Extensive interpretation of Tao Te Ching (31)
道德經演義（卅一）
Of all things, soldiers are instruments
of evil,
夫佳兵者不祥之器，
hated by men. Therefore the
religious man possessed of Tao avoids them.
物或惡之，故有道者不處。
The gentleman favors the left
in civilian life, but on military occasions favors the right.
君子居則貴左，用兵則貴右。
Soldiers are weapons of evil.
They are not the weapons of the gentleman.
兵者不祥之器，非君子之器，
When the use of soldiers
cannot be helped, the best policy is calm restraint.
不得已而用之，恬淡為上。
Even in victory, there is no
beauty and who calls it beautiful is one who delights in slaughter.
勝而不美，而美之者，是樂殺人。
He who delights in slaughter
will not succeed in his ambition to rule the world.
夫樂殺人者，則不可以得志而天下矣。
The things of good omen favor
the left. The things of ill omen favor the right.
吉事尚左，凶事尚右，
The lieutenant-general stands
on the left, the general stands on the right.
偏將軍居左，上將軍居右。
That is to say, it is
celebrated as a Funeral Rite.
言以喪禮處之。殺人之眾，以悲哀泣之。戰勝以喪禮處之。
Xu Wugui(2)
(9-17)(31。1)
莊子雜篇徐無鬼(二)(9-17)(31。1)
9 Marquis Wu felt admired for Xu Wugui accurately pointed his
illness in such a short time. Recently he always felt indisposed; however, the
doctor couldn’t diagnose his disease. He had taken a lot of drugs but nothing
improved.
武侯被徐無鬼一語道破了自己近來感到心力交瘁的毛病，頗為佩服。的確，這些日子以來，武侯總覺得身體有點不對勁，可是醫生就是診斷不出問題的根源。藥給吃了一大堆，卻始終不見成效。
10 Admiration in mind, Marquis Wu became very humble in manner. Lowering his
head, he whispered, “I long for you for a long time. I do know that only you
can cure me. I tried to invite you times but either I was busy or you were
disinclined. What did you do? Meditation? Retreat? Does each retreat need several months? Well, today
you finally come. Please diagnose my illness carefully. As long as I could
recover, I would like to do anything. Look. From today, I will carry out the
policy of loving and comforting people, and I will cease war to make people
repose and focus my attention on developing economy. Is it helpful?”
武侯的態度不禁變得謙卑起來，他低下頭輕聲地說：「我想見先生您已經很久了，我就知道，只有您才能治好我的病。幾次想約見您，可是不是我忙，就是您不肯來。說是什麼坐關的，一坐就是好幾個月。今天您總算來了，就請您為我好好診斷一下吧！只要能讓我恢復健康，我什麼都肯幹。從今天起，我就開始實施愛民親民的政策，偃旗息鼓，不再打仗;
讓百姓得以休養生息，您說，這樣做是不是可以呢？」
武侯曰：「欲見先生久矣！吾欲愛民而為義偃兵，其可乎？」
11 Shaking his head, Xu Wuigui
said in soft voice, “With such attitude, you can’t reach the goal to cease war
for righteousness. When you treat your people with love, you start to hurt
them; when you make a decision to cease war for righteousness, you actually
start to rearm.
徐無鬼搖了搖頭，低聲地說：「像您這種心態，是沒有辦法做到為義“偃兵”這個目標的。當您以愛為出發點，去對待百姓時，您就開始要傷害他們了;
當您決心為義“偃兵”時，實際上，您已經開始作重整軍備的工作了。
徐無鬼曰：「不可。愛民，害民之始也；為義偃兵，造兵之本也。君自此為之，則殆不成。
12 A proud and solemn slogan just is a tool for doing evil. Though your
starting point is righteousness and benevolence, what you finally do is
hypocritical.
