Guan Yin Zi (關尹子)

一宇宇者道也

Chapter One, “One Heaven” (yu, the cosmos): “yu” here means the Way (dao, the word Laozi used to refer to the origin of the myriad things and the manner of their operation, itself beyond description).

關尹子曰：非有道不可言。不可言即道。非有道不可思。不可思即道。天物怒流。人事錯錯然。若若乎回也。戛戛乎鬥也。勿勿乎似而非也。而爭之。而介之。而○之。而嘖之。而去之。而要之。言之如吹影。思之如鏤塵。聖智造迷。鬼神不識。惟不可為。不可致。不可測。不可分。故曰天。曰命。曰神。曰元。合曰道。

Master Guanyin said: It is not that there is some other Way that cannot be spoken; what cannot be spoken is the Way. It is not that there is some other Way that cannot be thought; what cannot be thought is the Way. Heaven, earth, and the myriad things surge and flow, and human affairs are interwoven in confusion: they swirl and return, collide and struggle, hurry and bustle, seeming right yet not so. People contend for it, shut it off, (the received text is damaged at this word) question it, cast it aside, and seek to take it. To describe it in words is like blowing on a shadow; to think of it with the mind is like carving on dust. Sagely wisdom only creates confusion, and even ghosts and spirits cannot recognize it. It is only because it cannot be acted upon, cannot be summoned, cannot be measured, and cannot be divided that it is called Heaven, called destiny, called spirit, called the origin, and, all combined, called the Way.

曰：無一物非天。無一物非命。無一物非神。無一物非元。物既如此。人豈不然。人皆可曰天。人皆可曰神。人皆可致命通元。不可彼天此非天。彼神此非神。彼命此非命。彼元此非元。是以善吾道者。即一物中。知天盡神。致命造元。學之。徇異名。析同實。得之。契同實。忘異名。

It is said: there is not one thing that is not Heaven, not one thing that is not destiny, not one thing that is not spirit, not one thing that is not the origin. If things are so, are people not so as well? Every person can be called Heaven, every person can be called spirit, and every person can reach destiny and penetrate to the origin. One cannot say that that one is Heaven and this one is not, that that one is spirit and this one is not, that that one is destiny and this one is not, that that one is the origin and this one is not. So one who is good at this Way of mine, within a single thing, can know Heaven and exhaust spirit, reach destiny and arrive at the origin. In learning, one follows the different names and analyzes the one same reality apart; in attaining, one accords with that one same reality and forgets the different names.

曰：觀道者如觀水。以觀沼為未足。則之河之江之海。曰水至也。殊不知我之津液涎淚皆水。

It is said: one who observes the Way is like one who observes water. Feeling that looking at ponds is not enough, he goes to the Yellow River, to the Yangtze, to the great sea, and says that now he has reached the end of water. He does not realize that his own bodily fluids, spittle, and tears are all water.

曰：道無人。聖人不見甲是道乙非道。道無我。聖人不見己進道己退道。以不有道。故不無道。以不得道。故不失道曰：不知道妄意卜者。如射覆盂。高之。存金存玉。中之。存角存羽。卑之。存瓦存石。是乎。非是乎。惟置物者知之。

It is said: the Way has no distinction between others and oneself. The sage does not see that this is the Way and that is not. The Way has no self. The sage does not see himself as advancing into the Way or retreating from the Way. Precisely because he does not take the Way as something possessed, he is never without the Way; precisely because he cannot obtain the Way, he never loses the Way. It is further said: one who does not know yet asks the oracle by guesswork is like guessing under a cover: a bowl is turned over something and one guesses what is inside. A high guess says it is gold or jade; a middling guess says it is horn or feather; a low guess says it is tile or stone. Is it right? Only the one who put the thing in knows.

曰：一陶能作萬器。終無有一器能作陶者能害陶者。一道能作萬物。終無有一物能作道者能害道者。

It is said: a potter can make ten thousand vessels, but in the end not one vessel can make the potter or harm the potter. The one Way can give birth to the myriad things, but in the end not one thing can make the Way or harm the Way.

曰：道茫茫而無知乎。心儻儻而無羈乎。物迭迭而無非乎。電之逸乎。沙之飛乎。聖人以知心一物一道一。三者又合為一。不以一格不一，不以不一害一。

It is said: Is the Way vast and vague, as if without knowing? Is the heart open and wide, as if without bonds? Do things alternate and flow, as if there were none that is not so? Like the dashing of lightning? Like sand flying in the wind? The sage knows that the heart is one, things are one, and the Way is one, and these three again unite into one. He does not use this one to frame that which is not one, nor does he use that which is not one to harm this one.

曰：以盆為沼。以石為島。魚環遊之。不知其幾千萬裡而不窮也。夫何故。水無源無歸。聖人之道。本無首。末無尾。所以應物不窮。

It is said: take a basin as a pond and a stone as an island, and a fish swims around them, not knowing that it has swum tens of millions of miles without reaching the end. Why? Because the water has no source and no destination. The Way of the sage has no beginning at its root and no end at its tip, and so it answers the myriad things without being exhausted.

曰：無愛道。愛者水也。無觀道。觀者火也。無逐道。逐者木也。無言道。言者金也。無思道。思者土也。惟聖人不離本情而登大道。心既未萌。道亦假之。

It is said: do not love the Way, for love belongs to water; do not contemplate the Way, for contemplation belongs to fire; do not chase after the Way, for chasing belongs to wood; do not speak of the Way, for speaking belongs to metal; do not ponder the Way, for pondering belongs to earth. Only the sage, without leaving his original nature, ascends the great Way. When the heart has not yet sprouted, the Way is already there through it.

曰：重雲蔽天。江湖黯然。游魚茫然。忽望波明食動。幸賜於天。即而就之。漁釣斃焉。不知我無我而逐道者亦然。

It is said: thick clouds cover the sky, the rivers and lakes are dim, and the swimming fish are lost. Suddenly they see bait moving in the glimmering waves and, rejoicing that it is a gift of heaven, crowd toward it and are killed by the fisherman’s hook. Those who, not knowing that they originally have no self, go chasing after the Way are just like this.

曰：方術之在天下多矣。或尚晦。或尚明。或尚強。或尚弱。執之皆事。不執之皆道。

It is said: there are many techniques in the world. Some prize the obscure, some prize the bright, some prize the firm, some prize the soft. To cling to them is only to deal with affairs; to not cling to them is the Way entire.

曰：道終不可得。彼可得者。名德不名道。道終不可行。彼可行者。名行不名道。聖人以可得可行者。所以善吾生。以不可得不可行者。所以善吾死。

It is said: the Way in the end cannot be obtained. What can be obtained is called virtue (de, the capacity that the Way shows when it takes concrete form in things, not virtue in the ethical sense) and is not called the Way. The Way in the end cannot be practiced. What can be practiced is called practice and is not called the Way. The sage uses what can be obtained and practiced to treat his life well, and uses what cannot be obtained or practiced to treat his death well.

曰：聞道之後。有所為有所執者。所以之人。無所為無所執者。所以之天。為者必敗。執者必失。故聞道於朝。可死於夕。

It is said: after hearing the Way, one who still has action and clinging is walking toward the human; one who has no action and no clinging is walking toward Heaven. What is acted upon will surely fail, and what is clung to will surely be lost. Therefore if one hears the Way in the morning, one may die in the evening.

曰：一情冥為聖人。一情善為賢人。一情惡為小人。一情冥者。自有之無。不可得而示。一情善惡者。自無起有。不可得而秘。一情善惡為有知。惟動物有之。一情冥者為無知。溥天之下。道無不在。

It is said: one whose feelings are merged into oneness is a sage, one whose feelings incline to good is a worthy, and one whose feelings incline to evil is a petty person. One whose feelings are merged into oneness goes from being to nothingness and cannot bring it out to show people. One whose feelings incline to good or evil gives rise to being from nothingness and cannot hide it. The good and evil of feelings belong to the knowing, and only animals have them. The merging of feelings into oneness belongs to the not-knowing. Throughout the world, the Way is nowhere absent.

曰：勿以聖人力行不怠。則曰道以勤成。勿以聖人堅守不易。則曰道以執得。聖人力行。猶之發矢。因彼而行。我不自行。聖人堅守。猶之握矢。因彼而守。我不自守。

It is said: do not say, because the sage practices tirelessly, that the Way is accomplished by diligence. Do not say, because the sage holds firm and does not change, that the Way is obtained by clinging. The sage’s practice is like shooting an arrow: going along with that arrow, it is not I myself who go. The sage’s holding firm is like gripping an arrow: keeping along with that arrow, it is not I myself who keep.

曰：若以言行學識求道。互相展轉。無有得時。知言如泉鳴。知行如禽飛。知學如擷影。知識如計夢。一息不存。道將來契。

It is said: if one seeks the Way by words, deeds, learning, and knowledge, passing from one to another, there will never come a time of attaining it. Know that words are like a spring’s murmur, deeds are like a bird’s flight, learning is like reaching for a shadow, and knowledge is like totaling up a dream. When not a single breath is held back, the Way will come and unite with you.

曰：以事建物則難。以道棄物則易。天下之物。無不成之難而壞之易。

It is said: to establish things by means of affairs is hard, and to let go of things by means of the Way is easy. Among the things of the world, none is not hard to make and easy to destroy.

曰：一灼之火能燒萬物。物亡而火何存。一息之道能冥萬物。物亡而道何在。

It is said: a single flame can burn up the myriad things, but when the things are gone, where is the fire? The Way of a single breath can merge with the myriad things, but when the things are gone, where is the Way?

曰：人生在世。有生一日死者。有生十年死者。有生百年死者。一日死者。如一息得道。十年百年死者。如歷久得道。彼未死者。雖動作昭智。止名為生。不名為死。彼未契道者。雖動作昭智。止名為事。不名為道。

It is said: in a human life, some die after living a single day, some die after living ten years, some die after living a hundred years. The one who dies after a day is like one who attains the Way in a single breath; those who die after ten or a hundred years are like those who attain the Way after a long time. Those who have not yet died, even though their actions are conspicuous and their cleverness is plain, are called living and not called dead. Those who have not yet united with the Way, even though their actions are conspicuous and their cleverness is plain, are called busy with affairs and not called the Way.

曰：不知吾道無言無行。而即有言有行者求道。忽遇異物。橫執為道。殊不知舍源求流，無時得源。捨本就末。無時得本。

It is said: not knowing that this Way of mine has no words and no deeds, people seek the Way through having words and deeds, and when they suddenly meet with something strange, they stubbornly cling to it as the Way. They do not realize that abandoning the source to seek the stream will never find the source, and abandoning the root to chase the twig will never find the root.

曰：習射習御習琴習奕。終無一事可以一息得者。惟道無形無方。故可得之於一息。

It is said: in learning archery, charioteering, the zither, and chess, there is in the end not one thing that can be learned in a single breath. Only the Way has no form and no direction, and so it can be attained in a single breath.

曰：兩人射相遇。則巧拙見。兩人奕相遇。則勝負見。兩人道相遇。則無可示。無可示者。無巧無拙。無勝無負。

It is said: when two people compete at archery, skill and clumsiness show; when two people play chess, victory and defeat show; when two people meet in the Way, there is nothing to bring out and show. Where there is nothing to bring out, there is no skill or clumsiness, and no victory or defeat.

曰：吾道如海。有億萬金。投之不見。有億萬石。投之不見。有億萬汙穢。投之不見。能運小蝦小魚。能運大鯤大鯨。合眾水而受之。不為有餘。散眾水而分之。不為不足。

It is said: this Way of mine is like the sea. Throw in a hundred million pieces of gold and they cannot be seen; throw in a hundred million bushels of grain and they cannot be seen; throw in a hundred million impurities and they cannot be seen. It can carry tiny shrimp and small fish, and it can also carry the great kun and the great whale. It gathers the many waters and receives them, and this is not surplus; it divides the many waters and sends them off, and this is not lack.

曰：吾道如處暗。夫處明者不見暗中一物。而處暗者能見明中區事。

It is said: this Way of mine is like standing in the dark. One who stands in the light cannot see a single thing in the dark, but one who stands in the dark can see all the doings in the light.

曰：小人之權歸於惡。君子之權歸於善。聖人之權歸於無所得。惟無所得。所以為道。

It is said: the scales of the petty person tip toward evil, the scales of the superior person tip toward good, and the scales of the sage tip toward having nothing to obtain. Precisely because there is nothing to obtain, it is the Way.

曰：吾道如劍。以刃割物即利。以手握刃即傷。

It is said: this Way of mine is like a sword. Use the blade to cut things and it is sharp; take hold of the blade with your hand and you are wounded.

曰：籩不問豆。豆不答籩。瓦不問石。石不答瓦。道亦不失。問歟答歟。一氣往來。道何在。

It is said: the bian does not question the dou, and the dou does not answer the bian; the tile does not question the stone, and the stone does not answer the tile. The Way too is not lost. Asking and answering are only the coming and going of one qi (the flowing stuff that makes up and runs through all things); where is the Way?

