Chapter 1: Heaven’s Omen

子列子居鄭圃，四十年人無識者。國君卿大夫眎之，猶眾庶也。國不足，將嫁於衛。弟子曰：「先生往無反期，弟子敢有所謁，先生將何以教？先生不聞壺丘子林之言乎？」子列子笑曰：「壺子何言哉？雖然，夫子嘗語伯昏瞀人。吾側聞之，試以告女。其言曰：有生不生，有化不化。不生者能生生，不化者能化化。生者不能不生，化者不能不化。故常生常化。常生常化者，無時不生，無時不化。陰陽爾，四時爾，不生者疑獨，不化者往復。往復，其際不可終；疑獨，其道不可窮。《黃帝書》曰：『谷神不死，是謂玄牝。玄牝之門，是謂天地之根。綿綿若存，用之不勤。』故生物者不生，化物者不化。自生自化，自形自色，自智自力，自消自息。謂之生化形色智力消息者，非也。」

Liezi lived in Putian in the state of Zheng, and for forty years no one recognized him. The ruler, the ministers, and the grandees regarded him as they regarded the common people. When the state had a poor harvest, he prepared to move to the state of Wei. His disciples said: “Master, once you go there is no day of return. May your disciples venture to ask for instruction: what will you use to teach us? Has the Master not heard the words of Huqiu Zilin?” Liezi smiled and said: “What did Huzi say? Even so, my teacher once told Bohun Wuren, and I heard it standing beside him; let me try to tell you. His words were: there is that which gives life yet is not itself born, there is that which transforms yet is not itself transformed. The unborn can give birth to life, the untransformed can transform into change. What is born cannot but be born, and what is transformed cannot but be transformed. So there is constant birth and constant transformation. What is constantly born and constantly transformed is born at every moment and transformed at every moment. Yin and yang are like this, the four seasons are like this. The unborn stands alone in stillness, the untransformed goes and returns. In going and returning, its boundary cannot be ended; in standing alone, its Way (dao, the word Laozi used to refer to the origin of the myriad things and the manner of their operation, itself beyond description) cannot be exhausted. The Book of the Yellow Emperor says: ‘The spirit of the valley does not die; this is called the mysterious female (xuan pin, a figure for the void that can nevertheless bear the myriad things). The gate of the mysterious female is the root of heaven and earth. Continuous, as if existing, its use is never exhausted.’ So what gives life is not itself born, and what transforms is not itself transformed. It is itself born, itself transformed, itself has form, itself has color, itself has wisdom, itself has strength, itself wanes, itself waxes. To call these things birth, transformation, form, color, wisdom, strength, waning, and waxing is not correct.”

子列子曰：「昔者聖人因陰陽以統天地。夫有形者生於無形，則天地安從生？故曰：有太易，有太初，有太始，有太素。太易者，未見氣也；太初者，氣之始也；太始者，形之始也；太素者，質之始也。氣形質具而未相離，故曰渾淪。渾淪者，言萬物相渾淪而未相離也。視之不見，聽之不聞，循之不得，故曰易也。易無形埒，易變而為一，一變而為七，七變而為九。九變者，究也，乃復變而為一。一者，形變之始也。清輕者上為天，濁重者下為地，沖和氣者為人；故天地含精，萬物化生。」

Liezi said: “In the past the sages relied on yin and yang to govern heaven and earth. What has form is born from the formless, so where are heaven and earth born from? Therefore it is said: there is the Great Change, there is the Great Beginning, there is the Great Origin, and there is the Great Simplicity. The Great Change is when qi (the flowing stuff that makes up and runs through all things) is not yet seen; the Great Beginning is the start of qi; the Great Origin is the start of form; the Great Simplicity is the start of substance. When qi, form, and substance are all present but not yet separated from one another, it is called chaos. Chaos means that the myriad things are mixed together and not yet separated. Looked at, it cannot be seen; listened to, it cannot be heard; touched, it cannot be felt; so it is called change. Change has no form or boundary; change becomes one, one becomes seven, seven becomes nine. When the nine changes are exhausted, it changes back to one. One is the start of the changes of form. What is clear and light rises and becomes heaven, what is turbid and heavy sinks and becomes earth, and the harmonious qi in between becomes humans; thus heaven and earth hold essence, and the myriad things are born and transformed.”

子列子曰：「天地無全功，聖人無全能，萬物無全用。故天職生覆，地職形載，聖職教化，物職所宜。然則天有所短，地有所長，聖有所否，物有所通。何則？生覆者不能形載，形載者不能教化，教化者不能違所宜，宜定者不出所位。故天地之道，非陰則陽；聖人之教，非仁則義；萬物之宜，非柔則剛：此皆隨所宜而不能出所位者也。故有生者，有生生者；有形者，有形形者；有聲者，有聲聲者；有色者，有色色者；有味者，有味味者。生之所生者死矣，而生生者未嘗終；形之所形者實矣，而形形者未嘗有；聲之所聲者聞矣，而聲聲者未嘗發；色之所色者彰矣，而色色者未嘗顯；味之所味者嘗矣，而味味者未嘗呈：皆無為之職也。能陰能陽，能柔能剛，能短能長，能員能方，能生能死，能暑能涼，能浮能沈，能宮能商，能出能沒，能玄能黃，能甘能苦，能羶能香。無知也，無能也，而無不知也，而無不能也。」

Liezi said: “Heaven and earth have no complete achievement, the sage has no complete capacity, and the myriad things have no complete use. So Heaven’s function is to give birth and to cover, Earth’s function is to give form and to bear, the sage’s function is to teach and transform, and a thing’s function is to find what suits it. Then Heaven has what it lacks, Earth has what it excels in, the sage has what hinders him, and things have what they penetrate. Why? What gives birth and covers cannot give form and bear; what gives form and bears cannot teach and transform; what teaches and transforms cannot go against what is fitting; and what is fitting, once settled, cannot go beyond its place. So the Way of heaven and earth is either yin or yang; the teaching of the sage is either benevolence or righteousness; what suits the myriad things is either soft or hard: all follow what suits them and cannot go beyond their place. So whatever has life has something that makes it live; whatever has form has something that gives it form; whatever has sound has something that makes it sound; whatever has color has something that makes it colored; whatever has flavor has something that makes it flavored. What is born dies, yet that which makes it live has never ended; what has been formed takes shape, yet that which gives it form has never existed; the sound that is emitted is heard, yet that which makes it sound has never sounded; the color that is made is made plain, yet that which makes it colored has never appeared; the flavor that is made is tasted, yet that which makes it flavored has never been displayed; all this is the function of 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). It can be yin and can be yang, can be soft and can be hard, can be short and can be long, can be round and can be square, can live and can die, can be hot and can be cool, can float and can sink, can be the gong note and can be the shang note, can come forth and can vanish, can be black and can be yellow, can be sweet and can be bitter, can be rank and can be fragrant. It has no knowledge and no ability, and yet there is nothing it does not know and nothing it cannot do.”

子列子適衛，食於道，從者見百歲髑髏，攓蓬而指，顧謂弟子百豐曰：「唯予與彼知而未嘗生未嘗死也。此過養乎？此過歡乎？種有幾：若䵷為鶉，得水為㡭，得水土之際，則為䵷蠙之衣。生於陵屯，則為陵舄。陵舄得鬱棲，則為烏足。烏足之根為蠐螬，其葉為胡蝶。胡蝶胥也，化而為蟲，生灶下，其狀若脫，其名曰𪀊掇。𪀊掇千日，化而為鳥，其名曰乾餘骨。乾餘骨之沫為斯彌。斯彌為食醯頤輅。食醯頤輅生乎食醯黃軦，食醯黃軦生乎九猷。九猷生乎瞀芮，瞀芮生乎腐蠸。羊肝化為地皋，馬血之為轉鄰也，人血之為野火也。鷂之為鸇，鸇之為布穀，布穀久復為鷂也，鷰之為蛤也，田鼠之為鶉也，朽瓜之為魚也，老韭之為莧也，老羭之為猨也，魚卵之為蟲。亶爰之獸自孕而生曰類。河澤之鳥視而生曰鶂。純雌其名大𦝫，純雄其名稺蜂。思士不妻而感，思女不夫而孕。后稷生乎巨蹟，伊尹生乎空桑。厥昭生乎濕。醯雞生乎酒。羊奚比乎不筍。久竹生青寧，青寧生程，程生馬，馬生人。人久入於機。萬物皆出於機，皆入於機。」

Liezi went to the state of Wei and was eating by the roadside when his attendants saw a hundred-year-old skull; pushing aside the weeds, he pointed to it and, turning back, said to his disciple Baifeng: “Only you and I know that it has never been born and never died. Was it too lavishly nourished? Was it too joyful? Species change in several kinds of ways: the frog turns into a quail; when it gets water it turns into a water-lace plant; at the margin of water and earth it becomes the coat of frogs and snails. Born on high ground it becomes the plantain. The plantain, getting manure and soil, becomes the crow’s-foot. The roots of the crow’s-foot become grubs, and its leaves become butterflies. The butterfly soon turns again into an insect that lives under the stove, looking as if it had shed its skin, and is called the quduo. After a thousand days the quduo turns into a bird called the ganyugu. The froth of the ganyugu becomes the simi. The simi becomes the shixi yilu. The shixi yilu gives birth to the shixi huangshuang, and the shixi huangshuang gives birth to the jiuyou. The jiuyou gives birth to the maorui, and the maorui gives birth to the fuquan. The liver of a sheep turns into the diqi plant, the blood of a horse turns into the will-o’-the-wisp, and the blood of humans turns into wild fire. The sparrow hawk turns into the hawk, the hawk turns into the cuckoo, and after a long time the cuckoo turns back into the sparrow hawk; the swallow turns into the clam, the field mouse turns into the quail, a rotten melon turns into a fish, old chives turn into amaranth, an old ewe turns into a monkey, and fish roe turns into insects. The beast of Danyuan that conceives by itself and gives birth is called the lei. The birds of the river marshes that conceive by gazing at one another are called the yi. The all-female kind is named the dayi, and the all-male kind is named the zhifeng. A scholar who longs for a wife, without marrying, is moved by his longing; a woman who longs for a husband, without wedding, conceives. Houji was born from a giant’s footprint, and Yi Yin was born from a hollow mulberry tree. The jue zhao was born in damp places. The vinegar fly was born from wine. The yangxi plant grows together with bamboo that does not put out shoots. Old bamboo gives birth to the qingning, the qingning gives birth to the cheng, the cheng gives birth to the horse, and the horse gives birth to the human. After a long time the human goes back into the mechanism. The myriad things all come out of the mechanism and all return into the mechanism.”

《黃帝書》曰：「形動不生形而生影，聲動不生聲而生響，無動不生無而生有。」形，必終者也；天地終乎？與我偕終。終進乎？不知也。道終乎本無始，進乎本不久。有生則復於不生，有形則復於無形。不生者，非本不生者也；無形者，非本無形者也。生者，理之必終者也。終者不得不終，亦如生者之不得不生。而欲恆其生，畫其終，惑於數也。精神者，天之分；骨骸者，地之分。屬天清而散，屬地濁而聚。精神離形，各歸其真，故謂之鬼。鬼，歸也，歸其真宅。黃帝曰：「精神入其門，骨骸反其根，我尚何存？」

The Book of the Yellow Emperor says: “A moving form does not give birth to form but gives birth to a shadow; a moving sound does not give birth to sound but gives birth to an echo; a moving nothing does not give birth to nothing but gives birth to being.” Form is certain to come to an end; do heaven and earth end? They end together with me. After they end, what do they enter? I do not know. The Way ends in what originally had no beginning, and enters what was originally not long-lasting. What has life returns to non-life, what has form returns to formlessness. The unborn is not originally unborn; the formless is not originally formless. What is born must by principle come to an end. What ends cannot but end, just as what is born cannot but be born. Yet to wish for life to last forever and to draw a line against ending is to be deluded about the numbers of fate. The spirit is Heaven’s portion; the bones and body are Earth’s portion. What belongs to Heaven is clear and disperses; what belongs to Earth is turbid and gathers. When the spirit leaves the form, each returns to its true place, and so it is called a ghost (gui). A ghost is a returner (gui), returning to its true home. The Yellow Emperor said: “When the spirit enters its gate and the bones return to their root, what is there left of me?”

人自生至終，大化有四：嬰孩也，少壯也，老耄也，死亡也。其在嬰孩，氣專志一，和之至也；物不傷焉，德莫加焉。其在少壯，則血氣飄溢，欲慮充起；物所攻焉，德故衰焉。其在老耄，則欲慮柔焉；體將休焉，物莫先焉。雖未及嬰孩之全，方於少壯，間矣。其在死亡也，則之於息焉，反其極矣。

From birth to the end, a person goes through four great transformations: infancy, youth and prime, old age, and death. In infancy, qi is focused and the will is one, the utmost of harmony; things cannot harm it, and virtue (de, the capacity that the Way shows when it takes concrete form in things, not virtue in the ethical sense) has nothing more to add. In youth and prime, blood and qi overflow, and desires and anxieties surge up; things come to attack it, and for this reason virtue wanes. In old age, desires and anxieties soften; the body is about to rest, and nothing can get ahead of it. Though it cannot match the completeness of infancy, compared with youth and prime there is already a gap. When death comes, one heads toward rest and returns to the ultimate point.

