Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts

Monday, December 22, 2014

Sage Quote on Teaching Sagely

From chapter two of Tao Te Ching, translated Priya Hemenway:


The Sage is occupied with the unspoken, and acts without effort. Teaching without verbosity.  Producing without possessing,  Creating without regard to result.  Claiming nothing.  The Sage has nothing to lose

I would change "without effort" to without straining effort -- with a vision from martial arts of the master just standing there while a student attacks until in one lightening quick instant, there is one move and the student is flipped . . . the master still standing there, unaffected.  

Also, the "claiming nothing," and "without possessing," in this passage, also through the lens of another translation I saw emphasizes a non-material strain to being a true sage. 

That combination of voluntary simplicity and teaching without ego has been a powerful one for thousands of years.  

I only wish to live up to the tradition.