Of ten, three are seeking life, three are seeking death, and three are dying.
What is the reason? Because they live in life's experience. (Only one is immortal.)
I hear it said that the sage when he travels is never attacked by rhinoceros or tiger, and when coming among soldiers does not fear their weapons. The rhinoceros would find no place to horn him, nor the tiger a place for his claws, nor could soldiers wound him. What is the reason? Because he is invulnerable.
Interpretation:
In and earlier chapter, the author discusses Immortality. The suggested at that time that immortality is not an issue of a body that does not die but of returning naturally to the Dao. It is as if we are water taken from the ocean in a bucket. Sooner or later, whether poured back into the ocean or out onto the ground, that water will return to the ocean. So too do we. It can be said that the water in the bucket is actually still part of the ocean just as we, though we perceive ourselves as different are still part of the Tao.
This chapter returns to that theme. It is interesting to speculate whether the author means literally to suggest that those steeped in the dao are protected from animal attack. It seems clear that they are suggesting that only one in ten have discovered their true place in the Dao and so their immortality.
The first stanza points out the perception that we, as living humans perceive ourselves as separate from the Tao, our "home."
The second stanza can be seen to say that some struggle with living, some with dying, others with the secret desire to die.
The third stanza suggests that these people's struggle is because they have not seen through to the Dao. It suggests that only one in ten have noticed their true, immortal nature as part of the Dao.
The fourth stanza is most curious, does the author mean to suggest that those steeped in Dao cannot be cut or injured. This seems unlikely because wounds to the body are part of the struggles of life that the one who is immortal is beyond. It can be suggested that the tenth person is not hurt because they have taken refuge in their true nature and so injuries to the body do not disturb their sense of peace.
