Translation
Under heaven, nothing is more yielding and weak than water.
Yet for attacking the hard and strong nothing can surpass,
Because of its nothing-ness and ease.
Of weakness and loss through death, superior to strength.
Of flexible, superior to firm
Under heaven, none do not know; none can do.
Because of this, the holy person says,
Receiving the humiliation of the country means mastering the country.
Receiving the country’s misfortune serves all under heaven great.
Straight and honest words seem inside out.
1) land under heaven no one (nothing) weak (delicate) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) water (river; lakes, seas). 天下莫柔弱于水。(tiān xià mò róu ruò yú shuĭ.)
2) <conj.> and (yet, but) attack hard (firm; strong; firmly; resolutely) strive (strong; powerful; better_unyielding) (者), no one (nothing) of can (be able to) victory (success; surpass; be superior to). 而攻坚强者，莫之能胜，(ér gōng jiān qiáng zhĕ, mò zhī néng shèng,)
3) use (take; because of; so as to; and) his (her; its; that; such) nothing (without; not) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) easy (amiable) of. 以其无以易之。(yĭ qí wú yĭ yì zhī.)
4) weak (feeble; young> lose through death) of victory (success; surpass; be superior to) strive (strong; powerful; better_unyielding), 弱之胜强，(ruò zhī shèng jiàng,)
5) soft (supple; yielding) of victory (success; surpass; be superior to) firm (strong; indomitable, just). 柔之胜刚。(róu zhī shèng gāng.)
6) land under heaven no one (none, nothing) no (not) know (realize; inform; knowledge) no one (none, nothing) can (be able to) go (travel, do, be current). 天下莫不知莫能行。(tiān xià mò bù zhī mò néng xíng.)
7) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people) say (cloud), 是以圣人云，(shì yĭ shèng rén yún,)
8) receiving (accept; suffer; endure; bear) country of dirty (humiliation) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) call (meaning) the country host (master, owner). 受国之垢是谓社稷主。(shòu guó zhī gòu shì wèi shè jì zhŭ.)
9) receiving (accept; suffer; endure; bear) country ominous (inauspicious) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) do (act; act as; serve as; be; mean; support) land under heaven king (monarch; great). 受国不祥是为天下王。(shòu guó bù xiáng shì wéi tiān xià wáng.)
10) straight (situated in the middle; honest) speech (word; say; talk) like (seem; as if) turn over (in an opposite direction; inside out; return, on the contrary). 正言若反。(zhēng yán ruò făn.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
Yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can surpass,
Because of its nothing-ness and ease.
“Because of” connects these two lines, but doesn’t flow all that smoothly. I tried other ways to put ‘because of‘, e.g., by reason of; thanks to; owing to; on account of; as a consequence of; as a result of. I don’t feel any to be much better, so I’ll leave it be. Sure, I could rewrite the whole thing to make it flow smoother, but then I might sacrifice the literal too much for my liking. For example,
Yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can surpass,
How is this so? Because of its nothing-ness and ease.
Or better perhaps…
Yet for attacking the hard and strong,
Nothing can surpass, because of its nothing-ness and ease.
This may flow better, but it doesn’t correspond to the Chinese character arrangement. Of course, this could be the miscopy result of a drowsy transcriber and has remained such ever since. Who knows? More importantly, who cares!
Reflections:
We all clearly know how well water symbolizes deep spiritual qualities for which we yearn. Some of us know this as an ideal, as an explicit metaphor. Others know this intuitively, implied by their attraction to it. I mean, who does not enjoy and appreciate a babbling brook, a river, a lake, the sea, raindrops, etc.
Naturally, this friendly side of water can vanish when, for example, it floods and the experience becomes too awesome. Here the friendly side of nature submerges as our biology (fear of loss) swamps spiritual intuitions. Biology keeps our mortal feet firmly on the ground. Not surprisingly, such bio-hoodwinking makes these next lines particularly difficult to ‘know’.
Of weakness and loss through death, superior to strength.
Of flexible, superior to firm
Think of the importance that youth (especially) places on achieving short-term goals. The ‘benefit of loss, failure, weakness’ are anathema to accomplishing goals, or so the bio-hoodwink dictates, and therefore not what young minds look upon favorably… well, okay… old minds too.
Yet, we soon begin to sense intuitively the ‘superior’ quality of the weakness side, even if we are incapable of acting accordingly… again the bio-hoodwink calls the shots. This all goes to demonstrate the tell-it-like-it-is reality in which the Tao Te Ching excels.
Under heaven, none do not know; none can do.
This parallels my view that, We only understand what we already know. Naturally, this reality is also anathema to us. Our sense of free will, whether explicit or implied, screams otherwise. Surely, we feel, we can teach the ignorance out of people. Again, the bio-hoodwink rules. Chapter 65 sheds light on this hoodwink; a light that predates biological science. Instead, it refers to the “ancients adept in the way”: Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people, They will use it in order to fool them.
Now, what is more adept in the way than biology, evolution, etc. Of course, these are modern concepts, but they all refer to Nature, and there is nothing more “adept in the way” than Nature! The point here is that 2,500+ years ago, folks did not perceive life in a scientific context as we do now. Yet, the wise and observant saw the same reality and spoke to it… “of ancients adept in the way…”.
Straight and honest words seem inside out because our biology is telling us that we are somebody that matters, that we can survive and win at this game of life. The last thing evolution is going to do for a living organism is have it evolve a capability to know that it is going to die within a cosmic eye blink of its birth. Yet, we are eventually capable of knowing! I see this as saying that not even Nature can hide the truth of the way it is for very long. Only in youthful years does it succeed, and for the process of evolution that is actually all that matters anyway. Because the elderly finally ‘get it’ is of little consequence to biological evolution. However, this is not so with cultural evolution. That is why there is hope for our species overall as the median age of the human population continues to increase.
