| | 天运: |
孔子西游于卫。颜渊问师金，曰：“以夫子之行为奚如？”师金曰：“惜乎，而夫子其穷哉！”颜渊曰：“何也？”师金曰：“夫刍狗之未陈也，盛以箧衍，巾以文绣，尸祝齐戒以将之；及其已陈也，行者践其首脊，苏者取而爨之而已。将复取而盛以箧衍，巾以文绣，游居寝卧其下，彼不得梦，必且数眯焉。今而夫子，亦取先王已陈刍狗，聚弟子游居寝卧其下。故伐树于宋，削迹于卫，穷于商、周，是非其梦邪？围于陈、蔡之间，七日不火食，死生相与邻，是非其眯邪？ |
| The Revolution of Heaven:...: |
When Confucius was travelling in the west in Wei, Yan Yuan asked the music-master Jin, saying, 'How is it, do you think, with the course of the Master?' The music-master replied, 'Alas! it is all over with your Master!' 'How so?' asked Yan Yuan; and the other said, 'Before the grass-dogs are set forth (at the sacrifice), they are deposited in a box or basket, and wrapt up with elegantly embroidered cloths, while the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer prepare themselves by fasting to present them. After they have been set forth, however, passers-by trample on their heads and backs, and the grass-cutters take and burn them in cooking. That is all they are good for. If one should again take them, replace them in the box or basket, wrap them up with embroidered cloths, and then in rambling, or abiding at the spot, should go to sleep under them, if he do not get (evil) dreams, he is sure to be often troubled with the nightmare. Now here is your Master in the same way taking the grass-dogs, presented by the ancient kings, and leading his disciples to wander or abide and sleep under them. Owing to this, the tree (beneath which they were practising ceremonies) in Sung was cut down; he was obliged to leave Wei; he was reduced to extremities in Shang and Zhou: were not those experiences like having (evil) dreams? He was kept in a state of siege between Chen and Cai, so that for seven days he had no cooked food to eat, and was in a situation between life and death: were not those experiences like the nightmare? |
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夫水行莫如用舟，而陆行莫如用车。以舟之可行于水也而求推之于陆，则没世不行寻常。古今非水陆与？周、鲁非舟车与？今蕲行周于鲁，是犹推舟于陆也，劳而无功，身必有殃。彼未知夫无方之传，应物而不穷者也。 |
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'If you are travelling by water, your best plan is to use a boat; if by land, a carriage. Take a boat, which will go (easily) along on the water, and try to push it along on the land, and all your lifetime it will not go so much as a fathom or two: are not ancient time and the present time like the water and the dry land? and are not Zhou and Lu like the boat and the carriage? To seek now to practise (the old ways of) Zhou in Lu is like pushing along a boat on the dry land. It is only a toilsome labour, and has no success; he who does so is sure to meet with calamity. He has not learned that in handing down the arts (of one time) he is sure to be reduced to extremity in endeavouring to adapt them to the conditions (of another). |
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且子独不见夫桔槔者乎？引之则俯，舍之则仰。彼，人之所引，非引人也，故俯仰而不得罪于人。故夫三皇、五帝之礼义法度，不矜于同而矜于治。故譬三皇、五帝之礼义法度，其犹柤梨橘柚邪！其味相反，而皆可于口。 |
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'And have you not seen the working of a shadoof? When (the rope of) it is pulled, it bends down; and when it is let go, it rises up. It is pulled by a man, and does not pull the man; and so, whether it bends down or rises up, it commits no offence against the man. In the same way the rules of propriety, righteousness, laws, and measures of the three Huangs and five Dis derived their excellence, not from their being the same as those of the present day, but from their (aptitude for) government. We may compare them to haws, pears, oranges, and pummeloes, which are different in flavour, but all suitable to be eaten. |
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故礼义法度者，应时而变者也。今取猨狙而衣以周公之服，彼必齕啮挽裂，尽去而后慊。观古今之异，犹猨狙之异乎周公也。故西施病心而矉其里，其里之丑人见而美之，归亦捧心而矉其里。其里之富人见之，坚闭门而不出；贫人见之，挈妻子而去之走。彼知矉美而不知矉之所以美。惜乎！而夫子其穷哉！” |
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'Just so it is that the rules of propriety, righteousness, laws, and measures, change according to the time. If now you take a monkey, and dress it in the robes of the duke of Zhou, it will bite and tear them, and will not be satisfied till it has got rid of them altogether. And if you look at the difference between antiquity and the present time it is as great as that between the monkey and the duke of Zhou. In the same way, when Xi Shi was troubled in mind, she would knit her brows and frown on all in her neighbourhood. An ugly woman of the neighbourhood, seeing and admiring her beauty, went home, and also laying her hands on her heart proceeded to stare and frown on all around her. When the rich people of the village saw her, they shut fast their doors and would not go out; when the poor people saw her, they took their wives and children and ran away from her. The woman knew how to admire the frowning beauty, but she did not know how it was that she, though frowning, was beautiful. Alas! it is indeed all over with your Master!' |
