Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 23

106The final three lines also appear at the end of chapter 30.

107This and the preceeding line also appear together in chapter 52.

108This and the preceeding three lines also appear together in chapter 4.

109Cf. chapter 1, "Their unity is known as an enigma."

110This line also appears in chapter 62.

111For wushi, "no activity," see chapters 48 and 63. For qu tianxia, "gaining the world," see chapters 29 and 48.

112For the expression "sharp implements," see chapter 36.

113Literally, "unhewn wood." See n. 33.

114The idea is that too much attention and meddling will make either fall apart.

115Laozi seems here to be arguing against the idea, seen in thinkers like Mozi et al., that the ideal state requires the active partic.i.p.ation of ghosts and other spirits in meting out rewards or punishments. Laozi does not deny the existence of such beings but, like Kongzi, sees a direct appeal to them as inappropriate. Cf Kongzi's advice concerning ghosts and spirits in a.n.a.lects 6.22.

116They do not disturb the people through too much attention and meddling.

117Literally, xialiu , "low flow." Cf. the use of the same term in a.n.a.lects 19.20 (not in this volume) ". . . the gentleman dislikes living in low places (xialiu) where all the foul things of the world collect." The Daoist of course inverts Confucian values, esteeming what the world regards as lowly.

118In the sense that the ideal great state places itself below and attracts the whole world. Also, like a valley or the delta of a river, the great state is like a woman in being fertile and having the ability to feed the whole world. Consider the common metaphor of the Tigris and Euphrates as the "cradle of civilization." Cf. chapter 66.

119"Inner sanctum" is the translation of ao , the southwest corner of one's house where the household G.o.ds are lodged and worshipped.

120Cf chapter 81.

121Cf chapter 27.

122Cf. Mozi's discussion of how the Son of Heaven and Three Ministers are to be appointed, in Mozi, chapter 2, "Obeying One's Superiors," pp. 6568.

123This line also appears in chapter 56.

124For wushi, "no activities," see chapters 48 and 57.

125The idea in each case is that one should do what one does in unpremeditated and spontaneous response to the situation at hand. One should do away with set schemes, categories, standards, and plans, and follow one's natural inclinations and tendencies. And so, for example, one should taste and savor what one finds pleasing, not what others might enjoy or what accords with some socially sanctioned view about good taste. Cf. chapter 12.

126Here we see a clear contrast with the view of early Confucians. See a.n.a.lects 14.34. Cf. chapter 49.

127These two lines also appear in chapter 29.

128Cf. Mengzi 7B35 (not in this volume), "For cultivating the heart and mind nothing is better than to make few one's desires."

129Daoist sages take Nature as their model. In philosophical discussions of the time, there was a debate about whether the proper content of learning is part of or opposed to what is naturally so. This debate in turn was a reflection of a larger debate about the character of human nature. Mengzi endorses only particular natural tendencies-those that incline us toward morality-and on this basis claims that human nature is good. Xunzi argues that our untutored nature inclines us toward bad states of affairs. On this basis he concludes our nature is bad and must be reformed through protracted study and practice. We can see Laozi, Mengzi, and Xunzi as representing a spectrum of views about the proper content of learning that reflects their different views about the goodness of our pre-reflective nature, running from greatest to least confidence in our raw natural state.

130The idea that the best of actions flow forth without reflection or knowledge was not uncommon in early China. In his note on this line, Wing-tsit Chan cites a pa.s.sage from the Odes in which the Lord on High commends King Wen for his behavior, "Without reflection or knowledge, you comply with my principles" (Mao # 241). See Chan (1963), p. 216. Cf. a.n.a.lects 15.5.

131For xuande, "Enigmatic Virtue," see chapters 10 and 51.

132This is the only occurrence of the expression dashun , "Great Compliance," in the text. However, as Arthur Waley (1963), p. 223, points out in his note to this chapter, it does occur in Zhuangzi, chapter 12 (not in this volume). Note too that the same word shun appears in Mao # 241 quoted in n. 130 above.

133Cf. chapter 61.

134The same line appears in chapter 22.

135The idea that true virtue lies in a harmony within a tension, that it requires a balance between extremes, is seen in many traditions. Early Confucians too held a version of this view. For example, see a.n.a.lects 8.2.

