Ch 37 ended Pt 1 of the Dào Dé Jīng.
Pt 2: ch 38 starts tomorrow.
Today, revision on the title & chs:
The Chinese 道德經 is #DàoDéJīng
(new Pinyin romanization).
The Wade–Giles had Tao Te Ching (see Peking to Beijing).

TY for reading in early #Daoism with us. 🪷😁
Please expand the hidden parts.
1/4

Ron Hogan’s version below, an example of
someone making the Daoist teachings their own.

I like Hogan's version of the last to lines.
When we were young, Lovie & I were helped
by being poor to live radically simple lives. 😁
We still do. The benefits have been endless.

4/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 37.

Ellen Chen (1998, p. 144)

In the first stanza we are given the contrast between
human actions (wéi) & natural transformations (huà).

[Ln 1: not (wú), act (wéi) = wú wéi
Ln 3: themselves (zì), transform (huà) = zì huà]

2/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 37

#DaoDeJing (c. 350 BCE) Ch 37

Ch. 37 "can be regarded as an explication of chapter 32.1."
Ellen Chen

32.1: Tao everlasting is the nameless uncarved wood.
Though small,
Nothing under heaven can subjugate it.

Thanks for reading in early #Daoism with us. 🪷😁
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"The power to punish & kill resides in Tao (ch. 74).
To parade one’s military might is to arrogate
the power of punishment to oneself,
which is to court death."
Ellen Chen

[iow no ICE 🤔]

Ron Hogan’s version:
Here, he makes it personal,
but loses the historical context.
4/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch 36

“Tao sustains all beings as water sustains fish.
‘Fish must not leave the stream’ means that
creatures must not stand apart from Tao.

For the same reason the ruler must not exhibit
the sharp weapons of a state."

Ellen Chen, 1989, pp.141-3.
3/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 36

#DaoDeJing (c. 350 BCE) Ch 36

If we take the 1st part to be an observation on the rise & fall of political fortunes, we may take the 2nd part also as a political statement against the show of military force. (Chen)

Thanks for reading in early #Daoism with us. 🪷😁
Please expand the hidden parts.
1/4

Ron Hogan’s translation below, an example of
someone making the Daoist teachings their own.

Note: It's common for later religious followers to turn founders' innocent comparisons into rigid rules.
Here, music & tasty food is merely compared with
the bland but nourishing Tao.

4/4 #Daoism DDJ Ch. 35

Ellen Chen (1989, p.139-40)

"Because in (3) Tao is said to be flavorless, invisible, & inaudible, most commentators interpret music & dainty dishes as distracting the faithful from the path of Tao.
I disagree...The [DDJ] is not against life’s simple pleasures" ...

2/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 35

Ron Hogan's free translation below, an example of
someone making the Daoist teachings their own.
terebess.hu/english/tao/...

Note: If Dao is to be imaged,
it is as the great mother:
unconsciously all-giving, self-effacing,
ever-overflowing, source, way, and end.

4/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 34

This non-being in its reversive movement
“returns” & becomes being.

The “great” is Tao as the creative fertility flooding over
to pour out a world of ten thousand beings.

Ellen Chen
3/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 34

Ellen Chen (1989, p.138)

Chapter 25 describes Tao's cyclical movement
in four stages:
It is the “great that “moves away” to become
the “far away” that “returns.”

As the “far away” Tao is non-being. ...

2/4 #Daoism #DaoDeJing Ch. 34

#DaoDeJing (c. 350 BCE) Ch 34

Read this slowly: 😁
"Tao is portrayed as the principle of plenitude
diffusive of itself." (Chen)

Ellen Chen below:
terebess.hu/english/tao/...
Derek Lin:
terebess.hu/english/tao/...

Thanks for reading the DDJ with us. 🪷
Please expand the hidden parts.
1/4 #Daoism