Works of Gong Mu (Volume 3)

Author: Gong Mu / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-08-01
Features:
As all know beauty as beauty, ugliness arises; as all know good as good, 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; all things rise without initiating, are born without possessing, act without relying, and achieve success without claiming. Only by not claiming is it that one does not fade away.
As all know beauty as beauty, this is ugliness; as all know good as good, this is badness. 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; all things rise without initiating, are born without possessing, act without relying, and achieve success without claiming. Only by not claiming is it that one does not fade away.
[Annotations]
(1) As all know beauty as beauty, this is ugliness; as all know good as good, this is badness. This is written according to the "Ancient Texts Examination" by Lao Jian. In the "Commentary on the Laozi" by Ye Mengde, the "General Discussion on the Laozi" by Liu Ji, and the "Collected Annotations on the Dao De Jing" by Fan Yingyuan, both "all" are preceded by "the world" in the original text. The "Dao Yin Training" in the "Huainanzi" quotes the lower part as "As all know good as good, this is badness." The "Huainanzi" text also includes "the world," while Wang Bi, Fu Xuan, and other Tang dynasty texts do not. The Jia bamboo slip manuscript (Jia Mo) reads: "As all know beauty as beauty, ugliness arises; as all know good, this is badness." The Yi bamboo slip manuscript (Yi Mo) reads: "As all know beauty as beauty," with the rest the same as the Jia Mo. Some texts replace "already" with "already," some replace the lower "already" with "already," some replace both with "already," and some use "also." As "also" and "already" are anciently interchangeable (as seen in "Explanations of Classical Texts"), and as "already" and "already" share both sound and meaning, all three characters can be used interchangeably. Additionally, "beauty" and "ugliness" are antonyms, as are "good" and "badness." Thus, "ugliness" 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 follows this structure. In the Jinfu, Guangming, and Fu Xuan, Su Zhe, Fan Yingyuan, and other six texts, the character "each other" is preceded by "it" in the original text. "Explanations of Classical Texts" states: "it, like 'then.'" The character "form" is written as "compare" by Wang Bi. Bi Yuan said in "Examinations of Differences": "The ancient script did not have the character 'compare'; the original text rhymes with 'form' and 'lean,' so it should not be written as 'compare.'" "Complete" follows the Bao bamboo slip manuscript; He Shanggong, Wang Bi, Fu Yi, and others write it as "lean," likely to avoid the taboo of Emperor Hui of Han (Liu Ying), whose meaning is long. The Bao bamboo slip manuscript does not include "thus," but does include the six "it" characters, with "before and after" written as "first and last." The first five sentences of the Jia Mo manuscript read "intentional sound" instead of "sound," and the Yi Mo manuscript omits four characters from "existence and non-existence give birth to each other." In the "Book of Rites·Record of Music": "The five tones—gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu—mixed together are called 'sound,' while a single tone is called 'tone.'"
(3) This is the eternal truth. The current text does not include these two characters, but they are added based on the Jia and Yi bamboo slip manuscripts.
(4) Therefore, the sage engages in the affairs of non-action, practices the teaching of non-verbal instruction. Fu Xuan, Fan Yingyuan, and other texts follow this structure. The Bao bamboo slip manuscript writes "engage" as "reside," with the Jia Mo manuscript writing "sage" as a substitute for "sound," and omitting four characters from "non-verbal instruction." According to Ma Xulun and Jiang Xichang's research, Wang Bi's manuscript also writes "engage" as "reside." In the Tang dynasty manuscript fragments and the Longxing Stele, "sage" is followed by "governing," and in Tang Qiangsixi's "Compendium of the Dao De Jing's Moral Principles," the sentence ends with "also."
(5) All things rise without initiating, are born without possessing, act without relying, and achieve success without claiming. Only by not claiming is it that one does not fade away. The character "not" in all "not" instances follows the Bao bamboo slip manuscript; the current text writes it as "not." The Yi bamboo slip manuscript writes "all things rise without initiating." "Not initiating" is written as "not acting as the initiator" in Fu Xuan, Fan Yingyuan, the Tang dynasty manuscript fragments, and the Longxing Stele. He Shanggong, Wang Bi, Lin Xiyi, Su Zhe, and others write it as "all things rise without shirking." Lu Xisheng, the Kaiyuan manuscript, and the "Taiping Imperial Collection" (Volume 76) omit the character "shirking." Tao Shaoxue said: "In Wang Bi's commentary on Chapter 17: '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 Bi manuscript writes 'shirking,' which was arbitrarily altered by later scholars. 'Not acting as the initiator' is more meaningful and harmonizes with the rhyme of the following lines." Yi Shundong also agreed with this. However, Yu Xuan said in "Discussions": "Not shirking should be understood in the sage's context, not in the context of all things. Only then does it align with 'born without possessing, act without relying.' He Shanggong's commentary says 'not shirking' means 'not thanking and going back,' which is incorrect. 'Not shirking' means 'not speaking,' which is the same as the 'teaching of non-verbal instruction' mentioned earlier. The Fu Yi manuscript of the Tang dynasty writes 'all things rise without acting as the initiator,' and Bi Yuan said 'shirking and initiating are the same in sound, leading to differences, and Fu Yi's meaning is better.' However, in Chapter 34, it is said, 'All things rely on it to be born without shirking,' which is similar to this chapter's meaning. It is unlikely to abandon the ancient manuscript and follow Fu Yi. Ma Xulun cited Shi Tian Yangyilang's 'Commentary on the Laozi': "'Not governing' was originally written as 'not acting as the initiator,' and the character 'act' may have been added by later scholars. The character 'initiate' is similar to 'govern,' and it may have been mistakenly written as 'initiate' by copyists." Yu Sibo's "New Evidence": "Both 'initiate' and 'shirking' are loan characters for ',' which means 'to govern.' 