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战国战国 · 文 Prose

愚公移山

Yugong Yishan: The Old Man of the North Mountain Moves a Mountain

列御寇

Lie Yukou

名篇Famous Piece 寓言Fable 毅力Perseverance 神话Myth

太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞，本在冀州之南，河阳之北。
北山愚公者，年且九十，面山而居。
惩山北之塞，出入之迂也，聚室而谋曰：吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴，可乎？

The two mountains Taihang and Wangwu measured seven hundred li across and rose ten thousand fathoms; they lay south of Ji and north of the He. The Old Man of the North Mountain was ninety years old, nearly, and lived facing the mountain.
Sick of the blockage north of the mountain, and of the winding way out and back, he gathered his family together and said: 'I and you will exhaust our strength to level the steep slopes, running straight south to Yu and on to the north of the Han — how about it?'

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Meaning

The opening of the 'Tang Wen' fable sets the scale against which everything that follows is measured: mountains seven hundred li wide and ten thousand fathoms high, and an old man of ninety facing them. His family is called together, and the plan is stated not as a hope but as an undertaking — to exhaust their strength in levelling the slopes and driving the road through to the southern plain and to the north of the Han river. The question at the end, 'how about it?,' is where the fable opens its argument: the plan is enormous, the undertakers are few and old, and the readable conclusion is that only something beyond human calculation can carry it through.

太行、王屋两座大山，方圆七百里，高达万仞，本来位于冀州的南面、河阳的北面。住在北山的愚公，年纪将近九十岁了，面对着这两座大山居住。他苦于山北的道路阻塞，进出都要绕远路，便召集全家人商量说：我和你们一起竭尽全力铲平这两座险峻的大山，使道路直通豫州南部，到达汉水南岸，可以吗？

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The passage describes the obstacles and one man's response: two enormous mountains blocking a settlement, an old man who cannot bear the detour, and a proposal made to his family.[Structure] Three sentences of rising length. First the mountains and their position; then the man and his age; then the complaint, the gathering, and the proposal, which ends in a question while every earlier sentence was a statement.[Imagery] The figures are all这样就可以: seven hundred li, ten thousand fathoms, ninety years. They are meant to be checked against each other, and the vastness of the first pair makes the smallness of the third the point.[Sentiment] The tone is level to the end. Nothing in the passage suggests that the man knows he cannot succeed, and the fable withholds its miraculous ending here; what it gives is a proposal delivered in a plain, uninflected voice, and a question that no one has yet had to answer.

【白话串讲】列子写《愚公移山》：北山愚公年近九十，想移走太行、王屋两座山。智叟笑他愚笨。愚公说：“虽我之死，有子存焉；子又生孙，孙又生子……而山不加增，何苦而不平”——天帝被感动，“命夸娥氏二子负二山”。愚公移山——“子子孙孙无穷匮也”。【意象与手法】 “太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞”以数量词层层叠加，把山的体量推到神话的尺度，为后文“移山”的不可思议预埋伏笔；“北山愚公者，年且九十”一个“且”字点明垂老之年，垂老之人欲平万仞之山，“愚”之命名更以反语强化张力；先写“惩山北之塞”的切身之痛，再写“聚室而谋”的行动，后写“吾与汝毕力平险”的方案，动机、行动、目标环环相扣。【情感与主旨】《列子》寓言以神话外壳包裹哲理内核，山与人、天与力、愚与智的多重对照，体现精神意志感天动地、“人定胜天”的信念，是先秦寓言的巅峰。【名句点睛】常考“太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞”极写山之大以衬志之奇；“吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴”写愚公移山的决心。

Background

The Liezi, attributed to Lie Yukou of the early Warring States, is a collection of anecdotes and arguments steeped in the Daoist manner, of which the 'Tang Wen' section contains the interviews with the wandering immortal Liezi and, in its last chapters, the fable of the Old Man of the North Mountain. The story was retold in the 'Instructional' chapter of the Liezi and then, in the seventh century, was taken into the Buddhist canon and used as a parable of faith in a practice; it has since become one of the most familiar stories in Chinese culture. The passage translated here is the opening, in which the terms of the undertaking are laid out.

