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The New Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu by Qian Ning re-edied
Life, Reading, New Knowledge Joint Bookstore 2024-5ISBN: 9787108077820 Price: 56.00 yuan
【Brief Introduction】
The idea of recompiling the Tao Te Ching began with the re-editor Qian Ning's discovery when he read it: the Tao Te Ching has the characteristics of double expressions, and there are many "staggered" phenomena during it, resulting in dyslexia.
This two-tiered expression is the basic expression of the Tao Te Ching. Let's start with the question "What is the Tao?" What should people do about "re-discussion"? The first paragraph deals with the subject, the latter paragraph expands and elaborates, and vice versa. In some chapters, the discussion can be multi-layered. The so-called "staggered layer" refers to the fact that in the whole book, the "Tao Edition" discusses morality, and the "Virtue Edition" discusses the Tao; In one chapter, the two things are discussed separately, and the discussion is not the same theme, or the theme of the first paragraph is not directly related to the extension of the second paragraph. This phenomenon of "staggered layers" has caused the difficulty of understanding this "Tao Te Ching".
The recompilation is based on Lao Tzu's deduction process of the Tao and reconstructs the whole book. After the recompilation of the Tao Te Ching, the chapter on the Tao will be included in the "Tao Edition", and the chapter on virtue will be assigned to the "Virtue Edition". The Tao Compilation takes the "Tao into two states" (the initial state of "nameless" and the state of formation of "famous") as a framework, focusing on how people can understand the wonder of "nameless" and how to visualize and enlighten the Tao in the state of "namelessness". Guided by the principle of "virtue up and down", the "Compendium of Virtue" discusses the upper and lower virtues, as well as the "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and faith" after the "loss of virtue", focusing on how saints, kings, and people should behave in the world.
【About the Author】
Qian Ning was born in Nanjing, grew up in Beijing, and his ancestral home is Jiading, Shanghai. His major works include the New Analects (2012), Outline of the Analects (2019), and The Scenery of Nishan (2010), as well as the historical novels The Sage (2004) and Qin Xiang Li Si (2000), and the journalistic documentary Study in America: The Story of an Era (1996).
【Preamble】
Reconstructing the Tao Te Ching
Channing
One
The "New Tao Te Ching" is a reconstructed "Tao Te Ching", five thousand words and a lot of words, but the text is completely new. What is the significance of reconstructing the Tao Te Ching? Here, let's explain.
The Tao Te Ching has the characteristics of a two-tiered exposition, in which one chapter often begins with "what is the Tao" and then "how people should be". The first paragraph discusses the theme, and the second paragraph expands and elaborates, and the middle is mostly quoted with the word "therefore" or "is", and occasionally "I" or "I" as the main language, which is directly narrated. The full text was retrieved, and as a conjunction, the word "therefore" appeared 53 times, and "is" 35 times; As the subject, 'I' appears 19 times and 'I' 16 times. In some chapters, the discussion can be multi-layered.
The idea of reconstructing the Tao Te Ching began with a discovery when reading: there are many "staggered" phenomena throughout the book. The so-called "staggered layer", as far as the whole book is concerned, is the "Tao Edition" on morality, and the "Virtue Edition" on the Tao; As far as each chapter is concerned, it is divided into two things, and the subject matter is not the same, or there is no direct connection between what is discussed in the first paragraph and the extension of the second paragraph.
This phenomenon of "staggered layers" is one of the reasons why this "Tao Te Ching" is difficult to understand. At the same time, it also reminds us that the words before and after some chapters may not be formed at the same time or in the same chapter, but have historical superposition and dislocation.
Two
This "Tao Te Ching" is divided into two parts, "Dao" and "De", with a total of 81 chapters, which were basically formed in the Han Dynasty, and the phenomenon of "staggered layers" has two major historical reasons.
First, the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching were divided by the Han Dynasty, and they were divided quite arbitrarily. There are many annotations to the Tao Te Ching in the past dynasties, among which Wang Bi's "Commentary on the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu" in the Cao Wei period is the best. According to the records of the Song people, the "ancient book" Wang Bi Note, there is no separation between the upper and lower morals, and there are no 81 chapters. In the winter of 1973, the silk book "Lao Tzu" (A and B) unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, may be a manuscript closer to the original appearance of Lao Tzu's book. Unearthed in 1993, Guodian Chujian's "Lao Tzu" is even older, but the bamboo slips are scattered, the text is damaged, and it is difficult to see the whole picture, but it can still be seen that his book is not divided into two parts, and there is no chapter similar to this book. The Tao Te Ching is divided into 81 chapters, which should be the affairs of the Han Dynasty. There are 81 chapters in the Heshang Gong's annotation, and there are 81 chapters in the later Wang Bi's annotation, which is obviously added by later generations.
Second, due to the complexity of the writing process, coupled with the errors of copying and copying, and the additions and changes of later generations, there are many chaotic simplifications, mistakes and resimplifications in this "Tao Te Ching". Taking Chapter 64 as an example, a chapter has four themes that are not related to each other, including "chaotic simplification", "re-simplification" and "mis-simplification", which can be described as a collection of chaotic simplification, mis-simplification, and re-simplification in one chapter. It can be seen that the phenomenon of "staggered layers" not only has a cause, but also has solid evidence.
In short, this "Tao Te Ching" is divided into 81 chapters, which is not the original intention of Lao Tzu, and the chaotic simplification, wrong simplification and heavy simplification are not the original appearance of "Lao Tzu". Therefore, refactoring now is not a "presumptuous".
