Zhi Bei You (Knowledge Wanders North)

知北遊於玄水之上，登隱弅之丘，而適遭無為謂焉。知謂無為謂曰：「予欲有問乎若：何思何慮則知道？何處何服則安道？何從何道則得道？」三問而無為謂不答也。非不答，不知答也。

Knowledge wandered north to the bank of the Xuan Water, climbed the Hill of Yinfen, and happened to meet Do-Nothing Say-Nothing. Knowledge said to Do-Nothing Say-Nothing: "I want to ask you: how to think and how to ponder in order to know the Way? How to dwell and how to conduct oneself in order to be at ease in the Way? From where and by what road does one attain the Way?" He asked three times and Do-Nothing Say-Nothing did not answer. It was not that he did not answer, but that he did not know how to answer.

知不得問，反於白水之南，登狐闋之上，而睹狂屈焉。知以之言也問乎狂屈。狂屈曰：「唉！予知之，將語若，中欲言而忘其所欲言。」

Knowledge, getting no answer, returned to the south of the Bai River, climbed to the top of Mount Huque, and there saw Kuang Qu. Knowledge put the same questions to Kuang Qu. Kuang Qu said: "Ah! I know, and I will tell you," but halfway through, wanting to speak, he forgot what he had wanted to say.

知不得問，反於帝宮，見黃帝而問焉。黃帝曰：「無思無慮始知道，無處無服始安道，無從無道始得道。」

Knowledge, getting no answer, returned to the imperial palace, saw the Yellow Emperor and asked him. The Yellow Emperor said: "Without thinking and without deliberation, one first begins to know the Way; without dwelling anywhere and without following anything, one first begins to be at peace in the Way; without following any path and without any road, one first begins to attain the Way."

知問黃帝曰：「我與若知之，彼與彼不知也，其孰是邪？」

Knowledge asked the Yellow Emperor: "You and I know it, while he and he do not know it; which of us is right?"

黃帝曰：「彼無為謂真是也，狂屈似之；我與汝終不近也。夫知者不言，言者不知，故聖人行不言之教。道不可致，德不可至。仁可為也，義可虧也，禮相偽也。故曰，『失道而後德，失德而後仁，失仁而後義，失義而後禮。禮者，道之華而亂之首也。』故曰，『為道者日損，損之又損之以至於無為，無為而無不為也。』今已為物也，欲復歸根，不亦難乎！其易也，其唯大人乎！

The Yellow Emperor said: "That Wuwei Wei (Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing) is truly right, and Kuang Qu resembles him; you and I in the end do not come near it. Those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know, so the sage practices the teaching without words. The Way cannot be summoned, and virtue cannot be reached. Humaneness can be practiced, righteousness can be diminished, and ritual is mutual falsification. So it is said: 'When the Way is lost, there is virtue; when virtue is lost, there is humaneness; when humaneness is lost, there is righteousness; when righteousness is lost, there is ritual. Ritual is the flower of the Way and the beginning of disorder.' So it is said: 'One who pursues the Way decreases daily, decreasing and decreasing until reaching non-action, and with non-action there is nothing left undone.' Now that one has already become a thing, to wish to return to the root again is hard, is it not! Only the great man can do it easily!

生也死之徙，死也生之始，孰知其紀！人之生，氣之聚也；聚則為生，散則為死。若死生為徙，吾又何患！故萬物一也。是其所美者為神奇，其所惡者為臭腐。臭腐復化為神奇，神奇復化為臭腐。故曰：『通天下一氣耳。』聖人故貴一。」

(The Yellow Emperor continued:) Life is the migration of death, and death is the beginning of life; who knows their thread! A person's life is a gathering of qi; when it gathers there is life, and when it disperses there is death. If death and life are migrations, what is there for me to grieve! So the myriad things are one. What they find beautiful they regard as wondrous, and what they find hateful they regard as foul and rotten. The foul and rotten again turns into the wondrous, and the wondrous again turns into the foul and rotten. So it is said: 'The whole world is nothing but one qi.' This is why the sage values the One."

知謂黃帝曰：「吾問無為謂，無為謂不應我，非不我應，不知應我也。吾問狂屈，狂屈中欲告我而不我告，非不我告，中欲告而忘之也。今予問乎若，若知之，奚故不近？」

Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor: "I asked Wuwei Wei, and Wuwei Wei did not answer me; it was not that he did not answer me, but that he did not know how to answer me. I asked Kuang Qu, and Kuang Qu wanted halfway to tell me but did not tell me; it was not that he would not tell me, but that halfway through, wanting to tell me, he forgot. Now I ask you, and you know; why do you say you do not come near it?"

