Things I learned this week.
According to my Chinese tutor, in Chinese tradition, Taoist scholars aren’t supposed to write about the Tao, just the Taoteching, because the Tao is unknowable but the Taoteching scripture is here for everyone to read. Only the most rarified of scholars are supposed to write about the Tao itself. I wonder if Christianity could have saved itself a lot of ink and blood following that example and only allowing people to write about the Bible and not God for the same rationale. I told this to some Chinese at English Corner, and one of them suggested so few Chinese still believe in Taoism that no one is writing about Taoism anymore anyway.
One of my students wrote that translations of poetry are like plastic flowers; they can look like the real thing, but you miss the fragrance. It was probably the best way of putting it out of the hundred essays I read in the last week or so.
One of my students wrote that translations of poetry are like plastic flowers; they can look like the real thing, but you miss the fragrance. It was probably the best way of putting it out of the hundred essays I read in the last week or so.