一個美麗莊嚴的口號，只是一件為非做歹的工具而已。雖然您的出發點是仁義，可是到頭來，您只是在做偽善的工作罷了。
13 Material can’t be changed, it always is material; achievement definitely
will bring pride at the end of day. With the changing situation that enemy gets
weak and you get strong, a war must break out.
物質無論再怎麼變也還是物質，成就一定會伴隨著驕傲。當敵消我長，情勢改變，緊接著必有戰事發生。
凡成美，惡器也；君雖為仁義，幾且偽哉！形固造形，成固有伐，變固外戰。
14 If you really have intention to cease war, I suggest you not to parade on
如果您真的有心要偃兵息武，那麼我建議您，不要在麗譙樓前閱兵，也不要在錙壇宮外展示您的軍隊。不要奪取不義之財，不以狡詐、計謀、武力以占別人的便宜。
15 You may consider that for your selfish interest and desire, is it worthy to
slay people of other country and occupy their land? Does victory of this kind
really bring happy and proud to you?
您自己想想看，為了滿足自己的欲望與私利，去殺害別國百姓，侵佔他們的土地，這樣的勝利，又有什麼值得誇耀慶賀之處。
君亦必無盛鶴列於麗譙之間。無徙驥於錙壇之宮，無藏逆於得！無以巧勝人，無以謀勝人，無以戰勝人。夫殺人之士民，兼人之土地，以養吾私與吾神者，其戰不知孰善？勝之惡乎在？君若勿已矣！
16 We verily should cease these actions and turn to pursue the inner happiness,
satisfaction and joy. Give a full play to self-nature, Buddha-nature, Qi, calmness and refinement without disturbance.
我們實在應該停止這樣的舉措，轉而向自己內心去尋求幸福、美滿以及快樂。並且讓自性等在不被干擾的情況下，取得充分發揮的空間。
修胸中之誠，以應天地之情而勿攖。
17 If an empire can do so, people are safe and free from the damage of war. You
don’t need to repeat the slogan of ceasing war, do you? ”
如果為君者都能這樣做，則百姓的生命就有保障，從此不再會遭到戰禍的摧殘。這樣一來，誰又需要您一再重申偃旗息鼓的口號呢？」
夫民死已脫矣，君將惡乎用夫偃兵哉！
Xianchi’s interpretation and remark (31.1)
咸池評述(31。1)
1 Loving people
is the start of doing harm to people. Love is the emission from heart to other
receiver and expects it to response. The response includes possession,
companion and equal expectation.
愛民，害民之始也。愛是由一個人的內心開始發酵，然後傳達到另一個主體之上，並且期待此主體能有所反應的情愫。這種反應包括: 擁有、伴隨、以及投以相同反應之期待等。
2 I love a jade
and wish I could have it. I love a person and wish he/she could love me and we
could stay together, expecting that he/she is a part of mine.
當我珍愛一塊玉，我渴望能擁有它；當我愛慕一個人，我期望他也能同樣的愛我，我盼望能與之長相廝守，使對方成為自己生活中的一部份。
3 When I possess
of response of the same feeling smoothly, I feel happy and contented; On the
contrary, I will feel sad and enforce the emission of love so as to get
positive response.
當我能得償所願，獲得相同感覺的回應時，我就會興高采烈，就會覺得心滿意足。相反的，假如一切不能獲得實現，不能順我的意，我就會覺得難過，就會試圖加強 “愛”的能量，並以此來扭轉局面。
4 If they love
each other, it will be fine. If the receiver has no positive feeling, he might
have the feeling of allergy and distraction.
如果是兩廂情願那倒還好。可是，假如被反應的主體並不能興起正面的感應，那麼，他就會產生被干擾以及反感的感覺; 他也會覺得自己的身心正在受到騷擾，受到侵害。
5 Holding his
ideal, a politician tries to bring bliss to people,
and bring international status and good future to the nation. He wishes that
his ideal will come true. Therefore, he would carry out many new policies and
ask people to follow. The examples are Wang Anshi’s
political reform, Wang Man’s and Wu Zentian’s new
policy, People’s Community and Culture Revolution in 1970s in China.
