Saturday, February 28, 2009

道可道,非常道 Dao That Can be Dao-ed

老子在道德经一开始就说:道可道,非常道。
一般上,第二个‘道’字被解为‘说道’的道,就是说,能够被说出来的道,并不是永恒的道。
把第二个道当成动词来解,一般没有异议。可是解为‘说道’,却是可质疑的。在先秦,并没有把道当作‘说道’的用法,所以把道当动词,是如何解释,就要费一点脑筋了。
如果道是一种法则,或者可以把这句话解为:有方法与法则的道,不是永恒的道。
而无就是不可名,有就是可名。
以这样的理解来读道德经的第一章,可能有新的领悟:
道可道,非常道。名可名,非常名。
无名,天地之始;有名,万物之母。
故常无,欲与观其妙;常有,欲与观其皦。
此两者,同出而异名,同为之玄。
玄之又玄,众妙之门。
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Laozi started its Daode Jing by saying: Dao that can be Dao-ed is not the eternal Dao.
There is no doubt that the second word Dao is used as a verb. The sentence is generally interpreted as ‘Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao’. In this interpretation, Dao-ed means ‘told’. However, this interpretation may not be acceptable. This is because the word Dao used as a verb to mean ‘say’ happened only much later after Qin dynasty. It is also not easy to understand the word Dao used as a verb in Chinese.
If we agree that Dao refers to a way or a rule, then perhaps one can interpret the sentence to mean the Dao that can be referred to as a Way or Rule is not the eternal Dao.
Wu (无) means the unnamable, and You (有) means the namable.
With this, probably we can interpret the first chapter of Daode Jing as:
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The Dao that can be Dao-ed is not the eternal Dao,
The Name that can be named is not the constant Name.
The Unnamable is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Namable is the mother of the myriad things.
Therefore it is always from the Unnamable the subtlety of the Dao can be contemplated;
Similarly it is always from the Namable that the manifestation of Dao can be perceived.
These two have the same sources but different names.
They both can be called deep and profound.
The Deepest and Most profound is the doorway to all subtleties.

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