Chinese Text Project Dictionary

Daoism -> Dao De Jing -> 58

	(Transformation according to circumstances)
其政悶悶，	The government that seems the most unwise,
其民淳淳；	Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
其政察察，	That which is meddling, touching everything,
其民缺缺。	Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.
禍兮福之所倚，	Misery! - happiness is to be found by its side!
福兮禍之所伏。	Happiness! - misery lurks beneath it!
孰知其極？	Who knows what either will come to in the end?
其無正。	Shall we then dispense with correction?
正復為奇，	The (method of) correction shall by a turn become distortion,
善復為妖。	and the good in it shall by a turn become evil.
人之迷，	The delusion of the people (on this point)
其日固久。	has indeed subsisted for a long time.
是以聖人方而不割，	Therefore the sage is (like) a square which cuts no one (with its angles);
廉而不劌，	(like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).
直而不肆，	He is straightforward, but allows himself no license;
光而不燿。	he is bright, but does not dazzle.

Character	Composition	Variants	Reading	Meaning	Hanyu	Kangxi	Cihai
其	八+6	丌亓	qí ㄑㄧˊ	Third-person possessive pronoun: his, her, its, their. / Demonstrative pronoun: that, those. / Adverb expressing estimation or guess. / Adverb expressing imperative. / Adverb expressing rhetorical question. / Adverb expressing future tense. / Connective expressing hypothesis: if, supposing. / Connective expressing choice: or. / Connective expressing concession: even if. / Particle used after an adjective. / Particle: of. / Particle used for emphasis after single-character adjectives or onomatopoeia. / Particle used in the middle of a sentence to alter the tempo.	v1,p0245#01	p.127#18	p.162r5c01
			jì ㄐㄧˋ	Particle used after bi and he.
			jī ㄐㄧ	Modal particle expressing interrogative tone. / A year.
政	攴+4		zhèng zhēng ㄓㄥˋ ㄓㄥ	government, political affairs	v2,p1453#03	p.469#06	p.601r2c01
悶	心+8	㥃懣闷	mèn mēn ㄇㄣˋ ㄇㄣ	gloomy, depressed, melancholy	v7,p4291#04	p.389#05	p.533r2c02
民	氏+1	𠘽	mín ㄇㄧㄣˊ	people, subjects, citizens	v3,p2131#01	p.598#01	p.750r3c01
淳	水+8	湻𤂸	chún zhūn zhǔn ㄔㄨㄣˊ ㄓㄨㄣㄓㄨㄣˇ	honest, simple, unsophisticated; cyanogen; ethane dinitrile	v3,p1658#01	p.632#05	p.806r5c01
察	宀+11	詧	chá ㄔㄚˊ	examine, investigate; notice	v2,p0948#08	p.290#16	p.426r6c05
缺	缶+4	欠	quē ㄑㄩㄝ	be short of, lack; gap, deficit	v5,p2936#04	p.945#04	p.1063r5c04
禍	示+9	旤𥚍𣨷𥙯祸	huò ㄏㄨㄛˋ	misfortune, calamity, disaster	v4,p2402#04	p.844#31
兮	八+2	𠔃	xī ㄒㄧ	exclamatory particle	v1,p0241#06	p.127#03	p.160r5c01
福	示+9	福畗	fú fù ㄈㄨˊ ㄈㄨˋ	happiness, good fortune, blessing	v4,p2404#03	p.845#02
之	丿+3	㞢	zhī ㄓ	Towards; go to. / Demonstrative pronoun: this, these. / Third person pronoun: him, her, it. / Auxiliary word: of. / Auxiliary word: used between subject and predicate, cancels independence of a clause. / Auxiliary word: used in a sentence for aesthetic purpose only, no meaning.	v1,p0043#01	p.82#04	p.47r2c02
所	戶+4	𢨷	suǒ ㄙㄨㄛˇ	Place. / Location. / A suitable place or location. / Measure word, used for counting buldings. / Used before a verb, creates a noun-like phrase. / If. Mainly used in oaths and curses. / Used together with 為 to indicate the passive tense. / Indicates an approximate number. / Number, number of times. / Meaning.	v3,p2259#01	p.415#16	p.556r1c01
倚	人+8		yǐ ㄧˇ	rely on, depend on; lean heavily	v1,p0173#01	p.108#05	p.113r4c01
伏	人+4		fú ㄈㄨˊ	crouch, crawl, lie hidden, conceal	v1,p0119#04	p.95#23	p.92r1c02
孰	子+8	塾	shú ㄕㄨˊ	who? which? what? which one?	v2,p1016#14	p.280#05	p.403r1c03
知	矢+3	𢇻𥎿	zhī ㄓ	Know, understand. / Perception. / Recognize. / Knowledge. / Know about, make sense of. / Be friendly with. / Control, get on top of.	v4,p2581#02	p.824#01	p.955r5c02
			zhì ㄓˋ	Wisdom.
