The Book of Chuang Tzu (Penguin)
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‘But what do you call the Heavenly? What do you call the human?’
Jo of the North Ocean said, ‘Oxen have four feet: this is what I call the Heavenly. When horses are harnessed and oxen have pierced noses, this I call the human way. There is the saying. “Don’t allow the human to displace the Heavenly,” don’t allow your intentions to nullify what is ordained. Be careful, guard it and don’t lose it, for this is what I call coming back to the True.’
The one-legged creature is envious of the millipede; the millipede is envious of the snake; the snake is envious of the wind; the wind is envious of the eye; the eye is envious of the heart.
The one-legged creature said to the millipede, ‘I have one foot that I hop on and I can hardly go anywhere. But you, Sir, have a multitude of feet. How do you manage?’
The millipede said, ‘Don’t be so certain. Have you never seen someone spit? Out comes a big blob followed by a spray, which falls down like a shower of uncountable drops. Now I just set the Heavenly machinery in motion and as for the rest – I haven’t a clue!’
The millipede said to the snake, ‘I get about with all these feet, but I can’t keep up with you, Sir, who have no feet. Why is this?’
The snake said, ‘I am moved by the designs of Heaven, how can I control that? What could I use feet for!’
The snake said to the wind, ‘By moving my backbone and ribs, I get along and at least I have some visible form. Now you, Sir, come hurtling along from the North Ocean and disappear off to the South Ocean but without any visible form. How is that?’
The wind said, ‘True, I come hurtling along from the North Ocean and disappear off to the South Ocean. However, it is true that, if you point your finger at me, you are greater than me, or if you stamp on me, you also win. But it is also true that I can bring down great trees and bowl over great houses; only I can do this. Therefore, the one who can overcome all the small problems is in truth the great victor. To have a great victory, why, this is what a sage does.’
Confucius was travelling in Kuang and the men of Sung encompassed him with a number of rings of soldiers,63 but he went on singing to his lute with no hesitation. Tzu Lu went in to see him and said, ‘How is it, Master, that you are so contented?’
‘Come!’ said Confucius, ‘I shall explain to you. For ages I’ve done my best to avoid difficulties. I have failed, but that’s fate. For a long time I have tried to be given an appointment. I have not been given one, such are the times. In Yao and Shun’s time, there was no one in the whole wide world who had difficulties, but it was not because of knowledge that this happened. In Chieh and Chou’s time, no one in the whole wide world succeeded, but this was not as a result of lack of understanding. This was certainly a sign of the times. Those who travel the waters are not afraid of snakes or dragons: this is the courage of fishermen. To travel overland and not to tremble upon meeting rhinoceroses or tigers, this is the courage of hunters. To see swords clash and to regard death as a return, this is the courage of the bold soldier. To know that hardship is part of life, to know that success depends upon the times and to confront great disasters with fortitude, this is the courage of the sage. Be patient, and my fate will then become clear to you.’
Not long after, the leader of the troops came and humbly said, ‘We thought you were Yang Huo and so we surrounded you. Now we know you are not, so we wish to apologize and retreat.’
Kung Sun Lung64 asked Mou of Wei,65 ‘When I was younger, I learned the Tao of the earlier kings, and as I grew up, I saw clearly the significance of benevolence and righteousness. I brought together difference and similarity, discerned hardness and whiteness, what was certain and what was not, what was possible and what was not. I laboured at understanding the Hundred Schools of Philosophy66 and spoke out against their teachings. I thought I had understanding of all things. Now, however, I have heard the words of Chuang Tzu, and to my surprise I am disturbed by them. Is it that my knowledge is not as good as his, or is it that his understanding is greater? I find I can’t even open my mouth, so I ask you what I can do.’
Duke Tzu Mou leaned forward, sighed heavily, looked to Heaven, smiled and said, ‘Dear Sir, have you not heard of the frog in the broken-down old well? He said to the turtle of the Eastern Ocean, “I have a great time! I leap on to the well wall, or I go down in the well, stepping along the broken bricks. When I enter the water, I float with it supporting my chin, feet up; on the mud, I dig my feet deep in. I look about me at the larvae, crabs and tadpoles and there is none that is as good as I. To have complete control of the waters of the gorge and not to wish to move but to enjoy the old well, this is great! Dear Sir, why don’t you come down and see me sometime?”
‘The turtle of the Eastern Ocean tried, but before he had put his left foot into the well, his right knee was stuck. At this he paused, shuffled out backwards and then began to speak about the ocean. “A distance such as a thousand miles doesn’t come close to describing its length, nor a depth of a thousand leagues describe its deepness. In the time of Yu, nine years in every ten there were floods, but this did not raise the ocean an inch. In the time of Tang, seven years in every eight there were droughts, but this did not lower the ocean shore an inch. Nothing changes these waters, neither in the short term nor in the long term; they neither recede nor advance, grow larger nor smaller. This is the great happiness of the Eastern Ocean.” When the frog in the broken-down old well heard this, he was utterly amazed and astonished; he was utterly astonished, dumbfounded and at a loss.
