Tao te Ching: 1. The Way

Some translations that were made of the first poem from Tao te Ching (Dao de Jing). Quite amazing how they can differ.

"The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not true.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.

To experience without intention is to sense the world;
To experience with intention is to anticipate the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.

Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world."

by Peter A. Merel

"The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and
unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven
and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all
things.

Always without desire we must be found,
If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.

Under these two aspects, it is really the same; but as development
takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them
the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that
is subtle and wonderful."

by J. Legge

"The Way that can be described is not the absolute Way;
the name that can be given is not the absolute name.
Nameless it is the source of heaven and earth;
named it is the mother of all things.

Whoever is desireless, sees the essence of life.
Whoever desires, sees its manifestations.
These two are the same,
but what is produced has different names.
They both may be called the cosmic mystery:
from the cosmic to the mystical
is the door to the essence of all life."

by Beck Sanderson

"THE way that can be told of is hardly an eternal, absolute, unvarying one; The name that can be coded and given is no absolute name.
Heaven and earth sprang from something else: the bright nameless;
The named is but the said mother that rears the ten thousand creatures of heaven and earth, each after its kind.

He that rids himself of base desire can see the secret essences;
He that didn't and reached high being, he can see outcomes.
Still the two are the same; the secret and its manifestations came from the same ground, the same mould, but anyway sound different -
They are given different names where they appear.
They can both be called the cosmic mystery, awesome deep.
Or rather more secret than so-called mystery.

There is the deeper mystery: the gate and doorway all hidden essences issued from: all such subleties.
And the subtle, mysterial opening homewards.
Call it the door mystery or golden secret of all life."

by Drs. Lin Yutang, Arthur Waley, and Wing-tsit Chan

"The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding."

by Stephen Mitchell

The original text:
道德經: 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，衆妙之門。 :)

Labyrint

Stojím.

Moje telo a myseľ obopína neistota
a zároveň aj neurčitá istota,
sú však tak dokonale prepletené,
že nedokážem rozlíšiť nite tohto klbka

a odmotať z neho strach, hnev a pochybnosti..
a ponechať si len tie podstatné nite života,
ktoré mi pomôžu prejsť tento labyrint.

myšlienky

Krásny to pocit,
keď sa myšlienka vyprostí z hlavy
a skĺzne na papier.

Malá manifestácia mysle,
zhmotnenie neučitého hlasu, prúdu,
ktorý z človeka vyviera.

Kúsok informácie,
ktorý je schopný
jeho vlnový prijímač-mozog zachytiť.

Niekedy vie prehovárať síce nejasno,
ale sú chvíle, keď človek vie,
že musí svoju myseľ vyliať..

keď tok ide sám od seba,
vytryskuje zvnútra
ako nekonečný prameň živého tu-a-teraz..

vtedy človek zúfalo hľadá pero a papier,
aby aspoň jeho kvapky zachytil,
alebo aspoň spomienky na túto chvíľu zachoval..

(aj) v nádeji,
že vytryskne znovu.

Kto nezažil, nepochopí.

Svetlo, je v nás,
ako aj dokonalosť.

Všetko závisí len od uhla pohľadu.
Všetko je totiž všade.. rovnako.

Rozdiely existujú len v našej mysli.
Ale tam, kde myseľ rozdeľuje, láska spája.

A preto lúče svet(l)a sú viditeľné
len pri zLÚČení.
Vtedy prichádza ako pravda,
tak aj sloboda.

Inak povedané.. stačí len vyjsť z jaskyne (dichotómie)
a všetko je hneď jasné.

Žiara

Srdce sa mi zmieta ako opustená bárka na mori pochybností,
keď nevidím v Tvojich očiach ani kúsok lásky..

Nejde mi o odpoveď pre moje srdce..

Je mi len clivo, že v Tvojej duši hasíš žiaru,
ktorá Ťa robí Tvorcom a Človekom..

Tá žiara tam totiž je..

a vždy bola.

(spomeň si na to, aké to bolo)