"The Need to Win"

This alleged quote of Chuang Tzŭ begins the chapter "Family" in Tim Winton's The Turning:

When an archer is shooting for nothing
He has all his skill
If he shoots for a brass buckle
He is already nervous
If he shoots for a prize of gold
He goes blind
Or sees two targets—
He is out of his mind!

His skill has not changed. But the prize
Divides him. He cares.
He thinks more of winning
Than of shooting—
And the need to win
Drains him of power.

Chuang Tzŭ

The passage above, entitled "The Need to Win", is from Thomas Merton's The Way of Chuang Tzu, which in Merton's own words, consists of "imitations" or "free interpretative readings" of the source material, rather than translations. Merton, a Trappist monk interested in Eastern religions, composed these interpretative readings after comparing "four of the best translations of Chuang Tzŭ into western languages, two English, one French, and one German".

The actual source of the passage is a dialogue between Confucius and one of his disciples in 《莊子外篇達生》, or "Understanding Life" in the "Outer Texts" of Chuang Tzŭ, a work traditionally credited to Chuang Tzŭ the Taoist philosopher. One of the English translations of this which Merton read was of course that of the great James Legge; see passage 4, "Yen Yuan asked Kung‑nî…" on Page 15 of The Sacred Books Of China: The Texts Of Taoism, Part II. As we shall discover below, whether the original text actually refers to archery depends on how you interpret the word 注, chu.

In summary, the passage above is twice removed from the source material: once through translation (by James Legge and others), and once through the interpretative reading of Thomas Merton. Just reading The Turning though, you wouldn't have any clue of this.

Translation

The Chinese source text is from Chinese Text Project, but with olden-style punctuation: 先秦兩漢 > 道家 > 莊子 > 外篇 > 達生.

Source text	Target text	Notes
顏淵問仲尼曰、吾嘗濟乎觴深之淵、津人操舟若神。	Yen Yüan asked Chung‑ni, saying, I once crossed [the] deep waters of Shang‑shêm, [and the] people of [the] ford handled boats as gods.	顏淵： Yen Yüan Confucius's favourite disciple. Also called Yen Huei, 顏回. 仲尼： Chung‑ni The style-name (or courtesy name) of Confucius. 淵： [the] deep waters; or [the] deep
吾問焉、曰、操舟可學邪。	I asked them, saying, Can handling of boats [be] learnt?
曰、可。善游者數能。若乃夫沒人、則未嘗見舟而便操之也。	[And they] said, [It] can. Those good at swimming [upon] repetition [are] able. If [it] be [a] diver, then [having] not ever seen boats [may he] promptly handle them.	數： repetition 數、入聲、 Cantonese: shok8 (post-merger: sok8) Mandarin: shuò 沒人： diver; literally submerging man
吾問焉而不吾告、敢問何謂也。	I asked them, but me informed [they] not; [I] dare ask, what meant [they]?
仲尼曰、善游者數能、忘水也。	Chung‑ni said, [Of] those good at swimming [upon] repetition [being] able: [they] forget [the] water.
若乃夫沒人之未嘗見舟而便操之也、彼視淵若陵、視舟之覆猶其車卻也、	[Of], if [it] be [a] diver, [having] not ever seen boats and promptly handling them: he vieweth [the] deep waters as [an] hill, [and] vieweth [the] overturning of [a] boat like his chariot receding.
覆卻萬方陳乎前而不得入其舍、惡往而不暇。	Overturning [and] receding [in a] myriad ways [have been] shewn before [him] and could not enter his mind; how goeth [he] and [be he] not carefree?	方： ways From the annotation of Süan Ying: 方、猶端. 舍： mind; lit. abode 惡： how 惡、平聲、 Cantonese: woo1, Mandarin: wū 暇： carefree; lit. leisurely
以瓦注者巧、以鉤注者憚、以黃金注者殙。	He that shooteth [wagering] with earthenware [is] skillful; he that shooteth [wagering] with [a] buckle, fearful; [and] he that shooteth [wagering] with gold, dazed.	注： shooteth [wagering]; or wagereth [by archery]; or wagereth A simple reading would take 注 to mean "wager". Among the classical exegeses: These say 擊也, strike: 《南華真經郭象註》, "Nam‑hua True Classics: Kwok Siang's annotations". 《康熙字典》, "Kʻang‑hee's dictionary". Notably, the dictionary uses the line 以黃金注者㱪 from our passage as the example for this meaning. These say 射也, shoot: 《南華真經註疏》, "Nam‑hua True Classics annotations [and] subcommentary". 《莊子注》, "Chuang Tzŭ annotations" by Kwok Siang. In particular, 射而賭物 ("shooting wagering objects") is the meaning taken by James Legge (see footnote 1 of Page 1). Note that the first explanation, 擊也, "strike", probably means striking with an arrow, as in 射擊, "shoot". The conciseness of Literary Chinese comes at the cost of ambiguity; the same is also true of scripture. Many scholars have written 註, annotations, and 疏, subcommentary, or annotations of the annotations. And now, annotations of annotations of annotations… 疏、去聲、 Cantonese: shor3 (post-merger: sor3), Mandarin: shù (Government-regulated 統讀: shū) 黃金： gold; lit. yellow gold
其巧一也、而有所矜、則重外也。凡外重者內拙。	Their skill [is the] same, but [that] there be that of [their] concern, [is] esteeming the external. All those which esteem the external [are] internally stupid.	一： same; or one 重： esteem 重、去聲、 Cantonese: chung6, Mandarin: zhòng A verb, literally "[to] weight". The opposite of the verb 輕, which is to "make light of", or "treat as light". 拙： stupid The opposite of 巧, which is "clever" or "skillful".

