髑 髅

莊子之楚，见空髑(du)髅(lou)，然有形，檄以马捶，因而问之，日：“夫子贪生失理，而为此乎?将子有亡国之事，斧钺之诛，而为此乎?将子有不善之行，愧遗父母妻子之丑，而为此乎？”于是语卒，援髑髅，枕而卧。夜半，髑髅见梦日：“子之谈者似辩士，视子所言，皆生人之累也，死则无此矣。子欲闻死之说乎？”庄子日：“然。”髑髅日：“死，无君于上，无臣于下；亦无四时之事，从然以天地为春秋，虽南面王乐，不能过也。”庄子不信，日：“吾使司命复生子形，为子骨肉肌肤，反子父母妻子闾里知识，子欲之乎?”髑髅深□蹙安页曰：“吾安能弃南面王乐而复为人间之劳顿乎?”

——先秦庄周《庄子》

译意：

庄子枕着髑髅入眠，半夜梦见髑髅对自己讲述死后的快乐：“人死后，上面没有君主，下面没有臣仆，少了不少麻烦，更没有春夏秋冬四时的种种劳苦，从容自在，并且能像天地那样长寿，即使身为帝王，快乐也不能超过这啊。”庄子不相信这些话，说希望他死而夏生，回到他过去的父母妻子邻居和朋友身边去。髑髅却忧愁地皱着眉头说：“我怎能抛弃帝王一般的快乐生活，再去忍受人世的艰难苦痛呢!”

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.