20

Get rid of learning and problems will vanish yes and no aren’t so far apart lovely and ugly aren’t so unalike what others fear we can’t help fear too before the moon begins to wane everyone is overjoyed as if they were at the Great Sacrifice or climbing a tower in spring I sit here and make no sign like an infant that doesn’t smile lost with no one to turn to while others enjoy more I alone seem deficient with a mind like that of a fool I’m so simple others look bright I alone seem dim others are certain I alone am confused ebbing like the ocean waxing without cease everyone has a goal I alone am dumb and backward for I alone choose to differ preferring still my mother’s tit

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “When we give up the study of phenomena and understand the principle of noninterference, troubles come to an end and distress disappears.”

LI HSI-CHAI says, “What passes for learning in the world never ends. For every truth found, two are lost. And while what we find brings joy, losses bring sorrow — sorrow that never ends.”

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “Wei [yes] indicates agreement and k’o [no] disdain.”

SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Even though ‘yes’ and ‘no’ come from the same source, namely the mouth, ‘yes’ is the root of beauty, and ‘no’ is the root of ugliness. Before they appear, there is nothing beautiful or ugly and nothing to fear. But once they appear, if we don’t fear one or the other, disaster and harm are unavoidable.”

LI HSI-CHAI says, “What others love, the sage also loves. What others fear, the sage fears, too. But where the sage differs is that while others don’t see anything outside their own minds, the mind of the sage wanders in the Tao.”

WANG P’ANG says, “Everything changes into its opposite. Beginning follows end without cease. But people think everything is either beautiful or ugly. How absurd! Only the sage knows that the ten thousand ages are the same, that nothing is gained or lost.”

SU CH’E says, “People all drown in what they love: the beauty of the Great Sacrifice, the happiness of climbing to a scenic viewpoint in spring. Only the sage sees into their illusory nature and remains unmoved. People chase things and forget about the Tao, while the sage clings to the Tao and ignores everything else, just as an infant only nurses at its mother’s breast.”

TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “People all seek external things, while sages alone nourish themselves on internal breath. Breath is the mother, and spirit is the child. The harmony of mother and child is the key to nourishing life.”

Another verse in which Lao-tzu chooses the crescent moon, while others choose the full moon. In ancient China, emperors marked the return of swallows to their capitals in spring with the Great Sacrifice to the Supreme Intermediary, while people of all ranks climbed towers or hiked into the hills to view the countryside in bloom and to celebrate the first full moon. In line eight, I have followed Mawangtui B in reading wang (full [or waxing] moon) instead of the usual huang (boundless). I have used the same variant in line twenty-four. The Kuotien texts have only the first seven lines of this verse.