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treebuffalo

Chapter 38 - Epic Fail?

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Yeah, I know 38 is another anti-Confucian chapter. But the average reader won't know that. Which means most English translations are just a soup of non-sequiturs that don't seem to relate to each other. 

 

Losing the way of Nature loses virtue; 

losing virtue loses kindness;

losing kindness loses morality;

losing morality loses behavior (ritual).

 

The chapter starts strong (superior virtue vs. inferior virtue) and ends strong (fruit vs. flower, etc), but this interior part is weak. Not to mention Lao Tsu is playing the critic, which is a weak stance to begin with (by his own admission). Critics criticize, where creatives create. 

Edited by treebuffalo

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是的,不同派別本來就會互相批評

這是很常見的事情

 

Yes, different factions would have criticized each other

it's a very common thing

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