《愚公移山》选自《列子·汤问》。《列子》旧题战国郑人列御寇（列子）所著，列子为先秦道家思想家，其学说近于老庄而自有家数，《汉书·艺文志》著录《列子》八篇；今传本一般认为经后人整理增益，其中保存了大量先秦寓言与神话传说，如「杞人忧天」「两小儿辩日」「愚公移山」等，皆为此书名篇。本篇产生的时代，正值战国群雄并起、百家争鸣，列子一脉道家既讲「虚静无为」，也讲人的精神力量可以超越自然限制，本篇「愚公移山」正是这种精神的形象化表达：以人力之「毕力平险」对抗山河之「方七百里、高万仞」，最终感动天帝、命夸娥氏二子负山而去，寓示精诚所至、金石为开。篇中「冀州之南，河阳之北」「豫南」「汉阴」皆为古地名，冀州、豫州属《禹贡》九州之域，河阳在黄河北岸，汉阴指汉水南岸，地理脉络清楚，可见作者有意把寓言安放在实有的山川之间，使神话与现实互相印证。此篇后世流传极广，毛泽东在中共七大闭幕词中引「愚公移山」喻指革命精神，使这则战国寓言成为近现代中国最具感召力的文化符号之一。

Art

The fable is built from numbers. 'Seven hundred li' and 'ten thousand fathoms' are the extreme figures of the technical writing of the time, and they are placed first so that the reader measures against them: the old man who follows is ninety years old, the family is a handful, and the labour is stated as exhausting all of their strength. The second device is the movement from statement to address; the passage begins with geography, moves to a person, and ends with a proposal spoken aloud, so that the reader is brought from the outside of the situation inside it. The third is the closing question. Everything before it is settled and flat; 'how about it?' opens the passage to everything the reader already knows will happen, and it does so in the mildest possible words.

本篇节选虽只百余字，却已完整展现了《列子》寓言的艺术范式。其一为「极写以衬」：开篇「太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞」以数量词与长度词层层叠加，把山的体量推到神话的尺度，为后文「移山」的不可思议预埋伏笔——山愈大，志愈奇。其二为「以小见大」：主人公「北山愚公者，年且九十」，一个「且」字点明行将就木的年岁，垂老之人欲平万仞之山，荒谬感与崇高感同时产生，而「愚」之命名更以反语强化这种张力——自称其愚，实彰其智。其三为「因果递进」：先写「惩山北之塞，出入之迂也」的切身之痛，再写「聚室而谋」的行动，后写「吾与汝毕力平险」的方案，动机、行动、目标环环相扣，叙事如抽丝剥茧；「指通豫南，达于汉阴」以对举句式标明路线，从「通」到「达」，由近及远，空间感极其清晰。其四为「语气传神」：全节以愚公之语作结，用「可乎」二字收束，既是征询也是宣告，商量之中自见决断，为后文妻献疑、智叟笑之的戏剧冲突埋下引线。短短一节，铺陈、对比、设问、蓄势兼备，是先秦寓言「以小篇幅涵大境界」的典范。

Allusions

The mountains Taihang and Wangwu are named from the real range in the present Henan and Hebei, and the phrase 'south of Ji, north of the He' places them in the old state of Ji on the northern bank of the Yellow River, so that the setting is as concrete as a map. Yu (豫) is the old name of the present Henan, and the 'north of the Han' means the northern bank of the Han river — the far side of the obstacle, and the direction the road is to be driven in. The Old Man of the North Mountain is not a historical figure; the name is the fable's own, and it has since become the standard Chinese way of naming a person who plans something no one can see the end of. The 'how about it' is the question the fable leaves open for later chapters to answer.

「愚公移山」的意象与文化内涵，深植于中国神话与先秦思想的土壤。其一，山岳崇拜与治水传统的延续：太行、王屋为古代名山，《尚书·禹贡》有「太行、恒山」之载，而「移山」的想象可上溯至女娲补天、大禹治水的开辟神话——古人以人力驯服山川、沟通九州，是农耕文明对生存空间的永恒梦想，愚公之「指通豫南，达于汉阴」正是大禹「导河积石」功业的民间回响。其二，道家「精诚」思想的寓言化：《列子》讲「至诚则金石为开」，愚公以垂暮之年、子孙之力移万仞之山，天帝为之感动，正是「精诚所至、天地动容」的形象注脚，与《庄子》「庖丁解牛」的技进乎道、《荀子》「锲而不舍」的积微成著，同为先秦人对「意志的力量」的肯定。其三，「愚」与「智」的辩证：篇名「愚公」，实为「大智若愚」之谓，与《庄子》「大巧若拙」、《老子》「大智若愚」的哲学一脉相承——世人以移山为愚，愚公以不惧为智，这种对世俗价值判断的翻转，正是道家「正言若反」的思维方式的体现。其四，后世的文化增殖：从晋人注《列子》到唐宋诗文用典，「愚公移山」成为恒心毅力的代名词，毛泽东引之喻革命，更赋予这则寓言以现代的民族精神内涵，其文化生命力历两千余年而不衰。

