与山巨源绝交书

Meaning

Ji Kang writes to Shan Tao, who had recommended him to succeed in office, to refuse and to break their friendship. He argues that true friends honor each other's nature, and that his own nature — lazy, frank, hating evil, scorning the Confucian rulers — makes official life impossible and would destroy him. The letter is at once a personal apology and a public declaration of his refusal to serve the Sima regime.

嵇康禀告：您从前在颍川太守面前称许我，我常认为那是知己之言。然而我常奇怪，这番心意您尚未真正熟悉，从哪里便能得知？前年我从河东回来，显宗、阿都说起您曾商议举荐我自代其职，事虽未成，却可知您原本并不了解我。您通达随和，多所许可而少责怪；我性情率直、心胸狭隘，多有不堪之事，不过偶然与您相知罢了。近来听说您升迁，我内心惶惧而不喜，只怕您羞于独自操刀，拉我这个祭师来帮忙，亲手递上鸾刀，沾染那腥膻，所以特地向您陈说可否。 我从前读书，得知有一种『并介』之人，有人说并无此类，如今才信其真有。人的天性若有所不堪，确不可强求。如今空说人人都知有达人无所不堪，表面不异俗而内心不失正道，与世俗同流而不生悔吝。老子、庄周是我的老师，身居卑职；柳下惠、东方朔是达人，安于低位。我岂敢贬低他们！又如孔子兼爱，不以执鞭为耻；子文不贪卿相，却三登令尹，这正是君子济世之意。所谓显达时能兼善天下而不改其志，困穷时能自得而无忧闷。由此观之，尧舜之君临世、许由之隐居、张良之佐汉、接舆之行歌，其理一也。仰视诸君，皆可称遂其志者。故君子百行殊途而同归，循性而动，各得所安。我每读尚子平、台孝威传，慨然慕其为人。自小失怙、母兄骄宠，未涉经学。性情疏懒，筋肉松弛，头面常一月十五日不洗，不甚痒闷便不沐浴。又纵逸已久，情意傲散，简慢与礼相背，懒散与傲慢相成，而朋辈见容，不攻其过。又读庄老，更添放任，故荣进之心日衰，任真之情转深。这好比禽鹿少时驯养则服教，长大被羁则狂顾顿缨、赴蹈汤火，虽饰金镳、享佳肴，愈思长林而志在丰草。 阮嗣宗口不论人过，我每师法而未能及。他至性过人，与物无伤，唯饮酒稍过而已。终为礼法之士所纠弹，疾之如仇，幸赖大将军维护。我不如嗣宗之贤，却有怠慢之缺；又不识人情、暗于机宜；无万石君之慎，却有直言尽意之累。久与世事相接，过失日增，虽欲无患，岂可得乎？ 又人间伦常有礼，朝廷有法，我自思甚熟，有必不堪者七、甚不可者二：喜晚起而门吏呼之不休，一不堪；抱琴行吟、弋钓草野，而吏卒守之不得妄动，二不堪；危坐一时、痹不能摇，性多虱而搔不止，却要裹章服、拜上官，三不堪；素不擅书、又不喜作书，而人间多事、案卷堆积，不答则伤义，自勉又不能久，四不堪；不喜吊丧而人道重之，反招怨者中伤，虽自责而性不可化，五不堪；不喜俗人却须共事，宾客盈坐、喧聒臭处，六不堪；心不耐烦而官事繁忙、机务缠心，七不堪。又常非议汤武、鄙薄周孔，在人间必显为世教所不容，此甚不可一；刚肠疾恶、轻肆直言、遇事便发，此甚不可二。以促狭小心之性，统此九患，不遭外难亦生内病，岂可久处人间！又闻道士遗言，饵术黄精可长寿，甚信之；游山泽、观鱼鸟，心甚乐之。一旦为吏，此事尽废，安能舍其所乐而从其所惧！ 人之相知，贵在识其天性而成就之。禹不逼伯成子高，全其节；孔子不借伞于子夏，护其短；近者诸葛孔明不逼徐元直入蜀；华子鱼不强管幼安为卿相。此可谓善始善终之真知己。您见直木不可为轮、曲木不可为桷，是不愿枉其天才令得其所。四民各有其业，各以得志为乐，唯达者能通之，此在您度量之内。不可自喜章甫，强越人戴之；自己嗜臭腐，却以死鼠养鸳雏。我近学养生之术，外弃荣华、去其滋味，游心寂寞，以无为为贵。纵无九患，尚不顾您所好，又有心闷之疾转增，自试不能堪其所不乐。自卜已明，若道尽途穷则已。请您勿冤屈我，令我转于沟壑。 我新失母兄之欢，心中凄切，女年十三、男年八岁，未及成人，又多病，顾此怅惘，何以言表！今但愿守陋巷、教养子孙，时与亲旧叙旧、陈说平生，浊酒一杯、弹琴一曲，志愿毕矣。您若纠缠不放，不过欲为官得人、有益时用。您旧知我潦倒粗疏、不切实际，自思皆不如今日贤能。若以俗人皆喜荣华、独我能离之为快，此最近实情。然使长才广度、无所不淹而能不营，乃可贵耳。若我多病困顿、欲离事自全以保余年，此真所乏，岂可见阉人而称贞！若急欲共登仕途、相招为伴，一旦逼迫，必发狂疾，非深仇不至如此。 山野之人有以晒背为快、以芹子为美、欲献之君王者，虽有区区之意，亦已疏陋，愿您勿效之。我意如此，既以解您之惑，并以为绝交之别。嵇康敬白。