136That is, they are not overly aggressive and pugnacious.

137They avoid initiating the action, the first move being the prerogative of the host.

138Cf. the last two lines with a similar line in chapter 38.

139See chapter 67 for a possible reference.

140Cf. this complaint with Kongzi's remark in a.n.a.lects 14.35.

141They appear common and unworthy on the outside but possess a secret treasure within. In a.n.a.lects 17.1 (not in this volume) a man named Yang Huo criticizes Kongzi's reluctance to take office by asking him, "Can one who cherishes his treasure within and allows his state to go astray be considered benevolent?" Cf. a.n.a.lects 9.13.

142This pa.s.sage is similar in thought to a.n.a.lects 2.17 (not in this volume): "If you know something realize that you know it. If you do not know something realize that you do not. This is what knowing is."

143This line also appears in chapters 12 and 38.

144These two lines introduce a question and mark a dialogue within the text. Cf. a.n.a.lects 12.19.

145The death that Heaven brings to each person.

146Cf. chapter 50.

147Cf. chapter 50.

148The Han dynasty commentator w.a.n.g Bi ill.u.s.trates the point of these last two lines with the examples of the roots of a tree and its twigs.

149This line also appears in chapters 2, 10, and 51.

150Cf. chapters 2, 9, 17, and 34. This and the previous line also appear together in chapter 2.

151These were the main altars of the state and a common metaphor for its independence and well-being.

152The idea that the most worthy rulers are willing to offer themselves to Heaven as surrogates on behalf of the people and in the name of the state is a motif seen in writings of this period and earlier. See King Tang's p.r.o.nouncement to the spirits in the a.n.a.lects 20.1 (not in this volume) and Nivison, The Ways of Confucianism (Chicago, IL: Open Court Press, 1996), especially pp. 2024.

153The left-hand portion of a contract of obligation, the part that was held by the creditor.

154The central idea of this chapter, which is seen throughout the text, is that one cannot force others to be good. If one resorts to force, one's actions will eventually rebound in kind upon oneself. The only way to affect others and turn them to the good is through the power of one's de, "Virtue."

155That is, let them abandon writing. The use of the knotted cord to keep track of records is mentioned in the Great Appendix to the Changes and Zhuangzi, chapter 10 (not in this volume), as well as elsewhere in the early literature. The details are unclear but the practice probably entailed making a knot in a cord for every ten or twenty units counted. Thus it resembles the Western practice of notching or "scoring" a piece of wood for every twenty units counted, each notch representing a "score" or twenty.

156In a.n.a.lects 14.6 (not in this volume) Kongzi says, "Those who have de, 'Virtue,' will always speak well. Those who speak well will not always have Virtue." Cf. chapter 62.

157Confucians too had a general mistrust of glib talkers and disputation. This reflects their similar, though distinct, beliefs about the power of a good person's de, "Virtue," to sway others. For examples, see a.n.a.lects 1.3 and Mengzi's explanation of why he must engage in disputation, though not being fond of it, found in Mengzi 3B9.

CHAPTER FIVE.

ZHUANGZI.

Introduction.

Little is known of Zhuangzi beyond what we can gather from the book named after him. Much of the book, however, is unapologetically fictional, so the stories it tells about him provide us more insight into his persona than into the historical facts of his life. We know from external sources that his friend Huizi served in the court of King Hui of Liang (390319 B.C.E.), which places Zhuangzi in the end of the fourth century B.C.E. The version of the text we have was a.s.sembled around 300 C.E. and is widely agreed to be the work of multiple authors. Though some pa.s.sages seem to have been written by Zhuangzi, the book must initially have been compiled by his students and then supplemented by later contributors and editors. The following selections are drawn primarily from what scholars generally recognize as the earliest portions of the text, which were either written or inspired by Zhuangzi himself Zhuangzi has a huge vocabulary, draws freely from history and mythology, and is equally at home writing poetry, logical a.n.a.lyses, dialogue, and narrative. His references to Kongzi, Laozi, and the Mohists demonstrate that he was familiar with their ideas, though the absence of quotations leaves uncertain whether he had access to the same texts we do. Huizi, who argued against the possibility of distinguishing one thing from another, is known to have debated one of Mengzi's students. So Zhuangzi must at least have heard about Mengzi's ideas, though he never mentions him by name.

