Monday, October 9, 2023

Verse XI from "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu


XI

 Thirty spokes
 Share one hub.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand, and 
you will have the use of the cart.  Knead clay in order 
to make a vessel.  Adapt the nothing therein to the 
purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the 
vessel.  Cut out doors and windows in order to make 
a room.  Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in 
hand, and you will have the use of the room.
Thus what we gain is Something, yet it is by virtue of 
Nothing that this can be put to use.



Source of the text - Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated with an introduction by D.C. Lau.  New York: Penguin Books, 1963, page 67.

TJB: Inner space. This parable-like text might express how things are constructed so as to allow empty space to have meaning and use. So too our mind?







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