“The TAO, or Principle of Nature, may be discussed [by all]; it is not the popular or common Tao.
Its Name may be named [i.e., the TAO may receive a designation, though of itself it has none]; but it is not an ordinary name, [or name in the usual sense of the word, for it is a presentment or ειδωλον of the Infinite].
Its nameless period was that which preceded the birth of the Universe.
In being spoken of by name, it is as the Progenitrix of All Things.
It is therefore in habitual passionlessness that its mystery may be scanned; and in habitual desire that its developments may be perceived.
These two conditions, the Active and the Quiescent, alike proceed [from TAO]; it is only in name that they differ. Both may be called profundities; and the depth of profundity is the gate of every mystery.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Balfour Translation)
In the spring of 2004, around the time I started including verses from the tao in my emails, a friend of mine wrote:
“I find the tao stuff creepy, to be honest, after all the tao that can be understood is not the true tao, so therefore isn’t the rest of lao tzu’s little book pointless? It’s like saying that the truth cannot be spoken, but the tragic thing is that you had to speak to me to tell me that…or like saying that there is no absolute truth…”
His comments were on the paradox in the passage above passage, but they make me wonder if he wasn’t also aware of the paradox in verse 56:
“Those who know don't talk. Those who talk don't know.”
The entire text, like life, is full of paradox. The question one must ask is why did Lao Tzu write this? This is the first verse of the tao and it’s functioning as an introduction and like many introductions, it includes a disclaimer. When Lao Tzu writes, “The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. (or one of the various alternative among the various translations)” I don’t think that he’s claiming that the truth can’t be spoken or that there is no absolute truth. Quite the opposite, I think that he’s saying that there is absolute truth, but this truth transcends the maximum capabilities of mere words. In essence he’s saying, “look, I’m going to tell you what I know about the integral truth of the universe and the virtuous application of such high, subtle knowledge, but my words aren’t going to be the thing – the thing is out there, the universe and everything in it – the thing is in here, deep inside each one of us – the thing is not me or this book or the teachings in this book – those are all just arrows pointing the way.” A map of Albania is not Albania, but it can help you find your way. It’s also like Magritte’s painting of a pipe with the caption, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (This is not a pipe.). It’s also like Plato’s allegory of the cave. It’s what the apostle Paul was talking about in I Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” There is REALITY and TRUTH, but the reality we perceive and the truth we understand are not really THE REALITY and THE TRUTH. I mentioned earlier that I was initially drawn to the tao because I found it provocatively absurd and paradoxical. But the more I’ve read it and copied it and written about it, the more I find it truly practical. In verse 14, Lao Tzu declares that you can’t know the Tao, but you can be it. If I had to sum up verse 1, it would be: Words cannot describe the absolute REALITY of the universe, but they can point you toward it and you can experience it.
Siji Tzu was another ancient (possibly mythical) Chinese mystic like Lao Tzu, who wrote commentary on each verse of the Tao. He wrote the following for verse one:
“Green tea is wonderful. There are many words that can describe its aroma, its flavor. I can tell you of the temperature of the tea as I sip it from its cup. The smells that fill my nose just as my tongue tastes the first drips. I can explain to you the benefits of the tea. But, you still have not experienced the tea. You only have a rude concept of what it might be. Unless you sip from the cup yourself, you are not experiencing the real. And this is true with the Dao.”
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Part IV
“Nature can never be completely described, for such a description of Nature would have to duplicate Nature. No name can fully express what it represents.
It is Nature itself, and not any part (or name or description) abstracted from Nature, which is the ultimate source of all that happens, all that comes and goes, begins and ends, is and is not. But to describe Nature as 'the ultimate source of all' is still only a description, and such a description is not Nature itself. Yet since, in order to speak of it, we must use words, we shall have to describe it as 'the ultimate source of all.'
If Nature is inexpressible, he who desires to know Nature as it is in itself will not try to express it in words.
Although the existence of Nature and a description of that existence are two different things, yet they are also the same.
