keiro
from the Tao Te Ching
Water takes the low place. A wheel turns because its center is open. The best authority is barely noticed, the great begins small, and what yields stays alive. This page presents five chapters of the Tao Te Ching in two Phi renderings.
The close translation follows every proposition in James Legge's chapters 8, 11, 17, 63, and 76. The transmutation selects moments and lets Phi alter their movement: a ruler gives way to a guide, conquest ends in fruitlessness, and the tree meets wind instead of a feller. The labels matter. The first rendering shows what Phi can say near the source; the second shows what Phi chooses to carry into its own literature.
The ground truth is Legge's 1891 translation in The Sacred Books of the East, volume XXXIX, stored verbatim in texts/sources/tao_teh_king_1891.txt. Each block carries the Phi sentence, its word-by-word gloss, a literal English back-translation, and Legge's wording. The citations preserve his claims where a Phi description remains approximate.
The title is keiro, way, heard here in its guiding sense. ruela is walked ground and shoeka a chosen course. Neither has the range Legge gives Tao here.
Close translation
Chapter 8: the water
mo ko welao phea phialu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CMPR FOC good AS water be.
Literal English: (The highest excellence is like water.)
legge: 8. 1. The highest excellence is like (that of) water.
phialu theula thena naphe.
Word-by-word gloss: water UNIV thing help.
Literal English: (Water helps all things.)
legge: The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,
phialu mua mulu lokue menui.
Word-by-word gloss: water LOC low place dwell.
Literal English: (Water dwells in the low place.)
legge: and in its occupying, ... the low place
phialu phirae lokue ma thueli. theula miona ra lokue ma kaeli.
Word-by-word gloss: water different place NEG intend. UNIV person DIST place NEG like.
Literal English: (Water does not intend a different place. All people dislike that place.)
legge: without striving (to the contrary), ... which all men dislike.
thelao phialu pai keiro nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS water NEAR way be.
Literal English: (Therefore water is near the way.)
legge: Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
Legge's excellence takes the quality noun of welao, good. The line about striving needs more room. Phi says that water does not intend another place, then keeps Legge's human response: people dislike it. Nothing in the word for water makes it generous. Water helps everything and stays low. Only then does thelao place it near keiro.
womu welao theali lokue nai.
Word-by-word gloss: home good fitting place be.
Literal English: (The excellence of a dwelling is a fitting place.)
legge: 2. The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place;
remo welao nulo shena nai.
Word-by-word gloss: think good deep calm be.
Literal English: (The excellence of mind is deep calm.)
legge: that of the mind is in abysmal stillness;
phiremo welao nua welao miona nai.
Word-by-word gloss: relate good COM good person be.
Literal English: (The excellence of association is being with good people.)
legge: that of associations is in their being with the virtuous;
welao punoa kowanu punoa koru ka nai.
Word-by-word gloss: good society governance society harmonious CAUS be.
Literal English: (Good governance of society keeps society harmonious.)
legge: that of government is in its securing good order;
lo riola welao mua pokera phoa nai.
Word-by-word gloss: PL labor good LOC competent do be.
Literal English: (The excellence of affairs is in competent action.)
legge: that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability;
roke thorui welao mua theali thimu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: move beginning good LOC fitting time be.
Literal English: (The excellence of beginning a movement is at a fitting time.)
legge: and that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness.
Legge places excellence in six settings, and Phi lets each one find its own predicate. A home needs a fitting place. Mind takes the event noun of remo, think, and rests in deep calm. Government becomes kowanu, governance, whose excellence here lies in making society harmonious. pokera, competent, states present ability in the conduct of affairs. Movement begins at theali thimu, a fitting time.
[whu mo ko welao phelu] miona mua mulu noa themore ma kealo.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL CMPR FOC good hold] person LOC low position argument NEG create.
Literal English: (The person who holds the highest excellence creates no argument in a low position.)
legge: 3. And when (one with the highest excellence) does not wrangle (about his low position),
thelao mawha miona shia phelira nila.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS NONE person 3SG mistaken see.
Literal English: (Therefore no one sees them as mistaken.)
legge: no one finds fault with him.
themore kealo, create an argument, makes wrangling an act, not a character trait. Legge's finding fault is broader than phelira nila. The Phi phrase sees someone as mistaken, while the cited English retains the reproach.
Chapter 11: the use of what is not there
ta lau ta shao wolea monaki lue rolu shuna wea ta kesho wepu.
Word-by-word gloss: one twenty-seven-group one three-group wood component ABL wheel edge TOWARD one middle go.
Literal English: (Thirty wooden components go from the wheel's edge toward one center.)
legge: 11. The thirty spokes
lo shia mua ta kesho koluma.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG LOC one middle unite.
Literal English: (They unite at one center.)
legge: unite in the one nave;
rolu kelitho wei tolu whemoa tholu pherami.
