Daeluin

It is a consistent theme. And not just for the sake of returning - but for also emerging again. A12: 天地之間，其猷回，管與。 The space in between of heaven and earth, its design turns around to reverse and revolve, uniting and according as with a hollow tube. 虛而元，屈動而愈出。 Formless and then Original, moved into coiled up contraction, then ever more emerges. End of A19: 天下之物，生於又，生於亡。 The heavenly descended's phenomena, emerges from creation, emerging from resolution. And yet if we do not stock up via resolving (I think I'll change take up residence in to stock up on, as this is the definition that makes sense of the theme of storing, all throughout), then we disconnect from this. A20: 困而涅之元，元若已。 Constricting, and then blocking this Original, the Original complies with ceasing. 湍而羣之元，可長保也。 Running up against, and then banding together with this Original, has to do with making possible nurturing the sustaining and protecting of it. ... 攻述，身退天之道也。 Railing against staying the course, has to do with withdrawing the bodily vessel from heaven's way.

When I began my own attempt at translating the Guodian, several chapters in I found myself pondering on how some of the characters were drawn differently. It seemed odd to me, so I explored the possibility that they were intentionally coded. What started as a spontaneous guess ended up making more sense than seemed possible. In some cases, Bu 不 was drawn with or without a line above it. And this is nothing new. But on a whim I pondered if it could mean Yuan 元 in some cases. As they are mildly similar, from some perspective. As I went along, working from Scott Cook's excellent book, I noticed that many translations of the Guodian LaoZi Bundles replace a great many characters. It seems there is a lack of meaning or sense when the original characters are used. Indeed in some cases there seems to be shorthand in use. And in other cases, it seems that there is no way to identify the original character's graph, or, to place its old, lost meaning. What became incredibly interesting to me, was that by using this code, many more of the original characters just made sense. More to the point - there was a consistent theme that emerged from the text. Chapter to chapter - in the Guodian ordering - the meaning just built up. At least that's what I found. Please see for yourself - my translation can be found here, CC BY ND NC Mysterious Center 2025. It it still a work in progress - The ABC bundles of the LaoZi have been translated. However the C bundle contains another section, called Tai Yi Sheng Shui. There is some question as to whether or not it relates to the Lao Zi chapters by scholars. Because it does not contain sentences we can link to received dao de jing chapters, like the other sections do. However, it appears to also utilize the same code. And its thesis adds to the thesis of the whole. Please note, this is script from the Chu kingdom, before the Qin Dynasty standardization of written script. Word conjunctions cannot be thought of as necessarily holding the same meanings as they did for Classical Chinese that has undergone this standardization. Indeed, in a great many cases we see evidence of unique and creative character compositions. This is a personal project of mine. I shared it with a friend of mine who happens to be a very sensitive reader. Unsolicited, she told me that she thinks I had prior history with this text. So in this way, it is something of a personal transmission, from whatever I remember from before. Considering the above, people will likely have different takes on this. I have no interest in holding scholarly debates. Those who do will need to work that out on their own - please use a different thread. But discussion in regards to following the meaning of this perspective are welcome here. AI was not used in any part of this project. 🙏

