A Disputation on Madness狂辨
世之人皆言居士之狂。居士非狂也。凡言居士之狂者。此豈狂之尤甚者乎。彼且聞之歟。視之歟。居士之狂何似乎。裸身跣足。其水火是軼乎。傷齒血吻。其沙石是齧乎。仰而詬天咄咄乎。俯而叱地勃勃乎。散髮而號喝乎。脫褌而奔突乎。冬而不知其寒乎。夏而不知其熱乎。捉風乎。捕月乎。有此則已。苟無焉。何謂之狂哉。噫。世之人當閑處平居。容貌言語人如也。冠帶服飾人如也。及一且臨官莅公。手一也而上下無常。心一也而反側不同。倒目易聰。質移西東。眩亂相蒙。不知復乎中。卒至喪轡失軌。僵仆顚躓然後已。此則外能儼然。而內實狂者也。玆狂也不甚於向之軼水火齧沙石之類耶。噫世之人。多有此狂。而不能救己也。又何假笑居士之狂哉。居士非狂也。狂其迹而正其意者也。
All the people of the world say that the Hermit is mad. The Hermit is not mad. Indeed, are not those who say the Hermit is mad themselves the ones whose madness is the worse? Do they say it from hearing, or from seeing? What was the Hermit's madness like? Did he strip his body and walk barefoot in and out of water and fire? Did he break his teeth and bleed at the mouth from chewing sand and stones? Did he look up and curse heaven and click his tongue? Did he bend down and curse the earth and fly into a rage? Did he loose his hair and shriek? Did he take off his drawers and run? Did he not know the cold even in winter? Did he not know the heat even in summer? Did he catch at the wind? Did he clutch at the moon? If there were such things, so be it; but if truly there were none, how should one call him mad?
Ah, the people of the world, while they are idle and at their ordinary business, have faces and words like other men, and caps and belts and dress like other men. But let them once come to office and take charge of public affairs, and though the hand is one its raising and lowering has no constancy, and though the heart is one its turnings are not the same. They roll their eyes and change their ears, and their ground shifts now west, now east; confusedly they cover one another over and know no way back to the middle. At last they lose the reins and run off the track, and do not stop until they have stumbled and fallen and been overthrown. These are the men who are stately on the outside but in truth mad within. Is not this madness worse than that of the company spoken of before, who go in and out of water and fire and chew sand and stones?
Ah, the people of the world hold much of this madness and cannot rescue themselves from it. How then do they borrow the Hermit's madness to laugh at? The Hermit is not mad. He is one who makes his traces mad and his intent upright.