Ze Yang was traveling in Chu. Yi Jie spoke of him to the king, but the king did not grant him an audience. Yi Jie returned. Ze Yang saw Wang Guo and said, “Why do you not speak of me to the king?”
Wang Guo said, “I am not as good as Gongyue Xiu.”
Ze Yang said, “What sort of man is Gongyue Xiu?”
He said, “In winter he spears turtles in the river; in summer he rests at the edge of the mountain. If someone passes by and asks him, he says, ‘This is my dwelling.’ Yi Jie himself could not do it, how much less I! And I am not as good as Yi Jie. As for Yi Jie’s character: he has no virtue but has knowledge. He does not claim himself, and thereby makes his associations spirit-like. Truly he is dazed and benighted in the realm of wealth and honor. He does not help others with virtue; he helps them dissipate. A freezing man borrows clothes in spring; a sunstruck man turns to the cold wind of winter. As for the King of Chu’s character: his form is honored and severe. In regard to offenses, he is as unsparing as a tiger. Unless one is a flatterer or a man of upright virtue, who can bend him? Therefore when the sage is poor, he makes his family forget their poverty; when he is successful, he makes kings and dukes forget their rank and wealth and transform them to humility. In regard to things, he makes them his delight; in regard to men, he delights in the free flow of things and preserves himself. Thus sometimes without speaking he gives men harmony to drink; standing beside others, he causes them to transform – as fitting as father and son. As for him, he returns to dwell in himself, wholly at ease in what he dispenses. How far he is from the hearts of men! Therefore I said, ‘Wait for Gongyue Xiu.’”
The sage penetrates all entanglements, completely comprehending the one body, yet does not know why it is so – this is nature. Returning to the command, he stirs and acts, taking Heaven as his teacher; men then follow and name him. Worrying over knowledge – yet what he does constantly lasts but a short time; if it has a stop, what then? One who is beautiful from birth: others give him a mirror; if not told, he does not know he is more beautiful than others. Whether he knows or does not know, whether he hears or does not hear, his delightfulness never ends, and others’ fondness for him never ends – this is nature. The sage’s love for others: others give him a name; if not told, he does not know he loves others. Whether he knows or does not know, whether he hears or does not hear, his love never ends, and others’ peace in him never ends – this is nature. An old state, an old capital: seeing it, one’s heart opens. Even if hills and plains, grass and trees have grown over it so that nineteen parts in twenty are hidden, still one’s heart opens – how much more when one sees and hears what is truly there, like a ten-ren terrace suspended before the crowd! Ranxiang Shi got the center of the ring and followed completion. With things he had no end and no beginning, no duration and no time. Daily transforming with things, he was the one who does not transform. How could he ever abandon it! To take Heaven as teacher yet fail to take Heaven as teacher is to be sacrificed along with things. If one makes this a task, what then? The sage has never had Heaven, never had man, never had beginning, never had things. He walks with the world without substituting, and his course is complete without overflow. How does he fit with it? What then?
Tang got his charioteer; Men Yin Deng Heng served as his tutor. He followed the teacher without being confined, and got his following completion. He was in charge of names; the name Ying Fa got both to appear. Confucius exhausted his thought and served as tutor for it. Rongcheng Shi said: “Remove days, and there is no year; no inner, no outer.”
Wei Ying made a covenant with Marquis Mu of Tian. Marquis Mu of Tian broke it. Wei Ying was angry and planned to send someone to assassinate him. Gongsun Yan, the Rhinoceros Head, heard and was ashamed, saying: “My lord is a ruler of ten thousand chariots, yet he would pursue a vendetta like a common man. I, Yan, beg to receive two hundred thousand armored troops and attack him for you. We will capture his people, tie up his cattle and horses, make his ruler’s inner heat break out on his back, and then pull down his state. Ji will flee; then we will beat his back and break his spine.”
Ji Zi heard and was ashamed, saying: “To build a wall of ten ren, and when the wall is already ten ren, then to destroy it – this is what convict laborers suffer. Now arms have not been raised for seven years; this is the foundation of your kingship. Yan is a man of disorder; he must not be heeded.”
Hua Zi heard and was disgusted, saying: “Those who speak well of attacking Qi are men of disorder; those who speak well of not attacking are also men of disorder; those who say ‘attacking and not attacking are both men of disorder’ are again men of disorder.”
The lord said, “Then what should be done?”
He said, “My lord need only seek the Way.”
Hui Zi heard of it and went to see Dai Jiren. Dai Jiren said, “There is a thing called a snail – does my lord know it?”
“Yes.”
“There is a state on the left horn of the snail called Chu Shi; there is a state on the right horn called Man Shi. At times they fight over territory; lying corpses number tens of thousands; they chase the defeated for fifteen days before returning.”
