和大怨必有餘怨•安可以為善是以聖人執左契而不責於人[(•)故]有德司契無德司徹天 道 無 親常 與 善 人Harmonize a great resentment,And there must exist some remaining resentment.How can this be considered good?Thus the sage :Holds the left side of an agreement,But does not demand payment of people.Therefore : to have De is to take charge of youragreements;To be without De is to take charge of taking away fromothers.The Way of heaven, while without favor,Is always with virtuous people.♦Harmonizeagreatresentment,♦And theremustexistsomeremainingresentment.♦Howcanthis beconsidered2good?♦Thus2thesage2:HoldstheleftsideAof anagreement,Butdoesnotdemand[payment]ofpeople.Therefore: tohaveDeis totake chargeof youragreements;♦To bewithoutDeis totake chargeoftaking awayfromothers.♦TheWayofheaven, whilewithoutfavor,♦Isalways[together]withvirtuouspeople.BNotesThe point of the beginning of this chapter seems to be that the sage does not create resentments in the first placeA :Lau says that the left side of a contract or agreement was the creditor’s side, so the sage is the one who is owedB :Hatcher points out that while the Way of heaven itself is without favor, virtuous people have aligned themselves with it (because of their virtue), hence it is “with” themCross-referencesWay of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #81Chapter Eighty•小國寡民使有什伯之器而不用•使民重死而不遠徙雖有舟輿無所乘之雖有甲兵無所陳之使(民)復結繩而用之甘其食美其服安其居樂其俗鄰國相望雞犬之聲相聞民至老死不相往來In a small nation with few citizens :Ensure that it has the weapons of ten nobles, but does notuse them.Ensure that the citizens take death seriously, and do notmigrate far.Even though they have boats and carriages, there is noplace to take advantage of them.Even though they have armor and weapons, there is noplace to display them.Ensure that the citizens return to knotting ropes and usingthem,Find deliciousness in their food,Beauty in their clothes,Contentment in their dwellings,Happiness in their customs.Although neighboring nations overlook one another,And sounds of roosters and dogs can be heard in oneanother –The citizens reach old age and die,And do not come and go between one another.♦In asmallnationwithfewcitizens:Ensurethat ithastheweaponsAoftennoblesB,butdoesnotusethem. [make,cause] [tools] [Count]Ensurethat thecitizenstakedeathseriously,anddonotmigratefar. [make,cause]Even thoughtheyhaveboatsandcarriages, there isnoplacetotake advantageofthem.CEven thoughtheyhavearmorandweapons, there isnoplacetodisplaythem.D♦Ensurethat thecitizensreturntoknottingropesandusingthemE, [make,cause]♦Finddeliciousnessintheirfood,Beautyintheirclothes,Contentmentintheirdwellings,Happinessintheircustoms.♦[Although]neighboringnationsoverlookone another, [look at] [each other]♦Andsoundsofroostersanddogscan beheardinone another– [chickens] [each other]♦Thecitizensreacholdage anddie,♦And donotcomeandgobetweenone another.[each other]NotesA : the symbol literally refers only to tools, but has been associated with weapons in #31, #36, and #57 : “sharp tools”, “weapons are not the tools of a noble man”B : the symbol specifically refers to a Count (see #32), but in keeping with other chapters, this is interpreted more generally as “nobles”;the entire phrase probably means “as many weapons as the armies of ten Counts would have”C :have no need to use them; in other words, they do not want to leave, as supported by the last paragraphD : compare to #36, where the sharp tools of the nation cannot be shown to the peopleE :according to Ames&Hall, knotted ropes used to be used for record-keepingCross-referencesnobles (in general) : #32, #37, #39, #42, #62die/death : #6, #33, #42, #50, #67, #74, #75, #76citizens do not fear death, take death seriously/lightly :#74, #75returning : #14, #16, #19, #20, #22, #25, #28, #34, #40,#52, #58, #60, #64, #65Chapter Eighty One信言不美美言不信善者不辯辯者不善知者不博博者不知•聖人不積既以為人己愈有既以與人己愈多天之道利而不害聖人之道為而不爭True words are not beautiful;Beautiful words are not true.He who has virtue does not argue;He who argues does not have virtue.He who knows is not learned;He who is learned does not know.The sage does not accumulate things –Since through serving people, the more one has;Since through giving to people, one has even more.The Way of heaven benefits and does not cause harm.The Way of the sage acts yet does not strive.♦True*wordsarenotbeautiful;♦Beautifulwordsarenottrue*.He whohasvirtuedoesnotargue;He whoarguesdoesnothavevirtue.He whoknowsisnotlearned;He whoislearneddoesnotknow.