第四十六章 Dao De Jing · Chapter 46
With the Way, horses work the fields; without it, they go to war. Knowing what is enough is lasting contentment.
Text
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天下有道，却走马以粪。
When the world has the Way, galloping horses are sent back to manure the fields.
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天下无道，戎马生于郊。
When the world lacks the Way, warhorses are bred on the borders.
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祸莫大于不知足；
No disaster is greater than not knowing what is enough;
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咎莫大于欲得。
no fault is greater than wanting to gain.
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故知足之足，常足矣。
So the contentment of knowing what is enough is lasting contentment.
Words in this chapter
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天下 | tiān xià | all under heaven, the world |
| 有 | yǒu | to have, to possess |
| 道 | dào | the Way |
| 却 | què | to send back |
| 走马 | zǒu mǎ | running horses |
| 以 | yǐ | in order to |
| 粪 | fèn | to manure, to till |
| 无 | wú | not have, without, no |
| 戎马 | róng mǎ | warhorses |
| 生 | shēng | to produce, give life, arise |
| 于 | yú | to, at |
| 郊 | jiāo | borderlands, outskirts |
| 祸 | huò | disaster |
| 莫 | mò | no one, nothing |
| 大 | dà | great, big |
| 于 | yú | than |
| 不 | bù | not |
| 知足 | zhī zú | knowing what is enough |
| 咎 | jiù | blame, misfortune |
| 欲 | yù | desire, to desire |
| 得 | dé | to get, to obtain |
| 故 | gù | therefore |
| 之 | zhī | of, 's (linking particle) |
| 足 | zú | enough, sufficient |
| 常 | cháng | constant, eternal |
| 矣 | yǐ | final particle (completion) |
Compare: James Legge (1891)
When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
Public domain. Source: Wikisource.
Meaning of chapter 46
Chapter 46 measures a world that has the Way against one that lacks it, and traces the difference to not knowing what is enough.
The opening is a pair of images about horses. When the world has the Way, galloping horses are sent back to manure the fields; when it lacks the Way, warhorses are bred on the borders. The second line is read in more than one way: 郊 can mean the outskirts of a city or the frontier, and some take the line to mean that even mares in foal go to war and give birth in the open. Either way, the horses show the state of a whole country.
The chapter then names the cause. No disaster is greater than not knowing what is enough (不知足), and no fault is greater than wanting to gain. Several editions add a line on desire before these (罪莫大于可欲); Wang Bi's text does not have it. The conclusion plays on 足, enough: the contentment of knowing what is enough is lasting contentment. Chapters 33 and 44 make the same point, and chapter 30 describes the war that follows when it is forgotten.