PENGUIN CLASSICS ADVISORY EDITOR: BETTY RADICE LAO TZU D. c. lau read Chinese at the University of Hong Kong and in 1946 he went to Glasgow where he read philosophy. In 1950 he joined the School of Oriental and African Studies in London to teach Chinese philosophy. He was appointed in 196$ to the then newly-created Readership in Chinese Philosophy and in 1970 became Professor of Chinese in the University of London. In 197& he returned to Hong Kong to take up the Chair of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1989, upon his retirement, he was appointed Professor Emeritus and started the monumental task of computerizing the entire body of extant ancient Chinese works. A series of some sixty concordances is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2001. L A O T Z U T A O TE C H I N G Translated with an introduction by d. c. LAU PENGUIN BOOKS PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England www.penguin.com This translation first published 1963 46 Copyright O D. C. Lau, 1963 All rights reserved Set in 10/13 pt Monotype Bembo Typeset by Datix International Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in England by days Ltd, St Ives pk Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser C O N TE N T S INTRODUCTION VÜ L AO T Z U BOOK ONE 3 BOOK TWO 43 LIST OF PASSAGES FOR COMPARISON 89 APPENDICES 1 THE PROBLEM OF AUTHORSHIP ÇO 2 THE NATURE OF THE WORK IO4 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE II5 GLOSSARY Il6 NOTES 126 IN T R O D U C T IO N The Lao tzu has had an influence on Chinese thought through the ages out of all proportion to its length. It is often referred to as ‘the book of five thousand characters’, though, in fact, in most versions it is slightly longer than that. It is a short work even allowing for the fact that ancient Chinese was a very concise language and that the particular style in which it was written is more often than not succinct to the point of obscurity. If the Lao tzu is widely read in China as the classic in the thought of Taoism,* it is no less well known to the West through a long line of translators. In English alone there are well over thirty translations. The Lao tzu is, without a doubt, by far the most frequently translated work in Chinese, but unfortunately it cannot be said that it has been best served by its numerous translators, as the nature of the work attracted many whose enthusiasm for Eastern mysticism far outstripped their acquaint­ ance with Chinese thought or even with the Chinese language. The text of the Lao tzu is divided into two books. This was done probably simply to conform to the statement in the bio­ graphy of Lao Tzu that he wrote a work in two books at the request of the Keeper of the Pass. At any rate, the division into two books goes at least as far back as the first century ad. We have reason to believe that the present division into eighty-one chapters - thirty-seven in Book I and forty-four in Book II - also goes back to that time. By the end of the second century ad, the work was also known by the alternative title of the Tao te ching. More specifically, Book I was known as the Tao ching, and Book II the Te ching. This practice seems to have no more foundation * For Chinese terms, proper names, and titles of books, see Glossary. Vlll INTRODUCTION than the mere fact that the first word in Book I is tao while in Book II the first word (discounting the adjective shang which has no special significance) is te. The traditional view is that the Lao tzu was written by a man named Lao Tzu who was an older contemporary of Confucius (551-479 bc). The locus classicus of this tradition is the biography of Lao Tzu in the Shih chi (Records of the Historian) the earliest general history of China, written at the beginning of the first century bc by Ssu-ma Ch’ien: Lao Tzu was a native of the Ch’ii Jen Hamlet in the Li Village of Hu Hsien in the State of Ch’u. His surname was Li, his personal name was Erh and he was styled Tan. He was the Historian in charge of the archives in Chou. When Confucius went to Chou to ask to be instructed in die rites by him, Lao Tzu said, ‘What you are talking about concerns merely the words left by people who have rotted along with their bones. Further­ more, when a gcndeman is in sympathy with the times he goes out in a carriage, but drifts with the wind when the times arc against him. I have heard it said that a good merchant hides his store in a safe place and appears to be devoid of possessions, while a gendeman, though endowed with great virtue, wears a foolish countenance. Rid yourself of your arrogance and your lustfulness, your ingratiating manners and your excessive ambition. These are all detrimental to your person. This is all I have to say to you.’ On leaving, Confucius told his disciples, know a bird can fly, a fish *1 can swim, and an animal can run. For that which runs a net can be made; for that which swims a line can be made; for that which flies a corded arrow can be made. But the dragon’s ascent into heaven on the wind and the clouds is something which is beyond my knowledge. Today I have seen Lao Tzu who is perhaps like a dragon.’ Lao Tzu cultivated the way and virtue, and his teachings aimed at self-effacement. He Itvetfin Chou for a long time, but seeing its decline he departed; when he reached the Pass, the Keeper there was pleased and said to him, ‘As you are about to leave the world behind, could you IX INTRODUCTION write a book for my sake?’ As a result, Lao Tzu wrote a work in two books, setting out the meaning of the way and virtue in some five thousand characters, and then departed. None knew where he went to in the end. According to one tradition, Lao Lai Tzu was also a native of the State of Ch’u. He wrote a book in fifteen p’iett, setting forth the applications of the teachings of the Taoist school, and was contemporary with Confucius. Lao Tzu probably lived to over a hundred and sixty years of age - some even say over two hundred — as he cultivated the way and was able to live to a great age. A hundred and twenty-nine years after the death of Confucius, it was recorded by a historian that Tan the Historian of Chou had an audience with Duke Hsien of Ch’in during wKich he said, ‘In the first instance, Ch’in and Chou were united, and after being united for five hundred years they separated, but seventy years after the separation a great feudal lord is going to be bom.’ According to some. Tan was none other than Lao Tzu, but according to others this was not so. The world is unable to know where the truth lay. Lao Tzu was a gentleman who lived in retirement from the world. The son of Lao Tzu was one by the name of Tsung, who served as general in the army of the State of Wei and was given the fief of Tuan Kan. Tsung’s son was Chu, Chu’s son was Kung, and Kung’s great- great-grandson was Chia. Chia was an official in the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty. His son Chieh was Tutor to Ang, Prince of Chiao Hsi, and as a result made his home in Ch’i. The followers of Lao Tzu try to belittle the Confiicianists, and the Confiicianists likewise belittle the followers of Lao Tzu. This may be what is meant when it is said that ‘people who follow different ways never have anything helpful to say to one another’. Li Erh ‘does nothing and the people are transformed of their own accord’; ‘remains limpid and still and the people are rectified of themselves.’ In the biography of Confucius in the same work, there is another version of his meeting with Lao Tzu: X INTRODUCTION Nan-kung Ching-shu of Lu said to the king of Lu, ‘May your servant be granted permission to go to Chou with Confucius.’ The king of Lu gave him a carriage and two horses, together with one servant, and he went [with Confucius] to Chou to ask about the rites. It was probably then that they met Lao Tzu. When they departed, Lao Tzu saw them off and said, ‘I have heard that men of wealth and rank make gifts of money while benevolent men make gifts of words. I have not been able to win either wealth or rank, but I have been undeservedly accorded the name of a benevolent man. These words are my parting gift: “There are men with clever and penetrating minds who are never far from death. This is because they are fond of criticizing others. There are men of wide learning and great eloquence who put themselves in peril. This is because they expose the evil deeds of others. Neither a son nor a subject should look upon his person as his own.’’ ’ When Ssu-ma Ch’ien came to write the biography of Lao Tzu, he found so few facts that all he could do was to collect together traditions about the man current in his time. He had difficulty even with Lao Tzu’s identity. He explicitly suggests that he was probably the same person as Tan the Historian, though the latter lived more than a century after the death of Confucius. He also implied that there was a possibility that Lao Tzu was Lao Lai Tzu because the latter was also a native of Ch’u and the author of a Taoist work. Finally, he identifies Lao Tzu as the father of one Tuan-kan Tsung whose descendants were still living in his own time. He expresses his own doubts and misgiv­ ings when he says, 'Lao Tzu probably lived to over a hundred and sixty years of age — some even say over two hundred — as he cultivated the way and was able to live to a great age.’ He is half­ hearted in his identification of Lao Tzu with Tan the Historian as he adds, ‘The world is unable to know where the truth lay.’ When he goes on to say, ‘Lao Tzu was a gentleman who lived in retirement from the world,’ he is tacitly offering an explanation for the lack of reliable information in this biography.