Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tao Te Ching Chapter 13-4 Favour



Today's Tao

You regard favour as something good. (Ch.13)


Let's decode this.

It means:

You judge favour as something good.

But good and bad don't exist in the world of Tao.


Naoto Matsumoto adds:


There is an old Japanese proverb with a Taoist origin (from «Huainanzi 淮南子»).

It is Sai ou ga Uma 塞翁が馬 [Sa Ong Ji Ma 塞翁之馬], or «Old Sai's horse».

Sai 塞 signifies a fortress. Probably he lived near a fortress on a border.


One day, old Sai lost his horse.

His neighbours came and said:

"Mr. Sai, what a bad luck, we are sorry for you".

Then he replied:

"You never know. It may bring us a good fortune".

Months later, the horse came back with a fleet steed.

His neighbours came and said:

"You were right, Mr. Sai. It brought you a good fortune".

Then, old Sai replied:

"You never know. It may bring us a bad fortune".

Years later, his family had more fine horses.

His son liked riding them.

He fell off and broke his thigh.

His neighbours came and said:

"We are sorry for you. You were right, Mr. Sai. It brought you a bad fortune".

Then, old Sai replied:

"You never know. It may bring us a good fortune".

A year later, war broke out, but his son was not drafted to fight because of his broken leg.

Old Sai and his son survived the war.


When a Japanese uses the expression "Sai ou ga Uma", he means «Joy and sorrow are today and tomorrow».

Well, one should not judge any. Right?


See Tao by Matsumoto / Chapter 13 / Love your Trouble.

It has the chapter's entire English translation and Rapid Decoded.

Mata ashita. See you tomorrow.


«Related Articles»
-Excitement 13-1
-Big trouble 13-2
-Favour and disgrace 13-3
-Favour 13-4
-Disgrace 13-5
-Get 13-6
-Lose 13-7
-Like excitement 13-8
-Trouble = Body? 13-9
-Trouble and body 13-10
-No body, no trouble 13-11
-Your body = World 13-12
-Love the world 13-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 13


Tao answers your question!



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-Favour and disgrace, Daimajin knows the truth.

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