Chapter 80

小國寡民，

Let the state be small and the people few,

使有什伯之器而不用，

so that although there are tools of ten or a hundred times the efficiency, they are not used,

使民重死而不遠徙。

and let the people take death seriously and not move far away.

雖有舟輿，無所乘之；雖有甲兵，無所陳之。

Though there are boats and carriages, there is no need to ride them; though there are armor and weapons, there is no occasion to display them.

使人復結繩而用之，甘其食，美其服，安其居，樂其俗。鄰國相望，雞犬之聲相聞，民至老死，不相往來。

Let the people return to the simplicity of knotted cords for keeping records, and find their food sweet, their clothing fine, their dwellings comfortable and their customs happy. Neighboring states may be within sight of each other, and the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs may be heard from one to the other, yet the people grow old and die without ever visiting one another.

信言不美，

True words are not beautiful,

美言不信。

beautiful words are not true.

善者不辯，辯者不善。

The good do not argue cleverly, and those who argue cleverly are not good.

知者不博，

One who truly knows does not show off wide learning,

博者不知。

and one who has wide but scattered learning does not truly know.

聖人不積，

The sage does not store up anything for himself;

既以為人己愈有，

the more he does to help others, the more he has himself;

既以與人己愈多。

the more he gives to others, the more abundant he becomes.

天之道，利而不害；

The Way of Heaven benefits all things and does not harm them;

聖人之道，為而不爭。

the Way of the sage is to act and not to contend.

王弼老子道德經二卷，真得老子之學歟，蓋嚴君平指歸之流也。其言仁義與禮，不能自用，必待道以用之，天地萬物各得於一，豈特有功於老子哉。凡百學者，蓋不可不知乎此也。予於是知弼本深於老子，而易則末矣。其於易，多假諸老子之旨，而老子無資於易者，其有餘不足之跡，斷可見也。嗚呼，學其難哉！弼知佳兵者不祥之器，至於戰勝，以喪禮處之，非老子之言，乃不知常善救人，故無棄人；常善救物，故無棄物。獨得諸河上公，而古本無有也。賴傅弈能辯之爾。然弼題是書曰道德經，不析乎道德，而上下之，猶近於古歟！其文字則多謬誤，殆有不可讀者，令人惜之。嘗謂，弼之於老子，張湛之於列子，郭象之於莊子，杜預之於左氏，範甯之於穀梁，毛萇之於詩，郭璞之於爾雅，完然成一家之學，後世雖有作者，未易加也。予既繕寫弼書，並以記之。

Wang Bi's annotated Laozi Tao Te Ching in two scrolls may truly be said to have grasped Laozi's learning, and it belongs, one may say, to the line of Yan Junping's Guide to the Tao Te Ching. He says that benevolence, righteousness and ritual cannot operate of themselves but must rely on the Way to operate, and that heaven, earth and the myriad things each obtain something from the "One"; this is more than merely a service to Laozi. All who study should know this. From this I know that Wang Bi's roots lay deep in Laozi, and that his work on the Book of Changes was a lesser stream. In explaining the Changes he mostly borrowed Laozi's ideas, whereas in explaining Laozi he had no need to borrow from the Changes. His strengths and shortfalls on both sides are plain at a glance. Alas, how hard learning is! Wang Bi knew that the passage from "Fine weapons are instruments of ill omen" down to "In victory, treat it with funeral rites" was not Laozi's words, but he did not know that the lines "The sage is always good at saving people, and so no one is cast aside; always good at saving things, and so nothing is cast aside" appear only in the Heshang Gong text and not in the ancient text; fortunately Fu Yi was able to make this clear. Still, Wang Bi titled the book Tao Te Ching and did not split Dao and De into two parts, upper and lower, which is perhaps close to the ancient text. But its wording contains many errors, and in places it is almost unreadable, which is a pity. I once said: Wang Bi on Laozi, Zhang Zhan on Liezi, Guo Xiang on Zhuangzi, Du Yu on the Zuo Commentary, Fan Ning on the Guliang Commentary, Mao Chang on the Odes, Guo Pu on the Erya, each was complete and formed a school of his own; later writers, even if they write, can hardly add anything more. Having copied out Wang Bi's book once, I have set down these words together.

政和乙未十月丁丑嵩山晁說之鄜畤記。

On the day dingchou of the tenth month of the year yiwei in the Zhenghe era, Chao Shuozhi of Mount Song, recorded at Fuzhi.

克伏誦咸平聖語，有曰：「老子道德經治世之要，明皇解雖燦然可觀，王弼所注，言簡意深，真得老氏清淨之旨。」

I respectfully read the words of the emperor in the Xianping era, in which he said: "The Laozi Tao Te Ching is the essential guide to governing the world. Though the Tang emperor Xuanzong's commentary is brilliant to behold, the commentary by Wang Bi is concise in wording and deep in meaning, and truly grasps Laozi's purport of purity and stillness."

克自此求弼所注甚力，而近世希有，蓋久而後得之，往歲攝建寧學官，嘗以刊行，既又得晁以道先生所題本，不分道德而上下之，亦無篇目，喜其近古，繕寫藏之，乾道庚寅，分教京口，復鏤板以傳，若其字之謬訛，前人已不能證，克焉敢輒易，姑俟夫知者。

From then on I searched hard for Wang Bi's annotated edition, but it was rarely seen in recent times, and only after a long while did I obtain it. In earlier years, when I served as acting school official of Jianning, I had it printed; later I obtained the copy inscribed by Master Chao Yidao, which does not divide Dao and De into upper and lower parts and has no chapter headings, and delighting in its closeness to the ancient text, I copied and kept it. In the Gengyin year of the Qiandao era, when I went to Jingkou to take up a teaching post, I again had it carved and circulated. As for the errors in the text of the book, earlier scholars could not even verify them, so how would I dare to change them lightly? Let them wait for a clearer mind in the future.

三月二十四日左從事郎充鎮江府府學教授熊克謹記

Twenty-fourth day of the third month, respectfully recorded by Xiong Ke, Left Assistant Secretary and Professor of the Prefectural School of Zhenjiang.

老子，

Laozi,

生而皓首，

was born with white hair,

為周柱下史，覩周之衰，乃西出關，

served as Keeper of the Archives of the Zhou court; seeing the Zhou house in decline, he went west out of the pass,

為關尹喜說道德二篇，尚虛無無為，

and lectured to Yin Xi, the Warden of the Pass, on the two parts of the Dao and De, which esteem emptiness and non-action,

凡五千餘言。河上公為章句四卷。

in a little over five thousand characters. Heshang Gong made a commentary on it in four scrolls.

文帝徵之不至，自至河上責之，河上公乃踴身空中，文帝改容謝之，於是授漢文以《老子章句》四篇，言治身治國之要，其後談論者莫不宗尚玄言。唯王輔嗣妙得虛無之旨。

Emperor Wen of Han summoned him, but he would not come; the emperor went in person to the riverside to reproach him, and Heshang Gong leapt up into the air. Emperor Wen changed color and apologized, and so he gave Emperor Wen of Han his Laozi Commentary in four parts, which dealt with the essentials of governing the self and governing the state. From then on, those who discussed the profound and the Way all took mysterious words as their guide. Only Wang Fusi (Wang Bi) subtly grasped the purport of emptiness.