| | 徐无鬼: |
古之真人，得之也生，失之也死；得之也死，失之也生。药也，其实堇也。桔梗也，鸡壅也，豕零也，是时为帝者也，何可胜言！ |
| Xu Wu-gui: |
The True men of old (now) looked on success as life and on failure as death; and (now) on success as death and on failure as life. The operation of medicines will illustrate this: there are monk's-bane, the Jie-geng, the tribulus fruit, and china-root; each of these has the time and case for which it is supremely suitable; and all such plants and their suitabilities cannot be mentioned particularly. |
| | |
句践也以甲楯三千，栖于会稽。唯种也能知亡之所以存，唯种也不知身之所以愁。故曰：鸱目有所适，鹤胫有所节，解之也悲。故曰：风之过河也有损焉，日之过河也有损焉。请只风与日相与守河，而河以为未始其撄也，恃源而往者也。故水之守土也审，影之守人也审，物之守物也审。 |
| |
Gou-jian took his station on (the hill of) Gui-ji with 3,000 men with their buff-coats and shields: (his minister) Zhong knew how the ruined (Yue) might still be preserved, but the same man did not know the sad fate in store for himself. Hence it is said, 'The eye of the owl has its proper fitness; the leg of the crane has its proper limit, and to cut off any of it would distress (the bird).' Hence (also) it is (further) said, 'When the wind passes over it, the volume of the river is diminished, and so it is when the sun passes over it. But let the wind and sun keep a watch together on the river, and it will not begin to feel that they are doing it any injury: it relies on its springs and flows on.' Thus, water does its part to the ground with undeviating exactness; and so does the shadow to the substance; and one thing to another. |
| | |
故目之于明也殆，耳之于聪也殆，心之于殉也殆。凡能其于府也殆，殆之成也不给改。祸之长也兹萃，其反也缘功，其果也待久。而人以为己宝，不亦悲乎！故有亡国戮民无已，不知问是也。 |
| |
Therefore there is danger from the power of vision in the eyes, of hearing in the ears, and of the inordinate thinking of the mind; yea, there is danger from the exercise of every power of which man's constitution is the depository. When the danger has come to a head, it cannot be averted, and the calamity is perpetuated, and goes on increasing. The return from this (to a state of security) is the result of (great) effort, and success can be attained only after a long time; and yet men consider (their power of self-determination) as their precious possession: is it not sad? It is in this way that we have the ruin of states and the slaughtering of the people without end; while no one knows how to ask how it comes about. |
| | |
故足之于地也践，虽践，恃其所不蹍而后善博也；人之于知也少，虽少，恃其所不知而后知天之所谓也。知大一，知大阴，知大目，知大均，知大方，知大信，知大定，至矣。大一通之，大阴解之，大目视之，大均缘之，大方体之，大信稽之，大定持之。 |
| |
Therefore, the feet of man on the earth tread but on a small space, but going on to where he has not trod before, he traverses a great distance easily; so his knowledge is but small, but going on to what he does not already know, he comes to know what is meant by Heaven. He knows it as The Great Unity; The Great Mystery; The Great Illuminator; The Great Framer; The Great Boundlessness; The Great Truth; The Great Determiner. This makes his knowledge complete. As The Great Unity, he comprehends it; as The Great Mystery, he unfolds it; as the Great Illuminator, he contemplates it; as the Great Framer, it is to him the Cause of all; as the Great Boundlessness, all is to him its embodiment; as The Great Truth, he examines it; as The Great Determiner, he holds it fast. |
| | |
尽有天，循有照，冥有枢，始有彼。则其解之也似不解之者，其知之也似不知之也，不知而后知之。其问之也，不可以有崖，而不可以无崖。颉滑有实，古今不代，而不可以亏，则可不谓有大扬搉乎！阖不亦问是已，奚惑然为！以不惑解惑，复于不惑，是尚大不惑。 |
| |
Thus Heaven is to him all; accordance with it is the brightest intelligence. Obscurity has in this its pivot; in this is the beginning. Such being the case, the explanation of it is as if it were no explanation; the knowledge of it is as if it were no knowledge. (At first) he does not know it, but afterwards he comes to know it. In his inquiries, he must not set to himself any limits, and yet he cannot be without a limit. Now ascending, now descending, then slipping from the grasp, (the Dao) is yet a reality, unchanged now as in antiquity, and always without defect: may it not be called what is capable of the greatest display and expansion? Why should we not inquire into it? Why should we be perplexed about it? With what does not perplex let us explain what perplexes, till we cease to be perplexed. So may we arrive at a great freedom from all perplexity! |
