ChiDragon

To translate these terms, one must have the cultural background of understanding. 天子 : son of sky(heaven); emperor To an English speaker properly would translated as "the son of heaven". To a native speaker would be understood as "the son of the sky", Of course, this would sound awkward to an English speaker. The idea is more important than what is called. The direct translation of 天子 is the son of heaven(sky). The actual implication was directed to the emperor. In the ancient Chinese thinking, earth was ruled by the sky(heaven). The emperor rules on earth, therefore, the emperor was sent down from heaven(sky) to rule on earth. 天師: Astrologer 天命: Fate; destiny 天問: Ask the sky(heaven); question to the sky 天地: Sky and earth; universe 理天: Principle of Sky(Heaven); Absolute reality 氣天: Spiritual world 象天: Material world

Yes, I grok your quale. I see that you learn fast in using the words. To tell you the truth, these English translations had missed the whole point of what TTC was advocating. The first time I saw the term 無为(Wu Wei), the translation was "non-action", "non-doing." The interpretation was do nothing to accomplish something. I saw the English speakers accepted it for granted. Even the natives didn't understand the term and thought do nothing was correct. I had done an investigation to find out the actual meaning of Wu Wei means "let nature take its course, do not interrupt the course of nature."

天 is sky not heaven. 地 is earth. PS What is the TTC all about?

People should understand the whole book before do the translation. You don't just jump into one chapter and translate each character. I would link all thoughts of all the chapters in my meditation! Thank you for your suggestion! Peace!

Something new that one understand. Why not learn it and add them into your memory? Why run away from it? A translation must be done as close as possible. It should not be done to please everyone. I am not making a book for sale. BTW The cultivation of mind is to increase and obtain more knowledge. Learn to accept things as they are rather than change them and move forward. There are lot of new things are coming in the future. Are we going to avoid them? Don't you think we should have some mental updates to do?

It wasn't a challenge. Loatze was only suggesting how to observe Tao objectively. Special note: We must observe the rule of Wu Wei. Loatze advocated everything to be conducted objectively. It is the principle of TTC.

Thank you for your thought! Good idea, but Tao is observable at this time, therefore there is no need to grok now.

Okay! I respect your thinking. How about for those who do not the desire but still see the mystery? Therefore, with or without desire, one will still see the mystery anyway.

Yes! You may appreciate this translation. However, the logic does hold here in describing the presence of Tao. Whose desire? Desire for what? Do we need a great deal of desire to see the mystery of what?

3. 無，名天地之始。 4. 有，名萬物之母。 5. 故常無，欲以觀其妙。 6. 常有，欲以觀其徼。 3. Invisible, was a name given to Tao at the origin of sky and earth.4. Visible, was a name given to Tao as the mother of all things.5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok its quale.6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe its boundary. Actually, line 3 and 4, '有' and '無' was treated as a noun. Most Chinese characters have a sound and meaning. Laotze was killing two birds with one stone. The these two characters was used to name Tao. It also with an implication of what state that Tao was in. Lines 5 and 6 '有' and '無' as adjectives. 常無: always not there, it didn't imply it doesn't exist. 常有: always there

Thank you for your attention. Let's me try another example.

Don't you think that the TTC is what it is?

I would like to hear from you. How you rephrase these two lines and include Tao in your thought? 5. Hence, when Tao is always invisible, one would grok its quale.6. When Tao is always visible, one would observe its boundary.

Oh, yes. Especially in classic. For example: Chapter 71 1. 知不知, 2. 尚矣； 3. 不知知， 4. 病也。 5. 聖人不病， 6. 以其病病。 7. 夫唯病病， 8. 是以不病。 1. One who knows what he doesn't know. 2. Is the best. 3. One who doesn't know but thinks he knows. 4. It's a sickness. 5. A wise man has no sickness. 6. He treated sickness as a sickness. 7. Because he knows his sickness as a sickness. 8. Hence, he has no sickness.

In terse English: 1. A thing was formed. I think this is the best fit for the translation. It is also in the Chinese classic format. Besides, Tao was not formed by chaos.

Never mind. Go do your thing.

That is what it says: Orbiting but not stopping implicating it is eternal.

means blend

I revised see if it make any sense to you.

Yes, line 1 did has an implication of that. Chapter 25 Invisible Tao 1. 有物混成 1. Tao was formed with things blended together.(is) 1. There was a thing formed by chaos; (was)

Haha...That was meant for you!

Yes, I know exactly what you meant. It is better to go to the capitol to do the Big Bang.

How about this one? Let's do it without 'chaos'.

For non-natives or natives too. perhaps.