{"id":17411,"date":"2025-05-06T08:30:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T12:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=17411"},"modified":"2025-05-07T13:21:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T17:21:34","slug":"principle-and-action-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=17411","title":{"rendered":"Principle and Action 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2190 Chapter 22<\/a><\/p>\n

Chapter 23<\/h2>\n

Speak little and act like nature
\nA violent wind does not blow all morning
\nA sudden downpour does not last all day
\nThis impermanence is proper to nature itself [= to Heaven-and-Earth]
\nIf even nature does not have the power to persist (in extreme actions)
\nMan still less can do so
\nTherefore: in life, imitate (by non-acting) the Principle
\nTo become one with the Principle
\nImitate (by acting) its Virtue (t\u00ea<\/em>) to become one with it
\nAbandon yourself to transformations to realize in yourself its power
\nBy aligning with the Principle, partake of it
\nBy aligning with the Virtue, partake of it
\nBy aligning with transformations, partake of them
\n(But in most) this inner security is lacking, hence incomplete trust.<\/p>\n

Commentary<\/h2>\n

The True Man aligns himself with the Principle and reproduces it in its dual nature: non-acting (the Tao in the proper sense) and acting (the Virtue of the Tao). The latter, as is known, operates in perpetual transformation. Thus, in all that is external, the True Man does not stiffen nor resist the instability that even Heaven-and-Earth, especially in its extreme manifestations, reveals to him; he follows the course of the transformations of forms, the immutable not being something to grasp or realize on this plane.<\/p>\n

However, such a path requires inner security, something like intrepidity or \u201cmetaphysical trust\u201d (in the Way): the art of an active letting-go, like one who abandons himself to the play of the waves without being submerged. This, indeed, is for the few (final line).<\/p>\n

In the tenth and thirteenth lines, the character shih<\/em>, rendered as \u201ctransformation,\u201d more commonly means \u201cdefect\u201d (\u201ctransformation\u201d would properly be i<\/em>). The literal translation would therefore be: \u201cto unite with the defect (shih<\/em>) in order to partake of it (or enjoy it).\u201d With \u201ctransformation\u201d (referring to the instability and changes discussed at the beginning and which are the mode of the Way) instead of \u201cdefect,\u201d the meaning of the two lines aligns well with the rest. However, if one retains the literal meaning, the phrase could once again point to the principle of being whole within the fragment and of one’s own nature: uniting with the defect is equivalent to embracing what exists within the limiting conditions of the formal state; through this alignment, excluding arbitrariness and the mania of the “I”, one is in the Way.<\/p>\n

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

Chapter 23 (\u7b2c\u4e8c\u5341\u4e09\u7ae0)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u5e0c\u8a00\u81ea\u7136\u3002
\n\u6545\u98c4\u98a8\u4e0d\u7d42\u671d\uff0c
\n\u9a5f\u96e8\u4e0d\u7d42\u65e5\u3002
\n\u5b70\u70ba\u6b64\u8005\uff1f
\n\u5929\u5730\u5c1a\u4e0d\u80fd\u4e45\uff0c
\n\u800c\u6cc1\u65bc\u4eba\u4e4e\uff1f
\n\u6545\u5f9e\u4e8b\u65bc\u9053\u8005\uff0c
\n\u9053\u8005\u540c\u65bc\u9053\uff0c
\n\u5fb7\u8005\u540c\u65bc\u5fb7\uff0c
\n\u5931\u8005\u540c\u65bc\u5931\u3002
\n\u540c\u65bc\u9053\u8005\uff0c\u9053\u4ea6\u6a02\u5f97\u4e4b\uff1b
\n\u540c\u65bc\u5fb7\u8005\uff0c\u5fb7\u4ea6\u6a02\u5f97\u4e4b\uff1b
\n\u540c\u65bc\u5931\u8005\uff0c\u5931\u4ea6\u6a02\u5f97\u4e4b\u3002
\n\u4fe1\u4e0d\u8db3\u7109\uff0c
\n\u6709\u4e0d\u4fe1\u7109\u3002<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n

Less spoken, words speak for themselves naturally.
\nTherefore gusts cannot chill the exuberant day,
\nShowers cannot turn day to dusk.
\nWhy is it so?
\nEven the heaven and earth cannot counter its own force,
\nLet alone people?
\nTherefore those engaged with the Dao take pleasure that,
\nThe Taught is the Dao,
\nThe Virtuous is the Virtue,
\nThe perplexed is perplexity.
\nAt one with the Dao, the Dao is welcoming;
\nAt one with Virtue, Virtue be appreciating;
\nAt one with perplexity, perplexity be gratifying.
\nLack of belief,
\nExplains the disbelief in this futility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2190 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Speak little and act like nature A violent wind does not blow all morning A sudden downpour does not last all day This impermanence is proper to nature itself [= to Heaven-and-Earth] If even nature does not have the power to persist (in extreme actions) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":12826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evola","category-tao-te-ching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17411","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\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17411"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17457,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17411\/revisions\/17457"}],"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=17411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}