孔子遊於太山，見榮啟期行乎郕之野，鹿裘帶索，鼓琴而歌。孔子問曰：「先生所以樂，何也？」對曰：「吾樂甚多：天生萬物，唯人為貴。而吾得為人，是一樂也。男女之別，男尊女卑，故以男為貴；吾既得為男矣，是二樂也。人生有不見日月、不免襁褓者，吾既己行年九十矣，是三樂也。貧者士之常也，死者人之終也，處常得終，當何憂哉？」孔子曰：「善乎！能自寬者也。」

Confucius was traveling on Mount Tai when he saw Rong Qiqi walking in the countryside of Cheng, wearing a deerskin coat tied with a rope, playing the zither and singing. Confucius asked: “Sir, what is the reason for your joy?” He replied: “I have many joys: Heaven gives birth to the myriad things, and only the human is most noble. And I have been able to be human; this is the first joy. Men and women are distinguished, and men are honored and women lowly, so being male is regarded as precious; I have already been able to be male; this is the second joy. Some people in life never see the sun and moon and never get out of swaddling clothes; I have already lived to ninety; this is the third joy. Poverty is the normal state of a scholar, and death is the end of humans; dwelling in the normal state and awaiting the end, what is there to worry about?” Confucius said: “Excellent! One who can console himself.”

林類年且百歲，底春被裘，拾遺穗於故畦，並歌並進。孔子適衛，望之於野。顧謂弟子曰：「彼叟可與言者，試往訊之！」子貢請行。逆之壠端，面之而歎曰：「先生曾不悔乎，而行歌拾穗？」林類行不留，歌不輟。子貢叩之不已，乃仰而應曰：「吾何悔邪？」子貢曰：「先生少不勤行，長不競時，老無妻子，死期將至，亦有何樂而拾穗行歌乎？」林類笑曰：「吾之所以為樂，人皆有之，而反以為憂。少不勤行，長不競時，故能壽若此。老無妻子，死期將至，故能樂若此。」子貢曰：「壽者人之情，死者人之惡。子以死為樂，何也？」林類曰：「死之與生，一往一反。故死於是者，安知不生於彼？故吾知其不相若矣。吾又安知營營而求生非惑乎？亦又安知吾今之死不愈昔之生乎？」子貢聞之，不喻其意，還以告夫子。夫子曰：「吾知其可與言，果然，然彼得之而不盡者也。」

Lin Lei was nearly a hundred years old; in late spring, wearing a fur coat, he gleaned fallen ears of grain in an old field, singing as he walked. Confucius, going to the state of Wei, saw him from the countryside. He turned and said to his disciples: “That old man is one one can talk with; try asking him!” Zigong asked to go. At the end of the field ridge he met him and, facing him, sighed and said: “Sir, do you really have no regret, singing as you walk and glean grain?” Lin Lei did not stop walking and did not pause his song. Zigong kept asking, and only then did he raise his head and answer: “What would I regret?” Zigong said: “In youth you were not diligent in your work, in maturity you did not compete for good fortune, in old age you have no wife, and death is near; what joy is there, that you glean grain and sing?” Lin Lei smiled and said: “What I take joy in everyone has, but they take it instead for a worry. I was not diligent in youth and did not compete in maturity, and so I could live to this age. I have no wife in old age and death is near, and so I can be this joyful.” Zigong said: “Long life is what people wish, and death is what people dislike. You take death as a joy; why?” Lin Lei said: “Death and life are one going and one returning. So how do we know that one who dies here is not born there? So I know the two sides do not match. And how do I know that restlessly seeking life is not a delusion? How do I know that my present death is not better than my former life?” Zigong heard this and did not understand his meaning, and came back and told the Master. The Master said: “I knew he was one one could talk with, and so it proved; but he has attained it without having said it all.”

子貢倦於學，告仲尼曰：「願有所息。」仲尼曰：「生無所息。」子貢曰：「然則賜息無所乎？」仲尼曰：「有焉耳。望其壙，睪如也，宰如也，墳如也，鬲如也，則知所息矣。」子貢曰：「大哉死乎！君子息焉，小人伏焉。」仲尼曰：「賜！汝知之矣。人胥知生之樂，未知生之苦；知老之憊，未知老之佚；知死之惡，未知死之息也。晏子曰：『善哉，古之有死也！仁者息焉，不仁者伏焉。』死也者，德之徼也。古者謂死人為歸人。夫言死人為歸人，則生人為行人矣。行而不知歸，失家者也。一人失家，一世非之；天下失家，莫知非焉。有人去鄉土、離六親、廢家業、遊於四方而不歸者，何人哉？世必謂之為狂蕩之人矣。又有人鍾賢世，矜巧能、脩名譽、誇張於世而不知已者，亦何人哉？世必以為智謀之士。此二者，胥失者也。而世與一不與一，唯聖人知所與，知所去。」

Zigong grew weary of study and told Zhongni: “I hope to have some rest.” Zhongni said: “Life has no place of rest.” Zigong said: “Then is there nowhere for Ci to rest?” Zhongni said: “There is. Look at that grave mound, high, cut like a slaughtered carcass, raised up, shaped like a cooking pot; there you will know the place of rest.” Zigong said: “How great death is! The superior person rests there, and the petty person lies prostrate there.” Zhongni said: “Ci! You have understood. People all know the joy of life but not its bitterness; they know the weariness of old age but not its ease; they know the ugliness of death but not its rest. Yanzi said: ‘Excellent, that there has been death since antiquity! The benevolent rest there, and the unbenevolent lie prostrate there.’ Death is the home of virtue. The ancients called the dead returners. Since the dead are called returners, the living are travelers. One who travels without knowing how to return is one who has lost his home. If one person loses his home, the whole age condemns him; if the whole world has lost its home, no one knows to condemn it. If someone leaves his native place, leaves his six kinds of kin, abandons his family property, and wanders the four quarters without returning, what sort of person is that? The people of the world will surely say that he is a wild and dissolute person. And if someone values the present age, boasts of his cleverness, cultivates his reputation, and exaggerates himself in the world without knowing when to stop, what sort of person is that? The people of the world will surely regard him as a person of wisdom and scheming. Both of these kinds of person are mistaken. The world approves of one and disapproves of the other; only the sage knows what to approve and what to discard.”

或謂子列子曰：「子奚貴虛？」列子曰：「虛者無貴也。」子列子曰：「非其名也，莫如靜，莫如虛。靜也虛也，得其居矣；取也與也，失其所矣。事之破䃣而後有舞仁義者，弗能復也。」

Someone said to Liezi: “Why do you value emptiness?” Liezi said: “Emptiness has nothing to be valued.” Liezi said further: “Rather than holding on to that name, it is better to be still, better to be empty. When still and empty, one finds a peaceful dwelling; when taking and giving, one loses one’s place. Those who play with benevolence and righteousness only after things have fallen into ruin cannot restore what was lost.”

粥熊曰：「運轉亡已，天地密移，疇覺之哉？故物損於彼者盈於此，成於此者虧於彼。損盈成虧，隨世隨死。往來相接，間不可省，疇覺之哉？凡一氣不頓進，一形不頓虧；亦不覺其成，亦不覺其虧。亦如人自世至老，貌色智態，亡日不異；皮膚爪髮，隨世隨落，非嬰孩時有停而不易也。間不可覺，俟至後知。」

Yu Xiong said: “Revolving does not stop, and heaven and earth shift in secret; who notices it? So a thing’s loss on that side is gain on this side, and what is completed here is diminished there. Loss and gain, completion and diminishment, go along with the ages and with death. Going and coming join one another so that the gaps cannot be seen; who notices? Generally, one qi does not suddenly increase and one form does not suddenly decrease; one does not feel it complete and one does not feel it diminish. It is also like a person from birth to old age, whose features, intelligence, and bearing are different every day; skin, nails, and hair fall off and are renewed over the ages, and are not fixed at infancy and never changing. The gaps cannot be perceived, and only later are they known.”

杞國有人憂天地崩墜，身亡所寄，廢寢食者；又有憂彼之所憂者，因往曉之，曰：「天，積氣耳，亡處亡氣。若屈伸呼吸，終日在天中行止，奈何憂崩墜乎？」其人曰：「天果積氣，日月星宿，不當墜耶？」曉之者曰：「日月星宿，亦積氣中之有光耀者；只使墜，亦不能有所中傷。」其人曰：「奈地壞何？」曉者曰：「地積塊耳，充塞四虛，亡處亡塊。若躇步跐蹈，終日在地上行止，奈何憂其壞？」其人舍然大喜，曉之者亦舍然大喜。長廬子聞而笑之曰：「虹蜺也，雲霧也，風雨也，四時也，此積氣之成乎天者也。山嶽也，河海也，金石也，火木也，此積形之成乎地者也。知積氣也，知積塊也，奚謂不壞？夫天地，空中之一細物，有中之最巨者。難終難窮，此固然矣；難測難識，此固然矣。憂其壞者，誠為大遠；言其不壞者，亦為未是。天地不得不壞，則會歸於壞。遇其壞時，奚為不憂哉？」子列子聞而笑曰：「言天地壞者亦謬，言天地不壞者亦謬。壞與不壞，吾所不能知也。雖然，彼一也，此一也。故生不知死，死不知生；來不知去，去不知來。壞與不壞，吾何容心哉？」

A man of the state of Qi worried that heaven and earth would collapse and he would have nowhere to lodge his body, and gave up sleeping and eating; another man worried about his worry, and went to enlighten him, saying: “Heaven is nothing but accumulated qi, and there is no place without qi. You bend and stretch, you breathe, all day you walk and stay in the heavens; why worry about it collapsing?” The man said: “If heaven is indeed accumulated qi, should the sun, moon, and stars not fall down?” The one enlightening him said: “The sun, moon, and stars are also luminous things within the accumulated qi; even if they fell, they could not strike or injure.” The man said: “What if the earth breaks apart?” The one enlightening him said: “The earth is nothing but accumulated clods, filling the four quarters, and there is no place without clods. You step and walk, all day you walk and stay on the earth; why worry about its breaking?” The man put his mind at ease and was greatly delighted, and the one enlightening him also put his mind at ease and was greatly delighted. Master Changlu heard of it and laughed, saying: “Rainbows, clouds and mist, wind and rain, the four seasons, these are formed by qi accumulated in the sky. Mountains, rivers and seas, metal and stone, fire and wood, these are formed by forms accumulated on the earth. Knowing that it is accumulated qi, and knowing that it is accumulated clods, how can one say they will not break? Heaven and earth are a tiny thing in the void, the greatest of things that have form. That it is hard to bring to an end and exhaust is certain; that it is hard to measure and know is also certain. To worry that it will break is very far off the mark; to say that it will not break is also wrong. Heaven and earth cannot but break, and in the end will return to breaking. When one meets the time of their breaking, why would one not worry?” Liezi heard of it and laughed, saying: “Those who say that heaven and earth will break are wrong, and those who say that heaven and earth will not break are also wrong. Breaking or not breaking is not something I can know. Even so, that is one and this is one. So the living do not know death, and the dead do not know life; the coming do not know going, and the going do not know coming. Breaking or not breaking, why should I put it in my heart?”

舜問乎烝曰：「道可得而有乎？」曰：「汝身非汝有也，汝何得有夫道？」舜曰：「吾身非吾有，孰有之哉？」曰：「是天地之委形也。生非汝有，是天地之委和也。性命非汝有，是天地之委順也。孫子非汝有，是天地之委蛻也。故行不知所往，處不知所持，食不知所以。天地強陽，氣也；又胡可得而有邪？」

Shun asked Cheng: “Can the Way be obtained and possessed?” He replied: “Your very body is not yours; how can you possess the Way?” Shun said: “My body is not mine; whose is it?” He replied: “It is a form entrusted by heaven and earth. Life is not yours; it is a harmony entrusted by heaven and earth. Your nature and fate are not yours; they are a compliance entrusted by heaven and earth. Your descendants are not yours; they are a shed skin entrusted by heaven and earth. So when you walk, you do not know where you are going; when you dwell, you do not know what you are holding; when you eat, you do not know what by. The vigorous movement of heaven and earth is nothing but qi; how then can you possess it?”

