Line by Line - Verse 1, Line 6

But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

When you want stuff, all you see are things.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

In all honesty, I view Line 5 far differently than I used to. The first few times through the Tao Te Ching I read it with far too stark of a western mentality. You know, the kind of perspective that views concepts as sharp right angles and tends to see only either/or propositions?

From that narrow viewpoint, I decided that desires were always bad and that the methodology each of us should try to attain is that of being ever desireless. But I have come to the conclusion that this line is nothing more than the first glimpse provided of yin and yang. We need to embrace both desire and desirelessness because each is derived from the other.

Besides, the manifestations of this life -- like a beautiful sunset -- are what make our lives so vibrant. Without manifestations, I wouldn't be here right now writing this post because I am one of those manifestations! So are each of you!

For me, the last two translations (and Ron Hogan's rendition to a limited extent) capture the operative point. It's not that all desire is wrong-headed, it's when desire becomes the be-all, end-all of our existence that we find ourselves in states of disharmony. It is when desire shoves desirelessness aside entirely that we find ourselves lost.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.