by An Liu
sages adapt to the times and are at peace with their station in life;
they conform to their age and so find happiness in their calling. [7/56/22–26]
7.6
Sadness and joy are aberrations of Potency,
pleasure and anger are excesses of the Way;
fondness and resentment are the fetters of the mind.13
Therefore it is said [that sages]:
“In their life, act in accord with Heaven;
in their death, transform with other things.
In tranquillity, share the Potency of the yin;
in activity, share the surge of the yang.”14
Being calm and limitless, their Quintessential Spirit is not dissipated amid external things, and the world naturally submits to them.
Thus,
the mind is the ruler of the physical form;
the spirit is the treasure of the mind.
When the physical form toils without rest, it becomes exhausted;
when the Quintessence is used unceasingly, it runs out.15
Thus sages honor and esteem it and do not dare to allow it to seep out. [7/56/28–7/57/3]
The owner of the jade half-disk of the Xiahou clan stores it in a strong box because it is supremely precious.16 The preciousness of the Quintessential Spirit is not merely that of the jade half-disk of the Xiahou clan.
For this reason, sages
based in Nothing respond to Something
and invariably fathom the Underlying Patterns;
based in the empty accept the full;
and invariably fathom the temporal nodes.17
Calm and still, empty and tranquil,
by this they reach the end of their life spans.
Thus,
there is nothing from which they are too aloof;
nothing with which they are too intimate.
Embracing the Potency and blending with the harmonious,
they accord with Heaven.
They make
the Way their boundary
and Potency their neighbor.
They do not make [attaining] good fortune a priority;
they do not make [avoiding] misfortune an antecedent.18
Their ethereal and corporeal souls are settled in their dwelling;19
their Quintessence and spirit are preserved in their root.
Death and life do not alter them. Therefore we say they are supremely spiritlike. [7/57/5–9]
7.7
Those whom we call the Perfected are people whose inborn nature is merged with the Way.
Therefore,
they possess it but appear to have nothing.
They are full but appear to be empty.
They are settled in this unity and do not know of any duality
They cultivate what is inside and pay no attention to what is outside.
They illuminate and clarify Grand Simplicity;
taking no action, they revert to the Unhewn.20
They embody the foundation and embrace the spirit in order to roam freely within the confines of Heaven and Earth.21 Untrammeled, they ramble outside this dusty world and wander aimlessly in their taskless calling.22 Unfettered and unhindered, they harbor no clever devices or cunning knowledge in their minds.
Thus death and life are great indeed, but they do not alter them. Although Heaven and Earth support and nourish, they are not protected by them. They discern the flawless and do not get mixed up with things. While seeing the chaos of affairs, they are able to preserve their origin.23
Beings like these
negate obsession and fear
and cast aside sensory perceptions.24
Their mental activity is concentrated internally
and penetrates through to comport with the One.
At rest, they have no objectives;
in motion, they set no goals.
Artlessly they go forth;
peacefully they come back.
Their bodies are like withered wood;
their minds are like dead ashes.25
They forget the Five Orbs;
lose their physical frames;
know without studying;
see without looking;
complete without acting;
and differentiate without judging.
When stimulated, they respond;
when pressed, they move;
when it is unavoidable, they go forth,26
like the brilliant glow of a flame,
like the mimicry of a shadow.
Taking the Way as their guiding thread, they are necessarily so. Embracing the foundation of Grand Purity, they contain nothing,27 and things cannot disturb them. Vast and empty, they are tranquil and without worry.
Great marshes may catch fire, but it cannot burn them.
Great rivers may freeze over, but it cannot chill them.
Great thunder may shake the mountains, but it cannot startle them.28
Great storms may darken the sun, but it cannot harm them.
For this reason,
they view precious pearls and jade as being the same as gravel.
They view the supremely exalted and maximally favored [at court] as being the same as wandering guest [scholars].
They view [the beauties] Mao Qiang and Xi Shi29 as being the same as funerary figurines.
They take life and death to be a single transformation
and the myriad things to be a single whole.
They merge their vital essence with the Root of Great Purity
and roam freely beyond the boundless.
They have vital essence but do not [recklessly] expend it;
and have spirit but do not [thoughtlessly] use it.
They identify with the artlessness of the Great Unhewn
and take their stand amid the supremely pure.
Thus,
their sleep is dreamless;30
their wisdom is traceless.
Their corporeal soul does not sink;
their ethereal soul does not soar.31
They repeatedly cycle from end to beginning, and we cannot know their starting and stopping points.