曰：仰道者跂。如道者駸。皆知道之事。不知道之道。是以聖人不望道而歉。不恃道而豐。不借道於聖。不賈道於愚。

It is said: those who look up to the Way stand on tiptoe, and those who imitate the Way hurry to catch up; they only know the traces of the Way and do not know that by which the Way is the Way. So the sage does not feel lacking because he longs for the Way, does not feel rich because he relies on the Way, does not borrow the Way from sages, and does not sell the Way to fools.

二柱柱者建天地也

Chapter Two, “Two Pillars” (zhu): “pillar” means establishing heaven and earth.

關尹子曰：若碗若盂。若瓶若壺。若甕若盎。皆能建天地。兆龜數蓍。破瓦文石。皆能告吉凶。是知天地萬物成理。一物包焉。物物皆包之。各不相借。以我之精。合彼之精。兩精相搏。而神應之。一雌一雄。卵生。一牡一牝。胎生。形者。彼之精。理者。彼之神。愛者。我之精。觀者。我之神。愛為水。觀為火。愛執而觀因之為木。觀存而愛攝之為金。先想乎一元之氣具乎一物執。愛之以合彼之形。冥觀之以合彼之理。則象存焉。一運之象。周乎太空。自中而升為天。自中而降為地。無有升而不降。無有降而不升。升者為火。降者為水。欲升而不能升者為木。欲降而不能降者為金。木之為物。鑽之得火。絞之得水。金之為物。擊之得火。鎔之得水。金木者。水火之交也。水為精為天。火為神為地。木為魂為人。金為魄為物。運而不已者為時。包而有在者為方。惟土終始之。有解之者。有示之者。

Master Guanyin said: Bowls and basins, bottles and pots, jars and urns can all establish heaven and earth within them. Divination by tortoise shell, counting by yarrow stalks, the cracks in broken tiles, and the grain of stones can all tell good fortune and ill. From this we know that the principle by which heaven, earth, and the myriad things are formed is contained within a single thing; it is contained in every thing, and they do not borrow from one another. Take my essence and join it to that thing’s essence; when the two essences strike each other, the spirit responds. One female and one male lay eggs; one male and one female bear live young. Form is the essence of the thing; principle is the spirit of the thing. Love is my essence; observation is my spirit. Love is water and observation is fire; when love clings and observation follows it, wood is formed; when observation remains and love gathers it in, metal is formed. First think of the qi of the one origin as fully present in a single thing and cling to it; use love to join the thing’s form, and silent observation to join the thing’s principle, and the image is held in place. The image of this one revolution fills the great void; what rises from it becomes heaven, and what descends from it becomes earth. Nothing rises without descending, and nothing descends without rising. What rises is fire and what descends is water; what wants to rise but cannot is wood, and what wants to descend but cannot is metal. Wood as a thing yields fire when drilled and water when wrung; metal as a thing yields fire when struck and water when melted. Metal and wood are the meeting place of water and fire. Water is essence and heaven, fire is spirit and earth, wood is the hun soul and the human, and metal is the po soul and things. What revolves without rest is time, and what encloses and has a place is direction. Only earth runs through their end and beginning. There are those who can untie this, and those who can point it out.

曰：天下之人蓋不可以億兆計。人人之夢各異。夜夜之夢各異。有天有地。有人有物。皆思成之。蓋不可以塵計。安知今之天地非有思者乎。

It is said: the people of the world cannot be counted in hundreds of millions. Each person’s dreams are different, and each night’s dreams are different. In dreams there are heaven and earth, people and things, all formed by the mind’s thoughts, too many to count as specks of dust. How then do we know that today’s heaven and earth were not formed by a thinking mind?

曰：心應棗。肝應榆。我通天地。將陰夢水。將晴夢火。天地通我。我與天地似契似離。純純各歸。

It is said: the heart corresponds to the jujube, the liver corresponds to the elm; I penetrate heaven and earth. When rain and cloud are about to come I dream of water, when clear weather is about to come I dream of fire; heaven and earth penetrate me. Heaven and earth and I seem both united and separate, each returning purely to itself.

曰：天地雖大。有色有形。有數有方。吾有非色非形非數非方。而天天地地者存。

It is said: great as heaven and earth are, with color and form, number and direction, I have that which is neither color nor form, neither number nor direction, yet makes heaven be heaven and earth be earth, and it is there.

曰：死胎中者。死卵中者。亦人亦物。天地雖大。彼固不知計。天地者。皆我區識。譬如手不觸刃。刃不傷人。

It is said: those who die in the womb and those who die in the egg are also persons and also things. Great as heaven and earth are, they by nature do not know how to measure them. What are called heaven and earth are all consciousness that I have marked out. It is like a hand that does not touch the blade: the blade will not hurt anyone.

曰：夢中鑑中水中。皆有天地存焉。欲去夢天地者寢不寐。欲去鑑天地者形不照。欲去水天地者盎不汲。彼之有無。在此不在彼。是以聖人不去天地去識。

It is said: in dreams, in mirrors, and in water there are heaven and earth. To remove the heaven and earth in a dream, one would have to sleep without dreaming; to remove the heaven and earth in a mirror, one would have to keep the form from looking into it; to remove the heaven and earth in water, one would have to keep the basin from being drawn. Whether that heaven and earth exist or not depends on this side and not on that. So the sage does not remove heaven and earth, he removes consciousness.

曰：天非自天。有為天者。地非自地。有為地者。譬如屋宇舟車。待人而成。彼不自成。知彼有待。知此無待。上不見天。下不見地。內不見我。外不見人。

It is said: heaven does not become heaven by itself; there is something that makes it heaven. Earth does not become earth by itself; there is something that makes it earth. It is like houses, boats, and carts, which wait for people to be completed and cannot complete themselves. Knowing that those depend on something, and knowing that this depends on nothing, one looks up and does not see heaven, looks down and does not see earth, looks within and does not see oneself, looks without and does not see others.

曰：有時者氣。彼非氣者。未嘗有晝夜。有方者形。彼非形者。未嘗有南北。何謂非氣。氣之所自生者如搖箑得風。彼未搖時。非風之氣。彼已搖時。即名為氣。何謂非形。形之所自生者。如鑽木得火。彼未鑽時。非火之形。彼已鑽時。即名為形。

It is said: what has time is qi, and what is not qi has never had day and night. What has direction is form, and what is not form has never had south and north. What is meant by not being qi? That from which qi arises is like waving a fan to get wind: before it is waved, it is not the qi of wind; once it has been waved, it is called qi. What is meant by not being form? That from which form arises is like drilling wood to get fire: before drilling, it is not the form of fire; once it has been drilled, it is called form.

曰：寒暑溫涼之變。如瓦石之類。置之火即熱。置之水即寒。呵之即溫。吸之即涼。特因外物有去有來。而彼瓦石實無去來。譬如水中之影。有去有來。所謂水者。實無去來。

It is said: the changes of cold, heat, warmth, and coolness are like tiles and stones, which are hot when put in fire, cold when put in water, warm when breathed upon, and cool when sucked at. It is only that outside things come and go, while the tile or stone itself truly has no coming or going. It is like a reflection in water: it comes and goes, but the water itself truly has no coming or going.

曰：衣搖空得風。氣呵物得水。水注水即鳴。石擊石即光。知此說者。風雨雷電皆可為之。蓋風雨雷電皆緣氣而生。而氣緣心生。猶如內想大火。久之覺熱。內想大水。久之覺寒。知此說者。天地之德皆可同之。

It is said: shaking clothing in the air gives wind, breath blown on a thing gives water, water poured into water makes a sound, and stone struck on stone gives off light. One who understands this saying can make wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. For wind, rain, thunder, and lightning all arise through qi, and qi arises through the mind. It is like thinking of a great fire in the mind, and after a while feeling hot; thinking of a great flood in the mind, and after a while feeling cold. One who understands this saying can make the virtue of heaven and earth the same as his own.

曰：五雲之變。可以卜當年之豐歉。八風之朝。可以卜當時之吉凶。是知休咎災祥。一氣之運耳。渾人我。同天地。而彼私智認而己之。

It is said: from the changes of the five-colored clouds one can divine the year’s harvest or dearth; from the direction of the winds of the eight quarters one can divine the good or ill of the time. From this we know that good and ill fortune, calamity and blessing are nothing more than the movement of one qi. Merge others and self, share one heaven and earth, and yet those who rely on private knowledge take it as their own.

曰：天地寓。萬物寓。我寓。道寓。苟離於寓。道亦不立。

It is said: heaven and earth are a lodging, the myriad things are a lodging, I am a lodging, and the Way is a lodging. If one leaves the lodging, the Way too cannot stand.

三極極者尊聖人也

Chapter Three, “Three Poles” (ji): “pole” means honoring the sage.

關尹子曰：聖人之治天下。不我賢愚。故因人之賢而賢之。因人之愚而愚之。不我是非。故因事之是而是之。因事之非而非之。知古今之大同。故或先古。或先今。知內外之大同。故或先內或先外。天下之物。無得以累之。故本之以謙。天下之物。無得以外之。故含之以虛。天下之物。無得以難之。故行之以易。天下之物。無得以窒之。變之以權。以此中天下。以制禮。此和天下。可以作樂。以此公天下。可以理財。以此周天下。可以禦侮。以此因天下。可以立法。以此觀天下。可以制器。聖人不以一己治天下。而以天下治天下。天下歸功於聖人。聖人任功於天下。所以堯舜禹湯之治天下。天下皆曰自然。

Master Guanyin said: When the sage governs the world, he does not use his own standard to separate the worthy from the foolish, so he follows people’s worthiness and treats them as worthy, and follows people’s foolishness and treats them as foolish; he does not use his own standard to separate right from wrong, so he follows what is right in a matter and treats it as right, and follows what is wrong in a matter and treats it as wrong. Knowing that past and present are fundamentally the same, he sometimes puts the ancient first and sometimes the present first; knowing that inside and outside are fundamentally the same, he sometimes puts the inner first and sometimes the outer first. Nothing in the world can burden him, so he takes humility as his root; nothing in the world can shut him out, so he takes emptiness as his means of embracing; nothing in the world can stump him, so he acts with ease; nothing in the world can block him, so he changes by adaptation. By this he can set the world right and create ritual; by this he can bring the world into harmony and make music; by this he can make the world common and manage wealth; by this he can reach all the world and ward off insult; by this he can follow the world and establish law; by this he can observe the world and make implements. The sage does not govern the world with one self but governs the world with the world. The world credits the sage with the achievement, and the sage hands the achievement back to the world. So when Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang governed the world, the whole world said it came about of itself (zi ran, being so of itself, originally so; not “nature” in the sense of the natural world).

曰：天無不覆。有生有殺。而天無愛惡。日無不照。有妍有醜。而日無厚薄。

It is said: there is nothing heaven does not cover; it gives life and it kills, yet heaven has no love or hate. There is nothing the sun does not shine on; there is the beautiful and the ugly, yet the sun has no favor or neglect.

曰：聖人之道天命。非聖人能自道。聖人之德時符。非聖人能自德。聖人之事人為。非聖人能自事。是以聖人不有道。不有德。不有事。

It is said: the sage’s Way is the mandate of Heaven, and the sage cannot make it the Way himself; the sage’s virtue matches the times, and the sage cannot make it virtue himself; the sage’s affairs are human doing, and the sage cannot make them his affairs himself. So the sage does not possess the Way, does not possess virtue, and does not possess affairs.

曰：聖人知我無我。故同之以仁。知事無我。故權之以義。知心無我。故戒之以禮。知識無我。故照之以智。知言無我。故守之以信。

It is said: the sage knows that the self is originally without self, so he joins with others through benevolence; knows that affairs are originally without self, so he weighs them through righteousness; knows that the heart is originally without self, so he warns it through ritual; knows that consciousness is originally without self, so he illuminates it through wisdom; knows that speech is originally without self, so he holds it through good faith.

曰：聖人之道。或以仁為仁。或以義為仁。或以禮以以信為仁。仁義禮智信。各兼五者。聖人一之不膠。天下名之不得。

It is said: in the sage’s Way, sometimes benevolence is made benevolence by benevolence, sometimes by righteousness, sometimes by ritual or good faith (the received text has a doubled “by,” probably an extra character; one view holds that “wisdom” has dropped out here). Benevolence, righteousness, ritual, wisdom, and good faith each include all five. The sage unites them without sticking to them, and the world has no way to name him.

曰：勿以行觀聖人。道無跡。勿以言觀聖人。道無言。勿以能觀聖人。道無為。勿以貌觀聖人。道無形。

It is said: do not look at the sage through deeds, for the Way has no traces; do not look at the sage through words, for the Way has no words; do not look at the sage through talent, for the Way is non-action (wu wei, not imposing one’s subjective will but letting things run according to their own nature, which does not mean doing nothing); do not look at the sage through appearance, for the Way has no form.

