How Could I Not Run This Picture....

      
    

    

       And how's this for a reflection on the long-term prospects of the Yankees in China - or the Chinese in Yankees:

Ancient masters of Way
all subtle mystery and dark enigma vision:
they were deep beyond knowing.

so deep beyond knowing
we can only describe their appearance:

perfectly cautious, as if crossing winter streams,
and perfectly watchful, as if neighbors threatened;
perfectly reserved, as if guests,
perfectly expansive, as if ice melting away,
and perfectly simple, as if uncarved wood;
perfectly empty, as if open valleys,
and perfectly shadowy, as if murky water.

Who's murky enough to settle slowly into pure clarity,
and who still enough to awaken slowly into life?

If you nurture this Way, you never crave fullness.
Never crave fullness
and you'll wear away into completion.

Tao Te Ching, passage 15

Comments

[Jeremiah]

See, as a lifelong Red Sox fan, I can't really think of the "Evil Empire" and the Dao De Jing in the same post. Perhaps I am (check that, I really am) biased, but I have to see the "Idiot" Red Sox being more the type of team somebody like Zhuangzi, for example, could get into, whereas I could see Han Fei or Li Si working for old Qin Shi Huangsteinbrenner in the Yankee front office...

I always thought that when the Yankees came calling with their boodles of money to old Johnny D's door he should have simply replied that, like the turtle, he would be happier sitting the in the mud (or, if you will, the Fens.)

[Sam]

Yes, I saw your mention of the Yankees' foray into China and thought you might have a different view of it...
But there has always been a Taoist side to the Yankees (mixed in with a bit of unnecessary Legalism, I will admit). Think of Bernie or Willie Randolf or Gehrig: quiet guys who said little but certianly moved with the Way.
And, let's face it, the "saux" sold their souls to the money man long ago. How much did they pay for Manny?

[Jeremiah]

Ok, I'll bite.

I could argue that the Yanks payroll is still substantially higher than the Sox but that would make me guilty of the Mencian fallacy of 五十步笑百步...

For the quiet tranquility of Bernie, or Willie, or Gehrig (and I'm shocked you overlooked such islands of calm in Yankee history such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson)...one must admit, tongue firmly in cheek, that the ultimate Daoist player has to be Boston's own child-like spirt: Manny Ramirez. Even his catchphrase, "Manny just being Manny", seems to have the ring of the Way about it...

I have another unrelated question and I think you are just the person to discuss this. In the past we've had a bit of debate in our department when it comes time to teach our 5000-years-in-9-weeks-from-Yao-to-Mao course. After Confucius, we usually discuss Mencius and Xunzi. What is Xunzi's exact view of human nature. 人之性恶 seems like it should be clear enough, but the differing opinions in our department run the gamut. Some feel that Xunzi is advocating that human nature is ultimately amoral and people act according to their own self-interest. This wing fears setting up too stark a dichotomy of Mencius=people good/Xunzi=people bad. I've heard other interpretations that put Xunzi somewhat closer to the Judeo-Christian notion of original sin. There's also the fear that students will confuse Xunzi as a Legalist or at the very last a "Legalist Lite" (Because of Xunzi's strong influences in that camp. Wasn't Han Fei supposed to have been a student of Xunzi?)

Any thoughts? Worth a post?