Zhuangzi does not present his ideas systematically or define his central terms. But he regularly speaks of tian , "Heaven," as the highest ideal for all things. He contrasts tian, which could also be translated as "nature," to ren "people" or "humanity." The human, for Zhuangzi, includes everything from concrete activities that interfere with nature, such as the mutilation of criminals, to abstract ideas, such as shilfei , "right and wrong," that people project onto the world. Zhuangzi also speaks of dao , "the Way," which encompa.s.ses both the Way the world is and the way for people to live in it. Though he believes there is a way, he is skeptical of our ability to learn much about it through words or thinking. In fact, he attacks thinking in order to make room, instead, for experience and intuition. Sometimes his attacks are direct, with arguments ill.u.s.trating the limitations of language, sometimes indirect, with strange stories having no obvious moral or hero. Rather than delivering a message, the Zhuangzi seems to go out of its way to defy understanding. In this sense, though the stories are often fantastic, the book is meant to offer a realistic lesson in the uselessness of trying to figure out life. Thinking and talking have a place: Zhuangzi does a lot of both of them. The challenge is to harmonize thinking and talking with the other, incomprehensible aspects life.

In the second century B.C.E., the historian Sima Qian cla.s.sified Zhuangzi as a founding member of the Daoist school, rather than as a Confucian or a Mohist. This is an oversimplification. There was no "Daoist school" in his time, and, as readers will soon see, he would have resisted any cla.s.sification of this sort. He knew and thought a lot about the other philosophers presented in this book, particularly Kongzi. But his relationships to them were too complex to be summarized as simple agreement or disagreement. The influence of these other thinkers on Zhuangzi and the implications of his arguments for their ideas are complex and difficult questions that readers will have to sort out for themselves, with the help of some of the secondary literature that is listed following the translation.

Chapter One: Wandering Round and About.

In the northern darkness there is a fish named Minnow. No one knows how many thousand li around he is. He changes into a bird named Breeze.1 No one knows how many thousand li across she is. She ruffles and flies, and her wings are like clouds hanging from Heaven. As the seas turn, she thinks to migrate to the southern darkness. The southern darkness is Heaven's pool.2 The Tales of Qi3 records wonders. It says, "In her migration to the southern darkness, Breeze flaps along the water for three thousand li, spirals up on a whirlwind to ninety thousand li, and goes six months at a stretch."

Horse-shaped clouds, motes of dust, living things blowing breath at each other-is the blue-green of Heaven its proper color or just its being so endlessly far away? It looks just the same to her gazing down from above.

If water isn't deep it can't support big boats. Spill a cup of water on the floor and crumbs will be its boats. But put the cup there and it will stick- because the water is too shallow and the boat too big. If wind isn't deep it can't support big wings. This is why Breeze rises ninety thousand li with the wind there beneath her. Only then can she rest on the wind, carrying blue Heaven on her back, and nothing can stop her. Only then does she set her sights to the south.

The cicada and the student-dove laugh at her, saying, "When we start up and fly, we struggle for the elm or the sandalwood. Sometimes we don't even make it but just plunk to the ground. What is she doing rising ninety thousand li and heading south?" People going to the green meadows can bring three meals and return with their bellies still full. People going a hundred li need to grind grain for an overnight. People going a thousand li need to gather grain for three months. What do these two little bugs know?

Little knowledge does not measure up to big knowledge, or few years to many. How do I know this is so? The morning mushroom does not know the waxing and waning of the moon, and the Hui-cricket does not know spring and fall. This is because they are short lived. South of Chu there is a turtle called Dark Genius, which counts five hundred years as a single spring and five hundred years as a single fall. In high antiquity there was a tree called Big Spring, which counted eight thousand years as a single spring and eight thousand years as a single fall. Nowadays, only eight-hundred-year-old Peng Zu is famous, and everyone compares themselves to him. Isn't it sad?4 This was the subject of King Tang's questions to his teacher, Cramped.5 In the bald north there is a dark sea, Heaven's pool. There is a fish there whose breadth is several tens of thousands of li. No one knows his length. His name is Minnow. There is a bird there, whose name is Breeze. Her back is as huge as Mount Tai, and her wings are like clouds hanging from Heaven. Circling on the whirlwind, she spirals upward ninety thousand li, bursts through the clouds and mist, carrying the blue sky. Afterward she heads south, traveling to the southern darkness.

