The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 67 : 67. THE THREE TREASURES. 1. All in the world call me great; but I resemble the unlikely. Now a man is great only because he resembles the unlikely. Did he resemble the likely, how lasting, indeed, would his mediocrity be! 2. 1 have three treasures which I p. 122 cherish and prize. The first is...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 66 : 68. COMPLYING WITH HEAVEN. 1. He who excels as a warrior is not warlike. He who excels as a fighter is not wrathful. He who excels in conquering the enemy does not strive. He who excels in employing men is lowly. 2. This is called the virtue of not-striving. This is called utilizing men's p. 123...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 28 : CHAPTER 28. In order to understand what Lao-tze means by manhood and womanhood, by brightness and blackness, by fame and shame, we must bear in mind what has been said above in the explanation of Chapter 5 about the two principles Yin and Yang. Compare also Lao-tze's views about honoring the right...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 3 : CHAPTER 3. In former editions we have translated the verb "shang" by its common meaning "to exalt," but here it is obviously a reflex verb meaning "to exalt oneself" or "to brag, to boast." The word "fu" means literally "stomach" p. 134 or "the interior," but it may also mean "soul," for according...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 78 : 56. THE VIRTUE OF THE MYSTERIOUS. 1. One who knows does not talk. One who talks does not know. Therefore the sage keeps his mouth shut and his sense-gates closed. p. 113 2. "He will blunt his own sharpness, His own tangles adjust; He will dim his own radiance, And be one with his dust." 3. This is...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 71 : 63. CONSIDER BEGINNINGS. 1. Assert non-assertion. Practise non-practice. Taste the tasteless. Make great the small. Make much the little. 2. Requite hatred with virtue. 3. Contemplate a difficulty when it is easy. Manage a great thing when it is small. 4. The world's most difficult undertakings...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 21 : CHAPTER 21. The last two lines of the quoted verse in Chapter 21 are obscure in the original Chinese. The difficulty lies in the meaning of the word "fu", which means anything that is first, either in time or dignity. Literally the eight words read: "Its--name--not--departs; Thereby--it...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 36 : CHAPTER 36. The tendency of the world is to acquire hardness and strength, but in this p. 164 chapter the sage warns us to beware of these qualities, and rather remain tender and weak. The people should scarcely know that weapons exist. On the authority of Professor Giles the last section of this...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 25 : 53. GAINING INSIGHT. 1. If I have ever so little knowledge, I shall walk in the great Reason. It is but expansion that I must fear. 2. The great Reason is very plain, but people are fond of by-paths. 3. When the palace is very splendid, the fields are very weedy and granaries very empty. 4. To wear...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 62 : CHAPTER 62. The proposition that "when sought the Tao is obtained," reminds one of the New Testament verse, "Seek and ye shall find."
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 32 : 46. MODERATION OF DESIRE. 1. When the world possesses Reason, race horses are reserved for hauling dung. When the world is without Reason, war horses are bred in the common. 2. No greater sin than yielding to desire. No greater misery than discontent. No greater calamity than greed. 3. Therefore...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 75 : CHAPTER 75. The last sentence finds its parallel in the New Testament (John xii. 25) where we read: "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 28 : 50. THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE. 1. Abroad in life, home in death. 2. There are thirteen avenues of life; there are thirteen avenues of death; on thirteen avenues men that live pass unto the realm of death. 3. Now, what is the reason? It is because they live life's intensity. 4. Yea, I understand th...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 78 : CHAPTER 78. In China the emperor takes the guilt of the whole nation upon himself when he brings his annual sacrifice, a full burnt offering, to Shang Ti the Lord on High, and this is expressed in the quotation of this chapter which thus bears a remarkable similarity to the Christian doctrine th...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 71 : CHAPTER 71. The passage "to know the unknowable" is a smooth and quite correct translation, but there is a deeper sense in it and it certainly should not be interpreted in the sense of agnosticism. A strictly correct literal translation should read "know the not-knowing," which p. 184 means "be...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 21 : 3. KEEPING THE PEOPLE QUIET. 1. Not boasting of one's worth forestalls people's envy. Not prizing treasures difficult to obtain keeps people from committing theft. 2. Not contemplating what kindles desire keeps the heart unconfused. 3. Therefore the holy man when he governs empties the people's...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 36 : 42. REASON'S MODIFICATIONS. 1. Reason begets unity; unity begets duality; duality begets trinity; and trinity begets the ten thousand things. p. 104 2. The ten thousand things are sustained by Yin [the negative principle]; they are encompassed by Yang [the positive principle], and the immaterial...
