大辨不言 大仁不仁 大廉不嗛 大勇不忮
ta pien pu yen, ta jen pu jen, ta lien pu hsien, ta yung pu chi.
The greatest discrimination is unspoken,
The greatest goodwill is cruel,
The greatest honesty does not make itself awkward,
The greatest courage does not spoil for a fight.
Watson traslates it as follows:
Great Discriminations are not spoken;
Great Benevolence is not benevolent;
Great Modesty is not humble;
Great Daring does not attack.
2 comments:
When did you get the Romanization?
This is not the modern pinyin notation.
Here is the correct pinyin:
Da bian bu yan.
Da ren bu ren.
Da lian bu qian.
Da yong bu zhi.
Da means big - the character is a man with outstretched arms, as if showing "I just caught a fish that was THAT big."
Bu signifies negation - one of the first phrases you learn in Chinese to get rid of peddlers trying to sell you fake watches, etc. is "bu yao" - Don't want.
I used to think that Chinese was just incomprehensible squiggles but actually it is not that difficult to be able to read a little.
K
Chinese is in fact quite easy. They speak too fast for me, or I am too slow to distinguish the tones.
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