Fu — Rhapsodies賦篇
爰有大物，非絲非帛，文理成章。非日非月，爲天下明。生者以壽，死者以葬，城郭以固，三軍以强。粹而王，駁而伯，無一焉而亡。臣愚不識，敢請之王。王曰：此夫文而不采者與？簡然易知而致有理者與？君子所敬而小人所不者與？性不得則若禽獸，性得之則甚雅似者與？匹夫隆之則爲聖人，諸侯隆之則一四海者與？致明而約，甚順而體，請歸之禮。禮。
Here is a great thing. It is not silk and it is not cloth, yet its pattern and its grain make a design. It is not the sun and it is not the moon, yet it lights all under heaven. By it the living live long and the dead are buried, by it walls and ramparts are firm and the three armies are strong. Pure in it, a man is king. Mixed in it, he is a chief. With none of it at all, he perishes. Your servant is foolish and does not know it. I dare to ask the king.
The king said: Is this the thing that has a pattern and yet is not decked with color? The thing that is plain and easy to know and yet utterly full of order? The thing the gentleman respects and the petty man does not? The thing that, when a nature does not get it, leaves that nature like the birds and the beasts, and when a nature does get it, makes that nature wholly refined? The thing that, when a common man holds it high, makes him a sage, and when a feudal lord holds it high, makes the four seas one?
It is utterly clear and yet brief, wholly easy to follow and settled in the body. I ask that it be given back to ritual. — Ritual.
皇天隆物，以示下民，或厚或薄，帝不齊均。桀、紂以亂，湯、武以賢。涽涽淑淑，皇皇穆穆，周流四海，曾不崇日。君子以修，跖以穿室。大參乎天，精微而無形。行義以正，事業以成。可以禁曓足窮，百姓待之而後泰寧。臣愚不識，願問其名。曰：此夫安寬平而危險隘者邪？脩潔之爲親而襍汙之爲狄者邪？甚深藏而外勝敵者邪？法禹、舜而能弇迹者邪？行爲動静，待之而後適者邪？血氣之精也，志意之榮也。百姓待之而後寧也，天下待之而後平也。明達純粹而無疵也，夫是之謂君子之知。知。
Great heaven sends things down and shows them to the people below. Some are thick and some are thin, for the Lord did not make them even. By it Jie and Zhou were disordered, and by it Tang and Wu were worthy.
Now dim and now clear, now shining and now deep and still, it flows round the four seas and has never yet filled out a single day. By it the gentleman cultivates himself, and by it Dao Zhi bores into houses.
In greatness it stands with heaven, and it is fine and small and has no shape. By it conduct and rightness are made upright, and by it works are completed. It can forbid violence and fill up want, and the hundred families wait upon it before they are greatly at peace. Your servant is foolish and does not know it. I wish to ask its name.
He said: Is this the thing that is at ease where all is wide and level and in danger where all is steep and narrow? The thing that makes a friend of what is cultivated and clean and holds off what is mixed and foul? The thing that is hidden very deep and yet beats the enemy outside? The thing that takes Yu and Shun for its law and can cover its own tracks? The thing that conduct and motion and stillness wait upon before they are fitting?
It is the fine essence of blood and breath and the flowering of the will. The hundred families wait upon it before they are at peace, and all under heaven waits upon it before it is level. Bright and penetrating, pure and without flaw, this is what is called the knowing of the gentleman. — Knowing.
有物於此，居則周静致下，動則綦高以鉅。圓者中規，方者中矩。大參天地，德厚堯、禹。精微乎毫毛，而充盈乎大㝢。忽兮其極之遠也，攭兮其相逐而反也，卬卬兮天下之咸蹇也。德厚而不捐，五采備而成文。往來惛憊，通于大神，出入甚極，莫知其門。天下失之則滅，得之則存。弟子不敏，此之願陳，君子設辭，請測意之。曰：此夫大而不塞者與？充盈大宇而不窕，入郄穴而不偪者與？行遠疾速而不可託訊者與？往來惛憊而不可爲固塞者與？曓至殺傷而不億忌者與？功被天下而不私置者與？託地而游宇，友風而子雨。冬日作寒，夏日作暑。廣大精神，請歸之雲。雲。
Here is a thing. At rest it is all round and still and comes down to the low places. In motion it is utterly high and vast. What is round in it fits the compass and what is square fits the carpenter's square. In greatness it stands with heaven and earth, and in virtue it is thicker than Yao and Yu. It is finer and smaller than a hair, and yet it fills the great house full.
