Many in the world cultivate the methods of one direction, and each considers what he has as incapable of being improved. But where is what the ancients called the art of the Way? I say: It is nowhere not present. I ask: How does the spiritual descend? How does the bright emerge? The sage has that from which he is born; the king has that in which he is completed. Both originate in the One.
Not departing from the ancestral source is called a Heaven-man. Not departing from essence is called a spirit-man. Not departing from the true is called the Perfect Man. To take Heaven as ancestor, virtue as root, the Way as gate, and to foresee transformation is called a sage. To take benevolence as kindness, righteousness as principle, ritual as conduct, music as harmony, and to be warmly compassionate is called a gentleman. To take law as division, names as markers, comparison as verification, examination as decision – the numbers one, two, three, four – this is how the hundred officials are ranked. To take affairs as constant, food and clothing as primary, to multiply and store, to care for the old, weak, orphaned, and widowed, so that all have nourishment – this is the principle of the people.
How complete were the ancients! They matched the spiritual and bright, blended Heaven and Earth, nurtured all things, harmonized the world, and benefited the hundred clans. They understood the root and number and were tied to the branches and measures. The six penetrations and four openings, the small and great, the fine and coarse – their movement was nowhere not present.
What was bright and appeared in numbers and measures: old laws and histories passed down by the world still often preserve it. What lies in the Poetry, History, Ritual, Music, Changes, and Spring and Autumn: the scholars of Zou and Lu and the gentry often can explain it. The Poetry expresses the will; the History describes affairs; the Ritual describes conduct; the Music describes harmony; the Changes describes yin and yang; the Spring and Autumn describes names and duties. Their numbers are scattered through the world and established in the Central States; the hundred schools of the age sometimes praise and speak of them.
When the world is in great disorder, the worthy and sage are not bright, and virtue and the Way are not unified. Many in the world get one insight and take pleasure in it. It is like the ear, eye, nose, and mouth: each has its own clarity, but they cannot communicate. It is like the hundred schools and many crafts: each has its strength, and at times each has its use. Nevertheless, they are not comprehensive, not universal – they are scholars of one corner. They divide the beauty of Heaven and Earth, analyze the principles of all things, and examine the completeness of the ancients. Few can match the beauty of Heaven and Earth or fit the countenance of the spiritual and bright.
Therefore the Way of inner sage and outer king is dark and not bright, blocked and not issued. The people of the world each do what they desire and make their own methods. Sad! The hundred schools go on and do not return; they will surely not come together. The scholars of later ages are unfortunate not to see the purity of Heaven and Earth and the great substance of the ancients. The art of the Way will be split by the world.
Not extravagant toward later generations, not wasteful with all things, not dazzling in numbers and measures, using the plumb line and ink to correct oneself, and preparing for the urgent needs of the age – the ancient art of the Way had something in this. Mo Di and Qin Guli heard its wind and delighted in it. They practiced it too much and stopped too little. They made Condemning Music and named it Economy in Expenditure. In life they did not sing; in death they wore no mourning. Mozi loved all and benefited all, and condemned war. His Way did not anger. He loved learning and was broad; he did not differ, yet he did not agree with the former kings; he destroyed the ancient rituals and music.
The Yellow Emperor had the Xianchi; Yao had the Dazhang; Shun had the Dashao; Yu had the Daxia; Tang had the Dahu; King Wen had the music of the Biyong; King Wu and the Duke of Zhou made the Wu. In ancient mourning ritual, noble and base had their ceremonies, high and low their ranks. The Son of Heaven had seven layers of inner and outer coffin; the feudal lords, five; the great officers, three; the scholars, two. Now Mozi alone would have no singing in life, no mourning in death, a three-inch paulownia coffin without an outer coffin, and he took this as the model. If he taught people this, I fear he did not love them; if he practiced it himself, he certainly did not love himself. This does not yet ruin Mozi’s Way.
Nevertheless: to sing but not sing, to weep but not weep, to be joyful but not joyful – is this really fitting? In life he was diligent; in death he was thin. His Way was greatly harsh. It makes people anxious, makes people sad; his conduct is hard to practice. I fear it cannot be the Way of the sage; it goes against the hearts of the world. The world cannot bear it. Though Mozi alone could bear it, what about the world? Leaving the world behind, he is far from kingship.
