Learn Daolism with @cn-reader (一起学道德经) #11

in #cn6 years ago (edited)


[原文]

三十辐共一毂,当其无,有车之用。埏埴以为器,当其无,有器之用。凿户牖以为室,当其无,有室之用。故有之以为利,无之以为用。

【English】

Thirty spikes are collected in the holes in one hub. With the hollows in the hub, the vehicle can work. Rubbing clay to make utensils, and there are hollow space to accommodate. The building of a house with doors and windows, and with the emptiness in the walls, doors and windows, a house can function. Therefore, both 'solid' and 'emptiness' function together to make everything in the world to run in their track.

【Comment】

This episode is quite complicated when I was reading, e.g. 'thirty spikes are collected in the hole in one hub', if you have not a concept of what wheels like in ancient China, you won't understand what does this mean. It is easy to understand a utensil or container have solid part and hollow inside, the solid part is to prevent things inside from spill out while the inside hollow part is to accommodate things like water, meat, rice. In this episode, the main point is anything is made up of solid part and empty part, and both have their usage, which remind me of a famous saying: even a piece of tissue has its functionality.

In Lao Zi's theory, this world is made of "Yin" and "Yang", in this episode, the solid part stands for "Yang" while the empty part symbolizes "Yin". We should pay attention to both parts especially the "Yin" because it is invisible and easily been neglected. Actually "Yin" plays almost the most important role in our world and life. Just as something or someone visible on the front end is actually controlled by someone or something on the back end. This is why Lao Zi emphasized so much on the 'Yin" part of the world. He liked to observe the "emptiness" of the "Dao" to see how it influence this visible world.

Author: Lao Zi

Translator: @chenlocus

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