dust

TV's an addiction. You're probably better off not knowing!

Ya GoT is excellent If you like BSG, GoT, and generally fantastical adventurey stuff, you'd probably enjoy Firefly -- cowboy pirates in space kind of thing. I haven't seen Fringe or Chuck, but as far as other fun cop shows, Due South is my eternal favourite. Great buddy cop comedy-adventure-drama -- a Mountie with a wolf arrives in Chicago searching for his father's killer and ends up teaming up with a Chicago PD detective.... I recently finished the last episode of a detective show called Psych, which was a lot of fun, and am on the lookout for something new. Fringe sounds like good fun.

I had considered 所, as it certainly looks more like that than the considered alternatives. As far as 属...I still don't see it. Either way, why is it that these transcriptions of the GD have characters that are clearly not in the original? On ctext, for example, in chapter 46, it is listed as 禍莫大乎不知足 but to my eyes it looks much more like 化莫大於不知足 which another source confirms... These sources continue to differ in their transcriptions, which makes me feel like the safest way is to be doubtful about all of it...

Ya...don't know why I bothered yesterday! I shall attempt again later with all this in mind. Thanks

Line 2 was the main problem for me too Firstly, on the original bamboo, it's not written as in the first line, 欲 desire, but as 谷 valley Secondly, looking again, I'm not quite right am I? Perhaps I should go with the crowd: "There is no greater fault than desire for success"

Maybe it's just because television has always been my personal deep debilitating weakness, but I honestly can't fathom why the goal would be to "get through" an episode rather than enjoying it in its entirety...? Each to his own, though! My personal favourites, aside from BB, include The Wire, The Sopranos, Due South, The Good Wife, Firefly, Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Luther. Recently I've enjoyed True Detective, Orange is the New Black, Vikings, Louie. The Wire would be my first recommendation for anyone.

GD3 罪莫厚於甚欲 There is no greater crime than great desire; 咎莫僉於欲得 None are more guilty than those who fulfill their desire; 化莫大於不知足 There is no greater turmoil than not knowing one has enough; 知足之為足 Knowing one has enough being enough 此恆足矣 Is truly enough

Thank ye

This is, I think, the only chapter I've attempted so far that hasn't given me grief...until I get to the last lines of the 郭店 version! As straightforward as it is to comprehend the intent/overall meaning, the Chinese at the end of the GD -- in exactly the same way as chapter 8 of the MWD -- uses 静 where other versions use 争. So... 静 is 争. To accept that makes life easier. No questions from me. Just continuing to post my own translations as I do them. 江海所以為百谷王 The rivers and oceans are lords of the hundred valleys; 以亓能為百谷下 By being below the hundred valleys, 是以能為百谷王 So are they able to rule them. 聖人 The wise man 之在民前也 以身後之 Stands ahead of the people by putting himself behind them, 亓在民上也 以言下之 Above them by speaking as from below; 亓在民上也 民弗厚也 Above them, yet the people feel not his presence, 亓在民前也 民弗害也 Ahead of them, yet the people come not to harm, 天下樂進而弗詀 And all proceed happily without a fuss; 以亓不靜也 By not contending, 古天下莫能與之靜 None under heaven can contend with him

I'm certainly out of my depth, and sure that the experts who transcribed this stuff have it right, but I just really would like to know what I'm missing. The history of each character 乎 and 屬 fit nowhere with what I see here..

Oh christ, sorry, not row 3! Row 2! (it's a Sunday...I've been napping...)

19, I'm here to resurrect thee I do not read ancient Chinese, but have been having fun trying to figure some out. Something is bothering me though. Can anyone explain to me why on the Guodian bamboo, the characters usually listed as "乎屬" (column 3 rows 11-12) do not seem to actually be those 2 characters...?

A good friend in China spent around 8 months on his first necklace -- bought a few hundred 'fresh' (uncleaned) seeds, picked out 108 of the 'best', drilled them, cleaned them, and polished/brushed them daily until the day I left Beijing, when he gave the mala to me...which, understandably, overwhelmed me. What a gift, and what a responsibility! So I'm hoping that by doing what he suggested (wearing it, rubbing it, brushing it every so often) it will remain in good condition, and even improve over time. But is there anything else? Are certain oils beneficial? Some more than others? (or will the oil from my skin suffice?) Any advice would be appreciated. I'd like to know I'm keeping it well.

Well if we want to get technical, I believe that the first people who decided to have 108 beads on a mala would have been using sanskrit, so the 8 wouldn't have been an infinity symbol to them in the first place! So indeed the old boy wasn't technically "correct". But it's a nice thought, even if "incorrect" Personally, I think it's a cool idea that 1 and 0 represent the binary system (i.e. yang and yin), 8 infinity, and together: the Dao....

Wow. Beautiful interpretation. Do you write your own?

That honestly made me laugh out loud. Wow.

Well colour me confunded. Emma would do better with me though

I prefer cash but I suppose if you're partial to crab...

One of the great problems that humans have -- each thinking we're a special, separate entity, popped into being from another dimension, with no connection to anything around us. Maybe with 'discoveries' like this science will start to dissuade people from that notion...

Yes, in a way I've always thought that, but there is a yin-yang element to this as well: I personally think that (many, not all) scientists are 'prickly' where (most) Taoists are 'gooey' -- modern science is so bent on understanding and ultimately controlling every little aspect of existence that it will eventually be mankind's downfall, whereas anyone who studies Eastern philosophy (Dao, Zen, etc) must come to realise that there is no 'control' In relation to chapter 1, perhaps, the scientists are so full of desire that they never see through the net

Well, this discussion has taken a somewhat unexpected turn! I can't say that I understand all the quantum stuff, but are we essentially saying that it could be translated 名可名也非恒名也 The thing that can be identified is not the eternal thing and interpreted as an early understanding of modern scientific thought?

It does indeed, I just hadn't seen it. Sometimes, I guess, however many meanings something contains, we interpret something in our own strict way... Which is one of the reasons I started this thread: to see what other people found...

Aha. So, you've interpreted it slightly differently. That's what I like to see.. May I ask, why "For those whom you have wronged" ?

Well, I tried reading all 9 pages of this thread to see if I could learn anything, but a lot of it is off-topic or argument, so I probably missed some things. I'll just post my translation, and anyone who wants to comment shall do so... and anyone who thinks I'm just nitpicking or wasting time can save their fingers some effort -- I'm well aware that it may all be a big waste of time 道沖而用之有弗盈也 The Way flows, never empty never full, 淵呵佁萬物之宗 Boundless! as ancestor of all things, 銼亓兌 Blunting edges, 解亓芬 Releasing fragrances, 和亓光 Softening light, 同亓塵 One with the dust, 湛呵佁或存 Deep! it seems to be, 吾不知亓誰之子也 I know not whose child it is, 象帝之先 Preceding even Ganesha OK, that last line is a joke. Though the final meaning ends up essentially the same, it would be nice to know for sure: Did they mean "God", "the gods“, "the ancestor", "the Emperor"...? edit: for anyone who doesn't get my side-splitter, 象 means elephant as well as like, hence elephant god/Ganesha

That's good! As has been suggested elsewhere, perhaps we're overthinking things.. but I do tend to enjoy overthinking things