Valor on daring leads to death, valor on not daring leads to living.Th

任為 · Rèn Wéi

Classical Chinese Text

勇于敢则杀，勇于不敢则活。此两者，或利或害。天之所恶，孰知其故？是以圣人犹难之③。天之道，不争而善胜，不言而善应，不召而自来，繟然而善谋。天网恢恢，疏而不失。

Translation & Meaning

Valor on daring leads to death, valor on not daring leads to living.These two, either beneficial or harmful. Heaven’s disdain (and fondness), why is that? A sage also has difficulty (explaining). The way of Heaven, the not-rivaling tends to win, the non-speaking tends to respond, the non-calling voluntarily comes, the paced tends to scheme. Heave (is like a) net of broad, loose but never misses.

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 勇 (yǒng): classical character (yǒng)
  • 于 (yú): to / at / in
  • 敢 (gǎn): dare / venture forward
  • 则 (zé): classical character (zé)
  • 杀 (shā): classical character (shā)
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 活 (huó): classical character (huó)
  • 此 (cǐ): classical character (cǐ)
  • 两 (liǎng): two / duality / polarity
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 或 (huò): tangible / perhaps / presence
  • 利 (lì): benefits / nourishes
  • 害 (hài): classical character (hài)
  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
  • 恶 (è): ugly / aversion / evil
  • 孰 (shú): classical character (shú)
  • 知 (zhī): know / distinguish / recognize
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 圣 (shèng): sage / enlightened one
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 犹 (yóu): classical character (yóu)
  • 难 (nán): difficult / arduous
  • 道 (dào): The Way / Logos / to speak
  • 争 (zhēng): compete / contend / rival
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 善 (shàn): goodness / skillful / kind
  • 胜 (shèng): classical character (shèng)
  • 言 (yán): words / speech
  • 应 (yìng): classical character (yìng)
  • 召 (zhào): classical character (zhào)
  • 自 (zì): classical character (zì)
  • 来 (lái): classical character (lái)
  • 繟 (chǎn): classical character (chǎn)
  • 然 (rán): classical character (rán)
  • 谋 (móu): classical character (móu)
  • 网 (wǎng): classical character (wǎng)
  • 恢 (huī): classical character (huī)
  • 疏 (shū): classical character (shū)
  • 失 (shī): classical character (shī)