道德经全文和注释 (英文版)

Dr.Wayne WANG

70. Individuality
My words are easy to understand
And my actions are easy to perform
Yet no other can understand or perform them.

My words have meaning; my actions have reason;
Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.

We are each unique, and therefore valuable;
Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.

【原文】
       吾言甚易知，甚易行。
       天下莫能知，莫能行。
       言有宗，事有君。
       夫唯无知，是以不我知。
       知我者希，则我者贵。
       是以圣人被褐而怀玉。

Dr.Wayne WANG

71. Limitation
Who recognizes his limitations is healthy;
Who ignores his limitations is sick.
The sage recognizes this sickness as a limitation.
And so becomes immune.

【原文】
       知不知，上；
       不知知，病。
       夫唯病病，是以不病。
       圣人不病，以其病病，是以不病。

Dr.Wayne WANG

72. Revolution
When people have nothing more to lose,
Then revolution will result.

Do not take away their lands,
And do not destroy their livelihoods;
If your burden is not heavy then they will not shirk it.

The sage maintains himself but exacts no tribute,
Values himself but requires no honours;
He ignores abstraction and accepts substance.

【原文】

民不畏威，则大威至矣。
无狎其所居，无厌其所生。
夫唯不厌，是以不厌。
是以圣人自知不自见，自爱不自贵。
故去彼取此。

Dr.Wayne WANG

73. Fate
Who is brave and bold will perish;
Who is brave and subtle will benefit.
The subtle profit where the bold perish
For fate does not honour daring.
And even the sage dares not tempt fate.

Fate does not attack, yet all things are conquered by it;
It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
It does not call, yet all things meet it;
It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.

Fate's net is vast and its mesh is coarse,
Yet none escape it.

【原文】
       勇于敢则杀，勇于不敢则活。
       此两者，或利或害，天之所恶，孰知其故？
       是以圣人犹难之。
       天之道，不争而善胜，不言而善应，不召而自来， 繟然而善谋。
       天网恢恢，疏而不失。

Dr.Wayne WANG

74. Execution
If people were not afraid of death,
Then what would be the use of an executioner?

If people were only afraid of death,
And you executed everyone who did not obey,
No one would dare to disobey you.
Then what would be the use of an executioner?

People fear death because death is an instrument of fate.
When people are killed by execution rather than by fate,
This is like carving wood in the place of a carpenter.
Those who carve wood in place of a carpenter

【原文】
       民不畏死，奈何以死惧之？
       若使民常畏死，而为奇者，我得执而杀之……孰敢？
       常有司杀者杀。
       夫代司杀者杀，是代大匠斫。
       夫代大匠斫者，鲜有不伤其手者矣。

Dr.Wayne WANG

75. Rebellion
When rulers take grain so that they may feast,
Their people become hungry;
When rulers take action to serve their own interests,
Their people become rebellious;
When rulers take lives so that their own lives are maintained,
Their people no longer fear death.

When people act without regard for their own lives
They overcome those who value only their own lives.

【原文】
       民之饥，以其上食税之多，是以饥。
       民之难治，以其上之有为，是以难治。
       民之轻死，以其上求生之厚，是以轻死。
       夫唯无以生为者，是贤于贵生。

Dr.Wayne WANG

76. Flexibility
A newborn is soft and tender,
A crone, hard and stiff.
Plants and animals, in life, are supple and succulent;
In death, withered and dry.
So softness and tenderness are attributes of life,
And hardness and stiffness, attributes of death.

Just as a sapless tree will split and decay
So an inflexible force will meet defeat;
The hard and mighty lie beneath the ground
While the tender and weak dance on the breeze above.

【原文】
       人之生也柔弱，其死也坚强；
       草木之生也柔脆，其死也枯槁。
       故坚强者死之徒，柔弱者生之徒。
       是以兵强则灭，木强则折。
       强大处下，柔弱处上。

Dr.Wayne WANG

77. Need
Is the action of nature not unlike drawing a bow?
What is higher is pulled down, and what is lower is raised up;
What is taller is shortened, and what is thinner is broadened;
Nature's motion decreases those who have more than they need
And increases those who need more than they have.

It is not so with Man.
Man decreases those who need more than they have
And increases those who have more than they need.

To give away what you do not need is to follow the Way.
So the sage gives without expectation,
Accomplishes without claiming credit,
And has no desire for ostentation.

【原文】
       天之道，其犹张弓者欤？高者抑之，下者举之，有余者损之，不足者补之。
       天之道，损有余而补不足；人之道则不然，损不足以奉有余。
       孰能有余以奉天下？唯有道者。
       是以圣人为而不恃，功成而不处，其不欲见贤也。

Dr.Wayne WANG

78. Yielding
Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water,
Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and strong,
For they can neither control nor do away with it.

The soft overcomes the hard,
The yielding overcomes the strong;
Every person knows this,
But no one can practice it.

Who attends to the people would control the land and grain;
Who attends to the state would control the whole world;
Truth is easily hidden by rhetoric.

【原文】
       天下莫柔弱于水，而攻坚强者莫之能胜，以其无以易之。
       柔之胜刚，弱之胜强，天下莫不知，而莫能行。
       是以圣人云：爱国之垢，是谓社稷主；受国之不祥，是谓天下王。
       正言若反。

Dr.Wayne WANG

79. Reconciliation
When conflict is reconciled, some hard feelings remain;
This is dangerous.

The sage accepts less than is due
And does not blame or punish;
For harmony seeks agreement
Where justice seeks payment.

The ancients said: "nature is impartial;
Therefore it serves those who serve all."

【原文】
       和大怨，必有余恕，安可以为善？
       是以圣人执左契而不责于人。
       有德司契，无德司彻。
       天道无亲，常与善人。