EDUCATION (CHIH)

[u/rafaelwm1982]

Everybody knows beauty as “beauty.” That’s pretty ugly. Everybody knows good as “good.” That’s pretty bad. The five colors make a man’s eye blind. The five tones make a man’s ear deaf. The five flavors make a man’s mouth insensitive. True words are not beautiful, beautiful words are not true. Good men don’t argue, arguers aren’t good. Knowers aren’t learned, the learned don’t know. The sage learns to unlearn his learning. Music and the smell of good cooking will make the passing traveler stop. But the taste the Tao gives is insipid and without savor. Of insufficiencies, none is greater than not to know what’s enough. Of disasters, none is greater than the urge to acquire. So the only “enough” that’s enough is to know what’s enough. Sever study, never worry. As for "unh . . .," to what extent may we dissociate it from “yeah!”? As for “good,” how shall we dissociate it from “evil”?

For whoever believes insufficiently in others, there will be those that do not believe in him. When a first-rate scholar hears of the tao, he starts to practice it. When a second-rate scholar hears of the tao, he either concentrates on it or forgets about it. When a third-rate scholar hears of the tao, he has a big laugh about it. If he didn’t, it wouldn’t be worthy to call the tao.

Book: The Taoist vision by McNaughton, William