Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand portion of the record of the engagement, and does not, insist on the (speedy) fulfilment of it by the other party. (So) he who has the attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the conditions favourable to himself.
In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.
80
In a little state with a small population, I would so order it, that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove elsewhere (to avoid it).
Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp weapons, they should have no occasion to don or use them.
I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead of the written characters).
They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment.
There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any intercourse with it.
81
Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.
With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.
English_Lin_TTK
Das Tao Te King von Lao Tse
Chinese - English by
Derek Lin
Vorwort/Foreword
Introduction Our Approach and Guiding Principles
There are many Tao Te Ching translations available, and some of them vary wildly in their rendering of the ancient classic. When we compare these variant renditions side-by-side, they can seem like totally different books. So how can we know, with a reasonable degree of certainty, what the Tao Te Ching actually says?
This translation is an attempt to address this important question. We started out by envisioning the ideal Tao Te Ching translation, to see how close we could get to it. What would such a translation be like? We came up with the following thoughts:
1) Its translator would be a native speaker of both English and Chinese. Without this level of fluency, the translation would miss many linguistic subtleties and nuances. Native command and familiarity is crucial; academic knowledge alone is insufficient.
2) Its translator would be someone who knows ancient Chinese quite well. The Tao Te Ching originated 2,500 years ago, so some of its words are no longer in modern usage, and some have changed meaning over the centuries. A lack of understanding in this respect can lead to mistranslation.
3) Its translator would be held accountable on accuracy. There are very few people with the qualifications cited above, so there is no rigorous peer review of Tao Te Ching translations. The lack of accountability is a major factor that contributes to a situation where anyone can claim to have the most definitive and authoritative translation, and any challenges or disagreements can be labeled as merely opinions.
4) The ideal translation would be a true translation in that every character in the original can be matched to the nearest equivalent word or phrase in English, and no characters are skipped. If we were to scrutinize existing translations, we would find a surprising number failing this basic criterion.
5) The ideal translation would also guarantee the reverse: that every English word or phrase in the translation has a corresponding character in the original Chinese. Again, many translations fail this basic criterion. They contain extraneous concepts or meanings not found in the source material, because sometimes translators cannot resist the temptation to inject pet notions or personal opinions into their work.
6) The ideal translation would resolve the gender issue. Chinese is contextual and gender-neutral, so a line that talks about a sage or a ruler makes no assumptions about the subject's gender. English is gender-specific and forces one to choose male or female pronoun, thereby creating a distortion of the original all-inclusive meaning. (Some translators use the male gender as a convention for the universal third-person reference; some use the female gender to balance the perceived inequality; some switch arbitrarily between the two; some use "his or her" in making the inclusiveness explicit. These are all attempts to resolve the issue.)
A translation that fulfills the six points above, if possible to achieve, would set a higher and unprecedented standard for authenticity and accuracy. So now the questions become: How close can we come to it? How realistic is the ideal?We can fulfill the first requirement, but cannot claim to be perfectly qualified for #2 - perhaps no living person can. However, we do have access to real-life sages who understand the Tao Te Ching better than anyone. We also have access to commentaries that have been passed down through the generations. With these two helpful assets, we should be able to handle the demands of the second point.*
Accountability is an issue that, in our case, would take care of itself. Because the Tao is the way of life for us, and not just an academic subject, we would be extremely interested in preserving the original meaning as much as humanly possible. Our commitment would go far beyond that of the typical scholar or writer. Our purpose in translating the Tao Te Ching is to embark on a quest to deepen spiritual understanding.
We would use #4 and #5 as our overriding principles. Every Chinese character will be linked to an English word or phrase. If we encounter a particularly difficult character, we will spend the time to do the research rather than to gloss over it. All English words except articles and prepositions must correspond with the Chinese original. Anything extra will be summarily discarded.
We would deal with #6 by utilizing the contextual nature of Chinese. Not only is Chinese gender-neutral, it is also unspecific in terms of plurality. Any given sentence about a type of person can refer to either a single individual or multiple individuals. This means it is perfectly acceptable for us to use the plural form in the translation, which would in turn let us use the gender-neutral "their" instead of the gender-specific "his" or "her." This takes care of the common distortion in an elegant way, and yields a more faithful translation.
* Special thanks to Master Wu Han Yih and Grand Master Lin De Yang.
1
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly free of desire
One observes its wonders
Constantly filled with desire
One observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery
Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders
The Tao that can be completely explained or expressed in words is not the constant, eternally unchanging and true Tao.
If the name of this Tao can be defined with words, then it is not the constant, eternally unchanging name of the true Tao.
Names did not exist prior to Creation. The nameless Tao is therefore the source of the universe.