曰：行雖至卓。不離高下。言雖至公。不離是非。能雖至神。不離巧拙。貌雖至殊。不離妍醜。聖人假此。以示天下。天下冥此。乃見聖人。

It is said: deeds, however extraordinary, cannot leave high and low; words, however fair, cannot leave right and wrong; talent, however marvelous, cannot leave skill and clumsiness; appearance, however unusual, cannot leave beauty and ugliness. The sage uses these to point out to the world, and only when the world silently merges with them does it see the sage.

曰：聖人師蜂立君臣。師蜘蛛立網罟。師拱鼠制禮。師戰蟻置兵。眾人師賢人。賢人師聖人。聖人師萬物。惟聖人同物。所以無我。

It is said: the sage took the bee as his model and established ruler and subject, took the spider as his model and set up nets and snares, took the folded-handed mouse as his model and made ritual, and took the battling ants as his model and set up armies. The multitude take the worthy as their model, the worthy take the sage as their model, and the sage takes the myriad things as his model. Only the sage is the same as things, and so he has no self.

曰：聖人曰道。觀天地人物皆吾道。倡和之。始終之。青黃之。卵翼之。不愛道不棄物。不尊君子。不賤小人。賢人曰物。物物不同。旦旦去之。旦旦與之。短之長之。直之方之。是為物易也。殊不知聖人鄙雜廁別分居。所以為人。不以此為己。

It is said: the sage speaks of the Way: he sees heaven, earth, people, and things all as his Way, and he leads in singing it, makes its beginning and end, colors it green and yellow, and shelters it like a bird its eggs, not favoring the Way nor abandoning things, not honoring the superior person nor despising the petty. The worthy speak of things: things differ from one another, so day by day they remove some and day by day they add some, cutting them short, stretching them long, making them straight, making them square; this is altering things. They do not realize that the sage sets apart the mixed and the distinguished and arranges them for the sake of being human, and does not take this as himself.

曰：人之於眾人。飲食衣服同也。屋宇舟車同也。富貴貧賤同也。眾人每同聖人。聖人每同眾人。彼仰其高侈其大者。其然乎。其不然乎。

It is said: among the multitude, a person’s food and clothing are the same, houses, boats, and carts are the same, wealth, rank, poverty, and lowliness are the same. The multitude are often the same as the sage, and the sage is often the same as the multitude. Those who look up to his height and exaggerate his greatness, is it so? Or is it not so?

曰：魚欲異群魚。舍水躍岸即死。虎欲異群虎。舍山入市即擒。聖人不異眾人。特物不能拘爾。

It is said: a fish that wants to be different from the school of fish leaves the water and leaps ashore and dies; a tiger that wants to be different from the tigers leaves the mountains and enters the marketplace and is captured. The sage does not seek to be different from the multitude; it is only that things cannot confine him.

曰：道無作。以道應世者。是事非道。道無方。以道寓物者。是物非道。聖人竟不能出道以示人。

It is said: The Way has no contrivance. What responds to the human world by means of the Way is a matter, not the Way. The Way has no location. What lodges the Way in a thing is a thing, not the Way. In the end the sage cannot take the Way out and show it to people.

曰：如鍾鍾然。如鐘鼓然。聖人之言則然。如車車然。如車舟然。聖人之行則然。惟莫能名。所以退天下之言。惟莫能知。所以奪天下之智。

It is said: as a bell is simply a bell, yet is also like a drum, so are the words of the sage; as a cart is simply a cart, yet is also like a boat, so are the deeds of the sage. Precisely because it cannot be named, it makes the words of the world retreat; precisely because it cannot be known, it strips away the cleverness of the world.

曰：蝍蛆食蛇。蛇食蛙。蛙食蝍蛆。互相食也。聖人之言亦然。言有無之弊。又言非有非無之弊。又言去非有非無之弊。言之如引鋸然。惟善聖者不留一言。

It is said: the centipede eats the snake, the snake eats the frog, the frog eats the centipede, each eating the other. The words of the sage are like this: he speaks of the fault of being, then of the fault of neither being nor non-being, then of removing the fault of neither being nor non-being. His speech is like a saw going back and forth. Only one who is good at being a sage leaves behind not a single word.

曰：若龍若蛟。若蛇若龜。若魚若蛤。龍皆能之。蛟。蛟而已。不能為龍。亦不能為蛇為龜為魚為蛤。聖人龍之。賢人蛟之。

It is said: dragons and flood dragons, snakes and turtles, fish and clams, a dragon can turn into all of these. A flood dragon is only a flood dragon; it cannot become a dragon, nor a snake, a turtle, a fish or a clam. The sage is like the dragon, and the worthy is like the flood dragon.

曰：在己無居。形物自著。其動若水。其靜若鏡。其應若響。芒乎若亡。寂乎若清。同焉者和。得焉者失。未嘗先人。而嘗隨人。

It is said: when there is no lingering in oneself, things with form show themselves plainly. When it moves, it is like water; when it is still, it is like a mirror; when it responds, it is like an echo. Vague, it seems not to exist; quiet, it seems clear and still. Whatever is the same as it will harmonize, and whatever grasps it will lose it. It has never rushed ahead of others, but always follows behind them.

曰：渾乎洋乎遊太初乎。時金己。時玉己。時糞己。時土己。時翔物。時逐物。時山物。時淵物。端乎權乎狂乎愚乎。

It is said: vast and boundless, it roams in the Great Beginning. Sometimes it is gold, sometimes jade, sometimes dung, sometimes earth; sometimes it soars over things, sometimes it chases after things, sometimes it is a thing of the mountains, sometimes a thing of the deep pool. Upright, adaptable, wild, foolish.

曰：人之善琴者。有悲心。則聲悽悽然。有思心。則聲遲遲然。有怨心。則聲回回然。有慕心。則聲裴裴然。所以悲思怨慕者。非手非竹非絲非桐。得之心。符之手。得之手。符之物。人之有道者。莫不中道。

It is said: one who plays the zither well, when he has sorrow in his heart, his sound is mournful; when he has thought in his heart, his sound is slow; when he has resentment in his heart, his sound is winding; when he has longing in his heart, his sound is lingering. So what is sorrow, thought, resentment and longing is not the hand, not the bamboo, not the silk, not the paulownia wood: it is obtained in the heart and answered by the hand; it is obtained by the hand and answered by things. A person who has the Way will never fail to hit the mark of the Way.

曰：聖人以有言有為有思者。所以同乎人。未嘗言未嘗為未嘗思者。所以異乎人。

It is said: the sage uses the side of him that speaks, acts and thinks to be the same as others; he uses the side of him that has never spoken, never acted and never thought to be different from others.

曰：利害心愈明。則親不睦。賢愚心愈明。則友不交。是非心愈明。則事不成。好醜心愈明。則物不契。是以聖人渾之。

It is said: the more clearly the mind of profit and harm is distinguished, the less harmonious one's kin become; the more clearly the mind of worthy and foolish is distinguished, the less friends associate; the more clearly the mind of right and wrong is distinguished, the less affairs get done; the more clearly the mind of beautiful and ugly is distinguished, the less things fit together. So the sage blends them all into one.

曰：世之愚拙者妄援。聖人之愚拙自解。殊不知聖人時愚時明。時拙時巧。

It is said: foolish people in the world recklessly cite the sage's foolishness to excuse their own, not knowing that the sage is sometimes foolish and sometimes clear, sometimes clumsy and sometimes skillful.

曰：以聖師聖者。賢人。以賢師聖者。聖人。蓋以聖師聖者。徇跡而忘道。以賢師聖者。反跡而合道。

It is said: one who takes the sage as his model for the sage is a worthy; one who takes the worthy as his model for the sage is truly a sage. For one who takes the sage as his model for the sage follows the traces and forgets the Way; one who takes the worthy as his model for the sage turns back from the traces and instead accords with the Way.

曰：賢人趨上而不見下。眾人趨下而不見上。聖人通乎上下。惟其宜之。豈曰離賢人眾人。別有聖人也哉。

It is said: the worthy strives upward and does not see what is below; ordinary people strive downward and do not see what is above. The sage penetrates both above and below and looks only at what is fitting. Could it be said that apart from the worthy and the ordinary people there is yet another sage?

曰：天下之理。夫者倡。婦者隨。牡者馳。牝者逐。雄者鳴。雌者應。是以聖人制言行。而賢人拘之。

It is said: the principle of the world is that the husband leads and the wife follows; the male runs and the female chases; the cock crows and the hen answers. So the sage sets down words and deeds, and the worthy holds to them.

曰：聖人道雖虎變。事則鱉行。道雖絲分。事則棋佈。

It is said: although the sage's Way changes like a tiger, his affairs move like a turtle; although the Way divides like threads of silk, his affairs are laid out like pieces on a chessboard.

曰：所謂聖人之道者。胡然孑孑爾。胡然徹徹爾。胡然堂堂爾。胡然臧臧爾。惟其能遍偶萬物。而無一物能偶之。故能貴萬物。

It is said: as for what is called the Way of the sage, why is it so singularly independent, why so transparent, why so majestic, why so rich and splendid? Only because it can match all things everywhere, while no single thing can match it, so it is able to make all things precious.

曰：雲之卷舒。禽之飛翔。皆在虛空中。所以變化不窮。聖人之道則然。

It is said: the rolling and unrolling of clouds, the flying of birds, all take place in empty space, and so their changes never end. The Way of the sage is like this.

四符符者精神魂魄也

The Four Tallies: the tallies are essence, spirit, hun soul and po soul.

關尹子曰：水可析可合。精無人也。火因膏因薪神。無我也。故耳蔽前後皆可聞。無人。智崇無人。一奇無人。冬凋秋物無人。黑不可變。無人。北壽無人。皆精。舌即齒。牙成言。無我。禮卑無我。二偶無我。夏因春物。無我。赤可變。無我。南天無我。皆神。以精無人。故米去殼則精存。以神無我。故鬼憑物則神見。全精者忘是非。忘得失。在此者非彼。抱神者時晦明時強弱。在彼者非此。

Guan Yinzi said: water can be divided and can be joined, and essence is without other persons; fire depends on grease and on fuel, and spirit is without self. So when the ear is covered, one can still hear before and behind: this is the absence of other persons; wisdom is lofty: absence of other persons; one is an odd number: absence of other persons; winter withers the things of autumn: absence of other persons; black cannot be changed: absence of other persons; the north governs long life: absence of other persons; all of these belong to essence. The tongue rests against the teeth, and the teeth complete speech: this is the absence of self; ritual is humble: absence of self; two is an even number: absence of self; summer follows the things of spring: absence of self; red can be changed: absence of self; the south governs early death (the base text reads "south heaven," set against "north long life"; one view holds that it should read "early death"): absence of self; all of these belong to spirit. Because essence is without other persons, when rice has its husk removed the essence remains; because spirit is without self, ghosts rely on things and spirit then appears. One who is whole in essence forgets right and wrong, forgets gain and loss, and what is here is not there; one who embraces spirit is sometimes dim and sometimes bright, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and what is there is not here.

曰：精神。水火也。五行互生滅之。其來無首。其往無尾。則吾之精一滴無存亡爾。吾之神一欻無起滅爾。惟無我無人。無首無尾。所以與天地冥。

It is said: essence and spirit are water and fire. The five phases give rise to and extinguish one another; coming, they have no beginning; going, they have no end; so my essence is only a single drop, with no existence or loss; my spirit is only a single flash, with no arising or ceasing. Precisely because there is no self and no other, no head and no tail, it merges in the dark with heaven and earth.

曰：精者水。魄者金。神者火。魂者木。精主水。魄主金。金生水。故精者魄藏之。神主火。魂主木。木生火。故神者魂藏之。惟水之為物。能藏金而息之。能滋木而榮之。所以析魂魄。惟火之為物。能鎔金而銷之。能燔木而燒之。所以冥魂魄。惟精。在天為寒。在地為水。在人為精。神。在天為熱。在地為火。在人為神。魄。在天為燥。在地為金。在人為魄。魂。在天為風。在地為木。在人為魂。惟以我之精。合天地萬物之精。譬如萬水可合為一水。以我之神。合天地萬物之神。譬如萬火可合為一火。以我之魄。合天地萬物之魄。譬如金之為物。可合異金而鎔之為一金。以我之魂。合天地萬物之魂。譬如木之為物。可接異木而生之為一木。則天地萬物。皆吾精吾神吾魄吾魂。何者死。何者生。

It is said: essence is water, the po soul is metal, spirit is fire, the hun soul is wood. Essence governs water, the po soul governs metal; metal gives birth to water, so essence is stored by the po soul. Spirit governs fire, the hun soul governs wood; wood gives birth to fire, so spirit is stored by the hun soul. Water as a thing can store metal and let it rest, and can nourish wood and make it flourish, and so it can separate the hun and po souls. Fire as a thing can melt and consume metal and burn wood, and so it can unite the hun and po souls in the dark. Essence is cold in heaven, water on earth and essence in man; spirit is heat in heaven, fire on earth and spirit in man; the po soul is dryness in heaven, metal on earth and the po soul in man; the hun soul is wind in heaven, wood on earth and the hun soul in man. To join my essence with the essence of all things of heaven and earth is like ten thousand waters becoming one water; to join my spirit with the spirit of all things of heaven and earth is like ten thousand fires becoming one fire; to join my po soul with the po soul of all things of heaven and earth is like metal as a thing, which can melt different metals into one metal; to join my hun soul with the hun soul of all things of heaven and earth is like wood as a thing, which can graft different woods so they grow into one tree. Then all things of heaven and earth are my essence, my spirit, my po soul and my hun soul; which is dead and which is alive?

