散人

散人

1. (obsolete, derogatory) mediocre good-for-nothing

   • 君子笑之，怒曰：「散人焉知良儒！」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mozi, c. 4^th century BCE

     Jūnzǐ xiào zhī, nù yuē: “Sǎnrén yān zhī liáng rú!” [Pinyin]

     When being laughed at, they would reply angrily, saying: “What do you fools know about good Confucians?”

   • 而幾死之散人，又惡知散木！ [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     而几死之散人，又恶知散木！ [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Ér jī sǐ zhī sǎnrén, yòu wū zhī sǎn mù! [Pinyin]

     As a useless man about to die, how can you understand a useless tree then!

2. unrestrained wanderer; detached and carefree vagabond

   • 散人者，散誕之人也。心散，意散，形散，神散，既無羈限，為時之怪民，束於禮樂者外之，曰此「散人」也。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     散人者，散诞之人也。心散，意散，形散，神散，既无羁限，为时之怪民，束于礼乐者外之，曰此「散人」也。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. late 9^th century, 陸龜蒙 (Lù Guīméng), 《江湖散人傳》(Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes), translated by Victor H. Mair

     Sǎnrén zhě, sǎndàn zhī rén yě. Xīn sǎn, yì sǎn, xíng sǎn, shén sǎn, jì wú jī xiàn, wéi shí zhī guàimín, shù yú lǐyuè zhě wài zhī, yuē cǐ “sǎnrén” yě. [Pinyin]

     A vagrant is someone who is dissolute. His mind wanders, his ideas wander, his form wanders, and his spirit wanders. Being completely unbridled, he is looked at askance by his contemporaries. People who are constrained by decorum distance themselves from him by saying, “This man is a vagrant.”

3. (regional) penniless person; pauper

This word has undergone amelioration. Ever since Lu Guimeng's Biography of the Vagrant of Rivers and Lakes, it has become an approving word, most commonly seen in self-appointed titles, e.g. the great novelist Luo Guanzhong (c. 1330–1400), the author of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, titled himself 湖海散人 (lit. Vagabond of Lakes and Seas).

• (penniless person, pauper):