Pu is a Chinese word meaning "unworked wood; inherent quality; simple" that was an early Daoist metaphor for the natural state of humanity, and relates with the Daoist keyword ziran (literally "self so") "natural; spontaneous". The scholar Ge Hong (283–343 CE) immortalized pu in his pen name Baopuzi "Master who Embraces Simplicity" and eponymous book Baopuzi. It occurs in some of the earliest Chinese classics, including the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi.
Terminology Pu can be written with either of the variant Chinese characters or , which are linguistically complex.
Characters Both and are classified as radical-phonetic characters, combining the semantically significant "tree" radical (commonly used for writing names of trees and wooden objects) with the phonetic indicators pu or bu .
The Chinese character pu was first recorded on Chinese bronze inscriptions from the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BCE), and the character pu was first recorded in Chinese classics from the Warring States period (475-221 BCE).
When the People's Republic of China promulgated simplified Chinese characters in 1956, the established variant pu (with 6 strokes) was chosen to replace the traditional Chinese character pu (with 16 strokes).
One of the two (c. 168 BCE) Mawangdui silk manuscript versions of the Daodejing, discovered in 1973 by archeologists excavating a tomb, uses a rare textual variant character for pu : wò "a house tent (esp. with a wooden roof)", written with the "tree radical" and wu "room; house" phonetic. The "B" text, like the received version, uses pu 8 times in 6 chapters; the "A" text uses wò 6 times in 4 chapters and has lacunae in chapters 19 and 57. The (c. 121 CE) Shuowen jiezi defines wo as muzhang "wood canopy", and the (early 3rd century) Guangya defines it as choumu "curtain; cover". These variant words pú < *phrôk "unworked wood" and wò < *ʔôk "house tent" are semantically and phonologically dissimilar.
Pronunciations and meanings The comprehensive Chinese character dictionary Hanyu Da Zidian lists 2 pronunciations and 8 meanings for the character , and 6 pronunciations and 11 meanings for ; which are summarized below.Hanyu Da Zidian (1987: 2:1291, 2:1154)
The glyph can be read: pǔ "unworked wood", "cut down; fell trees" "nature; essence; intrinsic quality" (compare English in the rough) "simple; plain; unadorned; unaffected" "(economics) net cost" pú "grow thickly (of plants); shrub" "an oak tree" "attached; affixed"
The glyph can be read to mean: pǔ "unworked wood; natural; plain; etc." (= pǔ ) "large" "uncured meat" pū "root; basis; origin" "beat; hit; an instrument of torture" (= pū ) pò "tree bark; (esp.) magnolia bark" in houpo "Magnolia officinalis bark (used in Traditional Chinese medicine)" in pòshù "Celtis sinensis, Chinese hackberry" pō in pōdāo "a kind of two-handed sword" Pú "a surname", namely Park (Korean surname) Piáo "a surname"
The Erya, which is the oldest Chinese dictionary, defined pu and supu as "oak" names (in "Explaining Trees" chapter 14). First, pu is defined as bao (14:45). Guo Pu's Erya commentary identified this pu tree as yupu "Quercus acutissima, saw-tooth oak" (which occurs in the Shijing below). Bao is usually read fu "drumstick", and Guo noted this name bao denoted "a kind of oak [] that grew in clumps", and quotes the Shijing usage as baoli instead of baoli "bushy oak" (see below). The Bencao Gangmu says there are two varieties of hu "Quercus mongolica, Mongolian oak", the bao is small and grows in clumps while the li is tall and has large leaves. Second, supu is defined as xin "heart; mind" (14:64). Guo identifies supu (cf. reverse pusu in the Shijing below) as husu (with hu "Mongolian oak"), the "Quercus dentata, daimyo oak". While xin "heart; mind" is a common Chinese word, this Erya definition is the only known context in which it names a tree. The Yijing uses xin to mean "thorn; prick": "Among varieties of wood it means those which are firm and have much pith".
The Shuowen Jiezi, the first Chinese dictionary of characters, simply defines pu as mupi "tree bark; wood with bark", and pu as musu "plain wood; unworked lumber" (later meaning "lignin" in scientific terminology).
Returning to the central Daoist meaning of pu, Pas and Leung challenge the stereotyped "uncarved block" translation of pu: "The idea implied in it comes closer to 'wholeness', which is also contained in 'uncarved block', except that 'uncarved block' has been reified. As a result, what was an excellent analogy of the Tao has become sterile and counterproductive." Citing the pu translations of Séraphin Couvreur "wood that has not been worked on; simple, without ornament, without disguise" and Bernhard Karlgren "wood in its natural state, not worked: rough, plain, natural, simple"; Pas and Leung conclude: "it is obvious where the expression 'uncarved block' came from, but the addition of 'block' is an interpretation. The term means 'plain wood, uncarved wood'."
Etymology Reconstructions of Old Chinese pronunciations have transformed Chinese etymology. Old Chinese reconstructions of pu or bu include: bú < *pûk or *b'ûk bú < *puk or *b'uk "shrubby trees", pŭ < *p'uk "rough; unadorned", and pò < *p'ǔk "trim unworked wood; robust, solid" pú < *phruk bú < *puk or *buk pú < *phrôk "to trim wood", "in a natural state, unworked" pŭ < *pʰˤrok "unworked wood"
Victor Mair suggests that pu < *phluk "unhewn log" is "almost certainly related to the English word "block," which probably derives from the Indo-European root bhelk (beam)".
