玄德 · 知者不言與玄同

Xuán Dé

Classical Chinese Text

知者不言,言者不知。塞其兑,闭其门;挫其锐,解其纷;和其光,同其尘,是谓玄同。故不可得而亲,不可得而疏;不可得而利,不可得而害;不可得而贵,不可得而贱;故为天下贵

Translation & Meaning

真正徹悟大道的人不逞口舌高談闊論,誇誇其談炫耀言辭的人往往並未真正悟道。 收攝感官嗜欲的孔竅,閉守外逐紛擾的門徑;磨去傲慢的鋒芒,消解內心的糾結,收斂耀眼的光彩,混同於樸素的塵世——這就叫做與大道渾然冥合的「玄同」境界。 達到玄同境界的人,外人無法靠拉攏去偏私親附他,也無法靠排擠去孤立疏遠他;無法用厚利去誘惑他,也無法用禍害去威嚇他;無法用權位使他自高,也無法用貶抑使他自卑。正因如此獨立超然,才成為天下最尊貴的人格。

Commentary

青禾散人評注:「不可得而親疏、利害、貴賤」——這是何等絕對的精神主權!當一個人內在無欲無求、與道玄同,世間一切操控籌碼在他面前皆歸失效。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 知 (zhī): know / distinguish / recognize
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 言 (yán): words / speech
  • 塞 (sāi): classical character (sāi)
  • 其 (qí): its / their / his / her
  • 兑 (duì): sharpness / apertures
  • 闭 (bì): classical character (bì)
  • 门 (mén): gateway / portal of reality
  • 挫 (cuò): classical character (cuò)
  • 锐 (ruì): classical character (ruì)
  • 解 (jiě): untangle / resolve
  • 纷 (fēn): turmoil / entanglement
  • 和 (hé): accord / harmonize
  • 光 (guāng): light / radiance / shine
  • 同 (tóng): identical / unified / same source
  • 尘 (chén): dirt / dust / mundane
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 谓 (wèi): called / named / designated
  • 玄 (xuán): mystery / fathomless depth
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 可 (kě): can / capable of being
  • 得 (dé): obtain / acquire / gain
  • 而 (ér): yet / and / but
  • 亲 (qīn): classical character (qīn)
  • 疏 (shū): classical character (shū)
  • 利 (lì): benefits / nourishes
  • 害 (hài): classical character (hài)
  • 贵 (guì): prize / cherish / valuable
  • 贱 (jiàn): classical character (jiàn)
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 下 (xià): under / earthly realm / humble