Longxu — False Tales of Dragons龍虛篇
盛夏之時，雷電擊折（破）樹木，發壞室屋，俗謂天取龍，謂龍藏於樹木之中，匿於屋室之間也。雷電擊折樹木，發壞屋室，則龍見於外。龍見，雷取以升天。世無愚智賢不肖，皆謂之然。如考實之，虛妄言也。
In the height of summer, when thunder and lightning strike and break trees and shatter houses, the common world says that Heaven is taking a dragon. It says the dragon has hidden inside the tree and lain concealed within the house. When thunder and lightning strike and break trees and shatter houses, the dragon appears outside; and when the dragon appears, the thunder takes it and rises to Heaven with it. In all the world, foolish or wise, worthy or unworthy, every one says it is so. But examine the fact of it, and it is an empty and reckless saying.
夫天之取龍何意邪？如以龍神為天使，猶賢臣為君使也，反報有時，無為取也。如以龍遁逃不還，非神之行，天亦無用為也。如龍之性當在天，在天上者固當生子，無為復在地。如龍有升降，降龍生子於地，子長大，天取之，則世名雷電為天怒，取龍之子，無為怒也。且龍之所居，常在水澤之中，不在木中屋間。何以知之？叔向之母曰：「深山大澤，實生龍蛇。」傳曰：「山致其高，雲雨起焉。水致其深，蛟龍生焉。」傳又言：「禹渡於江，黃龍負船。荊次非渡淮，兩龍繞舟。
Now what does Heaven mean by taking a dragon? If the dragon's spirit is made Heaven's envoy, that is like a worthy minister being the ruler's envoy: there is a time when he comes back and reports, so there is no need to take him. If the dragon runs off and does not return, that is not the conduct of a spirit, and Heaven would have no use for it either. If the dragon's nature is to belong in Heaven, then what is above in Heaven would surely bear its young there, and there is no need for it to be on earth again. If dragons rise and descend, and a descended dragon bears young on earth, and the young grow up and Heaven takes them, then, since the world calls thunder and lightning the anger of Heaven, there is no cause for anger in taking a dragon's young. Moreover, where the dragon dwells is always in the waters and the marshes, not inside trees or within houses. How do we know this? Shuxiang's mother said, "Deep mountains and great marshes truly give birth to dragons and snakes." A tradition says, "When a mountain reaches its full height, clouds and rain arise there. When water reaches its full depth, the jiao dragon is born there." A tradition also says, "Yu crossed the Yangzi, and a yellow dragon bore up his boat. Cifei of Jing crossed the Huai, and two dragons coiled about his boat.
東海之上有丘欣，勇而有力，出過神淵，使御者飲馬，馬飲因沒。欣怒，拔劍入淵追馬，見兩蛟方食其馬，手劍擊殺兩蛟。」由是言之，蛟與龍常在淵水之中，不在木中屋間明矣。在淵水之中，則魚鱉之類。魚鱉之類，何為上天？天之取龍，何用為哉？如以天神乘龍而行，神恍惚無形，出入無間，無為乘龍也。如仙人騎龍，天為仙者取龍，則仙人含天精氣，形輕飛騰，若鴻鵠之狀，無為騎龍也。世稱黃帝騎龍升天，此言蓋虛，猶今謂天取龍也。
"On the shore of the Eastern Sea there was Qiu Xin, brave and strong. Going out, he passed a divine pool and had his driver water the horses, and one horse, as it drank, sank under. Xin grew angry, drew his sword, went into the pool and followed the horse. He saw two jiao dragons just then eating his horse, and with the sword in his hand he struck and killed the two." Speaking from this, it is clear that jiao dragons and dragons are always in the waters of pools, not inside trees or within houses. If they are in the waters of pools, then they are of the kind of fish and turtles. What business have the kind of fish and turtles rising to Heaven? And what use would Heaven have in taking a dragon? If the spirits of Heaven ride dragons to go about, a spirit is dim and formless and goes in and comes out where there is no gap, so it has no need to ride a dragon. If the immortals ride dragons, and Heaven takes dragons for the immortals, an immortal holds the fine breath of Heaven within, and his body is light and flies up like a wild goose or a swan, so he has no need to ride a dragon. The world says the Yellow Emperor rode a dragon and rose to Heaven. This saying is empty, just like saying now that Heaven takes dragons.
