Lao Zi zhi Dao De Jing

 

( Lao Tzu ’s Tao Te Ching )

 

Word by Word

 

Two Literal English Translations

 

One Simple, One Complex,

 

The Chinese Text and a Pinyin Transcription

 

by Bradford Hatcher

 

 

PDF Version 07.4 © Bradford Hatcher, 1998, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Section A - A Simple Translation

Introduction

A Simple Translation

Footnotes

 

Section B - A Matrix Translation, with Chinese Text

Introduction and Search Tips

A Matrix Translation

Common Variations in the Text

Guodian Index

 

Section C - Glossary

Words

Characters Not in the Glossary

Common Words

Phrases and Idioms

Pronouncing Pinyin Chinese

Pinyin to Wade-Giles Conversion

 

Section D - Bibliography

 

 

Introduction

 

                  With more than a hundred English translations of this little book in
print it has become customary to begin each new version with an apology
explaining the need for yet another English version. But this one may come
as a surprise to many readers: nobody has yet attempted a rigorously literal
translation of the Dao De Jing. Nobody has produced a stand-alone English
version wherein all of the Chinese words are represented by English counter-
parts. And nobody has yet attempted a translation which fully resists the
temptation to insert grammatical subjects and genders which do not exist in
the Chinese original.

              However a number of translators have demonstrated an admirable res-
pect for the original Chinese text and there exist many fine to passable trans-
lations, even if not strictly literal. My own favorites are highlighted in bold in
the Bibliography. Further, several versions have provided readers with Eng-
lish equivalents alongside each of the Chinese characters. These too are noted
in the bibliography. Unfortunately most do not mention which of the many
variations in the text are being used or point out places where other versions
differ. Typos are usually a problem with these as well.

              There are several reasons for such a confusion of books. The most ob-
vious is that there exists a large popular market for this book, while most of
the readers within this market know next to nothing about the Old Chinese
language. They seem to trust that publishing house editors, or the reviewers
quoted on the covers, are more knowledgeable. This is not the case. But there
is a still deeper source of confusion: the original work is not that much better
understood in Chinese than in English. Thousands of volumes of interpreta-
tion exist in the Chinese language, dating as far back as Wang Bi and
Heshang Gong in the third century ce. Interpretations tend to follow schools
of thought and the cumulative error that this often entails. Often systems of
thought which were in some way derived from Lao Zi are used retroactively
to interpret the meaning of the source text. The original’s language is terse,
ambiguous in places, and full of word play. The Old Chinese language itself
has no set parts of speech, no tense, gender, voice, mood, plurals, etc. In
many ways it resembles Tarot cards more than it does conventional language:
most words carry a large number of possible translations, in many parts of
speech, and intended meanings do not become clearer until studied in their
more limiting contexts. The fact that the original is rhymed is not as impor-
tant as some scholars seem to think: with only 411 syllables, rhyming in the
Chinese language is easy. But where the book makes effort to rhyme it often
makes the grammar less familiar. Finally, hundreds of older editions exist, and
rarely will two be found which agree word for word throughout. Choices
must be often be made between these.

              As the book began to be translated into languages other than Chinese,
a few more interpretive problems entered the picture. The earliest editions
were authored by Christian missionaries. These formed a substratum of schol-
arship upon which most later work was built. But the phrase “full of precon-
ceptions” could almost stand in as a definition of the word “missionary.” To
give credit where due, their minds seemed more open than their less scholarly
brethren. But in their effort to save Lao Zi’s soul they made his words sound
almost as though Jesus might have spoken them, even unto the absurdity of
translating Dao as God. There were also a number of wrong assumptions
made about the impossibility of translating Chinese literally, particularly about
the need to insert non-existent subjects of non-existent genders. This assump-
tion continues, but I challenge it here.