Commentary

Later readers have taken this opening in two directions, and both begin here. The colloquial reading is that the old man is a figure for a plan too large for the people, and the 'question' is the fable's way of letting the absurdity appear without comment. The more traditional reading, inherited from the seventh-century Buddhist retellings, is that the scale of the mountains is offered so that the miracle at the end is not surprising: a human undertaking of this size can only be completed by something other than human strength. This is why the fable's opening is nearly always quoted separately — it states the terms plainly, without irony, and it is that plainness, rather than any comic touch, that is the source of its lasting effect.

《愚公移山》是中国寓言文学史上的高峰之作，其价值历久弥新。从文学史看，先秦寓言是诸子散文的精华，而《列子》寓言尤以想象奇崛、寄意深远著称；本篇以神话外壳包裹哲理内核，山与人、天与力、愚与智的多重对照，使一则百字故事承载了极为丰厚的思想容量，为后世寓言创作（如柳宗元《三戒》）树立了典范。从思想史看，本篇体现了先秦道家对「人的力量」的独特理解：不似儒家重礼乐教化，也不似法家重刑名法术，而是强调精神意志的感天动地——天帝命夸娥氏负山，既是神话的解决，也是对「至诚」的最高褒奖，这种「人定胜天」的信念在崇尚自然的道家文本中尤显珍贵。从接受史看，此篇自《列子》行世以来代代相传，入选历代蒙学与文选，今更成为语文教材必读篇目；「愚公移山」一词已凝固为汉语成语，与「精卫填海」「夸父逐日」并列为中华坚毅精神的三大象征。尤其在现代，毛泽东《愚公移山》一文将其提升为民族革命的精神旗帜，「愚公精神」遂由个人毅力升华为集体奋斗的图腾，其影响之巨，已远超一则战国寓言的本体，成为中华文化精神谱系中不可替代的一环。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin prose in the fable form, from the 'Tang Wen' chapter of the Liezi; unrhymed, and nearer to the spoken word than to the written essay.先秦散文（寓言体，出自《列子·汤问》）

Rhyme There is no rhyme anywhere in the passage; instead the sound is made by the two three-character beats of 'seven hundred li across, ten thousand fathoms high' and by the parallel 之南 / 之北 which answers itself across the sentence.本篇为散文而非韵文，不押尾韵，其音韵之美在句式的整饬与节奏的顿挫。开篇「方七百里，高万仞」以三、三顿挫对举，长短相间；「本在冀州之南，河阳之北」以「之南」「之北」遥相对称，读来如钟磬相扣；「惩山北之塞，出入之迂也」以「之塞」「之迂」形成句内排比，音节跌宕；「指通豫南，达于汉阴」以四字对仗收束宣言，铿锵有力。全节以短句为主，间以长句，急缓相济，先秦散文「以气行文」的节奏感极为鲜明。

Tone pattern The voice is unhurried and factual, and the cadence is set by the length of the clauses: short and clipped for the mountains, a longer clause for the man, then a run of four-character phrases in the speech that quicken towards the close.句式以陈述铺陈与设问收束相结合：前段「方七百里，高万仞」「年且九十，面山而居」以短促的陈述句写山之巨、人之老，语气沉实；中段「惩……之塞，出入之迂也」以因果句写痛，语气凝重；末段「吾与汝毕力平险……可乎」以商量句写志，语气由沉转昂，一问收束，如鼓声骤停，余响不绝。