Foreword : p. 3 FOREWORD. This booklet, "The Canon of Reason and Virtue", is an extract from the author's larger work, "Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King", and has been published for the purpose of making our reading public more familiar with that grand and imposing figure "Li Er", who was honored with the posthumous...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re : 23. EMPTINESS AND NON-EXISTENCE. 1. To be taciturn is the natural way. A hurricane: does not outlast the morning. p. 89A cloudburst does not outlast the day. 2. Who causes these events but heaven and earth? If even heaven and earth cannot be unremitting, will not man be much less so? 3. Those who...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 25 : CHAPTER 25. The word "shi", "departing," may very well be understood in the sense of dying. The word "fan" means literally "return," denoting "coming back," and in order p. 161 to imitate the terse Chinese text, the best translation for "having come back" is "home." Lao-tze says: "Reason, the gre...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 62 : 72. HOLDING ONESELF DEAR. 1. If the people do not fear the dreadful, the great dreadful will come, surely. 2. Let them not deem their lives narrow. Let them not deem their lot wearisome. When it is not deemed wearisome, then it will not be wearisome. 3. Therefore the holy man knows himself but does...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 6 : CHAPTER 6. The verse quoted in this chapter seems to be the inscription over a fountain which it was claimed never ran dry. People believed that its source was deep and sprang from the root of heaven and earth, which would explain that its supply was inexhaustible. In using this quotation Lao-tze...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 75 : 59. HOLD FAST TO REASON. 1. To govern the people is the affair of heaven and there is nothing like thrift. Now consider that thrift is said to come from early practice. 2. By early practice it is said that we can accumulate an abundance of virtue. If one accumulates an abundance of virtue then...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 74 : p. 116 60. HOW TO MAINTAIN ONE'S PLACE. 1. Govern a great country as you would fry small fish: [neither gut nor scale them.] 2. If with Reason the empire is managed, its ghosts will not spook. Not only will its ghosts not spook, but its gods will not harm the people. Not only will its gods not...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 37 : 41. SAMENESS IN DIFFERENCE. 1. When a superior scholar hears of Reason he endeavors to practise it. 2. When an average scholar hears of Reason he will sometimes keep it and sometimes lose it. 3. When an inferior scholar hears of Reason he will greatly ridicule it. Were it not thus ridiculed, it...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 29 : 49. TRUST IN VIRTUE. 1. The holy man has not a heart of his own. The hundred families' hearts he makes his heart. 2. The good I meet with goodness; the bad I also meet with goodness; that is virtue's goodness. The faithful I meet with faith; the faithless I also meet with faith; that is virtue's...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 70 : p. 183 CHAPTER 70. When Lao-tze says, "words have an ancestor, deeds have a master," he personifies Reason which makes the conception of Tao resemble Christian theism; but we can not deny that in this atmosphere of abstract thought the expressions, "ancestor" and "master" may be regarded...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter I : p. 131 COMMENTS AND ALTERNATIVE READINGS. CHAPTER I. The phrase '"yiu ming", "having name" (or simply "ming", "name") means that which the definition of a name involves, and as such the term represents the actualized types of things. However "wu ming", "not name" or "the Unnamable," corresponds...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 74 : p. 185 CHAPTER 74. The "great carpenter who hews" is undoubtedly the Tao, or as theists would say, God. Compare our comment on Chapter 70. We read in the Bible, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 33 : 45. GREATEST VIRTUE. 1. "Greatest perfection imperfect will be, But its work ne'er waneth. Greatest fulness is vacuity, Its work unexhausted remaineth." 2. "Straightest lines resemble curves; Greatest skill like a tyro serves; Greatest eloquence stammers and swerves." 3. Motion conquers cold...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 29 : CHAPTER 29. The doctrine of "doing the not-doing" has rightly been compared to the French principle of "laissez faire", although the two are not the same. Lao-tze wants to say here that "he who makes, mars"; we therefore should not interfere but let everything take the course of its natural...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 2 : CHAPTER 2. The first sentence reads literally, "Under the heavens ["i. e.", all over the world, or everywhere] all know [i. e., it is obvious], if beauty acts beauty it is only ugliness." The verb "acts" is to be taken in the same sense as it is used in English, viz., "making a display or show of."...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 70 : p. 119 64. MIND THE INSIGNIFICANT. 