| Ah Heng's Daoism Page |
| Chapter Thirty Nine In ancient times, the person who is Enlightened of the One: knows about the laws of the Heavens and achieves clarity, knows about the laws of Earth and brings about tranquility, his Spirit receives the One so he achieves divinity, his Valley receives the One so he is inexhaustive, All myriad things receives the One so they are alive to procreate, Ministers and Kings receives the One so as to direct the people. What is of the supreme, is the One! (Heng: You may ask, what is One? Man daseins with Dao is One... When man is One with Dao, both cease to exist anymore... It is others who start to define him instead.) If clarity of the Heaven's Law is not achieved, there is great fear that the whole Heaven would be split and torn, (Heng: Ideological disjuncture: 'gods' that dominate both sides) If the Earth cannot achieve tranquility, there is great fear that there arises boils of chaos. (Heng: Discourse of negation causes chaos, created by 'Laws') If the Spirit cannot achieve divinity, there is great fear of decadence and withering away. If the Emptiness cannot be inexhaustive, there is great fear that there will be saturations and limitations. If all myriad things is divorced from the essence of life, there is great fear they will be extinct, If Ministers and Kings value 'nobility' and lose the One, they will certainly be overthrown in time to come. Therefore all 'valuables' obtains its ontology from the beggarly, all 'highest status' obtains its foundation from the lowest disdained. Henceforth the Ministers and Kings recognize their own fallibility, do not form hard protective shells around themselves. Is that not to say, they understand their own status is built from the lowest disdained? Is that not? (Heng: In other words, they are so humble that they put themselves with the lowest class and the beggarly, there is common humility.) Therefore the Enlightened ruler dwells beyond defined manifestations, in the realm of the uncountable and the undefined; doesn't let himself be defined by endless jade artifices, doesn't let himself be defined by endless precious stones. |
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