Chapter 20 of the Daodejing

Only in chapters 16 and 20 of the DDJ do we hear the voice of personal experience. The first person pronouns wu and wo are seen eighteen times in this text, but usually as part of external quotations, the debater’s convention for making hypothetical arguments (“If I had no body….”) or to indicate the subject of knowledge – the person who knows or doesn’t know, or who teaches, or who sees.

In chapter 16 the speaker sat alone, quietly observing the teeming forms of heaven and their return.  Here the speaker walks unnoticed through the crowd, nameless and alone. What we are shown, in both cases, is apartness amid transience.

Who is speaking? Not the Sage, who was not part of early Dao. Not Laozi, a legendary figure never mentioned in the DDJ. These chapters might describe actual experiences of whoever it was that first wrote or spoke them, but the chapter is not about one person’s experience. These speakers function as instances of the Daoist-in-the-world and show what it is to be a Daoist –detached from the world of names,  identities, and biographies and as unknowable as Dao itself:

我獨泊焉未兆；

如嬰兒之未孩；

儽兮若無所歸。

Only I am quiet and showing nothing,

like an infant who has not yet smiled —

forlorn, as if with no home to go to.

At the beginning the tone is unremittingly dismal. Yi 遺 describes something lost, rejected, discarded, given away, or left behind — a remarkably vivid image of abjection. Like chapter 51, this chapter is also linked to an orphan’s despairing lament from the Shijing (蓼莪, Ode 202). The DDJ’s

儽兮若無所歸。衆人皆有餘，

Forlorn, as if with no home to go to,

The crowd all have plenty, only I am lost

 

echoes the ode’s

出則銜恤、入則靡至。….

When I go abroad, I carry my grief with me;

When I come home, I have no one to go to….

民莫不穀、我獨何害。

People all are happy; -
Why am I alone miserable?

 After fifteen lines describing the speaker’s aloneness and (seeming) misery, the chapter sums it up in two vivid images of desolation (though the variants here make these lines a sort of Rorschach test for readers and translators since “peaceful” and “stormy” are two possible readings of the first word of the first line) :

澹兮其若晦.  飂兮若無所止.

Dim, like the dark of the moon!

Windblown, with nowhere to stop.

And then the first seventeen lines become ironic when the last four lines turn things around. The Daoist lives without the normal supports others have because he does not need them, and  honors his true mother: Dao.

Bill Porter (following Tu Erwei) thinks that the DDJ is organized around the lunar cycle of dark and bright, fullness and emptiness, and so on. The chapter is set at a spring festival, perhaps the solstice. In the MWD text the first line begins with 朢, which can mean the full moon festival, rather than with 荒 one of the other huang  words meaning “vast”, “wild”, “empty”, “confused”, etc. usually seen here. 央 in 未央 not yet at the limit  (seen in #182 of the Shijing) means a turning point, sometimes a middle and sometimes an ending (which can be the same thing in a repeating cycle). 央 and 朢 both have a sense of waiting and anticipation (for example, 央 in #182 of the Shijing), so we can suppose that the happy crowd is awaiting some lunar transition. On the other hand,  the variant I have chosen for the final word of the first line (晦 *hməʔ) can mean either “dim and dark” or (as I have translated) “the dark of the moon”. (The most commonly-translated variant, 海 *hməʔ,  gives “Calm/stormy like the sea”). Obviously the festival could not have been both a full moon festival and a dark-of-the-moon festival, but perhaps the clustering of lunar and calendric vocabulary here has literary significance.

The GD text includes only the opening passages of chapter 20. I divide the chapter at the same place, but have included here only the part not found in the Guodian text – the conclusion. The  three statements from the beginning of the chapter seen in the Guodian text seem unrelated either to each another or to the conclusion of the chapter. The first passage, 絕學無憂, will be put at the end of chapter 48, a placement justified both by the GD text and by the sense of the passage.  The second passage, 唯之與阿，相去幾何？善之與惡，相去若何？, will be put before the parallel statement which opens chapter 2.  The final passage, 人之所畏，不可不畏。, is identical to the ending of chapter 23 and similar in form to a line in chapter 17, but it would seem to fit best at the end of chapter 74.

