Nuggets From Numbers

by Lao-Tzu

I became acquainted with the Tao Te Ching while attending an environmental education seminar in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The facilitator, Steve Van Matre, read several passages from the Gia-fu Geng and Jane English recent translation.Upon returning home, I picked up a copy of the Tao Te Ching , and began my study of Daoism. While I found the text inspirational, and a worth-while guide to a virtuous life, I oftentimes found the writing cumbersome.Over the next few years, I acquired some of the many interpretations of Lao Tsu’s work, but not until I came across one by J.H. McDonald, was I remotely satisfied with what I was reading. (See last page for where to find online.)However, after several years of studying the text, I began to make deletions of what appeared to be excess explanations of some core, or nugget, teachings in each chapter. This did allow for a clearer understanding, but there were still too many distractions. More had to be cut to free the nugget of truth hidden in each chapter/poem.During the process of my deep editing, I stum-bled upon two interesting observations that seem to confirm my overall suspicion of, one, how the Tao Te Ching was indeed written, and two, that it indeed can be confusing to read.On the first point, Robert Eno wrote, “Most Tao Te Ching chapters appear to be a collection of brief sayings, rather than the product of a single literary impulse. Many component portions of chapters appear multiple times in the text. In his excellent 1963 translation of the text, the late D.C. Lau began a practice of labeling these separate sub-sections according to his judgment of where divisions within chapters occurred.”Chapter 35a> Grasp the great image and the world will come; coming and encountering noharm, it will settle in great peace.b> Where there is music and food, travelers stop.c> When the Dao is spoken as words, how thin it is, without taste. Look at it andit cannot be seen; listen to it and it cannot be heard. But use it, and it cannot be exhausted.In responding to the confusing nature of the text, Ron Hogan, in his interpretation, said the fol-lowing about chapter 42:“Chapter 42 starts outwith some cosmic mumbo-jumboabout Dao making one,one making two,two making three,and three making everything else.I don't know what it means,and, frankly,I wouldn't worry about it too much.”

192 pages, Unknown Binding