Interlinear

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Give up learning,

and put an

end to your woes.

​​絕jué 學xué  无wú  憂yōu   

​​sever       learn    not have    sad/grief   

Cut off learning, and not have grief. 

​     ​  We know a lot of things.  We've learned them in school, from our families, and from society at large.  A lot of it we certain about, and, because we are certain, there is no need to challenge them.

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     Lao Tzu's first statement, here, "Give up learning" is quite startling. But Lao Tzu could not be referring to 學xué* learning the alphabet, how fix dinner, or find our way to work. He must be referring to a different kind of learning.

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      Learning is principally imitation, an acquiring of skills and knowledge from others. This is also true of how we view the world and interact with others. After all, what we know about the world we have 學xué learned from other or made assumptions based on our personal experiences.

     We've come to accept that this is "right" and that is "wrong." This is "good" and that is not. We've learned what is advantageous to us, disadvantageous, and we respond rather mechanically when opportunities arise.

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   In this line Lao Tzu asks us to take a closer look at what we have learned to is so.  (See this lessons relationship to Lesson 2)

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​*The character 學xué is found only in two other lessons. In each case it refers to a "not learning" or an "unlearning," a twin of 无wú 為wéi "not doing."

Lesson 48: The person who 學xué learns accumulates daily. But the person who has heard the way, daily decreases.” ”為學者日益  聞 道 者 日 云 

​Lesson 64: “Learn to not learn (or, “Learn to unlearn), and return to what all others have overlooked.” 學不學復眾人之所過 

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​Note: This first line may have originally been at the end of the previous lesson. But it fits just as well in this lesson.

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