1. What is still at rest is easily kept quiet. What has not as yet appeared is easily prevented. What is still feeble is easily broken. What is still scant is easily dispersed. 2. Treat things before they exist. Regulate things before disorder begins. The stout...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 64 : 70. DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND. 1. My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practise, but in the world no one can understand, no one can practise them. p. 124 2. Words have an ancestor; Deeds have a master [viz., Reason]. Since he is not understood, therefore I am not understood. Those...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 39 : 39. THE ROOT OF ORDER. 1. From of old these things have obtained oneness: 2. "Heaven by oneness becometh pure. Earth by oneness can endure. Minds by oneness souls procure. Valleys by oneness repletion secure. p. 101 "All creatures by oneness to life have been called. And kings were by oneness...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 60 : CHAPTER 60. Whatever the first sentence of this chapter may mean, it is oddly expressed. p. 180 [paragraph continues] One should govern a country as one would fry small fish, and we have added the traditional explanation in brackets, "neither gut nor scale them," which means the same as the rule...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 27 : 51. NURSING VIRTUE. 1. Reason quickens all creatures. Virtue feeds them. Reality shapes them. The forces complete them. Therefore p. 109 among the ten thousand things there is none that does not esteem Reason and honor virtue. 2. Since the esteem of Reason and the honoring of virtue is by no one...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 23 : p. 72 p. 73 THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE. I. 1. REASON'S REALIZATION. 1. The Reason that can be reasoned is not the eternal Reason. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The Unnamable is of heaven and earth the beginning. The Namable becomes of the ten thous...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 64 : CHAPTER 64. The last word here translated by "interfere" is in Chinese "wei", "to do" or "to act." The terms "likely" and "unlikely" are literal translations of the Chinese. Likely apparently means what is common or usual, and the unlikely, what is unusual.
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 39 : CHAPTER 39. Plato scholars will note that the famous dialogue "Parmenides," discussing the problem of the one and the many, may fitly be compared with Lao-tze's exposition of the nature of oneness, the poetical portion of which sounds like a philosophical rhapsody. The simile that the carriage does...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 60 : 76. BEWARE OF STRENGTH. 1. Man during life is tender and delicate. When he dies he is stiff and stark. p. 127 2. The ten thousand things, the grass as well as the trees, while they live are tender and supple. When they die they are rigid and dry. 3. Thus the hard and the strong are the companions...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 27 : CHAPTER 27. In Section 4 we have adopted an entirely new interpretation. In following a suggestion of Prof. H. A. Giles, we construe the two characters "shan" (words 6 and 14) denoting "good" or "goodness," as verbs in the sense to consider as good, and translate "to respect"; and further p. 162...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 68 : p. 121 66. PUTTING ONESELF BEHIND. 1. That rivers and oceans can of the hundred valleys be kings is due to their excelling in lowliness. Thus they can of the hundred valleys be the kings. 2. Therefore the holy man, when anxious to be above the people, must in his words keep underneath them. When...
Introduction : p. 13 INTRODUCTION. A few comments on Lao-tze's favorite expressions will help the reader to understand the drift of his thought. The character "tao" 1 being composed of the characters "moving on" and "head," depicts a "going ahead." The original meaning of the word is "way" in the same sense...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 76 : 58. ADAPTATION TO CHANGE. 1. Whose government is unostentatious, quite unostentatious, his people will be prosperous, quite prosperous. Whose government is prying, quite prying, his people will be needy, quite needy. 2. Misery, alas! rests upon happiness. Happiness, alas! underlies misery. But who...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 4 : CHAPTER 4. The word "tsung", 3 "arch-father," translates a Chinese term which means "patriarch, or first ancestor, founder of the family," and is frequently used with reference to Shang Ti, the Lord on High, in the sense of God. The word "chan", "dust," is a Buddhist term which means the worry...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 35 : 43. ITS UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. 1. The world's weakest overcomes the world's hardest. 2. Non-existence enters into the impenetrable. 3. Thereby I comprehend of non-assertion the advantage. There are few in the world who obtain of non-assertion the advantage and of silence the lesson.
