Robber Zhi莊子 雜篇 盜跖

Confucius was a friend of Liuxia Ji. Liuxia Ji's younger brother was named Robber Zhi.

Robber Zhi had nine thousand men following him. He roamed the world as he pleased, raided the feudal lords and treated them cruelly, bored holes in walls and tore doors from their hinges, drove off other men's oxen and horses, and carried off other men's wives and daughters. Greedy for gain, he forgot his kin. He gave no thought to father and mother or to elder and younger brother, and he made no offerings to his ancestors. In every town he passed, the great states guarded their walls and the small states withdrew into their forts, and all the people suffered from him.

Confucius said to Liuxia Ji, "A man who is a father must be able to admonish his son, and a man who is an elder brother must be able to teach his younger brother. If a father cannot admonish his son and an elder brother cannot teach his younger brother, then there is nothing precious in the bond of father and son, of elder and younger brother.

Now you, sir, are a man of talent in this age, yet your younger brother has become Robber Zhi, a scourge to the world, and you cannot teach him. I am privately ashamed for you. Let me go and talk him round on your behalf."

Liuxia Ji said, "You say, sir, that a man who is a father must be able to admonish his son and that a man who is an elder brother must be able to teach his younger brother. But if a son will not listen to his father's admonition and a younger brother will not accept his elder brother's teaching, then what will you do about it, sir, for all your eloquence?

And Zhi is a man whose heart is like a gushing spring and whose will is like a whirlwind. His strength is enough to hold off any enemy, and his tongue is enough to dress up his wrongs. Follow his heart and he is pleased. Cross his heart and he is angry. He shames men with words readily. You must not go, sir."

Confucius would not listen. He had Yan Hui drive and Zigong ride at his right, and he went to see Robber Zhi. Robber Zhi was just then resting his men on the south slope of Mount Tai, slicing men's livers and eating them.

Confucius got down from the carriage and went forward. He saw the gatekeeper and said, "Kong Qiu of Lu has heard of the general's high righteousness. I bow twice to you, keeper of the gate."

The gatekeeper went in and passed this on. When Robber Zhi heard it he was greatly angered. His eyes were like bright stars and his hair stood up and pushed his cap aside. He said,

"Is this not that crafty and false man of Lu, Kong Qiu? Tell him for me. 'You make up sayings and invent tales. You babble of King Wen and King Wu. You wear a cap like a branching tree and a belt like the ribs of a dead ox. Your words are many and your talk is crooked. You eat without plowing and you dress without weaving. You wag your lips and drum your tongue. You make right and wrong as you please, to confuse the rulers of the world and to keep the students of the world from returning to their root. You invent filial duty and brotherly duty out of nothing, and you hope by luck to be enfeoffed as a lord and to grow rich and honored. Your crime is great and most heavy. Run home quickly. If you do not, I will add your liver to the noon meal.'"

Confucius sent word in again and said, "I am fortunate to be known to Ji. I hope to look upon your shoes beneath the tent."

The gatekeeper passed the word in again. Robber Zhi said, "Let him come forward."

Confucius hurried forward, stepped away from the mat and drew back, and bowed twice to Robber Zhi. Robber Zhi was greatly angered. He spread his two legs, laid his hand on his sword and glared, and his voice was like a tigress with cubs. He said, "Qiu, come forward. If what you say follows my will, you live. If it crosses my heart, you die."

Confucius said, "I have heard that there are three kinds of virtue in the world. To be born tall and full grown, beautiful beyond compare, so that young and old, noble and lowly, are all pleased at the sight, this is the highest virtue. To have knowledge that binds heaven and earth and can tell apart all things, this is the middle virtue. To be brave and fierce, firm and daring, to gather a host and lead troops, this is the lowest virtue.

Any man who has even one of these virtues is fit to face south and call himself a ruler. Now the general has all three together. You are eight feet two inches tall. There is light in your face and eyes, your lips are like bright cinnabar, your teeth are like a row of shells, and your voice keeps to the note huangzhong. Yet you are called Robber Zhi. I am privately ashamed for the general and cannot accept it.

If the general has a mind to listen to me, let me go south as envoy to Wu and Yue, north to Qi and Lu, east to Song and Wei, west to Jin and Chu. I will have a great city of several hundred li built for the general and a town of several hundred thousand households raised, and the general honored as a feudal lord. Then begin again with the world, lay down arms and rest the troops, gather your brothers and care for them, and make offerings to your ancestors together. This is the conduct of a sage and a man of talent, and it is what the world wishes for."

Robber Zhi was greatly angered and said, "Qiu, come forward. Men who can be lured with gain and swayed with words are nothing but the foolish and narrow common sort.

That I have grown tall and handsome, so that men are pleased at the sight of me, is virtue left to me by my father and mother. Even if you did not praise me, would I not know it myself?

