三寶 · 慈儉不敢為天下先
Sān Bǎo
Classical Chinese Text
天下皆谓我"道"大，似不肖。夫唯大，故似不肖。若肖，久矣其细也夫！ 我有三宝，持而保之：一曰慈，二曰俭，三曰不敢为天下先。慈故能勇；俭故能广；不敢为天下先，故能成器长。今舍慈且勇；舍俭且广；舍后且先；死矣！夫慈，以战则胜，以守则固。天将救之，以慈卫之
Translation & Meaning
天下人都說我所講的「道」廣大無邊，卻似乎不具體像任何現成事物。正因為它廣大包羅萬象，所以才不像任何單一有限的具體之物；倘若它像某件具體器物，早就變得渺小侷促了啊！ 我有三件修身立命的法寶，始終謹守珍護：第一叫做慈愛柔和，第二叫做節儉收斂，第三叫做謙退而不敢搶佔天下之先。 正因為懷抱慈愛，守護蒼生時才能生出真正無畏的勇敢；正因為懂得節儉收斂，蓄積充沛才能施澤寬廣；正因為謙退不搶鋒頭，眾心歸服才能成就領袖群倫的器局。 如今若捨棄慈悲而一味好勇鬥狠，捨棄節儉而盲目鋪張擴張，捨棄謙退而處處爭搶佔先，那就只有走向毀滅死路了！ 唯有真正的慈悲仁愛，用於自衛應戰則能獲勝，用於守禦家園則堅不可摧。上天所要佑助的人，正是用這份慈悲之心來護衛他。
Linguistic & Character Analysis
- 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
- 下 (xià): under / earthly realm / humble
- 皆 (jiē): all / universally
- 谓 (wèi): called / named / designated
- 我 (wǒ): classical character (wǒ)
- 道 (dào): The Way / Logos / to speak
- 大 (dà): classical character (dà)
- 似 (sì): seems / resembles
- 不 (bù): not / un- / without
- 肖 (xiào): classical character (xiào)
- 夫 (fū): for / indeed / now
- 唯 (wéi): only / precisely because
- 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
- 若 (ruò): classical character (ruò)
- 久 (jiǔ): classical character (jiǔ)
- 矣 (yǐ): [modal particle of realization]
- 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
- 细 (xì): classical character (xì)
- 也 (yě): [modal particle of assertion]
- 有 (yǒu): manifest being / cosmos / to possess
- 三 (sān): classical character (sān)
- 宝 (bǎo): classical character (bǎo)
- 持 (chí): classical character (chí)
- 而 (ér): yet / and / but
- 保 (bǎo): classical character (bǎo)
- 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
- 一 (yī): classical character (yī)
- 曰 (yuē): classical character (yuē)
- 慈 (cí): classical character (cí)
- 二 (èr): classical character (èr)
- 俭 (jiǎn): classical character (jiǎn)
- 敢 (gǎn): dare / venture forward
- 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
- 先 (xiān): before / front
- 能 (néng): fruitful / capacity / ability
- 勇 (yǒng): classical character (yǒng)
- 广 (guǎng): classical character (guǎng)
- 成 (chéng): complete / fulfill
- 器 (qì): classical character (qì)
- 长 (cháng): long / enduring / grow
- 今 (jīn): classical character (jīn)
- 舍 (shè): classical character (shè)
- 且 (qiě): classical character (qiě)
- 后 (hòu): after / behind
- 死 (sǐ): classical character (sǐ)
- 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
- 战 (zhàn): classical character (zhàn)
- 则 (zé): classical character (zé)
- 胜 (shèng): classical character (shèng)
- 守 (shǒu): classical character (shǒu)
- 固 (gù): classical character (gù)
- 将 (jiāng): classical character (jiāng)
- 救 (jiù): classical character (jiù)
- 卫 (wèi): classical character (wèi)
Commentary
青禾散人評注：老子親授「三寶」——慈、儉、不敢為天下先。「慈故能勇」，如慈母護子，柔腸之中能迸發出超越生死的大無畏。