Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 25

"Harness things so your heart can wander. Nourish your middle by accepting what cannot be avoided: that's perfection. What is there for you to do in return? Nothing is as good as fulfilling your destiny.52 That's as hard as it gets.". . .

Splay-limb Shu's chin is sunk in his belly. His shoulders are above his head, pinched together so they point at the sky. His five organs are on top, his thighs tight against his ribs. Plying a needle and taking in laundry he makes enough to fill his mouth. Winnowing leftover grain he gets enough to feed ten people. When the people in charge are calling out troops, Splay-limb wanders among them waving goodbye. When they are press-ganging workers he is exempted as a chronic invalid. When they dole out grain to the sick, he gets three measures, and ten bundles of firewood. With splayed limbs, he is still able to keep himself alive and to live out the years Heaven gave him. What if he had splayed Virtue? . . .

Chapter Five: Signs of Abundant Virtue.

In Lu there was an amputee named Royal Nag who had as many followers as Kongzi. Chang Ji53 asked Kongzi, "Royal Nag is an amputee, yet you and he divide Lu for students. He doesn't stand and teach or sit and discuss, yet they go to him empty and come home full. Can there be teaching without words or a developed mind in a deformed body? What kind of person is he?"

Kongzi said, "He is a sage. I'm just running late and haven't been to see him yet. And if I intend to make him my teacher, is it surprising that others do? Forget about Lu; I'm going to lead the whole world to follow him."

Chang Ji said, "If that amputee can lord it over you, he must be far from ordinary. Someone like that must have a special way of thinking."

Kongzi said, "Death and life are big, but they make no difference to him. Heaven and earth could flip over, and it would not matter to him. He peers into the falseless and does not shift with things. He considers it destiny that they should change and holds on to their ancestor."

Chang Ji said, "What does that mean?"

Kongzi said, "Looked at from their differences, liver and gall are as far apart as the states of Chu and Yue. Looked at from their sameness, the ten thousand things are all one. Someone like him does not know what is appropriate for his ears and eyes but lets his mind wander in the harmony of Virtue. He looks at the way things are one and does not see what they're missing. He looks at losing a foot like shaking off dust."

Chang Ji said, "For his own sake he uses knowledge to gain control of his mind and uses control of his mind to achieve a constant mind. But why should others make so much of him?"

Kongzi said, "People don't mirror themselves in moving water, they mirror themselves in still water.54 Only the still can still the crowd's stillness. Of those that receive their destiny on earth, only the pine and cypress are green winter and summer. Of those that receive their destiny from Heaven, only the sages Yao and Shun are proper. Those fortunate enough to correct their own lives can correct the lives of the crowd. The proof of guarding the beginning is the fact of not being nervous. A brave soldier will boldly go against the nine armies. If someone can risk his life like this for fame, how much more so one whose palace is Heaven and earth and whose treasure is the ten thousand things, one who only lodges in the form, treats hearing and sight as images, unifies what knowledge knows, and whose mind never tastes death? He will pick his day to transcend the falseness, which is why people follow him. Why would he be willing to make mere things his business?". . .

Duke Ai of Lu55 asked Kongzi, "There was an ugly man in Wei named Sad Nag. Men hung around with him. They thought about him all the time and couldn't tear themselves away. Women saw him and by the dozen they vowed to their parents that they'd rather be his concubine than another man's wife. No one ever heard him sing the lead, all he ever did was harmonize with others. He had no lordly status to save people from death, no piles of wealth to fill their bellies, and he was ugly enough to shock the world. He harmonized without singing and knew nothing beyond his own borders, but c.o.c.ks and hens coupled in his presence. There had to be something special about him! So We summoned him for an audience, and he really was ugly enough to shock the world. He stayed with Us, and before a month was out We took an interest in his personality. By the time a year pa.s.sed, We trusted him. Since the state had no minister, We put him in charge. He looked glum and faltered, as though he might even decline. We were embarra.s.sed but eventually got him to take it. Before long, however, he abandoned Us. We were crushed, as though We'd lost a loved one, as though there was no one to enjoy the state with. What kind of man was this?"