              A great mass of speculation, set forth with great cleverness and erudi-
tion, has been done on what this little book says and means, often flying right
in the face of the many things that Lao Zi himself had to say on the difficul-
ties that we humans have due to cleverness and erudition. This is delightfully,
wickedly perverse. Lao Zi will say something like: “The five colors will make
the human eye blind.” Commentators will then rush to “enlighten” us, with
great detail, about what the five colors are, presumably so that we can watch
out for them.

              For the above reasons I perceived a need to return to the original text,
as best as this can be reconstructed, and plod word by word through this until
it made sense. It is after all the original, and neither a translation nor a com-
mentary, which has survived these two dozen centuries. And, as it turned out,
the book was able to speak for, and even introduce itself. In other words I
have tried to present Laozi’s Dao De Jing as a simple book with lots of com-
plex thoughts, and not as a Daoist text or even a philosophical work. Com-
mentary in this edition will be limited to a few footnotes on some of the more
obscure cultural references and passages where misinterpretation has been the
most common. Restraint has been the most difficult where refraining from
explaining such key Chinese terms as Dao (way, path, truth), De (character,
merit, virtue), Po (unworked wood, original nature, simplicity) and Wei (to
do, perform, make, become, regard as). For these the reader is referred to the
Glossary at the back of the book.

              Two different kinds of translations are given here. The first is familiar- a
linear representation of thoughts in one language given in another. Particu-
larly between these two languages, much is lost in translation. The original is
far too broad in implication to be fully captured by so narrow and specific
language as English. English words cannot be made as fat with meaning as
Chinese, unless they spread out in another direction or dimension. The second
translation addresses this problem by offering a multi-dimensional matrix
from which a practically infinite number of linear translations can be derived.
This offers an average of perhaps four to five different English options for
each Chinese word, and often demonstrates choices between different gram-
matical constructions. This may be so unfamiliar and so confusing to most
readers that it is best thought of as an intricate set of footnotes, or a demon-
stration of the thought processes by which the linear translation of each line
was derived. It can still be used to answer specific questions about the turning
of certain phrases and the (often deliberate) polysemy, ambiguities and double
entendres in the original.

              The combined speculation on Lao Zi’s history and the origin of this
book would fill hundreds of volumes in Chinese and dozens in English. If we
set aside all the speculation, this is what we have left: The Dao De Jing (Tao
Te Ching) was written in China during either the late Spring and Autumn
Period or the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty, at some time be-
tween 550 and 350 bce, by one or more persons either named, writing un-
der the pen name of, or who came to be named Lao Zi (Lao Tzu). Two
things often said of Shakespeare apply also to Lao Zi: if the Dao De Jing was
not written by Lao Zi, it was by someone else of the same name; and if Lao
Zi did not write the Dao De Jing he most certainly missed the opportunity of
a lifetime. The name “Lao Zi,” which also stood for a few centuries as the
book’s title, could be a real name, meaning Elder Sir, or a pen name meaning
the Old Youngster. Sima Qian (Ssu-Ma Ch’ien, 145-86 bce), the Han Dy-
nasty historian, offered the most widely accepted - but still speculative - his-
tory:

 

Sima Qian shi ji, Lao Zi chuan

Sima Qian’s historical record, Lao Zi’s story

 

Si-ma Qian yue

Sima Qian writes:

Lao Zi zhe

Lao Zi was

Chu, Ku xian, Li xiang, Qu-ren li ren ye.

(A) Chu (Province), Ku district, Li county Quren hamlet resident.

Xing Li shi

Surnamed of the Li gentry

Ming Er, zi Bo Yang

Proper name Er, courtesy name Bo Yang,

Shi yue Dan

Posthumously called Dan

Zhou shou cang shi zhi shi ye.

A Zhou official in charge of historical archives.

Kong Zi shi Zhou

Kong Zi [Confucius] went to Zhou

Jiang wen li yu Lao-zi

In order to confer with Lao Zi about ceremony

Lao Zi yue, zi, suo yan zhe

Lao Zi said, Sir, that of which (you) speak,

Qi ren yu gu jie yi xiu yi!

