| | 天运: |
孔子见老聃而语仁义。老聃曰：“夫播穅眯目，则天地四方易位矣；蚊虻噆肤，则通昔不寐矣。夫仁义憯然，乃愤吾心，乱莫大焉。吾子使天下无失其朴，吾子亦放风而动，总德而立矣，又奚杰然若负建鼓而求亡子者邪？夫鹄不日浴而白，乌不日黔而黑。黑白之朴，不足以为辩；名誉之观，不足以为广。泉涸，鱼相与处于陆，相呴以湿，相濡以沫，不若相忘于江湖。” |
| The Revolution of Heaven:...: |
At an interview with Lao Dan, Confucius spoke to him of benevolence and righteousness. Lao Dan said, 'If you winnow chaff, and the dust gets into your eyes, then the places of heaven and earth and of the four cardinal points are all changed to you. If musquitoes or gadflies puncture your skin, it will keep you all the night from sleeping. But this painful iteration of benevolence and righteousness excites my mind and produces in it the greatest confusion. If you, Sir, would cause men not to lose their natural simplicity, and if you would also imitate the wind in its (unconstrained) movements, and stand forth in all the natural attributes belonging to you!-- why must you use so much energy, and carry a great drum to seek for the son whom you have lost? The snow-goose does not bathe every day to make itself white, nor the crow blacken itself every day to make itself black. The natural simplicity of their black and white does not afford any ground for controversy; and the fame and praise which men like to contemplate do not make them greater than they naturally are. When the springs (supplying the pools) are dried up, the fishes huddle together on the dry land. Than that they should moisten one another there by their gasping, and keep one another wet by their milt, it would be better for them to forget one another in the rivers and lakes.' |
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孔子见老聃归，三日不谈。弟子问曰：“夫子见老聃，亦将何归哉？”孔子曰：“吾乃今于是乎见龙。龙合而成体，散而成章，乘乎云气而养乎阴阳。予口张而不能嗋，予又何规老聃哉！”子贡曰：“然则人固有尸居而龙见，雷声而渊默，发动如天地者乎？赐亦可得而观乎？”遂以孔子声见老聃。 |
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From this interview with Lao Dan, Confucius returned home, and for three days did not speak. His disciples (then) asked him, saying, 'Master, you have seen Lao Dan; in what way might you admonish and correct him?' Confucius said, 'In him (I may say) that I have now seen the dragon. The dragon coils itself up, and there is its body; it unfolds itself and becomes the dragon complete. It rides on the cloudy air, and is nourished by the Yin and Yang. I kept my mouth open, and was unable to shut it - how could I admonish and correct Lao Dan?' Zi-gong said, 'So then, can (this) man indeed sit still as a representative of the dead, and then appear as the dragon? Can his voice resound as thunder, when he is profoundly still? Can he exhibit himself in his movements like heaven and earth? May I, Ci, also get to see him?' Accordingly with a message from Confucius he went to see Lao Dan. |
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老聃方将倨堂而应微曰：“予年运而往矣，子将何以戒我乎？”子贡曰：“夫三王、五帝之治天下不同，其系声名一也。而先生独以为非圣人，如何哉？”老聃曰：“小子少进！子何以谓不同？”对曰：“尧授舜，舜授禹，禹用力而汤用兵，文王顺纣而不敢逆，武王逆纣而不肯顺，故曰不同。” |
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Lao Dan was then about to answer (his salutation) haughtily in the hall, but he said in a low voice, 'My years have rolled on and are passing away, what do you, Sir, wish to admonish me about?' Zi-gong replied, 'The Three Kings and Five Dis ruled the world not in the same way, but the fame that has accrued to them is the same. How is it that you alone consider that they were not sages?' 'Come forward a little, my son. Why do you say that (their government) was not the same?' 'Yao,' was the reply, 'gave the kingdom to Shun, and Shun gave it to Yu. Yu had recourse to his strength, and Tang to the force of arms. King Wen was obedient to Zhou (-xin), and did not dare to rebel; king Wu rebelled against Zhou, and would not submit to him. And I say that their methods were not the same.' |
