A chapter about overstimulation, written twenty-five centuries before the feed. The five colours blind the eye; the five tones deafen the ear; the five flavours dull the palate. The senses are not filled by excess — they are worn out by it, until nothing tastes, sounds, or shines. Racing and hunting drive the mind wild; rare and precious goods obstruct one's conduct, bending a whole life around acquiring and guarding them.
The sage's response is a single, homely distinction: he attends to the belly and not the eye — to real needs rather than stimulated appetites. The belly can be satisfied; the eye never can, because it wants novelty, not nourishment. 'He sets aside that and takes up this': away from spectacle, toward sufficiency. In an attention economy the chapter reads less like ancient philosophy than like a diagnosis — and its remedy is not discipline for its own sake but the recovery of sensitivity: quiet the input, and taste returns.
Key verses
The five colors blind the eye; the five tones deafen the ear; the five flavors dull the palate. Racing and hunting drive the mind wild; rare and precious goods obstruct one's conduct. Therefore the sage attends to the belly and not the eye — he sets aside that and takes up this.
Read Chapter 12 in full
Every verse with translation, word meanings, and commentary — free.
ઍપમાં મફત વાંચોપરંપરાઓને પૂછો
એક પ્રશ્ન। પાંચ પરંપરાઓના જવાબ।
એકાઉન્ટ વગર દર 24 કલાકે 2 પ્રશ્નો।