The lord said, “Ugh! Is that an empty tale?”
He said, “I beg to make it real for my lord. Does my lord think the four directions and above and below have an end?”
The lord said, “They are endless.”
He said, “Knowing that the mind wanders in the endless, and then returning to the states of communication – are they not as if existing and as if not existing?”
The lord said, “Yes.”
He said, “Within communication there is Wei; within Wei there is Liang; within Liang there is the king. Does the king differ from Man Shi?”
The lord said, “No difference.”
The guest went out, and the lord looked dazed as if he had lost something. When the guest had gone, Hui Zi came in. The lord said, “The guest is a great man; even a sage is not enough to match him.”
Hui Zi said, “When one blows a pipe, there is still a whistling sound; when one blows on the hilt of a sword, it is only a faint puff. Yao and Shun are what men praise. To speak of Yao and Shun before Dai Jiren is like a single faint puff.”
Confucius went to Chu and lodged at the gruel shop of Ant Mound. Among his neighbors there was a husband and wife, servants and concubines, who climbed to the top of the house. Zi Lu said, “What are those bustling people doing?”
Zhongni said, “They are servants of a sage. He buries himself among the people, hides himself at the border. His voice is stilled, his intent is endless. His mouth may speak, but his mind has never spoken. He is about to turn away from the world, and his heart disdains to go along with it. He is one who sinks in the land – is he not Shinan Yiliao?”
Zi Lu asked to go and summon him. Confucius said: “Stop! He knows that I am conspicuous to myself; he knows that I have come to Chu; he thinks I will surely have the King of Chu summon him. He will take me for a flatterer. If so, he would be ashamed even to hear the words of a flatterer, how much more to see his person! How could he remain?”
Zi Lu went to look; his room was empty.
The border guard of Changwu asked Zi Lao: “When you govern, do not be careless; when you rule the people, do not be sloppy. Formerly I planted grain: I plowed carelessly, and the harvest repaid me carelessly; I weeded sloppily, and the harvest repaid me sloppily. The next year I changed my method: I deepened the plowing and carefully harrowed; the grain grew lush and abundant, and I had more than enough to eat all year.”
Zhuangzi heard this and said: “Now people’s governing of their bodies and ordering of their minds is mostly like what the border guard described: they flee from Heaven, depart from nature, extinguish feeling, lose spirit, and do many things. Therefore those who are careless with their nature – the sprouts of desire and aversion become their nature; reeds and rushes begin to sprout, supporting my form and gradually pulling up my nature. Then abscesses burst and leak, not choosing where to emerge; ulcers, scabies, sores, internal heat, and wasting discharge – these are the result.”
Bo Ju studied under Lao Dan and said, “I beg to travel through the world.”
Lao Dan said, “Stop! The world is just like this.”
He asked again. Lao Dan said, “Where will you begin?”
He said, “I will begin with Qi.”
When he reached Qi, he saw an executed criminal. He pushed him and straightened him, took off his court robes and covered him, cried to Heaven and wept over him, saying: “You! You! The world has a great calamity, and you alone met it first. It says, ‘Do not be a thief, do not kill.’ But when honor and disgrace are established, then one sees what ails people; when goods and wealth are gathered, then one sees what people contend for. Now you establish what ails people and gather what people contend for, exhausting people’s bodies so they have no rest. Do you think they can avoid coming to this? The rulers of old took gain as belonging to the people and loss as belonging to themselves; took right as belonging to the people and wrong as belonging to themselves. Therefore if one form lost its form, they would retire and blame themselves. Now it is not so. They hide things and blame the ignorant for not knowing; they make tasks great and punish those who do not dare; they make burdens heavy and punish those who cannot bear; they make the road far and execute those who do not arrive. When the people’s knowledge and strength are exhausted, they follow with falseness. Day by day much falseness arises; how can scholars and people avoid being false? When strength is insufficient, one is false; when knowledge is insufficient, one deceives; when wealth is insufficient, one steals. For the practice of theft and robbery, whom is it right to blame?”
Qu Boyu lived to sixty and transformed sixty times. He never began by affirming something and ended by denying it as wrong. He did not know whether what he now called right was not the wrong of fifty-nine years. All things have birth, yet no one sees their root; they have emergence, yet no one sees their door. People all honor what their knowledge knows, but no one knows to rely on what their knowledge does not know and thereby know. Can this not be called a great doubt? Stop! Stop! There is no escape from it. Is this what is called “so and so”?
Zhongni asked the grand historian Da Tao, Bo Changqian, and Xi Wei: “Duke Ling of Wei drank wine and indulged in pleasure, did not attend to the government of the state; he hunted with nets and arrows, did not respond to the covenants of the feudal lords. Why is he called Duke Ling?”
Da Tao said, “This is the reason.”
