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Dao De Jing Chapter 1


	Translation and Commentary by Joshua Sellers a way prescribed not the everyday way a name prescribed not the everyday name unnamed receive the virgin earth & sky named perceive the birth of myriad ways in innocence receive its secrets in desire perceive what unfolds both stem from common ground differing only in name rooted deep & dark rising from mystery the opening to all possibility --- About the Dao & language: chapter 1, line 1 I think the Dao doesn't so much transcend the world (which would be more akin to God) but the Dao transcends language & human concepts. But it doesn't transcend the world, nor does it transcend humanity itself. This is why I really wanted to use the word 'prescribe'-- PRE-scribe-- basically it is to claim to possess all the verbal answers in advance & say 'This is what its all about-- I've figured it out in advance.' To me, that's just an ideology & life is not an idea. I think that opening line is simply a disclaimer saying these words are not synonymous with the Dao-- they point to it, but the Dao is something to be encountered in life, not merely speculated about. In other words, there are limits in talking about the Dao, but its not because it transcends the world, but because it is always moving & changing from day to day. Its an invitation to dance with the Dao rather than come up with some Grand Explanation for Everything (tm). Language is static, but the world dances. Language can't keep up with that dance, but we can all learn to dance I think. Language has its uses, but it also has its limits. This is something I have believed for a long time-- that our experience of the world & our language about the world can never completely match up. I like to call the acknolwdgment of those limits 'epistemological humility'-- that langauge, no matter how fine-tuned & nuanced it can be, it cannot exhastively describe the universe. What is scary is when people have so much faith in language that they do think a single certain Way can BE prescribed. They have all the answers. Religious fanatics don't have deep faith in a god, but in their ideology & they share this epistmological assumption that language can accurately reflect reality. Language is a tool-- it is useful, but it also has its limitations. They key I think is to be aware of those limitations & to learn where those limitations lie. So one can know when to speak & also when to shut up. LOL So the Dao can certainly be talked about (otherwise a book like the DDJ couldn't be written!), but the point is not to talk about it but to experience it. This is one of the appealing things about the DDJ-- its an appeal to experience, not to faith or 'believing the right things' (in this respect it reminds me a bit of Quakerism). The Dao unfolds, but the Dao is actually the unfolding process itself, not some sort of predetermined 'potential' that is outside the universe. I would say the Dao is not so much a Presence (like God) as it is the Present. Right now... & now... & now here too! But its never the same. Its always on the move & we can either dance with it or we can resist it. I thing the 'name prescribed' in line 2 a matter of attitude, maybe that epistemological humility? I think its a matter of not clinging to language, concepts or idea ABOUT the world. Language can help us undertsand the world to an extent, but it can also be a wall preventing us from really being in the world-- they can be blinders to experience. What chapter 1 is NOT saying is that talking is bad & silence is good. It is not saying that stillness is good & desire is bad. I don't think its making those kinds of value judgements at all. In lines 3-4, I think we are simply seeing two attitudes or modes of being. In speech we can recognise the 'ten thousand things' or happenings swirling all around us & we can make distinctions between one 'thing' & another. Its langauge simply being put to use. But again, langauge is static & language is not identical to the processes of the world, of the unfolding of the Dao itself, because the Dao is dynamic & always on the move. Whereas the no-name state is one of awe & wonder, seeing the beauty & mystery of the world that goes beyond language, all that stuff that falls between the cracks of language that we can miss out on if we don't stand still & be quiet for awhile. In those moments, we allow the universe to be itself when we free it (& ourselves, after all, we a part of this universe too) from language. \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| From the DIO Forum \| BY: Bao Pu \| By: Joshua \| Who was Laozi \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|