And I have heard that one who likes to praise men to their face also likes to tear them down behind their back.

Now you tell me of a great city and many people. This is to lure me with gain and to keep me like one of the common sort. How could it last long?

Of cities, none is greater than the whole world. Yao and Shun held the world, yet their descendants had not land enough to set an awl in. Tang and King Wu stood up as Sons of Heaven, yet their later generations were cut off and destroyed. Was it not because the gain was so great?

And I have heard that in ancient times the birds and beasts were many and the people were few. So the people all lived in nests to keep away from them. By day they gathered acorns and chestnuts, and at dusk they roosted in the trees. Therefore they were called the people of Youchao.

In ancient times the people did not know clothing. In summer they piled up much firewood, and in winter they burned it. Therefore they were called the people who knew how to live.

In the age of Shennong they lay down at ease and rose at leisure. The people knew their mothers but did not know their fathers. They lived together with the elk and the deer. They plowed and ate, they wove and wore, and they had no heart to harm one another. This was the height of perfect virtue.

Yet the Yellow Emperor could not bring virtue about. He fought Chi You in the field of Zhuolu, and blood flowed for a hundred li. Yao and Shun arose and set up their many ministers. Tang drove out his own ruler. King Wu killed Zhou. Since that time the strong have crushed the weak and the many have bullied the few. From Tang and King Wu on, all of them belong to the company that throws men into disorder.

Now you cultivate the way of King Wen and King Wu, you take hold of all the eloquence of the world, and you teach the ages to come. In wide robes and a loose belt you dress up your words and falsify your conduct, to confuse the rulers of the world and to seek riches and honor. There is no greater robber than you. For what reason does the world not call you Robber Qiu, and call me Robber Zhi instead?

With sweet words you talked Zilu round and made him follow you. You had Zilu take off his high cap and undo his long sword and receive your teaching, and all the world said that Kong Qiu could stop violence and forbid wrong.

Yet in the end Zilu tried to kill the ruler of Wei, and the thing failed, and his body was pickled above the east gate of Wei. This is because your teaching did not reach far enough.

Do you call yourself a man of talent, a sage? Yet you were driven out of Lu twice, your tracks were wiped away in Wei, you came to grief in Qi, you were surrounded in Chen and Cai, and there was no place in the world to hold your body.

You taught Zilu, and he was pickled in this disaster. Above, you could do nothing for yourself. Below, you could do nothing for others. How can your way be worth honoring?

Of those the world honors there is none above the Yellow Emperor, yet even the Yellow Emperor could not keep his virtue whole. He fought in the field of Zhuolu, and blood flowed for a hundred li.

Yao was not kind. Shun was not filial. Yu was withered on one side. Tang drove out his own ruler. King Wu attacked Zhou. King Wen was shut up in Youli.

These six men are the ones the world honors. But weigh them closely, and all of them confused their own truth with gain and forced their nature and their feeling the other way. Their conduct is truly a thing to be deeply ashamed of.

The worthy men the world speaks of are Bo Yi and Shu Qi. Bo Yi and Shu Qi gave up the rule of Guzhu and starved to death on Mount Shouyang, and their flesh and bones were never buried.

Bao Jiao dressed up his conduct and condemned the age, and he died with his arms around a tree. Shentu Di remonstrated and was not heeded, so he took a stone on his back and threw himself into the river, and the fish and the turtles ate him.

Jie Zitui was loyalty itself. He cut his own thigh to feed Duke Wen. When Duke Wen later turned his back on him, Zitui went away in anger and burned to death with his arms around a tree.

Wei Sheng arranged to meet a woman under a bridge. The woman did not come, and when the water rose he would not leave, and he died with his arms around a pillar of the bridge.

These six men are no different from a torn dog, a drowned pig, or a beggar with a gourd in his hand. All of them were caught by a name and made light of death, and none of them thought of the root, of nourishing his allotted years.

Of the loyal ministers the world speaks of, none stands above Prince Bi Gan and Wu Zixu. Zixu was sunk in the river and Bi Gan had his heart cut open.

The world calls these two men loyal ministers, yet in the end they became a laughingstock to the world. Looking at it from the top down, as far as Zixu and Bi Gan, none of them is worth honoring.

As for what you would sway me with, if you were telling me of the affairs of ghosts, then I could not know them. But if you are telling me of the affairs of men, it goes no further than this, and I have heard and known it all.

Now I will tell you the true state of man. The eye wants to look at colors, the ear wants to listen to sounds, the mouth wants to taste flavors, and the will and the breath want to be full.

The highest span of life is a hundred years, the middle span is eighty, the lowest span is sixty. Take away sickness and wasting, death and mourning and worry, and the days in all that time when a man opens his mouth and laughs come to no more than four or five in a month.