‘For someone whose understanding can’t handle such knowledge, such debates about right and wrong, if they persist in trying to see through the words of Chuang Tzu, it is like a mosquito trying to carry a mountain on its back, or a scuttle bug rushing as fast as the Yellow River. This is plainly impossible. For someone whose understanding cannot handle such knowledge, such words of subtlety, all they are capable of is gaining some short-term reward. They are like the frog in the broken-down well, are they not? But Chuang Tzu is not planted firmly in the Yellow Springs of the Underworld, nor leaping, jumping into the stratosphere. There is neither south nor north: he scatters freely to the four points of the compass, and disappears into the depth. There is neither east nor west: starting in the darkest depth, he comes back to the great path. Then you, Sir, you in your astonishment try to sift his views to criticize them, or trawl through them in order to debate. Why, this is like trying to examine Heaven through a narrow tube or using an awl to explore the whole earth. Such tools are too small, aren’t they? You, Sir, be on your way! Or possibly, Sir, you have not heard of the young students of Shou Ling and how things went for them in Han Tan? Having not yet learnt the lessons that the people of that country were trying to teach them, they forgot what they had learnt at home, so were reduced to crawling back home. So, Sir, if you don’t get out now, you will forget, Sir, what you already knew and fail, Sir, in your career!’
Kung Sun Lung’s mouth fell open and would not shut, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and wouldn’t drop down, and he shuffled off and ran away.
Chuang Tzu was one day fishing in the Pu river when the King of Chu despatched two senior officials to visit him with a message. The message said, ‘I would like to trouble you to administer my lands.’
Chuang Tzu kept a firm grip on his fishing rod and said, ‘I hear that in Chu there is a sacred tortoise67 which died three thousand years ago. The King keeps this in his ancestral temple, wrapped and enclosed. Tell me, would this tortoise have wanted to die and leave his shell to be venerated? Or would he rather have lived and continued to crawl about in the mud?’
The two senior officials said, ‘It would rather have lived and continued to crawl about in the mud.’
Chuang Tzu said, ‘Shove off, then! I will continue to crawl about in the mud!’
Hui Tzu was made Minister of State in Liang and Chuang Tzu went to see him. Someone told Hui Tzu, ‘Chuang Tzu is coming, because he wants to oust you from your office.’ This alarmed Hui Tzu an
d he scoured the kingdom for three days and nights trying to find this stranger.
Chuang Tzu went to see him and said, ‘In the south there is a bird known as the Young Phoenix, do you know about this, Sir? This bird, it arises in the Southern Ocean and flies to the Northern Ocean and it never rests on anything except the begonia tree, never eats except the fruit of the melia azederach and never drinks except from springs of sweet water. There was once an owl who had clutched in his talons a rotting rat corpse. As the Young Phoenix flew overhead the owl looked up and said, “Shoo!” Now you, Sir, you have the state of Liang and you feel you have to shoo me away?’
Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu were walking beside the weir on the River Hao, when Chuang Tzu said, ‘Do you see how the fish are coming to the surface and swimming around as they please? That’s what fish really enjoy.’
‘You’re not a fish,’ replied Hui Tzu, ‘so how can you say you know what fish enjoy?’
Chuang Tzu said: ‘You are not me, so how can you know I don’t know what fish enjoy?’
Hui Tzu said: ‘I am not you, so I definitely don’t know what it is you know. However, you are most definitely not a fish and that proves that you don’t know what fish really enjoy.’
Chuang Tzu said: ‘Ah, but let’s return to the original question you raised, if you don’t mind. You asked me how I could know what it is that fish really enjoy. Therefore, you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. And I know it by being here on the edge of the River Hao.’
CHAPTER 18
Perfect Happiness
Is it possible anywhere in this whole wide world to have perfect happiness or not? Is there a way to keep yourself alive or not? Now, what can be done and what is to be trusted? What should be avoided and what adhered to? What should be pursued and what abandoned? Where is happiness and where is evil?
What the whole wide world values is riches, position, long life and fame.
What brings happiness is good times for oneself, fine foods, beautiful clothes, lovely sights and sweet music.
What is despised is poverty, meanness, untimely death and a bad reputation.
What is considered sour is a lifestyle which gives the self no rest, a mouth which never has fine foods, a body without good clothes, eyes that never rest upon lovely views, an ear that never hears sweet music.
Those who cannot get these things become greatly agitated and fearful. This is a foolish way to treat the body!
Those who are wealthy weary themselves dashing around working, getting more and more riches, beyond what they need. The body is treated therefore as just an external thing.
Those in positions of power spend day and night plotting and pondering about what to do. The body is treated in a very careless way. People live their lives, constantly surrounded by anxiety. If they live long before dying, they end up in senility, worn out by concerns: a terrible fate! The body is treated in a very harsh fashion. Courageous men are seen by everyone under Heaven as worthy, but this doesn’t preserve them from death. I am not sure I know whether this is sensible or not. Possibly it is, but it does nothing towards saving them. Possibly it is not, but it does save other people. It is said, ‘If a friend doesn’t listen to the advice you offer him, then bow out and don’t argue.’ After all, Tzu Hsu argued and lost his life.68 If he had not argued, he would not be famous. Is it possible that there really is goodness, or not?
