鲲之大，不知其几千里也；化而为鸟，其名为鹏。
鹏之背，不知其几千里也；怒而飞，其翼若垂天之云。
NOTE The passages we have bracketed look like afterthoughts of Chuang-tzu or later annotations, and in the Chinese text three of them seem out of place; in the trans- lation they have been pushed forward a little.
Sung Jung is the philosopher Sung Hsing of Below in the empire (pp. 278f below), one of whose doctrines was that To be insulted is not disgraceful'.
是鸟也，海运则将徙于南冥。
Chuang- tzu sees his refusal to feel devalued by other men's judgements as a first step to escape from the world, but regrets that he still thought it his duty to get involved in politics for the good of the empire.
南冥者，天池也。
齐谐者，志怪者也。
Lieh-tzu, later ranked among the greatest Taoist sages, is apparently seen by Chuang-tzu as a man who missed the final liberation by mistak- enly seeking the Way through magic; in the single story about him in the Inner chap- ters (pp. 96-8 below) he is misled by a sorcerer before he attains the true Way.
Neither of them quite achieves a selflessness indifferent to winning credit for deeds and having an honoured name.
谐之言曰：“鹏之徙于南冥也，水击三千里，抟扶摇而上者九万里，去以六月息者也。
The Six Energies' which activate the cyclic motions of heaven and earth are tradi- tionally enumerated as Yin and Yang, wind and rain, dark and light.
”野马也，尘埃也，生物之以息相吹也。
天之苍苍，其正色邪？
Yao resigned the Empire to Hsu Yu, saying When the sun or the moon is up, if the torch fires are not put out, aren't we taking too much trouble to light the world?
When the timely rains fall, if we go on flooding the channels, aren't we working too hard to water the fields?
其远而无所至极邪？
While you, sir, are in your place the Empire is in order, yet here I still am in the seat of honour.
其视下也，亦若是则已矣。
且夫水之积也不厚，则其负大舟也无力。
In my own eyes I do not deserve it; let me make you a present of the Empire.
If you order things as Emperor, it's that already the Empire is in order; and if I were to see any point in taking your place, would it be for the sake of the name?
覆杯水于坳堂之上，则芥为之舟；置杯焉则胶，水浅而舟大也。
The name is the guest of the substance.
风之积也不厚，则其负大翼也无力，故九万里则风斯在下矣。
而后乃今培风，背负青天而莫之夭阏者，而后乃今将图南。
Would it be for the sake of the substance?
The tit that nests in the deep forest wants no more than one branch, the mole that drinks in the Yellow River no more than a bellyful.
蜩与学鸠笑之曰：“我决起而飞，抢榆枋，时则不至，而控于地而已矣；奚以之九万里而南为？
Go back where you belong, my lord, the Empire is no use to me.
”适莽苍者，三飡而反，腹犹果然；适百里者，宿舂粮；适千里者，三月聚粮。
之二虫又何知？
Even when the chief cook does run a disorderly kitchen, the priest and the medium will not step over the jars and dishes to take his place.
NOTE In Confucian legend the pre-dynastic emperor Yao is a sage who when his time is over abdicates to the man best fitted to rule in his place, Shun.
小知不及大知，小年不及大年。
奚以知其然也？
Yangists and Taoists delighted in imagining a recluse Hsu Yu who disdained the offer of Yao's throne.
In this and the next episode Chuang-tzu introduces a further refinement: Yao himself understood that the good order of his reign came not from his own policies but from individuals cultivating the Power in them in private, Hsu Yu and the name- less man on Mount Ku-yi.
朝菌不知晦朔，蟪蛄不知春秋，此小年也。
In ancient Chinese thought political order results directly from the mysterious influence of the Power in the ruler, and his political acts are merely its by-products.
楚之南有冥灵者，以五百岁为春，五百岁为秋；上古有大椿者，以八千岁为春，八千岁为秋。
而彭祖乃今以久特闻，众人匹之，不亦悲乎？
For a modern reader, this is a strange conceptualisation, but we may express Chuang-tzu's insight in more familiar terms-the social fabric coheres or dissolves by the action of influences which have little to do with the deliberate policies of rulers, and which may be emanating from humble, publicly unnoticed individuals.
Chien Wu put a question to Lien Shu, I heard Chieh Yu say something, he talked big but there was no sense in it, he left the firm ground and never came back.
汤之问棘也是已：“穷发之北有冥海者，天池也。
I was amazed and frightened by his words, which streamed on into the infinite like the Milky Way, wild extravagances, nothing to do with man as he really is.
有鱼焉，其广数千里，未有知其修者，其名曰鲲。
What did he say?