| Chinese Text Project |
《問明卷第六 - Asking About Seeing Clearly》 | English translation: Jeffrey S. Bullock [?] | Library Resources |
| 1 | 問明卷第... : | 或問「明」。曰：「微。」或曰：「微何如其明也？」曰：「微而見之，明其悖乎！」 |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: |
Someone asked about seeing clearly. Yangzi said: Focus on what is subtle. The other said: How can focusing on what is subtle be seeing clearly? Yangzi said: If it is subtle and yet you can perceive it, then can you not see wayward action clearly? | |
| 2 | 問明卷第... : | 聰明其至矣乎？不聰，實無耳也；不明，實無目也。「敢問大聰明。」曰：「眩眩乎，惟天為聰，惟天為明。夫能高其目而下其耳者，匪天也夫？」 |
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Having keen hearing and eyesight is the best. Not being able to hear clearly is truly like not having ears. Not being able to see clearly is truly like not having eyes. Dare I ask about superior clarity of sight and hearing? Yangzi said: Dazzlingly bright, only Tian sees and hears perfectly. The one who is able to raise up its eyes to see far and wide and lower its ears to the ground, is it not Tian? | |
| 3 | 問明卷第... : | 或問：「小每知之，可謂師乎？」曰：「是何師與？是何師與？天下小事為不少矣，每知之，是謂師乎？師之貴也，知大知也。小知之師亦賤矣。」 |
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Someone asked: Can someone who understands even the most trivial affairs be called a teacher? Yangzi said: What kind of teacher is this? What kind of teacher is this? The trivial affairs of the world are not few. Understanding them all, is this called being a teacher? The value of a teacher is knowing great knowledge. A teacher who only understands the trivial is indeed worthless. | |
| 4 | 問明卷第... : | 孟子疾過我門而不入我室。或曰：「亦有疾乎？」曰：「摭我華而不食我實。」 |
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Mengzi detested "those who passed my gate but did not enter my inner chambers." Someone said: Are there others you detest as well? Yangzi said: Those who pick my flowers but do not eat my fruit. | |
| 5 | 問明卷第六: | 或謂「仲尼事彌其年，蓋天勞諸，病矣夫？」曰：「天非獨勞仲尼，亦自勞也。天病乎哉？天樂天，聖樂聖。」 |
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Someone said: Confucius's affairs kept him busy all his life. Tian must have become weary belaboring him! Yangzi said: Tian did not only belabor Confucius, it also belabored itself. But does Tian become weary? Tian delights in being Tian, the sage delights in being the sage. | |
| 6 | 問明卷第... : | 或問：「鳥有鳳，獸有麟，鳥、獸皆可鳳、麟乎？」曰：「群鳥之於鳳也，群獸之於麟也，形性。豈群人之於聖乎？」 |
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Someone asked: Among birds there is the phoenix, among beasts there is the unicorn. Can all birds and beasts really become a phoenix or unicorn? Yangzi said: The difference between other birds and the phoenix, and other beasts and the unicorn, are of form and nature. How can this be so with the other people's relationship to the sage? | |
| 7 | 問明卷第... : | 或曰：「甚矣！聖道無益於庸也。聖讀而庸行，盍去諸？」曰：「甚矣！子之不達也。聖讀而庸行，猶有聞焉。去之，抏也。抏秦者，非斯乎？投諸火。」 |
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Someone said: Indeed, the sage's dao is of no benefit in common practice. To read the sage's writings but continue in ordinary behaviors—why not just get rid of the sage's writings? Yangzi said: How much you fail to understand! If one reads the sage's writings but continues in ordinary behaviors, he still has knowledge of the sage's teachings. To get rid of the writings is foolishness. Was Li Si not the one who made fools of the Qin? He threw the writings into the fire! | |
| 8 | 問明卷第... : | 或問：「人何尚？」曰：「尚智。」曰：「多以智殺身者，何其尚？」曰：「昔乎臯陶以其智為帝謨，殺身者遠矣！箕子以其智為武王陳《洪範》，殺身者遠矣！」 |
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Someone asked: What do people honor? Yangzi said: They honor wisdom. The other said: Many people are killed because of their wisdom. Why do they honor it? Yangzi said: In the past, Gao Yao used his wisdom to remonstrate with the emperor Shun. He was far from getting himself killed. Jizi used his wisdom to layout the Hongfan for King Wu. He too was far from getting himself killed. | |
