A Name That Can Be Given

 #2021-0421

A Name That Can Be Given

Hey, hikers or walkers down there, 

Look up at me -- or to me! 

I'm like a sheep, but I'm not a sheep.

I am part of the living thing called tree, 

One of the natural beings breathing in the wind 

As you can see.

Oh, the tree from which I was born 

Has gained a very interesting name; 

Not just one name, but many, many, many!

It's impossible for people on earth to agree 

On what my Mom's Chinese name or English name, 

Or her Philippine, Indonesian, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese names should be.

If you speak German and French, 

If you are from Spain or from Italy, 

Do you call her "Ceiba speciosa" or "Chorisia speciosa"?

According to the Chinese Wikipedia, 

It's the Tree of Beauty (美人樹), or the Beauty's Cherry (美人櫻), 

Or Wine-Bottle Kapok (酒瓶木棉), or Exotic Beautiful Kapok (美麗異木棉) ...

In English it's called Silk floss tree or Floss silk tree, 

But who cares? ... Who really cares about the name? 

A name that can be given is not the universal and eternal Name.**

        -- Written and illustrated by Mookoo Liang

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** Note: Taken from the beginning verse of the Taoist scripture The Tao Te Ching (《道德經》);  the original text of the beginning verse "道可道，非常道；名可名，非常名。" can be translated into English as "The way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way; the names that can be named are not unvarying names." or as in another version: "Tao can be spoken of, but is not the Tao of whom we commonly speak; a name can be given, but not a common name." or like this different version saying: "Dao can be spoken, not ordinary Dao; Name can be named, not ordinary name."

According to the blog post of Keven Habits, there are five English translations as follows:

(1)  The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

(2)  The Dao that can be understood cannot be the primal, or cosmic, Dao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words cannot be the infinite idea.

(3)  There are ways but the Way is uncharted. There are names but not nature in words.

(4)  The way that becomes a way is not the Immortal Way; the name that becomes a name is not the Immortal Name.

(5)  The divine law may be spoken of, but it is not the common law. Things may be named but names are not the things.

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