Bo Changqian said, “Duke Ling had three wives and bathed with them in the same tub. Shi Qiu, bearing the royal carriage, entered his place; he grasped the silk and supported him. His license was that extreme, yet when he saw a worthy man he was this reverent – this is why he is called Duke Ling.”
Xi Wei said, “When Duke Ling died, divination for burial at the old tomb was inauspicious; divination for burial at Sand Mound was auspicious. They dug several ren and found a stone coffin. They washed it and looked: there was an inscription saying, ‘Do not rely on your son; Duke Ling will seize and dwell in it.’ Duke Ling’s being ‘Ling’ has been so for a long time! How could those two understand it?”
Shao Zhi asked Da Gongdiao: “What are the words of the mound and village?”
Da Gongdiao said: “The mound and village: it joins ten surnames and a hundred names to form customs. It joins differences to make sameness, and scatters sameness to make differences. Now if you point to the hundred parts of a horse, you do not get the horse; but the horse is tied before you, and standing on its hundred parts, you call it a horse. Therefore mounds and mountains accumulate the low to become high; rivers and seas join waters to become great; the great man joins and combines to become impartial. Thus what enters from outside has a host but does not grasp; what issues from within has a standard but does not resist. The four seasons have different qi; Heaven does not bestow them, and so the year is completed. The five officials have different duties; the ruler is not partial, and so the state is governed. Civil and military have different capacities; the great man does not bestow them, and so virtue is complete. All things have different principles; the Way is not partial, and so it has no name. Having no name, it is non-active; non-active, yet nothing is not done. Time has end and beginning; the world has change. Calamity and fortune are blended; when something is opposed, something is fitting. Each sacrifices itself to a different face; where there is right, there is deviation. Compare it to a great marsh: a hundred materials are all measured. Look at a great mountain: wood and stone share the same altar. These are the words of the mound and village.”
Shao Zhi said, “Then is it enough to call it the Way?”
Da Gongdiao said: “No. Now if we count the number of things, it does not stop at ten thousand, yet we sum them up as ‘ten thousand things’ – using the greatest number to name and read them. Therefore Heaven and Earth are the greatest of forms; yin and yang are the greatest of qi; the Way is what makes them common. To use their greatness to name and read them is acceptable. But once there is already something, how can it be compared? If you argue this way, it is like dog and horse – it falls far short.”
Shao Zhi said, “Within the four directions, within the six relations, where do all things arise from?”
Da Gongdiao said: “Yin and yang shine on each other, cover each other, govern each other. The four seasons replace each other, produce and kill each other. Desire and aversion, departure and approach, then rise up. Male and female divide and unite, then there is the ordinary. Safety and danger exchange; calamity and fortune produce each other; slow and urgent rub against each other; gathering and scattering complete each other. These are what name and reality can record, what essence can mark. Following the order of mutual ordering, the bridge-movement of mutual causing: when exhausted, it returns; when ended, it begins. This is what things have. What words exhaust, what knowledge reaches, is only the extreme of things. One who sees the Way does not follow what it abolishes, does not trace what it originates – this is where discussion stops.”
Shao Zhi said, “Ji Zhen’s ‘none does it’ and Jie Zi’s ‘something causes it’ – of these two schools, which is correct in its feeling, which is partial in its principle?”
Da Gongdiao said: “Cocks crow and dogs bark – this is what people know. Though one has great knowledge, he cannot use words to read what they spontaneously transform into, nor can he use thought to know what they will do. If you analyze this, the refined reaches the without-comparison, the great reaches the unbounded. ‘Something causes it’ and ‘none does it’ do not escape from things and in the end are considered errors. ‘Something causes it’ is substantial; ‘none does it’ is empty. Having name and reality is where things dwell; having no name and no reality is in the emptiness of things. What can be spoken and thought – speaking it makes it more distant. What has not yet been born cannot be prohibited; what has already died cannot be stopped. Death and life are not far, yet their principle cannot be seen. ‘Something causes it’ and ‘none does it’ are borrowed by doubt. I observe their root: their going is endless. I seek their tip: their coming is unceasing. Endless and unceasing – this is the nothing of words, sharing the same principle with things. ‘Something causes it’ and ‘none does it’ are the root of words, sharing beginning and end with things. The Way cannot be had; having cannot be nothing. The Way as a name is borrowed to walk. ‘Something causes it’ and ‘none does it’ are one corner of things – how can they be part of the great direction? If words are sufficient, then speaking all day exhausts the Way; if words are insufficient, then speaking all day exhausts things. The Way is the extreme of things; speech and silence are not enough to carry it. Neither speech nor silence – discussion has its limit.”
Note
Zhuangzi is not a history book. Many figures appear as characters in philosophical parables, and some are legendary, semi-legendary, or used anachronistically. The notes below explain the most important names and references for readers unfamiliar with ancient China.
