Saturday, April 9, 2011

Line by Line - Verse 27, Lines 8-9

In the same way the sage is always skillful at saving men, and so he does not cast away any man;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Therefore the sage takes care of all men
And abandons no one.

~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Therefore sages often save others
And so do not abandon anyone

~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Masters have time to help everybody, and ignores nobody.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
I really like what Wu Ch'eng (as quoted by Red Pine) has to say in terms of these lines. I had not thought of it in these terms before.
The sage's salvation does not involve salvation. For if someone is saved, someone is abandoned. Hence the sage does not save anyone at all. And because he does not save anyone, he does not abandon anyone.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

1 comment:

  1. ...and therefore saves everyone. Gotta love the multi leveled paradox!

    ReplyDelete

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