極	木+9	极	jí ㄐㄧˊ	extreme, utmost, furthest, final	v2,p1240#10	p.542#02	p.710r4c03
無	火+8	𣟒𣚨𠘩无橆	wú ㄨˊ	Not have. / Philosophical category referring to absence, non-existence, or vacuity. / Adverb expressing negation: not. / Adverb expressing questioning: or not. / Connective: regardless of. / Connective: even if. / Particle used at the beginning of a sentence, no meaning. / Do not. / Barren, uncultivated.	v3,p2211#15	p.673#26	p.848r2c04
正	止+1	㱏𣥔𤴓𧾸	zhèng ㄓㄥˋ	Straight, not at an angle. / Appropriate. / Normal. / Decent, upstanding. / Fix, determine. / Govern, rule. / Set punishments. / Formal, primary. / Pure, unadulterated. / Son by one's official wife. / Luckily, fortuitously. / Expresses continuation of an action or state. / Officer. / Only. / Government, state affairs. / Prove, verify.	v2,p1436#01	p.574#02	p.732r5c02
			zhēng ㄓㄥ	First month in the Chinese calander. / Centre of a target. / Attack, punitive expedition.
復	彳+9	覆𢕛𠣸复	fù fòu ㄈㄨˋ ㄈㄡˋ	return; repeat; repeatedly	v2,p0834#02	p.369#22	p.516r2c04
為	火+5	爲为	wéi ㄨㄟˊ	Create, make. / Build, construct. / Do. / Plant, grow. / Govern. / Research, study. / Serve as. / Change into, become. / As, in the role of. / Count as, be considered as. / Called, named. / Expresses judgement: is. / Make, cause (to). / Have. / Take part in. / Write, author. / Connective: if. / Particle used in the middle of a sentence to move forward the object. / Modal particle used at the end of a sentence to express a rhetorical question.	v3,p2198#11	p.669#10	p.844r4c03
			wèi ㄨㄟˋ	Help, assist. / Preposition: for, on behalf of. / Preposition: by (passive). / Preposition: because of, due to. / Preposition: with, together with. / Connective: because. / Say. / False, fake.
奇	大+5	竒	qí jī ㄑㄧˊ ㄐㄧ	strange, unusual, uncanny, occult	v1,p0533#04	p.250#31	p.370r6c01
善	口+9	譱𦎍𠾄𧮟	shàn ㄕㄢˋ	Good. / Take to be good, like. / Good person. / Strong point, merit. / Perfect. / Gentle, kind. / Friendly. / Good at doing. / Improve, make good. / Control, regulate. / Food.	v1,p0660#02	p.197#18	p.282r3c04
妖	女+4		yāo ㄧㄠ	strange, weird, supernatural	v2,p1031#07	p.256#20	p.379r6c02
人	人+0	𠔽亻	rén ㄖㄣˊ	Man, person. / Others, other people. / The people, ordinary men. / Talent, material. / [A man's] character. / Affairs of men, world of man. / Benevolence.	v1,p0101#10	p.91#01	p.80r2c01
迷	辵+6		mí mèi mì ㄇㄧˊ ㄇㄟˋ ㄇㄧˋ	bewitch, charm, infatuate	v6,p3832#07	p.1255#23	p.1313r6c01
日	日+0	𡆸	rì mì ㄖˋ ㄇㄧˋ	sun; day; daytime	v2,p1482#01	p.489#01	p.627r1c01
固	囗+5	怘	gù ㄍㄨˋ	to become solid, solidify; strength	v1,p0716#09	p.218#03	p.302r5c04
久	丿+2	乆	jiǔ ㄐㄧㄡˇ	long time (ago); time passage, grow late	v1,p0033#03	p.81#19	p.47r1c02
是	日+5	昰𣆞	shì ㄕˋ	Straight. / Right, correct. / Believe accurate, affirm. / Demonstrative pronoun: this. / Be (copula). / Auxiliary word, used after moving forward the object.	v2,p1497#05	p.493#26	p.639r1c01
