Chapter LXXX
(Chapter 80)
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Ko Yuen TranslationIsolation |
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| 1. | In a little kingdom of few people it should be the order that though there were men able to do the work of ten men or five score, they should not be employed1. Though the people regarded death as sorrowful, yet they should not wish to go elsewhere. |
| 2. | They should have boats and wagons, yet no necessity to travel; corslets and weapons, yet no occasion to fight. |
| 3. | For communication they should use knotted cords2. |
| 4. | They should deem their food sweet, their clothes beautiful, their houses homes, their customs delightful. |
| 5. | There should be another state within view, so that its fowls and dogs should be heard; yet to old age, even to death, the people should hold no traffic with it. |
S. Mitchell Translation |
| If a country is governed wisely, its inhabitants will be content. They enjoy the labor of their hands and don't waste time inventing labor-saving machines. Since they dearly love their homes, they aren't interested in travel. There may be a few wagons and boats, but these don't go anywhere. There may be an arsenal of weapons, but nobody ever uses them. People enjoy their food, take pleasure in being with their families, spend weekends working in their gardens, delight in the doings of the neighborhood. And even though the next country is so close that people can hear its roosters crowing and its dogs barking, they are content to die of old age without ever having gone to see it. |
James Legge Translation |
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| 1. | In a little state with a small population, I would so order it, that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove elsewhere (to avoid it). |
| 2. | Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp weapons, they should have no occasion to don or use them. |
| 3. | I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead of the written characters). |
| 4. | They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment. |
| 5. | There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any intercourse with it. |
GNL not Lao InterpolationUtopia |
| Let your community be small, with only a few people; Keep tools in abundance, but do not depend upon them; Appreciate your life and be content with your home; Sail boats and ride horses, but don't go too far; Keep weapons and armour, but do not employ them; Let everyone read and write, Eat well and make beautiful things. Live peacefully and delight in your own society; |
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Ko Yuen Commentary |
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| 1. | At this high pressure. |
| 2. | The curse of modern society is the Press: babble of twaddle, like a drunk prostitute vomiting. One should say only things strictly necessary. |
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