检欲 · 为腹不为目

Jiǎn Yù

Classical Chinese Text

五色令人目盲；五音令人耳聋；五味令人口爽①；驰骋畋猎，令人心发狂；难得之货，令人行妨；是以圣人为腹不为目，故去彼取此。

Translation & Meaning

缤纷炫目的色彩使人眼花迷盲；繁复靡丽的声乐使人听觉失聪；厚重浓烈的美味使人味觉败坏；纵马驰骋围猎使人心神狂乱；稀有昂贵的财货使人行为乖僻失范。 因此得道之人只求安顿内在真实的生命根本（为腹），而不去迎合外在无止境的感官贪求（为目），所以舍弃外逐的虚妄而持守内里的本真。

Commentary

青禾散人评注：在算法屏幕与感官过载的当代，“五色令人目盲”尤为警醒。“为腹”是回归生命真实的滋养与内守丹田；“为目”则是被外界幻象牵引而耗散神明。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 五 (wǔ): classical character (wǔ)
  • 色 (sè): classical character (sè)
  • 令 (lìng): classical character (lìng)
  • 人 (rén): person / human
  • 目 (mù): classical character (mù)
  • 盲 (máng): classical character (máng)
  • 音 (yīn): music / tone
  • 耳 (ěr): classical character (ěr)
  • 聋 (lóng): classical character (lóng)
  • 味 (wèi): classical character (wèi)
  • 口 (kǒu): classical character (kǒu)
  • 爽 (shuǎng): classical character (shuǎng)
  • 驰 (chí): classical character (chí)
  • 骋 (chěng): classical character (chěng)
  • 畋 (tián): classical character (tián)
  • 猎 (liè): classical character (liè)
  • 心 (xīn): heart-mind / awareness
  • 发 (fā): classical character (fā)
  • 狂 (kuáng): classical character (kuáng)
  • 难 (nán): difficult / arduous
  • 得 (dé): obtain / acquire / gain
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 货 (huò): goods / treasure / items
  • 行 (xíng): practice / teach / walk
  • 妨 (fáng): classical character (fáng)
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 圣 (shèng): sage / enlightened one
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 腹 (fù): belly / vital center
  • 不 (bù): not / un- / without
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 去 (qù): depart / lose / abandon
  • 彼 (bǐ): classical character (bǐ)
  • 取 (qǔ): classical character (qǔ)
  • 此 (cǐ): classical character (cǐ)