Mozi praised and said: “Formerly Yu dammed the floodwaters, opened the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and made the four barbarian regions and the nine provinces communicate. There were three hundred famous mountains, three thousand branch rivers, and countless small ones. Yu himself carried the basket and spade and mingled the rivers of the world nine times. His calves had no fat, his shins had no hair. He was washed by heavy rain and combed by fierce wind, and settled the ten thousand states. Yu was a great sage, yet his body labored for the world like this.” This made later Mohists mostly wear skins and coarse cloth, and use wooden clogs and straw sandals. Day and night they did not rest, taking self-affliction as the extreme. They said: “If one cannot do this, it is not Yu’s Way; one is not worthy to be called a Mohist.”
The disciples of Xiangli Qin, the followers of Wu Hou, and the southern Mohists Ku Huo, Yi Chi, Deng Lingzi and their kind all recited the Mohist Canon, but they were contrary and divergent, and called one another “separate Mohists.” They attacked one another with the debate of hard-white and same-different, and responded with phrases of odd-even and non-opposition. They took the Grand Master as a sage. All wished to be his corpse and hoped to become his successor. To this day it is not settled.
The intention of Mo Di and Qin Guli was right, but their practice was wrong. They would make later Mohists advance only by self-affliction, until their calves had no fat and their shins no hair. This is the height of disorder and the depth of governance. Nevertheless, Mozi was truly a lover of the world. Though one sought him and did not find him, though he was withered and did not give up, he was a talented scholar!
Not entangled in custom, not adorned by things, not careless with others, not jealous of the crowd, wishing for the peace of the world to keep the people alive, and for the nourishment of self and others to be fully sufficient and then stop – this was how they clarified their hearts. The ancient art of the Way had something in this. Song Xing and Yin Wen heard its wind and delighted in it. They made the Cap of Huashan to mark themselves, and took “removing obscurations” as the beginning in dealing with all things. They spoke of the capacity of the heart and named it “the practice of the mind.” They blended and brought joy, and harmonized within the seas. They asked to be established as rulers. When insulted, they were not ashamed. They saved the people from fighting and stopped attacks and war, saving the world from battle. With this they traveled the world, persuading above and teaching below. Though the world did not accept them, they stubbornly talked without giving up. Therefore it is said: above and below grew tired of them, yet they forced themselves to appear.
Nevertheless, they did too much for others and too little for themselves. They said: “Please, let us firmly set aside five pints of rice – that is enough.” The master feared not getting enough to eat; the disciples, though hungry, did not forget the world. Day and night they did not rest. They said: “We must live!” How grand were these saviors of the world! They said: “The gentleman does not make harsh investigations, and does not use his body as a tool for things.” They thought that what did not benefit the world was better left unclarified. They took stopping attacks and ending war as outer, and making desires few and shallow as inner. Their small and great, fine and coarse – their practice reached only this far and stopped.
Public and not partisan, easy and without selfishness, decisive without a master, following things without duplicity, not looking back to thought, not scheming with knowledge, making no choice among things, going along with them – the ancient art of the Way had something in this. Peng Meng, Tian Pian, and Shen Dao heard its wind and delighted in it. They took equalizing all things as the first principle. They said: “Heaven can cover but cannot bear; Earth can bear but cannot cover; the Great Way can encompass but cannot discriminate.” They knew that all things have what is acceptable and what is not. Therefore they said: “If you choose, you are not universal; if you teach, you do not reach all; the Way alone leaves nothing out.”
Therefore Shen Dao discarded knowledge and removed self, and followed what could not be otherwise. He drifted with things and took this as the principle of the Way. He said: “To know what one does not know will thin knowledge and then bring injury near.” He was shameless and without responsibility, and laughed at the world’s honoring of worthies. He was loose and without conduct, and criticized the world’s great sages. He hammered and beat, cut and severed, and turned with things. He set aside right and wrong, seeking only to escape. He did not take knowledge and thought as teachers, did not know before and after, and was merely towering and self-so. He moved only after being pushed; he went only after being dragged. He was like a whirlwind turning, like a feather spinning, like a millstone revolving. Complete and without fault, in movement and stillness without error, he never had guilt. Why? Because things without knowledge have no trouble of establishing self, no burden of using knowledge. Their movement and stillness do not depart from principle, and so to the end they have no praise. Therefore he said: “Reach the state of a thing without knowledge – then there is no use for worthies and sages. A clod does not lose the Way.”