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 31 : 47. VIEWING THE DISTANT. 1. "Without passing out of the gate The world's course I prognosticate. Without peeping through the window The heavenly Reason I contemplate. The further one goes, The less one knows." 2. Therefore the holy man does not travel, and yet he has knowledge. He does not see...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 72 : 62. PRACTISE REASON. 1. The man of Reason is the ten thousand creatures' refuge, the good man's wealth, the bad man's stay. 2. With beautiful words one can sell. With honest conduct one can do still more with the people. 3. If a man be bad, why should he be thrown away? Therefore, an emperor w...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 35 : CHAPTER 35. The world is noisy. There is music; there are dainties to eat; there are many distractions, and the passing stranger stops. The Tao is tasteless, is invisible, is inaudible, but inexhaustible in its use. We have here a trinity of the negative qualities of the Tao just as in Chapter 14...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 19 : 5. THE FUNCTION OF EMPTINESS. 1. But for heaven and earth's humaneness, the ten thousand things are straw dogs. But for the holy man's humaneness, the hundred families are straw dogs. 2. Is not the space between heaven and earth like unto a bellows? It is empty; yet it collapses not. It moves...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 07 : 17. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS. 1. Of great rulers the subjects do not notice the existence. To lesser ones people are attached; they praise them. Still lesser ones people fear, and the meanest ones people despise. 2. For it is said: "If your faith be insufficient, verily, you will receive no faith." 3...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 44 : p. 97 34. TRUST IN ITS PERFECTION. 1. How all-pervading is the great Reason! It can be on the left and it can be on the right. 2. The ten thousand things depend upon it for their life, and it refuses them not. When its merit is accomplished it assumes not the name. Lovingly it nourishes the ten...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 19 : CHAPTER 19. The display which obtains in Confucian ethics is here condemned, and Lao-tze's words remind us of Christ's warnings against the self -righteousness of the Pharisees. Lao-tze wants us to abandon: (1) saintliness and prudence, (2) benevolence and justice, (3) smartness and greed. He...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 40 : II. 38. DISCOURSE ON VIRTUE. 1. Superior virtue is unvirtue. Therefore it has virtue. Inferior virtue never loses sight of virtue. Therefore it has no virtue. 2. Superior virtue is non-assertion and without pretension. Inferior virtue asserts and makes pretensions. 3. Superior benevolence acts but...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 03 : 21. EMPTYING THE HEART. 1. "Vast virtue's form Follows Reason's norm. 2. "And Reason's nature Is vague and eluding. 3. "How eluding and vague All types including! How vague and eluding, All beings including! How deep and how obscure. It harbors the spirit pure, Whose truth is ever sure, Whose faith...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 15 : 9. PRACTISING PLACIDITY. 1. Grasp to the full, are you not likely foiled? Scheme too sharply, can you wear long? If gold and jewels fill the hall no one can protect it. 2. Rich and high but proud, brings about its own doom. To accomplish merit and acquire fame, then to withdraw, that is Heaven's...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 48 : 30. BE CHARY OF WAR. 1. He who with Reason assists the master of mankind will not with arms strengthen the empire. His methods invite requital. 2. Where armies are quartered briars and thorns grow. Great wars unfailingly are followed by famines. A good man acts resolutely and then stops. He...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 11 : p. 143 CHAPTER 11. Things are shaped by carving, by taking away, by diminishing the material. Accordingly that which is no longer there, the non-existent, constitutes their worth. Thus it appears that the part in this case would be greater than the whole, or to state the same truth briefly "less...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 56 : 80. REMAINING IN ISOLATION. 1. In a small country with few people let there be aldermen and mayors who are possessed of power over men but would not use it. Induce people to grieve at death but do not cause them to move to a distance. Although they had ships and carriages, they should find no...
Title Page : THE CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE (LAO-TZE'S TAO TEH KING) Chinese And English TRANSLATED BY D.T. SUZUKI & PAUL CARUS Open Court La Salle, Illinois [1913] Scanned , June 2004. John Bruno Hare, Redactor. This Text Is In The Public Domain. These Files May Be Used For Any Non-commercial Purpose, Provided...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 52 : 26. THE VIRTUE OF GRAVITY. 1. The heavy is of the light the root, and rest is motion's master. 2. Therefore the holy man in his daily walk does not depart from gravity. Although he may have magnificent sights, he calmly sits with liberated mind. 3. But how is it when the master of the ten thous...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 15 : CHAPTER 15. Lao-tze frequently quotes proverbs of the people and sayings of his predecessors. Of the latter he has a very high opinion which he here expresses. Lao-tze says that the sages of yore behave like guests, alluding to the Chinese p. 151 custom for guests to be always reserved and modest...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 11 : 13. LOATHING SHAME. 1. "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling. Rank bodes great heartache. It is like the body." p. 81 2. What means "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trembling?" Favor humiliates. Its acquisition causes trembling, its loss causes trembling. This is meant by "Favor bodes...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 56 : CHAPTER 56. The quotation is the same as in Chapter 4, only here it is attributed to the sage, in the former place to the Tao. The sage identifies himself with the mortal coil he is heir to, with ch'an, his dust or the troubles of his bodily life, and this is called here "a profound identificati...
