Chapter 10 of the Laozi

Chinese Text

载zài营yíng魄pò抱bào一yī, 能néng无wú离lí乎hū?
专zhuān气qì致zhì柔róu, 能néng如rú婴yīng儿ér乎hū?
涤dí除chú玄xuán览lǎn, 能néng无wú疵cī乎hū?
爱ài民mín治zhì国guó, 能néng无wú为wéi乎hū?
天tiān门mén开kāi阖hé, 能néng为wéi雌cí乎hū?
明míng白bái四sì达dá, 能néng无wú知zhī乎hū?
生shēng之zhī 畜xù之zhī, 生shēng而ér不bù有yǒu, 为wéi而ér不bù恃shì, 长zhǎng而ér不bù宰zǎi, 是shì谓wèi玄xuán德dé.
 

Translation

Can the spiritual soul command the sensitive soul?
If a person preserves unity, they can remain inseparable.
If one tempers their vital force and makes it extremely supple, they can be like a newborn.
If one frees themselves from the lights of intelligence, they can be free from all moral infirmity.
If one cherishes the people and brings peace to the kingdom, they can practice non-action.
If one lets the gates of heaven open and close, they can be like the female (that is, remain at rest).
If their lights penetrate everywhere, they can appear ignorant.
It produces beings and nourishes them.
It produces them and does not regard them as its possession.
It benefits them and does not rely on them.
It rules over them and does not treat them as a master.
This is called possessing profound virtue.

Notes

This passage has greatly puzzled the commentators of 老子 Lǎozǐ. Most replace the word 營 yíng (vulgar camp) with the word 魂 hún "spiritual soul," which they place before 載 zài. It is written in 蘇子 Sū Zǐ: The nature of the Sage is calm and at rest; the spiritual part of his being is invariantly fixed, it is not led astray or perverted by material objects. Although it has taken the animal principle as its dwelling (another author says: as its shell, that is, its envelope), nevertheless the animal principle, the animal soul, obeys it in all that it wants to do. Then it can be said that the spiritual principle carries the animal principle (that is, leads it, commands it). The multitude of men submit their nature to external objects, their spirit becomes troubled, and then the spiritual soul obeys the animal soul. 老子 Lǎozǐ teaches people to preserve their spirit, to preserve the sensitive soul, to ensure that these two principles do not separate. E renders 載 zài as "receive," and the words 營魄 yíng pò as "intelligent soul," which would allow the translation "(man) has received an intelligent soul." The same interpreter adds, to explain the following five words: "If he uses his will without dividing it (among the things of the world), his spirit will remain constantly preserved." Further on, he returns to the generally accepted meaning and advises the lesson reported above, instead of 載營魄 zài yíng pò. Only he renders the word 載 zài differently, namely, as "being carried on," or "being carried by": The sages who cultivate the 道 Dào ensure that the spiritual soul (魂 hún) is constantly united with, attached to the animal soul, just as the brilliance of the sun is carried on the opaque body of the moon (Pi-ching: as a man is carried on a chariot, as a boat is carried by water). He ensures that the animal soul constantly retains the spiritual soul, just as the opaque body of the moon receives the light of the sun. Then the spiritual principle does not escape outward, and the animal soul does not die.

B: The expression 保一 bǎo yī "preserve unity" means ensuring that our will is essentially one (that is, not divided among the things of the world), in order to provide tranquility to our heart. Then, says 洪輔 Hóng Fǔ, the spiritual soul and the animal soul will not separate from each other.

F explains the words 保一 bǎo yī as "preserving the 道 Dào, which is true unity."

H: The word 專 zhuān means "to tame, to subjugate." If the vital force had all its energy, all its violence, it would lead to disorder.

B: The newborn child, having no knowledge yet (D: no desire), has an extremely supple vital force, his heart has nothing disordered, and the spiritual part of his being is preserved in its entirety.

Pi-ching renders 眩瀾 xuàn lán as "view, intuition of wonderful things." If a grain of gold dust enters the eye, it can hinder vision. Intelligence is an obstacle, perspicacity is a bond; that is why they must be uprooted and freed from. Then (H) one will reach the sublime height of the 道 Dào. This interpretation is found in several other esteemed commentaries. According to some commentators, the author speaks here of the false lights of the spirit, which lead man into error and disorder. They must be expelled from our soul, lest they become a cause of moral sickness, capable of destroying the purity of our nature. Other interpreters, such as Pi-ching, cited above, H and B, take the word "lights" in a positive sense and think that 老子 Lǎozǐ advises expelling them so that the soul is entirely empty.

E: The gates of heaven sometimes open, sometimes close. 老子 Lǎozǐ means that, "when it is time to stop, he stops; when it is time to move (act), he moves." The word 牝 pìn "female" indicates rest; it corresponds to the word 闔 hé "to close."

Ibid. Such is the way of the Sage. Although it is said that sometimes he moves, sometimes he remains at rest, nevertheless he must take absolute tranquility as the basis of his conduct. When the Sage directs the administration of the kingdom, there is nothing he does not see with his deep penetration. However, he constantly conforms to the feelings and needs of all creatures. He ensures that the wise and the limited show themselves, that the true and the false manifest spontaneously; and then he does not tire himself out exercising his prudence. The emperors Yǔ and Shùn followed precisely this path when they reigned over the empire and regarded it as if it were absolutely foreign to them.

B: Only the Sage can appear ignorant and limited when he has reached the height of light and knowledge. This is how he preserves his lights, just as a wealthy man preserves his riches by appearing poor.

It is difficult to say what the subject of these eight verbs 生之 shēng zhī, etc., is. According to A, it is the 道 Dào; according to B, it is the Sage (cf. ch. II); C, H believe they should be related to heaven and earth. Pi-ching develops B's thought thus: The Sage produces beings as if he were their father and mother; he nourishes them as if they were his sons and nephews, etc. All this is only possible for the man who has identified with profound Virtue, that is, with the 道 Dào, or who possesses a profound virtue like that of the 道 Dào.

E: One commentator thinks that these six phrase components refer only to the one who governs the kingdom.

A: He expects no reward from them.

B explains the word 長 cháng as "being placed above the people." Other interpreters (A, C) render it as 養 yǎng "to nourish."

李士材 Lǐ Shìcái: 吾子以為主 Wú zǐ yǐ wéi zhǔ "He does not regard himself as their master."