Appreciation

The letter's power lies in its 'abundance of qi and fitness of words' — a five-part structure from personal temper to the famous 'seven cannot-bears and two impossibles,' rising like a flood. Using Zhuangzi's tales (the priest and cook, the owl and the dead rat) as satire, with parallel and prose blended, it fuses personal temperament and political integrity into one torrent of words.

【白话串讲】 山涛推荐嵇康做官，嵇康写信绝交：“足下傍通，多可而少怪，吾直性狭中”——他说自己性格直。他列出“必不堪者七，甚不可者二”——说自己受不了当官。“每非汤、武而薄周、孔”——他直言非薄圣人。这封绝交书，成了千古名文。后来他因此被杀。 【意象与手法】 先以“吾直性狭中，多所不堪”立骨，继而铺陈“七不堪二不可”，以排山倒海的气势数落为官之苦；又妙用“越俎代庖”“鸳雏死鼠”等典故讥讽山涛。立意刚直、辞气峻切，骈散间行，如江河奔泻。 【情感与主旨】 嵇康写给友人山涛的绝交信，表面绝交，实则申明自己不堪流俗、任真自得的本性，暗含对司马氏集团及其礼法的抗议。集中体现竹林名士“越名教而任自然”的精神姿态，是士人独立人格的宣言，嵇康后因此被杀。 【名句点睛】 常考“吾直性狭中，多所不堪”以直性立骨写不堪流俗；“每非汤、武而薄周、孔”以直言非圣写对礼法的抗议。

Allusions

The letter is dense with allusions, mostly from Zhuangzi, forming its intellectual ground. The opening 'ashamed the cook works alone, dragging the priest to help, putting the sacred blade, smearing the reek' reverses Zhuangzi's 'the cook may not tend the altar, yet the priest never crosses the vessels to cook' — but reverses it: not priest for cook, but cook pulling priest in, mocking Shan for forcing him to share the mire. 'Because you relish rotten offal, feed the phoenix on a dead rat' uses Zhuangzi's owl-with-rotten-rat and the phoenix (yuanchu) who eats only bamboo-seed, taking the dead rat as himself and the phoenix as his own lofty nature, scorning the foul. 'Do not, because you love the ceremonial cap, force the Yue men to wear it' comes from Zhuangzi's Song man taking hats to Yue — meaning do not force on others what they dislike. As for Bo Cheng Zigao, Zixia, Yuanzhi, You'an, Yanling, Zicao, Changqing, Xiangru — all ancients who knew when to stop and kept their integrity, used to prove 'each rests by nature.' Nurturing life and taking atractylis come from Daoist arts. Such dense Zhuangzi as weapon makes the letter not only a break but a manifesto 'using Zhuang against Ru, using truth against false.' The 'seven cannot-bears, two impossibles' seem a scholar's wild boast, but rest on Lao-Zhuang thought: 'Laozi and Zhuangzi are my teachers' openly states the lineage; 'transcend name-teaching, follow nature' is not this letter's phrase yet its spirit runs through. Citing 'in success benefit all, in poverty self-content' from the Mencius proves the choice of office or retirement by will. And 'often blaming Tang Wu, holding Zhou Kong low' uses the past to mock the present, pointing at Sima's usurpation under abdication's name — which made this letter Ji Kang's cause of death.