黃帝曰：「彼其真是也，以其不知也；此其似之也，以其忘之也；予與若終不近也，以其知之也。」

The Yellow Emperor said: "He is truly right, because he does not know; the other resembles it, because he forgot; you and I in the end do not come near it, because we know."

狂屈聞之，以黃帝為知言。

Kuang Qu heard this and thought the Yellow Emperor understood words.

天地有大美而不言，四時有明法而不議，萬物有成理而不說。聖人者，原天地之美而達萬物之理。是故至人無為，大聖不作，觀於天地之謂也。

Heaven and Earth have great beauty and do not speak of it; the four seasons have clear laws and do not discuss them; the myriad things have complete principles and do not explain them. The sage traces back the beauty of Heaven and Earth and penetrates the principles of the myriad things. So the perfect person does not act and the great sage does not create; this means looking to Heaven and Earth.

今彼神明至精，與彼百化。物已死生方圓，莫知其根也，扁然而萬物自古以固存。六合為巨，未離其內；秋豪為小，待之成體。天下莫不沉浮，終身不故；陰陽四時運行，各得其序。惛然若亡而存，油然不形而神，萬物畜而不知。此之謂本根，可以觀於天矣。

Now that spiritual brightness and utmost essence are together with the hundred transformations. Things have already died and lived, been square and round, and no one knows their root; all-pervading, the myriad things have existed from antiquity. The six directions are huge, yet have never left its interior; the tip of an autumn hair is small, yet awaits it to take form. There is nothing in the world that does not rise and sink, and throughout life none keeps to the old; yin and yang and the four seasons move on, each obtaining its order. Dim as if gone and yet present, flowing without form and yet spiritual, the myriad things are nurtured by it without knowing. This is called the root, and by it one can observe Heaven.

齧缺問道乎被衣，被衣曰：「若正汝形，一汝視，天和將至；攝汝知，一汝度，神將來舍。德將為汝美，道將為汝居，汝瞳焉如新生之犢而無求其故！」

Nie Que asked Beiyi about the Way, and Beiyi said: "Straighten your form and unify your gaze, and the harmony of Heaven will come; gather in your knowledge and unify your measure, and the spirit will come to dwell. Virtue will be your beauty and the Way will be your dwelling; you will be dazed like a newborn calf and not seek its reason!"

言未卒，齧缺睡寐。被衣大說，行歌而去之，曰：「形若槁骸，心若死灰，真其實知，不以故自持。媒媒晦晦，無心而不可與謀。彼何人哉！」

Before he had finished speaking, Nie Que fell asleep. Beiyi was greatly pleased and left singing, saying: "The body is like a withered skeleton and the heart like dead ashes; truly that is his real knowing, and he does not use reasons to hold himself. Dim and obscure, without a heart, one cannot plan with him. What kind of man is he!"

舜問乎丞曰：「道可得而有乎？」

Shun asked Cheng: "Can the Way be attained and possessed?"

曰：「汝身非汝有也，汝何得有夫道！」

(Cheng) said: "Your very body is not yours; how could you possess the Way!"

舜曰：「吾身非吾有也，孰有之哉？」

Shun said: "If my body is not mine, whose is it?"

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，食不知所味。天地之強陽氣也，又胡可得而有邪！」

(Cheng) said: "It is the form entrusted by Heaven and Earth; life is not yours, it is the harmony entrusted by Heaven and Earth; your nature and destiny are not yours, they are the compliance entrusted by Heaven and Earth; your descendants are not yours, they are the molted skin entrusted by Heaven and Earth. So when you walk you do not know where you are going, when you stay you do not know what you hold, and when you eat you do not know what you taste. The vigorous yang qi of Heaven and Earth, how can it be attained and possessed!"

孔子問於老聃曰：「今日晏閒，敢問至道。」

Confucius asked Lao Dan: "Today you are at leisure; may I ask about the perfect Way."

老聃曰：「汝齊戒，疏𤅢而心，澡雪而精神，掊擊而知！夫道，窅然難言哉！將為汝言其崖略。

Lao Dan said: "Fast and purify, clear your heart (the base text has a rare variant character here), wash your spirit, and break your knowledge! The Way is deep and dim and hard to speak of! I will give you a rough outline of its shores.

