Courses and training in qigong from the Daoist and Buddhist traditions
~ The school of Grandmaster Guo Bingsen ~
Teacher: Edith Guba
Dao De Jing
The Dao De Jing of Lao Zi: as relevant today as ever.
The translations by Guo Bingsen into French and by Edith Guba into German: close to the original, for all their complexity and depth, simple as the original, accessible. Guo Bingsen's explanations, highlighting the essentials, are simple and understandable.
chapter 31
weapons are dark tools, everyone hates them.
that is why they are not used by those who follow the
dao.
the place of honour for the good is on the left.
the place of honour in war is on the
right. weapons
are dark tools,
they are not the tools of the good.
but if you have to use them, against your heart,
go without giving much sense to
it.
victory is not fine.
is it fin to rejoice in murder?
a man who is glad of murder cannot achieve his goals.
at celebrations, the place of honour is on the
left,
at funerals, the place of honour is on the right.
the second general sits on the left,
the top general sits on the right.
a seating arrangement like at funerals.
so many dead.
and mourning and tears.
Victory celebrations are like death celebrations.
The name of the school is "Dao Yuan" : "Affinity with Dao". With this we express our affinity to teachings of Daoism without making it a religion. This name came to Master Guo like a sudden inspiration - and everyone he talked to about it was immediately taken with it.
We gave this name to the school long before we thought of a new translation of the Dao De Jing. As our teaching progressed, the impulse to venture into something like this became clearer. Finally, the work on these translations has accompanied many years of our teaching. They express the Dao Yuan School's understanding of these ancient themes.