Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Dao De Jing 11


Dao De Jing 11


Thirty spokes converge to form a wheel;
but it’s the empty space that makes the cart useful.
Clay is shaped to form vessels;
but it’s the empty space that makes the vessel useful.
Windows & doors are chiseled to form a room;
but it’s the empty space that makes the room useful.
Thus what it formed has its advantages,
but the empty space creates usefulness.


Laozi, 道德經
Translation by John Hayes
Unlike with my original poetry & poetry translations, I don’t asset a copyright claim on my translation of the Dao De Jing. It may be freely used under the terms of the Creative Commons license.


Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:
Proto celadon jar with ears and vertical stripes. Warring States period (475BCE-211BCE). Photo by Wiki user Uploadalt, who makes it available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.




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