lipu Nasin Pona

A Toki Pona interpretation of 道德經 (Dao De Jing / Tao Te Ching), started by jan Lesate (aka Alexander), 2023…

Many have started, few have finished! Please contribute if you’re so inclined! Note that Toki Pona terms in italics are pending further consideration.

lipu Nasin

  1. lupa pi nasa pona ale
  2. sona pi toki ala
  3. pali ala
  4. jo ala
  5. ilo pali kon
  6. kon lupa nena
  7. sinpin en monsi
  8. telo
  9. o weka jo
  10. jan lili sin
  11. lon ala
  12. insa la, lukin ala
  13. jan ala...
  14. nasin pi ken ala toki
  15. linluwi nasa
  16. o kama sin tawa mama
  17. mi pali a
  18. moli ...
  19. len pona
  20. jan lili sin pi uta...
  21. wawa suli
  22. o jo e wan...
  23. kasi nanpa 23
  24. kasi nanpa 24
  25. kasi nanpa 25
  26. kasi nanpa 26
  27. kasi nanpa 27
  28. kasi nanpa 28
  29. kasi nanpa 29
  30. kasi nanpa 30
  31. kasi nanpa 31
  32. kasi nanpa 32
  33. sona mi...
  34. kasi nanpa 34
  35. kasi nanpa 35
  36. suno lili...
  37. kasi nanpa 37

lipu Pona

  1. kili en ala kasi kule
  2. kasi nanpa 39
  3. kasi nanpa 40
  4. kasi nanpa 41
  5. wan en tu en mute
  6. kasi nanpa 43
  7. kasi nanpa 44
  8. kasi nanpa 45
  9. kasi nanpa 46
  10. kasi nanpa 47
  11. kasi nanpa 48
  12. kasi nanpa 49
  13. kasi nanpa 50
  14. kasi nanpa 51
  15. kasi nanpa 52
  16. kasi nanpa 53
  17. kasi nanpa 54
  18. kasi nanpa 55
  19. kasi nanpa 56
  20. kasi nanpa 57
  21. kasi nanpa 58
  22. kasi nanpa 59
  23. kasi nanpa 60
  24. kasi nanpa 61
  25. kasi nanpa 62
  26. kasi nanpa 63
  27. kasi nanpa 64
  28. kasi nanpa 65
  29. kasi nanpa 66
  30. kasi nanpa 67
  31. wawa pi utala ala
  32. kasi nanpa 69
  33. kasi nanpa 70
  34. kasi nanpa 71
  35. kasi nanpa 72
  36. kasi nanpa 73
  37. kasi nanpa 74
  38. kasi nanpa 75
  39. suwi
  40. kasi nanpa 77
  41. kasi nanpa 78
  42. kasi nanpa 79
  43. kasi nanpa 80
  44. jan pi lukin lipu li suno ala

Notes

  • 道 — nasin — Tao / Dao; “The Way”1
  • 德 — pona — Dé; goodness, virtuous; “Power”2; “Virtue”1
  • 天下 — ijo ale — “All-Under-Heaven”2
  • 圣人 — o sina / jan sewi — “The Sage”1
  • sheng — mama — births (i.e. gives-birth-to)
  • 玄 — nasa — mysterious, unknowable
  • 争 — wile — “struggle”1
  • 处 — awen ? — “abide”1
  • 冬渉川 — tenpo ike la pali suli — a challenging endeavor, “crossing an ice-covered river”1
  • 神 — sewi — Shen; spirit(s), deity(ies), “power”1
  • 大顺 — …
  • 善 — … pona
  • 利 — tenpo kama, pona

The original text makes frequent reference to a social context in which gender is prescribed to be strictly binary. I have chosen not to retain this duality imposed on a spectrum of people; instead I use “jan” to refer to persons generally, and include “tonsi” when enumerating categorizations of people.

Acknowledgements

I studied contemporary and classical Chinese at Oberlin College; 谢谢老师们!

I have used ctext.org as the source for the text of the DaoDeJing. I have used mdbg.net as a reference for individual characters.

I have used A.C. Muller’s interpretation (with minor corrections or clarifications in brackets) for the English shown here. I am inspired by, and greatly informed by, John Minford’s 2018 interpretation of (and research about) the DaoDeJing. I have also referred to interpretations by Gia-Fu Feng (1972), Victor H. Mair (1990), Derek Lin (1994), J.H. McDonald (1996), and Agnieszka Solska (2005), as seen via Vít Brunner’s Side By Side viewer.

The Toki Pona language was created by jan Sonja. My knowledge of it comes largely from the kama sona and ma pona pi toki pona Discord communities. I have used nimi.li as a reference for Toki Pona words.

The seal script Chinese font is 方正小篆体 FangZheng XiaoZhuanTi via ChineseFontDesign.com.

These pages (and my entire blog) are hosted on GitHub Pages. The domain name is registered via NameCheap.

  1. Muller, A Charles. “Daode Jing”. 1991–2021; retrieved 2023. http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/daodejing.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Minford, John. “Tao Te Ching: The Tao and the Power”. 2018; Viking / Penguin Random House. ↩ ↩2