c Lao-tzu’s Taoteching — —— i a 7 } translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past 2000 yearsLao-tzu’s ‘Taoteching (A Px translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries of the past2000 yearsCopyright © 1996 by Red Pine (Bill Porter). Published in the United States of America by Mercury House, San Francisco, California, a nonprofit publishing company devoted to the free exchange of ideas and guided by a dedication to literary values. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, FIRST AMENDMENT: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg- ing the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Manufactured in the United States of America. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Lao-tzu. [Tao te ching. English] Lao-tzu’s Taoteching / translated by Red Pine, with selected commentaries of the past 2000 years. p.cm. ISBN 1-56279-085-4 (pbk.) I. Pine, Red. Il. Title. BLI900.L268513 1996 299° .51482—DC20 96-18579 cr FIRST EDITION To 12 14 16 18 20 19 17 15 13 11 24689753for Ku Lien-changContents Introduction IX Lao-tzu’s Taoteching I Glossary 16599 AMINO HI9 PULYD [PAqua Central China in the sixth century Bc. Map by Paul Hansen.Introduction ‘The Taotechingis at heart a simple book. Written at the end of the sixth century Bc by a man called Lao-tzu, it is a vision of what our lives would be like if we were more like the dark, new moon. Lao-tzu teaches us that the dark can always become light and contains within itself the potential for growth and long life, while the light can only be- come dark and brings with it decay and early death. Lao-tzu chose long life. Thus he chose the dark. The word that Lao-tzu chose to represent this vision was Tao j#. But Tao means “road” or “way” and doesn’t appear to have anything to do with dark- ness. The character is made up of two graphs: “fy: head” and“j_: go.” To make sense of how the character came to be constructed, early Chinese philologists concluded that “head” must mean the start of something and that the two graphs together show someone starting on a trip. But a Chinese scholar in Taiwan has recently presented a novel, and more convincing, interpretation of the word’s origins. According to Tu Er-wei, the “head” in the character tao is the face of the moon. And the meaning of “road” comes from watching this disembodied face as it moves across the sky. Tu also notes that tao shares a common linguistic heritage with words that mean “moon” in other cultures: Tibetans call the moon da-ua; the Miao, who now live in southwest China but who lived in the same state as Lao-tzu when he was alive, call it tao-tie; the ancient Egyptians called itthoth. Tu Er-wei could have also added dar-sha, which means “new moon” in Sanskrit. However, the heart of Tu’s thesis is not linguistic, but textual and based on references within the Taoteching. Lao-tzu says the Tao is between Heaven and Barth, it’s Heaven's Gate, it’s empty but inexhaustible, it doesn’t die, it waxes and wanes, it’s distant and dark, it doesn’t try to be full, it’s the light that doesn’t blind, it has thirty spokes and two thirteen-day (visible) phases, it can be strung like a bow or expand and contract like a bellows, it moves the other way (inrelation to the sun), it’s the great image, the hidden immortal, the crescent soul, the dark union, the dark womb, the dark beyond dark. If this isn’t the moon, what is it? Tu Er-wei has, I think, uncovered a deep and primitive layer of the Taote- ching that has escaped the attention of other scholars. Of course, we cannot say for certain that Lao-tzu was consciously aware of the Tao’s association with the moon. But we have his images, and they are too often lunar to dismiss as acci- dental. In associating the Tao with the moon, Lao-tzu was not alone. The symbol Taoists have used since ancient times to represent the Tao@ shows the two conjoined phases of the moon. And how could they ignore such an obvious connection between its cycle of change and our own? Every month we watch the moon grow from nothing to a luminous disc that scatters the stars and pulls the tides within us all. The oceans feel it. The earth feels it. Plants and animals feel it. Humans also feel it, though it is women who seem to be most aware of it. In the Huangti Neiching, or Yellow Emperor's Internal Book of Medicine, Ch’i Po explained to the Yellow Emperor: “When the moon begins to grow, blood and breath begin to surge. When the moon is com- pletely full, blood and breath are at their fullest, tendons and muscles are at their strongest. When the moon is completely empty, tendons and muscles are at their weakest” (8.26). ‘The advance of civilization has separated us from this easy lunar awareness. We call people affected by the moon “lunatics,” making clear our disdain for its power. Lao-tzu redirects our vision to this ancient mirror. But instead of point- ing to its light, he points to its darkness. Every month the moon effortlessly shows us that something comes from nothing. Lao-tzu asks us to emulate this aspect of the moon, not the full moon, which is destined to wane, but the new moon, which holds the promise of rebirth. And while he has us gazing at the moon’s dark mirror, he asks why we don’t we live longer than we do. After all, don’t we share the same nature as the moon, and isn’t the moon immortal? Scholars tend to ignore Lao-tzu’s emphasis on darkness and immortality, for it takes the book beyond the reach of academic analysis. For them, darkness is just a more poetic way of describing the mysterious. And immortality is a euphemism for long life. Over the years, they have distilled what they call Lao- tzu’s “Taoist philosophy” from the later developments of “Taoist religion.” They call the Taoteching a treatise on political or military strategy, or they see it as primitive scientific naturalism or utopianism—or just a bunch of sayings. But trying to force the Taoteching into the categories of modern discourse not only distorts the Taoteching, it also treats the traditions that later Taoistshave associated with the text as irrelevant and misguided. Meanwhile, the Taoteching continues to inspire millions of Chinese asa spiritual text, and Ihave tried to present it in that dark light. The words of philosophers fail here. If words are of any use at all, they are the words of the poet. For poetry has the ability to point us toward the truth and then stand aside, while prose stands in the doorway relating all the wonders on the other side but rarely lets us pass. In this respect, the Taoteching is unique among the great literary works of the Chou dynasty. Aside from the anonymous poems and folksongs of the Shihching, or Book of Odes, we have no other poetic work from this early period of Chinese history; the wisdom of other sages was conveyed in prose. Al- though I haven't attempted to reproduce Lao-tzu’s poetic devices (Hsu Yung- chang identifies twenty-eight different kinds of rhyme), I have tried to convey the poetic feel with which he strings together images for our breath and spirit, but not necessarily our minds. For the Taoteching is one Jong poem written in praise of something we cannot name, much less imagine. Despite the elusiveness and namelessness of the Tao, Lao-tzu tells us we can approach it through Te. Te means “virtue,” both in the sense of “moral charac- ter” as well as “power to act.” Yen Ling-feng says, “Virtue is the manifestation of the Way. The Way is what Virtue contains. Without the Way, Virtue would have no power. Without Virtue, the Way would have no appearance” (Taoteching, 21). Han Fei put it more simply: “Te is the Tao at work” (Taoteching, 38). Te is our entrance to the Tao. Te is what we cultivate. Lao-tzu’s Virtue, however, isn’t the virtue of adhering to a moral code but action that involves no moral code, no self, no other—no action. These are the two poles around which the Taoteching turns: the Tao, the dark, the body, the essence, the Way; and Te, the light, the function, the spirit, Virtue. In terms of origin, the Tao comes first. In terms of practice, Te comes first. The dark gives the light a place to shine. The light allows us to see the dark. But too much light blinds. Lao-tzu saw everyone chasing the light and hastening their own destruction. He encouraged people to choose the dark in- stead of the light, less instead of more, weakness instead of strength, inaction instead of action. What could be simpler? Lao-tzu’s preference for darkness extended to himself as well. For the past 2,500 years, the Chinese have revered the Taoteching as they have no other book, and yet they know next to nothing about its author. What they do know, or think they know, is contained in a brief biographical sketch included by Ssu-ma Chiien in a history of ancient China that he completed around 100 pc. Al- though we don’t know what Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s sources of information were, we do know he was considered the most widely travelled man of his age, and heVillage of Chujen east of Huhsien. Lao-tzu’s old home was located on this, the fifth of nine bends of a canal that once enabled small boats to travel via adjoining ‘waterways to the Yellow River to the north or the Huai River to the south. Photo by Bill Porter. went to great lengths to verify the information he used. Of late it has become popular, if not de rigueur, to debunk his account of Lao-tzu, but it remains the earliest account we have and is worth repeating. According to Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Lao-tzu was a native of Huhsien Prefecture in the state of Ch’u. Nowadays, the former prefectural town of Huhsien is called Luyi. If you are travelling in China, or simply want to find it on a map, look for the town of Shangchiu on the train line that runs between the city of Cheng- chou on the Yellow River and the Grand Canal town of Hsuchou. Luyi is about 70 kilometers south of Shangchiu. The shrine that marks the site of Lao-tzu’s former village is just east of town. The region is known as the Huang-Huai Plain. As its name suggests, it is the result of the regular flooding of the Huangho, or Yellow River, to the north and the Huaiho, or Huai River, to the south. The Chinese have been growing wheat and millet here since neolithic times, and more recently cotton and to- bacco. It remains one of the most productive agricultural areas in all of China, and it was a rich prize over which many states fought in ancient times. Lao-tzu was born on this plain in 604 Bc, or 571 Bc, depending on whichaccount of later historians we accept. Ssu-ma Ch’ien doesn’t give usa date, but he does say that Huhsien was part of the great state of Ch’u. Officially, Huhsien belonged to the small state of Ch’en until 479 BC, when Ch’u eliminated Ch’en as a state once and for all. Some scholars have interpreted this to mean that either Huhsien did not belong to Ch’u when Lao-tzu was alive or that he must have been born there after 479 8c. But we need not accept either conclusion. Ssu-ma Ch’ien would have been aware that Ch’u controlled the fortunes of Ch’en as early as 598 sc, when Ch’u briefly annexed the entire state and then changed its mind, allowing Ch’en to exist as a “neighbor state.” Whether or not Huhsien was actually part of Ch’u is not important. What is important is that during the sixth century sc Ch’u controlled the region of which Huhsien was a part. This is significant not for verifying the accuracy of Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s account but for directing our attention to the cultural influence that Ch’u represented. Ch’u was not like the other states in the central plains. Although the rulers of Ch’u traced their ancestry to a grandson of the Yel- low Emperor, the patriarch of Chinese culture, they represented its shamanis- tic periphery. From their ancestral home in the Sungshan area, just south of the Yellow River, they moved, or were pushed, steadily southwest, eventually ending up in the Chingshan area, just north of the Yangtze. Over the centuries they mixed with other tribal groups, such as the Miao, and incorporated elements of their shamanistic cultures, The Ch’u rulers took for their surname the word hsiung, meaning “bear,” and they called themselves Man or Yi, which the Chinese in the central states interpreted to mean “barbarians.” The influence of Ch’u’s culture on Lao-tzu is impossible to determine, but it does help us better understand the Taoteching knowing that it was written by a man who was no stranger to shamanistic conceptions of the sacred world. Certainly as Taoism developed in later centuries, it remained heavily indebted to shamanism, and some scholars see evidence of the Ch’u dialect in the Taoteching itself. This, then, was the region where Lao-tzu grew up. But his name was not Lao-tzu (which means “Old Master”). Ssu-ma Ch’ien says his family name was Li, his personal name was Erh (meaning “ear,” and hence, learned), and his posthumous name was Tan (meaning “long-eared,” and hence, wise). In addi- tion to providing us with a complete set of names, Ssu-ma Ch’ien also tells us that Lao-tzu, or Li Erh, served as Keeper of the Royal Archives. Before continuing, I should note that some scholars reject Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s Li Erh or Li Tan and suggest instead a man named Lao Tan, who also served as Keeper of the Royal Archives, but in the fourth century Bc rather than the sixthcentury. Some find this later date more acceptable in explaining Lao-tzu’s in- novative literary style as well as in explaining why Chuang-tzu attributes pas- sages of the Taoteching to Lao Tan but not Li Tan. For his part, Ssu-ma Ch’ien was certainly familiar with Chuang-tzu’s writings, and he was not unaware of the fourth-century historian Lao Tan. In fact, he admits that some people thought that Lao Tan was Lao-tzu. But Ssu-ma Ch’ien was not convinced that the two were the same man. After all, if Tan was Lao-tzu’s posthumous name, why shouldn’t Chuang-tzu and other later writers call him “Old Tan”? And why couldn't there be two record keepers with the same name in the course of two centuries? If China’s Grand Historian was not convinced that the fourth- century historian was the author of the Taoteching—certainly he had more documents at his disposal than we now possess—I see no reason to decide in favor of a man whose only claim to fame was to prophesy the ascendency of the state of Ch’in, which was to bring the Chou dynasty to an end in 221 Bc. Meanwhile, I think I hear Lao-tzu laughing. In any case, the place where Lao-tzu kept the archives was the Chou dynasty capital of Loyang, which was about 300 kilometers west of Huhsien. Loyang was a neolithic campsite as carly as 3000 BC and a military garrison during the first dynasties: the Hsia and Shang. When the state of Chou over- threw the Shang dynasty in 1122 Bc, the Duke of Chou built a new subsidiary capital around the old garrison. He dubbed it Wangcheng: City of the King. Usually, though, the king lived in one of the new dynasty’s two western capitals of Feng and Hao, near modern Sian. But when these were destroyed in 771 BC, Wangcheng became the sole royal residence. And this is where Lao-tzu spent his time recording the events at court. Lao-tzu must have been busy in the years following the death of King Ching. When King Ching died in 520 8c, two of his sons, Prince Chao and Prince Ching, both declared themselves his successor. At first Prince Chao gained the upper hand, and Prince Ching was forced to leave the capital. But with the help of other nobles, Prince Ching soon returned and established an- other capital fifteen kilometers to the east of Wangcheng, which he dubbed Chengchou: Glory of Chou. And in 516 Bc, Prince Ching finally succeeded in driving his brother from the old capital. In the same year, the Keeper of the Royal Archives, which were still in ‘Wangcheng, received a visitor from the state of Lu. The visitor was a young man named K’ung Fu-tzu, or Confucius. Confucius was interested in ritual and asked Lao-tzu about the ceremonies of the ancient kings. According to Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Lao-tzu responded with this advice: “The an- cients you admire have been in the ground a long time. Their bones haveturned to dust. Only their words remain. Those among thern who were wise rode in carriages when times were good and slipped quietly away when times were bad. I have heard that the clever merchant hides his wealth so his store looks empty and that the superior man acts dumb so he can avoid calling attention to himself. I advise you to get rid of your excessive pride and ambition. They won't do you any good. This is all I have to say to you.” After- wards, Confucius told his disciples, “Today when I met Lao-tzu, it was like meeting a dragon.” The story of this meeting appears in a sufficient number of ancient texts to make it unlikely that it was invented by