Works of Gong Mu, Volume 3

Author: Gongmu / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-08-01
Features:
All in the world know that beauty is beauty, then ugliness arises; all in the world know that goodness is goodness, then badness arises. Thus, existence and non-existence give birth to each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, length and shortness define each other, high and low complete each other, sound and tone harmonize with each other, before and after follow each other: this is the eternal truth. Therefore, the sage engages in the affairs of non-action, practices the teaching of non-verbal instruction; he lets all things rise without initiating, gives birth without possessing, acts without relying, achieves success without claiming. Only by not claiming is it that he does not fade away.
All in the world knows that beauty is beauty, then ugliness arises; all in the world knows that goodness is goodness, then badness arises. Thus, existence and non-existence give birth to each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, length and shortness define each other, high and low complete each other, sound and tone harmonize with each other, before and after follow each other: this is the eternal truth.
Therefore, the sage engages in the affairs of non-action, practices the teaching of non-verbal instruction; he lets all things rise without initiating, gives birth without possessing, acts without relying, achieves success without claiming. Only by not claiming is it that he does not fade away.
【Annotations】
(1) All in the world know that beauty is beauty, then ugliness arises; all in the world know that goodness is goodness, then badness arises. This is written according to the "Ancient Texts Examination" by Lao Jian. In the "Commentary on the Laozi" by Ye Mengde of the Song Dynasty, the "Treatise on the Laozi" by Liu Ji, and the "Collected Annotations on the Dao De Jing" by Fan Yingyuan, the words "all" are present before "know" in the lower part, "The Laozi" by Huainanzi in the "Training of the Dao in the Way of the Response" quotes the lower part as "All in the world know that goodness is goodness, then badness arises," indicating that the Huainanzi text also includes "all." The Wang and Fu texts, along with other Tang Dynasty texts, do not have these two words. The Jia manuscript of the bamboo slips reads: "All in the world know that beauty is beauty, then ugliness arises; all in the world know that goodness, then they despise badness." The Yi manuscript reads: "All in the world know that beauty is beauty," and the rest is the same as the Jia manuscript. In some manuscripts, the upper "has" is written as "yi," the lower "has" as "yi," both "has" as "yi," or as "also." As for: "also" and "yi" are anciently interchangeable, as seen in "Explanations of Classical Texts," and "yi" and "yi" also share the same pronunciation and meaning, so the three characters "has," "yi," and "also" can all be used interchangeably. Additionally, "beauty" and "ugliness" are antonyms, and "goodness" and "badness" are antonyms, so the term "ugliness" here is translated as "ugliness," and "badness" as "badness."
(2) Thus, existence and non-existence give birth to each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, length and shortness define each other, high and low complete each other, sound and tone harmonize with each other, before and after follow each other. The current text is consistent with this. In the Jingfu, Guangming, and the six "phases" of Fu, Su, Fan, etc., the character "zhi" is present before each "phase." "Explanations of Classical Texts" states: "zhi, like zhe." Wang Bi wrote the character "jiao" as "jiao." Bi Yuan said in "Examinations of Differences": "There was no character 'jiao' in ancient times. The original text used 'xing' and 'qing' as rhymes, so it should not be written as 'jiao.'" "Ying" follows the bamboo slips, while He Shanggong, Wang Bi, Fu Yi, and others wrote "qing," which was likely changed to avoid the taboo of Emperor Hui of Han, as "ying" has a long meaning. The bamboo slips do not have the character "thus," and they also have six "zhi" characters, "before and after" is written as "before and after," and the last five sentences of the Jia manuscript all have the character "yi." The Jia manuscript writes "sound and tone" as "intention and tone," and the Yi manuscript omits the four characters "existence and non-existence." In the "Rites·Record of Music": "Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu, mixed together is music; single is tone."
(3) This is the eternal truth. The current text does not have these two characters, which are supplemented according to the Jia and Yi manuscripts of the bamboo slips.
(4) Therefore, the sage engages in the affairs of non-action, practices the teaching of non-verbal instruction. The Fu, Fan, and other manuscripts are the same. The bamboo slips write "engage" as "reside," the Jia manuscript writes "sage" as a substitute for "sound," and omits the four characters "non-verbal instruction." According to the research by Ma Xulun and Jiang Xichang, Wang Bi's manuscript also wrote "engage" as "reside." In the Tang Dynasty manuscript fragments and the Longxing Stele, there is the character "govern" after "sage," and in Tang Qiangsixi's "Compendium of the Dao De Jing," there is the character "yi" at the end of the sentence.