'Govern' is a common meaning." Thus, "initiate," "shirking," "govern," and "govern" are all interchangeable. The current text uses "initiate," following Lao Jian: "Not acting as the initiator means not creating artificially but allowing things to arise naturally." "Not claiming" follows the Bao bamboo slip manuscript and Wang Bi's manuscript. Fan Yingyuan quotes Fu Yi as saying: "The ancient manuscript always used 'reside.'" The current Fu Yi manuscript writes "not residing," without the character "and." Other Tang dynasty manuscripts 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," when "As all know beauty as beauty," it is not the eternal beauty; when "As all know good as good," it is not the eternal good. Not the eternal beauty, then ugliness arises; not the eternal good, then badness arises. Here, "ugliness" refers to ugliness in contrast to beauty; "badness" refers to badness in contrast to good. Knowing beauty gives rise to ugliness; knowing good gives rise to badness. The issue first arises with the two instances of "knowing." 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 namedness, replacing "" (independent things) with "" (things for oneself). Thus, it is precisely because of "wisdom" that "the great Dao is abandoned."
Secondly, the issue arises with the two names, "beauty" and "good." Beauty is human emotion, and good is human morality. These two are "human, not heaven." They are artificial and destructive to nature, hence both are "not the eternal name," and therefore "not the eternal Dao." To the Dao, they are "ugliness" or "badness," which is also "ugliness" or "badness." Before the period of namelessness, there were no names, so there was no beauty or good, 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 generated. Things are always divided into two, yet both coexist within one. The contradictory aspects mutually depend on and transform each other. This determines that if there are names for "beauty" and "good," there must also be names for "ugliness" and "badness," or "ugliness" and "badness." Beauty and ugliness, good and badness, are two pairs of contradictions, both explaining the relationship of comparative opposition. Beauty and ugliness (ugliness), good and badness (badness), are opposite and contradictory relationships; but ugliness arises from beauty, and without knowing beauty, ugliness is not revealed; badness arises from good, and without knowing good, badness is not revealed. This means that there is also a principle of mutual generation and complementarity between beauty and ugliness, and between good 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 contradictions become. From this point on, the world becomes noisy 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 embody the principle of "what arises from this arises from that, and what arises from that arises from 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 negative relationship. In this passage, these comparative relationships are used to summarize the phenomena and essence of nature and society, and it is concluded: "This is the eternal truth," indicating that the contradiction and opposition-transformation of things are an eternal law.
However, Laozi does not only teach people to value comparative relationships but also to value the absolute unity beyond these relationships. Comparative relationships cannot exist without names, i.e., named designations; absolute relationships must be free from names, i.e., named 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 valued the opposition and transformation of contradictions, and his understanding of the mutual influence, penetration, and transformation of opposites was a practical 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 and resolve contradictions to promote the transformation of nature and the development of society. As a recluse, Laozi represented the social base of bankrupt commune farmers, or the individual petty peasant class, whether consciously or not. He exaggerated human passivity and downplayed human creativity, emphasizing cognition while detached from practice, advocating retreat while avoiding struggle. This compromise stemmed from the weak and helpless position of the individual petty peasant class. Thus, he fantasized about sages—those "who follow the Dao"—who should handle affairs naturally without artificial actions, and teach subtly without issuing commands. This is what is called "handling affairs through non-action" and "teaching through non-verbal instruction." As Qian Zhongshu said: "Laozi's sages are those who fully fulfill human capabilities to imitate the effortless actions of heaven." (From "The Precious Hairpin," Volume 2, page 421) Laozi hoped that such sages could practice "the Dao of heaven" (reducing surplus and replenishing deficiency) to change "the Dao of humans" (reducing the deficient to serve the surplus), thereby achieving the ideal of "the Dao of heaven benefits without harming; the Dao of humans act without competing" (Chapter 81), allowing people to live a tranquil life. Thus, he advised the "rulers" who controlled the fate of the people: "The Dao is always non-action yet does not fail to act. If the rulers can uphold it, all things will transform naturally." (Chapter 37) He wanted them to be the embodiment of the "Dao," able to "all things rise without initiating, are born without possessing, act without relying, and 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 one does not fade away." This essentially became advice for rulers. Wang Fuzhi said in "The Laozi Explained" that here, the sage's "embrace of the one" involves first opposing one with another, then remaining in the middle. Thus, when one opposes another, it becomes a barrier, but one realizes that there is no barrier at all, and then sits back and collects it. A barrier is "claiming," while sitting back and collecting is "not fading away." This is called "wise competition." Laozi's words objectively involved "not claiming" and planned "wise competition" to achieve "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 mindset, find their place in life, and live in harmony. It seems that it cannot be entirely negatively evaluated. P29-34