Wieger
G. — A-ho-kan et le futur empereur Chenn-noung étudiaient sous Lao-loung-ki. Assis sur un tabouret, Chenn-noung faisait la sieste, porte close. A-ho-kan poussa la porte, et lui ânonna à brûle-pourpoint que leur maître venait de mourir. Chenn-noung se leva tout d’une pièce, laissa tomber sa canne, éclata de rire et dit : Serait-il mort de désespoir de mon incapacité, pour n’avoir pas pu ME soulever avec ses grandes phrases ?… Le taoïste Yen-kang venu pour faire ses condoléances, ayant entendu ces paroles, dit à Chenn-noung : L’étude du Principe attire les meilleurs sujets de l’empire. Vous avez ce qu’il laut pour vous y appliquer. Car, sans en avoir rien appris, vous avez trouvé tout seul, comme votre boutade sur la mort de votre maître le prouve, que ce ne sont pas les grandes phrases qui donnent l’intelligence, ce qui est un axiome taoïste fondamental. Le Principe n’est atteint, ni par la vue, ni par l’ouïe. On ne peut en dire que ceci, qu’il est mystère. Qui en parle, montre qu’il ne le comprend pas. [Tchoang-Tzeu, 22]
Burton Watson
Ah Ho-kan and Shen Nung were studying together under Old Lung Chi.[[On Shen Nung, see above, p. 194. Old Lung Chi’s name means Old Dragon Fortune.]] Shen Nung sat leaning on his armrest, the door shut, taking his daily nap, when at midday Ah Ho-kan threw open the door, entered and announced, “Old Lung is dead!”
Shen Nung, still leaning on the armrest, reached for his staff and jumped to his feet. Then he dropped the staff with a clatter and began to laugh, saying, “My Heaven-sent Master— he knew how cramped and mean, how arrogant and willful I am, and so he abandoned ME and died. My Master went off and died without ever giving ME any wild words to open up my mind!”
Yen Kang-tiao, hearing of the incident, said, “He who embodies the Way has all the gentlemen of the world flocking to him. As far as the Way goes, Old Lung hadn’t gotten hold of a piece as big as the tip of an autumn hair, hadn’t found his way into one ten-thousandth of it—but even he knew enough to keep his wild words stored away and to die with them unspoken. How much more so, then, in the case of a man who embodies the Way! Look for it but it has no form, listen but it has no voice. Those who discourse upon it with other men speak of it as dark and mysterious. The Way that is discoursed upon is not the Way at all!”