Tian Zifang

田子方侍坐於魏文侯，數稱谿工。

Tian Zifang was sitting in attendance with Marquis Wen of Wei, and repeatedly praised Xi Gong.

文侯曰：「谿工，子之師邪？」

Marquis Wen said: "Is Xi Gong your teacher?"

子方曰：「非也，無擇之里人也；稱道數當，故無擇稱之。」

Zifang said: "No; he is a fellow villager of Wuze; his statements of principle were often fitting, so Wuze praises him."

文侯曰：「然則子無師邪？」

Marquis Wen said: "Then do you have no teacher?"

子方曰：「有。」

Zifang said: "I do."

曰：「子之師誰邪？」

(Marquis Wen) said: "Who is your teacher?"

子方曰：「東郭順子。」

Zifang said: "Dongguo Shunzi."

文侯曰：「然則夫子何故未嘗稱之？」

Marquis Wen said: "Then why have you never praised him?"

子方曰：「其為人也真，人貌而天虛，緣而葆真，清而容物。物無道，正容以悟之，使人之意也消。無擇何足以稱之！」

Zifang said: "He is true in being a person, with a human form but the emptiness of Heaven, going along with things and preserving the true, pure and able to accommodate things. When things lack the Way, he straightens his appearance to awaken them, and lets the human intent dissolve. How could Wuze be worthy of praising him!"

子方出，文侯儻然終日不言，召前立臣而語之曰：「遠矣，全德之君子！始吾以聖知之言、仁義之行為至矣。吾聞子方之師，吾形解而不欲動，口鉗而不欲言。吾所學者直土梗耳，夫魏真為我累耳！」

After Zifang went out, Marquis Wen was blank and did not speak all day, and summoned the ministers standing before him and told them: "How far away he is, the gentleman of complete virtue! At first I thought that the words of sages and wisdom and the conduct of benevolence and righteousness were the utmost. Having heard of Zifang's teacher, my body is loosened and I do not want to move, my mouth is clamped and I do not want to speak. What I have learned is only an earthen figure; Wei has really become my burden!"

溫伯雪子適齊，舍於魯。魯人有請見之者，溫伯雪子曰：「不可。吾聞中國之君子，明乎禮義而陋於知人心，吾不欲見也。」

Wen Bo Xuezi went to Qi and lodged in Lu. A man of Lu asked to see him, and Wen Bo Xuezi said: "I cannot. I have heard that the gentlemen of the Central States understand ritual and righteousness but are clumsy in knowing the hearts of men; I do not wish to see him."

至於齊，反舍於魯，是人也又請見。溫伯雪子曰：「往也蘄見我，今也又蘄見我，是必有以振我也。」

On reaching Qi, he returned and lodged in Lu, and that man again asked to see him. Wen Bo Xuezi said: "Before he asked to see me, and now again he asks to see me; there must be something in him that can move me."

出而見客，入而歎。明日見客，又入而歎。其僕曰：「每見之客也，必入而歎，何耶？」

He went out to see the guest and came in sighing. The next day he saw the guest and came in sighing again. His attendant said: "Every time you see this guest you come in sighing; why?"

曰：「吾固告子矣：『中國之民，明乎禮義而陋乎知人心。』昔之見我者，進退一成規，一成矩，從容一若龍，一若虎。其諫我也似子，其道我也似父，是以歎也。」

(Wen Bo Xuezi) said: "I told you before: 'The people of the Central States understand ritual and righteousness but are clumsy in knowing the hearts of men.' The man who saw me earlier advanced and retreated precisely by the compass and by the square, his composure now like a dragon and now like a tiger. He remonstrated with me like a son and guided me like a father, and that is why I sighed."

仲尼見之而不言。子路曰：「吾子欲見溫伯雪子久矣，見之而不言，何邪？」

Confucius saw him and did not speak. Zilu said: "You had wished to see Wen Bo Xuezi for a long time, and having seen him you did not speak; why?"

仲尼曰：「若夫人者，目擊而道存矣，亦不可以容聲矣！」

Confucius said: "With such a man, when eyes meet the Way is already there, and there is no room even for a sound!"

