Xu Wugui

少知曰：「四方之內，六合之裡，萬物之所生惡起？」

Shao Zhi said: "Within the four directions and within the six realms, where does the birth of myriad things begin?"

大公調曰：「陰陽相照相蓋相治，四時相代相生相殺，欲惡去就於是橋起，雌雄片合於是庸有。安危相易，禍福相生，緩急相摩，聚散以成。此名實之可紀，精微之可志也。隨序之相理，橋運之相使，窮則反，終則始。此物之所有，言之所盡，知之所至，極物而已。覩道之人，不隨其所廢，不原其所起，此議之所止。」

Da Gongdiao said: "Yin and yang shine on one another, cover one another and govern one another; the four seasons replace one another, give birth to one another and kill one another; desire and aversion, going and staying, rise up thereupon, and male and female pairing is constant thereupon. Safety and danger exchange, calamity and blessing give birth to each other, slowness and haste rub against each other, and gathering and scattering complete one another. These are what names and realities can record and what subtlety can note. They follow the order and regulate each other, turn and employ each other, reverse when exhausted, and begin again at the end. This is what things have, what words can exhaust, and what knowledge can reach, which extends only as far as things. One who sees the Way does not follow what it abandons and does not trace back to where it arises; discussion stops here."

少知曰：「季真之莫為，接子之或使，二家之議，孰正於其情，孰徧於其理？」

Shao Zhi said: "Ji Zhen's 'nothing does it' and Jiezi's 'something causes it,' of these two schools of discussion, which is correct to the facts, and which is one-sided as to principle?"

大公調曰：「雞鳴狗吠，是人之所知；雖有大知，不能以言讀其所自化，又不能以意其所將為。斯而析之，精至於無倫，大至於不可圍，或之使，莫之為，未免於物而終以為過。或使則實，莫為則虛。有名有實，是物之居；無名無實，在物之虛。可言可意，言而愈疏。未生不可忌，已死不可徂。死生非遠也，理不可覩。或之使，莫之為，疑之所假。吾觀之本，其往無窮；吾求之末，其來無止。無窮無止，言之無也，與物同理；或使莫為，言之本也，與物終始。道不可有，有不可無。道之為名，所假而行。或使莫為，在物一曲，夫胡為於大方？言而足，則終日言而盡道；言而不足，則終日言而盡物。道物之極，言默不足以載；非言非默，議有所極。」

Da Gongdiao said: "The crowing of cocks and barking of dogs are known by people; though one has great knowledge, he cannot use words to describe what they are transformed from, and cannot use intention to anticipate what they will become. Analyzing it in this way, the fine reaches the incomparable and the great reaches what cannot be encircled; 'something causes it' and 'nothing does it' cannot escape things and in the end are taken as faults. 'Something causes it' tends toward substance and 'nothing does it' tends toward emptiness. Having name and substance is where things dwell; having no name and no substance is in the emptiness of things. What can be said and thought of gets more distant the more it is explained. What is not yet born cannot be avoided, and what has died cannot be stopped. Life and death are not far apart, yet the principle cannot be seen. 'Something causes it' and 'nothing does it' are what doubt borrows. When I look at its root, the going extends without limit; when I seek its end, the coming arrives without stopping. Without limit and without stopping, speech about it is empty, sharing the principle of things; 'something causes it' or 'nothing does it' are the root of speech, and begin and end with things. The Way cannot be said to exist, and what exists cannot be said not to exist. The Way is a name, which is borrowed and used. 'Something causes it' and 'nothing does it' are a corner of things, so how could they reach the great square? If speech is sufficient, then speaking all day exhausts the Way; if speech is not sufficient, then speaking all day exhausts things. The limit of the Way and things cannot be carried by speech or silence; neither speech nor silence, discussion has its limit."

