And the Wayfarer Stays

Having to make the best of a required student reader textbook, I assigned for discussion Frederick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write" and Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue." Then I actually reread them (it's early in the semester). They're pretty cool. Douglass is correct: being able to read and write is a mixed blessing at times and does not always bring joy. Perhaps especially during what the Chinese call "interesting times."

For a little respite from the daily grind, there's always poetry and various other art forms to turn to, including one of my favorite meta texts, the Tao Te Ching / Dào Dé Jīng, which comes in its original ancient Chinese forms and also via hundreds of modern translations. Here are a couple of English versions of "Thirty-five," nice and calming (is it Wednesday today?).

An excerpt from the D.C. Lau translation:

Have in your hold the great image
And the empire will come to you.
Coming to you and meeting with no harm
It will be safe and sound.
Music and food
Will induce the wayfarer to stop . . . . .

Same thing approximately, Lin Yutang translation:

35. The Peace of Tao

Hold the Great Symbol

and all the world follows

Follows without meeting harm

Lives in health, peace, commonwealth.

Offer good things to eat

And the wayfarer stays.

But Tao is mild to the taste.

Looked at, it cannot be seen;

Listened to, it cannot be heard;

Applied, its supply never fails.

Today's Rune: Protection.