See also, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 60; And Then There Was Fire; Who are you?
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
There are a few revisions this time; not corrections of my usual grammatical errors. It’s worse. Line 4 saw a significant change. Previously it read, Of weakness and loss through death, victorious and powerful. Looking over the Chinese, I also realized I left out a whole line…柔之胜刚. The good news is that it was somewhat redundant—parallel to line 4 above it. So I include it below along with the other revisions.
The ‘bad news’ is that is appears to say the exact opposite of how I put it initially. However, I’ll let myself off the hook a little because when considering things like weakness, strength, victory, powerful, these can allude to either side of the coin. Anyway, I prefer my current interpretation, and figure it is more inline with Chinese grammar anyway (although grammar is not one of my strengths… in any language).
Line 5 (now 6) also calls out for some revision. Previously it read, Under heaven there’s no one who does not know – no one can do. I’d like to change this to, Under heaven, none do not know; none can do. Granted, it is still more obtuse than D.C. Lau’s translation… Everyone in the world knows yet no one can put this knowledge into practice. But, it is more literal, which among other things say it not only applies to people (everyone) but everything… depending on how you define know, of course!
Finally, I want to tweak lines 7 & 8 (now 8 & 9). The first word in question is shòu (受) which means: receive; accept; suffer; be subjected to; stand; endure; bear. If only I could roll this all into a one-word-ball which conveyed these angles. Overall, I now feel, Receiving the humiliation of the country means mastering the country conveys it best, although I’ll probably yearn to change it in a few years to endure, or suffer. Gee, those two words, endure and suffer, really hit the spot right now!
These two lines, 7 & 8, present an issue that crops up throughout the Tao Te Ching. The problem word is guó (国) which means: country; state; nation; of the state; national; of our country. Sometimes I’ve put state, sometime country. D.C. Lau puts it as state. I think I’m going to go replace all of them with country. The issue for me is that the political paradigms shift greatly over the time. What did state mean before the era of nation-states came into being? How would a hunter gatherer, or early farmer see such circumstances. When I think of possible archaic meanings or synonyms, the state of contemporary existence comes to mind. Even now, for me, country, state, nation are all abstractions. All I really know is my state of contemporary existence right now. My environment here is my country. Now, I’d probably see it differently if I were President Obama.
Commentary:
I had so many issues this week, and some qualify as commentary… right? The part that touches me deepest is the last few lines, Receiving the country’s misfortune… Receiving the humiliation of the country… I suppose it reminds me of chapter 64’s Of doing we fail, Of holding on we lose. You’ll notice how most everyone when finding a problem with their environment (country) seeks out scapegoats. The problem has to be someone’s or something’s fault after all. Returning to the point where I know that I am the true cause amounts to receiving the humiliation of the country. And yes, ‘mastering the country‘ is the result, though what that really means can only be understood by embracing lines 4 & 5 above. Receiving (accepting, suffering, enduring, bearing up under) is key to managing, if not master, life.
None do not know; none can do has quite a mysterious underbelly. I guess that’s a good way to put it. It is mysterious in that we all carry around this knowing (all living things, and non-living things too) but we behave as though we don’t. Another way to put this is…
This knowing is what propels all things in existence. I see it as a shadow of entropy that drive the cycles of birth growth and death. It is an odd, ironic, mysterious underbelly of reality. Humans can know this consciously as the Tao Te Ching shows, yet none can do. All things know this subconsciously, I guess you’d say.
Suggested Revision:
Under heaven(,) nothing is more yielding and weak than water.
Yet for attacking the hard and strong nothing can surpass,
Because of its nothing-ness and ease.
Of weakness and loss through death, superior to strength.
Of flexible, superior to firm
Under heaven(,) none do not know; none can do.
Because of this, the holy person says,
Receiving the humiliation of the country means mastering the country.
Receiving the country’s misfortune serves all under heaven great.
Straight and honest words seem inside out.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
Yep, straightforward words seem paradoxical. The chief biological hoodwink all life experiences is the perception that the weak overcomes the strong. Accepting the humiliation of the state is the only approach possible when I see the state as it actually is rather that how I would like it to be. Biological processes determine how people interact– sometimes getting along, sometimes battling.
I can certainly imagine a world of peace and bliss, equity and justice for all. Yet, this is simply not how Nature works. Such ideals are simply dreams that reflect innate needs and fears–what we want, not what is. That’s okay mind you; it’s just very helpful to know it is a dream. Believing a dream is real is fine for a movie, but for living daily life?
Only a person capable of seeing things as they are, and not as desired, would be a king worthy of dominion over the entire empire. Lords and princes (and even politicians) such as this are rare I suspect. Instead, I see the hard and strong standing their ground, contending self-righteously with their enemies. We hear much talk of bipartisanship on one hand, and see actions that are just the opposite on the other.
Only when opposing forces wear each other out, can the yielding and weak conclude matters. Loss is the foundation of compromise. People can’t compromise as long as their sense of compromise is more about what their opponent needs to give up. You would think this self evident, which goes to show the blind power of desire; indeed, desire is the fuel that powers the blind spot and its manifestations.
Of weakness and loss through death, victorious and powerful.
Under heaven there’s no one who does not know – no one can do.
In other words, entropy is always the victor in the end! Saying that under heaven there’s no one who does not know may be a bit of an overstatement. However, that no one can do is certainly dead right. Naturally, no one can do because life’s core drive is to resist entropy at every turn, right up to our final breath. While I can’t actually, through free-will, put this knowledge into practice, this knowledge does give me peace of mind when I feel yielding and weak. Heck, it may even help my action lead to impartiality.