The Sacred Chao Te Ching

[LMNO]

I know.  We should paraphrase.

[Bu🤠ns]

On second thought, does this even need tweaking?


Abandon religion and discard cleverness,
and people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard morality,
and people will rediscover love and duty.
Abandon skill and discard profit,
and there will be no thieves or robbers.
These three things relate to externals and are inadequate.

People need what they can depend on:
reveal simplicity; embrace the natural;
control selfishness; reduce desires.

That's just beautiful.

[LMNO]

I tweaked it anyway:

Abandon blind faith and pseudointellectual bullshit,
The spags will benefit.
Abandon absolute morality,
The spags won't try to kill the Other.
Abandon intellectual copyright,
And there will be nothing to steal.

Spags will always be distracted by their imagination:
Religion; Territory; Morals; Politics.


Needs more tweaking.   


Anyway, with one day's work, we hit 20 chapters.  Woot!

[Cramulus]

yeah, this is coming along very nicely! I didn't think we'd get to 20 so quickly...

I can't wait to have a sexy little PDF of this thing to carry in my back pocket.

here's my latest...


Chapter 29

Original:

Those who take over the world and act upon it,
I notice, do not succeed.
The world is a sacred vessel, not to be tampered with.
Those who tamper with it, spoil it.
Those who seize it, lose it.

Some lead, and some follow.
Some blow hot, and some blow cold.
Some are strong, and some are weak.
Some are up, and some are down.
Therefore the wise avoid excess, extravagance, and pride.


Our Translation:

Those that would take over the world
and bend it to their will,
will get bent
The world is full of would-be superheroes and would-be supervillains
maybe the world would be better off without them

Some lead, and some follow
some shout, and some whisper
some cry, and some laugh
some win, some fail
Therefore the wise avoid excess, extravagance, and pride.





suggestions for the final line?
what does a Discordian avoid through inaction?

[LMNO]

The wise keeps their head down, and let the cannon fodder do their jobs.

[Cramulus]

  perfect

[Telarus]

I especially love how the symbology set has tightened up throughout the thread. I'm interested, and will start toying with some chapters or possibly editing some of the existing ones.


Good work here.

[Iason Ouabache]

I'll drag my copy of the Tao Teh Ching out tonight then.  However, since I intend to finish Twilight as well, don't be surprised if it ends up reading as:

The vampire that can withstand sunlight is not a vampire
The Mary Sue who is made of nothing but flaws is but still a Mary Sue
The dream that from which good literature is made is just a dream
The series is but a mother that rears ten thousand slashfics of its kind.

[Honey]

I like everything about this!  Except for the fact that I can't seem to figure out that wiki page thingie?    

I was afraid I was gonna wipe out what came before by editing/adding? 

Also, I like Mitchell's translation best so was working off that.  I did something for 13, 15, 21, 25, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76 & 78 (was jumping around a bit).  Help!

[Kai]

This is an amazing project.

*still has their old beat up  marked up Lin Yutang translation*

I also wrote a full word by word commentary of it for an english class in high school.

[Honey]

15
The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.      
Their wisdom was unfathomable.         
There is no way to describe it;            
all we can describe is their appearance.         

They were careful               
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.      
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.         
Courteous as a guest.               
Fluid as melting ice.                  
Shapeable as a block of wood.            
Receptive as a valley.               
Clear as a glass of water.            

Do you have the patience to wait         
till your mud settles and the water is clear?      
Can you remain unmoving            
till the right action arises by itself?         

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.         
Not seeking, not expecting,            
she is present, and can welcome all things.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html

The old guys were curious & playful.
Their humor often corny.
Guess you had to be there;
now all we see is their raging libidos.

They were clever
as only horny old men can be.
More aware of their short-comings.
Malleable as play-doh.
Flexible as gymnasts.
Charming as dice.
Open as oysters.
& cranky as hell.

Do you know
your ass from your elbow?
Can you still be moved to wonder
or are you too cynical?

Eris seeks diversion, amusement (& now & then a good boff).
No plodding pedantics.
What can you expect from puny homers?

[Honey]

21
The Master keeps her mind         
always at one with the Tao;         
that is what gives her her radiance.      

The Tao is ungraspable.            
How can her mind be at one with it?      
Because she doesn't cling to ideas.      

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.      
How can it make her radiant?         
Because she lets it.            
Since before time and space were,      
the Tao is.               
It is beyond is and is not.         
How do I know this is true?         
I look inside myself and see.   
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html

TGGR keeps his mind
always at one with Chaos;
that is what gives him his shtick.

The Chaos is ineffable.
How can his mind be at one with it?
Because he doesn't whine about minutiae.

Chaos is vast & immeasurable.
How does it give him his shtick?
'Cuz he would kill a mother fucker.
Even before time & space were,
Chaos was.
Far beyond the logos.   
How do I know this is true?   
Think for yourself, schmuck.

[Kai]

TGGR keeps his mind
always at one with Chaos;
that is what gives him his shtick.

The Chaos is ineffable.
How can his mind be at one with it?
Because he doesn't whine about minutiae.

Chaos is vast & immeasurable.
How does it give him his shtick?
'Cuz he would kill a mother fucker.
Even before time & space were,
Chaos was.
Far beyond the logos.   
How do I know this is true?   
Think for yourself, schmuck.

[Cramulus]

I created blank spots for each chapter all the way up to 81. I haven't had time to paste in "original translations" yet, so if you work on that chapter and have a digital copy open, paste in the source you're working from.

please paste in your work!    there are a number of chapters ITT that aren't added to the wiki yet

[LMNO]

Just announcing I'm gonna try to bust through a bunch more today, because I'm on vacation for a week starting tomorrow, and won't have much computer time.

Hopefully, we'll have enough momentum to get all 81, and then, the tough part: editing.