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

feared, are the indulgences of the appetites and passions, which, if not eschewed, tend to shorten life and accelerate the approach of death.

Pars. 2 and 3 are supplementary to 1. For 狹, the second character of Ho-shang Kung’s text in par. 2, Wang Pi reads 狎, which has the same name as the other; and according to the Kʽang-hsi’s dictionary, the two characters are interchangeable. I have also followed Wu Chʽêng in adopting 狎 for the former of the two 厭 in par. 3. Wu adopted this reading from a commentator Liu of Lu-ling. It gives a good meaning, and is supported by the structure of other sentences made on similar lines.

In par. 4 “the sage” must be “the ruler who is a sage,” a master of the Tao, “the king” of ch. 25. He “loves himself,” i.e. his life, and takes the right measures to prolong his life, but without any demonstration that he is doing so.

The above is, I conceive, the correct explanation of the chapter; but as to the Chinese critics and foreign translators of it, it maybe said, “Quot homines, tot sententiae.” In illustration of this I venture to subjoin what is found on it in the old version of the Jesuit missionaries, which has not been previously printed:⁠—

Prima explicatio juxta interpretes.

Populus, ubi jam principis iram non timet, nihil non audet ut jugum excutiat, resque communis ad extremum discrimen adducitur.

Ambitio principis non faciat terram angustiorem, et vectigalium magnitudine alendo populo insufficientem; numquam populus patriae pertaesus alias terras quaeret.

Vitae si non taedet, neque patrii soli taedebit.

Quare sanctus sibi semper attentus potentiam suam non ostentat.

Quia vere se amat, non se pretiosum facit; vel quia sibi recte consulit non se talem aestimat cujus felicitati et honori infelices populi unice servire debeant, immo potius eum se reputat qui populorum felicitati totum se debeat impendere.

Ergo illud resecat, istud amplectitur.

Alia explicatio.

Populus si non ita timet principis majestatem, sed facile ad eum accedit, majestas non minuitur, immo ad summum pervenit.

Vectigalibus terra si non opprimitur, suâ quisque contentus alias terras non quaeret, si se non vexari populus experitur.

Vitae si non taedet, nec patrii soli taedebit.

Quare sanctus majestatis fastum non affectat, immo similem se caeteris ostendit.

Sibi recte consulens, populorum amans, non se pretiosum et inaccessibilem facit.

Quidquid ergo timorem incutere potest, hoc evitat; quod amorem conciliat et benignitatem, se demonstrat hoc eligi et ultro amplectitur.

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任爲. “Allowing Men to take their Course.” The chapter teaches that rulers should not be hasty to punish, especially by the infliction of death. Though they may seem to err in leniency, yet heaven does not allow offenders to escape.

While heaven hates the ill-doer, yet we must not always conclude from its judgements that every one who suffers from them is an ill-doer; and the two lines which rhyme, and illustrate this point, are equivalent to the sentiment in our Old Book, “Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” They are ascribed to Laozi by Lieh-tzŭ (VI 7 a); but, it has been said, that they are quoted by him “in an entirely different connection.” But the same text in two different sermons may be said to be in different connections. In Lieh-tzŭ and our Ching the lines have the same meaning, and substantially the same application. Indeed Chang Chan, of our fourth century, the commentator of Lieh-tzŭ, quotes the comment of Wang Pi on this passage, condensing it into, “Who can know the mind of Heaven? Only the sage can do so.” ↩

制惑, “Restraining Delusion.” The chapter sets forth the inefficiency of capital punishment, and warns rulers against the infliction of it. Who is it that superintends the infliction of death? The answer of Ho-shang Kung is very clear:⁠—“It is Heaven, which, dwelling on high and ruling all beneath, takes note of the transgressions of men.” There is a slight variation in the readings of the second sentence of par. 2 in the texts of Ho-shang Kung and Wang Pi, and the reading adopted by Chiao Hung differs a little from them both; but the meaning is the same in them all.

This chapter and the next are rightly joined on to the preceding by Wu Chʽêng. ↩

貪損, “How Greediness Injures.” The want of the nothing-doing Tao leads to the multiplication of exactions by the government, and to the misery of the people, so as to make them think lightly of death. The chapter is a warning for both rulers and people.

It is not easy to determine whether rulers, or people or both, are intended in the concluding sentence of par. 2. ↩

戒強, “A Warning against (trusting in) Strength.” To trust in one’s force is contrary to the Tao, whose strength is more in weakness and humility.

In par. 1 the two characters which I have rendered by “(so it is with) all things” are found in the texts of both Ho-shang Kung and Wang Pi, but Wu Chʽêng and Chiao Hung both reject them. I should also have neglected them, but they are also found in Liu Hsiang’s Shuo Wên (X 4 a), with all the rest of pars. 1 and 2, as from Laozi. They are an anacoluthon, such as is elsewhere found in our Ching; e.g.天下之牝 in ch. 21, par. 2.

The “above” and “below” in par. 4 seem to be merely a play on the words, as capable