道德經

Tao Te Ching 65 · 65

Pure Virtue

古之善為道者，非以明民，將以愚之。民之難治，以其智多。以智治國，國之賊；不以智治國，國之福。知此兩者亦楷式。常知楷式，是謂玄德。玄德深矣遠矣，與物反矣，乃至於大順。

Those of old who were good at practicing the Way did not use it to make the people clever; they would use it to make them simple. The people are hard to govern because they have too much cleverness. To govern the state with cleverness is to rob the state; not to govern the state with cleverness is to bless the state. To know these two is also the model and pattern. Always to know the model and pattern: this is called mysterious virtue. Mysterious virtue is deep indeed, far indeed; it goes the opposite way from things, and then it reaches the great accord.

Word by word

古gǔof old之zhīwho善shànwere good at為wéipracticing道dàothe Way者zhěThose，非fēidid not以yǐuse it to明míngmake clever民mínthe peopleclever，they將jiāngwould以yǐuse it to愚yúmake simple之zhīthemsimple。民mínThe people之zhīare難nánhard治zhìto govern，以yǐbecause其qíthey智zhìcleverness多duōhave too much。以yǐwith智zhìcleverness治zhìTo govern國guóthe state，國guóthe state之zhī(’s)is to賊zéirob；不bùnot以yǐwith智zhìcleverness治zhìto govern國guóthe state，國guóthe state之zhī(’s)is to福fúbless。知zhīTo know此cǐthese兩liǎngtwo者zhě(things)亦yìis also楷kǎithe model式shìand pattern。常chángAlways知zhīto know楷kǎithe model式shìand pattern，是shìthis謂wèiis called玄xuánmysterious德dévirtue。玄xuánMysterious德dévirtue深shēnis deep矣yǐindeed遠yuǎnfar矣yǐindeed，與yǔfrom物wùthingsit反fǎngoes the opposite way矣yǐ(!)，乃nǎiand thenit至zhìreaches於yúat大dàthe great順shùnaccord。；。。；。。：。，；，。

The setting

The uncomfortable claim that good rulers keep people plain rather than clever, read through Heshang Gong's own gloss and checked against every surviving witness.

A note on this passage

Keeping the people simple sounds troubling until Heshang Gong’s gloss is read closely: he means teaching them plainness and honesty, not stupidity.

This text differs from the more familiar Wang Bi version at almost every line: its word for the “model and pattern”, its missing “therefore” linking cunning to ruin, and its missing “only afterward” before the final image. It reads most tersely exactly where the argument turns hardest.

The Mawangdui silk copies add another layer, and they do not agree with each other: one opens with “thus it is said”, framing the passage as a quotation that neither this text nor the more familiar version preserves, while the other opens plainly with “the ancients”, as this text does. Both silk copies also put “always” before each mention of knowing the model and pattern, where this text has it once, and write 恆 where the received texts have 常, the same difference as in chapter 1.

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Tao Te Ching 65 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/tao/65/