Tao Te Ching

Chapter 72
[Original text]

If you don't know [1], you are still [2]; if you don't know [3], you are sick [4].Fu Wei is sick, so he is not sick.Saints are not sick [5], they are sick with their illnesses [6].

【Note】

[1] Know or not: Know but think you don’t know.

[2] Shang: Same as "Shang", the best.

[3] I don't know: I don't know but I think I know.

[4] Disease: disaster.

[5] Not sick: no scourge.

[6] Illness: Thinking that disasters are disasters.

【Analysis】

It is best to know everything, but keep a humble heart, thinking that you know nothing; actually knowing nothing, but thinking you know everything because you don’t see yourself clearly, will inevitably bring scourge.Knowing that the disaster is not good for you, and at the same time taking the disaster seriously, you can avoid the disaster from befalling yourself.A sage has no calamities, precisely because he knows that his calamities are indeed calamities, so he takes them seriously and deals with them in a timely manner.

Simply put, people are valuable to know themselves.If the "disease" in the article is literally translated as sickness, then this passage can be understood as: a person has planted the root of the disease without knowing anything. At this time, if he ignores it or even pretends to know it, he will get sick. Even slowly dying.A sage knows so much that even though he is not sick, he is still afraid of getting sick, pretends not to know anything, keeps studying, and thus becomes immune to the disease for life.

【Explanation by Famous Artists】

Mr. He Shang:
To know but not to know is above Naide.Knowing without knowing is Naide's disease.Hu Wei Neng suffers from illness. Everyone has a disease of strong knowledge, so he is not self-ill.A sage does not have such a disease of strong knowledge, because he often suffers from this disease, and because he is not human, he does not get sick himself.The sages have comprehensive knowledge and entrust those who don't know, and want to make the world simple and honest, and each maintains its purity.The villain doesn't know the mind, but acts presumptuously to show himself, which hurts the spirit internally, and shortens life and years.

(End of this chapter)