Word-by-word gloss: wheel function DAT staff empty space depend.
Literal English: (The wheel's function depends on empty space for a support rod.)
legge: but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends.
miona muo lo lopha mueri kire.
Word-by-word gloss: person INTO PL vessel clay shape.
Literal English: (One shapes clay into vessels.)
legge: Clay is fashioned into vessels;
lo lopha kelitho whemoa tholu pherami.
Word-by-word gloss: PL vessel function empty space depend.
Literal English: (The vessels' function depends on empty space.)
legge: but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends.
lila miona tholupi kire miona lue lo moru ponu nela lo wira kati.
Word-by-word gloss: PURP person room shape person ABL PL wall door COORD PL window cut.
Literal English: (One cuts a door and windows from walls in order to shape a room.)
legge: The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment;
tholupi kelitho mua shia whemoa tholu pherami.
Word-by-word gloss: room function LOC 3SG empty space depend.
Literal English: (The room's function depends on the empty space within it.)
legge: but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends.
[whu nai] lo thena se po hinolu.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL be] PL thing PASS POT adapt.
Literal English: (Things that exist can be adapted.)
legge: Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation,
whemoa tholu lo shia kelasu ka nai.
Word-by-word gloss: empty space PL 3SG usable CAUS be.
Literal English: (Empty space makes them usable.)
legge: and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
Phi has a wheel but no spoke, nave, or axle. The first three lines describe the mechanism: thirty monaki, functional components, run from the rim to one center, where a support rod needs open space. monaki and pherami, depend, come from Systems and Shared Infrastructure. The same verb joins function to emptiness again in the vessel and the room.
The closing pair separates adaptation from usability. Existing things can be altered for a use; empty space makes that use possible. Legge's word "profitable" stays in the citation because Phi does not turn this craft lesson into a monetary claim.
Chapter 17: authority barely seen
lo miona mua mo ko tholua thimu tha [whu punoa karami phelu] lo miona nai tho to ma sano.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC CMPR FOC ancient time DECL.COMP [REL society authority hold] PL person be DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST NEG know.
Literal English: (In the most ancient time, people did not know that there were people who held authority in society.)
legge: 17. 1. In the highest antiquity, (the people) did not know that there were (their rulers).
lo miona mua nu wi thimu lo shia to lothea. lo miona lo shia to keluro.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD two time PL 3SG PST love. PL person PL 3SG PST honor.
Literal English: (In the second time, people loved them. People honored them.)
legge: In the next age they loved them and praised them.
lo miona mua nu ta shao thimu wea lo shia sukima to phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD one three-group time TOWARD PL 3SG fear PST feel.
Literal English: (In the third time, people felt fear toward them.)
legge: In the next they feared them;
lo miona mua nu ta shao ta thimu lo shia to thiku nila.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD one three-group one time PL 3SG PST small see.
Literal English: (In the fourth time, people saw them as small.)
legge: in the next they despised them.
lu [whu punoa karami phelu] lo miona keiro to ma themui. lo miona lo shia to ma themui.
Word-by-word gloss: COND [REL society authority hold] PL person way PST NEG faith. PL person PL 3SG PST NEG faith.
Literal English: (When the people who held authority lacked faith in the way, the people lacked faith in them.)
legge: Thus it was that when faith (in the Tao) was deficient (in the rulers) a want of faith in them ensued (in the people).
Legge's rulers are not called guides here. They are people who hold karami, authority, in society. The word reports a claimed or recognized power without deciding whether it deserves obedience. Phi's ternary ordinals keep the four ages in order, while themui shapes faith as sustained confidence in a process.
lo shia nilua to nai. lo shia thiku haolu. lo shia miso lo phelui to sone.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG shy PST be. PL 3SG small speak. PL 3SG REFL PL word PST value.
Literal English: (They were hesitant. They spoke little. They valued their own words.)
legge: 2. How irresolute did those (earliest rulers) appear, showing (by their reticence) the importance which they set upon their words!
lo shia riola sholu to nai. lo shia lo rinoka to korei.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG labor complete PST be. PL 3SG PL project PST fulfill.
Literal English: (Their work was complete. They fulfilled their undertakings.)
legge: Their work was done and their undertakings were successful,
theula miona sha lo mia lue miso phea lo mia nai sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV person QUOT.COMP PL 1SG ABL REFL AS PL 1SG be QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: (And all the people said: we, of ourselves, are as we are.)
legge: while the people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'
nilua is ordinary hesitation in company, narrower than Legge's irresolute reticence. The next clauses sharpen it: these authority holders speak little and value their words. rinoka, project, places a boundary around each undertaking; korei says the work reached completion. The people's words stay exact inside sha ... sho.
Chapter 63: the great begins small
miona whuo phoa remo phoa.
Word-by-word gloss: person WITHOUT do think do.
