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Lao Tzu for Everyone

Students, Scholars

& Seekers

Peter Gilboy, Ph.D.

二十

Line 1  絕學无憂

Line 2  唯 與 訶 其 相 去 幾 何

Line 3  美與惡其相去何若

​​Line 4  人之所畏亦不可以不畏人

Line 5  朢 呵 亓 未 央哉

Line 6   眾人熙熙若鄉於大牢

           而春登臺

Line 7  我泊焉未佻若嬰兒未咳

  

Line 8    累呵如佁无所歸

Line 9    眾人皆有餘我獨遺 

Line 10  我愚人之心也蠢蠢呵  

Line 11  鬻人昭昭我獨若昏呵   Line 12   鬻人察察我獨悶悶呵   

Line 13   惚呵其若海

         朢呵其若无所止   

Line 14  眾人皆有以我獨頑以悝

Line 15   吾欲獨異於人而貴食母

LESSON 20

I Am Different

from the Others

      We believe a lot of things about the world, and they are all true. We know they are true because otherwise we wouldn't believe them  And, because they are true, there is no need for us to question them.

 

     Lao Tzu seems to be having great fun in this lesson, challenging all that we passionately believe to be the case. It is a playful lesson, even biographical, but also a very serious lesson.

​​​​​​​. . . . . .

Click on each line number

 for Chinese-English interlinear

& commentary

1.

Give up learning

and put an

end to your woes.

 

2.

Yes and no.

How are they

so different?

 

 

 

 

 

 

​​​​​​​​

​​​3.

Beauty and ugliness.

Don't they depend

on each other?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.

Someone whom

others fear will

always fear someone else.

 

 

 

 

5.

Think about it!

When would this

ever stop?

 

 

6.

 

Everyone else is so

cheerful and content,

as if off at some

grand feast in the countryside,

and having a great time.
 

 

7.

But I am serene,

making no effort at all,

like an infant who

has not yet made a sound.

 

 

8.

 

Alas! It seems that

I am the fool here,

with nowhere

to lay my head.

 

9.

 

Everyone else

has enough, and then more,

while I alone

have lost everything.

 

 

 

 

10.

How simpleminded I am!

There is no end

to my ignorance!

 

 

 

11.

Regular folks know

everything that matters.

I'm the only one

who is in the dark.

12.

Regular folks see

it all so clearly.

I'm the only one who
is deluded and deceived.

 

 

13.

 

Aimless, like the ocean.

And wandering about

with nowhere to go.

 

 

14.

Everyone else has

a purpose in life.

​I'm the only

bumpkin around.

15.

Yet it is my yearnings alone

that set me apart from others,

in that

I treasure being

nourished by our mother.

 

 

 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. . . . . . .

 

 

 

PETER- FINAL PHOTO.jpg

          Peter Gilboy, Ph.D.
      all rights reserved 2022

Comments are welcome: Thank you.

 

Work in progress.

Thank you for your interest.

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