The accusing quail laughs at her, saying, "Where is she going? I rear up and don't go more than a few yards before coming down, soaring and roaming amid brambles and briars-this indeed is the perfection of flying! Where is she going?" This is the debate between little and big.

People who know how to do one job, handle a small town, or impress a ruler to get put in charge of a state see themselves like this. Songzi would still laugh at them. The whole world could praise him and he would not be encouraged. The whole world could condemn him and he would not be upset. He has fixed the difference between inner and outer and distinguished the limits of glory and disgrace. Yet he stops there. He is unconventional, but there is still something left unplanted.

Liezi6 rides about on the wind. It's wonderful! He's gone two weeks at a time. His att.i.tude toward wealth is unconventional. But, though he manages to avoid walking, he still relies on something. If he could chariot the norms of Heaven and earth and ride the changes in the six mists7 to wander the inexhaustible, then what would there be to rely on? Hence it is said that perfect people have no self, spiritual people have no accomplishment, and sagely people have no name.

The sage-king Yao offered his empire to the hermit Whence. " To keep the torches burning when the sun and moon are shining is troubling too much for light. Irrigating the fields when the spring rains are falling is working too hard for water. You are here, my teacher, and the empire is in order. With me still presiding over it, I feel defective. Please take it."

Whence said, "With you ordering it, the empire is well ordered. If I were to go ahead and replace you, would it be for the name? But name is only the guest of reality. Do I want to be the guest? The tailor bird nesting in the deep forest takes no more than a branch. The mole drinking at the river takes no more than a bellyful. Give it up, my lord. I have no use for the empire. Though the cook at the sacrifice fails to order the kitchen, the presiding priest does not leap over the goblets and platters to replace him."

Shoulder Dig said to Step Brother,8 "I heard what Jie Yu said.9 It was big but didn't stand for anything. It went on and on without coming back. I was frightened by what he said. It was as endless as the Milky Way, full of inconsistencies, and didn't approach the human situation."

Step Brother asked, "What did he say?"

"He said there are spiritual people living in the distant Maiden Mountains. Their skin is like frost, and they are gentle and restrained as virgins. They don't eat the five grains but sip wind and drink dew. They chariot the cloudy mists, ride the flying dragons, and wander beyond the four seas. By concentrating their spirit, they keep things from harm and ripen the harvests. I thought he was crazy and didn't believe him."

Step Brother said, "Yes. The blind can't appreciate beautiful patterns or the deaf bells and drums. But are blindness and deafness confined to the physical form? Your knowledge has them, too. His talk is like a fertile woman.10 Those people he describes, with that Virtue of theirs, will align with the ten thousand things and make them one. The world longs for chaos, but why should they fret and make the world their business? Nothing can harm these people. Though a great flood should knock against Heaven, they would not drown. Though a heat wave should melt stone and scorch the earth, they would not burn. From their dust and chaff you could mold the sages Yao and Shun. Why would they want to make things their business? A man of Song11 invested in ceremonial caps and took them to Yue. But the Yue people cut their hair and tattoo their bodies and had no use for them. Yao brought order to the people of the empire and stabilized the government within the seas. But when he went to see the four masters of the distant Maiden Mountains, north of the Fen River, he lost the world in a daze."12 Huizi said to Zhuangzi, "The king of Wei13 left me the seeds of a big gourd. I planted them, and when they grew, the fruit was a yard across. I filled them with water but they weren't st.u.r.dy enough to hold it. I split them into ladles but they were too big to dip into anything. It wasn't that they weren't wonderfully big, but they were useless. So I smashed them."14 Zhuangzi said, "You, sir, are certainly clumsy about using big things. There were some people in Song who were good at making ointment to prevent chapped hands. Year after year, they used it in their business bleaching silk. A traveler heard about it and asked to buy the formula for a hundred pieces of gold. The clan a.s.sembled and consulted, saying, 'For years we've bleached silk and never made more than a few pieces of gold. Today in a single morning we can sell the trick for a hundred pieces. Let's give it to him!'

