Dao De Jing, chapter 12

[lnhammer]

The five colors blind men’s eyes;
The five tones deafen men’s ears;
The five flavors deaden men’s mouths;
Galloping races and hunting the fields madden men’s minds;
Obtaining rare goods hinders men’s progress.^[12-1]
Because of this, a sage serves the belly, not the eye,
And so banishes the latter and chooses the former.

^[12-1] Other texts swap ll.4-5 with ll.2-3, which weakens the passage

五色令人目盲；
五音令人耳聋；
五味令人口爽；
驰骋田猎，令人心发狂；
难得之货，令人行妨。
是以圣人为腹不为目，
故去彼取此。

As an annotation for l.5-6, or the whole thing really, see chapter 3. I get the impression Laozi (if he existed) would have gotten along with Zeno the Stoic.

---L.

Comments

[mekare]

Forgive my ignorance since I haven't read the Dao de Jing before. Is this an endorsement of asceticism?

[lnhammer]

It surely reads like it to me. Compare also chapter 3.

Edit upon reflection: Not so much asceticism as such, I think, but moderation to a heavy degree.

[sartorias]

And Calvin.

[lnhammer]

Eh. Calvin was het up about the offense to God; Laozi and Zeno, it's about how it damages you.

[sartorias]

True, but I was thinking more about the joylessness

[movingfinger]

The "five flavors" reminds me of Them in Good Omens (the book), trying to figure out how there can be thirty-nine flavors of ice cream. "There aren't thirty-nine flavors in the whole world."

(I know, it's not that at all)

[lnhammer]

(Nope, not at all. But still.)