All at once its far end is distant. With a sweep they chase one another and come back. High and lifted up, and all under heaven looks up to it. Its virtue is thick and it throws nothing away, and the five colors are complete in it and make a pattern. Its coming and going are dim and far, and it reaches the great spirit. Its going out and coming in go to the very end, and no one knows its gate. If all under heaven loses it, they die away. If they get it, they live on.
Your disciple is not quick, and wishes this set out. If the gentleman will put it into words, I ask leave to measure his meaning.
He said: Is this the thing that is great and yet does not block? The thing that fills the great house and does not spill over, that goes into a crack or a hole and is not cramped? The thing that goes far and goes fast and yet cannot be trusted with a message? The thing whose coming and going are dim and far, so that it cannot be firmly shut out? The thing that comes suddenly and kills and wounds and yet shuns nothing? The thing whose merit covers all under heaven and yet keeps nothing for itself?
It leans on the earth and roams the sky, and makes a friend of the wind and a child of the rain. On winter days it makes cold and on summer days it makes heat. Broad and great, fine and holy. I ask that it be given back to the clouds. — Clouds.
有物於此，㒩㒩兮其狀，屢化如神。功被天下，爲萬世文。禮樂以成，貴賤以分。養老長幼，待之而後存。名號不美，與曓爲鄰。功立而身廢，事成而家敗。弃其耆老，收其後世。人屬所利，飛鳥所害。臣愚不識，請占之五泰。五泰占之曰：此夫身女好而頭馬首者與？屢化而不壽者與？善壯而拙老者與？有父母而無牝牡者與？冬伏而夏游，食桑而吐絲，前亂而後治，夏生而惡暑，喜溼而惡雨。蛹以爲母，蛾以爲父。三俯三起，事乃大已。夫是之謂蠶理。蠶。
Here is a thing. Its shape is as if bare and naked, and it changes again and again like a spirit. Its merit covers all under heaven and makes the ornament of ten thousand ages. By it ritual and music are completed, and by it noble and base are divided. The nursing of the old and the raising of the young wait upon it before they are there.
Its name is not a fair one, and it is a neighbor to violence. When its merit stands up its body is ruined, and when its work is completed its house is broken. It casts away its own aged and gathers up the generations after. It is a benefit to the ranks of men and a harm to the flying birds. Your servant is foolish and does not know it. I ask Wutai (五泰) to divine it.
Wutai divined it and said: Is this the thing whose body is fair as a woman's and whose head is like the head of a horse? The thing that changes again and again and does not live long? The thing that does well when young and badly when old? The thing that has a father and a mother and yet no male and female?
It lies down in winter and roams in summer. It eats mulberry and spits out silk. Its front is disordered and its back is in order. It is born in summer and hates the heat. It loves the damp and hates the rain. It takes the pupa for its mother and the moth for its father. Three times it bows down and three times it rises, and then the work is greatly done. This is what is called the pattern of the silkworm. — The silkworm.
有物於此，生於山阜，處於室堂。無知無巧，善治衣裳。不盜不竊，穿窬而行。日夜合離，以成文章。以能合從，又善連衡。下覆百姓，上飾帝王。功業甚博，不見賢良。時用則存，不用則亡。臣愚不識，敢請之王。王曰：此夫始生鉅，其成功小者邪？長其尾而銳其剽者邪？頭銛達而尾趙繚者邪？一往一來，結尾以爲事。無羽無翼，反覆甚極。尾生而事起，尾邅而事已。簪以爲父，管以爲母。既以縫表，又以連裏。夫是之謂箴理。箴。
Here is a thing. It is born in the hills and the mounds and it dwells in the room and the hall. It has no knowing and no skill, and yet it is good at making clothes. It does not rob and it does not steal, and yet it goes about by boring through and climbing over. Night and day it joins and parts, and so makes a pattern. It can bring things together lengthwise, and it is also good at linking them crosswise. Below it covers the hundred families and above it adorns emperors and kings. Its merit and its work are very broad, and yet it is not seen as worthy. Used in its time it is there, and not used it is gone. Your servant is foolish and does not know it. I dare to ask the king.