For both are ways of existing. That is, a description of existence must have its own existence, which is different from the existence of that which it describes; and so again we have to recognize an existence which cannot be described.” (Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Bahm Translation)
One of the regular exercises I make my students do in their journals is quotation analysis. The steps I’ve given them for analyzing a quote are as follows: 1) write it in your own words, 2) write down what you think it means 3) write down whether you agree or disagree with what you think it means, 3) give reasons for why you agree or disagree with what you think it means, and then if you need more lines (15 lines of 8 to 10 words each per journal), give evidence from experiences you’ve had or heard of to support the reasons for why you agree or disagree with what you think it means. The whole idea is to give them tools for approaching things that they are unsure how to approach. We do at least one of these a week and I give them about ten minutes for each. I’m telling you this because on occasions when I get stuck, I’m going to follow a similar formula: 1) I’m going to put it in my own words, 2) I’m going to write down what I think it means 3) and then I’m going to give reasons for why that is what I think it means, and then if I need more lines (15 lines of 9 point, TIMES NEW ROMAN), I’m going to give evidence from experiences you’ve had or heard of to support the reasons for why that is what I think it means. Not only will this help me to write when I don’t feel like it or when I’ve nothing to say, it will also help me to better identify with my students (which is always one of my goals). It’s also occurred to me to just write about my day or whatever and see if it ties in to whatever the tao says in the given verse. You’d be surprised how often that sort of approach can work. Perhaps tomorrow, I’ll actually start writing about verse 1.
It is Nature itself, and not any part (or name or description) abstracted from Nature, which is the ultimate source of all that happens, all that comes and goes, begins and ends, is and is not. But to describe Nature as 'the ultimate source of all' is still only a description, and such a description is not Nature itself. Yet since, in order to speak of it, we must use words, we shall have to describe it as 'the ultimate source of all.'
If Nature is inexpressible, he who desires to know Nature as it is in itself will not try to express it in words.
Although the existence of Nature and a description of that existence are two different things, yet they are also the same.
For both are ways of existing. That is, a description of existence must have its own existence, which is different from the existence of that which it describes; and so again we have to recognize an existence which cannot be described.” (Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Bahm Translation)
One of the regular exercises I make my students do in their journals is quotation analysis. The steps I’ve given them for analyzing a quote are as follows: 1) write it in your own words, 2) write down what you think it means 3) write down whether you agree or disagree with what you think it means, 3) give reasons for why you agree or disagree with what you think it means, and then if you need more lines (15 lines of 8 to 10 words each per journal), give evidence from experiences you’ve had or heard of to support the reasons for why you agree or disagree with what you think it means. The whole idea is to give them tools for approaching things that they are unsure how to approach. We do at least one of these a week and I give them about ten minutes for each. I’m telling you this because on occasions when I get stuck, I’m going to follow a similar formula: 1) I’m going to put it in my own words, 2) I’m going to write down what I think it means 3) and then I’m going to give reasons for why that is what I think it means, and then if I need more lines (15 lines of 9 point, TIMES NEW ROMAN), I’m going to give evidence from experiences you’ve had or heard of to support the reasons for why that is what I think it means. Not only will this help me to write when I don’t feel like it or when I’ve nothing to say, it will also help me to better identify with my students (which is always one of my goals). It’s also occurred to me to just write about my day or whatever and see if it ties in to whatever the tao says in the given verse. You’d be surprised how often that sort of approach can work. Perhaps tomorrow, I’ll actually start writing about verse 1.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Part III
“The Ineffable, about which is spoken, is not the eternal Ineffable
A name for the Unnameable, is but a name
The Unnameable is what makes everything what it is
By naming things you divide the Indivisible
Only one who gives up all his desires can experience the Indivisible
One who still cherishes desires, will experience only dissension
Both will see the same reality, but experience it differently
One who goes from the false reality into the other,
Will pass through the narrow gate and receive the secret of true life”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Anonymous Translation)
This is essentially an experiment and I’m not entirely sure how I want to go about it. One of the difficulties I’ve had with blogging in the past is the struggle with the desire to present a well-reasoned finished product. I simply do not have time for that and it is precisely that sort of desire that has inhibited my previous attempts to write about the tao. So I’m going to have to try a different approach. My thought is that I will approach each verse from a bunch of different directions until I feel like I’ve dealt with it adequately. I’m going to deal with one verse a month and I’m going to try to write for at least ten minutes a day until I feel like I’ve dealt with it adequately. If I can do that in one post, so be it; if it takes thirty-one, that’s just the way it goes. School’s about to start up again and once again I will be very busy, so most of these posts will be extemporaneous. Many of them will not be very good and I suspect that it’s going to take me a while to figure out what I’m doing. That’s ten minutes, so if nothing else, these posts will be short.
