Hand people the perfect image
Everybody will flock to you.
Sheep of this flock may safely graze
Glad and at peace in all their ways.
Serve hot food and cool music 5
You’ll draw in the passersby.
Talking to them about Dao?
That’s serving bland fare for sure!
Look for it and it is unseen.
Listen for it and it is unheard. 10
Use it and it is unfailing.
***
NOTES
lines 3 and 4: I have taken a liberty here. More literally, the lines are, “(They) flock free from harm / Contented, peaceful, abundant.”
lines 9 and 10: A modified version of these lines appears in poem 14.
COMMENTARY
In poem 41 Laozi tells us that the perfect image is formless; everyone who would flock to see that would indeed be harmless and peaceful, because they follow Dao. Those in search of stimulation, however, will find Dao a snooze because there is nothing to see or hear. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to use, if you know how.
Links To:
The Classic of Dao and De by Laozi: Contents
For more on Daoism, see:
Film Dreams: Frank Capra
Music: KALW Radio Show #3, Ancient China in 20th-Century Music
Music: SFCR Radio Show #8, Daoism in Western Music, part 1
Music: SFCR Radio Show #9, Daoism in Western Music, part 2
NICOLE V. GAGNÉ 