信中典故密布，且多出于《庄子》，构成其思想底色。开篇『羞庖人之独割，引尸祝以自助，手荐鸾刀，漫之膻腥』，翻用《庄子·逍遥游》『庖人虽不治庖，尸祝不越樽俎而代之』的『越俎代庖』故事，却反其意而用之——不是尸祝代庖，而是庖人拉尸祝下水，讥讽山涛强己同流。『己嗜臭腐，养鸳雏以死鼠也』则用《庄子·秋水》中鸱得腐鼠、鹓雏（鸳雏）非练实不食的寓言，以死鼠自比、以鸳雏自况，表明高洁之性不屑浊污。又『不可自见好章甫，强越人以文冕也』出自《庄子·逍遥游》宋人资章甫而适诸越的典故，喻不可强人以所不好。至于『伯成子高』『子夏』『元直』『幼安』『延陵』『子臧』『长卿』『相如』，皆古之知止、全节之士，用以证『循性所安』之理。养生、饵术黄精则本于道家方术。如此密集地以庄学为武器，使此信不仅是一封绝交书，更是一篇『以庄排儒、以真抗伪』的思想檄文。文中「必不堪者七，甚不可者二」，往往被视为文人疏狂之宣言，然其背后实有老庄思想为支撑。「老子、庄周，吾之师也」明揭师承；「越名教而任自然」虽非本书原句，而其旨实贯通全书。又引「达能兼善而不渝，穷则自得而无闷」，化用《孟子》，以证出处进退各从其志。至于「每非汤武而薄周孔」，则借古讽今，直指司马氏以禅让为名、行篡夺之实，故此书终成嵇康罹祸之由。

Commentary

Read part by part, the letter is tight in logic yet fierce in feeling. The first begins with doubt of the 'true words,' noting Shan 'did not really know me,' then with the priest-cook metaphor lays bare: I am not ungrateful, only my nature cannot bear. The second suddenly opens the theoretical view, through the compliant-unyielding man, Laozi and Zhuangzi to Yao and Shun and Xu You, proving the liberated each have their will, not to be forced, and confesses his own slack, indulgent, deer-longing-for-grass nature, raising 'cannot bear' from temper to a way of being. The third uses Ruan Ji as mirror, confessing his 'negligence' and 'speaking all,' hinting long life among men brings calamity, preparing the nine ills. The fourth lists the 'seven cannot-bears, two impossibles' — from rising late, roaming with zither, sitting upright and lice, writing, mourning calls, vulgar men, impatience, plus 'blaming Tang Wu, holding Zhou Kong low' and 'iron bowels hating evil' — overwhelming, making one laugh and start. The fifth turns to the way of true friendship, citing Yu, Confucius, Zhuge, Hua Xin's tolerance, the cap and dead-rat metaphors, ending with 'my wish is fulfilled' and 'as our parting' — hard yet warm, breaking without breaking righteousness, his open heart seen a thousand years on. Close reading shows Ji Kang was no mere arrogance; his break holds sympathy for Shan — 'fearing you were ashamed to wield the knife alone' is both mock and old feeling. Yet he broke decisively because he knew his 'iron bowels hate evil, speak lightly and plainly, fly off at the slightest thing' could never maneuver in a perilous state. Lu Xun said this letter 'has novel thought, often against old sayings,' exactly naming its anti-name-teaching, freedom-loving spirit. A thousand years on, one still imagines his 'dragon bearing, phoenix mien, natural heaven-gift.'

逐段读来，此信逻辑严密而情感炽烈。首段由『知言』之疑写起，点出山涛『故不知之』，遂以『庖人尸祝』之喻剖白：我非不领情，实是性情不容。二段陡然展开理论视野，借并介之人、老子庄周以至尧舜许由，论证达人各有其志、不可强同，并坦陈自己疏懒纵逸、如禽鹿志在丰草的本性，已将『不堪』从脾气上升为存在方式。三段以阮籍为镜，自陈『慢弛』『好尽』之累，暗示久处人间必罹祸患，为下文九患铺垫。四段列『七不堪二不可』，由起居（晚起）、行止（弋钓）、仪容（危坐、多虱）、文牍（不便书）、礼俗（不喜吊丧）、交游（不喜俗人）、心境（不耐烦）七端，加以『非汤武薄周孔』『刚肠疾恶』二不可，排山倒海，读之令人绝倒又心惊。五段转以相知之道相勉，引禹、孔子、孔明、华歆之宽容，设章甫、死鼠之喻，终以『志愿毕矣』『并以为别』收束，刚直中见温情，绝交而不绝义，千载之下犹见其磊落肝肠。细读此书，可见嵇康绝非一味狂傲，其绝交之辞中亦含对山涛之体谅：「恐足下羞庖人之独割，引尸祝以自助」，既是讽喻，亦暗存旧情。然其所以决然者，正因深知己性「刚肠疾恶，轻肆直言，遇事便发」，断难周旋于危邦。鲁迅谓此书「思想新颖，往往与古时旧说反对」，正道出其反名教、崇自由之精神。千载之下读之，犹能想见其「龙章凤姿，天质自然」的风神。

Prosody

Line by line

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