On snail horns, war rages, left and right barbarians clash, a single battle spans a thousand miles.
Consider, my lord, how minute this square-inch heart is.
Yet in its void, it holds the boundless universe.
This truth we illustrate.
What need to speak of Mount Tai as a hair's tip? From the start, heaven and earth are but a single grain of millet.
Alas, size is but relative; dove and roc each find their joy—what can these two insects know?
Recall how Robber Zhi practiced benevolence and righteousness, while Confucius was deemed wrong.
And how the child who died young mourned longevity, and old Peng grieved.
The fire rat debates cold, the ice silkworm speaks of heat—who can settle their dispute?
Ah!
Nobility and baseness shift with the times.
A city's worth may be bartered for a sheepskin.
Who can equalize all things? Zhuang Zhou—I dreamt I saw him.
Just as we were discussing his lost texts, he turned with a fleeting smile; the hall empty, I awoke from the dream, inscribing ‘Autumn Waters’.
A guest asked of the great river, a hundred streams pouring rain, its turbid flow obscuring bank from shore.
Thereupon, the River Earl rejoiced with delight.
Believing all beauty under heaven resided in himself.
Gazing eastward at the vast, misty sea, he stood in awe.
Hesitating, he faced Ruo with a sigh of wonder, saying, ‘Had I not met you,
I, the master of broad perspective, would still, inevitably, be seen as laughable by the wise.’
How much water is in the northern hall?
Merely a single bend of a clear stream.”