A name for the Unnameable, is but a name
The Unnameable is what makes everything what it is
By naming things you divide the Indivisible
Only one who gives up all his desires can experience the Indivisible
One who still cherishes desires, will experience only dissension
Both will see the same reality, but experience it differently
One who goes from the false reality into the other,
Will pass through the narrow gate and receive the secret of true life”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Anonymous Translation)
This is essentially an experiment and I’m not entirely sure how I want to go about it. One of the difficulties I’ve had with blogging in the past is the struggle with the desire to present a well-reasoned finished product. I simply do not have time for that and it is precisely that sort of desire that has inhibited my previous attempts to write about the tao. So I’m going to have to try a different approach. My thought is that I will approach each verse from a bunch of different directions until I feel like I’ve dealt with it adequately. I’m going to deal with one verse a month and I’m going to try to write for at least ten minutes a day until I feel like I’ve dealt with it adequately. If I can do that in one post, so be it; if it takes thirty-one, that’s just the way it goes. School’s about to start up again and once again I will be very busy, so most of these posts will be extemporaneous. Many of them will not be very good and I suspect that it’s going to take me a while to figure out what I’m doing. That’s ten minutes, so if nothing else, these posts will be short.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Part II
“Who would follow the Way
must go beyond words.
Who would know the world
must go beyond names.
Nameless, all things begin.
Named, all things are born.
Empty of intent, one may be filled with awe.
Full of intent, one may know what's manifest.
One source, different fonts.
Wonders both.
From wonder into wonder,
existence opens.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Douglas Allchin Translation)
Supposedly, Lao Tzu lived during the 6th century BC and was keeper of the ancient dynasty archives. All of this is probably apocryphal. Lao Tzu was thus well versed in the wisdom and knowledge of China’s greatest sages before the time of the Yellow Emperor (2697 BC). When the tao speaks of the ancient masters, it’s talking about those guys. In his old age Lao Tzu became disgusted with cultural chaos and ethical disintegration of the society around him (a feeling that I can frequently identify with) and decided to leave and live in harmony with nature. Thus he rode westward on the back of a water buffalo. When he came to the Han Gu pas at the border of China, he was requested by the pass official to write down the essence of his wisdom. The text he left has become known as the Tao Te Ching which Stephen Mitchell translates as “the way and it’s power.” Hua-Ching Ni asserts that “Tao means the integral truth of the universe, Te means the virtuous application of such high, subtle knowledge, and Ching means serious spiritual guidance.”
must go beyond words.
Who would know the world
must go beyond names.
Nameless, all things begin.
Named, all things are born.
Empty of intent, one may be filled with awe.
Full of intent, one may know what's manifest.
One source, different fonts.
Wonders both.
From wonder into wonder,
existence opens.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Douglas Allchin Translation)
Supposedly, Lao Tzu lived during the 6th century BC and was keeper of the ancient dynasty archives. All of this is probably apocryphal. Lao Tzu was thus well versed in the wisdom and knowledge of China’s greatest sages before the time of the Yellow Emperor (2697 BC). When the tao speaks of the ancient masters, it’s talking about those guys. In his old age Lao Tzu became disgusted with cultural chaos and ethical disintegration of the society around him (a feeling that I can frequently identify with) and decided to leave and live in harmony with nature. Thus he rode westward on the back of a water buffalo. When he came to the Han Gu pas at the border of China, he was requested by the pass official to write down the essence of his wisdom. The text he left has become known as the Tao Te Ching which Stephen Mitchell translates as “the way and it’s power.” Hua-Ching Ni asserts that “Tao means the integral truth of the universe, Te means the virtuous application of such high, subtle knowledge, and Ching means serious spiritual guidance.”
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Part I
“Tao called Tao is not Tao. Names can name no lasting name.Nameless: the origin of heaven and earth.
Naming: the mother of ten thousand things.Empty of desire, perceive mystery.