泊 bo and 澹 dan in this chapter, 淡 dan  in chapters 31 and 35) and  氾 / 汎 / 泛 fan in chapter 34  are frequently combined with one another or defined in terms of one another, and definitions of these words often refer back to the DDJ passages they are found in. 泊, 氾, 汎, and 泛 all mean “floating”, 泊, 澹 and 淡 all mean “peaceful”, and 氾, 汎, and 泛 all mean “flooding”. Other water metaphors in early Dao cluster around “deep” (淵 and 湛 in chapter 4, 深 in chapter 15) around the polarity between “pure”  (清. Chapter 15) and “murky” (濁 in chapter 15, 混 in chapters 14, 15, 20, and 25) or can just mean “flowing” (混 and 敦 in chapters 15 and 20).

Dan 澹 is a tricky case. In modern times it has essentially been absorbed as a synonym by 淡 dan  “bland, calm, mild”, and most translators translate it that way, but in the past it also had the opposite meaning, “turbulent”, and Wagner interprets it that way in this chapter (though he footnotes an old variant text which simply reads 淡 dan).

hu	14  21
huang / guang	14 15 20 21
hun	14 15 18 20 25 49 57
dun	15 20
men	20 58
Ying er 嬰兒	10 20 28
Xu 餘	20 24 53 54 77 9
Cha 察	20 58
Gui 歸	14 16 20 22 28 34 52 60
Mu 母	1 20 25 52 59

…..

朢兮其未央哉！荒

衆人熙熙，

如享太牢，

如春登臺。

我獨泊焉未兆；

如嬰兒之未孩；

衆人皆有餘，

我獨若遺.

我愚人之心也！

沌沌兮!

俗人昭昭，我獨若昏。

俗人察察，我獨悶悶。

儽兮若無所歸。

澹兮其若晦.

飂兮若無所止.

衆人皆有以，

而我獨頑似鄙。

我欲異於人，

而貴食母。

20

…..

 Vast! – and not yet at the limit!

 The crowd is cheerful, as if attending a feast
or ascending a terrace in springtime.
Only I am quiet and show nothing,
like an infant who has not yet smiled;
forlorn, like a dog with no home to go to.

The crowd all have plenty,
only I am lost.
I have the mind of a fool – so confused!

Normal people are radiant,
only I am dim.
Normal people are penetrating,
only I am slack.

Hurried! like the dark of the moon!
Vast! as if with no home to return to.

The crowd all have their angles –
Only I am stubborn and crude.
I want to be uniquely different from others
and to honor the nurturing mother.

…..

In which I rewrite Chapter 33 of the Daodejing

知人者智，
自知者明。
勝人者有力，
自勝者強。

知足者富。
強行者有志。
不失其所者久。
死而不忘者壽。

If you know others you are smart;
If you know yourself you are wise.
If you conquer others you are tough;
If you conquer yourself you are strong.

If you know what is enough you are rich.
If you act forcefully you are strong-willed
If you accept your place you are secure.
If you die and are not forgotten you are long-lived.

Nothing is right about chapter 33. The rhyme scheme is AB CB CC CD, which suggests that either the first and last line or the last four lines were tacked on. The parallelism is weak, with lines of 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 5, 6, and 6 syllables in that order. The first two couplets are parallel (or almost) and lines 1 and 2 and lines 3 and 4 contrast with one another, but the next two couplets are neither parallel nor contrastive. Much of the chapter consists of truisms which have no real connection to the rest of the DDJ and may be antithetical to it. I salvaged what I could from the chapter and ended up with what is probably a fragment, since it lacks a rhyme for 知足者富:

自知者明。
自勝者強。
知足者富.

So I added a line:

自知者明。*ng
自勝者強。*ng
知止者得。*tək.
知足者富。*pəkh

If you know yourself you are wise.
If you conquer yourself you are strong.
If you know when to stop you gain.
If you know what is enough you are rich.

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Chapter 51 of the Daodejing

 

PDF VERSION

生而弗有	Chapters 2, 10, 34, 77.
自 (“of itself”).	Chapters 32, 37, 57, 73.
自然	Chapters 17, 23, 25, 51, 64.
是謂	Chapters 10, 14, 16, 27, 36, 51, 52, 56, 59, 62, 65.
玄	Chapters 1, 6, 10, 15, 51, 56, 65.
德	Chapters 10, 21, 23, 28, 38, 41, 49, 51, 59, 60, 63, 65, 68, 79.
玄德	Chapters 10, 65.

 生之, 畜之, 長之, and 育之 come from 蓼莪 (Ode 202 of the Shijing), which emphasized the poet’s enormous debt to his mother and father, but especially to his mother.

父兮生我、母兮鞠我

拊我畜我、長我育我

顧我復我、出入腹我

O my father, who begat me!

O my mother, who nourished me!

