Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Hua Hu Ching - Verse 76

Verse Seventy-Six
Who can save the world? Perhaps one who devotedly follows these teachings, who calms her mind, who ignores all divergence, who develops a high awareness of the subtle truths, who merges her virtue with the universal virtue and extends it to the world without expectation of reward. She will indeed be the savior of the world.
~ Translated by Brian Walker ~
Up until this verse, I have taken one or more themes from verses of the HHC and simply expanded on them as a manner of affirmation. In this case, however, I disagree with the messages contained in this verse and I will tell you why.

For starters, I don't necessarily agree that the world needs saving! It's not that I'm suggesting that our society and planet don't need it, it's more that the entirety of life is in no danger and, thus, there is nothing to save it from.

Whether or not life continues on this one orb into perpetuity is not the big question for me. As we learn by observing nature, all things eventually die and are reborn. So, at some point in the distant future -- several current scientific theories appear to bear this out -- our planet will cease to support life. Unless there is a way to suspend basic physics, there's nothing anyone could do to forestall this inevitability.

My second bone of contention is that we don't need a savior for all. The most that any of us can expect is to save ourselves (and save isn't the word I would choose, in the first place). Nobody can impart wisdom to us; it is something we must discover for ourselves.

This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.

5 comments:

  1. What you have done though is become exactly the person it says you should ;D

    "who develops a high awareness of the subtle truths"

    Saved you are.

    No hell or anguish for someone who sees the way you do ;)

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  2. yep i agree with you. i would agree with the verse if the term was "improve" the world as opposed to "save" the world. perhaps we need some light shed on the chinese terms...

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  3. Seems to me, this "saving" is what was meant in Verse 53, where you commented:
    Such a(n enlightened) person innately feels the pain in this world and tries to alleviate as much of it as they can.

    A bodhisattva thing.

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  4. Via your three comments, I suppose this verse tips on how one defines the word "save".

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  5. Perhaps is about tranquility, peace, in our present time... and there's no conflicts when our minds are balanced; a fragmented mind create division and then chaos and destruction to our 'future current' life.

    After all we won't live forever and life an death are unstoppable cicles. Hmm... maybe is about 'saving' our present not wasting it with obtuse ideas like all those '-isms' and everything related.

    Hmm... grr... I sounded like banker hahaha :S

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