Extensive Interpretation of Tao Te Ching (80)
道德經演義（八十）
Let there be a
small country with a small population.
小國寡民，
Where the
supply of goods are tenfold or hundredfold, more than they can use.
使有什伯之器而下用。
Let the people value their
lives and not migrate far.
使民重死而不遠徙。
Though there be boats and carriages, none be there to ride them.
雖有舟輿，無所乘之；
Though there be armor and
weapons, no occasion to display them.
雖有甲兵，無所陳之。
Let the people again tie ropes
for reckoning,
使人復結繩而用之。
Let them think their own food
delicious, their own clothes beautiful, their own
residence comfortable, and their own costumes suitable.
甘其食，美其服，安其居，樂其俗。
The neighboring settlements
overlook one another.
鄰國相望，
So that they can hear the
barking of dogs and crowing of cocks of their neighbors,
雞犬之聲相聞，
and the people till the end of
their days shall never have been outside their country.
使民至老死，不相往來。
Opening Casket (2) (12-20)(80。1)
莊子演義外篇胠篋(二)(12-20)(80。1)
12 The most ideal society is this: people live simple and plain lives and they
knot ropes to record something without written language to accumulate
knowledge. Therefore, people of pure and simple thinking live with other
creatures under the condition of relatively balance field.
理想的社會應該是這樣的：全體百姓都過著簡單樸素的生活，他們結繩記事，沒有文字去累積知識，因此思想單純，得以與萬物共同生存在一個比較均衡的狀態之下，人類與萬物和平相處，大家都有一定的空間生活。
13 They don’t need to take their ingenuity for food because any food that can
quench hunger is delicious. They don’t require the best food and don’t waste
any food, for which lives are respected to some extent. People don’t kill shark
just for its fins. Thus shark is protected from extinction.
任何能解決飢餓的食物都是甘美的，他們不會為了吃而大費週章，食物不求其精所以浪費就少了，生命也得到一定的尊重，人們不會為了魚翅將鯊魚翅割下而放棄整條鯊魚，這樣鯊魚的生命就有一定的保障而不會滅亡。
14 Clothes that can keep body warm are good and beautiful. A deer hide that is
cast on body in winter can keep people warm; where a small piece of it to cover
some part of body in summer. It is unnecessary to dress much clothes, waste,
heavy and clumsy.
衣服能遮體保暖就是美、就是好; 冬天一張吃剩的鹿皮做成衣服披在身上，身體就暖了。夏天將皮切割小些遮住重點即可，衣服其實是不必穿上一大堆，既笨重，又浪費。
15 In their wardrobe, modern people have a lot of clothes, some of which they
don’t wear a time in years. Use of clothes had been more than its function of
warmness.
現代人衣櫃裡一大堆衣服，有些幾年也難得穿上一回，衣服的意義老早已超過遮體避寒的功能。
16 The custom is formed by the habits; all people living in the certain area
will accept and do it accordingly. For example, people celebrate the new year
of lunar calendar in
隨著習慣而形成的風俗習慣，大家都接受。人們喜歡按照一定的模式，定時照樣舉行; 諸如，過年時怎麼準備年菜？如何渡過除夕的夜晚？大年初一怎麼拜年，祭祠等都絲毫不馬虎的舉行，讓風俗習慣成為團結國民的力量，增強彼此間的向心力;
17 The society where the custom dismisses and even vanishes will collapse.
People live peacefully and enjoy their works in villages. If nobody had induced
them to immigrate to other place, the big cities would not have come into
being, there would not have vagrants who gather in the corner of cities to be
the source of crime, and the kids and the old would have not been left in the
lonely villages.
風俗散亂消失的社會，是一個即將分崩離析的社會。百姓們在本地鄉村裡安居樂業，沒有人去引誘他們遷移他處; 這樣大城市就不會形成，遊民不會聚集在城市的角落裡成為犯罪的淵藪，鄉下也不會成為老年幼兒的孤獨村落。
18 Members of family stay together. The proportion of the old, the young and
the kids is rational. Thus life of village becomes vigorous and active.
家中成員都聚在一起，鄉村中老中青幼人口合理的分配，鄉村生活就會活潑而有生氣。
19 The sound of poultry and livestock in nearby tribes are heard each other.
People live happily in their own field. Nobody has the concept of emigration.
Thus the distribution of population all around the country becomes even and the
ecological environment is conserved.
