Stigweard's Daodejing 道德經

[Stigweard]

Introduction:

 

Firstly it should be noted that, though I have endeavored to stay as close to the original text as possible, this is not a literal translation of the Daodejing. I have chosen to translate the characters in a way that helps portray my view of the implied message that Laozi is delivering. Acknowledged also is that the lucidity of this implied message is totally dependent on my own understanding of Daoist principles and my particular view of the world. To deepen your own understanding you should always read other translations of Laozi as well as attempting your own translation.

 

Index:

 

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Chapter Two -- Nourishing Life

 

Chapter Three -- Peaceful People

 

Chapter Four -- Without Source

 

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Acknowledgments:

 

In rendering my translation I have made extensive use of these websites:

 

Chinese Etymology Home Page

YellowBridge Chinese Language and Culture

Laozi Daodejing Siegelschrift - Sealscript 老子 道德經 篆書 - Laotse Taoteking

Learn Chinese Characters

老 子「道 德 經」Tao Te Ching in Big 5

LaoTze DaoDeJing [Tao Te Ching] Chinese text

Roget's Thesaurus (1911) - The ARTFL Project

Thesaurus.com | Find Synonyms and Antonyms of Words at Thesaurus.com

Online Etymology Dictionary

 

I have also made comparative analysis with several Daodejing translations:

 

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu [Dao De Jing by Lao Zi]

Derek Lin's Translation of the Tao Te Ching

Terebess Asia Online - TAO

LaoTze - TaoDeJing

The Complete Works of Lao Tzu -- Ni Hua Ching

Edited June 30, 2011 by Stigweard

[Stigweard]

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Descriptions of Dao,

Cannot be the eternal Dao.

Though names may be given,

They cannot be eternal names.

 

The unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

The known begets the many separate things.

 

Therefore, enduring innocence

Comes from the subtle view;

Incessant desire for things

Comes from the superficial view.

 

Both “unknown” and “known”,

The “subtle” and the “superficial”,

Are still only descriptions,

Of the subtle mystery.

Subtle beyond subtlety,

The gateway of all wonders.

 

 

Original Text:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Chinese Characters:

第一章 -- 體道

 

道可道,

非常道。

名可名，

非常名。

無名天地之始﹔

有名萬物之母。

故常無欲以觀其妙；

常有欲以觀其徼。

此兩者，

同出而異名，

同謂之玄。

玄之又玄，

眾妙之門。

 

Chinese Pinyin:

 

Dào kě dào,

Fēi cháng dào.

Míng kě míng,

Fēi cháng míng.

Wú míng tiāndì zhī shǐ;

Yǒu míng wàn wù mǔ.

Gù cháng wú yù

Yǐ guān qí miào;

Cháng yǒu yù

yǐ guān qí jiǎo.

Cǐ liǎng zhě,

Tong chū ér míng,

Tong wèi zhī xuán.

Xuán zhī yòu xuán,

Zhòng miào zhī mén.

 

Ancient Characters:

 

 

 

Translator's Notes and Commentary:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Chapter Overview:

 

 

In Chapter 1 of the Daodejing Laozi is introducing us, I believe, to the Daoist view of the world. It is the acknowledgment that words and concepts are not the living reality of that which they are trying to describe. That, in trying to label and distinguish things, we individualize them and separate them from other things. In this process we place comparable value between things and, by making one thing greater in value, we give birth to desire and longing.

 

Another way of viewing or understanding this desire is that, in the process of separating things from each other we also separate ourselves internally. This internal separation creates an inner sense of loss or lack which we try and fill with external things. But if we can maintain the integral view of wholeness, then we have no desire and remain innocent.

 

But again Laozi reemphasizes that even this explanation is still just a conceptual convenience of the mind and the living Dao extends beyond the confines of description.

 

Of particular note is the absence of terms like "nothingness", "beingness", "origin" and "mother" from my translation.

 

Why?

