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Chinese Literature - masters or philosophers

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Four Categories 四部 > Masters or Philosophers 子部Literature A to Z
Literature by time
Literature by theme
儒家 Rujia Confucian treatises
兵家 Bingjia Military treatises
法家 Fajia Legist or legalist treatises
農家 Nongjia Agricultural treatises
醫家 Yijia Medical treatises
天文算法 Tianwen suanfa Astronomical and mathematical treatises
術數 Shushu Divination books
藝術 Yishu Treatises on art
譜錄 Pulu Scientific treatises
雜家 Zajia Miscellaneous treatises
類書 Leishu Encyclopedias
小說家 Xiaoshuojia Novels and stories
釋家 Shijia Buddhists
道家 Daojia Daoists

Other representatives of the hundred schools:
墨家 Mojia Mohists
縱橫家 Zonghengjia Coalition persuaders: see Zhanguoce, Yanzi chunqiu
名家 Mingjia Sophists
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若人之為我友:內外進矣.而後眼 如耳,耳如鼻,鼻如口,無不同也.心凝形釋,骨肉都融;不覺形之所倚,足之所履,隨風東西,猶木 葉幹殼.竟不知風乘我邪?我乘風乎?今女居先生之門,曾未浹時,而懟憾者再三.女之片體將氣 所不受,汝之一節將地所不載.履虛乘風,其可幾乎?」
The Yellow Emperor
[Liezi said:] "Here, I will tell you what I learned my own Master. Three years after I began to serve the Master and befriend a certain man, my mind no longer dared to think of right and wrong, my mouth no longer dadred to speak of benefit and harm; and it was only then that I got as much as a glance the Master. After five years, my mind was again thnking of right and wrong, my mouth was again speaking of benefit and harm; and for the first time the Master's face relaxed in a smile. After seven years, I thought of whatever came into my mind without any longer distinguishing between right and wrong, said whatever came into my mouth without any longer distinguishing between benefit and harm; and for the first time the Master pulled me over to sit with him on the same mat. After nine years, I thout without restraint of whatever came into my mind and said without restraint whatever came into my mouth without knowing whatever the right and wrong, benefit and harm, were mine or another's, without knowing that the Master was my teacher and the man I have mentioned was my friend. Only then, when I had come to the end of everything inside me and outside me, my eyes became like ears, my ears like my nose, my nose like my mouth; everything was the same. My mind completely concentrated and my body relaxed, bones and flesh fused completely, I did not notice what my body leaned against and my feet trod, I drifted with the wind East or West, like a leaf a tree or a dry husk, and never knew whether it was the wind that rode me or I that rode the wind."

5.湯問
造父之師曰泰豆氏.造父之始從習御也,執禮甚卑,泰豆三年不告.造父執禮愈謹,乃告之曰:「古詩言:『良弓之子,必先為箕;良冶之子,必先為裘.』汝先觀吾趣.趣如吾,然後六轡可持,六馬可御.」造父曰 :「唯命所從.」泰豆乃立木為塗,僅可容足;計步而置,履之而行.趣走往還,無跌失也.造父學之,三日盡其巧.泰豆歎曰:「子何其敏也?得之捷乎!凡所御者,亦如此也.曩汝之行,得之於足,應之於心.推於御也,齊輯乎轡銜之際,而急緩乎脣吻之和,正度乎胸臆之中,而執節乎掌握之間.內得於中心,而外合於馬志.得之於銜,應之於轡;得之於轡 ,應之於手;得之於手,應之於心.則不以目視,不以策驅;心閑體正,六轡不亂,而二十四蹄所投無差;迴旋進退,莫不中節.然後輿輪之外可使無餘轍,馬蹄之外可使無餘地;未嘗覺山谷之嶮,原隰之夷,視之一也.吾術窮矣.汝其識之!」
The questions of Tang
The charioteer Zaofu's teacher was called Taidou. When Zaofu first practised charioteering under him, he behaved with extreme humility, but for three years Taidou told him nothing. He behaved even more punctiliously, and finally Taidou told him: "An old poem says: 'The son of a good bow-maker must begin by making baskets, the son of a good blacksmith must begin by making chisels.' First watch me run; you will bot be able to hold six bridles and drive six horses until you can run like me." - "I will obey whatever you command," Zaofu answered. Then Taidou set up a row of posts, just big enough to stand on, the length of a stride apart. He ran backwards and forwards stepping one to the next without stumbling. Zaofu practised it and could do it perfectlyin three days. "How nimble you are," Taidou said, "You have picked it up quickly. Charioteering is just the same. When you were running just now, you responded with your mind to what you felt in your feet. Applying this to charioteering, you must control the bridle the point where it meets the bit, and pull tight or slacken feeling the corners of the lips; decision must come within your breast and execution within the palm of your hand. What you sense within in your innermost heart will accord outside with the horse's temper... If you respond with the bridle to what you feel in the bit, with the hand to what you feel in the bridle, with the mind to what you feel in the hand, then you will see without eyes and urge without a goad; relaxed in mind and straight in posture, holding six bridles without confusing them, you will place the twenty-four hooves exactly where you want them, and swing round, advance and withdraw with perfect precision. Only then will you be able to drive carving a rut no wider than the chariot's wheel, on a cliff which drops at the edge of the horse's hoof, never noticing that mountains and valleys are sttep and plains and marshland are flat, seeing them as all the same. This is all I have to teach; remember it."

