道化 · 道生一

Dào Huà

Classical Chinese Text

道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。万物负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和。
人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以为称。故物或损之而益，或益之而损。人之所教，我亦教之。强梁者不得其死①，吾将以为教父。

Translation & Meaning

大道化生出浑然未分的元气之“一”，由“一”分化出阴阳相摩之“二”，阴阳交感激荡出和合之气“三”，和合之气进而化生出天下万物。 万物皆背倚静敛之阴而怀抱生发之阳，借由阴阳二气交融冲荡而达成和谐平衡。 世人最忌讳厌恶的，莫过于“孤”、“寡”、“不谷”这类谦卑字眼，然而君王公侯却用它们作为自称。 所以世间事物有时看似减损退让反而得到增益，有时一味贪求增益反而招致亏损。 前人所留下的教诲，我也用来训诲世人：“强横霸道的人终不得善终。”我把这句话作为一切修身施教的首要宗旨。

Commentary

青禾散人评注：“负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和”乃中华宇宙生成论与生命医学之核心公理。不走极端、调和阴阳，损己自谦反获天益。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 道 (dào): The Way / Logos / to speak
  • 生 (shēng): give birth to / arise
  • 一 (yī): classical character (yī)
  • 二 (èr): classical character (èr)
  • 三 (sān): classical character (sān)
  • 万 (wàn): ten thousand / myriad / all
  • 物 (wù): things / phenomena / forms
  • 负 (fù): classical character (fù)
  • 阴 (yīn): classical character (yīn)
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 抱 (bào): classical character (bào)
  • 阳 (yáng): classical character (yáng)
  • 冲 (chōng): void / surge / empty cup
  • 气 (qì): classical character (qì)
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 和 (hé): accord / harmonize
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
  • 恶 (è): ugly / aversion / evil
  • 唯 (wéi): only / precisely because
  • 孤 (gū): classical character (gū)
  • 寡 (guǎ): classical character (guǎ)
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 谷 (gǔ): classical character (gǔ)
  • 王 (wáng): classical character (wáng)
  • 公 (gōng): classical character (gōng)
  • 称 (chēng): classical character (chēng)
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 或 (huò): tangible / perhaps / presence
  • 损 (sǔn): classical character (sǔn)
  • 益 (yì): classical character (yì)
  • 教 (jiào): teaching / guidance
  • 我 (wǒ): classical character (wǒ)
  • 亦 (yì): classical character (yì)
  • 强 (qiáng): strengthen / firm / robust
  • 梁 (liáng): classical character (liáng)
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 得 (dé): obtain / acquire / gain
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 死 (sǐ): classical character (sǐ)
  • 吾 (wú): I / myself
  • 将 (jiāng): classical character (jiāng)
  • 父 (fù): classical character (fù)