9/12/2008

A story from ZhuangZi: The cook cutting up a bull

The cook cutting up a bull
-- A story from "ZhuangZi ", the Taoist classic

Prince Wen Hui's cook was cutting up a bullock. Every blow of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every tread of his foot, every thrust of his knee, every sound of the rending flesh, and every note of the movement of the chopper were in perfect harmony—rhythmical like the dance of ˜The Mulberry Grove,' simultaneous like the chords of the "˜Ching Shou'. ('The mulberry Grove' and 'Ching Shou' are two pieces of beautiful antique music )
"˜Ah, admirable,' said the prince, "˜ that your art should become so perfect!' The cook laid down his chopper and replied: "˜What your servant loves is Tao, which is more advanced than art.When I first began to cut up bullocks, what I saw was simply whole bullocks.When I first began to clean, what I saw was simply whole messes. "After three years' practice, I saw no more bullocks as whole. "At present, I work with my mind, but not with my eyes.The functions of my senses stop; my spirit dominates. "Following the natural veins, my chopper slips through the great cavities, slides through the great openings, taking advantage of what is already there. I did not attempt the central veins and their branches, and the connectives between flesh and bone, not to mention the great bones. "A good cook changes his chopper once a year, because he cuts. An ordinary cook changes his chopper once a month, because he hacks. Now my copper has been in use for nineteen years; it has cut several thousand bullocks; yet its edge is as sharp as if it just came from the whetstone. "At the joints there are always interstices, and the edge of the chopper is without thickness. If we insert that which is without thickness into an interstice, there is certainly plenty of room for it to move along! "Nevertheless, when I come to a complicated joint, and see that there will be some difficulty, I proceed anxiously and with caution. I fix my eyes on it. I move slowly. Then by a very gentle movement of my chopper, the part is quickly separated, and yields like earth crumbling to the ground. "Then standing with the chopper in my hand, I look all around, with an air of triumph and satisfaction. Then I wipe my chopper and put it in its sheath'." "˜Excellent," said the prince, "˜from the words of this cook, I learned the ways of cultivating life'."

(The translation is from the http://milindasquestions.com/2005/08/08/butchery/ and the book "Chuang-tsu "
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庖丁解牛 庖丁为文惠君解牛。手之所触,肩之所倚,足之所履,膝之所踦,砉然向然,奏刀?然,莫不中音:合于《桑林》之舞,乃中《经首》之会。   文惠君曰:"嘻,善哉!技盖至此乎?"   庖丁释刀对曰:"臣之所好者,道也;进乎技矣。始臣之解牛之时,所见无非牛者;三年之后,未尝见全牛也。方今之时,臣以神遇而不以目视,官知止而神欲行。依乎天理,批大郤,导大窾,因其固然,技经肯綮之未尝,而况大?乎!良庖岁更刀,割也;族庖月更刀,折也。今臣之刀十九年矣,所解数千牛矣,而刀刃若新发于硎。彼节者有间,而刀刃者无厚;以无厚入有间,恢恢乎其于游刃必有余地矣!是以十九年而刀刃若新发于硎。虽然,每至于族,吾见其难为,怵然为戒,视为止,行为迟。动刀甚微,?然已解,如土委地。提刀而立,为之四顾,为之踌躇满志;善刀而藏之。"   文惠君曰:"善哉!吾闻庖丁之言,得养生焉。"

9/05/2008

TuCheng Shen and the tiger girl: An old story in Tang dynasty(THE FULL TRANSLATION)

