During the most recent lesson in my classical Chinese course (of which I cannot speak highly enough: you should sign up for the next one here), we discussed this passage from the 外篇 "outer chapters" of 莊子 Zhuangzi. I really liked the style of it, and not only because I'm a sucker for talking skulls: I found the image of Zhuangzi prodding a skull with his horsewhip, then using the skull as a pillow, quite entertaining. (The bit about the skull furrowing its brow is pretty hilarious, too.) My translation follows the original. Enjoy.
莊子之楚，見空髑髏，髐然有形，撽以馬捶，因而問之曰：夫子貪生失理，而為此乎？將子有亡國之事，斧鉞之誅，而為此乎？將子有不善之行，愧遺父母妻子之醜，而為此乎？將子有凍餒之患，而為此乎？將子之春秋故及此乎？於是語卒，援髑髏枕而臥。夜半，髑髏見夢曰：子之談者似辯士。視子所言，皆生人之累也，死則無此矣。子欲聞死之說乎？莊子曰：然。髑髏曰：死，無君於上，無臣於下，亦無四時之事，從然以天地為春秋，雖南面王樂，不能過也。莊子不信，曰：吾使司命復生子形，為子骨肉肌膚，反子父母妻子、閭里、知識，子欲之乎？髑髏深矉蹙頞曰：吾安能棄南面王樂而復為人間之勞乎？
Zhuangzi was on his way to Chu when he saw an empty skull, bleached but intact. Prodding it with his horsewhip, he asked the skull, "So, were you so greedy for life that you lost all sense of reason, and ended up like this? Or did you end up like this because you were sentenced to death by the axe for serving a defeated kingdom? Or was your conduct terrible, and you ashamedly abandoned your disgraced parents, wife, and sons and ended up like this? Or did you end up like this after suffering cold and hunger? Did you end up like this after your years ran out?"
After saying this, Zhuangzi picked up the skull and, using it as a pillow, went to sleep.
At midnight, the skull appeared to him in a dream, saying: "You talk like an eloquent man. Examining your words, though, they're all about the burdens of the living. The dead, on the other hand, don't have such problems. Would you like to hear me talk about death?"
"Naturally," Zhuangzi said.
"In death," the skull said, "there are no masters above, and no servants below. The concerns of the four seasons don't exist, either. The years pass without constraint in heaven and earth. Even a king facing south from his throne wouldn't have it better."
Zhuangzi didn't believe the skull. "If I could have the Master of Fate return you to your living form, make you flesh and bone again, return your parents, wife, and sons to you, put you back in your village among your acquaintances, you wouldn't want that?"
The skull furrowed its brow and said, "Why would I give up the joys of a king and return to the toils of the human world?"
微臣
史大偉