Taoists. Confucian records also report it taking place. According to the traditional account, Lao-tzu was eighty-eight years old when he met Confucius. If so, and if he was born in 604 BC, the two sages would have met in516 Bc, and Confucius would have been thirty-five. So it is possible. Though Confucius would not have had many disciples at such an early date. Following his meeting with Confucius, Lao-tzu decided to take his own advice, and he left the capital by ox-cart. And he had good reason to leave. For when Prince Chao was banished from Wangcheng, he took with him the royal archives, the same archives of which Lao-tzu was supposedly in charge. If Lao- tzu needed a reason to leave, he certainly had one in 516 Bc. With the loss of the archives, Lao-tzu was out of a job. He was also, no doubt, fed up with the prospects for enlightened rule in the Middle Kingdom. Hence, he headed not for his hometown of Huhsien to the east but for Hanku Pass, which was 150 kilometers west of Loyang, and which served as the bor- der between the Chou dynasty’s central states and the semi-barbarian state of Ch'in, which now controlled the area surrounding the dynasty’s former west- ern capitals. As Keeper of the Royal Archives, Lao-tzu no doubt supplied himself with the necessary documents to get through what was the most strategic pass in all of China. Hardly wide enough for two carts, it forms a seventeen- kilometer-long defile through a plateau of loess that has blown down from the north and accumulated between the Chungnan Mountains and the Yellow River over the past million years. In ancient times, the Chinese said that who- ever controlled Hanku Pass controlled China. It was so easy to defend that during the Second World War the Japanese army failed to break through it, despite finding no difficulty in sweeping Chinese forces from the plains to the east. Fortunately, Lao-tzu was expected. According to Taoist records, Master Yin Hsi was studying the heavens far to the west at the royal observatory atHanku Pass. Midway between the Chou dynasty’s eastern and western capitals and situated between the Yellow River and the Chungnan Mountains. This is where Lao-tzu met Yin Hsi, Warden of the Pass. Photo by Bill Porter. Loukuantai, when he noticed a purple vapor drifting from the east. He de- duced that a sage would soon be passing through the area, and he knew that anyone travelling west would have to come through Hanku Pass. Hence he proceeded to the pass. Ssu-ma Ch’ien, however, says Yin Hsi was Warden of the Pass and makes no mention of his association with Loukuantai. When Lao-tzu appeared, Yin Hsi recognized the sage and asked for instruction. According to Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Lao-tzu gave Yin Hsi the Taoteching and then continued on to distant, unknown realms. Taoists agree that Lao-tzu continued on from Hanku Pass, but in the com- pany of Yin Hsi, who invited him to his observatory 250 kilometers to the west. ‘Taoists say Lao-tzu stopped long enough at Loukuantai to convey the teach- ings that make up his Taoteching and then travelled on through Sankuan Pass, another 150 kilometers to the west, and into the state of Shu. Shu was founded. by a branch of the same lineage that founded the state of Ch’u, although its rulers revered the cuckoo rather than the bear. And in the land of the cuckoo, Lao-tzu finally achieved anonymity as well as immortality.Loukuantai. The small knoll beyond the gravel bed of the Tien River and at the foot of the Chungnan Mountains is where Taoists say Lao-tzu wrote the Taoteching. Photo by Bill Porter. Curiously, about six kilometers west of Loukuantai, there’s a tombstone with Lao-tzu’s name on it. The Red Guards knocked it down in the 1960s, and when I last visited Loukuantai in 1993 it was still down. I asked Loukuantai’s abbot, Jen Fa-jung, what happened to Lao-tzu. Did he continue on through Sankuan Pass, or was he buried at Loukuantai? Master Jen suggested both stories were true. As Confucius noted, Lao-tzu was a dragon among men. And being a member of the serpent family, why should we wonder at his ability to leave his skin behind and continue on through cloud-barred passes? And so, Lao-tzu, whoever he was and whenever he lived, disappeared and left behind his small book. The book at first didn’t have a name. When writers like Mo-tzu and Wen-tzu quoted from it in the fifth century Bc, or Chuang-tzu -and Lieh-tzu quoted from it in the fourth century Bc, or Han Fei explained pas- sages in the third century Bc and Huai-nan-tzu in the second century sc, they simply said “Lao-tzu says this” or “Lao Tan says that.” And so people started calling the source of all these quotes Laotzu. Ssu-ma Ch’ien also mentioned no name. He only said that Lao-tzu wrote a book, and it was divided into two parts. About the same time, people startedcalling these two parts The Way and Virtue, after the first lines of verses1 and 38. And to these, were added the honorific ching, meaning “ancient text.” And so Lao-tzu’s book was called the Taoteching, the Book of Tao and Te. In addition to its two parts, it was also divided into separate verses. But, as with other ancient texts, punctuation and enumeration of passages were left up to the reader. About the same time that Ssu-ma Ch’ien wrote his biography of Lao-tzu and people started calling the book the Taoteching, Yen Tsun pro- duced a commentary in the first century Bc that divided the text into seventy- two verses. A century earlier, or a couple of centuries later, no one knows which, Ho-shang Kung divided the same basic text into eighty-one verses. And a thousand years later, Wu Ch’eng tried a sixty-eight-verse division. But the sys- tem that has persisted through the centuries is that of Ho-shang Kung, who also gave each verse its own title. The text itself has seen dozens of editions containing anywhere from five to six thousand characters. The numerical discrepancy is not as significant as it might appear andis largely the result of adding certain grammatical particles for clarity or omitting them for brevity. The greatest difference among editions centers not on the number of characters but on the rendering of certain phrases and the presence or absence of certain lines. Over the centuries, several emperors have taken it upon themselves to re- solve disputes concerning the choice among these variants. And the creation of a standard edition has resulted from their efforts. The standard edition, how- ever, is still open to revision, and every student of the Taoteching repeats the process of choosing among variants to understand the text. In this regard, Taoteching studies were blessed in late 1973 with the discovery of two copies of the text ina tomb that was sealed in 168 Bc in a suburb of the provincial capital of Changsha known as Mawangtui. Despite the lapse of over 2,100 years, the copies, written on silk, were in remarkably good condition. Kao Chib-hsi, who supervised their removal and who directed the Ma- wangtui Museum until just recently, attributes their preservation to layers of clay and charcoal that covered the tomb. At least this is his official explanation. In private, he says their preservation could have also been due to the presence of an unknown gas created by the decomposition of certain substances inside the tomb. He tried to take a sample of the gas, but the discovery was made in the middle of the Cultural Revolution, and he spent two days peddling his bi- cycle around Changsha before he found anyone who would loan him the nec- essary equipment. By then the gas was gone. The books, though, made up for his disappointment. Along with the Taoteching there were several hitherto unknown commentaries on the YichingMawangtui Text A. Written on silk shortly before 206 BC, the text here shows verse 1 following verse 79, an arrangement unique to the Mawangtui texts. Photo by Steven R. Johnson.as well as anumber of lost texts attributed to the Yellow Emperor. The Chinese Academy of Sciences immediately convened a committee of scholars to exam- ine these texts and decipher illegible sections. In the years since their discovery, the two Mawangtui copies of the Taote- ching have contributed greatly to the elucidation of a number of difficult and previously misunderstood passages. Without them, I would have been forced to choose among unsatisfactory variants on too many occasions. Still, the Mawangtui texts contain numerous omissions and errors and need to be used with great care. Fortunately, we also have another text that dates from the same period. Like the Mawangtui texts, it was discovered in a tomb that was sealed shortly after 200 BC. This tomb was located near the Grand Canal town of Hsuchou and was opened in 574 ap. Not long afterward, the court astrologer Fu Yi published an edition of the copy of the Taoteching that was found inside. In addition to the Mawangtui and Fuyi texts, we also have more than sixty copies of the text that were found shortly after 1900 in the Silk Road oasis of Tunhuang. Most of these copies date from the eighth and ninth centuries. However, one of them was written by a man named Suo Tan in 270 ap, giving us yet another early hand-written edition to consider. We also have a copy of the Taoteching written by the great fourth-century calligrapher Wang Hsi-chih, as well as a dozen or so stelae on which various emperors had the entire text carved. Finally, we have the text as it appears in such early commentaries as those of Yen Tsun, Ho-shang Kung, and Wang Pi (not to mention numerous passages quoted in the ancient works of Mo-tzu, Wen-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Lieh-tzu, Han Fei, Huai-nan-tzu, and others). In undertaking this translation, I have consulted nearly all of these editions and have produced a new recension incorporating my choices among the read- ings. For the benefit of those able to read Chinese, I have included the resulting text with my translation. I have also added a number of commentaries. Over the centuries, some of China’s greatest writers have devoted them- selves to explaining the Taoteching, and no Chinese would think of reading the text without the help of at least one of these line-by-line or verse-by-verse explanations. When I first decided to translate the Taoteching, it occurred to me that Western readers are at a serious disadvantage without the help of such materials. To remedy this situation, I have collected several dozen of the better- known commentaries along with a few that are more obscure, and I have selected from among them those passages that provide important background information or insights.Among the commentaries consulted, the majority of my selections come from a group of eleven men and one woman. In order of frequency, they in- clude: Su Ch’e, Ho-shang Kung, Wu Ch’eng, Wang Pi, Te-ch’ing, Sung Ch’ang- hsing, Li Hsi-chai, Lu Hui-ch’ing, Wang P’ang, Ch’eng Hsuan-ying, the Taoist nun Ts’ao Tao-ch’ung, and Wang An-shih. For biographical information on these and other commentators, readers are directed to the glossary at the back of this book (page 165). Readers will also notice that I have restricted the comments to what could fit on facing pages. The reason for this is that I envisioned this book as a discus- sion between Lao-tzu and a group of people who have thought deeply about his text. And I wanted to have everyone in the same room rather than in ad- joining suites. Thave also added a few remarks of my own, though I have usually limited these to textual issues. In this regard, I have tried to restrict myself to those lines where my choice among variants may have resulted in a significant departure from other translations that readers might have in their possession. The Taoteching is, after all, one of the most translated books in the world, exceeded only by the Bible and the Bhagavad-Gita. Since the text first appeared in Latin in 1788, more than a hundred transla- tions have been published in the English language alone, and readers could not be blamed for wondering if there isn’t something inherent in the text that infects those who read it with the desire to produce even more translations. My own attempt to add to this number dates back nearly twenty-five years to when I attended a course in Taiwan given by John C.H. Wu. Professor Wu had himself produced an excellent English translation of the Taoteching, and he offered a course on the subject to graduate students in the philosophy depart- ment at the College of Chinese Culture, which I was attending between stays at Buddhist temples. Once a week, about six of us filed past the guards at the stately Chung- shanlou on Yangmingshan, where the government had provided Professor Wu with a bungalow in recognition of his long service to the country. In addition to translating the Taoteching, Professor Wu also translated the New Testament and drafted his country’s constitution, as well as served as China’s ambassador to the Vatican and its chief representative to the Hague. Once a week, we sipped tea, ate his wife’s cookies, and discussed a verse or two of Lao-tzu’s text. Between classes, I tried translating the odd line in the margins of Professor Wu's bilingual edition, but I did not get far. After one semester, the course ended, and I moved to a Buddhist monastery in the hills south of Taipei, whereI put aside Lao-tzu’s text in favor of Buddhist sutras and poetry. But ever since then, I have been waiting for an opportunity to dust off this thinnest of ancient books and resume my earlier attempt at translation. The opportunity finally presented itself when I recently returned to Amer- ica after more than twenty years in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the early seven- ties, when I was attending graduate school at Columbia University, I recall Pro- fessor Bielenstein quoting W.A.C.H. Dobson, who said it was time for a Sinologist to retire when he announced he was working on a new translation of the Taoteching. And so I have joined the ranks of the retired. I don’t know if Dobson would have approved. His remarks, I suspect, were intended more as friendly criticism of the presumption that translating the Taoteching entails. Though relatively brief, the Taoteching is a difficult text. But it is also a transparent one. For the past two years, one image that has repeatedly come to mind while working on this translation is skating on a newly frozen lake near my home in Idaho when I was a boy. Sometimes the ice was so clear, I felt like I was skating across the night sky, and the only sounds I could hear were the cracks that ech- oed through the dark, transparent depths. I thought if the ice ever gave way I would find myself on the other side of the universe, and I always carried ice picks just in case I had to pull myself out. The ice never broke. But I've been hearing those cracks again. Red Pine Port Townsend, Washington ‘First Quarter, Last Moon, Year of the PigLao-tzu’s aotechin Statue of Lao-tzu at Cinnabar Cauldron, Loukuantai. Photo by Bill Porter.The way that becomes a way is not the Immortal Way the name that becomes a name is not the Immortal Name the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name the mother of all things has a name thus in innocence we see the beginning in passion we see the end two different names for one and the same the one we call dark the dark beyond dark the door to all beginnings © DEN SH 8 IDI AY © SY NCBICET ° heft HEE ° HUGE + BERISS Vahey > St BEST RVIA TBE © FNS ICAat « BENE OBR oA RME ¢ Reale o ETE © fale fk The word tao means “road” or “way” and, by extension, “way of doing some- thing.” TU ER-WEI says, “Tao originally meant ‘moon.’ The Yiching: 42, 52 stresses the bright moon, while Lao-tzu stresses the dark moon” (pg. ii-iii). CONFucIUs says, “The Tao is what we can never leave. If we can leave it, it isn’t the Tao” (Chungyung: 1). HO-SHANG KUNG says, “What we call a way is a moral or political code, while the Immortal Way takes care of the spirit without effort and brings peace to the world without struggle. It conceals its light and hides its tracks and can't be called a way. As for the Immortal Name, it’s like a pearl inside an oyster, a piece of jade inside a rock: shiny on the inside and dull on the outside.” CH’ENG CHU says, “A sage doesn't reveal the Way, not because he keeps it secret, but because it can’t be revealed. Hence his words are like footsteps that leave no tracks.” THE BUDDHA says, “He who says teach the Dharma maligns me. Who teaches the Dharma teaches nothing” (Diamond Sutra: 21).LI HSI-CHAI says, “Things change but not the Tao. The Tao is immortal. It arrives without moving and comes without being called.” su Ch’E says, “The ways of kindness and justice change but not the way of the Tao. No name is its body: Name is its function. The sage embodies the Tao and uses it in the world, But while entering the myriad states of being, he remains in non-being.” WANG PI says, “From the infinitesimal all things develop. From nothing all things are born. When we are free of desire, we can see the infinitesimal where things begin. When we are subject to desire, we can see where things end. ‘Two’ refers to ‘maiden’ and ‘mother.”” TS'AO TAO-CH’UNG says, ““Two’ refers to ‘innocence’ and ‘passion,’ or in other words, stillness and movement. Stillness corresponds to nonexistence. Move- ment corresponds to existence. Provisionally different, they are ultimately the same. Both meet in darkness.” THE SHUOWEN says, “Hsuan:dark means ‘black with a bit of red in it,” like the darker half of the yin-yang symbol. In Shensi province, where this text was writ- ten, doors are still painted black with a thin line of red trim. And every road begins with a door. TE-CH’ING says, “Lao-tzu’s philosophy is all here. The remaining five-thou- sand words only expand on this first verse.” The punctuation introduced by Ssu-ma Kuang and Wang An-shih in lines five through eight makes their subject yu:being and wu:non-being. But this is not supported by the grammatical particles of the Mawangtui texts. Also, in line five, shih:maiden normally means “beginning,” but the Shuowen says, “Shih means ‘a virgin.’” MA HSU-LUN says shih is a loan word for the nearly identical t’ai, While t’ai normally means “fetus,” the Shuowen says it means “a woman in her third month of pregnancy.” Note, too, that a woman did not receive her public name until after marriage. In line seven, most editions have miao:mysteri- ous, But PI YUAN says, “In ancient times there was no miao:mysterious, only miao:small/beginning,” which is what we find in the Mawangtui texts.All the world knows beauty but if that becomes beautiful this becomes ugly all the world knows good but if that becomes good this becomes bad the coexistence of have and have not the coproduction of hard and easy the correlation of long and short the codependence of high and low the correspondence of note and noise the coordination of first and last is endless thus the sage performs effortless deeds and teaches wordless lessons he doesn’t start all the things he begins oo MESS Me + IAD ° NASER ° SEAS ° SABRE © MEN ot NAT + BN ORR > HESS Ie RT SESEYe ¢ War REaH ° BABA > Makin Bear eee + Weare he doesn’t presume on what he does he doesn’t claim what he achieves and because he makes no claim Mf © CTU SBE © OH Neo Of APE © CTR © KAN’ «RPE A DH he suffers no loss LU HSI-SHENG says, “What we call beautiful or ugly depends on our feelings. Nothing is necessarily beautiful or ugly until feelings make it so. But while feel- ings differ, they all come from our nature, and we all have the same nature. Hence the sage transforms his feelings and returns to his nature and thus be- comes one again.” WU CH’ENG says, “The existence of things, the difficulty of affairs, the size of forms, the magnitude of power, the pitch and clarity of sound, the sequence of position, all involve contrasting pairs. When one is present, both are present. When one is absent, both are absent.”LU HUI-CH’ING says, “These six pairs all depend on time and occasion. None of them is eternal. The sage, however, acts according to the Immortal Tao, hence he acts without effort. And he teaches according to the Immortal Name, hence he teaches without words. Beautiful and ugly, good and bad don’t enter his mind.” WANG WU-CHIU says, “The sage is not interested in deeds or words. He simply follows the natural pattern of things. Things rise, develop, and reach their end. ‘This is their order.” WANG AN-SHIH says, “The sage creates but does not possess what he creates. He acts but does not presume on what he does. He succeeds but does not claim success. These three all result from selflessness. Because the sage is selfless, he does not lose his self. Because he does not lose his self, he does not lose others.” 4u cH’E says, “Losing something is the result of claiming something. How an a person lose what he doesn’t claim?” Li HsI-cHai says, “Lao-tzu’s 5,000-word text clarifies what is mysterious as well 4s what is obvious. It can be used to attain the Tao, to order a country, or to cultivate the body.” HO-SHANG KUNG titles this verse “Cultivating the Body.” BUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Those who practice the Way put an end to distinctions, get rid of name and form, and make of themselves a home for the Way and Virtue.” Uhave incorporated line thirteen from the Mawangtui texts and have also used their wording of the six preceding lines. In line sixteen, Ihave relied on the Fuyi edition as well as Mawangtui Text B in reading shih:start in place of tz’u:say/ tefuse. I have followed the Mawangtui texts again in omitting the line “he doesn’t possess what he begets” after line sixteen as an interpolation from verse 51. Lines seventeen and eighteen also appear in verse 77.Bestowing no honors oH keeps people from fighting prizing no treasures keeps people ftom stealing displaying no attractions keeps people from making trouble thus the rule of the sage empties the mind but fills the stomach weakens the will oR NAR + OREN ak a tr + BRR WONT RT ° TICRERE ° GbE + RAPbE RR but strengthens the bones by keeping the people from knowing or wanting and those who know ftom daring to act Bir ° GEN >-HASS Pe > BE Aap ° BEAE|NOY ° Be BEN AURE ORNATE © BN FRR © BLY he thus governs them all SU CH’E says, “Bestowing honors embarrasses those who don’t receive them to the point where they fight for them. Prizing treasures pains those who don’t possess them to the point where they steal them. Displaying attractions dis- tresses those who don’t enjoy them to the point where they cause trouble. If people aren’t shown these things, they won't know what to want and will cease wanting.” WANG CHEN says, “The sage empties the mind of reasoning and delusion, he fills the stomach with loyalty and honesty, he weakens the will with humility and compliance, and he strengthens the bones with what people already have within themselves.” WANG PI says, “Bones don’t know how to make trouble. It’s the will that creates disorder. When the mind is empty, the will is weak.” WANG P’ANG says, “An empty mind means no distinctions. A full stomach means no desires. A weak will means no external plans. Strong bones mean standing on one’s own and remaining unmoved by outside forces. By bestow-ing no honors, the sage keeps people from knowing. By prizing no treasures, he keeps people from wanting.” LU NUNG-SHIH says, “The mind knows and chooses, while the stomach doesn’t know but simply contains. The will wants and moves, while bones don’t want but simply stand there. The sage empties what knows and fills what doesn’t know, he weakens what wants and strengthens what doesn’t want.” YEN TSUN says, “He empties his mind and calms his breath. He concentrates his essence and strengthens his spirit.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “The sage purifies his ears and eyes, puts an end to dis- sipation and selfishness, embraces the one, and empties his mind. An empty mind forms the basis for transmuting cinnabar by enabling us to use our yang- breath to transform our yin-essence. A full stomach represents our final form, in which our yang-breath gradually and completely replaces our yin-essence.” WEI YUAN says, “The reason the world isin disorder is because of action. Action comes from desire. And desire comes from knowledge. The sage doesn't talk about things that can be known or display things that can be desired. This is how he brings order to the world.” LIU CHING says, “This verse describes how the sage cultivates himself in order to transform others.” In the Fuyi edition and Tunhuang copy 5.477, an additional line follows the “thus” of the last line: wei-wu-wei:act without acting, Commentators who accept this version often explain it with a quote from Confucius: “To govern without effort. That was Shun. And what did he do? All he did was face south and bow” (Lunyu: 15.4). I’ve used the Mawangtui texts, which omit this line. Lao-tzu’s emphasis on the stomach over the eyes also appears in verse 12.The Tao is so empty ad NAW + LIN-REHE ah» aS © ae those who use it never become full again and so deep as if it were the ancestor of us all dulling our edges untying our tangles softening our light merging our dust and so clear as if it were present I wonder whose child it is © RBCRERT © Sea ° BERET MOREE + Bt NSERAS © Gb SE o BIS © NGHEH ° AE fae it seems it was here before Ti WANG AN-SHIH says, “The Tao possesses form and function. Its form is the original breath that doesn’t move. Its function is the empty breath that alter- nates between Heaven and Earth.” WU CH'ENG says, “‘Empty’ means empty like a bowl. The Tao is essentially empty, and people who use it should be empty too. To be full is contrary to the Tao. ‘Deep’ means what cannot be measured. An ancestor unites a lineage just as the Tao unites all things. ‘As if” suggests reluctance to compare.” LI HSI-CHAI says, “The ancient masters of the Way had no ambition, hence they dulled their edges and did not insist on anything. They had no fear, hence they untied every tangle and avoided nothing. They did not care about beauty, hence they softened their light and forgot about themselves. They did not hate ugliness, hence they merged with the dust and did not abandon others.” WEI YUAN says, “By taking advantage of edges, we create conflicts with others. By shining bright lights, we illuminate their dust. Grinding down edges makes conflicts disappear. Turning down lights merges dust with dust and dust with darkness.”HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “A person who can adjust his light to that of the crowd and merge with the dust of the world is like a magic mushroom among ordi- nary plants. You can’t see it, but it makes everything smell better.” HsI T’'UNG says, “The Tao is invisible. Hence Lao-tzu calls it “clear.” THE SHUOWEN says, “Chan:clear means unseen.” LU NUNG-SHIH says, ““Clear’ describes what is deep, what seems to be present and not to be present, what seems not to be present and not not to be present.” Liu CHING says, “If it’s empty, it’s deep. If it’s deep, it’s clear. The Tao comes from nothing. Hence the Tao is the child of nothing.” Li YUEH says, “Ti is the Lord of Creation. All of creation comes after Ti, except the Tao, which comes before. But the nature of the Tao is to yield, hence Lao- tzu doesn’t insist it came before. Thus he says, ‘it seems.” JEN CHI-Yusays, “In ancient times no one denied the existence of Ti, and noone called his supremacy into doubt. Lao-tzu, however, says the Tao is ‘the ances- tor of all things,’ which presumably included Ti as well” (pg. 34)- For such an enigmatic verse there are surprisingly few variants. In line three, I have gone along with the Fuyi edition, Tunhuang copy P.2584, and Mawangtui ‘Text B in reading yu-pu-ying:again-not-full in place of huo-pu-ying:maybe-not- full.” Because of problems created by their interpretation of the first four lines, some commentators think lines five through eight don’t belong here. They do, in fact, reoccur in verse 56. I've read them as an explanation of the Tao’s ances- tral status, which makes kin of us all.Ww CHAN Soe eB EAS > BIN AR + Hay tine Heaven and Earth are heartless om aa treating creatures like straw dogs heartless is the sage treating people like straw dogs between Heaven and Earth how like a bellows empty but inexhaustible each movement produces more talking only wastes it NaboH » BAF REMLS «TH He: a Sa ae SE BSS ° TT NEM better to keep it inside The Chinese characters pu-jen:no heart also refer to a fruit that has no seed or center. HU SHIH says, “Lao-tzu’s statement that Heaven and Earth are heartless under- cut the ancient belief that Heaven and Man were of the same lineage and thereby created the basis for natural philosophy” (p. 56). L1JUNG says, “Love begets hate. Heaven and Earth are beyond love and hate. Hence they are heartless.” su cH’E says, “Heaven and Earth aren't partial. They don’t kill living things out of cruelty or give them birth out of kindness. We do the same when we make straw dogs to use in sacrifices. We dress them up and put them on the altar, but not because we love them. And when the ceremony is over, we throw them into the street, but not because we hate them. This is how the sage treats the people.” HUAI-NAN-TZU says, “When we make straw dogs or clay dragons, we paint them yellow and blue, decorate them with brocade, and tie red ribbons around them. The shaman puts on his black robe and the lord puts on his ceremonial hat to usher them in and to see them off. But once they've been used, they're nothing but clay and straw” (11). A similar description appears in Chuangtzu: 14.4. 10WU CH’ENG says, “Straw dogs were used in praying for rain, and these particu- lar bellows were used in metallurgy.” WANG P’ANG says, ‘A bellows is empty so that it can respond to things. Some- thing moves, and it responds. It responds but retains nothing. Like Heaven and Barth in regard to the ten thousand things or the sage in regard to the people, it responds with what fits, It isn’t tied to the present or attached to the past.” WANG AN-SHIH says, “The Tao has no substance or dimension, yet it works the breath of emptiness between Heaven and Earth and gives birth to the ten thousand things.” WANG TAO says, “The Tao cannot be talked about, yet we dismiss it as heart- less, It cannot be named, yet we liken it to a bellows. Those who understand get the meaning and forget the words. Those who don’t understand fail to see the truth and chatter away in vain.” HSIN TU-TzU says, “When the main path has many by-ways, sheep lose their way. When learning leads in many directions, students waste their lives” (Liehtzu: 8:25). HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Whenever the mouth opens and the tongue moves, disaster is close behind. Better to guard your inner virtue, nurture your vital essence, protect your spirit, treasure your breath, and avoid talking too much.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “If our mouth doesn’t talk too much, our spirit stays in our heart. If our ears don’t hear too much, our essence stays in our genitals. In the course of time, essence becomes breath, breath becomes spirit, and spirit returns to emptiness. In Western cultures, the Christmas tree occupies a place similar to that of Lao- tzu’s “straw dogs...” The only textual variation here involves the appearance in both Mawangtui texts of wen:hear instead of the standard yen:talk in line nine. But alnce wen:hear was sometimes used for wen-ask, the meaning isn’t significantly different, hence I've kept yen:talk. 11a The valley spirit that doesn’t die we call the dark womb the dark womb’s mouth we call the source of creation as real as gossamer silk BS BE ° BENGE DH Be Bit CEN: EM 0 o fast SN SBI e Zh aE ap SS Ba Pee Sie and yet we can’t exhaust it THE SHANHAICHING says, “The Valley Spirit of Morning Light is a black and yellow, eight-footed, eight-tailed, cight-headed animal with a human face” (9). The Shanhaiching's “valley spirit” is the moon, which runs ahead of the sun during the last eight days of its thirty-day cycle, lags behind during the first eight days, and faces the sun during its eight days of glory. For the remaining days of the month, it’s too close to the sun to be visible. Like many other cul- tures, the ancient Chinese viewed the moon as the embodiment of the female element of creation. WANG PI says, “The valley is what is in the middle, what contains nothing, no form, no shadow, no obstruction. It occupies the lowest point, remains mo- tionless, and does not decay. All things depend on it for their development, but no one sees its shape.” YEN FU says, “Because it is empty, we call it a valley: Because there is no limit to its responsiveness, we call it a spirit. Because it is inexhaustible, we say it never dies, These three are the virtues of the Tao.” su cH’E says, “A valley is empty but has form. A valley spirit is empty and has no form. What is empty and has no form is not alive. So how can it die? “Valley spirit’ refers to its virtue. ‘Dark womb’ refers to its capacity. This womb gives birth to the ten thousand things, and we call it dark because we see it give birth but not how it gives birth.” HSUEH HUI says, “The words Lao-tzu chooses are often determined by the de- mands of rhyme and should not be restricted to their primary meaning. Thus, p’in:female animal can also be read p’in:womb.