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Chinese Text Project
Simplified Chinese version
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《列御寇 - Lie Yu-kou》

English translation: James Legge [?]
Books referencing 《列御寇》 Library Resources
1 列御寇:
列御寇之齐,中道而反,遇伯昏瞀人。伯昏瞀人曰:“奚方而反?”曰:“吾惊焉。”曰:“恶乎惊?”曰:“吾尝食于十浆,而五浆先馈。”伯昏瞀人曰:“若是,则汝何为惊已?”曰:“夫内诚不解,形谍成光,以外镇人心,使人轻乎贵老,而齑其所患。夫浆特为食羹之货,多馀之赢,其为利也薄,其为权也轻,而犹若是,而况于万乘之主乎!身劳于国而知尽于事,彼将任我以事而效我以功,吾是以惊。”伯昏瞀人曰:“善哉观乎!汝处已,人将保汝矣。”
Lie Yu-kou:
Lie Yu-kou had started to go to Qi, but came back when he was half-way to it. He met Bo-hun Wu-ren, who said, 'Why have you come back?' His reply was, 'I was frightened.' 'What frightened you?' 'I went into ten soup-shops to get a meal, and in five of them the soup was set before me before (I had paid for it).' 'But what was there in that to frighten you?' (Liezi) said, 'Though the inward and true purpose be not set forth, the body like a spy gives some bright display of it. And this outward demonstration overawes men's minds, and makes men on light grounds treat one as noble or as aged, from which evil to him will be produced. Now vendors of soup supply their commodity simply as a matter of business, and however much they may dispose of, their profit is but little, and their power is but slight; and yet they treated me as I have said: how much more would the lord of ten thousand chariots do so! His body burdened with (the cares of his) kingdom, and his knowledge overtasked by its affairs, he would entrust those affairs to me, and exact from me the successful conduct (of its government). It was this which frightened me.' Po-hwan W?-zan replied, 'Admirable perspicacity! But if you carry yourself as you do, men will flock to you for protection.'
无几何而往,则户外之屦满矣。伯昏瞀人北面而立,敦杖蹙之乎颐,立有间,不言而出。宾者以告列子,列子提屦,跣而走,暨乎门,曰:“先生既来,曾不发药乎?”曰:“已矣!吾固告汝曰‘人将保汝’,果保汝矣。非汝能使人保汝,而汝不能使人无保汝也,而焉用之感豫出异也!必且有感,摇而本才,又无谓也。与汝游者,又莫汝告也,彼所小言,尽人毒也。莫觉莫悟,何相孰也!巧者劳而知者忧,无能者无所求,饱食而敖游,泛若不系之舟,虚而敖游者也。”
Not long after, Bo-hun Wu-ren went (to visit Liezi), and found the space outside his door full of shoes. There he stood with his face to the north, holding his staff upright, and leaning his chin on it till the skin was wrinkled. After standing so for some time, and without saying a word, he was going away, when the door-keeper went in, and told Liezi. The latter (immediately) took up his shoes, and ran barefoot after the visitor. When he overtook him at the (outer) gate, he said, 'Since you, Sir, have come, are you going away without giving me some medicine?' The other replied, 'It is of no use. I did tell you that men would flock to you, and they do indeed do so. It is not that you can cause men to flock to you, but you cannot keep them from not so coming - of what use is (all my warning)? What influences them and makes them glad is the display of your extraordinary (qualities); but you must also be influenced in your turn, and your proper nature be shaken, and no warning can be addressed to you. Those who associate with you do not admonish you of this. The small words which they speak are poison to a man. You perceive it not; you understand it not - how can you separate yourself from them? The clever toil on, and the wise are sad. Those who are without ability seek for nothing. They eat to the full, and wander idly about. They drift like a vessel loosed from its moorings, and aimlessly wander about.'

2 列御寇:
郑人缓也呻吟裘氏之地。祗三年而缓为儒,润河九里,泽及三族,使其弟墨。儒、墨相与辩,其父助翟。十年而缓自杀。其父梦之,曰:“使而子为墨者,予也。阖胡尝视其良,既为秋柏之实矣!”夫造物者之报人也,不报其人而报其人之天。彼故使彼。夫人以己为有以异于人,以贱其亲,齐人之井,饮者相捽也。故曰:“今之世皆缓也。”自是,有德者以不知也,而况有道者乎!古者谓之遁天之刑。
Lie Yu-kou:
A man of Zheng, called Huan, learned his books in the neighbourhood of Qiu-shi, and in no longer time than three years became a Confucian scholar, benefiting the three classes of his kindred as the He extends its enriching influence for nine li. He made his younger brother study (the principles of) Mo, and then they two - the scholar and the Mohist - disputed together (about their respective systems), and the father took the side of the younger. After ten years Huan killed himself. (By and by) he appeared to his father in a dream, saying, 'It was I who made your son become a Mohist; why did you not recognise that good service? I am become (but) the fruit of a cypress in autumn.' But the Creator, in apportioning the awards of men, does not recompense them for their own doings, but recompenses them for the (use of the) Heavenly in them. It was thus that Huan's brother was led to learn Mohism. When this Huan thought that it was he who had made his brother different from what he would have been, and proceeded to despise his father, he was like the people of Qi, who, while they drank from a well, tried to keep one another from it. Hence it is said, 'Now-a-days all men are Huans.' From this we perceive that those who possess the characteristics (of the Dao) consider that they do not know them; how much more is it so with those who possess the Dao itself! The ancients called such (as Huan) 'men who had escaped the punishment of Heaven.'