Axel Schuessler says the etymology of pú < *phrôk "to trim wood" could either be an "aspirated iterative derivation" from bāo < *prôk "cut up, peel, pluck", or "belong to the homophonous etymon with the basic meaning 'in a natural state, unworked', as in pú 'in a natural state', 'unworked precious stone' ".
Early textual references Pu occurs in some of the earliest Chinese classics, frequently in Daoist ones.
Shijing Two odes in the Shijing "Classic of Poetry" use pu compounds to mean "an oak".
Pusu occurs in Ode 23: "scrubby oaks", "a clump of oaks", "low shrubby trees". The Mao commentary describes the pusu as a 小木 "small tree". The Erya (above) writes this reversible compound as supu .
Yupu is the name of Ode 238, which records using this tree for firewood: "the yih and the p'oh", "the oak clumps". Commentaries describe the yupu as a "dense and shrubby tree".
In addition, Ode 132 has baoli : "the bushy oaks", "a clump of oaks", "luxuriant oaks". The Erya has baoli , writing bao as "an oak" instead of "bushy; luxuriant".
Shujing The Shujing "Classic of History" (Zhoushu , Zicai "Chinese catalpa lumber" section) uses pu once in the compound pozhou (po "trim unworked wood" and zhuo "hack; chop off"): "as in working with the wood of the rottlera, when the toil of the coarser and finer operations has been completed, they have to apply the paint of red and other colours", "It is as when one works on catalpa wood; when he has toiled in trimming and carving it, he should take measures for making it red or green". Legge notes that pu means "the rough fashioning of the work" and zhou means "the fine finish given to it". Karlgren quotes the Han commentator Ma Rong that po denotes "wood that has not yet been worked into a utensil; unworked wood", and concludes po means "to treat the unworked wood (in the first rough cutting); to trim" is a variation of the same stem as pu "in a natural state; simple".
Daodejing Six Daodejing chapters use pu , two of them twice, for a total of 8 occurrences.
Chapter 19 parallels the near-synonyms su "raw silk; white; plain; simple; quiet" and pu "unworked wood; plain; simple", and was the source for Ge Hong's pen-name Baopuzi "Master who Embraces Simplicity". Evince the plainness of undyed silk, Embrace the simplicity of the unhewn log; Lessen selfishness, Diminish desires; Abolish learning and you will be without worries. (19) Holmes Welch describes pu "the Uncarved Block" and su "Raw Silk" as symbols that Laozi used to expound his basic doctrine of "the return to our original nature". In modern usage, pu and su mean "plain," but originally pu "was wood as it came from the tree before man had dressed it", while su "was silk that man had never dyed or painted."
Chapters 28 and 57 mention simple pu in reference to shengren "sages", Chapter 15 similarly refers to ancient Daoist adepts and describes pu as dun "sincere; honest; plain". If eternal integrity suffices, You will return to the simplicity of the unhewn log. ... When the unhewn log is sawn apart, it is made into tools; When the sage is put to use, he becomes the chief of officials. For Great carving does no cutting. (28) The sage has a saying: "I take no action, yet the people transform themselves; I do not interfere in affairs, yet the people enrich themselves; I desire not to desire, yet the people of themselves become simple as unhewn logs." (57) Those of old who were adept in the Way were … hesitant, as though crossing a stream in winter; cautious, as though fearful of their neighbors all around; solemn, as though guests in someone else's house; shrinking, as ice when it melts; plain, as an unhewn log; muddled, as turbid waters; expansive, as a broad valley. (15) Among all the Daodejing occurrences of pu, chapter 28 is the only case in which the transmitted and excavated versions are significantly different – the transmitted text has an extra grammatical particle zhi "a possessive marker; a 3rd person pronoun" after yong "use; employ". Robert G. Henricks explains this small grammatical change between the standard text saying the sage yong zhi "uses it" and the excavated silk text saying yong "is used". The transmitted version "When the uncarved wood is broken up, it is turned into concrete things. But when the sage uses it, he becomes the leading official." should be read "When uncarved wood is cut up, it's turned into vessels. When the Sage is used, he becomes the Head of Officials." D. C. Lau says the traditional passage "seems to say that when the uncarved block shatters it becomes vessels. A vessel is a specialist who is only fitted to be an official. Hence the sage when he makes use of these vessels becomes the lord over the officials.", but in Mawangdui passage, "The meaning is very different. The uncarved block is a symbol for the sage. Just as the uncarved block becomes vessels when it shatters so does the sage become the chief of the officials when he allows himself to be employed, and just as the uncarved block is ruined when it becomes useful, so does a sage become ruined when he becomes useful." The word qi "vessel; utensil" is translated here as "tools", "concrete things", "vessels", "specialists", and "officials".
Chapters 32 and 37 both address houwang "feudal lords and kings" and describe the Dao as wuming "nameless", while 37 also calls pu "nameless". The Way is eternally nameless. Though the unhewn log is small, No one in the world dares subjugate it. If feudal lords and kings could maintain it, The myriad creatures would submit of themselves. (32) The Way is eternally nameless. If feudal lords and kings preserve it, The myriad creatures will be transformed by themselves. After transformation, if they wish to rise up, I shall restrain them with the nameless unhewn log. By restraining them with the nameless unhewn log, They will not feel disgraced; Not feeling disgraced, They will be still, Whereupon heaven and earth will be made right by themselves. (37) Chapter 37 has a minor textual difference between buyu "not desire" in the standard version and buru "not disgrace" in the Mawangdui version.
Lau explains pu in the Daodejing primarily means "the uncarved block is in a state as yet untouched by the artificial interference of human ingenuity and so is a symbol for the original state of man before desire is produced in him by artificial means".