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老聃曰：“小子少进！余语汝三皇、五帝之治天下。黄帝之治天下，使民心一，民有其亲死不哭而民不非也。尧之治天下，使民心亲，民有为其亲杀其杀而民不非也。舜之治天下，使民心竞，民孕妇十月生子，子生五月而能言，不至乎孩而始谁，则人始有夭矣。禹之治天下，使民心变，人有心而兵有顺，杀盗非杀，人自为种而天下耳，是以天下大骇，儒、墨皆起。其作始有伦，而今乎妇女，何言哉！余语汝：三皇、五帝之治天下，名曰治之，而乱莫甚焉。三皇之知，上悖日月之明，下睽山川之精，中堕四时之施。其知憯于蛎虿之尾，鲜规之兽，莫得安其性命之情者，而犹自以为圣人，不可耻乎？其无耻也！”子贡蹴蹴然立不安。 |
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Lao Dan said, 'Come a little more forward, my son, and I will tell you how the Three Huangs and the Five Dis ruled the world. Huang-Di ruled it, so as to make the minds of the people all conformed to the One (simplicity). If the parents of one of them died, and he did not wail, no one blamed him. Yao ruled it so as to cause the hearts of the people to cherish relative affection. If any, however, made the observances on the death of other members of their kindred less than those for their parents, no one blamed them. Shun ruled it, so as to produce a feeling of rivalry in the minds of the people. Their wives gave birth to their children in the tenth month of their pregnancy, but those children could speak at five months; and before they were three years old, they began to call people by their surnames and names. Then it was that men began to die prematurely. Yu ruled it, so as to cause the minds of the people to become changed. Men's minds became scheming, and they used their weapons as if they might legitimately do so, (saying that they were) killing thieves and not killing other men. The people formed themselves into different combinations - so it was throughout the kingdom. Everywhere there was great consternation, and then arose the Literati and (the followers of) Mo (Di). From them came first the doctrine of the relationships (of society); and what can be said of the now prevailing customs (in the marrying of) wives and daughters? I tell you that the rule of the Three Kings and Five Dis may be called by that name, but nothing can be greater than the disorder which it produced. The wisdom of the Three Kings was opposed to the brightness of the sun and moon above, contrary to the exquisite purity of the hills and streams below, and subversive of the beneficent gifts of the four seasons between. Their wisdom has been more fatal than the sting of a scorpion or the bite of a dangerous beast. Unable to rest in the true attributes of their nature and constitution, they still regarded themselves as sages: was it not a thing to be ashamed of? But they were shameless.' Zi-gong stood quite disconcerted and ill at ease. |
| | 田子方: |
孔子见老聃，老聃新沐，方将被发而乾，慹然似非人。孔子便而待之，少焉见曰：“丘也眩与？其信然与？向者先生形体掘若槁木，似遗物离人而立于独也。”老聃曰：“吾游心于物之初。” |
| Tian Zi-fang: |
Confucius went to see Lao Dan, and arrived just as he had completed the bathing of his head, and was letting his dishevelled hair get dry. There he was, motionless, and as if there were not another man in the world. Confucius waited quietly; and, when in a little time he was introduced, he said, 'Were my eyes dazed? Is it really you? Just now, your body, Sir, was like the stump of a rotten tree. You looked as if you had no thought of anything, as if you had left the society of men, and were standing in the solitude (of yourself).' Lao Dan replied, 'I was enjoying myself in thinking about the commencement of things.' |
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孔子曰：“何谓邪？”曰：“心困焉而不能知，口辟焉而不能言，尝为汝议乎其将。至阴肃肃，至阳赫赫；肃肃出乎天，赫赫发乎地；两者交通成和而物生焉，或为之纪而莫见其形。消息满虚，一晦一明，日改月化，日有所为，而莫见其功。生有所乎萌，死有所乎归，始终相反乎无端，而莫知其所穷。非是也，且孰为之宗！” |
