Zhuangzi · 人間世第四
Read the witness. Inspect a construction. Follow the evidence.
Original source spelling · punctuation belongs to the digital witness · pronunciation tools follow your language focus.
A route through this passage
58 Han characters · 43 distinct forms · 11 units separated by the witness’s punctuation
- Establish the frame. Read the surrounding chapter. Who speaks, what is being discussed, and which earlier words supply the context?
- Test one unit.
昔者堯攻叢枝、胥敖，
Mark a possible predicate and its participants. Record what you have supplied rather than found explicitly in the text. - Reconstruct the argument. Connect the units in your own words. Where does a description, question, contrast, or consequence depend on your interpretation?
Investigate 8 written forms in this passage
Matched by spelling. These are candidate reading procedures, not assigned grammatical analyses.
Watch recurrence: 者 × 3 不 × 3 實 × 3 攻 × 2 為 × 2 其 × 2. Repetition of a graph need not mean repetition of a sense.
Computed from this exact witness · Contextual interpretation awaits editorial review. The guide is a set of reading prompts, not a translation. Sources & methods
Make this passage yours.
Use the reading guide above, build your interpretation, then test what you can recover. Your notes and schedule stay on this device.
1 · Explain it in your own words
2 · Recover the wording
Select a source unit, then hide the passage and reconstruct it. This checks textual recall, not understanding.
3 · Explain, then revisit
Without the source in front of you, explain the passage’s main point and one choice you made in reading it. Then reopen the text and check the evidence.
Rate your understanding yourself. These reminders use a simple schedule; they do not certify mastery.
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Shared wording
Computed exact phrases in the pinned witnesses. These links do not assign a sense or assert borrowing.
韓非子 · 五蠹第四十九不能勝也之行，而忘犯禁之罪，故民程於勇，而吏不能勝也。不事力而衣食，則謂之能；不戰功而尊，則謂之賢。
荀子 · 解蔽篇第二十一身為刑戮戮於宋，奚齊戮於晉。逐賢相而罪孝兄，身為刑戮，然而不知，此蔽塞之禍也。故以貪鄙、背叛、爭權而不危辱滅亡者，自古及今，未嘗有之也。
韓非子 · 觀行第二十四所不能勝所不能立，二曰力有所不能舉，三曰彊有所不能勝。
Follow a connection
Shared teaching construction · an editorial learning connection, not evidence of common authorship or origin.
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Edition, source, and reuse
- Work
- 莊子 · Zhuangzi
- Attribution
- Traditionally associated with Zhuang Zhou; the received collection includes multiple voices and layers.
- Digital witness
- Kanseki Repository · KR5c0126 · base edition CHANT
- Contributors
- Kanseki Repository (Kanripo) contributors; upstream base-edition labels retained in each original file.
- Source position
- KR5c0126_004.txt, lines 134–143. ZHUANG 4.1.14; Guo Qingfan 139; Wang Shumin 124; Fang Yong 109; Chen Guying 108
- Version
abb9cd323dfd9520894b56b3b8ba2ec0ea50554f- Reuse
- CC BY-SA 4.0. Text extraction and teaching additions share this licence.
- Text policy
- Source spelling and punctuation retained. Encoding headers, page markers, paragraph markers, whitespace, and leading section numbers are removed from the reading view. No silent script conversion or textual correction.
- Teaching
- zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes. English renderings are excerpt-level reading aids, not a full published translation. Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed.
Source-file SHA-256: 14fbc8989be973a146db7e9cd417498b95979a31e6ddab1fa37af97e38207fd8. A source comment that cites a translator is an upstream reference, not the attribution of a translation imported here.