Kongzi said, "I was once sent to Chu. On the way I saw piglets feeding at their dead mother. After a while, they all blinked and ran off. They didn't see themselves in her, didn't find their kind. What they loved was their mother-not her form, but what moved her form. When someone dies in battle, his people don't bother with medals at his burial. An amputee's old shoes mean nothing to him. Both have lost the root. Women of the imperial retinue don't pare their nails or pierce their ears. A married man is sent on no more outside missions. When we do this to keep the form whole, how much more should we do to keep Virtue whole! Now this Sad Nag was trusted before he spoke and was loved though he accomplished nothing. He got people to give him their own states and worry he wouldn't take them! He must have completed the potential, though his Virtue took no form."

Duke Ai asked, "What do you mean by completing the potential?"

Kongzi said, "Death, life, survival, loss, failure, success, poverty, wealth, worth, depravity, slander, praise, hunger, thirst, winter, summer-their change is the process of destiny. Day and night they alternate in front of us, but knowledge cannot measure their beginning. Don't let them slip out of harmony or penetrate the spirit store. Indulge them harmoniously. Let them circulate without leaking away. Day and night, without a break, make it springtime with things. As you greet each new circ.u.mstance, generate the season in your own mind. This is what I mean by completing the potential."

"What do you mean by Virtue taking no form?"

"Levelness is the height of still water, so it can be used as a standard.56 Hold it from within and it will not be disturbed from without. Virtue is the cultivation of complete harmony. When Virtue takes no form, things cannot leave it."

Later, Duke Ai told Minzi,57 At first when I ruled the empire, I held the reins of the people and worried about their welfare. I thought I had perfected it. Now that I've heard this explanation of the perfect person, I worry that I lacked the real substance and that I damaged the state by neglecting myself. Kongzi and I are not subject and lord, but friends in Virtue.". . .

Where sages wander, knowledge is a curse, restrictions are paste, favors are a patch, and effort is for trade. Sages do not plan, so why do they need knowledge? They do not cut, so why do they need paste? They have nothing to lose, so why do they need favors? They're not buying, so why do they need trade? In these four ways they feed at Heaven. Feeding at Heaven, they are nourished by Heaven. Once they are nourished by Heaven, why do they need other people? They have human form but not human qing , "essence." Since they have human form, they flock with people. Since they lack human essence, right and wrong do not get to them. Infinitesimally small, they flock with people. Indescribably large, they complete their Heaven alone.

Huizi asked Zhuangzi, "Can people really have no essence?"

Zhuangzi said, "Yes, they can."

Huizi said, "But if they have no essence, how can you call them 'people'?"

Zhuangzi said, "The Way gave them a face. Heaven gave them a form. How can you not call them 'people'?"

Huizi said, "But if you call them 'people,' how can they have no essence?"

Zhuangzi said, "Rights and wrongs (shilfei ) are what I mean by 'essence.' By 'no essence,' I mean people not letting in good and bad to hurt them. Follow the natural and do not help life along."58 Huizi said, "How can people exist without helping life?"

Zhuangzi said, "The Way gave them a face, Heaven gave them a form- by not letting likes and dislikes in to do harm, that's how. But you shut out your spirit, and tire your energies, leaning on a podium ranting, slumping at your desk and napping. Heaven chose a form for you, and you use it to sing of 'hard and white'!"59

Chapter Six: The Great Ancestral Teacher.

To know what Heaven does and to know what humans do is to have reached perfection. Those who know what Heaven does are born of Heaven.60 Those who know what humans do use what they know they know to nurture what they know they don't know, living out their Heavenly years and not dying along the way. This is the flourishing of knowledge.

Even so, there is a problem. Knowledge depends on something before it can be fitting. But what it depends on has not yet been fixed. So how do I know that what I call "Heaven" is not really human and what I call "human" is not really Heaven? Only when there are true people can we have true knowledge. What do I mean by true people? The true people of olden times did not resist poverty. They did not glory in success. They did not plan their affairs. They could miss without regretting it and hit without being pleased. Such people could climb high without shuddering. They could enter water without getting wet and fire without getting burned. Such is the knowledge that is able to climb up to the Way. . . .

The true people of the olden days knew nothing of loving life and nothing of hating death. They emerged without delight and returned without resistance. They came and went briskly, nothing more. They neither forgot their beginning nor sought their end. They enjoyed what they received, forgot it, and handed it back. This is called not using the mind to block the Way, not using the human to help Heaven. These are called true people. . . .