Literal English: (One acts without thought of acting.)
legge: 63. 1. (It is the way of the Tao) to act without (thinking of) acting;
miona lo riola phoa. shia tupeka ma phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: person PL labor do. 3SG burden NEG feel.
Literal English: (One conducts affairs and feels no burden from them.)
legge: to conduct affairs without (feeling the) trouble of them;
miona thena thorima. shia thorima phirae ma nila.
Word-by-word gloss: person thing taste. 3SG taste different NEG see.
Literal English: (One tastes a thing without seeing distinctions of flavor.)
legge: to taste without discerning any flavour;
miona [whu thiku nai] thena whalo nila. shia phea sheloi thena phina thena nila.
Word-by-word gloss: person [REL small be] thing large see. 3SG AS many thing few thing see.
Literal English: (One sees what is small as great and a few things as many.)
legge: to consider what is small as great, and a few as many;
lu miona wei thia peloma phoa. no wei shia phena loa.
Word-by-word gloss: COND person DAT 2SG harmful do. IMP DAT 3SG kind give.
Literal English: (If a person acts harmfully toward you, give kindness to them.)
legge: and to recompense injury with kindness.
whuo phoa remo is a thought of doing held outside the act. That stays close to Legge's English without claiming to exhaust wu wei. Trouble appears as tupeka, a burden felt by the person conducting affairs. Flavor is the event noun of thorima, taste; no difference in it is seen. Legge's injury line takes the form of a condition and request: if someone acts harmfully toward you, give kindness to them.
phoe lo riola kethua kelu [whu ha keiro thole] miona lo riola thilonu.
Word-by-word gloss: ANT PL labor hard become [REL PROX way practice] person PL labor prepare.
Literal English: (Before affairs become difficult, the person who practices this way prepares them.)
legge: 2. (The master of it) anticipates things that are difficult while they are easy,
[whu ha keiro thole] miona [whu so whalo kelu] lo thiku thena phoa.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL PROX way practice] person [REL FUT large become] PL small thing do.
Literal English: (The person who practices this way does small things that will become great.)
legge: and does things that would become great while they are small.
theula [whu kethua nai] muila thena lue [whu kethua ma nai] mirela shua.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV [REL hard be] earth thing ABL [REL hard NEG be] state come.
Literal English: (All difficult things in the world come from a state that is not difficult.)
legge: All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a previous state in which they were easy,
theula whalo thena lue thiku thena shua.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV large thing ABL small thing come.
Literal English: (Every great thing comes from a small thing.)
legge: and all great things from one in which they were small.
phewo whalo thena mawha thimu phoa. thelao phewo mo ko whalo thena po korei.
Word-by-word gloss: sage large thing NONE time do. CONS sage CMPR FOC large thing POT fulfill.
Literal English: (The sage never does the great thing. Therefore the sage can accomplish the greatest thing.)
legge: Therefore the sage, while he never does what is great, is able on that account to accomplish the greatest things.
Phi has kethua, hard, for a task or condition that demands substantial effort, but it has no separate adjective for easy. Negating kethua supplies the other side without making it a second root. phoe places preparation before affairs become difficult. Legge's master is a person who practices this way, while phewo stays where the source has a sage.
[whu phelo seru] miona phina seru ro korei.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL light commit] person few commit HAB fulfill.
Literal English: (A person who commits lightly usually fulfills few commitments.)
legge: 3. He who lightly promises is sure to keep but little faith;
[whu tha lo riola kethua ma nai tho theula thimu remo] miona [whu kethua nai] lo riola ro hekawi.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL DECL.COMP PL labor hard NEG be DECL.COMP.CLOSE UNIV time think] person [REL hard be] PL labor HAB find.
Literal English: (A person who always thinks that affairs are not difficult usually finds difficult affairs.)
legge: he who is continually thinking things easy is sure to find them difficult.
shai miona riola kethua ma nila phewo riola kethua nila. thelao phewo mawha thimu kethua phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: CONC person labor hard NEG see sage labor hard see. CONS sage NONE time hard hold.
Literal English: (Although one does not see the work as difficult, the sage sees it as difficult. Therefore the sage never has difficulty.)
legge: Therefore the sage sees difficulty even in what seems easy, and so never has any difficulties.
Light promises become commitments made in a light manner, then ro turns poor fulfillment into a pattern. The last pair uses kethua first for difficult work and then as the quality noun difficulty. The final sentence makes the relation possessive: the sage never has it.
Chapter 76: the soft outlasts the hard
miona mua thowia thimu luwi nela huwa nai. miona mua lumeo thimu tinako nela kema nai.
Word-by-word gloss: person LOC born time flexible COORD weak be. person LOC die time rigid COORD strong be.
Literal English: (At birth a person is flexible and weak. At death a person is rigid and strong.)
legge: 76. 1. Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong.
theula thena we phea ha nai.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV thing ALSO AS PROX be.