3 列御寇:
圣人安其所安,不安其所不安;众人安其所不安,不安其所安。
Lie Yu-kou:
The sagely man rests in what is his proper rest; he does not rest in what is not so - the multitude of men rest in what is not their proper rest; they do not rest in their proper rest.

4 列御寇:
庄子曰:“知道易,勿言难。知而不言,所以之天也;知而言之,所以之人也。古之人,天而不人。”
Lie Yu-kou:
Zhuangzi said, 'To know the Dao is easy; not to say (that you know it) is difficult. To know it and not to speak of it is the way to attain to the Heavenly; to know and to speak of it, is the way to show the Human. The ancients pursued the Heavenly (belonging to them), and not the Human.'

5 列御寇:
朱泙漫学屠龙于支离益,单千金之家,三年技成,而无所用其巧。
Lie Yu-kou:
Zhu Ping-man learned how to slaughter the dragon from Zhi-li Yi, expending (in doing so) all his wealth of a thousand ounces of silver. In three years he became perfect in the art, but he never exercised his skill.

6 列御寇:
圣人以必不必,故无兵;众人以不必必之,故多兵。顺于兵,故行有求。兵,恃之则亡。
Lie Yu-kou:
The sage looks on what is deemed necessary as unnecessary, and therefore is not at war (in himself). The mass of men deem what is unnecessary to be necessary, and therefore they are often at war (in themselves). Therefore those who pursue this method of (internal) war, resort to it in whatever they seek for. But reliance on such war leads to ruin.

7 列御寇:
小夫之知,不离苞苴竿牍,敝精神乎蹇浅,而欲兼济道物,太一形虚。若是者,迷惑于宇宙,形累不知太初。彼至人者,归精神乎无始,而甘冥乎无何有之乡。水流乎无形,发泄乎太清。悲哉乎!汝为知在毫毛,而不知大宁!
Lie Yu-kou:
The wisdom of the small man does not go beyond (the minutiae of) making presents and writing memoranda, wearying his spirits out in what is trivial and mean. But at the same time he wishes to aid in guiding to (the secret of) the Dao and of (all) things in the incorporeity of the Grand Unity. In this way he goes all astray in regard to (the mysteries of) space and time. The fetters of embodied matter keep him from the knowledge of the Grand Beginning. (On the other hand), the perfect man directs the energy of his spirit to what was before the Beginning, and finds pleasure in the mysteriousness belonging to the region of nothingness. He is like the water which flows on without the obstruction of matter, and expands into the Grand Purity. Alas for what you do, (0 men)! You occupy yourselves with things trivial as a hair, and remain ignorant of the Grand Rest!

8 列御寇:
宋人有曹商者,为宋王使秦。其往也,得车数乘;王说之,益车百乘。反于宋,见庄子曰:“夫处穷闾厄巷,困窘织屦,槁项黄馘者,商之所短也;一悟万乘之主,而从车百乘者,商之所长也。”庄子曰:“秦王有病召医,破痈溃痤者得车一乘,舐痔者得车五乘,所治愈下,得车愈多。子岂治其痔邪?何得车之多也?子行矣!”
Lie Yu-kou:
There was a man of Song, called Cao Shang, who was sent by the king of Song on a mission to Qin. On setting out, he had several carriages with him; and the king (of Qin) was so pleased with him that he gave him another hundred. When he returned to Song, he saw Zhuangzi, and said to him, 'To live in a narrow lane of a poor mean hamlet, wearing sandals amid distress of poverty, with a weazen neck and yellow face - that is what I should find it difficult to do. But as soon as I come to an understanding with the Lord of a myriad carriages, to find myself with a retinue of a hundred carriages - that is wherein I excel.' Zhuangzi replied, 'When the king of Qin is ill, the doctor whom he calls to open an ulcer or squeeze a boil receives a carriage; and he who licks his piles receives five. The lower the service, the more are the carriages given. Did you, Sir, lick his piles? How else should you have got so many carriages? Begone!'

