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Dao De Jing Introduction Table of content – The Way and Its Power

The naturalist, individualist and politic doctrine of Lao-tse exhibited in 81 poetic and obscure texts. Tr. Waley (en), Lau (en), Julien (fr) and Wilhelm (de).

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Daodejing II. 75.

Section De – Chapter LXXV

The people starve because those above them eat too much tax-grain. That is the only reason why they starve.

The people are difficult to keep in order because those above them interfere. That is the only reason why they are so difficult to keep in order. The people attach no importance to death, because those above them are too grossly absorbed in the pursuit of life. That is why they attach no importance to death. And indeed, in that their hearts are so little set on life they are superior to these who set store by life.

Waley 75

人民之所以饥饿, 是因为统治者要的税赋太高, 因此陷于饥饿。
人民之所以难治, 是因为统治者强作妄为, 因此难以统治。
人民之所以轻死, 是因为统治者使人民无法生存, 因此不怕犯死罪。因此统治者恬淡无为比强取豪夺要高明得多。

白话翻译

The people are hungry:
It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes
That the people are hungry.
The people are difficult to govern.
It is because those in authority are too fond of action
That the people are difficult to govern.
The people treat death lightly:
It is because the people set too much store by life
That they treat death lightly.

It is just because one has no use for life that one is wiser than theman who values life.

Lau 75

Le peuple a faim parce que le prince dévore une quantité d'impôts.
Voilà pourquoi il a faim.
Le peuple est difficile à gouverner parce que le prince50 aime à agir.
Voilà pourquoi il est difficile à gouverner.
Le peuple méprise la mort parce qu'il cherche avec trop d'ardeur les moyens de vivre.
Voilà pourquoi il méprise la mort.
Mais celui qui ne s'occupe pas de vivre est plus sage que celui qui estime la vie.

50. Lorsque le gouvernement est tyrannique, lorsque les lois sont d'une rigueur excessive et que le prince déploie toutes les ressources de la prudence pour mieux opprimer ses sujets, ceux-ci ont recours à la ruse et à la fraude pour éluder les rigueurs de l'administration, et alors ils sont diffIciles à gouverner.

Julien 75

Daß das Volk hungert,
kommt davon her,
daß seine Oberen zu viele Steuern fressen;
darum hungert es.
Daß das Volk schwer zu leiten ist,
kommt davon her, daß seine Oberen zu viel machen,
darum ist es schwer zu leiten.
Daß das Volk den Tod zu leicht nimmt,
kommt davon her,
daß seine Oberen des Lebens Fülle zu reichlich suchen;
darum nimmt es den Tod zu leicht.
Wer aber nicht um des Lebens willen handelt
der ist besser als der, dem das Leben teuer ist.

Wilhelm 75

Dao De Jing II. 75. (75) IntroductionTable of content
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The Way and Its Power – Dao De Jing II. 75. – Chinese off/onFrançais/English
Alias Daode Jing, Dao De Jing, Tao Te Ching, Tao Teh Ching, le Tao-tö-king, Lao-Tzu Te-Tao Ching, the Laozi, Lao Zi, the Lao Tze, le Lao-tseu, The Book of the Way and its Virtue, the Way and its Power.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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