Line by Line - Verse 80, Line 7

They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Their food is plain and good, their clothes fine but simple, their homes secure;
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Savor their food, admire their clothes
Content in their homes,
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

They enjoyed simple foods,
dressed plainly, lived comfortably,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

I was watching a documentary the other day in which I learned that a Wall Street hedge manager recently purchased a house that has over 50,000 square feet!! Who NEEDS a home that large? Does his family include a herd of elephants?

The more complex our lives become, the more stressful they are. The more trinkets and baubles we collect, the more we have to protect them, lest they be damaged, lost or stolen.

Enough is never quite enough and so our lives begin to resemble one lived on the proverbial treadmill.

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