颜成子游立侍乎前,曰:“何居乎?
When the gale has passed, all the hollows empty, and don't tell me you have never seen how the quivering slows and settles!
形固可使如槁木,而心固可使如死灰乎?
The pipes of earth, these are the various hollows; the pipes of men, these are rows of tubes.
今之隐机者,非昔之隐机者也。
Let me ask about the pipes of Heaven.
”子綦曰:“偃,不亦善乎,而问之也?
'Who is it that puffs out the myriads which are never the same, who in their self-ending is sealing them up, in their self-choosing is impelling the force into them?
今者吾丧我,汝知之乎?
女闻人籁,而未闻地籁,女闻地籁而未闻天籁夫!
'Heaven turns circles, yes!
Earth sits firm, yes!
”子游曰:“敢问其方。
Sun and moon vie for a place, yes!
”子綦曰:“夫大块噫气,其名为风,是唯无作,作则万窍怒呺,而独不闻之翏翏乎?
Whose is the bow that shoots them?
山林之畏佳,大木百围之窍穴,似鼻,似口,似耳,似枅,似圈,似臼,似洼者,似污者。
Whose is the net that holds them?
激者,謞者,叱者,吸者,叫者,譹者,宎者,咬者,前者唱于而随者唱喁。
Who is it sits with nothing to do and gives them the push that sends them?
泠风则小和,飘风则大和,厉风济则众窍为虚。
而独不见之调调之刁刁乎?
'Shall we suppose, yes, that something triggers them off, then seals them away, and they have no choice?
Or suppose, yes, that wheeling in their circuits they cannot stop themselves?
”子游曰:“地簌则众窍是已,人簌则比竹是已,敢问天簌。
Do the clouds make the rain?
”子綦曰:“夫吹万不同,而使其自己也,咸其自取,怒者其谁邪?
Or the rain the clouds?
”
大知闲闲,小知閒閒;大言炎炎,小言詹詹。
Whose bounty bestows them?
其寐也魂交,其觉也形开;与接为搆,日以心斗:缦者,窖者,密者。
Who is it sits with nothing to do as in ecstasy he urges them?
小恐惴惴,大恐缦缦。
The winds rise in the north, Blow west, blow east, And now again whirl high above.
其发若机栝,其司是非之谓也;其留如诅盟,其守胜之谓也。
其杀若秋冬,以言其日消也;其溺之所为之,不可使复之也;其厌也如缄,以言其老洫也;近死之心,莫使复阳也。
Who breathes them out, who breathes them in?
Who is it sits with nothing to do and sweeps between and over them?
喜怒哀乐,虑叹变,姚佚启态。
NOTE Chuang-tzu's parable of the wind compares the conflicting utterances of tubes of the pan-pipes, and the noises made by the wind in hollows of different shapes.
乐出虚,蒸成菌。
It is natural for differently constituted persons to think differently; don't try to decide between their opinions, listen to Heaven who breathes through them.
日夜相代乎前,而莫知其所萌。
The trance of Tzu-ch'i reappears in a Mixed chapter fragment (p. 105 below), where he speaks of a progressive objectivisation of successive selves from which he detaches himself.
已乎,已乎!
Here he has finally broken out of the dichotomy, losing both 'the counterpart of himself' and 'his own self'.
旦暮得此,其所由以生乎!
'That hugest of clumps of soil', a phrase peculiar to the Inner chapters (pp. 86-8 below), seems to conjure up an image of the universe so far in the distance that it is no bigger than a clod you could hold in your hand.