The heroes laughed at him, saying: “Shen Dao’s Way is not the conduct of a living man; it is the principle of a dead man.” It rightly appears strange. Tian Pian was the same. He studied under Peng Meng and got what cannot be taught. Peng Meng’s teacher said: “The ancient men of the Way reached only the point of neither affirming nor denying. Their wind was swift and sudden – how can it be spoken?” They constantly opposed people and were not observed, yet they did not escape being cut off. What they called the Way was not the Way, and what they said was right did not escape being wrong. Peng Meng, Tian Pian, and Shen Dao did not know the Way. Nevertheless, generally speaking, they had all heard something of it.
Taking the root as essence and things as coarse, taking accumulation as insufficiency, calmly dwelling alone with the spiritual and bright – the ancient art of the Way had something in this. Guan Yin and Lao Dan heard its wind and delighted in it. They established it with constant non-being and being, and took the Great One as master. They took weakness, humility, and lowliness as outer, and emptiness and not destroying all things as inner. Guan Yin said: “In oneself, have no dwelling; the forms of things appear of themselves.” His movement was like water; his stillness was like a mirror; his response was like an echo. Vague, as if lost; silent, as if clear. Those who agree with him he harmonizes; those who get he loses. He never preceded others but always followed them.
Lao Dan said: “Know the male, guard the female, and be the ravine of the world. Know the white, guard the black, and be the valley of the world.” Others all took the first; he alone took the last. He said: “Receive the dirt of the world.” Others all took the substantial; he alone took the empty. “Having no store, therefore he had surplus.” Towering, he had surplus. His conduct of himself was slow and not wasteful; he did nothing and laughed at cleverness. Others all sought blessing; he alone bent to preserve wholeness. He said: “If only one escapes blame.” He took depth as root and restraint as bond. He said: “The hard is destroyed; the sharp is blunted.” He was always tolerant with things and did not cut others down. Though not reaching the utmost, Guan Yin and Lao Dan were the broad and great True Men of old!
Vague and formless, changing without constancy – death? life? with Heaven and Earth? with the spiritual and bright going? Vast, where does it go? Sudden, where does it arrive? All things are encompassed, and none is sufficient to be its home. The ancient art of the Way had something in this. Zhuang Zhou heard its wind and delighted in it. With far-fetched sayings, absurd words, and boundless phrases, at times indulging himself without partisanship, he did not show himself in strange ways. He took the world as muddy and could not speak seriously with it. He used goblet words for rambling, weighty words for truth, and imputed words for breadth. Alone he came and went with the spirit of Heaven and Earth, but did not lord over all things. He did not condemn right and wrong, and so dwelt with the vulgar world. His book, though magnificent, is continuous and harmless. His words, though uneven, are strange and worth observing. He was full and could not stop. Above he wandered with the Creator; below he was friends with those who put death and life outside and have no end or beginning. As for his root, it was broad and penetrating, deep and wide; as for his ancestor, he can be said to have been well-ordered and ascended. Nevertheless, in responding to transformation and dissolving things, his principle is inexhaustible; his coming does not peel away. Vague and dark – no one has exhausted him.
Hui Shi had many methods; his books filled five carts. His Way was confused and mixed; his words were not centered. He explicated things, saying: “The greatest has no outside – call it the Great One. The smallest has no inside – call it the Small One. That which has no thickness cannot be accumulated, yet it extends a thousand li. Heaven and Earth are low; mountains and marshes are level. The sun is at noon and already declining; things are born and already dying. Great sameness differs from small sameness – this is called ‘small sameness and difference.’ All things are completely same and completely different – this is called ‘great sameness and difference.’ The south is infinite yet finite. Today I go to Yue and yesterday I arrived. A linked ring can be untied. I know the center of Heaven: north of Yan and south of Yue. Universally love all things; Heaven and Earth are one body.”
Hui Shi took this as great, displayed it to the world, and instructed the debaters. The debaters of the world delighted with him. An egg has hair. A chicken has three feet. Ying has the world. A dog can be a sheep. A horse has eggs. A tadpole has a tail. Fire is not hot. A mountain has a mouth. A wheel does not tread the ground. The eye does not see. Pointing does not reach; reaching does not stop. A turtle is longer than a snake. A square is not square; a compass cannot make a circle. A mortise does not surround a tenon. The shadow of a flying bird has never moved. The swiftness of an arrow has a time of not moving and not stopping. A dog is not a dog. A yellow horse and a black ox are three. A white dog is black. An orphan colt has never had a mother. A one-foot stick, taken half each day, will never be exhausted in ten thousand generations. The debaters responded to Hui Shi with these, and to the end of their lives were never exhausted.
