3
I was feeling disappointed by the tone of chapter 36 of the Daodejing. A common way of translating (and the one I first read) is "In order to contract, it is necessary to first expand." which was criticised by Confucians as being a sneaky way to get what you want. But also, it doesn't ring entirely effective.

But then I found the translation in the photo which could be read as a criticism of conscious effort (intention), no?

#daoism #laozi #wangbi #philosophy

2
Is this a plausible translation?

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1
Any folks here read philosophical Chinese?

#daoism #laozi #wangbi #philosophy