曰：五行之運。因精有魂。因魂有神。因神有意。因意有魄。因魄有精。五行迴環不已。所以我之偽心流轉造化。幾億萬歲。未有窮極。然核芽相生。不知其幾萬株。天地雖大。不能芽空中之核。雌卵相生。不知其幾萬禽。陰陽雖妙。不能卵無雄之雌。惟其來於我者。皆攝之以一息。則變物為我。無物非我。所謂五行者。孰能變之。

It is said: in the movement of the five phases, from essence there comes the hun soul, from the hun soul spirit, from spirit intention, from intention the po soul, and from the po soul essence, so the five phases circle without stopping. So my false mind flows in creation and transformation for hundreds of millions of ages without end. Yet the seed and the sprout give birth to each other, no one knows how many tens of thousands of plants, and though heaven and earth are great, they cannot make a seed sprout in empty air; the hen and the egg give birth to each other, no one knows how many tens of thousands of birds, and though yin and yang are wondrous, they cannot make a hen with no cock lay an egg. Only what comes to me, I draw in with a single breath and so turn things into myself, and there is no thing that is not me. As for the so-called five phases, who can still change them?

曰：眾人以魄攝魂者。金有餘則木不足也。眾人以魂攝魄者。木有餘則金不足也。蓋魄之藏魂俱之。魂之遊魄因之。魂晝寓目。魄夜舍肝。寓目能見。舍肝能夢。見者魂無分別析之者。分別析之曰天地者。魂狃習也。夢者魄無分別析之者。分別析之曰彼我者。魄狃習也。火生土。故神生意。土生金。故意生魄。神之所動。不名神。名意。意之所動。不名意。名魄。惟聖人知我無我。知物無物。皆因思慮計之而有。是以萬物之來。我皆對之以性。而不對之以心。性者。心未萌也。無心則無意矣。蓋無火則無土。無意則無魄矣。蓋無土則無金。一者不存。五者皆廢。既能渾天地萬物以為魂。斯能渾天地萬物以為魄。凡造化所妙皆吾魂。凡造化所有皆吾魄。則無有一物可役我者。舍肝當作舍肺。

It is said: when ordinary people use the po soul to draw in the hun soul, metal is in excess and wood is lacking; when ordinary people use the hun soul to draw in the po soul, wood is in excess and metal is lacking. When the po soul is stored, the hun soul follows; when the hun soul roams, the po soul depends on it. The hun soul lodges in the eyes by day, and the po soul dwells in the liver by night. Lodged in the eyes, one can see; dwelling in the liver, one can dream. When seeing, the hun soul originally makes no distinctions; to analyze what is seen and call it heaven and earth is the hun soul being bound by habit. When dreaming, the po soul originally makes no distinctions; to analyze the dream and call it self and other is the po soul being bound by habit. Fire gives birth to earth, so spirit produces intention; earth gives birth to metal, so intention produces the po soul. Once spirit stirs, it is no longer called spirit but intention; once intention stirs, it is no longer called intention but the po soul. Only the sage knows that the self was originally without self and things were originally without things, and that all exist only because of thought and calculation. So when the ten thousand things arrive, I answer them all with nature and not with the mind. Nature is the mind before it has sprouted. With no mind there is no intention: without fire there is no earth; with no intention there is no po soul: without earth there is no metal. If one is absent, all five are abandoned. Once one can blend all things of heaven and earth into the hun soul, one can blend all things of heaven and earth into the po soul. Whatever creation finds wondrous is my hun soul, and whatever creation possesses is my po soul, and then there is no single thing that can command me. (The last sentence of the base text, "the liver should be the lung," is a proofreader's marginal note that crept into the text.)

曰：鬼云為魂。鬼白為魄。於文則然。鬼者。人死所變。雲者風。風者木。白者氣。氣者金。風散故輕清。輕清者上天。金堅故重濁。重濁者入地。輕清者。魄從魂升。重濁者。魂從魄降。有以仁升者。為木星佐。有以義升者。為金星佐。有以禮升者。為火星佐。有以智升者。為水星佐。有以信升者。為土星佐。有以不仁沉者。木賊之。不義沉者。金賊之。不禮沉者。火賊之。不智沉者。水賊之。不信沉者。土賊之。魂魄半之。則在人間。升魂為貴。降魄為賤。靈魂為賢。厲魄為愚。輕魂為明。重魄為暗。揚魂為羽。鈍魄為毛。明魂為神。幽魄為鬼。其形其居。其識其好。皆以五行契之。惟五之數。參差不一。所以萬物之多。盈天地間。猶未已也。以五事歸五行。以五行作五蟲。可勝言哉。譬猶兆龜數蓍。至誠自契。五行應之。誠苟不至。兆之數之。無一應者。聖人假物以遊世。五行不得不對。

It is said: the character for hun soul is ghost plus cloud, and for po soul ghost plus white; so it appears from the written forms. A ghost is what a person becomes when he dies; cloud is wind, and wind is wood; white is qi, and qi is metal. Wind disperses and so is light and clear, and what is light and clear rises to heaven; metal is firm and so heavy and turbid, and what is heavy and turbid enters the earth. With the light and clear, the po soul rises with the hun soul; with the heavy and turbid, the hun soul sinks with the po soul. Some rise by benevolence and become aides to the Wood Star; those who rise by righteousness become aides to the Metal Star; those who rise by propriety become aides to the Fire Star; those who rise by wisdom become aides to the Water Star; those who rise by trustworthiness become aides to the Earth Star. Some sink through lack of benevolence, and wood comes to harm them; through lack of righteousness, and metal comes to harm them; through lack of propriety, and fire comes to harm them; through lack of wisdom, and water comes to harm them; through lack of trustworthiness, and earth comes to harm them. When the hun and po souls are half and half, they remain in the human world. The rising hun soul is noble and the sinking po soul is lowly; the numinous hun soul is worthy and the fierce po soul is foolish; the light hun soul is bright and the heavy po soul is dark; the soaring hun soul becomes the feathered kind, and the sluggish po soul becomes the furred kind; the bright hun soul becomes a spirit and the dim po soul becomes a ghost. Their forms, their dwellings, their knowledge and their likes are all matched with the five phases. But the number five is uneven and irregular, so the multitude of things fills the space between heaven and earth and is not yet exhausted. Take the five affairs and assign them to the five phases, take the five phases and make the five kinds of creatures from them: could it ever be told in full? It is like using a turtle shell for omens and milfoil stalks for counting: perfect sincerity naturally matches, and the five phases respond; if sincerity does not reach, then in omens and counting not one place responds. The sage roams the world by borrowing from things, and the five phases cannot but face him.

曰：五者具有魂。魂者識。目者精。色者神。見之者為魂。耳目口鼻心之類在此生者。愛為精。為彼生父本。觀為神。為彼生母本。愛觀雖異。皆同識生。彼生生本在彼生者。一為父。故受氣於父。氣為水。二為母。故受血於母。血為火。有父有母。彼生生矣。惟其愛之無識。如鎖之交。觀之無識。如燈之照。吾識不萌。吾生何有。

It is said: all five possess the hun soul. The hun soul is consciousness; the eye is essence, color is spirit, and what sees is the hun soul. Ears, eyes, mouth, nose and mind, those born here in this way: love is essence, the root of the father of that life; observation is spirit, the root of the mother of that life. Though love and observation differ, both are born from the same consciousness. The root of that life lies in that life: first, the father, so from the father it receives qi, and qi is water; second, the mother, so from the mother it receives blood, and blood is fire. With a father and a mother, that life is born. With love but no consciousness, it is like locks joining; with observation but no consciousness, it is like a lamp shining. If my consciousness does not sprout, what is left of my life?

曰：如桴扣鼓。鼓之形者。我之有也。鼓之聲者。我之感也。桴已往矣。餘聲尚在。終亦不存而已矣。鼓之形如我之精。鼓之聲如我之神。其餘聲者。猶之魂魄。知夫倏往倏來。則五行之氣。我何有焉。

It is said: it is like a drumstick striking a drum. The form of the drum is what I have; the sound of the drum is what I feel. When the stick has passed, the remaining sound is still there, but in the end it does not remain. The form of the drum is like my essence, the sound of the drum is like my spirit, and the remaining sound is like the hun and po souls. Knowing how it suddenly goes and suddenly comes, what then does the qi of the five phases have to do with me?

曰：夫果之有核。必待水火土三者具矣。然後相生不窮。三者不具。如大旱大潦大塊。皆不足以生物。夫精水神火意土。三者本不交。惟人以根合之。故能於其中橫見有事。猶如術祝者。能於至無中見多有事。

It is said: a fruit has a seed, and only when water, fire and earth are all present can they give birth to one another without end. If the three are not all present, such as great drought, great flood or great clods of earth, none of them is enough to give birth to things. Essence is water, spirit is fire, and intention is earth; the three originally do not meet, and only a person joins them with his roots, and so within them he can bring forth affairs of all kinds. It is like a magician who recites spells, who can see many things that exist in the midst of utter non-existence.

曰：魂者木也。木根於冬水而華於夏火。故人之魂藏於夜精。而見於晝神。合乎精。故所見我獨。蓋精未嘗有人。合乎神。故所見人同。蓋神未嘗有我。

It is said: the hun soul is wood. Wood takes root in the winter water and blossoms in the summer fire, so a person's hun soul is stored in the essence of the night and appears in the spirit of the day. When joined to essence, what one sees is only oneself, because essence has never had other persons; when joined to spirit, what one sees is the same as others, because spirit has never had a self.

曰：知夫此身。如夢中身。隨情所見者。可以飛神作我而遊太清。知夫此物。如夢中物。隨情所見者。可以凝精作物而駕八荒。是道也。能見精神而久生。能忘精神而超生。吸氣以養精。如金生水。吸風以養神。如木生火。所以假外以延精神。漱水以養精。精之所以不窮。摩火以養神。神之所以不窮。所以假內以延精神。若夫忘精神而超生者。吾嘗言之矣。

It is said: know that this body is like a body in a dream, following what the feelings see, and you can raise up spirit to make a self and roam in the Great Clarity; know that these things are like things in a dream, following what the feelings see, and you can condense essence to make things and ride the eight wildernesses. This Way can see essence and spirit and live long, and can forget essence and spirit and transcend life. Breathing in qi to nourish essence is like metal giving birth to water; breathing in wind to nourish spirit is like wood giving birth to fire: this is borrowing from outside things to lengthen essence and spirit. Rinsing the mouth with water to nourish essence, and so essence is not exhausted; rubbing to make fire to nourish spirit, and so spirit is not exhausted: this is borrowing from within to lengthen essence and spirit. As for forgetting essence and spirit and transcending life, I have already spoken of it.

曰：人勤於禮者。神不外馳。可以集神。人勤於智者。精不外移。可以攝精。仁則陽而明。可以輕魂。義則陰而冥。可以御魄。

It is said: a person diligent in ritual does not let spirit gallop outward, and can gather spirit; a person diligent in wisdom does not let essence drift outward, and can draw in essence. Benevolence belongs to yang and brightness, and can lighten the hun soul; righteousness belongs to yin and darkness, and can rein in the po soul.

曰：蜣螂轉丸。丸成而精思之。而有蠕白者存丸中。俄去殼而蟬。彼蜣不思。彼蠕奚白。曰：庖人羹蟹。遺一足几上。蟹已羹。而遺足尚動。是生死者。一氣聚散爾。不生不死。而人橫計曰生死。

It is said: the dung beetle rolls a ball of dung, and when the ball is finished it thinks on it intently, and then a white grub exists in the ball, and before long sheds its shell and becomes a cicada. If the beetle did not think of it, how would the grub be white? It is also said: a cook made crab soup, and one leg was left behind on the table. The crab had already been made into soup, but the leg left behind was still moving. Thus life and death are only the gathering and dispersing of one qi. Originally there is no such thing as life or death, but people recklessly calculate and call it life and death.

曰：有死立者。有死坐者。有死臥者。有死病者。有死藥者。等死。無甲乙之殊。若知道之士。不見生。故不見死。

It is said: some die standing, some die sitting, some die lying, some die of illness, some die of medicine. All are death alike, and there is no first or second among them. A scholar who knows the Way does not see life, and so does not see death either.