These men, along with their bones, are all done with and decayed!

Du qi yan zai er

Only their words remain to be heard

Qie jun zi de qi shi ze jia

Now a nobleman who has his timing then rises

Bu de qi shi ze feng lei er xing

Failing to find his timing then drifts among involvements and

wanders about

Wu wen zhi:

This I hear:

Liang gu shen cang ruo xu

The good merchant is well guarded, (and) seems to be poor

Jun zi sheng de rong mao ruo yu

A nobleman full of character assumes a posture perhaps of

commonness

Qu, zi, zhi jiao qi, duo yu, tai se, yu yin zhi

Let go, Sir, of these proud airs, many desires, affected looks and

excessive ambitions

Shi jie wu yi yu, zi, zhi shen

This is all of no use, Sir, to life

Wu suo yi gao zi ruo shi er yi

This is what I intend to tell you about, Sir, and it is finished

Kong Zi qu

Kong Zi departed

Wei di zi yue:

(And) addressed the disciples, saying:

Niao wu zhi qi neng fei

(Of) birds, we know they can fly

Yu wu zhi qi neng you

(Of) fish, we know they can swim

Shou wu zhi qi neng zou

(Of) beasts, we know they can run

Zou zhe ke yi wei wang

For what runs, traps may be made

You zhe ke yi wei lun

For what swims, nets may be made

Fei zhe ke yi wei zeng

For what flies, arrows may be made

Zhi yu long

As to dragons

Wu bu neng zhi qi cheng feng yun er shang tian

We do not know how they ride the wind & clouds and ascend

to heaven

Wu jin mu jian Lao Zi

Today my eyes beheld Lao Zi

Qi you long ye?

Is he (not) like the dragon?

Lao Zi xiu dao de

Lao Zi cultivated the path (and) merit

Qi xue yi zi yin, wu ming, wei wu

His teachings concerned self-effacement, namelessness, the business

of doing.

Ju Zhou jiu zhi

Having dwelt long in Zhou

Jian Zhou zhi shuai nai sui qu

(He) foresaw the Zhou’s decline and consequently departed

Zhi guan

Coming to the frontier

Guan ling Yin Xi yue:

The customs house officer, Director Xi, said:

Zi, jiang yin yi

(You) Sir, about to retire,

Qiang wei wo zhu shu

Please, set down a document for my sake

Yu shi Lao Zi nai zhu shu shang xia pian

With this Lao Zi then wrote a book (in) upper and lower sections

Yan dao de zhi yi

Discussing the meaning of Dao and De

Wu qian yu yan er qu

(In) five thousand and more words and then departed

Mo zhi qi suo zhong

Nobody knows where he ended.

 

Sima Qian continues beyond this with a few more biographical anecdotes, but
these are much prefaced by “some say” and “perhaps,” and these stories
have led to some wild conclusions about Lao Zi’s great longevity. Even the
foregoing account makes the questionable claim that the Lao Zi we have
come to know and love as the Chinese Diogenes was a person who would be
consulted on subjects of ceremony, by the fussy Kong Zi no less. Unfortu-
nately most of recorded Chinese history (together with the earliest versions of
this book) was lost in the Qin dynasty when the tyrant Qin Shihuang burned
most of the books.

 

 

Lao Zi zhi Dao De Jing

 

in Simple Translation

 

              The following is an attempt at a succinct and straightforward literal
translation of a carefully emended Chinese version of the Dao De Jing.

