大一生水 taiyi shengshui

8/14/2019 taiyi shengshui

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Contents

Preface ixA Noteon heRomanization xi

Introduction tThe Site: Location and Date of the Tomb 4The Texts Found in the Tomb 5IaaTi A, B, and C 6Punctuation and the Issueof Chapter DivisionsInterestingCases:Chapters19,30, and63 ttThe Philosophy of the "Bamboo Slip aa{" ryConclusion-What 1s he "Bamboo Slip LaoTi?

Translation of the "Bamboo SlipLao7i"Translator's Notes z5I-ao1iA 27LaoTiB 8sLao{C ztt

AppendixesAppendix I. Sima Qian's "Biography of Laozi' 233Appendix II. Line-by-Line Comparisons ry7Appendix III. Punctuation Marks and Determination of

Chapter Divisions $sNotes tg7Bibliography 2zjIndex 229


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tzz C:4 (Chapter54, part z)Transcription

' ffizaw.z' WZA)ff iZ-' 4/\ftFfrffEft&+ f t4 f i ! ! !' #48;1 FlJt EK H-6 ^ZEk& E K/rtr Fn&w.z_z ft.DlnAeRZieRTF#

a + l v+ z -F .a 94%E*.2FfiilT-e frDlfl?ffiEnz.Atxffiffiffi.H-

Modern Equivalents

f f izaw.z#tZ#XZgAftFfi{ffiR[&tr*nfrkftft&1THftgEffiFUftFftS4ZEft&tEftE,E-Ft&EkE

gTry'tF.fr7_Ffri&

Er)l6EffiH ZH*ffifrW.ffi

Translation of the "Bamboo Slip laogi"

C:5 Taiyi shengshui," Part | (slips -8, ro-rz)'r ,zjNote: In the Wenwu transcription, he "Taiyi shengshui" election s divided intotltreepans:slips -8 areseen sa unit, sli p9 stands lone,andslips o-r4 are reateder the hird part of the ext.'o think that slips ro-ru follow direcdy from the end ofrf p 8; I will translateand discuss lips9, rl-r4inthe nextsection.Here, maintaintlrat he "this" at the end of line 8 meansboth the "process"herein describedandthe source f theprocessD-Taiyi, he "GreatOne." Does his mean hat "Great( )rre" s the "name"(ning, f; ) of what we "refer o as" wei, fi ) or "designate"ki,7) the "Dao"l Not necessarily. elevanthereare he ines n chapterzy of thel.ao1irwhere peaking f the sourceof heavenand earth, he authorexplains: I dorfot yet know its namefming, ;]; t simply call it' fti {i, } Z)h. Dao. Werelorcedo give t a name, would say t's 'The Great' [d", f)." Lines ro-rz make hesame istinction betweenwhat somethingactually rs, hat s, its "name," and howwe "refer to" that thing, what it is "called" (wei, ffi), that is, its "designation" (g,' f : ) .

Translation(a) The Great One gavebirth to water. Water returned and assistedTaiyi, in

this way developing heaven. Heaven returned and assistedTaiyi, in this waydeveloping he earth. Heaven and earth [repeatedlyassistedeach other], in thisway developing the "gods above and below." The "gods above and below",'repeatedlyassistedeach other, in this way developing Yin and yang. yin andYang repeatedly assistedeach other, in this way developing the four seasons.'l'he four seasonsepeatedlyassisted achother, in this way developingcold andhot. Cold and hot repeatedly assisted ach other, in this way developing moistand dry. Moist and dry repeatedlyassistedeachother; they developed he year,and he processcame o an end.

Therefore, he yearwas producedby moisture and drynesslmoisture and dry-nesswere produced by cold and hot. Cold and hot and the four seasons, /ereproducedby Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang were produced by the "gods aboveand beloc/." The "gods aboveand below" were produced by heavenand earth,andheavenand earth were produced by the Great One. This being so, he GreatOne s concealed n water and moveswith the four seasons.Completing a cycle,[it starts]over againl [we regard this beginning as] he mother of the ten thou-sand hings: first it is depleted, then it is full; we regard this beginning as theguiding principle of the ten thousand things." This is something that heaven


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r24 cannot destroy the earth cannot smother, and Yin and Yang cannot producaThe gentlemanknows this is referred to as ["the Way."] . . . (slips r-8)

@) what is below s soil;yet we refer o itlwei thi, # Z) as heearth:is above is air; yet we refer to it as heaven. n the sameway, "the Way" isdesignation i, ?l. "But, may ask,what s ts name*irg, &l?" Oneuses he Way to work at his taskscertainly relies on its namel for this reasontasksare completedand he endures.When the Sageworks at his tasks,herelies on its name;asa resulthis deedsareachievedandhe suffersno harm.heaven and earth, "name" and "designation" both stand ogether. But whenmove beyond thesedomains,we can hink of nothing that would fit [asa(slips ro--rz)

