Tao Te Ching Chapter 74
第74章
民不畏死，奈何以死懼之？若使民常畏死，而為奇者，吾得執而殺之，孰敢？常有司殺者殺，夫代司殺者殺，是謂代大匠斲。
夫代大匠斲者，希有不傷其手矣。
The people do not fear death; to what purpose is it to (try to) frighten them with death? If the people were always in awe of death, and I could always seize those who do wrong, and put them to death, who would dare to do wrong?
There is always One who presides over the infliction death. He who would inflict death in the room of him who so presides over it may be described as hewing wood instead of a great carpenter. Seldom is it that he who undertakes the hewing, instead of the great carpenter, does not cut his own hands!
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
- 民míncitizens, subjects; a nation's people
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 畏wèifear, dread, awe, reverence
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 奈nàibut, how; to bear, to stand, to endure
- 何héwhat, why, where, which, how
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 懼jùto fear, to dread
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 若ruòif, supposing, assuming; similar
- 使shǐcause, mission, orders; envoy, messenger
- 常chángcommon, general, normal; always, frequen
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 為wèito do, to act; to handle, to govern; to
- 奇qístrange, unusual, odd; uncanny, occult
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 得déto obtain, to get, to acquire; suitable,
- 執zhíto execute; to grasp, to hold; to keep;
- 殺shāto kill, to murder, to slaughter; to hur
- 孰shúwho? which? what? which one?
- 敢gǎnbold, brave; to dare, to venture
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 司sīto take charge of, to control, to manage
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 代dàiera, generation; to substitute for, to r
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 謂wèito call, to say, to tell; name, title; m
- 大dàbig, great, vast, high, deep
- 匠jiàngartisan, craftsman, workman
- 斲zhuóto chop, to hack; to cut wood
- 希xīrare; to hope for, to strive for; to exp
- 傷shāngto injure, to harm; wound, injury; to fa
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 手shǒuhand
- 矣yǐparticle of completed action
Similar passages
- Mencius 3B.5
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Zhuangzi The Evidence of Virtue Complete
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Mencius 5B.4
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.