Zhuangzi translation and commentary

莊子見魯哀公。哀公曰：「魯多儒士，少為先生方者。」

莊子曰：「魯少儒。」

哀公曰：「舉魯國而儒服，何謂少乎？」

莊子曰：「周聞之：儒者冠圜冠者，知天時；履句屨者，知地形；緩佩玦者，事至而斷。君子有其道者，未必為其服也；為其服者，未必知其道也。公固以為不然，何不號於國中曰『無此道而為此服者，其罪死』？」

於是哀公號之五日，而魯國無敢儒服者。獨有一丈夫儒服而立乎公門，公即召而問以國事，千轉萬變而不窮。莊子曰：「以魯國而儒者一人耳，可謂多乎？」[a]

Zhuangzi went to see Duke Ai of Lu. Duke Ai said, "Lu has a lot of Confucians but few follow your methods." 

Zhuangzi said, "Lu has few Confucians." 

Duke Ai said, "The whole state is dressed like Confucians. How can you call them few?"

Zhuangzi said, "I hear that Confucians wear round hats because they understand the cycles of heaven, flat shoes because they understand the shape of earth, and broken jade pendents because they can make snap judgments when the time comes. But gentlemen who know the way don't need to wear the clothes; and those who wear the clothes don't need to know the way. If you don't believe me, why not announce throughout the state that anyone who wears the clothes without practicing the way will be killed?"

The Duke announced it and in five days no one in Lu dared dress as a Confucian. Only one old man dressed as a Confucian stood at the duke's door. The Duke invited him in and asked him about state business and through a thousand shifts and ten thousand turns he was never at a loss. Zhuangzi said, "Can one Confucian in the state of Lu be called a lot?" [1]

[1] This is a typically ambiguous story. It sounds critical of inauthentic Confucians, though that is hardly Zhuangzi's normal beat. The last line could mean that one scholar in the state of Lu is more enough, if it's a good one, which is, again, an odd thing for Zhuangzi to say. Or is the point just him getting the last laugh on the Duke?

[a] CTP 21:05, HYZY 21/38-44.