Content created: 2014-07-16
File last modified:
2019-01-21
Zhuāngzǐ 庄子 has always been appreciated for his spunky observations and contrarian ideas, but also for his tongue-in-cheek descriptions of fictional meetings between Confucius and Lǎozǐ, in each of which Lǎozǐ, with great condescension, makes Confucius look and feel ridiculous.
In the present selection, Confucius has just returned from such a meeting and has sat in morose silence for three days before conceding that meeting Lǎozǐ (here called Lǎo Dān 老聃) was uncomfortably like meeting a dragon.
His disciple DUĀNMÙ Cì 端木赐, known by his nickname Zǐgōng 子贡, resolves to go and meet Lǎozǐ himself and perhaps try to defend his master’s honor. He plans to challenge Lǎozǐ’s reputed lack of respect for the revered monarchs of heroic antiquity, whom Confucius especially honored.
Unfortunately the timid Zǐgōng, perhaps overwhelmed to be in the presence of the famous "dragon," seems to get confused about which culture heroes should be included in his list. He mentions the “Three Kings” (Sān Wáng 三王, namely Yǔ 禹, Tāng 汤, and Wǔ 武, founders of the Xià 夏, Shāng 商, and Zhōu 周 dynasties, periods 2-4), and allows himself to get distracted by irrelevant information about them rather than using their deeds to make his point. (It’s the sort of mistake a person makes writing a termpaper —or web page— late the night before it is due.)
Lǎozǐ in this story somewhat unfairly exploits the fact that he is much older and more venerable than Zǐgōng to force the young man into respectful but confused silence. He puckishly creates confusion by pretending Zǐgōng said “Three Sovereigns” (Sān Huáng 三皇, namely Fúxī 伏羲, Shénnong 神农, and Zhùróng 祝融) rather than Three Kings, and throws in the Yellow Emperor (Huángdì 黄帝), who belongs in neither list. And he shocks the younger man with a blast of blatant heterodoxy when he calls a plague on all their houses. Zǐgōng is left speechless.
Here is Zhuāngzǐ’s amused account of the hypothetical conversation. (The passage occupies most of book 14, chapter 7 in standard editions. The line numbering here is introduced to facilitate referencing in class discussion. The translation is freely modified from Legge, 1891.)
| 1. | … Zǐgōng said, “So then, can (this) old man indeed sit motionless, like a representative of the dead, and then seem like dragon? Can his voice resound as thunder when he is silent as a pool of water? Can he truly show in his movements all heaven and earth? [Confucius continues staring into empty space.] May I, Cì 赐, also get to see him?” |
| 2. | And so, with a letter of introduction from Confucius, Zǐgōng went to see Lǎo Dān (=Lǎozǐ). |
| 3. | Lǎo Dān was sitting in his reception room, and spoke in a weak voice: “My years have rolled on and are passing away. What have you, Sir, come to admonish me about?” |
| 4. | Zǐgōng replied, “The [founding heroes of the civilized world, the] Three Kings 王 and Five Emperors 帝, ruled the world in different ways, but the fame that has accrued to them is the same. How is it that you alone consider that they were not sages?” |
| 5. | “Come a little closer, my son,” said Lǎo Dān. “Why do you say that (their government) was not the same?” |
| 6. | Zǐgōng answered: “Yáo 尧 [monarch 01a-8] gave the kingdom to Shùn 舜 [01a-9], and Shùn gave it to Yǔ 禹 [02a-1]. Yǔ had recourse to his strength, and Tāng 汤 [03a-1] to the force of arms. |
| 7. | King Wén 文 was obedient to [the tyrant] Zhòu 纣 [03a-31], and did not dare to rebel; king Wǔ 武 [04b-2] rebelled against Zhòu 纣, and would not submit to him. And so I say that their methods were not the same.” |
| 8. | Lǎo Dān replied, “Come a little more forward, my son, and I will tell you how the Three Sovereigns 皇 and the Five Emperors ruled the world. |
| 9. | Huáng-Dì 黄帝 [01a-3] ruled the world, so as to make the minds of the people uniform. [But at least] if the parents of one of them died, and he did not wail [in a natural way], no one blamed him. |
| 10. | Yáo 尧 [01a-8] ruled the world [more strictly] so as to cause the hearts of the people to cherish [undue] affection for relatives. If any, however, made the observances on the death of other members of their kindred less than those for their parents, no one blamed them [for this reduction]. |
| 11. | Shùn 舜 [01a-9] ruled the world [yet more strictly] so as to produce a feeling of rivalry in the minds of the people. Their wives gave birth to their children in the tenth month of their pregnancy, but those children could speak at five months; and before they were three years old, they began to call people by their surnames and names [thus introducing unnatural distinctions]. Then it was that men began to die prematurely. |
| 12. | Yǔ 禹 [02a-1] ruled the world so as to cause the minds of the people to become changed. Men's minds became scheming, and they used their weapons as if they might legitimately do so, (saying that they were merely) killing thieves and not that they were killing other men. The people formed themselves into different worlds — so it was throughout the kingdom. Everywhere there was great fear, and there arose the Literati and (the followers of) [the philosopher] Mòzǐ 墨子. |
| 13. | From them came first the doctrine of the [five] relationships (of society); and what can be said of the now prevailing [artificial] conventions for selecting wives and daughters? |
| 14. | I tell you that the rule of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors may be called by the name ‘governance,’ but nothing can be greater than the disorder which it produced. |
| 15. | The ‘wisdom’ of the Three Sovereigns [and Five Emperors] was opposed to the brightness of the sun and moon above. It was contrary to the exquisite purity of the hills and streams below. It was subversive of the beneficent gifts of the four seasons between. |
| 16. | Their ‘wisdom’ has been more fatal than the sting of a scorpion or the bite of a dangerous beast. |
| 17. | Unable to rest in the true attributes of their nature and constitution, they still regarded themselves as sages. Was it not a thing to be ashamed of? Yet they were shameless!” |
| 18. | Zǐgōng just stood, quite disconcerted and ill at ease. |
Return to top.
Go to bilingual version.