Therefore when the sovereign occupies his place as the Son of Heaven, and he has appointed his three ducal ministers, though (a prince) were to send in a round symbol-of-rank large enough to fill both the hands, and that as the precursor of the team of horses (in the court-yard),Some might find Ron Hogan's rendition a bit crass, but I think he gets to the heart of the matter quite well! I mean, let's be real here. Why is it that the rich, famous and powerful are fawned over? More often than not, it ain't because people really like and respect them. People become sycophants (brown-nosers) because they think that, by kissing people's asses, they themselves will receive enough golden crumbs to feed their own egos and realize some of their own desires.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Therefore on the day the emperor is crowned,
Or the three officers of state installed,
Do not send a gift of jade and a team of four horses,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Therefore, when crowning the Emperor
And installing the three ministers
Although there is the offering of jade before four horses
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
When people become powerful,
and everybody lines up
to kiss their ass,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
The cultural references here are of significance: I quote from Hu Xuezhi's commentary:
ReplyDeleteIn ancient China when the emperor was crowned, it was customary to offer jadeware called Gong Bi before a team of four horses hauling a chariot in which the emperor sat. Jade was thus a very precious object, earning high esteem. The three officials were Tai Shi, Tai Chuan and Tao Bao, who were the most honorable ministers in the palace. The veneration of the emperor, the honor of the three officials, and the first priority of the jadeware were incomparable with following the Great Natural Way of Tao, because Tao can keep all things eternally immaculate."
That's Tai Bao, not Tao Bao....
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