曰：人之厭生死超生死者。皆是大患也。譬如化人。若有厭生死心。超生死心。止名為妖。不名為道。

It is said: those who loathe life and death and those who try to transcend life and death all suffer great trouble. It is like a person made by illusion: if he had a mind to loathe life and death or to transcend life and death, he would only be called a demon, not the Way.

曰：計生死者。或曰死己有。或曰死己無。或曰死己亦有亦無。或曰死己不有不無。或曰當喜者。或曰當懼者。或曰當任者。或曰當超者。愈變識情。馳騖不已。殊不知我之生死。如馬之手。如牛之翼。本無有。復無無。譬如水火雖犯水火。不能燒之。不能溺之。

It is said: among those who calculate about life and death, some say that after death there already is something, some say that after death there already is nothing, some say that after death there is both something and nothing, and some say that after death there is neither something nor nothing; some say one should rejoice, some say one should fear, some say one should let it be, and some say one should transcend it. They shift and change in consciousness and feeling, galloping without rest. They do not know that my life and death are like the hands of a horse or the wings of an ox, and originally there is no "is" and no "is not." It is like water and fire: even if one offends against water and fire, they cannot burn it, nor drown it.

五鑑鑑者心也

The Five Mirrors: the mirror is the mind.

關尹子曰：心蔽吉凶者。靈鬼攝之。心蔽男女者。淫鬼攝之。心蔽幽憂者。沈鬼攝之。心蔽放逸者。狂鬼攝之。心蔽盟詛者。奇鬼攝之。心蔽藥餌者。物鬼攝之。如是之鬼。或以陰為身。或以幽為身。或以風為身。或以氣為身。或以土偶為身。或以彩畫為身。或以老畜為身。或以敗器為身。彼以其精。此以其精。兩精相搏。則神應之。為鬼所攝者。或解奇事。或解異事。或解瑞事。其人傲然。不曰鬼於躬。惟曰道於躬。久之。或死木。或死金。或死繩。或死井。惟聖人能神神而不神於神。役萬物而執其機。可以會之。可以散之。可以御之。日應萬物。其心寂然。

Guan Yinzi said: one whose mind is covered by good and bad fortune is seized by a numinous ghost; one whose mind is covered by men and women is seized by a lewd ghost; one whose mind is covered by dark worry is seized by a sinking ghost; one whose mind is covered by indulgence is seized by a mad ghost; one whose mind is covered by oaths and curses is seized by a strange ghost; one whose mind is covered by medicines and tonics is seized by a thing ghost. Such ghosts take shadow as their body, or darkness as their body, or wind as their body, or qi as their body, or clay figures as their body, or painted pictures as their body, or old animals as their body, or broken vessels as their body. They use their essence over there, and he uses his essence over here, and when the two essences strike against each other, the spirit responds. One seized by a ghost may be able to explain strange affairs, or unusual affairs, or auspicious affairs, and the person is proud and pleased with himself; he does not say that the ghost is in him, he only says that the Way is in him. After a long time he dies by wood, or by metal, or by a rope, or in a well. Only the sage can be spiritual in spirit without being made spirit-ridden by spirit, command the ten thousand things while holding on to their pivot, can join and can scatter, can rein them in, and every day responds to the ten thousand things while his mind remains still.

曰：無一心。五識並馳。心不可一。無虛心。五行皆具。心不可虛。無靜心。萬化密移。心不可靜。借能一。則二偶之。借能虛。則實滿之。借能靜。則動搖之。惟聖人能斂萬有於一息。無有一物可役我之明徹。散一息於萬有。無有一物可間吾之云為。

It is said: without a mind that is single, the five consciousnesses gallop together, and the mind cannot be single; without a mind that is empty, the five phases are all present, and the mind cannot be empty; without a mind that is still, the ten thousand transformations shift in the dark, and the mind cannot be still. Even if it can be single, two will come to match it; even if it can be empty, fullness will come to fill it; even if it can be still, motion will come to shake it. Only the sage can gather the ten thousand things into one breath so that no single thing can command my clarity; and scatter one breath into the ten thousand things so that no single thing can come between my words and actions.

曰：火千年俄可滅。識千年俄可去。

It is said: a fire that has burned for a thousand years can be put out in a moment; consciousness that has stayed for a thousand years can be removed in a moment.

曰：流者舟也。所以流之者是水非舟。運者車也。所以運之者是牛非車。思者心也。所以思之者是意非心。不知所以然而然。惟不知所以然而然。故其來無從。其往無在。其來無從。其往無在。故能與天地本原。不古不今。

It is said: what moves is the boat, but what makes it move is the water, not the boat; what turns is the cart, but what makes it turn is the ox, not the cart; what thinks is the mind, but what makes it think is intention, not the mind. One does not know why it is so, yet it is so. Precisely because one does not know why it is so, yet it is so, what comes has no place it comes from and what goes has no place it stays. Because what comes has no place it comes from and what goes has no place it stays, it is able to be with the origin of heaven and earth, neither ancient nor modern.

曰：知心無物。則知物無物。知物無物。則知道無物。知道無物。故不遵卓絕之行。不驚微妙之言。

It is said: know that the mind has no thing, and you know that things have no thing; know that things have no thing, and you know that the Way has no thing. Knowing that the Way has no thing, one does not follow outstanding conduct and is not astonished at subtle words.

曰：物我交。心生。兩木摩。火生。不可謂之在我。不可謂之在彼。不可謂之非我。不可謂之非彼。執而彼我之則愚。

It is said: when a thing meets me, the mind arises; when two pieces of wood rub together, fire arises. One cannot say it is in me, one cannot say it is in that, one cannot say it is not me, one cannot say it is not that. To cling to the distinction between that and me is foolishness.

曰：無恃爾所謂利害是非。爾所謂利害是非者。果得利害是非之乎。聖人方且不識不知。而況於爾。

It is said: do not rely on what you call profit and harm, right and wrong. Have what you call profit and harm, right and wrong really been obtained? The sage himself neither recognizes nor knows them, how much less you.

曰：夜之所夢。或長於夜。心無時生於齊者。心之所見皆齊國也。既而之宋之楚之晉之梁。心之所存各異心無方。

It is said: some dreams one has at night are longer than the night itself: the mind has no fixed time. A person born in Qi has in his mind only what he sees in Qi; later he goes to Song, to Chu, to Jin, to Liang, and what his mind holds is different in each: the mind has no fixed place.

曰：善弓者師弓不師羿。善舟者師舟不師○。善心者師心不師聖。

It is said: one who is good at archery takes the bow as his model, not Yi; one who is good at handling a boat takes the boat as his model, not (a character missing in the base text); one who is good at using the mind takes the mind as his model, not the sage.

曰：是非好醜。成敗盈虛。造物者運矣。皆因私識執之而有。於是以無遣之猶存。以非有非無遣之猶存。無曰莫莫爾。無曰渾渾爾猶存。譬猶昔遊再到。記憶宛然。此不可忘不可遣。善去識者。變識為智。變識為智之說。汝知之乎。

It is said: right and wrong, good and ugly, success and failure, fullness and emptiness, all that creation sets turning exists only because of clinging by private consciousness. Then use "nothing" to dismiss it, and it is still there; use "neither something nor nothing" to dismiss it, and it is still there; say "vast and indistinct," say "all blended," and it is still there. It is like going back to a place one once visited, where memory is vivid: this cannot be forgotten and cannot be dismissed. One who is good at removing consciousness turns consciousness into wisdom. Do you know the teaching of turning consciousness into wisdom?

曰：想如思鬼。心栗思盜。心怖曰識。如認黍為稷。認玉為石者。浮游罔象。無所底止。譬睹奇物。生奇物想。生奇物識。此想此識。根不在我。譬如今日。今日而已。至於來日想識殊未可卜。及至來日。紛紛想識。皆緣有生。曰想曰識。

It is said: thought is like this: when you think of a ghost the heart trembles, when you think of a thief the heart is afraid. What is called consciousness is like mistaking broomcorn millet for panicled millet, or jade for stone, floating and drifting, with nothing to settle on. It is like seeing a strange thing, and so producing the thought of a strange thing, and producing the consciousness of a strange thing. This thought and this consciousness have no root in me. It is like today: it is only today, and as for tomorrow, thought and consciousness cannot yet be divined at all; when tomorrow comes, the swarming thoughts and consciousnesses all come following the fact of being alive. This is what is called thought and what is called consciousness.

曰：譬如犀牛望月。月形入角。特因識生。始有月形。而彼真月。初不在角。胸中之天地萬物亦然。知此說者。外不見物。內不見情。

It is said: it is like a rhinoceros gazing at the moon, where the shape of the moon enters its horn; only because consciousness arises is there the shape of the moon, while the real moon was never in the horn. The heaven, earth and ten thousand things in the chest are like this too. One who understands this teaching, outwardly sees no things and inwardly sees no feelings.

曰：物生於土。終變於土。事生於意。終變於意。知夫惟意。則俄是之。俄非之。俄善之。俄惡之。意有變。心無變。意有覺。心無覺。惟一我心。則意者。塵往來爾。事者。欻起滅爾。吾心有大常者存。

It is said: things are born from earth and in the end turn back into earth; affairs are born from intention and in the end turn back into intention. Know that it is only intention, and one will think for a moment it is right, for a moment it is wrong, for a moment it is good, for a moment it is bad. Intention changes, but the mind does not change; intention has awareness, but the mind has no awareness. So long as my mind is single, intention is only dust coming and going, and affairs are only things suddenly arising and ceasing. In my mind that Great Constant remains.

曰：情生於心。心生於性。情波也。心流也。性水也。來幹我者。如石火頃。以性受之。則心不生物浮浮然。

It is said: feeling is born from the mind, and the mind is born from nature. Feeling is the wave, the mind is the current, and nature is the water. What comes to attack me is like the spark struck from a stone, lasting only a moment. Receive it with nature, and the mind does not give rise to things, and things are only drifting.

曰：賢愚真偽。有識者。有不識者。彼雖有賢愚。彼雖有真偽。而謂之賢愚真偽者。系我之識。知夫皆識所成。故雖真者。亦偽之。

It is said: worthy and foolish, true and false, some one can recognize and some one cannot. Although over there there are the worthy and the foolish, although over there there are the true and the false, what calls them worthy and foolish, true and false is tied to my consciousness. Knowing that all are accomplished by consciousness, one treats even what is true as false.

曰：心感物。不生心生情。物交心。不生物生識。物尚非真。何況於識。識尚非真。何況於情。而彼妄人。於至無中。執以為有。於至變中。執以為常。一情認之。積為萬情。萬情認之。積為萬物。物來無窮。我心有際。故我之良心受制於情。我之本情受制於物。可使之去。可使之來。而彼去來。初不在我。造化役之。固無休息。殊不知天地雖大。能役有形。而不能役無形。陰陽雖妙。能役有氣。而不能役無氣。心之所之。則氣從之。氣之所之。則形應之。猶如太虛於一碗中變成萬物。而彼一碗不名太虛。我之一心。能變為氣，能變為形。而我之心無氣無形。知夫我之一心無氣無形。則天地陰陽不能役之。

It is said: when the mind feels a thing, it does not give rise to mind but gives rise to feeling; when a thing meets the mind, it does not give rise to a thing but gives rise to consciousness. Things themselves are not real, how much less consciousness? Consciousness itself is not real, how much less feeling? Yet those deluded people cling in utter non-existence and take it to be existence, and cling in utmost change and take it to be constant. One feeling goes to recognize, and it accumulates into ten thousand feelings; ten thousand feelings go to recognize, and they accumulate into ten thousand things. Things come without end, while my mind has limits, so my good heart is held in check by feeling, and my original feeling is held in check by things; one can let it go and let it come, but the going and coming were never in my hands, and creation drives them without rest. Little do they know that heaven and earth, though great, can command what has form but cannot command what has no form; yin and yang, though wondrous, can command what has qi but cannot command what has no qi. Where the mind goes, qi follows; where qi goes, form responds. It is like the Great Void becoming ten thousand things within a single bowl, and yet that bowl is not called the Great Void. This one mind of mine can turn into qi and can turn into form, and my mind has no qi and no form. Know that this one mind of mine has no qi and no form, and heaven, earth, yin and yang cannot command it.

曰：人之平日。目忽見非常之物者。皆精有所結而使之然。人之病日。目忽見非常之物者。皆心有所歉而使之然。苟知吾心能於無中示有。則知吾心能於有中示無。但不信之。自然不神。或曰厥識既昏。孰能不信。我應之曰：如捕蛇師。心不怖蛇。彼雖夢蛇。而不怖畏。黃帝曰：道無鬼神。獨往獨來。

It is said: when a person is in ordinary days and his eyes suddenly see an extraordinary thing, it is because his essence has formed a knot that makes him so; when a person is sick and his eyes suddenly see an extraordinary thing, it is because his mind has some shortcoming that makes him so. If one knows that my mind can show existence within non-existence, one knows that my mind can show non-existence within existence. So long as one does not believe it, it naturally is not spiritual. Someone says: that consciousness is already dim, who can still not believe it? I answer: like a master snake catcher whose heart does not fear snakes, even if he dreams of a snake he is not afraid. The Yellow Emperor said: the Way has no ghosts or spirits, and goes alone and comes alone.