              The division of the work into two parts (Chapters 1-37 & 38-81) is a
convention which dates back to the Zhou Dynasty, but probably not to the
origin of the text. These are sometimes called the Dao Jing and the De Jing
respectively. The word Jing, which simply means classic, was a Han Dynasty
addition to a small number of revered texts and indicated canonization. The
book’s eighty-one chapters are numbered and given in the conventional order
here, even though these divisions came much later. The chapter divisions may
be thought of as little more than reference points. They are not particularly
meaningful in terms of dividing the subject matter into discrete themes. A
given chapter may as likely contain three subjects as half a subject, and in no
logical order either. Chapters are further broken down into itemized lines in-
dicating what is called “parsing,” roughly the division of a text into clauses
and phrases, not necessarily sentences. For the most part this parsing is not a
part of the original text either, but a matter of convenience and convention.
However breaks are sometimes indicated in the original by particles indicative
of the completion of a thought, a question, an exclamation or a pause.

              There were three objectives in this first version:

              1) To represent each Chinese term with an English counterpart (for the
particles, sometimes a punctuation mark) so that no part of the original idea
was left out of the text. In a few cases a single English word carried the
meaning of two or three Chinese words (much more often it would take two
or more English words to render a Chinese one). For example, tian xia, (all)
beneath the sky, is sometimes rendered as nature or the world. Negatives
such as bu and wu are often translatable as a prefix or suffix such as un- or
–less (but not all words prefixed or suffixed thus in the translation are derived
in this way). Or zhong bu, to the end not, may translate as never. But this
simplification was done sparingly. Double negatives are far too important to
Lao Zi’s thought processes to render as simple positives. For example, Lao
Zi might have described the work to be done by human beings as “to stop
doing what does not work.” This is is entirely different from “doing only
what works.” Reiteratives are usually simplified by translators into single
words when they should instead be explored for the added breadth of mean-
ing they offer. One net result of this word for word discipline was to prevent
me from ignoring the little words and particles when they seemed inconven-
ient, as most translators and scholars have done. The assumption made here
was that, in a book this short and succinct, every stroke had meaning.

              2) To add as few words as possible, with no embellishment. Much of
the meaning of the Chinese text is implied by the position of the words within
a phrase, and often this implication includes the part of speech, as well as
tense, gender, plurality, voice and mood. Possessives and conjunctions are
often merely implied. If, when and where are often assumed, especially where
there is a then or there in the next clause. I often had the need to make these
implications explicit by adding words sparingly, in parentheses. An implied
and is rendered either as (and) or &. Occasionally an English expression was
allowed to stand alone as a sentence fragment. No apology is made for this.

              3) To preserve the original word order, wherever this could be render-
ed in a way which made sense. But this was not always possible or even de-
sirable. Prepositions, possessives and the word zhe (is, means or one who) are
probably the most often out of English sequence. Alterations of word order
are indicated only in the Part Two Matrix, by up and down arrows (^ v).

              The cost of implementing the above three objectives was surprisingly
light - there is the occasional awkwardness of a fragment or an unfamiliarity
in the turn of a phrase. But most of the few idioms used actually translate into
English fairly well. In the end, perhaps dozens of lines which have been poor-
ly understood in both Chinese and English have been cleared up here, not by
clever and intricate analysis but by the enforcement of simplicity and the
reining in of overcomplicated speculation. But it should still be understood
that there was a cost. There are a lot of places where I could have departed
from my objective just a little bit and made the text sound prettier, or more
floral or lyrical. But I couldn’t sacrifice the meaning for that. That has been
done enough already.

              The choices which have been made here between the various versions
of the text are indicated only in the Part Two Matrix by underlining in the
first two columns. The alternative Chinese words (and in a few cases parsings)
are given at the end of the Matrix. I have generally followed the Wang Bi
version of the text, but there are dozens of cases where a preponderance of
the other versions disagree with Wang Bi while concurring amongst them-
selves. Particularly in cases where one or both of the Mawangdui texts and
the Guodian fragments stand united in agreement with the Heshang Gong or
the Fu Yi versions, I have felt little discomfort about siding with such a strong
majority.

              To find a particular chapter quickly, use the chapter number with the
Find command. This also works in the Big5 or Traditional Chinese text.

