Yielding the Throne莊子 雜篇 讓王

Yao tried to hand the world over to Xu You, and Xu You would not take it. He tried to hand it to Zizhou Zhifu, and Zizhou Zhifu said, "To make me Son of Heaven would be well enough. Even so, I happen to have a deep and anxious illness. I am about to put it in order, and I have no leisure to put the world in order."

The world is the weightiest thing there is, yet he would not harm his life with it. How much less with anything else! Only the man who will do nothing with the world can be trusted with the world.

Shun tried to hand the world over to Zizhou Zhibo, and Zizhou Zhibo said, "I happen to have a deep and anxious illness. I am about to put it in order, and I have no leisure to put the world in order."

So the world is a great vessel, yet it is not traded for life. This is how the man who has the Way differs from the common run.

Shun tried to hand the world over to Shan Juan, and Shan Juan said, "I stand in the midst of Heaven and earth. In winter I wear furs and hides, in summer I wear hemp cloth. In spring I plow and sow, and my body is strong enough for the labor. In autumn I gather in, and my body has enough to rest and eat.

When the sun rises I work, when the sun sets I rest. I wander between Heaven and earth, and my heart has enough of its own. What would I do with the world? How sad that you do not know me!"

In the end he would not take it. Then he left and went deep into the mountains, and no one knew where he was.

Shun tried to hand the world over to his friend, the farmer of Shihu. The farmer of Shihu said, "How he toils and toils, this man who is our lord! He is a scholar who piles up effort."

He held that the virtue of Shun had not yet arrived. Then the husband carried their goods on his back and the wife carried hers on her head, and they led their son away into the sea and never came back as long as they lived.

Great King Danfu was living in Bin when the Di people attacked him. He served them with hides and silk, and they would not take it. He served them with dogs and horses, and they would not take it. He served them with pearls and jade, and they would not take it. What the Di people sought was land.

Great King Danfu said, "To live with a man's elder brother and kill his younger brother, to live with a man's father and kill his son — I cannot bear it. All of you, make your lives here. What difference is there between being my subject and being a subject of the Di? And I have heard it said that one does not harm what is nourished by means of what is used to nourish it."

Then he took up his staff and left the place. The people followed him one after another, and in the end they made a state at the foot of Mount Qi.

Great King Danfu may be said to have known how to honor life. One who knows how to honor life does not wound his body with his nourishment, however honored and rich he may be; nor does he bind his body with profit, however poor and low he may be.

The men of this age who hold high office and noble rank all count it a heavy thing to lose them, and when they see profit they hold the loss of their own bodies light. Is this not a confusion?

The men of Yue killed their ruler for three generations running. Prince Sou, troubled by this, fled to the cave of Danxue. Yue was left without a ruler, and they searched for Prince Sou and could not find him, until they followed him to Danxue. Prince Sou would not come out, so the men of Yue smoked him out with burning mugwort and set him in the royal carriage.

Prince Sou took hold of the mounting cord, climbed into the carriage, looked up to Heaven and cried out, "A ruler! A ruler! Could you not have left me alone?"

Prince Sou did not hate being a ruler. He hated the cares of being a ruler. One like Prince Sou may be said not to have wounded his life for the sake of a state, and this was the very reason the men of Yue wanted him for their ruler.

Han and Wei were fighting each other over invaded land. Zihuazi had an audience with Marquis Zhaoxi, and there was a troubled look on the marquis's face.

Zihuazi said, "Suppose the world set an inscription before you, my lord, and the writing said, 'Grasp this with the left hand and you lose your right hand; grasp it with the right hand and you lose your left hand. Yet whoever grasps it is certain to gain the world.' Would you grasp it, my lord?"

Marquis Zhaoxi said, "I would not grasp it."

Zihuazi said, "Very good. Seen in this way, two arms weigh more than the world, and the body weighs more than two arms.

Han is far lighter than the world, and what you are now fighting over is far lighter than Han. Yet you insist on grieving your body and wounding your life in sorrow over what you cannot get."

Marquis Xi said, "Good! Many have taught me, but I have never heard words like these."