Hence what they liked was one and what they didn't like was one. Their being one was one and their not being one was one. Seeing it as one, they were followers of Heaven. Seeing it as not one, they were followers of humanity. When neither Heaven nor humanity wins out over the other, this is called being a true person. . . .

When the springs dry up, the fish are stuck together on the land. They douse each other with spit and spray each other with drool, but it is not as good as forgetting each other in the rivers and lakes. Praising Yao and condemning Jie is not as good as forgetting them both and transforming with the Way. The Big Lump burdens me with a form, labors me with life, eases me with old age, and rests me with death. So if I like my life, for the same reason I must also like my death.

You hide your boat in a gully or your net in a swamp and call them secure. But in the middle of the night a strong man could still take them on his back and leave, and you would be asleep and not know. Hiding the small in the large seems fitting, but still you lose. But if you hid the world in the world, you would have nothing to lose. This is the essence of what lasts. You trespa.s.s on human form and still delight in it. As a human, you can change ten thousand times without ever reaching the limit. Can you count the different things that have made you happy? So the sage wanders in what exists everywhere and can't be lost. He likes growing old and he likes dying young. He likes the beginning and he likes the end. People model themselves on the sage. But why not on that to which the ten thousand things are tied and on which every change depends?

The Way has an essence and can be trusted. But it takes no action and has no form. It can be pa.s.sed on but not received, gotten but not seen. It is its own trunk, its own root. Before Heaven and earth existed, it spiritualized the ghosts and G.o.ds, and gave birth to Heaven and earth. It is above the supreme ultimate but not high, below the six limits but not deep. It was born before Heaven and earth but does not age. It is more venerable than high antiquity but is not old.61. . .

South Lord Master Flower said to Out-of-step Woman, "You are old in years but have the look of a child. How do you do it?"

She said, "I've heard the Way."

South Lord Master Flower asked, "May I study the Way?"

She said, "How? How could you? You're not the person for it. Yellow Emperor's Dependent had the stuff of a sage but not the way of a sage. I have the way of a sage but not the stuff of a sage. I wanted to teach him, to see if maybe he really could become a sagely person. If not, at least it would be easier to explain the way of a sage to someone with the stuff of a sage. So I stuck with it, explaining it to him for three days, after which he could put the world outside of himself. Once he'd put the world outside, I kept at it. After seven days he could put things outside. Once he'd put things outside, I kept at it. After nine days he could put life outside himself. Once he'd put life outside himself, the light dawned. After the light had dawned, he could see he was alone. Having seen he was alone, he could have no past or present. With no past or present, he was able to enter no living or dying. What kills life does not die; what lives life is not alive. The kind of thing it is-there is nothing it does not see off, nothing it does not greet, nothing it does not ruin, nothing it does not bring to completion. Its name is Disturbing Peace. The Disturbing Peace completes things only after disturbing them."

South Lord Master Flower asked, "Where did you hear it?"

She said, "I heard it from Ink-Aid's son. Ink-Aid's son heard it from Faltering Recitation's grandson. Faltering Recitation's grandson heard it from Looking-up-at-the-light. Looking-up-at-the-light heard it from Whispered Promise. Whispered Promise heard it from Needs Work. Needs Work heard it from Sing "Ooh!" Sing "Ooh!" heard it from Mysterious Darkness. Mysterious Darkness heard it from Present-in-vacancy. Present-in-vacancy heard it from Dubious Beginning."

Master Sacrifice, Master Chariot,62 Master Plow, and Master Arrive all four spoke together, saying, "Who can take nothing as the head, life as the spine, and death as the tail? Who knows death, life, existence, and annihilation as all the same thing? I'll be that person's friend." All four looked at each other and smiled. There was no resistance in their hearts, and so they became friends.

Suddenly, Master Chariot got sick. Master Sacrifice went to ask after him. "How extraordinary of the maker of things to knot me up like this. My back is hunched out. My organs are all out of order. My chin is hidden in my navel. My shoulders are peaked. And my neck bones point to Heaven." But though his yin and yang qi were fouled, in his mind there was nothing the matter. He hobbled over to look at his reflection in the well. "Sheesh! The maker of things really is knotting me up."

Master Sacrifice said, "Do you dislike it?"

