[CHAPTER 27]
The good traveler leaves no track behind;
The good speaker speaks without blemish or flaw;
The good counter doesn’t use tallies or chips;
The good closer of doors does so without bolt or lock, and yet the door cannot be opened;
The good tier of knots ties without rope or cord, yet his knots can’t be undone.
Therefore the Sage is constantly good at saving men and never rejects anyone;
And with things, he never rejects useful goods.
This is called Doubly Bright.
Therefore the good man is the teacher of the good,
And the bad man is the raw material for the good.
To not value one’s teacher and not cherish the raw goods—
Though one had great knowledge, he would still be greatly confused.
This is called the Essential of the Sublime.
[CHAPTER 28]
When you know the male yet hold on to the female,
You’ll be the ravine of the country.
When you’re the ravine of the country,
Your constant virtue will not leave.
And when your constant virtue doesn’t leave,
You’ll return to the state of the infant.
When you know the pure yet hold on to the soiled,
You’ll be the valley of the country.
When you’re the valley of the country,
Your constant virtue is complete.
And when your constant virtue is complete,
You’ll return to the state of uncarved wood.
When you know the white yet hold on to the black,
You’ll be the model for the country.
And when you’re the model for the country,
Your constant virtue will not go astray.
And when your constant virtue does not go astray,
You’ll return to the condition which has no limit.
When uncarved wood is cut up, it’s turned into vessels;
When the Sage is used, he becomes the Head of Officials.
Truly, great carving is done without splitting up.
[CHAPTER 29]
For those who would like to take control of the world and act on it—
I see that with this they simply will not succeed.
The world is a sacred vessel;
It is not something that can be acted upon.
Those who act on it destroy it;
Those who hold on to it lose it.
With things—some go forward, others follow;
Some are hot, others blow cold;
Some are firm and strong, others submissive and weak.
Some rise up while others fall down.
Therefore the Sage:
Rejects the extreme, the excessive, and the extravagant.
[CHAPTER 30]
Those who assist their rulers with the Way,
Don’t use weapons to commit violence in the world.
Such deeds easily rebound.
In places where armies are stationed, thorns and brambles will grow.
The good general achieves his result and that’s all;
He does not use the occasion to seize strength from it.
He achieves his result but does not become arrogant;
He achieves his result but does not praise his deeds;
He achieves his result and yet does not brag.
He achieves his result, yet he abides with the result because he has no choice.
This is called achieving one’s result without using force.
When things reach their prime, they get old;
We call this “not the Way.”
What is not the Way will come to an early end.
[CHAPTER 31]
As for weapons—they are instruments of ill omen.
And among things there are those that hate them.
Therefore, the one who has the Way, with them does not dwell.
When the gentleman is at home, he honors the left;
When at war, he honors the right.
Therefore, weapons are not the instrument of the gentleman—
Weapons are instruments of ill omen.
When you have no choice but to use them, it’s best to remain tranquil and calm.
You should never look upon them as things of beauty.
If you see them as beautiful things—this is to delight in the killing of men.
And when you delight in the killing of men, you’ll not realize your goal in the land.
Therefore, in happy events we honor the left,
But in mourning we honor the right.
Therefore, the lieutenant general stands on the left;
And the supreme general stands on the right.
Which is to say, they arrange themselves as they would at a funeral.
When multitudes of people are killed, we stand before them in sorrow and grief.
When we’re victorious in battle, we treat the occasion like a funeral ceremony.
[CHAPTER 32]
The Tao is constantly nameless.
Though in its natural state it seems small, no one in the world dares to treat it as a subject.
Were marquises and kings able to maintain it,
The ten thousand things would submit to them on their own,
And Heaven and Earth would unite to send forth sweet dew.
By nature it would fall equally on all things, with no one among the people ordering that it be so.
As soon as we start to establish a system, we have names.
And as soon as there are set names,
Then you must also know that it’s time to stop.
By knowing to stop—in this way you’ll come to no harm.
The Way’s presence in the world
Is like the relationship of small valley streams to rivers and seas.
[CHAPTER 33]
To understand others is to be knowledgeable;
To understand yourself is to be wise.
To conquer others is to have strength;
To conquer yourself is to be strong.
To know when you have enough is to be rich.
To go forward with strength is to have ambition.
To not lose your place is to last long.
To die but not be forgotten—that’s true long life.
[CHAPTER 34]
The Way floats and drifts;
It can go left or right.
It accomplishes its tasks and completes its affairs, and yet for this it is not given a name.
The ten thousand things entrust their lives to it, and yet it does not act as their master.