You indulged me, you fed me,

You held me up, you supported me,

You looked after me, you never left me,

Home and away you bore me in your arms.

If the parallel is taken to be exact, Dao is the father and de 德 Virtue is the mother, but it is unlikely that this reading is intended. Ode 202 is a mourning poem expressing the utter abandonment of an orphan alone in the world, and a line from this poem is also echoed in chapter 20, which shows the Daoist all alone in the midst of a festive crowd. Taken together, the two chapters seem to say that while Daoists lack the normal supports that ordinary people have, they do not regret this, since they have better support in Dao.

Versions of the final section of chapter 51 are also seen in chapters 2 and 10, and in mixed and partial form, also in chapters 17, 34 and 77. Altogether there are five lines. Lines A, C, and D are basically stable, but there are many variants of B and E. Chapter 10 and 51 includes A, B, and C; chapter 2 includes lines A, B, D, and E;  and Chapter 77 includes D and a line combining B and A. Two lines in chapter 34 are clearly related to B and E in the first case and D and A in the other. Finally, the ending of chapter 17 includes a line from some versions of chapter 34. In the various available texts there are many variants of B and E, whereas A, C, and D are basically stable.

Below are the standard texts of these lines together with my interpretations / translations:

A. 生而不有 (*wəʔ)

Gives them life without owning them (Chapters 2, 10, 51; a mixed D/A form in chapter 34; a mixed B/A form in chapter 77).

B. 為而不恃 (*dəʔ)

Helps them without making them dependent. (Chapters 2, 10, 51; a mixed B/E form in chapter 34; a mixed B/A form in chapter 77. Variants of 恃: 侍 shi “servant”, 寺 si “eunuch”, and 志 zhi “will, intention, record”. Suggested emendation: 持 chi “grasp”.)

C. 長而不宰 (tsəʔ)

Raises them, but doesn’t stock them. (Chapters 10 and 51. My translation is explained below).

D. 功成而弗居 (kaʔ, kah)

Finishes the job but does not stay. (Chapters 2 and 77; partial citation in chapter 17; mixed D/A form in chapter 34, without 居. All of the other lines end with the words rhyming on ə from rhyme class4 (之: zhi, *tə). This line is not found in chapters 10 and 51 and represents something new.

E. 萬物作焉而不辭 (s-lə)

The myriad creatures depend  on it to live and are not rejected.; 萬物恃之而生而不辭 The myriad creatures rise from it and are not rejected. (Chapters 2 and 34. Variant of 不辭: 始  “begin”. Suggested emendation:司 “be in charge”).

What these lines all have in common is two phrases linked by the phrase er fu 而弗 “but not” with the first phrase telling about good things Dao does and the last phrase telling how Dao makes no demands on those benefited. This was not customary: in ancient China benefactors put those they helped in their debt, gaining power over them by establishing a hierarchal patron-client relationship.  All five of these lines deny either the patron or the client role in this relationship.

The phrases 不有 does not own them and 弗居 does not stay say that Dao does not take the patron role. You 有 in A means “to have” or “to own” as a verb and “property” as a noun, but in those days  ownership and rule were not clearly distinguished and in  both uses of 有 could indicate the “possessions” or domain of a king or noble.

Likewise, ju 居 in D can just mean to live somewhere, but usually the meaning is stronger and means to occupy or preside over a place, like a lord in his manor. Furthermore, gui 歸 in G can just be translated “return”, but it usually means “go home” or “go where you belong”, and often implies putting yourself in the service of the master of the house. So these lines say that Dao helps people and gives them a home without afterwards owning or ruling them.

Zai 宰 in C means “manager, to manage”, often someone who handles goods and supplies. It can indicate the chamberlain or steward of a king’s household, a governmental minister, the commoner or slave overseer managing a noble household and its lands, or even just a butcher. My translation develops the latter meanings (as did John Wu’s).

In B and E the patron-client interpretation helps me choose between variant forms. In B the words 恃 “depend on, trust” gives us the rather forced traditional reading Helps them without making them dependent or Helps them without presuming on them (Wagner), but two of the variants, 侍 shi “attendant, lackey” and 寺 si “eunuch” work better: He helps them without making them into lackeys or He helps them without castrating them. (Eunuchs were frequently attendants or lackeys, so these two lines are almost equivalent).

