Cease Learning, Cease Worry
Cease learning and there will be no worry. How far apart are yes and ah? How far apart are good and evil? What people fear, one must also fear. How vast - it has no end! The multitude are merry, as if feasting on sacrificial oxen, as if climbing terraces in spring. I alone am still, showing no sign - like a baby before it has learned to smile.
Cease learning and there will be no worry.
How far apart are yes and ah?
How far apart are good and evil?
What people fear, one must also fear.
How vast - it has no end!
The multitude are merry,
as if feasting on sacrificial oxen,
as if climbing terraces in spring.
I alone am still, showing no sign -
like a baby before it has learned to smile.
Weary, as if having no home to return to.
The multitude all have more than enough,
while I alone seem to have lost all.
I have the mind of a fool - how muddled!
Ordinary people are bright enough;
I alone am dull.
Ordinary people are sharp enough;
I alone am confused.
Calm like the sea,
drifting as if with no place to stop.
The multitude all have their purpose,
while I alone am stubborn and lowly.
I alone differ from others
and value the nursing mother.
| Term | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 绝学 | jué xué | cease learning - not anti-education but rejecting artificial, ego-driven learning |
| 唯之与阿 | wéi zhī yǔ ā | 'yes' and 'ah' - both are responses, differing only in tone; by extension, fine distinctions |
| 太牢 | tài láo | the grand sacrifice - an ox offered in state ritual; here a feast |
| 春台 | chūn tái | spring terrace - a viewing platform in springtime |
| 未孩 | wèi hái | before the baby has learned to smile - before social conditioning begins |
| 食母 | shí mǔ | the nursing mother - the source, the Dao that nourishes |