齊之國氏大富，宋之向氏大貧；自宋之齊，請其術。國氏告之曰：「吾善為盜。始吾為盜也，一年而給，二年而足，三年大穰。自此以往，施及州閭。」向氏大喜。喻其為盜之言，而不喻其為盜之道，遂踰垣鑿室，手目所及，亡不探也。未及時，以贓獲罪，沒其先居之財。向氏以國氏之謬己也，往而怨之。國氏曰：「若為盜若何？」向氏言其狀。國氏曰：「嘻！若失為盜之道至此乎？今將告若矣。吾聞天有時，地有利。吾盜天地之時利，雲雨之滂潤，山澤之產育，以生吾禾，殖吾稼，築吾垣，建吾舍。陸盜禽獸，水盜魚鼈，亡非盜也。夫禾稼、土木、禽獸、魚鼈，皆天之所生，豈吾之所有？然吾盜天而亡殃。夫金玉珍寶，穀帛財貨，人之所聚，豈天之所與？若盜之而獲罪，孰怨哉？」向氏大惑，以為國氏之重罔己也，過東郭先生問焉。東郭先生曰：「若一身庸非盜乎？盜陰陽之和以成若生，載若形，況外物而非盜哉？誠然，天地萬物不相離也；仞而有之，皆惑也。國氏之盜，公道也，故亡殃；若之盜，私心也，故得罪。有公私者，亦盜也；亡公私者，亦盜也。公公私私，天地之德。知天地之德者，孰為盜耶？孰為不盜耶？」

The Guo family of the state of Qi was very rich, while the Xiang family of the state of Song was very poor; Xiang went from Song to Qi to ask how to become rich. Guo told him: “I am good at being a thief. When I first began to steal, one year was enough for my needs, two years made me well off, and the third year I had a great harvest. After that I gave to the districts and neighborhoods.” Xiang was greatly delighted. He understood his words about stealing, but did not understand his way of stealing, and so he climbed walls and dug into rooms, taking everything his hands and eyes could reach. Before long, he was convicted for his stolen goods, and even the wealth he had earlier accumulated was confiscated. Xiang thought Guo had deceived him and went to complain. Guo said: “How did you go about stealing?” Xiang told him what he had done. Guo said: “Ah! Have you lost the way of stealing to this extent? Now let me tell you. I have heard that Heaven has its seasons and Earth has its benefits. I steal Heaven and Earth’s seasons and benefits, the moistening of clouds and rain, the produce of mountains and marshes, to grow my grain, plant my crops, build my walls, and raise my houses. On land I steal birds and beasts, in the water I steal fish and turtles; there is nothing that is not stealing. Grain, earth and timber, birds and beasts, fish and turtles are all born of Heaven; how could they be mine? Yet I steal from Heaven and have no calamity. Gold and jade, rare treasures, grain, silk, and goods are what people have gathered; how could Heaven have given them? You stole and were convicted; whom can you blame?” Xiang was greatly puzzled, thinking that Guo had deceived him again, so he went to ask Master Dongguo. Master Dongguo said: “Is not this whole body of yours stolen? You steal the harmony of yin and yang to form your life and bear your body, so how much more are outside things stolen? Indeed, heaven, earth, and the myriad things are not separate from one another; to take them as one’s own is all delusion. Guo’s stealing is public-spirited, and so it brings no calamity; your stealing is private-minded, and so you were convicted. To have public and private is also stealing; to have no public and private is also stealing. To treat as public what is public and as private what is private is the virtue of heaven and earth. For one who knows the virtue of heaven and earth, who is a thief? And who is not a thief?”

黃帝即位十有五年，喜天下戴己，養正命，娛耳目，供鼻口，焦然肌色皯黣，昏然五情爽惑。又十有五年，憂天下之不治，竭聰明，進智力，營百姓，焦然肌色皯黣，昏然五情爽惑。黃帝乃喟然讚曰：「朕之過淫矣。養一己其患如此，治萬物其患如此。」於是放萬機，舍宮寢，去直侍，徹鐘懸，減廚膳，退而閒居大庭之館，齋心服形，三月不親政事。晝寢而夢，遊於華胥氏之國。華胥氏之國在弇州之西，台州之北，不知斯齊國幾千萬裡，蓋非舟車足力之所及，神遊而已。其國無師長，自然而已。其民無嗜慾，自然而已。不知樂生，不知惡死，故無夭殤；不知親己，不知疏物，故無愛憎；不知背逆，不知向順，故無利害，都無所愛惜，都無所畏忌。入水不溺，入火不熱。斫撻無傷痛，指擿無痟癢。乘空如履實，寢虛若處床。雲霧不硋其視，雷霆不亂其聽，美惡不滑其心，山谷不躓其步，神行而已。黃帝既寤，怡然自得，召天老、力牧、太山稽，告之曰：「朕閒居三月，齋心服形，思有以養身治物之道，弗獲其術。疲而睡，所夢若此。今知至道不可以情求矣，朕知之矣，朕得之矣，而不能以告若矣！」又二十有八年，天下大治，幾若華胥氏之國，而帝登假。百姓號之，二百餘年不輟。

In the fifteenth year after the Yellow Emperor took the throne, he enjoyed having the whole world rally around him; he nourished his life, delighted his ears and eyes, and indulged his nose and mouth, yet his complexion grew sallow and dull, and his five feelings were dim and confused. Fifteen years more passed, and he worried that the world was not well governed; he used up all his intelligence, pushed his wit to the limit, and managed the people, and again his complexion grew sallow and dull, and his five feelings were dim and confused. The Yellow Emperor then sighed and said: "My fault is great. Taking care of one self brings such trouble, and governing the ten thousand things brings the same trouble." So he put aside the myriad affairs of state, left his palace and bedchamber, dismissed his attendants, took down the hanging bells, reduced his kitchen fare, and withdrew to live at leisure in the Great Courtyard Hall, fasting his mind and subduing his body, and for three months did not attend to government. One day, napping, he dreamed that he roamed in the country of the Huaxu clan. The country of Huaxu lay west of Yanzhou and north of Taizhou; no one knows how many tens of millions of li it was from the Central Kingdom, and it could not be reached by boat, cart or foot, but only by the roaming of the spirit. That country had no rulers; it simply went by nature (what is so of itself, as it is originally, not 'Nature' in the sense of the natural world). Its people had no cravings; they simply went by nature. They did not know to delight in life or to hate death, and so there were no early deaths; they did not know to be close to themselves or distant from things, and so there was neither love nor hatred; they did not know to go against or to follow, and so there was no gain or harm; all of them had nothing to cherish and nothing to fear. They entered water without drowning and entered fire without being burned. Being hacked and struck caused them no pain, and being poked or scratched gave them no soreness or itch. They rode the air as if treading on solid ground, and slept in emptiness as if on a bed. Clouds and mist did not obstruct their sight, thunder did not disturb their hearing, beauty and ugliness did not confuse their minds, and mountains and valleys did not trip their steps; it was only the spirit that moved. The Yellow Emperor awoke, content and pleased, and summoned Tianlao, Limu and Taishan Ji, and told them: "I lived at leisure for three months, fasting my mind and subduing my body, wishing to find the Way of nourishing the self and governing things, and I found no method. Tired, I fell asleep, and in the dream it was like this. Now I know that the Supreme Way cannot be sought through feeling. I know it, I have got it, but I cannot tell you!" Twenty-eight years more passed, and the world was well governed, almost like the country of Huaxu, and the Emperor ascended to heaven and departed. The people wailed for him, and did not stop for more than two hundred years.

列姑射山在海河洲中，山上有神人焉，吸風飲露，不食五穀；心如淵泉，形如處女；不偎不愛，仙聖為之臣；不畏不怒，願慤為之使；不施不惠，而物自足；不聚不歛，而己無愆。陰陽常調，日月常明，四時常若，風雨常均，字育常時，年穀常豐；而土無札傷，人無夭惡，物無疵厲，鬼無靈響焉。

Mount Gushe lies on an island in the river-sea, and on the mountain there dwell divine persons, who inhale the wind and drink the dew and do not eat the five grains. Their hearts are like deep springs and their forms like maidens. They show no closeness and no love, yet immortals and sages serve as their ministers; they show no majesty and no anger, yet the honest and sincere are at their command; they give no gifts and bestow no favors, yet things are abundant of themselves; they gather nothing and store nothing, yet they themselves have no lack. Yin and yang are always in harmony, the sun and moon always bright, the four seasons always orderly, wind and rain always even, births always on time, and the years' harvests always rich. The land suffers no harm, people do not die young or fall ill, things have no blemish or plague, and ghosts have no spirit-like response.

列子師老商氏，友伯高子，進二子之道，乘風而歸。尹生聞之，從列子居，數月不省舍。因閒請蘄其術者，十反而十不告。尹生懟而請辭，列子又不命。尹生退。數月，意不已，又往從之。列子曰：「汝何去來之頻？」尹生曰：「曩章戴有請於子，子不我告，固有憾於子。今復脫然，是以又來。」列子曰：「曩吾以汝為達，今汝之鄙至此乎？姬！將告汝所學於夫子者矣。自吾之事夫子友若人也，三年之後，心不敢念是非，口不敢言利害，始得夫子一眄而已。五年之後，心庚念是非，口庚言利害，夫子始一解顏而笑。七年之後，從心之所念，庚無是非；從口之所言，庚無利害，夫子始一引吾並席而坐。九年之後，橫心之所念，橫口之所言，亦不知我之是非利害歟，亦不知彼之是非利害歟，亦不知夫子之為我師、若人之為我友，內外進矣。而後眼如耳，耳如鼻，鼻如口，無不同也。心凝形釋，骨肉都融；不覺形之所倚，足之所履，隨風東西，猶木葉幹殼。竟不知風乘我邪？我乘風乎？今女居先生之門，曾未浹時，而懟憾者再三。女之片體將氣所不受，汝之一節將地所不載。履虛乘風，其可幾乎？」尹生甚怍，屏息良久，不敢復言。

Liezi studied under Master Laoshang and was a friend of Bogao Zi; having mastered the Way of these two, he returned riding on the wind. Yin Sheng heard of it and followed Liezi to live with him, and for several months did not go home to look in on his family. In his spare time he asked to learn Liezi's art, and he went ten times and was refused ten times. Yin Sheng grew resentful and asked to take leave, and Liezi did not detain him. Yin Sheng withdrew. After several months, his heart not at rest, he went again to follow him. Liezi said: "Why do you come and go so often?" Yin Sheng said: "Before, I made a request of you and you did not tell me, and I felt some resentment toward you. Now my mind is set free again, so I have come once more." Liezi said: "I used to think you were broad-minded; are you now so narrow as this? Wait! I will tell you what I learned from my master. Ever since I served my master and befriended that man, after three years my mind did not dare think of right and wrong and my mouth did not dare speak of gain and loss, and only then did my master glance at me, and no more. After five years, my mind began to think of right and wrong and my mouth began to speak of gain and loss, and only then did my master smile. After seven years, I let my mind think whatever it would, yet there was no right or wrong; I let my mouth say whatever it would, yet there was no gain or loss; and only then did my master pull me to sit beside him on the same mat. After nine years, I let my mind think freely and my mouth speak freely, and I did not know my own right and wrong or gain and loss, nor those of others, nor that my master was my teacher and that man was my friend; inside and outside were entirely gone. Then my eyes were like ears, my ears like nose, my nose like mouth, with no difference among them. My mind was concentrated, my form dissolved, my bones and flesh all melted; I did not feel my body leaning on anything or my feet treading on anything, but drifted east and west with the wind like a leaf or a dry husk. I truly did not know whether the wind was riding me, or I was riding the wind. Now you have lived at your teacher's gate for not even a double hour, and have grumbled again and again. Even a single piece of you the air will not accept, and even a single joint of you the earth will not bear. Do you still hope to tread on emptiness and ride the wind?" Yin Sheng was deeply ashamed, held his breath for a long time, and did not dare speak again.

列子問關尹曰：「至人潛行不空，蹈火不熱，行乎萬物之上而不慄。請問何以至於此？」關尹曰：「是純氣之守也，非智巧果敢之列。姬！魚語女。凡有貌像聲色者，皆物也。物與物何以相遠也？夫奚足以至乎先？是色而已。則物之造乎不形，而止乎無所化。夫得是而窮之者，焉得而正焉？彼將處乎不深之度，而藏乎無端之紀，遊乎萬物之所終始。壹其性，養其氣，含其德，以通乎物之所造。夫若是者，其天守全，其神無郤，物奚自入焉？夫醉者之墜於車也，雖疾不死。骨節與人同，而犯害與人異，其神全也。乘亦弗知也，墜亦弗知也。死生驚懼不入乎其胸，是故遌物而不慴。彼得全於酒而猶若是，而況得全於天乎？聖人藏於天，故物莫之能傷也。」

Liezi asked Guan Yin: "The Perfect Person can go underwater without choking, walk through fire without being hot, and walk above the ten thousand things without trembling. May I ask how one arrives at this?" Guan Yin said: "This is guarding the pure qi; it is not a matter of cleverness or daring. Wait! I will tell you. Whatever has form, appearance, sound or color is a thing. Between one thing and another, what makes them so very different? And how could that be enough to reach what comes first? It is no more than color. So things are made up to the formless and stop at what does not change. One who has attained this and exhausted it, how could he still be set straight by external things? He will dwell within measures that are not deep, hide within threads that have no beginning, and roam at the end and beginning of the ten thousand things. He concentrates his nature, nourishes his qi, and holds his virtue in reserve, in order to penetrate to where things are made. A person like this keeps his Heaven whole and his spirit without a crack; how could things enter him? A drunk man falls from a cart, and though he may be hurt, he does not die. His joints are the same as other people's, but the harm he receives is different, because his spirit is whole. He does not know he is riding, and does not know he has fallen. Fear of death and life does not enter his chest, so he does not fear when he strikes things. If he can obtain wholeness from wine to such an extent, how much more from Heaven? The sage is hidden in Heaven, and so things cannot harm him."

