The Sign of Full Virtue
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
鲁有兀者王骀,从之游者与仲尼相若。常季问于仲尼曰:“王骀,兀者也,从之游者与夫子中分鲁。立不教,坐不议。虚而往,实而归。固有不言之教,无形而心成者邪?是何人也?”
English translation
In Lu there was a man whose foot had been cut off, named Wang Tai. Those who followed him as students were about equal to those of Confucius. Chang Ji asked Confucius, 'Wang Tai is a man whose foot has been cut off, yet those who follow him divide Lu evenly with you, Master. Standing, he does not teach; sitting, he does not debate. People go to him empty and return full. Is there indeed a teaching without words, one that is formless yet completed in the heart? What kind of man is he?'
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“夫子,圣人也,丘也直后而未往耳!丘将以为师,而况不若丘者乎!奚假鲁国,丘将引天下而与从之。”
English translation
Confucius said, 'This master is a sage. I, Qiu, am merely behind and have not yet gone to him. I will take him as my teacher—how much more should those who are not my equal do so! Why limit it to Lu? I will lead all under heaven to follow him.'
Original Chinese text
常季曰:“彼兀者也,而王先生,其与庸亦远矣。若然者,其用心也,独若之何?”
English translation
Chang Ji said, 'He is a man whose foot has been cut off, yet he surpasses you, Master. He must be far from the ordinary. If so, what is so singular about the way he uses his mind?'
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“死生亦大矣,而不得与之变;虽天地覆坠,亦将不与之遗;审乎无假而不与物迁,命物之化而守其宗也。”
English translation
Confucius said, 'Life and death are indeed great, yet he cannot be made to change along with them. Though heaven and earth overturn and fall, he will not be lost along with them. He sees clearly into having no dependence and does not shift with things; he follows the transformations of things and guards his root.'
Original Chinese text
常季曰:“何谓也?”
English translation
Chang Ji said, “What does that mean?”
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“自其异者视之,肝胆楚越也;自其同者视之,万物皆一也。夫若然者,且不知耳目之所宜,而游心乎德之和。物视其所一而不见其所丧,视丧其足犹遗土也。”
English translation
Zhongni said, “If you look at them from where they differ, the liver and gallbladder are as distant as Chu and Yue; if you look at them from where they are the same, all things are one. One who is like this does not even know what is suitable for ears and eyes, and lets his mind wander in the harmony of virtue. He looks at things in their oneness and does not see what they have lost; he regards the loss of his foot as discarded earth.”
Original Chinese text
常季曰:“彼为己,以其知得其心,以其心得其常心。物何为最之哉?”
English translation
Chang Ji said, “He cultivates himself: by his understanding he attains his own mind, and through his own mind attains the constant mind. Why do things gather around him?”
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“人莫鉴于流水而鉴于止水。唯止能止众止。受命于地,唯松柏独也正,在冬夏青青;受命于天,唯尧、舜独也正,在万物之首。幸能正生,以正众生。夫保始之徵,不惧之实,勇士一人,雄入于九军。
English translation
Zhongni said, “No one mirrors himself in running water but in still water. Only what is still can make the multitude still. In receiving their life from earth, only the pine and cypress alone are upright, green through winter and summer; in receiving their life from heaven, only Yao and Shun alone are upright, standing at the head of all things. If one is fortunate enough to rectify his own life, he can rectify the lives of the multitude. As for the evidence of preserving the beginning and the reality of not fearing: one brave warrior can boldly enter the nine armies.”
Original Chinese text
将求名而能自要者而犹若是,而况官天地、府万物、直寓六骸、象耳目、一知之所知而心未尝死者乎!彼且择日而登假,人则从是也。彼且何肯以物为事乎!”
English translation
One who would seek fame and can constrain himself is still like this; how much more one who governs Heaven and Earth and makes the myriad things his treasury, merely lodges in the six parts of the body, takes ears and eyes as images, unifies what knowing knows, and whose heart-mind has never died! He will choose a day and ascend to the far; people will follow him. How could he be willing to make things his business!
Original Chinese text
申徒嘉,兀者也,而与郑子产同师于伯昏无人。子产谓申徒嘉曰:“我先出则子止,子先出则我止。”
English translation
Shen Tu Jia was a man whose foot had been cut off, and he studied under Bohun Wuren together with Zichan of Zheng. Zichan said to Shen Tu Jia, 'If I go out first, you stay; if you go out first, I will stay.'
Original Chinese text
其明日,又与合堂同席而坐。子产谓申徒嘉曰:“我先出则子止,子先出则我止。今我将出,子可以止乎?其未邪?且子见执政而不违,子齐执政乎?”
English translation
The next day, they again sat together in the same hall and on the same mat. Zichan said to Shen Tu Jia, 'If I go out first, you stay; if you go out first, I stay. Now I am about to go out—can you stay? Or will you not? Moreover, when you see the chief minister, you do not step aside. Do you set yourself on the same level as the chief minister?'
