Tao Te Ching Chapter 12
第12章
五色令人目盲，五音令人耳聾，五味令人口爽，馳騁畋獵令人心發狂，難得之貨令人行妨。是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此。
Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take;
Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;
The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste;
The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste
Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,
Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes. He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.
English: James Legge (1891), The Tâo Teh King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 39 (1891) — public domain. Chinese: Wang Bi recension (王弼本), commentary removed.
Character glossary
- 五wǔfive; surname
- 色sècolor, tint, hue, shade; beauty, form; s
- 令lìngcommand, decree, order; magistrate; to a
- 人rénman, person; people
- 目mùeye; to look, to see; division, topic
- 盲mángblind; shortsighted; unperceptive
- 音yīnsound, tone, pitch, pronunciation
- 耳ěrear; to hear, to hear of; handle
- 聾lóngdeaf
- 味wèitaste; smell, odor; delicacy
- 口kǒumouth; entrance, gate, opening
- 爽shuǎngcrisp, refreshing; candid, frank; please
- 馳chíspeed, haste; to run, to gallop
- 騁chěngto gallop, to hasten, to hurry
- 畋tiánto till, to cultivate; to hunt
- 獵lièhunting; field sports
- 心xīnheart; mind; soul
- 發fāto issue, to dispatch, to send out; hair
- 狂kuánginsane, mad; violent; wild
- 難nánhard, difficult, arduous; unable
- 得déto obtain, to get, to acquire; suitable,
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 貨huòproducts, merchandise; goods, commoditie
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
- 妨fángdamage, harm; to impede, to obstruct; to
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 聖shèngholy, sacred; sage, saint
- 為wèito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to
- 腹fùstomach, belly, abdomen; inside
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 去qùto go away, to leave, to depart
- 彼bǐthat, those, the other
- 取qǔto take, to receive, to obtain; to selec
- 此cǐthis, these; in this case, then
Similar passages
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 72
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 38
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 3
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 64
- Tao Te Ching Chapter 43
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.