Saturday, August 27, 2011

Line by Line - Verse 41, Line 8

Its even way is like a rugged track.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

The easy way seems hard;
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

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

The easiest path seems difficult.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
The most direct way to get between two points is a straight line, but the clear path is hard to see when we are blinded by our ego-based desires. These desires conjure up mirages that make the straight path appear chock full of dangers. So, instead of simply moving from Point A to Point B, we devise serpentine routes that encompass real dangers and then wonder why we consistently wind up in the wrong place.

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. Yet the most direct path is not often the effortless path. Ask any river.

    ReplyDelete

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