by An Liu
16.9
A divine snake can be cut in two and grow back [the severed part], but it cannot prevent someone from cutting it in two.
A divine tortoise could appear in a dream to King Yuan [of Song],10 but it could not free itself from the fisherman’s trap.
16.10
The four directions are the gates and doors, windows and back gates of the Way;
which one you go through [determines] how you view things. Thus
fishing can be used to teach someone horseback riding;
horseback riding can be used to instruct a person in charioteering;
and charioteering can be used to teach someone how to pole a boat.
16.11
When the people of Yue studied the [unfamiliar] art of long-distance archery, they looked up at the sky and shot, but their arrows landed only five paces away because they did not change their aim.11 To stick to old ways of doing things after the times have altered is like the people of Yue practicing archery.
16.12
When the moon is seen [in the daytime], the sun steals the moon’s light. The yin cannot take precedence over the yang. When the sun comes out, the stars cannot be seen. The stars cannot compete in brightness with the sun. Thus
branches cannot be stronger than the roots;
fingers cannot be larger than the arms.
If
the bottom is light
and the top is heavy,
[an object] surely will be easy to overturn.
16.12a
One pool cannot [house] two sharks;
one perch cannot [house] two male birds.
If there is one, there is stability;
if there are two, there is strife.
16.12b
When water is still, it is clear and even; when it moves, it loses its evenness. Thus it is only by not moving that nothing is unmoved.
16.13
The reason why the Yangzi and the Yellow rivers can extend through a hundred valleys is because they are able to descend through them. As a general rule, only by being able to occupy a lower position will you be able to rise to the top.
16.14
In the world,
there are no two things so mutually repellent as glue and pitch,
and none more attracted to each other than ice and charcoal.
Glue and pitch detract from each another.
Charcoal and ice enhance each other.12
16.15
The crumbling of a wall is better than its building;
the melting of ice is better than its freezing
because they [thus] return to the Ancestor.
16.16
The appearance of Mount Tai is majestically high, but if you go a thousand li away from it, it looks smaller than an earthen embankment. This is because of the distance.
16.17
The tip of an autumn hair13 can get lost in the unfathomable. This means that what is so small that nothing can be placed inside it is [the same as] something so large that nothing can be placed outside it.
16.18
Orchids grow in dark valleys. They are no less fragrant just because no one [happens to] wear them.14
Boats ply rivers and oceans. They are no less buoyant just because no one [happens to] ride in them.
The Superior Man practices Rightness. He does not stop doing so just because no one [happens to] know about it.
16.19
When a piece of jade is moistened, it looks bright. [When struck], its sound is slow and harmonious. How expansive are its aspects! With no interior or exterior, it does not conceal its flaws or imperfections. Close up, it looks glossy; from a distance, it shines brightly. It reflects like a mirror revealing the pupil of your eye. Subtly it picks up the tip of an autumn hair. It brightly illuminates the dark and obscure. Thus the jade disk of Mr. He and the pearl of the marquis of Sui emerged from the essence of a mountain and a spring. When the Superior Man wears them, he complies with their purity and secures his repose. When lords and kings treasure them, they rectify the world.
16.20
Chen Chengheng’s15 threatening of Ziyuan Jie;16 Zi Han’s refusal of what he did not desire [a valuable jade] and achieving what he most desired [a reputation for covetlessness]; Confucius’s seeing a man catching cicadas;17 Duke Sheng of Bo holding his lance and whip upside down;18 the daughter of the king of Wey asking Duke Huan of Qi to punish her [instead of invading her state]; Zengzi looking at Zi Xia and asking, “Why are you so fat?”;19 Duke Wen of Wei seeing a man with the leather side and the fur side of his garment reversed and carrying straw [and making fun of him]; Ni Yue20 untying the closed knot for the king of Song:
These are all cases in which from a tiny instance one can see the whole situation.
16.21
A man was marrying off his daughter. He counseled her, “Go, but be careful not to do anything good.” She replied, “If I don’t do anything good, should I do something bad?” [Her father] responded, “If you shouldn’t even do anything good, how much less should you do anything bad!” This was [how she could] keep her natural qualities intact.21
16.22
Those who are in prison consider a day a long time.
Those who are about to be executed in the marketplace consider a day to be very short.
The length of a day has a set standard, but
from where one person stands it is short
and from where another stands it is long.
This is because their center is not balanced. Thus when one uses what is not balanced to consider what is balanced, then what one takes to be balanced will not be balanced.
16.23
If you marry off a daughter to a man with a disease that makes him impotent, then when the husband dies, [people will] say, “The woman put him off.” Later she will find it difficult to remarry.
