Thank you!Your OP speaks the truth.
The usual translations of the Tao Te Ching have written The Deity out of it. This motivated me to start my own translation.
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Thank you!Your OP speaks the truth.
I lived in China for nine years and studied language and culture particularly jade culture. … My specialty is poetry about jade culture, and written by women. …
For me, as a Christian, it is God that provides us with morality. But what I like about part 1 of the poem is that we share the need for The Deity that provides us with morality.
It’s my interpretation, ~ as I see it ~ (Mawangdui characters; Kroll dictionary)
Tao Te Ching Ch 1 part 1:
As for the belief system that I can speak about;
it considers the customary belief system to be wrong.
道 可 道 也 dao4 ke3 dao4 ye3
< doctrine | can | speak | (GP, 也⋯也) as for >
非 恆 道 也 fei1 heng2 dao4 ye3
< consider wrong | normal | doctrine | (GP) >
As for the moral code that I can speak about;
it considers the customary moral code to be wrong.
名 可 名 也 ming2 ke3 ming2 ye3
< moral | can | denominate | (GP, 也⋯也) as for >
非 恆 名 也 fei1 heng2 ming2 ye3
< consider wrong | normal | moral | (GP) >
The physical world in itself
has no morality;
无 名 wu2 ming2
< lack | moral >
萬 物 之 始 也 wan4 wu4 zhi1 shi3 ye3
< myriad | things in the physical world | its | origin | (GP) >
it’s the Mother of mankind [Dao]
that provides us with morality.
有 名 you3 ming2
< provides with/has/is | moral >
萬物 之 母 也 wan4wu4 zhi1 mu3 ye3
< ten thousand wight | its | mother [ch25 名unknown, 曰Dao] | (GP) >
The only problem above is the transliteration pf 'Mother' in
it’s the Mother of mankind [Dao]
that provides us with morality.
@shunyadragon - Thank you very much for replying, much appreciated.
Especially your comment re 母 , I will think about it deeply.
There are many characters for ‘source’, I think it is significant that Laozi chose 母 , the Mother.Further note: I prefer the word 'Source; in the following translation:
it’s the 'Source' of mankind [Dao]
that provides us with morality.
Mother here is likely symbolic of being the 'Source.' The nature of the Tao is neither male nor female and is only known as a reflection of the attributes of our existence and humanity including morality, which in and of themselves not the Dao.
Daoism has a female ‘Source’, Dao. Christianity has a male ‘Source’, God.… All religions describe a 'Source' some call God(s)and in Daoism, it is the 'Dao..' All religions have words and concepts for God or Gods that are constrained by the culture and time of origin of the scriptures. …
Daoism has a female ‘Source’, Dao. Christianity has a male ‘Source’, God.
The use of 'Mother is more symbolic here as the 'Source,' and not the 'Source' is female because the nature of the 'Source' in Taoism is unknown to human speculation;
And so it is too for the ‘Father’ in Christianity, God is ‘spirit’ and a ‘mystery’.
The different choices of metaphor (Daoism ‘Mother’; Christianity ‘Father’) shows Daoism and Christianity to be very different belief systems.
In Christianity it is significant that God is called the Father.
I disagree that from the fallible human perspective the 'Source' some call God(s) can be defined from any one religious perspective from another. What humans perceive are 'metaphors' of attributes of God such as Mother or Father and not the infinite and eternal 'Source.'
The use of 'Mother' in Taoism is only describing one attribute of the 'Source.' In Taoism and the Baha'i Faith, the 'Source' is unknowable and undefinable from the human perspective.
And so it is too for the ‘Father’ in Christianity, God is ‘spirit’ and a ‘mystery’.
The different choices of metaphor (Daoism ‘Mother’; Christianity ‘Father’) shows Daoism and Christianity to be very different belief systems.
No more significant that the infinite attributes of the 'Source' and our physical existence including the Mother all on balance. The symbol of Yin and Yang in Chinese philosophy and Taoism is the Yang male (Father) and the female (Mother) is the Yin in balance in our existence.
Yin and yang - Wikipedia
The Two Aspects of Taiji, also known as the yin-yang symbol;
yin-dark on the right and yang-light on the left.
In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and yang and formed into objects and lives. Yin is the receptive and yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and difference such as the annual cycle (winter and summer), the landscape (north-facing shade and south-facing brightness), sexual coupling (female and male), the formation of both men and women as characters and sociopolitical history (disorder and order).
Your description of Daoism shows it to be an entirely different belief system to Christianity.
Your description of Daoism shows it to be an entirely different belief system to Christianity.
I said that Daoism and Christianity are different belief systems. Daoism worships the ‘Mother’, and Christianity the ‘Father’.Are you saying that different fallible human descriptions cannot refer to the same God?
Thanks for the info.Many Chinese Bibles translate Logos (John 1) as Tao. …
… Logos (John 1) as Tao.