by Chuang Tzu
Water, if not mixed with other things, is by nature clear, and if it is not stirred up, it is level. However, if it is blocked and cannot flow, it cannot remain clear. This is like the Virtue of Heaven. It is said that to be innocent and pure, free from contamination, still and level, never changing, detached and acting without action, is to move with Heaven and to follow the Tao of sustaining the spirit. To have a sword like Kan Yueh, you must look after it in a special box and hardly dare use it, for this is the greatest of treasures. The spirit emanates in all four directions, without restriction, rising to Heaven and sinking down to enfold the Earth. It changes and nourishes all forms of life yet no one can find its shape. Its title is Harmony in the Supreme.
It is only the Tao of true simplicity which guards the spirit; if you are guarded and never lost, you become one with the spirit. In being one you are in communion with the Order of Heaven. Peasant wisdom says, ‘The common people prize profit above all else; the worthy scholar, fame; the wise man, ambition and the sage his essential purity.’ Simplicity means no mixing; purity means an unimpaired spirit. The one who manifests simplicity and purity can truly be called the true man.
CHAPTER 16
The Deceived and Ignorant Ones
These are the people who are called the deceived and ignorant ones: those who seek to improve their innate nature by means of vulgar learning in order to return to their origin, and those who wish to control their desires by following vulgar ways of thinking in the hope of achieving illumination.
The ancient ones ruled by the Tao:
they developed their understanding in calm;
knowledge was their life, yet they did nothing with knowledge.
When knowledge and calm nourish each other,
then harmony and order emerge as from innate nature.
Virtue is harmony; the Tao is order.
When Virtue enfolds everything, there is benevolence.
When the Tao is set out in order, there is righteousness.
When righteousness is clearly understood and all adhere to it, there is loyalty.
When the centre is pure and true and returns to its proper form, there is music.
When sincerity is articulated through the body and is expressed in style, there is ritual.
However, following ritual and music in an inappropriate way will lead the whole world into confusion. When someone tries to correct others, his own Virtue is clouded over, and his Virtue will no longer reach all others. Trying to do so will destroy everyone’s innate nature.
Even in chaos, the ancient ones were centred, for they were one with their generation and followed the paths of simplicity and silence. In those times, yin and yang were in harmony, ghosts and spirits did nothing wicked, the four seasons followed each other, all forms of life were without injury and no living thing suffered early death. The people had knowledge but they did not use it; all this was perfect Oneness. In those times no one planned anything, for everyone maintained constant spontaneity.
This was the case until the time when Virtue deteriorated and then Sui Jen and Fu Hsi came to govern everything below Heaven, with the result that there was compliance but no unity. Virtue continued to deteriorate and then Shen Nung and the Yellow Emperor came to govern everything below Heaven, with the result that there was satisfaction but no compliance. Virtue continued to deteriorate and then Yao and Shun came to govern all below Heaven, with the result that, ruling by decrees and grand plans, they polluted the purity of nature and destroyed simplicity. The Tao was abandoned and Good substituted. Virtue was put at risk for the sake of opportunity. Then innate nature was abandoned and hearts allowed to determine their own way. Heart linked with heart through knowledge, but were unable to give the world peace. Pomp and ceremony were added to this knowledge. This displaced simplicity and the heart was swamped, resulting in the people being confused and disobedient, with no way back to true innate nature nor to their origin.
Perceiving this, we can see how the world has lost the Tao, and the Tao has lost this world. In this sort of world, how can the Tao lead the world, or a person of the Tao be seen by this world, or the world come to appreciate the Tao? The Tao cannot direct the world, nor the world direct the Tao. Even if the sage does not retreat to the centre of the forest and mountains, nevertheless his Virtue is still hidden, whether he likes it or not.
These hidden so-called scholars of old did not hide themselves and refuse to be seen. They did not close the doors on their words and refuse to let them out. They did not shut away their wisdom and refuse to share it. But those times were all haywire. If it had been possible for them to act, they could have done great things, bringing all to Oneness without any sign of doing so. However, the times were not favourable and it was not possible, so they put down deep roots, remained still and waited. This was the Tao by which they survived.