They behold the dwelling place of Total Darkness
and contemplate the lodging place of Total Brightness.
They rest in the realms of the Unfettered
and roam in the fields of the Nebulous.
At rest, they have no appearance.
In place, they have no location.
In movement, they have no form.
In stillness, they have no body.
They are present yet seem to be absent.
They are alive yet seem to be dead.
They emerge from, and enter into, the Dimensionless32
and employ ghostly spirits as their servants.
They plunge into the Fathomless
and enter the Nonexistent.33
In order that their different forms evolve into one another,
Ending and beginning like a circle,
of which no one can trace an outline.
This is how their Quintessential Spirit is able to verge upon the Way; this is the roaming of the Perfected.34 [7/57/10–7/58/3]
7.8
If you huff and puff, exhale and inhale,
blow out the old and pull in the new,
practice the Bear Hang, the Bird Stretch,
the Duck Splash, the Ape Leap,
the Owl Gaze, and the Tiger Stare:
This is what is practiced by those who nurture the body.35 They are not the practices of those who polish the mind [e.g., the Perfected]. They make their spirit overflow, without losing its fullness. When, day and night, without injury, they bring the spring to external things,36 they unite with, and give birth to, the seasons in their own minds.
Moreover, there are those who mortify their bodies without harming their minds,
and those who cede their dwelling [i.e., the mind] without diminishing their Quintessence.
The thinking of the leper is not alt
ered;37
the body of the madman not impaired.
But when their spirits eventually make their far-off journey, who will have time to think about what they did [in their lives]? Thus even though the body disappears, the spirit is never transformed. If you use what does not transform in response to transformations, [even through] a thousand alterations and ten thousand evolutions, you will not have begun to reach a limit.
What transforms returns to the Formless;
what does not transform is born together with Heaven and Earth.
A tree dies because its greenness has departed. But can that which gives life to a tree be a tree itself? Analogously, what fills the body is not the body. Thus,
What gives birth to the living never dies,38 yet that to which it gives birth does die.
What transforms things never transforms, yet that which it transforms does transform.
If you take the world lightly, then your spirit will have no attachments.
If you minimize the myriad things, then your mind will not be led astray.
If you equalize death and life, then your mentality will not be fearful.
If you take all alterations and transformations as [being] the same, then your clarity will not be darkened.
The masses take these as empty words, but I take them as my ideal and prove them true. [7/58/3–10]
7.9
The reason people find pleasure in ruling is that they can fulfill the desires of their senses and facilitate the ease of their bodies.
Nowadays,
people find tall towers and lofty pavilions beautiful, but Yao did not trim the bark off the rough timber beams [of his house] and did not adorn the columns with capitals.
People find strange rarities and unusual tastes attractive, but Yao ate coarse millet and a simple vegetable soup.
People find elaborate embroidery and white fox fur pleasing, but Yao clothed himself in plain garments and deer pelts to ward off the cold.
His practice of nourishing his nature was to not overlay it by adding great responsibilities and burdening it with grief. Thus his transmitting the world to Shun was like the releasing of a burden from his back. This was not merely a polite offer: he really had no interest in ruling. This was the result of his taking the world lightly.
Yu traveled south to inspect the region and was crossing a river when a yellow dragon picked up his boat on its back. Five other people in the boat were so frightened that their faces kept altering color, but Yu laughed heartily and announced, “I received the Mandate from Heaven. I have exerted all my effort and toiled on behalf of the myriad people. Life is a sojourn; death is a return. How could this disturb my harmony?” He looked upon the dragon as if it were a lizard, [so he was unafraid] and his color did not change. The dragon thereupon hung his ears, picked up his tail, and fled. Yu’s way of regarding [serious] things was to take them lightly, indeed.
A spiritlike shaman from Zheng checked the physiognomy of Huzi Lin, saw the signs [of a short life span], and informed Liezi.39 Liezi ran crying to report this to his teacher. Huzi, balancing Heaven and Earth, remained indifferent to the idea and the reality of it and allowed the dynamism [of the breath] to rise up from his heels.40 From Huzi’s viewpoint, life and death were indeed equal.
Ziqiu had lived for fifty-four years when an injury made him hunchbacked.41 The arch of his spine was higher than his forehead; his chin pressed down on his chest; his two buttocks were on top; his rectum pointed to the sky. He crawled over to peer at himself in a well: “Amazing! That which fashions and transforms us! How has it turned me into this crumpled thing?” This shows that from his viewpoint, alterations and transformation are the same.
Thus,
If we examine the Way of Yao, we thereupon know how light the world is.
