[DDJ Meaning] Chapter 48

[dawei]

David Hinton 2002

48
To work at learning brings more each day.
To work at Way brings less each day,
less and still less
until you're doing nothing yourself.
And when you're doing nothing yourself, there's nothing you don't do.
To grasp all beneath heaven, leave it alone.
Leave it alone, that's all,
and nothing in all beneath heaven will elude you.
 

Chad Hansen 2009

48
In deem-acting on 'study' one daily increases. 
In deem-acting on 'the guide ' one daily decreases. 
Decrease it and further decrease it. 
In order to arrive at no deem-acting. 
No deem-acting and nothing not deem-acted. 
Taking the social world , you treat relying on lacking social acts as constant. 
When it comes to engaging in social acts, 
it is not sufficient for taking the social world.

Moss Roberts 2001

48
To pursue learning, learn more day by day;
To pursue the Way, unlearn it day by day:
Unlearn and then unlearn again
Until there is nothing left to pursue:
No end pursued, no end ungained.
Whoever means to win this world below
Never undertakes that task:
Whoever does make that his task
Is not fit to win this world below.
 

Lok Sang Ho 2002

48
The more we learn,
The more things are plowed into our minds;
The more we follow the Dao,
The more things are taken out of our minds.
As we take more and more things out of our mind,
We finally arrive at the state of losing the sense of contriving and action.
At that point we be in the state of non-action.
At that point all actions will be done in the state of non-action.83
To win the hearts of all under heaven,
We must always leave people alone.84
If we do not leave them alone,
We will not win their adherence.  

 

Gu Zhengku 1993

48
He who seeks learning must increase his knowledge every day;
He who seeks the Tao must reduce his knowledge every day;
He reduces and reduces until he reaches the state of inaction.
When reaching the state of inaction, one can succeeds in everything.
To govern the world well, one must take inaction as the principle.
If one governs with too much action, one is not a worthy governor.

Lin Yutang 1948

48 
The student of knowledge (aims at) learning day by day; 
The student of Tao (aims at) losing day by day. 
   By continual losing 
   One reaches doing nothing (laissez-faire). 
He who conquers the world often does so by doing nothing. 
When one is compelled to do something, 
The world is already beyond his conquering.

 

Flowing Hands 1987

48
Man's great intelligence is acquired by his ability to learn.
In following the Dao, everyday he must stop learning, and
give up whatever he has been taught, until his mind is open and yielding.
And so, his heart will also be.
When he becomes full and likened to the Dao,
he becomes in tune with the Ten Thousand Things.
For they are all nearer to the Dao than man.
When man goes back to his natural ways,
he will also be in tune with the Dao.
By doing nothing the World is ruled; everything is left to find its own path.
 

[Marblehead]

I would like to point out that my understanding regarding learning:

 

I believe we are talking about knowledge for contriving.  That is, knowledge for forcing things.

 

Unlearning then is the removal of thoughts and the knowledge of contrived action.

 

Eventually we will attain a mental state such that we function within the processes of Dao.

 

And this would be the path of least resistance.  The path of the natural flow of the universe.

 

As such we are taking no contrived action.  We are in accord with the natural flow - in accord with Dao.

 

[dawei]

On 9/7/2018 at 5:47 AM, Marblehead said:

I would like to point out that my understanding regarding learning:

 

I believe we are talking about knowledge for contriving.  That is, knowledge for forcing things.

 

To expand on this, I think there can be 'understanding regarding learning' that does not get in the way of an open heart.   I think the main issue is learning that gets in the way of an open heart.   So these are not always adversarial but they can easily become so without an open heart.   I call this an unboundaried heart.  

 

This may also be similar to the Three states of Zen (Mountains are Mountains; Mountains are not Mountains; Mountains are Mountains) where the last state once again sees Mountains as Mountains, but now Mountains are 'understood' (or perceived) as not something that gets in the way of an open (or opening of a) heart.

 

[OldDog]

I have long thought that the purpose of an education was not to teach you facts but to teach you how to think. But the manner in which we are typically taught to think may not be applicable to all ends. It did not occur to me until much later in life that there may be other kinds of learning that are just as useful ... perhaps more so ... as what we are taught in our institutionalized education system. 

 

Perhaps this is what this chapter is trying to convey. Its not what we know that needs to be undone but way we are taught to think. 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2018 by OldDog
Grammar

[Marblehead]

Yeah, we are taught to be puppets of the establishment.  We need to learn to think for our self.

 

[dawei]

9 minutes ago, OldDog said:

I have long thought that the purpose of an education was not to teach you facts but to teach you how to think. But the manner in which we are typically taught to think may not be able to applicable to all ends. It did not occur to me until much later in life that there may be other kinds of learning that are just as useful ... perhaps more so ... as what we are taught in our institutionalized education system. 

 

Perhaps this is what this chapter is trying to convey. Its not what we know that needs to be undone but way we are taught to think. 

 

Education should open the mind, not close it... ergo, in today's examples... the universities are failing this basic principle. 

[OldDog]

Taking the lead from Flowing Hands ...

 

To follow the Dao, everyday we must stop thinking, and

give up how we have been taught to think, 

until the mind is open and yielding.

And so, the heart will also be.

 

Only then can we learn to be in accord with Dao and our actions will be appropriate.

 

[OldDog]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:56 PM, dawei said:

 

Education should open the mind, not close it... ergo, in today's examples... the universities are failing this basic principle. 

 

OK, tried to ignore this since it takes a turn down a political road but can't get it outa my head. Had not thought much about education until I ran into Jonathan Haidt a social psychologist that has a pretty well formed take on what's wrong politically and education is a fair piece of it. Basically it comes down to a shift from seeking truth to seeking social justice. For the full discussion ...

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EqUtgFBWezE

 

Not trying to spark a full blown political argument ... that belongs elsewhere ... just sayin.

[Marblehead]

5 hours ago, OldDog said:

Basically it comes down to a shift from seeking truth to seeking social justice.

This is important.  Social justice at the cost of individual justice.  We just saw that in Washington.  And the educational system in the USA is teaching social justice at the cost of individual justice.  No better than Communism.

 

[Rara]

May I ask - are we learning to unlearn?

 

To the untrained eye, the words in this chapter could always be misunderstood as laziness, which is also a common misconception of wu wei.

 

I learn taiji, so of course, learning will always be involved. The terms "just be", or to simply "relax", require practice. Sometimes in training I have to be told to relax more when I already thought I was.

 

An interesting paradox.

[Sketch]

 

• Verse Forty Eight

 

In the pursuit of knowledge,

Learning something new every day is beneficial.

 

Following the pathway,

Every day you give something up.

Give up everything that you can lose;

Then there is nothing to do.

 

The world is moving under it’s own power;

The only mastery is to go with 

What’s unfolding under the sky.

 

You and I do not have the power to change 

The weather.