聚落與聚落間雖雞狗之聲相聞，他們各具生活範疇，在各自的生活圈子中快樂的生活，沒有人會生移民他鄉之念，各地人口之分佈就平均，而自然生態則得以保存矣！
甘其食，美其服，樂其俗，安其居，鄰國相望，雞狗之音相聞，民至老死而不相往來。
20 This ideal society prevailed in the ancient time, such as the ages of Rongcheng Shi, Dating Shi, Bohuang
Shi, Zhongyang Shi, Lilu
Shi, Lichu Shi, Xuanyuan
Shi, Hexu Shi, Zunlu Shi, Zhurong Shi, Fuxi Shi, and Shengnong Shi. However now nobody knows it.
這種社會在古時容成氏、大庭氏、伯皇氏、中央氏、栗陸氏、驪畜氏、軒轅氏、赫胥氏、尊盧氏、祝融氏、伏羲氏、神農氏等世代都盛行過，而今卻已不為人知久矣！
子獨不知至德之世乎？昔者容成氏、大庭氏、伯皇氏、中央氏、栗陸氏、驪畜氏、軒轅氏、赫胥氏、尊盧氏、祝融氏、伏犧氏、神農氏，當是時也，民結繩而用之。
Xianchi’s Interpretation and
Remark(80。1)
咸池評述(80。1)
1 In a healthy and stable society, people
love their local life and reluctant to immigrate to foreign land. In order to
reach this kind of environment, each town and village should be a
self-sufficient society. Only in serious drought, plague or war, do people have
to unwillingly migrate to other place.
一個健康而穩定的社會，它的百姓是重土而安遷的。每一個鄉鎮，每一個村落都能自給自足，是促成這樣社會存在的必要條件。只有在大旱、在流行病盛行或戰爭時期，百姓們才會在無可奈何的情況下大幅遷移。
2 In Chuang Tzu’s ideal society, he didn’t expect to see a
society that was more prosperous and rich than other places. He thought that
reasons of social problem are that such a society attracts people to move so
that unbalance of population comes into being.
在莊子的理想社會裡，他不希望看到一個特別興盛，特別富足的社會在某地出現。他認為社會問題的形成，部份因素就在於這類社會將它鄰近的百姓吸引了過去，由此造成人口的分佈不均勻。
3 Relation between people becomes nervous and apathy in a big city, especially
the metropolises. Where people’s deep-rooted bad habits would inevitability
come out, such as cheating each other, fraud and cruelness. This is why we
often say that countryside people are honest and warm-hearted while urban
people are sly and insidious.
現今社會，尤其是大型都市，人與人之間關係變得緊繃、冷漠。人類的劣根性諸如: 爾虞我詐、欺騙、狠惡等紛紛出籠。我們常說：「鄉下人比較老實、熱忱，而城市裡的人就比較狡猾、陰險。」說的就是這個道理。
4 Laotse and Chuang Tzu advocated
that people should back to nature. They loathed seeing maliciousness,
indifference and slyness and the best way to prevent them are that people love
their local life and reluctant to immigrate to foreign land. If people’s hearts
are intact, they would think their own food delicious, their own clothes
beautiful, their own residence comfortable, and their own costumes suitable.
老子、莊子都提倡回歸人性自然之道。他們對險惡、冷漠、狡詐的人心自然是排斥而不願意見到的。而為了避免這種人心的方法就在於重土安遷，如此百姓才能少被知識污染，也才能有效融入於甘其食，美其服，安其居，樂其俗的層面之中。
Xianchi’s Interpretation of Tao Te Ching (80) a。80
咸池評述道德經演義（八十）a。80
1 Human’s
civilization has been developing to twenty-first century with convenient
traffic and advanced telecom, so there is few isolated locations with less
population man can find to live with.
人類文明發展到今天２１世紀，交通、通訊如此發達，要想離群索居，要想找一個這樣的小國寡民之地，不是絕對沒有，只是機會是少之又少了。
2 Why did Laotse recommend such an area for our living? Why did he
encourage us to establish a settlement that deserts civilization and returns to
primitive life?
老子為什麼要推薦我們去尋找這麼一個國土來安身立命，為什麼非要鼓勵我們去建立這麼一個拋棄文明，回歸原始生活的國度呢？
3 What is the
benefit will such a tranquil and simple living environment gives us?
有了這樣一個寧靜、簡樸的生活環境，對於我們來說，又有什麼樣的好處呢？
4 Laotse asked us to live in such an area where the
neighboring settlements overlook one another. So that they can hear the barking
of dogs and crowing of cocks of their neighbors, and the people till the end of
their days shall never have been outside their country. What is the life which
people live independently without association with other?