且世謂龍升天者，必謂神龍。不神，不升天；升天，神之效也。天地之性人為貴，則龍賤矣。貴者不神，賤者反神乎？如龍之性有神與不神，神者升天，不神者不能。龜蛇亦有神與不神，神龜神蛇復升天乎？且龍稟何氣而獨神？天有倉龍、白虎、朱鳥、玄武之象也，地亦有龍虎鳥龜之物。四星之精，降生四獸。虎鳥與龜不神，龍何故獨神也？人為裸蟲之長，龍為鱗蟲之長。俱為物長，謂龍升天，人復升天乎？龍與人同，獨謂能升天者，謂龍神也。世或謂聖人神而先知，猶謂神龍能升天也。因謂聖人先知之明，論龍之才，謂龍升天，故其宜也。
Moreover, when the world says a dragon rises to Heaven, it must mean a divine dragon. What is not divine does not rise to Heaven, and rising to Heaven is the proof of being divine. Among the natures of Heaven and earth man is the noble one, and so the dragon is base. Is the noble one not divine, while the base one is divine instead? If in the nature of dragons there is the divine and the not divine, and the divine rise to Heaven while the not divine cannot, then turtles and snakes also have the divine and the not divine. Do the divine turtle and the divine snake rise to Heaven as well? And what breath does the dragon receive, that it alone is divine? In Heaven there are the images of the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Red Bird and the Dark Warrior, and on earth too there are the creatures dragon, tiger, bird and turtle. The essence of the four constellations comes down and is born as the four beasts. The tiger, the bird and the turtle are not divine. For what reason is the dragon alone divine? Man is the chief of the naked creatures, and the dragon is the chief of the scaled creatures. Both are chiefs among things. If we say the dragon rises to Heaven, does man rise to Heaven too? The dragon is the same as man, and yet it alone is said to be able to rise to Heaven; that is to say the dragon is divine. The world sometimes says the sage is divine and knows beforehand, just as it says the divine dragon can rise to Heaven. So it takes the sage's brightness in knowing beforehand, judges the dragon's powers by it, says the dragon rises to Heaven, and therefore calls it fitting.
天地之間，恍惚無形，寒暑風雨之氣乃為神。今龍有形，有形則行，行則食，食則物之性也。天地之性，有形體之類，能行食之物，不得為神。何以言之？龍有體也。傳言鱗蟲三百，龍為之長。龍為鱗蟲之長，安得無體？何以言之？孔子曰：「龍食於清，游於清。龜食於清，游於濁。魚食於濁，游於清。丘上不及龍，下不為魚，中止其龜與！」
Between Heaven and earth it is the dim and formless breath of cold and heat, wind and rain, that is spirit. Now the dragon has form. Having form, it moves. Moving, it eats. And eating is the nature of a thing. Among the natures of Heaven and earth, the kinds that have a body and the things that can move and eat cannot be spirit. How do we say this? Because the dragon has a body. A tradition says there are three hundred scaled creatures and the dragon is chief of them. If the dragon is chief of the scaled creatures, how could it have no body? How do we say this? Confucius said, "The dragon eats in the clear and plays in the clear. The turtle eats in the clear and plays in the muddy. The fish eats in the muddy and plays in the clear. Qiu above does not reach the dragon and below is not a fish. Does he stop midway, at the turtle!"
