Learning and the good life
What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright; it is a good life which maketh a man dear to God. I had rather feel contrition than be skilful in the definition thereof. If thou knewest the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what should all this profit thee without the love and grace of God? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, save to love God, and Him only to serve. That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us, and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom.
He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
The Yogi dyes his garments, instead of dyeing his mind in the colours of love:He sits within the temple of the Lord, leaving Brahma to worship a stone.He pierces holes in his ears, he has a great beard and matted locks, he looks like a goat:He goes forth into the wilderness, killing all his desires, and turns himself into an eunuch:He shaves his head and dyes his garments; he reads the Gita and becomes a mighty talker.Kabir says: "You are going to the doors of death, bound hand and foot!"
The Editors’ note
All three set something above learning. The Imitation asks what it would profit to know the whole Bible and the sayings of all the philosophers without the love and grace of God, for “it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright”. Laozi contrasts the one who seeks to increase his knowledge with the one who devotes himself to the Tao and seeks “from day to day to diminish”. Kabīr mocks the yogi who dyes his garments instead of his mind, and “reads the Gita and becomes a mighty talker”.
What they set above it differs. For Thomas it is a good life, humility and the love of God. For Laozi it is less doing, a steady diminishing rather than any new possession. For Kabīr it is the mind dyed in the colours of love, against both book-learning and the outward show of renunciation.