Webbed Toes莊子 外篇 駢拇
1The joined toe and the added finger
駢拇枝指，出乎性哉，而侈於德；附贅縣疣，出乎形哉，而侈於性。多方乎仁義而用之者，列於五藏哉，而非道德之正也。是故駢於足者，連无用之肉也；枝於手者，樹无用之指也；多方駢枝於五藏之情者，淫僻於仁義之行，而多方於聰明之用也。是故駢於明者，亂五色，淫文章，青黃黼黻之煌煌，非乎？而離朱是已。多於聰者，亂五聲，淫六律，金石絲竹、黃鍾大呂之聲，非乎？而師曠是已。枝於仁者，擢德塞性以收名聲，使天下簧鼓，以奉不及之法，非乎？而曾、史是已。駢於辯者，纍瓦、結繩、竄句，遊心於堅白同異之間，而敝跬譽无用之言，非乎？而楊、墨是已。故此皆多駢旁枝之道，非天下之至正也。
The joined toe and the added finger come out of nature, but they are too much for virtue. The clinging wen and the hanging wart come out of the body, but they are too much for nature. One who draws benevolence and rightness out in many directions and puts them to use has set them out among the five organs, but this is not the correctness of the Way and virtue.
So what is joined on the foot is a stretch of useless flesh, and what is added on the hand is a useless finger set up there. One who joins and adds in many directions to what is true in the five organs falls too deep into the practice of benevolence and rightness, and runs over in many directions in the use of ear and eye.
So one who has sight joined on muddles the five colors and goes too far in pattern, until the blue and the yellow embroidery dazzles. Is it not so? Li Zhu is such a one.
One who has hearing to excess muddles the five notes and goes too far in the six pitches, sounding metal and stone and silk and bamboo, the notes of Huangzhong and Dalü. Is it not so? Shi Kuang is such a one.
One who has benevolence added on plucks out virtue and blocks up nature to gather in a name, and makes the world blow its reed pipes and beat its drums to honor a rule it cannot reach. Is it not so? Zeng Shen and Shi Qiu are such men.
One who has argument joined on piles up tiles and knots cords and dresses up phrases, letting his mind wander between hard and white, same and different, wearing himself out with useless words for half a step of praise. Is it not so? Yang Zhu and Mo Di are such men.
So all of these are ways of joining on and branching out in many directions, and they are not the utmost correctness of the world.
2The duck's legs are short, but to piece them out is a worry
彼正正者，不失其性命之情，故合者不爲駢，而枝者不爲跂；長者不爲有餘，短者不爲不足。是故鳧脛雖短，續之則憂；鶴脛雖長，斷之則悲。故性長非所斷，性短非所續，无所去憂也。意仁義其非人情乎？彼仁人何其多憂也？且夫駢於拇者，決之則泣；枝於手者，齕之則啼。二者或有餘於數，或不足於數，其於憂一也。今世之仁人，蒿目而憂世之患；不仁之人，決性命之情而饕貴富。故意仁義其非人情乎！自三代以下者，天下何其囂囂也！且夫待鉤繩規矩而正者，是削其性也；待繩約膠漆而固者，是侵其德也；屈折禮樂，呴俞仁義，以慰天下之心者，此失其常然也。天下有常然。常然者，曲者不以鉤，直者不以繩，圓者不以規，方者不以矩，附離不以膠漆，約束不以纆索。故天下誘然皆生，而不知其所以生；同焉皆得，而不知其所以得。故古今不二，不可虧也，則仁義又奚連連如膠漆纆索而遊乎道德之間爲哉，使天下惑也！
What is truly correct does not lose what is true in its nature and its fate. So what is joined is not called joined, and what is branched is not called branched, and what is long is not called too much, and what is short is not called too little.
So the legs of the duck are short, but to piece them out makes worry, and the legs of the crane are long, but to cut them makes grief. So what nature made long is not to be cut, and what nature made short is not to be pieced out, and there is nowhere for worry to be taken away.
It seems that benevolence and rightness are not what is true in man. Those benevolent men, how is it that they have so many worries?
And one whose big toe is joined weeps when it is cut apart, and one who has an added finger on his hand cries when it is bitten off. Of these two, the one has more than the number and the other less than the number, but in their worry they are one.
The benevolent men of this age strain their eyes and grieve over the troubles of the world, and the men who are not benevolent cut into what is true in their nature and their fate and gorge on honor and wealth. It seems, then, that benevolence and rightness are not what is true in man. From the Three Dynasties down, how is it that the world has been so full of clamor?
And what waits for the hook and the marking line and the compass and the square to be made straight is having its nature pared away. What waits for cord and glue and lacquer to be made firm is having its virtue broken into. To bend the body to rites and music, and to coax with benevolence and rightness, and so to comfort the heart of the world, is to lose what is constantly so.
The world has what is constantly so. In what is constantly so, the curved is not curved by the hook, the straight is not straight by the marking line, the round is not round by the compass, and the square is not square by the carpenter's square. What clings is not made to cling by glue and lacquer, and what is bound is not bound by cord.