曰：我之思慮日變。有使之者。非我也。命也。苟知惟命。外不見我。內不見心。

It is said: my thoughts change day by day, and what makes them so is not me but fate. If one knows it is only fate, outwardly one does not see a self, and inwardly one does not see a mind.

曰：譬如兩目。能見天地萬物。暫時回光。一時不見。

It is said: it is like two eyes that can see the heaven, earth and ten thousand things; when they turn their light back for a moment, for that moment they see nothing at all.

曰：目視雕琢者明愈傷。耳聞交響者聰愈傷。心思元妙者心愈傷。

It is said: when the eyes gaze on what is carved and ornamented, clear sight is hurt all the more; when the ears listen to what is a clamor of sounds, sharp hearing is hurt all the more; when the mind ponders the mysterious (the base text reads "original and wondrous," where "original" stands for "mysterious," meaning deep and unfathomable), the mind is hurt all the more.

曰：勿以我心揆彼。當以彼心揆彼。知此說者可以周事。可以行德。可以貫道。可以交人。可以忘我。

It is said: do not use my mind to measure him; you should use his mind to measure him. One who understands this teaching can handle affairs completely, can practice virtue, can penetrate the Way, can associate with others, and can forget the self.

曰：天下之理。小不制而至於大。大不制而至於不可制。故能制一情者。可以成德。能忘一情者。可以契道。

It is said: the principle of the world is that the small, if not checked, will grow to the great, and the great, if not checked, will grow to what cannot be checked. So one who can check a single feeling can complete virtue; one who can forget a single feeling can accord with the Way.

六匕匕者食也食者形也

The Six Spoons: the spoon is food; food is form.

關尹子曰：世之人。以我思異彼思彼思異我思分人我者。殊不知夢中人亦我思異彼思。彼思異我思。孰為我。孰為人。世之人。以我痛異彼痛彼痛異我痛分人我者。殊不知夢中人亦我痛異彼痛。彼痛異我痛。孰為我。孰為人。爪發不痛。手足不思。亦我也。豈可以思痛異之。世之人。以獨見者為夢。同見者為覺。殊不知精之所結。亦有一人獨見於晝者。神之所合。亦有兩

Guan Yinzi said: people of the world, because my thought differs from his thought and his thought differs from my thought, divide self from other. Little do they know that the people in a dream also have my thought differing from his thought and his thought differing from my thought: which is the self and which is the other? People of the world, because my pain differs from his pain and his pain differs from my pain, divide self from other. Little do they know that the people in a dream also have my pain differing from his pain and his pain differing from my pain: which is the self and which is the other? The nails and hair feel no pain, the hands and feet do not think, and they are also me; could one exclude them because thought and pain differ? People of the world call what is seen alone a dream and what is seen together being awake. Little do they know that where essence congeals, there is also one person who sees alone in the daytime; where spirit gathers, there are also two

人同夢於夜者。二者皆我精神。孰為夢。孰為覺。世之人以暫見者為夢。久見者為覺。殊不知暫之所見者陰陽之碗。久之所見者亦陰陽之碗。二者皆我陰陽。孰為夢。孰為覺。

(Guan Yinzi continued:) people who dream together at night. Both are my essence and spirit: which is the dream and which is waking? People of the world call what is seen briefly a dream and what is seen for long being awake. Little do they know that what is seen briefly is the bowl of yin and yang, and what is seen for long is also the bowl of yin and yang. Both are my yin and yang: which is the dream and which is waking?

曰：好仁者多夢松柏桃李。好義者多夢兵刀金鐵。好禮者多夢簠簋籩豆。好智者多夢江湖川澤。好信者多夢山嶽原野。役於五行。未有不然者。然夢中或聞某事。或思某事。夢亦隨變。五行不可拘。聖人御物以心。攝心以性。則心同造化。五行亦不可拘。

It is said: those who love benevolence often dream of pines, cypresses, peach and plum trees; those who love righteousness often dream of soldiers, blades, gold and iron; those who love propriety often dream of ritual vessels; those who love wisdom often dream of rivers, lakes, streams and marshes; those who love trustworthiness often dream of mountains, peaks, plains and wilds. Commanded by the five phases, none is otherwise. Yet in a dream, if one hears of some matter or recalls some matter, the dream also changes with it, and then the five phases cannot hold one. The sage uses things but commands them with the mind, uses the mind but gathers it in with nature, and then the mind is the same as creation, and the five phases cannot hold him.

曰：汝見蛇首人身者。牛臂魚鱗者。鬼形禽翼者。汝勿怪。此怪不及夢。夢怪不及覺。有耳有目有手有臂。怪尤矣。大言不能言。大智不能思。

It is said: when you see a snake-headed human body, an ox-armed fish-scaled figure, or a ghost-shaped bird-winged one, do not find it strange. These oddities do not compare with dreams, and the oddities of dreams do not compare with waking. To have ears, eyes, hands and arms is the greater oddity. Great speech cannot be spoken, and great wisdom cannot be thought.

曰：有人問於我曰：爾何族。何氏。何名。何字。何食。何衣。何友。何僕。何琴。何書。何古。何今。我時默然。不對一字。或人扣之不已。我不得已而應之曰：尚自不見我。將何為我所。

It is said: someone asked me: what clan are you, what family, what name, what style, what do you eat, what do you wear, what friends do you make, what servants do you use, what zither do you play, what books do you read, what of the ancient and what of the modern is on your body? At the time I was silent and answered not one word. The person kept asking without end, and only when I had no choice did I answer: I cannot even see myself, so what would I take as mine?

曰：形可分可合。可延可隱。一夫一婦。可生二子。形可分。一夫一婦。二人成一子。形可合。食巨勝則壽。形可延。夜無月火。人不見我。形可隱。以一碗生萬物。猶棄發可換。所以分形。以一碗合萬物。猶破唇可補。所以合形。以神存碗。以碗存形。所以延形。合形於神。合神於無。所以隱形。汝欲知之乎。汝欲為之乎。

It is said: form can be divided and can be joined, can be lengthened and can be hidden. A husband and wife can give birth to two children, and form can be divided; a husband and wife, two persons, become one child, and form can be joined. Eating sesame seed brings long life, and form can be lengthened; at night when there is no moon and no fire, people cannot see me, and form can be hidden. To produce ten thousand things from one bowl is like discarded hair that can be replaced, and so one can divide form; to join ten thousand things in one bowl is like a split lip that can be mended, and so one can join form. Preserve the bowl with spirit and preserve form with the bowl, and so one can lengthen form; join form to spirit and join spirit to nothingness, and so one can hide form. Do you want to know it? Do you want to do it?

曰：無有一物不可見。則無一物非吾之見。無有一物不可聞。則無一物非吾之聞。五物可以養形。無一物非吾之形。五味可以養氣。無一物非吾之氣。是故吾之形氣。天地萬物。

It is said: there is not one thing that cannot be seen, so there is not one thing that is not my seeing; there is not one thing that cannot be heard, so there is not one thing that is not my hearing. Five kinds of things can nourish form, and there is not one that is not my form; five flavors can nourish qi, and there is not one that is not my qi. So my form and qi are the heaven, earth and ten thousand things.

曰：耕夫習牛則獷。獵夫習虎則勇。漁夫習水則沈。戰夫習馬則健。萬物可為我。我之一身。內變蟯蛔。外烝蝨蚤。瘕則龜魚。○則鼠蟻。我可為萬物。

It is said: one who tills the fields, being familiar with oxen, becomes rough; one who hunts, being familiar with tigers, becomes fierce; one who fishes, being familiar with water, becomes able to sink; one who fights, being familiar with horses, becomes strong. The ten thousand things can become me. This one body of mine, inside turns into pinworms and roundworms, and outside steams out lice and fleas; lumps in the belly turn into turtles and fish, and (a character missing in the base text) turn into rats and ants. I can become the ten thousand things.

曰：我之為我。如灰中金。而不若礦砂之金。破礦得金。淘沙得金。揚灰終身。無得金者。

It is said: what makes me me is like gold in ashes, but not as good as gold in ore. Break the ore and one gets gold, wash the sand and one gets gold, but toss the ashes all one's life and one never gets any gold.

曰：一蜂至微。亦能遊觀乎天地。一蝦至微。亦能放肆乎大海。

It is said: a single bee is extremely small, yet can roam and view heaven and earth; a single shrimp is extremely small, yet can be at ease in the great sea.

曰：土偶之成也。有貴有賤。有士有女。其質土。其壞土人哉。

It is said: when clay figures have been made, some are noble and some lowly, some are scholars and some are women. The material is earth and the unfired form is earth too: are they still people?

曰：目自觀目。無色。耳自聽耳。無聲。舌自嘗舌。無味。心自揆心。無物。眾人逐於外。賢人執於內。聖人皆偽之。

It is said: the eye looking at itself has no color; the ear listening to itself has no sound; the tongue tasting itself has no flavor; the mind measuring itself has no thing. Ordinary people chase outward, the worthy cling inward, and the sage sees both sides as false.

曰：我身五行之碗。而五行之碗。其性一物。借如一所。可以取水。可以取火。可以生木。可以凝金。可以變土。其性含攝。元無差殊。故羽蟲盛者。毛蟲不育。毛蟲盛者。鱗蟲不育。知五行互用者。可以忘我。

It is said: my body is a bowl of the five phases, and the nature of the bowl of the five phases is only one thing. It is like the same place from which one can draw water, draw fire, grow wood, condense metal and change earth, its nature holding them all in, with originally no difference. So when the feathered kind flourish the furred kind do not breed, and when the furred kind flourish the scaled kind do not breed. One who knows that the five phases serve one another can forget the self.

曰：枯龜無我。能見大知。磁石無我。能見大力。鐘鼓無我。能見大音。舟車無我。能見遠行。故我一身。雖有智有力。有行有音。未嘗有我。

It is said: a withered tortoise has no self and can show great knowledge; a magnet has no self and can show great force; bells and drums have no self and can show great sound; boats and carts have no self and can show far travel. So though this one body of mine has wisdom and strength, action and voice, it has never had a self.

曰：蜮射影能斃我。知夫無知者亦我。則溥天之下。我無不在。

It is said: the water-sprite can shoot a shadow and thereby shoot the person dead. Know that what is without knowledge is also me, and then in the whole world there is nowhere I am not.

曰：心憶者猶忘飢。心忿者猶忘寒。心養者猶忘病。心激者猶忘痛。苟吸碗以養其和。孰能飢之。存神以滋其暖。孰能寒之。養五藏以五行。則無傷也。孰能病之。歸五藏於五行。則無知也。孰則痛之。

It is said: one who is thinking intently can forget hunger, one who is furious can forget cold, one who is caring for himself can forget illness, and one who is excited can forget pain. If one draws in the bowl to nourish that harmony, who can make him hungry? If one preserves spirit to feed that warmth, who can make him cold? If one nourishes the five organs with the five phases, there is no injury, who can make him ill? If one returns the five organs to the five phases, there is no feeling, who can make him feel pain?

曰：人無以無知無為者為無我。雖有知有為。不害其為無我。譬如火也。躁動不停。未嘗有我。

It is said: people should not suppose that only having no knowledge and no action is having no self. Even having knowledge and action does not prevent one from having no self. It is like fire, restless without rest, which has never had a self.

七釜釜者化也

The Seven Cauldrons: the cauldron is transformation.

