Chapter 13 — Loathing disgrace厭恥

寵必有辱，榮必有患，驚辱等、榮患同也。為下得寵辱榮患若驚，則不足以亂天下也。

Favor always brings disgrace with it, and glory always brings trouble: startlement and disgrace are of one kind, glory and trouble are one and the same. If one stays below and knows to be startled by favor and disgrace, by glory and trouble, one will not throw the world into disorder.

身寵亦驚，身辱亦驚。

When the self receives favor, one is startled; when the self suffers disgrace, one is startled as well.

貴，畏也。若，至也。謂大患至身，故皆驚。

To prize something is to fear it. "Like" here means "to reach." The point is that the great trouble reaches the self, and so one is startled at either.

問何謂寵，何謂辱。寵者尊榮，辱者恥辱。及身還自問者，以曉人也。

This asks what favor is and what disgrace is. Favor is to be high and glorious; disgrace is to be shamed and debased. That he brings the question round to his own person and puts it to himself is meant to awaken people.

辱為下賤。

Disgrace is to be low and base.

得寵榮驚者，處高位如臨深危也。貴不敢驕，富不敢奢。

One is startled at gaining favor and glory because holding a high place is like drawing near to a deep and perilous spot. Though honored, one does not dare be arrogant; though wealthy, one does not dare be extravagant.

失者，失寵處辱也。驚者，恐禍重來也。

To lose is to lose favor and to fall into disgrace. To be startled is to fear that calamity will come again.

解上得之若驚，失之若驚。

This explains the words above, "startled at gaining it, startled at losing it."

大患，榮寵之屬也。生之厚，必入死之地，故謂之大患也。人迷之於榮寵，返之於身，故曰大患若身也。

Great trouble is glory and favor and the like. Make life thick and you are sure to enter the ground of death, and so it is called great trouble. People are dazzled by glory and favor and then come back to their own body, and so it says that great trouble is like the body.

復還自問：何故畏大患至身。

Again he puts the question to himself: for what reason does one fear that the great trouble will reach the self?

由有其身也。

It comes from having that body.

吾所以有大患者，為吾有身。有身憂者，勤勞念其飢寒，觸情從慾，則遇禍患也。

The reason I have great trouble is that I have a self. To have a self and so be troubled means this: one toils and labors, worries over hunger and cold, and, dragged along by the passions, follows what one desires, and so meets with calamity and grief.

歸之自然也。

One returns to what is so of itself.

使吾無有身體，得道自然，輕舉昇雲，出入無間，與道通神，當有何患。

If I make myself without a self and so attain the Way and what is of itself so, I rise lightly and mount the clouds, pass in and out where there is no crack, and together with the Way commune with the spirit (神) — what trouble could there be?

無以易其身，故曰貴也。如此乃可以託天下也。

There is nothing to trade for his body, and so it says he values it. Only thus can the world be entrusted to him.

言人君貴其身而賤人，欲為天下主者，則可寄立，不可以久也。

It means that if a ruler prizes only his own person and holds others cheap while seeking to be master of the world, he may be entrusted with it and set up for a while, but he cannot last long.

無物可以損其身，故曰愛也。如此乃可以寄天下也。不以寵辱榮患損易其身，然後乃可以天下付之也。

There is nothing that could diminish his body, and so it says he spares it. Only thus can the world be charged to him. Only when one does not let favor and disgrace, glory and trouble diminish or exchange one's body can the world be handed over.

言人君能愛其身，非為己也，乃欲為萬民之父母。以此得為天下主者，乃可以託其身於萬民之上，長無咎也。

It means that a ruler is able to cherish his own person not for his own sake but in order to become the parent of the multitude. Only one who has become master of the world in this way can entrust his person above the multitude and be long without fault.