Drinking Wine: Twenty Poems: No. 6
饮 酒： 二 十 首
行 止 千 万 端
谁 知 非 与 是。
是 非 苟 相 形
雷 同 共 誉 毁。
三 季 多 此 事
达 士 似 不 尔。
咄 咄 俗 中 愚
且 当 从 黄 绮。
Yin Jiu: Er Shi Shou
(6)
Xing zhi qian wan duan
Shei zhi fei yu shi.
Shi fei gou xiang xing
Lei tong gong yu hui.
San ji duo ci shi
Da shi si bu er.
Duo duo su zhong yu
Qie dang cong huang qi.
Drinking Wine: Twenty Poems: No. 6
Moral conduct has one to ten thousand aspects
Everyone does not know which is right or wrong.
Comparing one with the other is not expedient or easy
Most people praise what is praised, condemn what is condemned
These conditions prevailed throughout the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties
Prominent thinkers do not follow this path.
The foolish are amazed with the foolish
I will just go with Huang and Qi into secluded living.
Notes:
Xia Huanggong: Lived in rural seclusion and practiced Daoism.
Qi Liji: Famous hermit and scholar of the late Qin, and early Han dynasties.
He was summoned to serve in the court, refused to come out of seclusion. He and Si Hao were members of the “Four Greats of Mt. Shang“.
Si Hao: He also refused governmental appointments, and lived in the caves of Mt. Shang in the province of Shaanxi. A memorial shrine was built in his honor. He and the others “knew how to advance and retreat without losing their integrity.”