Ze Yang / Peng Yang (则阳 / 彭阳)
A wandering scholar from Lu, surnamed Peng and styled Ze Yang. He travels to Chu seeking an official audience with the king, but is not granted one. His story opens the chapter and sets up a contrast between those who chase recognition and those who live in quiet obscurity.
Yi Jie (夷节)
A courtier who speaks of Ze Yang to the King of Chu but fails to secure him an audience. Wang Guo later describes him as a man who “has no virtue but has knowledge” – skilled at making connections, but lacking inner substance.
Wang Guo (王果)
A worthy man of Chu whom Ze Yang approaches for help. Rather than promoting Ze Yang, Wang Guo praises the hermit Gongyue Xiu, subtly suggesting that Ze Yang should stop chasing fame and learn from a life of genuine obscurity.
Gongyue Xiu (公阅休)
A hermit of Chu. In winter he spears turtles in the river; in summer he rests at the edge of a mountain. When passersby ask about him, he simply says, “This is my dwelling.” He represents the Daoist ideal of living without seeking recognition – a life so far from ordinary ambition that Wang Guo says, “Wait for Gongyue Xiu.”
Tang (汤)
The founder of the Shang dynasty. In this chapter he is said to have “got his charioteer,” and Men Yin Deng Heng served as his tutor. The passage uses Tang as an example of a ruler who followed a teacher without being confined by that teacher’s methods.
Men Yin Deng Heng (门尹登恒)
A minister or tutor to Tang. The text says Tang “followed the teacher without being confined” and thereby “got his following completion.” This illustrates the Daoist principle of learning without rigid attachment.
Rongcheng Shi (容成氏)
A legendary ancient ruler, traditionally associated with the invention of the calendar. His saying – “Remove days, and there is no year; no inner, no outer” – expresses the idea that conventional divisions are not ultimate.
Wei Ying / King Hui of Wei (魏莹 / 魏惠王)
Also known as King Hui of Liang (梁惠王), a ruler of the state of Wei during the Warring States period. In this chapter he is angry because Marquis Mu of Tian broke a covenant, and he plans to send an assassin. His courtiers debate whether to attack Qi or not.
Marquis Mu of Tian / King Wei of Qi (田侯牟 / 齐威王)
The ruler of Qi, named Mu. He broke a covenant with Wei Ying. The text identifies him as Tian Mu, son of Duke Huan of Qi and a descendant of Tian Heng, hence “Marquis Tian.”
Gongsun Yan / the Rhinoceros Head (犀首 公孙衍)
A Wei general and statesman. He is ashamed that his ruler would stoop to assassination like a common man. He offers to lead 200,000 troops, capture Qi’s people, seize its cattle and horses, and bring its ruler to ruin. His bravado represents the military faction in the debate.
Ji Zi (季子)
A courtier who opposes Gongsun Yan’s plan. He argues that Wei has not raised arms for seven years – this is the foundation of kingship – and that Yan is a “man of disorder” who must not be heeded. He represents the voice of restraint and long-term state-building.
Hua Zi (华子)
A philosopher-courtier who rejects both sides. He says those who advocate attack are disorderly, those who advocate no attack are disorderly, and even those who say “attack and no-attack are both disorderly” are disorderly. His point: the whole debate is trapped in dualistic thinking. The ruler should simply “seek the Way.”
Hui Zi / Hui Shi (惠子 / 惠施)
A logician and friend-rival of Zhuangzi. He introduces Dai Jiren to the ruler of Wei. Hui Zi also appears at the end of the story, where the ruler says Dai Jiren is so great that “even a sage is not enough to match him.” Hui Zi replies with the image of blowing on a pipe versus blowing on a sword hilt – Dai Jiren’s words are like a faint puff compared to the noise of ordinary praise.
Dai Jiren (戴晋人)
A philosopher or persuader who tells the ruler of Wei the famous “snail’s horns” parable. He is clearly a Daoist-style figure who uses a cosmic perspective to shrink human conflicts to insignificance.
Confucius / Zhongni (孔子 / 仲尼)
The founder of Confucianism. In this chapter he appears in Chu, lodging at a gruel shop on Ant Mound. He recognizes a neighbor as a “man who sinks in the land” – a hidden sage – and identifies him as Shinan Yiliao. When Zi Lu offers to summon him, Confucius says the man has already fled.
Zi Lu (子路)
A famous disciple of Confucius, known for courage and loyalty. He asks about the bustling neighbors and offers to summon the hidden sage.
Shinan Yiliao (市南宜僚)
A Chu figure who lived south of the market. He is described as a “man who sinks in the land” (陸沉者) – a hidden sage who buries himself among the people and hides at the border. His voice is stilled, his intent is endless; his mouth may speak, but his mind has never spoken. He represents the Daoist ideal of the sage who lives unrecognized in the world.