So the world is drawn along and all things live, and they do not know why they live. Together they all get what they get, and they do not know why they get it. So the old and the present are not two, and this cannot be worn away. Then why do benevolence and rightness go on joining like glue and lacquer and cord, wandering between the Way and virtue, and making the world confused?
3Zang and Gu both lose their sheep
夫小惑易方，大惑易性。何以知其然邪？自虞氏招仁義以撓天下也，天下莫不奔命於仁義。是非以仁義易其性與？故嘗試論之：自三代以下者，天下莫不以物易其性矣。小人則以身殉利，士則以身殉名，大夫則以身殉家，聖人則以身殉天下。故此數子者，事業不同，名聲異號，其於傷性以身爲殉，一也。臧與穀，二人相與牧羊，而俱亡其羊。問臧奚事，則挾筴讀書；問穀奚事，則博塞以遊。二人者，事業不同，其於亡羊，均也。伯夷死名於首陽之下，盜跖死利於東陵之上。二人者，所死不同，其於殘生傷性，均也，奚必伯夷之是而盜跖之非乎？天下盡殉也。彼其所殉仁義也，則俗謂之君子；其所殉貨財也，則俗謂之小人。其殉一也，則有君子焉，有小人焉。若其殘生損性，則盜跖亦伯夷已，又惡取君子小人於其間哉！
A small confusion changes your direction, and a great confusion changes your nature. How do I know it is so? Ever since the Yu clan called up benevolence and rightness and stirred the world with them, there is no one in the world who does not run for his life after benevolence and rightness. Is this not changing one's nature by benevolence and rightness?
So let me try to set it out. From the Three Dynasties down there is no one in the world who has not changed his nature for some thing. The small man gives up his body for gain. The scholar gives up his body for a name. The great officer gives up his body for his house. The sage gives up his body for the world. So these several men differ in their work and in what they do, and they go by different names, but in harming their nature and giving up their bodies they are one.
Zang and Gu, the two of them, were herding sheep together, and both of them lost their sheep. Zang was asked what he had been at, and he had been carrying his slips and reading a book. Gu was asked what he had been at, and he had been throwing dice and playing. The two of them were at different things, but in losing their sheep they were the same.
Bo Yi died for a name at the foot of Mount Shouyang, and Robber Zhi died for gain on top of Dongling. The two of them died for different things, but in harming their lives and wounding their nature they were the same. Why must Bo Yi be the right one and Robber Zhi the wrong one?
The whole world gives itself up. When what a man gives himself up for is benevolence and rightness, the age calls him a gentleman. When what he gives himself up for is goods and wealth, the age calls him a small man. The giving up is one, and yet there is a gentleman and there is a small man. Reckoned by the harming of life and the wearing away of nature, Robber Zhi is only another Bo Yi, and how are a gentleman and a small man to be picked out between them?
Interlinear notes 1
則挾筴讀書
筴 — read here as bamboo writing slips, that is, a book. It is also read as a whip for herding sheep. ― translator
4The man who does not get his own getting
且夫屬其性乎仁義者，雖通如曾、史，非吾所謂臧也；屬其性於五味，雖通如俞兒，非吾所謂臧也；屬其性乎五聲，雖通如師曠，非吾所謂聰也；屬其性乎五色，雖通如離朱，非吾所謂明也。吾所謂臧，非仁義之謂也，臧於其德而已矣；吾所謂臧者，非所謂仁義之謂也，任其性命之情而已矣；吾所謂聰者，非謂其聞彼也，自聞而已矣；吾所謂明者，非謂其見彼也，自見而已矣。夫不自見而見彼，不自得而得彼者，是得人之得而不自得其得者也，適人之適而不自適其適者也。夫適人之適而不自適其適，雖盜跖與伯夷，是同爲淫僻也。余愧乎道德，是以上不敢爲仁義之操，而下不敢爲淫僻之行也。
And one who fastens his nature to benevolence and rightness is not what I call good, though he go through them as Zeng Shen and Shi Qiu did. One who fastens his nature to the five flavors is not what I call good, though he go through them as Yu Er did. One who fastens his nature to the five notes is not what I call keen of hearing, though he go through them as Shi Kuang did. One who fastens his nature to the five colors is not what I call clear of sight, though he go through them as Li Zhu did.
What I call good is not benevolence and rightness. It is only to be good in one's own virtue. What I call good is not what is called benevolence and rightness. It is only to trust to what is true in one's nature and one's fate. What I call keen of hearing is not hearing that other thing. It is only hearing oneself. What I call clear of sight is not seeing that other thing. It is only seeing oneself.
One who does not see himself but sees that other thing, who does not get himself but gets that other thing, is a man who gets what others get and does not get his own getting, a man who fits what others fit and does not fit his own fitting.
And if a man fits what others fit and does not fit his own fitting, then whether he be Robber Zhi or Bo Yi, he has fallen too deep just the same. I am ashamed before the Way and virtue, so above I do not dare to hold to benevolence and rightness, and below I do not dare to act in ways that fall too deep.