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Confucius said, 'What do you mean?' Lao Dan replied, 'My mind is so cramped, that I hardly know it; my tongue is so tied that I cannot tell it; but I will try to describe it to you as nearly as I can. When the state of Yin was perfect, all was cold and severe; when the state of Yang was perfect, all was turbulent and agitated. The coldness and severity came forth from Heaven; the turbulence and agitation issued from Earth. The two states communicating together, a harmony ensued and things were produced. Some one regulated and controlled this, but no one has seen his form. Decay and growth; fulness and emptiness; darkness and light; the changes of the sun and the transformations of the moon: these are brought about from day to day; but no one sees the process of production. Life has its origin from which it springs, and death has its place from which it returns. Beginning and ending go on in mutual contrariety without any determinable commencement, and no one knows how either comes to an end. If we disallow all this, who originates and presides over all these phenomena?' |
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孔子曰：“请问游是。”老聃曰：“夫得是，至美至乐也。得至美而游乎至乐，谓之至人。”孔子曰：“愿闻其方。”曰：“草食之兽不疾易薮，水生之虫不疾易水，行小变而不失其大常也，喜怒哀乐不入于胸次。夫天下也者，万物之所一也。得其所一而同焉，则四支百体将为尘垢，而死生终始将为昼夜而莫之能滑，而况得丧祸福之所介乎！弃隶者若弃泥涂，知身贵于隶也，贵在于我而不失于变。且万化而未始有极也，夫孰足以患心！已为道者解乎此。” |
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Confucius said, 'I beg to ask about your enjoyment in these thoughts.' Lao Dan replied, 'The comprehension of this is the most admirable and the most enjoyable (of all acquisitions). The getting of the most admirable and the exercise of the thoughts in what is the most enjoyable, constitutes what we call the Perfect man.' Confucius said, 'I should like to hear the method of attaining to it.' The reply was, 'Grass-eating animals do not dislike to change their pastures; creatures born in the water do not dislike to change their waters. They make a small change, but do not lose what is the great and regular requirement (of their nature); joy, anger, sadness, and delight do not enter into their breasts (in connexion with such events). Now the space under the sky is occupied by all things in their unity. When they possess that unity and equally share it, then the four limbs and hundred members of their body are but so much dust and dirt, while death and life, their ending and beginning, are but as the succession of day and night, which cannot disturb their enjoyment; and how much less will they be troubled by gains and losses, by calamity and happiness! Those who renounce the paraphernalia of rank do it as if they were casting away so much mud - they know that they are themselves more honourable than those paraphernalia. The honour belonging to one's self is not lost by any change (of condition). Moreover, a myriad transformations may take place before the end of them is reached. What is there in all this sufficient to trouble the mind? Those who have attained to the Dao understand the subject.' |
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孔子曰：“夫子德配天地，而犹假至言以修心，古之君子，孰能脱焉？”老聃曰：“不然。夫水之于汋也，无为而才自然矣。至人之于德也，不修而物不能离焉，若天之自高，地之自厚，日月之自明，夫何修焉！” |
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Confucius said, '0 Master, your virtue is equal to that of Heaven and Earth, and still I must borrow (some of your) perfect words (to aid me) in the cultivation of my mind. Who among the superior men of antiquity could give such expression to them?' Lao Dan replied, 'Not so. Look at the spring, the water of which rises and overflows - it does nothing, but it naturally acts so. So with the perfect man and his virtue - he does not cultivate it, and nothing evades its influence. He is like heaven which is high of itself, like earth which is solid of itself, like the sun and moon which shine of themselves - what need is there to cultivate it?' |
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孔子出，以告颜回曰：“丘之于道也，其犹醯鸡与！微夫子之发吾覆也，吾不知天地之大全也。” |
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Confucius went out and reported the conversation to Yan Hui, saying, 'In the (knowledge of the) Dao am I any better than an animalcule in vinegar? But for the Master's lifting the veil from me, I should not have known the grand perfection of Heaven and Earth.' |