Changwu Border Guard (长梧封人)
A border official at Changwu. He tells Zi Lao about farming: careless plowing and sloppy weeding produce a careless harvest. The next year he deepens the plowing and carefully harrows, and the grain grows lush. Zhuangzi uses this as a metaphor for governing the body and mind – carelessness with one’s nature produces disease and disorder.
Zi Lao (子牢)
A disciple or interlocutor of the Changwu border guard.
Bo Ju (柏矩)
A disciple of Lao Dan. He asks to travel through the world. Lao Dan tells him the world is already as it is. Bo Ju begins with Qi, where he sees an executed criminal, covers the body with his court robes, and weeps. He delivers a powerful speech about how rulers create the conditions for crime by establishing honor and disgrace, gathering wealth, and exhausting the people.
Qu Boyu (蘧伯玉)
Qu Boyu is a worthy minister of the state of Wei, known in Confucian tradition for self-cultivation. The text says he “lived to sixty and transformed sixty times.” He never began by affirming something and ended by denying it as wrong; he did not know whether what he now called right was not the wrong of fifty-nine years. This is a classic image of intellectual humility and continual self-revision.
Duke Ling of Wei (卫灵公)
A ruler of Wei known posthumously as “Ling” (靈). Confucius asks three historians why he received this title. Da Tao says “this is the reason.” Bo Changqian notes that Duke Ling bathed with three wives in the same tub, yet was reverent before worthy men. Xi Wei tells a stranger story: when Duke Ling died, divination at the old tomb was inauspicious, but at Sand Mound it was auspicious. Digging there, they found a stone coffin with an inscription saying, “Do not rely on your son; Duke Ling will seize and dwell in it.” Duke Ling’s being “Ling” had been determined long before.
Da Tao, Bo Changqian, Xi Wei (大弢、伯常骞、狶韦)
Three grand historians whom Confucius questions about Duke Ling of Wei. Their answers represent three different levels of understanding: surface, moral, and cosmic.
Shao Zhi (少知)
A seeker of wisdom. He asks Da Gongdiao about “the words of the mound and village,” the nature of the Way, the origin of all things, and the debate between “none does it” and “something causes it.” His name means “Little Knowledge.”
Da Gongdiao (大公调)
A Daoist sage-teacher. His name suggests “Great Public Harmony.” He explains that the “words of the mound and village” are about joining differences to make sameness and scattering sameness to make differences. He uses the image of a horse: point to its hundred parts and you do not get the horse; but standing before it, you call the whole a horse. He also discusses the Way as what makes Heaven and Earth common, and the limits of speech and silence.
Ji Zhen and Jie Zi (季真、接子)
Two philosophers of the Warring States period. Ji Zhen held the doctrine of “none does it” (莫为) – things happen spontaneously without a cause. Jie Zi held the doctrine of “something causes it” (或使) – things are caused by something. Shao Zhi asks Da Gongdiao which is correct. Da Gongdiao answers that both are partial: “something causes it” is substantial, “none does it” is empty; both are “one corner of things.” Neither captures the great direction of the Way.
The Snail’s Horns (蜗角之争 / 蛮触相争)
This is one of the most famous parables in the Zhuangzi. Dai Jiren tells the ruler of Wei about a state on the left horn of a snail called Chu Shi, and a state on the right horn called Man Shi. They fight over territory; lying corpses number tens of thousands; they chase the defeated for fifteen days before returning. The ruler dismisses this as an empty tale, but Dai Jiren asks: “Does your mind wander in the endless? Then is Wei, within the four directions, any different from Man Shi?” The parable shrinks human conflicts to cosmic insignificance.
The Debate on Attacking Qi
Wei Ying plans to assassinate Marquis Mu of Tian. Gongsun Yan wants war; Ji Zi wants restraint; Hua Zi rejects both sides. Hui Zi introduces Dai Jiren, whose snail parable dissolves the entire debate. The passage shows how a change in perspective can make an entire political crisis seem trivial.
Confucius and the Hidden Sage
Confucius lodges at Ant Mound in Chu. His neighbor’s family climbs to the roof to watch him. Confucius recognizes the neighbor as a hidden sage – a “man who sinks in the land” (陸沉者). When Zi Lu offers to summon him, Confucius says the man knows Confucius is conspicuous and will avoid him. Zi Lu goes to look; the room is empty. The story illustrates the Daoist ideal of the sage who hides from fame and refuses to be drawn into the world of reputation.
The Farming Lesson
The Changwu border guard tells Zi Lao about careless farming: careless plowing and sloppy weeding produce a careless harvest. The next year he deepens the plowing and carefully harrows; the grain grows lush and he eats well all year. Zhuangzi applies this to the body and mind: those who are careless with their nature suffer abscesses, ulcers, and wasting diseases. Good governance of the self, like good farming, requires care and depth.