 

 

 

 

01        A path fit for travel

b           Is not an unvarying path*                                         [See footnotes at the end of this

c           A name fit for calling                                    chapter, especially this note]

d           Is not a generic name

e                  “Nothing” names the origin of heaven and earth

f                   “Being” names the mother of the myriad beings

g           And so, always be dispassionate

h           In order to see the mysteries

i            Always be passionate

j            In order to see the objectives

k                  These two mean the same (when) emerging

l                   While diverging in significance

m                The sameness tells of their mystery

n           Mystery leading to greater mystery

o           (Is) the gateway to every mystery

 

02        All under heaven know the beauty of things as beauty

b           So ugliness is already there

c           All know the good of things as the good

d           So the not-good is already there

e                  And so being and nothingness beget each other

f                   Difficult & easy complete each other

g                  Lasting & brief contrast each other

h                  High & low rely on each other

i                   Tone & voice resonate with each other

j                   Before & after follow each other

k           This is how wise ones abide without interfering with the work,

l            Practice without speaking their doctrine

m                A myriad beings emerge here, but without explanation

n                  Are produced, but with no claims

o                  Are developed, but with no expectations

p                  Works are accomplished, but with no dwelling

q           Insofar as there is no dwelling

r            This means there is no departure

03        Not exalting worthies

b           Keeps the people from rivalry

c           Not prizing goods which are hard to obtain

d           Keeps the people from acting like thieves

e           Not displaying the desirable

f            Keeps the people’s hearts from confusion

g                  This is how wise ones approach government

h                  Emptying the hearts

i                   (And) filling the bellies

j                   Weakening the ambitions

k                  (And) strengthening the bones

l            Always keeping the people free of sophistication, free of desires

m          So that even the clever ones will not presume to meddle at all

n           (Where) action does not take action

o           There nothing is out of order

 

04        The way (is) an emptiness, and in its use

b           Somehow there is nothing in excess

c           So deep -

d           As if ancestor to the myriad beings

e                  Blunt in its sharpness

f                   Resolved in its tangles

g                  Shaded in its glare

h                  One with this world

i            So deep & clear

j            Seeming as though seeming to exist

k           We do not know whose child this is

l            (But) imagine it divinity’s ancestor

 

05        Heaven & earth are not compassionate

b           Treating the myriad beings as straw dogs

c           Wise ones are not compassionate

d           Regarding the hundred families as straw dogs

e                  The space between heaven & earth

f                   How this is like bellows & flutes!

g                  Empty, yet never exhausted

h                  (When) moved then more is produced

i            Lots of words adds up to exhaustion,

j            (This is) never as good as holding the center

06        The spirit of the valley does not die

b           It may be known as the mysterious feminine

c           The gateway of the mysterious feminine

d           May be known as the source of heaven and earth

e                  Endless, continuous, seeming to exist

f                   To practice this is not effort

 

07        Heaven is eternal, earth endures

b           The reason why heaven & earth can continue and endure

                    is this:

c           That their lives are not their own

d           In this way (they) can go on living

e                  This is why wise ones put themselves last

f                   And yet (their) being advances

g                  Exclude themselves

h                  And yet (their) being persists

i            Is it not because they have no self-interest?

j            Thus (they) can fulfill their self-interests

 

08        The highest good is like water

b           Water’s goodness benefits the myriad beings

c           And yet does not strive

d           Dwells in places which everyone else regards with contempt

e           And in this way is close to the way

f                   In dwelling the good is place

g                  In mind the good is depth

h                  In relations the good is compassion

i                   In speech the good is sincerity

j                   In government the good is organization

k                  In business the good is competence

l                   In movement the good is timing

m                       It is only when there is no contention

n                        That there then is no resentment

09        To maintain but then overdo something

b           Is not as good as one’s showing restraint

c           To rough out but then (over)hone something

d           Does not help hold (the edge) long

e           (When) coins and jade fill the hall

f            Nobody can defend this

g           (Being) wealthy & honored and then being proud

h           The natural consequence is one’s own misfortune

i                   (When) the work succeeds a body retires

j                   Keeping to heaven’s path

 

