Table Of ContentLao Tzu's Tao Te Ching
Translations from the Asian Classics
Translations from the Asian Classics
Editorial Board
Wm. Theodore de Bary， Chair
Paul Anderer
Irene Bloom
Donald Keene
George A. Saliba
Haruo Shirane
David D. IV. Wang
Burton Watson
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching
A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian
ROBERT G. HENRICKS
Columbia University Press
New York
lAi
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since i8c>3
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2000 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lao-tzu
[Tao te ching. English]
Lao Tzu*s Tao Te Ching : a translation of the startling new
documents found at Guodian / Robert G. Henricks.
p. cm — (Translations from the Asian Classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-231-11816-3
I. Henricks, Robert G., 1943- II. Title. III. Series
BL1900.L26E5 2000 99-37496
299'.51482—den CIP
©
Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed
on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 987654321
For the two women I love，who, for reasons
I do not understand, also seem to love me——
Pat and Anna
Contents
Preface ix
A Note on the Romanization xi
Introduction i
The Site: Location and Date of the Tomb 4
The Texts Found in the Tomb 5
La〇ii Ay B, and C 6
Punctuation and the Issue of Chapter Divisions 8
Interesting Cases: Chapters 19, 30, and 63 11
The Philosophy of the "Bamboo Slip Lao\iy ij
Conclusion—What Is the aBamboo Slip La〇{iyy? 19
Translation of the uBamboo Slip La〇iiyy
Translator’s Notes z5
Lao^i A 27
Lao^i B 83
Lao^i C iii
Appendixes
Appendix I. Sima Qian’s “Biography of Laozi” 133
Appendix II. Line-by-Line Comparisons isy
Appendix III. Punctuation Marks and Determination of
Chapter Divisions 189
Notes 19J
Bibliography 223
Index 22g
Preface
Before proceeding to the introduction, the reader should be aware of two things.
First， photographs and transcriptions of the bamboo slip manuscripts found at
Guodian in 1993 were made public in May 1998. That means that scholarly work
on these slips has just begun, and many articles are in the process of being pub
lished. Thus some of my colleagues will surely argue that this book is premature
and that translation of the a Bamboo Slip Lao\iy should await the publication of
the scholarship now under way.
This is a fair criticism. Many of the opinions expressed and conclusions reached
in this book must be regarded as preliminary and tentative. A few years from
now, I am bound to consider changing some words and lines in the translation
and my understanding of what these slips are and how they are related to the
complete text of La〇{i is bound to evolve. Nonetheless, I believe that the signifi
cance of this new find warrants bringing it to the attention of general readers
and Sinologists who do not focus on early China as soon as possible. Changes to
this translation, where they are needed, can be published in a second edition if
there is sufficient interest.
Second, in May 1998,1 co-hosted, with Sarah Allan, an International Confer
ence on the Guodian Lao^i at Dartmouth College. This was scheduled to coin
cide with official release of the book Guodian Chumu ihujian 店楚墓竹簡，
Bamboo Slips from the Chu Tomb at Guodian) (Beijing: Wenwu Press, 1998).
At this conference, Professor Allan and I were joined by thirty-one scholars
from all over the world——specialists on the Lao^ early Daoism, and early Chinese
history, language, literature, and philosophy—for the world first academic dis
cussion of this latest find. The stimulating exchange of ideas at the conference
helped me in writing this book to an immeasurable extent. This discussion makes
liberal use of the papers presented at that conference and the handouts provided
x by some participants. When I have used someone else’s ideas， I have tried to
give credit where it is due.
Of the people attending the conference I must single out at least five to whom
I am deeply indebted: (I) Peng Hao (彭？告)，curator of the Jingzhou Museum in
Hubei province, who kindly gave me a copy of his initial transcription of the
Guodian Za— materials， including the piece called “Taiyi shengshui” （太一
生 7jx, The Great One Gave Birth to Water). He also reviewed changes that I
made to the transcription and provided useful advice. He is sharp, unassum
ing, and clever—a delightful person with whom I hope to work for many years.
(2) Tomohisa Ikeda (池田知久)， professor of Chinese philosophy at Tokyo
University, who is a prolific scholar, probably known best in the West for his
work on the “Wuxing” （五 f亍 ， The Five Ways of Conduct) manuscript from
Mawangdui. Professor Ikeda produced a detailed, line-by-line study of the aGuo-
dian Lao^y along with his own transcription, which he freely distributed to
everyone attending the conference. It is with his permission that I cite from these
“notes” （厶々•/，筆言己)， although he considers this work preliminary and has no
plans to publish his work in this form. (3) Xing Wen (Jfß lecturer in archae
ology at Beijing University, who is a young, exceptionally talented scholar whom
I met several years ago when he was doing research at Harvard. We have kept in
touch via e-mail ever since. As I worked on my translation, we had many fruitful
exchanges, especially in regard to the structure and meaning of aTaiyi shengshui.M
(4) William Boltz, professor of Asian languages at the University of Washing
ton, to whom I am indebted for help with phonological issues both during and
after the conference and for referring me to the valuable work on archaic pro
nunciations by Dong Tonghe (董 fW| ^ ). (5) Finally, I am grateful to Sarah
Allan, the Burlington Northern Professor of Chinese Studies at Dartmouth
College, who initially proposed that we host this conference and who knew all
the right people in China to make it happen.
Robert G. Henricks
Hanover， NH
January 1999
