If an author of this small book named Lie Yukou 列御寇 really existed, is full of doubt, but the most parts of the book named Liezi was compiled as late as during the 3rd century AD. Among the classics of Daoism, it is the most easily intelligible work. A central place in Master Lie's thought is the spontaneity (ziran 自然, a word that today means "nature") by which man tries to find out his right position in the dao 道 "the Way" determined universe. The only possibility to acheive his true position is by giving up knowledge, desire and asking for reasons, making himself free from feelings and reflections. A very complicate task for Westerners is to understand the meaning of dao, of something what is supposed to be nothing, but at the same time being essential for every thing, like window and door, or the inside of a vessel. Later Daoists saw refraining from official posts as the only way to find the real dao, but for the early Daoists, behavior according to the universal quietness is also a task for a ruling person. Ideal rulers like the mythical Yellow Emperor 黃帝 ruled by nonaction (wuwei 無為), because their government, being in accordance with nature or dao, did not need policital action. The book Liezi contains a few passages taken from other books, especially the Zhuangzi, and the last chapter is actually not a Daoist one, but contains sayings of the sophist and hedonist Yang Zhu 楊朱.	Chapters of the Liezi 1.天瑞 Tianrui 2.黃帝 Huangdi 3.周穆王 Zhou Muwang 4.仲尼 Zhongni 5.湯問 Tang wen 6.力命 Liming 7.楊朱 Yang Zhu 8.說符 Shuofu
	Exemplarious translation: ２．黃帝 自吾之事夫子友若人也，三年之後，心不敢念是非，口不敢言利害，始得夫子一眄而已．五年之 後，心庚念是非，口庚言利害，夫子始一解顏而笑．七年之後，從心之所念，庚無是非；從口之 所言，庚無利害，夫子始一引吾并席而坐．九年之後，橫心之所念，橫口之所言，亦不知我之是 非利害歟，亦不知彼之是非利害歟；亦不知夫子之為我師，若人之為我友：內外進矣．而後眼 如耳，耳如鼻，鼻如口，無不同也．心凝形釋，骨肉都融；不覺形之所倚，足之所履，隨風東西，猶木 葉幹殼．竟不知風乘我邪？我乘風乎？今女居先生之門，曾未浹時，而懟憾者再三．女之片體將氣 所不受，汝之一節將地所不載．履虛乘風，其可幾乎？」 The Yellow Emperor [Liezi said:] "Here, I will tell you what I learned from my own Master. Three years after I began to serve the Master and befriend a certain man, my mind no longer dared to think of right and wrong, my mouth no longer dadred to speak of benefit and harm; and it was only then that I got as much as a glance from the Master. After five years, my mind was again thnking of right and wrong, my mouth was again speaking of benefit and harm; and for the first time the Master's face relaxed in a smile. After seven years, I thought of whatever came into my mind without any longer distinguishing between right and wrong, said whatever came into my mouth without any longer distinguishing between benefit and harm; and for the first time the Master pulled me over to sit with him on the same mat. After nine years, I thout without restraint of whatever came into my mind and said without restraint whatever came into my mouth without knowing whatever the right and wrong, benefit and harm, were mine or another's, without knowing that the Master was my teacher and the man I have mentioned was my friend. Only then, when I had come to the end of everything inside me and outside me, my eyes became like ears, my ears like my nose, my nose like my mouth; everything was the same. My mind completely concentrated and my body relaxed, bones and flesh fused completely, I did not notice what my body leaned against and my feet trod, I drifted with the wind East or West, like a leaf from a tree or a dry husk, and never knew whether it was the wind that rode me or I that rode the wind." ５．湯問 造父之師曰泰豆氏．造父之始從習御也，執禮甚卑，泰豆三年不告．造父執禮愈謹，乃告之曰：「古詩言：『良弓之子，必先為箕；良冶之子，必先為裘．』汝先觀吾趣．趣如吾，然後六轡可持，六馬可御．」造父曰 ：「唯命所從．」泰豆乃立木為塗，僅可容足；計步而置，履之而行．趣走往還，無跌失也．造父學之，三日盡其巧．泰豆歎曰：「子何其敏也？得之捷乎！凡所御者，亦如此也．曩汝之行，得之於足，應之於心．推於御也，齊輯乎轡銜之際，而急緩乎脣吻之和，正度乎胸臆之中，而執節乎掌握之間．內得於中心，而外合於馬志．得之於銜，應之於轡；得之於轡 ，應之於手；得之於手，應之於心．則不以目視，不以策驅；心閑體正，六轡不亂，而二十四蹄所投無差；迴旋進退，莫不中節．然後輿輪之外可使無餘轍，馬蹄之外可使無餘地；未嘗覺山谷之嶮，原隰之夷，視之一也．吾術窮矣．汝其識之！」 