Chapter 20
The (discursive, reasoning) intellect is the source of sorrow
What consistency do dialectical distinctions have?
What is the difference between “good” and “evil”?
“To act like everyone else” — a norm based on fear.
No! (out of) this squalor.
People are carried away by a simple joy
A festival suffices for them
A panorama of spring which is seen from a terrace
I, instead, am anchored in the bottom of the current of sentiment
I remain serious and calm [beyond joy] like an infant who has not yet smiled
I live like this and go as if I belong to no place.
Everyone desires excess
While I am like one who possesses nothing
(I seem) ignorant, simple, without a practical spirit
Everyone lives in the light
While I am darkness
Everyone needs company
While I love only the solitary height
Indeterminable like the waters of the ocean
Like the wave I turn without pause
Everyone aspires to something
While I seem simple and incompetent
I am different from everyone
But, united to the original productive essence, only I am an I.
Chapter 21
The great Virtue which is manifested
Is only the exteriorization of the Principle
But the substance of the Principle
Is undifferentiated and unintelligible
Undifferentiated and unintelligible
It contains the seeds [the archetypes, the seminal possibilities of beings, constituting their indestructible element, their “heaven”]
Mysterious and incomprehensible
It contains existences [= beings who have passed to the formal state]
Deep and hidden
It contains essences [transformed beings — “spirits”]
As such it is the great Reality
The secure place (of all beings).
From the origin up to the present
It does not change its Name
The animating principle (of each thing) proceeds from it
What is the foundation of such knowledge?
This.
Commentary
Beings do not cease to live in the Principle and to have in it their “secure place” in the triple state:
- In the preformal state “being part of Heaven and Earth” as archetypes or seeds (logoi spermatikoi)
- In formal existence or existence in its proper and limitative sense
- As pure forms.
Coexistence of the emission, of the eternal movement where those states and the mysterious, unintelligible, unmoved Unity follow each other.
To the unknowability and the unintelligibility which would be in the same way the predicate of the Principle is contrasted, in the last lines, with the form proper to a possible knowledge of its mystery: “this”, the word refers to direct, metaphysical, and super-rational intuition (it appears again in Chapter 54). The expression tathata may be compared, which, when used with an analogous meaning in Madhyamika Buddhism, designated the content of the supreme, inexpressable experience.
Chinese text and literal translation
Chapter 20 (第二十章)
|
絕學無憂。 唯之與阿，相去幾何？ 善之與惡，相去何若？ 人之所畏，不可不畏？ 荒兮其未央哉！ 眾人熙熙， 如享太牢， 如登春臺。 我獨泊兮其未兆， 若嬰兒之未孩， 乘乘兮若無所歸。 眾人皆有餘， 而我獨若遺。 我愚人之心也哉！沌沌兮！ 俗人昭昭，我獨昏昏； 俗人察察，我獨悶悶。 忽兮其若晦， 寂兮似無所止。 眾人皆有以，我獨頑且鄙。 我獨異於人， 而貴求食於母。 |
Discard conventional doctrines and be relieved from anxieties.
Flattery or reprimand, what difference does it make? Good or evil, what difference does it take? Just because the people are at awe, you cannot be indifferent? Ridiculous! Ungrounded! When everyone is celebrating and joyous, As if relishing a spiritual triumph, As if enjoying a victorious feast. I alone am feelingless! Contemplating the myriad future, Dazed like a newborn child, Seizing the moment! Pondering the uncertainties. When everyone feels lavished, I alone am hollowed. I am a fool! Confounded! When everyone seemed enlightened, I alone am in suspense; When everyone is watchful, I alone am in confuse. Enigmatic! Like the obscure twilight, Desolate! Like the infinite universe. When everyone is focused, I alone am stubborn and despicable. I alone am different from the common, I find refuge in the womb of this profound conception. |
Chapter 21 (第二十一章)
|
孔德之容， 唯道是從。 道之為物， 惟恍惟惚。 惚兮恍其中有象； 恍兮惚其中有物。 窈兮冥兮， 其中有精； 其精甚真，其中有信。 自古及今， 其名不去， 以閱眾甫。 吾何以知眾甫之然哉？ 以此。 |
Where the greatest Virtue resides,
Only the Dao may reveal. Things that bestow the Dao, Radiates such liberty, such easiness. Eased! Liberated from its form, yet fashioned; Liberated! At ease with its position, yet poised. Mesmerizing! Mysterious! Brilliance from within; Its brilliance so enlightening, it exemplifies the truth. Traversing through all times, Its name is not diminished, Amassing all marvels of human intelligence. How do I know the essence of all marvels? By observing things that bestow the Dao. |
Please be relevant.