以	人+3	㠯	yǐ ㄧˇ	Use. / Believe. / Command. / Lead. / Connect, implicate. / Have. / Cause, reason. / Preposition: because. / Preposition: from, in. / Preposition: at [some time]. / Preposition: using. / Preposition: in accordance with. / Preposition: relying upon. / Preposition: in the capacity of. / Preposition: with, together with. / Connective: indicates the following action is the objective of the preceding one. / Connective: used between adverbial clause and verb to express modification. / Connective: and. / Connective: but. / Connective: and so, thus. / Particle: used together with some words expressing direction and time. / Modal particle. / Same as 「已(1)」 yǐ ㄧˇ: Stop, discontinue. / Same as 「已(7.2)」 yǐ ㄧˇ: Adverb: already. / Same as 「已(7.3)」 yǐ ㄧˇ: Adverb: extremely.	v1,p0105#07	p.94#01	p.87r6c01
聖人	耳+7 人+0	堊𦕡𠄵圣𠔽亻	shèng rén ㄕㄥˋ ㄖㄣˊ	出類拔萃的人。 Sage, outstanding person.	v4,p2789#06 v1,p0101#10	p.967#22 p.91#01	p.1082r6c06 p.80r2c01
方	方+0	𤙗	fāng ㄈㄤ	(4.2) 正直，方正。 Upright, honest.	v3,p2172#01	p.481#03	p.619r4c01
而	而+0		ér ㄦˊ	Whiskers. / Like, similar to. / Pronoun: you. / Pronoun: this, like this. / Connective: and, with. / Connective: and, then. / Connective: if, supposing. / Connective: yet, however. / Connective: therefore, hence. / Connective: expresses method or state. / Particle: of. / Expressive particle.	v4,p2810#01	p.961#18	p.1080r2c03
			néng ㄋㄥˊ	Same as 「能(3)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Able to, competent. / Same as 「能(2.1)」 néng ㄋㄥˊ: Ability, talent.
不	一+3	不𠀚𠙐	bù ㄅㄨˋ	Not have. / To not be. / Negational adverb, used before verbs, adjectives, etc. to indicate negation. / Negational adverb expressing prohibition: do not. / Negational adverb expressing rhetorical question: is not...?	v1,p0011#06	p.76#15	p.30r1c01
			fǒu ㄈㄡˇ	Same as 「否(1.2)」 fǒu ㄈㄡˇ: Adverb used together with an affirmative word, expressing its negative or opposite. / Same as 「否(1.3)」 fǒu ㄈㄡˇ: Adverb used at the end of a question to form a yes-no question.
			fū ㄈㄨ	Sepal of a flower.
			pī ㄆㄧ	Same as 「丕(1)」 pī ㄆㄧ: Large.
			bǐ ㄅㄧˇ	Show disdain for.
割	刀+10	𠛛㓣𠛷	gē ㄍㄜ	cut, divide, partition; cede	v1,p0351#07	p.142#32	p.187r5c01
廉	广+10	廉磏槏𢋯𢉧	lián ㄌㄧㄢˊ	upright, honorable, honest	v2,p0896#01	p.349#08	p.491r5c01
劌	刀+13	刿	guì ㄍㄨㄟˋ	to cut, injure, stab, stick on	v1,p0357#13	p.144#44	p.190r4c02
直	目+3	𣓟𣖴	zhí ㄓˊ	straight, erect, vertical	v1,p0061#07	p.800#05
肆	聿+7	四𦘨𢑨	sì tì ㄙˋ ㄊㄧˋ	indulge; excess; numeral four; particle meaning now, therefore; shop	v5,p3167#04	p.971#15	p.1087r6c01
光	儿+4	灮炗𤎫𠈑𤉭	guāng ㄍㄨㄤ	light, brilliant, shine; only	v1,p0266#07	p.124#06	p.135r4c01
燿	火+14	曜耀	yào shào shuò ㄧㄠˋ ㄕㄠˋ ㄕㄨㄛˋ	shine, dazzle; brilliant, radiant	v3,p2244#03	p.686#01	p.861r5c06

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