The Fireplace Records, Chapter 11
The student asked, "How can I best pursue the Buddhist Way?"
The Master said, "Don't give up learning."
The student said, "But don't all the masters in the sets of Chan koan collections tells us not to think, not to read, not to have intellectual or literary quibbles, to let go of body and mind, to free yourself from the tainted worship of scriptures, to stop reasoning using only dualistic logical viewpoints, to introspect and intuit, to give up the pursuit of knowledge and scholarship, to stop judging between right and wrong, to focus on emptiness?"
The Master said, "It is true that for the illiterate person listening and seeing are more fundamental in their lives than other learning methods. Cutting Nansen's cat in half, hitting a student hard with a cane, or yelling at someone are dramatic teaching encounters. However, I only know now how that person thought or acted or chose not to think or felt by reading what some scholar historian wrote down about them. In some ways, "The Buddha" is just a bunch of footnotes on awakened and compassionate living."
The Master continued, "Increasing your learning is like adding gathered firewood to cut up and dry for later use. Then, when you need wood for cooking or heating you will have some resources at hand. To learn more by studying scriptures or introspecting koans is like adding a new log to a new fire in the Fireplace of Your Spirit. I still believe that guided book learning is very beneficial when pursuing the Buddhist Way. Indeed, other methods for "learning" are possible, but book learning appeals strongly to some people and is an effective method for helping them become more like the Buddha."
The Student's Considerations
Logic requires both true and false.
Seek the true, valid, accurate, sensible, reasonable, practical,
most probable, beautiful, fair, and useful.
Face the false and deal with it. Know what is false.
There are limits to reasoning and limits to introspection.
Figure it out in terms of your life choices today.
Stupidity and ignorance won't necessarily lighten
your worries or troubles.
Learning takes a lifetime of effort.
There are a number of ways to learn.
Book learning, scholarship, spiritual literature,
writing, reading, research, comparisons, and
intellectual endeavors are good ways to learn
for some people on a spiritual quest.
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 20Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.
In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace,
But I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am.
Like a newborn babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.
Others have more than they need, but I alone have nothing.
I am a fool. Oh, yes! I am confused.
Others are clear and bright,
But I alone am dim and weak.
Others are sharp and clever,
But I alone am dull and stupid.
Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea,
Without direction, like the restless wind.
Everyone else is busy,
But I alone am aimless and depressed.
I am different.
I am nourished by the great mother."
- Translated by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, 1989, Chapter 20
How much difference is there between "yes" and "no"?
How far removed from each other are "good" and "evil"?
Yet what the people are in awe of cannot be disregarded.
I am scattered, never having been in a comfortable center.
All the people enjoy themselves, as if they are at the festival of the great sacrifice,
Or climbing the Spring Platform.
I alone remain, not yet having shown myself.
Like an infant who has not yet laughed.
Weary, like one despairing of no home to return to.
All the people enjoy extra
While I have left everything behind.
I am ignorant of the minds of others.
So dull!
While average people are clear and bright, I alone am obscure.
Average people know everything.
To me alone all seems covered.
So flat!
Like the ocean.
Blowing around!
It seems there is no place to rest.
Everybody has a goal in mind.
I alone am as ignorant as a bumpkin.
I alone differ from people.
I enjoy being nourished by the mother."
- Translated by Charles Muller, 1891, Chapter 20
Respectful response and scornful response
How much is the difference?
Goodness and evil
How much do they differ?
What the people fear, I cannot be unafraid
The people are excited
As if enjoying a great feast
As if climbing up to the terrace in spring
I alone am quiet and uninvolved
Like an infant not yet smiling
So weary, like having no place to return
The people all have surplus
While I alone seem lacking
I have the heart of a fool indeed so ignorant!
Ordinary people are bright
I alone am muddled
Ordinary people are scrutinizing
I alone am obtuse
Such tranquility, like the ocean
Such high wind, as if without limits
And I alone am stubborn and lowly
I alone am different from them
And value the nourishing mother"
- Translated by Derek Linn, 2006, Chapter 20
善之與惡, 相去若何.
人之所畏, 不可不畏.
荒兮其未央哉.
衆人熙熙.
如享太牢.
如春登臺.
我獨怕兮其未兆, 如嬰兒之未孩.
儽儽兮若無所歸.
衆人皆有餘, 而我獨若遺.
我愚人之心也哉, 沌沌兮.
俗人昭昭.
我獨昏.
昏俗人察察.
我獨悶悶.
澹兮其若海.
飂兮若無止.
衆人皆有以.
而我獨頑似鄙.
我獨異於人,而貴食母.
- Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 20
shan chih yü wu, hsiang ch'ü jo ho.
jên chih so wei, pu k'o pu wei.
huang hsi ch'i wei yang tsai.
chung jên hsi hsi.
ju hsiang ta lao.
ju ch'un têng t'ai.
wo tu p'o hsi ch'i wei chao, ju ying erh chih wei hai.
lei lei hsi jo wu so kuei.
chung jên chieh yu yü, erh wo tu jo yi.
wo yü jên chih hsin yeh tsai, t'un t'un hsi.
su jên chao chao.
wo tu hun.
hun su jên ch'a ch'a.
wo tu mên mên.
tan hsi ch'i jo hai.
liu hsi jo wu chih.
chung jên chieh yu yi.
erh wo tu wan ssu pi.
wo tu yi yü jên, erh kuei shih mu.
- Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 20
Of saying yes to this and perhaps to that,
Distinctions with how little difference!
Categorical this, categorical that,
What slightest use are they!
If one man leads, another must follow,
How silly that is and how false!
Yet conventional men lead an easy life
With all their days feast days,
A constant spring visit to the Tall Tower,
While I am a simpleton, a do-nothing,
Not big enough yet to raise a hand,
Not grown enough to smile,
A homeless, worthless waif.
Men of the world have a surplus of goods,
While I am left out, owning nothing.
What a booby I must be
Not to know my way round,
What a fool!
The average man is so crisp and so confident
That I ought to be miserable
Going on and on like the sea,
Drifting nowhere.
All these people are making their mark in the world,
While I, pig-headed, awkward,
Different from the rest,
Am only a glorious infant still nursing at the breast."
- Translated by Witter Bynner, 1944, Chapter 20
"Renounce knowledge and your problems will end.
What is the difference between yes and no?
What is the difference between good and evil?
Must you fear what others fear?
Nonsense, look how far you have missed the mark!
Other people are joyous,
as though they were at a spring festival.
I alone am unconcerned and expressionless,
like an infant before it has learned to smile.
Other people have more than they need;
I alone seem to possess nothing.
I am lost and drift about with no place to go.
I am like a fool, my mind is in chaos.
Ordinary people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Ordinary people are clever;
I alone am dull.
Ordinary people seem discriminating;
I alone am muddled and confused.
I drift on the waves on the ocean,
blown at the mercy of the wind.
Other people have their goals,
I alone am dull and uncouth.
I am different from ordinary people.
I nurse from the Great Mother's breasts."
- Translated by John H. McDonald, 1996, Chapter 20
"Suprime el adoctrinamiento y no habrá preocupaciones.
¿Qué diferencia hay entre el sí y el no?
¿Qué diferencia hay entre el bien y el mal?
¡El dicho “lo que otros evitan, yo también deberé evitar”
cuán falso y superficial es!
No es posible abarcar todo el saber.
Todo el mundo se distrae y disfruta,
como cuando se presencia un gran sacrificio,
o como cuando se sube a los jardines de una torre en primavera.
Sólo yo doy cabida a la duda,
no copiando lo que otros hacen,
como un recién nacido que aún no sabe sonreír.
Como quien no sabe a dónde dirigirse,
como quien no tiene hogar.
Todo el mundo vive en la abundancia,
sólo yo parezco desprovisto.
Consideran mi mente como la de un loco
por sentir umbrías confusiones y críticas.
Todo el mundo brilla porque solo las luces buscan,
sólo yo me atrevo a transitar por las tinieblas.
Todo el mundo se conforma con su felicidad,
sólo yo me adentro en mi depresión.
Soy como quien deriva en alta mar,
voy contra la corriente sin un rumbo predestinado.
Todo el mundo es puesto en algún uso;
sólo yo soy un ermitaño intratable y aburrido.
Sólo yo soy diferente a todos los demás
porque aprecio a la Madre Naturaleza que me nutre."
- Translation from Wikisource, 2013, Capitulo 20
"Give up learning, and you will be free from all your worries.
What is the difference between yes and no about which the rhetoricians have so much to say?
What is the difference between good and evil on which the critics never agree?
These are futilities that prevent the mind from being free.
Now freedom of mind is necessary to enter into relation with the Principle.
Without doubt, among the things which common people fear, there are things that should be feared; but not as they do, with a mind so troubled that they lose their mental equilibrium.
Neither should one permit oneself to lose equilibrium through pleasure, as happens to those who have a good meal or view the surrounding countryside in spring from the top of a tower with the accompaniment of wine, etc.).
I, the Sage, seem to be colourless and undefined; neutral as a new-born child that has not yet experienced any emotion; without design or aim.
The common people abound in varied knowledge, but I am poor having rid myself of all uselessness and seem ignorant, so much have I purified myself.
They seem full of light, I seem dull.
They seek and scrutinize, I remain concentrated in myself.
Indeterminate, like the immensity of the oceans, I float without stopping.
They are full of talent, whereas I seem limited and uncultured.
I differ thus from the common people, because I venerate and imitate the universal nourishing mother, the Principle."
- Translated by Derek Bryce, 1999, Chapter 20
Chapter 20, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index
Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index
Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
Taoism: A Selected Reading List
Pulling Onions Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo
Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans
Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood
Subject Index to the Cases of the Gateless Gate Koan Collection
Zen Buddhist Koan Collections
Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo
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