He said, "Not at all. What is there to dislike? If, in time, he turns my left arm into a rooster, I'll use it to crow the day. If he turns my right arm into a bow, I'll shoot down a dove for roasting. If he turns my b.u.t.tocks into wheels and my spirit into a horse, I'll climb aboard. What better carriage? You get something when it's time. You lose it when it's pa.s.sed. If you are content with the time and abide by the pa.s.sing, there's no room for sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called 'loosing the bonds.' If you don't loose yourself, things will bind you. Nothing has ever beaten Heaven. What is there to dislike?"

Suddenly Master Arrive got sick. Gasping, he was on the point of death. His wife and children circled around him weeping. Master Plow came to ask after him and said to them, "Stop! Get back! Don't be afraid of the change." Leaning on the door frame he said, "How extraordinary, the one who makes these changes! What will he do with you next? Where will he send you? Will he make you a rat's liver? Will he make you a bug's arm?"

Master Arrive said, "A child goes wherever its parents say-east, west, north, or south. How much more are yin and yang to a person than parents! If they bring me to the point of death and I refuse to obey, I would only be being stubborn. What fault is it of theirs? The Big Lump burdens me with a form, labors me with life, eases me with old age, and rests me with death. So if I like my life, for the same reason I must also like my death. Suppose a great smith were casting metal. If the metal were to rear up and say 'I insist on being a Moye!'63 the great smith would certainly take it as inauspicious material. If, having once trespa.s.sed on the human form, I were to say 'Only a human! Only a human!' then the maker of changes would certainly take me as an inauspicious person. If you take Heaven and earth as a great furnace and the maker of changes as a great smith, then where can you go that will not be all right? I will doze off whole and, drowsily, wake up."

Master Mulberry-door, Anti-Mengzi, and Master Great-Zither were all three friends.64 They said, "Who can join with others in not joining with them, do for others by not doing for them? Who can climb Heaven, roam the mists, and whirl in the infinite, living forgetful of one another for ever and ever?" The three men looked at each other and smiled. None was reluctant in his mind, so they joined as friends.

Nothing happened for a while and then Master Mulberry-door died. Kongzi heard about it and sent Zigong over to help out. One of them was plaiting frames for silkworms and the other was playing the zither while they harmonized together and sang: Oh, Master Mulberry-door, Oh, Master Mulberry-door, You've returned to your true self, While we go on as men-o!

Zigong hurried in and approached them, saying, "Excuse me! But does it accord with the ritual to sing over a corpse?"

The two men looked at each other and smiled, saying, "What does he know about the meaning of ritual?"

Zigong went back and reported this to Kongzi, asking, "What kind of men are those? Correct behavior is nothing to them, as though their physical bodies were something external. They sing overlooking the corpse without even changing expression. I don't know what to say about them. What kind of men are they?"

Kongzi said, "Those are men who wander outside the rules. I am one who wanders within them.65 Inside and outside don't meet, and it was rude of me to send you to mourn. They are about to join with the generator of things in being human and wander in the single breath of Heaven and earth. They think of life as a hanging tumor and a dangling mole and of death as a wart falling off or a boil bursting. People such as this, how can they say whether death and life are ground gained or lost? They commit themselves to different things but trust to their all being of one body. They forget liver and gall and abandon the ears and eyes. They exchange the beginning for the end and cannot tell a premonition from an echo. Bemused, they wander about beyond the dirt and dust and play at the business of nonaction.66 How could they get worked up over conventional politeness just to put on a display for the ears and eyes of the crowd?"

Zigong said, "So why then does my master follow rules himself?"

Kongzi said, "Me, I am one of those who are punished by Heaven. Even so, I share this with you."

Zigong said, "May I ask about these rules?"

Kongzi said, "Fish school together in water. People school together in the Way. For things that school together in the water, dig a pond and they will be provided for. For things that school together in the Way, don't busy yourself with them and their lives will be settled. Hence it is said, 'Fish forget one another in the rivers and lakes; people forget one another in the arts of the Way.'"

Zigong said, "May I ask about deviant people?"

"Deviant people deviate from people but converge with Heaven. Hence it is said, 'Heaven's petty person is a prince among men. The prince among men is Heaven's petty person.'"

Yan Hui questioned Kongzi, "When Mengsun Cai's mother died he cried without tears.67 In his inner heart he did not mourn. And conducting the funeral, he did not grieve. With these three lapses, his reputation as a mourner still covers Lu. Is it really possible to gain the name while lacking the substance? I was shocked."

