lienshan

The mohists used 5 pairs of 2 paroles for agitation and propaganda:

"Elevating the Worthy" and "Conforming Upward"

"Thrift in Utilization" and "Thrift in Funerals"

"Rejecting Music" and "Rejecting Fate"

"Respecting Heaven" and "Serving Ghosts".

"Inclusive Care" and "Rejecting Aggression"

The way to spread the 10 paroles was formulated in the mohist Book 49 'Questions of Lu':

If the state is in disorder, then expound "elevating the worthy" and "conforming upward".

If the state is poor, then expound "thrift in utilization" and "thrift in funerals".

If the state overindulges in musical entertainment, then expound "rejecting music" and "rejecting fate".

If the state is dissolute and indecorous, expound "respecting Heaven" and "serving ghosts".

If the state is devoted to aggression and intimidation, then expound "inclusive care" and "rejecting aggression".

The Guodian Laozi A and C are examples of similar daoist agitation and propaganda methods.

The A version begins with a chapter (19) including 3 anti-mohist paroles to be used in states with strong mohist influence.

The C version + Tai Yi Sheng Shui begins with a chapter (18/19) including 3 anti-confucian paroles to be used in states with strong confucian influence.

Both versions share a common chapter (64b) that is wellsuited for agitation and propaganda in general.

lienshan

Personally I think reversion is closer then return and flexibility is closer then yielding. So I have:

 

Reversion is the movement of the Tao; flexibility is the function of the Tao.

All things in the world come from being; being comes from nonbeing.

You are translating a Heshang Gong and Wang Bi revision of Laozi (zhi is replaced by wan):

tian xia wan wu sheng yu you

you sheng yu you

The Fu Yi version and The Mawangdui B (and the Guodian text) have:

tian xia zhi (air sets it to work) (zhi makes the preceding character a verb)

wu sheng yu you (matter gives birth to existence) (to grow up/to live)

you sheng yu wu (existence gives birth to no existence) (to grow old/to die)

http://www.daoisopen.com/downloads/CC40.pdf

fan (ye) to retire! (to grow old/to die)

zhe dao zhi dong (ye) that is dao's action!

ruo (ye) ready to fly! (to grow up/to live)

zhe dao zhi yong (ye) that is dao's function!

ruo means weak (showing a picture of the wings of a young bird, not yet fully grown out?)

http://www.alice-dsl.net/taijiren/3_ruo4_m3128.htm

The Mawangdui chapter 40 is this way answering:

to be or not to be

that's the question

quote Prince Hamlet of Denmark / William Shakespeare

lienshan

I'm exploring the difference between the Guodian text and the Mawangdui Dao De Jing chapter 40.

Robert G. Henricks translates the two versions this way:

"Returning" is the way the Way moves;

"Weakness" is the way the Way works.

The things of the world arise from being,

And being comes from non-being.

"Reversal" is the movement of the Dao;

"Weakness" is the function of the Dao.

The things of the world originate in being,

And being originates in nonbeing.

I think that his two translations are not expressing the few minor but important character changes:

fan (ye)

zhe dao dong (ye)

ruo (ye)

zhe dao zhi yong (ye)

tian xia zhi wu

sheng yu you

sheng yu wu

fan (ye)

zhe dao zhi dong (ye)

ruo (ye)

zhe dao zhi yong (ye)

tian xia zhi

wu sheng yu you

you sheng yu wu

fan (to return) was changed to fan (to retreat). dong was changed from a verb to a noun by inserting a zhi character. This is explained in chapter 1, where the dao that can be daoed is not the constant dao. That'll say dao cannot be "verbalized". But heaven can be "verbalized", which was done by inserting you in the last line, creating a rythmic linebreak after tian xia zhi because zhi as last character makes xia a verb.

The philosophy of the Guodian text indicates, that the Dao De Jing (chapter 1) was not yet written

fan (ye)

to retire!

zhe dao zhi dong (ye)

that is dao's action!

ruo (ye)

ready to fly!

zhe dao zhi yong (ye)

that is dao's function!

tian xia zhi

heaven sets it to work

wu sheng yu you

matter gives birth to existing

you sheng yu wu

existing gives birth to not existing

By merely replacing one character that repeats throughout the text with a different character the epistomology of the text is changed from the familiar implicit (ie- mystical) to an explicit one.

The Guodian Laozi book A / chapter 2 / the last lines:

moving NOT words are their teaching

all living things arise and NOT appear

striving then NOT serving

to finish then NOT rest heaven to strive NOT rest

correct when NOT is removed

lienshan

there is no Daoism without a teacher.

Daoism is a tradition orally transmitted from master to student.

Who was the teacher of the first daoist?

That's it, three books.

YES: The Guodian Laozi book A, book B and book C

I have a simple question: Where do you draw the line between something which is central to the concept of Tao Jia (Philosophical Taoism) and something that isn't?

I have an simple answer: the line that can be drawn is not the enduring line

lienshan

Now the Kingdom of Denmark is mapped too

If you were to summarize its meaning ina a couple of sentences, what would it be?

The interval between heaven and earth is like a double-action piston bellows

How?

Emptied but not crunched up

When the position is changed all the more emit

Arriving at the zenith of emptiness

Defending in the middle sure-footed

All living things on the side come into being to live just waiting to return

Heaven and Dao rotate around and each one return to their origin

The above Guodian text corresponds to two Dao De Jing quotations from the chapters 5 and 16. The double-action piston bellows was invented about 350 BCE. The principle of the apparatus is in short, that the space in the double-action piston bellows consist of two spaces separated in the middle, so that emptying one space is filling the other space at the same time. The separating middle inside a double-action piston bellows is connected with the handle, like a sage is connected with heaven and Dao.

hi DarinHamel

So. What is it about?

The Guodian Laozi consists of Dao De Jing chapters and part-chapters written on bamboo slips, and contains about 40% of the the received Dao De Jing text. When I started to translate the text I thought, like anyboby else, that the Guodian Laozi was a collection of special quotations, choosen of some reason from an already existing Dao De Jing. Now I've changed my mind. The Guodian Laozi is one of the philosophical manuscripts from which the Dao De Jing was compiled probably at the Jinxia Academy in Qi about 300-275 BCE. The Guodian Laozi is this way an very early example of pre-daoist thoughts written before scholars (shi) from various schools agreed on the philosophical daoist platform, that we today know as the Mawangdui Dao De Jing.

lienshan

Hi from Denmark

I'm interested in the Guodian Laozi ... the oldest known version of Dao De Jing dating 315 BCE

I've translated book A into danish language and published the text on a blog

My source is pics of the bamboo slips at the bottom of this site:

http://www.daoisopen.com/GuodianLaozi.html

There I too found a link to this forum

lienshan