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “The valley is what nourishes. Someone who is able to nourish his spirit does not die. ‘Spirit’ means the spirits of the five organs: the gall bladder, the lungs, the heart, the kidneys, and the spleen. When these five 12organs are injured, the five spirits leave. ‘Dark’ refers to Heaven. In Man this means the nose, which links us with Heaven. ‘Womb’ refers to Earth. In Man this means the mouth, which links us with Earth. The breath that passes through our nose and mouth should be finer than gossamer silk and barely noticeable, as if it weren't actually present. It should be relaxed and never strained or exhausted.” WU CH’ENG says, “The empty valley is where spirits dwell, where breath isn't exhausted. Who relaxes their breath increases their vitality. Who strains their breath soon expires.” TE-CH’ING says, “Purposeful action leads to exhaustion. The Tao is empty and acts without purpose. Hence it can’t be exhausted.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The valley spirit, the dark womb, the source of cre- ation, all act without acting. Just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.” L1U CHING says, “It’s like the silk of a silkworm or the web of a spider: hard to distinguish, hard to grab. But then, it isn’t Man that uses it. Only the spirit can use it.” TU TAO-CHIEN says, “This verse also appears in Liehtzu: 1.1, where it is attrib- uted to the Yellow Emperor instead of Lao-tzu. Lao-tzu frequently incorpo- rates passages from ancient texts. We see their traces in ‘thus the sage pro- claims’ or ‘hence the ancients say.’ Thus Confucius said, ‘I don’t create. I only relate” (Lunyu: 7.1). LIEH-TZU says, “What creates life is not itself alive” (1.1). 13Heaven is eternal and Earth is immortal the reason they’re eternal and immortal o ARE BE SE POSS > The al is because they don’t live for themselves hence they can live forever thus the sage pulls himself back but ends up in front he lets himself go but ends up safe selflessness must be the reason Aw BESS o MEME EH © le et fae > HSS Pit > Hepa SEE © HEIN HESE © he Dobra RANGE OH ° ee rH whatever he seeks he finds CHU CH’IEN-CHIH says, “The line ‘Heaven is eternal and Earth is immortal’ ‘was apparently an old saying, which Lao-tzu quotes in order to explain its significance.” CHIANG ssU-cH’I says, ““Heaven’ refers to the point between the eyebrows. ‘Barth’ refers to the point just below the navel.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Heaven stands for the movement of time. Earth repre- sents the transformation of form. Heaven and Earth have their origin in the dark womb. And the essence of the dark womb is the valley spirit that doesn’t die. Because it doesn’t die, it isn’t born. Only what isn’t born can give birth to the living. And because it doesn’t give birth to itself, it can live forever.” TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “What is not alive is the basis for life. By equating life and death, we are no longer burdened by life and death. By abandoning bodily form, we are no longer hindered by bodily form.” Wu CH’ENG says, “To pull back means to be humble and not to try to be in front of others. To let go means to be content and not to try to add to our life. To find what one seeks means to be in front and safe.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Heaven and Earth help creatures fulfill their needs by not having any needs of their own. Can the sage do otherwise? By following the Way of Heaven and Barth, the sage is revered by all and harmed by none. Hence he, too, lives long.” 14JEN FA-JUNG says, “The sage does not purposely seek long life but achieves it through selflessness.” CHENG CHU says, “Heaven, Earth, and Man share the same origin. Why doesn’t Man share their immortality? Because Heaven and Earth are not aware they are Heaven and Earth. Only Man is aware of himself. And being aware of himself, there is nothing he won't do to stay alive. But the more he cares for his life, the more pained his life becomes. The more he nourishes his body, the sicker his body becomes. People who have not thought this out say the follow- ers of Lao-tzu are afraid of death and only interested in immortality. But this is getting it backwards.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “The reason Heaven and Earth alone are eternal and immortal is because they are content and give without expecting a reward, unlike Man who never stops chasing profit and fighting over possessions.” WANG PI says, “Those who live for themselves fight with others. Those who don’t live for themselves are the refuge of others.” SU CH’E says, “If Heaven and Earth fought with others over life, they would be the same as others. And if the sage fought with other men over profit, he would be just another man. Would that not be a great shame?” WANG P’ANG says, “Although the sage is a sage, he looks the same as others. But because he embodies the Way of Heaven and doesn’t fight, he alone differs from everyone else. The sage is selfless because he no longer has a self.” LU TUNG-PIN says, “The only thing the sage seeks is Virtue.” 15governing with peace working with skill moving with time and because they don’t compete = We 2 bt The best are like water a tH bringing help to all x € me without competing oe Bk: choosing what others avoid A % # kK hence approaching the Tao eo fe * Fe dwelling with earth & a = # thinking with depth RH Ez a helping with kindness a 38% 7q speaking with truth e* Hey - te # RB o WW Rm He A they aren’t maligned WU CH’ENG Says, ‘Among those who follow the Tao, the best are like water: content to be on the bottom and, thus, free of blame. Most people hate being on the bottom and compete to be on the top. And when people compete, someone is maligned.” LI HUNG-FU says, “How do we know the best don’t compete? Everyone else chooses nobility. They alone choose humility. Everyone else chooses the pure. They alone choose the base. What they choose is what everyone else hates. Who is going to compete with them?” KUAN-TZU Says, “Water is the source of creation, the ancestor of all living things. It’s the bloodstream of the Earth” (39). HUANG YUAN-CHI Says, “Mencius says, ‘People cannot live without water and fire’ (7a.23). In terms of cultivation, when fire warms water, pure yang arises. When water cools fire, ‘sweet dew’ appears.” WANG P’ANG Says, “Water is the chief of the five elements (for which, see verse 12). It comes from space, which is not that far from the Tao.” 16WANG PI says, “The Tao does not exist, but water does. Hence it only ap- proaches the Tao.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “The best people have a nature like that of water. They're like mist or dew in the sky, like a stream or a spring on land. Most people hate moist or muddy places, places where water alone dwells. The na- ture of water is like the Tao: empty, clear, and deep. As water empties, it gives life to others. It reflects without becoming impure, and there is nothing it can- not wash clean. Water can take any shape, and it is never out of touch with the seasons. How could anyone malign something with such qualities as this.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Those who free themselves from care stay low and avoid heights. Those whose minds are empty can plumb the depths. Those who help others without expecting any reward are truly kind. Those whose mouths agree with their minds speak the truth. Those who make demands of themselves as well as others establish peace. Those who can change as condi- tions change work with skill. Those who act when it is time to act and rest when it is time to rest move with time.” LI JUNG says, “Water has no purpose of its own. Those who can remain empty and not compete with others follow the natural Way.” YEN TSUN says, “If a ruler embodies this and uses this in his government, his virtue is most wonderful. How could he be maligned?” HAN FEI says, “If a drowning man drinks it, he dies. If a thirsty man drinks it, he lives.” Given Lao-tzu’s usual disdain for social virtues, some commentators have trouble accepting the standard reading of jen:kindness in line eight. For those in search of an alternative, the Fuyi and Chinglung editions have jen:others, while Mawangtui Text B has t’ien:heaven, and Mawangtui Text A compresses lines seven and eight: “helping with truth.” 17Instead of pouring in more better stop while you can making it sharper won't help it last longer houses full of treasure can never be safe the vanity of success ° GEREN DH > fale Ree « OS pt fae © aR BR BY ER NY Yat © BERL >> Sat | > Ne SESE > CAR > NRL SE invites its own failure retire when your work is done this is the Way of Heaven THE HOUHANSHU says, “What Lao-tzu warns against is ‘pouring in more.’” HSUN-TZU says, “Inthe ancestral hall of Duke Huan, Confucius reports watch- ing an attendant pour water into a container that hung at an angle. As the wa- ter level approached the midpoint, the container became upright. But when the attendant went beyond the midpoint, it tipped over, the water poured out, and only after it was empty did it resume its former position. Seeing this, Confucius sighed, ‘Alas! Whatever becomes full becomes empty’” (28). LU TUNG-PIN says, “This verse is about the basics of cultivation. These are the obstacles when you first enter the gate.” LIU SHTH-LI says, “Since fullness always leads to emptiness, avoid satisfaction; since sharpness always leads to dullness, avoid zeal; since gold and jade always lead to worry, avoid greed; since wealth and honor encourage excess, avoid pride; since success and fame bring danger, know when to stop and where lies the mean. You don’t have to live in the mountains and forests or cut yourself off from human affairs to enter the Way. Success and fame, wealth and honor are all encouragements to practice.” YEN TSUN says, “To succeed without being vain is easy to say but hard to prac- tice. When success is combined with pride, it’s like lighting a torch. The brighter it burns, the quicker it burns out.” WANG CHEN says, “To retire doesn’t mean to abdicate your position; rather, when your task is done treat it as though it were nothing.” 18SSU-MA CH’IEN says, “When Confucius asked about the ceremonies of the an- cients, Lao-tzu said, ‘I have heard that the clever merchant hides his wealth so his store looks empty and that the superior man acts dumb to avoid calling at- tention to himself. I advise you to get rid of your excessive pride and ambition. They won't do you any good. This is all I have to say to you” (63). HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Excessive wealth and desire wearies and harms the spirit. The rich should help the poor, and the powerful should aid the op- pressed. If, instead, they flaunt their riches and power, they are sure to suffer disaster. Once the sun reaches the zenith, it descends. Once the moon becomes full, it wanes. Creatures flourish then wither. Joy turns to sorrow. When your work is done, if you do not step down, you will meet with harm. This is the Way of Heaven.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “You need a raft to cross a river. But once across, you can forget the raft. You need to study rules to learn how to do something. But once you know how, you can forget the rules.” WANG AN-SHIH says, “The Way of Heaven is to bring down the high and to lift up the low.” The Fuyi edition adds ming-sui: when your name is made to the beginning of line nine. The Chinglung and Chingfu editions as well as Wentzu, Motzu, and Huainantzu also include this phrase but place it after kung-ch’eng: when your work succeeds. Either way, its addition breaks the rhythm of the verse, which otherwise has four syllables to a line. I have treated it as an interpolation and have followed the Mawangtui texts, which condense both phrases: kung-sui: when your work is done. 197 8 BH # Can you hold fast your crescent soul and not let it wander a 2 £ % Z can you make your breath as soft as a baby’s Ke a A ff 4 can you wipe your Dark Mirror free of dust a é z a te can you serve and govern without effort vz “o fq Bs 4€ can you be the female at Heaven's Gate s z HA fe ME can you light up the world without knowledge ‘ z a . x beget things and keep them KZ & > RK but beget without possessing ® & He zt - keep without controlling TH YA 36 fe this is Dark Virtue ‘The Chinese say that the hun, or bright, ethereal, yang soul, governs the upper body and the p’o, or dark, earthly, yin soul, concerns itself with the lower body. Here, Lao-tzu mentions only the darker soul. But the word p’o also refers to the dark of the moon, and the opening phrase can also be read as referring to the first day of the new moon. Either way, dark of the soul or dark of the moon, Taoist commentators say the first line refers to the protection of our vital es- sence: semen and vaginal fluid, sweat and saliva, the depletion of which injures the health and leads to early death. HSUAN-TSUNG says, “The first transformation of life is calledp’o. When the p’o becomes active and bright, it is called hun.” WANG P’ANG says, “Life requires three things: vital essence, breath, and spirit.” CHIAO HUNG says, “The mind knows right and wrong. Breath makes no dis- tinction. If we concentrate our breath and don’t let the mind interfere with it, it remains soft and pure. Who else but a child can do this?” CHUANG-TZU says, “The sage’s mind is so still, it can mirror Heaven and Earth and reflect the ten thousand things” (13.1). WU CH’ENG says, “Our spirit dwells in our eyes. When the eyes see something, the spirit chases it. When we close our eyes and look within, everything is dark. But within the dark, we still see something. There is still dust. Only by putting an end to delusions can we get rid of the dust.” 20WANG AN-SHIH Says, “The best way to serve is by not serving. The best way to govern is by not governing. Hence Lao-tzu says ‘without effort.’ Those who act without effort make use of the efforts of others. As for Heaven’s Gate, this is the gate through which all creatures enter and leave. To be open means to be active. To be closed means to be still. Activity and stillness represent the male and the female. Just as stillness overcomes movement, the female overcomes the male.” su cH’ says, “What lights up the world is the mind. There is nothing the mind does not know. And yet no none can know the mind. The mind is one. If some- one knew it, there would be two. Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.” LAO-TzU says, “The Tao begets them / Virtue keeps them” (51). WANG PI says, “If we don’t obstruct their source, things come into existence on their own. If we don’t suppress their nature, things mature by themselves. Vir- tue is present, but its owner is unknown. It comes from the mysterious depths. Hence we call it dark.” The first line has had numerous interpretations, to which I have added one more. CHENG LIANG-SHU and most other modern commentators now agree that tsai should be placed at the beginning of this verse instead of at the end of the previous verse. Although tsai can mean “carry,” it can also mean “new,” as in the phrase: tsai-sheng-p’o:new-born moon, or as Lao-tzu uses it here: tsai-ying- p’o:new-lit moon/soul. After line eight, most editions add “act without presum- ing,” which also appears ina similar sequence in verses2 andsr. Ihave followed the Mawangtui texts in omitting it here as irrelevant. 21FA 2 #€ dt — Thirty spokes converge on a hub + 38 butit’s the emptiness wm P oy 3 a at aT that makes a wheel work eZ, zB #{ pots are fashioned from clay g = fs # but it’s the hollow Fl ° 5 FL that makes a pot work _ = #% windows and doors ate carved for a house gem: > Mm but it’s the spaces z g 4 a = that make a house work A 2 Z pA existence makes something useful ° 2A but nonexistence makes it work HSUAN-TSUNG says, “Thirty spokes converging on a hub demonstrates that less is the ancestor of more.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Ancient carts had thirty spokes in imitation of the lunar number.” LI-JUNG says, “It’s because the hub is empty that spokes converge on it. Like- wise, it’s because the sage’s mind is empty that the people turn to him for help.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “A cart, a pot, and a house can hold things because they are empty. How much more the disciple who empties his mind.” WU CH’ENG says, “All of these things are useful. But without an empty place for an axle, a cart can’t move. Without a hollow place in the middle, a pot can’t hold things. Without spaces for doors and windows, a room can’t admit people or light. But these three examples are only metaphors. What keeps our body alive is the existence of breath in our stomach. And it is our empty, nonexistent mind that produces breath.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “In this verse the Great Sage teaches us to under- stand the source by using what we find at hand. Doors refer to a person’s mouth and nose. Windows refer to their ears and eyes.” CHANG TAO-LING says, “When ordinary people see these things, they only 22think about how they might employ them for their own advantage. When the sage sees them, he sees in them the Tao and is careful in their use.” TE-CH’ING says. “Heaven and Earth have form, and everyone knows that Heaven and Earth are useful. But they don’t know that their usefulness depends on the emptiness of the Great Way. Likewise, we all have form and think ourselves useful but remain unaware that our usefulness depends on our empty, shapeless mind. Thus existence may have its uses, but real usefulness depends on nonexistence. Nonexistence, though, doesn’t work by itself. It needs the help of existence.