Wonderful lessons, thank you! For 為學日益，為道日損, I only knew 損 in its modern sense, which makes little sense when paired with 益。This reminds me of the saying from Meister Eckhart, the medieval mystic. ' "God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction". He taught that the soul does not grow by accumulation, but by stripping away everything that is not God.'
I have the 81 verse version very thoughtfully translated to English, but no longer in print.
Like the Bible, there is competing claims about authenticity, but it seems classics are endlessly recycled if given the chance.
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, it seems there is a lot of meaning to be teased from applying the physical aspects of the daoist sayings, like the foot fall, as it regards to physical posture and body language (kinesics and context) and further into Chinese traditions like circle walking and chi, as well as Tai Chi and the physiological model of the body as it has been conceived in Chinese culture.
Finally, I don't know if there is a linguistic tension between written words and an oral tradition in China, but epistemogically this kind of tension provides deeper insights in western theories of language.
I'm also curious about how the Dao applies to the body. I actually took a semester of Tai Chi, but it felt more like an aerobics version that had been stripped of its Daoist roots. I’ll definitely explore this direction further.
As for the tension between written and oral traditions, languages like Hokkien and Cantonese are believed to have preserved many more elements of Old Chinese, such as the seven tones and final consonants. Whereas Mandarin has only four tones and has lost those endings entirely. Since Mandarin has fewer phonemes per character, it tends to require more characters per word, which may be one of the factors driving the difference between the oral and written forms.
I became completely obsessed with the Tao for a couple of years. I'm still of the opinion it's an instruction manual for embodied yin forces. Hence , the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao. It's extremely condensed and like some indigenous languages it sometimes conflates meaning on many levels in a single word.
Ultimately, messing around with intrinsic aspects of posture, stance and movement in space destabilized aspects that were unconscious within me and I had to spend a lot of time and effort in rearticulation. My advancement was limited, unexpected and somewhat traumatic, but my self knowledge deepened quite a lot during this time. Once I was able to "accept misfortune" as part of the human condition and my ambition receded. I was able to choose this and let go of that.
Indispensable, Jingyu. Both the unpacking and the breakdown of words.
Congrats on getting this interesting initiative started! I also like that you introduce the key versions DDJ has been read.
Thank you. Beautiful work.
Wonderful lessons, thank you! For 為學日益，為道日損, I only knew 損 in its modern sense, which makes little sense when paired with 益。This reminds me of the saying from Meister Eckhart, the medieval mystic. ' "God is not found in the soul by adding anything, but by a process of subtraction". He taught that the soul does not grow by accumulation, but by stripping away everything that is not God.'
Very interesting, thanks.
I have the 81 verse version very thoughtfully translated to English, but no longer in print.
Like the Bible, there is competing claims about authenticity, but it seems classics are endlessly recycled if given the chance.
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, it seems there is a lot of meaning to be teased from applying the physical aspects of the daoist sayings, like the foot fall, as it regards to physical posture and body language (kinesics and context) and further into Chinese traditions like circle walking and chi, as well as Tai Chi and the physiological model of the body as it has been conceived in Chinese culture.
Finally, I don't know if there is a linguistic tension between written words and an oral tradition in China, but epistemogically this kind of tension provides deeper insights in western theories of language.
I'm also curious about how the Dao applies to the body. I actually took a semester of Tai Chi, but it felt more like an aerobics version that had been stripped of its Daoist roots. I’ll definitely explore this direction further.
As for the tension between written and oral traditions, languages like Hokkien and Cantonese are believed to have preserved many more elements of Old Chinese, such as the seven tones and final consonants. Whereas Mandarin has only four tones and has lost those endings entirely. Since Mandarin has fewer phonemes per character, it tends to require more characters per word, which may be one of the factors driving the difference between the oral and written forms.
I became completely obsessed with the Tao for a couple of years. I'm still of the opinion it's an instruction manual for embodied yin forces. Hence , the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao. It's extremely condensed and like some indigenous languages it sometimes conflates meaning on many levels in a single word.
Ultimately, messing around with intrinsic aspects of posture, stance and movement in space destabilized aspects that were unconscious within me and I had to spend a lot of time and effort in rearticulation. My advancement was limited, unexpected and somewhat traumatic, but my self knowledge deepened quite a lot during this time. Once I was able to "accept misfortune" as part of the human condition and my ambition receded. I was able to choose this and let go of that.