He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.When you consider the entirety of this verse, the last line sums it up well. If we ever hope to make use of the vital essence of Tao, we must come to understand the value of letting go. And what is it that we must let go of? Desire. Biases. Prejudice. Self-importance. Vain attempts to impose our will.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
He lets go of that and chooses this.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
That is why they discard the other and take this
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
but keeps focused on what's real.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
It is because we steadfastly refuse to let go of these things that we suffer.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
So the issue is, "HOW does one accomplish this?" It is not as easy as a simple act of will or assertion. Or maybe it is?
ReplyDeleteMany people regard this whole verse as suggesting meditation. It is also quite related to the Chuang Tzu chapter (7, I think) you discussed earlier.