Dao De Jing - Chapter 14


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Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 14 Look for it but you won't see it; It's said to be imperceptible. Listen for it but you won't hear it; It's said to be indistinguishable. Reach for it but you won't be able to obtain it; It's said to be slippery. In these three ways it can't be investigated. Therefore, blend with everything and allow them to act as one. Seeing them as one shows us that: What's superior isn't clearly obvious, and what's inferior isn't clouded in doubt. Searching and looking everywhere! You see that it can't be categorized. You have to go back to depending on the fact that it has no substance. It's correctly described as having an appearance without a shape. Being devoid of content it appears to be like what's called formless. Look forward to following it and you don't realize that you're already behind it. Attempt to graciously welcome it as your mentor and you don't realize that it's always been leading you. You're holding onto Dao this very moment. By taking control of this very moment you have it. By understanding what's occurred throughout history you can begin to correctly describe the progression of Dao. Commentary 8 ~ Where is Dao? (Note: This is another chapter which seems it might have been placed better with 1 ~ “What Is Dao” and 4 ~ “When Did Dao Begin?” We want to get all the information about Dao in one place? I think there are reasons these chapters are dispersed throughout this book the way they are. If they all came at the beginning of The Laozi, we might think we knew what Dao was before reading further, and let that influence the way we interpreted the rest of the book. Also, I think each chapter in this order follows a pattern and relates to the ones before and after them.) LLife may seem to be directionless and empty at times. There's a feeling that we might not be grasping something very important as each day evolves into the next. People have created religion, God, nationalism, familial ties, personal relationships, and a bevy of other things in order to give themselves some semblance of meaning to life. They cling to their beliefs or another person as though something could act like a life raft amid a turbulent sea. -Look for it but you won't see it; -It's said to be imperceptible. -Listen for it but you won't hear it; -It's said to be indistinguishable. -Reach for it but you won't be able to obtain it; -It's said to be slippery. -In these three ways it can't be investigated. If you choose to look for substance in Dao, as though it was something you could actually see, hear, touch or cling to - that won't happen. -Therefore, blend with everything and allow them to act as one. -Seeing them as one shows us that: -What's superior isn't clearly obvious, and what's inferior isn't clouded in doubt. When things are blended and merged together, there's no need to look for distinctions. Suddenly what was thought to be superior loses its ability to outshine anything else, and what was thought to be inferior isn't as doubtful and questionable as was once thought. If you’re looking for Dao as something you can hold up as a God to be worshipped - forget it. -Searching and looking everywhere -You see that it can't be categorized. -You have to go back to depending on the fact that it has no substance. You might look for Dao everywhere, but you just can't find one thing you can point to and say: "That's Dao!" It just doesn't fit into any category we might want to place it in. The only thing you can depend on is that Dao has no substance. But it must be something, right? After all, Laozi wrote a whole book about it. So, here's what we know: -It is correctly described as having an appearance without shape. Although Dao can be regognized as a process, that process can’t be defined by other processes. We might think of a process as having a beginning and an end with definitive boundaries and borders along the way. Dao can’t be shaped like that. -Being devoid of content it appears to be like what's called formless. Since it doesn’t have a set of rules or regulations, it appears to have nothing to teach us. -Look forward to following it and you don't realize that you're already behind it. -Attempt to graciously welcome it as your mentor and you don't realize that its always been leading you. If you think you might be able to follow it as though it could give meaning to your life, you suddenly realize that you've already been following it. without even knowing it. You don't have to go looking for it because it's already inside of you. -You're holding onto Dao this very moment. -By taking control of this very moment you have it. -By understanding what's occurred throughout history you can begin to correctly describe the progression of Dao. All you have to do is cherish this very moment as a precious jewel that will never come again. Look back on your own life, notice the changes that you've gone through and all the things that brought you to the place where you are now - that's how Dao has been working through you and through everything. It’s not magical or mystical. It’s simply a part of life. Alternate translation: No matter how hard you look, you can’t see it with your eyes. It can’t be seen. No matter how hard you listen for it, you can’t hear it with your ears. It makes no sound. No matter how hard you try to touch it, you can’t feel it with your hands. It slips away. Those aren’t ways you can find it. It’s blended in with everything that’s around you. If you can sense it in everything, you’d know that. Nothing is better or worse than anything else. Yet you keep searching and looking for it! But you can’t find a place in your mind where it fits. So, you’d have to say it just can’t be found. It’s there, but it can’t be found. It has no boundaries. If you look for it up ahead of you, you don’t realize it’s always been right behind you. If you try to find ways to make it your Master, you don’t realize it’s always been guiding you. You’re holding on to Dao right now. It’s in this very moment. Every moment in your past has been filled with the process of Dao. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| Who was Laozi \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|