Thursday, February 2, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 58, Lines 3-4

That which is meddling, touching everything,
Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.

~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

When the country is ruled with severity,
The people are cunning.

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

When governing is scrutinizing
The people are shrewd and crafty

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

When a government
is harsh and demanding,
people will spend their time
trying to outsmart it.

~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
I like Ron Hogan's rendition as it cuts to the heart of the matter. Utilizing the same theme I used in yesterday's post, children of harsh and demanding parents tend to be schemers. Much of their time and energy is spent figuring out how to avoid work and how to get out of receiving the worst punishments. Instead of being granted the freedom to flower into caring individuals, they spend far too much of their early years trying to outwit their ruthless parents!

Not surprisingly, many grow to become ruthless adults and, in their own time, harsh and demanding parents. And the cycle begins anew.

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

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.