Line by Line - Verse 22, Lines 13-14

from self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Not boasting,
They receive recognition.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Without praising themselves – and so have merit
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

She doesn't brag about himself
but people know what she's done.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004~

As with the previous line, the basic premise here is not to divide our focus in life. When our chief concern is ourself -- our desires and wants -- we are never able to put our all into any endeavor. One foot always is headed in a different direction!

For me, this is why we find it so difficult to do a job well and then walk away. Because part of our attention is focused on our ego, we crave positive strokes when things are successful and ways to avoid blame when life is less than successful.

If, on the other hand, our focus was solely on the task at hand, we could deal with either outcome (or a combination of both) in a detached manner and then move on to whatever naturally comes next.

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