Untitled : THE CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE (Lao-tze's Tao Teh King) Chinese And English TRANSLATED BY D.T. SUZUKI & PAUL CARUS [1913] Title Page Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Introduction to the Chinese THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE The Old Philosopher's Canon of Reason and Virtue...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 05 : 19. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY. 1. Abandon your saintliness; put away your prudence; and the people will gain a hundredfold! 2. Abandon your benevolence; put away your justice; and the people will return to filial piety and paternal devotion. 3. Abandon smartness; give up greed; and thieves...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 42 : CHAPTER 42. The subject of oneness or unity treated in Chapter 39 is here continued, and p. 167 unity is represented as the product of the Tao, or Reason. The trinity idea plays an important part in human thought almost everywhere, in philosophical systems and in many religions including...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 46 : 32. THE VIRTUE OF HOLINESS. 1. Reason, in its eternal aspect, is unnamable. 2. Although its simplicity seems insignificant, the whole world does not dare to suppress it. If princes and kings p. 96 could keep it, the ten thousand things would of themselves pay homage. Heaven and earth would unite...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 58 : 78. TRUST IN FAITH. 1. In the world nothing is tenderer and more delicate than water. In attacking the hard and the strong nothing will surpass it. There is nothing that herein takes its place. 2. The weak conquer the strong, the tender conquer the rigid. In the world there is no one who does not...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 42 : 36. THE SECRET'S EXPLANATION. 1. That which is about to contract has surely been expanded. That which is about to weaken has surely been strengthened. That which is about to fall has surely been raised. That which is about to be despoiled has surely been endowed. 2. This is an explanati...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 17 : 7. DIMMING RADIANCE. 1. Heaven endures and earth is lasting. And why can heaven and earth endure and be lasting? Because they do not live for themselves. On that account can they endure. 2. Therefore The holy man puts his person behind and his person comes to the front. He surrenders his pers...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 09 : 15. THE REVEALERS OF VIRTUE. 1. Those of yore who have succeeded in becoming masters are subtile, spiritual, profound, and penetrating. On account of their profundity they can not be understood. Because they can not be understood, therefore I endeavor to make them intelligible. 2. How cautious they...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 50 : CHAPTER 50. The first line of this chapter contains much food for thought. In our first edition we have translated these four words by "Going forth is life, coming home is death." We still cling to the same meaning, but we believe we have improved the diction by translating "Abroad in life, home...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 54 : 75. HARMED THROUGH GREED. 1. The people hunger because their superiors consume too many taxes; therefore they hunger. The people are difficult to govern because their superiors are too meddlesome; therefore they are difficult to govern. The people make light of death on account of the intensity...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 13 : CHAPTER 13. The ruler or prime minister who attends to the government as he attends to his own body, understanding that it is a source of "great heartache," is worthy of the trust. The comparison of "rank" or "high office" to the body as a source of great trouble and anxiety is based on an ide...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 50 : 28. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY. 1. "Who his manhood shows And his womanhood knows Becomes the empire's river. Is he the empire's river, He will from virtue never deviate, And home he turneth to a child's estate. p. 93 2. "Who his brightness shows And his blackness knows Becomes the empire's model. Is...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 54 : CHAPTER 54. This chapter, like so many other passages, is directed against the Confucianists who in their ethics insist on the ritual of ancestral sacrifices. Lao-tze believes that wherever the Tao is observed, filial piety and sacrificial celebrations will be spontaneous.
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 13 : 74. OVERCOME DELUSION. 1. If the people do not fear death, how can they be frightened by death? If we make people fear death, and supposing p. 126 some would [still] venture to rebel, if we seize them for capital punishment, who will dare? 2. There is always an executioner who kills. Now to take...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 59 : CHAPTER 59. The "mother of the commonwealth" is commonly interpreted to be thrift. It is not impossible that Lao-tze means the Tao or Reason, but in the same chapter he uses the term Tao in the more general sense as "way."
