Chapter 50 — Valuing life貴生

出生地，入死地。

He comes forth to the ground of life and goes in to the ground of death.

出生，謂情欲出五內，魂靜魄定，故生。入死，謂情欲入於胸臆，精勞神惑，故死。

Coming forth and living means that feeling and desire go out from the five viscera, so that the hun (魂) is still and the po (魄) settles; and so one lives. Going in and dying means that feeling and desire come into the breast, so that the vital essence toils and the spirit is clouded; and so one dies.

十有三，猶云十分有三分，取其生道，全生之極，十分有三耳。取死之道，全死之極，亦十分有三耳。而民生生之厚，更之無生之地焉，善攝生者無以生為生，故無死地也。器之害者，莫甚乎兵戈，獸之害者，莫甚乎兕虎，而令兵戈無所容其鋒刃，虎兕無所措其爪角，斯誠不以欲累其身者也，何死地之有乎。夫蚖蟺以淵為淺，而鑿穴其中，鷹鸇以山為卑，而增巢其上，矰繳不能及，網罟不能到，可謂處於無死地矣，然而卒以甘餌，乃入於無生之地，豈非生生之厚乎，故物茍不以求離其本，不以欲渝其真，雖入軍而不害，陸行而不可犯也，赤子之可則而貴信矣。

Three in ten is like saying three parts out of ten. Those who take the way of life and reach the utmost of keeping life whole are only three parts in ten, and those who take the way of death and reach the utmost of making death whole are also only three parts in ten. Yet the people hold so thickly to keeping themselves alive that they go instead to the ground where there is no life. One who guards life well does not make life out of life, and so for him there is no ground of death. Among vessels nothing is more harmful than weapons, and among beasts nothing is more harmful than the rhinoceros and the tiger; yet if a weapon is left nowhere to put its blade and the tiger and the rhinoceros nowhere to set their claw and horn, then here is truly one who has not bound his body with wanting, and what ground of death could there be for him? Now the salamander and the swamp eel think the pool shallow and bore their holes down in it, and the hawk and the sparrow hawk think the mountain low and pile their nests higher upon it, so that the corded arrow cannot reach them and the net cannot come to them: they may be said to dwell where there is no ground of death. And yet in the end a sweet bait brings them into the ground where there is no life, so how is this not from holding too thickly to keeping themselves alive? So if a thing truly does not leave its stem out of seeking and does not change what is true in it out of wanting, then though it enter an army it comes to no harm, and though it walk on land it cannot be violated. That the newborn child is worth taking as a model and holding precious is trustworthy.

言生死之類各有十三，謂九竅四關也。其生也目不妄視，耳不妄聽，鼻不妄香臭，口不妄言味，手不妄持，足不妄行，精神不妄施。其死也反是也。

This says that the kinds of life and of death have thirteen each, meaning the nine openings (九竅) and the four joints (四關). Their life is this: the eyes do not look rashly, the ears do not listen rashly, the nose does not smell rashly, the mouth does not speak or taste rashly, the hands do not grasp rashly, the feet do not walk rashly, and the spirit does not give out rashly. Their death is the reverse of this.

人知求生，動作反之十三死也。

A person knows how to seek life, and yet his movements are the reverse of this; so the thirteen die.

問何故動之死地也。

This asks why they move toward the ground of death.

所以動之死地者，以其求生活之事太厚，違道忤天，妄行失紀。

They move toward the ground of death because their seeking of a living is too thick: they break with the Dao and go against heaven, they act rashly, and they lose the guiding thread (紀).

攝，養也。

She (攝) means to nourish.

自然遠離，害不干也。

Of themselves these keep far off, and so harm does not reach him.

不好戰以殺人。

He does not love fighting and so does not kill people.

養生之人，兕虎無由傷，兵刃無從加之也。

For a person who nourishes life, the rhinoceros and the tiger have no way to wound him, and the blade of a weapon has nowhere to be laid upon him.

問兕虎兵甲何故不加害之。

This asks why the rhinoceros and the tiger, the weapon and the armor, cannot do him harm.

以其不犯十三之死地也。言神明營護之，此物不敢害。

Because he does not tread the thirteen grounds of death. This says that the divine powers (神明) surround and guard him, so that these things do not dare to harm him.