Re: Tao Perl Ching - The Scripture of the Way of Perl

[Mago]

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tze

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.

These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery."


"A good walker leaves no tracks;
A good speaker makes no slips;
A good reckoner needs no tally.
A good door needs no lock,
Yet no one can open it.
Good binding requires no knots,
Yet no one can loosen it.

Therefore the sage takes care of all men
And abandons no one.
He takes care of all things
And abandons nothing.

This is called "following the light."

What is a good man?
A teacher of a bad man.
What is a bad man?
A good man's charge.
If the teacher is not respected,
And the student not cared for,
Confusion will arise, however clever one is.
This is the crux of mystery."


"Between birth and death,
Three in ten are followers of life,
Three in ten are followers of death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?Between birth and death,
Three in ten are followers of life,
Three in ten are followers of death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?
Because they live their lives on the gross level.

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so?
Because he has no place for death to enter.
Because they live their lives on the gross level.

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so?
Because he has no place for death to enter."


Perl is YANG

Yang is the strong, male, creative, giving force, which is associated with heaven. The heaven above us is always in motion and brings about change. Yang is associated with the following ideas and things:

- Day, Light
- Sunshine, Fire, Heat
- Summer, Spring
- Even Numbers
- The Sun
- South, East
- Left, Up
- Intellect
- Active, Dynamic
- Expansion, Increasing
- Innovative, Reformative
- Mountain
- Desert
- Straight Line
- Dissolving
- Physical (Observable) World
- Tiger
- Bladder, Intestines, Skin


Mago
[e-mail]
Taoist Student

[apotheon]

Which translation is that? I'm somewhat familiar with the Ralph Alan Dale, Stephen Mitchell, and Thomas Cleary translations, but I don't think yours matches any of these. I'd like to know whose translation it is, if you don't mind.

I disagree, though, that Perl is necessarily of Yang nature. A Perl script can be overly balanced toward either Yin or Yang, depending on how it is written, and given applications of Perl to various problems can be Yin or Yang in nature, but Perl itself seems neither Yin nor Yang inherently. For each of the items you listed, presumably as demonstrations of the Yang nature of Perl, a counter-example could also be offered to make a case for the Yin nature of Perl.

Rather than say that Perl is Yang, I think it might be more accurate to say that Perl is of the Tao, just as everything else is, and that it thus embodies and encompasses, and is embodied and encompassed by, both Yin and Yang, as well as embodying and encompassing the balance between them and being embodied and encompassed by it.

[Mago]

The Perl is Yang !

The Progammer is Yin !

The union is Tao (the equilibrium between yang and yin).

Mago
[e-mail]

[apotheon]

. . . or one could make a case for the opposite. The programmer is Yang (the acting agent), writing code and exerting will, and Perl is Yin (the acted upon), passive and receptive to the programmer's will. Categorization is not so easy and absolute within the Tao.

So, anyway: Which translation was that?

[gregor42]

Which translation is that?

I believe it's the "Jane English" translation. It's a very popular edition with complimentary brush-art.