關尹子曰：道本至無。以事歸道者。得之一息。事本至有。以道運事者。周之百為。得道之尊者。可以輔世。得道之獨者。可以立我。知道非時之所能拘者。能以一日為百年。能以百年為一日。知道非方之所能礙者。能以一里為百里。能以百里為一里。知道無氣能運有氣者。可以召風雨。知道無形能變有形者。可以易鳥獸。得道之清者。物莫能累。身輕矣。可以騎鳳鶴。得道之渾者。物莫能溺。身冥矣。可以席蛟鯨。有即無。無即有。知此道者。可以制鬼神。實即虛。虛即實。知此道者。可以入金石。上即下。下即上。知此道者。可以侍星辰。古即今。今即古。知此道者。可以卜龜筮。人即我。我即人。知此道者。可以窺他人之肺肝。物即我。我即物。知此道者。可以成腹中之龍虎。知象由心變。以此觀心。可以成女嬰。知碗由心生。以此吸神。可以成爐冶。以此勝物。虎豹可伏。以此同物。水火可入。惟有道之士能為之。亦能能之而不為之。

Guan Yinzi said: the Way is originally utmost non-existence, and one who returns affairs to the Way can obtain it in a single breath; affairs are originally utmost existence, and one who moves affairs with the Way can complete them in a hundred kinds of action. One who obtains the honored side of the Way can assist the human world; one who obtains the solitary side of the Way can stand on his own. Knowing that the Way cannot be bound by time, one can treat one day as a hundred years and a hundred years as one day; knowing that the Way cannot be blocked by place, one can treat one li as a hundred li and a hundred li as one li. Knowing that the Way, without qi, can move what has qi, one can call up wind and rain; knowing that the Way, without form, can change what has form, one can alter birds and beasts. One who obtains the pure side of the Way is not burdened by things, his body becomes light, and he can ride phoenixes and cranes; one who obtains the turbid side of the Way is not drowned by things, his body merges in the dark, and he can take flood dragons and whales as his mat. Being is non-being, and non-being is being; one who knows this Way can subdue ghosts and spirits. The solid is the empty, and the empty is the solid; one who knows this Way can enter metal and stone. Above is below, and below is above; one who knows this Way can serve the stars. The ancient is the modern, and the modern is the ancient; one who knows this Way can consult the tortoise and milfoil. Others are I, and I am others; one who knows this Way can peer into the lungs and liver of others. Things are I, and I am things; one who knows this Way can form dragon and tiger within the belly (the terms in this passage, dragon and tiger, the infant and maiden, the furnace and smelter, are names borrowed by inner alchemists from the drugs and vessels of outer alchemy to refer to the essence, qi and spirit within the body and the places where they are cultivated; they do not mean actual minerals or metals). Know that images change by the mind, and by using this to observe the mind one can form the infant and maiden; know that bowls are born of the mind, and by using this to draw in spirit one can form the furnace and smelter. Use this to overcome things, and tigers and leopards can be subdued; use this to be the same as things, and water and fire can be entered. Only a person of the Way can do these things, and can also be able to do them and not do them.

曰：人之力。有可以奪天地造化者。如冬起雷。夏造。死屍能行。枯木能華。豆中攝鬼。杯中釣魚。畫門可開。土鬼可語。皆純碗所為。故能化萬物。今之情情不停。亦碗所為。而碗之為物。有合有散。我之所以行碗者。本未嘗合。亦未嘗散。有合者生。有散者死。彼未嘗合未嘗散者。無生無死。客有去來。郵常自若。

It is said: human strength can sometimes seize the transformations of heaven and earth. For example, thunder sounding in winter, ice made in summer (the base text seems to have lost "ice" after "made in summer"), a corpse that walks, a withered tree that blooms, ghosts summoned out of beans, fish angled out of a cup, a painted door that opens, a clay ghost that speaks: all are made by the pure bowl, and so can transform the ten thousand things. Now feeling following feeling without pause is also made by the bowl. And the bowl as a thing has joining and scattering. What I use to move the bowl was never joined and never scattered. What joins is born, and what scatters dies. What was never joined and never scattered has no birth and no death. Guests have coming and going, but the inn always remains as it was.

曰：有誦祝者。有事神者。有墨字者。有變指者。皆可以役神御碗。變化萬物。惟不誠之人。難於自信。而易於信物。故假此為之。苟知惟誠。有不待彼而然者。

It is said: there are those who recite spells and prayers, those who serve spirits, those who write with ink, those who form hand signs, all of whom can command spirits and ride the bowl to transform the ten thousand things. Only the insincere find it hard to trust themselves but easy to trust things, and so they borrow from these means. If one knows that it is only sincerity, there are those who can do this without waiting on those means.

曰：人之一呼一吸。日行四十萬裡。化可謂速矣。惟聖人不存不變。

It is said: with each breath out and in, a person travels four hundred thousand li in a day; transformation can be called very swift. Only the sage neither stays nor transforms.

曰：青鸞子千歲而千歲化。桃子五仕而心五化。聖人賓事去物。豈不欲建立於世哉。有形數者懼化之不可知也。

It is said: the blue phoenix lived a thousand years, and for a thousand years it was transforming; the peach made five official careers, and its heart transformed five times. The sage treats affairs as guests and sets things aside; could he not want to establish something in the world? What has form and number fears transformation that cannot be known.

曰：萬物變遷。雖互隱見。氣一而已。惟聖人知一而不化。

It is said: when the ten thousand things shift and change, though they hide and show each other, qi is only one. Only the sage knows the one that does not transform.

曰：爪之生。發之長。榮衛之行。無頃刻止。眾人皆見之於著。不能見之於微。賢人見之於微。而不能任化。聖人任化。所以無化。

It is said: nails are growing, hair is growing, the nutritive and defensive qi are circulating, with no pause even for a moment. Ordinary people can all see what is obvious and cannot see what is subtle; the worthy can see what is subtle but cannot let transformation take its course; the sage lets transformation take its course, and so there is no transformation.

曰：室中有常見聞矣。既而之門之鄰之裡之黨。既而之郊之山之川。見聞各異。好惡隨之。和競從之。得失成之。是以聖人動止有戒。

It is said: in the house there is what one constantly sees and hears. Later one goes to the door, to the neighbor's, to the lane, to the village, later to the outskirts, to the mountains, to the rivers; what one sees and hears is different in each, likes and dislikes change with them, harmony and strife follow, and gain and loss are made. So the sage is cautious in every movement and rest.

曰：譬如大海。變化億萬蛟魚。水一而已。我之與物。蓊然蔚然。在大化中。性一而已。知夫性一者。無人無我無死無生。

It is said: it is like the great sea, which transforms into hundreds of millions of flood dragons and fish, while the water is only one. I and things, thick and luxuriant in the midst of the great transformation, have a nature that is only one. One who knows that nature is one has no other and no self, no death and no life.

曰：天下之理。是或化為非。非或化為是。恩或化為仇。仇或化為恩。是以聖人居常慮變。

It is said: the principle of the world is that right may transform into wrong and wrong may transform into right; kindness may transform into enmity and enmity may transform into kindness. So the sage dwells in the constant and keeps change in mind.

曰：人之少也。當佩乎父兄之教。人之壯也。當達乎朋友之箴。人之老也。當警乎少壯之說。萬化雖移。不能厄我。

It is said: when a person is young, he should wear the teachings of his father and elder brother; when a person is in his prime, he should take in the admonitions of his friends; when a person is old, he should be wary of what he said in his youth and prime. Though the ten thousand transformations shift, they cannot corner me.

曰：天下之理輕者易化。重者難化。譬如風雲須臾變滅。金玉之性歷久不渝。人之輕明者。能與造化俱化而不留。殆有未嘗化者存。

It is said: the principle of the world is that the light transforms easily and the heavy transforms with difficulty. Wind and clouds change and vanish in a moment, while the nature of gold and jade does not change over a long time. Among people, the one who is light and bright can transform together with creation without lingering, and probably there remains in him what has never transformed.

曰：二幼相好。及其壯也。相遇則不相識。二壯相好。及其老也。相遇則不相識。如雀鴿鷹鳩之化。無昔無今。

It is said: two friends in childhood, when they meet in their prime do not recognize each other; two friends in their prime, when they meet in old age do not recognize each other. Like the transformations of sparrow, pigeon, hawk and dove, there is no past and no present.

八籌籌者物也

The Eight Counting Rods: the rods are things.

關尹子曰：古之善揲蓍灼龜者。能於今中示古。古中示今。高中示下。下中示高。小中示大。大中示小。一中示多。多中示一。人中示物。物中示人。我中示彼。彼中示我。是道也。其來無今。其往無古。其高無蓋。其低無載。其大無外。其小無內。其外無物。其內無人。其近無我。其遠無彼。不可析。不可合。不可喻。不可思。惟其渾淪。所以為道。曰：水潛。故蘊為五精。火飛。故達為五臭。木茂。故華為五色。金堅。故實為五聲。土和。故滋為五味。其常五。其變不可計。其物五。其雜不可計。然則萬物在天地間。不可執謂之萬。不可執謂之五。不可執謂之一。不可執謂之非萬。不可執謂之非五。不可執謂之非一。或合之。或離之。以此必形。以此必數。以此必氣。徒自勞爾。物不知我。我不知物。

Guan Yinzi said: in ancient times those who were good at casting milfoil and burning tortoise shell could show the ancient within the present and the present within the ancient; show the low within the high and the high within the low; show the great within the small and the small within the great; show the many within the one and the one within the many; show things within people and people within things; show the other within the self and the self within the other. This Way, in coming has no present, in going has no past; as for its height, it has no cover, as for its depth, it has no support; as for its greatness, it has no outside, as for its smallness, it has no inside; outside it there is no thing, inside it there is no person; near it there is no self, far from it there is no other. It cannot be divided, cannot be joined, cannot be compared, cannot be thought. Only because it is undivided and whole is it the Way. It is also said: water is hidden, so it gathers and forms the five essences; fire flies upward, so it penetrates and forms the five smells; wood flourishes, so it blooms and forms the five colors; metal is hard, so it fills out and forms the five sounds; earth is mild and soft, so it nourishes and forms the five flavors. The constant is five, but the changes cannot be counted; things are five, but the mixtures cannot be counted. Then the ten thousand things between heaven and earth cannot be clung to and called ten thousand, cannot be clung to and called five, cannot be clung to and called one, and cannot be clung to and called not ten thousand, not five, not one. Whether one joins them or separates them, to use this to fix form, to fix number, to fix qi is only to tire oneself. Things do not know me, and I do not know things.

曰：即吾心中可作萬物。蓋心有所之。則愛從之。愛從之。則精從之。蓋心有所結。先凝為水。心慕物涎出。心悲物淚出。心愧物汗出。無暫而不久。無久而不變。水生木。木生火。火生土。土生金。金生水。相攻相剋。不可勝數。嬰兒奼女。金樓絳宮。青蛟白虎。寶鼎紅爐。皆此物。有非此物存者。

It is said: within my own mind I can make the ten thousand things. For when the mind goes toward something, love follows; when love follows, essence follows. Because the mind forms a knot, it first condenses into water: when the mind yearns for a thing it lets out saliva, when the mind grieves for a thing it lets out tears, when the mind is ashamed of a thing it lets out sweat. There is nothing brief that is not lasting, and nothing lasting that does not change. Water gives birth to wood, wood to fire, fire to earth, earth to metal, metal to water; they attack and overcome one another without end. The infant and the maiden, the golden tower and the crimson palace, the green dragon and the white tiger, the precious cauldron and the red furnace are all this thing; and there are also some that remain that are not this thing.

曰：鳥獸俄呦呦。俄旬旬。俄逃逃。草木俄茁茁。俄停停。俄蕭蕭。天地不能留。聖人不能系。有運者存焉爾。有之在彼。無之在此。鼓不桴則不鳴。偶之在彼。奇之在此。桴不手則不擊。

It is said: birds and beasts for a moment cry out, for a moment grow tame, for a moment scatter; grass and trees for a moment grow lush, for a moment stop, for a moment wither. Heaven and earth cannot hold it, the sage cannot bind it; there is only that which turns that remains. Being is over there and non-being is here: a drum without a stick does not sound; the even is over there and the odd is here: a stick without a hand does not strike.

曰：均一物也。眾人惑其名。見物不見道。賢人析其理。見道不見物。聖人合其天。不見道不見物。一道皆道。不執之即道。執之即物。

He said: It is one and the same thing, yet the multitude are deluded by its name and see the thing but not the Dao; the worthy analyze its principle and see the Dao but not the thing; the sage is in accord with Heaven and sees neither Dao nor thing. The Dao is wholly Dao; not clinging to it is the Dao, and clinging to it makes it a mere thing.

曰：知物之偽者。不必去物。譬如見土牛木馬。雖情存牛馬之名。而心忘牛馬之實。

He said: To know that things are false, you need not get rid of things. It is like seeing an earthen ox or a wooden horse: although in feeling you still keep the names of ox and horse, in your heart you have already forgotten the reality of ox and horse.

九藥藥者雜治也

Nine Medicines: a medicine is a mixed remedy.

關尹子曰：勿輕小事。小隙沉舟。勿輕小物。小蟲毒身。勿輕小人。小人賊國。能周小事。然後能成大事。能積小物。然後能成大物。能善小人。然後能契大人。天既無可必者人。人無能必者事。惟去事離人。則我在我。惟可即可。未有當繁簡可。當戒忍可。當勤惰可。曰：智之極者。知智果不足以周物。故愚。辨之極者。知辨果不足以喻物。故訥。勇之極者。知勇果不足以勝物。故怯。曰：天地萬物。無一物是吾之物。物非我。物不得不應。我非我。我不得不養。雖應物。未嘗有物。雖養我。未嘗有我。勿曰外物。然後外我。勿曰外形。然後外心。道一而已。不可序進。

Guan Yinzi said: Do not despise small matters, for a small crack can sink a ship; do not despise small things, for a small insect can poison the body; do not despise small people, for small people can ruin a state. One who can attend to small matters on all sides can then accomplish great ones; one who can accumulate small things can then make a great thing; one who can treat small people well can then be in accord with great people. Heaven has no one that it fixes on for certain, and people cannot fix on any matter for certain. Only by dropping affairs and leaving people do I come to be myself. Only what is fitting is fitting; there is no such thing as being fine either way whether to be elaborate or simple, to hold back or to bear, to be diligent or to be idle. He also said: when wisdom reaches its limit, you know that wisdom truly cannot cover all things, and so you hold to foolishness; when argument reaches its limit, you know that argument truly cannot make things clear, and so you hold to slowness of speech; when courage reaches its limit, you know that courage truly cannot overcome things, and so you hold to timidity. He also said: Of all the ten thousand things between heaven and earth, not one is my thing. Things are not me, yet things cannot but be answered; I am not me, yet I cannot but be nourished. Though I answer things, I have never had a thing; though I nourish myself, I have never had a self. Do not say that one is first outside things and only then outside oneself; do not say that one is first outside the body and only then outside the mind. The Dao is just one, and cannot be advanced in stages.

