On the Louse and the Dog蝨犬說
客有謂予曰。昨晚見一不逞男子。以大棒子。椎遊犬而殺者。勢甚可哀。不能無痛心。自是誓不食犬豕之肉矣。予應之曰。昨見有人擁熾爐捫蝨而烘者。予不能無痛心。自誓不復捫蝨矣。客憮然曰。蝨微物也。吾見庬然大物之死。有可哀者。故言之。子以此爲對。豈欺我耶。予曰。凡有血氣者。自黔首至于牛馬猪羊昆蟲螻蟻。其貪生惡死之心。未始不同。豈大者獨惡死。而小則不爾耶。然則犬與蝨之死一也。故擧以爲的對。豈故相欺耶。子不信之。盍齕爾之十指乎。獨拇指痛。而餘則否乎。在一體之中。無大小支節。均有血肉。故其痛則同。況各受氣息者。安有彼之惡死而此之樂乎。子退焉。冥心靜慮。視蝸角如牛角。齊斥鷃爲大鵬。然後吾方與之語道矣。
A guest said to me, 「Last evening I saw a lawless fellow beat a stray dog to death with a great cudgel. The sight of it was so pitiful that I could not but ache at heart. From that moment I have sworn not to eat the flesh of dog or swine.」
I answered him, 「Yesterday I saw a man hugging a blazing brazier, picking lice and roasting them. I could not but ache at heart, and I swore to myself never to pick lice again.」
The guest was taken aback and said, 「A louse is a trifling thing. I spoke because I had seen a great hulking creature die, and there was something in it to pity. You answer me with this — how is it not a mocking of me?」
I said, 「Of all that have blood and breath, from the common people down to ox and horse, pig and sheep, insects, mole crickets and ants, the heart that covets life and hates death has never from the first been different. How should the great alone hate death, and the small not? If that is so, the death of a dog and the death of a louse are one. Therefore I raised it as an exactly fitting answer; how should it be a deliberate deceiving of one another? If you cannot believe it, why do you not bite your ten fingers? Will the thumb alone hurt, and the rest not? Being within one body, with no distinction of great or small branch or joint, they have blood and flesh alike, and so their pain is the same. How much more, when each has received its own breath and air — how should that one hate death and this one delight in it? Withdraw, still your mind and settle your thoughts; look on a snail's horn as on an ox's horn, and reckon the little quail equal to the great Peng bird. Only then shall I at last speak with you of the Way.」