♦Thesage2doesnotaccumulate[things] –♦Sincethroughservingpeople,the moreone[self]has; [by means of]Sincethroughgivingtopeople,one[self]haseven more2. [by means of] [moremore]♦TheWayofheavenbenefitsanddoesnotcause harm.TheWayofthesage2actsyetdoesnotstrive.NotesCross-referencesone who is not virtuous : #27, #49, #62Way of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #79no harm : #35, #56, #58, #60, #66no striving : #3, #8, #22, #66, #68, #73Appendix – Different Layers of the Dao De JingWhile translating the DDJ, I discovered John Emerson’s articles on the possibility of various “layers” within it, based on the presence or absence of certain symbols and “themes” in each chapter. While he was not the first to suggest the presence of multiple layers, of particular interest to me was his comment : “Many of the objections to my method seemed to be objections to the kinds of rough, empirical, non-algorithmic methods best used to disentangle historically confused material.” Having a background in something called pattern recognition, I decided to find out whether or not each chapter could be classified as belonging to these layers based on this purely analytical method.Emerson tentatively identified Early, Middle, Late, Added (very small) and Post-Guodian layers. By definition, the Post-Guodian layer contains at least chapters 67-81, none of which appear in the Guodian source. Building on Emerson’s work, extensive analysis using pattern recognition methods based on the relative frequencies of the symbols in each chapter indicates that the most self-consistent results are obtained when the DDJ is separated into three layers of chapters :Early :145679101314151620212324252830313234353739414451525556Late :38121718192227293845 46474849535457585960616263646566Post-Guodian :112633364042435067-81Mixed : 2Excluding the chapters he identified as Middle (which ended up being assigned very evenly across the other three layers), none of these completely disagree with Emerson’s assignments (except for 52, which is the only entire chapter he considered to be Added), although he assigns some sections of some chapters to other layers. While a significant majority (85%) of the chapters werestronglyidentified as belonging to their layer (the underlined chapters above), the pattern recognition process did indicate that a few (most notably chapters 24, 45, 46, 59, and 62, and to a lesser extent 8, 22, 30, 39, 44, and 49) may have elements of more than one layer present within them.Note that while Emerson’s names (Early, Late, Post-Guodian) are kept for convenience, they don’t necessarily have to indicate separation in time – they could perhaps represent different oral traditions, or sayings that originally developed in different regions of China, which combined to form the Dao De Jing we know today. Also note that the Guodian document (~300 BCE) consists of chapters from both Early and Late in roughly equal numbers, so this “layering” actually happened very early.Although chapter 40 was identified as being strongly Post-Guodian, it is present in the Guodian manuscript, but that is not considered a major problem. For example, if perhaps the post-Guodian “style” was already being developed at the time the Guodian document was created, then the presence of chapter 40 in the document could mean that it had already been written in this style, perhaps shortly before the Guodian document was created, whereas chapters 68-81 had yet to be written (or the Guodian compiler was not aware of their existence). There are probably many other scenarios that could explain such a result.Chapter 2 was variously classified as belonging to all three layers, but the symbol distributions (below) simultaneously indicated that it cannot belong to any of them! If any chapter is truly a mixture of layers, it is this one (which Emerson agrees with), so it is not assigned to any.With the chapters separated as given above, it is possible to identify which symbols are used more often in one layer than another, as shown in the table below. Each line represents one symbol, and shows its various English meanings (as used in this translation). “Weak” symbols show up three to six times more often in the indicated layer than the other two, while “Strong” symbols show up more than six times more often. Within these sections, symbols are ordered from the least unbalanced to most unbalanced distributions between the layers. “Unique” symbols show uponlyin that layer, and not even once in the others. In these sections, words are listed from fewest appearances to most appearances. Weak and Strong symbols must show up in at least five chapters to be included, while Unique symbols must be in at least three chapters. Phrases (two or more symbols) are shown in italics. Some punctuation symbols are included as they tend to show differences in grammatical conventions between the layers. Where two symbols are consistently translated into the same punctuation, (#1) and (#2) are used to distinguish between them.
