Tao Te Ching by Laozi (reading comprehension books txt) 📕

does Laozi speak of himself? I think he does. Wu Chʽêng understands it of “any man,” i.e. any one in the exercise of government;⁠—which is possible. What is peculiar to my version is the pregnant meaning given to 有如, common enough in the mouth of Confucius. I have adopted it here because of a passage in Liu Hsiang’s Shuo-yüan (XX 13 b), where Laozi is made to say “Excessive is the difficulty of practising the Tao at the present time,” adding that the princes of his age would not receive it from him. On the “Great Tao,” see chapter 25, 34, et al. From the twentieth book of Han Fei (12 b and 13 a) I conclude that he had the whole of this chapter in his copy of our Ching, but he broke it up, after his fashion, into fragmentary utterances, confused and confounding. He gives also some remarkable various readings, one of which (竽, instead of Ho-shang Kung and Wang Pi’s 夸, character 48) is now generally adopted. The passage is quoted in the Kʽang-hsi dictionary under 竽 with this reading. ↩

修觀, “The Cultivation (of the Tao), and the Observation (of its Effects).” The sentiment of the first paragraph is found in the twenty-seventh and other previous chapters⁠—that the noiseless and imperceptible acting of the Tao is irresistible in its influence; and this runs through to the end of the chapter with the additional appeal to the influence of its effects. The introduction of the subject of sacrifices, a religious rite, though not presented to the highest object, will strike the reader as peculiar in our Ching.

The Tê mentioned five times in par. 2 is the “virtue” of the Tao embodied in the individual, and extending from him in all the spheres of his occupation, and is explained differently by Han Fei according to its application; and his example I have to some extent followed.

The force of pars. 3 and 4 is well given by Ho-shang Kung. On the first clause he says, “Take the person of one who cultivates the Tao, and compare it with that of one who does not cultivate it;⁠—which is in a state of decay? and which is in a state of preservation? ↩

玄符, “The Mysterious Charm;” meaning, apparently, the entire passivity of the Tao.

With pars. 1 and 2, compare what is said about the infant in chapters 10 and 20, and about the immunity from dangers such as here described of the disciples of the Tao in ch. 50. My “evil” in the second triplet of par. 3 has been translated by “felicity;” but a reference to the Kʽang-hsi dictionary will show that the meaning which I give to 祥 is well authorised. It is the only meaning allowable here. The third and fourth 曰 in this par. appear in Ho-shang Kung’s text as 日, and he comments on the clauses accordingly; but 曰 is now the received reading. Some light is thrown on this paragraph and the next by an apocryphal conversation attributed to Laozi in Liu Hsiang’s Shuo-yüan, X, 4 a. ↩

玄德, “The Mysterious Excellence.” The chapter gives us a picture of the man of Tao, humble and retiring, oblivious of himself and of other men, the noblest man under heaven.

Par. 1 is found in Chuang-tzŭ (XIII 20 b), not expressly mentioned, as taken from Laozi, but at the end of a string of sentiments, ascribed the “the Master,” some of them, like the two clause here, no doubt belonging to him, and the others, probably Chuang-tzŭ’s own.

Par. 2 is all found in chapters 4 and 52, excepting the short clause in the conclusion. ↩

淳風, “The Genuine Influence.” The chapter shows how government by the Tao is alone effective, and of universal application; contrasting it with the failure of other methods.

After the “weapons of war” in par. 1, one is tempted to take “the sharp implements” in par. 2 as such weapons, but the meaning which I finally adopted, especially after studying chapters 36 and 80, seems more consonant with Laozi’s scheme of thought. In the last member of the same par., Ho-shang Kung has the strange reading of 法物, and uses it in his commentary; but the better text of 法令 is found both in Huai-nan and Ssŭ-ma Chʽien, and in Wang Pi.

We do not know if the writer were quoting any particular sage in par. 3, or referring generally to the sages of the past;⁠—men like the “sentence-makers” of ch. 41. ↩

順化, “Transformation according to Circumstances;” but this title does not throw light on the meaning of the chapter; nor are we helped to an understanding of it by Han Fei, with his additions and comments (XII 3 b, 4 b), nor by Huai-nan with his illustrations (XII 21 a, b). The difficulty of it is increased by its being separated form the preceding chapter of which it is really the sequel. It contrasts still further government by the Tao with that by the method of correction. The sage