Extensive Interpretation of Tao Te Ching(76)
道德經演義（七十六）
When man is born, he is tender and weak;
at death, he is hard and stiff.
人之生也柔弱，其死也堅強。
When the things and plants are
alive, they are soft and supple; when they are dead, they are brittle and dry.
萬物草木之生也柔脆，其死也枯槁。
Therefore hardness and
stiffness are the companions of death,
故堅強者，死之徒，
and softness and gentleness are
the companions of life.
柔弱者，生之徒。
Therefore when an army is
headstrong, it will lose in battle.
是以兵強則不勝，
When a tree is hard, it will
be cut down.
木強則折，
The big and strong belong
underneath.
強大處下，
The gentle and weak belong at
the top.
柔弱處上。
Xianchi’s Interpretation of Tao Te Ching (76) a.76
咸池評述道德經演義（七十六）a.76
1 Laotse said
that “Therefore hardness and stiffness are the companions of death, and
softness and gentleness are the companions of life”, which is opposite to our
common sense. For this reason this chapter is very easy to mislead reader to a
lot of mistakes.
老子說，堅強者，死之徒，柔弱者，生之徒。這一點與我們一般的常識相較是大相徑庭的。因此，這是一篇相當容易讓人產生誤會的章節。
2 Bank of river
should be firm and hard so as to hold down flood; house foundation must be
steady so as to bear building pressure. Thus house can be stable. The basic
practice of Kung Fu-- Horse step must be practiced to firm and steady level.
So, other feat can be learned, based on it.
是河堤就得築得堅強，才能抵得住洪水；房屋的地基也必須打得堅實，才能承受樓房所施加的壓力，房子也才會穩固；想要功夫練的好，蹲馬步等基礎功就必須練得紮實，然後才能涉及其他的功夫。
3 When we judge a
man, we appraise his steadiness of subjective condition, his habit, his mood
and his wealth. Does he enforce his subjective condition? Is he healthy? Does
he have bad habit that do harm to his health and mentality? Is he mature in
feeling? Is he capricious suddenly? Can he deal with wealth in right way? Does
he feel unstable for changing life?
當我們在評估一個人的時候，我們會從旁觀察他的主觀條件是否穩固; 身體方面是否健康; 有無不良嗜好足以侵害其身心;
乃至其處理事情的方式是否成熟，會不會反反覆覆，令人捉摸不定等等。接著就是其財物的處理能力及方式是否正確，當變故發生時其調適性又是如何?會不會因突高突低的生活起伏而產生不安定感，諸如此類。
4 All appraisals
focus on steadiness, stiffness and hardness. How did Laotse
suddenly say that the stiffness and hardness are the companions of death?
所有這些評估都是緊緊圍繞著堅強與否以作出斷定的，由此可見堅強的重要性。然而，怎麼突然間老子又將堅強者說成是死之徒呢？
5 Infant’s body
is supple but weak too. Infant mortality always is the index of social
development. In recent society, sanitation, medicine, and nutrition have been
greatly improved, the mortality is low, and otherwise it is high. Infant has
weak survival ability itself. So, it needs good care from mother and other
relatives.
嬰兒的身體可說是最為柔軟的了，可是這卻也是嬰兒本身最為脆弱的時期。嬰兒的死亡率一直是社會進步與否的判定標準之一。一個進步的社會，因其衛生、醫藥水準高，營養供應充足，其嬰兒的存活率就明顯高升，反之則低。所以嬰兒本身生存的能力其實並不是那麼的強，相反地，嬰兒是十分仰賴於母親及相關人士的特別細心照顧的。
6 For above reasons, the hardness and
stiffness and softness and gentleness need more proper annotation.
所以這裡的 "堅強" 與 "柔弱"，我們必須給予更適當的解釋。
7 I think
stiffness is bad and relative flexibility is good. Phrase “seat on the pants”
means tailor takes measure of old pants instead of measure of body. The new
pants are out of size if made to old size because waist size changes. Therefore
the phrase means fixed rule. Its antonym is flexibility.
我認為僵硬死板是不好的，相對地為人處世保持彈性是有益的。英文“ seat on
the pants”意思是:
做褲子不按著身體的實際尺碼去量身定做，只是拿條舊褲子來依樣照著做; 然而人的腰圍是會改變的，一成不變的照著陳規去做，其結果就會產生問題。所以seat
on the pants 的英文解釋是fixed
rule; 其反義字是flexibility ，也既謂彈性及適應性。
8 Infant body’s
suppleness is for adaptation of narrow room in womb. After birth, it stays in
large space and it is unnecessary to curl body like that in womb.
嬰兒身體的柔軟，主要是為了適應母體子宮內狹窄的空間，等到生出來，空間增大了，嬰兒也就沒必要再捲縮著身體那麼地難過了。
9 The body of
Sepia is soft and flexible, so it can move into and out of hole in sea bottom
as it like so that it can ward off being preyed.
同樣的原因，烏賊就是因為身體柔軟、富有彈性，所以牠可以在海底的洞穴中任意出入，並以此避開掠食者的侵擾。
10 Politicians
often investigate people’s situation when they make policy. And then they move
focus of policy in the light of people’s actual demand. If policy is flexible,
friction and obstruct of governing diminish. Holding any ism tightly to carry
out policy might incur disorder.
政治家在製定政策之前，總會經常性地探訪民情，然後根據百姓的實際需要來調整施政方針。一個具有彈性的政策，其政務上的摩擦、阻礙就會減少一些。至於死抱著一套主義去推行政務的結果，就免不了會招致民怨，甚至於弄得天下大亂了。
11 All practice of yoga aims at body’s
suppleness. After body becomes supple and flexible, you may run and jump and
inner organ works well too. Channels unblocked, breath smoothing, you become
healthy.
瑜伽的各種練習都是在於訓練身體的柔軟度，當身體柔軟，彈性增加之後，你就能跑能跳，內部器官的運作也隨之變得十分順暢。而當管道通了，氣順了，身體自然就會變得好了。
12 Suppleness is
softness with flexibility instead of faintness. Force is stored in flexibility
and is ready to release anytime, which is Laotse’s
real meaning.
從上述推論中我們可以發現，柔弱不是軟趴趴的沒有絲毫力氣，柔弱指的是柔軟而富有彈性，而力量就儲存於彈性之中，隨著需要而能即刻釋放出來，這就是老子此章中的原意。