9 列御寇:
鲁哀公问于颜阖曰:“吾以仲尼为贞干,国其有瘳乎?”曰:“殆哉圾乎!仲尼方且饰羽而画,从事华辞,以支为旨,忍性以视民而不知不信,受乎心,宰乎神,夫何足以上民!彼宜女与?予颐与?误而可矣。今使民离实学伪,非所以视民也。为后世虑,不若休之,难治也。”
Lie Yu-kou:
Duke Ai of lu asked Yan He, saying, 'If I employ Zhongni as the support of my government, will the evils of the state be thereby cured?' The reply was, '(Such a measure) would be perilous! It would be full of hazard! Zhongni, moreover, will try to ornament a feather and paint it; in the conduct of affairs he uses flowery speeches. A (mere) branch is to him more admirable (than the root); he can bear to misrepresent their nature in instructing the people, and is not conscious of the unreality of his words. He receives (his inspiration) from his own mind, and rules his course from his own spirit: what fitness has he to be set over the people? Is such a man suitable for you (as your minister)? Could you give to him the nourishment (of the people)? You would do so by mistake (but not on purpose, for a time, but not as a permanency). To make the people leave what is real, and learn what is hypocritical - that is not the proper thing to be shown to them; if you take thought for future ages, your better plan will be to give up (the idea of employing Confucius) - else governing will be difficult.

10 列御寇:
施于人而不忘,非天布也。商贾不齿,虽以事齿之,神者勿齿。为外刑者,金与木也;为内刑者,动与过也。宵人之离外刑者,金木讯之;离内刑者,阴阳食之。夫免乎外内之刑者,唯真人能之。
Lie Yu-kou:
Dealing with men without forgetting yourself is not according to the example of Heaven in diffusing its benefits. Merchants and traffickers are not to be ranked (with administrative officers) if on an occasion you so rank them, the spirits (of the people) do not acquiesce in your doing so. The instruments of external punishment are made of metal and wood; those of internal punishment are agitation (of the mind) and (the sense of) transgression. When small men become subject to the external punishment, the (instruments of) metal and wood deal with them; when they become liable to the internal punishments, the Yin and Yang consume them. It is only the true man who can escape both from the external and internal punishment.

11 列御寇:
孔子曰:“凡人心险于山川,难于知天。天犹有春秋冬夏旦暮之期,人者厚貌深情。故有貌愿而益,有长若不肖,有顺懁而达,有坚而缦,有缓而釬。故其就义若渴者,其去义若热。故君子远使之而观其忠,近使之而观其敬,烦使之而观其能,卒然问焉而观其知,急与之期而观其信,委之以财而观其仁,告之以危而观其节,醉之以酒而观其侧,杂之以处而观其色。九徵至,不肖人得矣。
Lie Yu-kou:
Confucius said, 'The minds of men are more difficult of approach than (the position defended by) mountains and rivers, and more difficult to know than Heaven itself. Heaven has its periods of spring and autumn, of winter and summer, and of morning and evening; but man's exterior is thickly veiled, and his feelings lie deep. Thus the demeanour of some is honest-like, and yet they go to excess (in what is mean); others are really gifted, and yet look to be without ability; some seem docile and impressible, but yet they have far-reaching schemes; others look firm, and yet may be twisted about; others look slow, and yet they are hasty. In this way those who hasten to do what is right as if they were thirsty will anon hurry away from it as if it were fire. Hence the superior man looks at them when employed at a distance to test their fidelity, and when employed near at hand to test their reverence. By employing them on difficult services, he tests their ability; by questioning them suddenly, he tests their knowledge; by appointing them a fixed time, he tests their good faith; by entrusting them with wealth, he tests their benevolence; by telling them of danger, he tests their self-command in emergencies; by making them drunk, he tests their tendencies; by placing them in a variety of society, he tests their chastity: by these nine tests the inferior man is discovered.'

12 列御寇:
正考父一命而伛,再命而偻,三命而俯,循墙而走,孰敢不轨!如而夫者,一命而吕钜,再命而于车上舞,三命而名诸父,孰协唐、许!
Lie Yu-kou:
When Kao-fu, the Correct, received the first grade of official rank, he walked with head bowed down; on receiving the second, with bent back; on receiving the third, with body stooping, he ran and hurried along the wall: who would presume not to take him as a model? But one of those ordinary men, on receiving his first appointment, goes along with a haughty stride; on receiving his second, he looks quite elated in his chariot; and on receiving the third, he calls his uncles by their personal names - how very different from Xu (You) in the time (of Yao of) Tang!