Heaven and earth have no end, but the death of a man has its hour. To take up a vessel that has its hour and lodge it in what has no end is a flash no different from a fine horse galloping past a crack in the wall. Whoever cannot gladden his own will and nourish his own years has not got through to the Way.

What you have said is all what I threw away. Go quickly, run home, and say no more of it. Your way is mad and hurried, a thing of cunning and craft, empty and false. It cannot keep the truth whole. How is it worth discussing?"

Confucius bowed twice and hurried away. He went out the gate and climbed into his carriage, and three times he dropped the reins. His eyes were dim and saw nothing, and his face was like dead ashes. He leaned on the crossbar of the carriage with his head down, and he could not let out his breath.

He came back and reached the outside of the east gate of Lu, and there he happened to meet Liuxia Ji. Liuxia Ji said, "You have been missing these several days, and there is the look of travel on your carriage and horses. Can it be that you went to see Zhi?"

Confucius looked up to heaven, sighed, and said, "I did."

Liuxia Ji said, "Zhi must have crossed your will, just as I said before."

Confucius said, "He did. I am what they call a man who burns moxa on himself when he has no illness. I ran off in a hurry to stroke the tiger's head and braid the tiger's whiskers, and it is my good fortune that I got out of the tiger's mouth."

Zizhang asked Man Goude, "Why do you not practice conduct? Without conduct you are not trusted. Not trusted, you are given no charge. Given no charge, you get no gain.

So look at it by fame or reckon it by gain, and righteousness is truly the right thing. And even if you threw away fame and gain and turned back to the heart, still, for a man of service, the practice of conduct is not a thing he can drop for a single day, is it?"

Man Goude said, "The man without shame grows rich and the man of many words becomes known. Great fame and great gain lie almost wholly in being shameless and talkative.

So look at it by fame and reckon it by gain, and talk is truly the right thing. And if you threw away fame and gain and turned back to the heart, then for a man of service the practice of conduct would be to hold to his own heaven."

Zizhang said, "In old times Jie and Zhou were honored as Sons of Heaven and rich in the whole world. Now say to a slave or a hired hand, 'Your conduct is like Jie's or Zhou's,' and he puts on a shamed face and his heart will not accept it. Even a small man holds them cheap.

Zhongni and Mo Di were poor, plain men. Now say to a prime minister, 'Your conduct is like Zhongni's or Mo Di's,' and he changes his countenance and says he is not equal to it. A man of service is truly honored.

So power that makes a Son of Heaven is not surely honorable, and poverty that makes a plain man is not surely base. The division between honored and base lies in whether conduct is fine or foul."

Man Goude said, "The small robber is locked up and the great robber becomes a feudal lord, and it is at the gate of the feudal lords that righteous men are found.

In old times Duke Huan, Xiaobai, killed his elder brother and took his brother's wife, and Guan Zhong became his minister. Tian Chengzi Chang killed his ruler and stole his state, and Confucius accepted his gifts.

In their talk they hold such men cheap, and in their conduct they bow beneath them. So the truth of their words and the truth of their deeds fight and go crosswise in their breasts. Is that not twisted?

Therefore the Documents says, 'Who is foul and who is fine? The one who succeeds becomes the head, and the one who fails becomes the tail.'"

Zizhang said, "If you do not practice conduct, then there is no order between the distant and the near, no rightness between the honored and the base, no sequence between elder and younger. The five bonds and the six stations, by what will they be told apart?"

Man Goude said, "Yao killed his eldest son and Shun banished his half brother. Is there order between the distant and the near? Tang drove out Jie and King Wu killed Zhou. Is there rightness between the honored and the base? Wang Ji was made the heir and the Duke of Zhou killed his elder brother. Is there sequence between elder and younger? The Confucians speak false words and Mo Di would have us love all alike. Are the five bonds and the six stations told apart at all?

And you set yourself straight for fame, while I set myself straight for gain. The reality of fame and gain does not follow the pattern of things and is not mirrored in the Way.

The other day I argued with you before Wuyue, and this was said. 'The small man dies for wealth and the gentleman dies for fame. In what they alter of their true state and change of their nature they differ. But when it comes to throwing away what they should do and dying for what they should not do, they are one and the same.'

Therefore I say this. Do not be a small man, but turn back and follow your own heaven. Do not be a gentleman, but follow the pattern of heaven. Crooked or straight, look to the utmost of your heaven. Face the four directions and wane and wax with the seasons. Right or wrong, hold to your own round pivot. Complete your own will alone, and wander with the Way.

Do not try to turn your conduct about, and do not try to perfect your righteousness. You will lose what you should do. Do not run after riches and do not die for success. You will throw away your heaven.