列禦寇為伯昏無人射，引之盈貫，措杯水其肘上，發之，鏑矢復沓，方矢復寓。當是時也，猶象人也。伯昏無人曰：「是射之射，非不射之射也。當與汝登高山，履危石，臨百仞之淵，若能射乎？」於是無人遂登高山，履危石，臨百仞之淵，背逡巡，足二分垂在外，揖禦寇而進之。禦寇伏地，汗流至踵。伯昏無人曰：「夫至人者，上闚青天，下潛黃泉，揮斥八極，神氣不變。今汝怵然有恂目之志，爾於中也殆矣夫！」

Lie Yukou was shooting for Bohun Wuren; he drew the bow full, set a cup of water on his elbow, and after he let fly, the arrowheads overlapped and a second arrow was already on the string. At that moment he was like a wooden figure. Bohun Wuren said: "This is a shot with an intending mind, not a shot without intending. Suppose I went up a high mountain with you, stood on a perilous rock, and looked down on a deep chasm of a hundred fathoms; could you still shoot?" Then Wuren climbed a high mountain, stood on a perilous rock overlooking a deep chasm of a hundred fathoms, and stepped backward until two-tenths of his feet hung out over the edge, and bowed to invite Yukou forward. Yukou lay prostrate on the ground, sweat running down to his heels. Bohun Wuren said: "The Perfect Person looks up to the blue sky above, dives into the Yellow Springs below, and moves freely to the eight limits, with no change in his spirit or breath. Now you are so frightened that your eyes are dazzled, and your chance of hitting the target is in danger!"

范氏有子曰子華，善養私名，舉國服之；有寵於晉君，不仕而居三卿之右。目所偏視，晉國爵之；口所偏肥，晉國黜之。遊其庭者侔於朝。子華使其俠客以智鄙相攻，彊弱相凌。雖傷破於前，不用介意。終日夜以此為戲樂，國殆成俗。禾生、子伯，范氏之上客，出行，經坰外，宿於田更商丘開之舍。中夜，禾生、子伯二人相與言子華之名勢，能使存者亡，亡者存；富者貧，貧者富。商丘開先窘於飢寒，潛於牖北聽之。因假糧荷畚之子華之門。子華之門徒皆世族也，縞衣乘軒，緩步闊視。顧見商丘開年老力弱，面目黎黑，衣冠不檢，莫不眲之。既而狎侮欺詒，攩㧙挨抌，亡所不為。商丘開常無慍容，而諸客之技單，憊於戲笑。遂與商丘開俱乘高臺，於眾中漫言曰：「有能自投下者賞百金。」眾皆競應。商丘開以為信然，遂先投下，形若飛鳥，揚於地，𩨒骨無䃣。范氏之黨以為偶然，未詎怪也，因復指河曲之淫隈曰：「彼中有寶珠，泳可得也。」商丘開復從而泳之。既出，果得珠焉。眾昉同疑。子華昉令豫肉食衣帛之次。俄而范氏之藏大火，子華曰：「若能入火取錦者，從所得多少賞若。」商丘開往無難色，入火往還，埃不漫，身不焦。范氏之黨以為有道，乃共謝之曰：「吾不知子之有道而誕子，吾不知子之神人而辱子。子其愚我也，子其聾我也，子其盲我也。敢問其道。」商丘開曰：「吾亡道。雖吾之心，亦不知所以。雖然，有一於此，試與子言之。曩子二客之宿吾舍也，聞譽范氏之勢，能使存者亡，亡者存；富者貧，貧者富。吾誠之無二心，故不遠而來。及來，以子黨之言皆實也，唯恐誠之之不至，行之之不及，不知形體之所措，利害之所存也。心一而已。物亡迕者，如斯而已。今昉知子黨之誕我，我內藏猜慮，外矜觀聽，追幸昔日之不焦溺也，怛然內熱，惕然震悸矣。水火豈復可近哉？

The Fan clan had a son named Zihua, who was good at building up a reputation through private connections, and all the state submitted to him. He was in favor with the lord of Jin, and though he held no office, his position stood above the three high ministers. Whomever his eyes favored, Jin would give rank to; whomever his mouth disparaged, Jin would dismiss. Those who frequented his courtyard were as many as at the court. Zihua let his knight-errant retainers attack each other, the clever against the dull, the strong against the weak. Even if someone was maimed before his eyes, he took no notice. Day and night he took this as amusement, and the state nearly adopted it as a custom. Hesheng and Zibo were honored guests of the Fan household, and on a trip through the countryside they lodged at the home of an old farmer, Shangqiu Kai. At midnight the two men talked of Zihua's fame and power, saying he could make the living perish and the perished live, the rich poor and the poor rich. Shangqiu Kai, who had been worn down by hunger and cold, hid north of the window and listened. Then he borrowed grain, shouldered a basket, and went to Zihua's gate. Zihua's disciples were all from hereditary families, wearing white and riding in carriages, walking slowly and looking about grandly. Seeing that Shangqiu Kai was old and weak, with a dark, weathered face and untidy clothes, none failed to look down on him. Afterward they mocked, cheated, shoved and beat him, leaving nothing undone. Shangqiu Kai often showed no anger, and when the guests had run out of tricks, they grew tired of playing with him. Then they climbed a high terrace together with Shangqiu Kai, and said offhandedly in front of everyone: "Whoever can jump down by himself will be rewarded a hundred pieces of gold." The crowd vied to second it. Shangqiu Kai thought it was real and jumped first, his form like a bird's, drifting down to the ground without any harm to his flesh or bones. The Fan clan's followers thought it was chance and were not much surprised; then they pointed to a deep bend of the river and said: "There is a precious pearl there; one can get it by diving." Shangqiu Kai again followed and swam down. When he came up, he had indeed got the pearl. Only then did the crowd begin to suspect something. Zihua then admitted him to the ranks of those who ate meat and wore silk. Before long a fire broke out in the Fan family's storehouse, and Zihua said: "Who can go into the fire and fetch the brocade? I will reward him according to what he gets." Shangqiu Kai went without any sign of difficulty, went in and out of the fire, and no dust clung to him and his body was not scorched. The Fan clan's followers thought he had the Way, and all apologized: "We did not know you had the Way and so deceived you; we did not know you were a divine person and so insulted you. You took us for fools, deaf men and blind men. May we ask about your Way?" Shangqiu Kai said: "I have no Way. I do not even know by what means my own mind works. Even so, there is one thing here, which I will try to tell you. Before, when you two guests stayed at my house, I heard you praising the power of the Fan clan, saying it could make the living perish and the perished live, the rich poor and the poor rich. I believed it without a second thought, and so I came from afar. After I arrived, I took all your followers' words as true, and feared only that my sincerity was not enough and my action did not reach, so that I did not know where I put my body or where gain and loss lay. My mind was simply single. Things did not oppose me, and that was all. Now that I know you deceived me, I carry suspicion and worry inside and look and listen outside, and when I think back on how fortunate I was not to be scorched or drowned before, I feel a feverish unease and a shuddering fear. How would I dare go near water and fire again?"

」自此之後，范氏門徒路遇乞兒馬醫，弗敢辱也，必下車而揖之。宰我聞之，以告仲尼。仲尼曰：「汝弗知乎？夫至信之人，可以感物也。動天地，感鬼神，橫六合，而無逆者，豈但履危險，入水火而已哉？商丘開信偽物猶不逆，況彼我皆誠哉？小子識之！」

From then on, when the Fan clan's followers met a beggar or a horse doctor on the road, they did not dare insult him, and always got down from their carriages and bowed. Zai Wo heard of it and told Zhongni. Zhongni said: "Do you not know? A person of perfect trust can move external things. He moves heaven and earth, touches ghosts and spirits, and crosses the six directions without opposition; how could it be merely treading on danger and entering water and fire? Shangqiu Kai trusted what was false and things still did not oppose him, so how much more when both sides are sincere? Remember this, young man!"

周宣王之牧正有役人梁鴦者，能養野禽獸，委食於園庭之內，雖虎狼鵰鶚之類，無不柔馴者。雄雌在前，孳尾成群，異類雜居，不相搏噬也。王慮其術終於其身，令毛丘園傳之。梁鴦曰：「鴦，賤役也，何術以告爾？懼王之謂隱於爾也，且一言我養虎之法。凡順之則喜，逆之則怒，此有血氣者之性也。然喜怒豈妄發哉？皆逆之所犯也。夫食虎者，不敢以生物與之，為其殺之之怒也；不敢以全物與之，為其碎之之怒也。時其飢飽，達其怒心。虎之與人異類，而媚養己者，順也；故其殺之，逆也。然則吾豈敢逆之使怒哉？亦不順之使喜也。夫喜之復也必怒，怒之復也常喜，皆不中也。今吾心無逆順者也，則鳥獸之視吾，猶其儕也。故遊吾園者，不思高林曠澤；寢吾庭者，不願深山幽谷，理使然也。」

King Xuan of Zhou's chief herdsman had a menial named Liang Yang, who could raise wild birds and beasts, throwing food to them within the garden courtyard, and even tigers, wolves, eagles and ospreys were all tame. Males and females paired in front of him and bred in groups, creatures of different kinds lived together and did not fight or devour each other. The king feared that this art would end with him alone, and sent Maoqiu Yuan to learn it. Liang Yang said: "I am a lowly servant; what art do I have to tell you? I only fear that the king will say I am hiding it from you, so let me say one thing about how I raise tigers. In general, those with blood and breath are pleased when you follow them and angry when you go against them; this is their nature. But is their pleasure and anger sent out at random? They are all provoked by being crossed. One who feeds tigers does not dare give them live prey, for fear that they will be angered by killing; he does not dare give them whole carcasses, for fear that they will be angered by tearing apart. He judges when they are hungry or full, and eases their angry hearts. Tigers are a different kind from humans, yet they are affectionate to the one who feeds them, because he goes along with them; when they would kill, it is because they were crossed. So how would I dare cross them and make them angry? Nor do I go along with them to make them pleased. The reverse of pleasure is surely anger, and the reverse of anger is often pleasure; neither hits the mark. Now my mind has neither crossing nor going along, so birds and beasts look at me as they would at their own companions. So those that roam in my garden do not long for tall forests and wide marshes, and those that sleep in my courtyard do not wish for deep mountains and hidden valleys; it is the principle that makes them so."

顏回問乎仲尼曰：「吾嘗濟乎觴深之淵矣，津人操舟若神。吾問焉，曰：『操舟可學邪？』曰：『可。能遊者可教也，善遊者數能。乃若夫沒人，則未嘗見舟而謖操之者也。』吾問焉，而不告。敢問何謂也？」仲尼曰：「𧮒！吾與若玩其文也久矣，而未達其實，而固且道與。能遊者可教也，輕水也；善遊者之數能也，忘水也。乃若夫沒人之未嘗見舟也而謖操之也，彼視淵若陵，視舟之覆猶其車卻也。覆卻萬物方陳乎前而不得入其舍。惡往而不暇？以瓦摳者巧，以鉤摳者憚，以黃金摳者惛。巧一也，而有所矜，則重外也。凡重外者拙內。」

Yan Hui asked Zhongni: "I once crossed the deep pool of Shang, and the ferryman handled the boat like a god. I asked: 'Can handling a boat be learned?' He said: 'It can. One who can swim can be taught; one who is good at swimming learns very quickly. As for one who can dive, even if he has never seen a boat, he can handle it at once.' I asked again, and he would not tell me. May I ask what this means?" Zhongni said: "Ah! I have played with its words with you for a long time but have not yet reached its substance, so let me say something. One who can swim can be taught because he takes water lightly; one who is good at swimming learns quickly because he has forgotten the water. As for one who can dive and handle a boat the first time he sees one, he regards the deep pool as a hill and the boat's capsizing as a cart rolling backward. Overturning and collapse of all things are laid out before his eyes, yet they cannot enter his mind. Where would he not be at ease? One who bets with tiles is skillful; one who bets with belt hooks is anxious; one who bets with gold is muddled. His skill is the same, but where he has something to hold dear, he values external things. Whoever values external things is clumsy within."

孔子觀於呂梁，懸水三十仞，流沫三十里，黿鼉魚鼈之所不能遊也，見一丈夫遊之，以為有苦而欲死者也，使弟子並流而承之。數百步而出，被髮行歌，而遊於棠行。孔子從而問之，曰：「呂梁懸水三十仞，流沫三十里，黿鼉魚鼈所不能遊。向吾見子道之，以為有苦而欲死者，使弟子並流將承子。子出而被髮行歌，吾以子為鬼也。察子，則人也。請問蹈水有道乎？」曰：「亡，吾無道。吾始乎故，長乎性，成乎命，與齎俱入，與汩偕出。從水之道而不為私焉，此吾所以道之也。」孔子曰：「何謂始乎故，長乎性，成乎命也？」曰：「吾生於陵而安於陵，故也；長於水而安於水，性也；不知吾所以然而然，命也。」

Confucius was looking out at Lüliang, where a waterfall hung thirty fathoms and the foam flowed thirty li; turtles, crocodiles, fish and terrapins could not swim in it. He saw a man swimming, and thinking he was suffering and wanted to die, he sent his disciples to follow the current and rescue him. After several hundred paces, the man came out, hair loose, singing as he walked along the bank of the pool. Confucius followed and asked: "At Lüliang the waterfall hangs thirty fathoms and the foam flows thirty li, and turtles, crocodiles, fish and terrapins cannot swim in it. Just now I saw you pass through it and thought you were suffering and wanted to die, so I sent my disciples to meet you downstream. You came out with your hair loose, singing, and I took you for a ghost. Looking closely, I see you are a person. May I ask whether there is a Way to treading water?" He said: "No, I have no Way. I began with what was given, grew up with my nature, and was completed by fate; I go in with the whirlpool and come out with the upwelling. I follow the Way of the water and do not make up a separate one for myself; this is how I can cross like this." Confucius said: "What do you mean by beginning with what was given, growing up with nature and being completed by fate?" He said: "I was born on high ground and am at ease on high ground; that is what was given. I grew up by the water and am at ease in water; that is nature. I do not know why I am so and yet I am so; that is fate."