Zihuazi may be said to have known light from heavy.

The ruler of Lu heard that Yan He was a man who had gained the Way, and he sent someone ahead with gifts. Yan He was keeping to a shabby lane, wearing coarse hemp cloth and feeding an ox himself.

The messenger of the ruler of Lu arrived, and Yan He met him in person. The messenger said, "Is this the house of Yan He?" Yan He answered, "This is the house of He."

The messenger offered the gifts, and Yan He answered, "I am afraid that the one who heard it heard wrong and that you would take the blame for it. It would be better to look into the matter."

The messenger went back, looked into it, and came again to seek him, but he could not be found. So a man like Yan He truly hated riches and honor.

Therefore it is said: order the body with the truth of the Way, tend state and family with what remains of it, and order the world with its dregs.

Seen in this way, the merit of emperors and kings is the leftover business of the sage, and it is not what makes the body whole and nourishes life. The gentlemen of the world today mostly endanger their bodies and throw away their lives to die chasing after things. Is this not sad?

Whenever the sage moves, he is sure to look at where he is going and at what he is doing. Suppose there were a man here who shot at a sparrow a thousand fathoms up with the pearl of the Marquis of Sui. The world would surely laugh at him. Why is this? Because what he used was weighty and what he sought was light. And life — is it only as weighty as the pearl of the Marquis of Sui?

Liezi was poor, and there was the look of hunger in his face. A guest spoke of it to Ziyang of Zheng and said, "Lie Yukou is surely a scholar who has the Way. He lives in your state, my lord, and he is poor. Does this not make it look as though you do not care for scholars?"

Ziyang of Zheng at once ordered an officer to send him grain. Liezi saw the messenger, bowed twice, and declined.

The messenger left, and Liezi came inside. His wife looked at him, beat her breast and said, "I have heard that the wife and children of a man who has the Way all live in ease and joy. Now there is the look of hunger in our faces. The ruler took notice and sent you food, sir, and you would not take it. Is this not our fate?"

Liezi laughed and said to her, "The ruler did not come to know me himself. He sent me grain on another man's word. When it comes to punishing me, he will do that on another man's word too. This is why I did not take it."

In the end the people did indeed rise in revolt and kill Ziyang.

When King Zhao of Chu lost his state, Yue the sheep butcher fled and followed King Zhao. When King Zhao came back to his state, he was about to reward those who had followed him, and he came to Yue the sheep butcher.

Yue the sheep butcher said, "When my great king lost his state, I lost my sheep butchering. When my great king came back to his state, I came back to my sheep butchering. Your servant's rank and pay have already come back to him. What reward should there be besides?"

The king said, "Press it on him."

Yue the sheep butcher said, "That my great king lost his state was not your servant's fault, and so I did not venture to take the punishment for it. That my great king came back to his state was not your servant's merit, and so I do not venture to take the reward for it."

The king said, "Bring him to me."

Yue the sheep butcher said, "By the law of Chu, a man must have great merit deserving a heavy reward before he may be received. Now your servant's knowledge was not enough to preserve the state, and his courage was not enough to die fighting the enemy.

When the army of Wu entered Ying, I feared the danger and kept away from the enemy. I did not follow my great king on purpose. Now my great king wishes to set aside the law and break the covenant in order to receive me. This is not how your servant wishes to be known in the world."

The king said to Ziqi, the minister of war, "Yue the sheep butcher dwells in a low and humble place, yet he sets out what is right very high. Receive him for me with the rank of the three banners."

Yue the sheep butcher said, "I know that the rank of the three banners is nobler than a sheep-butcher's stall. I know that a salary of ten thousand zhong is richer than what sheep butchering earns.

But how could I covet rank and pay and let my ruler bear the name of one who gives at random? I do not venture to take it. I wish to go back to my sheep-butcher's stall."

In the end he would not take it.

Yuan Xian lived in Lu. His room was a hut of four bare walls roofed with living grass. The door of woven weeds was not whole, and a mulberry branch served as its hinge. Two rooms had windows made of broken jars, stopped up with coarse cloth. It leaked above and was damp below, and there he sat straight and played the zither.