 

Because I have observed many people will latch onto those words as if they are real. They divide their mind into thinking there is a "nothingness" and a "beingness"; that there is an "origin" and a "mother". In other words they fall into the very same trap that, in my view, Laozi is warning us about.

 

So instead of trying to create a model of reality, I have endeavored to bring the emphasis back to individual awareness.

 

I view Chapter 1 as a master key for the rest of the text. It's purpose, I believe, is to help the reader adopt the "right view" so that the wisdom in all the subsequent chapters becomes self-revealed.

 

Line 1: 道可道 -- Dào kě dào

 

Dào 道 has several common meanings, including: Way, path, road, nature, reason, say, speak, theory, doctrine.

 

Pictographically, 道 shows a man 首 walking 辶 on a road. Furthermore, shǒu 首 indicates: first, leader, or chief, so we have the sense of Dào being a noble ‘way’, or a path of prime significance.

 

Kě is commonly translated as: may, can, to be able to.

 

It is almost universally accepted in translations that the two dàos have differing meanings. Firstly we have Dào being the “universal way” that Laozi is implicating. There is much conjecture, however, over the second Dào. Some will follow the line of thought that it means traveled, trodden, walked etc. Others will adopt the “spoken” or “theorizing” extrapolation.

 

I have chosen to follow the say/speak meaning in the form of “description” as it ties in with subsequent lines the chapter.

 

Line 2: 非常道。-- Fēi cháng dào.

 

Fēi 非 presents a picture of two outward turned (broken) wings opposite to each other and means: negative, not, not to be, oppose, fault, mistakes, to refute, to consider as wrong.

 

Cháng 常 has a degree of controversy around it. Apparently the original character was héng 恒, but was replaced in all texts by 常 cháng out of respect to one Emperor Héng. Because of this, however, we can assume that cháng and héng imply the same meaning.

 

Cháng 常, the image of cloth on a loom, means: common, normal, frequent, constant, eternal or regular. Héng 恒 provides the image of a heart 忄 beside a sun or moon which is moving between two points 亘, thus we again have the meanings of: regularity, constancy, continually, persevering, or eternal. Important to note that Hexagram 32 of the I Ching is called Héng, which is often translated as: constancy, persevering, enduring.

 

Line 3: 名可名, -- Míng kě míng,

 

Míng 名 is what you call out 口 to people to distinguish who you are in the light of the moon 月夕, or at night. So it is your name, but it has also been used for a designation, a classifier for people, a title, rank, or position. To name something is also to describe it, thus we can see the theme of Chapter 1 emerging.

 

Kě is commonly translated as: may, can, to be able to.

 

Once again I am assuming a dual usage of Míng in symmetry with the first line.

 

Line 4: 非常名。-- Fēi cháng míng.

 

Here we have repeated theme of Line 2 and thus it reemphasizes the message made in the first two lines.

 

The meaning I am trying to convey is that names are only temporary -- the object of the name will outlive the name. For example the concept of "name" at one point in history was called "nomen", but now it's called "name". In one thousand years the concept of designating a word to something may be an entirely different word.

 

Therefore a descriptive of something can't be eternal, so something eternal like Dao eludes description.

 

Line 5: 無名天地之始﹔-- Wú míng tiāndì zhī shǐ;

 

This line also carries its own degree of controversy (see also Line 6). It is said that in recent times a comma was inserted in the line after Wú thus designating Wú as its own concept. This would create a translation like; “Nothingness, the name of Heaven and Earth’s origin;”

 

I am choosing to leave out the comma whilst rendering a translation that still relays the same implication.

 

Wú 無 simply means an absence or negative like the terms “no, not, have no”. It can either be the image of cleared patch of forest, thus negation, or it has also been pictographically linked to shaman dancers holding tassels with my implication of that the tassels become the focus of attention and the dancer “disappears”.

 

Míng 名 once again is a name or a distinguishment. Wú Míng is therefore to have no name, no description, no identity – hence the term “unknown”.