Literal English: (All things are also like this.)
legge: (So it is with) all things.
lo shiro nela lo phireo mua limu thuroa thimu wuloe nela welua nai.
Word-by-word gloss: PL tree COORD PL plant LOC young grow time soft COORD fragile be.
Literal English: (Trees and plants in their early growth are soft and fragile.)
legge: Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle;
lo shia mua lumeo thimu kurathi nai. lo shia mua lumeo thimu ki kureno.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG LOC die time dry be. PL 3SG LOC die time PFV wither.
Literal English: (At death they are dry and have withered.)
legge: at their death, dry and withered.
The human pair follows Legge directly: luwi, flexible, and huwa, weak, then tinako, rigid, and kema, strong. Plants begin with wuloe, soft, and welua, fragile, which carries brittle susceptibility without adding a separate brittle root. At death they are kurathi, dry, and perfective ki kureno marks completed withering.
tinako nela kema nua lumeo shua. wuloe nela huwa nua lioru shua.
Word-by-word gloss: rigid COORD strong COM die come. soft COORD weak COM life come.
Literal English: (Rigidity and strength come with death. Softness and weakness come with life.)
legge: 2. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
[whu miso [whu roe puro phoa] lo miona puro theomi] miona miso porua ma korei.
Word-by-word gloss: [REL REFL [REL INS strength do] PL person strength trust] person REFL purpose NEG fulfill.
Literal English: (The person who trusts the strength of their own people who act through force does not fulfill their purpose.)
legge: 3. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer;
kema shiro [whu shia lomare] lo pelio pheno ka nai. thelao [whu lo shiro kati] miona shia kanu.
Word-by-word gloss: strong tree [REL 3SG embrace] PL arm full CAUS be. CONS [REL PL tree cut] person 3SG choose.
Literal English: (A strong tree fills the arms that embrace it. Therefore a person who cuts trees chooses it.)
legge: and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)
tinako nela kema noa mulu nai. wuloe nela huwa noa raelu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: rigid COORD strong position low be. soft COORD weak position tall be.
Literal English: (The position of the rigid and strong is low. The position of the soft and weak is high.)
legge: 4. Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.
The military line keeps both force and failure. Without a neutral army or conquest root, Phi describes forces as people who act through strength and renders conquest as fulfillment of their purpose. That last phrase is deliberately bare: the source citation identifies the purpose as conquest. The feller receives the same treatment. A tree cutter chooses the trunk broad enough to fill embracing arms.
Complete translation
keiro
mo ko welao phea phialu nai. phialu theula thena naphe. phialu mua mulu lokue menui. phialu phirae lokue ma thueli. theula miona ra lokue ma kaeli. thelao phialu pai keiro nai.
womu welao theali lokue nai. remo welao nulo shena nai. phiremo welao nua welao miona nai. welao punoa kowanu punoa koru ka nai. lo riola welao mua pokera phoa nai. roke thorui welao mua theali thimu nai.
[whu mo ko welao phelu] miona mua mulu noa themore ma kealo. thelao mawha miona shia phelira nila.
ta lau ta shao wolea monaki lue rolu shuna wea ta kesho wepu. lo shia mua ta kesho koluma. rolu kelitho wei tolu whemoa tholu pherami. miona muo lo lopha mueri kire. lo lopha kelitho whemoa tholu pherami. lila miona tholupi kire miona lue lo moru ponu nela lo wira kati. tholupi kelitho mua shia whemoa tholu pherami. [whu nai] lo thena se po hinolu. whemoa tholu lo shia kelasu ka nai.
lo miona mua mo ko tholua thimu tha [whu punoa karami phelu] lo miona nai tho to ma sano. lo miona mua nu wi thimu lo shia to lothea. lo miona lo shia to keluro. lo miona mua nu ta shao thimu wea lo shia sukima to phaelo. lo miona mua nu ta shao ta thimu lo shia to thiku nila. lu [whu punoa karami phelu] lo miona keiro to ma themui. lo miona lo shia to ma themui.
lo shia nilua to nai. lo shia thiku haolu. lo shia miso lo phelui to sone. lo shia riola sholu to nai. lo shia lo rinoka to korei. theula miona sha lo mia lue miso phea lo mia nai sho to haolu.
miona whuo phoa remo phoa. miona lo riola phoa. shia tupeka ma phaelo. miona thena thorima. shia thorima phirae ma nila. miona [whu thiku nai] thena whalo nila. shia phea sheloi thena phina thena nila. lu miona wei thia peloma phoa. no wei shia phena loa.
phoe lo riola kethua kelu [whu ha keiro thole] miona lo riola thilonu. [whu ha keiro thole] miona [whu so whalo kelu] lo thiku thena phoa. theula [whu kethua nai] muila thena lue [whu kethua ma nai] mirela shua. theula whalo thena lue thiku thena shua. phewo whalo thena mawha thimu phoa. thelao phewo mo ko whalo thena po korei.