Bi Gan had his heart cut open and Zixu had his eyes gouged out. This is the calamity of loyalty. Upright Gong informed on his father and Wei Sheng drowned. This is the trouble that comes of good faith. Bao Jiao dried up where he stood and Shentu Di would not look after himself. This is the harm that comes of purity. Confucius did not see his mother and Kuang Zhang did not see his father. This is the loss that comes of righteousness.

This is what the ages above handed down and what the ages below tell. A man of service sets his words straight and makes sure of his conduct, and so he takes on the ruin and falls into the trouble."

Wuzu asked Zhihe, "In the end there is no man who does not raise up a name and go after gain. When a man is rich, others turn to him. Turning to him, they put themselves below him. Below him, they hold him honorable.

To be one below whom others place themselves and whom they hold honorable is the way to long life, to a body at ease and a glad will. Now you alone have no mind for it. Is your knowledge not enough? Or do you know and lack the strength to do it? Is that why you push the straight thing and will not be careless?"

Zhihe said, "A man like this takes one who was born at the same time as himself and lives in the same village to be a man who has cut off the common world and gone beyond the age. This is to have no master and no straightness of his own, and yet to claim that he surveys the times of past and present and the division of right and wrong. It is to change along with the common world.

The age throws away what is gravest and casts off what is highest, and calls this doing what it ought to do. To reckon by this the way to long life, to a body at ease and a glad will, is that not far off the mark?

The pain that scorches and the calm that gladdens are not mirrored in his body. The fear that startles and the joy that delights are not mirrored in his heart. He knows how to do what he does but does not know why he does it. And so, though he be honored as a Son of Heaven and rich in the whole world, he does not escape trouble."

Wuzu said, "There is nothing riches will not do for a man. They exhaust beauty and carry power to its end, so that the perfect man cannot overtake them and the worthy man cannot come up to them.

A rich man takes another's daring and strength and makes them his own might. He takes another's knowledge and planning and makes them his own clear sight. He leans on another's virtue and makes it his own worth. He holds no state, and yet he is as stern as a ruler or a father.

And as for sound and color, sweet flavors and power, the heart delights in them without waiting to be taught and the body rests in them without waiting for a model. To want and to hate, to shun and to seek, these wait for no teacher. This is the nature of man. Even if the whole world says I am wrong, who can turn them down?"

Zhihe said, "What the man of knowledge does, he does by moving with the people, and he does not go against their measure. So he has enough and does not contend. He has nothing to strive for, and so he does not seek.

It is want that makes a man seek, contend on all four sides, and not think himself greedy. It is having more than enough that makes a man decline, throw away the world, and not think himself pure. The truth of purity and greed is not pressed on a man from outside. He turns back and measures himself by his own measure.

Though his power made him a Son of Heaven, he would not flaunt his rank over others. Though his riches held the whole world, he would not toy with others by his wealth. He reckons the trouble in it, he thinks of how it turns back on him, and he holds it harmful to his nature. So he declines and will not take it. It is not that he is after a name and praise.

That Yao and Shun were rulers and were in harmony was not because they made the world humane. It was that they would not harm life for the sake of beauty. That Shanjuan and Xu You were given the rule and would not take it was no empty show of yielding. It was that they would not harm themselves with affairs.

All of these went toward what profited them and declined what harmed them, and the world calls them worthy. So they may keep the name. But it is not that they were raising up a name and praise."

Wuzu said, "If a man must hold on to his name, wear out his body and cut off sweet things, and pinch his nourishment to keep himself alive, then he is only a man long sick and long hemmed in who does not die."

Zhihe said, "That the level is fortune and the more-than-enough is harm holds for all things, and for wealth most of all.

The rich man's ears are bound to the sound of bells and drums and pipes, and his mouth is cloyed with the taste of meat and wine. They stir his will and he forgets his work. This may be called disorder.

He is choked and sunk in swollen breath, like a man carrying a heavy load up a slope. This may be called suffering. He craves wealth and gets torment, he craves power and gets exhaustion. In quiet he sinks, and when his body shines he swells. This may be called sickness.

Because he would grow rich and go after gain, he is full as a wall and does not know how to keep clear of it, and he swells and will not let go. This may be called disgrace.

His wealth piles up and he cannot use it, yet he clasps it to his breast and will not let go. His heart is full of grief and burning, and he seeks to add more and does not stop. This may be called worry.

Within, he suspects thieves who would rob and extort. Without, he dreads the harm of robbers and bandits. Within, he rings himself with towers and latticed windows. Without, he dares not walk alone. This may be called fear.

These six are the utmost harms in the world, and men forget them all and do not know how to look at them. When the trouble comes, they spend their nature and use up their wealth to seek one single day without mishap, and they cannot get it.

So look for it by fame and it is not seen. Seek it by gain and it is not got. To bind up the will and the body and fight for this, is it not a delusion?"