以指喻指之非指，不若以非指喻指之非指也；以馬喻馬之非馬，不若以非馬喻馬之非馬也。天地，一指也；萬物，一馬也。可乎可，不可乎不可。道行之而成，物謂之而然。惡乎然？然於然。惡乎不然？不然於不然。物固有所然，物固有所可。無物不然，無物不可。故為是舉莛與楹，厲與西施，恢恑憰怪，道通為一。
Using a finger to illustrate the not-finger-of-the-finger
is not as good as using the not-finger to describe the
not-finger-of-the-finger. Using a horse to illustrate the
not-horse-of-the-horse is not as good as using the not-horse to illustrate the
not-horse-of-the-horse.
Heaven and earth, one finger; the ten-thousands things,
one horse.
Approving comes from approving; disapproving comes from
disapproving.
Walking a path makes it a path. A thing is called-so and
it becomes like-so.
How are things made like-so? Like-so from (being called)
like-so.
How comes not-like-so? Not-like-so comes from (being called)
not-like-so.
All things have a place of "like so." All
things have a place of "it may be."
There is no thing without "like so." There is
no thing without "it may be."
Therefore by affirmation we can raise up stalks of grass
alongside the columns of a hall, a leper alongside Xi Shi, the vast and the
precarious, the crafty and the strange, Dao opens (and) makes all one.
喻 to describe
something as; an analogy; a simile; a metaphor; an allegory;
可 to approve; can; may
莛 stems; stalks (of grass)
楹 principal columns (or pillars) of a
hall
厲 strict, rigorous; stern, severe,
grim; violent
西施 (c. 450 BCE) name of a famous
beauty of the late Spring and Autumn Period
恢 extensive, vast; to restore
恑 change (precarious?)
憰 wily, time-serving ; to feign;
怪 strange,
odd; queer
Notes:
喻 I use an active, transitive verb,
“illustrate” to capture the process of analogical reasoning (of likening
something to something else).
可encompasses both possibility and
approval; here Zhuangzi’s point is that it is possible to “approve” or “affirm”
anything by virtue of language; all things permit a point of view from which
they may be affirmed or “made like so.”
厲 the commentary gives 厉 / 厲 = 病丑人 but contemporary
dictionaries list 麻风病/麻風病 as leprosy.
憰 vs 怪 these two terms
have additional connotations that resonate with themes in the text. 憰 means crafty or wily, but can also refer
to someone who simply “serves-time,” a lazy public servant who simply resides
in office serving no benefit to others. The theme of the minor official who
only knows enough to execute one function is a recurring theme in Zhuangzi, and
correlates with the text’s warnings about conduct “within the world of people.”
If we consider this pair as a pair of socio-economic binaries, then 怪 evokes all the cripples, beggars, ex-criminals, and vagrants who
exhibit the “sign of virtue complete.” These are more than strange or odd
personages, these are social outcasts who flourish despite their status and
individual conditions. It seems particularly noteworthy that even these extremes
are connected by Dao, and
以指喻指之非指 part 1
The usual approach to this phrase is “using a finger to
show a finger is not a finger...” In this translation I treat 指之非指 as a compound,
“the not-finger-of-the-finger.” I do this to suggest the syntax and a
philosophical point. The point in question is: that which is regarded as “something”
and that which is “not-something” are mutually, simultaneously entailed by
either’s identification. As described in a previous post, the use of any
concept to identify or “carve out” an object from the whole of experience (or
the Way) creates both “x” and “everything-that-is-not-x.” Ironically, both x and not-x are conceptually connected by trying to distinguish something apart from that which is being used to make the distinction! For further
discussions on Daoist logic see Steve Coutinho’s An Introduction to Daoist
Philosophies (2014).
以指喻指之非指 part 2
Ziporyn’s explanation of this passage is invaluable. For
a full explanation see his extended footnote in his translation of this passage
(Ziporyn p. 12, footnote). Here are two key points. First, as Ziporyn points
out, Zhuangzi’s passage here is an allusion to Gongsun Long’s argument 無物非指，而指非指
“all things are capable of being pointed out, but pointing out can never be
pointed out” (Ziporyn). Second (also from Ziporyn), Zhuangzi’s point here goes
beyond Gongsun Long’s argument. Zhuangzi’s point is that “this” is also “that.”
Zhuangzi makes this point earlier in the “birth of opposites,” that for every
“this” there is a “that,” and for every “that” there is a “this.” As Ziporyn
points out, we can see that “this” is also “that” by viewing “this” from the
point of view of “that.” Ziporyn translates this as the “Illumination of the
Obvious.”
Additional Reading
Coutinho, Steve. An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies. New York:
Columbia University Press. 2014. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/862077821
Zhuangzi. The Essential Writings: With Selections from
Traditional Commentaries. Translated by Brook Ziporyn. Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing Company. 2009.