The ancient ones, wishing to keep themselves alive, did not use elaborate style to express their knowledge. They did not disturb everything in the whole world through their knowledge, nor use knowledge to try and disrupt Virtue. Alone and hermit-like they stayed where they were and looked to restore their innate nature. What more could they do than this? The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; petty actions are dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done. Happiness which is complete is called the Timeliness of Purpose.
The ancient ones talked of the Timeliness of Purpose, but they did not mean having official carriages and badges of office. They simply meant that it was happiness so complete as to need nothing more. Today what is called Timeliness of Purpose means having official carriages and badges of office. Carriages and badges are of the body, they do not touch the innate nature. From time to time such benefits may come. When this happens, you cannot help it, no more than you can stop them going again. So having carriages and badges of office is no reason for becoming proud and arrogant in our purposes, nor are distress and poverty any reason for becoming vulgar. View both conditions as one and the same, so be free from anxiety and leave it at that. So if loss of what gives happiness causes you distress when it fades, you can now understand that such happiness is worthless. It is said, those who lose themselves in their desire for things also lose their innate nature by being vulgar. They are known as people who turn things upside down.
CHAPTER 17
Season of Autumn Floods
The season of the autumn floods had come and the hundred rivers were pouring into the Yellow River. The waters were churning and so wide that, looking across from one bank to the other, it was impossible to distinguish an ox from a horse. At this the Lord of the Yellow River was decidedly pleased, thinking that the most beautiful thing in the whole world belonged to him. Flowing with the river, he travelled east until he came at last to the North Ocean, where he looked east and could see no end to the waters. He shook his head, the Lord of the Yellow River, and looked out to confront Jo, god of the Ocean, sighing and saying,
‘The folk proverb says, “The person who has heard of the Tao a hundred times thinks he is better than anyone else.” This refers to me. I have heard people mock the scholarship of the Confucians and give scant regard to the righteousness of Po Yi, but I didn’t believe them. Now I have seen your endless vastness. If I had not come to your gate, I would have been in danger, and been mocked by those of the Great Method.’
Jo of the North Ocean replied, ‘A frog in a well cannot discuss the ocean, because he is limited by the size of his well. A summer insect cannot discuss ice, because it knows only its own season. A narrow-minded scholar cannot discuss the Tao, because he is constrained by his teachings. Now you have come out of your banks and seen the Great Ocean. You now know your own inferiority, so it is now possible to discuss great principles with you. Under Heaven there are no greater waters than the ocean. Ten thousand rivers flow into it, and it has never been known to stop, but it never fills. At Wei Lu the water disappears but the ocean never empties. Spring and autumn brin
g no changes. It pays no attention to floods or droughts. It is so much more than the waters of the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers, it is impossible to estimate. However, I have never made much of this. I just compare myself with Heaven and Earth and my life-breath I receive from yin and yang. I am just a little stone or a little tree set on a great hill, in comparison to Heaven and Earth. As I perceive my own inferiority, how could I ever be proud?
‘To compare all the space filled by the four oceans, is it not like a pile of stones beside a marsh in comparison with the vastness between Heaven and Earth? To compare China with all the space between the oceans, is it not like one single piece of grain in a granary? When talking of all life, we count them in tens of thousands, and humanity is just one of them. People inhabit the Nine Provinces, but humanity is just one portion of all the life that is sustained by grain, wherever carriages or boats can go. In comparison to all the multitudinous forms of life, isn’t humanity like just a single hair on a horse?
‘What the Five Emperors handed on, the Three Kings60 argued over, the officials have struggled for, and benevolent people worry about, is nothing more than this. Po Yi was considered famous, because he gave up things, Confucius was known as scholarly, because he taught about it. Yet, in acting in such a way, making much of themselves, were they not like you who just now were so proud of yourself because of your flood?’