《山海經》言四海之外，有乘龍蛇之人。世俗畫龍之象，馬首蛇尾。由此言之，馬蛇之類也。慎子曰：「蜚龍乘雲，騰蛇游霧，雲罷雨霽，與蚓蟻同矣。」韓子曰：「龍之為蟲也，鳴可狎而騎也。然喉下有逆鱗尺餘，人或嬰之，必殺人矣。」比之為蚓蟻，又言蟲可狎而騎，蛇馬之類明矣。傳曰：「紂作象箸而箕子泣。」泣之者，痛其極也。夫有象箸，必有玉杯。玉杯所盈，象箸所挾，則必龍肝豹胎。夫龍肝可食，其龍難得。難得則愁下，愁下則禍生，故從而痛之。
The Shanhai jing says that beyond the four seas there are people who ride dragons and snakes. The common world paints the image of a dragon with a horse's head and a snake's tail. Speaking from this, it is of the kind of horse and snake. Shenzi said, "The flying dragon rides the clouds and the rising snake plays in the mist; but when the clouds stop and the rain clears, they are the same as the earthworm and the ant." Hanzi said, "The dragon as a creature can be tamed and ridden. Yet below its throat there are reversed scales more than a foot long, and if a man touches them it will surely kill him." To liken it to the earthworm and the ant, and to say further that it is a creature that can be tamed and ridden, makes it clear that it is of the kind of snake and horse. A tradition says, "Zhou Xin (紂) made ivory chopsticks, and Jizi wept." He wept because he grieved at where it would end. Now where there are ivory chopsticks there must be jade cups. What fills the jade cup and what the ivory chopsticks pick up must be dragon's liver and leopard's unborn young. Now dragon's liver can be eaten, but the dragon is hard to get. Hard to get, and those below are made to worry; those below worrying, and calamity is born. So he grieved at it.
如龍神，其身不可得殺，其肝何可得食？禽獸肝胎非一，稱龍肝豹胎者，人得食而知其味美也。春秋之時，龍見於絳郊。魏獻子問於蔡墨曰：「吾聞之，蟲莫智於龍，以其不生得也。謂之智，信乎？」對曰：「人實不知，非龍實智。古者畜龍，故國有豢龍氏，有御龍氏。」
If the dragon were divine, its body could not be killed, and how then could its liver be eaten? The livers and unborn young of birds and beasts are not of one kind only. That dragon's liver and leopard's unborn young are the ones named is because men have eaten them and known their taste to be fine. In the time of the Spring and Autumn a dragon appeared in the outskirts of Jiang. Wei Xianzi asked Cai Mo, "I have heard that among creatures none is wiser than the dragon, because it is not taken alive. Is it true, calling it wise?" He answered, "It is men who truly do not know; it is not that the dragon is truly wise. In old times they kept dragons, and so the state had the Huanlong clan and the Yulong clan."
獻子曰：「是二者吾亦聞之，而不知其故。是何謂也？」對曰：「昔有叔（宋）〔安〕有裔子曰董父，實甚好龍，能求其嗜欲以飲食之，龍多歸之。乃擾畜龍，以服事舜，而錫之姓日董，氏日豢龍，封諸川，夷氏是其後也。故帝舜氏世有畜龍。及有夏，孔甲擾於帝，帝賜之乘龍，河、漢各二，各有雌雄，孔甲不能食也，而未獲豢龍氏。有陶唐氏既衰，其後有劉累學擾龍於豢龍氏，以事孔甲，能飲食龍。夏后嘉之，賜氏曰御龍，以更豕韋之後。龍一雌死，潛醢以食夏后，夏后（烹）〔享〕之。既而使求，懼而不得，遷於魯縣，范氏其後也。」獻子曰：「今何故無之？」對曰：「夫物有其官，官修其方，朝夕思之。一日失職，則死及之，失官不食。官宿其業，其物乃至。若泯棄之，物乃低伏，郁湮不育。」由此言之，龍可畜又可食也。可食之物，不能神矣。世無其官，又無董父、後劉之人，故潛藏伏匿，出見希疏；出又乘雲，與人殊路，人謂之神。如存其官而有其人，則龍，牛之類也，何神之有？以《山海經》言之，以慎子、韓子証之，以俗世之畫驗之，以箕子之泣訂之，以蔡墨之對論之，知龍不能神，不能升天，天不以雷電取龍，明矣。世俗言龍神而升天者，妄矣。
Xianzi said, "These two I have also heard of, but I do not know the reason for them. What is meant by this?" He answered, "In old times Shu'an had a descendant named Dongfu, who truly loved dragons greatly and could seek out what they liked and craved and give it them to drink and eat, so that many dragons came over to him. He tamed and kept dragons and served Shun with them, and was granted the surname Dong and the clan name Huanlong, and was enfeoffed at Zongchuan; the Zongyi clan are his descendants. So in the house of Emperor Shun there were dragon keepers generation after generation. When it came to the house of Xia, Kong Jia was obedient to the Lord on High, and the Lord gave him dragons to ride, two from the He and two from the Han, each having a female and a male. Kong Jia could not feed them, and he had not found the Huanlong clan. The house of Taotang had already declined, and among its descendants was Liu Lei, who learned the taming of dragons from the Huanlong clan and served Kong Jia and could give the dragons drink and food. The lord of Xia commended him and granted him the clan name Yulong, to take over from the descendants of Shiwei. One female dragon died, and he secretly made it into a pickle and gave it to the lord of Xia, and the lord of Xia ate it. Afterwards he was made to seek more, and in fear he could not get it, and moved to Lu county; the Fan clan are his descendants." Xianzi said, "Why are there none now?" He answered, "Every creature has its office, and the office cultivates its method and thinks on it morning and evening. Lose the duty for a single day, and death reaches him; lose the office, and he does not eat. When the office abides in its work, that creature then comes. If it is done away with, the creature then lies low, is stopped up and does not grow."
