Line by Line - Verse 50, Line 3

and three are ministers of death.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Three in ten are followers of death,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

The followers of death, three in ten
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

People who look
for the secret of long life
wind up dead.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

In many ways, we each fall into this category. We engage in behaviors that we know are not healthy for our bodies or minds, but we rationalize that we will somehow escape the natural consequences.

As Derek Lin explains it,

The followers of death are the people with self-destructive tendencies. They rush headlong into any situation recklessly, and put their health and safety at risk.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.