和大怨必有餘怨•安可以為善是以聖人執左契而不責於人[(•)故]有德司契無德司徹天 道 無 親常 與 善 人Harmonize a great resentment,And there must exist some remaining resentment.How can this be considered good?Thus the sage :Holds the left side of an agreement,But does not demand payment of people.Therefore : to have De is to take charge of youragreements;To be without De is to take charge of taking away fromothers.The Way of heaven, while without favor,Is always with virtuous people.♦Harmonizeagreatresentment,♦And theremustexistsomeremainingresentment.♦Howcanthis beconsidered2good?♦Thus2thesage2:HoldstheleftsideAof anagreement,Butdoesnotdemand[payment]ofpeople.Therefore: tohaveDeis totake chargeof youragreements;♦To bewithoutDeis totake chargeoftaking awayfromothers.♦TheWayofheaven, whilewithoutfavor,♦Isalways[together]withvirtuouspeople.BNotesThe point of the beginning of this chapter seems to be that the sage does not create resentments in the first placeA :Lau says that the left side of a contract or agreement was the creditor’s side, so the sage is the one who is owedB :Hatcher points out that while the Way of heaven itself is without favor, virtuous people have aligned themselves with it (because of their virtue), hence it is “with” themCross-referencesWay of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #81
和大怨
必有餘怨•
安可以為善
是以聖人
執左契
而不責於人
[(•)故]有德司契
無德司徹
天 道 無 親
常 與 善 人
Harmonize a great resentment,
And there must exist some remaining resentment.
How can this be considered good?
Thus the sage :
Holds the left side of an agreement,
But does not demand payment of people.
Therefore : to have De is to take charge of your
agreements;
To be without De is to take charge of taking away from
others.
The Way of heaven, while without favor,
Is always with virtuous people.
♦Harmonizeagreatresentment,
♦And theremustexistsomeremainingresentment.
♦Howcanthis beconsidered2good?
♦Thus2thesage2:
HoldstheleftsideAof anagreement,
Butdoesnotdemand[payment]ofpeople.
Therefore: tohaveDeis totake chargeof your
agreements;
♦To bewithoutDeis totake chargeoftaking awayfrom
others.
♦TheWayofheaven, whilewithoutfavor,
♦Isalways[together]withvirtuouspeople.B
Notes
The point of the beginning of this chapter seems to be that the sage does not create resentments in the first place
A :Lau says that the left side of a contract or agreement was the creditor’s side, so the sage is the one who is owed
B :Hatcher points out that while the Way of heaven itself is without favor, virtuous people have aligned themselves with it (because of their virtue), hence it is “with” them
Cross-references
Way of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #81
Chapter Eighty
•小國寡民使有什伯之器而不用•使民重死而不遠徙雖有舟輿無所乘之雖有甲兵無所陳之使(民)復結繩而用之甘其食美其服安其居樂其俗鄰國相望雞犬之聲相聞民至老死不相往來In a small nation with few citizens :Ensure that it has the weapons of ten nobles, but does notuse them.Ensure that the citizens take death seriously, and do notmigrate far.Even though they have boats and carriages, there is noplace to take advantage of them.Even though they have armor and weapons, there is noplace to display them.Ensure that the citizens return to knotting ropes and usingthem,Find deliciousness in their food,Beauty in their clothes,Contentment in their dwellings,Happiness in their customs.Although neighboring nations overlook one another,And sounds of roosters and dogs can be heard in oneanother –The citizens reach old age and die,And do not come and go between one another.♦In asmallnationwithfewcitizens:Ensurethat ithastheweaponsAoftennoblesB,butdoesnotusethem. [make,cause] [tools] [Count]Ensurethat thecitizenstakedeathseriously,anddonotmigratefar. [make,cause]Even thoughtheyhaveboatsandcarriages, there isnoplacetotake advantageofthem.CEven thoughtheyhavearmorandweapons, there isnoplacetodisplaythem.D♦Ensurethat thecitizensreturntoknottingropesandusingthemE, [make,cause]♦Finddeliciousnessintheirfood,Beautyintheirclothes,Contentmentintheirdwellings,Happinessintheircustoms.♦[Although]neighboringnationsoverlookone another, [look at] [each other]♦Andsoundsofroostersanddogscan beheardinone another– [chickens] [each other]♦Thecitizensreacholdage anddie,♦And donotcomeandgobetweenone another.[each other]NotesA : the symbol literally refers only to tools, but has been associated with weapons in #31, #36, and #57 : “sharp tools”, “weapons are not the tools of a noble man”B : the symbol specifically refers to a Count (see #32), but in keeping with other chapters, this is interpreted more generally as “nobles”;the entire phrase probably means “as many weapons as the armies of ten Counts would have”C :have no need to use them; in other words, they do not want to leave, as supported by the last paragraphD : compare to #36, where the sharp tools of the nation cannot be shown to the peopleE :according to Ames&Hall, knotted ropes used to be used for record-keepingCross-referencesnobles (in general) : #32, #37, #39, #42, #62die/death : #6, #33, #42, #50, #67, #74, #75, #76citizens do not fear death, take death seriously/lightly :#74, #75returning : #14, #16, #19, #20, #22, #25, #28, #34, #40,#52, #58, #60, #64, #65
•小國寡民
使有什伯之器而不用•
使民重死而不遠徙
雖有舟輿無所乘之
雖有甲兵無所陳之
使(民)復結繩而用之
甘其食
美其服
安其居
樂其俗
鄰國相望
雞犬之聲相聞
民至老死
不相往來
In a small nation with few citizens :
Ensure that it has the weapons of ten nobles, but does not
use them.
