42. Mind
The Way bears sensation,Sensation bears memory,
Sensation and memory bear abstraction,
And abstraction bears all the world;
Each thing in the world bears feeling and doing,
And, imbued with mind, harmony with the Way.
As others have taught, so do I teach,
"Who loses harmony opposes nature";
This is the root of my teaching.
a text of great wisdom for sure....
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
ReplyDeleteThere can indeed be infinite renditions of Tao Te Ching. This is the Chinese orginal:
ReplyDelete道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物。萬物負陰而抱陽，沖氣以為和。
Quite not-the-same as Ricky's quoted rendition? Never mind, each creates his own cup of tea. It would most likely be fine with Lao Tze....:):)
I've come to prefer translations by people who can read the original - usually sinologists and philosophers, as opposed to westerns who can't read the language, but after reading a number of other translations attempt their own "re-imaginings" of what it said.
ReplyDeleteThat's sort of a like a game of telephone.
I like Paul's translations. Please pay him a visit.
http://tao-meditation.blogspot.com/
My Japanese study has gone on the back burner as I no longer work for a Japanese company or actively study a Japanese martial art. When I was studying Japanese however, one of my long term goals was to read the Japanese version of the DDJ. I figured that would be as close as I would ever be able to come to the original.