† Superior arabic figures refer to notes, mainly of a textual nature, placed at the end of the book.
*The Chinese terms used here are not precise and it is not clear what the intended contrast is. The translation is, therefore, tentative.
† It may seem strange to say that before and after follow each other, but this refers probably to a ring. Any point on a ring is both before and after any other point, depending on the arbitrary choice of the starting-point.
* The word in the text meaning ‘full’ has been emended to one meaning ‘empty’. Cf. ‘Yet use will never drain it’ (17); ‘Yet it cannot be exhausted by use’ (78); ‘Yet use will not drain it’ (101).
* In the T’ien pin chapter in the Chuang tzu it is said that straw dogs were treated with the greatest deference before they were used as an offering, only to be discarded and trampled upon as soon as they had served their purpose.
* In sense and, possibly, in rhyme, this line is continuous with 20.
* This refers to a vessel which is said to have been in the temple of Chou (or Lu). It stands in position when empty but overturns when full. The moral is that humility is a necessary virtue, especially for those in high position.
* Man has two souls, the p’o which is the soul of the body and the hurt which is the soul of the spirit. After death, the p’o descends into earth while the hun ascends into heaven. The myriad creatures carry on their backs the yin and embrace in their arms the yang’ (94).
† i.e. the mind.
‡ The gates of heaven are, according to the Keng sang ch’u chapter of the Chuang tzu, the invisible gateway through which the myriad creatures come into being and return to nothing.
* In all three cases, by ‘nothing’ is meant the empty spaces.
* It is probable that the word kuei (‘high rank’) here has crept in by mistake, since, as it stands, this line has one word more than the first. If this is the case, then the line should be translated: ‘Great trouble is like one’s body.’ This brings it into line with the explanation that follows where ‘high rank’ is not, in fact, mentioned.
*The present text reads ‘That he can be worn and not newly made.’ The negative must have crept in by mistake. Cf. ‘Worn then new’ (50).
* The six relations, according to Wang Pi, are father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife.
* This line is clearly out of place in this chapter, and should, almost certainly, form part of the last chapter, but there is disagreement among scholars as to the exact place in the last chapter to which it should be restored. Some believe that it is in fact the last line in that chapter. I am inclined to the view that it should be the first line. In that case, it should also be the first line of 43.
† This line seems unconnected here. Kao Heng suggests that it probably follows on the line ‘I alone am inactive and reveal no signs’, as both lines are similar not only in their grammatical structure but also in having internal rhymes (Lao tzu cheng ku, Peking, 1956, p. 46).
‡ T’ai lao is the most elaborate kind of feast, and consists of the three kinds of animals, the ox, the sheep, and the pig.
§ i.e. going on an outing.
|| These two lines though seemingly unconnected to the rest of the section are meant to be a description of the sage, who is referred to throughout this section in the tint penon.
* The word translated ‘loss’ throughout this section does not make much sense. It is possible that it is a graphic error for ‘heaven’, as suggested by Kao (op. cit., P- 57).
* The six lines beginning with ‘But keep to the role of the black’ are almost certain to be an interpolation, but of an early date. If that is the case, then the line following should be translated ‘But keep to the role of the sullied’, thus forming a contrast to the line ‘Know the white’ with which it is continuous. This conjecture is supported by the fact that as quoted in the T’ien hsia chapter in the Chuang tzu the line ‘Know the white’ is, in fact, followed by the line ‘But keep to the role of the sullied.’ Cf. also ‘The sheerest whiteness seems sullied’ (91).
† i.e. officials whose specialist knowledge and ability make them fit to be officials but unfit to be rulers. Cf. the phrase ‘lord over the vessels’ (164).
* The word in the present text means ‘then’ and does not make good sense. I have followed the emendation suggested by Kao to a word meaning ‘to harm’ (op. cit., pp. 71-2).
* The text of this chapter is obviously in disorder and needs rearrangement, but none of the many suggestions for such rearrangement seems to me to be totally satisfactory. I propose the single transposition of passages which I have marked (a) and (b). There is one further point to be noted. This chapter and chapter LXVIstand out as the two chapters which have no commentary in the existing Wang Pi version. In connexion with this chapter this fact has been variously interpreted. Some think that this means that this chapter is a later interpolation. Others think that Wang’s commentary has become mixed up with the text. Still others think that this means at least that Wang suspected the authenticity of the chapter and showed this by leaving it without commentary.
* This section is quoted and commented upon in chapters 21 and 31 of the Han fei tzu, but unfortunately the comments are somewhat obscure because the text is probably corrupt. The general point seems to be this. The ‘fish’ is the symbol for the ruler, and the ‘deep’ his power. For a ruler to allow the power to slip out of his hands is for the ‘fish’ to be ‘allowed to leave the deep’. Reward and punishment are the ‘twin instruments of power in a state’, and ‘must not be revealed to anyone’, lest, in the wrong hands, even the knowledge of how they are dispensed can be turned into a source of power.
* ‘Three in ten’ is a rough way of saying ‘one third’.
* ‘Openings’ and ‘doors’ refer to the senses and the intelligence.
* This section is identical with section 70 and the text has been emended in the same way.
* This is because a small fish can be spoiled simply by being handled.
*Cf. section 159.
* i.e. officials. Cf. section 64 and the note to it.
* As against the ‘guest’, the ‘host’ is the side that is on its home ground and with which the initiative rests.
* If one could only grasp the ‘ancestor’ and the ‘sovereign’, then the understanding of all words and all affairs will follow.
† The word here translated as ‘imitate’ is the same as the word translated as ‘then’ in section 70. It is likely that, as in that section, this is also a corruption from the word meaning ‘harm’ (see Kao, op. cit., p. 140). If that is the case, it is much easier to see the relevance of what is said about the sage in the next section.
* Throughout this chapter the words used in the Chinese are jou and ch’iang, but in the translation the former is translated as ‘supple’ and as ‘pliant’, while the latter is translated as ‘stiff’ and as ‘strong’. Elsewhere in the book, jou is also translated as ‘submissive’.
* In order to test the bow and to correct any faults that may appear.
* Each state has its own shrines to the gods of earth and millet, and a state remains independent only so long as its ruler is able to maintain these shrines.
* The left-hand tally is the half held by the creditor.
† The reading ch’e ‘exaction’ here is difficult. It is possible that Kao is right in suggesting that it should be emended to sha, ‘to kill’ (op. cit., p. 150). If that is the case the translation will become ‘takes charge of execution’.
* To help the reader to follow the argument a chronological table is provided on
* Bamboo was the common writing material in ancient China. It was cut into narrow slips on which columns of characters were written. These slips were then strung together by cords to form a book which was in effect like a curtain that has been turned sideways. It often happened that the cords rotted with time and that some of the slips got broken at the ends as well. In that case, an editor might hav
e to put together, to the best of his ability, a bundle of loose and at times broken slips. It is not surprising that some of these broken slips found their way into the wrong books.
* See the stories about the madman Chieh Yii of Ch’u, the tillers Ch’ang Chii and Chieh Ni, and the Old Man with the Basket (Book 18, sections 5 to 7).
* Kuan Yin, the Keeper of the Pass, is not to be confused with Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva in Chinese Buddhism. There is no connexion whatsoever between the two other than the accidental fact that their names, though totally different in Chinese, come out the same in romanized spelling.
* See pp. xliv-xlv.
† On p. 89 a list is given of passages grouped for the purposes of comparison. Some groups consist of identical passages appearing in different contexts. Others consist of passages which, though not identical, may be profitably read together.
* Thinkers with extant works attributed to them or their disciples, and, with the exception of Confucius, named after them.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
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