 

Tiāndì 天地 is the classic “Heaven and Earth” – the designator of ‘all that is’, or, quite simply, the Universe.

 

Zhī shǐ 之始 has commonly been translated as “origin”. However, close examination yields a more pertinent implication. Zhī is merely a preceding phrase as a modifier of shǐ, like the word ‘it’. Shǐ though pictographically can represent a womb and/or breasts. It can also be seen as a stick penetrating an opening or semen fertilizing a womb. The translation of "origin" comes from the idea that ‘we all find origin’ in the womb. I have chosen to use the term ‘inception’ due to it’s more natural connotations.

 

I think it is interesting to see here the first instance of an pervasive theme which is Laozi’s seemingly feminine orientation in regard to ‘ultimate’ forces of the universe.

 

Line 6: 有名萬物之母。-- Yǒu míng wàn wù mǔ.

 

Line 6 carries with it the same controversy over the insertion of the comma after the first character just like in line 5. Once again I have chosen to leave out the comma.

 

Yǒu is pictographically a hand grasping either flesh or the moon. It is commonly translated as “to have, possession, own” but it also denotes a sense of “existence”.

 

So whilst Wú míng meant to have no name or designation, Yǒu míng is to have a name, a classification, or a distinguishment. This is a continuation of the message in lines 3 and 4.

 

The rest of the line, wàn wù mǔ, has been prolifically translated as “The Mother of 10,000 things”, or “The Mother of the myriad things.” I have chosen a less literal approach to further emphasize what I believe to be the implications of what Laozi is offering in this first chapter.

 

A label, or a description, individuates something from everything else. It makes it appear as a separate thing. But nothing exists on its own. The fundamental lesson of Yin and Yang in the Taijitu is that all life is mutually dependent. Thus the naming of something, i.e. making it "known", removes it from its relative context with everything else. Hence the known is "the mother" of all “things” being seen as individual things.

 

Line 7: 故常無欲以觀其妙；-- Gù cháng wú yù yǐ guān qí miào.

 

In line seven (as in line 8) we see another controversial insertion of a comma that attempts to distinguish Wú as an individual concept. Once again I have chosen to ignore the comma.

 

Gù is commonly read as ‘therefore’ and I see no reason to vary. Cháng is the same ‘constant’ or ‘eternal’ from lines two and four. Wú is once again simply ‘no’ or ‘not’.

 

Yù is almost universally translated as ‘desire’ and I feel it requires some extra investigation just for a point of interest. Yù implies a sense of lack, like a man who has ‘lost his wind’ and therefore has a strong want or desire for breath. So Yù is to want, to long for and to desire and, to remain consistent with the rest of the chapter, it is specifically the desire for ‘things’. The implication here is that in desiring a thing we name it and individuate it.

 

So what is the state of having no desire? Sure I could just say “always have no desire” or “remain without desire”. The term ‘innocent’ seems to me to provide the right implication.

 

Yǐ 以 pictographically implies something that emanates from and object, like steam rises from boiling water. One thing causes another. So in this first case the first section of the line, i.e. no desire / innocence, is something that happens because of the second part. Hence my usage of “comes from”.

 

Guān 觀 means view, see, perception or the way of looking at things.

 

Qí 其 is a pronoun like he, she, it, they etc. and usually refers to somebody or something mentioned earlier, in this case Guān.

 

Miào 妙 is once again an encounter with Laozi’s feminist inclinations (I like how it sounds like a cat). Pictographically we see a pair of breasts so we can garner the meaning of “as wonderful, exquisite, and subtle as a woman”. In this case, tying in with the rest of the chapter, I have chosen “subtle”.

 

Line 8: 常有欲以觀其徼。-- Cháng yǒu yù yǐ guān qí jiǎo.

 

Again I have chosen to ignore the controversial comma insertion.

 

Cháng is the same ‘constant’ or ‘eternal’ from lines two and four. Yǒu is ‘to have’, ‘to exist’, ‘yes’, or ‘positive’.

