the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.I think this is the most well-known line of the TTC. Whether you choose the translations that talk about the first step or the ones that state the journey begins beneath the feet, for me, the meaning is much the same.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
A journey of a thousand miles
Begins beneath the feet
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
And -- stop me if you've heard this one before -- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
We start any journey from where we are at and we can't get anyplace without taking the initial steps. If we don't recognize where we are, we are more likely to go marching off in the wrong direction!
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.