夫昭昭生於冥冥，有倫生於無形，精神生於道，形本生於精，而萬物以形相生。故九竅者胎生，八竅者卵生。其來無跡，其往無崖，無門無房，四達之皇皇也。邀於此者，四肢彊，思慮恂達，耳目聰明。其用心不勞，其應物無方。天不得不高，地不得不廣，日月不得不行，萬物不得不昌，此其道與！

(Lao Dan continued:) The bright is born of the dark, the ordered is born of the formless, the spirit is born of the Way, the bodily form is born of essence, and the myriad things are born from each other through form. So those with nine orifices are born from wombs and those with eight orifices are born from eggs. Its coming has no trace, its going has no shore; it has no door and no room, and is open to the four directions and magnificent. Those who meet with this have strong limbs, penetrating thought, and sharp ears and eyes. They use their minds without toil and respond to things without fixed places. Heaven cannot but be high, Earth cannot but be broad, the sun and moon cannot but move, and the myriad things cannot but flourish; this is the Way!

且夫博之不必知，辯之不必慧，聖人以斷之矣！若夫益之而不加益，損之而不加損者，聖人之所保也。淵淵乎其若海，(巍巍)[魏魏]乎其終則復始也。運量萬物而不匱。則君子之道，彼其外與！萬物皆往資焉而不匱。此其道與！

(Lao Dan continued:) Moreover, breadth is not necessarily knowledge and eloquence is not necessarily wisdom; the sage has already cut these off! What is increased without increasing further and decreased without decreasing further is what the sage preserves. Deep as the sea, lofty (the base text reads 'lofty', corrected to another form), when it ends it begins again. It carries and measures the myriad things without lack. Then the Way of the gentleman is probably outside! The myriad things all draw on it without lack. This is the Way!

中國有人焉，非陰非陽，處於天地之間，直且為人，將反於宗。自本觀之，生者，喑醷物也。雖有壽夭，相去幾何？須臾之說也，奚足以為堯桀之是非！果蓏有理，人倫雖難，所以相齒。聖人遭之而不違，過之而不守。調而應之，德也；偶而應之，道也；帝之所興，王之所起也。

(Lao Dan continued:) There are people in the central lands who are neither yin nor yang, living between Heaven and Earth, only temporarily being human, and will return to the source. Seen from the root, life is the gathering of the qi of things. Though there is long life and early death, how much do they differ? In a moment, how could it be enough to make a Yao and Jie of right and wrong! Fruits and melons have their principles; though human relations are hard, they are used to arrange one another. The sage meets them without violating them and passes through them without clinging. To respond in harmony is virtue; to respond in matching is the Way; this is what emperors arose from and kings began from.

人生天地之間，若白駒之過郤，忽然而已。注然勃然，莫不出焉；油然寥然，莫不入焉。已化而生，又化而死。生物哀之，人類悲之。解其天弢，墮其天袟，紛乎宛乎，魂魄將往，乃身從之，乃大歸乎！不形之形，形之不形，是人之所同知也，非將至之所務也，此眾人之所同論也。彼至則不論，論則不至。明見無值，辯不若默。道不可聞，聞不若塞。此之謂大得。」

(Lao Dan continued:) A person's life between Heaven and Earth is like a white colt passing a crack, gone in a flash. Surging and welling up, nothing does not come out; flowing and going quiet, nothing does not go in. Having been transformed it is born, and being transformed again it dies. Living things mourn it, and humans grieve for it. Untie that bow-case of Heaven, destroy that book-cover of Heaven, in confusion and twisting the soul is about to go, and the body follows it; this is the great return! The formless form, the form that is formless, is what all people know, and is not what one about to attain it works at; it is what the multitude discuss together. One who attains does not discuss, and one who discusses does not attain. Seeing clearly without a meeting, debating is not as good as silence. The Way cannot be heard; hearing is not as good as stopping the ears. This is called the great attainment."

東郭子問於莊子曰：「所謂道，惡乎在？」

Master Dongguo asked Zhuangzi: "Where is what is called the Way?"

莊子曰：「無所不在。」

Zhuangzi said: "There is nowhere it is not."

東郭子曰：「期而後可。」

Master Dongguo said: "You must specify it before I can accept that."

莊子曰：「在螻蟻。」

Zhuangzi said: "It is in the ants."

曰：「何其下邪？」

(Master Dongguo) said: "Why so low?"

曰：「在稊稗。」

(Zhuangzi) said: "It is in the tares and weeds."

曰：「何其愈下邪？」

(Master Dongguo) said: "Why even lower?"

曰：「在瓦甓。」

(Zhuangzi) said: "It is in tiles and bricks."

曰：「何其愈甚邪？」

(Master Dongguo) said: "Why still worse?"

曰：「在屎溺。」

(Zhuangzi) said: "It is in excrement and urine."

