I continue to write some comments on some tracks of Dao De Jing, which intrigued me, after a first article I wrote a few days ago.
First, I sincerely thank the editor of the translation I'm reading the Laozi, AG Sabbadini, for responding with openness and enthusiasm to my email request to give a reading of what I wrote here, to see if I too daring flights of fancy in my speculation, without specific training in language.
In Chapter 70 of my copy of Laozi says:
"My words are very easy to understand
and very easy to put into practice.
But in the world no one can understand
and no one is able to put them into practice.
My words have ancestors
my actions have masters.
But people do not understand this,
so I do not understand.
Those who understand me are rare,
Those who understand me are precious.
The sage wears coarse clothes,
but the door within a precious gem. "
I was particularly touched by the phrase "my words have ancestors, my actions masters." Why this distinction?
Thinking about the language, in fact, our language and our accents are very influenced by our ancestors in this verse the "ancestors" correspond to the ideogram "zong", the same as the zong qi, the energy of the ancestors through the filter which our inner transformation takes place. And 'the Zong Qi in the Later Heaven is all the experience not only the individual but of his race.
The language that the child learns is the result of the line of his ancestors, from the continent to the state to the region to the city, which captures the inflections of dialect.
The way the child learns to behave, however, his actions, as well as being influenced by his congenital Constitution, is much influenced by the teachings (voluntary or involuntary!) Of those who are next: family, friends, school . These are his "masters".
So, in summary, for me it makes sense that words are the ancestors as the actions are the masters.
Let's go on: "But people do not understand this, so I do not understand"
Mentally I thought that "I do not understand" translated as "we do not understand" do not I see the father of Taoism to focus all attention on himself 
Apart from this detail, thinking "we do not understand" it seemed clearer sense of the previous verses: it is true that each of us is expressed in words and gestures that resonate on their own personal ancestors and teachers, as can understand each other? What are the chances, however, to be misunderstood? The words and actions are the way we communicate, but each of us makes a second code that is a mix of their personal experiences and reactions from a small part of humanity, their "zong".
Then: The sage wears coarse clothes, but carrying in her womb a precious gem. Perhaps his clothes are just rude words and actions, because in reality only what he has within, what is in his heart, it expresses the true nature and is devoid of misunderstandings. Only a communication from the heart, without words and actions, can be fully understood.
"Those who understand me are rare, those who understand me are precious." Here, thinking of the above, I would imagine a little 'different "rare" is the character xi, which is also thin, imperceptible. Beautiful image associated with the "interstices between the warp and woof of a cloth" look like they cou, the "pores" described in Chinese medicine. The warp and woof of man can be called the Luo Luo transverse and longitudinal, and since the Luo represent our relationship with the world, small gaps may be the empty places where you really realize the encounter between man and the world, the small spaces in which our networks Luo are permeable to each other!
So maybe "I understand those who are thin, clear-sighted," meaning that go beyond the appearances, which allow to filter through its interstices the truth and do not stop at my words and my actions so prone to misunderstanding.
Then "Those who understand me are valuable" because Laozi should "put it on the staff"?
The verse says the original "zhe wo gui", which works according to the characters more or less like this: (I, me, us) (one who, who, what) (valuable to value). Perhaps it could also mean "To those I am precious" or "This I consider to be of value" in the sense that only those who can see the teaching of the wise beyond appearances really appreciate the value or see him as a teacher, the others may see him as a madman. Nor is it obvious that the essay should be regarded as a teacher, but this is what students often do, considering its value.
Last thing: I also really like the idea that the essay "door within a precious gem" yu is the gem, jade, or rather of jade discs overlapping: the jade in the human body is the "spinal", including which the spinal cord, encased in the vertebral discs. The pith is the sum of our experiences, the "squeezing" of man: the wise, therefore, has a wealth of experience in the heart pure and distilled ... leads "in the spinal heart"! 
Category: Ideas and Theories date: July 5th, 2011 | No Comments »