Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-14 Square without corners

Today's Tao

Big's square has no corners. (Ch.40)


I wonder why human beings adore squares and straight lines.

We even want to go straight to the point.

We avoid a man who is not square.

We cannot really blame Swiss architect Le Corbusier and his Domino System for this human propensity.

But we have to know that a seemingly square object has no corners in reality.

A square is a holographic image projected in your mind.

Be round instead of square.


«Related Articles»
-High samurai 40-1
-Samurai in doubt 40-2
-Laughable Tao 40-3
-If not laughable 40-4
-Chien yen? 40-5
-Evident = Vague 40-6
-Advance = Retreat 40-7
-Smooth = Tangled 40-8
-Highest attainment = Valley 40-9
-Lacking 40-10
-Lazy 40-11
-Changing 40-12
-White = Black 40-13
-Square without corners 40-14
-No completion 40-15
-No voice 40-16
-No form 40-17
-Hidden with no name 40-18
-Generosity 40-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-"If one works on intelligence, a corner stands out. If one sticks a pole in sentiment, he will be swept away." I translated the sentences word by word. This is Soseki Natsume's well-known expression in «Kusamakura / a grass pillow». When "a corner stands out", it is not good at all in Japan. Being square is not necessarily considered useful in the life of the floating world.