Huan Tuan and Gongsun Long and their kind were debaters. They adorned people’s hearts and changed people’s minds. They could overcome people’s mouths but could not subdue people’s hearts – this was the pen of the debaters. Hui Shi daily used his knowledge to debate with them, and especially made strange things with the world’s debaters – this was his root. Yet Hui Shi’s talk considered himself the most worthy. He said: “How grand are Heaven and Earth! I, Shi, preserve my strength but have no art.” In the south there was a strange man named Huang Liao. He asked why Heaven and Earth do not fall or sink, and the causes of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Hui Shi did not decline but responded, did not think but answered, and explained all things. He spoke without resting, much and without end, yet thought it little, and added strange things. He took opposition to people as reality and wished to overcome others for fame. Therefore he did not fit with the crowd. Weak in virtue, strong in things, his road was narrow. Viewed from the Way of Heaven and Earth, Hui Shi’s ability was like the labor of a mosquito or gadfly. What use was it for things? To fill out the One might still be called better; to value the Way is close. Hui Shi could not use this to quiet himself; he scattered himself among all things and was not satisfied. In the end he made a name for good debate. Alas! Hui Shi’s talent was unrestrained and did not find rest. He chased all things and did not return. It was like using sound to chase an echo, or form racing with its shadow. Sad!
Note
Chapter 33, Tian Xia (“The World” or “Under Heaven”), is the last chapter of the Zhuangzi. It is not a story but a survey of ancient Chinese philosophy. It describes the “art of the Way” (daoshu 道术) as originally whole, then says it was broken into many “one-corner” schools (fangshu 方术). It then reviews major thinkers and schools: Mohists, Song Xing and Yin Wen, Peng Meng, Tian Pian, Shen Dao, Guan Yin and Laozi, Zhuangzi himself, and the sophists, especially Hui Shi. It is one of the most important early sources for Chinese intellectual history.
The chapter is a lament and a map. It laments that the ancient, unified art of the Way has been broken into many partial schools. It maps those schools, praising what is good in each but showing how each is limited. Only Zhuangzi, it suggests, wanders freely with the spirit of Heaven and Earth, using language without being trapped by it. The final portrait of Hui Shi is a warning: brilliant debate without inner peace is like chasing an echo or racing a shadow.
The Warring States Period
A time of political fragmentation and intense philosophical debate. The “hundred schools” competed to advise rulers. This chapter looks back on that diversity and mourns the loss of a unified Way.
Mo Di / Mozi (墨翟)
Founder of Mohism. He taught universal love, condemnation of war, economy, and self-sacrifice. The chapter praises his intention but criticizes his harsh practice.
Qin Guli (禽滑釐)
A leading disciple of Mozi. Mohists practiced extreme frugality, wore coarse clothes, and worked without rest.
Mohist Factions
Xiangli Qin, Wu Hou, Ku Huo, Yi Chi, Deng Lingzi. After Mozi’s death, Mohists split into factions, each claiming to be orthodox. They debated “hard-white” and “same-different.”
Song Xing (宋钘) and Yin Wen (尹文)
Philosophers who taught non-aggression, few desires, and not being ashamed when insulted. They tried to stop wars and harmonize the world. The chapter says they did too much for others and too little for themselves.
Peng Meng (彭蒙), Tian Pian (田骈), Shen Dao (慎到)
Thinkers associated with “equalizing all things” and following the unavoidable. Shen Dao rejected knowledge and self, and drifted like a thing without knowledge. Critics said his Way was “the principle of a dead man.”
Guan Yin (关尹) and Lao Dan / Laozi (老聃 / 老子)
Guan Yin was a Daoist sage, traditionally said to have asked Laozi to write the Daodejing. Laozi is the founder of Daoism. The chapter praises them as “broad and great True Men.”
Zhuang Zhou / Zhuangzi (庄周 / 庄子)
The author-figure. The chapter describes his style: goblet words, weighty words, imputed words; wandering with the spirit of Heaven and Earth; not condemning right and wrong.