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 47 : p. 171 CHAPTER 47. Whether or not Lao-tze meant it, he here endorses Kant's doctrine of the "a priori", which means that certain truths can be stated "a priori", viz., even before we make an actual experience. It is not the globe trotter who knows mankind, but the thinker. In order to know...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 43 : 35. THE VIRTUE OF BENEVOLENCE. 1. "Who holdeth fast to the great Form, Of him the world will come in quest: For there we never meet with harm, There we find shelter, comfort, rest." 2. Music with dainties makes the passing stranger stop. But Reason, when p. 98 coming from the mouth, how tasteless...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 59 : 77. HEAVEN'S REASON. 1. Is not Heaven's Reason truly like stretching a bow? The high it brings down, the lowly it lifts up. Those who have abundance it depleteth; those who are deficient it augmenteth. 2. Such is Heaven's Reason. It depleteth those who have abundance but completeth the deficient. 3...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 47 : 31. QUELLING WAR. 1. Even victorious arms are unblest among tools, and people had better shun them. Therefore he who has Reason does not rely on them. 2. The superior man when residing at home honors the left. When using arms, he honors the right. 3. Arms are unblest among tools and not...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 04 : 20. DIFFERENT FROM THE VULGAR. 1. Abandon learnedness, and you have no vexation. The "yes" compared with the "yea," how little do they differ! p. 86 But the good compared with the bad, how much do they differ! 2. If what the people dread cannot be made dreadless, there will be desolation, al...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 12 : 12. ABSTAINING FROM DESIRE. 1. "The five colors [combined] the human eye will blind; The five notes [in one sound] the human ear confound; The five tastes [when they blend] the human mouth offend." 2. "Racing and hunting will human hearts turn mad, Treasures high-prized make human conduct bad." 3...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 51 : 27. THE FUNCTION OF SKILL. 1. "Good travelers leave no trace nor track, Good speakers, in logic show no lack, Good counters need no counting rack. p. 92 2. "Good lockers bolting bars need not, Yet none their locks can loose. Good binders need no string nor knot, Yet none unties their noose." 3...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 12 : CHAPTER 12. The meaning of the verses quoted in this chapter carries out the principle enunciated in Chapter 11. The utility of things, as well as the worth of life, is attained not by having everything in completion and in fulness, but by selecting some parts and omitting others, by moderati...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 55 : 81. PROPOUNDING THE ESSENTIAL. 1. True words are not pleasant; pleasant words are not true. The good are not contentious; the contentious are not good. The wise are not learned; the learned are not wise. 2. The holy man hoards not. The more he does for others, the more he owns himself. The more he...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 08 : 16. RETURNING TO THE ROOT. 1. By attaining the height of abstraction we gain fulness of rest. 2. All the ten thousand things arise, and I see them return. Now they bloom in bloom but each one homeward returneth to its root. 3. Returning to the root means rest. It signifies the return according...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 16 : 8. EASY BY NATURE. 1. Superior goodness resembleth water. The water's goodness benefiteth the ten thousand things, yet it quarreleth not. p. 78 2. Water dwelleth in the places which the multitudes of men shun; therefore it is near unto the eternal Reason 3. The dwelling of goodness is in lowliness...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 45 : CHAPTER 45. Literally the second quotation reads: "Greatest straightness is like a curve, Greatest skill is like awkwardness, Greatest eloquence is like stammering." The first line reminds us of modern geometry where the straight line may be regarded as a curve of an infinitely small curvature. Cf...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 02 : p. 88 22. HUMILITY'S INCREASE. 1. "The crooked shall be straight, Crushed ones recuperate, The empty find their fill. The worn with strength shall thrill; Who little have receive, And who have much will grieve." 2. Therefore The holy man embraces unity and becomes for all the world a model. Not...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 18 : p. 153 CHAPTER 18. This chapter is directed against the Confucianist morality of filial piety, loyalty, and justice. Lao-tze is disgusted with the very words. Where the Tao obtains there is no need of preaching justice, filial piety and loyalty, for the virtue of the Tao is spontaneous. The men...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 41 : 37. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT. 1. Reason always practises non-assertion, and there is nothing that remains undone. p. 99 2. If princes and kings could keep Reason, the ten thousand creatures would of themselves be reformed. While being reformed they might yet be anxious to stir; but I would...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 45 : 33. THE VIRTUE OF DISCRIMINATION. 1. One who knows others is clever, but one who knows himself is enlightened. 2. One who conquers others is powerful, but one who conquers himself is mighty. 3. One who knows contentment is rich and one who pushes with vigor has will. 4. One who loses not his place...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 06 : 18. THE PALLIATION OF VULGARITY. 1. When the great Reason is obliterated, we have benevolence and justice. Prudence and circumspection appear, and we have much hypocrisy. 2. When family relations no longer harmonize, we have filial piety and paternal p. 85 devotion. When the country and the clans...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 18 : p. 77 6. THE COMPLETION OF FORM. 1. "The valley spirit not expires, Mysterious woman tis called by the sires. The mysterious woman's door, to boot, Is called of heaven and earth the root. Forever and aye it seems to endure And its use is without effort sure."