仲尼適楚，出於林中，見痀僂者承蜩，猶掇之也。仲尼曰：「子巧乎！有道邪？」曰：「我有道也。五六月，纍垸二而不墜，則失者錙銖；纍三而不墜，則失者十一；纍五而不墜，猶掇之也。吾處也若橜株駒，吾執臂若槁木之枝，雖天地之大、萬物之多，而唯蜩翼之知。吾不反不側，不以萬物易蜩之翼，何為而不得？」孔子顧謂弟子曰：「用志不分，乃疑於神，其痀僂丈人之謂乎！」丈人曰：「汝逢衣徒也，亦何知問是乎？修汝所以，而後載言其上。」

Zhongni went to the state of Chu and came out of a forest, where he saw a hunchbacked old man catching cicadas with a sticky pole as if picking them up. Zhongni said: "How skillful you are! Is there a Way to it?" He said: "I have a Way. For five or six months, I stack two clay pellets on the pole without dropping them, and then I miss very few; when I stack three without dropping them, I miss only one in ten; when I stack five without dropping them, it is like picking them up. I stand like a broken tree stump, and I raise my arm like a withered branch. Though heaven and earth are vast and the ten thousand things many, I know only the cicada's wings. I do not turn or lean, and I will not exchange the ten thousand things for the cicada's wings; how could I fail to get it?" Confucius turned to his disciples and said: "When the mind is not divided, it comes close to the divine; this must be what is said of this hunchbacked old man!" The old man said: "You are Confucians in wide-sleeved robes; what do you understand of asking about this? First perfect your own skill, and then set your words upon it."

海上之人有好漚鳥者，每旦之海上，從漚鳥遊，漚鳥之至者百住而不止。其父曰：「吾聞漚鳥皆從汝遊，汝取來，吾玩之。」明日之海上，漚鳥舞而不下也。故曰：至言去言，至為無為。齊智之所知，則淺矣。

By the sea there was a man who loved gulls, and every morning he went to the sea and roamed with the gulls, and the gulls that came numbered in the hundreds and never stopped. His father said: "I hear that the gulls all roam with you; catch some and bring them to me to play with." The next day he went to the sea, and the gulls circled and did not come down. So it is said: perfect speech drops speech, and perfect action is non-action. To level things by what wisdom knows is shallow.

趙襄子率徒十萬狩於中山，藉芿燔林，扇赫百里。有一人從石壁中出，隨煙燼上下。眾謂鬼物。火過，徐行而出，若無所經涉者。襄子怪而留之。徐而察之，形色七竅，人也；氣息音聲，人也。問：「奚道而處石？奚道而入火？」其人曰：「奚物而謂石？奚物而謂火？」襄子曰：「而嚮之所出者，石也；而嚮之所涉者，火也。」其人曰：「不知也。」魏文侯聞之，問子夏曰：「彼何人哉？」子夏曰：「以商所聞夫子之言，和者大同於物，物無得傷閡者，遊金石，蹈水火，皆可也。」文侯曰：「吾子奚不為之？」子夏曰：「刳心去智，商未之能。雖然，試語之有暇矣。」文侯曰：「夫子奚不為之？」子夏曰：「夫子能之而能不為者也。」文侯大說。

Zhao Xiangzi led a hundred thousand followers hunting at Zhongshan, trampling the wild grass and burning the forest, so that the fire blazed for a hundred li. A man came out from the stone cliff and moved up and down with the smoke and embers. The crowd said he was a ghost. When the fire had passed, he slowly walked out as if nothing had happened. Xiangzi found this strange and detained him. Examining him slowly, his form, color and seven openings were those of a person, and his breath and voice were those of a person. He asked: "By what Way do you live in stone? By what Way do you enter fire?" The man said: "What is it you call stone? What is it you call fire?" Xiangzi said: "The place you came out of just now was stone; what you walked through was fire." The man said: "I do not know." Marquis Wen of Wei heard of it and asked Zixia: "What kind of person is that?" Zixia said: "From what I, Shang, have heard of the Master's words, one who is in harmony is largely the same as things, and things cannot harm or separate him; he can roam through metal and stone and tread water and fire." Marquis Wen said: "Why do you not do this?" Zixia said: "To hollow out the mind and drop knowledge, Shang cannot yet do. Even so, I have spare time to try to speak of it." Marquis Wen said: "Why does the Master not do this?" Zixia said: "The Master can do it, but is able not to." Marquis Wen was greatly pleased.

有神巫自齊來處於鄭，命曰季咸，知人死生、存亡、禍福、壽夭，期以歲、月、旬、日，如神。鄭人見之，皆避而走。列子見之而心醉，而歸以告壺丘子，曰：「始吾以夫子之道為至矣，則又有至焉者矣。」壺子曰：「吾與汝無其文，未既其實，而固得道與？眾雌而無雄，而又奚卵焉？而以道與世抗，必信矣。夫故使人得而相汝。嘗試與來，以予示之。」明日，列子與之見壺子。出而謂列子曰：「譆！子之先生死矣，弗活矣，不可以旬數矣。吾見怪焉，見濕灰焉。」列子入，涕泣霑衿，以告壺子。壺子曰：「向吾示之以地文，罪乎不誫不止，是殆見吾杜德幾也。嘗又與來！」明日，又與之見壺子。出而謂列子曰：「幸矣，子之先生遇我也，有瘳矣。灰然有生矣，吾見杜權矣。」列子入告壺子。壺子曰：「向吾示之以天壤，名實不入，而機發於踵，此為杜權。是殆見吾善者幾也。嘗又與來！」明日，又與之見壺子。出而謂列子曰：「子之先生坐不齋，吾無得而相焉。試齋，將且復相之。」列子入告壺子。壺子曰：「向吾示之以太沖莫眹，是殆見吾衡氣幾也。鯢旋之潘為淵，止水之潘為淵，流水之潘為淵，濫水之潘為淵，沃水之潘為淵，氿水之潘為淵，雍水之潘為淵，汧水之潘為淵，肥水之潘為淵，是為九淵焉。嘗又與來！」明日，又與之見壺子。立未定，自失而走。壺子曰：「追之！」列子追之而不及，反以報壺子，曰：「已滅矣，已失矣，吾不及也。」壺子曰：「向吾示之以未始出吾宗。吾與之虛而猗移，不知其誰何，因以為茅靡，因以為波流，故逃也。」然後列子自以為未始學而歸，三年不出，為其妻爨，食狶如食人，於事無親，雕瑑復樸，塊然獨以其形立，㤋然而封戎，壹以是終。

A divine shaman came from Qi and lived in Zheng, named Jixian, who could know people's life and death, survival and ruin, fortune and misfortune, and long or short life, predicting down to the year, month, ten-day period and day, like a god. The people of Zheng avoided him when they saw him. Liezi saw him and his heart was intoxicated; he came back and told Huzi: "At first I thought the Master's Way was supreme, but there is one even more supreme." Huzi said: "I have shown you only its outward form, not its substance, and you suppose you have attained the Way? Many hens and no rooster, where would the eggs come from? You set the Way against the world, so it is sure to show; thus you let people read your face. Try bringing him, and let him see me." The next day, Liezi brought him to see Huzi. When he came out he said to Liezi: "Alas! Your teacher is dying; he cannot live, he will not last ten days. I saw something strange; I saw wet ashes." Liezi went in and wept, his tears wetting his clothes, and told Huzi. Huzi said: "Just now I showed him the pattern of earth, still and unmoving, not stirring and not stopping; probably he saw the faint stirrings of my blocked-up vitality. Bring him again!" The next day he brought him to see Huzi again. When he came out he said to Liezi: "How fortunate that your teacher met me; he is improving. There seems to be life in the ashes; I saw the stirring of change within the blockage." Liezi went in and told Huzi. Huzi said: "Just now I showed him the Heaven-and-Earth: names and realities do not enter, and the spring of movement comes from the heels; this is called change within the blockage. Probably he saw the faint stirring of my goodness. Bring him again!" The next day he brought him to see Huzi again. When he came out he said to Liezi: "Your teacher sits unevenly; I cannot read his face. Try fasting a while, and then I will read it again." Liezi went in and told Huzi. Huzi said: "Just now I showed him the Great Emptiness, with no sign at all; probably he saw the faint stirrings of my balanced qi. Where whirling fish make water gather into a deep pool, where still water gathers into a deep pool, where flowing water gathers into a deep pool, where overflowing water gathers into a deep pool, where pouring water gathers into a deep pool, where side-springing water gathers into a deep pool, where dammed water gathers into a deep pool, where seeping water gathers into a deep pool, where fertile water gathers into a deep pool: these are the nine pools. Bring him again!" The next day he brought him to see Huzi again. Before he had even stood still, Jixian lost color and fled. Huzi said: "Chase him!" Liezi could not catch him, and came back to report to Huzi: "He has already vanished, he is lost, I could not overtake him." Huzi said: "Just now I showed him what has never yet come out of my source. I followed along with him in emptiness and meandering, and he did not know who or what I was, and so he seemed like grass blown flat, like the flowing of waves, and so he fled." After that Liezi decided that he had not yet begun to learn, went home and did not go out for three years, cooked for his wife, fed pigs as if serving people, showed no favoritism in any affair, and after carving and polishing returned to the uncarved block (the raw, unworked state of the material, not the adjective 'plain'). He stood alone like a clod, only with his own form, and mingled in confusion with the world, and keeping to this single course he ended his life.

子列子之齊，中道而反，遇伯昏瞀人。伯昏瞀人曰：「奚方而反？」曰：「吾驚焉。」「惡乎驚？」「吾食於十漿，而五漿先饋。」伯昏瞀人曰：「若是，則汝何為驚己？」曰：「夫內誠不解，形諜成光，以外鎮人心，使人輕乎貴老，而𩐎其所患。夫漿人特為食羹之貨，多餘之贏；其為利也薄，其為權也輕，而猶若是。而況萬乘之主，身勞於國，而智盡於事；彼將任我以事，而效我以功，吾是以驚。」伯昏瞀人曰：「善哉觀乎！汝處己，人將保汝矣。」無幾何而往，則戶外之屨滿矣。伯昏瞀人北面而立，敦杖蹙之乎頤。立有閒，不言而出。賓者以告列子。列子提履徒跣而走，暨乎門，問曰：「先生既來，曾不廢藥乎？」曰：「已矣。吾固告汝曰，人將保汝，果保汝矣。非汝能使人保汝，而汝不能使人無汝保也。而焉用之感也？感豫出異。且必有感也，搖而本身，又無謂也。與汝遊者，莫汝告也。彼所小言，盡人毒也。莫覺莫悟，何相孰也。」

Liezi went to Qi, and turned back halfway, meeting Bohun Maoren. Bohun Maoren said: "Why have you turned back halfway?" He said: "I was startled." "What startled you?" "I ate at ten soup-sellers' stalls, and at five of them my bowl was served first." Bohun Maoren said: "If so, why were you startled yourself?" He said: "My inner sincerity has not yet dissolved, and its traces leak out as light; I overawe people's minds with outward show, and so make them take honor and age lightly, and so I only bring out my own trouble. The sellers merely trade in soups and broths, and make a little profit above cost; their gain is thin and their power slight, and yet it is like this. How much more for the lord of ten thousand chariots, who wears out his body for the state and exhausts his wit for affairs? He will entrust matters to me and use accomplishments to audit me, and so I was startled." Bohun Maoren said: "You observe well! If you conduct yourself like this, people will come to rely on you." Before long he went again, and the shoes outside the door were already piled up. Bohun Maoren stood facing north with his staff propped under his chin. He stood for a while, and left without a word. The attendant told Liezi. Liezi, carrying his shoes and barefoot, ran to the door and asked: "Since you have come, Master, will you not leave a word of medicine for me?" He said: "Enough. I told you before that people would come to rely on you, and now they do. It is not that you can make people rely on you, but that you cannot keep people from relying on you. What need have you to summon them? What you summon is only something conspicuous. Moreover, there is sure to be something you move, and it shakes your own root, which has no point. Those who keep company with you have not told you these things. Their petty words are all poison that harms people. If you do not awaken, how will you ever know each other?"