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “What is beyond form is the Tao, while what has form are tools. Without tools we have no means to apprehend the Tao. And without the Tao there is no place for tools.” HSUEH HUI says, “At the end of this verse, Lao-tzu mentions both existence and nonexistence, but his intent is to use existence to show that nonexistence is more valuable. Everyone knows existence is useful, but no one pays attention to the usefulness of nonexistence.” In line seven, the Mawangtui texts omit yi-wei-shih:for a house, but this phrase is needed to complete the line and is present in all other editions. Many people in Shensi and Honan provinces still carve their homes into the loess cliffs that dis- tinguish this region where Chinese civilization first developed and where this text was written. The compactness of the soil makes support beams unneces- sary, and its density keeps dwellings cool in the summer and warm in the win- ter. The only building materials needed are doors and windows. 23The five colors make our eyes blind the five tones make our ears deaf the five flavors make our mouths numb riding and hunting make our minds wild hard-to-get goods make us break laws thus the rule of the sage oS SAMS +m 2k NBR ae + REN > He puts the stomach ahead of the eyes thus he picks this over that Ste SA RA We RRS > RR SET RE et >a + mm > BRO HA The early Chinese ascribed five states of existence to the material world: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth—each with its own color: blue, red, black, white, and yellow; its own taste: salty, bitter, sour, pungent, and sweet; and its own tone: la, sol, mi, re, do. YEN TSUN says, “Color is like an aw] in the eye. Sound is like a stick in the ear. Flavor is like an axe through the tongue.” TE-CH’ING says, “When the eyes are given free rein in the realm of form, they no longer see what is real. When the ears are given free rein the realm of sound, they no longer hear what is real. When the tongue is given free rein in the realm of taste, it no longer discerns what is real. When the mind is given free rein in the realm of thought, it no longer knows what is real. When our actions are given free rein in the realm of possession and profit, we no longer do what is right. Like Chuang-tzu’s tapir (1.4), the sage drinks from the river, but only enough to fill his stomach. wu CH’ENG says, “Desiring external things harms our bodies. The sage nour- ishes his breath by filling his stomach, not by chasing material objects to please his eye. Hence he chooses internal reality over external illusion. But the eyes can’t help seeing, the ears can’t help hearing, the mouth can't help tasting, the mind can’t help feeling, and the body can’t help moving. They can't stay still. Butif we let them move without leaving stillness behind, nothing can harm us ‘Those who are buried by the dust of the senses or who crave sensory stimula- tion lose their way. And the main villain in this is the eyes. ‘Thus the first of Confucius’ four warnings concerns vision (Lunyu: 12.1: not to look except with propriety), and the first of the Buddha’s six sources of delusion is also the eyes.” 24LI YUEH says, “The eyes are never satisfied, the stomach knows when it is full.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The main purpose of cultivation is to oppose the world of the senses. What the world loves, the Taoist hates. What the world wants, the Taoist rejects. Even though color, sound, material goods, wealth, or beauty might benefit a person’s body, in the end they harm a person’s mind. And once the mind wants, the body suffers. If we can ignore external tempta- tions and be satisfied with the way we are, if we can cultivate our mind and not chase material things, this is the way of long life. All the treasures of the world are no match for this.” HSUAN-TSUNG says, “‘Hard-to-get goods’ refer to things which we don’t pos- sess by nature but which require an effort to obtain. When we are not content with our lot and allow ourselves to be ruled by conceit, we turn our backs on Heaven and lose the Way.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “‘That’ refers to the blindness and delusion of the eyes. ‘This’ refers to the fullness and wisdom of the stomach.” The Mawangtui texts present lines two through five in a different sequence: 4, 5, 3, 2. However, no other edition follows suit, hence I have retained the tra- ditional order. Until the early twentieth century, vast tracts of land in northern China were set aside for the exclusive use of the nobility and the military in conducting group hunts to practice their riding and archery. 25Favor and disgrace are like warnings honor and disaster are like the body and why are favor and disgrace like warnings favor means descending to gain it is like a warning to lose it is like a warning thus are favor and disgrace like warnings » ADHARS ale © ADH SEMEN > SH ERSS cal aE» {HESS RSE» ET and why are honor and disaster like the body the reason we have disaster is because we have a body if we didn’t have a body we wouldn’t have disaster who honors his body as much as the world can be entrusted with the world who loves his body as much as the world aa > Merb ao Mechta » ie Zab anh SoH» erat Fe PARE Sy o RAN AME ARUN ° Na o ae Nate RE ARES ST + Mette pe + Be Tat can be encharged with the world WANG CHEN says, “People who are favored are honored. And because they are honored, they act proud. And because they act proud, they are hated. And be- cause they are hated, they are disgraced. Hence the sage considers success as well as failure to be a warning.” SU CH’E says, “The ancient sages worried about favor as much as disgrace, be- cause they knew that favor is followed by disgrace. Other people think favor means to go up, and disgrace means to go down. But favor cannot be separated from disgrace. Disgrace comes from favor.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Those who gain favor or honor should worry about being too high, as if they were at the edge of a precipice. They should notflaunt their status or wealth. And those who lose favor and live in disgrace should worry about another disaster.” 26LU NUNG-SHIH says, “Why does favor become disgrace and honor become di- saster? Favor and honor are external things. They don’t belong to us. When we try to possess them, they turn into disgrace and disaster.” SSU-MA KUANG Says, “Normally a body means disaster. But if we honor and cherish it and follow the natural order in our dealings with others and don’t indulge our desires, we can avoid disaster.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “We all possess something good and noble that we don’t have to seek outside ourselves, something that the glory of power or position cannot compare with. People need only start with this and cultivate without letting up. The ancients said, “Two or three years of hardship, ten thou- sand years of bliss.’” WANG PANG says, “It isn’t a matter of having no body but of guarding the source of life. Someone who refuses to trade himself for something external is fit to receive the kingdom.” WANG PI says, “Those who are affected by favor or disgrace, honor or disaster are not fit to receive the kingdom.” TSENG-TZU says, “The superior man can be entrusted with an orphan or encharged with a state and be unmoved by a crisis” (Lunyu: 8.6). Commentators disagree about how to read line one: is “favor” a verb and “dis- grace” its noun object (“favor disgrace as a warning”) or are they both nouns? The same question is posed for “honor” and “disaster” in line two. Some edi- tions omit juo-ching:like warnings in line three and have two quite different lines for line four: “favor means up / disgrace means down.” My choice is based on the Fuyi and Mawangtui texts, as well as Wang Pi. The last four lines are also found in Chuangtzu: 11.2, where they are used to praise the ruler whose self- cultivation doesn’t leave him time to meddle in the lives of his subjects. They also appear in Huainantzu: 12, where they are used to praise the ruler who val- ues the lives of his people more than the territory in which they live. 27_ & o PR Git Se Pim e MEU USS o ALN DPSS © fae ND oto EE OO We look but don’t see it and call it indistinct we listen but don’t hear it and call it faint we reach but don’t grasp it and call it ethereal | kal Se aN three failed means to knowledge I weave into one with no light above with no shade below too fine to be named returning to nothing this is the formless form the immaterial image this is the waxing waning we meet without seeing its face we follow without seeing its back holding onto this very Way we rule this very realm and discover its ancient past Tike ST SY BS ° WES AS ° BN SEGRE ° SE ASE Sarin > SES AE BE BR eRaANS>RR: FAA: SA ae [I ° SE MT de > GaN Avge SRM de BANA MO > SON NSE this is the thread of the Way HO-SHANG KUNG entitles this verse “In Praise of the Dark” and says, “About what has no color, sound, or form, mouths can’t speak and books can’t teach. We can only discover it in stillness and search for it with our spirit. We can’t find it through investigation.” LU TUNG-PIN says, “We can only see it inside us, hear it inside us, and grasp it inside us. When our essence becomes one, we can see it. When our breath be- comes one, we can hear it. When our spirit becomes one, we can grasp it.” 28CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “What we don’t see is vital essence. What we don’t hear is spirit. What we don’t grasp is breath.” su cH’E says, “People see things constantly changing and conclude something is there. They don’t realize everything returns to nothing.” CH’EN KU-YING says, “Nothing doesn’t mean nothing at all but simply no form or substance.” WANG PI says, “If we try to claim it doesn’t exist, how do the myriad things come to be? And if we try to claim it exists, why don’t we see its form? Hence we call it the formless form. But although it has neither shape nor form, nei- ther sound nor echo, there is nothing it cannot penetrate and nowhere it can- not go.” LI YUEH says, “Everything is bright on top and dark on the bottom. But the Tao does not have a top or bottom. Hence it is neither bright nor dark. Likewise, we do not see its face because it never appears, and we do not see its back be- cause it never leaves.” ‘Ts’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “This very realm’ refers to our body.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “The past isn’t different from today, because we know what began in the past. And today isn't different from the past, because we know where today came from. What neither begins nor comes from anywhere else we call the thread that has no end. This is the thread of the Tao.” CHANG TAO-LING says, “The sages who achieved long life and immortality in the past all succeeded by means of this Tao. Who can follow their example today has found the thread of the Tao.” Inline eight, I have extended the thread motif by going along with Mawangtui ‘Text B in reading chun:weave instead of the usual hun:merge. I have also chosen the Mawangtui versions of lines fifteen and eighteen, which the standard edi- tion renders: “this is the indefinable” and “holding onto the ancient Tao.” 29—_ Ww o REN ABHRR SS Pm + BSR Ai to BES N fae ee + HES NESE ME oa SS Na a Be Baap BE + BSA REDS ° SE A heap gato RENAE SD Bis The ancient masters of the Way aimed at the indiscernible and penetrated the dark you would never know them and because you wouldn’t know them I describe them with reluctance they were careful as if crossing a river in winter cautious as if worried about neighbors Se Pea PE > T° BEN’ aE SESE BE] pO + BEL SH + Bat + SEER > the fae aed Not reserved like guests ephemeral like melting ice simple like uncarved wood open like valleys and murky like puddles but a puddle becomes clear when it’s still and stillness becomes alive when it’s roused those who treasure this Way don’t try to be full not trying to be full PEO FE Sp AB + BETS HAM Gp RE they can hide and stay hidden TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “Although the ancient masters lived in the world, no one thought they were special.” SU CH’E says, “Darkness is what penetrates everything but cannot itself be per- ceived. To be careful means to act only after taking precautions. To be cautious means to refrain from acting because of doubt or suspicion. Melting ice re- minds us how the myriad things arise from delusion and never stay still. Uncarved wood reminds us to put an end to human fabrication and return to our original nature. A valley reminds us how encompassing emptiness is. And a puddle reminds us that we are no different from anything else.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “Lao-tzu expresses reluctance at describing those who 30succeed in cultivating the Tao because he knows the inner truth cannot be per- ceived, only the outward form. The essence of the Tao consists in nothing other than taking care. If people took care to let each thought be detached and each action well-considered, where else would they find the Tao? Hence those who mastered the Tao in the past were so careful they waited until a river froze before crossing. They were so cautious, they waited until the wind died down before venturing forth at night. They were orderly and respectful, as if they ‘were guests arriving from a distant land. They were relaxed and detached, as if material forms didn’t matter. They were as uncomplicated as uncarved wood and as hard to fathom as murky water. They stilled themselves to concentrate their spirit and roused themselves to strengthen their breath. In short, they guarded the center.” WANG PI says, “All of these similes are meant to describe without actually denoting. By means of intuitive understanding the dark becomes bright. By means of tranquility, the murky becomes clear. By means of movement, the still becomes alive. ‘This is the natural Way.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Those who aren't full are able to maintain their con- cealment and avoid new attainments.” WANG CHEN says, “Those who can keep to the Way fit in without making a show and stay forever hidden. Hence they don’t leave any tracks.” In line two, I have used Mawangtui Text B in reading miao:aim for miao: myste- rious. Other variants of the last line include: “they can be old but not new” and “they can be old and again new.” My reading is based on the Fuyi edition and Mawangtui Text B as well as on the interpretation of Wang Pi and Ho-shang Kung, who read pi:hide instead of pi:old, thus recapitulating the opening lines. 31Let limits be empty the center be still ten thousand things rise we watch them return creatures without number all return to their roots return to their roots to be still to be still to revive to revive to endure o OR NAB Re + D> Gilet > fae Ot DH > DHOMH © HISD © Doty oe ae SPH ae oS SLSR SRO ROAR: Hw De BV ATSE DY > RBOREMISC uM + SPREE MEAT + TEI knowing how to endure is wisdom not knowing is to suffer in vain knowing how to endure is to be all-embracing all-embracing means impartial impartial means the king the king means Heaven Heaven means the Way and the Way means long life life without trouble SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Emptiness is the Way of Heaven. Stillness is the way of Earth. There is nothing that is not endowed with these, and everything rises by means of them.” LU HUI-CH’ING Says, “What is meant here by emptiness is not total emptiness but the absence of fullness. And what is meant by stillness is not complete still- ness but everything unconsciously returning to its roots.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “Heaven has its fulcrum, people have their ancestors, plants have their roots. And where are these roots? Where things begin but have not yet begun, namely, the Dark Gate. If you want to cultivate the Great Way, but you don’t know where this opening is, your efforts will be in vain.” 32SU CH’E says, “We all rise from our nature and return to our nature, just as flowers and leaves rise from their roots and return to their roots, or just as waves rise from water and return to water. If you don’t return to your nature, even if you still your actions and thoughts, you won't be still. Heaven and Earth, mountains and rivers might be great, but none of them endures. Only what returns to its nature becomes still and enduring, while what does not return to its nature is at the mercy of others and cannot escape.