[whu phelo seru] miona phina seru ro korei. [whu tha lo riola kethua ma nai tho theula thimu remo] miona [whu kethua nai] lo riola ro hekawi. shai miona riola kethua ma nila phewo riola kethua nila. thelao phewo mawha thimu kethua phelu.
miona mua thowia thimu luwi nela huwa nai. miona mua lumeo thimu tinako nela kema nai. theula thena we phea ha nai. lo shiro nela lo phireo mua limu thuroa thimu wuloe nela welua nai. lo shia mua lumeo thimu kurathi nai. lo shia mua lumeo thimu ki kureno.
tinako nela kema nua lumeo shua. wuloe nela huwa nua lioru shua. [whu miso [whu roe puro phoa] lo miona puro theomi] miona miso porua ma korei. kema shiro [whu shia lomare] lo pelio pheno ka nai. thelao [whu lo shiro kati] miona shia kanu. tinako nela kema noa mulu nai. wuloe nela huwa noa raelu nai.
Translation limits
| Legge wording | Phi rendering | Remaining difference |
|---|---|---|
| Tao | keiro, a way or method used here for Tao | The word can also name a physical route. It does not carry the Taoist tradition by itself. |
| highest excellence | quality noun of welao, good, under mo ko | The ordinary adjective joins ethical benefit and proper function. It has no separate rank of virtue. |
| mind; abysmal stillness | the excellence of thinking is deep calm | Phi uses the activity of thinking rather than a mental faculty. nulo and shena retain depth and stillness. |
| without striving; wrangling | water seeks no other place; the person creates no argument | Phi states the visible acts. It lacks Legge's shared vocabulary of contention. |
| virtuous associations | being with welao miona, good people | welao gives a broad judgment without encoding a doctrine of virtue. |
| government; rulers | kowanu, governance; people who hold society's karami, authority | Governance translates the continuing social arrangement in chapter 8. Authority preserves the political relation in chapter 17 without adding a ruler class. |
| praised | people honored them | Honor keeps the esteem but does not require the spoken act of praise. |
| finds fault | sees the person as phelira, mistaken | Reproach narrows to a judgment of error. It does not carry blame or moral censure. |
| spoke, nave, axle | wooden wheel components, one center, a support rod | monaki identifies the spokes as functional parts. The geometry and dependency remain visible, but the three craft terms have no Phi roots. |
| profitable adaptation | things that exist can be adapted | Adaptation survives. The English word's monetary resonance stays in Legge's line. |
| irresolute; reticence | nilua, hesitant, followed by speaking little | nilua begins in social reserve. The following actions supply the source's care with words. |
| master of the way | the person who practices this way | Phi describes practice instead of importing a title that can also name domination. |
| easy; difficult | kethua, hard or difficult, and its negation | Phi has no separate easy adjective. Negation states the lower-effort side of the contrast without borrowing physical lightness. |
| lightly promises; is sure to | commits lightly; habitual fulfillment or difficulty under ro | Commitment covers both pledge and follow-through. ro states a pattern instead of Legge's certainty. |
| injury recompensed | if a person acts harmfully toward you, give kindness to them | Phi turns recompense into a condition and request, so its accounting shape is lost. |
| brittle; withered | fragile; dry and perfective wither | Fragility covers susceptibility to breaking. ki kureno presents withering as complete at the time of death. |
| concomitants | qualities that come with death or life | Ordinary accompaniment replaces Legge's abstract relation. |
| forces; conquer | people who act through strength; failure to fulfill their purpose | Phi preserves reliance on force and failure, but it does not specify a military body. Conquest is explicit only in Legge's source line. |
| feller | a person who cuts trees | The role is a transparent action, not a permanent person class. |
Transmutation
The transmutation chooses moments rather than whole chapters. Each note identifies the move behind a change, and the small repertoire is gathered after the gap log.
Chapter 8: the water
The excerpt takes the first section whole; the list of excellences that follows it, and the closing sentence about wrangling, stay behind.
no phialu nila.
Word-by-word gloss: IMP water see.
Literal English: (Look at water.)
legge: 8. 1. The highest excellence is like (that of) water.
phialu theula thena naphe.
Word-by-word gloss: water UNIV thing help.
Literal English: (Water helps all things.)
legge: The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,
phialu mawha pilu.
Word-by-word gloss: water NONE take.
Literal English: (Water takes nothing.)
legge: without striving (to the contrary),
phialu mua mulu lokue menui. miona ra ma menui.
Word-by-word gloss: water LOC low place dwell. person DIST NEG dwell.
Literal English: (It dwells in the low places. People will not dwell there.)
legge: and in its occupying, ... the low place which all men dislike.
thelao phialu pai keiro nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS water NEAR way be.
