08/05/2022
Verse 12
The five colors make our eyes blind
the five tones make our ears deaf
the five flavors make our mouths numb
riding and hunting make our minds wild
hard-to-get goods make us commit crimes
thus the rule of the sages
favors the stomach over the eyes
thus they pick this over that
Lao-tzu’s Tao Teching
Interpreted by Red Pine
The five colors blind the eye
The five tones deafen the ear
The five flavors dull the palate
Racing, hunting, and galloping about
only disturb the mind
Wasting energy to obtain rare objects
only impedes one’s growth
So the Sage is led by his inner truth
and not his outer eye
He holds to what is deep
and not what lies on the surface
Lao-tzu’s Tao Teching
Interpreted by Jonathan Star
Haiku by Erdos
Rule of the Sages
inner truth not outer eye
hold to what is deep
Erdos 2022
Interpreted by Jonathan Star
Commentary by Red Pine
The early Chinese liked to divide everything into five basic states of existence. They distinguished things as made up of varying amounts of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. And each of these came with its corresponding color: blue, red, black, white, and yellow; its corresponding flavor: salty, bitter, sour, pun-gent, and sweet; and its corresponding tone: la, sol, mi, re, and do.
YEN TSUN says, “Color is like an awl in the eye. Sound is like a stick in the ear. Flavor is like an ax through the tongue’
TE-CH’ING says, “When the eyes are given free rein in the realm of form, they no longer see what is real. When the ears are given free rein in the realm of sound, they no longer hear what is real. When the tongue is given free rein in the realm of flavor, it no longer tastes what is real. When the mind is given free rein in the realm of thought, it no longer knows what is real. When our actions are given free rein in the realm of possession and profit, we no longer do what is right. Like Chuang-tzu’s tapir [Chuangtzu: I.41, sages drink from the river, but only enough to fill their stomachs.”
wU CH’ENG says, “Desiring external things harms our bodies. Sages nourish their breath by filling their stomach, not by chasing material objects to please their eyes. Hence, they choose internal reality over external illusion. But the eyes can’t help seeing, and the ears can’t help hearing, and the mouth can’t help tasting, and the mind can’t help thinking, and the body can’t help acting. They can’t stay still. But if we let them move without leaving stillness behind, nothing can harm us. Those who are buried by the dust of the senses or who crave sensory stimulation lose their way. And the main villain in this is the eyes. Thus, the first of Confucius’ four warnings concerned vision [Lunyu: 121: not to look except with propriety, and the first of the Buddha’s six sources of delusion was also the eyes’
LI YUEH Says, “The eyes are never satisfied. The stomach knows when it is full.”
SUNG CH’ANG-HSING Says, “The main purpose of cultivation is to oppose the world of the senses. What the world loves, the Taoist hates. What the world wants, the Taoist rejects. Even though color, sound, material goods, wealth, and beauty might benefit a person’s body, in the end they harm a person’s mind. And once the mind wants, the body suffers. If we can ignore external temptations and be satisfied with the way we are, if we can cultivate our mind and not chase material things, this is the way of long life. All the treasures of the world are no match for this.”
HSUAN-TSUNG Says, “`Hard-to-get goods’ refer to things that we don’t possess by nature but that require effort to obtain. When we are not content with our lot and allow ourselves to be ruled by conceit, we turn our backs on Heaven and lose the Way.”
CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “`That’ refers to the blindness and delusion of the eyes. `This’ refers to the fullness and wisdom of the stomach”
“This” also refers to what is within easy reach, while “that” refers to what can be obtained only with effort. The Mawangtui texts present lines two through five in a different order: 41 5, 3, z. However, no other edition follows suit. Until as late as the early twentieth century, vast tracts of land in northern China were set aside for the exclusive use of the nobility and the military for conduct-ing group hunts to practice their riding and archery. In line six, the standard edi-tions do not include chih-chih, “the rule of.” But it is present in both Mawangtui texts, and I have incorporated this variation in my translation. There is no Kuo-tien text for this verse.
[ 1] Wu she (the five colors) are green, yellow, red, white, and black; the five notes are the five notes of the Chinese musical scale; the five tastes are salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and pungent. These five-fold classifications resulted from the theory of the five elements or agents, namely water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. Figuratively, “the five colors” means all colors, and all things that can be seen. Colors do not cause blindness to the human eye; what this line implies is that too much involvement with the senses, too much looking outward, causes one’s inner eye to become blind to the truth. (A similar meaning is also found in the next two lines.) Ould states that the five colors blind the eye “if unharmonized,” but his meaning is unclear.
[2]”The five primary colours are apt to find the eyes blind to them; the five musical notes are apt to find the ears deaf to them….” (Parker)
[3] Fang derives its meaning from a place where there is a woman; hence where one’s actions are restrained or held in check.
[4 ]UngiAn hsing fang: “make people’s actions harmful” (Chan); “causes mankind to do wrong” (Cheng); “entangle man’s conduct” (Duy); “make a man run into harm” (Chalmers); “hinders one’s progress” (Janwu); “are hobbles that slow walking feet” (Blakney)