50 出生入死

老子道德經第五十章

出生入死
生之徒 十有三
死之徒 十有三
人之生 動之於死地 亦十有三
夫何故　以其生生之厚
蓋聞善攝生者
路行不遇兕虎
入軍不被甲兵
兕無所投其角
虎無所用其爪
兵無所容其刃
夫何故 以其無死地

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FIFTY

Between birth and death
Three in ten are followers of life,
Three in ten are followers of death,
And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.
Why is this so?
Because they live their lives on the gross level.

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinoceros or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinoceroses can find no place to thrust their horn.
Tigers no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so?
Because he has no place for death to enter.

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fifty (ah san's translation)

from birth to death
30% of the people naturally live long
30% die young
another 30% die before reaching their natural age
why do they die early?
because they try too hard to live their lives.

I've heard, the one who knows how to live
when he walks he doesn't hide from danger,
in battles he doesn't wear protection.
nothing can harm him.
why?
because he is beyond life and death.

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ST's version

People who look
for the secret of long life
wind up dead.

Their bodies are the focus of their lives
and the source of their death,
because they think a healthy body
is all there is to life.

Lao Tzu used to say
a man who truly understood life
could walk through the jungle
without fear
or across a battlefield
without armor, totally unarmed.
Wild animals and weapons couldn't kill him.

I know, I know:
what the hell does that mean?
"Well, he couldn't be killed,"
Lao Tzu said,
"because his body
wasn't where he kept his death."