"The traveler got it and recommended it to the king of Wu, who was having trouble with the state of Yue. The king of Wu put him in command, and that winter he met the men of Yue in a naval battle. Using the ointment to keep his soldiers' hands from chapping, he defeated Yue badly and was rewarded with a portion of the conquered territory. The ability to prevent chapped hands was the same in either case. But one gained territory while the others never escaped bleaching silk because what they used it for was different.15 Now you had these gigantic gourds. Why not lash them together like big buoys and go floating on the rivers and lakes instead of worrying that they were too big to dip into anything? Your mind is full of underbrush, my friend."16 Huizi said to Zhuangzi, "I have a big tree, the kind people call Spring. Its trunk is so gnarled it won't take a chalk line, and its branches are so twisted they won't fit a compa.s.s or square. It stands by the road but no builder looks twice at it. Your talk is similarly big and useless, and everyone alike rejects it."

Zhuangzi said, "Haven't you seen a weasel? It bends down then rises up. It springs east and west, not worrying about heights or depths-and lands in a snare or dies in a net. Now the yak is so big he looks like clouds hanging from Heaven. He sure can be big, but he can't catch mice. You have a big tree and are upset that you can't use it. Why not plant it by a nothing-at-all village in a wide empty waste? You could do nothing, dilly-dallying by its side, or nap, ho-hum, beneath it. It won't fall to any axe's chop and nothing will harm it. Since it isn't any use, what bad can happen to it?"

Chapter Two: On Equalizing Things.

Master Dapple of the South Wall sat leaning on his armrest. He looked up and sighed, vacant, as though he'd lost his counterpart. Yancheng Ziyou17 stood before him in attendance. "What's this?" he said. "Can the body really be turned into dried wood? Can the mind really be turned into dead ashes? The one leaning on the armrest now is not the one who leaned on it before!"

Master Dapple said, "My, isn't that a good question you've asked, Ziyou! Just now I lost myself. Do you know? You've heard the pipes of people, but not the pipes of earth. Or if you've heard the pipes of earth, you haven't heard the pipes of Heaven."

"May I ask what you mean?"

"The Big Lump belches breath and it's called wind. If only it wouldn't start! When it starts, the ten thousand holes begin to hiss. Don't you hear the shsh-shsh? In the mountain vales there are great trees a hundred spans around with knots like noses, like mouths, like ears, like sockets, like rings, like mortars, like ditches, like gullies. Gurgling, humming, hooting, whistling, shouting, shrieking, moaning, gnashing! The leaders sing 'Eeeeeeh!' The followers sing 'Ooooooh!' In a light breeze it's a little chorus, but in a gusty wind it's a huge orchestra. And when the violent winds are over, the ten thousand holes are empty. Haven't you witnessed the brouhaha?"

Ziyou said, "So the pipes of earth are those holes, and the pipes of people are bamboo flutes. May I ask about the pipes of Heaven?"

Master Dapple said, "Blowing the ten thousand differences, making each be itself and all choose themselves-who provokes it? Does Heaven turn? Does earth stay still? Do the sun and moon vie for position? Who is in charge here? Who pulls the strings? Who sits with nothing to do, gives it a push and sets it in motion? Do you think it's locked in motion and can't be stopped? Or do you think it's spinning out of control and can't slow itself down? Do the clouds make the rain? Or does the rain make the clouds? Who rumbles all this out? Who sits there with nothing to do and takes perverse delight in egging it on? The wind rises in the north-now west, now east, now dilly-dallying up above. Who huffs and puffs it? Who sits with nothing to do and blows it? May I ask the cause?"18 Big knowledge is boundless,19 little knowledge is unbound.

Big talk is unstoppable, little talk doesn't stop.

In sound sleep, spirits mingle, on waking, bodies open out.

They greet and grapple, and use their minds all day to struggle.

The humble ones, the high ones, the hidden ones: the little fears panic, the big fears calm.