Literal English: (And so, water is near the way.)
legge: Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
Legge's simile opens with no phialu nila, look at water. The reader now has to make the comparison. A sharper change follows: mawha pilu, takes nothing, moves from contention to acquisition and reads the water through Phi's gift economy. That is an interpretation, not a lexical equivalent. The dislike of the low place is recast as observable behavior: miona ra ma menui, people will not live there. At the end, thelao keeps Legge's causal step into the water's nearness to the way.
Chapter 11: the use of what is not there
The chapter is whole apart from the thirty spokes. This household throws pots and hangs doors, so the transmutation stays with examples its readers can shape with their own hands. Laozi also reached for the objects at hand.
miona muo tomi muila kire.
Word-by-word gloss: person INTO pot earth shape.
Literal English: (One shapes earth into a pot.)
legge: Clay is fashioned into vessels;
tomi muwi whemoa nai. mua tomi mu thena nai. thelao tomi po phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: pot interior empty be. LOC pot zero thing be. CONS pot POT hold.
Literal English: (The pot's interior is empty; in the pot there are zero things; and so the pot can hold.)
legge: but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends.
miona womu lorima. miona ponu nela wira kire.
Word-by-word gloss: person home build. person door COORD window shape.
Literal English: (One builds a home, and shapes a door and a window.)
legge: The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment;
ponu whemoa nai. thelao miona po koema. wira whemoa nai. thelao waero po koema.
Word-by-word gloss: door empty be. CONS person POT enter. window empty be. CONS sky POT enter.
Literal English: (The door is empty, and so a person can enter. The window is empty, and so the sky can enter.)
legge: but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends.
thena naphe. whemoa we naphe.
Word-by-word gloss: thing help. empty ALSO help.
Literal English: (What is there helps. What is not there helps also.)
legge: Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
The pot contains mu thena, zero things. That is mu doing ordinary counting before it does any philosophical work. The wheel stays outside this version, while pot and door remain under the reframe. Legge's dependence uses po: emptiness opens a possibility without adding a function. The window gets a line of its own because the sky can enter through it. In the final couplet, whemoa is a quality noun in subject position. Phi can say that emptiness helps without coining an abstract noun for it.
Chapter 17: the guide no one notices
The excerpt is the chapter entire.
lo miona mua nu ta thimu [whu kulo miona] to ma sano.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD one time [REL guide person] PST NEG know.
Literal English: (In the first time, the people did not know the ones who guide.)
legge: 17. 1. In the highest antiquity, (the people) did not know that there were (their rulers).
lo miona mua nu wi thimu shia to lothea. lo miona shia to keluro.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD two time 3SG PST love. PL person 3SG PST honor.
Literal English: (In the second time, the people loved them; the people honored them.)
legge: In the next age they loved them and praised them.
lo miona mua nu ta shao thimu sukima to phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD one three-group time fear PST hold.
Literal English: (In the third time, the people held fear.)
legge: In the next they feared them;
lo miona mua nu ta shao ta thimu shia to thiku nila.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person LOC ORD one three-group one time 3SG PST small see.
Literal English: (In the fourth time, the people saw them as small.)
legge: in the next they despised them.
lu [whu kulo miona] keiro ma theomi. lo miona shia ma theomi.
Word-by-word gloss: COND [REL guide person] way NEG trust. PL person 3SG NEG trust.
Literal English: (When the one who guides does not trust the way, the people do not trust the guide.)
legge: Thus it was that when faith (in the Tao) was deficient (in the rulers) a want of faith in them ensued (in the people).
lo shia thiku haolu. lo shia miso phelui meropi.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG small speak. PL 3SG REFL word cherish.
Literal English: (They spoke little, and cherished their own words.)
legge: 2. How irresolute did those (earliest rulers) appear, showing (by their reticence) the importance which they set upon their words!
lo shia riola sholu to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG labor complete PST be.
Literal English: (Their work was complete.)
legge: Their work was done and their undertakings were successful,
theula miona sha lo mia lue miso phea lo mia nai sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV person QUOT.COMP PL 1SG ABL REFL AS PL 1SG be QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: (And all the people said: we, of ourselves, are as we are.)
legge: while the people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'
No neutral ruler word exists in Phi, so this version chooses whu kulo miona, the one who guides. That is the chapter's refusal and its largest departure from Legge. Four ordinal time phrases count the ages, and every historical verb carries to. The registered compound thiku nila sees someone as small. The faith sentence repeats one negation on both sides of the relation: the guide does not trust keiro, then the people do not trust the guide. Reticence takes little speech and cherished words. sha ... sho closes around the people's exact claim, where the guide is finally absent: we, of ourselves, are as we are.