10        (Are) shaping a soul & embracing union

b           Possible without separation?

c           (Are) concentrating the breath & attaining responsiveness

d           Possible (as a) newborn child?

e           (Are) cleansing & clearing the mystery’s vision

f            Possible without a stain?

g           (Are) caring for people & ruling a realm

h           Possible without interfering?

i            (Are) opening & closing the gates of heaven

j            Possible playing the woman?

k           (Are) clarifying & simplifying the four directions

l            Possible without knowledge?

m                Create things & care for them

n                  Create but do not possess

o                  Act but do not expect

p                  Lead but do not rule

q                  These may be called “mystical powers*”

 

11         Thirty spokes converge in one hub

b           Then depending upon what does not exist

                           is the vehicle’s usefulness

c           Mold clay in order to produce a vessel

d           Then depending upon what does not exist

                           is the vessel’s usefulness

e           Cut out doors and windows in order to make a dwelling

f            Then depending upon what does not exist

                           is the dwelling’s usefulness

g           Thus, the existence of something serves to make value

h           The lack of something serves to make utility

12        The five colors will make the human eye blind

b           The five tones will make the human ear deaf

c           The five flavors will make the human palate jaded

d           Racing for speed and hunting for sport

e           Will make the human heart go mad

f            Goods which are hard to obtain

g           Will bring human progress obstruction

h                  This is why wise ones

i                   Regard the belly instead of regarding the sight

j                   And so dismiss That to choose This

 

13        Favor & disgrace are equally frightening

b           Exaltation and big trouble are the same as oneself

c                  Why say that favor & disgrace are equally frightening

d                  Favor sets up a downfall

e                  To get it is the same as a warning

f                   To lose it is the same as a warning

g                  Which says that favor & disgrace are equally frightening

h           Why say that exaltation and big trouble

                           are the same as oneself?

i            This is the reason that we have big troubles:

j            Assuming that we are selves

k           As long as we are not selves

l            What troubles do we have?

m                And so, to respect & regard as oneself

                           the workings of the world

n                  Is the same as deserving to inhabit the world

o                  To love & regard as oneself

                           the workings of the world

p                  Is the same as deserving to be steward to the world

14        Looking for things not seen

b           Descriptions will tell of “the invisible”

c           Listening for things not heard

d           Descriptions will tell of “the inaudible”

e           Reaching for things not grasped

f            Descriptions will tell of “the intangible”

g                  These three do not allow complete investigation

h                  And so are confused and considered as one

i            What height is not bright

j            What depth is not dark

k           An unbroken continuity does not permit description -

l            A return home to non existence

m                And so this is called the form of the formless

n                  The image of nothingness

o                  It is called obscure & elusive

p           When it is met its head is not seen

q           When it is followed its end is not seen

r                   To grasp the path of the ancients

s                  Is the way to master present existence

t                   The capacity to comprehend the ancient beginnings

u                  May be called the clue* to the way

15        The ancient gentleman who were skilled at practice

b           Were subtle & mysterious, profound & penetrating

c           A depth not easy to fathom

d           Inasmuch as they were not easy to fathom

e           It is thus an effort to construct their appearance

f                   So ready -

g                  As if fording a stream in winter

h                  So vigilant -

i                   As if wary of (all) four neighbors

j                   So dignified -

k                  As though they were guests

l                   So relenting -

m                Like ice which is about to melt

n                  So artless -

o                  As though they were of unworked wood

p                  So expansive -

q                  As though they were watersheds

r                   So intermingled -

s                  As though they were turbid streams

t            Who is able, (as) a turbid stream, to become still

                           and arrive by degrees at clarity?

u           Who is able, at peace, to become energetic

                           and arrive by degrees at lasting vitality?

