Tao Te Ching, Verse 2, Part II

“Since the world points up beauty as such,
There is ugliness too.
If goodness is taken as goodness,
Wickedness enters as well.

For is and is-not come together;
Hard and easy are complementary;
Long and short are relative;
High and low are comparative;
Pitch and sound make harmony;
Before and after are a sequence.

Indeed the Wise Man's office
Is to work by being still;
He teaches not by speech
But by accomplishment;
He does for everything,
Neglecting none;
Their life he gives to all,
Possessing none;
And what he brings to pass
Depends on no one else.
As he succeeds,
He takes no credit
And just because he does not take it,
Credit never leaves him.” (Tao Te Ching, Verse 2, Blakney Translation)

The reason why I brought up the issue of translation is because there is a great deal of variance among the translations. One of the reasons why I begin each new entry with a different translation is to illustrate and celebrate that fact. It gives us a wider picture of the dimensions of the Tao. There have been occasions when I find that I must disagree with some of the choices made by the translators. I’ve already mentioned my affinity for Stephen Mitchell’s translation, but I disagree with his version of the first stanza of this verse:

“When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.”

Now maybe Mitchell does not mean to imply that identifying something as beautiful or good causes other things to be identified as ugly or bad; and thereby imply that there’s really no such thing as good, bad, beauty, or ugliness there’s only the labeling and false perception of these things. Maybe he doesn’t mean to imply this, but that’s what I infer from my reading of his translation and if I’m right then in this instance the translation is flawed because the Tao as a whole does acknowledge good (things in synch with the Tao) and bad (things out of synch with the Tao). So in this instance I prefer Beck’s translation:

“When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty,there arises the recognition of ugliness.When they all know the good as good,there arises the recognition of bad.”

And I much prefer my own version:

“When one begins to recognize beauty as beauty,There arises the recognition of ugliness.When one begins to recognize the good as good,There arises the recognition of evil.”

I’m out of time. More tomorrow.