Đạo Đức Kinh / Ch. 4

Chapter 4

Đạo xung nhi dụng chi hoặc bất doanh

道沖, 而用之或不盈, 淵兮, 似萬物之宗.  挫其銳, 解其紛, 和其光, 同其塵; 湛兮似或存. 吾不知誰之子, 象帝之先.

Original Text

道沖, 而用之或不盈, 淵兮, 似萬物之宗.  挫其銳, 解其紛, 和其光, 同其塵; 湛兮似或存. 吾不知誰之子, 象帝之先.

Textual Variants

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Sino-Vietnamese

Đạo xung nhi dụng chi hoặc bất doanh. Uyên hề tự vạn vật chi tông. Toả kì nhuệ; giải kì phân; hồ kì quang; đồng kì trần. Trạm hề, tự hoặc tồn! Ngô bất tri thuỳ chi tử, Thượng đế chi tiên.

Literal Translation

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Literary Translation

Vietnamese

Đạo thì trống không, nhưng dùng mãi không hết. Sâu thẳm thay, như tổ tiên của muôn vật. Nhụt bớt cái sắc bén, tháo gỡ chỗ rối ren, hòa cùng ánh sáng, lẫn vào bụi trần. Trong trẻo thay, như thể hiện hữu. Ta không biết nó là con ai, dường như có trước cả Thượng đế.

English — James Legge

  1. All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show

itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership; they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a reward for the results). The work is accomplished, and there is no resting in it (as an achievement).

The work is done, but how no one can see; 'Tis this that makes the power not cease to be.

  1. 1. Not to value and employ men of superior ability is the way to

keep the people from rivalry among themselves; not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves; not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is the way to keep their minds from disorder.

  1. Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties

their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones.

  1. He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without

desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal.

  1. 1. The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our

employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness. How deep and unfathomable it is, as if it were the Honoured Ancestor of all things!

  1. We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of

things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others. How pure and still the Tao is, as if it would ever so continue!

  1. I do not know whose son it is. It might appear to have been before

God.

Commentary

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Textual Notes

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References

| Layer | Source | License | | --- | --- | --- | | Hán văn + phiên âm Hán-Việt + dịch nghĩa | Wikisource tiếng Việt — Đạo Đức kinh | Bản gốc: PD-old; bản dịch/biên tập: CC BY-SA 4.0 + GFDL | | English (James Legge) | Project Gutenberg #216 | Public domain (USA) (+ Project Gutenberg License khi phân phối file PG) |

Chi tiết: [sources/ATTRIBUTION.md](../sources/ATTRIBUTION.md).