申屠澄者,贞元九年,自布衣调补濮州什?尉。
之官,至真符县东十里许遇风雪大寒,马不能进。路旁茅舍中有烟火甚温煦,澄往就之。有老父妪及处女环火而坐, 其女年方十四五,虽蓬发垢衣,而雪肤花脸,举止妍媚。父妪见澄来,遽起曰:"客冲雪寒甚,请前就火。"澄坐良久,天色已晚,风雪不止,澄曰:"西去县尚 远,请宿于此。"父妪曰:"苟不以蓬室为陋,敢不承命。"澄遂解鞍,施衾帱焉。
其女见客,更修容靓饰,自帷箔间复出,而闲丽之态,尤倍昔时。有顷,妪自外 挈酒壶至,于火前暖饮。谓澄曰:"以君冒寒,且进一杯,以御凝冽。"因揖让曰:"始自主人。"翁即巡行,澄当婪尾。澄因曰:"座上尚欠小娘子。"父妪皆笑 曰:"田舍家所育,岂可备宾主?"女子即回眸斜睨曰:"酒岂足贵,谓人不宜预饮也。"母即牵裙,使坐于侧。
TuCheng Shen is a man in Tang dynasty. At the 9th year of ZhengYuan, he was rose to be a offical in Pu state.
He traveled to Pu state. When he reached the east of county of ZhenFu, a big storm hit him. It was badly cold.  His horse stopped advancing. 
There was a hut beside the road, warmed with fire pot. He went into and saw an old man 、an old woman and a girl sat beside the fire pot. The girl was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Dirty dresses as she was, she looked as beautiful as a flower. 

When the old man saw TuCheng,  he sat up immediately and said,
 "It's too cold out side, my guest, come in for a warm, please." 
TuCheng sat down, waited for a long time. Till night, but the storm didn't stop. TuCheng said,
 "It's far from the county of ZhengFu,  shall I stay here tonight?" 
The old man said, "Of course. "So  TuCheng released his horse, and setup his sleeping bed.

At the time the little girl saw TuCheng,  she went into her room and dressed up. She came out later and looked more beautiful than before. 
For a moment, the old woman bringed some wine in, place it above the fire pot to make it warm. The old woman said to TuCheng, "Have a drink please, it can help you to defend the cold." TuCheng said,"Thanks  my host, you first." So the old man drank first. TuCheng  drank the wine last.

TuCheng said, "It need a girl to join our drank." 
The old man and woman laughed, and said, 
"She is only a daughter of presant, how dare she to drink with my guest?" 
The girl heard, looked back and said, 
"How valuable your wine is, why says that I cannot drink?" 
So the old woman bring the little girl beside the fire pot.  They drank together.

澄始欲探其所能,乃举令以观其意。澄执盏曰:" 请征书语,意属目前事。"澄曰:"厌厌夜饮,不醉无归。"女低鬟微笑曰:"天色如此,,归亦何往哉?"俄然巡至女,女复令曰:"风雨如晦,鸡鸣不已。"

Now, TuCheng could try to find out is the girl clever or not. So he recommanded that they should all say something for drinking. Holding the cup, he said,"Every one of us should say several sentences from sutra. The meaning of the sentances should close to this drinking."

He said first,"Happly we are drinking in the night, the one who don't get drunk, won't go back!",which is a sentence in the "book of poem".

while he was saying, the girl put down her head, smiled and said:"So bad is today's wether, where can you go back to?"

After a while, it's the girl's turn. The girl said,"It's windy and raining, just like the night. The cock is darking and darking, without an end!",which is also a sentence from the "book of poem".

澄 愕然叹曰:"小娘子明慧若此,某幸未昏,敢请自媒如何?"翁曰:"某虽寒贱,亦尝娇保之。颇有过客,以金帛为问,某先不忍别,未许,不期贵客又欲援拾,岂 敢惜。"即以为托。澄遂修子婿之礼,祛囊之遗之,妪悉无所取,曰:"但不弃寒贱,焉事资货。"明日,又谓澄曰:"此孤远无邻,又复湫溢,不足以久留。女既 事人,便可行矣。"又一日,咨嗟而别,澄乃以所乘马载之而行。
TuCheng was shocked. He said,"Girl, you are so smart! It's lucky that I havn't been married yet. Shall I beg you to marry me?"

The old man said,"Poor as I am, I am very treasure with my daughter. There were some guests who asked me to marriy the girl to them, with golden and present. It was hard to me to leave her, so I didn't not agree yet. But now, my honor guest,it you who ask me for her. How dare I disagree?" 

So he agreed with the marriage. At the time, TuCheng gave a salute to the old man as father-in-law. He took out all his money and treasure, send them to the old man and woman. The old woman said,"It's our honor to marry my daughter to you. How can we receive this?" So they took nothing from him.