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “He who embraces all things and is impartial and selfless becomes a great example to others who thus turn to himas their ruler.” TE-CH'ING says, “To know what truly endures is to know that Heaven and Earth share the same root, that the ten thousand things share one body, and that there is no difference between self and others. Those who cultivate this within themselves become sages, while those who practice this in the world become rulers. Rulers become rulers by following the Way of Heaven. And Heaven becomes Heaven by following the Tao. And the Tao becomes the Tao by lasting forever.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “To know the unchanging course of the Way is to be free of passion and desire and to be all-embracing. To be all-embracing is to be free of self-interest. To be free of self-interest is to rule the world. To rule the world is to merge your virtue with that of Heaven. And to merge your virtue with that of Heaven is to be one with the Way. If you can do this, you will last as long as Heaven and Earth and live without trouble.” LI JUNG says, “The sage enjoys a life without limits.” My reading of line two is based on Cheng Liang-shu’s interpretation of Mawangtui Text B, which has tu:center in place of the usual tu:true. The last line also appears in verse 52. 33BH # tf 2 XA __ During the High Ages people knew they were there HA +: £ then people loved and praised them Hee kT z to K Sw then they feared them HH. & # A finally they despised them ® Hh #22 when honesty fails ee # # dishonesty prevails ge ° XK x _ hesitate and guard your words - ti 3 when their work succeeds Too e tet people think they did it The Chinese of Lao-tzu’s day believed their greatest age of peace and harmony occurred during the reigns of the ‘Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, or nearly five thousand years ago. These early rulers exercised power so unobtru- sively, the people hardly knew they were there, as we hear in a song handed down from that distant age: “Sunup we rise / sundown we rest / we dig wells to drink / we plough fields to eat / the emperor's might / what is it to us?” (Kushihyuan: 2). THE LIcHI says, “During the High Ages people esteemed virtue. Then they worked for rewards” (1). LU HSI-SHENG says, “The virtuous lords of ancient times initiated no actions and left no traces, hence the people knew they were there and that was all. When their virtue began to fade, they ruled with kindness and justice, and the people loved and praised them. When their kindness and justice no longer controlled people’s hearts, they governed with laws and punishments, and the people feared them. When their laws and punishments no longer controlled people’s minds, they acted with force and deceit, and the people despised them.” MENCIUS says, “When the ruler views his ministers as his hands and feet, they regard him as their heart and soul. When he views them as dirt and weeds, they regard him as an enemy and thief” (4B.3). SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The mistake of loving and praising, fearing and despising does not rest with the people but with those above. The reason the 34people turn to love and praise, fear and hate is because those above cannot be trusted. And when trust disappears, chaos appears.” HUANG YUAN-CHI says, “What we do to cultivate ourselves is what we do to govern the world. And among the arts we cultivate, the most subtle of all is honesty, which is the beginning and end of cultivation. When we embrace the truth, the world enjoys peace. When we turn our backs on the truth, the world suffers. From the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, this has never varied.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “When those above treat those below with dishonesty, those below respond with deceit.” WANG PI says, “Where there are words, there is a response. Thus the sage hesitates.” WU CH’ENG says, “The reason sages don’t speak or act is so that they can bestow their blessings in secret and so that people can live their lives in peace. And when their work succeeds and their lives go well, people think that is just the way it is supposed to be. They don’t realize it was made possible by those on high.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “As long as the people think they did it themselves, they have no reason to love or praise anyone.” In line one, some editions have pu-chih:did not know in place of hsia-chih:people knew. I have chosen the latter version, as have the Mawangtui and Fuyi texts. The Fuyi text divides line two into two lines: “then they loved them / then they praised them.” Despite the attractiveness of such a variation, placing ch’in:love in a separate line interrupts the rhyme. Also, some commentators combine this verse with the following two verses, citing a similarity in theme. However, the wide variation among their rhythms argues against this. 35When the Great Way disappears we meet kindness and justice when reason appears we meet great deceit when the six relations fail we meet obedience and love o FR katt dt © 2 OR Neath He HY att when the country is in chaos koe BR pb ah HY ° EE OE eM TT Bh 8 BR ie OF eo we meet honest officials Connecting this with the previous verse, weI YUAN says, “What people love and praise are kindness and justice, what people fear is reason, and what people despise is deceit.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “It isn’t the Great Way that leaves mankind and goes into hiding, but mankind that leaves the Great Way and replaces it with kindness and justice.” SU CH’E says, “When the Great Way flourishes, kindness and justice are at work, but people don’t realize it. Only after the Great Way disappears do kind- ness and justice become visible.” WANG AN-SHIH says, “The Way hides in formlessness. Names arise from dis- content. When the Way hides in formlessness, there isn’t any difference be- tween great or small. When names arise from discontent, we get distinctions like kindness, justice, reason, and so forth.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “When the kingdom enjoys peace, no one thinks about kindness, and the people are free of desire. When the Great Way prevails, kind- ness and justice vanish, just as the stars fade when the sun rises.” MENCIUS says, “Kindness means dwelling in peace. Justice means taking the right road” (44.10). TE-CH’ING says, “Reason is what the sage uses to order the kingdom. It in- cludes the arts, measurements, and laws. In the High Ages, people were inno- cent, and these were unknown. In the Middle Ages, people began to indulge 36their feelings, and rulers responded with reason. And once reason appeared, the people responded with deceit.” WANG PI says, “The six relations are father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife. When the six relations are harmonious, the country gov- erns itself, and there is no need for obedience, love, or honesty.” WANG P'ANG says, “During a virtuous age, obedience and love are considered normal, hence no one is called obedient or loving. Nowadays, when someone is obedient or loving, we praise them. This is because the six relations are no longer harmonious. Also, when peace prevails, everyone is honest. How can there be honest officials?” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “When the realm is at peace, loyalty and honesty are nowhere to be seen. Innocence and virtue appear when the realm is in chaos.” LI JUNG says, “During the time of the sage emperors Fu Hsi and Shen Nung, there was no mention of officials. It was only during the time of the despots Chieh and Chou that we begin to hear of ministers like Kuan Lung-feng and Pi Kan.” WU CH’ENG says, “Shao Juo-yu assigns these four divisions to emperors, kings, the wise, and the talented.” Both Mawangtui texts begin this verse with the word ku:thus, implying a con- nection with the previous verse. I think it does better on its own, hence I have followed the Fuyi and standard editions, which have no such connective. Com- mentators often quote Chuangtzu here: “When springs dry up, fish find them- selves in puddles, spraying water on each other to keep each other alive. Better to be ina river or lake and oblivious of each other” (6.5). 3719, Bok R #@ ~~ Getrid of wisdom and reason °° = & B and people will live a hundred times better Rese e et rid of kindness and justice Fy Rew F } tas: and people once more will love and obey th x 2 K get rid of cleverness and profit y ® and thieves will cease to exist zg B : . al F but these three sayings are not enough my hence let this be added R ‘ we 1B B > x wear the undyed and hold the uncarved % HH 4 H reduce self-interest and limit desires Bt es get rid of learning and problems will vanish HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Get rid of the works of wisdom and reason and re- turn to the primeval. The symbols and letters created by the Five Emperors were not as effective in ruling the kingdom as the simple knots used earlier by the Three Sovereigns.” TE-CH'ING says, “This is what Chuang-tzu meant when he said ‘Tigers and wolves are kind.’ Tigers and wolves possess innate love and obedience that don’t require instruction. How much more should mankind, the most intelli- gent of creatures, possess these.” WANG CHEN says, “Put an end to wisdom that leaves tracks and reason that de- ceives, and people will benefit greatly. Put an end to arrogant kindness and treacherous justice, and relatives will unite on their own and will once more love and obey. Put an end to excessive cleverness and personal profit, and armies will no longer appear. And when armies no longer appear, thieves will not exist.” HSUAN-TSUNG says, “These three only help us get rid of things. They don’t ex- plain cultivation. Hence they are incomplete.” WANG PI says, “Wisdom and reason are the pinnacles of ability. Kindness and justice are the pinnacles of behavior. Cleverness and profit are the pinnacles of practice. To tell us simply to get rid of them would be inappropriate. Without 38giving us something else, it wouldn’t make sense. Hence we are given the undyed and the uncarved to focus our attention on.” CHIAO HUNG says, “The ways of the world become daily more artificial. Hence we have names like wisdom and reason, kindness and justice, clever- ness and profit. Those who understand the Tao see how artificial they are and how inappropriate they are to rule the world. They aren’t as good as getting people to focus their attention on the undyed and the uncarved. By wearing the undyed and holding the uncarved, our self-interest and desires wane. The undyed and the uncarved refer to our original nature.” LIU CHING says, “Undyed means unmixed with anything else and thus free of wisdom and reason. Uncarved means complete in itself and thus free of kindness and justice. Self-interest concerns oneself. Desire concerns others. As they diminish, so do cleverness and profit.” sU CH’E says, “Confucius relied on kindness and justice, ritual and music to order the kingdom. Lao-tzu’s only concern was to open people’s minds, which he accomplished through the use of metaphor. Some people, though, have used his metaphors to create disorder, while no great problems have been caused by the followers of Confucius.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “When we give up the study of phenomena and understand the principle of non-interference, troubles come to an end and distress disappears.” LI HSI-CHAI says, “What passes for learning in the world never ends. For every truth found, two are lost. And while what we find brings joy, losses bring sorrow—sorrow that never ends.” I have followed Kao Heng in moving the line that normally begins the next verse to the end of this verse, where it makes better sense as well as better poetry. 39°F SHEL ¢ DAME RES > Se Sh RNS - ator > + SERA DHS > BADE DS: » pa RR «ROD > aR - > > Daa > EM 7 NBD > le RES ° abt 0 BEA ACHESD IE + AE SLY ° PSR > © HTD © GRDED ° TREN ER « Bb UE 3a + SESW SD Se + ENTREE © SESH DEAE + BM ERIEEH © REE ROME Yes and no aren’t so far apart lovely and ugly aren’t so unalike what others fear we too must fear before the moon wanes everyone is gay as if they were at the Great Sacrifice or climbing a tower in spring I sit here and make no sign like a child that doesn’t smile lost with no one to turn to while others enjoy more Ialone seem forgotten my mind is so foolish so simple others look bright Talone seem dim others are certain I alone am confused receding like the ocean waxing without cease everyone has a goal Talone am dumb and backward for I alone choose to differ preferring still my mother’s breastCH’ENG HSUAN-YING Says, Wei:yes indicates agreement and k’o:no disdain. SUNG CH'ANG-HSING says, “Even though “yes” and “no” come from the same source, namely the mouth, “yes” is the root of loveliness, and “no” is the root of ugliness. Before they appear there is nothing lovely or ugly and nothing to fear, But once they appear, if we don’t fear them, disaster and harm are un- avoidable.” LI HSI-CHAI says, “What others love, the sage also loves. What others fear, the sage also fears. But where the sage differs is where others don’t see anything outside their own minds. The mind of the sage, meanwhile, wanders in the Tao.” WANG P’ANG says, “Everything changes into its opposite. Beginning follows end without cease. But people think everything is either lovely or ugly. How absurd. Only the sage knows that the ten thousand ages are the same, that nothing is gained or lost.” SU CH’E says, “People all drown in what they love: the beauty of the Great Sac- rifice, the happiness of climbing to a scenic viewpoint in spring. Only the sage sees into their illusory nature and remains unmoved. People chase things and forget about the Tao, while the sage clings to the Tao and ignores everything else, just as an infant nurses only at its mother’s breast.” TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “People all seek external things, while the sage alone nourishes himself on internal breath. Breath is the mother, and spirit is the child. The harmony of mother and child is the key to nourishing life.” In ancient China, emperors marked the return of swallows to the capital in spring with the Great Sacrifice to the Supreme Intermediary, while people of all ranks climbed towers and hills to view the countryside in bloom and to cele- brate the first full moon. In line seven, I have followed Mawangtui Text B in reading wang:full moon instead of the usual huang:boundless. I have used the same variant in line twenty-three. 4121 The expression of empty virtue comes from the Tao alone the Tao as a thing waxes and wanes it waxes and wanes but inside is an image it wanes and waxes but inside is a creature it’s distant and dark but inside is an essence an essence fundamentally real and inside is a heart ° RES + AEN DOES ATH ORNS o MEN AOE © GLU + SRAM ORME + oak AE + DDR + DEM» DDL - pasaha - gp throughout the ages its name has never changed so we might follow our fathers how do we know what our fathers were like SPIRE + SERRE HE > SEEN fae o REM MERE ° PEN at through this WANG PI says, “Only when we take emptiness as our virtue can our actions accord with the Tao.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Sages have it. So does everyone else. But because others are selfish and constrained, their virtue isn’t empty.” HUANG YUAN-CHI Says, “Emptiness and the Tao are indivisible. Those who seek the Tao cannot find it except through emptiness. But formless emptiness is of no use to those who cultivate the Tao.” YEN LING-FENG says, “Virtue is the manifestation of the Way. The Way is what Virtue contains. Without the Way, Virtue would have no power. Without Vir- tue, the Way would have no appearance.” SU CH’E says, “The Tao has no form. Only when it changes into Virtue does it have an expression. Hence Virtue is the Tao’s visual aspect. The Tao neither 42exists nor does not exist. Hence we say it waxes and wanes, while it remains in the dark unseen.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “The true Tao exists and yet does not exist. It does not exist and yet does not not exist. Lao-tzu says it waxes and wanes to stress that the Tao is not separate from things and things are not separate from the Tao. Outside of the Tao there are no things. And outside of things there is no Tao.” WU CH’ENG says, “‘Inside’ refers to Virtue. ‘Image’ refers to the breath of some- thing before it is born. ‘Creature’ refers to the form of something after it is born. ‘Distant and dark’ refers to the utter invisibility of the Tao.” CHANG TAO-LING says, “Essence is like water: the body is its embankment, and Virtue is its source. If the heart is not virtuous, or if there is no embankment, water disappears. The immortals of the past treasured their essence and lived, while people today lose their essence and die.” WANG P’ANG says, “Essence is where life and the body come from. Lao-tzu calls it ‘fundamentally real’ because once things become subject to human fab- rication, they lose their reality.” LIU CHING says, “Everything changes, and names are no exception. What was true in the past is false today. Only the Tao is constant.” The Mawangtui texts have introduced a number of new variants into this verse. Those which I have incorporated include wang:full moon for huang: indistinct in lines four, five, and seven; shun:follow for yuch:view and fu:father for fu:beginning in line fifteen. The standard version of fifteen and sixteen reads: “so we might view all beginnings / and how do we know what all beginnings are like.” Also, in line twelve, I have read hsin:lamp wick (and hence the heart of something) in place of the word’s usual meaning as “talisman” (and hence something trustworthy). 