(Translation) 2019 朝三暮四
| Primary Source | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Title | |
| English | Three in the morning, four in the evening | |
| Chinese | 朝三暮四(Zhao san mu si) | |
| Korean(RR) | 조삼모사(Josammosa) | |
| Text Details | ||
| Genre | ||
| Type | ||
| Author(s) | 莊子(Zhuangzi) | |
| Year | ||
| Source | 《莊子.齊物論》 | |
| Key Concepts | ||
| Translation Info | ||
| Translator(s) | Participants of 2019 JSG Summer Hanmun Workshop (Intermediate Training Group) | |
| Editor(s) | ||
| Year | 2019 | |
Original Script
Translation
Student Translation : Hector Sanchez
[We] put under strain our intelligence by making [things] into one yet we do not know if they are [already] the same. This is called “three in the morning.” What is meant by “Three in the morning?” It means [the following:] The monkey master was giving out acorns saying: “Three in the morning. At night, four.” The crowd of monkeys was all angry. He said: “This being so, then, [let us have] four in the morning and three at night.” The crowd of monkeys was all pleased.
Words and meanings were not damaged, yet happiness and anger were [lit. became] used [by the monkey master.] [This] too is following “this.” Therefore the sage harmonizes them [the monkeys] by means of disputes and comes to rest at the [center of] Celestial Scale. This is called the “two paths.”
From the Zhuangzi, "On Making Things Equal"
- Discussion Questions:
HS: 亦因是也: Translating the clause as “[This] too is following ‘this’” makes sense when considering the passage immediately preceding this anecdote (Zhuangzi; "On Making Things Equal," 5:) 物無非彼，物無非是。自彼則不見，自知則知之。故曰：彼出於是，是亦因彼。 “There is nothing that is not a “that”; there is nothing that is not a “this.” One cannot see oneself as a “that,” but if one knows oneself, one knows what it is to be an other. That is why it is said, “That arises from this, and this also relies on a that.” This is the explanation of how this and that are born in the same instant.” (Eno Translation)
HS: Can we take the 之 of 聖人和之以 to mean humans by extension?
HS: I added the "at the center" to 天鈞 to give a sense of being above the small, petty scale of humans, a common theme across the Zhuangzi first explored in the Peng bird passage, the opening lines of the Inner Chapters.