Reading note The passage reads like a thing that was told before it was written. The mountains are announced in three-beat clauses — 'Taihang and Wangwu, two mountains,' then 'seven hundred li, ten thousand fathoms' — and that triple beat gives the opening its weight like a hammer on stone. Then comes the neat answer of 'south of Ji' against 'north of the He,' same construction, same rhythm, and the sound closes on itself without needing a rhyme. The sentence about the old man is longer and looser, as a person's circumstances are. His speech is built out of four-character phrases, each one landing evenly, so the rhythm quickens and becomes martial: 'exhaust our strength, level the steep slopes, run straight south, on to the north of the Han.' The passage ends on two short words, 'how about it?' — which stop the march dead. This is the prosody of the oral fable: no tuning, no seeking of euphony, only a rhythm that follows the thing being described.本篇虽为散文，其声韵节奏却自有匠心，宜于诵读。先秦寓言出自口头讲说与书面著录的双重传统，故句式短促明快、琅琅上口：开篇「太行、王屋二山」以三顿起势，「方七百里，高万仞」以三、三顿挫铺陈山体，如重锤砸地，气势沉雄；「本在冀州之南，河阳之北」以「之南」「之北」两两相对，音节整齐而有回环之美；至「惩山北之塞，出入之迂也」，句式转为长句，以「之」字提顿，模拟愚公诉说苦况的沉重语调；「聚室而谋曰」一顿，转入对话，节奏陡然加快；「吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴」四字一顿、顿顿相承，如进军鼓点，愈敲愈急；末以「可乎」二字收束，短促而有力，把宣言的余音钉在读者耳畔。这种「散中有整、急缓相济」的节奏设计，正是先秦诸子散文的普遍追求：不刻意押韵，而以句式的长短、虚词的顿挫调度声情，使百字短文读来如闻其声、如见其人。后世诵《列子》者谓其文「清峻而畅达」，本篇正是这种风格的缩影。

Line by line

太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞，本在冀州之南，河阳之北。

The two mountains Taihang and Wangwu measured seven hundred li across and rose ten thousand fathoms; they lay south of Ji and north of the He.

太行山和王屋山这两座大山，方圆有七百里，高有万仞，本来位于冀州的南面、河阳的北面。

The two mountains Taihang and Wangwu were seven hundred li around and ten thousand ren high; they lay south of Jizhou and north of Heyang.

开篇一句先写山，是全文的「定场诗」。诗人不直接写移山，而是先用极写之笔把山的体量推到神话的尺度：「方七百里」以面积言其广，「高万仞」以高度言其峻，一横一纵，把两座山的巨大空间感立了起来；「本在冀州之南，河阳之北」则给山安置了实在的地理坐标，冀州、河阳皆《禹贡》九州系统的古地名，虚实相生——山是神话的山，也是人间的山，移山之不可能因此有了现实的反衬。妙处在「本」字：山「本在」此地，暗示山是可以移动的，为后文「移山」的主题埋下伏笔；而「二山」对「一人」，山的复数与后文「年且九十」的单数老人形成悬殊对照，山之恒与人之暂、山之大与人之小，开篇即定下全篇张力。这一句的写法是典型的「先立其大」：山愈是巍峨不可犯，后文移山之举愈是惊心动魄，读者的期待感在开头就被牢牢吊起。

The opening line first writes the mountains, the whole's 'setting scene.' The writer does not write moving the mountains directly, but first pushes their bulk to mythic scale with extreme brush: 'seven hundred li around' the breadth in area, 'ten thousand ren high' the height in altitude, one horizontal one vertical, raising the two mountains' vast spatial presence; 'they lay to the south of Jizhou and the north of Heyang' giving the mountains a real geographic coordinate, Jizhou and Heyang both ancient place-names of the Yu Gong nine provinces, the real and the imagined interwoven - the mountains mythic yet human, the impossibility of moving them given a real foil. The genius in the word 'originally': the mountains 'originally' lay here, hinting they can be moved, priming the later theme; and the 'two mountains' set against the 'one man,' the plural of the mountains against the singular old man 'nearly ninety,' the vast contrast of the mountain's permanence and man's brevity, the mountain's greatness and man's smallness, the whole's tension set at the opening. The line's way is the typical 'first establishing the great': the more majestic and inviolable the mountains, the more thrilling the later moving of them, the reader's expectation hooked from the start.

北山愚公者，年且九十，面山而居。

The Old Man of the North Mountain was ninety years old, nearly, and lived facing the mountain.

住在北山的愚公，年纪将近九十岁了，面对着这两座大山居住。

There was an old man of the North Mountain, named the Foolish Man, nearly ninety, who lived facing the mountains.