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 57 : CHAPTER 57. When, as Hamlet says, "the time is out of joint," we observe that political disorder produces restlessness among the people and in its wake come startling events. The people are frightened and superstition dominates their minds. The result is that ghosts will spook and the gods will be...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 49 : CHAPTER 49. The word "shang" means "constant, ordinary, usual, common" etc., and the contrast requires the sense that the saint has not the heart as other people have, which means a heart of his own. The "one hundred families" is a Chinese term which means the people of a district. p. 172...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 10 : 14. PRAISING THE MYSTERIOUS. 1. We look at Reason and do not see it; its name is Colorless. We listen to Reason and do not hear it; its name is Soundless. We grope for Reason and do not grasp it; its name is Bodiless. 2. These three things cannot further be analyzed. Thus they are combined...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 14 : CHAPTER 14. This chapter is remarkable for several reasons. Lao-tze speaks of the Tao, and describes it by saying what it is not. It is not perceptible to the senses; accordingly it is "colorless, soundless" and "bodiless." It cannot be seen, it cannot be heard, it cannot be touched; but this...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 53 : 25. IMAGING THE MYSTERIOUS. 1. There is a Being wondrous and complete. Before heaven and earth, it was. How calm it is! How spiritual! 2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth not; yet therefore can it be the world's mother. 3. Its name I know not, but its...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 57 : p. 129 79. KEEP YOUR OBLIGATIONS. 1. When a great hatred is reconciled, naturally some hatred will remain. How can this be made good? 2. Therefore the sage keeps the obligations of his contract and exacts not from others. Those who have virtue attend to their obligations; those who have no virtue...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 49 : 29. NON-ASSERTION. 1. When one desires to take in hand the empire and make it, I see him not succeed. The empire is a divine vessel which cannot be made. One who makes it, mars it. One who takes it, loses it. p. 94 2. And it is said of beings: "Some are obsequious, others move boldly, Some bre...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 10 : CHAPTER 10. The text of the first two sentences is difficult, and we deem our present version an improvement. 7 Literally the beginning seems to read thus: "Being insistent in disciplining the sense soul." Mr. Ng Poon Chew writes: "The first two characters are verbs, there is no question as to th...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 14 : 10. WHAT CAN BE DONE? 1. Who by unending discipline of the senses embraces unity cannot be disintegrated. p. 79 By concentrating his vitality and inducing tenderness he can become like a little child. By purifying, by cleansing and profound intuition he can be free from faults. 2. Who loves...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 26 : CHAPTER 26. The word "tsz", translated "gravity," is a peculiar phrase which literally means "baggage wagon." The intermediate idea seems to be "heaviness" or "gravity," the latter in the double sense (literal and figurative) as used in English. In our former edition it was translated "dignity."
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 38 : CHAPTER 38. Justice is different from virtue and benevolence. It is the nature of justice to act and enforce its pretensions. True or superior virtue is here called "unvirtue" because it does not make a p. 165 show of virtue; it does not "act virtue." A difference between virtue and justice is th...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 61 : 73. DARING TO ACT. 1. Courage, if carried to daring, leads to death; courage, if not carried to daring, leads to life. Either of these two things is sometimes beneficial, sometimes harmful. 2. "Why t is by heaven rejected, Who has the reason detected?" Therefore the holy man also regards it...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 22 : 2. SELF-CULTURE. 1. Everywhere it is obvious that if beauty makes a display of beauty, it is sheer ugliness. It is obvious that if goodness makes a display of goodness, it is sheer badness. For 2. "To be and not to be are mutually conditioned. The difficult, the easy, are mutually definitioned...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 26 : 52. RETURNING TO THE ORIGIN. 1. When the world takes its beginning, Reason becomes the world's mother. 2. As one knows his mother, so she in turn knows her child; as she quickens her child, so he in turn keeps to his mother, and to the end of life he is not in danger. Who closes his mouth...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 38 : 40. AVOIDING ACTIVITY. 1. "Homeward is Reason's course, Weakness is Reason's force." 2. Heaven and earth and the ten thousand things come from existence, but existence comes from non-existence.
