Friday, 16 August 2024

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Favor and disgrace are equally frightening,
Honor and great suffering are equally personal.
Why claim favor and disgrace are equally frightening?
Favor leads to downfall[13-1],
So obtaining it and losing it
Are equally frightening:
From this, I claim that favor and disgrace are equally frightening.
Why claim honors and great suffering are equally personal?
If I’m someone with great suffering,
It’s because I have my own person [i.e., body]—
Should I ever lose my person [i.e., die],
Could I even suffer?
Hence, one who honors the realm’s governance as he does his own person
Can be entrusted with the realm;
One who loves the realm’s governance as he does his own person
Can be entrusted with the realm.

[13-1] Other texts have “Favoring someone leads to [their] downfall”

宠辱若惊,
贵大患若身。
何谓宠辱若惊?
宠为下,
得之若惊,
失之若惊,
是谓宠辱若惊。
何谓贵大患若身?
吾所以有大患者,
为吾有身,
及吾无身,
吾有何患?
故贵以身为天下,
若可寄天下;
爱以身为天下,
若可托天下。

“The realm” is literally “[all] under heaven.” DDJ has the reputation in the West of being a personal-mystical text, but it’s as concerned with society and governance as The Analects.

For the morbidly curious, revised drafts of ch.1-9 (about a 9th of the whole) are here. It’s far from a final version, as later content will surely reflect back on earlier. For example, I’m strongly considering based on something coming up of changing “constant” of the opening lines to “unchanging.” Some terms, it seems the right thing to do to render them the same each time, to bring out the echoes.

---L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

April 2025

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