The Lord of the Yellow River said, ‘Very well, so if I recognize Heaven and Earth as big and a tip of a hair as small, will that do?’
‘No,’ replied Jo of the North Ocean. ‘You cannot define the capacity of things; time never stops; there is nothing constant in fate; beginning and end have no regulation.
‘Great knowledge considers both that which is near and that which is far off, sees that which is small as not insignificant, sees that which is large as not necessarily significant, knowing that you cannot define the capacity of things.
‘Great knowledge has a clear understanding of the past and present, which is why it can be unconcerned by the remoteness of the past and not worry about striving to grasp the present, for it knows that time never stops.
‘Great knowledge understands the differences between fullness and emptiness, and is neither exalted by success nor disheartened by failure, for it knows of the inconsistency of fate.
‘Great knowledge knows the straight and quiet road, so it does not get excited about life nor dejected by death, for it knows that neither beginning nor end is regulated.
‘What people know is as nothing to what they don’t know. The time since they were born is nothing in comparison to the time before they were born. When people take something minor and try to make it major, this is the path to mistake and confusion and they cannot achieve what they set out to do. Consider it thus: how can you know the tip of a hair can be used as a measure of smallness? How can we know that Heaven and Earth are equal to being the measure of the truly great?’
The Lord of the Yellow River said, ‘The debaters of this generation say, “The tiniest thing has no body, the most enormous thing cannot be contained.” Are these words true?’
Jo of the North Ocean replied, ‘From the viewpoint of the tiniest, we look at what is so enormous and we cannot comprehend it. From the viewpoint of the most enormous, we look at what is tiniest and we cannot see it clearly. The tiniest is the smallest of the small, the biggest is the largest of the large; so we must distinguish between them, even though this is just a matter of circumstance. However, both the coarse and the refined have form. Without any form, there is no way to enumerate them. What can be said in words is the coarseness of things; what can be grasped through ideas is the subtlety of things. But words cannot describe nor ideas grasp, and this has nothing to do with coarseness or refinement.
‘So it is that the great man through his actions will not set out to harm others, nor make much of benevolence and charity; he does not make any move for gain, nor consider the servant at the gate as lowly; he will not barter for property and riches, nor does he make much of his having turned them down; he asks for no one’s help, nor does he make much of his own self-reliance, nor despise the greedy and mean; he does not follow the crowd, nor does he make much of being so different; he comes behind the crowd, but does not make much of those who get ahead through flattery. The titles and honours of this world are of no interest to him, nor is he concerned at the disgrace of punishments. He knows there is no distinction between right and wrong, nor between great and little. I have heard it said, “The Tao man earns no reputation, perfect Virtue is not followed, the great man is self-less.” In perfection, this is the path he follows.’
The Lord of the Yellow River asked, ‘Whether they are external or internal, how come we have these distinctions between noble and mean? Why do we distinguish between small and great?’
‘Viewed from the perspective of the Tao,’ said Jo of the North Ocean, ‘things are neither elevated nor lowly. Viewed from the perspective of things, each one considers itself as elevated and the rest as lowly. Viewed from the perspective of the everyday opinion, neither elevation nor lowliness is to be understood from the perspective of individual things. Taking into account differing views, something which is seen as big because it is big means that, in all the multitudes of life, everything can be viewed as big. Likewise, if something is seen as small because it is small, then all forms of life can be viewed as small. If we know that Heaven and Earth are as tiny as a grain or the tip of a hair is as vast as a mountain range, then we will have grasped that our understanding of size is relative. In terms of what each does, we view something as useful because it is useful, which means that, in all the multitudes of life, everything can be viewed as useful. In the same way, if something is viewed as useless because it appears useless, then all forms of life can be viewed as useless. If we know that east and west are opposite each other, but also need each other, then we can understand how mutual exchange and interaction work. Viewed from the perspective of choice, if something is seen as good because it undoubtedly is good, then in all the multitudes of life there is nothing which is not good. Likewise, if something is viewed as wrong because it undoubtedly is wrong, then there is no form of life which cannot be viewed as wrong. If we understand that Yao and Chieh both considered themselves good, but saw the other as wrong, then we can understand how we perceive things differently.
