Line by Line - Verse 77, Lines 1-2

May not the Way (or Tao) of Heaven be compared to the (method of) bending a bow? The (part of the bow) which was high is brought low, and what was low is raised up.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

The Tao of heaven is like the bending of a bow.
The high is lowered, and the low is raised.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

The Tao of Heaven
Is like drawing a bow
Lower that which is high
Raise that which is low
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Lao Tzu said using Tao
was like pulling on a bowstring:
The top bends down,
the bottom bends up,
and all the energy
is focused in the middle.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

For today's entry and the next two, I will share the insights of 3 authors I have quoted from over the course of this series. To be fair, each of these explanations correlates to the first 4 lines of this verse.

Today, we'll hear from John Heider via his book, The Tao of Leadership.

Imagine a bow and arrow. As the archer draws the bow, the two tips of the bow, which were far apart, come closer together; the narrow space between string and wood becomes wide; the bow string which was at rest, becomes taut.

When the archer releases the arrow, once again the process reverses itself, as the tension relaxes.

This is the way of nature: to relax what is tense, to fill what is empty, to reduce what is overflowing.

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