|
69.1 There is a saying among soldiers: It is easier to lose a yard than take an inch.
69.2 In this manner one may deploy troops without marshalling them, Bring weapons to bear without exposing them, Engage the foe without invading them, And exhaust their strength without fighting them.
69.3 There is no worse disaster than misunderstanding your enemy; To do so endangers all of my treasures;
69.4 So when two well matched forces oppose each other, The general who maintains compassion will win.
70.1 My words are easy to understand And my actions are easy to perform Yet no other can understand or perform them.
70.2 My words have meaning; my actions have reason; Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known. We are each unique, and therefore valuable;
70.3 Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.
71.1 Who recognizes his limitations is healthy; Who ignores his limitations is sick.
71.2 The sage recognizes this sickness as a limitation. And so becomes immune.
另一英文版本翻译
69.1 Rather be on the defensive than the offensive, rather retreat a step than advance an inch, are current principles of military art. It is worth more to yield than to triumph. Prevention (of war) through diplomacy is worth even more.
69.2 That is the meaning of certain abstruse formulae of military art, such as: advancing without marching; defending oneself without moving an arm; status quo without fighting; holding on without weapons; and others.
69.3 There is no worse curse than a war waged with little or no reason, (which is sought-after deliberately, and pushed beyond necessary limits).
69.4 He who does that, exposes his own goods to loss, and causes great mourning.
70.1 What I (Lao Zi) teach is easy to understand and to practice, and yet the world neither understands or practices it.
70.2 My precepts and procedures derive from a superior principle and procedure, the Principle and its Virtue. The world does not recognize the Principle which directs me, that is why it does not know me. Very few understand me. That makes my glory.
70.3 It befalls me to be like the Sage who is unrecognized from amongst the common people because of his humble appearance, even though his interior is filled with jewels.
71.1 Knowing all and believing that one knows nothing, is true knowledge (of a superior kind). Knowing nothing and believing that one knows everything, is the common evil of humans. Seeing this evil as an evil, keeps one away from it.
71.2 The Sage is exempt from self-conceit, because he dreads it. This fear keeps him from it.
