3 out of 10

or Thirteen?

《道德經-第五十章》

出生入死。

生之徒，十有三；死之徒，十有三；人之生，動之死地，十有三。

夫何故？

以其生，生之厚。

蓋聞善攝生者，陸行不遇兕虎，入軍不被甲兵；兕無所投其角，虎無所措其爪，兵無所容其刃。

夫何故？以其無死地。

(The value set on life) ― James Legge

Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die.

Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three are ministers of death.

There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose movements tend to the land (or place) of death.

And for what reason? Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.

But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon.

The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason? Because there is in him no place of death.

50 ― Arthur Waley

He who aims at life achieves death.
If the “companions of life” are thirteen,
So likewise are the “companions of death” thirteen.
How is it that the “death-stops” in man's life
And activity is also thirteen?
It is because men feed life too grossly.
It is said that he who has a true hold on life,
When he walks on land does not meet tigers or wild buffaloes;
In battle, he is not touched by weapons of war.
Indeed,
A buffalo that attacked him would find nothing for its horns to butt,
A tiger would find nothing for its claws to tear,
A weapon would find no place for its point to enter in.
And why?
Because such men have no “death-spot” in them.

Dao De Jing Chapter 50 ― Herman Ould

50

To go out from life is to enter death.
The Knights of Life are thirteen;

The Knights of Death are thirteen.
And most men in living create thirteen vulnerable spots within themselves.
How is that?
Because they are so avid of life.
I have heard that he who has control of his life may walk throughout the land and meet neither tiger nor rhinoceros;
He may pass through a battle-field indifferent to weapons and armour.
For the rhinoceros would find in him no place to drive its horn;
The tiger would find no place to thrust its claws;
The weapon no place to insert its blade.
How is that?
Because such as he has no vulnerable spots.

Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

At the centre of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is, so to speak, His name written in us…