Hui Shi / Huizi (惠施 / 惠子)
A logician and friend-rival of Zhuangzi. He wrote five carts of books and loved paradoxes. The chapter praises his talent but says he chased things without return, like form racing its shadow.
Huan Tuan (桓团) and Gongsun Long (公孙龙)
Famous sophists. Gongsun Long is known for the “white horse is not a horse” paradox. They could win arguments but not win hearts.
Huang Liao (黄缭)
A southern thinker who asked Hui Shi about why Heaven and Earth do not fall, and about wind, rain, thunder, and lightning.
Ritual and Music
Confucians valued ritual (li) and music (yue) as tools of moral cultivation and social harmony. Mohists rejected elaborate ritual and music as wasteful. The chapter criticizes Mozi for destroying ancient rituals and music.
Mourning Customs
Ancient Chinese mourning had strict grades: the Son of Heaven had seven layers of coffin, feudal lords five, great officers three, scholars two. Mozi wanted a simple three-inch coffin without outer coffin.
Mohist Self-Sacrifice
Mohists modeled themselves on Yu, who labored until his calves had no fat and his shins no hair. They wore skins, coarse cloth, clogs, and straw sandals, and worked day and night.
Sophists and Paradoxes
The “school of names” (mingjia) loved logical puzzles: “a white horse is not a horse,” “an egg has hair,” “a wheel does not touch the ground.” These were used to sharpen debate but often seemed useless to practical governance.
The Six Classics
The Poetry, History, Ritual, Music, Changes, and Spring and Autumn were the core texts of Confucian learning. The chapter says they preserve aspects of the ancient art of the Way.
The Great One (太一)
A Daoist term for the ultimate unity. Guan Yin and Laozi “took the Great One as master.”
Yin and Yang
The two cosmic forces. The Changes is said to describe them.
“The art of the Way will be split by the world.”
A famous line. It means the original, unified wisdom will fragment into competing schools.
“Inner sage and outer king.”
The ideal of personal realization and effective governance. Later Neo-Confucians used this phrase to describe their goal.
“A clod does not lose the Way.”
