Saturday, August 18, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 80, Lines 9-11

There should be a neighboring state within sight, and the voices of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any intercourse with it.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Though they live within sight of their neighbors,
And crowing cocks and barking dogs are heard across the way,
Yet they leave each other in peace while they grow old and die.

~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Neighboring countries see one another
Hear the sounds of roosters and dogs from one another
The people, until they grow old and die
Do not go back and forth with one another

~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

And even though their neighbors were so close
they could hear the dogs barking at night,
they had no interest in leaving their homes,
where they grew old peacefully and died.

~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Simply put, people who live in peace will die in peace. Derek Lin tells us that the last line means that people "do not visit trouble upon one another."

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

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