此句点出主人公，是人物出场的「亮相」。先说「北山愚公者」——「愚公」是绰号式的命名，直接标明此人被视为「愚」，为后文与智叟的「智」形成反讽对照；次说「年且九十」——「且」字用得出神，将近九十而尚未九十，正是人生最末的旅程，垂暮之年却要立移山之功，时间的紧迫与志向的宏大形成剧烈反差；再说「面山而居」——「面」字写居所正对大山，愚公每日开门见山，山的压迫感日夜相随，「惩山北之塞」的苦痛便由此而来。三句连读，人物身份（愚）、年岁（且九十）、处境（面山而居）一气呵成，一个被大山围困而心有不甘的老者形象跃然纸上。值得注意的是「愚」与「且九十」的叠用：世人之愚，是老而无为；愚公之愚，是老而敢为——名之曰愚，实彰其志，这种以反语立人的手法，正是《列子》寓言含蓄隽永的笔法，也为下文「毕力平险」的宣言蓄足了势。

This line names the protagonist, the character's 'entrance.' First 'there was a man of the North Mountain called the Foolish Old Man' - 'Foolish Old Man' a nickname, marking at once that this man is seen as 'foolish,' set in ironic contrast with the Wise Old Man's 'wisdom' below; next 'nearly ninety' - the word 'nearly' used to perfection, nearly ninety yet not ninety, the very last stage of life, the man in his twilight yet undertaking the moving of mountains, the urgency of time and the grandeur of will in violent contrast; then 'living facing the mountains' - the word 'facing' the dwelling set straight against the great mountains, the Foolish Man opening his door on the mountains daily, the oppression never away, the grief of 'grieving the mountain's northern blockade' born of this. The three lines read together, identity (foolish), age (nearly ninety), situation (living facing the mountains) in one breath, an old man hemmed in by the mountains yet unresigned before the eyes. Note the piling of 'foolish' and 'nearly ninety': the world's fool is old and powerless; the Foolish Old Man's folly is old yet daring - named foolish, in truth showing his will, this way of drawing a character by irony, the Liezi's reserved and resonant art, fully priming the later 'with all our might, level the perilous heights.'

惩山北之塞，出入之迂也，聚室而谋曰：吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴，可乎？

Sick of the blockage north of the mountain, and of the winding way out and back, he gathered his family together and said: 'I and you will exhaust our strength to level the steep slopes, running straight south to Yu and on to the north of the Han — how about it?'

愚公苦于山北道路阻塞，进出都要绕远路，于是召集全家人商量说：我和你们一起竭尽全力铲平这两座险峻的大山，使道路直通豫州南部，到达汉水南岸，可以吗？

Sorely vexed by the blockade north of the mountains, the long detour to and fro, he gathered his family and took counsel: 'With all our might, you and I will level these treacherous heights, cut a straight road to southern Yu and on to the north bank of the Han. Is it agreed?'

此句是全节的枢纽：由「惩」而「谋」而「平险」，移山的动机、组织与方案一气呵成。「惩山北之塞，出入之迂也」先交代动机——「惩」是苦于、痛于，「塞」与「迂」对举，一写山阻之困，一写绕行之苦，双音节的铺排把移山的必要性说得无可辩驳；「聚室而谋曰」写行动——不是一人独断，而是全家共商，可见愚公之「谋」并非一时冲动，而是深思熟虑的家族决策；「吾与汝毕力平险」更见胸襟——「与汝」把子孙辈拉入同一战线，「毕力」则倾其全力，语气恳切而坚定；「指通豫南，达于汉阴」点明目标——「指通」言其直指无碍，「达于汉阴」言其终点明确，由山到路、由阻到通，空间逻辑异常清晰；末以「可乎」收束，商量口吻中自含决断，为后文「杂然相许」的家庭响应埋下伏笔。一句之内，叙动机、写行动、立方案、定目标、问众人，五层意思环环相扣，先秦寓言叙事之精炼，于此可见一斑。

This line is the section's hinge: from 'grieved' to 'counselled' to 'level the heights,' the motive, the organization, the plan in one breath. 'Grieved by the mountain's northern blockade, the roundabout way in and out' first the motive - 'grieved' meaning sore vexed, 'blockade' and 'roundabout' set, one the mountain's barrier, one the detour's toil, the double-syllabled laying out making the necessity of moving the mountains unanswerable; 'he gathered his household and took counsel' the action - not one man's decree, but the family's common counsel, showing the Foolish Old Man's 'counsel' no sudden impulse but a deliberate family decision; 'I and you will with all our might level the perilous heights' the breadth - 'and you' drawing the sons and grandsons into one front, 'with all our might' the full force, the tone earnest and firm; 'leading straight to the south of Yu and reaching the north of the Han' the goal - 'leading straight' the straight unblocked way, 'reaching the north of the Han' the clear end, from mountain to road, from barrier to passage, the spatial logic most clear; closing with 'will it do?' the consultative tone holding the decision within, priming the later family's 'all assenting.' Within one line: motive, action, plan, goal, asking the company, five layers linked ring on ring, the pre-Qin fable's narrative concision here on view.