(5) All things rise without initiating, are born without possessing, act without relying, achieve success without claiming, only by not claiming is it that he does not fade away. The "bu" characters follow the bamboo slips, while the current text uses "bu." The Yi manuscript of the bamboo slips writes "all things were born without initiating." "Bu shi" is written as "bu wei shi" in Fu, Fan, the Tang Dynasty manuscript fragments, and the Longxing Stele. He Shanggong, Wang Bi, Lin Xiyi, Su Zhe, and others all write "all things rise without refusing." Lu Xisheng, the Kaiyuan manuscript, and the "Taiping Imperial Collection" volume 76 all lack the character "yan." Tao Shaoxue said: "In the commentary of Wang Bi on the seventeenth chapter: 'Engage in the affairs of non-action, practice the teaching of non-verbal instruction, all things rise without initiating.' This proves that the current Wang manuscript writes 'refuse,' which was arbitrarily changed by later generations. 'Not initiating' is better in meaning and also matches the rhyme with the lower part." Yi Shundong also agreed with this. However, Yu Yue in "Discussions" argued: "Not refusing should be understood in the context of the sage, not in the context of all things, to match 'born without possessing' and 'act without relying.' He Shanggong's commentary says that not refusing means not replying and going against the upper part, which is not correct. Not refusing is still not speaking, which is the same as the non-verbal instruction mentioned earlier. The Tang Fu Yi manuscript writes 'all things rise without initiating,' and Bi Yuan said: 'Refuse and start are the same in sound, so Fu Yi's meaning is better.' However, in chapter thirty-four, it is said, 'All things rely on it to be born without refusing,' which is close in meaning to this chapter, so it is unlikely to abandon the ancient manuscript and follow Fu." Ma Xulun cited Shi Tian Yangyilang's "Commentary on the Laozi": "'Not governing' was originally written as 'not initiating,' and the character 'act' may have been added by later generations. The character 'shi' is similar in shape to 'shi,' and it may have been mistakenly written as 'shi' by copyists." Yu Sibo in "New Evidence" said: "Both 'shi' and 'ci' are loan characters for 'yi,' meaning 'to govern.' 'Yi' means 'to govern,' and this is a common interpretation." Thus, "shi," "ci," "zhi," and "si" are all interchangeable. The character "shi" is chosen, following Lao Jian: "Not initiating means to follow nature without creating it first." "Bu ju" follows the bamboo slips, and Wang Bi also agrees with this. Fan quoted Fu Yi as saying: "The ancient manuscripts all used 'reside.'" The current Fu manuscript writes "not reside," without the character "er." Other Tang Dynasty manuscripts all write "reside."
【Interpretation】
Just as "The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name," if "all in the world know that beauty is beauty," then it is not the eternal beauty; if "all in the world know that goodness is goodness," then it is not the eternal goodness. If it is not the eternal beauty, then "ugliness arises"; if it is not the eternal goodness, then "badness arises." Here, "ugliness" refers to ugliness in contrast to beauty; "badness" refers to badness in contrast to goodness. Knowing beauty gives rise to ugliness; knowing goodness gives rise to badness. The problem arises with the two "knows." Because of knowing, it can be spoken and named; once it can be spoken and named, it is no longer the eternal Dao or name, thus leaving the world of namelessness and entering the world of fame. "The thing-in-itself" is replaced by "the thing-for-me." Thus, it is precisely because of "wisdom" that "the great Dao is abandoned."
