Verse Forty Nine

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008

Verse Forty Nine

Stephen Mitchell, 1988

The Master Has No Mind Of Her Own.
She works with the mind of the people.

She is good to people who are good.
She is also good to people who aren't good.
This is true goodness.

She trusts people who are trustworthy.
She also trusts people who aren't trustworthy.
This is true trust.

The Master's mind is like space.
People don't understand her.
They look to her and wait.
She treats them like her own children.

Verse Forty Nine
Herrymon Maurer, 1985

The sage has no fixed heart.
He finds his heart
In the hundred families' heart.
He is good to the good;
He is also good to the not-good,
For virtue is good.
He is faithful to the faithful;
He is also faithful to the unfaithful,
For virtue is faithful.
Living beneath heaven,
The sage deals shyly with beneath-heaven
And simplifies his heart.
The hundred families strain eyes and ears;
The sage acts the child to all of them.

Verse Forty Nine
Stan Rosenthal, 1984

The sage is not mindful for himself,
but is receptive to others' needs.
Knowing that virtue requires great faith,
he has that faith, and is good to all;
irrespective of others' deeds,
he treats them according to their needs.

He has humility and is shy,
thus confusing other men.
They see him as they might a child,
and sometimes listen to his words.

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From: Janet
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008

well, i really don't know what to say regarding this verse.

the only thing that comes to mind is: that is very lovely... just beautiful!

it fills my heart when i read it.

love,
janet

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008

I like this part:

The Master's mind is like space.
People don't understand her.
They look to her and wait.
She treats them like her own children.

The last line could just as well read "She sees them as her own children." The Chinese is WISE PERSON ALL CHILD THEM. What does it mean to CHILD THEM? It could mean to treat them like your own childres. It could just as well mean see or regard them as your children. I think that makes sense in light of verse one, where Lao Tzu distinguishes the manifest world of names from the nameless emptiness, calling the manifest world the children and the unmanifest the mother (who gives them birth). It certainly agrees with headless seeing in looking at the original here and the reflection there.

Jim

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From: Janet
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008

jimclatfelter wrote:
The last line could just as well read "She sees them as her own children." It could mean to treat them like your own children. It could just as well mean see or regard them as your children. Jim

well, yes, jim. one cares for everyone, as they would their own children. loving them unconditionally. really, looking in, spaciousness includes everyone in the view out.

i like the point you make. thank you. that is really beautiful.

love,
janet

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From: simon
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008

Yes, this is very beautiful
and totally dispassionate, too...
Impartial love for every thing with no strings or waiting-for-a-reward attached!

And just how it is, too... as Hafiz remarked, like a mirror that doesn't choose what it will reflect, and is untouched by whatever it reflects...
Sounds like what has always been at zero distance, doesn't it?

Quote:
The hundred families strain eyes and ears;
The sage acts the child to all of them.

Ha!

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From: headexchange
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008

What a blessing, when you have 'no fixed heart' !

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