Study

Word focus

惩 To suffer from, to be sick of (惩). The word properly means to punish or to restrain after a punishment, and here it carries that sense of a wound taken and turned into a resolve: the mountain's blockage is not merely inconvenient, it has hurt him, and the injury is what produces the plan. It is the source of the emotional weight of the passage. 「惩山北之塞」之「惩」字，是理解愚公移山动机的关键词。「惩」本义为惩戒、戒止（如「惩前毖后」），此处作「苦于」「痛恨」讲，写愚公对山阻之患的深切感受——不是一般的不便，而是长年累月被大山封锁的切肤之痛。「惩」字下得极重：它把「塞」「迂」的外在困难转化为内心深处的痛楚，使移山之志有了情感的温度；若换作「苦」「患」则嫌平直，「惩」兼有「因受创而立志改变」的意味，恰与后文「毕力平险」的行动呼应——正因「惩」之深，方有「谋」之切。从章法看，「惩」与「出入之迂也」构成因果：前者为因，后者为果，而「惩」字放在句首，先声夺人，把读者直接带入愚公的处境。一字立骨，全节的叙事动力由此而生，可见《列子》炼字之精：以最沉痛的字写最朴素的动机，愚公形象的厚重感，正从这一「惩」字中来。

且 Nearly, about to (且). As an adverb it softens 'ninety' into 'ninety and upward,' so that the age is left on the far side of its mark. That indecision matters: the fable keeps the exact number uncertain precisely because what the reader must feel is a man at the end of a life proposing a task that will outlast him. 「年且九十」之「且」字，是一个被低估的传神之字。「且」作副词，意为「将近、快要」，写愚公的年岁正处九十之槛——尚未到九十，却已垂垂老矣。这一字的分量在于时间的临界感：人生已近终点，移山却旷日持久（后文有「子子孙孙无穷匮也」的申说），「且九十」与移山工程形成尖锐对照，把「以有涯随无涯」的悖论推到读者面前。更妙的是，「且」字兼有转折意味：年近九十，本该颐养天年，愚公却偏要「毕力平险」——「且」字轻轻一挑，愚公的不合时宜与不合常理便跃然纸上，而这种「不合常理」恰是寓言魅力的来源。若作「年九十」则坐实了年岁，「且九十」则留下余地，让时间在「将满未满」的临界处悬置，悬念由此而生。一个字写尽垂暮的紧迫与志气的昂然，是先秦散文炼字「以虚词传神」的典范。

毕力 Exhaust the strength (毕力). 毕 is the last, the whole; 力 is strength. The phrase is not 'help me' but 'give everything,' and it is directed at the whole family rather than at any one of them. Its decision, made in two characters, is what makes the later difficulty of the undertaking intelligible — and, in the story's logic, what makes the completion possible. 「吾与汝毕力平险」之「毕力」二字，是愚公宣言的力量核心。「毕」有尽、全之义（如「毕生」「毕其功于一役」），「力」指人力，「毕力」即竭尽全力、倾其所有。「毕力平险」四字连读，气势如山：一个「毕」字，把移山的决心推到不留余地的程度——不是尽力而为，而是全部力量孤注一掷，与后文「叩石垦壤」「寒暑易节，始一反焉」的艰苦劳作遥遥呼应。其言外之意尤深：「毕力」的对象是「险」——山之高、路之险，人力本不可胜，但愚公以「毕力」对之，正是「知其不可而为之」的悲壮宣言；同时「毕力」也暗含「精诚」之义，与《列子》「至诚则金石为开」的思想相通——唯有倾尽全部力量，方能感动天地。若作「尽力」「竭力」则嫌平，难及「毕」字之决绝。两字之内，愚公的志气、决心与悲壮尽在其中，是这则寓言最响亮的声音。