Oriente

Waley
Of the highest the people merely know that such a one exists; The next they draw near to and praise. The next they shrink from, intimidated; but revile. Truly, “It is by not believing people that you turn them into liars”. But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word That when his task is accomplished, his work done, Throughout the country every one says: “It happened of its own accord”.
Wieger
A. Dans les premiers temps (quand, dans les choses humaines, (…)

Waley
Push far enough towards the Void, Hold fast enough to Quietness, And of the ten thousand things none but can be worked on by you. I have beheld them, whither they go back. See, all things howsoever they flourish Return to the root from which they grew. This return to the root is called Quietness; Quietness is called submission to Fate; What has submitted to Fate has become part of the always so. To know the always-so is to be Illumined; Not to know it, means to go blindly to (…)

Apart from such human artifacts as buildings and roads (especially Roman and American roads), our universe, including ourselves, is thoroughly wiggly. Its features are wiggly in both shape and conduct. Clouds, mountains, plants, rivers, animals, coastlines—all wiggle. They wiggle so much and in so many different ways that no one can really make out where one wiggle begins and another ends, whether in space or in time. Some French classicist of the eighteenth century complained that the (…)

Waley
Of old those that were the best officers of Court Had inner natures subtle, abstruse, mysterious, penetrating, Too deep to be understood. And because such men could not be understood I can but tell of them as they appeared to the world: Circumspect they seemed, like one who in winter crosses a stream, Watchful, as one who must meet danger on every side. Ceremonious, as one who pays a visit; Yet yielding, as ice when it begins to melt. Blank, as a piece of uncarved wood; Yet receptive (…)

Waley
Because the eye gazes but can catch no glimpse of it, It is called elusive. Because the ear listens but cannot hear it, It is called the rarefied. Because the hand feels for it but cannot find it, It is called the infinitesimal. These three, because they cannot be further scrutinized, Blend into one, Its rising brings no light; Its sinking, no darkness. Endless the series of things without name On the way back to where there is nothing. They are called shapeless shapes; Forms without (…)

Waley
Favour and disgrace goad as it were to madness; High rank hurts keenly as our bodies hurt.”
What does it mean to say that favour and disgrace goad as it were to madness? It means that when a rule’s subjects get it they turn distraught, When they lose it they turn distraught. That is what is meant to by saying favour and disgrace goad as it were to madness. What does it mean to say that high rank hurts keenly as our bodies hurt? The only reason that we suffer hurt is that we have (…)

Waley
The fives colours confuse the eye, The fives sounds dull the ear, The five tastes spoil the palate. Excess of hunting and chasing Makes minds go mad. Products that are hard to get Impede their owner’s movements. Therefore the Sage Considers the belly not the eye. Truly, “he rejects that but takes this”.
Wieger
A. La vue des couleurs aveugle les yeux de l’homme. L’audition des sons lui fait perdre l’ouïe. La gustation des saveurs use son goût. La course et la chasse, en (…)

Waley
We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; But it is on the space where there is nothing That the usefulness of the wheel depends. We turn clay to make a vessel; But it is on the space where there is nothing That the usefulness of the vessel depends. We pierce doors and windows to make a house; And it is on these spaces where there is nothing That the usefulness of the house depends. Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, We should recognize the usefulness of what (…)

The primary aim of the experience in the Developing and Fulfillment Stages is to pave the way for insight into Being as it comes as ’thereness’. This Being is not something and, by implication, also not nothing, hence also it is nowhere else than in its ’thereness’. We may note that the word ’in’ here does not mean that its ’Being’ is in [169] something other than itself, like water in a jug, which would turn Being into something. The inadequacy of every language is most conspicuous in this (…)

Arthur Waley
Can you keep the unquiet physical-soul from straying, Hold fast to the Unity, and never quit it? Can you, when concentrating your breath, Make it soft like that of a little child? Can you wipe and cleanse your vision of the Mystery till all is without blur? Can you love the people and rule the land, Yet remain unknown? Can you in opening and shutting the heavenly gates play always the female part? Can your mind penetrate every corner of the land, But you yourself never (…)