Kongzi said, "Mengsun is done. He is beyond knowing. He would make it even simpler, but he can't. Still, he did simplify it some. Mengsun does not know why he lives. He does not know why he dies. He's not aware of moving forward. He's not aware of falling back. If he changes into something, he lets the unknown change finish it. When he changes, how does he know he isn't not changing? When he doesn't change, how does he know he hasn't changed already? Take you and me-we're dreaming and haven't woken up! But something can shock his body without harming his mind. He stays here only for a day but feels no death. Mengsun is awake. People cry, so he cries; this is why.

"We say 'I.' But how do I know what I mean by 'I'? You dream you're a bird crossing Heaven or a fish sunk in the depths. There's no telling if the one who speaks now is awake or dreaming. Directing the trip doesn't measure up to smiling, and laughing doesn't measure up to stepping aside. Step aside and leave the changes. Then you will enter the oneness of the vacant sky."

Master Thinker went to see Whence. Whence asked him, "How has Yao rewarded you?"

Master Thinker said, "Yao told me, 'You must submit to benevolence and righteousness to speak clearly about right and wrong.'"

Whence said, "So what did you come here for? Yao's already tattooed your face with benevolence and righteousness and cut off your nose with right and wrong. How can you expect to wander distant, unrestrained, and rolling paths?"

Master Thinker said, "But still, I'd like to wander along the edge."

Whence said, "It's not like that. The blind can't share in the loveliness of faces or the near-sighted in far-off vistas."

Master Thinker said, "But beauties lose their looks and strong men lose their strength. Even Huang Di forgot his knowledge-all in the process of being recast. How do you know the maker of things won't erase my tattoos, replace my nose, and make me whole so I can follow you, sir?"

Whence said, "Ah, you never know! I'll give you the main outlines.

My teacher! My teacher! He orders ten thousand things but is not righteous. He's kind to ten thousand generations but is not benevolent. He's more venerable than high antiquity but is not old. He roofs Heaven, floors earth, and fashions everything between but is not handy. That's how you wander."

Yan Hui said, "I'm improving."

Kongzi said, "How so?"

"I've forgotten benevolence and righteousness."

"Good, but there's more."

Yan Hui saw him again the next day and said, "I'm improving."

"How so?"

"I've forgotten rites and music."

"Good, but there's more."

Yan Hui saw him again the next day and said, "I'm improving."

"How so?"

"I sit and forget."

Kongzi started and said, "What do you mean by 'sit and forget'?"

Yan Hui said, "I cast off my limbs, dismiss hearing and sight, leave my form, abandon knowledge, and unify them in the great comprehension. That's what I mean by 'sit and forget.'"

Kongzi said, "If you've unified them then you have no preferences. If you've changed then you have no constancy. You really are worthy! I would like to ask to be your follower!"68. . .

Chapter Seven: The Proper Way for Emperors and Kings.

Gaptooth asked Royal Relativity four times and got four "I-don't-know's" in response.69 Gaptooth jumped up and down, he was so happy, and went to tell Master Reed Coat.

Master Reed Coat said, "You're just learning that now? Shun didn't measure up to the really ancient sages. Shun still stockpiled benevolence in order to win people. He got people, but he never escaped from not-people. Now the really ancient sages-they slept calmly and woke blankly. Sometimes they took themselves for horses. Sometimes they took themselves for cows. Their knowledge of the essence was trustworthy, and their Virtue was exceptionally true. They never entered into not-people.". . .

Don't make a name for yourself or follow a plan. Don't take responsibility or claim knowledge. Thoroughly embody what can't be exhausted and wander where you can't be seen. Take everything you get from Heaven but don't consider it gain. Just be empty. Perfected people use their minds like mirrors, not welcoming things as they come or escorting them as they go. They respond without keeping, so they can conquer without harm.

The emperor of the north sea was Whish. The emperor of the south sea was Whoosh. The emperor of the center was All-full. Whish and Whoosh sometimes lodged together at All-full's place and he treated them exceptionally well. Whish and Whoosh decided to return All-full's kindness. "Everyone has seven holes to see, hear, eat, and breathe, but he alone has none. Let's try drilling him some!" Each day they drilled a hole. And in seven days, All-full died.70

Chapter Twelve: Heaven and Earth.