顏淵問於仲尼曰：「夫子步亦步，夫子趨亦趨，夫子馳亦馳；夫子奔逸絕塵，而回瞠若乎後矣！」

Yan Yuan asked Confucius: "When the Master walks I walk, when the Master trots I trot, when the Master gallops I gallop; but when the Master races off beyond the dust, Hui stares and is left behind!"

夫子曰：「回，何謂邪？」

The Master said: "Hui, what do you mean?"

曰：「夫子步，亦步也；夫子言，亦言也；夫子趨，亦趨也；夫子辯，亦辯也；夫子馳，亦馳也；夫子言道，回亦言道也；及奔逸絕塵而回瞠若乎後者，夫子不言而信，不比而周，無器而民滔乎前，而不知所以然而已矣。」

(Yan Yuan) said: "When the Master walks, I walk; when the Master speaks, I speak; when the Master trots, I trot; when the Master argues, I argue; when the Master gallops, I gallop; when the Master expounds the Way, Hui also expounds the Way; but as for racing off beyond the dust with Hui staring and left behind, it is that the Master is trusted without speaking, is universal without forming cliques, and has no rank yet the people crowd before him, though I do not know why it is so."

仲尼曰：「惡！可不察與！夫哀，莫大於心死，而人死亦次之。日出東方而入於西極，萬物莫不比方，有目有趾者，待是而後成功，是出則存，是入則亡。萬物亦然，有待也而死，有待也而生。吾一受其成形，而不化以待盡，效物而動，日夜無隙，而不知其所終；薰然其成形，知命不能規乎其前，丘以是日徂。

Confucius said: "Ah! May one not examine this! There is no sorrow greater than the death of the heart; the death of the person is secondary. The sun comes out from the east and enters at the far west, and none of the myriad things fails to be measured by this; those with eyes and toes wait for it and then succeed; when it comes out they live, and when it goes in they perish. The myriad things are also like this: they die depending on something and live depending on something. Once I receive this form, I do not transform while waiting for it to be exhausted, but move imitating things, day and night without gap, without knowing where it ends; gently formed, I know that fate cannot be planned ahead of it, and so Qiu advances day by day.

吾終身與汝交一臂而失之，可不哀與！女殆著乎吾所以著也。彼已盡矣，而女求之以為有，是求馬於唐肆也。吾服女也甚忘，女服吾也甚忘。雖然，女奚患焉！雖忘乎故吾，吾有不忘者存。」

(Confucius continued:) "All my life I have passed by you arm to arm, and may I not grieve! You are probably stuck on what I show. That is already over, and you seek it believing it exists; this is looking for a horse in an empty market. I treat you with much forgetting, and you treat me with much forgetting. Even so, what are you worried about! Even if you forget the old me, what I have that is not forgotten is still there."

孔子見老聃，老聃新沐，方將被髮而干，慹然似非人。孔子便而待之，少焉見，曰：「丘也眩與？其信然與？曏者先生形體掘若槁木，似遺物離人而立於獨也。」

Confucius visited Lao Dan, who had just washed his hair and was letting it dry loose (here "gan" means dry, not interfere), still as if not a person. Confucius stepped aside and waited, and when he saw him after a while he said: "Are my eyes dazzled, or is it really so? Just now, Master, your body stood upright like a withered tree, as if cast off from things and parted from people, standing alone."

老聃曰：「吾遊心於物之初。」

Lao Dan said: "I was roaming my mind at the beginning of things."

孔子曰：「何謂邪？」

Confucius said: "What do you mean?"

曰：「心困焉而不能知，口闢焉而不能言，嘗為汝議乎其將。至陰肅肅，至陽赫赫；肅肅出乎天，赫赫發乎地；兩者交通成和而物生焉，或為之紀而莫見其形。消息滿虛，一晦一明，日改月化，日有所為，而莫見其功。生有所乎萌，死有所乎歸，始終相反乎無端，而莫知乎其所窮。非是也，且孰為之宗！」

(Lao Dan) said: "My mind is stuck there and cannot know, my mouth is closed and cannot speak; let me try to discuss a rough outline for you. The utmost yin is cold and still; the utmost yang is hot and blazing; the cold and still comes out of Heaven, the hot and blazing arises from Earth; the two interact and form harmony and things are produced, and perhaps there is something that governs them, yet no form is seen. Waning and waxing, fullness and emptiness, now dark now bright, the sun changing and the moon transforming, each day there is something done, yet no achievement is seen. Life has a place from which it sprouts, death has a place to which it returns, beginning and end are opposed and have no ends, and no one knows where they run out. If not this, then who is their ancestor!"