東郭子不應。莊子曰：「夫子之問也，固不及質。正獲之問於監市履狶也，每下愈況。汝唯莫必，無乎逃物。至道若是，大言亦然。周徧鹹三者，異名同實，其指一也。

Master Dongguo did not reply. Zhuangzi said: "Your question, sir, indeed did not reach the substance. Zheng Huo asked the market inspector about pressing a pig with the foot to test its fatness; the lower down, the better the comparison. If you only do not insist on a certain answer, nothing can escape the Way. The perfect Way is like this, and great words are also like this. 'Universal,' 'all-embracing' and 'entire' are three names for the same reality, and what they point to is one.

嘗相與遊乎無何有之宮，同合而論，無所終窮乎！嘗相與無為乎！澹而靜乎！漠而清乎！調而閒乎！寥已吾志，無往焉而不知其所至。去而來而不知其所止，吾已往來焉而不知其所終；彷徨乎馮閎，大知入焉而不知其所窮。物物者與物無際，而物有際者，所謂物際者也；不際之際，際之不際者也。謂盈虛衰殺，彼為盈虛非盈虛，彼為衰殺非衰殺，彼為本末非本末，彼為積散非積散也。」

(Zhuangzi continued:) Let us try wandering together in the palace of Nothing-Whatever, merging and discussing without end! Let us try non-action together! Calm and still! Silent and clear! Harmonious and at leisure! My will has been emptied out; I go without knowing where I arrive. Having gone, I come again without knowing where I stop; I have gone and come without knowing the end. Wandering in the vast and empty place, the great knowledge enters without knowing its limit. That which makes things be things has no boundary with things, while things have boundaries; this is what is called the boundary of things; the boundary that is not a boundary is the boundary that is not a boundary. As for fullness and emptiness, decline and decay, it makes fullness and emptiness yet is not fullness and emptiness, it makes decline and decay yet is not decline and decay, it makes root and branch yet is not root and branch, it makes accumulation and dispersal yet is not accumulation and dispersal."

妸荷甘與神農同學於老龍吉。神農隱幾，闔戶晝瞑。妸荷甘日中奓戶而入，曰：「老龍死矣！」神農隱幾擁杖而起，嚗然放杖而笑，曰：「天知予僻陋慢訑，故棄予而死。已矣夫子！無所發予之狂言而死矣夫！」

E Hegan and Shennong studied together under Laolong Ji. Shennong was leaning on his armrest with the door shut, dozing in the daytime. E Hegan pushed open the door at noon and came in, saying: "Laolong is dead!" Shennong, leaning on his armrest, took up his staff and rose, then flung the staff down with a clack and laughed, saying: "Heaven knows I am crude and lazy, so he left me behind and died. It is over, Master! He died without leaving me any wild words to enlighten me!"

弇堈弔聞之，曰：「夫體道者，天下之君子所繫焉。今於道，秋豪之端萬分未得處一焉，而猶知藏其狂言而死，又況夫體道者乎！視之無形，聽之無聲，於人之論者，謂之冥冥，所以論道，而非道也。」

Yan Gangdiao heard this and said: "One who embodies the Way is who the gentlemen of the world are tied to. Now, as to the Way, he had not attained even one ten-thousandth of the tip of an autumn hair, and yet he still knew to hide his wild words and die; how much more one who embodies the Way! Look at it and it has no form, listen to it and it has no sound; in people's discussions it is called dim and dark, so what is used to discuss the Way is not the Way."

於是泰清問乎無窮曰：「子知道乎？」

Then Taiqing asked Wuqiong (Limitless): "Do you know the Way?"

無窮曰：「吾不知。」

Wuqiong said: "I do not know."

又問乎無為，無為曰：「吾知道。」

He also asked Wuwei (Non-action), and Wuwei said: "I know."

曰：「子之知道，亦有數乎？」

(Taiqing) said: "Does your knowing have a measure?"

曰：「有。」

(Wuwei) said: "It does."

曰：「其數若何？」

(Taiqing) said: "What is its measure?"

無為曰：「吾知道之可以貴，可以賤，可以約，可以散，此吾所以知道之數也。」

Wuwei said: "I know that the Way can be honored, can be lowly, can be gathered, and can be scattered; this is the measure by which I know."

泰清以之言也問乎無始，曰：「若是，則無窮之弗知與無為之知，孰是而孰非乎？」

Taiqing took these words and asked Wushi (Beginningless), saying: "If so, then of Wuqiong's not knowing and Wuwei's knowing, which is right and which is not?"

無始曰：「不知深矣，知之淺矣；弗知內矣，知之外矣。」

Wushi said: "Not knowing is deep and knowing is shallow; not knowing is inner and knowing is outer."

於是泰清中而歎曰：「弗知乃知乎！知乃不知乎！孰知不知之知？」

Then Taiqing sighed midway and said: "Is not knowing then knowing! Is knowing then not knowing! Who knows the knowing of not knowing?"