Once it manifests itself as the physical universe, it can be named. Everything is derived from it through natural processes. It is therefore the mother of all things.
If we approach the Tao without self-serving desires, we can readily observe its inner wonders and marvels. This establishes a direct connection with the source, the vast intelligence of universal consciousness. This gives us flashes of powerful, intuitive insights, as well as free-flowing creativity.
If we approach the Tao full of self-serving desires, then we can only observe its external physical manifestations, rather than its inner essence. These desires block the connection and interfere with the Tao process. We often do this to ourselves.
The Tao's external manifestations (life, nature, the cosmos, and so on) and its inner wonders (oneness, the living void, the flow, etc.) are both properties of the ultimate reality. Although we call them by different names, they are but two sides of the same coin.
This unity of these two aspects gives us an interesting paradox. They seem distinctively different, and yet they lead to one another. Understanding of the Tao's inner essence gives us greater understanding of its outer manifestations, and vice versa.
Our recognition and acknowledgement of this paradox will open the door for us to further explore the infinite wonders of the Tao.
Notes
The Tao that can be spoken (expressed in words)
Is not the constant (eternal) Tao
The Name that can be named
Is not the eternal Name
The "Nameless Name" - that which existed before there was anything to name - is a synonym for the Tao.
The main idea here is that the Tao is a concept beyond reason and logic. It is the universal principle that permeates every action and every phenomenon, but it cannot be adequately understood through the rational mind. To comprehend it completely, you must exercise your intuition and get in touch with the fundamental divinity that connects everyone.
Lao Tzu is also pointing out the limitation of spoken words and written texts. Our tendencies to categorize, define and analyze only give us the limited understanding of how the Tao acts upon the material world. This is exactly what happens when we study physics, biology, chemistry, and other natural sciences.
On the other hand, if we free ourselves of this limiting human desire to put everything into words, and become aware of our wordless communion with nature, we can catch glimpses of a divine wisdom. Beyond categories, definitions, and analyses, it is wisdom far more profound than anything that academic knowledge, science and technology can offer.
Translation Notes
One translation renders the first line as "The way that can be trodden," which fails to take the above into account. Another translation mistakes "can" as "possible" and waxes poetic about "The possible Tao." That's even further away from the original meaning.
In this context, this character means "ever-lasting." In one instance a translator renders it as "absolute," which is close, but not quite correct.
2
When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other
Therefore the sages:
Manage the work of detached actions
Conduct the teaching of no words
They work with myriad things but do not control
They create but do not possess
They act but do not presume
They succeed but do not dwell on success
It is because they do not dwell on success
That it never goes away
Tao sages have long recognized the relative nature of the world. While one can certainly find absolutes in abstract theory, in the real world they rarely, if ever, exist. For instance, no metal is absolutely free of impurities. In fact, hardly anything in nature is absolutely pure. One can come close to 100% purity, but never quite get there.
It is the same with people. Absolute good and evil can exist as concepts, but will probably never be found among human beings. Everyone is a mixture of varying proportions. No person is any one thing.
If the world is by and large relative, then descriptions require comparison, perspective and proportion to have meaning. One can be "short" among NBA players and still be "tall" among kindergarten kids. Which description is correct? Both. Neither. It depends.
"Difficult" and "easy" bring about each other
"Long" and "short" reveal each other
"High" and "low" support each other
"Voice" and "music" harmonize each other
"Front" and "back" follow each other
"Hard" and "easy" are concepts relative to one another. "Long" and "short" need each other to have meaning.
The universe is full of dualities. Everything is relative; values have meaning only by comparison. For instance, a task can only be "easy" if it is being compared to some other task that is relatively more difficult. If there抯 nothing else to compare against, the task cannot be rated in terms of difficulty. Similarly, we can only say an object is "long" if we抮e comparing it against another similar object that is shorter. Each half of a duality cannot exist without the other half. A descriptive concept creates its own opposite.
3
Do not glorify the achievers
So the people will not squabble
Do not treasure goods that are hard to obtain
So the people will not become thieves
Do not show the desired things
So their hearts will not be confused
Thus the governance of the sage:
Empties their hearts
Fills their bellies
Weakens their ambitions
Strengthens their bones
Let the people have no cunning and no greed
So those who scheme will not dare to meddle
Act without contrivance
And nothing will be beyond control
When we glorify achievers and set them aside for special treatment, people will compete aggressively and step over one another to achieve that glory. Similarly, when we place a high value on certain goods, there will be those who plot to take them by force or by trickery.
This determination of value can be rather arbitrary. For instance, what intrinsic goodness does gold have that makes it so much more valuable than other metals? What is so great about gold other than a particular number that people determine and agree upon?
