Pheurton Skeurto Posted December 1, 2009 Ok, it's ALL over the Internet... I've seen it in the odd book... and EVERYONE claims's it's Laozi.. but curiously, no one can identify the origin of this quote. What is your 2 cents on the matter? Â "Music in the soul can be heard by the Universe." Â Â ??????????? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted December 1, 2009 (edited) I was unable to find the exact translation but it is most likely a translation of Chapter 41, Line 16. Â Henricks' translation reads: "The Great Tone makes little sound;" Â Peace & Love! Edited December 1, 2009 by Marblehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apech Posted December 1, 2009 It doesn't sound like Lao Tsu to me and I can't find that quote in any translations I have. Also - what is it supposed to mean??????? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted December 1, 2009 I bet Marblehead is right. Translations go all over the place. One person writes a 'unique' spin on a line of DDC and others attribute it to Laozi. Â We can't even agree on how to spell his name in english!! Â Â Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pietro Posted December 1, 2009 I was unable to find the exact translation but it is most likely a translation of Chapter 41, Line 16.  Henricks' translation reads: "The Great Tone makes little sound;"  Peace & Love!  Ok, so according to Star translation (which recovers thevarious translation arounds and compares them) the line you refer to is (I think) ta yin hsian sheng  with  ta that has been translated as (great, the greatest, perfect, highest yin (music, sound, music note, tone, sound) hsi (without, void of, "soft", "rarefied") sheng ( sound/music/tone) and the last two have been translated together as is faint, hard to hear, silent, "is hushed".  How from ta yin hsi sheng we reach Music in the soul can be heard by the Universe really beats me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted December 1, 2009 How from ta yin hsi sheng we reach Music in the soul can be heard by the Universe really beats me. Â How about we just imagine Lao Tzu was trying to say that? Then we could say that 'this is what he meant. Translation and interpretation mixed together. Â (Sorry, I have no better answers. Hehehe) Â Peace & Love! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pietro Posted December 1, 2009 How about we just imagine Lao Tzu was trying to say that? Then we could say that 'this is what he meant. Translation and interpretation mixed together. Â (Sorry, I have no better answers. Hehehe) Â Peace & Love! Â I would translate it as: the sound of the big bang can't be heard! Â In fact we should retranslate the whole TTC from the point of view of modern physics. NOT quantum physics, just astronomy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted December 1, 2009 "Music in the soul can be heard by the Universe." I think this is a beautiful quote - it really speaks to me. I have no idea who said it and don't recall anything similar form Dao De Jing, but then again I'm not much of a scholar. It doesn't sound like something from Laozi. In any case, Laozi probably wasn't a historical individual anyway so i'm not too concerned with who said it... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pheurton Skeurto Posted January 15, 2010 Thanks to everyone for their input on this. However, as you can imagine, I am still not convinced that it's Laozi... or really linked to any other stuff that we've covered here. There's just too much variation for it to even be close... Â I hope that, one day, we can get a line on this one and get some more context for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voidisyinyang Posted January 15, 2010 Well Pythagoras is quoted along similar lines. Â My whole masters thesis and subsequent research is based on this concept. I discovered that yang is the Perfect 5th music ratio and yin is the Perfect 4th music ratio -- thereby joining Pythagorean philosophy with Taoist philosophy. Â The West has completely mistranslated Pythagoras -- for example we always are told Pythagoras stated: Â "all is number." But that's wrong. Â He stated: Â "All is number and harmony." Â And Harmonia was the Goddess as the Emptiness of Taoism. Â Thanks to everyone for their input on this. However, as you can imagine, I am still not convinced that it's Laozi... or really linked to any other stuff that we've covered here. There's just too much variation for it to even be close... Â I hope that, one day, we can get a line on this one and get some more context for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joeblast Posted January 15, 2010 or in music, the fundamental tone assigns the root, but the myriad combinations of harmonics are what gives that note character (i.e. timbre...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