孔子曰：「請問遊是。」

Confucius said: "May I ask about roaming in this."

老聃曰：「夫得是，至美至樂也。得至美而遊乎至樂，謂之至人。」

Lao Dan said: "To attain this is the utmost beauty and utmost joy. One who attains the utmost beauty and roams in the utmost joy is called a perfect man."

孔子曰：「願聞其方。」

Confucius said: "I wish to hear its method."

曰：「草食之獸不疾易藪，水生之蟲不疾易水，行小變而不失其大常也，喜怒哀樂不入於胸次。夫天下也者，萬物之所一也。得其所一而同焉，則四支百體將為塵垢，而死生終始將為晝夜而莫之能滑，而況得喪禍福之所介乎！棄隸者若棄泥塗，知身貴於隸也，貴在於我而不失於變。且萬化而未始有極也，夫孰足以患心！已為道者解乎此。」

(Lao Dan) said: "Grass-eating beasts are not troubled by changing marshes, and water insects are not troubled by changing water; they make small changes and do not lose the great constant, and joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness do not enter their breasts. The world is that in which the myriad things are one. One who obtains what is one and is the same with it will treat his four limbs and hundred parts as dust and dirt, and death, life, end, and beginning as day and night that cannot disturb him, how much more what gain, loss, misfortune, and fortune bring in between! Casting off servitude like casting off mud, he knows his body is more precious than servitude. What is precious lies in me and is not lost in change. Moreover the ten thousand transformations have never had an end; who is worth worrying the heart over! One who has already become the Way understands this."

孔子曰：「夫子德配天地，而猶假至言以修心，古之君子，孰能脫焉？」

Confucius said: "The Master's virtue matches Heaven and Earth, and yet you still borrow perfect words to cultivate your mind; of the gentlemen of ancient times, who could escape this?"

老聃曰：「不然。夫水之於汋也，無為而才自然矣。至人之於德也，不修而物不能離焉，若天之自高，地之自厚，日月之自明，夫何脩焉！」

Lao Dan said: "It is not so. Water relating to well water does nothing and its substance is natural. The perfect man relating to virtue does not cultivate it, and yet things cannot leave him, as Heaven is high by itself, Earth is thick by itself, and the sun and moon are bright by themselves; what is there to cultivate!"

孔子出，以告顏回曰：「丘之於道也，其猶醯雞與！微夫子之發吾覆也，吾不知天地之大全也。」

Confucius went out and told Yan Hui: "Qiu in respect of the Way is probably like a little midge in a vinegar jar! Without the Master lifting off my covering, I would not have known the great wholeness of Heaven and Earth."

莊子見魯哀公，哀公曰：「魯多儒士，少為先生方者。」

Zhuangzi saw Duke Ai of Lu, and Duke Ai said: "Lu has many Confucian scholars, but few who practice your kind of teaching."

莊子曰：「魯少儒。」

Zhuangzi said: "Lu has few Confucian scholars."

哀公曰：「舉魯國而儒服，何謂少乎？」

Duke Ai said: "The whole of Lu wears Confucian dress; how can you say few?"

莊子曰：「周聞之，儒者冠圜冠者，知天時；履句屨者，知地形；緩佩玦者，事至而斷。君子有其道者，未必為其服也；為其服者，未必知其道也。公固以為不然，何不號於國中曰：『無此道而為此服者，其罪死！』」

Zhuangzi said: "I have heard that a Confucian who wears a round cap knows the seasons of Heaven; one who wears square shoes knows the shape of the land; one who wears a jade ring on a silk cord can decide when affairs arrive. A gentleman who has that Way does not necessarily wear that dress; one who wears that dress does not necessarily know that Way. If Your Grace thinks it is not so, why not proclaim in the state: 'Whoever wears this dress without this Way shall be put to death!'"

