Laozi
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。
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.
Victor H. Mair
A person comes forth to life and enters into death. Three out of ten are partners of life, Three out of ten are partners of death, And the people whose every movement leads them to the land of death because they cling to life Are also three out of ten. Now, What is the reason for this? It is because they cling to life. Indeed, I have heard that One who is good at preserving life does not avoid tigers and rhinoceroses when he walks in the hills; nor does he put on armor and take up weapons when he enters a battle. The rhinoceros has no place to jab its horn, The tiger has no place to fasten its claws, Weapons have no place to admit their blades. Now, What is the reason for this? Because on him there are no mortal spots.
C. Spurgeon Medhurst
Birth is an exit; death an entrance. [^1]
Three in ten are ways of life; three in ten are ways of death; three in ten also of those who live move into the realm of death. [^2] Why is this? Because of their excessive strivings after life. [^3] It has been said that he who thoroughly understands how to care for his life will not need to shun the rhinoceros or the tiger; he need not fear weapons even in the midst of a battle. The rhinoceros finds no place into which to thrust its horn; the tiger no place into which to fix its claws; nor the sword a place into which to flesh its point. Why is this? Because such an one is not moved by the thought of death. [^4]
“So dear to heav’n is saintly chastity, That when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt, And in clear dream, and solemn vision, Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear, Till oft converse with heav’nly habitants Begin to cast a beam on th’ outward shape, The unpolluted temple of the mind, And turns it by degrees to the soul’s essence, Till all be made immortal.” (Milton’s Comus.)
”When all desires that dwell in the heart cease, then the mortal becomes immortal, and obtains Brahman.” (Upanishads.)
The student will find an admirable summary of the various Taoist explanations of this chapter in Dr. Edkins’ essay, entitled “Tao Te Ching” in the thirteenth volume of The China Review.
[^1] “We begin our life surrounded by the Karma of our former existences; as we have acted during life so we leave it to enter another existence.”—Thos. Kingsmill, in loc.
A native commentator supplies the following: “When the passions come out from a man, and he within is calm, he lives: when they enter and so lead to action, he dies.”
[^2] The text is enigmatical. Scholars are not agreed as to whether it should read “Three in ten” or “Thirteen.” I have tried to faithfully represent the text, but see Secret Doctrine (vol. i), pp. 401-403.—2 * 6 + 1 = 13; also, vol. ii, 440.
[^3] Prof. Legge describes the first three as “those who eschewed all things, both internal and external, tending to injure health.” The second three as “those who pursued courses likely to cause disease and shorten life; the third would be those who thought that by mysterious and abnormal courses they could prolong life, but only injured it. Those three classes being thus disposed of, there remains only one in ten rightly using the Tao, and he is spoken of in the next paragraph.”
[^4] Mencius quotes the philosopher Tsang as saying “If, on self-examination, I find that I am not upright, shall I not be in fear even of a poor man in his loose garments of hair clothe If, on self-examination, I find that I am upright, I will go forward against thousands and tens of thousands.”
Says Chuang-tzu: “The Sage, answered Wang-i, is a spiritual being. If the ocean were scorched up he would not feel hot. If all the rivers were frozen hard he would not feel cold.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
To look for life is to find death. The thirteen organs of our living are the thirteen organs of our dying. Why are the organs of our life where death enters us? Because we hold too hard to living.
So I’ve heard if you live in the right way, when you cross country you needn’t fear to meet a mad bull or a tiger; when you’re in a battle you needn’t fear the weapons. The bull would find nowhere to jab its horns, the tiger nowhere to stick its claws, the sword nowhere for its point to go. Why? Because there’s nowhere in you for death to enter.