Shen Dao’s image: a lump of earth has no knowledge, no self, no ambition – and so it never deviates from the Way.
“The principle of a dead man.”
Critics said Shen Dao’s Way was not for living people but for corpses – because it rejected all feeling, knowledge, and action.
“Know the male, guard the female.”
From the Daodejing. It means embrace humility, receptivity, and lowliness.
“The hard is destroyed; the sharp is blunted.”
A Daoist warning against rigidity and aggression.
“Goblet words, weighty words, imputed words.”
Zhuangzi’s three modes of speech: fluid words that pour out naturally; words of authority; and allegorical words put in others’ mouths.
“A one-foot stick, taken half each day, will never be exhausted.”
A famous paradox of infinite divisibility.
“The shadow of a flying bird has never moved.”
A sophist paradox about motion and rest.
“Form racing with its shadow.”
Zhuangzi’s image for Hui Shi’s futile pursuit of things through debate.
杂篇·天下第三十三
天下之治方术者多矣，皆以其有为不可加矣！古之所谓道术者，果恶乎在？曰：“无乎不在。”曰∶“神何由降？明何由出？”“圣有所生，王有所成，皆原于一。”不离于宗，谓之天人；不离于精，谓之神人；不离于真，谓之至人。以天为宗，以德为本，以道为门，兆于变化，谓之圣人；以仁为恩，以义为理，以礼为行，以乐为和，熏然慈仁，谓之君子；以法为分，以名为表，以参为验，以稽为决，其数一二三四是也，百官以此相齿；以事为常，以衣食为主，蕃息畜藏，老弱孤寡为意，皆有以养，民之理也。古之人其备乎！配神明，醇天地，育万物，和天下，泽及百姓，明于本数，系于末度，六通四辟，小大精粗，其运无乎不在。其明而在数度者，旧法、世传之史尚多有之；其在于《诗》、《书》、《礼》、《乐》者，邹鲁之士、缙绅先生多能明之。《诗》以道志，《书》以道事，《礼》以道行，《乐》以道和，《易》以道阴阳，《春秋》以道名分。其数散于天下而设于中国者，百家之学时或称而道之。
天下大乱，贤圣不明，道德不一。天下多得一察焉以自好。譬如耳目鼻口，皆有所明，不能相通。犹百家众技也，皆有所长，时有所用。虽然，不该不遍，一曲之士也。判天地之美，析万物之理，察古人之全。寡能备于天地之美，称神明之容。是故内圣外王之道，暗而不明，郁而不发，天下之人各为其所欲焉以自为方。悲夫！百家往而不反，必不合矣！后世之学者，不幸不见天地之纯，古人之大体。道术将为天下裂。
不侈于后世，不靡于万物，不晖于数度，以绳墨自矫，而备世之急。古之道术有在于是者，墨翟、禽滑釐闻其风而说之。为之大过，已之大循。作为《非乐》，命之曰《节用》。生不歌，死无服。墨子泛爱兼利而非斗，其道不怒。又好学而博，不异，不与先王同，毁古之礼乐。黄帝有《咸池》，尧有《大章》，舜有《大韶》，禹有《大夏》，汤有《大濩》，文王有辟雍之乐，武王、周公作《武》。古之丧礼，贵贱有仪，上下有等。天子棺椁七重，诸侯五重，大夫三重，士再重。今墨子独生不歌，死不服，桐棺三寸而无椁，以为法式。以此教人，恐不爱人；以此自行，固不爱己。未败墨子道。虽然，歌而非歌，哭而非哭，乐而非乐，是果类乎？其生也勤，其死也薄，其道大觳。使人忧，使人悲，其行难为也。恐其不可以为圣人之道，反天下之心。天下不堪。墨子虽独能任，奈天下何！离于天下，其去王也远矣！墨子称道曰：“昔禹之湮洪水，决江河而通四夷九州也。名山三百，支川三千，小者无数。禹亲自操橐耜而九杂天下之川。腓无跋，胫无毛，沐甚雨，栉疾风，置万国。禹大圣也，而形劳天下也如此。”使后世之墨者，多以裘褐为衣，以屐蹻为服，日夜不休，以自苦为极，曰：“不能如此，非禹之道也，不足谓墨。”相里勤之弟子，五侯之徒，南方之墨者苦获、已齿、邓陵子之属，俱诵《墨经》，而倍谲不同，相谓别墨。以坚白同异之辩相訾，以奇偶不仵之辞相应，以巨子为圣人。皆愿为之尸，冀得为其后世，至今不决。墨翟、禽滑厘之意则是，其行则非也。将使后世之墨者，必以自苦腓无跋、胫无毛相进而已矣。乱之上也，治之下也。虽然，墨子真天下之好也，将求之不得也，虽枯槁不舍也，才士也夫！
