Horses' Hooves莊子 外篇 馬蹄
1Bo Le manages horses
馬，蹄可以踐霜雪，毛可以禦風寒，齕草飲水，翹足而陸，此馬之真性也，雖有義臺路寢，无所用之。及至伯樂，曰：「我善治馬。」燒之剔之，刻之雒之，連之以羈馽，編之以皁棧，馬之死者十二三矣；飢之渴之，馳之驟之，整之齊之，前有橛飾之患，而後有鞭筴之威，而馬之死者已過半矣。陶者曰：「我善治埴，圓者中規，方者中矩。」匠人曰：「我善治木，曲者中鉤，直者應繩。」夫埴木之性，豈欲中規矩鉤繩哉？然且世世稱之曰「伯樂善治馬，而陶匠善治埴木」，此亦治天下者之過也。
A horse can tread frost and snow with its hooves and keep off wind and cold with its hair. It crops the grass and drinks the water, and it lifts its feet and leaps about. This is the true nature of a horse. Though there be a high terrace and a great hall, it has no use for them.
Then came Bo Le, who said, "I am good at managing horses." He singed them and clipped them, he pared their hooves and branded them, he joined them with halter and tether, he ranged them in stall and stable, and two or three horses in ten were dead. He made them hungry and thirsty, he made them gallop and race, he set them straight and in line, and with the trouble of the bit and the headstall before them and the threat of the whip behind them, more than half the horses were dead already.
The potter says, "I am good at managing clay. What is round meets the compass, and what is square meets the carpenter's square." The carpenter says, "I am good at managing wood. What is curved meets the hook, and what is straight answers the marking line."
Is it the nature of clay and wood to wish to meet compass and square and hook and line? And yet age after age they are praised, and it is said, "Bo Le is good at managing horses, and the potter and the carpenter are good at managing clay and wood." This too is the fault of those who govern the world.
2The age of utmost virtue — plain and simple
吾意善治天下者不然。彼民有常性，織而衣，耕而食，是謂同德；一而不黨，命曰天放。故至德之世，其行填填，其視顛顛。當是時也，山无蹊隧，澤无舟梁；萬物羣生，連屬其鄉；禽獸成羣，草木遂長。是故禽獸可係羈而遊，鳥鵲之巢可攀援而闚。夫至德之世，同與禽獸居，族與萬物並，惡乎知君子小人哉！同乎无知，其德不離；同乎无欲，是謂素樸，素樸而民性得矣。及至聖人，蹩躠爲仁，踶跂爲義，而天下始疑矣；澶漫爲樂，擿僻爲禮，而天下始分矣。故純樸不殘，孰爲犧樽？白玉不毀，孰爲珪璋？道德不廢，安取仁義？性情不離，安用禮樂？五色不亂，孰爲文采？五聲不亂，孰應六律？
To my mind one who is good at governing the world is not like this.
The people have a nature that is constantly so. They weave and are clothed, they plow and are fed, and this is called sharing one virtue. They are one and do not take sides, and this is called being set loose by heaven.
So in the age of utmost virtue their walk was unhurried and their gaze was steady. In that time there were no paths and no tunnels in the mountains, and no boats and no bridges on the marshes. The ten thousand things lived in their flocks, and their villages ran on one into another. The birds and the beasts made their herds, and the grass and the trees grew as they would. So a bird or a beast could be led about on a string, and one could climb to a magpie's nest and look in.
In the age of utmost virtue men lived together with the birds and the beasts, and they flocked side by side with the ten thousand things, and how would they have known a gentleman from a small man? Alike in having no knowing, they did not depart from their virtue. Alike in having no wanting, they were what is called plain and simple, and being plain and simple the people had their own nature.
Then came the sage, limping after benevolence and straining on tiptoe after rightness, and the world began to doubt. Music was made in loose excess and rites were made in petty detail, and the world began to split apart.
So if the uncut block were not broken, who would make the wine vessel? If the white jade were not ruined, who would make the gui and the zhang? If the Way and virtue were not thrown away, where would benevolence and rightness be taken from? If nature and what is true in it were not departed from, what use would there be for rites and music? If the five colors were not muddled, who would make patterns? If the five notes were not muddled, who would match the six pitches?
3The crime of breaking the uncut block to make vessels
夫殘樸以爲器，工匠之罪也；毀道德以爲仁義，聖人之過也。夫馬，陸居則食草飲水，喜則交頸相靡，怒則分背相踶，馬知已此矣。夫加之以衡扼，齊之以月題，而馬知介倪、闉枙、騺曼、詭銜、竊轡。故馬之知而能至盜者，伯樂之罪也。夫赫胥氏之時，民居不知所爲，行不知所之，含哺而熙，鼓腹而遊，民能以此矣。及至聖人，屈折禮樂以匡天下之形，縣跂仁義以慰天下之心，而民乃始踶跂好知，爭歸於利，不可止也。此亦聖人之過也。
To break the uncut block and make vessels of it is the crime of the carpenter. To ruin the Way and virtue and make benevolence and rightness of them is the fault of the sage.
A horse living on dry land eats grass and drinks water. When it is pleased it lays its neck against another's and rubs. When it is angry it turns its back and kicks. The knowing of a horse stops here.
But put the yoke and the crossbar on it and line it up with the moon-shaped brow piece, and the horse learns to snap the axle, to push off the yoke, to throw off the cover, to spit out the bit, and to slip the halter. So that the knowing of a horse has come to thieving is the crime of Bo Le.
In the time of the Hexu clan the people lived and did not know what they were doing, and they walked and did not know where they were going. With food in their mouths they were merry, and they drummed on their bellies and wandered about. This was all the people could do.
Then came the sage, bending the body to rites and music to set straight the shape of the world, and hanging benevolence and rightness up on high to comfort the heart of the world, and the people began to strain on tiptoe after knowing and to race after gain, and it could not be stopped. This too is the fault of the sage.