| | 山木: |
孔子问子桑雽曰：“吾再逐于鲁，伐树于宋，削迹于卫，穷于商、周，围于陈、蔡之间。吾犯此数患，亲交益疏，徒友益散，何与？” |
| The Tree on the...: |
Confucius asked Zi-sang Hu, saying, 'I was twice driven from Lu; the tree was felled over me in Song; I was obliged to disappear from Wei; I was reduced to extreme distress in Shang and Zhou; and I was kept in a state of siege between Chen and Cai. I have encountered these various calamities; my intimate associates are removed from me more and more; my followers and friends are more and more dispersed - why have all these things befallen me?' |
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子桑雽曰：“子独不闻假人之亡与？林回弃千金之璧，负赤子而趋。或曰：‘为其布与？赤子之布寡矣。为其累与？赤子之累多矣。弃千金之璧，负赤子而趋，何也？’林回曰：‘彼以利合，此以天属也。’夫以利合者，迫穷祸患害相弃也；以天属者，迫穷祸患害相收也。夫相收之与相弃亦远矣。且君子之交淡若水，小人之交甘若醴；君子淡以亲，小人甘以绝。彼无故以合者，则无故以离。” |
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Zi-sang Hu replied, 'Have you not heard of the flight of Lin Hui of Jia - how he abandoned his round jade symbol of rank, worth a thousand pieces of silver, and hurried away with his infant son on his back? If it be asked, "Was it because of the market value of the child?" But that value was small (compared with the value of the jade token). If it be asked again, "Was it because of the troubles (of his office)?" But the child would occasion him much more trouble. Why was it then that, abandoning the jade token, worth a thousand pieces of silver, he hurried away with the child on his back? Lin Hui (himself) said, "The union between me and the token rested on the ground of gain; that between me and the child was of Heaven's appointment." Where the bond of union is its profitableness, when the pressure of poverty, calamity, distress, and injury come, the parties abandon one another; when it is of Heaven's appointment, they hold in the same circumstances to one another. Now between abandoning one another, and holding to one another, the difference is great. Moreover, the intercourse of superior men is tasteless as water, while that of mean men is sweet as new wine. But the tastelessness of the superior men leads on to affection, and the sweetness of the mean men to aversion. The union which originates without any cause will end in separation without any cause.' |
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孔子曰：“敬闻命矣。”徐行翔佯而归，绝学捐书，弟子无挹于前，其爱益加进。 |
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Confucius said, 'I have reverently received your instructions.' And hereupon, with a slow step and an assumed air of ease, he returned to his own house. There he made an end of studying and put away his books. His disciples came no more to make their bow to him (and be taught), but their affection for him increased the more. |
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异日，桑雽又曰：“舜之将死，真泠禹曰：‘汝戒之哉！形莫若缘，情莫若率。缘则不离，率则不劳；不离不劳，则不求文以待形；不求文以待形，固不待物。’” |
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Another day Sang Hu said further to him, 'When Shun was about to die, he charged Yu, saying, 'Be upon your guard. (The attraction of) the person is not like that of sympathy; the (power of) affection is not like the leading (of example). Where there is sympathy, there will not be separation; where there is (the leading of) example, there will be no toil. Where there is neither separation nor toil, you will not have to seek the decoration of forms to make the person attractive, and where there is no such need of those forms, there will certainly be none for external things.' |
| | 让王: |
孔子穷于陈、蔡之间，七日不火食，藜羹不糁，颜色甚惫，而弦歌于室。颜回择菜，子路、子贡相与言曰：“夫子再逐于鲁，削迹于卫，伐树于宋，穷于商、周，围于陈、蔡，杀夫子者无罪，藉夫子者无禁。弦歌鼓琴，未尝绝音，君子之无耻也若此乎？”颜回无以应，入告孔子。孔子推琴喟然而叹曰：“由与赐，细人也。召而来！吾语之。” |
| Kings who have wished...: |
When Confucius was reduced to extreme distress between Zhan and Cai, for seven days he had no cooked meat to eat, but only some soup of coarse vegetables without any rice in it. His countenance wore the appearance of great exhaustion, and yet he kept playing on his lute and singing inside the house. Yan Hui (was outside), selecting the vegetables, while Zi-lu and Zi-gong were talking together, and said to him, 'The Master has twice been driven from Lu; he had to flee from Wei; the tree (beneath which he rested) was cut down in Sung; he was reduced to extreme distress in Shang and Zhou; he is held in a state of siege here between Zhan and Cai; any one who kills him will be held guiltless; there is no prohibition against making him a prisoner. And yet he keeps playing and singing, thrumming his lute without ceasing. Can a superior man be without the feeling of shame to such an extent as this?' Yan Hui gave them no reply, but went in and told (their words) to Confucius, who pushed aside his lute, and said, 'You and Ci are small men. Call them here, and I will explain the thing to them.' |