Ensure that the citizens take death seriously, and do not
migrate far.
Even though they have boats and carriages, there is no
place to take advantage of them.
Even though they have armor and weapons, there is no
place to display them.
Ensure that the citizens return to knotting ropes and using
them,
Find deliciousness in their food,
Beauty in their clothes,
Contentment in their dwellings,
Happiness in their customs.
Although neighboring nations overlook one another,
And sounds of roosters and dogs can be heard in one
another –
The citizens reach old age and die,
And do not come and go between one another.
♦In asmallnationwithfewcitizens:
Ensurethat ithastheweaponsAoftennoblesB,butdoesnot
usethem. [make,cause] [tools] [Count]
Ensurethat thecitizenstakedeathseriously,anddonot
migratefar. [make,cause]
Even thoughtheyhaveboatsandcarriages, there isno
placetotake advantageofthem.C
Even thoughtheyhavearmorandweapons, there isno
placetodisplaythem.D
♦Ensurethat thecitizensreturntoknottingropesandusing
themE, [make,cause]
♦Finddeliciousnessintheirfood,
Beautyintheirclothes,
Contentmentintheirdwellings,
Happinessintheircustoms.
♦[Although]neighboringnationsoverlookone another, [look at] [each other]
♦Andsoundsofroostersanddogscan beheardin
one another– [chickens] [each other]
♦Thecitizensreacholdage anddie,
♦And donotcomeandgobetweenone another.
[each other]
Notes
A : the symbol literally refers only to tools, but has been associated with weapons in #31, #36, and #57 : “sharp tools”, “weapons are not the tools of a noble man”
B : the symbol specifically refers to a Count (see #32), but in keeping with other chapters, this is interpreted more generally as “nobles”;the entire phrase probably means “as many weapons as the armies of ten Counts would have”
C :have no need to use them; in other words, they do not want to leave, as supported by the last paragraph
D : compare to #36, where the sharp tools of the nation cannot be shown to the people
E :according to Ames&Hall, knotted ropes used to be used for record-keeping
Cross-references
nobles (in general) : #32, #37, #39, #42, #62
die/death : #6, #33, #42, #50, #67, #74, #75, #76
citizens do not fear death, take death seriously/lightly :
#74, #75
returning : #14, #16, #19, #20, #22, #25, #28, #34, #40,
#52, #58, #60, #64, #65
Chapter Eighty One
信言不美美言不信善者不辯辯者不善知者不博博者不知•聖人不積既以為人己愈有既以與人己愈多天之道利而不害聖人之道為而不爭True words are not beautiful;Beautiful words are not true.He who has virtue does not argue;He who argues does not have virtue.He who knows is not learned;He who is learned does not know.The sage does not accumulate things –Since through serving people, the more one has;Since through giving to people, one has even more.The Way of heaven benefits and does not cause harm.The Way of the sage acts yet does not strive.♦True*wordsarenotbeautiful;♦Beautifulwordsarenottrue*.He whohasvirtuedoesnotargue;He whoarguesdoesnothavevirtue.He whoknowsisnotlearned;He whoislearneddoesnotknow.♦Thesage2doesnotaccumulate[things] –♦Sincethroughservingpeople,the moreone[self]has; [by means of]Sincethroughgivingtopeople,one[self]haseven more2. [by means of] [moremore]♦TheWayofheavenbenefitsanddoesnotcause harm.TheWayofthesage2actsyetdoesnotstrive.NotesCross-referencesone who is not virtuous : #27, #49, #62Way of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #79no harm : #35, #56, #58, #60, #66no striving : #3, #8, #22, #66, #68, #73
信言不美
美言不信
善者不辯
辯者不善
知者不博
博者不知•
聖人不積
既以為人己愈有
既以與人己愈多
天之道利而不害
聖人之道為而不爭
True words are not beautiful;
Beautiful words are not true.
He who has virtue does not argue;
He who argues does not have virtue.
He who knows is not learned;
He who is learned does not know.
