Parables
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
寓言十九,重言十七,卮言日出,和以天倪。寓言十九,藉外论之。亲父不为其子媒。亲父誉之,不若非其父者也。非吾罪也,人之罪也。与己同则应,不与己同则反。
English translation
Lodged words are nine tenths; weighty words, seven tenths; goblet words come forth daily and are harmonized with the Heavenly divisions. Lodged words are nine tenths: one borrows outsiders to argue a point. A father does not act as matchmaker for his own son. When a father praises him, it is not as good as praise from someone who is not his father. This is not my fault; it is the fault of others. What agrees with oneself, one echoes; what does not agree with oneself, one opposes.
Original Chinese text
同于己为是之,异于己为非之。重言十七,所以已言也。是为耆艾,年先矣,而无经纬本末以期年耆者,是非先也。人而无以先人,无人道也。人而无人道,是之谓陈人。
English translation
What agrees with oneself, one affirms as right; what differs from oneself, one condemns as wrong. Weighty words are seven tenths; they are used to bring speech to a stop. These are elders, advanced in years; but if they lack warp and weft, root and branch, to match their old age, then they are not truly advanced. If a person has nothing by which to precede others, he lacks the human way. If a person lacks the human way, he is called a stale person.
Original Chinese text
卮言日出,和以天倪,因以曼衍,所以穷年。不言则齐,齐与言不齐,言与齐不齐也。故曰:“言无言。”
English translation
Goblet words come forth daily, harmonized with the Heavenly divisions; thereby they spread and ramify, and so one lives out one’s years. If one does not speak, there is equality; but equality with speech is not equal, and speech with equality is not equal. Therefore it is said: “Speak without speaking.”
Original Chinese text
言无言:终身言,未尝言;终身不言,未尝不言。有自也而可,有自也而不可;有自也而然,有自也而不然。恶乎然?然于然;恶乎不然?不然于不然。恶乎可?可于可;恶乎不可?不可于不可。
English translation
Speaking without speaking: though one speaks all one’s life, one has never spoken; though one does not speak all one’s life, one has never not spoken. There is a basis for its being acceptable, and a basis for its not being acceptable; there is a basis for its being so, and a basis for its not being so. How is it so? It is so on account of being so. How is it not so? It is not so on account of not being so. How is it acceptable? It is acceptable on account of being acceptable. How is it not acceptable? It is not acceptable on account of not being acceptable.
Original Chinese text
物固有所然,物固有所可。无物不然,无物不可。非卮言日出,和以天倪,孰得其久!万物皆种也,以不同形相禅,始卒若环,莫得其伦,是谓天均。天均者,天倪也。
English translation
Things inherently possess what is so of them, and inherently possess what is acceptable of them. There is no thing that is not so, and no thing that is not acceptable. Were it not for goblet words coming forth daily and harmonizing with the heavenly boundary, who could attain what lasts? The ten thousand things are all seeds; in different forms they pass on to one another. Beginning and end are like a ring; no one finds their order. This is called Heavenly Equalization. Heavenly Equalization is the heavenly boundary.
Original Chinese text
庄子谓惠子曰:“孔子行年六十而六十化。始时所是,卒而非之。未知今之所谓是之非五十九非也。”
English translation
Zhuangzi said to Huizi: “When Confucius reached sixty, he had changed sixty times. What he first affirmed, he in the end denied. I do not know whether what he now calls right is not what he called wrong at fifty-nine.”
Original Chinese text
惠子曰:“孔子勤志服知也。”
English translation
Hui Shi said, “Confucius is diligent in purpose and obedient to knowledge.”
Original Chinese text
庄子曰:“孔子谢之矣,而其未之尝言也。孔子云:夫受才乎大本,复灵以生。鸣而当律,言而当法。利义陈乎前,而好恶是非直服人之口而已矣。使人乃以心服而不敢蘁立,定天下之定。
English translation
Zhuangzi said, “Confucius has already declined that, but he has never spoken of it. Confucius said: ‘One receives capacity from the Great Root and returns to the spirit in order to live. When he sounds, it accords with pitch; when he speaks, it accords with law. Profit and righteousness are laid out before him, yet likes and dislikes, right and wrong, merely make people’s mouths submit—nothing more. He causes people to submit in their hearts and not dare to stand in opposition, and he establishes the settled order of the world.’”
Original Chinese text
已乎,已乎!吾且不得及彼乎!”
English translation
Enough, enough! I cannot even catch up with him!
Original Chinese text
曾子再仕而心再化,曰:“吾及亲仕,三釜而心乐;后仕,三千锺而不洎,吾心悲。”
English translation
Zengzi took office a second time, and his heart changed a second time. He said: “When I took office while my parents were still alive, with three fu of salary my heart was happy; later, when I took office with three thousand zhong, it did not reach them, and my heart was grieved.”
Original Chinese text
弟子问于仲尼曰:“若参者,可谓无所县其罪乎?”
English translation
A disciple asked Zhongni: “Can someone like Shen be said to have no place where guilt is suspended on him?”