The king said: Is this the thing that is big when it is first born and small in the merit it completes? The thing with a long tail and a sharp point? The thing whose head is keen and goes right through and whose tail turns and winds about?
One going and one coming, it makes its work by knotting its tail. It has no plume and no wing, and yet it goes back and forth to the utmost. When the tail comes out the work begins, and when the tail hangs back the work is done. It takes the hairpin for its father and the tube for its mother. It sews the outside already, and it joins the inside too. This is what is called the pattern of the needle. — The needle.
天下不治，請陳佹詩：天地易位，四時易鄉。列星殞墜，旦暮晦盲。幽晦登昭，日月下藏。公正無私，反見從橫，志愛公利，重樓疏堂，無私罪人，憼革貳兵。道德純備，讒口將將。仁人絀約，敖曓擅彊，天下幽險，恐失世英。螭龍爲蝘蜓，鴟梟爲鳳凰。比干見刳，孔子拘匡。昭昭乎其知之明也，郁郁乎其遇時之不祥也。拂乎其欲禮義之大行也，闇乎天下之晦盲也。皓天不復，憂無疆也。千歲必反，古之常也。弟子勉學，天不忘也。聖人共手，時幾將矣。與愚以疑，願聞反辭。其《小歌》曰：念彼遠方，何其塞矣！仁人絀約，曓人衍矣。忠臣危殆，讒人服矣。
All under heaven is not in order, and so I ask leave to set out a poem against the grain.
Heaven and earth have changed places, and the four seasons have changed their quarter. The ranked stars have fallen down, and morning and evening are dark. What is deep and dark has climbed to the bright place, and the sun and the moon have hidden below.
A man is fair and without private aims, and instead he is held to be swayed this way and that. His mind loves the common good, and they say he has raised storied houses and open halls. He punishes no man for his own sake, and they say he has furnished armor and laid in weapons. His way and his virtue are pure and complete, and the slandering mouths are loud.
The benevolent man is driven off and bound, and the haughty and the violent take strength for their own. All under heaven is dark and steep, and I fear the age will lose its finest men. The hornless dragon and the dragon have become lizards, and the owl has become a phoenix. Bigan had his heart cut open, and Confucius was shut up at Kuang (匡).
How bright, the brightness of his knowing! How choked, the ill luck of the time he met! How he strove, wishing ritual and rightness to be greatly practiced! How dark, the blackness of all under heaven!
The white heaven does not come back, and there is no bound to the sorrow. In a thousand years it must turn round again, and this is the constant way of old. Let the disciples work hard at learning, for heaven does not forget. The sage folds his hands, and the time is nearly here. I am foolish and in doubt, and I wish to hear the answering words.
Its Small Song says — I think of that far place, and how blocked it is! The benevolent man is driven off and bound, and the violent man overflows. The loyal minister is in danger, and the slanderer takes the post.
琁、玉、瑤、珠，不知佩也。襍布與帛，不知異也。閭娵、子奢，莫之媒也。嫫母、力父，是之喜也。以盲爲明，以聾爲聰，以危爲安，以吉爲凶。嗚呼上天，曷維其同！
They do not know how to wear fine jade and pearls. They do not know how to tell coarse hemp from silk. For fair ones like Lü Ju (閭娵) and Zi She (子奢) there is no matchmaker, and it is ugly ones like Mo Mu (嫫母) and Li Fu (力父) that they delight in. They call the blind clear-sighted and the deaf sharp of hearing. They call the dangerous safe and the lucky ill-omened. Ah, heaven above! How should these be the same?