| 9 | 問明卷第... : | 仲尼，聖人也，或者劣諸子貢，子貢辭而精之，然後廓如也。於戲！觀書者違子貢，雖多亦何以為？ |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: | Confucius was a sage, but some said that he was inferior to Zigong. Zigong's own words cleared up the issue, so that afterwards, such an idea was dropped. Indeed! If those who read the the sage's writings oppose Zigong on this issue, then although they may have read much, what good has it done them? | |
| 10 | 問明卷第... : | 盛哉！成湯丕承也，文王淵懿也。或問「丕承」。曰：「由小至大，不亦丕乎？革夏以天，不亦承乎？」「淵懿」。曰：「重《易》六爻，不亦淵乎？浸以光大，不亦懿乎？」 |
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How magnificent! Cheng Tang was glorious and inherited the Mandate. King Wen was profound and virtuous. Someone said: What do you mean by "Cheng Tang was glorious and inherited the Mandate?" Yangzi said: He made the Shang to transform from a small kingdom into a great dynasty. Is this not glorious? He revolted against the Xia using Heaven's Mandate, is this not to inherit the Mandate itself? What do you mean by "King Wen was profound and virtuous?" Yangzi said: Doubling the Yijing's trigrams to make hexagrams, was this not profound? Making the Zhou gradually become honorable and great, is this not exemplary? | |
| 11 | 問明卷第... : | 或問「命」。曰：「命者，天之命也，非人為也。人為不為命。」「請問人為。」曰：「可以存亡，可以死生，非命也。命不可避也。」或曰：「顏氏之子，冉氏之孫。」曰：「以其無避也。若立巖墻之下，動而征病，行而招死，命乎！命乎！」 |
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Someone asked about fate. Yangzi said: Fate is Tian's decree, it is not man's doing. What is effected by man is not fate. May I ask what you mean by "effected by man?" Yangzi said: Situations in which one may either survive or perish, live or die, are not matters of fate. Fate is what cannot be avoided. The other said: What about Yan Yuan and Ran Geng? Yangzi said: Because of fate, they could not avoid an early death. But if you choose to stand under a wall that is about to collapse, where moving will summon disaster and any action will result in death, is that fate? | |
| 12 | 問明卷第... : | 吉人凶其吉，凶人吉其凶。 |
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Fortunate people treat their good fortune as bad fortune. Unfortunate people treat their bad fortune as good fortune. | |
| 13 | 問明卷第... : | 辰乎辰！曷來之遲，去之速也，君子兢諸。 |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: | Time! Time! How slowly it comes and how quickly it goes. The junzi races with it. | |
| 14 | 問明卷第... : | 謣言敗俗，謣好敗則，姑息敗德。君子謹於言，慎於好，亟於時。 |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: | Recklessly exaggerated speech destroys societal norms. Unrestrained desires destroy the law. Self-indulgence destroys de. The junzi is careful in speech, cautious in desire, and pressed by time. | |
| 15 | 問明卷第... : | 吾不見震風之能動聾聵也。 |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: | I have not seen a thundering storm that was able to stir a deaf person. | |
| 16 | 問明卷第... : | 或問「君子在治」。曰：「若鳳。」「在亂？」曰：「若鳳。」或人不諭。曰：「未之思矣！」曰：「治則見，亂則隱。鴻飛冥冥，弋人何篡焉。鷦明遴集，食其潔者矣！鳳鳥蹌蹌，匪堯之庭。」 |
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Someone asked: What is the junzi like in times of just government? Yangzi said: He is like the phoenix. What is he like in chaotic times? Yangzi said: He is like the phoenix. The other did not understand. Yangzi said: You have yet to think it through. If it is a time of just government, he appears. If it is a time of chaos, he hides. When the wild goose flies high and far, how can the archer hope to shoot him? The jiao ming carefully chooses a place to gather and eats only pure things. When the phoenix takes off, he flies to the hall of Yao. | |
| 17 | 問明卷第... : | 亨龍潛升，其貞利乎？或曰：「龍何如可以貞利而亨。」曰：「時未可而潛，不亦貞乎？時可而升，不亦利乎？潛升在己，用之以時，不亦亨乎。」 |
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A successful dragon lays low or rises to view in accordance with his integrity and advantage. The other said: How does the dragon use his integrity and advantage and thereby succeed? Yangzi said: If the time is not right, he hides. Is this not integrity? If the time is right, he rises. Is this not seizing an advantage? If one is able both to hide and to rise, and act according to the times, is this not indeed success? | |