Speaking from this, the dragon can be kept and can also be eaten. A thing that can be eaten cannot be divine. The world does not have that office, and has no men like Dongfu and the later Liu Lei, and so dragons lie hidden and stay concealed and come out and are seen but rarely; and when they come out they ride the clouds, and their road is not man's road, and so men call them divine. If that office were kept up and there were such men, then the dragon would be of the kind of the ox, and what divinity would there be? Speak of it by the Shanhai jing, prove it by Shenzi and Hanzi, test it by the paintings of the common world, correct it by the weeping of Jizi, judge it by the answer of Cai Mo, and we know it is clear that the dragon cannot be divine, cannot rise to Heaven, and that Heaven does not take dragons by thunder and lightning. That the common world says the dragon is divine and rises to Heaven is reckless.
Interlinear notes 1
有叔安 … 封諸川，夷氏是其後也
The source text has 有叔安, 封諸川 and 夷氏, with graphs fallen away. They are supplied as Shu'an of Yao (堯), Zongchuan (鬷川) and the Zongyi (鬷夷) clan. ― translator
世俗之言，亦有緣也。短書言龍無尺木，無以升天。又曰升天，又言尺木，謂龍從木中升天也。
What the common world says has something it comes from. The short books say that without a foot of wood the dragon has no way to rise to Heaven. They say it rises to Heaven, and they speak of a foot of wood as well; that is, the dragon rises to Heaven from inside the wood.
彼短書之家，世俗之人也。見雷電發時，龍隨而起，當雷電〔擊〕樹木（擊）之時，龍適與雷電俱在樹木之側，雷電去，龍隨而上，故謂從樹木之中升天也。實者雷龍同類，感氣相致，故《易》曰：「雲從龍，風從虎。」又言：「虎嘯谷風至，龍興景雲起。」龍與雲相招，虎與風相致，故董仲舒雩祭之法，設土龍以為感也。夫盛夏太陽用事，雲雨干之。太陽火也，雲雨水也，〔水〕火激薄則鳴而為雷。龍聞雷聲則起，起而雲至，雲至而龍乘之。雲雨感龍，龍亦起雲而升天。天極（雷）〔雲〕高，雲消復降。人見其乘雲則謂「升天」，見天為雷電則為「天取龍」。世儒讀《易》文，見傳言，皆知龍者雲之類。拘俗人之議，不能通其說；又見短書為証，故遂謂「天取龍」。
Those who make the short books are men of the common world. They see that when thunder and lightning break out the dragon rises along with them, and that at the time thunder and lightning strike a tree the dragon happens to be beside the tree together with the thunder and lightning, and that when the thunder and lightning go the dragon rises after them; and so they say it rises to Heaven from inside the tree. In fact thunder and the dragon are of one kind, and they stir each other's breath and draw each other on. So the Yi says, "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger." It says again, "The tiger roars and the valley wind arrives; the dragon stirs and the bright clouds rise." The dragon and the clouds call to each other, the tiger and the wind draw each other on, and so in Dong Zhongshu's method for the rain sacrifice an earthen dragon was set up in order to stir them. Now in the height of summer the sun is in charge of affairs, and the clouds and rain offend against it. The sun is fire and the clouds and rain are water, and when water and fire dash and press together they sound and become thunder. When the dragon hears the sound of thunder it rises; rising, the clouds arrive; the clouds arriving, the dragon rides them. Clouds and rain stir the dragon, and the dragon in turn raises clouds and rises to Heaven. Heaven is utterly high, and when the clouds melt away it comes down again. Men see it ride the clouds and say it "rises to Heaven"; they see Heaven make thunder and lightning and say "Heaven takes the dragon." The scholars of the age read the text of the Yi and see what the traditions say, and all of them know that the dragon is of the kind of the clouds. But they are bound by the talk of common men and cannot make their account carry; and they see the short books and take them for proof, and so in the end they say "Heaven takes the dragon."
