Those essences the truth enfoldI am a bit perplexed about this line. I personally don't see what "faith" has to do with it. Somebody help me out here.
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
This essence is very real, and therein lies faith.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Its essence is supremely real
Within it there is faith
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
(No corresponding line)
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Baroness Radon? Brandon? Lydia? Thurman? Tim? Bruce? Somebody?
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I'll hazard a reply on this:
ReplyDeleteFaith... well clearly not faith in the sense of belief. That means ideas, and Lao Tzu never praises those. No, I'd guess faith in the sense of trust, trust in what is, in the movements of the Tao, and surrendering oneself to it (by virtue of already being one with it). It is the only "true faith" because in the Tao all essences are contained, therefore all reality, truth, etc. What else besides would you want to have faith in? Not the ideas and symbols of men, or any other thing or manifestation. Only source, only Tao.
Such is my take, at least.
By the way, I'm coming to also greatly dislike James Legge's translation. Why did he force a translation of Chinese into English rhyme and meter? As a poet, it irritates me that he tortured the language to do so, and so obscures much meaning.
"Faith" as a concept has gotten a pretty bad rap, because of the way it is used in some Christian contexts, you know, don't think, just accept, contrary to your common sense. But in the end, there's an element of that in Taoism as well. To respond to Tao, to become absorbed in oneness takes an element of faith,to let go of the ordinary trivial things in life. There is a metaphysical thing going on here, something beyond externals, something "seen" within, not something empirical and observable. Even if you interpret Tao in terms of quantum physics, there's still something impossible to "grasp." (Like Kierkegaard's "leap of faith.")
ReplyDeleteNeither Stephen Mitchell nor Thomas Cleary translate anything as "faith" in this verse. Cleary says there is "truth" therein. Mitchell talks about not clinging to ideas (expressable or observable concepts).
In his defense, Legge was a 19th century western Christian, a missionary, in China at an unusual time, doing the best he could to interpret the Tao from his own perspective, certainly looking for conceptual and linguistic equivalencies in Taoism and his own religious convictions. He was really a pioneer. It reminds me also of Matteo Ricci, the 16th century Jesuit who made incredible connections with the Chinese. I saw a big landscape painting of his in Shanghai, with a Chinese-authored description that suggested that despite his respect and sincere attempts to understand the Tao (as evidenced in the painting), he never REALLY got it.
Faith and belief are not the same thing. Belief is not in fact; faith is how you act.
I left my Star concordance at home; is there any insight there?
It would appear that the character that is in question here is xin (hsin) fourth tone/falling tone (not xin, first tone) and is translatable as evidence, true, real; confidence, faith, trust. It is part of a word, shixin, which means believe and profess faith in.
ReplyDeleteRoger Ames and David Hall translate this as "authentic concentrations of qi" which have within them "true credibility."
Red Pine apparently used the first tone xin, (different character), which is heart.
Perhaps this sheds some light on the interpretation. I don't think getting hung up on "faith" is productive.
I think the idea is that you can have confidence in the truth of the essence, the ultimate reality.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of going on and on about this interesting puzzle...I went through the rest of my translations (I have 15, including one in Chinese, sourced in Wudang so I trust it--it verifies the particular "xin" character; and one in French** where the term in question is translated as as "vraie", which means real or true) . All of these other translations use "true," "real" "efficacious", "sincere". I think "faith" was probably a poor choice on the part of the translators as it may not always be understood in the sense of "confidence" by western readers.
ReplyDelete"Cette sorte d'essence est tres vraie
et comporte l'efficience."
Okay. I'm done now.