Filled with desire, perceive manifestations.These have the same source, but different names.Call them both deep - Deep and again deep: the gateway to all mystery.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo Translation)
I was first introduced to Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (from here on out, I’ll just call it the tao) some time in”93 in World Lit. I. I was immediately drawn to it because I found it provocatively absurd and paradoxical. I’ve always had an affinity for the absurd and paradoxical. My only explanation for this is that I find life absurd and paradoxical, but this explanation is a bit weak because I loved this sort of thing even as a child. Seemingly it’s just some sort of natural inclination. I suspect that I may have been taking World Lit. I with my friend, Mr. Howell because sometime soon after my first reading of a bit of it, we discussed it. It turns out that Mr. Howell was already familiar with the tao. It seems that he shared my affinity and was much more knowledgeable of the text than I was. This reinforced my affinity and thus, when I saw Stephen Mitchell’s translation in a local book store, I had to buy it. I read it cover to cover and, to be honest, I didn’t get that much out of it, but I liked it. I’d begun to write regularly in a lineless, little, hardbound sketchbook. On the top and bottom of each page, I’d copy interesting quotes that I’d found. I decided to copy the tao, verse by verse into the footers of each page. And over time ,copying and recopying the tao, it started to make sense to me. Around 2001, I decided to devote a journal to the tao. I would copy a verse and then write what it meant to me. There are eighty-one verses and I only managed to get through about half of them before I got busy, lost interest, and eventually lost the journal. In 2008, I began something similar, only this time I wrote the reflections in a daily, group email that I’ve been writing. This time I managed to get through about sixty-four of the verses, but I’ve found that I have other topics that I’d prefer to write about in the emails and most of my friends aren’t very interested in reading about the tao. I figured that as long as no one is reading it, it might as well be in a blog. I do this for my own edification, but I’m hoping that it’ll eventually attract some readers and maybe even generate some discussion, or at least comments. We’ll see. It’s a long road. As I mentioned there are eighty-one verses. My plan is to try to adequately cover one verse a month. At that rate, this is going to take almost seven years, but as Lao Tzu tells us, “ A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” This post is the first of many, many steps. Maybe this time I’ll make it all the way.
Naming: the mother of ten thousand things.Empty of desire, perceive mystery.
Filled with desire, perceive manifestations.These have the same source, but different names.Call them both deep - Deep and again deep: the gateway to all mystery.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 1, Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo Translation)
I was first introduced to Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (from here on out, I’ll just call it the tao) some time in”93 in World Lit. I. I was immediately drawn to it because I found it provocatively absurd and paradoxical. I’ve always had an affinity for the absurd and paradoxical. My only explanation for this is that I find life absurd and paradoxical, but this explanation is a bit weak because I loved this sort of thing even as a child. Seemingly it’s just some sort of natural inclination. I suspect that I may have been taking World Lit. I with my friend, Mr. Howell because sometime soon after my first reading of a bit of it, we discussed it. It turns out that Mr. Howell was already familiar with the tao. It seems that he shared my affinity and was much more knowledgeable of the text than I was. This reinforced my affinity and thus, when I saw Stephen Mitchell’s translation in a local book store, I had to buy it. I read it cover to cover and, to be honest, I didn’t get that much out of it, but I liked it. I’d begun to write regularly in a lineless, little, hardbound sketchbook. On the top and bottom of each page, I’d copy interesting quotes that I’d found. I decided to copy the tao, verse by verse into the footers of each page. And over time ,copying and recopying the tao, it started to make sense to me. Around 2001, I decided to devote a journal to the tao. I would copy a verse and then write what it meant to me. There are eighty-one verses and I only managed to get through about half of them before I got busy, lost interest, and eventually lost the journal. In 2008, I began something similar, only this time I wrote the reflections in a daily, group email that I’ve been writing. This time I managed to get through about sixty-four of the verses, but I’ve found that I have other topics that I’d prefer to write about in the emails and most of my friends aren’t very interested in reading about the tao. I figured that as long as no one is reading it, it might as well be in a blog. I do this for my own edification, but I’m hoping that it’ll eventually attract some readers and maybe even generate some discussion, or at least comments. We’ll see. It’s a long road. As I mentioned there are eighty-one verses. My plan is to try to adequately cover one verse a month. At that rate, this is going to take almost seven years, but as Lao Tzu tells us, “ A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” This post is the first of many, many steps. Maybe this time I’ll make it all the way.
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