 

Again Yù is to desire. Yǐ once again is ‘comes from’, and guān is also ‘view’.

 

Jiǎo is commonly translated as ‘frontier’ or ‘border’. I have chosen ‘superficial’ as it polarizes with ‘subtle’ of the previous line seeing that the two lines are intended to mirror each other.

 

Line 9, line 10 and line 11: 此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。-- Cǐ liǎngzhě, Tóng chū ér míng, Tong wèi zhī xuán.

 

I have chosen a less literal translation for line nine, ten and eleven in order to convey what I believe to be an accurate meaning. In this chapter we see linked pairs of opposites: named and nameless, known and unknown, subtle and superficial. If I was to be literal I would translate these lines as: “These two, are essentially the same though different in name, both just descriptions of the mystery”.

 

Cǐ is simply translated as “these”. Liǎng is pictographically either a set of scales or two oxen pulling a cart, hence, together with zhě, we have “two sides”.

 

Tóng means “all one”, “the same”, “identical”.

 

Chū gives us the image of a plant growing or sprouting from a pot, so we have the connotations of “produce”, “go out”.

 

Ér is a contextual contrasting term like “but”, “otherwise”, “and yet”.

 

Míng once again is a name, distinguishment, or description.

 

Wèi again introduces the concept of speaking, to tell, a name or description.

 

Zhī is merely a preceding phrase as a modifier of shǐ, like the word ‘it’.

 

Xuán is quite appropriately an intriguing term. Pictographically it is a silk-worm cocoon, so it is the idea of something developing under cover. So we have the meanings of secret, subtle, dark, mysterious, abstruse etc. Being silk-worms it can be the spiral-power of origin.

 

Line 12: 玄之又玄 -- Xuán zhī yòu xuán,

 

Once again we have Xuán, the mysterious and secret. This time with a double emphasis with Zhī being ‘it’ and yòu meaning “again”, “furthermore”, “continuation”, and even “repetition”. And then of course Xuán once again.

 

Line 13: 眾妙之門。-- Zhòng miào zhī mén.

 

Zhòng, indicating a crowd of people, means “many”, “numerous”, and the most commonly used “all”.

 

Miào, as in line seven, “as wonderful, exquisite, and subtle as a woman”. Most translations use “Wonder”.

 

Zhī of course and once again means ‘it’ and mén has always been translated as “gateway”, or “portal”.

 

Many translations opt for: “The gateway of all wonders.” I see no need to differ.

 

 

 

^ Back to index ^

Edited June 27, 2011 by Stigweard

[Apech]

Thanks for posting this ... just one question ...

 

Descriptions of Dao,

Fail the eternalness of Dao.

Though names may be given,

They cannot be eternally named.

 

Why have you used plural 'names' and then 'they' in last line. I thought the sense was that although you can give names to the Dao - you cannot really define it. So its not 'they' cannot be eternally named ... but ... It cannot be eternally named ... or perhaps 'completely named'????? Is the way you have translated it implied in the original Chinese?

[Stigweard]

  On 11/14/2010 at 11:25 AM, Apech said:

Thanks for posting this ... just one question ...

 

Descriptions of Dao,

Fail the eternalness of Dao.

Though names may be given,

They cannot be eternally named.

 

Why have you used plural 'names' and then 'they' in last line. I thought the sense was that although you can give names to the Dao - you cannot really define it. So its not 'they' cannot be eternally named ... but ... It cannot be eternally named ... or perhaps 'completely named'????? Is the way you have translated it implied in the original Chinese?

Yup good point. I'll explain my thinking and we'll see if I need to make adjustments.

 

I do see your point ... "They cannot be eternally named" is clumsy phraseology. I was trying to stay as close as I could to the literal "Not eternal name".

 

The meaning I am trying to convey is that names are only temporary -- the object of the name will outlive the name. For example the concept of "name" at one point in history was called "nomen", but now it's called "name". In one thousand years the concept of designating a word to something may be an entirely different word.