v           Whoever preserves this path

w          Not longing for more than fullness

x           Only those not overfull

y           Can then stay obscure

                           and not begin to be finished

16        Attaining perfect emptiness

b           Remain patient & sincere

c                  The myriad beings arise as one

d                  Through this we observe the return

e                  Of beings in numberless multitudes

f                   Each coming home to its root

g           Return to the root means serenity

h           It may be called a return to a higher order

i            Return to higher order speaks of the enduring

j            To comprehend the enduring speaks of clarity

k           To not comprehend the enduring

l            Is to recklessly create suffering

m          To comprehend the enduring (is) tolerance

n           Tolerance becomes justice

o           Justice becomes sovereignty

p           Sovereignty becomes celestial

q           The celestial becomes the path

r            The path is then continuous

s            The death of self is nothing to fear

 

17        Great leaders’ subordinates know of their existence

b           Those next in order are loved and praised by them

c           Those next in order are feared by them

d           Those next in order are despised by them

e                  If trust lacks basis here

f                   There will be no trust here

g           So be careful - these are important words

h           Complete the task, follow through in the work

i            The hundred families all will declare

                    “(It was) our natural course!”

 

18        (Where) the great path is abandoned

b           There appear benevolence & righteousness

c           (When) the learned & clever emerge

d           There appear great hypocrisies

e           (When) the six bonds of kinship are out of balance

f            There appear filial piety and parental affection

g           (When) countries & clans are in darkness & turmoil

h           There appear loyalty & public service

19        Cut out sanctimony, repudiate cleverness

b           The people will profit a hundred times over

c           Cut out benevolence, abandon righteousness

d           The people return to filial piety & parental affection

e           Cut out artfulness, abandon rewards

f            (Then) robbers and thieves have nothing to gain

g                  These three may help to improve the culture

                           but (they) are not a foundation

h                  So let there be purpose to build on:

i                   Look to the ordinary & embrace original nature

j                   Diminish self-interest & have fewer desires

 

20        Cut out the academics & avoid the anxieties

b           The (ready) yes, alongside the (obsequious) yea

c           What is the distance or nearness between them?

d           (Even) the good, next to the bad,

e           What is the difference or likeness between them?

f                   (That) that which the others hold in awe

g                  Will not permit less than awe -

h                  What nonsense! There will never be an end to this, ever!

i            Everyone (else) is resplendent & festive

j            As if feasting on great sacrifices

k           As if in springtime & climbing up towers

l                   I alone am unmoved here, one yet to give a sign

m                Like a newborn infant, one yet to smile

n                  So worn & weary, as one with no home to come home to

o           Everyone (else) takes more than enough

p           While I alone seem forsaken

q           With only my simpleton’s mind!

r            So muddled & confused

s                  The common folk are bright & sunny

t                   I alone am in chaos & gloom

u                  The common folk are alert & sharp

v                  I alone am torpid & blunt

w          So placid - in this like the sea

x           So restless a wind - as if never to stop

y                  Everyone else has purpose

z                  While I alone am wayward, like a rustic

*           I alone am other than the others

*           Still enjoying mother’s meals

21        The bearing of true character

b           Is simply to follow a true path

c           If the way is regarded as an entity

d           It is only elusive, only vague

e                  So vague & so elusive

f                   (Yet) at its center there is shape

g                  So elusive & so vague

h                  (Yet) at its center there are beings

i                   So arcane & so shadowy

j                   (Yet) at its center there is seed

k           This seed is profoundly real

l            At its center there is truth

m                From the present back into antiquity

n                  Its meaning does not fade

o                  Through this is seen a common ancestry

p           How do we know that the common ancestry’s shape is thus?

q           By This

 

22        The yielding becomes whole

b           The bent becomes straight

c           The hollow becomes replenished

d           The worn becomes renewed

e           The diminished becomes endowed

f            The plentiful becomes doubtful

g                  This is why wise ones embrace unity

h                  Adopting nature as model

i            Without self-display

j            And thus clear

k           Without self-righteousness

l            And thus distinguished

m          Without self-assertion

n           And thus having merit</