外物不可必，故龍逢誅，比干戮，箕子狂，惡來死，桀紂亡。人主莫不欲其臣之忠，而忠未必信，故伍員流於江，萇弘死於蜀，藏其血三年而化為碧。人親莫不欲其子之孝，而孝未必愛，故孝己憂而曾參悲。木與木相摩則然，金與火相守則流。陰陽錯行，則天地大絯，於是乎有雷有霆，水中有火，乃焚大槐。有甚憂兩陷而無所逃，螴蜳不得成，心若縣於天地之間，慰暋沈屯，利害相摩，生火甚多，眾人焚和，月固不勝火，於是乎有僓然而道盡。

External things cannot be insisted upon, so Long Feng was executed, Bi Gan was slain, Jizi feigned madness, E Lai died, and Jie and Zhou perished. No ruler fails to want his ministers to be loyal, yet loyalty is not necessarily trusted, so Wu Yuan was cast adrift in the river and Chang Hong died in Shu, his blood stored for three years and turned into jade. No parents fail to want their sons to be filial, yet filial piety is not necessarily loved, so Xiao Ji grieved and Zeng Shen was sorrowful. When wood rubs on wood it burns, and when metal meets fire it flows. When yin and yang move wrongly, Heaven and Earth are greatly alarmed, and then there is thunder and lightning, and fire within water burns a great locust tree. There are those with deep anxiety caught between two traps with nowhere to flee, who cannot finish their trembling, their hearts hanging between Heaven and Earth, pressed and anguished, with advantage and harm rubbing together, kindling much fire, the multitude burning the harmony; the moon cannot overcome fire, and so there is collapse and the Way is exhausted.

莊周家貧，故往貸粟於監河侯。監河侯曰：「諾。我將得邑金，將貸子三百金，可乎？」

Zhuang Zhou's family was poor, so he went to borrow millet from the Marquis in charge of the river. The Marquis said: "Good. I will soon receive the gold from my fief, and will lend you three hundred in gold; will that do?"

莊周忿然作色曰：「周昨來，有中道而呼者。周顧視車轍，中有鮒魚焉。周問之曰：『鮒魚來，子何為者耶？』對曰：『我，東海之波臣也。君豈有斗升之水而活我哉？』周曰：『諾，我且南遊吳越之王，激西江之水而迎子，可乎？』鮒魚忿然作色曰：『吾失我常與，我無所處。吾得斗升之水然活耳，君乃言此，曾不如早索我於枯魚之肆！』」

Zhuang Zhou flushed with anger and said: "When Zhou came yesterday, someone was calling on the road. Zhou looked back at the wheel rut, and there was a carp in it. Zhou asked it: 'Carp, what are you doing?' It answered: 'I am a wave-minister of the Eastern Sea. Do you have a peck or a pint of water to keep me alive?' Zhou said: 'Good. I am about to travel south to the kings of Wu and Yue and divert the waters of the Western River to welcome you; will that do?' The carp flushed with anger and said: 'I have lost what I always keep company with, and have nowhere to be. If I got a peck or a pint of water I could live, but you say this, so you would do better to look for me soon in the dried fish shop!'"

任公子為大鉤巨緇，五十犗以為餌，蹲乎會稽，投竿東海，旦旦而釣，期年不得魚。已而大魚食之，牽巨鉤，錎沒而下騖，揚而奮鬐，白波若山，海水震蕩，聲侔鬼神，憚赫千里。任公子得若魚，離而臘之，自制河以東，蒼梧已北，莫不厭若魚者。已而後世輇才諷說之徒，皆驚而相告也。夫揭竿累，趣灌瀆，守鯢鮒，其於得大魚難矣，飾小說以幹縣令，其於大達亦遠矣，是以未嘗聞任氏之風俗，其不可與經於世亦遠矣。

The young lord Ren made a huge hook and a great black line, used fifty fattened oxen as bait, squatted on Kuaiji and cast his rod into the Eastern Sea, fishing every day for a full year without catching a fish. Later a great fish took it, dragging the huge hook, sinking and racing down, then raising its fins, with white waves like mountains, the sea water shaking, its sound like ghosts and spirits, frightening for a thousand li. The young lord Ren got this fish, cut it open and made it into dried strips, and from east of the Zhe River to north of Cangwu, none did not eat their fill of this fish. After this, the idle talkers of later ages of petty talent all told one another in astonishment. Those who hold a slender rod with a fine line and run to irrigation ditches, guarding minnows and small carp, will find it hard to get a great fish; those who embellish small talk to seek (here "seek" means to ask for, not to interfere with) a magistrate's favor are far from reaching the great. So one who has never heard of the customs of the Ren family is far from being able to manage the world with them.