Thus it is constantly without desires.
It can be named with the things that are small.
The ten thousand things entrust their lives to it, and yet it does not act as their master.
It can be named with the things that are great.
Therefore the Sage’s ability to accomplish the great
Comes from his not playing the role of the great.
Therefore he is able to accomplish the great.
[CHAPTER 35]
Hold on to the Great Image and the whole world will come to you.
Come to you and suffer no harm; but rather know great safety and peace.
Music and food—for these passing travelers stop.
Therefore, of the Tao’s speaking, we say:
Insipid, it is! It’s lack of flavor.
When you look at it, it’s not sufficient to be seen;
When you listen to it, it’s not sufficient to be heard;
Yet when you use it, it can’t be used up.
[CHAPTER 36]
If you wish to shrink it,
You must certainly stretch it.
If you wish to weaken it,
You must certainly strengthen it.
If you wish to desert it,
You must certainly work closely with it.
If you wish to snatch something from it,
You must certainly give something to it.
This is called the Subtle Light.
The submissive and weak conquer the strong.
Fish should not be taken out of the depths;
The state’s sharp weapons should not be shown to the people.
[CHAPTER 37]
The Tao is constantly nameless.
Were marquises and kings able to maintain it,
The ten thousand things would transform on their own.
Having transformed, were their desires to become active,
I would subdue them with the nameless simplicity.
Having subdued them with the nameless simplicity,
I would not disgrace them.
By not being disgraced, they will be tranquil.
And Heaven and Earth will of themselves be correct and right.
The Way—2,426 characters
PART TWO
TRANSLATION WITH
TEXT, COMMENTARY,
AND NOTES
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
What follows is primarily a translation of Text B of the Ma-wang-tui texts: the Text A version of a chapter is used in only seventeen cases—for chapters 1, 31, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51, 52, 56, 61, 62, 63, 69, 76, and 79. In these places what remains of Text A is more complete, and therefore more readily translated, than what remains of Text B.
Since Texts A and B are not exactly the same, the reader might justifiably want to see complete translations of both texts. But the Ma-wang-tui texts do tend to be alike in places where they differ significantly from later editions. Thus, translating both would lead to a lot of repetition. Moreover, Text A is not in good condition, and any translation of Text A would need to supply much of the text from some other source to make the translation readable. Hence my decision has been to translate that version of each chapter that is most complete, and in most cases that is the Text B version. But “Comments and Notes” always begins with an indication of the ways in which the other text (normally Text A) differs from the text being translated.
There are lacunae in both texts, the result of material deterioration. In this translation, the missing words, phrases and lines are supplied in two ways: whenever possible they are from the other Ma-wang-tui text, such words, phrases, and lines being printed in bold type. If the other text also has a lacuna at this point, the missing text is supplied from the standard text of Lao-tzu, such words, phrases, and lines being printed in italics. Any words underlined in the translation are underlined by the present translator for emphasis.
The sequence of chapters in the translation is the sequence we find in the Ma-wang-tui texts. Chapter divisions are made where they occur in modern texts to facilitate reading and comparison. Chapter numbers are put in brackets at the top of the page to remind the reader that these numbers are not found in the original.
For the Chinese text on which this translation is based I have consulted two works, Ma-wang-tui Han mu po-shu Lao-tzu (Peking: Wen-wu, 1976), and Ma-wang-tui Han mu po-shu, Vol.1 (Peking: Wen-wu, 1980). Whenever there were discrepancies in the transcriptions in these texts I checked the original, using the facsimiles published in the second book.
Please also note that:
1. The transcriptions printed with this translation are those found in Ma-wang-tui Han-mu po-shu, Vol.1, as corrected by the present translator. Neither the 1976 nor the 1980 transcription is totally error free. The symbols used in the transcription indicate the following: —lacuna in the text/character is missing, O—erroneous character has been blotted out by the copyist; =—what appear to be “ditto” marks in the original; •—put at the head of a section of text that may be understood by the copyist as a “chapter”; <—indicates a mark in the text that looks like, and seems to serve as, a comma.
2. By the “standard” text of Lao-tzu—Chinese commentators often identify this as the t’ung-hsing pen—I almost always mean the Wang Pi text of Lao-tzu (Ssu-pu pei-yao edition).
3. By saying something is “missing” in a Ma-wang-tui text I mean to indicate that there is a lacuna in the text; by contrast, when I note that something is “omitted” or “does not occur” I mean that it was never part of the original.
4. The line numbers used in the translation are not part of the original text: these divisions are made to facilitate discussion in the commentary that follows.
