Utmost Joy(6)
至樂(六)
1 After dinner, Liezi had a walk on the path of a hill behind his house. He found a skull of more than a hundred years exposing on the lawn.
列子飯後到後山小徑中散步。他在路旁的草叢中發現了一具髑髏，估計有上百年的歷史了。
2 Liezi bent to poke weeds away. He said to the skull, “Common people regard the skull as the symbol of death, but in the viewpoint of all things as a whole, I consider life has never ceased from the beginning until today. It just changes a little of his form.
列子彎下腰將雜草撥開，對著髑髏頭說道：「一般世人都將髑髏視為死亡的象徵，可是我想，假如站在萬物為一體的立場上看生命，它從一開始的那一刻，直至今日就從來沒有停止過，只是外形上有些變化罷了;
3 As far as a skull is concerned, you are composed of material. A hundred years ago, you combined with soul, self-nature, Buddha-nature, Qi, calmness and refinement to form a man. Later you parted with them to come back to the field of nature. In this viewpoint, you aren’t the symbol of death at all.
就以你這個髑髏頭來說，你本來是由一堆物質構成的。百年前你與神釋，自性、佛性、氣、拙火、妙用等結合成為人。後來與神釋等分離又回歸到物質界。可是，就物質的立場來看，你又哪裡算是死亡的象徵呢？
4 You are not dead, nor living, which only you and I know, however, common people don’t know it.
你又哪裡算是死？又哪裡算是生？可是這種道理只有你我明白，一般人是想不通的。
5 Mentioning the combination of soul and material to form all things, may I ask you, Mr. skull, are you staying here to practice and bide your time to form a human?
至於說到神釋與物質結合而成為萬物這件事，髑髏先生，你如今是否是在修煉養氣，等待時機，準備再次為人呢？
6 However, once you become a human, are you satisfied?
可是一旦為人，你就一定能稱心如意嗎？
7 I am a human now, but am I happy?”
我現在是人，可是我快樂嗎？
8 If not, why do you expect it so much when you are in the world of material? Why do you scramble to come to this world full of hardship?
如果不快樂，那麼，為什麼你們在物質界時又是那麼期待，爭先恐後的，想來到這個充滿苦難的世界呢？
列子行，食於道從，見百歲髑髏，攓蓬而指之曰：「唯予與女知而未嘗死，未嘗生也。若果養乎？予果歡乎？」
9 Back from the walk, Liezi restated the feeling of seeing the skull to his disciples. In the meantime, he tried to explain the developing process of life.
列子散步回來後，將之前所見的感想一一說給弟子們聽，同時也嘗試解釋生命的發展過程，讓他們瞭解。
10 Liezi said, “Zhong are the basic unit of life. All things in the Nature are composed of them.
列子說：「種是構成生命的基本單位。生存於大自然的萬物都是由這個種所構成的。
種有機？得水則為絕，得水土之際則為蛙蠙之衣，生於陵屯則為陵舄，陵舄得鬱棲則為烏足，烏足之根為蠐螬，其葉為胡蝶。
11 At first, Zhong developed into microbe in water, such as blue alga and bacteria. These tiny creatures are as thin as silk so they were call Mi.
當物種在水中首先發展成微生物如藍絲藻類、細菌類，這些小生物細如斷絲，故名為繼(去糸旁)。
12 When they developed into the amphibious place, they formed a kind of inferior creatures, such as amoeba, infusorians and fungi and other small groups of protozoa.
當它們發展到水陸交界的地方時，它們又形成了各種下等生物如變形蟲、纖毛蟲、黏菌、小型原生動物群。
13 Later some creatures left water to live on the land. They came to form flat animal, star-shape animal, annelid, arthropod and amniote, such as rabbit, dog, horse, sheep, monkey, orangutan and even human.
後來一些生物脫離了水域，來到陸地上生活，逐漸形成扁形動物、星蟲形動物、環節動物、節肢動物、脊椎動物、兔狗馬羊猴、猩猩乃至人類。
胡蝶胥也化而為蟲，生於灶下，其狀若脫，其名為鴝掇。
鴝掇千日為鳥，其名為乾餘骨。乾餘骨之沫為斯彌，斯彌為食醯。
頤輅生乎食醯，黃軦生乎九猷，瞀芮生乎腐蠸。羊奚比乎不(上筍下子)，久竹生青寧，青寧生程，程生馬，馬生人，人又反入於機。
14 In the macro view of creature, its life has never disconnected, continuing to today from the beginning three billions years ago. Therefore, there is no death.
整體來看，生命從三十億年前誕生，一直延續到了今天，它們從來沒有間斷過。所以這中間並沒有死亡這回事。
15 However, as far as individual is concerned, all creatures consist of material and soul, self-nature, Buddha-nature, Qi, calmness and refinement. Later they are apart. The material still is it used to be, while the others return to Tao or the place called Ji.
然而，就個體而言，所有的生物，皆由物質與神釋、自性、佛性、氣、拙火、妙用等結合而成，最後物質與神釋等分離; 物質還是物質，而神釋等則回到道的懷抱或稱機的地方去。
16 When life of universe come to the end, all material will return to Ji just like the soul, self-nature, Buddha-nature, Qi, calmness and refinement have gone.”
當宇宙的生命走到終點時，所有的物質與神釋等一樣也都將回到機那兒去。」
萬物皆出於機，皆入於機。」