儒以《詩》、《禮》發冢，大儒臚傳曰：「東方作矣，事之何若？」

Confucians used the Songs and the Rites to dig up a grave, and the senior Confucian called down from above: "The east is brightening; how is the work going?"

小儒曰：「未解裙襦，口中有珠。詩固有之曰：『青青之麥，生於陵陂。生不佈施，死何含珠為！』接其鬢，壓其顪，儒以金椎控其頤，徐別其頰，無傷口中珠！」

The junior Confucian said: "We have not yet undone the skirt and jacket, and there is a pearl in the mouth. The Songs indeed say: 'The green wheat grows on the hillside. If in life he gave nothing, why does he hold a pearl in death!' Press his temples, hold down his beard, and the Confucian strikes his jaw with a gold hammer, slowly separating his cheeks, so as not to damage the pearl in his mouth!"

老萊子之弟子出薪，遇仲尼，反以告，曰：「有人於彼，脩上而趨下，末僂而後耳，視若營四海，不知其誰氏之子。」

A disciple of Laolaizi went out to cut firewood, met Zhongni, came back and reported: "There is a man over there with a long upper body and short lower body, slightly hunched back and ears set back, with a gaze as though managing the four seas; I do not know whose son he is."

老萊子曰：「是丘也。召而來。」

Laolaizi said: "That is Qiu. Call him here."

仲尼至。曰：「丘！去汝躬矜與汝容知，斯為君子矣。」

Zhongni arrived. He said: "Qiu! Get rid of the pride on your body and the cleverness in your appearance, and then you will be a gentleman."

仲尼揖而退，蹙然改容而問曰：「業可得進乎？」

Zhongni bowed and withdrew, changed his expression with unease and asked: "Can my learning make progress?"

老萊子曰：「夫不忍一世之傷而驁萬世之患，抑固窶邪，亡其略弗及邪？惠以歡為驁，終身之醜，中民之行進焉耳，相引以名，相結以隱。與其譽堯而非桀，不如兩忘而閉其所譽。反無非傷也。動無非邪也。聖人躊躇以興事，以每成功。柰何哉其載焉終矜爾！」

Laolaizi said: "You cannot bear the harm of one generation and yet look down on the troubles of ten thousand generations; is it that you are originally poor and narrow, or that your wisdom and strategy are insufficient? You take kindness and joy as pride, which is lifelong shame, and the conduct of middling people is drawn to that place, drawing one another with names and binding one another with secrecy. Rather than praise Yao and condemn Jie, it is better to forget both and shut your mouth against praise. Turning back is always an injury. Action is always crooked. The sage hesitates before beginning a matter, and so he often succeeds. What can be done, you carry all this about and always cling to it!"

宋元君夜半而夢人被髮闚阿門，曰：「予自宰路之淵，予為清江使河伯之所，漁者餘且得予。」

Lord Yuan of Song dreamed at midnight of a man with disheveled hair peeping at the side gate, who said: "I came from the Abyss of Zai Road. I was sent as envoy from the Clear River to the Lord of the River, and the fisherman Yu Qie (a personal name, in which 'Yu' is not 'I') caught me."

元君覺，使人占之，曰：「此神龜也。」

Lord Yuan awoke and had someone interpret the dream, who said: "This is a divine tortoise."

君曰：「漁者有餘且乎？」

The lord said: "Is there a fisherman called Yu Qie?"

左右曰：「有。」

Those around him said: "There is."

君曰：「令餘且會朝。」

The lord said: "Have Yu Qie come to court."

明日，餘且朝。君曰：「漁何得？」

The next day Yu Qie came to court. The lord said: "What did you catch while fishing?"

