《道德经》“圣人执左契而不责于人”辨正

On“The Sage Holds the Left Contract without Blaming Others”in Tao Te Ching

今本《道德经》第79章的“圣人执左契而不责于人”,堪称千古谜题,没有众所公认的解读。相关研究可以分为四类:不区分左契、右契;左契为负债人,不断奉献而不向人索取,与有道的圣人一致;将左契由负债人持有,改为债权人持有;改“左契”为“右契”。第二类是准确的,其它的解释要么对解决该问题没有帮助,要么与史实不合,要么有孤证不立的严重问题。这些错误来源于对逻辑的把握和对文学性语言的理解有问题。

In Chapter 79 of the Tao Te Ching,the sage holds the left contract without blaming others,which can be called an eternal mystery and has no recognized interpretation.Relevant studies can be divided into four categories:studies that do not distinguish between left and right contracts;studies that hold the one who has left contract is a debtor who constantly contributes without asking for anything from others,which is consistent with the sage of the Tao;studies that change the left contract from the debtor to the creditor;studies that change“left contract”to“right contract”.It is pointed out that the second category is accurate and the others are either not helpful to solve the problem,or inconsistent with historical facts,or have a serious problem of isolated evidence.These errors come from problems in the grasp of logic and the understanding of literary language.