Ah, I found another one. I had translated A9 (received 2) before the others, and I guess I had forgotten to check it for 不 Bu's with the coded line. It has 2, and one of them is a 不 Bu without the line. But the second, does have a line over the Bu. So here is what I had before: 是以聖人居亡，爲之事，行不言之教。 Because of this the masterful person takes up residence in resolving, serving this concern, this undertaking, modeling not speaking this teaching. "modeling not" 行 Xing is about engaging, acting, conducting, moving, proceeding, implementing. My "modeling" was perhaps a slight stretch of the meaning. Now, it becomes clear that the 行元 Xing Yuan is directly extending the previous line. And we even have what could be a mark here to show that this line ends with Yuan. However this is where the binding straps would go. And it is hard to tell if it is an actual inked line, or just a dark spot from the binding cord. But this is not the first place where it seems like there is an intentional line drawn. Perhaps this could have been a hidden way of showing - beneath the cord - where a line ended, to help reveal the code. I don't know. In any case, the previous lines transforms to: 是以聖人居亡，爲之事行不。 Because of this the masterful person takes up residence in resolving, serving the undertaking of engaging/implementing the Original. As for the three characters at the end, they become the contextual opener that frames the meaning of the next lines, which I find very helpful. 言之教 Yan 言 is about talk, speech, language - and also a theory, teaching, doctrine. Zhi 之 is "this, that, these" or a possessive, like our apostrophe. Jiao 教 is a teaching, instruction, a school of thought or sect, or to convey, transfer, hand on. So already my next section was a little unusual: 萬勿作而弗始也，爲而弗志也，成而弗居。 The 10,000 do not stand up and then not commence or, do and then not attend to or, accomplish and then not rest. 夫唯弗居也，是以弗去也。 So indeed in all cases of not resting it, this is the means for not storing it up. Because I take 萬勿 literally as "the wan do not", as it is drawn, but all others render it as shorthand for 萬物 "wan wu" - the [wan/10,000/myriad] [things/phenomena]. And indeed I also render this shorthand in all other cases. But here, it seemed to fit, with the "do not" providing the initial negative that is inferred for the next two lines of this phrase. And because it seemed to fit the meaning. So putting it all together, we could go with: 言之教 Talking about this teaching. But 言之教 The theory of this teaching is: Works much better, as then it connects the meaning behind the three sections: 1 - The observation that as we descend from heaven there is a descending of tiers that create relationships of cause and effect. We all know excellence / goodness because we come from heaven, and that purity is naturally good, there for anything less than that is easily recognized. 2 - Because these things tend to balance each other in terms of relativity in their relationships, there is an ability to become stuck within their balancing. For example, mastery / peerlessness / sagacity, creates a reputation for itself. But that reputation can manifest simply by rising above its peers. It takes truly resolving and getting back to the source of the excellence - heaven / yang / oneness. And so the Sage or Masterful Person takes up residence in resolving, serving the undertaking - that is necessary for - engaging the Original. 3 - The theory behind this is simply that things follow a cyclical flow. The 10,000 (things) do not come into being but not initiate, or carry something out but then not follow their goal, or accomplish their goal and then not rest. We need to rest / settle down / stock up on, in order to store it up. This comes of resolving. Thus the undertaking of resolving allows us to store up all that we need to gather back our yin capacity and rekindle the yang clarity of the Original. This process is what allows us to always return to excellence. And this is something we all know well - the benefits of a good night's sleep cannot be understated. This undertaking of resolving to restore the original is the same idea, it just goes all the way back to the root. So this can help to showcase how I worked out the meaning I did from this text. And this also shows how when we work like this, a much greater cohesion of meaning is uncovered. It was always there, but was deliberately hidden. The use of Tian Xia as Fallen of Heaven rather than say "all under heaven" aka "all the realm" in the way I do here also shows that this idea that we and all the realm is something that has fallen / descended from heaven is very literal. It is no different from our saying that all the universe came from the big bang. Again and again, I find that the text really tries to point out that this is not just a realm under heaven, but that this is a process that when understood, can be used to return to heaven. Thus the more we resolve and bring things to an end - especially energetically, especially when we stop using our energy for thoughts - the more we return to the original. Thus this is associated with mastery / peerlessness / sagacity.

Yes, bottom left toggle if the window is wide enough. Bottom of top right menu toggle in a narrow screen.

Hmmm, for me I find that it relates to my training. I've always loved the received dao de jing, and loved searching for deeper meaning it its verses. But when I went to translating it, some things.... I'm not sure what the word is. But after finding this chain of cohesion in the Guodian text, I think I also found what I'd been really looking for. And in finding this, now I have something to study. To return to again and again, reminding myself of the work that needs to be done. I found that lifting up on Bai Hui and drawing back on Feng Fu is very helpful for achieving the first line's missive: 绝智弃下又，民利百倍。 Pushing beyond thought abandons continuously sinking down, and people benefit a hundred times over. This pushing beyond thought, is stopping thought. One of my favorite chapters is A10. (All quotes from this work by myself or others are attributed to its copyright as declared above and here). This part of it: 始制又名，名亦既，又夫亦将智止，智止所以元始。 Initiating tailoring creates designation, designate only just now, and for what is created next, however you look at it, just take hold of stopping thought, stopping thought is what is used to initiate the Original. I find to be so exquisite. As soon as we begin something, we might need to apply some thinking - but after initiating, we can draw the thoughts to a close. And return to strengthening the original / primordial. Yuan. As A4 indicates: 善者果而已，元以取强。 One who is excellent and good brings an action to completion and then is finished, the Original is used for acquiring strength capable of mastery. 果而弗發，果而弗喬，果而弗矜，是謂果而元强，其事好。 Bringing an action to completion and then not expressing or proposing about it, bringing an action to completion and then not being arrogant or proud about it, bringing an action to completion and then not having empathy, regard, caution, or aloofness about it, this means bringing an action to completion, and then strengthening the Original, one's hole in a jade bi engaged, occupied. And I just love how the text uses this imagery of a jade bi - here and in a B chapter. Such a meaning just fits, and this is one of the definitions Kroll's dictionary gives. And yet understandably this is not the meaning most arrive at here. Speaking of the B bundle, they have become one of my favorite. For they reveal more than just about the nuances of ruling, but how ruling extends naturally to one who develops their virtue and increases its scope. So more and more continues to reveal itself over time. For example we have the way following the law of spontaneous naturalness that is self so / burning its own light. At the end of A11. But just from this phase it is not necessarily clear what this means. Yet from A7 and A10 we are given more than enough to work out that this is our taking care to treat the arising of spontaneous naturalness like we might tend to a guest - polite and welcoming, but also with caution and careful consideration. In this way, we steer away from impulsivity that leads to the chasing of desire, and hold space for: 天地相會也，以逾甘露民莫之命，而自均安。 Due to heaven and earth mutually assembling together, utilizing surplus sweet dew people determine their destiny, and then natural-spontaneity equalizes and settles into place. Best of all, this turns out to be an early text on internal alchemy. So there is a lot to work with here, and I invite others to embark on the practice.

Good to see some old friends are still around. If y'all are bored, go read my last post.