於是哀公號之五日，而魯國無敢儒服者，獨有一丈夫儒服而立乎公門。公即召而問以國事，千轉萬變而不窮。

So Duke Ai proclaimed this for five days, and no one in Lu dared wear Confucian dress; only a single man wore Confucian dress and stood at the ducal gate. The duke summoned him and asked him about affairs of state, and he turned and answered through a thousand variations without running dry.

莊子曰：「以魯國而儒者一人耳，可謂多乎？」

Zhuangzi said: "With a whole state of Lu and only one Confucian, can one say there are many?"

百里奚爵祿不入於心，故飯牛而牛肥，使秦穆公忘其賤，與之政也。有虞氏死生不入於心，故足以動人。

Baili Xi did not let rank and salary enter his heart, so he fed cattle and the cattle grew fat, and made Duke Mu of Qin forget his low origin and hand the government to him. Youyu did not let death or life enter his heart, and so was able to move people.

宋元君將畫圖，眾史皆至，受揖而立；舐筆和墨，在外者半。有一史後至者，儃儃然不趨，受揖不立，因之舍。公使人視之，則解衣般礡臝。君曰：「可矣，是真畫者也。」

Lord Yuan of Song was about to have a picture painted, and all the painters came, received the bow and courtesy, and stood in attendance; those licking their brushes and mixing ink were half outside. One painter came late, calm and unhurried, received the bow and courtesy but did not stand, and went straight to his lodging. The lord sent someone to look, and found he had loosened his clothes and was sitting with legs spread and bare. The lord said: "He will do; this is a true painter."

文王觀於臧，見一丈夫釣，而其釣莫釣；非持其釣有釣者也，常釣也。

King Wen was sightseeing at Zang, and saw a man fishing, but his fishing was not really fishing; he was not one who held a hook with something to catch, but was one who always fished this way.

文王欲舉而授之政，而恐大臣父兄之弗安也；欲終而釋之，而不忍百姓之無天也。於是旦而屬之大夫曰：「昔者寡人夢見良人，黑色而劔，乘駁馬而偏朱蹄，號曰：『寓而政於臧丈人，庶幾乎民有瘳乎！』」

King Wen wished to employ him and hand the government over to him, but feared the great ministers, fathers, and elder brothers would be uneasy; wishing to give up in the end, he could not bear that the people should be without a Heaven. So in the morning he told the grandees: "Last night I dreamed of a good man, dark-skinned and bearded, riding a piebald horse with partly red hoofs, who commanded: 'Entrust your government to the old man of Zang, and the people may be saved!'"

諸大夫蹴然曰：「先君王也。」

The grandees were constrained and said: "That was the former king."

文王曰：「然則卜之。」

King Wen said: "Then let us consult the divination."

諸大夫曰：「先君之命，王其無它，又何卜焉！」

The grandees said: "It was the former king's command; Your Majesty should have no other thought, so why consult divination!"

遂迎臧丈人而授之政。典法無更，偏令無出。三年，文王觀於國，則列士壞植散群，長官者不成德，斔斛不敢入於四竟。列士壞植散群，則尚同也；長官者不成德，則同務也，斔斛不敢入於四竟，則諸侯無二心也。

So he welcomed the old man of Zang and handed the government over to him. The statutes were not changed and no partial decrees were issued. After three years, King Wen looked around the state: the officers had dismantled their cliques and dispersed their groups, the heads of offices did not make their own virtue, and the measures did not dare to enter the four borders. The officers dismantling their cliques and dispersing their groups is honoring unity; the heads of offices not making their own virtue is sharing the work; and measures not daring to enter the four borders is that the lords had no divided loyalty.

文王於是焉以為大師，北面而問曰：「政可以及天下乎？」臧丈人昧然而不應，泛然而辭，朝令而夜遁，終身無聞。

King Wen then took him as Grand Teacher and, facing north, asked: "Can the government be extended to the whole world?" The old man of Zang was vague and gave no answer, and left casually; he received the command in the morning and fled at night, and was never heard of for the rest of his life.

