Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wen Tzu - Verse 147

from Verse One Hundred Forty-Seven
The reason for the extreme subtlety of the Way cannot be taught by parents to their children, and cannot be learned by children from their parents. Therefore a way that can be articulated is not an eternal way, and names that can be designated are not constant names.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
There is nothing I can teach you and nothing you can teach me. We can each learn somewhat by example, but genuinely to learn something comes from inside each of us.

I can show you how to bake a cake, but you won't really know how to do it until you bake one yourself. Your parents can tell you all about parenting, but until you have a child of your own, their instructions are nothing more than empty words with no real meaning.

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

2 comments:

  1. But sometimes a recipe is useful, and I knew my son had scarlet fever by reading Dr. Spock...a shifu is good for qigong and a Taoist classic points to something.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Certainly! A recipe can help us get started, but until we actually experience it for ourselves, it's just words.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want. We may respond...or we may not. It depends on the mood and preferences of the specific author of the post. Ta-Wan generally responds in a timely manner. Trey responds some of the time and Scott rarely replies (due to limited internet access). You can be assured that all comments are read by this blog's two administrators: Ta-Wan & Trey.