對曰：「且之網得白龜焉，其圓五尺。」

He answered: "Qie's net caught a white tortoise, five feet around."

君曰：「獻若之龜。」

The lord said: "Present your tortoise."

龜至，君再欲殺之，再欲活之，心疑，卜之。曰：「殺龜以卜吉。」乃刳龜，七十二鑽而無遺筴。

When the tortoise arrived, the lord at one moment wanted to kill it and at another to keep it alive, doubted in his mind, and divined. It said: "Killing the tortoise for divination is auspicious." So they split the tortoise and drilled seventy-two times without a single failed prediction.

仲尼曰：「神龜能見夢於元君，而不能避餘且之網；知能七十二鑽而無遺筴，不能避刳腸之患。如是，則知有所困，神有所不及也。雖有至知，萬人謀之。魚不畏網而畏鵜鶘。去小知而大知明，去善而自善矣。嬰兒生無石師而能言，與能言者處也。」

Zhongni said: "The divine tortoise could appear in Lord Yuan's dream but could not avoid Yu Qie's net; its wisdom could drill seventy-two times without a failed prediction, yet could not avoid the calamity of having its entrails cut out. In this case wisdom has its difficulties and the spirit has what it cannot reach. Even with supreme wisdom, ten thousand men may plot against it. Fish do not fear nets but fear pelicans. Get rid of small knowledge and great knowledge becomes clear; get rid of the good and one is good oneself. An infant is born without a great teacher and can speak, because it lives with people who can speak."

惠子謂莊子曰：「子言無用。」

Huizi said to Zhuangzi: "Your words are useless."

莊子曰：「知無用而始可與言用矣。夫地非不廣且大也，人之所用容足耳。然則廁足而墊之致黃泉，人尚有用乎？」惠子曰：「無用。」

Zhuangzi said: "One who knows what is useless can then be spoken to about what is useful. The earth is not lacking in breadth and size, yet what a person uses is only the room for his feet. Then if you dug away everything outside the footprints down to the Yellow Springs, would the person still have use for it?" Huizi said: "No use."

莊子曰：「然則無用之為用也亦明矣。」

Zhuangzi said: "Then the usefulness of the useless is clear."

莊子曰：「人有能遊，且得不遊乎？人而不能遊，且得遊乎？夫流遁之志，決絕之行，噫，其非至知厚德之任與！覆墜而不反，火馳而不顧，雖相與為君臣，時也，易世而無以相賤。故曰至人不留行焉。

Zhuangzi said: "For one who can wander, can he help wandering? For one who cannot wander, can he wander? That drifting aim and cut-off conduct, ah, that is not what supreme knowledge and thick virtue undertake! Fallen and not returning, rushing like fire and not looking back, though they are ruler and minister to one another, it is only for a time, and once the generation changes there is no way to look down on one another. So it is said that the perfect man does not linger in conduct.

夫尊古而卑今，學者之流也。且以狶韋氏之流觀今之世，夫孰能不波，唯至人乃能遊於世而不僻，順人而不失己。彼教不學，承意不彼。

(Zhuangzi continued:) To honor the past and despise the present is the habit of scholars. Moreover, if one looks at the present age through the lens of the school of Xi Wei, who would not be tossed about, and only the perfect man can wander through the world without being one-sided, following others without losing himself. He teaches without studying, takes up the meaning without making himself into that other.

目徹為明，耳徹為聰，鼻徹為顫，口徹為甘，心徹為知，知徹為德。凡道不欲壅，壅則哽，哽而不止則跈，跈則眾害生。物之有知者恃息，其不殷，非天之罪。天之穿之，日夜無降，人則顧塞其竇。胞有重閬，心有天遊。室無空虛，則婦姑勃谿；心無天遊，則六鑿相攘，大林丘山之善於人也，亦神者不勝。