Bo Ju and the Executed Criminal
Bo Ju travels to Qi and sees a criminal’s body displayed. He covers it with his court robes and weeps, crying out that the world has a great calamity. He blames rulers for creating crime: they establish honor and disgrace, gather wealth, exhaust the people, and then punish them for failing. When strength is insufficient, one becomes false; when knowledge is insufficient, one deceives; when wealth is insufficient, one steals. “For the practice of theft, whom is it right to blame?”
Qu Boyu’s Sixty Transformations
Qu Boyu lived to sixty and transformed sixty times. He never began by affirming something and ended by denying it. He did not know whether what he now called right was not the wrong of fifty-nine years. This is a powerful image of intellectual humility – the willingness to revise one’s views and admit that one’s current certainties may be tomorrow’s errors.
Duke Ling’s Posthumous Name
Confucius asks three historians why Duke Ling of Wei received the posthumous name “Ling” (靈), which can mean “numinous” or “spiritual” but also carries connotations of playfulness and unpredictability. The three answers move from surface to depth: “this is the reason”; he was licentious yet reverent before the worthy; and a stone coffin inscription revealed that his title had been determined long before his death.
Posthumous Names (谥号)
Ancient Chinese rulers received a posthumous name after death, summarizing their character and reign. “Ling” (靈) is ambiguous – it can mean “numinous,” “spiritual,” or “playful.” The historians’ debate about Duke Ling shows how posthumous names could be contested and reinterpreted.
The “Man Who Sinks in the Land” (陸沉者)
A Daoist term for a sage who lives hidden in the world – not in mountains or forests, but among ordinary people. Shinan Yiliao is described this way: he buries himself among the people, hides at the border, stills his voice, and keeps his mind silent. It is the opposite of seeking fame or office.
“Words of the Mound and Village” (丘里之言)
A term for common, local, customary speech – the collective wisdom of a community formed by many families and names. Da Gongdiao uses it to explain how differences are joined into sameness and sameness scattered into differences. It is not the ultimate Way, but it reflects the Way’s operation in ordinary life.
The Horse and Its Hundred Parts
Da Gongdiao says: point to the hundred parts of a horse and you do not get the horse. But standing before it, you call the whole a horse. This illustrates the relationship between parts and wholes – a central theme in the dialogue between Shao Zhi and Da Gongdiao.
Medicine and Herbs (堇、桔梗、鸡雍、豕零)
Aconite, campanula, and other herbs. The text says these at times become “emperors” – the most important medicine. Value shifts with time and need. Nothing is permanently at the top or bottom.
The Owl’s Eyes and the Crane’s Legs (鸱目有所适，鹤胫有所节)
An owl’s eyes are suited to night; a crane’s legs are suited to wading. Cut them and there is grief. Everything has its proper measure. This is a classic Daoist image of natural fitness and the danger of imposing uniform standards.
“None Does It” (莫为) vs. “Something Causes It” (或使)
Two competing views about causation. Ji Zhen held that things happen spontaneously without a cause; Jie Zi held that things are caused by something. Da Gongdiao says both are partial: “something causes it” is substantial; “none does it” is empty. Both remain trapped in the world of things. The Way cannot be captured by either view.
The Great One, Great Yin, Great Eye, Great Equality, Great Square, Great Trust, Great Settledness (大一、大阴、大目、大均、大方、大信、大定)
Cosmological principles from the final dialogue. The Great One penetrates all; the Great Yin explains all; the Great Eye sees all; the Great Equality follows all; the Great Square embodies all; the Great Trust examines all; the Great Settledness holds all. These represent the highest reaches of Daoist wisdom – beyond speech, beyond silence.
“Neither Speech nor Silence” (非言非默)
The chapter ends with the idea that the Way cannot be carried by speech or by silence. Discussion has its limit. The Way is the extreme of things – beyond the reach of words, yet not something to be grasped in silence either.
The “Man of the Way” and the “Petty Man”
Throughout the chapter, Zhuangzi contrasts those who chase recognition, wealth, and power with those who live in quiet obscurity. Gongyue Xiu, Shinan Yiliao, and Qu Boyu represent the latter. Gongsun Yan, Yi Jie, and the rulers who plan assassinations represent the former.
The “Great Doubt” (大疑)
Qu Boyu’s constant self-revision leads to what the text calls “a great doubt”: people all honor what their knowledge knows, but no one knows to rely on what their knowledge does not know and thereby know. This is not paralysis – it is the humility that opens the door to deeper wisdom.