The questions of Tang The charioteer Zaofu's teacher was called Taidou. When Zaofu first practised charioteering under him, he behaved with extreme humility, but for three years Taidou told him nothing. He behaved even more punctiliously, and finally Taidou told him: "An old poem says: 'The son of a good bow-maker must begin by making baskets, the son of a good blacksmith must begin by making chisels.' First watch me run; you will bot be able to hold six bridles and drive six horses until you can run like me." - "I will obey whatever you command," Zaofu answered. Then Taidou set up a row of posts, just big enough to stand on, the length of a stride apart. He ran backwards and forwards stepping from one to the next without stumbling. Zaofu practised it and could do it perfectlyin three days. "How nimble you are," Taidou said, "You have picked it up quickly. Charioteering is just the same. When you were running just now, you responded with your mind to what you felt in your feet. Applying this to charioteering, you must control the bridle from the point where it meets the bit, and pull tight or slacken feeling the corners of the lips; decision must come from within your breast and execution from within the palm of your hand. What you sense within in your innermost heart will accord outside with the horse's temper... If you respond with the bridle to what you feel in the bit, with the hand to what you feel in the bridle, with the mind to what you feel in the hand, then you will see without eyes and urge without a goad; relaxed in mind and straight in posture, holding six bridles without confusing them, you will place the twenty-four hooves exactly where you want them, and swing round, advance and withdraw with perfect precision. Only then will you be able to drive carving a rut no wider than the chariot's wheel, on a cliff which drops at the edge of the horse's hoof, never noticing that mountains and valleys are sttep and plains and marshland are flat, seeing them as all the same. This is all I have to teach; remember it." ７．楊朱 楊朱曰：「萬物所異者生也，所同者死也．生則有賢愚、貴賤，是所異也；死則有臭腐、消滅，是所同也．十年亦死，百年亦死．仁聖亦死，凶愚亦死．生則堯舜，死則腐骨；生則桀紂，死則腐骨．腐骨一矣，孰知其異？且趣當生，奚遑死後？」 Yang Zhu Yang Zhu said: "It is in life that the myriad things of the world are different; in death they are all the same. In life, there are clever and foolish, noble and vile; these are the differences. In death, there are stench and rot, decay and extinction; in this we are all the same... Some in ten years, some in a hundred, we all die; saints and sages die, the wicked and the foolish die. In life they were Yao and Shun (ideal rulers), in death they are rotten bones; in life they were Jie and Zhou (bad rulers), in death they are rotten bones. Rotten bones are all the same, who can tell them apart? Make haste to enjoy your life while you have it; why care what happens when you are dead?" 楊朱曰：「古語有之：『生相憐，死相捐．』此語至矣．相憐之道，非唯情也；勤能使逸，飢能使飽，寒能使溫，窮能使達也．相捐之道，非不相哀也；不含珠玉，不服文錦，不陳犧牲，不設明器也． Yang Zhu said: "There is an old saying that each of us should pity the living and abandon the dead. This saying puts it exactly. The way to pity others is not simply to feel for them. When they are toiling we can give them ease, hungry we can feed them, cold we can warm them, in trouble we can help them to get through. The way to abandon the dead is not to refuse to feel sorry for them. But we should not put pearls or jade in their mouths, dress them in brocade, lay out sacrificial victims, prepare funeral vessels." 楊朱曰：「生民之不得休息，為四事故：一為壽，二為名，三為位，四為貨．有此四者，畏鬼，畏人，畏威，畏刑：此謂之遁民也．可殺可活，制命在外．不逆命，何羨壽？不矜貴，何羨名？不要勢，何羨位？不貪富，何羨貨？此之謂順民也．天下無對，制命在內．故語有之曰：人不宦，情欲失半；人不衣食，君臣道息．」 Yang Zhu said: "People find no rest because of four aims - long life, reputation, office, possessions. Whoever has these four aims dreads spirits, dreads other men, dreads authority, dreads punishment. I can call him a man in flight from things. 'He can be killed, he can be given life; the destiny which decides is outside him.' If you do not go against destiny, why should you yearn for long life? If you are not conceited about honors, why should you yearn for reputation? If you do not want power, why should you yearn for office? If you are not greedy for wealth, why should you yearn for possessions? One who sees this I call a man in accord with things. 'Nothing in the world counters him; the destiny which decided is within him.' Hence the saying, 'Without office and marriage, men's satisfaction would be halved. If they did not eat and wear clothes the Way of ruler and subject would cease.'" 楊朱曰：「豐屋美服，厚味姣色．有此四者，何求於外？有此而求外者，無厭之性．無厭之性，陰陽之蠹也．」 Yang Zhu said: "A great house, fine clothes, good food, beautiful women - if you have these four, what more do you need from outside youself? One who has them yet seeks more from outside himself has an insatiable nature. An insatiable nature is a grub eating away one's vital forces." Translated by A. C. Graham.