Original Chinese text
申徒嘉曰:“先生之门固有执政焉如此哉?子而说子之执政而后人者也。闻之曰:‘鉴明则尘垢不止,止则不明也。久与贤人处则无过。’
English translation
Shen Tu Jia said, 'Does the Master's gate really have a chief minister like this? You take pleasure in your office and therefore put others behind you. I have heard it said: “If a mirror is bright, dust and dirt do not stay; if they stay, it is not bright. One who dwells long with worthy people has no faults.”'
Original Chinese text
今子之所取大者,先生也,而犹出言若是,不亦过乎!”
English translation
What you regard as great now is the Master, and yet you still speak like this—is that not going too far?
Original Chinese text
子产曰:“子既若是矣,犹与尧争善。计子之德,不足以自反邪?”
English translation
Zichan said, 'With your body as it is, do you still contend with Yao in goodness? Consider your virtue: is it enough to make up for the loss of part of your body?'
Original Chinese text
申徒嘉曰:“自状其过以不当亡者众;不状其过以不当存者寡。知不可奈何而安之若命,唯有德者能之。游于羿之彀中。中央者,中地也;然而不中者,命也。
English translation
Shen Tujia said: 'Many recount their faults yet say they did not deserve to lose their lives; few refrain from defending their faults and say they did not deserve to remain alive. Only a person of virtue can accept what cannot be helped as fate. One walks within the range of Yi the archer: the center is where an arrow is likely to strike, and to escape being struck is also a matter of fate.'
Original Chinese text
人以其全足笑吾不全足者众矣,我怫然而怒,而适先生之所,则废然而反。不知先生之洗我以善邪?吾之自寐邪?吾与夫子游十九年矣,而未尝知吾兀者也。
English translation
Many people with both feet intact have mocked me for losing mine, and I used to flare up in anger. Yet whenever I went to the Master, my anger fell away. Was it the Master who washed me with goodness, or was I myself as if in a dream? I have spent nineteen years with him, and he has never been aware that I am a man with an amputated foot.
Original Chinese text
今子与我游于形骸之内,而子索我于形骸之外,不亦过乎!”
English translation
Now you and I roam within the bodily frame, yet you seek me outside the bodily frame—is that not going too far?
Original Chinese text
子产蹴然改容更貌曰:“子无乃称!”
English translation
Zichan's expression changed in shame. He said, 'You need say no more.'
Original Chinese text
鲁有兀者叔山无趾,踵见仲尼。仲尼曰:“子不谨,前既犯患若是矣。虽今来,何及矣!”
English translation
In Lu there was a mutilated man, Shushan Wuzhi, who came to see Zhongni on his heels. Zhongni said, 'You were careless. Earlier you already brought such misfortune on yourself. Though you come now, what can be done?'
Original Chinese text
无趾曰:“吾唯不知务而轻用吾身,吾是以亡足。今吾来也,犹有尊足者存,吾是以务全之也。夫天无不覆,地无不载,吾以夫子为天地,安知夫子之犹若是也!”
English translation
Wuzhi said, 'Only because I did not know what was proper did I lightly use my body, and so I lost my feet. Now that I have come, there still remains something more honored than feet; therefore I seek to keep it whole. Heaven covers all; earth supports all. I took you, Master, to be heaven and earth—how could I know that you would still be like this?'
Original Chinese text
孔子曰:“丘则陋矣!夫子胡不入乎?请讲以所闻。”
English translation
Confucius said, “Qiu is indeed shallow! Why do you not enter, Master? Please instruct me with what you have heard.”
Original Chinese text
无趾出。孔子曰:“弟子勉之!夫无趾,兀者也,犹务学以复补前行之恶,而况全德之人乎!”
English translation
Toeless went out. Confucius said, “Disciples, exert yourselves! Toeless is a man with an amputated foot, yet he still strives to learn in order to make amends for the wrongdoing of his former conduct—how much more so for a person of complete virtue!”
Original Chinese text
无趾语老聃曰:“孔丘之于至人,其未邪?彼何宾宾以学子为?彼且蕲以諔诡幻怪之名闻,不知至人之以是为己桎梏邪?”
English translation
Toeless said to Lao Dan, “As for Confucius in relation to the Perfect Man, is he not still lacking? Why does he so eagerly come to learn from you? He moreover seeks to be known for bizarre and fantastic reputations—does he not know that the Perfect Man regards these as his own shackles?”
Original Chinese text
老聃曰:“胡不直使彼以死生为一条,以可不可为一贯者,解其桎梏,其可乎?”
English translation
Lao Dan said, “Why not directly make him take life and death as one strand, and the acceptable and the unacceptable as one continuous thread, and so release his shackles? Would that be acceptable?”
