Birth and death, those who live (a long life), three out of ten; those

貴生 · 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

Birth and death, those who live (a long life), three out of ten; those who die (at an early age), three out of ten; those who could have lived a long life but die before that, also three out of ten. Why is that? It is because the desire for life is thick.

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)