Am I oversimplifying to think of this article as a (very lovely and logical) discussion of the following principle?:
In order to understand what is not to be done, and definitely avoid doing it, the proscribed things all have to be very vivid in the mind of the not-doer. Where there is ambiguity, the proscribed action might accidentally happen or a bad actor could trick someone into doing it easily. However, by creating deep awareness of the boundaries, then even if you behave well, you have a constant background thought of precisely what it would mean to cross them at any and every second.
I taught kids for almost 11 years so I can grok this point. It also echos the Dao: “Where rules and laws are many, robbers and criminals abound.”
Am I oversimplifying to think of this article as a (very lovely and logical) discussion of the following principle?:
In order to understand what is not to be done, and definitely avoid doing it, the proscribed things all have to be very vivid in the mind of the not-doer. Where there is ambiguity, the proscribed action might accidentally happen or a bad actor could trick someone into doing it easily. However, by creating deep awareness of the boundaries, then even if you behave well, you have a constant background thought of precisely what it would mean to cross them at any and every second.
I taught kids for almost 11 years so I can grok this point. It also echos the Dao: “Where rules and laws are many, robbers and criminals abound.”