Original Chinese text
无趾曰:“天刑之,安可解!”
English translation
Wuzhi said, “Heaven has punished him; how can it be released?”
Original Chinese text
鲁哀公问于仲尼曰:“卫有恶人焉,曰哀骀它。丈夫与之处者,思而不能去也;妇人见之,请于父母曰:‘与为人妻,宁为夫子妾’者,十数而未止也。未尝有闻其唱者也,常和人而已矣。
English translation
Duke Ai of Lu asked Zhongni: “In Wei there is an ugly man named Ai Taitao. Men who stayed with him found themselves longing for him and could not leave; women who saw him would ask their parents, saying, ‘Rather than be another man’s wife, I would rather be this gentleman’s concubine’—such women numbered more than ten and did not stop. I have never heard of him taking the lead; he only ever harmonized with others.”
Original Chinese text
无君人之位以济乎人之死,无聚禄以望人之腹,又以恶骇天下,和而不唱,知不出乎四域,且而雌雄合乎前,是必有异乎人者也。寡人召而观之,果以恶骇天下。
English translation
“He has no ruler’s position with which to save people from death, no accumulated stipend with which to fill people’s bellies, and moreover with ugliness he terrifies the world. He harmonizes but does not lead; his knowledge does not go beyond his four quarters; yet male and female gather before him. There must be something different from others in him. I summoned him and observed him: indeed he terrifies the world with his ugliness.”
Original Chinese text
与寡人处,不至以月数,而寡人有意乎其为人也;不至乎期年,而寡人信之。国无宰,而寡人传国焉。闷然而后应,氾而若辞。寡人丑乎,卒授之国。无几何也,去寡人而行。寡人恤焉若有亡也,若无与乐是国也。
English translation
“When he was with me, before a month had passed, I was drawn to his character; before a year had passed, I trusted him. The state had no minister, and I handed the state over to him. He would be silent and only then respond; he was vague and seemed to decline. I felt ashamed, and in the end I gave him the state. Before long, he left me and went away. I was sorrowful, as if I had lost something, as if there were no one with whom to enjoy this state.”
Original Chinese text
是何人者也!”
English translation
What sort of man is he!
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“丘也尝使于楚矣,适见㹠子食于其死母者。少焉眴若,皆弃之而走。不见己焉尔,不得其类焉尔。所爱其母者,非爱其形也,爱使其形者也。战而死者,其人之葬也不以翣资;刖者之屦,无为爱之。
English translation
Zhongni said, 'I, Qiu, once was sent on a mission to Chu, and happened to see piglets suckling at their dead mother. After a little while they blinked in alarm and all abandoned her and ran away. It was because they did not see themselves in her, because they did not find their own kind in her. What they loved in their mother was not her form, but that which made her form [what it was]. When a man has died in battle, they do not use the feather-fan at his burial; the shoes of a man whose foot has been cut off—no one would care for them.
Original Chinese text
皆无其本矣。为天子之诸御:不爪翦,不穿耳;取妻者止于外,不得复使。形全犹足以为尔,而况全德之人乎!今哀骀它未言而信,无功而亲,使人授己国,唯恐其不受也,是必才全而德不形者也。”
English translation
All these lack their root. As for the various attendants of the Son of Heaven: they do not cut their nails or pierce their ears; those who take a wife are kept outside and cannot be employed again. If bodily wholeness is enough for one to be so employed, how much more a man of complete virtue! Now Aitai Tuo, without speaking, is trusted; without merit, is loved; he makes men hand over their states to him, and they only fear that he will not accept. He must be one whose talent is complete and whose virtue does not take form.
Original Chinese text
哀公曰:“何谓才全?”
English translation
Duke Ai said, 'What is meant by complete talent?'
Original Chinese text
仲尼曰:“死生、存亡、穷达、贫富、贤与不肖、毁誉、饥渴、寒暑,是事之变、命之行也。日夜相代乎前,而知不能规乎其始者也。故不足以滑和,不可入于灵府。使之和豫通而不失于兑。
English translation
Zhongni said, “Death and life, survival and destruction, adversity and success, poverty and wealth, worthiness and unworthiness, censure and praise, hunger and thirst, cold and heat—these are the transformations of things and the movements of fate. Day and night alternate before us, yet understanding cannot trace their beginning. Therefore they are not enough to disturb harmony, and they cannot enter the spirit-storehouse. Make it harmonious, at ease, and unobstructed, without losing its joy.”
Original Chinese text
使日夜无隙,而与物为春,是接而生时于心者也。是之谓才全。”
English translation
Let it be without interval day and night, and be spring with all things: this is to come into contact with things and generate timeliness in the heart. This is called the completeness of one's natural capacities.
Original Chinese text
“何谓德不形?”