5. In trying to decipher textual variants, I worked carefully through the critical studies of Chou Tz’u-chi (Lao-tzu k’ao-shu) and Hsü K’ang-sheng (Po-shu Lao-tzu chu-shih yü yen-chiu); I found Hsü K’ang-sheng’s work very useful and his arguments often persuasive.
6. Except as noted below, brackets are placed around words which have been supplied by me to make the terse Chinese phraseology more easily understandable.
7. Finally, in my interpretations, and in my choice of words on occasion, I have naturally been influenced by the fine work done on this text by previous translators. To the informed reader my indebtedness to the Wing-tsit Chan and D. C. Lau translations will be obvious.
TE
(VIRTUE)
[CHAPTER 38]
1 The highest virtue is not virtuous; therefore it truly has virtue.
2 The lowest virtue never loses sight of its virtue; therefore it has no true virtue.
3 The highest virtue takes no action, yet it has no reason for acting this way;
4 The highest humanity takes action, yet it has no reason for acting this way;
5 The highest righteousness takes action, and it has its reasons for acting this way;
6 The highest propriety takes action, and when no one responds to it, then it angrily rolls up its sleeves and forces people to comply.
7 Therefore, when the Way is lost, only then do we have virtue;
8 When virtue is lost, only then do we have humanity;
9 When humanity is lost, only then do we have righteousness;
10 And when righteousness is lost, only then do we have propriety.
11 As for propriety, it’s but the thin edge of loyalty and sincerity, and the beginning of disorder.
12 And foreknowledge is but the flower of the Way, and the beginning of stupidity.
13 Therefore the Great Man
14 Dwells in the thick and doesn’t dwell in the thin;
15 Dwells in the fruit and doesn’t dwell in the flower.
16 Therefore, he rejects that and takes this.
COMMENTS AND NOTES
In line 5, Text B actually begins “The highest virtue” (shang-te), while Text A is like all later editions in having “The highest righteousness” (shang-i). But the character for virtue in Text B has been blotted out, indicating, I think, that the copyist knew he made a mistake. Text A also differs from Text B in seeming to add a line between lines 6 and 7: that line is constructed by having ditto marks follow the words “lost” and “Way,” with “Way” being followed by the final particle i, and would seem to say “Therefore the Way is lost.” This is then followed by “When the Way is lost, only then do we have virtue.”
The standard text adds a line between lines 3 and 4, which is “The lowest virtue takes action, and it has its reasons for acting this way.” Thus in the standard text the same thing is said of the lowest virtue and the highest righteousness in line 5—they both take action and have their reasons for doing it. It seems clear that a later editor or copyist added this line between 3 and 4 to have the highest virtue balanced by its opposite, lowest virtue, in this sequence, just as it was in lines 1 and 2, but this interrupts the natural flow of lines 3-6, moving from the highest virtue to the highest humanity to the highest righteousness to the highest propriety, and moving from taking no action with no reason for doing so, to taking action but still with no reason, to taking action and having one’s reasons, to taking action and then using force. In this way the author shows us what he thinks of the Confucian virtues, ranking them in descending order.
The “foreknowledge” of line 12 is sometimes unclear to readers: It means, I think, in line with
the rest of the chapter, to have one’s mind made up before one enters a new situation about what is “right” and “wrong” and “proper” and “acceptable” and so on.
[CHAPTER 39]
1 Of those in the past that attained the One—
2 Heaven, by attaining the One became clear;
3 Earth, by attaining the One became stable;
4 Gods, by attaining the One became divine;
5 Valleys, by attaining the One became full;
6 Marquises and kings, by attaining the One made the whole land ordered and secure.
7 Taking this to its logical conclusion we would say—
8 If Heaven were not by means of it clear, it would, I’m afraid, shatter;
9 If the Earth were not by means of it stable, it would, I’m afraid, let go.
10 If the gods were not by means of it divine, they would, I’m afraid, be powerless.
11 If valleys were not by means of it full, they would, [I’m afraid,] dry up.
12 And if marquises and kings were not by means of it noble and high, they would, I’m afraid, topple and fall.
13 Therefore, it must be the case that the noble has the base as its root;
14 And it must be the case that the high has the low for its foundation.
15 Thus, for this reason, marquises and kings call themselves “The Orphan,” “The Widower,” and “The One Without Grain.”
16 This is taking the base as one’s root, is it not?!
17 Therefore, they regard their large numbers of carriages as having no carriage.
18 And because of this, they desire not to dazzle and glitter like jade,
Lao-Tzu- Te-Tao Ching Page 7