一位政治家，他因為懷抱著某種崇高的理想，試圖為百姓帶來幸福，帶來顯赫的國際地位以及美好的未來等; 為此他推行許多新政，要求百姓們都服從遵行。就這樣，諸如王安石變法、王莽及武則天的新政、70年代的人民公社、文化大革命等等都紛紛出籠了。
6 However, the
said policies all took its country into disturbance. In the beginning of their
implementation, each one is conducted with the purpose of loving people. So,
wise men like Laotse held that the only work that
government should do is to offer people an open, free and just society and let
them develop their careers freely. Loving people is the deed of spoiling people
by excessive enthusiasm, never being done.
這些攪得天下大亂的政策，在它們實施之初，又有哪一次不是頂著愛民的大帽子呢？所以有識之士如老子者，他們始終認為，只要為百姓提供一個開放、自由、公正的空間，讓他們休養生息，讓他們自由自在的發展就行了。而“愛民”正是揠苗助長之舉，千萬使不得。
Zeyang (4) (1-19)(31。2)
莊子雜篇則陽(四)(1-19)(31。2)
1 Wei Ying signed a contract with Tian
Houmou. Later, Tian Houmou breached the contract for some reasons, which Wei Ying got very angry at. He planned to send someone to
assassinate Tian Houmou in
revenge.
魏瑩與田侯牟簽有一紙合約，後來田侯牟因故背棄了該合約。這令魏瑩非常生氣，因此，他計畫派人去行刺田侯牟，以為報復。
魏瑩與田侯牟約，田侯牟背之，魏瑩怒，將使人剌之。
2 Gongsun Yan, Wei Ying’s
underling with a position of Xishou, felt it
notorious. He persuaded Wei Ying, “Your Majesty is a
king of great force. How could you do assassination, such a despicable thing?
Please give me two hundred thousand soldiers and I will lead them to attack him
for justice. I will capture his people as our slaves and confiscate his
livestock, making him insulted and regretted for breaching the contract all his
life. At last, we will wipe off his towns to make him overturn for good. When
he fails and flees, I will catch him and smite his back to break his spine for
venting your anger.”
魏瑩的部屬，官居犀首名叫公孫衍者，他覺得此事極為不妥。他對魏瑩說：「您是一位有著萬乘大軍的國王，怎麼能幹那種下三濫的勾當呢? 其實，您只須給我二十萬大軍，讓我光明正大地去攻打他，以討回公道也就是了。我必將俘虜他的百姓，讓他們成為我們的奴隸；並沒收他百姓的牛馬，使他受盡羞辱，為毀約的事而遺恨終生；最後，我要徹底地摧毀他的城池，使其永無翻身之日。再者，當田侯牟戰敗逃亡時，我將捶擊他的背，折斷他的脊椎，為大王您洩恨。」
犀首公孫衍聞而恥之，曰：「君為萬乘之君也，而以匹夫從讎。衍請受甲二十萬，為君攻之，虜其人民，係其牛馬，使其君內熱發於背，然後拔其國。忌也出走，然後抶其背，折其脊。」
3 Jizi felt uneasy when he stood beside them and
listened. He disagreed. “Others toiled to build the towns. Why do you want to
destroy them? It has been seven years since the last war; it is a good time for
us to establish a strong country. Yan is a rude warrior. Your Majesty, don’t
follow his nonsense.”