The next day, they told TuCheng,"This place is so lonely, without any neighbour, and it's too wet and small. So you should not stay here for long. My daughter has been married to you, you should leave now."

So, at next day, TuCheng said good bye to them. He put the girl on horse, and left the house.

既至官,俸禄甚薄,妻力以成其家,交结宾客,旬日之内,大获名誉,而夫妻情义益浃。其于厚亲 族,抚甥侄,洎僮仆厮养,无不欢心。后秩满将归,已生一男一女,亦甚明慧。澄尤加敬焉。
He reach the office. The salary was fairy cheap, but his wife gave him a lot of help. She was kind to his friends and workmates. Only in half of a month, they got famous and respect. 

The wife was also kind to his relatives and servants. Everyone was happy and loved her. When the year passed, TuCheng's time in office was going to full. They had a boy and a girl now. TuCheng loved and respected his wife even more.

常作赠内诗一篇曰:"一官惭梅福,三年愧孟光。此情何所喻,川上有 鸳鸯。"其妻终日吟讽,似默有和者,然未尝出口。每谓澄曰:"为妇之道,不可不知书。倘更作诗,反似妪妾耳。"澄罢官,即罄室归秦,过利州,至嘉陵江畔, 临泉藉草憩息。其妻忽怅然谓澄曰:"前者见赠一篇,寻即有和。初不拟奉示,今遇此景物,不能终默之。"乃吟曰:"琴瑟情虽重,山林志自深。常尤时节变,辜 负百年心。"吟罢,潸然良久,若有慕焉。澄曰:"诗则丽矣,然山林非弱质所思,倘忆贤尊,今则至矣,何用悲泣乎?人生因缘业相之事,皆由前定。"
Once a time, TuCheng wrote an poem for his wife, which read,

"How can I be so lucky as an little officer, with so beautiful a flower?
 Three years passed, I'm more happy than MengGuang.
 Do you even know how much I love you? 
 Look, there are a pair of YingYuan birds above the river."

His wife read it always. It seemed that she had make some reply, but she did not say a word. 
She usually told TuCheng, "A woman must have some knowledgy of 'book'. Knowing this, if I make a poem, it seems that I'm a concubine."

When TuCheng finished his office job, he led his family back to Qin, his hometown. They traveled through LiZhou, to ChangJiang river, and having a rest on a grass land, near the water. 
The wife looked sadly. She told TuCheng, "When I read your poem, I has make a reply at the time. I prefered to not let you know it. But now, we meet this sight,how can I keep it secret?"
So she sang a poem:

"So sweet as you and me, a husband and a wife
But what I love most, is the mountain and forest
As the time changed, I'm afraid more and more
How can I betray to you, with your full heart on me?"

When she finished, she weeped for a long time. It seemed that there were something she was missing.
TuCheng told her,
"It's a beautiful poem, but, why mountain and forest? It's not a good thing to a woman. Are you missing your father and mother? we are going to reach there soon. Don't be so sadly. Human's lifes are arranged before their born aready, you should take it happier."

后二十余 日,复至妻本家,草舍依然,但不复有人矣。澄与其妻即止其舍,妻思慕之深,尽日涕泣。于壁角故衣之下,见一虎皮,尘埃积满。妻见之,忽大笑曰:"不知此物 尚在耶!"披之,即变为虎,哮吼拿撄,突门而去。澄惊走避之,携二子寻其路,望林大哭数日,竟不知所之。
After that, twenty days passed, they reach the home of the wife. The house was still their, but no one living in now. They stoped in the house. 

The wife missed them so much that she cried every day. 

One day, they found a skin of tiger at the corner. There were full of dust on it. When TuCheng's wife saw it, suddently she laughed loudly and said, 
"HA, I don't know that it's still here!"
She put on the skin. At once, she turned into an tiger! The tiger roared loudly, run fast, broke the door and left.

TuCheng was shock and run away. He found the backing road with his two babies finally. They cry sadly for several days, toward the forest
No one knows where had they been to now.