Bit by Bit - Chapter 6, Part 15

Trey Smith

Nan-po Tzu-k'uei asked, "Where did you happen to hear this? "

"I heard it from the son of Aided-by-Ink, and Aided-by-Ink heard it from the grandson of Repeated-Recitation, and the grandson of Repeated-Recitation heard it from Seeing-Brightly, and Seeing-Brightly heard it from Whispered-Agreement, and Whispered-Agreement heard it from Waiting-for-Use, and Waiting-for-Use heard it from Exclaimed-Wonder, and Exclaimed-Wonder heard it from Dark-Obscurity, and Dark-Obscurity heard it from Participation-in-Mystery, and Participation-in-Mystery heard it from Copy-the-Source!"
~ Burton Watson translation ~

Too often, many in western society believe that the best knowledge and truth resides solely in the present generation. It will be granted that our stage of development is built on the foundation of history, but a lot of people look at any idea from previous generations as outmoded.

But many of the key philosophic concepts have been around for thousands of years. We err when we turn our backs on our ancestors. It's not that they were smarter than we are, but age often DOES evolve into wisdom.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.