If we observe the mentality of Yu, we thereupon know how insubstantial the world is.
If we get to the source of Huzi’s teaching, we thereupon know how equivalent death and life are.
If we see the actions of Ziqiu, we thereupon know how identical alterations and transformations are. [7/58/12–23]
7.10
The Perfected
lean on the unbudgeable pillar,
walk on the unblocked road,
draw from the inexhaustible storehouse,
and study with the undying Teacher.
There is nowhere they go that they do not go all the way.
There is nowhere they get to that they do not push on through.
Living is not sufficient to preoccupy their thinking.
Dying is not sufficient to occlude their spirit.
Crouching and stretching, looking up and down, they embrace their life span and delight in its revolutions.
Bad and good fortune, profit and loss,
a thousand alterations and myriad turns:
Which of these is sufficient to disturb their minds?
People like them
embrace simplicity, guard Essence;
like locusts molting and snakes shedding their skin [they leave this world and],
they wander in Vast Clarity.
They lightly rise up and wander alone
and suddenly enter the Obscure.
Even the phoenix cannot be their match, how much less the barn swallow! Power and station, rank and reward, how could these be sufficient to perturb their mentality? [7/58/25–29]
7.11
When Yanzi was offered a covenant by Cui Shu, even though he was facing death, he would not change his sense of rightness.42 Zhi and Hua43 were going to fight to the death, and the lord of Ju offered them a large sum of money to stop, but they would not change their conduct. Thus,
Yanzi could be moved by Humaneness but could not be threatened by force of arms.
Zhi and Hua could be halted by Rightness but could not be bound up by profit.
The Superior Man
will die for what is right but cannot be made to pay attention to wealth and honor;
will do what is right but cannot be made to fear threats of death.
People like them act only according to what is right and are not drawn to material things. How much more is this so for those who act through non-action?
Yao did not regard possessing the world as valuable, and thus he was able to hand it down to Shun.
Gongzi Zha44 did not regard possessing a state as honorable, and thus he ceded his position.
Zihan45 did not regard jade as wealth, and thus he would not receive precious objects.
Wu Guang46 did not regard life as worth retaining through forsaking Rightness, and thus he threw himself into the deep.
From this perspective,
supreme honor does not depend on a title;
supreme wealth does not depend on goods.
The world is supremely great, yet it can be given to others.
Your self is very dear, but it can be thrown away in the deep.
Other than these things, there is nothing else worthy of considering beneficial. It is people like them whom we call “without attachments.” People without attachments do not value the world. Above, when they contemplate the discourses of the Perfected, they profoundly trace to the origin the meaning of the Way and its Potency; below, when they examine the customary practices of the age, they find them shameful. Thus if we comprehend the significance of Xu You, the “Metal-Bound Coffer” and the “Leopardskin Quiver” will be set aside.47 Jizi of Yanling would not accept [the rulership of] the state of Wu, and as a result, people who pursued land-boundary lawsuits dropped them.48 Zihan was not interested in a precious jade, and as a result, people who disputed contracts were ashamed. Wu Guang was not corrupted by the attractions of his age, and those who lusted for profit more than life itself were filled with unease.
Thus,
those who do not contemplate the Great Meaning do not understand that life is not worth coveting.
Those who have not listened to the Great Words do not understand that the empire is not worth valuing.
Honor, position, riches, and profit are what people covet. But tell someone to hold in his left hand a writ for the empire and with his right hand to cut his own throat, and not even a fool would take the latter. From this perspective, life is more valuable than empire. [7/59/1–16]
7.12
Sages
eat enough to maintain their vital energy
and wear clothes sufficient to cover their bodies.
They satisfy their genuine responses and do not look for more.
To not possess the empire does not diminish their natures;
to possess the empire does not add to their inner harmony.
Possessing and not possessing the empire are the same reality to them.
If you offer someone the entire granary on Mount Ao
or give them all the water in a river,
were they to eat enough to sate their hunger
and drink enough to quench their thirst,
what would enter their bellies would not exceed a plate of food or a ladle of drink.
So
their bodies would be satisfied, and yet the granary on Mount Ao would not be diminished;
their stomachs would be full, and yet their waters in the river would not be lessened.
To own [these great supplies] would not make their satiation any greater,
and to not own them would not make their hunger any worse.
When we compare this with someone who has his bamboo jars of grain and his own small well, it is the same reality.
When someone is extremely angry, it shatters his yin energy,
and when someone is extremely happy, it collapses his yang energy.
Great sorrow destroys his interior,
and great fear drives him mad.