老子要我們過著與鄰國相望，雞犬之聲相聞，可是民至老死，不相往來的生活方式。這種不與人交往的獨立生活是什麼樣的一種生活呢？
5 In the eyes of
modern people, it is the life of ascetic monk: he lives in monastery and closes
door to refuse worldly association; he lives a life of inner practice.
以現在人的眼光來看，要想過那樣的生活，就惟有出家一途，去做一個苦行僧，或到修道院裡去，關起門來不與世俗接觸，過著自己內心修行的生活了。
6 This idea looks
similar to Buddhism seeking impermanent happy life. Buddha deemed that to cast
off suffering is to reduce association with outer world.
這樣的思維，看起來與佛家尋求永久不變的快樂生活有些類似。世尊就認為，我們若想擺脫塵世中的種種痛苦，就必須要減少與外界接觸的機會。
7 Buddha said
that suffering is from stimulation of objective condition that is transmitted
to our heart through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and senses. If we notice,
analyze and learn about the information, our heart will react to it and we will
further take such actions as tackling with it, possessing of it, love or hate
and persisting in it. However Buddha said that these objective factors are
varying and impermanent.
世尊說，人生的苦都是來自於客觀條件的刺激，這些刺激都是經由我們的眼耳鼻舌身意以傳達到我們的心中的。如果我們對這些訊息加以留意，並且從中分析、瞭解這些訊息，那麼我們的心立刻就會發生反應，進而採取行動，想要與之週旋，想要擁有它，進而產生愛恨、執著等情緒。而按照世尊的說法，這些客觀因素都是變異性極高的，都是無常的，當你對無常的東西產生感情，產生想要擁有的意念; 當這些無常的東西消失或離你而去時，你難免就會產生痛苦了。
8 The more desires of objective condition you have, the more disappointed you
will be and the more painful you will be. Therefore, if you want to lead a
tranquil and peaceful life, you have to reduce your desires and keep distance
with the objective condition.
對客觀條件產生的欲望愈多，失望的就愈多，痛苦也就愈多。因此，我們如果想要過著平靜安詳的日子，就得馬上降低自己的欲望，減少與客觀環境接觸的機會不可。
9 Buddha advocated flexibility that is no persistence in objective conditions
and not sticking to it. If I deem that the objective conditions is not mine and
I don’t belong to it, its disappearance and change will not affect me.
世尊說的無住，就是要對客觀條件的種種保持不執著的態度，同時也不要產生太多太黏的繫著。既然這東西不是我的，我也不屬於它，因此它的消失，它的變化對我而言就不至於造成太多感情上的刺激了。
10 People’s heart
is very intricate. Each one has his background and unique growth experience.
Yours are different from your counter partner’s interest, problem, demand, relative
and friend. When you associate with them, nothing serious will happen if you
are not close or intimate. If you are close or intimate and have a tie on each
other’s interest, the situation will be different. You expect him to give you
something or he expects you to give him something. Such exchange makes content
or discontent. Your friendship or association vanishes or changes owing to the
factor. This change might incur a petty mistake, if it is not serious. It might
incur a fight, litigation, and hatred. Thus all problems come out.
人心是極其繁雜的，每一個人都具有他自己獨特的生活背景，都有他特殊的成長過程。他的興趣，他的問題，他的需求，他的親戚、朋友等等都與你的大不相同。因此，當你與人交往之時，泛泛之交也還罷了，如果你們之間是因交往而發生感情，或從中產生利益上的聯繫，那麼，你難免就會期望從他那兒得到什麼，他也一樣會期望你能給他什麼; 像這些密切相關的交換方式，就無形中會導致某方滿足與不滿足的問題發生。你們的友誼或交往的關係就難免會因而發生變化。這樣的變化，小的可能只是一場誤會，大的就很可能會發展成為械鬥、訴訟、乃至於反目成仇。而許多社會問題也就是這樣產生的。
11 What a man of
practice seeks is a tranquil life. Both Laotse and
Buddha thought that tranquility and leisure are good and the only effective way
to have it is to live in a small settlement with less population; however, it
is very hard for modern people to follow it.
一個修行的人所在意的是一個寧靜的生活，老子及世尊都認為好閒靜處，找個小國寡民之地隱姓埋名的生活是唯一有效的辦法。不過這對於現代人而言是太難了。