庄子 Zhuang Zi
莊子 Zhuang Zi
庄子 Zhuang Zi (369-286 BCE) was an influential Taoist philosopher who lived during the Warring States Period (战国时代). He was born in the city of Meng (蒙城) in the state of Song. He lived during the reign of 魏惠王 King Hui of Wei (reign 370—319 BCE).
道家 Taoist philosophy is a school of thought based primary on the books 道德经 Dao De Jing by 老子 Lao Zi and 庄子 Zhuang Zi. 道教 Taoism as a religion is connected with Taoist philosophy but also includes many Chinese folk traditions. Some modern writers do not identify Zhuang Zi with Taoism.
Zhuang Zi's writings are collected into a book of the same name [ZHU1]. The English translations here are based on鹓鶵 A Fabulous Bird
惠子相梁。庄子往见之。或谓惠子曰，庄子来代子相。于是惠子恐，搜于国中三日三夜恐。庄子往见之，曰，南方有鸟，其名为鹓鶵，子知之乎。夫鹓鶵发于南海，而飞于北海，非梧桐不止，非练实不食，［成玄英曰练实竹实也。武挺绪曰，练楝之借字。］非醴泉不饮。于是鸱得腐鼠，鹓鶵过之仰而视之曰吓。今子欲以子之梁国而吓我耶。［姚鼐曰，记此语者，庄徒之陋。］
Huizi was a minister in Liang. Zhuang Zi went to see him. Some one had told Huizi that Zhuangzi was come with a wish to supersede him in his office. Huizi became afraid, and instituted a search for the Zhuangzi thoughout the state for three days and three nights. Zhuangzi went to see him and said, “There is a fabulous bird in the south of China called a yuanchu. Do you know it?” Starting from the South China Sea the yuanchu flies to the Bohai Sea. Now, if it does not find Chinese parasol it will not rest. It will only eat bamboo seeds [Cheng Xuanying says that lianshi are bamboo seeds. Wu Tingxu says that lian is a loan character for practice.] and only drink from the purest springs. Once an owl caught a rotten rat. When the yuanchu went passing overhead the owl looked up to it and gave an angry scream. Today, do you also wish to use the kingdom of Liang to frighten me with a scream? Yao Nai says that this language shows the vulgar nature of Zhuang Zi's disciples.
This text selection is from the section 秋水 The Floods of Autumn in Zhuang Zi. Liang was the capital of the state of Wei.
曳尾于涂中 Dragging One's Tail in the Mud
庄子钓于濮水。楚王使大夫二人往先焉，曰，愿以境内累矣。庄子持竿不顾，曰，吾闻楚有神龟，死已三千岁矣。王巾笥而藏之庙堂之上。此龟者宁其死为留骨而贵乎，宁其生而曳尾于涂中乎。二大夫曰，宁生而曳尾涂中。庄子曰，往矣，吾将曳尾于涂中。
Zhuang Zi was fishing in the Pu River. The king of Chu sent two second level ministers to him, with the message, “I wish to burden you with the charge of my territories.” Zhuangzi held his rod and, without looking around, said, “I have heard that in Chu there is a spirit-like tortoise-shell, the wearer of which died 3000 years ago. The king keeps it in his ancestral temple, in a bamboo box covered with cloth. Was it better for the tortoise to die, and leave its shell to be thus honoured? Or would it have been better for it to live, and keep on dragging its tail through the mud?” The two officers said, “It would have been better for it to live, and draw its tail through the mud.” Zhuang Zi said, “Go then. I will keep on drawing my tailthrough the mud.”
This text selection is also from the section 秋水 The Floods of Autumn.
髑髅 The Skull
庄子之楚，见空髑髅，髇然有形，撽以马捶，因而问之曰，夫子贪生失理而为此乎。将子有亡国之事，斧钺之诛，而为此乎。将子有不善之行，愧遗父母妻子之丑而为此乎？将子有冻馁之患而为此乎。将子之春秋故及此乎。于是语卒，援髑髅枕而卧。夜半髑髅见梦曰，子之谈者似辩士。视子所言皆生人之累也，死则无此矣。子欲闻死之说乎。庄子曰然。髑髅曰，死，无君于上，无臣于下，亦无四时之事，从然以天地为春秋，虽南面王乐不能过也。庄子不信曰，吾使司命复生子形，为子骨肉肌肤，反子父母妻子，闾里知识，子欲之乎。髑髅深矉蹙頞曰，吾安能弃南面王乐而复为人间之劳乎。
When Zhuang Zi went to Chu, he saw an empty skull, bleached but still retaining its shape. Tapping it with his horse-switch, he asked it, saying, “Did you, Sir, in your greed of life, fail in the lessons of reason, and come to this? Or did you die, in the service of a perishing state, by execution? Or was it through your evil conduct, reflecting disgrace on your parents and on your wife and children? Or was it through your hard endurances of cold and hunger? Or was it that you had completed your term of life?” Having given expression to these questions, he took up the skull, and made a pillow of it when he went to sleep.
At midnight the skull appeared to him in a dream, and said, “What you said to me was after the fashion of an orator. All your words were about the entanglements of men in their lifetime. There are none of those things after death. Would you like to hear me, Sir, tell you about death?” “I would,” said Zhuang Zi. The skull resumed, “In death there are not (the distinctions of) ruler above and minister below. There are none of the phenomena of the four seasons. Tranquil and at ease, our years are those of heaven and earth. No king in his court has greater enjoyment than we have.” Zhuang Zi did not believe it and said, “If I could get the Ruler of our Destiny to restore your body to life with its bones and flesh and skin, and to give you back your father and mother, your wife and children, and all your village acquaintances, would you wish me to do so?” The skull stared fixedly at him, knitted its brows, and said, “How should I cast away the enjoyment of my royal court, and undertake again the toils of life among mankind?”
The text is from the 外篇 Outer Chapters 至乐 Perfect Enjoyment. 司命 The Overseer of Destiny is a Taoist immortal who kept ledgers of allotted life spans.