Chapter 41 — The same and the different同異

有志也。

He has will.

上士聞道，自勤苦竭力而行之。

When the highest gentleman hears the Dao, he takes pains of himself and spends all his strength in practicing it.

建，猶立也。

The word handed down (建) is like saying set up.

中士聞道，治身以長存，治國以太平，欣然而存之，退見財色榮譽，惑於情欲，而覆亡之也。

When the middle gentleman hears the Dao, he says that by tending his body he will live long and by ordering the state he will bring great peace, and he keeps it gladly; but when he withdraws and sees wealth, women, and honor, he is bewitched by his feelings and desires and loses it again.

下士貪狠多欲，見道柔弱，謂之恐懼。見道質樸，謂之鄙陋。故大笑之。

The lowest gentleman is greedy and harsh and wants much; seeing that the Dao is soft and weak, he calls it timid, and seeing that the Dao is plain and unworked, he calls it boorish. And so he laughs aloud at it.

不為下士所笑，不足以名為道。

If it were not laughed at by the lowest gentleman, it would not be fit to be named the Dao.

建，設也。設言以有道，當如下句。

Jian is to set up. That there is a Dao has been set up in words, and it should be taken as the lines below have it.

光而不耀。

It shines, yet it does not glare.

明道之人，若闇昧無所見。

One who is bright in the Dao seems dim and dark, as though there were nothing he saw.

後其身而身先，外其身而身存。

He puts his own person behind, and his person comes first; he places his own person outside, and his person is preserved.

進取道者，若退不及。

One who goes forward and takes hold of the Dao seems to draw back and fall short.

纇，㘨也。大夷之道，因物之性，不執平以割物，其平不見，乃更反若纇㘨也。

Rough (纇) means hollowed. The greatly level Dao follows the nature of things, holds to evenness, and does not cut things apart; so its evenness is not seen, and it seems instead to be uneven.

夷，平也。大道之人不自別殊，若多比類也。

Yi (夷) is level. One who holds the great Dao does not set himself apart as different from others, and so he seems to have many of his own kind.

不德其德，無所懷也。

He does not call his virtue virtue, and so there is nothing he holds within.

上德之人若深谷，不恥垢濁也。

One who has high virtue is like a deep valley: he is not ashamed of what is soiled and muddy.

知其白，守其黑，大白然後乃得。

He knows its white and keeps to its black; great whiteness is got only after that.

大潔白之人若汙辱，不自彰顯。

One who is greatly clean and white seems stained and disgraced, for he does not show himself forth.

廣德不盈，廓然無形，不可滿也。

Broad virtue does not fill; it is wide open and without form, and so it cannot be filled.

德行廣大之人，若愚頑不足也。

One whose virtuous conduct is broad and great seems foolish and dull, as though he were wanting.

偷，匹也。建德者，因物自然，不立不施，故若偷匹。

Lazy (偷) means to match. One who sets up virtue follows what things are of themselves and neither sets up nor bestows, and so he seems to match them lazily.

建設道德之人，若可偷引使空虛也。

One who sets up the Dao and virtue seems as though others could draw him out and leave him empty.

質真者，不矜其真，故渝。

One whose substance is true does not flaunt his truth, and so he seems to change.

質樸之人，若五色有渝淺不明也。

One who is plain and unworked seems like the five colors when they have faded, thin and not clear.

方而不割，故無隅也。

It is square, yet it does not cut, and so it has no corners.

大方正之人，無委屈廉隅。

One who is greatly square and upright has no bends and no corners.

大器成天下不持全別，故必晚成也。

The great vessel completes all under heaven, yet it does not divide it up and grasp it entire, and so it is sure to be completed late.

大器之人，若九鼎瑚璉，不可卒成也。

One who is to be a great vessel is like the nine cauldrons or the ritual vessels of the ancestral temple: he cannot be completed in a single morning.

聽之不聞名曰希，不可得聞之音也。有聲則有分，有分則不宮而商矣，分則不能統眾，故有聲者非大音也。

What is listened for and not heard is called faint (希); it is a sound that cannot be heard. Where there is sound there is division, and where there is division it is either gung (宮) or sang (商). Once divided, it cannot lead the many; so what has sound is not the great sound.

大音猶雷霆待時而動，喻當愛氣希言也。

The great sound is like thunder, which waits for its time to move; it is a figure for sparing one's vital energy and being sparing of words.

有形則有分，有分者不溫則炎，不炎則寒。故象而形者，非大象。

Where there is shape there is division, and what has division, if it is not warm is hot, and if it is not hot is cold. So an image that has been given shape is not the great image.

大法象之人，質樸無形容。

One who greatly takes the rules as his model is plain and unworked, and has no outward form to show.

凡此諸善，皆是道之所成也。在象則為大象，而大象無形。在音則為大音，而大音希聲。物以之成而不見其成形，故隱而無名也。貸之非唯供其乏而已，一貸之則足以永終其德，故曰善貸也。成之不如機匠之裁，無物而不濟其形，故曰善成。

Now all these good things are what the Dao has completed. In images it becomes the great image, and the great image has no shape; in sounds it becomes the great sound, and the great sound cannot be heard. Things are completed by it, yet the shape of its completing is not seen, and so it is hidden and has no name. Its lending is not merely making up what is wanting: lend once, and it is ample for carrying that virtue through to the end. Hence it is said to lend well. Its completing is unlike the shaping of carpenters and craftsmen: there is no thing whose form it does not complete. Hence it is said to complete well.

道潛隱，使人無能指名也。

The Dao lies deeply hidden, so that no one can point to it and name it.

成，就也。言道善稟貸人精氣，且成就之也。

Cheng (成) is to complete. This says that the Dao lends out its vital essence (精氣) well to people, and also completes them.