(Zhuangzi continued:) When the eye penetrates, it is clarity; when the ear penetrates, it is keenness; when the nose penetrates, it is smelling; when the mouth penetrates, it is sweetness; when the mind penetrates, it is knowing; when knowing penetrates, it is virtue. The Way does not want to be blocked; blocked, it chokes; choking without stopping, it tramples; trampling gives rise to many harms. Things that have awareness depend on breath, and if breath is not strong, it is not Heaven's fault. Heaven pierces through it, day and night without decreasing, but people instead stop up that opening. The womb has a double hollow, and the mind has a heavenly wandering. If a house has no empty space, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quarrel; if the mind has no heavenly wandering, the six orifices push against one another. The benefit of great forests and mountains to people is something that even the spirit cannot fully overcome.

德溢乎名，名溢乎暴，謀稽乎誸，知出乎爭，柴生乎守，官事果乎眾宜。春雨日時，草木怒生，銚鎒於是乎始脩，草木之到植者過半而不知其然。

(Zhuangzi continued:) Virtue overflows into name, name overflows into display, planning is checked by urgency, knowledge arises from contention, blockage and stuffing arise from clinging, and official affairs are accomplished through the mutual fitness of the many. When spring rain comes in season, plants and trees burst forth in growth, and hoes and spades are then taken up to tend them, yet more than half the plants and trees are laid low and no one knows why.

靜然可以補病，眥𡟬可以休老，寧可以止遽。雖然，若是，勞者之務也，非佚者之所未嘗過而問焉。聖人之所以駴天下，神人未嘗過而問焉；賢人之所以駴世，聖人未嘗過而問焉；君子所以駴國，賢人未嘗過而問焉；小人所以合時，君子未嘗過而問焉。演門有親死者，以善毀爵為官師，其黨人毀而死者半。堯與許由天下，許由逃之；湯與務光，務光怒之，紀他聞之，帥弟子而踆於窾水，諸侯弔之，三年，申徒狄因以踣河。荃者所以在魚，得魚而忘荃；蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；言者所以在意，得意而忘言。吾安得夫忘言之人而與之言哉！」

(Zhuangzi continued:) Quiet can heal illness, rubbing the eyelids can ease old age, and calm can stop haste. Even so, such things are the business of the laboring and not something the leisured have ever concerned themselves with. What startles the world as sage, a divine man has never concerned himself with; what startles the age as worthy, the sage has never concerned himself with; what startles the state as gentleman, the worthy man has never concerned himself with; what suits the time as petty man, the gentleman has never concerned himself with. There was a man at Yanmen whose parent died, and because he was good at grieving to the point of wasting he was given rank as an official-teacher, and half of his followers died from grief and wasting. Yao offered the world to Xu You, and Xu You fled; Tang offered it to Wu Guang, and Wu Guang became angry; Ji Ta heard of it and, leading his disciples, squatted by the Kuan River, and the feudal lords went to offer condolences, and after three years Shentu Di threw himself into the river because of it. The fish trap is for catching fish, and once the fish is caught one forgets the trap; the snare is for catching rabbits, and once the rabbit is caught one forgets the snare; words are for catching meaning, and once the meaning is caught one forgets the words. Where can I find someone who has forgotten words, so that I may talk with him!"

寓言十九，重言十七，巵言日出，和以天倪。

Imputed words (speaking by lodging the argument in someone else, not the later literary genre called "fable") make up nine parts in ten, quoted words (borrowing the words of elders to end disputes, not repeating a sentence) seven in ten, and goblet words (Zhuangzi's own coinage: words that turn with things like a wine vessel that tips when empty and stops when full, not words spoken after drinking) issue day after day, harmonized by the heavenly division.

寓言十九，藉外論之。親父不為其子媒。親父譽之，不若非其父者也；非吾罪也，人之罪也。與己同則應，不與己同則反；同於己為是之，異於己為非之。

Imputed words are nine in ten, by borrowing from outside to argue. A father does not act as matchmaker for his own son. A father praising him is not as good as someone who is not his father; it is not my fault, it is the fault of people. They agree with those who agree with themselves and oppose those who do not agree with themselves; they take as right what is the same as themselves and as wrong what differs from themselves.