這時，季子在旁邊聽見了這樣的言論，心中深感不安。他對魏瑩說：「別人辛辛苦苦建立的城池，您為什麼要想方設法的去破壞呢？我們國內已經整整七年沒有戰爭了，這是一個讓我們建立強大國家的絕佳機會。衍是一名魯莽的武夫，您千萬別聽信他的胡言亂語才好。」
季子聞而恥之，曰：「築十仞之城，城者既十仞矣，則又壞之，此胥靡之所苦也。今兵不起七年矣，此王之基也。衍亂人，不可聽也。」
4 In the court, the ministries discussed the case by varying opinions.
議事廳裡大家七嘴八舌地繼續討論這個案子。
5 Huazi disagreed with all the opinions. He said,
“Who suggested to attack Tian Houmou
is foolish; who suggested not to is blind; who said
both were wrong is not smart. In my opinion, all their ideas are not the best
way.”
對眾多意見，華子都不認同。他說：「建議出兵攻打齊的人是糊塗蛋，建議不要攻打齊的謀士也是有眼無珠。至於說他們兩者都不對的人，也一樣都高明不到哪里去。在我看來，這些都不是上上之策。」
華子聞而醜之，曰：「善言伐齊者，亂人也；善言勿伐者，亦亂人也；謂『伐之與不伐亂人也』者，又亂人也。」
6 Wei Ying was bewildered for the different
suggestions. He asked, “What should I do on earth? We can’t make it become
trivia and even nothing, or we forgive him too much.”
魏瑩被這些謀士們翻來覆去的建議給弄糊塗了。他說：「照這麼說，我究竟應如何是好呢？總不能讓這件事就這樣不了了之，這豈不是太便宜田侯牟這小子了嗎?」
君曰：「然則若何？」
7 Huazi replied slowly, “As long as we conform to
Tao, it is fine.”
華子慢條斯理地說：「其實，您只要按著自然的道去做就可以了。」
曰：「君求其道而已矣﹗」
8 After Huizi heard the specious words, he sneaked to
come near Dai Jinren and whispered. Dai Jiren took it right, nodding.
惠子聽了這些似是而非的言論，悄悄地跑到戴晉人的身邊，在他耳邊輕言細語了幾句，戴晉人聽了，頻頻點頭。
惠之聞之，而見戴晉人。
9 After whispering, Dai Jinren stood to say to Wei Ying, “Your Majesty, have you ever seen snail? The
little creature with shell on sticky body crawls slowly on the ground?”
戴晉人聽罷站起來，對魏瑩說：「大王，您有沒有見過蝸牛，就是那種帶著殼全身粘粘地，在地上慢慢爬的小玩意？」
戴晉人曰：「有所謂蝸者，君知之乎？」
10 Wei Ying said: “Yes! I know.”
魏瑩說：「我知道。」
11 Dai Jinren said, “There is a country called Chushi on the left antenna of the snail; there
is the other country called Manshi on the right
antenna of the snail. The two countries often resort to war for territory. The
war takes a heavy toll – more than ten thousand people die. The winner in the
war sojourns on loser’s territory for fifteen days. They retreat after plunder
and burn all.”
戴晉人說：「在蝸牛的左觸角上，有一個國家叫觸氏，同時，在牠的右觸角上，有另一個國家叫蠻氏。這兩個國家常常為了爭取地盤，興兵動武，一仗下來傷亡數萬是常有的事。戰勝的一方，往往會在戰敗國的領土上盤踞上十五天，盡幹些燒殺擄掠的事後方才撤離。」
曰：「然。」「有國於蝸之左角者，曰觸氏；有國於蝸之右角者，曰蠻氏，時相與爭地而戰，伏尸數萬，逐北旬有五日而後反。」
12 Wei Ying cut in. “You are telling me a fiction!
Aren’t you? There is nothing like that happening in the world.”
魏瑩聽到這裏，插嘴說道：「你是在給我講一個虛構的故事吧！這世上哪會有這樣的事情發生呢?」
君曰：「噫！其虛言與？」
13 Dai Jinren replied, “It is not a factorized
fiction. Let me ask you, the space of universe is limited or limitless?”
