庄子/渔父

The book is written in both Chinese and English.

The book is written in both Chinese and "ls he an official to the prince?" the fisherman continued.

"No," Zigong answered.

The old fisherman turned around and walked away, saying, "Confucius sounds humane, but I'm afraid that he still cannot be free of trouble.

The mental and physical torture he has imposed upon himself is jeopardizing his own natural disposition.

Oh, he is too far from the genuine Tao." Zigong returned to Confucius and reported the intercourse with the old fisherman.

Pushing the lute away, Confucius stood up and said, "The old fisherman must be a sage." Then Confucius came down from the terrace and walked toward the river in search of the old fisherman, who was just about to row away his boat.

When he looked back and saw Confucius, he turned around.

Confucius backed a few steps, made a bow and approached him.

The fisherman asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?" "Yes.

I'm not clever enough to see the implication of your remarks which you didn't fully explain, so I took the liberty to come to wait for you.

I wish I could converse with you in person so that I could benefit from your remarks," Confucius replied.

"So you are very studious," the fisherman commented.

Confucius bowed again and said, "I've been studious since my child- hood.

How dare I indulge myself to be indifferent to your teachings?" The fisherman said, "According to the principles of nature, things of the same kind cluster while sounds of the same frequency harmonize.

Let me explain what I know so as to be of some help to your activities.

You have been engaged in the worldly affairs.

If the four classes of people - the king, the princes, the officials and the common people - occupy their proper positions, the society will be in good order; otherwise, chaos and disorder will be inevitable.

If the officials do their respective duties and the people are engaged in their respective businesses, there will be no trouble at all.

Therefore, the common people are worried about the waste of their land, the destruction of their shelters, the lack of their food and clothing, the overdue of taxes, the dispute between their wives and concubines, and the transposition of the old and the young.

The officials are worried about insufficient qualifications for their positions, the incompetence in performing their duties, the abuse of their power, the negligence of their subordinates, the lack of merits and prestige, and the dismissal from their official positions.

The princes and dukes are worried about the absence of faithful officials in the royal court, the confusion of the capital and fief, the inadequacy of artistic skills, the imperfection of articles of tribute to the king, the violation of proper sequence of order in the royal court, and their incompetence to please the king.

The king is worried about the disharmony of yin and yang, the improper change of the four seasons that will impair the growth of all things on earth, the riots of princes and dukes with their wars and expeditions that will lead to the killing and suffering of the people, the inappropriateness of rituals and music, the exhaustion of financial power, the chaotic order of human relations, and the defiance of law by the common people.

Now, you neither hold the position of a prince, nor that of a minister, but you are presumptuously modifying the norms of rituals and music and setting up the order of human relations in an attempt to instruct and guide the subjects.