Category: jì 寄

Favoring a pampered wild pet/concubine and

disgracing yourself in private….

both are startling.

(That is to say… favoring efforting, Heaven-Below:

whether gathering riches

or dropping things,

either way startles.)

Treasuring riches and

piercing your heart core with worry…

both are part of one’s pregnant self.

(That is to say… I, myself, yup that exact person:

whether a Being who’s efforting one’s pregnant self

or a Not-Being who’s reached one’s pregnant self,

either way pierces the heart core with worry.)

That’s why treasuring riches means one’s pregnant self is entrusted with Heaven-Below the way that someone exiled east to a house of strange, great men as punishment is still counted on to translate there;

and loving—your heart-core in your throat—means one’s pregnant self is trusted with Heaven-Below like someone committed to care for a blade of grass by words spoken from a mouth.

That’s my interpretation of Chapter 13. To see what liberties I may have taken, visit my literal transcription here. The most interesting thing to me about this chapter (aside from how people worrying over pregnancy has apparently always been a thing!), is the difference between the two kinds of “trusted with.”

• jì 寄: The very top part of the pictogram shows a house’s roof. Everything below there is supposedly is the phonetic sub-component, and it does indeed sound like jī. But of course you know that I feel its image is important also. It shows a great giant person above the word kê, which you’ve seen I translate as about which one can purse one’s lips like a piece of cane and puff: ‘Yup, that’s it, definitely.’ The modern definition of that phonetic sub-component is strange, odd, weird, unusual; wonderful, fantastic, or remarkable. The whole character means living away from here. More typically, in modern times, it means to entrust (as with a task). Historically, though, it was a government official in charge of translation to ethnic non-Chinese people in the east. It also historically meant to punish criminals by sending them into exile in the east. I put it all together into my translation:

entrusted with—as one exiled east to a house of strange, great men as a punishment but still counted on to translate there—

• tuō 託 has almost the same modern meaning: to entrust (to someone’s care), to commit (something) to someone’s care, to rely on, to depend on. It’s understandable that translators of the Dao use the same translation for both tuō and jì. But this character’s pictogram shows something different. The left sub-component is familiar to us as it’s used a lot on its own as well as in compound words. It means speaking—words, like slaves or criminals branded by a chisel emerging from a mouth. The right component is a picture of a grass leaf. It doesn’t seem to have a meaning on its own in modern Chinese other than maybe stuff or thing. My translation is therefore:

trusted with—committed to caring for something like a blade of grass by speaking words emerging from a mouth—

The first one seems a little more obligatory and heart-felt. The second one seems more like an intrinsic commitment.

But whether you’re a Being who’s efforting one’s pregnant self and treasuring riches OR a Not-Being who’s reached one’s pregnant self and is loving… either way you’re one’s pregnant self AND having your heart-core pierced with worry AND entrusted with Heaven-Below.

~

We saw loving back in Chapter 10, as part of our hero’s task. Then the question was: could our hero love civilians, govern the nation AND be capable of Not-Being sure. The old Western Zhou script—likely most similar to what Laozi used—for this word shows a pictogram of a throat with something stuck in it above an image of a heart:

Aw. Some feelings have felt the same since forever.

~

We’ve also seen treasuring riches before. In Chapter 3, we saw the advantages of not treasuring “difficult-to-gather-riches” transforming (that way the civilians aren’t really thieving). Put more simply: not over-valuing scarce riches means people won’t steal.

And in Chapter 9 we saw that if treasuring riches and yet, now bearded, arrogantly riding around like a young man on a runaway steed through town, you leave behind a legacy of calamity.

“Treasuring riches” seems to be more associated with Being and “loving” seems more associated with Not-Being. The former’s entrusted by assignment, perhaps as an official or perhaps as a criminal (or both?). The latter’s entrusted by verbal vow.

If Being and Not-Being are two sides of the same person… well that’s more interesting yet. It seems like a win-win for the person, the government, the civilians, and for any family or actual babies involved. It is, however, a lot to sustain—quite a balancing act. Tune in next time to see if our hero can continue to pull it all off. Meanwhile, thank you for being here, and please feel free to use the contact form to send me your comments.