 

Therefore a descriptive of something can't be eternal, so something eternal like Dao eludes description.

 

So perhaps something simple like:

 

Though names may be given,

Designations are only temporary.

 

??

[Marblehead]

Thanks for sharing that Stig!

 

I especially enjoyed reading your notes.

[Apech]

[Stigweard]

[dawei]

  On 11/14/2010 at 10:41 AM, Stigweard said:

Introduction:

 

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

Known begets the many separate things.

 

Therefore, enduring innocence

Comes from the subtle view;

Incessant desire for things

Comes from the superficial view.

I can see you want to avoid the comma controversy for wu. Ok. that aside.

 

If we can play with your translation. Do you see a relationship in:

Enduring names and known desires, if you reverse the translations a bit.

[Stigweard]

  On 11/15/2010 at 4:21 AM, dawei said:

I can see you want to avoid the comma controversy for wu. Ok. that aside.

 

If we can play with your translation. Do you see a relationship in:

Enduring names and known desires, if you reverse the translations a bit.

Just so I can engage your query properly, can please you elaborate some more on what you are speaking of?

 

[Ramon25]

you know what we need? A Tao Te Ching for the western mind.

[Stigweard]

  On 11/15/2010 at 6:07 AM, Ramon25 said:

you know what we need? A Tao Te Ching for the western mind.

What do you mean exactly?

 

[dawei]

Enduring names and known desires, if you reverse the translations a bit.

 

  On 11/15/2010 at 5:24 AM, Stigweard said:

Just so I can engage your query properly, can please you elaborate some more on what you are speaking of

 

Replace "unknown" with "enduring". Both utilize "Wu".

Replace "incessant" with "known". Both utilize "You".

 

I know one must translate in line and in context but see an interesting exchange in your usage which you keep separate.

 

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

Known begets the many separate things.

 

Therefore, enduring innocence

Comes from the subtle view;

Incessant desire for things

Comes from the superficial view.

[Stigweard]

  On 11/15/2010 at 8:13 AM, dawei said:

Enduring names and known desires, if you reverse the translations a bit.

 

 

 

Replace "unknown" with "enduring". Both utilize "Wu".

Replace "incessant" with "known". Both utilize "You".

 

I know one must translate in line and in context but see an interesting exchange in your usage which you keep separate.

 

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

Known begets the many separate things.

 

Therefore, enduring innocence

Comes from the subtle view;

Incessant desire for things

Comes from the superficial view.

OK I see what you have done What are the implications of this from your point of view?

[Apech]

Stig,

 

There's a big difference in English between saying 'unknown' = adjective and 'the unknown' = noun.

 

I think the sense is this: the Tao encompasses both all that is unknown and all that is known and whether it is known or not is dependent on naming. So if you consider absolute reality and say 'these parts (although technically it has no parts) I can name and this is the known, the rest is infinite potential to be (maybe) and this is the unknown.'

 

Whether something is known or not is contingent on naming. Naming being about defining form and function or perhaps applying an appropriate term.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Apech

[dawei]

  On 11/15/2010 at 8:32 AM, Stigweard said:

OK I see what you have done What are the implications of this from your point of view?

  On 11/15/2010 at 8:13 AM, dawei said:

Enduring names and known desires, if you reverse the translations a bit.

 

 

 

Replace "unknown" with "enduring". Both utilize "Wu".

Replace "incessant" with "known". Both utilize "You".

 

I know one must translate in line and in context but see an interesting exchange in your usage which you keep separate.

 

Chapter One -- Embodying Dao

 

Unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

Known begets the many separate things.

 

Therefore, enduring innocence

Comes from the subtle view;

Incessant desire for things

Comes from the superficial view.

This is your translation, not mine

 

I usually attach to the 'comma controversy' crowd but I like what you have done so far in avoiding the controversy... well, maybe not avoided it but your sidestepping into it's mud.