Thus,
you cannot sit near a house that is ready to collapse;
you cannot stand next to a wall that is about to fall over.
16.24
A man who is held in jail has no illnesses.
A man who faces execution is fat and healthy.
A man who has been castrated lives a long time.
Their minds are free of entanglements.
16.24a
A doctor constantly treats illnesses that are not [yet] illnesses; thus he prevents illnesses.
A sage constantly deals with calamities that are not [yet] calamities; thus he prevents calamities.
16.25
One who has mastered carpentry does not use an angle rule or marking cord;
one who excels at shutting himself away does not use a door and latch.
Chunyu Kun’s warning of a fire hazard is [an example of] the same kind of thing.22
16.26
When what is clear mixes with what is muddy, [muddiness] is diminished and diluted.
When what is muddy mixes with what is clear, [clarity] is overturned and subverted.
16.26a
When the Superior Man resides in the Good, he resembles the wood gatherer
who,
upon seeing a twig, picks it up
and, upon seeing a green onion, plucks it too.
16.27
When the two qi [contend] in Heaven, they cause rainbows;
when the two qi [contend] on Earth, they cause emissions;
when the two qi [contend] in a human body, they cause disease.23
Yin and yang cannot make it be both winter and summer [simultaneously].
The moon does not know daylight;
the sun does not know night.
16.28
A good archer shoots and does not miss the target. That is good for the archer, but not good for the target.
A good fisherman never loses a fish. That is good for the fisherman, but not good for the fish.
Thus where there is that which is good, there also is that which is not good.
16.29
If you compare [the sounds of] bells and chimestones,
close by the sound of bells is richer,
but far away the sound of the chimestones is clearer.
There are certainly things that
are better near than far away,
[and others that are] better far away than near.
16.30
Now it is said that
rice grows in water, but it cannot grow in a turbulent flow [of water].
The zhi fungus grows on mountains, but it cannot grow on barren boulders.
A lodestone can attract iron, but if you put it near bronze it will not move.
16.31
When the waters are vast, the fish are huge;
when the mountains are high, the trees are tall.
But if you extend its area too much, its Potency will be diminished. It is like a potter making a vessel. If he makes it large but not thick enough, it will be all the more likely to break.
16.32
A sage does not blow before the wind [does it for him];
he does not destroy in advance of the thunder.
He acts only when he cannot avoid it, and so he has no entanglements.
16.33
As the moon waxes and wanes above,
snails and clams respond below.24
Those of the same qi25 bestir each other;
they cannot get very far apart.
16.34
If you
grasp a crossbow and call a bird
or brandish a club and beckon a dog,
then what you want to come will surely go away instead.26 Thus,
a fish cannot be hooked without bait;
an animal cannot be lured with an empty trap.
16.35
If you tear off an ox’s hide and stretch it to make a drum, you can use it to direct the multitudes of the Three Armies.27 But from the ox’s point of view, it would be better to wear a yoke and continue working.
A robe of white fox fur is worn by the Son of Heaven as he sits at court. But from the fox’s point of view, it would be better to be running around in the meadow.
16.36
If you lose a sheep but gain an ox, no one would fail to [consider it] a beneficial loss.
If you cut off a finger to avoid being beheaded, no one would fail to [consider it] a beneficial act.
Thus human emotion,
when surrounded by benefits, struggles to gain as much as possible
and, when surrounded by harm, struggles to get as little as possible.
16.37
A general dares not ride a [conspicuous] white horse.
An escaped prisoner dares not carry a torch at night.
A wine shop proprietor28 dares not keep a dog that bites people.
16.38
The rooster knows the approaching dawn;
the crane knows the middle of night;
but neither can avoid the pot and the platter.
16.39
If there is a fierce beast in the mountains, because of that the forest’s trees are not cut down.
If there are poisonous insects in the garden, because of that the greens are not picked.
Thus if a state has worthy ministers, it can defend itself [against attacks at a distance of] a thousand li.29
16.40
To be a Confucian and yet squat in the village lanes,30
or to be a Mohist and yet play the pitch pipes at court,31
is like someone who wants to conceal his tracks but walks in the snow
or who tries to rescue a drowning man without getting his clothes wet.
He repudiates what he practices and practices what he repudiates.
16.41
If someone drinks in the dark, he invariably will spill his drink.
If you enable him to hold the cup level, he will not spill any, even if he is a fool.
For this reason, he who does not identify with harmony and yet is able to succeed in his affairs—in the world there has never been such a thing.
16.42
If you look for beauty, you will not get it.
If you do not look for beauty, you will acquire beauty.
If you look for ugliness, you will not get it.
If you do not look for ugliness, you will acquire ugliness.
