Translation
All under heaven, having the way,
Retreating horses fertilize the fields.
All under heaven, without the way,
Army horses breed in the suburbs.
Of misfortunes, none are greater than not being content with one’s lot.
Of faults, none are greater than longing for gain.
Therefore, in being contented with one’s lot, enough is usually enough indeed.
1) land under heaven have (exist) road (way, principle; speak; think), 天下有道，(tiān xià yŏu dào,)
2) step back (retreat; decline; > yet; while) walk (go; move; visit) horse use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) excrement (feces> apply manure). 却走马以粪。(què zŏu mă yĭ fèn.)
3) land under heaven nothing (without; not) road (way, principle; speak; think), 天下无道，(tiān xià wú dào,)
4) army (military affairs) horse give birth to (existence) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) suburbs (outskirts). 戎马生于郊。(róng mă shēng yú jiāo.)
5) misfortunes (disaster; ruin) no one (nothing; none; no; not; don’t) big (large; great; main) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) no (not) be content with one’s lot. 祸莫大于不知足。(huò mò dà yú bù zhī zú.)
6) fault (blame; censure; punish) no one (nothing; none; no; not; don’t) big (large; great; main) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) desire (wish; want; about to; on the point of) get (obtain, gain > satisfied_need; must). 咎莫大于欲得。(jiù mò dà yú yù dé.)
7) happening (reason; cause; hence) be content with one’s lot of foot (leg; enough; full; as much as) of ordinary (normal; constant; often; usually) foot (leg; enough; full; as much as) already (indeed; really; how). 故知足之足常足矣。(gù zhī zú zhī zú cháng zú yĭ.)
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
What can I say? This chapter is perfect, at least in the eye of this beholder. I do have an issue with what some read into this and similar chapters. They say this view of being contented with one’s lot was an attempt to keep peasants happy with their lowly circumstance. Complete nonsense. Being content is the holy grail of life itself. We are driven to jump through all sorts of hoops in life to reach some ultimate idealized contentment / happiness.
Commentary:
Whenever there is talk of times when the way does not prevail in the empire, war-horses
breed on the border, I always wonder, how is that possible? After all, The way is broad, reaching left as well as right, and also the Taoist view of modeling, i.e., And the way on that which is naturally so. Some of the inconsistency that bothered me was likely due to reading D.C. Lau’s translation. The more literal version of the first 4 lines straightens matters out, at least for me. For example, All under heaven, having the way, Retreating horses fertilize the fields, paints a more subjective picture. For example, when I personally feel I have the way, my warhorses fertilize the fields… and visa verse.
Taking a ‘layered view’ of the way also helps broaden the view: Nothing is outside nature, including all human efforts to buffer himself from nature’s harsher side. That can’t work on the whole because nature’s harsher side provides all-essential natural balancing forces on life. Humans have succeeded in circumventing many of nature’s harsher balancing forces.
Nevertheless, balance is ‘natural law’, and so humans make up the shortfall by providing essential (and often harsh) balancing forces—war being among the most harsh. The greatest heights exist below what we realize, and so we civilization can’t help but skew the balance in favor of comfort and security (seek pleasure; avoid pain). It is both natural, and because it leads to imbalance, often fails. When it fails, Army horses breed in the suburbs. All civilized efforts to end harshness are doomed despite moral codes (like the Ten Commandments) that every culture conjured up. One way or the other, harshness and pleasantness produce each other—follow each other. That’s just the way of the way, despite our wish to the contrary. As chapter 2 puts it, Hence existence and nothing give birth to one another, Difficult and easy become one another… C’est la vie.
Being content with one’s lot doesn’t mean one’s lot is pleasant. Feeling content and feeling pleasant (or pleasure) can be confused and look upon as one. Feeling content is really about acceptance of current circumstances, which can be a very tall order. Naturally, when times are pleasant, it is easy to feel acceptance and contented. I actually notice the tendency to ‘shot ourselves in the foot’ at those times by longing for gain. If this situation is ‘good’, then more must be better ─ the bio-hoodwink of ‘more is better’. And so, we loose our opportunity for lingering contentment as we rush for gain more. Of misfortunes, none are greater, Of faults, none are greater sure sums it up correctly in my view.
Suggested Revision:
All under heaven, having the way,
Retreating horses fertilize the fields.
All under heaven, without the way,
Army horses breed in the suburbs.
Of misfortunes, none are greater than not being content with one’s lot.
Of faults, none are greater than longing for gain.
Therefore, in being contented with one’s lot, enough is usually enough indeed.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
The way has two sides to it, as I see it here: a subjective one, and a ‘objective one’. Subjective is the personal sense of harmony, or the lack of it, we feel. It all depends on circumstances. Pinned under ton of concrete after an earthquake one would not feel the way was prevailing in the empire (their way anyway). On the other hand, after we have eaten well, are rested, with friends and feel content, we would feel all under heaven, have the way . This fits the view that the world we see is just a reflection of how we feel (desires/needs and insecurities/fears).
And what about the objective one? How about, ‘darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there‘. Perhaps balance is the word that comes closest to describing the way objectively (for me anyway). Although, balance, as a definition of the way, is far more shadowy and indistinct than how I normally define balance. I think of the ‘way of balance’ as an ‘ideal’ to which nature aspires. By aspires, I mean pointed to, driven towards, pull into…etc. Balance is the center, the core around which the universe eternally revolves. Interestingly, this ideal of balance to which nature moves toward (or returns to) can also be seen as the origin of (driving force behind) our ideals of peace and harmony. After all, our consciousness, at its height of impartiality, must certainly reflect the essential qualities of nature. How could it be otherwise?
The needs and fears of living things (desire, covetousness, discontent in humans) are biological hoodwinks to push us to act. The illusion is that only when our fears are allayed and desires sated will we feel eternal peace and harmony – be in balance. Even if we rationally know that contentment will be fleeting, our emotions say otherwise. Our emotions are convince that feeding desire will make us happy. In truth, happiness is momentary, sated desire, like the Greek Hydra, is almost immediately replaced by another need or fear.
This parallels nature naturally. For example, stresses build, like desires and we have an earthquake. The ground settles, tension is relieved for a moment until stress begins to build again. Nature swings like a pendulum, back and forth through the Golden Mean of balance. Balance is immediately lost as soon as its won. Like any ideal, the reality of balance is never realized. Indeed, the process of seeking balance is itself an unbalancing force, which serves to counterbalance balance.