The sage does not accumulate things –
Since through serving people, the more one has;
Since through giving to people, one has even more.
The Way of heaven benefits and does not cause harm.
The Way of the sage acts yet does not strive.
♦True*wordsarenotbeautiful;
♦Beautifulwordsarenottrue*.
He whohasvirtuedoesnotargue;
He whoarguesdoesnothavevirtue.
He whoknowsisnotlearned;
He whoislearneddoesnotknow.
♦Thesage2doesnotaccumulate[things] –
♦Sincethroughservingpeople,the moreone[self]has; [by means of]
Sincethroughgivingtopeople,one[self]haseven more2. [by means of] [moremore]
♦TheWayofheavenbenefitsanddoesnotcause harm.
TheWayofthesage2actsyetdoesnotstrive.
Notes
Cross-references
one who is not virtuous : #27, #49, #62
Way of heaven : #9, #47, #73, #77, #79
no harm : #35, #56, #58, #60, #66
no striving : #3, #8, #22, #66, #68, #73
Appendix – Different Layers of the Dao De Jing
While translating the DDJ, I discovered John Emerson’s articles on the possibility of various “layers” within it, based on the presence or absence of certain symbols and “themes” in each chapter. While he was not the first to suggest the presence of multiple layers, of particular interest to me was his comment : “Many of the objections to my method seemed to be objections to the kinds of rough, empirical, non-algorithmic methods best used to disentangle historically confused material.” Having a background in something called pattern recognition, I decided to find out whether or not each chapter could be classified as belonging to these layers based on this purely analytical method.
Emerson tentatively identified Early, Middle, Late, Added (very small) and Post-Guodian layers. By definition, the Post-Guodian layer contains at least chapters 67-81, none of which appear in the Guodian source. Building on Emerson’s work, extensive analysis using pattern recognition methods based on the relative frequencies of the symbols in each chapter indicates that the most self-consistent results are obtained when the DDJ is separated into three layers of chapters :
Early :145679101314151620212324252830313234353739414451525556
Late :38121718192227293845 46474849535457585960616263646566
Post-Guodian :112633364042435067-81
Mixed : 2
Excluding the chapters he identified as Middle (which ended up being assigned very evenly across the other three layers), none of these completely disagree with Emerson’s assignments (except for 52, which is the only entire chapter he considered to be Added), although he assigns some sections of some chapters to other layers. While a significant majority (85%) of the chapters werestronglyidentified as belonging to their layer (the underlined chapters above), the pattern recognition process did indicate that a few (most notably chapters 24, 45, 46, 59, and 62, and to a lesser extent 8, 22, 30, 39, 44, and 49) may have elements of more than one layer present within them.
Note that while Emerson’s names (Early, Late, Post-Guodian) are kept for convenience, they don’t necessarily have to indicate separation in time – they could perhaps represent different oral traditions, or sayings that originally developed in different regions of China, which combined to form the Dao De Jing we know today. Also note that the Guodian document (~300 BCE) consists of chapters from both Early and Late in roughly equal numbers, so this “layering” actually happened very early.
Although chapter 40 was identified as being strongly Post-Guodian, it is present in the Guodian manuscript, but that is not considered a major problem. For example, if perhaps the post-Guodian “style” was already being developed at the time the Guodian document was created, then the presence of chapter 40 in the document could mean that it had already been written in this style, perhaps shortly before the Guodian document was created, whereas chapters 68-81 had yet to be written (or the Guodian compiler was not aware of their existence). There are probably many other scenarios that could explain such a result.
Chapter 2 was variously classified as belonging to all three layers, but the symbol distributions (below) simultaneously indicated that it cannot belong to any of them! If any chapter is truly a mixture of layers, it is this one (which Emerson agrees with), so it is not assigned to any.
With the chapters separated as given above, it is possible to identify which symbols are used more often in one layer than another, as shown in the table below. Each line represents one symbol, and shows its various English meanings (as used in this translation). “Weak” symbols show up three to six times more often in the indicated layer than the other two, while “Strong” symbols show up more than six times more often. Within these sections, symbols are ordered from the least unbalanced to most unbalanced distributions between the layers. “Unique” symbols show uponlyin that layer, and not even once in the others. In these sections, words are listed from fewest appearances to most appearances. Weak and Strong symbols must show up in at least five chapters to be included, while Unique symbols must be in at least three chapters. Phrases (two or more symbols) are shown in italics. Some punctuation symbols are included as they tend to show differences in grammatical conventions between the layers. Where two symbols are consistently translated into the same punctuation, (#1) and (#2) are used to distinguish between them.