43Partial means whole crooked means straight hollow means full worn-out means new less means content more means confused thus the sage holds onto the one to use in guiding the world not watching himself he appears not displaying himself he flourishes not flattering himself he succeeds not parading himself he leads because he doesn’t compete no one can compete against him the ancients who said partial means whole o NSRHD RE ¢ SESNME ° Shh) RU ERSESRN-Of o BN REE YORRE o A RE o RSE Yo GAP RESON + HSE came close indeed ba MY © SESEREMEN + SEINE + | SED HEED + a Be ES BOE. BUEN + HEAT: becoming whole depends on this CHUANG-TzU says, “Lao-tzu said everyone else seeks happiness. He alone saw that partial means whole” (33.5). WU CH’ENG says, “By exploring one side to its limits, we eventually find all sides. By grasping one thing, we eventually encompass the whole. The caterpillar bends in order to straighten itself. A hollow in the ground fills with water. The renewal of spring depends on the withering of fall. By having less, it’s easy to have more. By having more, it’s easy to become confused.” WANG PI says, “As with a tree, the more of it there is, the farther it is from its roots. The less of it there is, the closer it is to its roots. More means more dis- tant from what is real. Less means closer.” WEI YUAN says, “One is the extreme of less. But whoever uses this as the mea- sure for the world always finds more.” 44LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Only those who find the one can act like this. Thus ‘less means content.’ The reason most people cannot act like this is because they have not found the one. Thus ‘more means confused.” LI HSI-CHAI says, “The reason the sage is able to be chief of all creatures is be- cause he holds onto the one. Holding onto the one, he never leaves the Tao. Hence he doesn’t watch himself but relies instead on the vision of others. He doesn’t talk about his own strengths but relies instead on the strengths of oth- ers. He stands apart and doesn’t compete. Hence no one can compete against him.” HSUAN-TSUNG says, “Not watching himself, he becomes whole. Not displaying himself, he becomes straight. Not flattering himself, he becomes full. Not pa. rading himself, he becomes new.” ‘Tzu-ssu says, “Only those who are perfectly honest can fulfill their nature and help others fulfill their nature. Next are those who are partial” (Chung- yung: 22-23) . MENCtUs says, “We praise those who don’t calculate. We reproach those who try to be whole” (44.21). HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Those who are able to practice being partial keep their physical body whole. Those who depend on their mother and father suffer no harm.” For the wording of lines eight through thirteen as well as line sixteen, I have followed the Mawangtui texts. Lines nine through twelve appear in slightly different form in verse 24. In the last line, my use of ch’eng:become in place of the usual ch’eng:honest is based on Tunhuang texts s.6453 and p.2584, the Suichou and Chinglung editions, and on Chu Ch’ien-chih’s observation that ch’eng: honest appears nowhere else in the Taoteching, while ch’eng:become occurs sev- enteen times. The interpolation of “honest” was apparently influenced by the passage from Tzu-ssu’s Chungyung quoted above. 454 4 % % Whispered words are natural a fl dk E a gale doesn’t last all morning IF : F # — asquall doesn’t last all day cg + th os who else could make these oa 2 a % only Heaven and Earth fl fl fe t if Heaven and Earth can’t make things last Rw A & what about Man Aa, 4% He thus in whatever we do a. ° wR let those on the Way be one with the Wa a SA hi y m IF A 3% FA let those who succeed be one with success & x § let those who fail be one with failure x K HE - be one with success a Ea = for the Way succeeds too i it be one with failure & @- for the Way fails too WU CH’ENG says, ““Whispered’ means not heard. ‘Whispered words’ means no words. Those who reach the Tao forget about words and follow whatever is natural.” WANG CHEN says, “Whispered words require less effort. Hence they conform to the natural Way.” LU NUNG-SHIH says, “Something is natural when nothing can make it so, and nothing can make it not so.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “If the greatest forces wrought by Heaven and Barth cannot last, how can the works of Man?” SU CH’E says, “The sage’s words are faint, and his deeds are plain. But they are always natural. Hence he can last and not be exhausted.” TE-CH’ING says, “This verse explains how the sage forgets about words, embod- ies the Tao, and changes with the seasons. Elsewhere, Lao-tzu says, ‘talking only wastes it / better to keep it inside’ (5). Those who love to argue get farther 46from the Way. They aren't natural. Only those whose words are whispered are natural. Lao-tzu uses wind and rain storms as metaphors for the outbursts of those who love to argue. They can’t maintain such a disturbance and dissipation of breath very long. Because they don't really believe in the Tao, their actions don’t accord with the Tao. They haven't learned the secret of how to be one.” CHIAO HUNG says, “Those who pursue the Way are natural. Natural means free from success and hence free from failure. Such people don’t succeed and don’t fail but simply go along with the successes and failures of the age. Or if they do succeed or fail, their minds are not affected.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Those who pursue the Way are able to leave their selves behind. No self is the Way. Success. Failure. I don’t see how they differ.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Those who are one with success enjoy succeeding. Those who are one with failure enjoy failing. Water is wet, and fire burns. This is their nature.” Many commentators have noted that the latter half of the standard version of this verse is marked by an awkward use of rhythm and rhyme, and most have found it confusing. I have used the simpler and smoother Mawangtui ver- sion. However, in lines ten, twelve, and thirteen, I have chosen the Fuyi text, which has te:succeed in place of the usual te:virtue. Both characters were inter- changeable when this text was composed, and “virtue” is clearly out of place here. The standard and Fuyi versions add this couplet to the end of the verse: “where honesty fails / dishonesty prevails.” These lines also appear in verse 17. However, they are not present in either of the Mawangtui texts, nor do they follow from the rest of this verse, in rhyme or in meaning. Hence I have not included them. 47Who tiptoes doesn’t stand who strides doesn’t walk ° Weak BERS «AUREL + Shatopae who watches himself doesn’t appear who displays himself doesn’t flourish who flatters himself achieves nothing who parades himself doesn’t lead NAAR © ae on the road they say too much food and a tiring pace some things are simply bad oT Ree ° Am Nak or oY Bode Oe SEAM > HY at SHINE thus the Taoist shuns them TE CH'ING says, “People raise themselves up on their tiptoes to see over the heads of others, but they cannot stand like this for long. People take longer strides to stay in front of others, but they cannot walk like this very far. Neither of these are natural.” Wu CH’ENG says, “To tiptoe is to lift the heels in order to increase one’s height. To stride is to extend the feet in order to increase one’s pace. A person can do this for a while but not for long. Likewise, those who watch themselves don’t appear for long. Those who display themselves don't flourish for long. Those who flatter themselves don’t succeed for long. And those who parade them- selves don’t lead for long.” SU CH’E says, “Anyone can stand or walk. But if someone is not content with standing and tiptoes to extend his height or is not content with walking and strides to increase his speed, his stance and his pace are sure to suffer. It’s the same with someone who watches himself, or displays himself, or flatters him- self, or parades himself. It’s like eating or drinking. As soon as you're full, stop. Overeating will make you ill. It’s like manual work. As soon as you're done, stop. Overwork will only exhaust you.” SUNG CH'ANG-HSING says, “Selfless and free of desire is the mind of the sage. Conniving and clever is the mind of the common man. Watching himself, dis- playing himself, flattering himself, parading himself, he thus hastens his end, like someone who eats too much.” 48LI HSI-CHAI says, “Those who cultivate the Tao yet still think about themselves are like people who overeat or overwork. Food should satisfy the hunger. Work should suit the task. Those who keep to the Way do only what is natural.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “Why should Taoists avoid things? Doesn’t the Tao dwell in what others avoid? (Taoteching: 8). The Taoist doesn’t avoid what others hate, namely humility and weakness. He only avoids what others fight over, namely flattery and ostentation. Hence he avoids some things and not others. But he never fights.” CHANG TAO-LING says, “Who follows the Way lives long. Who loses the Way dies early. This is the unbiased law of Heaven. It doesn’t depend on offerings or prayers.” Line two does not appear in either Mawangtui text. The previous verse also makes do with a single-line introduction. But here the second line is needed to. establish the rhyme. In line two, k’ua:stride can also mean “straddle.” Ts’ao ‘TAO-CH’UNG says, “He who straddles two sides is unsure of the Way.” Lines three through six also appear in slightly different form in verse 22, and some commentators have read 22-24 as one verse. For the wording and order of lines three through six, I have followed the Mawangtui texts, which reverse the usual order of lines three and four and which have shih:watch in place of the standard shih:approve in line three. A number of commentators think line eight is cor- rupt and suggest instead: “leftover food and a cyst-covered body.” Although sufficiently repulsive, this is not the sort of warning we would expect of sea- soned travelers of the Way. The last two lines also appear in verse 31. 49N wi o ESET lat» MERCH ° HOKE © GERE> © BH | THIEN © SEIS} + DE SHH © DEE © DOH + he > BOT Geo BIT Bk > BENT DE © DET Be > NDR OM © EIT Ne © BRR No © Ail SHOES] ¢ HN SAV + SAI BH + Sp UCD Be FRED ° EER at Imagine a nebulous thing here before Heaven and Earth silent and elusive it stands alone not wavering it travels everywhere unharmed it could be the mother of us all not knowing its name I call it the Tao forced to name it I name it Great great means evet-flowing ever-flowing means far-reaching far-reaching means returning the Tao is great Heaven is great Earth is great the king is also great the realm contains four greats of these the king is one Man imitates Earth Earth imitates Heaven Heaven imitates the Tao the Tao imitates itself wu cH’ENG says, “‘Nebulous’ means complete and indivisible.” SU CH’E says, “The Tao is not pure or muddy, high or low, past or future, good or bad. Its body is a nebulous whole. In Man it becomes his nature. 50It doesn’t know it exists, and yet it endures forever. Heaven and Earth are created within it.” LI HSI-CHAI says, “It stands alone but does not stand alone. It goes everywhere but does not go anywhere. It’s the mother of the world, but it is not the mother of the world.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The Tao does not have a name of its own. We force names on it. But we cannot find anything real in them. We would do bet- ter returning to the root from which we all began.” Standing beside a stream, conructus sighed, “To be ever-flowing like this, not stopping day or night” (Lunyu: 9.16). Ts’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “Although we say it’s far-reaching, it never gets far from itself. Hence we say it’s returning.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “The Tao is great because there is nothing it does not encompass. Heaven is great because there is nothing it does not cover. Earth is great because there is nothing it does not support. The king is great because there is nothing he does not control. Man should imitate Earth and be peace- ful and pliant, plant it and harvest its grains, dig it and find its springs, work without exhaustion and succeed without fuss. As for Earth imitating Heaven, Heaven is still and immutable. It gives without seeking a reward. It nourishes all creatures and takes nothing for itself. As for Heaven imitating the Tao, the Tao is silent and does not speak. It directs breath and essence unseen, and thus all things come to be. As for the Tao imitating itself, the nature of the Tao is to be itself. It does not imitate anything else.” WANG PI says, “If Man does not turn his back on Earth, he brings peace to all. Hence he imitates Earth. If Earth does not turn its back on Heaven, it supports all. Hence it imitates Heaven. If Heaven does not turn its back on the Tao, it covers all. Hence it imitates the Tao. And if the Tao does not turn its back on itself, it realizes its nature. Hence it imitates itself.” Line five does not appear in either Mawangtui text. Its meaning, rhythm, and rhyme, however, all fit. Hence I have retained it. 5126 Heavy is the root of light BEH still is the master of busy ° wt i AY HS ° teh OREN ° Sim thus a lord might travel all day but never far from his supplies o ME ZELNE > Dr REE + RE Me cad « even in a guarded camp his manner is calm and aloof why would the lord of ten thousand chariots treat himself lighter than his kingdom too light he loses his base NA REDS ° 3S At ee TSS Fimo MSR » 52k Ft Ae leh too busy he loses command HAN FEI says, “‘Heavy’ means controlling oneself. ‘Still’ means not leaving one’s place. Those who are heavy control those who are light. Those who are still direct those who are busy.” WANG PI says, “Something light cannot support something heavy. Something small cannot hold down something large.” CoNFuctus says, “A gentleman who has no weight is not held in awe, and his learning is not secure” (Lunyu: 1.8). CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “Roots are heavy, while flowers and leaves are light. The light wither, while the heavy survive. ‘Still’ means tranquil, and ‘busy’ means excited. Excitement is subject to birth and death. Tranquility endures. Hence the still rule the busy.” TE-CH’ING says, ““Heavy’ refers to the body, ‘light’ refers to what is external to the body: success and fame, wealth and honor. ‘Still’ refers to our nature, ‘busy’ refers to our emotions. People forget their body and chase external things They forget their nature and follow their emotions. The sage isn’t like this. Even though he travels all day, he doesn’t leave what sustains him.” KUAN-TZU says, “He who moves loses his place. He who stays still remains content” (quoted by Chiao Hung). wu CH’ENG says, “Whena lord travels for pleasure, he rides in a passenger cart. 52When a lord travels to war, he rides in a military cart. Both of these are light carts. And behind these come the heavier supply carts. Even though a lord might travel fifty kilometers a day in a passenger cart or thirty kilometers a day ina military cart, he does not hurry so far ahead that he loses sight of the sup- ply carts behind him.” TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, ‘Supplies’ mean the precious commodities with which we maintain ourselves and without which we cannot exist for a second.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “A lord who is not heavy is not respected. A plant’s leaves and flowers are light, hence they are blown about by the wind. Its roots are heavy, hence it lives long. A lord who is notstill loses his power. A dragon is still, hence it is able to constantly transform itself. A tiger is busy, hence it dies young. HSUAN-TSUNG says, “Traditionally, the Son of Heaven’s fief included one mil- lion neighborhoods with a tax revenue of 640,000 ounces of silver, one million cavalry horses and ten thousand war chariots. Hence he was called ‘lord of ten thousand chariots.’” su cH’ says, “If the ruleris light, his ministers know he cannot be relied upon. If the ministers are busy, the ruler knows their minds are bent on profit.” A number of commentators have wondered if the standard jung-kuaniglorious scenes in line five might not be a mistake for ying-kuan:military camp. The Mawangtui texts have borne them out, though with huan-kuan:guarded camp. Line eight, which the Mawangtui texts clarify by adding yu:than, recalls the last four lines of verse 13. In line nine, I have gone along with the Mawangtui and Fuyi texts as well as with several early commentaries and editions in reading pen:base in place of ch’en:minister. 