{"id":12581,"date":"2020-08-22T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T17:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=12581"},"modified":"2021-08-22T07:56:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T11:56:21","slug":"principle-and-action-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=12581","title":{"rendered":"Principle and Action 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

← Chapter 4<\/a> Chapter 5→<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter 5<\/h2>\n

\nThe Universal [Heaven and Earth] is not humane [compassionate]
\nAll things (products) use them as means
\nTrue Men are not humane (jen<\/em>)
\nBeings use them as means
\n(Like) emptiness between Heaven and Earth [in its Virtue]
\nThe Principle is like a bellows
\nIt is emptied yet unexhausted
\nEven if creating inexhaustibly with its motion
\n(Thus) it is vain to multiply words and projects (in the care for individuals)
\nKeeping in the middle is the best.\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the word translated as \u201cmeans\u201d (second and fourth lines) is literally \u201cstraw dogs\u201d (ch\u2019a kou<\/em>), likenesses fabricated in ancient China for certain rites and then abandoned, thrown away. It wants to express that the Absolute considers individuals only as a universal function, i.e., as a function of that which transcends them, for every other verse, that is for what are simple ephemeral apparitions in the current of forms, the Principle not taking care of them (non-humanizing), against the religious conception of Providence and the God of Love.<\/p>\n

Since he reproduces in himself the detached quality of the Principle, the True Man likewise ignores human concern, even as the Confucian jen<\/em> (sympathy, sociality), from some Taoist comments called the \u201csmall virtue\u201d or the \u201clower virtue\u201d. In the last two lines, in word and action in view of the particular as such, the action from the \u201ccenter\u201d is counterposed, that is to say, from a neutrality free from preferences and sentimentality, in view not of part, but of the whole, of the Universal. It makes the virtue of the Tao from the model, which even if producing inexhaustibly remains \u201cempty\u201d (image of the bellows), that is, pure simple, \u201cfree from the I\u201d. See Chuang Tzu (V,2) who says, referring to Wang t\u2019ai, whose influences \u201cderive from its transcendence\u201d: Reaching perfect impassability \u201clf beings evolve according to their destinies and maintains himself as the immobile center of all fates\u201d (as in another passage, II, e, it is said, of the Principle: \u201cThe immobile center of a circle on the circumference of which run all contingencies, distinctions, and individuals\u201d since \u201cthere are two ways to consider beings, as distinct individuals or as all in a great whole\u201d. It is the imperturbability of a spirit that, \u201chigher than heaven, earth, and all beings, lives in a body. Absolutely independent, he is lord of men\u201d.<\/p>\n

There are those who have wanted to see the reflection of a cold Machiavellianism without scruples in the ideas just expressed. Also the descent down to the political plane that could be right only if the reference point was a powerful individual\u2019s will to dominate, that is, the intensification of a particular I who, on the contrary, is the first thing that True Men destroy in themselves.<\/p>\n

About the last line, we read also in the Chung Yung: \u201cTo maintain the middle path is perfection, but there are very few in the world who can keep it\u201d. That is to say, the metaphysical meaning is opposed to that of moderation, of the practical \u201cgolden mean\u201d. About the noted relativity of the divergence of the views of Las Tzu and Confucius, we can cite, still in the same context, the following passage of the latter: \u201cWho rules according to the virtue of Heaven resembles the polar star: it is immobile, but all revolve orderly around it\u201d (Lun you<\/em>, II, 1 [Analects]).<\/p>\n

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

Chapter 5 (\u7b2c\u4e94\u7ae0)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

\u5929\u5730\u4e0d\u4ec1
\n\u4ee5\u842c\u7269\u70ba\u82bb\u72d7\uff1b
\n\u8056\u4eba\u4e0d\u4ec1\uff0c
\n\u4ee5\u767e\u59d3\u70ba\u82bb\u72d7\u3002
\n\u5929\u5730\u4e4b\u9592\u5176\u7336\u6a50\u7c65\u4e4e\uff1f
\n\u865b\u800c\u4e0d\u5c48\uff0c
\n\u52d5\u800c\u6108\u51fa\u3002
\n\u591a\u8a00\u6578\u7aae\uff0c
\n\u4e0d\u5982\u5b88\u4e2d\u3002
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n

\n
\n

\nThe sky and the earth do not care,
\n They regard the myriad things as straw dogs;
\nThe sage does not care,
\n He regards people as straw dogs.
\nThe space between the sky and the earth, how much is it like large bellows!
\n Empty but endless,
\n Just move and wind will be produced;
\n Much talk soon comes to nothing.
\n It is better to be in between extremes.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since he reproduces in himself the detached quality of the Principle, the True Man likewise ignores human concern. Action from the \u201ccenter\u201d is counterposed from a neutrality free from preferences and sentimentality, in view not of part, but of the whole, of the Universal. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":14424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12581","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\/12581","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=12581"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14715,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12581\/revisions\/14715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}