Monday, October 10, 2011

Huainanzi - Entry 3

The wise leave the road and find the Way; fools cling to the Way and lose the road.
~ a passage from The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary ~
I have spent considerable time in the last few days mulling over this sentence. Without knowing the context that this sentence was framed in, it's difficult to know precisely what the author was aiming at. That said, here are two guesses; your guesses are just as welcomed in the comments section.

One possible scenario is that the Chinese Masters are playing with the designations of "wise" and "fool." They could be trying to say that what society considers wisdom is really mere foolishness and what society considers foolish is really wisdom.

On the other hand, one could reason that the road or path is the means to come to Tao. The wise travel down the road to reach the destination, while the fool fixates on the destination, but eschews the road to get him there. Under this scenario, the words "wise" and "fool" mean what they appear to mean.

The correct reading of this passage could be something close to one of the two explanations I have offered OR it could be something altogether different. I don't pretend to be any kind of expert or scholar on Chinese texts.

What do you think this passage means?

To read the introduction to this ongoing series, go here.

6 comments:

  1. While I like your second interpretation, it overlooks the "wise leaving the road." What this says to me is that the wise are flexible; fools are rigid.

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  2. Or...the wise are willing to go off the beaten path..the fools cling to the map.

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  3. I interpret this through my past. I was raised as a legalistic Baptist. I'm not Baptist any longer, but what I saw was people clinging to the righteousness of the faith instead of the spirit of the faith.

    They clung to the law and ended up hurting people because they were so hellbent on every last crossed T and dotted I.

    The wise find and live the spirit of the Way, the fool clings to the semantics of the Way and lose the forest for the trees.

    But I could be totally wrong. That's just how I end up filtering it from my background.

    I'm happy I found your blog. I learned a little bit about Taoism in my World Religions class last semester, and I'm thrilled to find a blogger who writes about it! Can't wait to read more.

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  4. You know, a lot of the stuff Scott and I write is nothing more than a conversation starter. I like the way both of you continued the conversation by adding your own thoughts and interpretations.

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  5. I think that it states that clinging to the Way is to hold to the means. Leave the means through through non-action and you will find the Way. Zen Essence...Thomas Cleary Stumbled Past - "As soon as you try to chase and grab Zen, you've already stumbled past it."

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  6. this passage can be illustrated by the story of how Confucius approached Lao Tzu to seek the masters approval for his plans to lay out a system of moral conduct and the master told him to pack it in and go home ... " What you are describing is the footprint, but the foot has allready moved on" ...

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