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dpumpernickel

Show the Way Virtue Loom - Beida (Peking University) Laozi Translation

By dpumpernickel, in Daodejing

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dpumpernickel   

dpumpernickel
Posted
  • Translated from https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=jaseng54&logNo=90169460338 aka the Beijing University Laozi (Beida).
  • Was written in Early Clerical script ~100BCE-ish?
  • Guodian additions used Scott Cook’s: The Bamboo Texts of Guodian: A Study and Complete Translation.
    • Written in Chu Script, ~300BCE-ish?
  • Used almost every source available: Wiktionary (untrustworthy), zi.tools (excellent), BaikeBaidu.com (excellent), Multi-function Chinese Character Database (excellent), Dong-Chinese, Baxter-Sagart, etc, then used every ancient dictionary available: Shuowen Jiezi (all commentaries), Erya, Fangyan, Jingdian Shiwen, Tangyun, Guangyun, Peiwen, Yunfu, Kangxi, Guangya, etc. Duan Yucai has been especially helpful, and most of the translation comes directly from the correct entries of his in the Shuowen Jiezi. Also intertwined cosmology and (hopefully an accurate) ancient Chinese perception. Finally, translated directly from understanding each glyph’s image. Still probably fucked this up somewhere.

 

This will look different in some places drastically. I have not made most of the substitutions that almost all other people have and have stuck with mostly original as interpreted in the bamboo in addition to merging meanings. You will clearly see my bias in the foreword and key. 

 

-Pumpernickel

 

P.S. Not allowing me to upload files, here's link to Proton Drive. https://drive.proton.me/urls/HEG7TZ4ECG#ZQIuk77d9MCU

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Cobie   

Cobie
Posted (edited)

@dpumpernickel 

Impressive use of resources.
 

I like your approach:

“… cosmology … ancient Chinese perception. … each glyph’s image.”
“I have not made most of the substitutions … stuck with mostly original …”

“ … bias in foreword and key …”

 

From the first link I gather you are a Korean speaker?

The Proton Drive link is not accessible to me. 

Could you possibly copy just your translation of only one chapter and post it here?

Imo chapter 1 is the most difficult one to translate, so I’d very much like to see that.

 

 

Edited by Cobie

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dpumpernickel   

dpumpernickel
Posted (edited)

1. ONE BEGINNING OF THE WAY

 

道可道/導, A way that can show the way,

⾮恒道殹. contradicts and runs contrary to hearts and minds constant ways, POW!
名可命, A name/concept that can designate and command,

⾮恒名也. contradicts and runs contrary to hearts and minds constant names/concepts.


無名, Nameless… without identity, before concepts, before and devoid of the impressions of language, before thought, in the void of awareness, a pure unadulterated animalistic state of instinct,

萬物之始也. is the beginning and origin of everything.


有名, To have a name, an identity, a concept, …language,

萬物之母也. is the mother, the nurturer, of everything.
故恒無欲以觀其眇/妙, Therefore, a heart and mind constantly desireless in order to clearly observe subtleties,

恒有欲以觀其所僥. a heart and mind constantly desiring in order to clearly observe things coveted.
此兩者同出, These 2 things… assemble together in presentation,

異名同謂. a distinctive name and concept unifies in report.1

⽞之有⽞之, Profundity and ambiguity go to having profound ambiguity come about,

眾眇/妙之⾨. the door of numerous subtleties.

 

1. So… simultaneously, when presenting something or advancing one’s way, be both desireless and desiring. This leads to a distinctive and distinguished name. This is ambiguity, because it invites people to step through the door and try to uncover what one is really reporting! They have to read between the lines!

 

To show the way and have the power to command and create names and concepts, break worldviews and ingrained habits by doing or saying things contrary to one’s own and others current, beliefs, and worldviews. Why does this work? Because a “right” way of doing something implies a “wrong” while in actuality these distinctions are invented. So by merging them both together, we see both sides of the coin as a whole, and then the whole thing dissolves into void. In essence, play “Opposite Day” to show the way.

PLEASE, be aware of this concept and the tendency to mimic it from others… which is a tendency to be “influenced”… which is why is is essential to remain in the void (Chapter 52) and disassociate from language!


Also if one is feeling shrewd, turn people’s habitual associations that they’ve mimicked over time, and shape them to one’s own ends. That means manipulating the symbols, rituals, habits, perceptions, concepts, and language that people have acquired through mimesis (and remember to delicately weave, otherwise one will contribute to furthering mimetic desire, and therefore competition and the inevitable violent scapegoating), which leads us to the last chapter, Chapter 81, that says “the way of a serene mind, is to profit and benefit, yet… not quite injure”!…Which is why it is best to cultivate this knowledge everywhere (Chapter 54)… and overall reduce desire in the first place.

Edited by dpumpernickel
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BigSkyDiamond   

BigSkyDiamond
Posted

From the proton file, here is first four lines of Chapter 42:

 

道⽣⼀, The way gives birth to 1

⼀⽣⼆, 1 gives birth to 2,

⼆⽣三, 2 gives birth to 3,

三⽣萬物. 3 gives birth to everything.

 

and here is footnote from Chapter 42 line 1:

 

1. See footnote Chapter 40 For more on 1,2,3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijitu Specifically 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuji_(philosophy)

 

and here is footnote from Chapter 40, which is referenced in the Chapter 42 footnote

 

1. The way (道) is void; total absence; nothing; emptiness (無)… before any thing or concept existed… a pure animalistic state; a totally unconscious, instinctual state, before language. This void is the beginning (元), is One (⼀), is the beginning of our own vital energy, spiritedness, breath, and personality (⽓), is the pinnacle of goodness (元), and is limitless; void’s ultimate (無極)

 

[I can try mailing you the PDF file from the Proton link]

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Cobie   

Cobie
Posted (edited)


@dpumpernickel 

 

I’d like to compare the characters you use with the characters in the source file.  E.g. there’s the character    恒   in a few places (e.g. line 2) in your ch. 1.  It’s of interest as there was a taboo on the use of Emperor’s names during the Western Han.


I find the Korean link hard to navigate.  Ch.1 should be at the start of part 2, but it has a 第一章（王本三十八章）ch. 1 (Wang’s ch. 38).  Searching for part 1 I cannot find it; ch. 1 for me impossible to find.

 

Could you please copy and post here, only the source file of ch. 1  (from https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?isHttpsRedirect=true&blogId=jaseng54&logNo=90169460338aka the Beijing University Laozi (Beida). 

 

 

Edited by Cobie

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Cobie   

Cobie
Posted (edited)

dPumpernickle’s intro, last line page 9, “I fucking love psychedelics”.  Righto, I take that to explain his translation. 
 

 

Edited by Cobie

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