Friday, June 29, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 74, Line 6

There is always One who presides over the infliction death.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

There is always an official executioner.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

There exists a master executioner that kills
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

But that doesn't mean you or I
can just take life and death into our own hands.

~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
In this instance, the "official executioner" is the process of existence. Everything born eventually dies. No one can escape this eventuality. Death is as much a part of life (and vice versa) as anything else!

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

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