Chapter 29
Her English
Chinese
To make thrall the Heavens or the Hells1 and make them do thy bidding?
將欲取天下而為之
A most hopeless prayer indeed;
吾見其不得已
For they are but the Mother's body,2
天下神器
Never could they be made tame!
不可為也
To brandish Her is to break Her,3
為者敗之
To grasp Her is to miss Her,
執者失之
There be kings, and there be knaves4
故物或行或隨
There be springs in, and there be autumns out
或歔或吹
There be weak arms, and there be strong arms
或強或羸
There be the kind, and there be the wicked
或載或隳
Notes
By the editor.
- Thrall is Old English þræl, from Old Norse þræll, a slave: the old Germanic way to say "enslave". Her "Heavens or Hells" read tianxia as the whole of the worlds above and below. In What the Ghosts Actually Are she writes that heaven and hell also have awareness, so enslaving them is not a mere figure. ↩
- Where the Chinese has shenqi, the "divine vessel," she has the Mother's body. In What the Ghosts Actually Are she writes of God, "It's the body of God." A vessel holds; a body is held. ↩
- Wei zhe bai zhi: whoever acts upon it ruins it. "Her" turns the vessel into the Mother. The Chinese verb wei is the one in wu wei, no-doing. "Brandish" is a good Germanic word for the swing of a weapon. ↩
- Chinese: huo xing huo sui, some go before, some follow. Hers maps it to social rank. Knave is Old English cnapa, a boy or servant. The pairs after it (springs and autumns, weak and strong arms, kind and wicked) give the fourfold turn in her own terms. ↩
- Ken is the Germanic word for know (Old English cennan, Scots "ken"). The Waykenner is her word for the sage (shengren), the one who knows the Way (Dao). In What the Ghosts Actually Are she writes that "we ken a thing before we know it," and that kenning lives in the body. ↩
- Qu shen, qu she, qu tai. Her three are gold (the extravagant), waste and slack (the excessive). The chapter ends with the sage removing excess, and her short old words give it a blunt ring. ↩