Guan Yin Zi (關尹子) · Volume 1

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.