杂篇·则阳第二十五
则阳游于楚，夷节言之于王，王未之见。夷节归。则阳见王果曰：“夫子何不谭我于王？”王果曰：“我不若公阅休。”则阳曰：“公阅休奚为者邪？”曰：“冬则擉鳖于江，夏则休乎山樊。有过而问者，曰：‘此予宅也。’夫夷节已不能，而况我乎！吾又不若夷节。夫夷节之为人也，无德而有知，不自许，以之神其交，固颠冥乎富贵之地。非相助以德，相助消也。夫冻者假衣于春，暍者反冬乎冷风。夫楚王之为人也，形尊而严。其于罪也，无赦如虎。非夫佞人正德，其孰能桡焉。故圣人其穷也，使家人忘其贫；其达也，使王公忘爵禄而化卑；其于物也，与之为娱矣；其于人也，乐物之通而保己焉。故或不言而饮人以和，与人并立而使人化，父子之宜。彼其乎归居，而一闲其所施。其于人心者，若是其远也。故曰‘待公阅休’。”
圣人达绸缪，周尽一体矣，而不知其然，性也。复命摇作而以天为师，人则从而命之也。忧乎知，而所行恒无几时，其有止也，若之何！生而美者，人与之鉴，不告则不知其美于人也。若知之，若不知之，若闻之，若不闻之，其可喜也终无已，人之好之亦无已，性也。圣人之爱人也，人与之名，不告则不知其爱人也。若知之，若不知之，若闻之，若不闻之，其爱人也终无已，人之安之亦无已，性也。旧国旧都，望之畅然。虽使丘陵草木之缗入之者十九，犹之畅然，况见见闻闻者也，以十仞之台县众间者也。冉相氏得其环中以随成，与物无终无始，无几无时。日与物化者，一不化者也。阖尝舍之！夫师天而不得师天，与物皆殉。其以为事也，若之何！夫圣人未始有天，未始有人，未始有始，未始有物，与世偕行而不替，所行之备而不洫，其合之也，若之何！
汤得其司御，门尹登恒为之傅之。从师而不囿，得其随成。为之司其名之名嬴法得其两见。仲尼之尽虑，为之傅之。容成氏曰：“除日无岁，无内无外。”
魏莹与田侯牟约，田侯牟背之，魏莹怒，将使人剌之。犀首公孙衍闻而耻之，曰：“君为万乘之君也，而以匹夫从仇。衍请受甲二十万，为君攻之，虏其人民，系其牛马，使其君内热发于背，然后拔其国。忌也出走，然后抶其背，折其脊。”季子闻而耻之，曰：“筑十仞之城，城者既十仞矣，则又坏之，此胥靡之所苦也。今兵不起七年矣，此王之基也。衍，乱人也，不可听也。”华子闻而丑之，曰：“善言伐齐者，乱人也；善言勿伐者，亦乱人也；谓‘伐之与不伐乱人也’者，又乱人也。”君曰：“然则若何？”曰：“君求其道而已矣。”惠之闻之，而见戴晋人。戴晋人曰：“有所谓蜗者，君知之乎？”曰：“然。”“有国于蜗之左角者，曰触氏；有国于蜗之右角者，曰蛮氏。时相与争地而战，伏尸数万，逐北旬有五日而后反。”君曰：“噫！其虚言与？”曰：“臣请为君实之。君以意在四方上下有穷乎？”君曰：“无穷。”曰：“知游心于无穷，而反在通达之国，若存若亡乎？”君曰：“然。”曰：“通达之中有魏，于魏中有梁，于梁中有王，王与蛮氏有辩乎？”君曰：“无辩。”客出而君惝然若有亡也。客出，惠子见。君曰：“客，大人也，圣人不足以当之。”惠子曰：“夫吹管也，犹有嗃也；吹剑首者，吷而已矣。尧、舜，人之所誉也。道尧、舜于戴晋人之前，譬犹一吷也。”
孔子之楚，舍于蚁丘之浆。其邻有夫妻臣妾登极者，子路曰：“是稯稯何为者邪？”仲尼曰：“是圣人仆也。是自埋于民，自藏于畔。其声销，其志无穷，其口虽言，其心未尝言。方且与世违，而心不屑与之俱。是陆沉者也，是其市南宜僚邪？”子路请往召之。孔子曰：“已矣！彼知丘之著于己也，知丘之适楚也，以丘为必使楚王之召己也。彼且以丘为佞人也。夫若然者，其于佞人也，羞闻其言，而况亲见其身乎！而何以为存！”子路往视之，其室虚矣。
长梧封人问子牢曰：“君为政焉勿卤莽，治民焉勿灭裂。昔予为禾，耕而卤莽之，则其实亦卤莽而报予；芸而灭裂之，其实亦灭裂而报予。予来年变齐，深其耕而熟耰之，其禾蘩以滋，予终年厌飧。”庄子闻之曰：“今人之治其形，理其心，多有似封人之所谓：遁其天，离其性，灭其情，亡其神，以众为。故卤莽其性者，欲恶之孽为性，萑苇蒹葭始萌，以扶吾形，寻擢吾性。并溃漏发，不择所出，漂疽疥痈，内热溲膏是也。”
