Translation
Deeply contained integrity is comparable to an child’s sincerity.
Poison insects don’t sting it, fierce beasts don’t seize it, birds will not grab it.
Its bones are weak, its muscle supple, yet its hold is firm.
It doesn’t know the joining of female and male, yet its work and spirit perfect.
Endlessly it can howl, yet not become exhausted, of knowing also the most.
Knowing harmony is the constant.
Knowing the constant is called clear and honest.
A beneficial life is called lucky.
Mind employing life energy is called striving.
The powerful ruling the old is called not of the way.
That which is not of the way ends early.
keep in the mouth (contain; nurse; cherish; harbour) virtue (moral character; heart) of thick (deep; large; generous; favor; stress) compare (compete_associate with; be near) at (in) red (loyal; sincere; single-hearted; bare) son (child; ancient for virtuous man; seed; small thing).
poison (kill with poison; malicious; cruel; fierce) insect (worm) no (not) sting, fierce (violent; energetic; suddenly) beast (animal) no (not) occupy (seize; rely on; evidence), seize (grab) bird no (not) roll round with hand.
bone weak (inferior; <formal> lose through death) muscle soft (supple) <conj.>(and / but not) hold (grasp) solid (firm; <formal>in the first place, originally, admittedly).
have not (did not) know (realize) female male of shut (join; combine) <conj.>(and / but not) complete (whole; make perfect) do (make; rise; get up; write; compose; become), refined (choice; essence) of to (until; > extremely; most) also (too).
end (death; eventually; after all; whole; all) sun (day; daily) name (sign _howl; yell) <conj.>(and / but not) no (not) ah (exclamatory part.), gentle (kind; harmonious; peace> and) of to (until; > extremely; most) also (too).
know (realize) gentle (kind; harmonious; peace> and) say (call; name) ordinary (normal; constant; often).
know (realize) ordinary (normal; constant; often) say (call; name) bright (light; clear; open; honest; understand).
benefit (profit; advantage; increase; increasingly) give birth to (grow; existence; life) say (call; name) auspicious (propitious; lucky).
heart (mind; feeling; intention; center, core) send (tell sb. to do sth.; use; cause; enable) gas (air; breath; spirit; enrage) say (call; name)strive (strong; powerful; better_unyielding).
thing (matter; the outside world) strong (robust; grand; make better)standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) old (aged; of long standing; old;for a long time; always) say (call; name; meaning; sense) of no (not) road (way, principle; speak; think),
no (not) road (way, principle; speak; think) early morning (long ago; as early as; for a long time; early; in advance) stop (cease; end; already; > thereafter; afterward; too).
Original
含德之厚
比于赤子。
毒虫不螫，
猛兽不据，
攫鸟不抟。
骨弱筋柔而握固。
未知牝牡之合而全作，
精之至也。
终日号而不嗄，
和之至也。
知和曰常。
知常曰明。
益生曰祥。
心使气曰强。
物壮则老。
谓之不道，
不道早已。
Commentary, October 2010
This chapter makes common sense when understood from the eyes of a new born babe. A baby is not self-consciousness (conscious of ‘I am’), and so from its point of view, poison insects don’t sting it, fierce beasts don’t seize it, birds will not grab it. To be sure, this is not objective fact—the young and the old are a major food source for predators. It is, rather, simple subjective truth; there is just no ‘I’ to be eaten. This is a case in point of mysterious sameness, or of the Vedic Tat Tvam Asi, ‘you are that’. Two sides of the same coin: the eaten and the eater, the stung and the stinger. (Of course this is easier to see/feel when you are not concurrently being stung. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere.)
Within a few years a baby learns language, which enables it to think it is somebody, i.e., “I am __(place name here)__”. Now being ‘Somebody’, there is somebody to be eaten, stung, and eventually die. This is where the importance of being clear and honest (discernment) comes into play. Only through careful self-honesty can I return to be capable of not knowing anything. Only through being clear and honest can I see how ‘I am’ is fiction, even though ‘I’ feels real (pinch me and it hurts type of real). Feeling, and the thinking it drives, is unreliable (e.g., puppy love, tasty equals healthy, earth feels flat, speeding save time). Being tentative and hesitant (as if fording a river in winter) in every perception is extraordinarily helpful.
When I’m slipping off balance, I need clarity and honesty to notice quickly enough to counterbalance. The main obstacle to being clear and honest is self deception inherent in my story. By that I mean the desires and worries (stemming from visceral need and fear) that ‘guide’ my thoughts and life. Seeing the down range consequences of my own desires and worries requires clarity and honesty (which require courage of sorts).
When balance is lost we compensate by egging on the breath, and increasing our vitality. We are driven to extremes in a vain attempt to find the constant, the harmony—the balance. It can be a vicious circle, for it is the initial loss of balance that drives us to extremes in the first place, in my experience. Extremes, ironically, seem to promise emotion a return to balance. Sure, extremes do bring balance eventually (i.e., if you would have a thing laid aside, you must first set it up, and so on), but only after much suffering and wasted energy. Why wait? If possible, why not tilt life this way…
Doing this requires me to be as clear and honest as I can in order to see what is actually going on, as its going on. Regarding everything (I can) as a symptom of deeper unseen underlying forces invites awareness to take a moment, peel back the covers, and peek beneath appearances. Only by seeing the invisible, does it become ‘easy to deal with a thing while it is still nothing‘.