Zhuangzi translation and commentary

顏回曰：「回益矣。」

仲尼曰：「何謂也？」

曰：「回忘仁義矣。」

曰：「可矣，猶未也。」

他日復見，曰：「回益矣。」

曰：「何謂也？」

曰：「回忘禮樂矣。」

曰：「可矣，猶未也。」

他日復見，曰：「回益矣。」

曰：「何謂也？」

曰：「回坐忘矣。」

仲尼蹴然曰：「何謂坐忘？」

顏回曰：「墮肢體，黜聰明，離形去知，同於大通，此謂坐忘。」

仲尼曰：「同則無好也，化則無常也。而果其賢乎！丘也請從而後也。」

Yan Hui said, “I’m improving.”

Confucius said, “How so?”

“I’ve forgotten kindness and morality.”

Good, but there’s more.”

Yan Hui saw him again the next day and said, “I’m improving.”

“How so?”

“I’ve forgotten tradition and music.”

“Good, but there’s more.”

Yan Hui saw him again the next day and said, “I’m improving.”

“How so?”

“I sit and forget.”

 Confucius started and said, “What do you mean by ‘sit and forget’?”

Yan Hui said, “I cast off my limbs, dismiss hearing and sight, leave my form, abandon knowledge, and unify them in the great comprehension. That’s what I mean by ‘sit and forget’.”

Confucius said, “If you’ve unified them then you have no preferences. If you change then you have no constancy. You really are worthy! I would like to ask to be your follower!” [1]

[1] Confucius' line, "If you’ve unified them then you have no preferences," illuminates what Zhuangzi means by 同 tóng, "unify." If it meant 'to become one with everything' in a metaphysical sense, then it is not clear why having no preferences would follow. I think, instead, it must mean to treat everything as the same. Similarly, I think this illustrates what he means by 化 huà, "change" or "transform." There are partial changes, such as when we change change clothes but remain the same person; and then there are complete transformation where nothing is left over, like Roe into Breeze (1:01), Li Ji from the country girl into the evil queen (2:12), or Zhuangzi into the butterfly and back (2:14), in which there is "no constancy." 

I read this story as a follow-up on 4.02 where Yan Hui said, “Before hearing this teaching, I was sure I was Hui. But after hearing it, it is as though that person never existed. Is this what you mean by emptiness?” "Sitting and forgetting" is another example of what appears to be a pre-Buddhist form of meditation. Confucius remark, "You really are worthy!" is a joking reference to Analects 6.11, “How worthy Hui is!”