Three
The reconstruction is based on Lao Tzu's deduction process of the Tao and reconstructs the whole book. In fact, Lao Tzu's expression of the Tao in the Tao Te Ching is quite clear and clear - the existence of the Tao, the state of the Tao, the changes of the Tao, the imperceptibility of the Tao, the Tao gives birth to all things in heaven and earth, the domination of the Tao over people, and the relationship between the Tao and virtue...... Layer by layer, the theme runs through, but this main line is scattered in each chapter, either implicit or explicit.
The task of restructuring is to reorganize the chapters so that they fall into their respective places in the new textual structure; Within each chapter, reset the "staggered layer" so that it has the same theme and is related.
The reconstructed "New Tao Te Ching" has a total of 95 chapters, which are still divided into two parts: the chapter on the Tao belongs to the "Tao Edition", and the chapter on virtue belongs to the "Virtue Edition".
The Tao Compilation takes the "Tao into two states" as a framework, i.e., the initial state of "namelessness" and the formed state of "famousness", and focuses on how people can understand the "nameless" wonder of iQue, and how to visualize and enlighten the Tao in the "famous" state.
Guided by the principle of "virtue is divided between upper and lower", the "Compilation of Virtues" discusses the upper and lower virtues, focusing on how saints, kings, and people have their own virtues and how they should behave and behave in the world.
Four
Explanation of a few important questions:
1. Version. The reconstruction is based on Wang Bi's "Commentary on the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu", and if the text is different from other books or has doubts, the Lao Tzu Silk Book is the main reference school, and the trade-offs are made at discretion, and they are marked one by one in the commentary.
2. Text. The reconstruction follows the principle of "no addition and no deletion" of the original text of the Tao Te Ching, and the full text is recorded, without adding a sentence or deleting a sentence, and only adjusting the order of the chapters and separating the text paragraphs. Here, there are some words that need to be specially explained: one is "Heng Dao", Wang Bi and the various heirlooms are all "Chang Dao", because the Han Dynasty avoided Emperor Liu Heng, the word "Heng" was changed to the word "Chang", and now it is restored to "Heng" according to the silk book. The second is the imaginary word "also", Wang Biben deleted some of the "also" words in the original text in order to seek duality and rhyme, but the word "also" is of great significance to sentence breaking and interpretation, and it is also appropriately restored according to the silk book.
3. Annotations. The commentary and interpretation of the Tao Te Ching in this book focuses on the presentation of the original meaning of the original words and sentences, and does not quote the commentators of the past dynasties. In fact, the reconstruction itself is a kind of structural annotation, and in the new text structure, the context of Laozi's thought becomes clearly visible, and some difficult words and unsatisfactory sentences also have a better basis for interpretation and judgment. As for the depth of the rights and wrongs of Lao Tzu's doctrine and the further elaboration of his thoughts, this is not the focus of this book.
Five
Who is Lao Tzu? The jury is still inconclusive.
I would like to believe that Lao Tzu is the history of the Zhou Shou Tibetan Room recorded in Sima Qian's "Historical Records", perhaps surnamed Li Ming'er, or perhaps called "Lao Dan"; It may have been born in the state of Chu, or it may have been born in Chendi. He was in the storage room, guarding the atlases and secret books of the Zhou royal family, quietly watching the situation in the world and the rise and fall of various countries, and also received Confucius who came to greet him there.
I would also like to believe that during the long and silent years in the storage room, Lao Tzu kept a mysterious volume of "Ancient Jane" on his desk, and he read and thought about it day and night, and recorded his understanding and perception on the wooden slip little by little...... Until one day, the war broke out, and the storage room could not stay any longer, so he hurriedly packed his bags, took the "ancient Jane" and notes, and hurriedly left Luoyi, all the way west, to Hangu Pass.
I also want to believe that Lao Tzu left a copy of the Tao Te Ching in Hanguguan. Guan Ling Yin Xi heard his name for a long time and refused to let him go, and he must let him tell everyone about the general trend of the world and guide his life. Lao Tzu had no choice but to violate his code of "those who know do not speak" and gave a lecture on "Tao is the way, not the constant way".
According to Lu Xun's novel "Out of the Customs", it was not a successful lecture. Lao Tzu was sullen, and everyone was faint. No one in the room could understand it, and the transcript of the speech was fragmented and unwritten, some wrote down one or two proverbs, and some only wrote down the word "I" or "I". Under Yin Xi's plea, Lao Tzu had no choice but to sort out the "Gu Jian" and his own notes, and let everyone copy and keep them. Everyone copied the ancient Jane, Lao Tzu's notes and speech records together, some omissions in the sentences, some errors in the words, and some scattered paragraphs.
Between heaven and earth, there has been a "Tao Te Ching" since then.
2,500 years later, the reconstruction of the Tao Te Ching is to provide readers with a modern reading book with a clear theme, a coherent structure, a reliable text, and a well-founded interpretation, so that more people can understand Lao Tzu.
On the day the book was written, I read a passage in the last chapter of Qian Zhongshu's "Pipe Cone Editing: Lao Tzu Wang Bi's Note": "It's like selling flowers and looking at peaches and plums, and you want to go upstairs and look around, and go out to smile." "Borrow it to express how you feel at this time.
Qian Ning
2022.10.2 First draft
2022.12.24 Finalized
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