Adults and Infants
Laozi 55
1 含德之厚者比於赤子。
2 蜂蠆虺蛇不螫，
3 猛獸不據，攫鳥不摶。
4 骨弱筋柔而握固。
5 未知牝牡之合而全作，
6 精之至也。
7 終日號而不嗄，
8 和之至也。
1 One who harbours De’s fullness can be compared with a newborn infant.
2 Wasps, scorpions and poisonous snakes do not sting or bite it,
3 Fierce beasts do not seize it, nor do birds of prey pounce upon it.
4 Its bones are fragile and muscles are soft, yet its grasp is firm.
5 It does not know about the sexual union of male and female, and yet it can be aroused,
6 Such is the height of its potent essence (virility).
7 It can cry a whole day and yet does not get hoarse,
8 Such is the height of its harmony.
Lines two and three seem to be hyperbole, intending to suggest the pacifying “power” an infant can possess. In the Zuozhuan, De is said to “pacify, comfort” (Sui 綏) the feudal lords, “comfort” (Fu 撫) the people and “harmonize” (He 和) the people. The infant does this, not by “dispensing benefits” (Shi Hui 施惠), but by it’s demeanour of non-contention and calm (and innocence). Or, I am wondering, can two and three be referring back to “the one who harbours De’s fullness” rather than the infant? If he or she can be like an infant, described next (lines 4 to 8), they will have a pacifying power.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hi Scott -
I’ll be honest, I like Derek Lin’s interpretation of lines 2 and 3. Granted, he is speculating outside the support of the poem, but I rather like what he has to say about it. He thinks that Laozi is suggesting that when you press onto the world a set of concepts rigidly, you form an “ideal world” that you think you ought to be in. Unfortunately, the real world is never identical to the ideal world in such a case. In the region where they do not meet, but the place in which the person still must live, “demons” (psychological, presumably) come into existence, dogging the person and making experience unbearable because it does not live up to the ideal.
Whether this specific interpretation of 2 and 3 is textually supportable is an interesting question, but it does seem at least supportable by the main message of the DDJ.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Greetings Chris,
I just read Derek Lin’s interpretation:
“Infants are protected from danger. Someone who has cultivated much virtue and thus become more child-like is likewise protected. Just as infants are protected by their loving parents, virtuous cultivators are protected by the all-nurturing mother, the Tao. By following the Tao, they cannot be stung by poisonous insects of malicious gossip, clawed by the wild beasts of fear and anger, or attacked by the vicious birds of greed and envy.”
Is this what you are referring to?
July 16th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Yep, that’s it. I don’t have Derek’s book in front of me, but I’m sure he makes use of the “ideal vs real” world distinction in there somewhere (perhaps not in that specific poem but around it somewhere?). In the context of that backdrop, I read this specific section as a cautionary tale against psychological demons of this sort and that caused by excessive pushing against the world (in terms of projecting onto the world the way it should be).
Does he say anything else in that particular annotation?
July 16th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
His translation and notes are here:
http://home.pages.at/onkellotus/TTK/English_Lin_TTK.html#Kap55