong and firm at death as it is with all of nature. The concomitants of death are strength and firmness; the concomitants of life are softness and weakness. It is the strength of a tree that leads it to be cut down. If we rely solely on our strengths we will not conquer. The place of what is firm and strong is below (inferior?) and the place that is soft and weak
(vulnerable?) is superior?
My Take Away: I think this means when we are more accepting...supple and weak... like a newborn we are more likely to conquer the adversities of life??? It is firmness and strong resistance, maybe, that leads to man's downfall.
Verse/ Chapter 77
The Way is compared to the bending of a bow. That which was high is brought low and that which was low is raised up. Heaven diminishes where there is superabundance and supplements where there is deficiency. This is the way of Heaven, not the way of man. Man tends to take from those who have less to add to his own superabundance. Only those who are in possession of the Toa will take their superabundance and share it with all. Therefore the [evolved?] ruling sage does not wish to display his superiority by claiming that the results of sharing are his or by being arrogant.
My Take Away: Equal distribution, and harmony is the way of Heaven. Competing for more at the expense of his brothers is the way of man. Only those who follow the Way will do as heaven does.
Verse/Chapter 78
By witnessing the way water is able to overcome the strongest, everyone knows that the soft overcomes the hard and the weak is strong ...yet no one is able to carry it out in practice.
Really don't understand this part that Legge has put into verse:
Therefore, the sage has said,
"He who accepts his state's reproach
has hailed therefore its altars lord;
to him who bears men's direful woes
They all the name of King's accord."
If you accept what the state is doing you are making the men responsible for such suffering a lord under the King's orders? Have to look at this some more.
Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical? Nothing makes sense.
My Take Away: ??
My Take Away: ??
Verse/ Chapter 79
When conflict between two parties is supposedly resolved, the one who was wrong still tends to hold a grudge so this really doesn't benefit the other party [those that were wronged]. To guard against this the sage keeps the "left hand" portion of the record and does not expect that the retributions to the wronged party take place right away. If a man has the attributes of the Toa he looks at the agreement very objectively without emotion and if he doesn't he only looks at the parts of the agreement that suit him selfishly.
In the Way of Heaven there is no partiality to Love; it is always on the side of the good man.
My Take Away: As above
My Take Away: As above
Verse/ Chapter 80
This was a bit perplexing:
If ruling a small population "I" [ the leader? Lao Tzu?] would not make people use their abilities for profit (?) nor would I allow them to avoid looking at death even if they feared it. There should be no escaping what is????(My take). Even though they had carriages to get away, they would not need to use them; even though they had weapons to fight with or defend with , they would not need to. I would make them return to knotted cords?...a way of calculating and expressing without characters or words. Maybe, indicating a need to go back to a simpler time.
They should find peace with what they have and where they are at not seeing the "lack, coarseness or plainness" in them. And even though there may be a neighboring state that they cannot help to be aware of...they will never have the need to go there or have "intercourse with it".
My Take Away: I am assuming this is about being satisfied with what one has right here and now and not needing or wanting more.
Verse/Chapter 81
Sincere words are not fine and fine words are not sincere:
Sincerity does not come with how well a person articulates as knowledge about the Tao does not come with how much a person supposedly learned about It.
Those who know the Toa do not dispute it or argue about it and those who argue do not know it.
What the Sage gives, the sage receives.
Even though the Way is sharp...It never injures. And no matter what the sage does he does not strive.
My Take Away: Knowing the Tao is about living it...not talking about it, not arguing in defense of it, not "taking" from it and not striving to "do". ...more about being it?
My Take Away: Knowing the Tao is about living it...not talking about it, not arguing in defense of it, not "taking" from it and not striving to "do". ...more about being it?
The End!
So much wisdom. Will come back at some point to summarize my learning! All is well.
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