Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Chinese Philosophy Notes

- 老子 -

五色令人目盲,五音令人耳聋,五味令人口爽,驰骋田猎令人心发狂,难得之货令人行妨。
colors make people blind, sounds make people deaf, flavors make people ??, hunting makes people crazy, things people cannot get make them behave badly.

天下皆知美之为美,斯恶也。皆知善之为善,斯不善也。
If all the people know what is beautiful, actually it is evil.
If all the people know what is good, actually it is bad.

大道废,有仁义;智慧出,有大伪;六亲不和,有孝慈;国家昏乱,有忠臣。
get rid of the big principles, then you get benevolence and righteousness;
knowledge is accompanied by bogus.


绝圣弃智,绝仁弃义,绝巧弃利。
get rid of the holy things and the knowledge,
get rid of the benevolence and righteousness,
get rid of the ?? and benefit.

My translation is based on my understanding and limited by my English, wait people to point out the mistakes...

2 comments:

Ji MA said...

声、色、犬马、贵重之物让人着迷,让人丧失理智心性。

第二句不知道。

大道废一句:正因为大道废了,仁义才成为仁义,才显得宝贵。

Claire said...

大道废,有仁义
I thought it meant that "people are emphasizing on the fake morality instead of focusing on real principles" =)