楊朱南之沛，老聃西遊於秦，邀於郊。至梁而遇老子。老子中道仰天而歎曰：「始以汝為可教，今不可教也。」楊朱不答。至舍，進涫漱巾櫛，脫履戶外，膝行而前，曰：「曏者夫子仰天而歎曰：『始以汝為可教，今不可教。』弟子欲請夫子辭，行不閒，是以不敢。今夫子閒矣，請問其過。」老子曰：「而睢睢而盱盱，而誰與居？大白若辱，盛德若不足。」楊朱蹵然變容曰：「敬聞命矣。」其往也，舍迎將家，公執席，妻執巾櫛；舍者避席，煬者避灶。其反也，舍者與之爭席矣。

Yang Zhu went south to Pei, and Laozi traveled west to Qin, and they arranged to meet in the countryside. Yang Zhu met Laozi at Liang. On the road, Laozi looked up at the sky and sighed: "At first I thought you could be taught, but now you cannot." Yang Zhu did not answer. When they reached the lodging, he brought water for washing the face, a towel and a comb, left his shoes outside the door, and knelt, advancing on his knees, saying: "Just now the Master looked up to heaven and sighed: 'At first I thought you could be taught, but now you cannot.' Your disciple wished to ask about the Master's words, but we were walking with no leisure, so I did not dare. Now that the Master is at leisure, please tell me my fault." Laozi said: "You look about with a staring, glaring gaze; who would live with you? Great purity seems like soiling, and abundant virtue seems like insufficiency." Yang Zhu changed countenance in alarm and said: "I respectfully accept your instruction." When he arrived, the innkeeper welcomed him with the whole household, the host bringing the mat and his wife the towel and comb; fellow lodgers gave up their mats, and those at the fire gave up the stove. When he returned, the fellow lodgers were already arguing with him over mats.

楊朱過宋，東之於逆旅。逆旅人有妾二人，其一人美，其一人惡，惡者貴而美者賤。楊子問其故。逆旅小子對曰：「其美者自美，吾不知其美也；其惡者自惡，吾不知其惡也。」楊子曰：「弟子記之！行賢而去自賢之行，安往而不愛哉？」

Yang Zhu passed through Song, and in the east he stayed at an inn. The innkeeper had two concubines, one beautiful and one ugly; the ugly one was valued and the beautiful one slighted. Yang Zi asked the reason. A young servant at the inn replied: "The beautiful one considers herself beautiful, and I do not see her beauty; the ugly one considers herself ugly, and I do not see her ugliness." Yang Zi said: "Remember this, disciples! Do worthy deeds and drop the trace of thinking oneself worthy, and where would you not be loved?"

天下有常勝之道，有不常勝之道。常勝之道曰柔，常不勝之道曰彊。二者亦知，而人未之知。故上古之言：彊，先不己若者；柔，先出於己者。先不己若者，至於若己，則殆矣。先出於己者，亡所殆矣。以此勝一身若徒，以此任天下若徒，謂不勝而自勝，不任而自任也。粥子曰：「欲剛，必以柔守之；欲彊，必以弱保之。積於柔必剛，積於弱必彊。觀其所積，以知禍福之鄉。彊勝不若己，至於若己者剛；柔勝出於己者，其力不可量。」老聃曰：「兵彊則滅，木彊則折。柔弱者生之徒，堅彊者死之徒。」

Under heaven there is a Way that always wins, and a Way that does not always win. The Way that always wins is called softness, and the Way that does not always win is called strength. People know both of these, yet still do not understand them. So an ancient saying goes: strength is first dealing with those weaker than oneself; softness is first dealing with those stronger than oneself. One who first deals with those weaker than himself is in danger when the other becomes his equal. One who first deals with those stronger than himself is not in danger. Using this to prevail over oneself, one treats oneself like a servant; using this to take on the world, one treats the world like a servant. This is called winning without seeking to win and taking on without seeking to take on. Master Yu said: "If you want to be hard, you must guard it with softness; if you want to be strong, you must keep it with weakness. Accumulating softness will surely become hard, and accumulating weakness will surely become strong. Look at what someone accumulates, and you know the direction of his fortune and misfortune. Strength that overcomes those weaker than itself breaks when the other becomes its equal; softness that overcomes those stronger than itself has power that cannot be measured." Laozi said: "A strong army is destroyed, and a strong tree is broken. Softness and weakness belong to the class of life, hardness and strength to the class of death."

狀不必童而智童，智不必童而狀童。聖人取童智而遺童狀，眾人近童狀而疏童智。狀與我童者，近而愛之；狀與我異者，疏而畏之。有七尺之骸，手足之異，戴髮含齒，倚而趣者，謂之人，而人未必無獸心。雖有獸心，以狀而見親矣。傅翼戴角，分牙布爪，仰飛伏走，謂之禽獸，而禽獸未必無人心。雖有人心，以狀而見疏矣。庖犧氏、女媧氏、神農氏、夏后氏，蛇身人面，牛首虎鼻，此有非人之狀，而有大聖之德。夏桀、殷紂、魯桓、楚穆，狀貌七竅，皆同於人，而有禽獸之心。而眾人守一狀以求至智，未可幾也。黃帝與炎帝戰於阪泉之野，帥熊、羆、狼、豹、貙、虎為前驅，鵰、鶡、鷹、鳶為旗幟，此以力使禽獸者也。堯使夔典樂，擊石拊石，百獸率舞；《簫韶》九成，鳳皇來儀，此以聲致禽獸者也。然則禽獸之心，奚為異人？形音與人異，而不知接之之道焉。聖人無所不知，無所不通，故得引而使之焉。禽獸之智有自然與人童者，其齊欲攝生，亦不假智於人也。牝牡相偶，母子相親；避平依險，違寒就溫；居則有群，行則有列；小者居內，壯者居外；飲則相攜，食則鳴群。太古之時，則與人同處，與人並行。帝王之時，始驚駭散亂矣。逮於末世，隱伏逃竄，以避患害。今東方介氏之國，其國人數數解六畜之語者，蓋偏知之所得。太古神聖之人，備知萬物情態，悉解異類音聲。會而聚之，訓而受之，同於人民。故先民會鬼神魑魅，次達八方人民，末聚禽獸蟲蛾。言血氣之類心智不殊遠也。神聖知其如此，故其所教訓者無所遺逸焉。

Shapes and looks need not be alike for wisdom to be alike, and wisdom need not be alike for shapes and looks to be alike. The sage takes the same wisdom and discards the same appearance; ordinary people draw near to the same appearance and keep distant from the same wisdom. Those whose appearance is like mine are close and loved; those whose appearance is unlike mine are distant and feared. Beings with a seven-foot frame, with differentiated hands and feet, hair on the head and teeth in the mouth, who walk upright, are called humans, but humans do not necessarily lack the heart of beasts. Even if they have the heart of beasts, they are drawn near because of their appearance. Beings with wings and horns, with teeth and claws displayed, who fly overhead or walk on the ground, are called birds and beasts, but birds and beasts do not necessarily lack a human heart. Even if they have a human heart, they are kept at a distance because of their appearance. Fu Xi, Nuwa, Shennong and the Lord of Xia had snake bodies and human faces, ox heads and tiger snouts; they had non-human appearance, yet possessed the virtue of great sages. Jie of Xia, Zhou of Yin, Duke Huan of Lu and King Mu of Chu had appearance and seven openings the same as humans, yet had the hearts of birds and beasts. For ordinary people to hold to one kind of appearance and seek perfect wisdom is not something to hope for. The Yellow Emperor fought Yan Emperor in the wilds of Banquan, leading bears, brown bears, wolves, leopards, chu and tigers as his vanguard, and eagles, pheasants, hawks and kites as his banners; this was using force to make birds and beasts serve. Yao had Kui take charge of music, striking and tapping the stone chimes, and the hundred beasts led one another in dancing; at the ninth movement of the Xiaoshao, phoenixes came to dance in attendance; this was using sound to draw in birds and beasts. So why should the hearts of birds and beasts be different from the human heart? Their form and voice differ from ours, and we do not know the way to communicate with them. The sage knows everything and penetrates everything, and so can draw them in and employ them. Some of the wisdom of birds and beasts is by nature the same as that of humans; they too wish to preserve their lives and do not lend their wisdom to humans. Males and females pair, mothers and children are close; they avoid flat ground to rely on steep places, avoid cold to approach warmth; when they stay, they have herds, and when they travel, they have lines; the young are inside and the strong outside; when they drink, they lead each other, and when they eat, they call to each other and form groups. In remote antiquity they lived with humans and walked beside them. By the time of emperors and kings, they were startled and scattered. By the last age, they hid and fled to avoid harm. Now in the eastern country of the Jie clan, the people can often understand the speech of the six domestic animals; this is probably a partial knowledge obtained. The divine sages of remote antiquity knew fully the conditions of the ten thousand things and could understand the sounds of different kinds. They gathered them together, taught them and were obeyed, as with human people. So the earliest ones could meet ghosts, spirits and goblins, next reached the people of the eight directions, and last gathered birds, beasts, insects and moths. This is to say that the minds and wits of beings with blood and breath are not far apart. The divine sages knew this, so what they taught left nothing out.

宋有狙公者，愛狙，養之成群，能解狙之意，狙亦得公之心。損其家口，充狙之慾。俄而匱焉，將限其食。恐眾狙之不馴於己也，先誑之曰：「與若芧，朝三而暮四，足乎？」眾狙皆起而怒。俄而曰：「與若芧，朝四而暮三，足乎？」眾狙皆伏而喜。物之以能鄙相籠，皆猶此也。聖人以智籠群愚，亦猶狙公之以智籠眾狙也。名實不虧，使其喜怒哉！

In the state of Song there was a monkey keeper who loved monkeys and raised a flock of them; he could understand the monkeys' meaning, and the monkeys also understood his heart. He cut down the rations of his own household to satisfy the monkeys' appetites. Before long he ran short and was about to limit their food. Fearing the monkeys would not obey him, he first deceived them: "I will give you chestnuts, three in the morning and four in the evening; is that enough?" All the monkeys jumped up in anger. A moment later he said: "I will give you chestnuts, four in the morning and three in the evening; is that enough?" All the monkeys lay down and were pleased. This is how the able and the base use things to bring each other under control. The sage uses wisdom to bring the crowd of fools under control just as the monkey keeper used wisdom to manage the monkeys. In name and reality nothing was lost, yet he could make them pleased or angry!

紀渻子為周宣王養鬭雞，十日而問：「雞可鬭已乎？」曰：「未也，方虛驕而恃氣。」十日又問。曰：「未也，猶應影嚮。」十日又問。曰：「未也，猶疾視而盛氣。」十日又問。曰：「幾矣。雞雖有鳴者，已無變矣，望之似木雞矣，其德全矣。異雞無敢應者，反走耳。」

Ji Xingzi was raising fighting cocks for King Xuan of Zhou, and after ten days the king asked: "Is the cock ready to fight?" He said: "Not yet; it is still empty and arrogant and relies on its spirit." After ten days the king asked again. He said: "Not yet; it still responds to shadows and echoes." After ten days the king asked again. He said: "Not yet; it still glares and is full of spirit." After ten days the king asked again. He said: "It is nearly there. Even if another cock crows, it no longer changes; looking at it, it is like a wooden cock, and its virtue is whole. No other cock dares to answer it, and they turn and run."

惠盎見宋康王。康王蹀足謦欬，疾言曰：「寡人之所說者，勇有力也，不說為仁義者也。客將何以教寡人？」惠盎對曰：「臣有道於此，使人雖勇，刺之不入；雖有力，擊之弗中。大王獨無意邪？」宋王曰：「善。此寡人之所欲聞也。」惠盎曰：「夫刺之不入，擊之不中，此猶辱也。臣有道於此，使人雖有勇，弗敢刺；雖有力，弗敢擊。夫弗敢，非無其志也。臣有道於此，使人本無其志也。夫無其志也，未有愛利之心也。臣有道於此，使天下丈夫女子莫不驩然皆欲愛利之。此其賢於勇有力也，四累之上也。大王獨無意邪？」宋王曰：「此寡人之所欲得也。」惠盎對曰：「孔墨是已。孔丘墨翟無地而為君，無官而為長，天下丈夫女子莫不延頸舉踵而願安利之。今大王，萬乘之主也，誠有其志，則四竟之內皆得其利矣，其賢於孔墨也遠矣。」宋王無以應。惠盎趨而出。宋王謂左右曰：「辯矣，客之以說服寡人也！」

Hui Ang went to see King Kang of Song. King Kang stamped his foot and coughed, and said hastily: "What I like is courage and strength; I do not like people who practice benevolence and righteousness. What will the guest teach me?" Hui Ang replied: "I have a Way here which can make a person, however brave, unable to stab in; however strong, unable to strike home. Does Your Majesty have no interest in it?" The King of Song said: "Good. This is just what I want to hear." Hui Ang said: "Being unable to stab in or strike home is still being humiliated. I have a Way here which can make a person, however brave, not dare to stab; however strong, not dare to strike. Not daring is not the same as lacking the intention. I have a Way here which can make a person lack that intention altogether. Lacking that intention, he still lacks a heart of love and benefit. I have a Way here which can make all men and women under heaven joyfully wish to love and benefit him. This is four levels above courage, strength and worth. Does Your Majesty have no interest in it?" The King of Song said: "This is what I wish to obtain." Hui Ang replied: "Confucius and Mozi were like this. Confucius and Mo Di had no land yet were rulers, had no office yet were leaders, and all men and women under heaven stretched their necks and stood on tiptoe hoping to be given peace and benefit by them. Now Your Majesty is lord of ten thousand chariots; if you truly have this aspiration, then all within your four borders will gain benefit, and you will be far more worthy than Confucius and Mozi." The King of Song had nothing to answer. Hui Ang hurried out. The King of Song said to those at his side: "How well he argues; the guest has subdued me with his speech!"