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 61 : CHAPTER 61. This chapter contains more wisdom than it seems to possess at first sight. The same idea is expressed in the English saying that by stooping one conquers. It is also echoed in the New Testament where Jesus says that he who wishes to be the master of all should be their servant...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 65 : 69. THE FUNCTION OF THE MYSTERIOUS. 1. A military expert used to say: 'I dare not act as host [who takes the initiative] but act as guest [with reserve]. I dare not advance an inch, but I withdraw a foot." 2. This is called marching without marching, threatening without arms, charging without...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 22 : CHAPTER 22. Lao-tze here as in many other places quotes a sentiment from the sages of yore. p. 158 These beautiful lines remind us of several Biblical sayings, such as "The crooked shall be made straight" (Is. xl. 4) and "The bruised reed shall he not break" (Matt. xii. 20). Compare also...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 9 : CHAPTER 9. A German proverb says: "Allzu scharf macht schartig"." This is a truth which few learn, and so it is daily verified again and again in business, in politics and in private life. The word "rh" is a copula often translated "and" or "but." The character depicts the side portions of the face...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 73 : 61. THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY. 1. A great state, one that lowly flows, becomes the empire's union, and the empire's wife. 2. The wife always through quietude conquers her husband, and by quietude renders herself lowly. 3. Thus a great state through lowliness toward small states will conquer the small...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 30 : p. 107 48. FORGETTING KNOWLEDGE. 1. He who seeks learnedness will daily increase. He who seeks Reason will daily diminish. He will diminish and continue to diminish until he arrives at non-assertion. 2. With non-assertion there is nothing that he cannot achieve. When he takes the empire, it is...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 34 : p. 105 44. SETTING UP PRECEPTS. 1. "Name or person, which is more near? Person or fortune, which is more dear? Gain or loss, which is more sear? 2. "Extreme dotage leadeth to squandering. Hoarded wealth inviteth plundering. 3. "Who is content incurs no humiliation, Who knows when to stop risks no...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 77 : 57. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS. 1. With rectitude one governs the state; with craftiness one leads the army; with non-diplomacy one takes the empire. How do I know that it is so? Through IT. 2. The more restrictions and prohibitions are in the empire, the poorer grow the people. The more weapons...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 5 : CHAPTER 5. In former editions the translator accepted the following version: "Heaven and earth exhibit no benevolence; to them the ten thousand things are like straw dogs. The holy man exhibits no benevolence; to him the hundred families are like straw dogs." Does that mean that heaven and earth...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 69 : 65. THE VIRTUE OF SIMPLICITY. 1. The ancients who were well versed in Reason did not thereby enlighten the people; they intended thereby to make them simple-hearted. 2. If people are difficult to govern, it is because they are too smart. To govern the country with smartness is the country's curse...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 63 : 71. THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE. 1. To know the unknowable, that is elevating. Not to know the knowable, that is sickness. 2. Only by becoming sick of sickness can we be without sickness. 3. The holy man is not sick. Because he is sick of sickness, therefore he is not sick.
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 24 : CHAPTER 24. Mr. Medhurst translates the first sentence: "Who tiptoes totters; who straddles stumbles." The translator trusts that the style of this chapter has been greatly improved in this edition. The first section has been made more terse, and in the second the sense comes out more clearly. "Y...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 79 : CHAPTER 79. The original reads, "The holy man keeps the left ("tso") of contract" and "tso", "left," means the debit side. The right side of the contract table contained the claims, "cheh", which in its original meaning denotes "to go through" and then "that which can be enacted."
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 20 : 4. SOURCELESS. 1. Reason is empty, but its use is inexhaustible. In its profundity, verily, it p. 76 resembleth the arch-father of the ten thousand things. 2. "It will blunt its own sharpness, Will its tangles adjust; It will dim its own radiance And be one with its dust." 3. Oh, how calm it seems...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 80 : CHAPTER 80. Lao-tze is not in favor of progress. He is bent on preaching that the Tao can be actualized in primitive conditions as well as, if not more easily than, in a highly complicated state of civilization. His ideal is not the luxury of wealth and power and learnedness, but the simple life...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 63 : CHAPTER 63. In the famous passage, "Requite hatred with virtue," the word "teh", "virtue," is p. 182 commonly translated "goodness." We grant that this is the meaning, but we prefer a literal rendering. The sentence recalls Christ's injunction, "Love your enemies," but it means that we should tre...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 24 : p. 69 SZE-MA-CHIEN ON LAO-TZE. Lao-tze was born in the hamlet Ch-Jan (Good Man's Bend), Li-Hsiang (Grinding County), Ku-Hien (Thistle District), of Chu (Bramble land). His family was the Li gentry ("Li" meaning Plum). His proper name was Er (Ear), his posthumous title Po-Yang (Prince Positive)...
The Old Philosopher's Canon Of Re. Part 79 : p. 111 54. THE CULTIVATION OF INTUITION. 1. "What is well planted is not uprooted; What's well preserved can not be looted!" 2. By sons and grandsons the sacrificial celebrations shall not cease. 3. Who cultivates Reason in his person, his virtue is genuine. Who cultivates it in his house, his...
Comments And Alternative Readings. Chapter 20 : CHAPTER 20. Lao-tze continues to criticize Confucianism as represented by the learned ones, the literati. According to Confucius conventional propriety is a great virtue, and it is very important that people reply according to the properly established modes of speaking. There are two forms...