髑　髏

莊子之楚，見空髑(du)髏(lou)，然有形，檄以馬捶，因而問之，日：“夫子貪生失理，而為此乎?將子有亡國之事，斧鉞之誅，而為此乎?將子有不善之行，愧遺父母妻子之丑，而為此乎？”于是語卒，援髑髏，枕而臥。夜半，髑髏見夢日：“子之談者似辯士，視子所言，皆生人之累也，死則無此矣。子欲聞死之說乎？”莊子日：“然?！摈求t日：“死，無君于上，無臣于下；亦無四時之事，從然以天地為春秋，雖南面王樂，不能過也。”莊子不信，日：“吾使司命復生子形，為子骨肉肌膚，反子父母妻子閭里知識，子欲之乎?”髑髏深□蹙安頁曰：“吾安能棄南面王樂而復為人間之勞頓乎?”

——先秦莊周《莊子》

譯意：

莊子枕著髑髏入眠，半夜夢見髑髏對自己講述死后的快樂：“人死后，上面沒有君主，下面沒有臣仆，少了不少麻煩，更沒有春夏秋冬四時的種種勞苦，從容自在，并且能像天地那樣長壽，即使身為帝王，快樂也不能超過這啊。”莊子不相信這些話，說希望他死而夏生，回到他過去的父母妻子鄰居和朋友身邊去。髑髏卻憂愁地皺著眉頭說：“我怎能拋棄帝王一般的快樂生活，再去忍受人世的艱難苦痛呢!”

Skull

Zhuang Zi slept with a skull as his pillow．In midnight，he dreamt that the skull told him how happy it wa$after death．The skull said，“after death，there is no emperor or liege anylonger．and it saves you a lot of trouble．Thereis no hard work In summers and winters any—longer．You are free and easy，and can live aslong as the heaven and earth do．Even if youwere the emperor，your pleasure wouldntexceed this．”Zhuang．Zi did not believe thisand said he hoped that the skull could come tolife again，and go back to his parents and wifeand friends．The skull frowned melancholy and said，“How could 1 leave behind the imperial-ly happ)life here and go back to the painful1ire on earth?”

From Zhuangzi,by Zhuang Zhou,the Pre-Qin period.