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Chapter 50

出生入死

出chū生shēng入rù死sǐ。
生shēng之zhī徒tú十shí有yǒu三sān；
死sǐ之zhī徒tú十shí有yǒu三sān。
人rén之zhī生shēng，
动dòng之zhī于yú死sǐ地dì，
亦yì十shí有yǒu三sān。
夫fū何hé故gù？
以yǐ其qí生shēng生shēng之zhī厚hòu。
盖gài闻wén善shàn摄shè生shēng者zhě，
路lù行xíng不bù遇yù兕sì虎hǔ，
入rù军jūn不bú被bèi甲jiǎ兵bīng。
兕sì无wú所suǒ投tóu其qí角jiǎo，
虎hǔ无wú所suǒ措cuò其qí爪zhuǎ，
兵bīng无wú所suǒ容róng其qí刃rèn。
夫fū何hé故gù？
以yǐ其qí无wú死sǐ地dì。

Coming we are born, going we die. Three in ten are followers of life; three in ten are followers of death – at birth begun to move towards the death, these too are three in ten. Why is this? Because they treat life as life. I have heard that one good at protecting his life walks in the hills but never encounters rhinoceros or tiger, charges against armies and is never touched by weapon or armor. The rhinoceros finds no place to thrust its horn; the tiger finds no place to grip its claws; weapons find no place to drive their blades. Why is this? Because he has no death place in him.

A modern classroom translation, with labeled subsections for study.

© 2010, 2016, 2019 Robert Eno. Freely available for personal use and not-for-profit educational settings. For other purposes, apart from fair use, copyright is not waived.