People’s starvation, for the (one on) top eats tax much, causing famin
貪損 · Tān Sǔn
Classical Chinese Text
民之饥，以其上食税之多，是以饥。民之难治，以其上之有为，是以难治。民之轻死，以其上求生之厚，是以轻死。夫唯无以生为者，是贤于贵生。
Translation & Meaning
People’s starvation, for the (one on) top eats tax much, causing famine. People is hard to govern, is because the (one on) top takes actions, making people hard to govern. People despise death, because the one on top seeks living much, making people despise death. Only those who don’t seek living, are good at cherish living.
Linguistic & Character Analysis
- 民 (mín): classical character (mín)
- 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
- 饥 (jī): classical character (jī)
- 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
- 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
- 上 (shàng): elevate / utmost / high
- 食 (shí): classical character (shí)
- 税 (shuì): classical character (shuì)
- 多 (duō): classical character (duō)
- 是 (shì): this / therefore
- 难 (nán): difficult / arduous
- 治 (zhì): govern / bring order / rule
- 有 (yǒu): manifest being / cosmos / to possess
- 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
- 轻 (qīng): classical character (qīng)
- 死 (sǐ): classical character (sǐ)
- 求 (qiú): classical character (qiú)
- 生 (shēng): give birth to / arise
- 厚 (hòu): classical character (hòu)
- 夫 (fū): for / indeed / now
- 唯 (wéi): only / precisely because
- 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
- 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
- 贤 (xián): talents / worthy / clever
- 于 (yú): to / at / in
- 贵 (guì): prize / cherish / valuable