顏淵問於仲尼曰：「文王其猶未邪？又何以夢為乎？」

Yan Yuan asked Confucius: "Probably King Wen had not yet reached it? Why did he need to use a dream?"

仲尼曰：「默，汝無言！夫文王盡之也，而又何論剌焉！彼直以循斯須也。」

Confucius said: "Silence, do not say that! King Wen had done his utmost already; why discuss and criticize! He was merely going along with that moment."

列禦寇為伯昏無人射，引之盈貫，措杯水其肘上，發之，適矢復沓，方矢復寓。當是時，猶象人也。

Lie Yukou shot an arrow for Bohun Wuren, drawing the bow to full, with a cup of water set on his elbow; as he released, the arrowhead fell and the next arrow was already nocked. At that time he was like a wooden figure.

伯昏無人曰：「是射之射，非不射之射也。嘗與汝登高山，履危石，臨百仞之淵，若能射乎？」

Bohun Wuren said: "This is a shooting with shooting, not a shooting without shooting. Let me try climbing a high mountain with you, stepping on precarious rocks, overlooking a pool a hundred ren deep; could you still shoot?"

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。

So Wuren climbed the high mountain, stepped on precarious rocks, and overlooked the pool a hundred ren deep, then turned his back and retreated until two tenths of his feet hung over the edge, and bowed to invite Yukou forward. Yukou lay flat on the ground, sweat flowing down to his heels.

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！」

Bohun Wuren said: "The perfect man looks up to the blue sky, dives down to the Yellow Springs, and sweeps to the eight extremes, with spirit and qi unchanged. Now you are frightened and your will is dizzy; in hitting the mark you are in danger!"

肩吾問於孫叔敖曰：「子三為令尹而不榮華，三去之而無憂色。吾始也疑子，今視子之鼻間栩栩然，子之用心獨柰何？」

Jianwu asked Sunshu Ao: "You were Prime Minister three times without glory, and dismissed three times without looking worried. At first I doubted you, but now seeing you cheerful in the face, how does your mind work?"

孫叔敖曰：「吾何以過人哉！吾以其來不可卻也，其去不可止也，吾以為得失之非我也，而無憂色而已矣。我何以過人哉！且不知其在彼乎？其在我乎？其在彼邪？亡乎我；在我邪？亡乎彼。方將躊躇，方將四顧，何暇至乎人貴人賤哉！」

Sunshu Ao said: "What do I have beyond others! I thought that its coming could not be refused and its going could not be stopped, and that gain and loss were not mine, and so I had no worried look, that is all. What do I have beyond others! Moreover, I do not know whether it is on that side, or in me? If it is on that side, then it is not in me; if it is in me, then it is not on that side. I am just hesitating and looking about in all directions; how would I have leisure to consider whether people are noble or lowly!"

仲尼聞之曰：「古之真人，知者不得說，美人不得濫，盜人不得劫，伏戲黃帝不得友。死生亦大矣，而無變乎己，況爵祿乎！若然者，其神經乎大山而無介，入乎淵泉而不濡，處卑細而不憊，充滿天地，既以與人，己愈有。」

Confucius heard it and said: "The true man of ancient times could not be persuaded by the wise, could not be seduced by beauty, could not be coerced by robbers, and Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor could not make a friend of him. Death and life are great, yet they did not change him, how much more rank and salary! Such a man's spirit passes through great mountains without barrier, enters deep springs without being wet, and dwells in lowliness without weariness, filling Heaven and Earth, and having already given to others, he has even more himself."

楚王與凡君坐，少焉，楚王左右曰凡亡者三。凡君曰：「凡之亡也，不足以喪吾存。夫『凡之亡不足以喪吾存』，則楚之存不足以存存。由是觀之，則凡未始亡而楚未始存也。」

The King of Chu sat with the Lord of Fan, and soon the King's attendants said that Fan had been destroyed three times. The Lord of Fan said: "The destruction of Fan is not enough to lose my survival. 'The destruction of Fan is not enough to lose my survival'; then Chu's survival is not enough to preserve that survival either. From this it follows that Fan has never perished and Chu has never survived."