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Debbie Liu's avatar

That the Daodejing has remained inspiration for so long to so many is a tribute to it's ability to - well, speak to so many, with so many differing interpretations. Partly that is due to the language it was written in, archaic Chinese. We don't really know about the 'order' in which it was written though, now we have bamboo texts discovered from archeological digs where the text is ordered differently from the received version. So, we have speculation upon speculation. Sometimes it's best to just sit with the words. As you did.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Debbie, understanding is so much more then we can hope for, which was my point, so I am beyond grateful that you understand, thanks a whole bunch.

To me, this text is an incredible work of art.

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Debbie Liu's avatar

It's obvious your respect for the text Paul, as you have spent so many years reading it, thinking about it, commenting upon it, and writing upon it. There's something about the beauty of the words and the structure of classical Chinese that relate to so many people, across language, time and space. Just like everyone sees something different in a work of art, everyone interprets literature differently.

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The Art of Not Meditating's avatar

“ Not everything needs an answer, not every opinion an airing. I am not responsible for the avatar with my name walking around in the minds of others.” - a lesson i need to remember

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Awareness of the lesson is an accomplishment to celebrate, this is where I'm at. Now to start learning to do! 😉🙏🏻

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Jill Amatt - Full-time Nomad's avatar

I really resonated with this. Thanks to you, I finally got around to getting the Dao as an audiobook. It’s a great thing to listen to. We’ve been through it three times in about two weeks.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Jill that's awesome, and Thank You. The text is different to each person, and each interpretation is right in its way. It is truly a work of art.

If you're curious of other interpretations, are you familiar Ursula LeGuin's work? She did her own translation of the Daodejing, and it is really good.

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Jill Amatt - Full-time Nomad's avatar

No, I had not heard of it. I’ll check it out. Thanks!

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