Volume II — Te

Coming Forth into Life

Chapter 50 of the Tao Te Ching

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。

Coming forth is life; entering is death. Three in ten follow the path of life. Three in ten follow the path of death. Three in ten, though alive, move toward the place of death. Why is this so? Because they cling to life too fiercely. I have heard that one skilled at nourishing life travels the land without meeting rhinoceros or tiger, enters battle without wearing armor or weapons. The rhinoceros finds no place to thrust its horn. The tiger finds no place to sink its claws. Weapons find no place to lodge their blades. Why is this so? Because such a one has no place of death.

Commentary

This verse addresses a central question of life and death with startling directness. "Coming forth is life; entering is death"—chu sheng ru si (出生入死). Birth is emergence; death is entering. The verse describes three groups of three in ten: those who follow life, those who follow death, and those who—though alive—move toward death. What of the remaining one in ten? This is implied: the one who has transcended the categories, who is neither pursuing life nor approaching death. "Why is this so? Because they live life too thickly"—yi qi sheng, sheng zhi hou (以其生，生之厚). Sheng zhi hou (生之厚) is life lived thickly, abundantly, excessively. This is not praise but diagnosis: those who grasp at life too firmly accelerate their movement toward death. The desperate attachment to living creates the very conditions that undermine living. The one who clings to life fears death constantly and lives in that fear; the one who does not cling neither pursues life nor flees death but simply lives. "One skilled at nourishing life travels without meeting rhinoceros or tiger"—shan she sheng zhe, lu xing bu yu si hu (善攝生者，陸行不遇兕虎). She sheng (攝生) is nourishing life, cultivating life, preserving life. The one who truly knows how to nourish life does not encounter the dangers that threaten life. This is not because such a person avoids dangerous places but because the quality of their being does not attract danger. "The rhinoceros finds no place to thrust its horn. The tiger finds no place to sink its claws. Weapons find no place to lodge their blades"—si wu suo tou qi jiao, hu wu suo cuo qi zhua, bing wu suo rong qi ren (兕無所投其角，虎無所措其爪，兵無所容其刃). The danger exists but has no purchase. The horn, the claw, the blade—all require a target.

The full commentary continues with deeper analysis of internal cultivation, classical perspectives, and cross-references. Read the complete chapter →

Key Characters