Zigong came riding a great horse, wearing dark blue within and white without, and his high carriage would not go into the lane. He went to see Yuan Xian, and Yuan Xian came to the door to meet him in a cap of birch bark and backless shoes, leaning on a staff of goosefoot wood.

Zigong said, "Ah! Sir, what illness is this?"

Yuan Xian answered him, "I have heard that to lack goods is called poverty, and to learn and not be able to act is called illness. Now I am poor. I am not ill."

Zigong drew back in hesitation, and there was shame in his face.

Yuan Xian laughed and said, "To act with an eye to the age, to make friends in cliques, to learn in order to show it to others and to teach in order to serve oneself, to hide wickedness behind benevolence and right conduct, to deck out carriages and horses — these I cannot bring myself to do."

Zengzi lived in Wei. His quilted coat had no outer cloth, his face was swollen, and his hands and feet were callused. For three days he lit no fire, and for ten years he made no clothes. When he set his cap straight the strings broke, when he pulled at his collar his elbow showed, and when he put on his shoes the heels split.

Dragging his shoes he sang the Hymns of Shang, and the sound filled Heaven and earth like the sound of metal and stone. The Son of Heaven could not make him a subject, and the feudal lords could not make him a friend.

So he who nourishes his will forgets the body, he who nourishes the body forgets profit, and he who reaches the Way forgets the mind.

Confucius said to Yan Hui, "Hui, come here. Your family is poor and your place is low. Why do you not take office?"

Yan Hui answered, "I do not wish to take office. I have fifty mu〔畝, an old measure of field area〕 of field outside the wall, enough to supply my gruel, and ten mu inside the wall, enough to supply silk and hemp. Playing the zither is enough to please me, and the Way I have learned from you, master, is enough to make me glad. I do not wish to take office."

Confucius changed countenance with feeling and said, "How good is Hui's meaning! I have heard it said, 'He who knows what is enough does not bind himself with profit. He who has looked into what he has gained in himself is not afraid when he loses it. He who has trained his conduct within is not ashamed to be without a post.'

I have recited these words a long while, and only now, in Hui, do I see them. This is my own gain."

Prince Mou of Zhongshan said to Zhanzi, "My body is out by the rivers and seas, but my heart stays below the palace gates of Wei. What am I to do?"

Zhanzi said, "Hold life heavy. Hold life heavy and profit grows light."

Prince Mou of Zhongshan said, "I know it, but I am not yet able to master myself."

Zhanzi said, "If you cannot master yourself, then follow. Will your spirit hate it? To be unable to master yourself and yet to force yourself not to follow is called a double wound. Men with a double wound are not among the long lived."

Wei Mou was a prince of a state of ten thousand chariots. For him to hide in a cave in the cliffs was harder than it would have been for a scholar in hemp clothes. Though he did not reach the Way, he may be said to have had the will for it.

Confucius was in straits between Chen and Cai. For seven days he ate no cooked food, and his goosefoot soup had not a grain of rice in it. His face was worn out, yet in his room he played the zither and sang.

Yan Hui was picking over vegetables, and Zilu and Zigong said to each other, "The master was driven out of Lu twice, his traces were wiped out in Wei, a tree was felled over him in Song, he was in straits in Shang and Zhou, and he was besieged between Chen and Cai. To kill the master is no crime, and to trample the master is forbidden to no one. Yet he plays the zither and sings and has never once let the sound stop. Can a gentleman be as shameless as this?"

Yan Hui had nothing to answer, and he went in and told Confucius. Confucius pushed the zither away, sighed deeply and said, "You and Si are small men. Call them here. I will speak to them."

Zilu and Zigong came in. Zilu said, "This much may surely be called being in straits."

Confucius said, "What kind of talk is this? For a gentleman, to go through in the Way is called going through, and to be in straits in the Way is called being in straits. Now I embrace the Way of benevolence and right conduct and have met the troubles of a disordered age. What straits are these?

So I look within and am not in straits in the Way, and I face hardship and do not lose my virtue. Only when the cold has already come and the frost and snow have already fallen do I know that the pine and the cypress stay green. This narrow pass between Chen and Cai is good fortune for me."