重言十七，所以已言也，是為耆艾。年先矣，而無經緯本末以期年耆者，是非先也。人而無以先人，無人道也；人而無人道，是之謂陳人。

Quoted words are seven in ten, used to bring discussion to an end, and these are the elders. They are first in years, yet lack the warp and woof, root and branch, to fit those years; these are not truly first. A person who has nothing that places him before others has no human way; a person without the human way is called an old relic.

巵言日出，和以天倪，因以曼衍，所以窮年。不言則齊，齊與言不齊，言與齊不齊也，故曰無言。言無言，終身言，未嘗不言；終身不言，未嘗不言。有自也而可，有自也而不可；有自也而然，有自也而不然。惡乎然？然於然。惡乎不然？不然於不然。惡乎可？可於可。惡乎不可？不可於不可。物固有所然，物固有所可，無物不然，無物不可。非巵言日出，和以天倪，孰得其久！萬物皆種也，以不同形相禪，始卒若環，莫得其倫，是謂天均。天均者，天倪也。

Goblet words issue day after day, harmonized by the heavenly division, following their spreading flow, and so live out the years. Without speech, all is equal; the equal and speech are not equal, and speech and the equal are not equal, so it is called no speech. Speaking no speech, one speaks all one's life and has never spoken; not speaking all one's life, one has never not spoken. There is a reason for allowing, and a reason for not allowing; there is a reason for saying so, and a reason for saying not so. Why so? So in what is so. Why not so? Not so in what is not so. Why allowable? Allowable in what is allowable. Why not allowable? Not allowable in what is not allowable. Things originally have what is so about them, and things originally have what is allowable about them; no thing is not so, no thing is not allowable. Without goblet words issuing day after day, harmonized by the heavenly division, who could last long! The myriad things are all seeds, passing one to another in different forms, beginning and ending like a ring, and one cannot get the order of it; this is called the heavenly balance. The heavenly balance is the heavenly division.

莊子謂惠子曰：「孔子行年六十而六十化，始時所是，卒而非之，未知今之所謂是之非五十九非也。」

Zhuangzi said to Huizi: "Confucius in his sixtieth year had changed sixty times; what he first held right he ended by rejecting, not knowing whether what he now calls right was not what he rejected at fifty-nine."

惠子曰：「孔子勤志服知也。」

Huizi said: "Confucius labored in aim and submitted to knowledge."

莊子曰：「孔子謝之矣，而其未之嘗言也。孔子云：『夫受才乎大本，復靈以生。』鳴而當律，言而當法，利義陳乎前，而好惡是非直服人之口而已矣。使人乃以心服，而不敢蘁立，定天下之定。已乎已乎！吾且不得及彼乎！」

Zhuangzi said: "Confucius has already dismissed that, and he never said it. Confucius said: 'Talent is received from the great root, and returning to the spirit it lives.' His cries fit the pitch, his words fit the law, benefit and righteousness are laid out in front, and likes, dislikes, right and wrong only subdue people's mouths. To make people submit in heart, and not dare to oppose and stand firm, to settle what the world should settle. Enough, enough! I cannot even catch up to him!"

曾子再仕而心再化，曰：「吾及親仕，三釜而心樂；後仕，三千鍾而不洎，吾心悲。」

Zengzi took office twice and his heart changed twice. He said: "When I took office while my parents were alive, three fu of grain made my heart happy; later when I took office, three thousand zhong, I could not catch up to provide for them, and my heart grieved."

弟子問於仲尼曰：「若參者，可謂無所縣其罪乎？」

A disciple asked Zhongni: "As for someone like Shen, can he be said to be without attachment?"

曰：「既已縣矣。夫無所縣者，可以有哀乎？彼視三釜三千鍾，如觀雀蚊虻相過乎前也。」

(Zhongni) said: "He was already attached. One who is without attachment, can he have sorrow? He would look at three fu and three thousand zhong as he would at sparrows and mosquitoes passing before his face."

