Dress And Feed The Sacrificial Bull--Xi Niu Yi Shi

This Chinese of Dress And Feed The Sacrificial Bull--Xi Niu Yi Shi is 牺牛衣食, and Pin Yin mó léng liǎng kě.  

The real name of Zhuang Zi (庄子) is Zhuang Zhou (庄周), while Zi is an honorific suffix literally meaning "Master Zhuang". Zhuang Zi is considered to live around the 4th century B.C during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Zhuang Zi is a great philosopher in ancient China and one of the main founders of Taoism. In general, his philosophy is skeptical, arguing that life is limited and things to be gained are unlimited. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited, he said, was foolish. As a result, he was indifferent to fame and wealth through all his life.

Moreover, like Lao Zi, another founder of Taoism, Zhuang Zi thought people tend to be bewildered by their delusions created by fame, wealth, positions and so on, thus they fail to see the evil behind them.

For example，once, the king of the state of Chu invited Zhuang Zi to be a high official in his court, which Zhuang Zi refused.

When asked why by the messenger of the king, he said: " Sir, have you seen the sacrificial bull? It is dressed with colorful embroidery, and fed on beans and fresh grass. But once it is led into the grand ancestral temple, though it wished to be a solitary calf again, would that be possible for it? "

Background and Writer Comment:

This Chinese fable story is from "Lie Yu kou (列御寇)", an article of Zhuang Zi.
The moral of the story of "Dress And Feed The Sacrificial Bull--Xi Niu Yi Shi" is very similar with other two stories of Zhuang Zi: "Take The pearl From The Dragon--Tan Li De Zhu" and "You Get So Many Carriages Just By Licking The king's Piles ".