 

I can see what your conveying and I think you're dancing around "Wu" and "You" but you don't want to give them any more power than necessary. Maybe there is a happy middle way which you are close to.

 

You choose to give weight to "Wu" as 'enduring' in "Wu Yu" but simply 'Unknown' in "Wu Ming". On some level I like the simplicity but it doesn't come without it's problems, as Apech points out.

 

There is something enduring about that 'unknown'.

 

You choose to give weight to "You" as 'incessant' in "You Yu" but simply as 'Known' in "You Ming".

 

There is something incessant about that 'known'.

Edited November 15, 2010 by dawei

[majc]

Nice, Stig!

 

  On 11/15/2010 at 6:07 AM, Ramon25 said:

you know what we need? A Tao Te Ching for the western mind.

That's exactly right. Try this one.

[Stigweard]

[Apech]

  On 11/15/2010 at 9:29 PM, Stigweard said:

 

 

The unknown is Heaven and Earth's inception;

The known begets the many separate things.

 

??

 

I think this may be something to do with the English language as it is forcing 'the unknown' into being a thing. As if there is something called 'the unknown' which gives rise to heaven and earth. Perhaps nameless is better after all?

 

I know what I want to say about this but its difficult to express - I am going to think and post later.

 

Cheers

 

A.

[Apech]

[Stigweard]

[Apech]

[Stigweard]

[Apech]

I think I am right then I think it means Heaven and Earth in the I Ching sense of the trigrams.

[Stigweard]

  On 11/16/2010 at 11:48 PM, Apech said:

I think I am right then I think it means Heaven and Earth in the I Ching sense of the trigrams.

OK could you expand on this ... do you mean:

 

 

Love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

[Apech]

Hi Stig,

 

I've just been rereading Lynns translation with Wang Bi commentary - this is the book I studied all summer This one.

 

Anyway I think I am wrong now - because Wang Bi apparently had access to a version (Mawangdui A. and B.) which is translated thus:

 

  Quote

Nameless, it is the origin of the myriad things; named, it is the mother of the myriad things.

 

So instead of having 'heaven and earth' and 'myriad things' it just repeats 'myriad things'. So the distinction is lost but not the meaning. The distinction is then between 'origin' and 'mother'.

 

But I can still reconstruct what I was thinking from this.

 

I am seeing Heaven as a field of pure yang - that is a luminous infinity whose light gives order. And I am seeing Earth as being the receptive (dark) substance that gives and sustains life - pure yin. The Tao then as origin is Heavenly and as 'mother' is Earthly. This is the underlying structure of the universe - but it is not the empirically observed universe because we do not perceive pure energy or pure substance we perceive mixtures or interactions >>> the 10k things.

 

So referring to the Great Treatise (I am reading Wilhelms translation) the Earlier Heaven arrangement of the Trigrams places Ch'ien (the creative) opposite K'un (the receptive). This is saying that the primordial nature of the Tao is expressed like this - it appears both at once as an infinite field of light energy (Heaven) and the infinite substantial field of power which underpins all existence (Earth). (The other trigrams express other qualities but it would get too complicated to go into these.)

 

The Earlier Heaven arrangement expresses the primordial nature and is thus 'unknowable' in the ordinary sense - while the later heaven arrangement is more experiential - which is why fire opposed water rather than heaven and earth.

 

Now it is said that the origin and the mother arise together. That is there is no origin until there is a mother and visa versa ( a chicken and egg thing!?!).

 

So we could say that because the Tao has this unknown/unknowable aspect (its true name cannot be spoken) it can be viewed as an origin - and because it allows/facilitates knowing/naming it is also a mother.

 

I hadn't thought of the Hexagrams but if you look at those formed from Ch'ien and K'un they are 11. Peace and 12. Stagnation - in one the creative and the receptive come together in union = peace and in the other they move apart = stagnation (or perhaps barreness or non-productivity).

 

Forgive the ramble (it makes sense to me!!! ha ha).

Edited November 17, 2010 by Apech