sore back
my Paw died. it's good that it's over. he was in a lot of pain. don't know how i'm going to get to Rome though. Joe just got back in town and i really want to see him before i go up there. the goal now is to have no one else die for awhile. i don't want to have another 9th grade year of deaths. on a lighter note, Agnes Scott is giving me 8,000 a
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I always found it nifty that there are so many different interpretations of the Tao Te Ching. My favorite translation was in the 1st version I read about it, but sadly it was a version borrowed from a friend I know longer speak to and I never wrote down who translated that version or what company it was published under.
I have 2 books of my own with the translation in them, although I think the pocket book of Tao (which only has selected verses) comes closer to the original one I read. Which one do you have/who translated your version? I'm always trying to find one that'll just feel right like the 1st translation I read.
The world has a beginning
that is the mother of the world
Once you've found the mother,
thereby you know the child.
Once you know the child,
you return to the mother,
not perishing through the body die.
Close your eyes, shut your doors,
and you do not toil all your life.
Open your eyes, carry out your affairs,
and you are not saved all your life.
Seeing the small is called clarity;
keeping flexible is called strength.
Using the shining radiance,
you return again to the light,
not leaving anything to harm yourself.
This is called entering the eternal.
-The Essential Tao, Translated and presented by Thomas Cleary
There was a beginning of the world
that may be regarded as the mother of the world.
Attain the mother, and you will know her children.
Hold on to the mother and you will not meet with harm all your life.
Block the openings;
Close the doors;
And all your life you won't have to toil.
Open the holes,
Meddle in worldly affairs,
And all your life you will not be saved.
To be able to discern the small is clarity;
To be able to hold on to the soft is strength.
Use the light
To return to brightness.
In this way, you will not invite harm.
This is called practicing which is permanent.
-The Pocket Tao Reader; Translated by Eva Wong
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