道德经 第三十四章 大道泛兮

大道

泛兮
其可左右
万物恃之而生
而不辞功成

不名有
衣养万物而不为主

常无欲

可名于小
万物归焉而不为主

可名为大
以其终不自大故能成其大

This chapter has many kinds of understandings. These understands are very different. I am here proposing a new seperations of sentences and paragraphs. So it is very clear that meanings of the Great State. Its three principles of the great states are now clearly shown on this chapter.

The three principles of the great state are that (1) it exists everywhere; (2) it is non-possessive; and (3) it is without desires.

Here is my translation:

The great state flows everywhere. It can be on the left or it can be one the right. Everything in the world is depending on it to survive. Yet it claims no success.

The great state is not named for being possessive. It nurtures all things in the world without being their owners.

The great state is without desires.

Its desire can be named as small. Every thing in the world converges to it. Yet it claims no ownership.

Its desire can be imagined as large. Because it never considers itself as the great, it indeed becomes the greatest.

Holding Golf Club Loosely

The market was bad today. So I went to practice golf soon after 3 p.m.

I have been told many times to hold the golf club as holding a bird, not too tight so that it might squeeze the bird to death, not too loose so the bird might escape from your hands. But I had never known what that really meant. Today I felt that I knew what that was.

Today the weather was half-cloudy and half sunny. The temperature was about 50 degrees. South-wind was about 20 miles per hour. There were only a few golfers at the driving range. I started my practice with chipping near the practice green. Then I moved to the driving range. Since there were no golfers around the chipping green, I tried my Sand wedge about 70 yards to the green. I worked very well. I tried about 30 golf balls; approximately 20 of them went on to the green. In the end of the sand wedge practice, I did not hold the golf club very tight, almost holding it very loosely. But the target shooting to the green went equally well.

The loosely holding the club was not my intention. It was due to the windy and cold weather. My hands seemed not as fluidly as usually. So I almost accidentally did that loosely holding the club.

After that few good shots by loosely holding with my sand wedge, I changed to the regular 7-iron to see if I could repeat that feeling of loosely holding the club. It did very well, too, with the 7-iron. Then I tried other irons. It worked well. It even worked well with the 5-iron and 6-iron. Usually I had slice with the longer irons. But today, even the slice went away.

I could feel the driving power with the loosely held club in my hands. I tried almost all the clubs from the lob wedge all the way to 3-wood. I did not have time to try the drive since George wanted to leave after his golf class. I will try the loosely holding with my driver next time. I will see if this loosely holding technique could improve the scores in my next games.