曰：諦毫末者。不見天地之大。審小音者。不聞雷霆之聲。見大者亦不見小。見邇者亦不見遠。聞大者亦不聞小。聞邇者亦不聞遠。聖人無所見。故能無不見。無所聞。故能無不聞。

He said: One who examines a hair's tip cannot see the vastness of heaven and earth; one who listens closely to a tiny sound cannot hear the roar of thunder. Seeing the large, one does not see the small; seeing the near, one does not see the far; hearing the large, one does not hear the small; hearing the near, one does not hear the far. The sage has nothing he sees, and so can see everything; has nothing he hears, and so can hear everything.

曰：目之所見。不知其幾何。或愛金。或愛玉。是執一色為目也。耳之所聞。不知其幾何。或愛鍾。或愛鼓。是執一聲為耳也。惟聖人不慕之。不拒之。不處之。

He said: There is no knowing how many things the eyes see; some love gold, some love jade, which is clinging to one color and taking it for the eye. There is no knowing how many things the ears hear; some love bells, some love drums, which is clinging to one sound and taking it for the ear. Only the sage neither covets nor rejects, nor dwells upon them.

曰：善今者可以行古。善末者可以立本。

He said: One who is good at the present can practice the ancient; one who is good at the branch can establish the root.

曰：狡勝賊。能捕賊。勇勝虎。能捕虎。能克己。乃能成己。能勝物。乃能利物。能忘道。乃能有道。

He said: Only one who is craftier than a thief can catch a thief; only one who is fiercer than a tiger can catch a tiger. Only one who can overcome himself can fulfil himself; only one who can surpass things can be of benefit to things; only one who can forget the Dao can possess the Dao.

曰：○堅。則物必毀之。剛斯折矣。刀利。則物必摧之。銳斯挫矣。威鳳以難見為神。是聖人以深為根。走麝以遺香不捕。是以聖人以約為紀。

He said: If (a character here is damaged in the received text) is hard, things will surely break it, for what is rigid snaps; if a blade is sharp, things will surely snap it, for what is keen is blunted. The mighty phoenix is taken for a spirit because it is hard to see, so the sage takes depth for his root; the running musk deer is not caught for the scent it leaves, so the sage takes simplicity for his guide.

曰：瓶存二竅。以水實之。倒瀉閉一。則水不下。蓋不升則不降。井雖千仞。汲之水上。蓋不降則不升。是以聖人不先物。

He said: A bottle with two holes, filled with water and turned upside down to pour: if you close one hole, the water will not come down, because what does not rise cannot descend. A well may be a thousand fathoms deep, yet when you draw from it the water comes up, because what does not descend cannot rise. Hence the sage does not rush ahead of things.

曰：人之有失。雖己受害於已失之後。久之。竊議於未失之前。惟其不恃己聰明而兼人之聰明。惟其無我而兼天下之我。終身行之。可以不失。

He said: When a person makes a mistake, even after he has already been harmed by the loss, long afterward he will still privately discuss the time before the loss. It is only because he does not rely on his own cleverness but also uses that of others, only because he has no self and so also has the selves of all under heaven, that by doing this his whole life long he can avoid loss.

曰：古今之俗不同。東西南北之俗又不同。至於一家一身之善又不同。吾豈執一豫格後世哉。

He said: The customs of ancient and modern times differ, the customs of east, west, south and north differ again, and as to what is good for a single family or a single person, they differ still more. How could I cling to a preset mold to regulate later ages?

惟隨時同俗。先機後事。捐忿塞欲。簡物恕人。權其輕重。而為之自然。合神不測。契道無方。

(Guan Yinzi continued:) Simply follow the times and share the customs, first look at the mechanism and then act, drop anger and rage and block cravings and desires, economize on things and forgive people, weigh the light and the heavy before acting; then you will naturally accord with the unfathomable nature of spirit and fit the Dao that has no fixed place.

曰：有道交者。有德交者。有事交者。道交者。父子也。出於是非賢愚之外。故久。德交者。則有是非賢愚矣。故或合或離。事交者。合則離。

He said: There are those who associate by the Dao, those by virtue, and those by affairs. Those who associate by the Dao are like father and son, beyond right and wrong and worthy and foolish, and so it lasts. Those who associate by virtue come to have right and wrong and worthy and foolish, and so they may join or part. Those who associate by affairs will part once they have joined.

曰：勿以拙陋。曰道之質當樂敏捷。勿以愚闇。曰道之晦當樂輕明。勿以傲易。曰道之高當樂和同。勿以汗漫。曰道之廣當樂要急。勿以幽憂。曰道之寂當樂悅豫。古人之言。學之多弊。不可不救。

He said: Do not call clumsiness the plainness of the Dao; you should delight in quickness. Do not call dullness the obscurity of the Dao; you should delight in lightness and clarity. Do not call arrogance and contempt the loftiness of the Dao; you should delight in harmony and sameness. Do not call vagueness the breadth of the Dao; you should delight in what is essential and pressing. Do not call gloom and worry the stillness of the Dao; you should delight in joy and ease. Much of what the ancients said does harm when it is studied, and one must not fail to remedy it.

曰：不可非世是己。不可卑人尊己。不可以輕忽道己。不可以訕謗德己。不可以鄙猥才己。

He said: One must not condemn the world in order to affirm oneself, must not look down on others in order to exalt oneself, must not take carelessness as one's Dao, must not take slander as one's virtue, and must not take vulgarity as one's talent.

曰：困天下之智者不在智而在愚。窮天下之辯者不在辯而在訥。伏天下之勇者不在勇而在怯。

He said: What traps the wisdom of the world is not wisdom but foolishness; what exhausts the debating of the world is not debate but slowness of speech; what subdues the courage of the world is not courage but timidity.

曰：天不能冬蓮春菊。是以聖人不違時。地不能洛橘汶貉。是以聖人不違俗。聖人不能使手步足握。是以聖人不違我所長。聖人不能使魚飛鳥馳。是以聖人不違人所長。夫如是者。可動可止。可晦可明。惟不可拘。所以為道。

He said: Heaven cannot make the lotus bloom in winter or the chrysanthemum bloom in spring, so the sage does not go against the seasons. Earth cannot make the tangerine grow in Luo or the badger live by the Wen, so the sage does not go against local customs. The sage cannot make the hands walk or the feet grasp, so the sage does not go against his own strengths. The sage cannot make fish fly or birds run, so the sage does not go against the strengths of others. In this way one can move or stop, be obscure or bright. Only because one cannot be tied down is it the Dao.

曰：少言者。不為人所忌。少行者。不為人短。少智者。不為人所勞。少能者。不為人所役。曰：操之以誠。行之以簡。待之以恕。應之以默。吾道不窮。

He said: One who speaks little is not resented by others; one who does little is not exposed in his faults by others; one who uses little cleverness is not worn out by others; one who shows off little is not put to use by others. He also said: Hold to it with sincerity, carry it out with simplicity, treat others with forbearance, respond with silence, and my Dao will not run dry.

曰：謀之於事。斷之於理。作之於人。成之於天。事師於今。理師於古。事同於人。道獨於己。

He said: Planning lies in the matter, decision lies in the principle, action lies in people, and accomplishment lies in Heaven. In matters, take the present as the model; in principle, take the ancient as the model. Matters are the same as people, but the Dao is alone with oneself.

曰：金玉難捐。土石易舍。學道之士。遇微言妙行。慎勿執之。是可為而不可執。若執之者。則腹心之疾。無藥可療。

He said: Gold and jade are hard to give up, while earth and stone are easily given up. A student of the Dao who meets subtle words and marvelous conduct must on no account cling to them. These may be done but must not be clung to; if you cling, it becomes an illness of the heart and belly, for which there is no medicine.

曰：人不明於急務。而從事於多務他務奇務者。困災厄及之。殊不知道無不在。不可舍此就彼。

He said: When people do not understand the pressing task but go and engage in many tasks, other tasks and strange tasks, trouble and disaster will arrive. They do not know that the Dao is everywhere, and one cannot give up this to take up that.

曰：天下之理。舍親就疏。捨本就末。舍賢就愚。舍近就遠。可暫而已。久則害生。

He said: The principle of the world: to give up the near for the distant, the root for the branch, the worthy for the foolish, the close for the far, may be done only for a time; done for long, it brings harm.

曰：昔之論道者。或曰凝寂。或曰邃深。或曰澄澈。或曰空洞。或曰晦冥。慎勿遇此而生怖退。天下至理。竟非言意。苟知非言非意在彼微言妙意之上。乃契吾說。

He said: Those who discussed the Dao in the past spoke of congealed stillness, or of profound depth, or of clarity, or of hollow openness, or of dim darkness. On no account should you meet these and be seized with fear and retreat. The ultimate principle of the world is, after all, neither words nor ideas. If you know that what is neither word nor idea lies above those subtle words and wonderful ideas, only then do you accord with my saying.

曰：聖人大言金玉。小言桔梗芣衛。用之當。桔梗芣衛生之。不當。金玉斃之。

He said: The sage's great words are like gold and jade, and his small words are like balloon flower root and plantain (the received text has a variant form for the plantain). Used properly, balloon flower root and plantain can save a life; used improperly, even gold and jade can kill a person.

曰：言某事者。甲言利。乙言害。丙言或利或害。丁言俱利俱害。必居一於此矣。喻道者不言。

He said: Of one who speaks about some matter, A says it is beneficial, B says it is harmful, C says it is either beneficial or harmful, and D says it is both beneficial and harmful; it must be one of these. One who understands the Dao does not speak.

曰：事有在。事言有理。道無在。道言無理。知言無理。則言言皆道。不知言無理。雖執至言。為梗為翳。

He said: Affairs have a location, and the words about affairs have reason; the Dao has no location, and the words about the Dao have no reason. Once you know that words have no reason, then every word is the Dao; if you do not know that words have no reason, then even if you cling to the most ultimate words, they become blockages and veils.

曰：不信愚人易。不信賢人難。不信賢人易。不信聖人難。不信一聖人易。不信千聖人難。夫不信千聖人者。外不見人。內不見我。上不見道。下不見事。

He said: Not believing a fool is easy, not believing a worthy is hard; not believing a worthy is easy, not believing a sage is hard; not believing one sage is easy, not believing a thousand sages is hard. One who does not believe a thousand sages cannot see others outside, cannot see himself within, cannot see the Dao above, and cannot see affairs below.

曰：聖人言濛濛。所以使人聾。聖人言冥冥。所以使人盲。聖人言沉沉。所以使人喑。惟聾則不聞聲。惟盲則不見色。惟喑則不音言。不聞聲者不聞道。不聞事。不聞我。不見色者不見道。不見事。不見我。不音言者不言道。不言事。不言我。

He said: The words of the sage are murky, and so make people deaf; the words of the sage are dim, and so make people blind; the words of the sage are heavy, and so make people mute. Only the deaf do not hear sound, only the blind do not see color, and only the mute do not utter speech. One who does not hear sound does not hear the Dao, does not hear affairs, does not hear himself; one who does not see color does not see the Dao, does not see affairs, does not see himself; one who does not utter speech does not speak of the Dao, does not speak of affairs, does not speak of himself.

曰：人徒知偽得之中有真失。殊不知真得之中有真失。徒知偽是之中有真非。殊不知真是之中有真非。

He said: People only know that within a false gain there is a true loss, and do not know that within a true gain there is also a true loss; they only know that within a false right there is a true wrong, and do not know that within a true right there is also a true wrong.

曰：言道者如言夢。夫言夢者曰如此金玉。如此器皿。如此禽獸。言者能言之。不能取而與之。聽者能聞之。不能受而得之。惟善聽者。不泥不辨。

He said: Speaking of the Dao is like speaking of a dream. The one who tells a dream says: such gold and jade, such vessels, such birds and beasts. The speaker can tell of them but cannot bring them out and give them to others; the listener can hear them but cannot take them and possess them. Only one who is good at listening neither clings nor argues.

曰：圓爾道。方爾德。平爾行。銳爾事。

He said: Make your Dao round, make your virtue square, make your conduct level, and make your work keen.