In The myriad creatures rise from it and are not rejected (chapter 2)and The myriad creatures depend on it to live and are not rejected (chapter 34), the variant 始 (*lhəʔ)  “begin” for 辭 (*s-lə)“reject” does not help, and Lau’s suggestion of  司 (*sə) “take charge” has the advantage of having a similar meaning to that of the other four lines. This emendation is supported by the GD text, where the line ends with an otherwise unknown graph made by removing the “mouth” 口 element from 司 and replacing it with the “heart” 忄 element on the left: Henricks p. 52. However, it also should be said that in terms of chapters 2, 10 and 51, chapter 34 is quite irregular in many respects, so perhaps “is not rejected” is just a new theme here.

Lines B, C, and E deny the “client” end of the patron-client relationship. The 宰, 寺, 侍 and 司 were all simultaneously subservient and powerful: they were lackeys of their patron and thus humble, but they were also his agents and could exercise power in his name. So Dao neither dominates us as a patron nor allows us to dominate others in its name, and is thus distinctly different from the monotheistic God, who was modeled on ruthless and despotic Babylonian rulers.

Probably the original statement of this theme was in chapter 51, where it grows naturally from the earlier part of the chapter and from the Shijing poem. The lines in chapter 10 are exactly the same as those in chapter 51 and were probably added by an editor trying to weave the DDJ into a unity. While the theme can clearly be seen in chapter 34, its development there is original and messy, so perhaps this chapter should be regarded as independent. Chapter 2 seems to be synoptic and includes versions of every line but C.  The lines in the late chapter 77 are also messy but they are quite apropos to the topic of the chapter, which is the selflessness of the sage. Finally, chapter 17 appropriates half of D (without the 而不 part) in his description of the invisible action of the greatest rulers.

Others are better equipped than I am to trace the historical development of this theme, and in any case the interest for me here lies not in discovering the historical sequence, but in seeing how the theme develops in six chapters. Many think that the DDJ first appeared within a (literate) oral tradition, and this sort of development by variation is characteristic of such traditions. Not only does oral development allow for improvisation, but any scribe writing down what he just heard also has to (or is allowed to) improvise his own interpretation: “Was what I just heard 侍 or 寺 or 志 or 持?” I think that reading these six lines together while considering the interesting variants gives a much richer understanding than a normal sequential reading of the supposed best variant.

WANG BI VERSION

WITH IMPORTANT VARIANTS NOTED

10, 51

生而不有

為而不恃

長而不宰

Variants: 侍 GD 2, MWDa 2;  寺 MWDb 2;  志 MWDa 51.

34

萬物恃之而生而不辭

功成不名有

Variant of  辭: 始 (GD 2, MWDb 2.( 司 suggested by Lau). Variant of 功成不名有: 功成事遂而不名有也, (MWD).

2

萬物作焉而不辭 (Variant: See 34)

生而不有

為而不恃

功成而弗居

處 for 居; 成而弗居; 成功而弗居

77

為而不恃

功成而不處  (居 for 處)

17

功成事遂, 百姓皆謂我自然

MY EDITED VERSION

10, 51

生而弗有

為而不侍 (為而弗寺)

長而弗宰

34

萬物恃之而生而弗司

功成事遂而不弗有也

2

萬物作焉而弗司

生而弗有

為而弗侍 (為而弗寺)

功成而弗居

77

為而弗侍 (為而弗寺)

功成而弗居

17

功成事遂

百姓皆謂我自然

Most choices are explained in the text. I have generally replaced 不 bu with 弗 fu because 弗 fu, which seems to have become an archaism by the 2^nd century BC, implies a direct object. I also have consistently replaced 處 with 居.

Adorno’s Genuine Liberal…. laydeez

You probably have always wanted to know what a “Genuine Liberal” is, according to Theodor Adorno. He contrasts the Genuine Liberal to such less-desirable liberals as  Rigid non-racists (Communists), Protesting non-racists (neurotic and frigid women), Impulsive non-racists (Lesbians), and Easygoing non-racists (mellow airhead dudes).

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The illustration we give is a girl whose character of a “genuine liberal” stands out more clearly, since, according to the interviewer, “she is politically naive like the majority of our college women”….

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“F515 is a 21 year old college student. She is a handsome brunette with dark, flashing eyes who exudes temperament and vitality. She has none of the pretty-pretty femininity so frequently seen in [racist] subjects, and would probably scorn the feminine wiles and schemes practiced by such women….. one senses in her a very passionate nature and so strong a desire to give intensely of herself in all her relationships that she must experience difficulty in restraining herself within the bounds of conventionality“.

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(From The Authoritarian Personality, abridged ed., Norton, 1982, pp. 383-4. To be clear, the description of the lovely F515 is not in Adorno’s own words, but this is the case history he chose to cite.)

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