周穆王時，西極之國有化人來，入水火，貫金石；反山川，移城邑；乘虛不墜，觸實不硋。千變萬化，不可窮極。既已變物之形，又且易人之慮。穆王敬之若神，事之若君。推路寢以居之，引三牲以進之，選女樂以娛之。化人以為王之宮室卑陋而不可處，王之廚饌腥螻而不可饗，王之嬪御羶惡而不可親。穆王乃為之改築。土木之功，赭堊之色，無遺巧焉。五府為虛，而臺始成。其高千仞，臨終南之上，號曰中天之臺。簡鄭衛之處子娥媌靡曼者，施芳澤，正娥眉，設笄珥，衣阿錫，曳齊紈。粉白黛黑，珮玉環。雜芷若以滿之，奏《承雲》《六瑩》《九韶》《晨露》以樂之。月月獻玉衣，旦旦薦玉食。化人猶不捨然，不得已而臨之。居亡幾何，謁王同遊。王執化人之袪，騰而上者，中天迺止。暨及化人之宮，化人之宮構以金銀，絡以珠玉，出雲雨之上，而不知下之據，望之若屯雲焉。耳目所觀聽，鼻口所納嘗，皆非人間之有。王實以為清都、紫微、鈞天、廣樂，帝之所居。王俯而視之，其宮榭若累塊積蘇焉。王自以居數十年不思其國也。化人復謁王同遊，所及之處，仰不見日月，俯不見河海。光影所照，王目眩不能得視；音響所來，王耳亂不能得聽。百骸六藏，悸而不凝。意迷精喪，請化人求還。化人移之，王若殞虛焉。既寤，所坐猶嚮者之處，侍御猶嚮者之人。視其前，則酒未清，餚未昲。王問所從來，左右曰：「王默存耳。」由此穆王自失者三月而復，更問化人。化人曰：「吾與王神遊也，形奚動哉？且曩之所居，奚異王之宮？曩之所遊，奚異王之圃？王閒恆有，疑蹔亡。變化之極，徐疾之間，可盡模哉？」王大悅。不恤國事，不樂臣妾，肆意遠遊。命駕八駿之乘，右服𧄪騮而左綠耳，右驂赤驥而左白𣚘，主車則造父為御，𧮼𠱛為右；

In the time of King Mu of Zhou, a conjuring man came from a country at the far west, who entered water and fire and passed through metal and stone; he turned mountains and rivers upside down and moved cities; he rode the air without falling and touched solid things without being blocked. His thousand changes and ten thousand transformations could not be exhausted. He had already changed the forms of things, and then altered people's thoughts. King Mu revered him like a god and served him like a lord. He gave up his own sleeping hall for him to live in, offered him the three sacrificial meats, and chose female musicians to entertain him. The conjuror thought the king's palaces were mean and not fit to live in, the king's kitchen dishes rank and not fit to eat, and the king's consorts and attendants foul-smelling and not fit to approach. King Mu then rebuilt for him. The work of earth and timber, the colors of ochre and white plaster, left no craft unused. The five treasuries were emptied before the terrace was finished. It was a thousand fathoms high, rising above the Zhongnan Mountains, and was called the Terrace of Middle Heaven. He selected girls of Zheng and Wei, beautiful and soft, perfumed them with fragrant oils, shaped their eyebrows, set out hairpins and earrings, dressed them in fine silks and trailing white Qi silk, with powdered white faces and darkened brows and jade rings at their belts. Fragrant herbs were mixed and spread to fill the place, and the Chengyun, Liuying, Jiushao and Chenlu music was played to delight him. Each month they offered him jade robes and each day jade food. The conjuror was still not at ease, and visited only because he had no choice. After he had stayed a short while, he invited the king to travel with him. The king held the conjuror's sleeve and they rose into the air, and did not stop until they reached the middle of heaven. When they arrived at the conjuror's palace, it was built of gold and silver and strung with pearls and jade, rising above the clouds and rain, and no one knew what it rested on; seen from afar it looked like a gathering of clouds. What the eyes and ears saw and heard and what the nose and mouth took in and tasted were nothing found in the human world. The king truly believed these were the Pure Capital, the Purple Subtlety, the Level Heaven and the Wide Music, the dwelling place of the Lord on High. The king looked down and saw his own palaces and pavilions like piles of clods and straw. The king thought he had lived there for dozens of years and did not think of his own country. The conjuror again invited the king to travel, and in the places they reached he could see no sun or moon above and no rivers or seas below. Where the light and shadows shone, the king's eyes were dazzled and he could not look; where sounds came from, the king's ears were confused and he could not listen. His hundred bones and six organs throbbed and would not settle. His mind was lost and his essence gone, and he begged the conjuror to take him back. The conjuror shifted him, and the king felt as if he fell from empty space. When he awoke, he was sitting in the same place as before, and the attendants were the same as before. Looking before him, the wine had not yet cleared and the dishes had not yet dried. The king asked where he had come from, and those at his side said: "The king has only been sitting in silence." From then on King Mu was dazed for three months before he recovered, and he asked the conjuror again. The conjuror said: "The king and I roamed in spirit; did our bodies move? And what difference was there between the place where you stayed before and the king's palace? What difference between where we roamed and the king's garden? The king is used to what is constantly there and doubts what is briefly lost. At the extreme of transformation, between slow and fast, can it be fully imitated?" The king was greatly pleased. He no longer cared for affairs of state or enjoyed his ministers and concubines, and roamed far at will. He ordered a team of eight steeds to be harnessed, Hualiu on the right and Lu'er on the left of the shaft, Chiji as the right outrider and Baixi as the left, with Zaofu driving the royal carriage and Taibing as the spearman on its right;

次車之乘，右服渠黃而左踰輪，左驂盜驪而右山子，柏夭主車，參百為御，奔戎為右。馳驅千里，至於巨蒐氏之國。巨蒐氏乃獻白鵠之血以飲王，具牛馬之湩以洗王之足，及二乘之人。已飲而行，遂宿於崑崙之阿，赤水之陽。別日升於崑崙之丘，以觀黃帝之宮，而封之以詒後世。遂賓於西王母，觴於瑤池之上。西王母為王謠，王和之，其辭哀焉。西觀日之所入。一日行萬裡。王乃歎曰：「於乎！予一人不盈於德而諧於樂，後世其追數吾過乎！」穆王幾神人哉！能窮當身之樂，猶百年乃徂，世以為登假焉。

(The account continued:) The second carriage was drawn by Quhuang on the right and Yulun on the left, with Daoli as left outrider and Shanzi as right outrider, Boyao driving the carriage, Cansan Bai attending, and Benrong as spearman. They galloped a thousand li and arrived at the country of the Jusou clan. The Jusou clan offered the king the blood of white swans to drink, and prepared the milk of oxen and horses to wash the king's feet and those of the men in the two carriages. After drinking, they set out and lodged at the foot of Kunlun, on the south bank of the Red River. On another day they climbed the hill of Kunlun and viewed the palace of the Yellow Emperor, which they sealed up and left for later generations. Then he became a guest of the Queen Mother of the West and drank wine with her at the Jasper Pool. The Queen Mother sang a ballad for the king, and the king answered it, in very sorrowful words. Looking west, he saw where the sun sets. He traveled ten thousand li in a day. The king then sighed and said: "Alas! I, a single man, am not full in virtue and yet am at ease in pleasure; later generations will probably count up my faults!" King Mu was almost a divine person! He was able to exhaust the pleasures of his own life, and he lived to a hundred years before departing, and people of the world thought he ascended to heaven.

老成子學幻於尹文先生，三年不告。老成子請其過而求退。尹文先生揖而進之於室，屏左右而與之言曰：「昔老聃之徂西也，顧而告予曰：『有生之氣，有形之狀，盡幻也。造化之所始，陰陽之所變者，謂之生，謂之死。窮數達變，因形移易者，謂之化，謂之幻。造物者其巧妙，其功深，固難窮難終。因形者其巧顯，其功淺，故隨起隨滅。知幻化之不異生死也，始可與學幻矣。』吾與汝亦幻也，奚須學哉？」老成子歸，用尹文先生之言，深思三月，遂能存亡自在，憣校四時，冬起雷，夏造冰；飛者走，走者飛，終身不箸其術，故世莫傳焉。子列子曰：「善為化者，其道密庸，其功同人。五帝之德，三王之功，未必盡智勇之力，或由化而成。孰測之哉？」

Lao Chengzi studied the art of illusion with Master Yin Wen, and for three years Yin Wen did not tell him anything. Lao Chengzi asked what his fault was and begged leave to go. Master Yin Wen bowed and invited him into the inner room, dismissed his attendants, and said to him: "Before, when Laozi went west, he turned back and told me: 'The breath that has life and the form that has shape are all illusion. What the Creator begins and what yin and yang transform is called birth and called death. Those who exhaust the numbers of qi and penetrate transformation, changing according to form, are called transformation and called illusion. The Creator is skillful and his work is deep, and so is hard to exhaust and hard to finish. The skill shown in form is shallow in work, and so arises and vanishes together. Knowing that illusory transformation is no different from life and death, one may then learn illusion.' You and I are also illusion; why should we learn it?" Lao Chengzi went back and pondered Master Yin Wen's words for three months, and then could be present or absent at will, reverse the four seasons, raise thunder in winter and make ice in summer; make flyers walk and walkers fly. All his life he did not record that art, and so it was not handed down in the world. Liezi said: "For one who is good at transformation, his Way is secret and ordinary, and his work is the same as people's. The virtue of the Five Emperors and the achievements of the Three Kings were not necessarily all exhausted by the power of wisdom and courage; perhaps they were accomplished through transformation. Who can measure it?"

覺有八徵，夢有六候。奚謂八徵？一曰故，二曰為，三曰得，四曰喪，五曰哀，六曰樂，七曰生，八曰死。此者八徵，形所接也。奚謂六候？一曰正夢，二曰蘁夢，三曰思夢，四曰寤夢，五曰喜夢，六曰懼夢。此六者，神所交也。不識感變之所起者，事至則惑其所由然；識感變之所起者，事至則知其所由然。知其所由然，則無所怛。一體之盈虛消息，皆通於天地，應於物類。故陰氣壯，則夢涉大水而恐懼；陽氣壯，則夢涉大火而燔焫；陰陽俱壯，則夢生殺。甚飽則夢與，甚饑則夢取。是以以浮虛為疾者，則夢揚；以沈實為疾者，則夢溺；藉帶而寢則夢蛇，飛鳥銜髮則夢飛；將陰夢火，將疾夢食；飲酒者憂，歌儛者哭。子列子曰：「神遇為夢，形接為事。故晝想夜夢，神形所遇。故神凝者想夢自消。信覺不語，信夢不達，物化之往來者也。古之真人，其覺自忘，其寢不夢，幾虛語哉？」

Waking has eight kinds of signs, and dreaming has six kinds of omens. What are the eight signs? The first is cause, the second is action, the third is gain, the fourth is loss, the fifth is sorrow, the sixth is joy, the seventh is birth, and the eighth is death. These eight signs are what the body comes into contact with. What are the six indications? The first is the regular dream, the second is the nightmare, the third is the dream of thought, the fourth is the dream of waking, the fifth is the dream of joy, and the sixth is the dream of fear. These six are what the spirit meets. One who does not know where a stirring of change arises is bewildered when events come, wondering why they are so; one who knows where it arises, when events come, knows why they are so. Knowing why, there is nothing to fear. The fullness and emptiness, waxing and waning of the body all connect with heaven and earth and respond to the kinds of things. So when yin qi is strong, one dreams of wading through great water and feels fear; when yang qi is strong, one dreams of walking through great fire and being burned; when yin and yang are both strong, one dreams of life and killing. When very full, one dreams of giving; when very hungry, one dreams of taking. Hence those whose illness is floating and empty dream of rising up; those whose illness is heavy and sinking dream of being submerged; sleeping with a belt under one dreams of snakes; when a flying bird holds hair in its beak, one dreams of flying; when about to feel cold, one dreams of fire; when about to fall ill, one dreams of eating; one who drinks wine grieves, and one who sings and dances weeps. Liezi said: "When spirits meet, it is a dream; when forms touch, it is an event. So what one thinks by day and dreams by night is the meeting of spirit and form. Therefore for those whose spirit is concentrated, idle thoughts and dreams vanish of themselves. Those who are certain of waking do not speak, and those who are certain of dreaming are not enlightened; this is the coming and going of the transformation of things. The true persons of old forgot themselves when awake and had no dreams when asleep; how could that be empty talk?""