Confucius quietly took up the zither again, played and sang, and Zilu took hold of a shield with spirit and danced. Zigong said, "I did not know how high Heaven is and how low the earth."

The men of old who gained the Way were glad when they were in straits and glad when they went through. What they were glad in was not the straits or the going through. Where the Way and its virtue are present, straits and going through become the turning of cold and heat, of wind and rain. So Xu You took his pleasure north of the Ying River, and Gongbo found what he sought on Mount Gongshou.

Shun tried to hand the world over to his friend Beiren Wuze, and Beiren Wuze said, "How strange a man our lord is! He lived among the furrows and then wandered to the gate of Yao.

Not only that, he now wants to smear me with his shameful conduct. I am ashamed to look at him."

Then he threw himself into the deeps of Qingling.

Tang was about to attack Jie, and he took counsel with Bian Sui. Bian Sui said, "It is no business of mine."

Tang said, "Who would do?"

He said, "I do not know."

Tang also took counsel with Wu Guang, and Wu Guang said, "It is no business of mine."

Tang said, "Who would do?"

He said, "I do not know."

Tang said, "What about Yi Yin?"

He said, "He is strong by force and bears disgrace. Of the rest I know nothing."

Tang then planned with Yi Yin, attacked Jie and overcame him, and tried to hand the throne to Bian Sui.

Bian Sui declined and said, "When our lord attacked Jie he took counsel with me, so he must have taken me for a robber. Having beaten Jie he hands the throne to me, so he must take me for a greedy man.

I was born into a disordered age, and a man without the Way has now come twice to smear me with his shameful conduct. I cannot bear to hear it again and again."

Then he threw himself into the Chou River and died.

Tang then tried to hand the throne to Wu Guang and said, "The wise plan it, the brave carry it out, and the benevolent sit in it. This is the way of old. Why do you not take the place, sir?"

Wu Guang declined and said, "To depose the one above is not right conduct. To kill the people is not benevolence. For another to brave the danger while I enjoy the profit is not clean.

I have heard it said, 'He does not take the pay of what is not right, and in an age without the Way he does not tread its soil.' How much less should I be raised up! I cannot bear to look at this any longer."

Then he took up a stone on his back and sank himself in the Lu River.

Long ago, when Zhou was rising, there were two scholars living in Guzhu named Bo Yi and Shu Qi. The two of them said to each other, "I have heard that there is a man in the west who seems to have the Way. Let us go and look at him."

They came to the south of Mount Qi. King Wu heard of it and sent his younger brother Dan to meet them. Dan swore a covenant with them saying, "Your wealth shall be raised two grades and you shall be placed in the first rank of office." He smeared the blood of the victim on it and buried it.

The two looked at each other and laughed, and said, "Ah, how strange! This is not what I call the Way.

Long ago, when Shennong held the world, he offered the sacrifices of the seasons with full reverence and did not pray for blessings. Toward people he was loyal and true and gave them full order, and he sought nothing from them. He was glad to govern together with others and so governed; he was glad to order together with others and so ordered. He did not make himself whole out of another's ruin. He did not make himself high out of another's lowness. He did not turn the times he met to his own profit.

Now Zhou has seen the disorder of Yin and has hurried to take up government. Above, they plan; below, they hand out goods. They lean on arms and guard their power. They cut up the victim and swear covenants to make themselves trusted. They show off their conduct to please the crowd. They kill and attack to seek profit. This is pushing away disorder and trading violence for it.

I have heard that the scholars of old, when they met an ordered age, did not avoid their charge, and when they met a disordered age, did not try to stay alive at any cost. Now the world is dark and the virtue of Yin has waned. Rather than stand beside Zhou and soil my body, it is better to keep away and keep my conduct clean."

The two of them went north to Mount Shouyang, and there in the end they starved to death.

Men like Bo Yi and Shu Qi would surely not have leaned on riches and honor even if they could truly have had them. With lofty principle and conduct apart from others, they took pleasure in their own will alone and made no business of the world. This was the principle of these two scholars.