大宗師

The Great Ancestral Teacher

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真人

The True Person

何謂真人？古之真人，不逆寡，不雄成，不謨士。若然者，過而弗悔，當而不自得也。若然者，登高不栗，入水不濡，入火不熱，是知之能登假於道者也若此。

古之真人，其寢不夢，其覺無憂，其食不甘，其息深深。真人之息以踵，眾人之息以喉。屈服者，其嗌言若哇。其耆欲深者，其天機淺。

What is a True Person? The True Persons of old did not resent lowliness, did not exult in success, did not scheme. Such people could pass through failure without regret and achieve success without self-satisfaction. Such people could climb the heights without trembling, enter the water without getting wet, enter the fire without feeling hot — this is the kind of knowledge that can ascend to the Way.

The True Persons of old slept without dreaming and woke without worry. They ate without relishing and breathed from deep within. The True Person breathes with their heels; the masses breathe with their throats. Those who are bent and broken stammer out their words as though retching. Those whose desires run deep have shallow access to Heaven's workings.

Notes

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The 'True Person' (真人) is Zhuangzi's highest ideal — beyond even the 'sage' of Confucian tradition. The image of breathing 'with the heels' (以踵) describes a deep, whole-body breathing practice connected to early Daoist cultivation techniques, suggesting that the True Person's vital energy circulates fully through the entire body.

相忘於江湖

Forgetting Each Other in Rivers and Lakes

泉涸，魚相與處於陸，相呴以濕，相濡以沫，不如相忘於江湖。與其譽堯而非桀也，不如兩忘而化其道。

When the springs dry up and the fish are stranded on land, they moisten each other with their dampness and wet each other with their spittle — but it would be far better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes. Rather than praising Yao and condemning Jie, it would be better to forget both and be transformed by the Way.

Notes

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This passage became one of the most famous in all Chinese literature. The image of fish 'moistening each other with their dampness' (相濡以沫) represents mutual aid under desperate conditions — a beautiful but ultimately inferior state compared to the natural freedom of fish swimming in vast waters, unaware of each other's existence. It is a subtle critique of Confucian benevolence: true freedom transcends the need for mutual help.

道之傳承

The Transmission of the Way

夫道有情有信，無為無形；可傳而不可受，可得而不可見；自本自根，未有天地，自古以固存；神鬼神帝，生天生地；在太極之先而不為高，在六極之下而不為深，先天地生而不為久，長於上古而不為老。

The Way has feelings and can be trusted, but it does nothing and has no form. It can be transmitted but not received; it can be attained but not seen. It is its own root and its own source. Before there were heaven and earth, from ancient times it has existed. It gives spirits and gods their divinity, gives birth to heaven and earth. It is above the Great Ultimate yet is not considered high. It is below the six directions yet is not considered deep. It was born before heaven and earth yet is not considered ancient. It is older than the most remote antiquity yet is not considered old.

Notes

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This passage is the most systematic description of the Way (道) in the Zhuangzi, and strongly influenced later Daoist metaphysics. The paradox 'it can be transmitted but not received' (可傳而不可受) means the Way can be pointed to but cannot be grasped as an object — each person must realize it for themselves.

坐忘

Sitting and Forgetting

顏回曰："回益矣。"仲尼曰："何謂也？"曰："回忘仁義矣。"曰："可矣，猶未也。"他日復見，曰："回益矣。"曰："何謂也？"曰："回忘禮樂矣！"曰："可矣，猶未也。"他日復見，曰："回益矣！"曰："何謂也？"曰："回坐忘矣。"仲尼蹴然曰："何謂坐忘？"顏回曰："墮肢體，黜聰明，離形去知，同於大通，此謂坐忘。"仲尼曰："同則無好也，化則無常也。而果其賢乎！丘也請從而後也。"

Yan Hui said: 'I am making progress.' Confucius said: 'What do you mean?' 'I have forgotten benevolence and righteousness.' 'That is good, but you have not gone far enough.' Another day Yan Hui saw Confucius again and said: 'I am making progress.' 'What do you mean?' 'I have forgotten rites and music!' 'That is good, but you have not gone far enough.' Another day he saw Confucius again and said: 'I am making progress!' 'What do you mean?' 'I sit and forget.' Confucius was startled and said: 'What do you mean by sitting and forgetting?' Yan Hui said: 'I let my limbs and body fall away, dismiss perception and intellect, cast off form, abandon knowledge, and become one with the Great Thoroughfare. This is what I mean by sitting and forgetting.' Confucius said: 'If you are one with it, you have no preferences. If you are transformed by it, you have no constancy. You really are a worthy person! I ask permission to follow along behind you.'

Notes

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'Sitting and forgetting' (坐忘) became one of the most important meditation concepts in Chinese Daoism. The progressive forgetting — first morality, then ritual, then the body and mind themselves — describes a systematic deconstruction of all the categories that define conventional selfhood. The punch line, where Confucius asks to become the student, reverses the normal teacher-student hierarchy entirely.

Edition & Source

Text: 《莊子》 Zhuangzi
Edition: 《四部叢刊》本
Commentary: Traditional Daoist commentaries