Lao Tzu for Everyone
Students, Scholars,
& Seekers
Peter Gilboy, Ph.D.
regarding the characters
used in this translation.
Lesson 45
Inner-sight
清qīng
(氵=水water + 青natural colors)
clear, pure, peaceful
Interlinear
Line 1
The greatest achievement
seems lacking, and yet,
it's usefulness will never end.
大dà 成chéng 若ruò 缺quē
great complete seem lack
丌jī 用yòng 不bù ▲幣bì (敝bì)
(pron.) use not currency/present wear out
Greatest completions
seems lacking,
its use cannot be exhausted.
Reason has a boundary beyond which it cannot go. Nevertheless, reason is vain. It has solved so many of our problems and advanced so many lives and even whole civilizations that it may be shocked to learn that it is limited. It is certainly a shock to consider that no great work of art was ever brought into existence by reason; and that no great insight was a result of meticulous reasoning.
. . . . . .
Line 2
Great fullness
seems empty,
and yet use it,
and never run out.
大dà 盈yíng 若ruò (▲𥁵) 沖chōng
great full seem empty empty
丌jī 用yòng 不bù ?𡩫 窮qióng
(pron.) use not ? poor/destitute
Great fullness seems empty.
Its use, you will never be poor.
In our frustration over a paradox, we might finally, and humbly, pause our reason, and leave a space for something else to arrive. What is this “something else”?
. . . . . .
Line 3
Great straightness
seems to be bent.
大dà 直zhí 如rú 詘qī
eat straight like bend/crouch
Great straightness
seems bent.
In other lessons Lao Tzu uses the characters 自zì 然rán**, literally "self-thus, or “self-so-ness,” to describe a profound internal awareness, an understanding that is not born of reason. An insight is, quite literally, an “inner-sight.” Perhaps this is best expressed in the wisdom writing known as the Diamond Sutra: “Out of nowhere the mind comes forth.”**
________
*See also Lessons 17, 23, 25, 51, and 64, and the related uses of the character 自zì, “self” in Lessons 33, 38, and 57.
** The Diamond Sutra is of East Indian origin, and dates from somewhere between the 2nd and 5th centuries. Originally in Sanskrit, and later translated into Chinese, it proports to be a dialogue between the Buddha and a seeker of wisdom. The insights of Buddhism and Taoism later came to be realized in what we know in the West as Zen Buddhism.
. . . . .
Line 4
The greatest mastery
seems inept.
大dà 巧qiǎo 如rú 拙zhuō
great skill seem/like clumsy
Great skill is
like clumsiness
In frustration over a paradox we may quickly skip over it and move on to the next line or lesson. We may dismiss Lao Tzu's words as simply absurd or, perhaps less kindly, we may announce to ourselves that he is off his rocker.
. . . . . .
Line 5
The greatest surplus
seems lacking.
大dà 贏yíng 如rú 絀chù
great overflow/exceed seem/like stitch/insufficient
Great overflowing
seems wanting.
To dismiss Lao Tzu's words as nonsensical would be to invert the student-teacher relationship, making us now the teacher of Lao Tzu rather than a student who has come to learn from him. It would be to presume that we are better positioned to evaluate his lesson than he is. It would be to invoke reason rather than wait for an insight. It would be to not heed the final line of this lesson.
______
Note: For this line, the Wang Bi edition reads:
大dà 辯 biàn 若 ruò 訥 né
great discuss like stammer
. . . . . .
Line 6
Just as activity
overcomes cold
and quiet
overcomes heat,
so too,
with purity and serenity
become an exemplar
to the world.
趮zào 勝shèng 寒hán 靚liàng 勝shèng 炅jiǒng
move victory cold quiet/ornament victory radiant
▲ 請qǐng (清qīng) 靚liàng
ask clear/pure quiet/pretty
可kě 以yǐ 爲wéi 天tiān 下xià 正zhēng
able use become heaven under upright/proper
Moving is victorious over cold.
Quiet is victorious over radiance.
Clear and quiet, be able
to be the world’s upstanding.
. . . . . .