If you do not look for beauty and [also] do not look for ugliness, then you will be without beauty or ugliness. This is called “Mysteriously the Same.”32
16.43
Shen Tudi33 [tied] a stone on his back and jumped into deep water. But drowning yourself cannot be considered a protest.
Xian Gao used deception to preserve Cheng34 But deception should not be taken as a standard.
Some actions [are effective as] a single response but may not be repeatedly practiced.
16.44
An effusive person is like the sound of the hundred-tongue [bird].35
A reticent person is like a door whose hinges have not been greased.36
16.45
If one of the six domestic animals is born with an additional ear or eye, it is unlucky, [but] it is recorded in the books of omens.37
16.46
A hundred men trying to lift a gourd is not as good as one person grabbing it and running off. Thus there certainly are situations in which a crowd is not as good as a few people.
Two people pull a cart, and six more push behind. Thus there certainly are affairs in which mutual cooperation is necessary for success.
If two people are drowning, they cannot rescue each other, but if one is on shore, he can [save the other]. Thus identical things cannot set each other in order. It is necessary to depend on difference; only then there will be a good outcome.
16.47
Where below [ground] there is “hidden moss,”38 above it there will be rabbit floss.39
Where above [ground] there is a patch of milfoil, beneath it there will be hidden a turtle.
A sage knows from external appearances what lies within. He uses the visible to know the hidden.
16.48
Taking pleasure in military matters does not make one a soldier;
taking pleasure in literature does not make one a Confucian.
Liking formulas does not make one a doctor;
liking horses does not make one a charioteer.
Knowing music does not make one a court drummer;
knowing flavors does not make one a chef.
This is to have an approximation [of the skill] but not yet to have earned a reputation as a master [of that skill].
16.49
Armor does not [protect against arrows] at a distance of less than ten paces. Beyond a hundred paces, [arrows] contend [with the armor so as to pierce] deeply or shallowly. If deep, they will penetrate the five vital organs; if shallow, they will graze the flesh and stop. The distance between life and death cannot be attributed to the principles of the Way.
16.50
The king of Chu lost his [pet] ape,40 and [to recapture it] he destroyed every tree in the forest.
The prince of Song lost his pearl, and [to recover it] he wiped out all the fish [in the lake he drained].
Thus when a meadow blazes with fire, the forest worries.
16.51
When the ruler wants a plank, his officials cut down a tree.
When the ruler wants a fish, his officials dry up a valley.
When the ruler wants an oar, his underlings give him a whole boat.
When the ruler’s words are like threads, his underlings’ words are like rope.
When the ruler likes one thing, his underlings praise it twice.
When the ruler faults three [people], his underlings kill nine.
16.52
Great Officer Zhong knew how to strengthen Yue, but he did not know how to preserve his own life.41
Chang Hong knew the reason why Zhou would endure, but he could not discern why he would perish.
[They] knew what was distant but did not perceive what was close at hand.
16.53
To fear a horse will throw you and thus
not daring to mount one;
to be anxious that a cart might overturn and thus not daring to ride in one:
these are cases of an “empty calamity” causing you to avoid real benefits.
16.54
Those who are unfilial or unbrotherly might sometimes scold their fathers and mothers. When you have children, you cannot rely on their necessarily being filial, but even so you nourish and raise them.
16.55
When the Fan clan42 was defeated, someone stole their bell, slung it on his back, and ran away. It made a clanging noise. Fearing that someone might hear it, the thief covered his ears. That he would fear others might hear it was reasonable, but for him to cover his own ears was perverse.
16.56
A sheng cannot be bigger than a dan because a sheng is contained within a dan.43
A night cannot be longer than a year, because a night is contained within a year.
Humaneness and Rightness cannot be greater than the Way and its Potency because Humaneness and Rightness are contained within the Way and its Potency.
16.57
If the needle goes first and the thread follows, you can make a tent.
If the thread [were to] go first and the needle to follow, you could not make [even] a garment.
The needle makes [possible] the curtain;
the basket makes [possible] the wall.
Whether an enterprise succeeds or fails necessarily starts from what is small. This is to say that it is a gradual process.
16.58
In dyeing things,
if something is at first blue and you dye it black, that is possible;
if something is first black and you [wish to] dye it blue, that is not possible.44
If an artisan
applies the lacquer first and then applies the cinnabar over it, that is possible;
if he applies the cinnabar first and then the lacquer over it, that is not possible.
Everything is like this: you cannot fail to attend to what is first and what is last, what is on top and what is underneath.
16.59
When the water is muddy, fish gasp for air [near the surface].
When your body is overworked, your spirit is disordered.