batch.motif.daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg-l4087-l4137
---
record_id: batch.motif.daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg-l4087-l4137
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER VII. / HOW TO GOVERN. / CHAPTER VIII. / JOINED TOES.; lines 4087-4137
start: '4087'
end: '4137'
translation: 'Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: Robber Chê died for gain on Mount T'ai.
summary: The passage contrasts deaths for gain and deaths for charity or duty, arguing
that both injure life and nature alike. It rejects external moral, sensory, and
social standards as perfection, defining perfection instead as cultivation of
TAO, yielding to natural conditions, and seeing or hearing oneself rather than
others. It warns that taking possession of others rather than oneself makes a
person become someone else, a fatal error applicable to both Robber Chê and Poh
I.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Robber Chê is said to have died for gain on Mount T'ai.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage states that different kinds of death may cause the same injury
to life and nature.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The world calls a person who dies for charity and duty noble, and a person
who dies for gain low.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The passage equates Robber Chê and Poh I in respect to injury to life and
nature.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The speaker says that perfection is not defined by charity and duty to one's
neighbour, nor by mastery of flavours, sounds, or colours.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker defines perfection as cultivation of TAO and yielding to the natural
conditions of things.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The passage says perfect hearing is hearing oneself, and perfect vision is
seeing oneself.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The passage says that one who sees others rather than himself and takes possession
of others rather than himself becomes someone else.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The speaker describes becoming someone else instead of oneself as a fatal
error of which both Robber Chê and Poh I can be guilty.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Robber Chê
description: A robber said to have died for gain on Mount T'ai; later paired with
Poh I as equally injuring life and nature.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Poh I
description: A figure paired with Robber Chê in the argument that both can injure
life and nature and be guilty of fatal error.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Tsêng
description: An exemplar invoked as someone a man might equal through charity and
duty toward his neighbour.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Shih
description: An exemplar invoked with Tsêng in relation to charity and duty toward
one's neighbour.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Yü Erh
description: An exemplar invoked in relation to flavours.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Shih K'uang
description: An exemplar invoked in relation to sounds.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Li Chu
description: An exemplar invoked in relation to colours.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Speaker
description: The first-person voice who defines perfection as cultivation of TAO
and states a personal caution about charity, duty, and fatal error.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: A man who sees others rather than himself
description: A generalized person who takes possession of others instead of himself
and becomes someone else.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: death-for-gain example
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Robber Chê is explicitly said to have died for gain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: contrasted moral example
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Poh I is contrasted with Robber Chê in the discussion of noble and low deaths.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:3
label: example of equal injury to life and nature
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The passage says Robber Chê and Poh I are one in point of injury to life
and nature.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: exemplar of charity and duty
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: Tsêng and Shih are named as figures one might equal by applying oneself to
charity and duty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: sensory-skill exemplar
assigned_to:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: Yü Erh, Shih K'uang, and Li Chu are named as standards for flavours, sounds,
and colours respectively.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: teacher of TAO-perfection
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The speaker defines perfection as cultivation of TAO and yielding to natural
conditions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: self-alienated person
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The generalized person sees and possesses others rather than himself and
becomes someone else.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Mount T'ai
literal_form: mountain
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: TAO
literal_form: named principle or way
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: sym:3
label: hearing oneself
literal_form: act of hearing directed toward oneself
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: seeing oneself
literal_form: act of vision directed toward oneself
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Death for gain on Mount T'ai
summary: Robber Chê is reported to have died for gain at Mount T'ai.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Comparison of noble and low deaths
summary: The passage contrasts deaths for charity and duty with deaths for gain,
then argues that the injury to life and nature is the same and that Robber Chê
and Poh I are one in this respect.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Rejection of external standards of perfection
summary: The passage rejects perfection based on charity, duty, flavours, sounds,
and colours, even when measured by named exemplars.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Perfection as cultivation of TAO and self-perception
summary: The speaker defines perfection as cultivation of TAO, yielding to natural
conditions, hearing oneself, and seeing oneself.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Fatal error of becoming someone else
summary: A person who sees and takes possession of others rather than himself becomes
someone else; the speaker identifies this as a fatal error that can apply to both
Robber Chê and Poh I.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:9
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: equal self-injury behind opposed moral labels
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage says that deaths judged noble or low by the world are alike in
their injury to life and nature, using Robber Chê and Poh I as examples.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This is an ethical-philosophical pattern rather than a narrative myth
motif with a conventional taxonomy reference.
- id: motif:2
label: self-knowledge as perfection
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage defines perfection through cultivation of TAO and through hearing
and seeing oneself rather than others.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy supports a broad wisdom classification, but the
passage frames it specifically as Taoist cultivation and self-possession.
- id: motif:3
label: becoming another through external orientation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage warns that seeing and possessing others instead of oneself causes
a person to become someone else, a fatal error.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The motif is abstract and philosophical; no supernatural transformation
is described.
- id: motif:4
label: yielding to natural conditions
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Cultivators of TAO are identified as those who yield to the natural conditions
of things.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The wisdom taxonomy is broad; the passage does not present a separate
mythic episode for this idea.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly links its statement about seeing oneself with a saying
attributed to Lao Tzŭ, suggesting a nearby Daoist textual parallel for self-vision
as clarity.
claim_level: same_function
target: 'Saying attributed to Lao Tzŭ: seeing oneself as being clear of sight'
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage provides only an editorial note and does not establish
historical dependence beyond the attributed parallel.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 4087-4093
quote_or_summary: "“Robber Chê died for gain on Mount T'ai.” The notes add that
Robber Chê has a separate chapter and that Mount T'ai was mentioned earlier."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 4095-4097
quote_or_summary: The passage says the deaths under discussion were not the same,
but that the injury to life and nature was the same in each case.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 4099-4107
quote_or_summary: A person dying for charity and duty is called noble, while one
dying for gain is called low; the passage says that in injury to life and nature,
Robber Chê and Poh I are one.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 4109-4117
quote_or_summary: The passage lists exemplars for charity and duty, flavours, sounds,
and colours, and says that such attainments are not what the speaker means by
perfection.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 4117-4123
quote_or_summary: The speaker says perfection is found in cultivation of TAO and
that cultivators of TAO yield to the natural conditions of things.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 4123-4128
quote_or_summary: The speaker defines perfect hearing as hearing oneself and perfect
vision as seeing oneself; an editorial note compares this to a saying attributed
to Lao Tzŭ about seeing oneself.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 4130-4135
quote_or_summary: A person who sees and takes possession of others rather than himself
becomes someone else; this is called a fatal error that both Robber Chê and Poh
I can commit.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 4135-4137
quote_or_summary: The speaker, conscious of deficiency in regard to TAO, says he
does not venture either to practise charity and duty at his best or to fall into
the fatal error at his worst.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif labels are cautious because
the passage is philosophical argument rather than narrative myth. The single comparison
claim is based on an editorial note within the supplied passage.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage text and metadata. Taxonomy references are limited to available refs and only applied where directly supportable.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg__l4087-l4137
passage_sha256=e04bbd013cdf66a42619f8740fb9b710fa50230f36ffbb40911f6413e911a8fe