無始曰：「道不可聞，聞而非也；道不可見，見而非也；道不可言，言而非也。知形形之不形乎！道不當名。」

Wushi said: "The Way cannot be heard; what is heard is not it. The Way cannot be seen; what is seen is not it. The Way cannot be spoken; what is spoken is not it. Know that what gives form to form is itself without form! The Way should not have a name."

無始曰：「有問道而應之者，不知道也。雖問道者，亦未聞道。道無問，問無應。無問問之，是問窮也；無應應之，是無內也。以無內待問窮，若是者，外不觀乎宇宙，內不知乎大初，是以不過乎崑崙，不遊乎太虛。」

Wushi said: "One who is asked about the Way and answers does not know the Way. Even the one who asks about the Way has never heard the Way. The Way has no asking, and asking has no answering. To ask where there is nothing to ask is to ask about emptiness; to answer where there is nothing to answer is to have nothing within. To treat one who asks about emptiness with having nothing within: such a person, outside, does not look upon the universe, and inside does not know the Great Beginning, and so does not cross Kunlun and does not wander in the Great Void."

光曜問乎無有曰：「夫子有乎？其無有乎？」

Guangyao asked Wuyou (Nonexistence): "Master, do you exist, or do you not exist?"

光曜不得問，而孰視其狀貌，窅然空然，終日視之而不見，聽之而不聞，搏之而不得也。

Guangyao, getting no answer, looked carefully at his appearance: deep and empty; looking at him all day he could not see him, listening he could not hear him, and grasping at him he could not get hold of him.

光曜曰：「至矣，其孰能至此乎！予能有無矣，而未能無無也。及為無有矣，何從至此哉！」

Guangyao said: "This is the utmost! Who could reach this point! I can have nothing, but I cannot yet make nothing nothing. When it comes to being Nonexistence, from where does one arrive here!"

大馬之捶鉤者，年八十矣，而不失豪芒。大馬曰：「子巧與？有道與？」

There was a hook-forger at the Grand Marshal's, eighty years old, who never missed by a hair. The Grand Marshal said: "Are you skilled? Do you have a Way?"

曰：「臣有守也。臣之年二十而好捶鉤，於物無視也，非鉤無察也。是用之者，假不用者也以長得其用，而況乎無不用者乎！物孰不資焉！」

(The hook-forger) said: "I have something I keep. From the age of twenty I loved forging hooks, and I looked at nothing else; unless it was a hook I did not examine it. In this way I use it by borrowing what is not used to make long use of it, and how much more one who uses everything! What thing does not draw on it!"

冉求問於仲尼曰：「未有天地可知邪？」

Ran Qiu asked Zhongni: "Can one know the time before Heaven and Earth existed?"

仲尼曰：「可。古猶今也。」

Zhongni said: "One can. The past is like the present."

冉求失問而退。明日復見，曰：「昔者吾問『未有天地可知乎？』夫子曰：『可。古猶今也。』昔日吾昭然，今日吾昧然。敢問何謂也？」

Ran Qiu could not go on asking and withdrew. The next day he came again and said: "Earlier I asked 'Can one know the time before Heaven and Earth existed?' and you said: 'One can. The past is like the present.' Yesterday I was clear, today I am confused. May I ask what it means?"

仲尼曰：「昔之昭然也，神者先受之；今之昧然也，且又為不神者求邪？無古無今，無始無終。未有子孫而有子孫，可乎？」

Zhongni said: "Yesterday you were clear because your spirit received it first; today you are confused, are you again seeking it through what is not spirit? There is no past and no present, no beginning and no end. Would it be acceptable to have descendants before there ever were descendants?"

冉求未對。仲尼曰：「已矣，末應矣！不以生生死，不以死死生。死生有待邪？皆有所一體。有先天地生者物邪？物物者非物，物出不得先物也，猶其有物也。猶其有物也，無已。聖人之愛人也終無已者，亦乃取於是者也。」

Ran Qiu had not yet answered. Zhongni said: "Enough, do not answer! Do not use life to give birth to death, nor use death to put life to death. Do death and life depend on anything? They are all one body. Is there any thing born before Heaven and Earth? That which makes things be things is not a thing; things cannot come forth before things, for there are already things. There are already things, without end. The sage's love of people that never ends is also modeled on this."

顏淵問乎仲尼曰：「回嘗聞諸夫子曰：『無有所將，無有所迎。』回敢問其遊。」

Yan Yuan asked Zhongni: "I once heard the Master say: 'Nothing to send off, nothing to welcome.' May I ask about such wandering."