Secondly, the problem arises with the two names "beauty" and "goodness." Beauty is the human perspective of emotion, and goodness is the human standard of morality. These two, "human, not heaven." They are man-made, destructive to nature, and thus are "not the eternal names," and also "not the eternal Dao." To the Dao, they are "ugliness," "badness," or even "ugliness" and "badness." Before the period of namelessness, there were no names, so there was no beauty or goodness, nor ugliness or badness, or ugliness or badness. When humans appeared, names arose, and with names came opposition. Everything in the world arises from the relationship of comparative opposition. Without the relationship of comparative opposition, things cannot be observed, explained, or produced. Things are always divided into two, yet both coexist in one. The contradictory aspects mutually depend on and transform each other. This determines that if there are names like "beauty" and "goodness," there must also be names like "ugliness" and "badness," or "ugliness" and "badness." Beauty and ugliness, goodness and badness, are pairs of contradictions that are mutually opposed and complementary. They all explain the relationship of comparative opposition. Beauty and ugliness (ugliness), goodness and badness (badness), are opposite and contradictory relationships. However, ugliness is revealed by beauty; without knowing beauty, ugliness is not revealed. Badness is manifested by goodness; without knowing goodness, badness is not manifested. This means that there is a principle of mutual generation and complementarity between beauty and ugliness, and between goodness and badness. The longer human history progresses, the more intertwined things become; the more intertwined things become, the more names of opposition arise, and the more complex the contradictions become. From this point on, the world becomes bustling and chaotic, with no peace. Thus, the following text lists six pairs of contradictions: existence and non-existence, difficulty and ease, length and shortness, high and low, sound and tone, before and after, and points out that existence and non-existence oppose and generate each other, difficulty and ease oppose and complement each other, length and shortness oppose and define each other, high and low oppose and complete each other, sound and tone oppose and harmonize with each other, before and after oppose and follow each other. None of these are without an opposite relationship, and none fail to show the function of complementarity. These opposite and complementary relationships all demonstrate the mutual influence of opposites, and all play the role of "what arises from this is also because of this." This principle teaches people not only to value the positive but also to value the negative, and to observe the profound meaning of the positive from the perspective of the negative. In this passage, these comparative relationships are used to generalize the phenomena and essence of nature and society, and it is summarized as: "This is the eternal truth," indicating that the contradictions and oppositional transformations of things are an eternal and unchanging law.
However, Laozi not only teaches people to value comparative relationships but also to value the absolute unity beyond these relationships. Comparative relationships cannot be separated from names, i.e., names and designations; absolute relationships must break free from names, i.e., names and designations. Thus, his ideal sages "engage in the affairs of non-action, practice the teaching of non-verbal instruction." What does this mean? This shows that while Laozi greatly values the opposition and transformation of contradictions, and his view of the mutual influence, penetration, and transformation of opposites is a concrete application of naive dialectical thought, he did not draw positive conclusions from this. He did not believe that one should follow objective laws to expose contradictions, resolve them, and promote the transformation of nature and the development of society. As a hermit, Laozi represented the social base of bankrupt commune farmers, or the limitations of the individual petty peasant class. He exaggerated human passivity and downplayed human creativity, emphasizing cognition while detached from practice, and advocating retreat while avoiding struggle. This compromise stemmed from the weak and helpless position of the individual petty peasant class. Thus, he fantasized about the existence of "sages," or "people of the Dao," who should handle affairs in accordance with nature and not act arbitrarily; and teach through subtle influence rather than issuing commands. This is what is called "handling affairs through non-action" and "teaching through non-verbal instruction." As Qian Zhongshu said: "Laozi's 'sage' means to fully accomplish what humans can do to imitate the effortless actions of heaven." (Volume II, page 421 of "The Precious Hairpin") Laozi hoped that such "sages" could practice "the Dao of heaven" ("reduce the surplus and replenish the insufficient") and change "the Dao of humans" ("reduce the insufficient to serve the surplus"), thereby realizing the ideal of "the Dao of heaven benefits without harming; the Dao of humans act without competing" (Chapter eighty-one), allowing the people to live a peaceful life. Thus, he advised the "rulers" who controlled the fate of the people: "The Dao is always non-action yet does all things. If the rulers can uphold it, all things will transform by themselves." (Chapter thirty-seven) He wanted them to be the embodiment of the "Dao" and be able to "let all things rise without initiating, be born without possessing, act without relying, achieve success without claiming." For the "rulers of states" and the "rulers with ten thousand chariots," this was no different from plotting with tigers. Later, he naively added: "Only by not claiming is it that he does not fade away." This essentially became advice for rulers. Wang Fuzhi in "The Derivation of the Laozi" summarizes here: "The sage's 'embrace of one' means that when one and one become two, I remain in the middle; thus, when one and this one oppose each other, I realize that there is no opposition at all, and then I sit back and take it in. The opposing one stands 'reside,' while the one that sits back and takes it in is 'does not fade away.' This is called 'good competition.'" Laozi's words, objectively, are the strategy of "not residing" and the policy of "good competition" to achieve the goal of "not fading away." No wonder the "Book of Han·Bibliography" called his teachings "the art of ruling the people," which was naturally acceptable to rulers. Thus, we see the negative side of Laozi's philosophical thought and social theory. Of course, ordinary people can also learn from this to achieve a balanced mentality, find their place in life, and live in harmony. It seems that it cannot be entirely negatively evaluated. P29-34