Re: CHAT: Tao Te Ching translations (long-ish ;)

>From: J Y S Czhang <czhang23@...>
>Reply-To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
>To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
>Subject: Re: CHAT: Tao Te Ching translations (long-ish ;)
>Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 14:51:21 EDT
>
>In a message dated 06/20/2002 05.16.24 AM, jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM writes:
>
> >Le Guin's rendition of #20:
> >
> >20 Being different
> >
> >How much difference between yes and no?
> >What difference between good and bad?
> >
> >What the people fear
> >must be feared.
> >O desolation!
> >Not yet, not yet has it reached its limit!
> >
> >Everybody's cheerful,
> >cheerful as if at a party,
> >or climbing a tower in springtime.
> >And here I sit unmoved,
> >clueless, like a child,
> >a baby too young to smile.
> >
> >Forlorn, forlorn,
> >Like a homeless person.
> >Most people have plenty.
> >I'm the one that's poor,
> >a fool right through.
> >
> >Ignorant, ignorant.
> >Most people are so bright.
> >I'm the one that's dull.
> >Most people are so keen.
> >I don't have the answers.
> >Oh, I'm desolate, at sea,
> >adrift, without harbor.
> >
> >Everybody has something to do.
> >I'm the clumsy one, out of place.
> >I'm the different one,
> >for my food
> >is the milk of the mother.
> >
>
>     Jonathan Star's verbatim translation of Verse 20:
>
>The difference between a formal "yes"
>     and a casual "yeah" - how slight!
>The difference between knowing the Truth
>     and not knowing it - how great!
>
>Must I fear what others fear?
>Should I fear desolation
>     when there is abundance?
>Should I fear darkness
>     when that light is shining everywhere?
>Nonsense!
>The people of this world are steeped in their merrymaking
>     as if gorging at a great feast
>     or watching the sights of springtime
>Yet here I sit, without a sign,
>     staring blank-eyed like a child
>
>I am but a guest in this world
>While others rush about to get things done
>     I accept what is offered
>Oh, my mind is like that of a fool
>     aloof to the clamor of life around me
>Everyone seems so bright and alive
>     with the sharp distinctions of day
>I appear dark and dull
>     with the blending of differences by night
>
>I am drifting like an ocean, floating like the high winds
>Everyone is so rooted in this world
>     yet I have no place to rest my head
>Indeed I am different. . . .
>     I have no treasure but the Eternal Mother
>     I have no food but what comes from her breast
>
><SNiP>
What the heck....

Mitchell, #20 (not so different from the other two, esp. Star)

Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharp;
I alone am dull.

Other people have a purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.




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