{"id":11837,"date":"2020-03-27T20:34:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T00:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=11837"},"modified":"2021-03-27T00:09:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-27T04:09:43","slug":"principle-and-action-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=11837","title":{"rendered":"Principle and Action 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 2<\/a>   Chapter 4<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter 3<\/h2>\n

\nBy esteeming in excess
\nConflict is provoked [in reaction]
\nEmphasizing what is rare to possess
\nCreates guilty desire for appropriation
\nIt weakens that which, in things, attracts
\nAnd the soul will remain calm
\nThus: the True Man acting as leader
\nMoves without preference and appetites
\nHe weakens his impulses [the man of desire, the physical I], tempers his inner being [his bones]
\nWithout a [exterior] knowing and without desires the guides the ten thousand beings
\nHe confuses those who know
\nHe avoids acting [centered in the Self]
\nAnd society will always live free in its order\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Commentary<\/h2>\n

Some translators have rendered the line \u201cthe sheng jen<\/em> without knowing or desiring to guide the people\u201d with \u201cthe sheng jen<\/em> ensures that the people have neither knowledge nor will\u201d. In order to ignore the symbolic valence of the respective characters, in a modern Chinese translation the \u201cwithout preference or appetites\u201d then becomes \u201cthe real man empties his heart and fills his belly\u201d!!! Along the same line, there are among sinologists those who have even interpreted the rule contained in these lines as \u201cstupefying the people\u201d (the 10 thousand beings) on the one hand and, on the other, as \u201crepressing the most nobly human in heart and will (hsin<\/em> e chih<\/em>) and coaxing instead the most vulgarly bestial part — belly and bones (fu<\/em> e ku<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n

The internal logic of the whole chapter corroborates instead the lesson here adopted. Non-knowing and non-desiring (in the sense of discursive knowing and the desiring of the individual) are the traits repeatedly attributed to the True Man of the Tao Te Ching<\/em> which in him are virtues insofar as they would be the opposite in laymen and the common people, that is, insofar as they would be unattainable (if taken in the positive sense, as virtue).<\/p>\n

In other chapters it is said, yes to the utility of keeping the people in ignorance that safeguards their original simplicity (something different from \u201cstupefying\u201d). But for now, it alludes instead to a propitiatory desaturation of size and a distancing of tensions and disordered appetites (first lines of the chapter). As was said, one thinks that with his sole presence the True Man acts in such a direction over the environment, nurturing an ordered spontaneity in social life.<\/p>\n

Chinese text and literal translation<\/h2>\n

Chapter 3 (\u7b2c\u4e09\u7ae0)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

\u4e0d\u5c19\u8ce2\uff0c
\n\u4f7f\u6c11\u4e0d\u722d\u3002
\n\u4e0d\u8cb4\u96e3\u5f97\u4e4b\u8ca8\uff0c
\n\u4f7f\u6c11\u4e0d\u7232\u76dc\u3002
\n\u4e0d\u898b\u53ef\u6b32\uff0c
\n\u4f7f\u6c11\u5fc3\u4e0d\u4e82\u3002
\n\u662f\u4ee5\u8056\u4eba\u4e4b\u6cbb\uff0c
\n\u865b\u5176\u5fc3\uff0c
\n\u5be6\u5176\u8179\uff0c
\n\u5f31\u5176\u5fd7\uff0c
\n\u5f37\u5176\u9aa8\u3002
\n\u5e38\u4f7f\u6c11\u7121\u77e5\u7121\u6b32\uff0c
\n\u4f7f\u592b\u667a\u8005\u4e0d\u6562\u70ba\u4e5f\u3002
\n\u70ba\u7121\u70ba\uff0c
\n\u5247\u7121\u4e0d\u6cbb\u3002<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\n
\n

Not to quest for wealth
\n will keep the people from rivalry.
\nNot to prize things that are hard to come by
\n will keep the people from becoming thieves.
\nNot to manifest what you like and desire
\n will make popular sentiments undisturbed.
\nSo, in the sages’ peaceful and tranquil world,
\n    People’s state of mind is calm,
\n    People live with enough food
\n    People’s aspirations are lowered,
\n    People’s physiques are strong;
\nPeople will be unknowing, undesiring,
\n And even the knowing ones will never dare to act,
\n Action without action.
\n There is nothing not done.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internal logic corroborates instead the lesson here adopted. Non-knowing and non-desiring (in the sense of discursive knowing and the desiring of the individual) are the traits repeatedly attributed to the True Man of the Tao Te Ching<\/em> which in him are virtues insofar as they would be the opposite in laymen and the common people Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":12826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tao-te-ching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11837"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14188,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions\/14188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}