Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
正言若反 (zhèng yán ruò fǎn)
Word for word from chapter 78
正言若反 (zhèng yán ruò fǎn), “true words seem contrary”, closes chapter 78 of the Dao De Jing and names the paradox: what is true often sounds like its opposite.
Character by character
| 正 | zhèng | straight, true |
|---|---|---|
| 言 | yán | words, to speak |
| 若 | ruò | like, as if |
| 反 | fǎn | contrary, opposite |
| 正言若反 | A true statement often sounds like its opposite; a paradox that turns out to be right. | |
Where it comes from
-
正言若反。
True words seem contrary.
How the meaning moved
The four characters are the whole last line of chapter 78: “True words seem contrary.” They sum up what comes before. The chapter starts from water: “Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water, yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing surpasses it.” “The weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard: everyone in the world knows it, yet no one can practice it.” Then the sage's saying: one who takes on the filth and the misfortunes of the state is its lord and “king of the world.” Each of these sounds wrong and is, for the book, simply true.
The line names the book's way of speaking as a whole. Chapter 41 lists such sayings, “the great vessel is finished late”, and chapter 45 has “great skill seems clumsy, great eloquence seems to stammer.” Today 正言若反 is a bookish phrase, used by writers and scholars for a paradox that holds, and often to describe the Laozi itself.
Using it today
-
老子的很多话都是正言若反，比如“大巧若拙”。
lǎo zǐ de hěn duō huà dōu shì zhèng yán ruò fǎn, bǐ rú "dà qiǎo ruò zhuō".
Many of Laozi's sayings are true words that sound contrary, such as “great skill seems clumsy”.
-
“慢就是快”这句话乍听不合常理，细想却有道理，正言若反，说的就是这种情况。
"màn jiù shì kuài" zhè jù huà zhà tīng bù hé cháng lǐ, xì xiǎng què yǒu dào li, zhèng yán ruò fǎn, shuō de jiù shì zhè zhǒng qíng kuàng.
“Slow is fast” sounds absurd at first, but on reflection it makes sense: that is just what “true words seem contrary” means.