戴晉人回答說：「這不是虛構的故事。我且問您，這個宇宙的空間是有限還是無限的？」
曰：「臣請為君實之。君以意在四方上下，有窮乎？」
14 “It is limitless.” Wei Ying replied.
魏瑩說：「當然是無限的。」
君曰：「無窮。」
15 Dai Jinren followed to ask, “Well. Now that it is
limitless, it means that all imagination is possible to become truth someday.
Now you close your eyes to image that you travel to a country called Tongda. When you arrive there, you recall our state of Wei. Do you doubt if the State of
戴晉人緊接著說：「好，既然是無限，那就表示所有的想像都有機會成為可能。現在您閉上眼睛，用您的心去想像，遨遊到一個叫通達的國度之中，當您到達這個國家後，您又回過頭來想像我們魏國，此時，您是不是會懷疑魏國到底是實際存在的，還是虛構的呢？」
曰：「知游心於無窮，而反在通達之國，若存若亡乎？」
16 Confused by his saying, Wei Ying said, “Well. It
seems so.”
魏瑩被這樣的說法給弄糊塗了。他說：「嗯！聽起來似乎是這樣。」
君曰：「然。」
17 Dai Jinren drew his conclusions. He said, “In the
country Tongda, there actually is the State of
戴晉人最後下結論。他說：「在通達國裏，實際上有魏; 而魏中還有梁這個地方，而梁地也有一位國王。我這樣的比喻，您認為這個梁地的國王與蝸牛右觸角的蠻氏有區別嗎？」 魏瑩想了一想，通達國是虛構的，可是在宇宙無限空間裏，又是無事不可能的，那麼通達國中的梁王與蝸牛右觸的蠻氏就沒有什麼區別，都是無法想像的可能存在，在此點上，它們應該是沒有甚麼區別的。
曰：「通達之中有魏，於魏中有梁，於梁中有王，王與蠻氏，有辯乎？」
18 Wei Ying had to answer, “No difference.”
魏瑩無奈地說：「它們的確是沒有甚麼區別。」
19 A discussion ended in such way. After ministries left, Wei
Ying sat by himself blankly.
一場議論就在這樣的氣氛中結束了，大臣們走後，魏瑩一個人悵然若失的呆坐在那兒。
君曰：「無辯。」客出而君惝然若有亡也。
Xianchi’s interpretation and remark
(31.2)
咸池評述(31。2)
1 “In an unbound
space and time, all things imaged would possibly become truth”, which sounds
something like
「在無限的時空裡，所有一切天馬行空及撩人想像的事，都具有其成為真實的可能性」。這句話乍看還真有點像是牛頓的萬有引力定律。
2 According to
the law, we may confident in believing that the things unbelievable in sutra,
such as theurgy, heaven eye, heaven ear, heaven foot, clay turning into gold,
heaven and hell, Mount Sumeru and thirty-three
celestials might be true.
運用這個定律，我們可以信心滿滿地確認，佛經中所涉及的神通、千里眼、順風耳、神足、使土變金、天堂地獄、須彌山、卅三天等都是無法想像的可能存在。
3
If we do believe that the space and time are unbound, we have to believe that
all fable, brief, story and beautiful lies might possibly exist.
如果我們確信時空無限是真實的，那麼，我們就必須得相信，這世上所有的寓言、信仰、故事、騙局與美麗的謊言等等都是有可能存在的。
4 Of course there
are some limitations. Namely you don’t confine its space and time. For example,
I say: “I painted a portrait ‘yesterday’. The guy in the portrait came down
from the portrait to chat with me, and then the portrait became blank”.
當然這中間也有些限制，那就是你不能劃定它的時空。例如，我說: 「我 “昨天”在家裡畫了一幅人物畫，加框後將它掛在牆上; 忽然，那畫中人自己從畫框中走了出來，坐下來跟我聊天，此時，畫框變成了一片空白」。
5 You can deny
what I said confidently since you saw the portrait hanging on the wall with
figure staying on it yesterday in my home.