Source text

Target text

Notes

顏淵問仲尼曰、吾嘗濟乎觴深之淵、津人操舟若神。

Yen Yüan asked Chung‑ni, saying, I once crossed [the] deep waters of Shang‑shêm, [and the] people of [the] ford handled boats as gods.

顏淵： Yen Yüan
Confucius's favourite disciple. Also called Yen Huei, 顏回.
仲尼： Chung‑ni
The style-name (or courtesy name) of Confucius.
淵： [the] deep waters; or [the] deep

吾問焉、曰、操舟可學邪。

I asked them, saying, Can handling of boats [be] learnt?

曰、可。善游者數能。若乃夫沒人、則未嘗見舟而便操之也。

[And they] said, [It] can. Those good at swimming [upon] repetition [are] able. If [it] be [a] diver, then [having] not ever seen boats [may he] promptly handle them.

數： repetition
數、入聲、 Cantonese: shok8 (post-merger: sok8) Mandarin: shuò
沒人： diver; literally submerging man

吾問焉而不吾告、敢問何謂也。

I asked them, but me informed [they] not; [I] dare ask, what meant [they]?

仲尼曰、善游者數能、忘水也。

Chung‑ni said, [Of] those good at swimming [upon] repetition [being] able: [they] forget [the] water.

若乃夫沒人之未嘗見舟而便操之也、彼視淵若陵、視舟之覆猶其車卻也、

[Of], if [it] be [a] diver, [having] not ever seen boats and promptly handling them: he vieweth [the] deep waters as [an] hill, [and] vieweth [the] overturning of [a] boat like his chariot receding.

覆卻萬方陳乎前而不得入其舍、惡往而不暇。

Overturning [and] receding [in a] myriad ways [have been] shewn before [him] and could not enter his mind; how goeth [he] and [be he] not carefree?

方： ways
From the annotation of Süan Ying: 方、猶端.
舍： mind; lit. abode
惡： how
惡、平聲、 Cantonese: woo1, Mandarin: wū
暇： carefree; lit. leisurely

以瓦注者巧、以鉤注者憚、以黃金注者殙。

He that shooteth [wagering] with earthenware [is] skillful; he that shooteth [wagering] with [a] buckle, fearful; [and] he that shooteth [wagering] with gold, dazed.

注： shooteth [wagering]; or wagereth [by archery]; or wagereth
A simple reading would take 注 to mean "wager". Among the classical exegeses:

These say 擊也, strike:
- 《南華真經郭象註》, "Nam‑hua True Classics: Kwok Siang's annotations".
- 《康熙字典》, "Kʻang‑hee's dictionary".
  Notably, the dictionary uses the line 以黃金注者㱪 from our passage as the example for this meaning.
These say 射也, shoot:
- 《南華真經註疏》, "Nam‑hua True Classics annotations [and] subcommentary".
- 《莊子注》, "Chuang Tzŭ annotations" by Kwok Siang.
  In particular, 射而賭物 ("shooting wagering objects") is the meaning taken by James Legge (see footnote 1 of Page 1).
Note that the first explanation, 擊也, "strike", probably means striking with an arrow, as in 射擊, "shoot". The conciseness of Literary Chinese comes at the cost of ambiguity; the same is also true of scripture. Many scholars have written 註, annotations, and 疏, subcommentary, or annotations of the annotations. And now, annotations of annotations of annotations…
- 疏、去聲、 Cantonese: shor3 (post-merger: sor3), Mandarin: shù (Government-regulated 統讀: shū)
黃金： gold; lit. yellow gold

其巧一也、而有所矜、則重外也。凡外重者內拙。

Their skill [is the] same, but [that] there be that of [their] concern, [is] esteeming the external. All those which esteem the external [are] internally stupid.

一： same; or one
重： esteem
重、去聲、 Cantonese: chung6, Mandarin: zhòng

A verb, literally "[to] weight". The opposite of the verb 輕, which is to "make light of", or "treat as light".
拙： stupid
The opposite of 巧, which is "clever" or "skillful".

"The Need to Win"

Translation

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