Thirty spokes unite in one hub.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the cart.
Kneed clay in order to make a vessel.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the vessel.
Cut doors and windows in order to make a room.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the room.
Therefore, in the being of a thing,
There lies the benefit in the non-being of a thing,
There lies in its use.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the cart.
Kneed clay in order to make a vessel.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the vessel.
Cut doors and windows in order to make a room.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose at hand, and you will have use of the room.
Therefore, in the being of a thing,
There lies the benefit in the non-being of a thing,
There lies in its use.
COMMENTARY by Koeng S. Wan:
The integral emptiness within something is like the Dào in that it is useful.
Division 11 is a continuation of Division 4. The use of the empty part of things in everyday experience is comparable to the usefulness of the Dào. Division 16 describes how to make use of the emptiness of the Dào.
One complete turn of the hub is a complete rotation of a wheel, and so rotates each of the 30 spokes, in the first line. Each spoke corresponds to a day of a full lunar month of the Chinese calendar[1]. The actual length of a lunar month of the Chinese calendar is actually 29.530589 of our current twenty-four hour days[2], so the lunar month is more frequently 30 days long than 29 days long.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mayer, Peter, "The Structure of the Chinese Calendar". Accessed May 5, 2009.
[2] "Lunar calendar", Wikipedia. Accessed May 5, 2009.
The integral emptiness within something is like the Dào in that it is useful.
Division 11 is a continuation of Division 4. The use of the empty part of things in everyday experience is comparable to the usefulness of the Dào. Division 16 describes how to make use of the emptiness of the Dào.
One complete turn of the hub is a complete rotation of a wheel, and so rotates each of the 30 spokes, in the first line. Each spoke corresponds to a day of a full lunar month of the Chinese calendar[1]. The actual length of a lunar month of the Chinese calendar is actually 29.530589 of our current twenty-four hour days[2], so the lunar month is more frequently 30 days long than 29 days long.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Mayer, Peter, "The Structure of the Chinese Calendar". Accessed May 5, 2009.
[2] "Lunar calendar", Wikipedia. Accessed May 5, 2009.