lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2024-08-12 07:27 am

Dao De Jing, chapter 11

When thirty spokes unite in a hub,
The emptiness [holding the axle] makes the cart [i.e., wheel] useful.
When wet[11-1] clay becomes a pot,
Its emptiness makes the pot useful.
When doors and windows are cut out of a house[’s walls],
Their emptiness makes the house useful.
Thus existence makes things beneficial,
Emptiness makes them useful.

[11-1] Other texts have “fired”

三十辐共一毂,
当其无,有车之用。
埏埴以为器,
当其无,有器之用。
凿户牖以为室,
当其无,有室之用。
故有之以为利,
无之以为用。

---L.

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