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子路、子贡入。子路曰：“如此者可谓穷矣。”孔子曰：“是何言也！君子通于道之谓通，穷于道之谓穷。今丘抱仁义之道，以遭乱世之患，其何穷之为？故内省而不穷于道，临难而不失其德，天寒既至，霜露既降，吾是以知松柏之茂也。陈、蔡之隘，于丘其幸乎！”孔子削然反琴而弦歌，子路扢然执干而舞。子贡曰：“吾不知天之高也，地之下也。” |
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When they came in, Zi-lu said, 'Your present condition may be called one of extreme distress.' Confucius replied, 'What words are these! When the Superior man has free course with his principles, that is what we call his success; when such course is denied, that is what we call his failure. Now I hold in my embrace the principles of benevolence and righteousness, and with them meet the evils of a disordered age - where is the proof of my being in extreme distress? Therefore looking inwards and examining myself, I have no difficulties about my principles; though I encounter such difficulties (as the present), I do not lose my virtue. It is when winter's cold is come, and the hoar-frost and snow are falling, that we know the vegetative power of the pine and cypress. This strait between Zhan and Cai is fortunate for me.' He then took back his lute so that it emitted a twanging sound, and began to play and sing. (At the same time) Zi-lu, hurriedly, seized a shield, and began to dance, while Zi-gong said, 'I did not know (before) the height of heaven nor the depth of the earth.' |
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古之得道者，穷亦乐，通亦乐。所乐非穷通也，道德于此，则穷通为寒暑风雨之序矣。故许由娱于颍阳，而共伯得乎共首。 |
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The ancients who had got the Dao were happy when reduced to extremity, and happy when having free course. Their happiness was independent of both these conditions. The Dao, and its characteristics - let them have these and distress and success come to them as cold and heat, as wind and rain in the natural order of things. Thus it was that Xu You. found pleasure on the north of the river Ying, and that the earl of Gong enjoyed himself on the top of mount (Gong). |
| | 渔父: |
孔子愀然而叹，再拜而起曰：“丘再逐于鲁，削迹于卫，伐树于宋，围于陈、蔡。丘不知所失，而离此四谤者何也？”客凄然变容曰：“甚矣子之难悟也！人有畏影恶迹而去之走者，举足愈数而迹愈多，走愈疾而影不离身，自以为尚迟，疾走不休，绝力而死。不知处阴以休影，处静以息迹，愚亦甚矣！子审仁义之间，察同异之际，观动静之变，适受与之度，理好恶之情，和喜怒之节，而几于不免矣。谨修而身，慎守其真，还以物与人，则无所累矣。今不修之身而求之人，不亦外乎！” |
| The Old Fisherman: |
Confucius looked sorrowful and sighed. (Again) he bowed twice, and then rose up and said, 'I was twice driven from Lu. I had to flee from Wei; the tree under which I rested was cut down in Song; I was kept in a state of siege between Chen and Cai. I do not know what errors I had committed that I came to be misrepresented on these four occasions (and suffered as I did).' The stranger looked grieved (at these words), changed countenance, and said, 'Very difficult it is, Sir, to make you understand. There was a man who was frightened at his shadow and disliked to see his footsteps, so that he ran to escape from them. But the more frequently he lifted his feet, the more numerous his footprints were; and however fast he ran, his shadow did not leave him. He thought he was going too slow, and ran on with all his speed without stopping, till his strength was exhausted and he died. He did not know that, if he had stayed in a shady place, his shadow would have disappeared, and that if he had remained still, he would have lost his footprints: his stupidity was excessive! And you, Sir, exercise your judgment on the questions about benevolence and righteousness; you investigate the points where agreement and difference touch; you look at the changes from movement to rest and from rest to movement; you have mastered the rules of receiving and giving; you have defined the feelings of liking and disliking; you have harmonised the limits of joy and anger: and yet you have hardly been able to escape (the troubles of which you speak). If you earnestly cultivated your own person, and carefully guarded your (proper) truth, simply rendering to others what was due to them, then you would have escaped such entanglements. But now, when you do not cultivate your own person, and make the cultivation of others your object, are you not occupying yourself with what is external?' |
