07/29/2022
Verse 11
Thirty spokes converge on a hub
but it’s the emptiness
that makes a wheel work
pots are fashioned from clay
but its the hollow
that makes a pot work
windows and doors are carved for a house
but its the spaces
that make a house work
existence makes a thing useful
but nonexistence makes it work
Lao -Tzu Taoteching
translated by Red Pine
Wu is nothingness, emptiness, non-existence
Thirty spokes of a wheel all join at a common hub
yet only the hole at the center
allows the wheel to spin
Clay is molded to form a cup
yet only the space within
allows the cup to hold water
Walls are joined to make a room
yet only by cutting out a door and a window
can one enter the room and live there
Thus, when a thing has existence alone
it is mere dead-weight
Only when it has wu, does it have life
Lao-tzu’s Tao Teching
Interpreted by Jonathan Star
Haiku by Erdos
Which is more useful?
existence / non-existence?
Lao make it clear
Erdos 2022
Commentary by Red Pine
HSUAN-TSUNG Says, “Thirty spokes converging on a hub demonstrates that less is the ancestor of more”
HO-SHANG KUNG Says, “Ancient carts had thirty spokes in imitation of the lunar number.”
LI JUNG says, “It’s because the hub is empty that spokes converge on it. Likewise, it’s because the minds of sages are empty that the people turn to them for help’
CH’ENG HSUAN-YING Says, “A cart, a pot, and a house can hold things because they are empty. How much more those who empty their mind”
wU CH’ENG says, “All of these things are useful. But without an empty place for an axle, a cart can’t move. Without a hollow place in the middle, a pot can’t hold things. Without spaces for doors and windows, a room cant admit people or light. But these three examples are only metaphors. What keeps our body alive is the existence of breath within us. And it is our empty, nonexistent mind that produces breath”
SUNG CH’ANG-HSING Says, “In this verse the Great Sage teaches us to understand the source by using what we find at hand. Doors refer to a person’s mouth and nose. Windows refer to their ears and eyes”
CHANG TAO-LING Says, “When ordinary people see these things, they only think about how they might employ them for their own advantage. When sages see them, they see in them the Tao and are careful in their use”
TE-CH’ING says, “Heaven and Earth have form, and everyone knows that Heaven and Earth are useful. But they don’t know that their usefulness depends on the emptiness of the Great Way. Likewise, we all have form and think ourselves useful but remain unaware that our usefulness depends on our empty, shapeless mind. Thus, existence may have its uses, but real usefulness depends on nonexistence. Nonexistence, though, doesn’t work by itself. It needs the help of existence.”
HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “What is beyond form is the Tao. What has form are tools. Without tools we have no means to apprehend the Tao. And without the Tao there is no place for tools.”
HSUEH HUI says, At the end of this verse, Lao-tzu mentions both existence and nonexistence, but his intent is to use existence to show that nonexistence is more valuable. Everyone knows existence is useful, but no one pays attention to the usefulness of nonexistence’
Lao-tzu s “existence” and “nonexistence” are tantamount to yang and yin. There is no Kuotien text for this verse, and there are no significant textual variations, other than the omission in line seven of yi-wei-shih, “carved for a house,” in both Mawangtui texts. Such an omission was, no doubt, a copyist error and suggests that neither text was actually used before it was placed in the tomb in which it was found, or it would have been corrected. Until recently, the people who lived in the middle reaches of the Yellow River watershed, where the Taoteching was composed, carved their houses out of the loess hillsides. As long as the ceilings of the rooms were carved in an arch, the compactness of the soil made support beams unnecessary. Thus, the only building materials needed were for doors and windows.
Yu chih yi wei li—wu chip yi wei yung:
“Turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.” (Chan);
“Existence renders actual but non-existence renders useful.” (Carus);
“Benefit comes from what is there; usefulness from what is not there.”(Feng);
“What we gain is Something, yet it is by virtue of Nothing that this can be put to use.” (Lau);
“By the existence of things we profit, And by the non-existence of things we are served.” (Yutang);
“Take advantage of what is there, by making use of what is not.” (Wing);
“Existence may be said to correspond to gain, but non-existence to use.” (Chalmers)
故
有
之
以
為
利
無
之
以
為
用