當你聽到我這樣說的時候，你可以一口否定其真實性，因為昨天在我家裡，你親眼看見那張畫還掛在牆上，而畫中人物也依然還在畫裡沒有變動。
6 However, if I
say, “the figure in my portrait will come down to be real vivid man someday,”
可是如果我說：「我畫筆下的人物，有一天他會自己走出畫框，成為真正有血有肉的活人。」
7 You might feel
doubtful to my words, but you cannot deny it that in an unbound space and time
the things that cannot be imaged could definitely not happen.
這時你就只有半信半疑地聽我吹牛，因為你不能否認在無限時空裡，這個超越想像的可能實在，在未來一定不會發生。
8 We call law of
gravity as
因此，既然我們說萬有引力為牛頓定律，那麼，我們當然也可以稱這個說法為吹牛定律。因為，只要你不劃定時空範疇，隨便你怎麼形容它都可能是真實的。事實上，任誰也沒有辦法去否定其存在的可能性。
9
According to Brag law, when Chuang Tzu dreams of
being a butterfly, both butterfly and Chuang Tzu are
true.
莊周夢蝶，蝶是真實的，莊周也是確有其人，這大概也是吹牛定律的例子之一吧。
Xianchi’s interpretation and remark of
Tao Te Ching (31) a。31
咸池評述道德經演義（卅一）a。31
1 Laotse said that weapon is unpropitious. Actually the
unpropitious itself does limited harm to us. It is vital how to use the weapon
at the right time.
老子說，兵是不祥之器。其實光是不祥，它對我們的危害是非常有限的，重要的是在動用兵器的時機。
2 I don’t mention
killing because in this environment, killing is done anytime as long as you
survive. So, ahimsa is nothing but the concept to deceive ourselves.
我們不談殺生這事。因為置身於這個我們賴以為生的時空裡，只要你一息尚在，殺生是無時無刻不在進行的。在這樣的情形之下，所謂不殺生的說法，也只不過是掩耳盜鈴而已。
3 He, who has
some knowledge of physiology, knows that our body fights deadly against
millions of microbes. It is a vital battle. In the most time of our life, our
defendant system wins, however, occasional assault defeats our body
temporarily. Then we get sick. To cure the disease, we take medicine and
receive injection, which is not more than for killing the outer microbes.
稍微有些生理常識的人都知道，我們的身體，一直都是無時無刻不在與千萬個微生物進行一場猝死之戰的。在我們活著的幾十年之中，大多數時候都是我們的防禦系統大獲全勝，而某些偶發的突擊事件，最多也只能將我們的身體變得短暫的虛弱而已; 而這時我們往往會說自己生病了。至於病中的打針、吃藥，其目的也不外是為了消滅及打擊這些外來的微生物。
4 Someday the
injection and medicine can’t save us, which means that we are defeated by
microbes. Our cost is death. There is no bargain.
有一天，當回生乏術、葯石罔效時，那就表示我們已經被某種微生物打敗了，而我們的代價便是死亡，這中間絲毫沒有一點妥協的可能。
5
If so, how should we face army and battle? Laotse
said that “soldiers are weapons of evil. They are not the weapons of the
gentleman. When the use of soldiers cannot be helped, the best policy is calm
restraint. Even in victory, there is no beauty.” When facing deadly threat, we
should strive to resist. Nevertheless, after crisis is gone, good result is
gained, fight should be stopped immediately. No need for the feast of
celebration.
果真是這樣，那麼我們又應該如何去面對兵，面對戰鬥這回事呢？老子說: 兵者不祥之器，非君子之器，不得已而用之，恬淡為上，勝而不美。在遭受到外力致命的威脅時，原則上我們是應該奮起抵抗的; 然而，只要危機一過，就應該立刻停止戰鬥，所謂「善有果而已」。至於慶功宴那就免了！