不累于俗，不饰于物，不苟于人，不忮于众，愿天下之安宁以活民命，人我之养，毕足而止，以此白心。古之道术有在于是者，宋钘、尹文闻其风而悦之。作为华山之冠以自表，接万物以别宥为始。语心之容，命之曰“心之行”。以聏合欢，以调海内。请欲置之以为主。见侮不辱，救民之斗，禁攻寝兵，救世之战。以此周行天下，上说下教。虽天下不取，强聒而不舍者也。故曰：上下见厌而强见也。虽然，其为人太多，其自为太少，曰：“请欲固置五升之饭足矣。”先生恐不得饱，弟子虽饥，不忘天下，日夜不休。曰：“我必得活哉！”图傲乎救世之士哉！曰：“君子不为苛察，不以身假物。”以为无益于天下者，明之不如已也。以禁攻寝兵为外，以情欲寡浅为内。其小大精粗，其行适至是而止。
公而不党，易而无私，决然无主，趣物而不两，不顾于虑，不谋于知，于物无择，与之俱往。古之道术有在于是者，彭蒙、田骈、慎到闻其风而悦之。齐万物以为首，曰：“天能覆之而不能载之，地能载之而不能覆之，大道能包之而不能辩之。”知万物皆有所可，有所不可。故曰：“选则不遍，教则不至，道则无遗者矣。”是故慎到弃知去己，而缘不得已。泠汰于物，以为道理。曰：“知不知，将薄知而后邻伤之者也。”謑髁无任，而笑天下之尚贤也；纵脱无行，而非天下之大圣；椎拍輐断，与物宛转；舍是与非，苟可以免。不师知虑，不知前后，魏然而已矣。推而后行，曳而后往。若飘风之还，若羽之旋，若磨石之隧，全而无非，动静无过，未尝有罪。是何故？夫无知之物，无建己之患，无用知之累，动静不离于理，是以终身无誉。故曰：“至于若无知之物而已，无用贤圣。夫块不失道。”豪桀相与笑之曰：“慎到之道，非生人之行，而至死人之理。”适得怪焉。田骈亦然，学于彭蒙，得不教焉。彭蒙之师曰：“古之道人，至于莫之是、莫之非而已矣。其风窢然，恶可而言。”常反人，不见观，而不免于魭断。其所谓道非道，而所言之韪不免于非。彭蒙、田骈、慎到不知道。虽然，概乎皆尝有闻者也。
以本为精，以物为粗，以有积为不足，澹然独与神明居。古之道术有在于是者，关尹、老聃闻其风而悦之。建之以常无有，主之以太一。以濡弱谦下为表，以空虚不毁万物为实。关尹曰：“在己无居，形物自著。”其动若水，其静若镜，其应若响。芴乎若亡，寂乎若清。同焉者和，得焉者失。未尝先人而常随人。老聃曰：“知其雄，守其雌，为天下溪；知其白，守其辱，为天下谷。”人皆取先，己独取后。曰：“受天下之垢”。人皆取实，己独取虚。“无藏也故有余”。岿然而有余。其行身也，徐而不费，无为也而笑巧。人皆求福，己独曲全。曰：“苟免于咎”。以深为根，以约为纪。曰：“坚则毁矣，锐则挫矣”。常宽容于物，不削于人。虽未至于极，关尹、老聃乎，古之博大真人哉！
芴漠无形，变化无常，死与？生与？天地并与？神明往与？芒乎何之？忽乎何适？万物毕罗，莫足以归。古之道术有在于是者，庄周闻其风而悦之。以谬悠之说，荒唐之言，无端崖之辞，时恣纵而不傥，不奇见之也。以天下为沈浊，不可与庄语。以卮言为曼衍，以重言为真，以寓言为广。独与天地精神往来，而不敖倪于万物。不谴是非，以与世俗处。其书虽瓌瑋，而连犿无伤也。其辞虽参差，而諔诡可观。彼其充实，不可以已。上与造物者游，而下与外死生、无终始者为友。其于本也，弘大而辟，深闳而肆；其于宗也，可谓稠适而上遂矣。虽然，其应于化而解于物也，其理不竭，其来不蜕，芒乎昧乎，未之尽者。
惠施多方，其书五车，其道舛驳，其言也不中。历物之意，曰：“至大无外，谓之大一；至小无内，谓之小一。无厚，不可积也，其大千里。天与地卑，山与泽平。日方中方睨，物方生方死。大同而与小同异，此之谓‘小同异’；万物毕同毕异，此之谓‘大同异’。南方无穷而有穷。今日适越而昔来。连环可解也。我知天之中央，燕之北、越之南是也。泛爱万物，天地一体也。”惠施以此为大，观于天下而晓辩者，天下之辩者相与乐之。卵有毛。鸡有三足。郢有天下。犬可以为羊。马有卵。丁子有尾。火不热。山出口。轮不蹍地。目不见。指不至，至不绝。龟长于蛇。矩不方，规不可以为圆。凿不围枘。飞鸟之景未尝动也。镞矢之疾，而有不行、不止之时。狗非犬。黄马骊牛三。白狗黑。孤驹未尝有母。一尺之棰，日取其半，万世不竭。辩者以此与惠施相应，终身无穷。桓团、公孙龙辩者之徒，饰人之心，易人之意，能胜人之口，不能服人之心，辩者之囿也。惠施日以其知与之辩，特与天下之辩者为怪，此其柢也。然惠施之口谈，自以为最贤，曰：“天地其壮乎，施存雄而无术。”南方有倚人焉，曰黄缭，问天地所以不坠不陷，风雨雷霆之故。惠施不辞而应，不虑而对，遍为万物说。说而不休，多而无已，犹以为寡，益之以怪，以反人为实，而欲以胜人为名，是以与众不适也。弱于德，强于物，其涂隩矣。由天地之道观惠施之能，其犹一蚊一虻之劳者也。其于物也何庸！夫充一尚可曰愈，贵道几矣！惠施不能以此自宁，散于万物而不厌，卒以善辩为名。惜乎！惠施之才，骀荡而不得，逐万物而不反，是穷响以声，形与影竞走也，悲夫！
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