Chapter 63: the great begins small
The excerpt takes four moments: acting without acting, injury recompensed with kindness, the great arising from the small, and the sage's paradox. The flavors, the promises, and the difficulties stay behind.
no maeli phoa.
Word-by-word gloss: IMP quiet do.
Literal English: (Do, quietly.)
legge: 63. 1. (It is the way of the Tao) to act without (thinking of) acting;
lu miona wei thia peloma thena loa. no wei shia phena loa.
Word-by-word gloss: COND person DAT 2SG harmful thing give. IMP DAT 3SG kind give.
Literal English: (If someone hands you a harmful thing, hand them back kindness.)
legge: and to recompense injury with kindness.
theula whalo riola lue thiku riola shua.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV large labor ABL small labor come.
Literal English: (Every great work comes from small work.)
legge: and all great things from one in which they were small.
phewo whalo thena ma phoa. thelao phewo mo ko whalo thena po pilewa.
Word-by-word gloss: sage large thing NEG do. CONS sage CMPR FOC large thing POT make.
Literal English: (The sage does not do the great thing; and so the sage can make the greatest thing.)
legge: Therefore the sage, while he never does what is great, is able on that account to accomplish the greatest things.
no maeli phoa, do quietly, is the shortest transmutation on the page. The manner word stands before the verb, but Phi grammar does not turn quiet action into wu wei; the reading remains an interpretation. In the injury line, harm and kindness take the same transfer verb. Someone hands over peloma thena, a harmful thing, and receives the quality noun phena, kindness. The sage's paradox uses two small pieces of grammar: po supplies ability, while mo ko whalo makes the final thing greatest. thelao holds the turn between them.
Chapter 76: the soft outlasts the hard
The excerpt is the chapter entire. Its military warning is recast as fruitless reliance on strength before wind teaches through the tree.
miona mua thowia thimu luwi nela huwa nai. miona mua lumeo thimu tinako nela kema nai.
Word-by-word gloss: person LOC born time flexible COORD weak be. person LOC die time rigid COORD strong be.
Literal English: (At the time of birth, a person is flexible and weak; at the time of death, rigid and strong.)
legge: 76. 1. Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong.
theula thena we phea ha nai.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV thing ALSO AS PROX be.
Literal English: (All things are like this too.)
legge: (So it is with) all things.
shiro nela whelina mua newu thimu wuloe nela welua nai.
Word-by-word gloss: tree COORD grass LOC new time soft COORD fragile be.
Literal English: (Trees and grasses, in the new time, are soft and fragile.)
legge: Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle;
lo shia mua lumeo thimu kurathi nai. lo shia mua lumeo thimu ki kureno.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG LOC die time dry be. PL 3SG LOC die time PFV wither.
Literal English: (At the time of death, they are dry and have withered.)
legge: at their death, dry and withered.
tinako nela kema lumeo melu nai. wuloe nela huwa lioru melu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: rigid COORD strong die friend be. soft COORD weak life friend be.
Literal English: (The rigid and the strong are death's companions; the soft and the weak are life's companions.)
legge: 2. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
whu li kema theomi miona mawha lureko thola.
Word-by-word gloss: REL RESTR strong trust person NONE fruit bring.
Literal English: (The person who trusts only strength brings no fruit.)
legge: Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer;
lu whalo howeli shua. whu tinako nai shiro lepa. whu luwi nai shiro manolu.
Word-by-word gloss: COND large wind come. REL rigid be tree fall. REL flexible be tree stay.
Literal English: (When the great wind comes, the tree that is rigid falls, and the tree that is flexible stays.)
legge: and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)
tinako nela kema noa mulu nai. wuloe nela huwa noa raelu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: rigid COORD strong position low be. soft COORD weak position tall be.
Literal English: (The position of the rigid and the strong is low; the position of the soft and the weak is high.)
legge: 4. Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.
Legge's pairs stay on nela: luwi nela huwa, flexible and weak, then tinako nela kema, rigid and strong. Each pair belongs to a life stage under thimu. The plant line keeps welua, fragile, for brittle, while kurathi, dry, and perfective kureno, wither, restore both parts of Legge's final condition. Before the wind reaches the tree, the military warning has already changed: li kema theomi, trust only strength, brings mawha lureko, no fruit. The rigid tree falls and the flexible one stays. The feller is gone, but reliance on force is still visible before the final low and high positions.