Comments and NotesInterest n thegod named Taiyi" (t- ot t -, th. Great One)hasbeenerableamongscholarsn China with the realization hat oneof the paintingsin Tomb No. 1at Mawangdui nry73 is a picture of Taiyi, with the deities(E A\, Lord Thunder)andYushi (N Em,heRain Master).standingo his righthis eft." Taiyi isportrayedasa god with a red faceand ed egs,anderson top of hihead,arms hat appear o be wings, anda mouth that couldbe a bird's beak-Thiportrayalof god--of the "supreme"god who l ives n the sky-as a fusionof biand dragon (the antlers-dragons have horns), can be tracedback to Shangdy-nasty times (c . r5oo n.c.).'a

But n pre-Qin philosophical exts, Taiyi" is simplyanothername or the Daqthe Way,which is how it is usedhere. As Ge Zhaoguang tts,Jfl has recendyshown,"Taiyi," "Duq" and "Taiji" (t E, the GreatUltimate) are erms hat arcused nterchangeablyn textsof this era." The term "Taiyi" itself is never used ntheLao1i.But, asseen n the complete orm of the text, he "One" seemso be usedto mean heWay n several hapters ro, zz, )9r 42),and n chapter25,asnoted, heauthor claims hat, werehe orced o give t (the Way) aname,he would say t is thc"Great" (d", )


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126 C:5 Taiyi shengshui,"Part ITranscriptionG) -4zj< ' /(Fmt- ' EtlFlX . Xtrfrfit- ' ElXFtllxEn ! n&, Et)lFt $Ef ffiEniEfE^fi,, fr.uffl.*fro

triEfEffi&, r.Dlll.trlF+Z9H+E^fi&,rUEF"HX' fifEfrffi&,r.D)ll.gi* igi*iEfE^ffi&,ixffiffi+ f,ffi t'&ZFfr+-&,,t*2, B*Zff i4.&'"HX+ ' ruE+A'Z-Fft+-+BZ , +frWz-ffi+-&,+tEEAXWZ-FfittLWA' )\-ZFfr+.U.Ef,t-EKzJ


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t2 8 a result, heaven and earth are no longer level; they are closer together than thqoncewere n thenorthwest,and urther aPart n the southeast'

thcLao{,lnthe Lao7i,in the oppositionof qiang ffi, strongor force) and uoweak or soft), it is the soft and the weak hat overcome he strong and the fiMoreover, .to add on to life" (yisheng,ds+) is condemnedn chapter55 nlines: "To add on to life is calleda badomen' 1ti""g, 1i); For the mind tothebreath-that is called forcing things' lqiang,dfi].',t Still, *hat is meantby "ting awayatwhat is complete" (xuecheng,HIJX) is not clearwithout knowingof the original passage.

Is it possiblehat all hreeof these lipsaremeant o beread ogetherl It is ering to see connection ince heword qiang ffi) is prominent n bothpassages'textformy..highand6rmD-.whatisbelowitishighandfrm,'-isgaoyiqia tl tfi). Qiang translatedhis way s a positive hing, whereast is condqmnedslip 9. But gaoyi qiangcould be translated n different ways, since he yi thattranslateas .and" morecommonly means by this means"or

*becauseof-' Tht

While that explainswhat slipsr3-r4 might mean,what canwe makeof slipMy translationassumeshat key words n the expressionmeanwhat they mean

gaoyi qiangcouldalsobe read "is high as he resultof violence," and he paraii.r. th"t refers o the sky might havebeen is low as he result of violence-'another ranslationof slips r3-r4 might be:

Heaven is incomplete in the northwest. What is below it (i.e., the earth)high as he result of violence. The earth s incomplete n the southeast.whatabove t (i.e., the sky) is low as the result of violence. where what is abovclacking, there is a surplus below, and where what is below is lacking, there isurplus bove." sliPs 3-r4)

The"violence"would efer,of course'o theactof Gonggong' hethen would becomecould the words in slip 9-"To cut somethingoff from whatcompleten order o addon to life"-zlro refer o Gonggong's eedlrrThey rnerpecially irr"e e brokeoff part of apillar thatwasalready complete" andyi(to ext.nd life) could alsobe translatedas"to betteryour life." Unfornrnately,wordsxuecheng-"to cut off from what is complete"-and ir*heng-'1s52your life"-s3ill do not exactly desctibeGonggong'sactionsand his situation' Atresult, I cannot yet arguewith any certainty that these hree slips were meantto tread together.ao

Translation f the "BambooSlipLao{"C:6 Taiyi shengshui," Part lllianscription

(u)XEHW,'&l t# , U16+-A{ i f tB ' HK! ' n ! ! . t r! tr (sliP)(1 , )i tEJb ' fTH D)ry ETEfIHH' / f t ! ! ! ' !n lDg ,X+nT , ZiE. f tT+ X+mt.1(s l ips r3_r4)Illodern Equivalents

(")XEHdd HtJlxAD)'A+.A;tKtf i 'Fftn, nnnt r trn(b) tEJt, tsTH txt6 t&Ti iEtrFH' ^Ht ,E!){t64iE.ftLla ,-ff i t tT 7j.,EnTa Hffi f*t. r

大一生水 taiyi shengshui

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