Now, when ordinary people attempt to find happiness, I’m not sure whether the happiness found is really happiness or not. I study what ordinary people do to find happiness, what they struggle for, rushing about apparently unable to stop. They say they are happy, but I am not happy and I am not unhappy either. Ultimately, do they have happiness or not? I regard actionless action as worthy of being called happiness, though the ordinary people regard it as a great burden. It is said: ‘Perfect happiness is not happiness, perfect glory is not glory.’
The whole world is incapable of judging either right or wrong. But it is certain that actionless action can judge both right and wrong. Perfect happiness is keeping yourself alive, and only actionless action can have this effect. This is why I want to say:
Heaven does without doing through its purity,
Earth does without doing through its calmness.
Thus the two combine their actionless action and all forms of life are changed and thus come out again to live! Wonder of wonders, they have not come from anywhere! All life is mysterious and emerges from actionless action. There is a saying that Heaven and Earth take actionless action, but yet nothing remains undone. Amongst the people, who can follow such actionless action?
Chuang Tzu’s wife died and Hui Tzu came to console him, but Chuang Tzu was sitting, legs akimbo, bashing a battered tub and singing.
Hui Tzu said, ‘You lived as man and wife, she reared your children. At her death surely the least you should be doing is to be on the verge of weeping, rather than banging the tub and singing: this is not right!’
Chuang Tzu said, ‘Certainly not. When she first died, I certainly mourned just like everyone else! However, I then thought back to her birth and to the very roots of her being, before she was born. Indeed, not just before she was born but before the time when her body was created. Not just before her body was created but before the very origin of her life’s breath. Out of all this, through the wonderful mystery of change she was given her life’s breath. Her life’s breath wrought a transformation and she had a body. Her body wrought a transformation and she was born. Now there is yet another transformation and she is dead. She is like the four seasons in the way that spring, summer, autumn and winter follow each other. She is now at peace, lying in her chamber, but if I were to sob and cry it would certainly appear that I could not comprehend the ways of destiny. This is why I stopped.’
Uncle Legless and Uncle Cripple were touring the area of the Hill of the Dark Prince and the zone of Kun Lun where the Yellow Emperor stayed.69 Without warning a willow tree suddenly shot up out of Uncle Cripple’s left elbow. He was certainly most surprised and somewhat put out.
‘Sir, do you dislike this?’ said Uncle Legless.
‘No,’ said Uncle Cripple. ‘What should I dislike? Life exists through scrounging; if life comes through scrounging, then life is like a dump. Death and birth are like the morning and the night. You and I, Sir, observe the ways of transformation and now I am being transformed. So how could I dislike this?’
Chuang Tzu went to Chu to see an ancient desiccated skull, which he prodded with his riding crop, saying, ‘Sir, did you follow some unfortunate course which meant you brought dishonour upon your father and mother and family and so end up like this? Sir, was it perhaps the cold and hunger that reduced you to this? Sir, perhaps it was just the steady succession of springs and autumns that brought you to this?’
So saying, he pulled the skull towards him and lay down to sleep, using the skull as a head-rest. At midnight he saw the skull in a dream and it said, ‘Sir, you gabble on like a public speaker. Every word you say, Sir, shows that you are a man caught up with life. We dead have nothing to do with this. Would you like to hear a discourse upon death, Sir?’
‘Certainly,’ said Chuang Tzu.
The skull told him, ‘The dead have no lord over them, no servants below them. There is none of the work associated with the four seasons, so we live as if our springs and autumns were like Heaven and Earth, unending. Make no mistake, a king facing south could not be happier.’
Chuang Tzu could not believe this and said, ‘If I got the Harmonizer of Destinies to bring you back to life, Sir, with a body, flesh and blood, and companions, wouldn’t you like that?’
The skull frowned, looked aggrieved and said, ‘Why should I want to cast away happiness greater than that of kings and become a burdened human being again?’
Yen Yuan went east to Chi and Confucius looked very anxious. Tzu Kung stood up and asked him, ‘May I ask, as a junior master, why you have looked so anxious, Sir, since Hui has gone east to Chi?’
‘Have you never heard this story before? Once upon a time, a seabird alighted in the capital city of Lu. The Earl of Lu carried it in procession to the ancestral shrine, where he played the Nine Shao music and offered the offerings of the sacrifice to it. However, the poor bird just looked confused and lost and did not eat a single piece of meat, nor did it drink even one cup of wine, and within three days it died. The problem was trying to feed a bird on what you eat rather than what a bird needs.
‘To feed a bird so it survives, let it live in the midst of the forest, gambol on the shores and inlets, float on the rivers and lakes, devour mudfish and tiddlers, go with the flock, either flying or resting, and be as it wishes. Birds dislike hearing human voices, never mind all the other noises and trouble! If you try to make them happy by playing the Nine Shao music in the area around their lakes, when the birds hear it they will fly away. If the animals hear it, they will run away and hide and if the fish hear it they will dive down to escape. Only the people, if they hear it, will come together to listen.