Friday, January 13, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 56, Lines 3-4

He (who knows it) will keep his mouth shut and close the portals (of his nostrils).
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Keep your mouth closed.
Guard your senses.

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

Close the mouth
Shut the doors

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

Shut your mouth.
Be still. Relax.

~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
I don't take these lines to suggest that we shouldn't communicate with each other. If that is what Lao Tzu meant, then he didn't follow his own advice by writing the Tao Te Ching!

For me, the prohibition he suggests is not to pretend we know what we really don't know. When we pretend that we're "in the know," our vanity tends to cause us to try to lead others astray. This is why Scott and I, in particular, have penned many posts in which we state explicitly not to think of us as sages or gurus.

We're merely two bumpkins who are searching for answers like the rest of you.

I mean, really! If Scott and/or I had it all figured out, do you think we'd waste our time writing on a silly blog?

Me, I'd probably find a mountain somewhere to sit on and wait for disciples to line up! (ha ha ha)

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

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