天不取龍，龍不升天。當丘欣之殺兩蛟也，手把其尾，拽而出之至淵之外，雷電擊之。蛟則龍之類也。蛟龍見而雲雨至，雲雨至則雷電擊。如以天實取龍，龍為天用，何以死蛟〔不〕為取之？且魚在水中，亦隨雲雨蜚，而乘雲雨非升天也。龍，魚之類也，其乘雷電猶魚之飛也。魚隨雲雨不謂之神，龍乘雷電獨謂之神。世俗之言，失其實也。物在世間，各有所乘。水蛇乘霧，龍乘雲，鳥乘風。見龍乘雲，獨謂之神，失龍之實，誣龍之能也。
Heaven does not take dragons, and dragons do not rise to Heaven. When Qiu Xin killed the two jiao dragons, he took their tails in his hands and dragged them out beyond the pool, and thunder and lightning struck. The jiao is of the kind of the dragon. When a jiao dragon appears, clouds and rain arrive; when clouds and rain arrive, thunder and lightning strike. If Heaven truly takes dragons, and the dragon is for Heaven's use, why did it not take the dead jiao dragons? Moreover, fish are in the water and they too fly along with the clouds and rain; but riding the clouds and rain is not rising to Heaven. The dragon is of the kind of the fish, and its riding the thunder and lightning is like the flying of a fish. That the fish goes along with the clouds and rain is not called divine, while only the dragon riding the thunder and lightning is called divine. What the common world says has lost the fact of it. Things in the world each have what they ride. The water snake rides the mist, the dragon rides the clouds, the bird rides the wind. To see the dragon ride the clouds and call it alone divine is to lose the fact of the dragon and to misreport what the dragon can do.
然則龍之所以為神者，以能屈伸其體，存亡其形。屈伸其體，存亡其形，未足以為神也。豫讓吞炭，漆身為厲，人不識其形。子貢滅須為婦人，人不知其狀。龍變體自匿，人亦不能覺，變化藏匿者巧也。物性亦有自然，知往，乾鵲知來，鸚鵡能言，三怪比龍，性變化也。如以巧為神，豫讓、子貢神也。孔子曰：「游者可為網，飛者可為。至於龍也，吾不知其乘風雲上升。今日見老子，其猶龍乎！」夫龍乘雲而上，雲消而下。物類可察，上下可知；而云孔子不知。以孔子之聖，尚不知龍，況俗人智淺，好奇之性，無實可之心，謂之龍神而升天，不足怪也。
That being so, the reason the dragon is held divine is that it can bend and stretch its body and make its form present or gone. But to bend and stretch its body and make its form present or gone is not enough to be divine. Yu Rang swallowed charcoal and lacquered his body to become a leper, and men did not know his form. Zigong took off his beard and became a woman, and men did not know his shape. The dragon changes its body and hides itself, and men cannot notice it either; but changing and hiding away is skill. There is a self-so in the natures of things as well: the ape knows what has gone by, the magpie knows what is to come, the parrot can speak. Set these three strange ones beside the dragon, and it is their nature that changes. If skill is taken for divinity, then Yu Rang and Zigong are divine. Confucius said, "What swims can be taken with a net, and what flies can be taken with a corded arrow. As for the dragon, I do not know how it rides the wind and clouds and goes up. Today I have seen Laozi. Is he not like a dragon!" Now the dragon rides the clouds and goes up, and when the clouds melt away it comes down. The kind of thing it is can be looked into and its going up and down can be known, and yet it is said that Confucius did not know. With Confucius's sageliness he still did not know the dragon; how much more the common man, whose wisdom is shallow, whose nature loves the strange, and who has no mind to look into the fact. That they say the dragon is divine and rises to Heaven is nothing to wonder at.