Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;Have you ever been in a noisy, crowded room and tried to have a conversation with the person next to you? It often can be quite difficult to differentiate what your friend is saying from all the other nearby conversations. In fact, at times, all you hear is a disjointed cacophony of sound!
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
The five tones deafen the ear.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
The five sounds make one deaf in the ears
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
Noise deafens.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
As with the previous line, sensory overload can be a vexing problem in modern-day society. We have so much information streaming in that it can be next too impossible to digest it all. It is no wonder that so many people spend their lives bouncing from one confused state to the next.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
Having been interrupted all day yesterday by incessant political phone calls, I can certainly say I am deaf to the campaigning.
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I like to also take another meaning from this chapter, one where if you restrict your mind to 2 shades, 5 colours, 5 sounds, 3 tastes, right and wrong, wet and dry then you'll miss the real magic that is unlimited by concept.
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