柏矩学于老聃，曰：“请之天下游。”老聃曰：“已矣！天下犹是也。”又请之，老聃曰：“汝将何始？”曰：“始于齐。”至齐，见辜人焉，推而强之，解朝服而幕之，号天而哭之，曰：“子乎！子乎！天下有大灾，子独先离之。曰‘莫为盗，莫为杀人’。荣辱立然后睹所病，货财聚然后睹所争。今立人之所病，聚人之所争，穷困人之身，使无休时。欲无至此得乎？古之君人者，以得为在民，以失为在己；以正为在民，以枉为在己。故一形有失其形者，退而自责。今则不然，匿为物而愚不识，大为难而罪不敢，重为任而罚不胜，远其涂而诛不至。民知力竭，则以伪继之。日出多伪，士民安取不伪。夫力不足则伪，知不足则欺，财不足则盗。盗窃之行，于谁责而可乎？”
蘧伯玉行年六十而六十化，未尝不始于是之，而卒诎之以非也。未知今之所谓是之非五十九非也。万物有乎生而莫见其根，有乎出而莫见其门。人皆尊其知之所知，而莫知恃其知之所不知而后知，可不谓大疑乎！已乎！已乎！且无所逃。此所谓然与然乎！
仲尼问于大史大弢、伯常骞、狶韦曰：“夫卫灵公饮酒湛乐，不听国家之政；田猎毕弋，不应诸侯之际：其所以为灵公者何邪？”大弢曰：“是因是也。”伯常骞曰：“夫灵公有妻三人，同滥而浴。史鳅奉御而进所，搏币而扶翼。其慢若彼之甚也，见贤人若此其肃也，是其所以为灵公也。”狶韦曰：“夫灵公也，死，卜葬于故墓，不吉；卜葬于沙丘而吉。掘之数仞，得石槨焉，洗而视之，有铭焉，曰：‘不冯其子，灵公夺而里之。’夫灵公之为灵也久矣！之二人何足以识之。”
少知问于大公调曰：“何谓丘里之言？”大公调曰：“丘里者，合十姓百名而为风俗也，合异以为同，散同以为异。今指马之百体而不得马，而马系于前者，立其百体而谓之马也。是故丘山积卑而为高，江河合水而为大，大人合并而为公。是以自外入者，有主而不执；由中出者，有正而不距。四时殊气，天不赐，故岁成；五官殊职，君不私，故国治；文武殊材，大人不赐，故德备；万物殊理，道不私，故无名。无名故无为，无为而无不为。时有终始，世有变化，祸福淳淳，至有所拂者而有所宜，自殉殊面；有所正者有所差，比于大泽，百材皆度；观于大山，木石同坛。此之谓丘里之言。”少知曰：“然则谓之道足乎？”大公调曰：“不然，今计物之数，不止于万，而期曰万物者，以数之多者号而读之也。是故天地者，形之大者也；阴阳者，气之大者也；道者为之公。因其大以号而读之则可也，已有之矣，乃将得比哉！则若以斯辩，譬犹狗马，其不及远矣。”少知曰：“四方之内，六合之里，万物之所生恶起？”大公调曰：“阴阳相照相盖相治，四时相代相生相杀。欲恶去就，于是桥起。雌雄片合，于是庸有。安危相易，祸福相生，缓急相摩，聚散以成。此名实之可纪，精之可志也。随序之相理，桥运之相使，穷则反，终则始，此物之所有。言之所尽，知之所至，极物而已。睹道之人，不随其所废，不原其所起，此议之所止。”少知曰：“季真之莫为，接子之或使。二家之议，孰正于其情，孰偏于其理？”大公调曰：“鸡鸣狗吠，是人之所知。虽有大知，不能以言读其所自化，又不能以意其所将为。斯而析之，精至于无伦，大至于不可围。或之使，莫之为，未免于物而终以为过。或使则实，莫为则虚。有名有实，是物之居；无名无实，在物之虚。可言可意，言而愈疏。未生不可忌，已死不可阻。死生非远也，理不可睹。或之使，莫之为，疑之所假。吾观之本，其往无穷；吾求之末，其来无止。无穷无止，言之无也，与物同理。或使莫为，言之本也。与物终始。道不可有，有不可无。道之为名，所假而行。或使莫为，在物一曲，夫胡为于大方！言而足，则终日言而尽道；言而不足，则终日言而尽物。道，物之极，言默不足以载。非言非默，议有所极。”
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