13 列御寇:
贼莫大乎德有心而心有眼1,及其有眼2也而内视,内视而败矣。凶德有五,中德为首。何谓中德?中德也者,有以自好也而吡其所不为者也。
Lie Yu-kou:
Of all things that injure (men) there is none greater than the practising of virtue with the purpose of the mind, till the mind becomes supercilious. When it becomes so, the mind (only) looks inwards (on itself), and such looking into itself leads to its ruin. This evil quality has five forms, and the chief of them is that which is the central. What do we mean by the central quality? It is that which appears in a man's loving (only) his own views, and reviling whatever he does not do (himself).
穷有八极,达有三必,形有六府。美、髯、长、大、壮、丽、勇、敢,八者俱过人也,因以是穷。缘循、偃佒、困畏不若人,三者俱通达。知慧外通,勇动多怨,仁义多责。达生之情者傀,达于知者肖;达大命者随,达小命者遭。
Limiting (men's advance), there are eight extreme conditions; securing (that advance), there are three things necessary; and the person has its six repositories. Elegance; a (fine) beard; tallness; size; strength; beauty; bravery; daring; and in all these excelling others: (these are the eight extreme conditions) by which advance is limited. Depending on and copying others; stooping in order to rise; and being straitened by the fear of not equalling others: these are the three things that lead to advancing. Knowledge seeking to reach to all that is external; bold movement producing many resentments; benevolence and righteousness leading to many requisitions; understanding the phenomena of life in an extraordinary degree; understanding all knowledge so as to possess an approach to it; understanding the great condition appointed for him, and following it, and the smaller conditions, and meeting them as they occur: (these are the six repositories of the person).

1. 眼 : Another version reads: "睫". 《四部丛刊》本作“睫”。
2. 眼 : Another version reads: "睫". 《四部丛刊》本作“睫”。

14 列御寇:
人有见宋王者,锡车十乘,以其十乘骄稚庄子。庄子曰:“河上有家贫恃纬萧而食者,其子没于渊,得千金之珠。其父谓其子曰‘取石来锻之!夫千金之珠,必在九重之渊而骊龙颔下,子能得珠者,必遭其睡也。使骊龙而寤,子尚奚微之有哉!’今宋国之深,非直九重之渊也;宋王之猛,非直骊龙也。子能得车者,必遭其睡也。使宋王而寤,子为齑粉夫!”
Lie Yu-kou:
There was a man who, having had an interview with the king of Song, and been presented by him with ten carriages, showed them boastfully to Zhuangzi, as if the latter had been a boy. Zhuangzi said to him, 'Near the He there was a poor man who supported his family by weaving rushes (to form screens). His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said, "Bring a stone, and break it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine Zhong deep, and under the chin of the Black Dragon. That you were able to get it must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences to you will not be small!" Now the kingdom of Song is deeper than any pool of nine Zhong, and its king is fiercer than the Black Dragon. That you were able to get the chariots must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and you will be ground to powder.'

15 列御寇:
或聘于庄子,庄子应其使曰:“子见夫牺牛乎?衣以文绣,食以刍叔,及其牵而入于太庙,虽欲为孤犊,其可得乎!”
Lie Yu-kou:
Some (ruler) having sent a message of invitation to him, Zhuangzi replied to the messenger, 'Have you seen, Sir, a sacrificial ox? It is robed with ornamental embroidery, and feasted on fresh grass and beans. But when it is led into the grand ancestral temple, though it wished to be (again) a solitary calf, would that be possible for it?'

16 列御寇:
庄子将死,弟子欲厚葬之。庄子曰:“吾以天地为棺椁,以日月为连璧,星辰为珠玑,万物为赍送。吾葬具岂不备邪?何以加此!”弟子曰:“吾恐乌鸢之食夫子也。”庄子曰:“在上为乌鸢食,在下为蝼蚁食,夺彼与此,何其偏也!”
Lie Yu-kou:
When Zhuangzi was about to die, his disciples signified their wish to give him a grand burial. 'I shall have heaven and earth,' said he, 'for my coffin and its shell; the sun and moon for my two round symbols of jade; the stars and constellations for my pearls and jewels; and all things assisting as the mourners. Will not the provisions for my burial be complete? What could you add to them?' The disciples replied, 'We are afraid that the crows and kites will eat our master.' Zhuangzi rejoined, 'Above, the crows and kites will eat me; below, the mole-crickets and ants will eat me: to take from those and give to these would only show your partiality.'

17 列御寇:
以不平平,其平也不平;以不徵徵,其徵也不徵。明者唯为之使,神者徵之。夫明之不胜神也久矣,而愚者恃其所见入于人,其功外也,不亦悲乎!
Lie Yu-kou:
The attempt, with what is not even, to produce what is even will only produce an uneven result; the attempt, with what is uncertain, to make the uncertain certain will leave the uncertainty as it was. He who uses only the sight of his eyes is acted on by what he sees; it is the (intuition of the) spirit, that gives the assurance of certainty. That the sight of the eyes is not equal to that intuition of the spirit is a thing long acknowledged. And yet stupid people rely on what they see, and will have it to be the sentiment of all men - all their success being with what is external: is it not sad?

URN: ctp:zhuangzi/lie-yu-kou