Read Online The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry by Tony Barnstone - Free Book Online
Authors: Tony Barnstone
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usefulness comes from the void.
22
Warp to be whole,
twist to be straight,
hollow out to be full,
fray to be new,
have less and gain more,
have much and be perplexed.
Therefore the sage embraces the One
and is a model for all under heaven.
Not exhibiting himself, he stands out.
Not full of himself, he is acclaimed.
Not boasting, he succeeds.
Not vain, his works maintain. He doesn't strive
and so nothing under heaven strives with him.
The ancients say, “warp to become whole.”
These are not empty words.
Return to the source and be whole.
33
Know others for wisdom,
but enlightenment is knowing yourself.
Master others to gain power,
but true strength is mastering yourself.
Wealth is to know you have enough.
Acting with force is willpower,
but stay still to endure.
To die without expiring is longevity.
43
The softest thing in the world
can inundate the hardest thing under heaven,
slipping in formless where there is no breach.
This is why I know nonaction is valuable.
But the lesson taught without words,
the value of doing nothing,
can be understood by few under heaven.
47
Without walking out the door,
know the whole universe.
Without looking out the window,
see the Way of heaven.
The farther you go,
the less you know.
Thus the sage knows by staying still,
fathoms without seeing,
achieves through nonaction.
49
The sage doesn't have his own heart.
The people's heart is his heart.
He is kind to the kind
and kind to the unkind since virtue is kind. 1
He has trust in the trusting
and trust in the trustless since virtue is trust.
He breathes carefully,
not to scare those under heaven.
He seems muddled when he does things for the world and in the eyes and ears of all he seems to act like a child.
76
Soft and weak at birth,
a man is rigid hard at death.
Trees and plants are soft and supple alive,
brittle and withered when dead.
Thus the hard and brittle belong to death
and the soft and weak belong to life.
An adamant army may be decimated.
A tree that's too strong will be crooked.
Thus the hard and strong are subjugated
and the soft and weak triumph.
78
Nothing is softer and more yielding than water,
yet nothing is better in attacking the solid and forceful
because nothing can take its place.
Weak conquers strong,
soft conquers hard.
No one doesn't know this,
yet who practices it?
Thus the sage says,
“The state's true master takes on
the country's disgrace
and by taking on the country's misfortunes
is king under heaven.”
Straight speech may seem like paradox.
1 D. C. Lau, tr.,
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963), p. 9. The Wade-Giles transliteration of this quotation has been changed to the Pinyin system.
1 In lines 4 and 6, two homonyms with the sound of
de
are used in different versions of the text. One character for
de
means “virtue,” and the other
de
means “gain.” So line 4, for example, could also be read “and kind to the unkind to gain in kindness.”
VERSES OF CHU
(third century bce)
The
Verses of Chu
is the second great anthology of Chinese poetry. Since it comes from the kingdom of Chu, a Southern state located in the central valley of the Yangtze River, it is often considered representative of a Southern style of poetry, as distinguished from the Northern style of the
Book of Songs.
The two collections have formal elements in common, however, and modern scholars question the adequateness of the Northern/Southern dichotomy.
Most of the poems in the
Verses of Chu
are attributed to Qu Yuan (c. 340-c. 278 bce), the first Chinese poet whom we know by name, but the anthology itself reached its final form some four hundred years after he lived, in the second century ce. It seems highly unlikely that Qu Yuan composed all the works attributed to him. We know little about the historical Qu Yuan, except that he belonged to the royal house of Chu and served in the court of King Huai (329–299 bce). As a result of slander from a jealous colleague, Chu fell from the king's graces and was said
22
Warp to be whole,
twist to be straight,
hollow out to be full,
fray to be new,
have less and gain more,
have much and be perplexed.
Therefore the sage embraces the One
and is a model for all under heaven.
Not exhibiting himself, he stands out.
Not full of himself, he is acclaimed.
Not boasting, he succeeds.
Not vain, his works maintain. He doesn't strive
and so nothing under heaven strives with him.
The ancients say, “warp to become whole.”
These are not empty words.
Return to the source and be whole.
33
Know others for wisdom,
but enlightenment is knowing yourself.
Master others to gain power,
but true strength is mastering yourself.
Wealth is to know you have enough.
Acting with force is willpower,
but stay still to endure.
To die without expiring is longevity.
43
The softest thing in the world
can inundate the hardest thing under heaven,
slipping in formless where there is no breach.
This is why I know nonaction is valuable.
But the lesson taught without words,
the value of doing nothing,
can be understood by few under heaven.
47
Without walking out the door,
know the whole universe.
Without looking out the window,
see the Way of heaven.
The farther you go,
the less you know.
Thus the sage knows by staying still,
fathoms without seeing,
achieves through nonaction.
49
The sage doesn't have his own heart.
The people's heart is his heart.
He is kind to the kind
and kind to the unkind since virtue is kind. 1
He has trust in the trusting
and trust in the trustless since virtue is trust.
He breathes carefully,
not to scare those under heaven.
He seems muddled when he does things for the world and in the eyes and ears of all he seems to act like a child.
76
Soft and weak at birth,
a man is rigid hard at death.
Trees and plants are soft and supple alive,
brittle and withered when dead.
Thus the hard and brittle belong to death
and the soft and weak belong to life.
An adamant army may be decimated.
A tree that's too strong will be crooked.
Thus the hard and strong are subjugated
and the soft and weak triumph.
78
Nothing is softer and more yielding than water,
yet nothing is better in attacking the solid and forceful
because nothing can take its place.
Weak conquers strong,
soft conquers hard.
No one doesn't know this,
yet who practices it?
Thus the sage says,
“The state's true master takes on
the country's disgrace
and by taking on the country's misfortunes
is king under heaven.”
Straight speech may seem like paradox.
1 D. C. Lau, tr.,
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963), p. 9. The Wade-Giles transliteration of this quotation has been changed to the Pinyin system.
1 In lines 4 and 6, two homonyms with the sound of
de
are used in different versions of the text. One character for
de
means “virtue,” and the other
de
means “gain.” So line 4, for example, could also be read “and kind to the unkind to gain in kindness.”
VERSES OF CHU
(third century bce)
The
Verses of Chu
is the second great anthology of Chinese poetry. Since it comes from the kingdom of Chu, a Southern state located in the central valley of the Yangtze River, it is often considered representative of a Southern style of poetry, as distinguished from the Northern style of the
Book of Songs.
The two collections have formal elements in common, however, and modern scholars question the adequateness of the Northern/Southern dichotomy.
Most of the poems in the
Verses of Chu
are attributed to Qu Yuan (c. 340-c. 278 bce), the first Chinese poet whom we know by name, but the anthology itself reached its final form some four hundred years after he lived, in the second century ce. It seems highly unlikely that Qu Yuan composed all the works attributed to him. We know little about the historical Qu Yuan, except that he belonged to the royal house of Chu and served in the court of King Huai (329–299 bce). As a result of slander from a jealous colleague, Chu fell from the king's graces and was said
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