西極之南隅有國焉，不知境界之所接，名古莽之國。陰陽之氣所不交，故寒暑亡辨；日月之光所不照，故晝夜亡辨。其民不食不衣而多眠。五旬一覺，以夢中所為者實，覺之所見者妄。四海之齊謂中央之國，跨河南北，越岱東西，萬有餘裡。其陰陽之審度，故一寒一暑；昏明之分察，故一晝一夜。其民有智有愚。萬物滋殖，才藝多方。有君臣相臨，禮法相持。其所云為不可稱計。一覺一寐，以為覺之所為者實，夢之所見者妄。東極之北隅有國曰阜落之國。其土氣常燠，日月餘光之照。其土不生嘉苗。其民食草根木實，不知火食，性剛悍，彊弱相藉，貴勝而不尚義；多馳步，少休息，常覺而不眠。

There is a country in the southern corner of the far west, whose boundaries are not known to adjoin anywhere; it is called the Land of Gumang. The qi of yin and yang do not meet there, so there is no distinction between cold and heat; the light of sun and moon does not shine together, so there is no distinction between day and night. The people there neither eat nor wear clothes and sleep a great deal. They awake once every fifty days, take what they did in dreams to be real and what they saw while awake to be false. In the center of the four seas lies what is called the Central Land, spanning north and south of the Yellow River and east and west of Mount Dai, over ten thousand li. There yin and yang are clearly and carefully measured, so there is one cold and one hot season; dusk and dawn are clearly separated, so there is one day and one night. The people there are wise and foolish. The myriad things multiply, and talents and skills are many. There are rulers and ministers presiding over each other, and rites and laws holding each other in check. What they do and say cannot be counted. They awake and sleep, and consider what they do awake to be real and what they see in dreams to be false. In the northern corner of the far east there is a country called the Land of Fuluo. The air of the earth there is always hot, lit by the residual light of the sun and moon. The land does not grow good crops. The people eat roots and fruits of trees, and do not know how to use fire to cook food; their nature is fierce and violent, the strong and weak overpower one another, they value victory and do not esteem righteousness; they run about a great deal and rest little, and are often awake and do not sleep."

周之尹氏大治產，其下趣役者侵晨昏而弗息。有老役夫筋力竭矣，而使之彌勤。晝則呻呼而即事，夜則昏憊而熟寐。精神荒散，昔昔夢為國君，居人民之上，總一國之事，遊燕宮觀，恣意所欲，其樂無比，覺則復役。人有慰喻其懃者，役夫曰：「人生百年，晝夜各分。吾晝為僕虜，苦則苦矣；夜為人君，其樂無比，何所怨哉？」尹氏心營世事，慮鍾家業，心形俱疲，夜亦昏憊而寐，昔昔夢為人僕，趨走作役，無不為也；數罵杖撻，無不至也。眠中啽囈呻呼，徹旦息焉。尹氏病之，以訪其友。友曰：「若位足榮身，資財有餘，勝人遠矣。夜夢為僕，苦逸之復，數之常也。若欲覺夢兼之，豈可得邪？」尹氏聞其友言，寬其役夫之程，減己思慮之事，疾並少間。

A certain Mr. Yin of Zhou greatly managed his estate, and the laborers who served him got no rest from dawn to dusk. There was an old laborer whose strength was already exhausted, yet he was worked even harder. By day he groaned as he worked; at night he slept deeply, worn out. His spirit scattered, and every night he dreamed he was a ruler, set above the people, in charge of all the affairs of a state, feasting and roaming in palaces and pavilions, doing as he pleased, with unmatched joy; then he awoke and served again. Someone consoled him about his hard toil, and the laborer said: "A person lives a hundred years, half by day and half by night. By day I am a servant and slave; it is bitter, to be sure. By night I am a ruler of men, with unmatched joy; what is there to resent?" Mr. Yin, in his heart, devoted himself to worldly affairs and concentrated his thoughts on the family estate, so that mind and body were both worn out; at night he too slept deeply from exhaustion, and every night he dreamed he was another's servant, running about and laboring, with no task he did not do; scolding and beating reached him with nothing spared. In his sleep he talked in a daze and groaned, and stopped only at dawn. Mr. Yin took this as an illness and went to ask a friend. The friend said: "Your position is quite enough to bring you honor, and your wealth has a surplus, far beyond others. At night you dream you are a servant; the cycle of bitterness and ease is the constant pattern of the fated order. If you want to have both waking and dreaming in your favor, could that possibly be had?" Mr. Yin, hearing his friend's words, relaxed the workload of his laborers and reduced the matters he brooded over, and his illness grew a little better."

鄭人有薪於野者，偶駭鹿，御而擊之，斃之。恐人見之也，遽而藏諸隍中，覆之以蕉，不勝其喜。俄而遺其所藏之處，遂以為夢焉，順塗而詠其事。傍人有聞者，用其言而取之。既歸，告其室人曰：「向薪者夢得鹿而不知其處，吾今得之，彼直真夢矣。」室人曰：「若將是夢見薪者之得鹿邪？詎有薪者邪？今真得鹿，是若之夢真邪？」夫曰：「吾據得鹿，何用知彼夢我夢邪？」薪者之歸，不厭失鹿。其夜真夢藏之之處，又夢得之之主。爽旦，案所夢而尋得之，遂訟而爭之，歸之士師。士師曰：「若初真得鹿，妄謂之夢；真夢得鹿，妄謂之實。彼真取若鹿，而與若爭鹿。室人又謂夢仞人鹿，無人得鹿。今據有此鹿，請二分之。」以聞鄭君。鄭君曰：「嘻！士師將復夢分人鹿乎？」訪之國相。國相曰：「夢與不夢，臣所不能辨也。欲辨覺夢，唯黃帝孔丘。今亡黃帝孔丘，孰辨之哉？且恂士師之言可也。」

A man in the state of Zheng was cutting firewood in the wilds and happened to startle a deer; he met it and struck it dead. Afraid someone might see, he hurriedly hid it in a dry ditch and covered it with banana leaves, overjoyed beyond measure. After a while he forgot where he had hidden it, and so took it to have been a dream, and chanted the affair as he went along the road. Someone beside the road overheard and took the deer according to his words. He went home and told his wife: "Just now a woodcutter dreamed he got a deer but did not know where; now I have it, so his was a true dream." His wife said: "Perhaps you dreamed of a woodcutter getting a deer? Where is there really a woodcutter? Now that you really have the deer, is it your dream that is real?" The husband said: "I already have the deer; why need I know whether it was he who dreamed or I?" The woodcutter went home, unwilling to accept the loss of his deer. That night he truly dreamed of the hiding place, and also dreamed of the man who got the deer. At dawn he went looking according to the dream and found him, and so they went to law and brought the case to the judge. The judge said: "At first you really got the deer and falsely called it a dream; you really dreamed of getting a deer and falsely called it real. He really took your deer, yet contends with you over the deer. His wife also says he dreamed of another's deer, so no one got a deer. Now that this deer is in hand, please divide it equally." This was reported to the lord of Zheng. The lord of Zheng said: "Ah! Is the judge now going to dream about dividing another man's deer?" He asked the chief minister. The chief minister said: "Whether it was a dream or not, your servant cannot distinguish. To distinguish waking from dreaming, only the Yellow Emperor and Confucius could. Now there is no Yellow Emperor or Confucius, so who is to distinguish? Let us simply trust the judge's words.""

宋陽裡華子中年病忘，朝取而夕忘，夕與而朝忘；在塗則忘行，在室則忘坐；今不識先，後不識今。闔室毒之，謁史而卜之，弗占；謁巫而禱之，弗禁；謁醫而攻之，弗已。魯有儒生自媒能治之，華子之妻子以居產之半請其方。儒生曰：「此固非卦兆之所占，非祈請之所禱，非藥石之所攻。吾試化其心，變其慮，庶幾其瘳乎！」於是試露之，而求衣；飢之，而求食；幽之，而求明。儒生欣然告其子曰：「疾可已也。然吾之方密，傳世不以告人。試屏左右，獨與居室七日。」從之，莫知其所施為也，而積年之疾一朝都除。華子既悟，迺大怒，黜妻罰子，操戈逐儒生。宋人執而問其以，華子曰：「曩吾忘也，蕩蕩然不覺天地之有無。今頓識既往，數十年來存亡、得失、哀樂、好惡，擾擾萬緒起矣。吾恐將來之存亡、得失、哀樂、好惡之亂吾心如此也，須臾之忘，可復得乎？」子貢聞而怪之，以告孔子。孔子曰：「此非汝所及乎！」顧謂顏回紀之。

Huazi of Yangli in the state of Song fell ill with forgetfulness in middle age: he forgot in the evening what he took in the morning, and in the morning what he gave in the evening; on the road he forgot to walk, and in the house he forgot to sit; now he did not recognize what came before, and later he would not recognize the present. His whole family suffered from it; they asked the court diviner to cast lots, and it did not work; they asked a shaman to pray, and it could not be stopped; they asked a doctor to treat him, and it did not cease. A Confucian scholar of the state of Lu presented himself as able to cure him, and Huazi's wife and children offered half their property for his remedy. The scholar said: "This is not something divination can foretell, prayer can seek, or medicines and stone needles can attack. Let me try to change his mind and alter his thoughts; perhaps he can be cured!" Then he tried making him go bare, and he asked for clothes; made him hungry, and he asked for food; left him in the dark, and he asked for light. The scholar was pleased and told his son: "The illness can be stopped. But my remedy is secret and has been passed down without being told to anyone. Let us try sending away the attendants and staying alone with him in a room for seven days." They agreed, and no one knew what he did, but the illness of years was cleared in a single morning. When Huazi came to his senses, however, he was furiously angry; he drove out his wife and punished his son, and took a spear and chased the scholar. The people of Song seized him and asked the reason, and Huazi said: "Formerly I forgot, vast and empty, not sensing whether heaven and earth existed. Now suddenly I recognize the past, and the myriad threads of decades of survival and loss, gain and loss, sorrow and joy, liking and disliking come tumbling up in confusion. I fear that the future's survival and loss, gain and loss, sorrow and joy, liking and disliking will disturb my mind like this; could I ever again get even a moment of forgetting?" Zigong heard of it and thought it strange, and told Confucius. Confucius said: "This is beyond what you can reach!" Turning, he had Yan Hui record it."

秦人逢氏有子，少而惠，及壯而有迷罔之疾，聞歌以為哭，視白以為黑，饗香以為朽，嘗甘以為苦，行非以為是；意之所之，天地、四方，水火、寒暑，無不倒錯者焉。楊氏告其父曰：「魯之君子多術藝，將能已乎？汝奚不訪焉？」其父之魯，過陳，遇老聃，因告其子之證。老聃曰：「汝庸知汝子之迷乎？今天下之人皆惑於是非，昏於利害。同疾者多，固莫有覺者。且一身之迷不足傾一家，一家之迷不足傾一鄉，一鄉之迷不足傾一國，一國之迷不足傾天下。天下盡迷，孰傾之哉？向使天下之人其心盡如汝子，汝則反迷矣。哀樂、聲色、臭味、是非，孰能正之？且吾之此言未必非迷，而況魯之君子迷之郵者，焉能解人之迷哉？榮汝之糧，不若遄歸也。」

A man named Feng of the state of Qin had a son who was clever and bright in youth, but in adulthood fell ill with delusion: hearing singing, he took it for weeping; seeing white, he took it for black; smelling fragrance, he took it for rot; tasting sweetness, he took it for bitterness; doing wrong, he took it for right; wherever his thoughts reached, heaven and earth, the four directions, water and fire, cold and heat, all were inverted. A man named Yang told his father: "The gentlemen of Lu have many arts; perhaps they can cure him. Why do you not go and ask?" The father went to Lu, and passing through Chen, met Lao Dan, and told him his son's symptoms. Lao Dan said: "How do you know your son is deluded? Now everyone in the world is confused about right and wrong and dazed by profit and harm. Those who share the sickness are many, and there are none who awaken. Moreover, one person's delusion cannot overturn a family, one family's delusion cannot overturn a village, one village's delusion cannot overturn a state, and one state's delusion cannot overturn the world. If the whole world is deluded, who is overturning whom? Suppose everyone's mind in the world were like your son's; then it is you who would be deluded. Sorrow and joy, sound and color, smell and taste, right and wrong, who can set them straight? Moreover, my words here may not be free of delusion either, still less the gentlemen of Lu, who are the most deluded of all; how could they resolve another's delusion? Take your provisions and go home quickly instead.""

燕人生於燕，長於楚，及老而還本國。過晉國，同行者誑之，指城曰：「此燕國之城。」其人愀然變容。指社曰：「此若裡之社。」乃喟然而歎。指舍曰：「此若先人之廬。」乃涓然而泣。指壠曰：「此若先人之冢。」其人哭不自禁。同行者啞然大笑，曰：「予昔紿若，此晉國耳。」其人大慙。及至燕，真見燕國之城社，真見先人之廬冢，悲心更微。

A man of Yan was born in Yan and grew up in Chu, and when he grew old he returned to his own country. Passing through the state of Jin, his companions deceived him, pointing to a city and saying: "This is the city of Yan." The man's face changed in sorrow. Pointing to an earth altar, they said: "This is the altar of your village." He sighed deeply. Pointing to a house, they said: "This is your ancestors' hut." He wept in streams. Pointing to a grave, they said: "This is your ancestors' tomb." The man wept so that he could not control himself. His companions burst out laughing and said: "I was deceiving you just now; this is only Jin." The man was deeply ashamed. When he reached Yan, and truly saw the city and altars of Yan, truly saw his ancestors' huts and tombs, his sorrow was instead much fainter."