第五十七章

以正治国

Win the World by Doing Nothing Wrong

Itis preferable to govern the state in a way of inaction and serenity,

to use troops in a clever and secretive way,

and conquer the world without disturbing the people.

How do I know this is the case?

Because the more taboos there are in the world,

the more people are trapped in poverty;

the more sharp weapons the people have,

the more chaos the state will fall into;

the more skillful the people are,

the more evil and abnormal the things will become;

and the stricter the laws are,

the more thieves there will be.

Therefore, the wise sage says,

if I do nothing, the people will cultivate themselves;

if I am quiet, the people will not be warlike;

if I do not trouble the people, they will be naturally rich;

if I have no desire, the people will be natural and simple.

1. “以正治国”的英译

何为“正”？正确理解“正”是准确翻译“以正治国”的关键。许渊冲将“正”理解为“in an ordinary way”, “以正治国”译作“Rule the state in an ordinary way”。辜正坤将“正”理解为“peace and inaction”，故“以正治国”译作“Rule the state with peace and inaction”。Arthur Waley将“正”理解为“rules are kept”，“以正治国”译作“Kingdoms can only be governed if rules are kept”。而我们将“正”理解为“inaction and serenity”，即“清静无为，不扰民事”，“以正治国”自然被译为“govern the state in a way of inaction and serenity”。

2. “无事”的英译

“无事”和“无为”在《道德经》里意义相近，但是在不同语境中还是有细微差别的。“无为”几乎可以说是老子最重要的主张，第二章注释中已经辨析过，此处不做赘述。就“无事”而言，许渊冲将其理解为“doing nothing wrong”即“不做错事”，意指“无事”并不是什么都不做，而是做正确的事。辜正坤将“无事”译为“not troubling people”，即不扰民；Arthur Waley将“无事”译作“letting alone”即不干扰。我们的理解与辜正坤的译本更相近，“无事”取意“不扰民”即“without disturbing the people”。