50. Life and Death
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
出生入死。
English translation
We come forth into life and pass into death.
The line states the unavoidable course of human life and prepares the chapter's inquiry into why people place themselves in danger.
Original Chinese text
生之徒，十有三；死之徒，十有三；人之生，动之死地，十有三。
English translation
Three in ten belong to the company of life; three in ten belong to the company of death; and another three in ten, though alive, move toward places of death.
The traditional phrase is commonly read as “three in ten.” The emphasis falls on the last group: people often endanger a life they could have preserved through restless or excessive action.
Original Chinese text
夫何故？
English translation
Why is this so?
The question turns from describing the danger to examining why the pursuit of life can lead people toward death.
Original Chinese text
以其生，生之厚。
English translation
Because they cling too heavily to life and indulge it to excess.
An excessive urge to preserve and gratify life can produce grasping and reckless action, creating the very dangers one hopes to avoid.
Original Chinese text
盖闻善摄生者，陆行不遇兕虎，入军不被甲兵；兕无所投其角，虎无所措其爪，兵无所容其刃。
English translation
It is said that one who knows how to preserve life travels on land without meeting rhinoceros or tiger and enters an army without being struck by weapons. The rhinoceros finds nowhere to drive its horn, the tiger nowhere to set its claws, and the weapon nowhere to admit its blade.
The vivid images suggest a way of living that neither carelessly enters danger nor provokes attack through aggression. With no exposed opening, harm finds little purchase.
Original Chinese text
夫何故？
English translation
Why is this so?
The repeated question shifts attention from beasts and weapons to the person's own way of living, which gives danger no easy opening.
Original Chinese text
以其无死地。
English translation
Because there is no place of death in him.
This does not mean that he is immortal. It means that craving, rash action, and contention do not lead him into situations where death can readily take hold.