顏成子游謂東郭子綦曰：「自吾聞子之言，一年而野，二年而從，三年而通，四年而物，五年而來，六年而鬼入，七年而天成，八年而不知死，不知生，九年而大妙。

Yan Chengzi You said to Dongguo Ziqi: "Since I heard your words, in one year I became rustic, in two years I became compliant, in three years I became penetrating, in four years I became one with things, in five years things came to me, in six years spirits entered, in seven years Heaven was completed, in eight years I did not know death or life, and in nine years came great wonder.

生有為，死也。勸公，以其死也，有自也；而生陽也，無自也。而果然乎？惡乎其所適？惡乎其所不適？天有曆數，地有人據，吾惡乎求之？莫知其所終，若之何其無命也？莫知其所始，若之何其有命也？有以相應也，若之何其無鬼邪？無以相應也，若之何其有鬼邪？」

(Yan Chengzi You continued:) Life having action is death. Encouraging the duke, because his death has a cause, while life is yang and has no cause. Is it truly so? Where is what is suitable? Where is what is unsuitable? Heaven has its calendar, earth has what people rely on; where should I seek? Not knowing its end, how can one say there is no fate? Not knowing its beginning, how can one say there is fate? If there is something to answer to, how can one say there are no ghosts? If there is nothing to answer to, how can one say there are ghosts?"

眾罔兩問於景曰：「若向也俯而今也仰，向也括[撮]而今也被髮，向也坐而今也起，向也行而今也止，何也？」

The many penumbrae asked the shadow: "A moment ago you looked down and now you look up, a moment ago your hair was bound and now it is loose, a moment ago you sat and now you stand, a moment ago you walked and now you stop; why?"

景曰：「搜搜也，奚稍問也！予有而不知其所以。予，蜩甲也，蛇蛻也，似之而非也。火與日，吾屯也；陰與夜，吾代也。彼吾所以有待邪？而況乎以[無]有待者乎！彼來則我與之來，彼往則我與之往，彼強陽則我與之強陽。強陽者，又何以有問乎？」

The shadow said: "How trivial, why ask! I have it but do not know why it is so. I am like a cicada's shell or a snake's slough, resembling it but not it. Fire and sun, I gather; shade and night, I fade. Is that what I depend on? How much more that which depends on nothing! If it comes, I come with it; if it goes, I go with it; if it is bold and bright, I am bold and bright with it. As for the bold and bright, what is there to ask?"

陽子居南之沛，老耼西遊於秦，邀於郊，至於梁而遇老子。老子中道仰天而歎曰：「始以汝為可教，今不可也。」

Yangzi Ju went south to Pei, and Lao Dan traveled west to Qin; they arranged to meet in the suburbs, and he met Laozi at Liang. Laozi looked up to Heaven on the road and sighed: "At first I thought you could be taught, but now you cannot."

陽子居不答。至舍，進盥漱巾櫛，脫履戶外，膝行而前，曰：「曏者弟子欲請夫子，夫子行不閒，是以不敢。今閒矣，請問其過。」

Yangzi Ju did not answer. On reaching the inn, he presented washing water, mouth-rinse, towel and comb, left his shoes outside the door, advanced on his knees and said: "Just now your disciple wanted to ask you, Master, but you were walking and had no leisure, so I did not dare. Now that you are at leisure, please tell me my fault."

老子曰：「而睢睢盱盱，而誰與居？大白若辱，盛德若不足。」

Laozi said: "You stare with wide eyes and glare around; who would live with you? The greatest whiteness seems sullied, and the fullest virtue seems insufficient."

陽子居蹵然變容曰：「敬聞命矣！」

Yangzi Ju started and changed color and said: "I respectfully accept your instruction!"

其往也，舍者迎將，其家公執席，妻執巾櫛，舍者避席，煬者避灶。其反也，舍者與之爭席矣！

When he went, the people at the inn welcomed and saw him off, the master of the house brought the mat, his wife brought the towel and comb, the lodgers gave way from their seats, and those warming by the fire gave way from the stove. When he came back, the people at the inn competed with him for seats!