Transmutation gap log
| Legge wording | Transmutation |
|---|---|
| Tao | keiro, chosen from Phi's words for a way |
| highest excellence like water | no phialu nila, look at water |
| without striving | mawha pilu, takes nothing, an economic reframe |
| dislike of the low place | refusal to dwell there |
| thirty spokes | omitted while pot, door, and window carry the argument |
| useful | possibility under po |
| rulers | whu kulo miona, people who guide |
| four ages; praised | ternary ordinals; keluro, honor |
| faith in the Tao | trust in keiro |
| irresolute reticence | speaking little and cherishing words |
| undertakings successful | complete work |
| wu wei | no maeli phoa, do quietly |
| recompense injury | return kindness for a harmful thing |
| flavors, promises, and sure-to-arise difficulties | omitted from the selected moments of chapter 63 |
| supple and weak; firm and strong; soft and brittle | quality pairs joined by nela |
| withered | kurathi, dry, and perfective kureno, wither |
| strength of forces and conquest | trust in strength alone brings no fruit |
| feller | great wind |
| below and above | noa mulu and noa raelu |
The passage uses the current base roots for weakness, rigidity, and withering. Brittleness remains the ordinary susceptibility named by welua, fragile.
The moves, for transmuters working by hand
A refusal leaves a source image outside Phi when that image would build the wrong unmarked concept. A reframe finds another image at the same depth, such as wind teaching what the feller taught. The carve chooses among existing neighbors, here keiro rather than ruela. Grammar can also take the weight: po, nu, and the event-noun rule each do work that English gives a lexical item. Composition builds what is still missing from ordinary words, as in thowia thimu, the time of birth. Coinage begins when none of these can carry the concept without distortion.
What changes between the two renderings
Both renderings begin with water and end with the place of what yields. The close version includes the complete five chapters, down to the spokes of the wheel and the person who cuts the broad tree. The transmutation chooses fewer moments. Gift, possibility, quiet action, and wind change what those moments say.
| Moment | Close translation | Transmutation | Why they diverge |
|---|---|---|---|
| water and striving | The highest good is like water. Water does not intend another place, and people dislike the low one it occupies. | The reader is told to look at water. Water helps everything and takes nothing. | Translation retains Legge's comparison and human dislike. Transmutation changes contention into acquisition, then places the lesson inside Phi's gift economy. |
| the wheel | Thirty wooden components meet at one center, whose open space admits a support rod. | The wheel is omitted; pot, door, and window carry the chapter. | Translation owes Legge all three objects. Transmutation keeps the household crafts its first readers can make and inspect. |
| political relation | Chapter 8 describes good governance; chapter 17 describes authority holders in society. | The rulers become people who guide, then disappear from the people's final claim. | Translation must preserve power even when Phi declines a ruler class. Transmutation tests Legge's ideal by removing authority from the relation altogether. |
| action and difficulty | Chapter 63 includes acting without thought of action, flavor without distinction, light commitments, preparation, and difficulty under kethua. | no maeli phoa, do quietly, carries wu wei. Four selected moments replace the chapter's full chain. | Translation uses a direct quality for difficulty while leaving easy as its negation. The transmutation keeps four moments and leaves the longer chain out. |
| force and the tree | Someone trusts the strength of people who act through force, then fails at the purpose Legge calls conquest. A broad tree draws the tree cutter. | Trust in strength brings no fruit. A rigid tree falls in wind while a flexible tree stays. | Translation states Legge's violent purpose without making it ordinary vocabulary. Transmutation rejects the target and lets weather teach the same warning. |
| the final reversal | Rigidity and strength belong low; softness and weakness belong high. | The same paired qualities and positions remain. | No ethical reframe is needed. Both renderings can let the paradox stand in ordinary Phi qualities. |
Solarpunk values
Chapter 8 asks what makes a dwelling fit its place and what good governance does. Chapter 11 answers a different question with an open axle and an empty room. These are questions of material life rather than scenery. In the transmutation, water takes nothing and work begins small. The result reads as counsel for systems built with less force and fewer claims on what passes through them.
Secular Buddhist philosophy
Legge's wu wei does not arrive as a Phi technical term. One version leaves it as action without thought of action and admits the limit. The other tries maeli phoa, quiet doing, which is easier to practice but more specific than the source. Rigidity stays a quality in both. A life can change without turning the quality into an identity.
Art Nouveau aesthetics
Chapter 11 works through negative space. The close version traces the open center of the wheel before moving through vessel and room; function gathers around what is absent. The transmutation drops the wheel and gives the window its own line: sky enters the house. One shows the full geometry. The other pauses where an opening changes the light.
Peace linguistics
Conquest remains in chapter 76. The close version describes people acting through force, while Legge's citation supplies the military body and its purpose. It also follows the feller to the broad trunk. The transmutation makes its ethical change in plain view: conquest becomes fruitlessness and wind replaces deliberate cutting. The labels keep refusal from masquerading as fidelity.
Pre-industrial wisdom
The chapters think with things a hand can know. Clay gives under the thumb, and a wheel needs an open center. The tree tells its age first through flexibility, long before anyone counts its rings. The complete version opens the whole workshop. The transmutation stays near the potter's vessel and the builder's window, then walks outside to meet the wind.
Close translation sets the feller beside the tree. Transmutation waits for wind, then watches which trunk remains standing.