贵生 · 善摄生者

Guì Shēng

Classical Chinese Text

出生入死，生之徒，十有三；死之徒，十有三；人之生，动之于死地，亦十有三。夫何故？以其生生之厚。
盖闻善摄生者，陆行不遇兕虎，入军不被甲兵。兕无所投其角，虎无所措其爪，兵无所容其刃。夫何故？以其无死地。

Translation & Meaning

人自降生于世便走向死亡。天生禀赋长寿安康的大约占十分之三；天性折损短命的大约占十分之三；本来可以自然颐养天年，却因妄动折腾而自己步入绝境死地的，也占十分之三。这是为什么呢？正是因为过度奉养躯壳、贪求厚利享乐。 听说真正善于颐养生命的人，陆地行走不会冒犯犀牛猛虎，身处军旅也不致遭受刀兵创伤；野牛无处顶撞它的利角，猛虎无处施展它的利爪，兵器也无处刺入它的锋刃。这是为什么呢？因为他行事恬淡无执，全身上下根本没有自陷险境的“死地”。

Commentary

青禾散人评注：“以其生生之厚”一语道破养生与处世悖论：越是过度焦虑、纵欲滋补、贪婪攫取，越是加速损耗生机；不履险地、不生贪执，故“无死地”。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 出 (chū): emerge / issue forth / originate
  • 生 (shēng): give birth to / arise
  • 入 (rù): classical character (rù)
  • 死 (sǐ): classical character (sǐ)
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 徒 (tú): classical character (tú)
  • 十 (shí): classical character (shí)
  • 有 (yǒu): manifest being / cosmos / to possess
  • 三 (sān): classical character (sān)
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 动 (dòng): action / motion / movement
  • 于 (yú): to / at / in
  • 地 (dì): classical character (dì)
  • 亦 (yì): classical character (yì)
  • 夫 (fū): for / indeed / now
  • 何 (hé): classical character (hé)
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 厚 (hòu): classical character (hòu)
  • 盖 (gài): classical character (gài)
  • 闻 (wén): classical character (wén)
  • 善 (shàn): goodness / skillful / kind
  • 摄 (shè): classical character (shè)
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 陆 (lù): classical character (lù)
  • 行 (xíng): practice / teach / walk
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 遇 (yù): classical character (yù)
  • 兕 (sì): classical character (sì)
  • 虎 (hǔ): classical character (hǔ)
  • 军 (jūn): classical character (jūn)
  • 被 (bèi): classical character (bèi)
  • 甲 (jiǎ): classical character (jiǎ)
  • 兵 (bīng): classical character (bīng)
  • 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
  • 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
  • 投 (tóu): classical character (tóu)
  • 角 (jiǎo): classical character (jiǎo)
  • 措 (cuò): classical character (cuò)
  • 爪 (zhuǎ): classical character (zhuǎ)
  • 容 (róng): classical character (róng)
  • 刃 (rèn): classical character (rèn)