| 18 | 問明卷第... : | 或問「活身」。曰：「明哲。」或曰：「童蒙則活，何乃明哲乎？」曰：「君子所貴，亦越用明保慎其身也。如庸行翳路，沖沖而活，君子不貴也。」 |
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Someone asked about preserving one's life. Yangzi said: It is a matter of illuminated wisdom. The other said: If the young and unenlightened can preserve themselves, then how is it only a matter of illuminated wisdom? Yangzi said: The junzi only values using his wisdom to preserve his life. If it means blundering in panic down a darkened road like a fool and somehow preserving his life, the junzi would not value it. | |
| 19 | 問明卷第... : | 楚兩龔之絜，其清矣乎！蜀莊沈冥。蜀莊之才之珍也，不作苟見，不治苟得，久幽而不改其操。雖隨、和何以加諸？舉茲以旃，不亦寶乎？吾珍莊也，居難為也。不慕由，即夷矣。何毚欲之有？ |
| Asking About Seeing Clearly:...: | The purity of Gong Sheng and Gong She from Chu were lofty indeed! Zhuang Zun of Shu lived in deep seclusion, and his talents were truly valuable. He neither acted for attention and respect, nor did he serve in government in order to obtain wealth and honor. He hid himself for a long time and did not deviate from his principles. Even if one had the pearls of the Sui or the He Shi Bi, how could these surpass the value of Zhuang's integrity. I raise him up as a banner—is he not indeed precious? I greatly admire Zhuang, his position was difficult to maintain. If he did not aspire to equal Xu You, then he aspired to equal Bo Yi. What greedy desires could he have had? | |
| 20 | 問明卷第... : | 或問：「堯將讓天下於許由，由恥。有諸？」曰：「好大者為之也。顧由無求於世而已矣！允喆堯儃舜之重，則不輕於由矣。好大累克，巢父灑耳，不亦宜乎？靈場之威，宜夜矣乎！」 |
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Someone asked: Yao was about to cede all under Heaven to Xu You, but Xu You was ashamed. Did this really happen? Yangzi said: That is how those who like to exaggerate would tell it. In fact, Xu You had no worldly desires at all. If one truly understood the seriousness with which Yao abdicated to Shun, then one would know that he would not have rashly abdicated to Xu You. Those who like to exaggerate have built up the story and gone beyond the truth of the matter. The story of Chaofu washing out his ears, isn't this also the same sort of exaggeration? To frighten people the way haunted places do, don't you need the dark of night? | |
| 21 | 問明卷第... : | 朱鳥翾翾，歸其肆矣。或曰：「奚取於朱鳥哉？」曰：「時來則來，時往則往，能來能往者，朱鳥之謂與？」 |
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The swallow flits around, coming and going without restraint. Someone said: What do you admire about the swallow? Yangzi said: When it is time to come, he comes. When it is time to go, he goes. One who is able to come and go—that describes a swallow, does it not? | |
| 22 | 問明卷第... : | 或問：「韓非作《說難》之書而卒死乎說難，敢問何反也？」曰：「說難蓋其所以死乎？」曰：「何也？」曰：「君子以禮動，以義止，合則進，否則退，確乎不憂其不合也。夫說人而憂其不合，則亦無所不至矣！」或曰：「說之不合，非憂邪？」曰：「說不由道，憂也；由道而不合，非憂也。」 |
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Someone said: Han Feizi wrote the Difficulty of Persuaders and ended up dying because of the difficulties of persuasion. Dare I ask why the situation turned back on him? Yangzi said: The Difficulty of Persuaders is probably what killed him. The other said: Why? Yangzi said: A junzi acts in accord with li and stops in accord with yi. If he conforms to the ruler's opinion he serves in government, otherwise he retires. He stands firm and does not worry that he does not conform. Now, if he is a persuader and worries about not conforming, then he will stop at nothing. The other said: Is it not worth worrying whether one's persuasion will fail to conform? Yangzi said: If one's persuasion does not follow the Dao, that is worth worrying about! But following the Dao and not conforming—this is nothing to worry about! | |
| 23 | 問明卷第... : | 或問「哲」。曰：「旁明厥思。」問「行」。曰：「旁通厥德。」 |
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Someone asked about wisdom. Yangzi said: Make your thoughts completely clear. He asked about action. Yangzi said: Let your de pervade everywhere. |
URN: ctp:yangzi-fayan/juan-liu