[TTC Study] Chapter 34 of the Tao Teh Ching

[Marblehead]

Chapter 34

 

John Wu

 

The Great Tao is universal like a flood.

How can it be turned to the right or to the left?

All creatures depend on it,

And it denies nothing to anyone.

It does its work,

But it makes no claims for itself.

It clothes and feeds all,

But it does not lord it over them:

Thus, it may be called "the Little."

All things return to it as to their home,

But it does not lord it over them:

Thus, it may be called "the Great."

It is just because it does not wish to be great

That its greatness is fully realized.

 

 

English/Feng

 

The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right.

The ten thousand things depend upon it; it holds nothing back.

It fulfills its purpose silently and makes no claim.

It nourishes the ten thousand things,

And yet is not their lord.

It has no aim; it is very small.

The ten thousand things return to it,

Yet it is not their lord.

It is very great.

It does not show greatness,

And is therefore truly great.

 

 

Robert Henricks

 

 

The Way floats and drifts;

It can go left or right.

It accomplishes its tasks and completes its affairs, and yet for this it is not given a name.

The ten thousand things entrust their lives to it, and yet it does not act as their master.

Thus it is constantly without desires.

It can be named with the things that are small.

The ten thousand things entrust their lives to it, and yet it does not act as their master.

It can be named with the things that are great.

Therefore the Sage's ability to accomplish the great

Comes from his not playing the role of the great.

Therefore he is able to accomplish the great.

 

 

 

Questions? Comments?

[manitou]

Wow. There are a few things in here to talk about.

 

First, as a point of comparison, Wu's first two lines suggest that the Tao can't be turned left or right. This suggests to me that the Tao can't be manipulated. I like that translation. The other translations emphasize the complete totality of where the Tao runs, but leaves out the manipulation angle. Kind of interesting.

 

When the work of the Tao is completed it does not take possession. I guess the Sage is not a braggard either. When we function as vessels of the Tao, where's the need for the attaboy? It's only the ego that needs that. It reminds me of the old book 'The Magnificent Obsession', written by (I just can't remember at this moment). The point of the book was that a man needed to turn his heart around, and he did it by doing wonderful things for people every day that they would never find out about. This obsession grew and grew, to the point where it became Awareness at some level. It was a wonderful story. By not massaging his ego, his true worth came to the forefront.

 

In Lin Yutang's translation, he uses the phrase "It clothes and feeds the myriad things, Yet does not claim them as its own." This also reminds me of my old Christian days and the words of Jesus (who in my mind was probably a magnificent shaman) when he talked about how we shouldn't worry so much about tomorrow because even the sparrows are fed, or something like that. He kind of talked about living in the moment, realizing the Now, that seems to have gotten lost in the current day preachings (or at least the ones around here). Didn't he say something like this day having sufficient things to worry about; don't pile tomorrow on as well.

 

The Tao is in the lowliest of places, it is a ravine for everything. It is the junction box where things take their rise and their fall, over and over again. This apparently is The Secret. To bring this to a personal level, this again is all about Ego. 'Because it does not claim greatness, its greatness is achieved.' (Yutang)

 

But what all these people are saying, whether Tao or not, is TRUST THE UNIVERSE! This is the very state of wu-wei, the very alignment of our awareness with the moment; the Actual passage of earth's time, involving the sun and shadows, as opposed to the time that races around in our minds, which projects out the very worst scenario for tomorrow and then gets into a big snit about it.

[Mr. T]

it is odd how only one of the three translations put right in front of left, instead of "left and right". i remember hearing once that there is a difference in the perception of left and right between the east (namely china) and the west. any creedance to this? does it even have any bearing on the chapter?! cause i agree that it seems as though it's simply saying that the tao can't be manipulated...although the use of the device of right and left is interesting.

 

it just stuck out to me, that's all. see ya'll

[Marblehead]

I'm not going to respond to either of Y'all's posts. Hehehe. I want others to take part in this too. Pretty please?

 

I have a comment though.

 

I found it interesting that Henricks makes the transition from talking about the Dao and then the last three lines refer to the Sage. Wayne Wang does the same with his last two lines reading:

 

This is also the way the Sage accomplishes his greatness.

He never shows his greatness, so he can accomplish his greatness.

 

Of course, both these translators use the older Mawangdui texts whereas the others most likely used the Wang Bi version.

[manitou]

But it seems to make sense. The sage is the personification of the Tao.

[Marblehead]

But it seems to make sense. The sage is the personification of the Tao.

 

Yep. And it also shows the interconnection of man with Dao.

[Eric23]

The first thing that popped into my mind when reading this chapter is the difference between Tao and the prevalent western concept of God up in heaven manipulating the earth and earthlings like puppets. Tao is not "up there" somewhere; this chapter speaks of it being right here, right now.

[Marblehead]

The first thing that popped into my mind when reading this chapter is the difference between Tao and the prevalent western concept of God up in heaven manipulating the earth and earthlings like puppets. Tao is not "up there" somewhere; this chapter speaks of it being right here, right now.

 

Nice observation Eric. Thanks for joining in the discussion.