English translation
“What is meant by ‘virtue not taking form’?”
Original Chinese text
曰:“平者,水停之盛也。其可以为法也,内保之而外不荡也。德者,成和之修也。德不形者,物不能离也。”
English translation
He said, “Levelness is the fullest state of still water. It can serve as a standard: keep it within, and the outside will not be agitated. Virtue is the cultivation that completes harmony. When virtue does not take form, things cannot leave it.”
Original Chinese text
哀公异日以告闵子曰:“始也吾以南面而君天下,执民之纪而忧其死,吾自以为至通矣。今吾闻至人之言,恐吾无其实,轻用吾身而亡吾国。吾与孔丘非君臣也,德友而已矣!”
English translation
Duke Ai on another day told Minzi, saying: “At first, when I sat facing south and ruled the world as lord, holding the net of governance over the people and worrying about their deaths, I considered myself fully discerning. Now that I have heard the words of the Perfect Man, I fear I lack the substance, and that I might carelessly use my body and lose my state. I and Kong Qiu are not ruler and subject; we are only friends in virtue.”
Original Chinese text
闉跂支离无脤说卫灵公,灵公说之,而视全人:其脰肩肩。瓮㼜大瘿说齐桓公,桓公说之,而视全人:其脰肩肩。故德有所长而形有所忘。人不忘其所忘而忘其所不忘,此谓诚忘。
English translation
Yin Qi Zhi Li Wu Shen, a man with a deformed body, persuaded Duke Ling of Wei. Duke Ling was pleased with him, and when he looked at whole-bodied men, their necks seemed scrawny to him. Weng Ang Da Ying, a man with a huge jar-like goiter, persuaded Duke Huan of Qi. Duke Huan was pleased with him, and when he looked at whole-bodied men, their necks seemed scrawny to him. Thus, where virtue is strong, bodily form is forgotten. People do not forget what they ought to forget, yet forget what they ought not to forget; this is called true forgetting.
Original Chinese text
故圣人有所游,而知为孽,约为胶,德为接,工为商。圣人不谋,恶用知?不斫,恶用胶?无丧,恶用德?不货,恶用商?四者,天鬻也。天鬻者,天食也。既受食于天,又恶用人!
English translation
Thus the sage has his place of wandering, but knowledge is a scourge, covenants are glue, virtue is a bond, and craft is trade. The sage does not scheme—what use has he for knowledge? He does not cut—what use has he for glue? He has no loss—what use has he for virtue? He does not traffic—what use has he for trade? These four are Heaven's nourishment. Heaven's nurturing is Heaven's feeding. Since he receives food from Heaven, what use has he for man?
Original Chinese text
有人之形,无人之情。有人之形,故群于人;无人之情,故是非不得于身。眇乎小哉,所以属于人也;謷乎大哉,独成其天。
English translation
He has the form of a man but no human feelings. Having the form of a man, he is among men; having no human feelings, right and wrong do not find a place in him. How small and petty is that which makes him belong to humanity! How great and grand is that by which he alone completes his Heaven!
Original Chinese text
惠子谓庄子曰:“人故无情乎?”
English translation
Huizi said to Zhuangzi, 'Are human beings inherently without feeling?'
Original Chinese text
庄子曰:“然。”
English translation
Zhuangzi said, 'Yes.'
Original Chinese text
惠子曰:“人而无情,何以谓之人?”
English translation
Huizi said, 'If a person is without feeling, how can they be called a person?'
Original Chinese text
庄子曰:“道与之貌,天与之形,恶得不谓之人?”
English translation
Zhuangzi said, 'The Way gives him a countenance, Heaven gives him a form—how could he not be called a person?'
Original Chinese text
惠子曰:“既谓之人,恶得无情?”
English translation
Huizi said, 'Since one is called a human, how can one be without feeling?'
Original Chinese text
庄子曰:“是非吾所谓情也。吾所谓无情者,言人之不以好恶内伤其身,常因自然而不益生也。”
English translation
Zhuangzi said, 'That is not what I call feeling. What I call being without feeling means that a person does not let likes and dislikes injure his own body from within, and always follows nature without adding to life.'
Original Chinese text
惠子曰:“不益生,何以有其身?”
English translation
Huizi said, 'If one does not add to life, how can one still keep one's own body?'
Original Chinese text
庄子曰:“道与之貌,天与之形,无以好恶内伤其身。今子外乎子之神,劳乎子之精,倚树而吟,据槁梧而瞑。天选子之形,子以坚白鸣。”
English translation
Zhuangzi said, 'The Way gives a person a countenance, and Heaven gives a person a form. Do not let likes and dislikes wound you from within. Yet you send your spirit outward and exhaust your energies: you lean against a tree and chant, then rest against a wooden armrest and close your eyes. Heaven gave you your form, but you keep sounding off about the “hard and white” debate.'