53ar Good walking leaves no tracks good talking reveals no flaws good counting counts no beads good closing locks no locks and yet it can’t be opened good tying ties no knots and yet it can’t be undone thus the sage is good at saving and yet abandons no one nor anything of use ° SS ° RW eo BOR © EDR 9 REN RN © BEA Se deg SEAEEEAR + SEMORSE «> UREH - > Sb this is called cloaking the light thus the good instruct the bad the bad learn from the good not honoring their teachers not cherishing their students the wise alone are perfectly blind o REL EH + SEA Ae RE abe + GES] Sl > at Ui © ARR SZ ae SEH «BE SA bh: «SERRA he Toh this is called peering into the distance LU TUNG-PIN says, “‘Good’ refers to our original nature before our parents were born. Before anything develops within us, we possess this goodness. Good means natural.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Someone who is good at walking finds the Way in himself, not somewhere outside. When he talks, he chooses his words. When he counts, he doesn’t go beyond one. When he closes, he closes himself to de- sire and protects his spirit. When he ties, he ties his mind.” TE-CH’ING says, “The sage moves through the world with an empty self and accepts the way things are. Hence he leaves no tracks. He does not insist that his own ideas are right and accepts the words of others. Hence he reveals no flaws. He does not care about life and death, much less profit and loss. Hence 54he counts no beads. He does not set traps, and yet nothing escapes him. Hence he uses no locks. He is not kind, and yet everyone flocks to him. Hence he ties no knots.” WANG PI says, “These five tell us not to act but to govern things by relying on their nature rather than their form.” WU CH’ENG says, “The sage’s salvation does not involve salvation. For if some- one is saved, someone is abandoned. Hence the sage does not save anyone at all. And because he does not save anyone, he does not abandon anyone. ‘To ‘cloak’ means to use an outer garment to cover an inner garment. If the work of salvation becomes apparent and people see it, it cannot be called good. Only when it is hidden is it good.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “The good always cloak their light.” HSUAN-TSUNG says, “The good are like water. Free of impurity and without effort on their part, they show people their true likeness. Thus they instruct the bad. But unless the student can forget his teacher, his vision will be obscured.” SU CH’E says, “The sage does not care about teaching, hence he does not love his students. And the world does not care about learning, hence people do not honor their teachers. The sage not only forgets the world, he makes the world forget him.” ‘To bring out the special salvation of the sage, as explained above by Wu Ch’eng, Ihave used the Mawangtui connective erh:and yet in place of ku:thusin line nine. I have also used the Mawangtui version of line ten, which replaces two lines in the standard edition: “and he is good at saving things / thus he abandons nothing.” For the last two characters of the last line, I have followed the word order of the Fuyi and standard editions, although I have chosen the Mawangtui miao:peer in place of the standard miao:mystery and have read the standard yao:essential as shorthand for yao:distant. 5SNd oO o MORSE Oh Dt + muh EN BH > H ° SERED ° BYE PEMERE + BSR ° BENGRRA + DEH E + BEADS ° HRDHEE + Ee “2% Fee We SEER + ENR ° PENA © NIH AE oN ae > SET ° BR fey © OF PAM aK » Sa} ADH ak © By FER M+ PIOUR RA + AOS! a RA ° Recognize the male but hold onto the female and be the world’s maid being the world’s maid don’t lose your ancient virtue not losing your ancient virtue be a newborn child again recognize the pure but hold onto the defiled and be the world’s valley being the world’s valley be filled with ancient virtue being filled with ancient virtue be uncarved wood again recognize the white but hold onto the black and be the world’s guide being the world’s guide don’t stray ftom ancient virtue not straying from ancient virtue be without limits again uncarved wood can be split to make tools the sage makes it his chief official a master tailor doesn’t cut ‘TE-CH'ING says, “To recognize the Way is hard. Once you recognize it, to hold onto it is even harder. But only by holding onto it can you advance on the Way.” MENCIUS says, “The great man does not lose his child-heart” (48.12). 56WANG TAO says, “The sage recognizes ‘that’ but holds onto ‘this.’ ‘Male’ and ‘female’ refer to hard and soft. ‘Pure’ and ‘defiled’ refer to noble and humble. ‘White’ and ‘black’ refer to light and dark. Although hard, noble, and light cer- tainly have their uses, hard does not come from hard but from soft. Noble does not come from noble but from humble. And light does not come from light but from dark. Hard, noble, and light are the secondary forms and farther from the Tao. Soft, humble, and dark are the primary forms and closer to the Tao. Hence the sage returns to the original: uncarved wood. Uncarved wood can be made into tools, but tools cannot be made into uncarved wood. The sage is like uncarved wood, not a tool. He is the chief official, not a functionary.” CHENG HSUAN-YING says, “What has no limits is the Tao.” CONFUCIUS says, “A great man is not a tool” (Lunyu: 2.12). CHANG TAO-LING says, “To make tools is to lose sight of the Way.” SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “Before uncarved wood is split, it can take any shape. Once it is split, it cannot be round if it is square. It cannot be straight if it is curved. Lao-tzu tells us to avoid being split. Once we are split, we can never return to our original state.” PAO-TING says, “When I began butchering, I used my eyes. Now I use my spirit instead and follow the natural lines” (Chuangtzu: 3.2). WANG P’ANG says, “Those who use the Tao to tailor leave no seams.” In lines three and four, I have followed Tunhuang copies ».2584 and s.6453 in reading hsi:maid for the standard hsi:stream as more in keeping with the images of the preceding lines. In lines eight through twenty-one, I have followed the Mawangtui texts, which fail to support the suspicions of some commentators that these lines were interpolated. Reverence for the spirit of wood is shared by many of the ethnic groups along China's borders, During Lao-tzu’s day, the southern part of his home state of Ch’u was populated by the Miao, who trace their ancestry to a butterfly and the butterfly to the heart of a maple tree. 57~ i Trying to govern the world with force Isee this not succeeding the world is a spiritual thing it can’t be forced to force it is to harm it to control it is to lose it sometimes things lead 0 BED MB Dr © ree bt WE SS eo WES ° GEE oD Ee AS: + BREE > sometimes they follow sometimes blow hot sometimes blow cold sometimes expand sometimes collapse therefore the sage avoids extremes avoids extravagance SbSet > Nordea > NERF ° Ge dk ae ale ° BE ERED DF > CURR Rem © Naki DH REE avoids excess SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “We can’t control something as insignificant as a mustard seed. How can we control something as big as the world?” TE-CH’ING says, “Those who would govern the world should trust what is natural. The world cannot be controlled consciously. It is too big a thing. The world can only be governed by the spirit, not by human strength or knowledge.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Spiritual things respond to stillness. They cannot be controlled with force.” LU HUI-CH’ING says, “The world as a thing is a spiritual thing. Only the spiri- tual Tao can control a spiritual thing. Spiritual things don’t think or act. Trying to control them with force is not the Tao.” WANG CHEN says, “‘Force’ refers to the mobilization and deployment of troops. But the world’s spirit cannot be controlled with weapons.” 58LI HSI-CHAI says, “The sage considers his body transitory and the world its temporary lodging. How can he rule what is not his and lose the true and last- ing Way?” SU CH’E says, “The interchange of yin and yang, of high and low, of great and small is the way things are and cannot be avoided. Fools are selfish. They insist on having their own way and meet with disaster. The sage knows he cannot oppose things. He agrees with whatever he meets. He eliminates extremes and thereby keeps the world from harm.” WU CHENG says, “How does someone who gains control of the world keep the world from harm? The sage understands that things necessarily move between opposites but that there is a way to adjust this movement. Things that prosper too much must wither and die. By keeping things from prospering too much, he keeps them from withering and dying.” WANG PI says, “The sage penetrates the nature and condition of others, Hence he responds to them without force and follows them without effort. He elimi- nates whatever misleads or confuses them. Hence their minds become clear, and each realizes his own nature.” WANG AN-SHIH says, “Resting where you are eliminates extremes. Treasuring simplicity eliminates extravagance. Being content with less eliminates excess.” LU NUNG-SHIH says, “The sage gets rid of extremes with kindness. He gets rid of extravagance with simplicity. He gets rid of excess with humility. By means of these three, the sage governs the world.” HSUEH HUI says, “What Lao-tzu means by ‘extremes,’ ‘extravagance,’ and ‘ex- cess’ is not what people mean nowadays. The Sage means whatever involves an increase in effort beyond what is easy.” For the wording of lines nine and ten, I have followed Ho-shang Kung. Be- tween lines ten and eleven, most editions add a fourth pair of opposites: ch’iang-lei:strengthen-weaken. I have followed Mawangtui Text B, which has only three pairs. Given the three negations at the end of this verse, three pairs to be negated seems more appropriate. 59Qe jo) ° (4a GEA + BEAN SE» QUES » NS EERE CUE NAHE ELS Bae > RY Se Use the Tao to help your king don’t use weapons to rule the land such things soon return where armies camp brambles grow best to win then stop don’t make use of force win but don’t be proud win but don’t be vain win but don’t be cruel win when you have no choice this is to win without force virility means old age this isn’t the Tao o SHER SE SSH + He CLE aaeahe © AV HESEER ° BTS NB + GARDE © SPHERE © HE RES what isn’t the Tao ends early SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “A kingdom’s ruler is like a person’s heart: when the ruler acts properly, the kingdom is peaceful. When the heart works prop- erly, the body is healthy. What enables them to work and act properly is the Tao. Hence use nothing but the Tao to help a ruler.” U1 HSI-CHAI, quoting Mencius: 78.7, says, “If you kill someone's father, some- one will kill your father. If you kill someone’s brother, someone will kill your brother.’ This is how things return.” CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “The external use of soldiers and arms returns in the form of vengeful enemies. The internal use of poisonous thoughts returns in the form of evil rebirths.” WANG AN-SHIH Says, “Man’s retribution is clear, while Heaven’s retribution is obscure. Where an army spends the night, brambles soon appear. In an army's wake, bad years follow. This is the retribution of Heaven.” Paraphrasing Suntzu: 2.1, WANG CHEN says, “To raise an army of a hundred thousand requires the daily expenditure of a thousand ounces of gold. And an 60army of a hundred thousand means a million refugees on the road. Also, noth- ing results in greater droughts, plagues, or famines than the scourge of war- fare. A good general wins only when he has no choice, then stops. He dares not take anything by force.” MENCIUS says, “Those who say they are great tacticians or great warriors are, in fact, great criminals” (7B.2-3). LU HUI-CH’ING says, “To win means to defeat one’s enemies. To win without being arrogant about one’s power, to win without being boastful about one’s ability, to win without being cruel about one’s achievement, this sort of victory only comes from being forced and not from the exercise of force.” SU CH’E says, “Those who possess the Tao prosper and yet seem poor, become full and yet seem empty. What is not virile does not become old and does not die. The virile die. This is the way things are. Using an army to control the world represents the height of strength. But it only hastens old age and death.” HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Once a plant reaches its height of development, it withers. Once a person reaches their peak, they grow old. Force does not pre- vail for long. It isn’t the Tao. What is withered and old cannot follow the Tao. And what cannot follow the Tao soon dies.” WU CH’ENG Says, “Those who possess the Way are like children. They age without growing old.” LAo-12U says, “Tyrants never choose their end” (42). Ihave gone along with the Mawangtui texts in omitting lines six and seven of the standard edition: “in an army’s wake / bad years follow.” I have also fol- lowed the Mawangtui sequence of lines eight through ten. The last three lines also appear in verse 55. 61QB _ + NRRREADSS Blo SERB + A RfpahamsS + > EEN URES Ob > OLR SE tr + AERERLSERESS Pt > Othe HE + Bh hohe Bt ADAH ARATE SIN + > RRND + >> REHEAT © NOHEME © GEN SE © br QS RGR + N-SHEYCUAEY © GE REA HAY SEM NSE © GRE ARE ke > Op ak FEW + PMR TH ah > Ba ake bea SE + ARES « GENRE Ne EE ‘Weapons are not auspicious tools some things are simply bad thus the Taoist shuns them in peace the ruler honors the left in war he honors the right weapons are not auspicious weapons are not a ruler’s tools he wields them when he has no choice dispassion is the best thus he does not beautify them he who beautifies them enjoys killing others he who enjoys killing others achieves no worldly rule thus we honor the left for joy we honor the right for sorrow the left is where the adjutant stands the commander on the right which means as at a funeral when you kill another honor him with your tears when the battle is won treat it as a wake HO-SHANG KUNG says, “In times of decadence and disorder, we use weapons to defend the people.” SU CH’E says, “We take up weapons to rescue the distressed and not as a matter of course.” 62SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “The system of ritual devised by the ancient kings treated the right as superior and the left as inferior. Being superior, the right represented the Way of Victory. Being inferior, the left represented the Way of Humility. But victory entailed death and destruction. Hence those on the right were in charge of sad occasions, while those on the left were in charge of happy events.” JEN FA-JUNG says, “‘Left’ refers to the east and the power of creation, while ‘right’ refers to the west and the power of destruction.” HSUAN-TSUNG says, “When Tibetans, Huns, or other tribes invade the borders, the ruler has no choice but to respond. But he responds as he would to a gnat. He does not act in anger. The greatest victory involves no fighting. Hence dispassion is the best poli LI HSI-CHAI says, “Sun-tzu discussed in detail the use of strengths and weak- nesses, of direction and indirection in warfare, but he did not understand their basis (5-6). Lao-tzu says dispassion is the best policy, for it secures victory with- outa display. This might seem odd, but dispassion means to rest, and rest is the root of victory. While passion means to act, and action is the basis of defeat.” KING HSIANG OF LIANG asked MENCIUus, “How can the kingdom be pacified?” Mencius answered, “The kingdom can be pacified by uniting it.” King Hsiang asked, “But who can unite it?” Mencius answered, “He who does not delight in killing others can unite it” (14.6). LI JUNG says, “The ancients used weapons with compassion. They honored them for their virtue and disdained them as tools. Once the enemy was de- feated, the general put on plain, undyed clothes, presided over a funeral cer- emony, and received the mourners.” Inline one, [have followed the arguments of Wang Nien-sun andChengLiang- shu in reading chia:fine, which precedes ping:weapons in the standard edition, as a mistake for the grammatical particle wei, which here carries no meaning. Lines two and three also appear in verse 24. For line ten, I have followed the wording of the Fuyi and Mawangtui texts, which the standard version renders: “victory is not beautiful.” 63