Yang Zhu, Chapter 9, Part 1

THE HAPPY VOLUPTUARIES

TSE-CHAN was Minister in Cheng, and governed for three years, and governed well.

The good people complied with his injunctions, and the bad were in awe of his prohibitory laws.

So Cheng was governed, and the princes were afraid of it.

Tse-Chan had an elder brother, Kung-Sun-Chow, and a younger, Kung-Sun-Mu. The former was fond of feasting and the latter of gallantry.

In the house of Kung-Sun-Chow a thousand barrels of wine were stored, and yeast in piled-up heaps.

Within a hundred paces from the door the smell of drugs and liquor offended people's noses.

He was so much under the influence of wine that he ignored the feeling of remorse, was unconscious of the safe and dangerous parts of the path of life; what was present or wanting in his house, the near or remote degrees of relationship,the various degrees of relationship, the joy of living and the sadness of death.

Water, fire and swords might almost touch his person, and he would be unaware of it.

Within the house of Kung-Sun-Mu there was a compound of about thirty or forty houses, which he filled with damsels of exquisite beauty. So much was he captivated by their charms, that he neglected his relatives and friends, broke off all family intercourse, and retiring into his inner court turned night into day.

Within three months he only came forth once and yet he still did not feel contented.

Was there a pretty girl in the neighborhood, he would try to win her with bribes or allurements, and only desisted with the impossibility of obtaining his desires.

Translator of Yang Zhu's Garden of Pleasure is Anton Forke. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Yang Zhu label below.