7.楊朱
楊朱曰:「萬物所異者生也,所同者死也.生則有賢愚、貴賤,是所異也;死則有臭腐、消滅,是所同也.十年亦死,百年亦死.仁聖亦死,凶愚亦死.生則堯舜,死則腐骨;生則桀紂,死則腐骨.腐骨一矣,孰知其異?且趣當生,奚遑死後?」
Yang Zhu
Yang Zhu said: "It is in life that the myriad things of the world are different; in death they are all the same. In life, there are clever and foolish, noble and vile; these are the differences. In death, there are stench and rot, decay and extinction; in this we are all the same... Some in ten years, some in a hundred, we all die; saints and sages die, the wicked and the foolish die. In life they were Yao and Shun (ideal rulers), in death they are rotten bones; in life they were Jie and Zhou (bad rulers), in death they are rotten bones. Rotten bones are all the same, who can tell them apart? Make haste to enjoy your life while you have it; why care what happens when you are dead?"
楊朱曰:「古語有之:『生相憐,死相捐.』此語至矣.相憐之道,非唯情也;勤能使逸,飢能使飽,寒能使溫,窮能使達也.相捐之道,非不相哀也;不含珠玉,不服文錦,不陳犧牲,不設明器也.
Yang Zhu said: "There is an old saying that each of us should pity the living and abandon the dead. This saying puts it exactly. The way to pity others is not simply to feel for them. When they are toiling we can give them ease, hungry we can feed them, cold we can warm them, in trouble we can help them to get through. The way to abandon the dead is not to refuse to feel sorry for them. But we should not put pearls or jade in their mouths, dress them in brocade, lay out sacrificial victims, prepare funeral vessels."
楊朱曰:「生民之不得休息,為四事故:一為壽,二為名,三為位,四為貨.有此四者,畏鬼,畏人,畏威,畏刑:此謂之遁民也.可殺可活,制命在外.不逆命,何羨壽?不矜貴,何羨名?不要勢,何羨位?不貪富,何羨貨?此之謂順民也.天下無對,制命在內.故語有之曰:人不宦,情欲失半;人不衣食,君臣道息.」
Yang Zhu said: "People find no rest because of four aims - long life, reputation, office, possessions. Whoever has these four aims dreads spirits, dreads other men, dreads authority, dreads punishment. I can call him a man in flight things. 'He can be killed, he can be given life; the destiny which decides is outside him.' If you do not go against destiny, why should you yearn for long life? If you are not conceited about honors, why should you yearn for reputation? If you do not want power, why should you yearn for office? If you are not greedy for wealth, why should you yearn for possessions? One who sees this I call a man in accord with things. 'Nothing in the world counters him; the destiny which decided is within him.' Hence the saying, 'Without office and marriage, men's satisfaction would be halved. If they did not eat and wear clothes the Way of ruler and subject would cease.'"
楊朱曰:「豐屋美服,厚味姣色.有此四者,何求於外?有此而求外者,無厭之性.無厭之性,陰陽之蠹也.」
Yang Zhu said: "A great house, fine clothes, good food, beautiful women - if you have these four, what more do you need outside youself? One who has them yet seeks more outside himself has an insatiable nature. An insatiable nature is a grub eating away one's vital forces."

Translated by A. C. Graham

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