‘In the past Yao gave way to Shun and Shun ruled as Emperor. Ki Kuai61 resigned and was disgraced. Chih ruled then and was finished off. Tang and Wu struggled and became kings. Duke Po62 struggled and was executed. Looking at these models of struggle and defeat, acting like Yao or like Chieh, we can see that there is a time for noble behaviour and a time to be mean. There is nothing fixed about either. A battering ram can be used to storm a city wall but it is useless for filling a little hole: there is a difference here of function. The horses Chih Chi and Hua Liu could cover a thousand miles in a day, but were useless for catching rats, unlike a wild dog or weasel: there is a difference in skills. At night the horned owl can catch even a flea or spot the tip of a hair; in daylight, no matter how hard it tries, its eyes cannot see even a hill or mountain: there is a difference of nature. There is a saying, “Shouldn’t we follow the right but not make wrong our ruler?” To do so shows that you have not been illuminated by Heaven and Earth and by the multitudinous differences of all life. This is like being a devout follower of Heaven and ignoring Earth, or like being a devout follower of yin and ignoring yang. It is quite clear this is not possible.
‘Now, it is certainly the case that people talk like this endlessly, like fools or con-men. Emperors and kings have different ways of abdicating, and the Three Dynasties have different hereditary succession. Anyone who behaves differently from the customs of his time and contrary to its ways is called a rebel. Whoever complies and goes with the prevailing customs is called a friend of righteousness.
‘Be quiet, be quiet, Lord of the Yellow River! How could you know anything about the gateway to nobility or meann
ess or the dwelling place of greatness or pettiness?’
‘All right then,’ said the Lord of the Yellow River. ‘What am I to do and what may I not do? How can I decide what is worth keeping or rejecting and what is worth going for or leaving?’
Jo of the North Ocean said, ‘Viewed from the perspective of the Tao, what is noble and what is mean are both just ceaseless changes. Don’t cling to your own ideas, for this is contrary to the greatness of the Tao. What is little and what is much, these are terms of very limited use. Do not try to be just One, this just highlights how far away you are from the Tao. Be stern and strict like a ruler of a country who favours no one. Be gentle, be gentle like the local earth god to whom offerings are made and who does not grant fortune selfishly. Be open like air, like the four compass points shed light but do not permit boundaries. If you lovingly tend all forms of life, how could you favour one? This is known as being impartial. Consider all life as unified and then how could you talk in terms of long or short? The Tao has neither beginning nor end, but all living things have both death and birth, so you cannot be sure of them. One moment they are empty, the next moment full. They are unreliable. The years cannot be reversed nor time halted. Decay, maturity, fullness and emptiness, when they end, begin over again. So we can talk of great righteousness, and discuss the fundamental principle within all forms of life. The life force is a headlong gallop, speeding along, changing with every movement and altering every minute. As to what you should and should not do? Just go with this process of change.’
‘If this is the case,’ said the Lord of the Yellow River, ‘then what is so important about the Tao?’
Jo of the North Ocean replied, ‘To understand the Tao is to understand the principle. If you understand the principle, you know how to deal with things as they arise. Knowing this, you can ensure that nothing detrimental to yourself occurs. If someone has perfect Virtue, it is not possible for fire to harm, nor for water to drown, nor for either cold or heat to affect, nor birds and beasts to injure him. Not that I say that he dismisses all these things, but that he is able to discriminate between where he is safe and where he is in danger. He is at ease with both calamity and fortune, takes care as to what he approaches or avoids, and therefore nothing harms him. There is a saying that Heaven is internal, humanity external and Virtue comes from the Heavenly. Know Heaven and humanity’s actions, root yourself in Heaven and follow Virtue. Then you can bend, stretch, rush forward or hold back, because you will always return to the core and it will be said you have achieved the supreme.’