Original Chinese text
曰:“既已县矣!夫无所县者,可以有哀乎?彼视三釜、三千锺,如观雀蚊虻相过乎前也。”
English translation
He said: “He is already suspended! As for one who has nothing suspended, could he have grief? He looks on three fu and three thousand zhong as watching sparrows, mosquitoes, and gadflies pass before him.”
Original Chinese text
颜成子游谓东郭子綦曰:“自吾闻子之言,一年而野,二年而从,三年而通,四年而物,五年而来,六年而鬼入,七年而天成,八年而不知死、不知生,九年而大妙。生有为,死也。
English translation
Yancheng Ziyou said to Dongguo Ziji: “Since I heard your words, in the first year I returned to unadorned simplicity; in the second, I learned to follow; in the third, I became fully attuned; in the fourth, I became one with things; in the fifth, people came to follow me (following Cheng Xuanying's gloss); in the sixth, spirits entered—Cheng Xuanying glosses this as ‘the spirit apprehending the principles of things’; in the seventh, Heaven completed me; in the eighth, I no longer knew death or life; in the ninth, I reached the Great Mystery. To live with deliberate striving is death.”
Original Chinese text
劝公以其私,死也有自也,而生阳也,无自也。而果然乎?恶乎其所适,恶乎其所不适?天有历数,地有人据,吾恶乎求之?莫知其所终,若之何其无命也?莫知其所始,若之何其有命也?
English translation
“Counseling the gong by appealing to private interests” (the referent of gong is uncertain): death has its cause, while life, being yang, has no cause. But is that really so? Where does it go, and where does it not go? Heaven has its calendrical order; on earth there are places inhabited by people. Where should I seek? No one knows where it ends—how can there be no fate? No one knows where it begins—how can there be fate?
Original Chinese text
有以相应也,若之何其无鬼邪?无以相应也,若之何其有鬼邪?”
English translation
If there is that by which they respond to one another, how can there be no ghosts? If there is nothing by which they respond, how can there be ghosts?'
Original Chinese text
众罔两问于景曰:“若向也俯而今也仰,向也括撮而今也被发;向也坐而今也起;向也行而今也止:何也?”
English translation
The many penumbrae asked the shadow, saying: "A moment ago you were bowed down, and now you are lifted up; a moment ago your hair was bound up, and now it hangs loose; a moment ago you were sitting, and now you are standing; a moment ago you were walking, and now you have stopped: why is this?"
Original Chinese text
景曰:“搜搜也,奚稍问也!予有而不知其所以。予,蜩甲也,蛇蜕也,似之而非也。火与日,吾屯也;阴与夜,吾代也。彼,吾所以有待邪,而况乎以无有待者乎!
English translation
The shadow said: "I am merely a restless fluttering; why ask about such a trifling matter! I have this, but I do not know why it is so. I am like the shell a cicada casts off, the slough a snake sheds: resembling them but not the same. With fire and sun I am gathered; with shade and night I am displaced. That—is it what I depend on? And how much more so that which has nothing to depend on!"
Original Chinese text
彼来则我与之来,彼往则我与之往,彼强阳则我与之强阳。强阳者,又何以有问乎!”
English translation
"When it comes, I come with it; when it goes, I go with it; when it stirs vigorously, I stir vigorously with it. As for that which stirs vigorously—what is there to ask about it?"
Original Chinese text
阳子居南之沛,老聃西游于秦。邀于郊,至于梁而遇老子。老子中道仰天而叹曰:“始以汝为可教,今不可也。”
English translation
Yang Ziju was traveling south to Pei, while Lao Dan was journeying west to Qin. The two arranged to meet in the outskirts; when Yang Ziju reached Liang, he encountered Laozi. Midway, Laozi looked up to heaven, sighed, and said: “At first I took you to be teachable; now you are not.”
Original Chinese text
阳子居不答。至舍,进盥漱巾栉,脱屦户外,膝行而前,曰:“向者弟子欲请夫子,夫子行不闲,是以不敢;今闲矣,请问其故。”
English translation
Yang Ziju did not answer. When they reached the lodging, he presented water for washing and rinsing, a towel, and a comb. He took off his shoes outside the door, advanced on his knees, and said: “Earlier, your disciple wished to ask you, Master, but you were traveling and had no leisure, so I did not dare. Now you have leisure; may I ask the reason?”
Original Chinese text
老子曰:“而睢睢盱盱,而谁与居!大白若辱,盛德若不足。”
English translation
Laozi said: “You stare and glare with arrogance—who would dwell with you? The purest white seems stained; the fullest virtue seems insufficient.”
Original Chinese text
阳子居蹴然变容曰:“敬闻命矣!”
English translation
Yang Ziju started, changed countenance, and said, “I respectfully receive your instruction!”
Original Chinese text
其往也,舍者迎将其家,公执席,妻执巾栉,舍者避席,炀者避灶。其反也,舍者与之争席矣!
English translation
When he first went there, the lodgers welcomed him and ushered him into the house. The host held a mat, and the host’s wife held a towel and comb. The lodgers yielded their seats, and those warming themselves at the hearth moved aside. When he returned, the lodgers contended with him for seats!