by Chuang Tzu
CHAPTER 22
The Shores of the Dark Waters
Knowledge strolled north to the shores of the Dark Waters, scaled the mount of Secret Heights and came upon Words-of-Actionless-Action. Knowledge said to Words-of-Actionless-Action, ‘I want to ask you something. What sort of thought and reflection does it take to know the Tao? In what sort of place and in what sorts of ways should we undertake to rest in the Tao? What sort of path and what sort of plans do we need to obtain the Tao?’ These three questions he asked of Words-of-Actionless-Action, but he did not answer. Not only did he not answer, he had no idea what to answer.
Knowledge did not obtain any answers, so he travelled to the White Waters of the south, climbed up on to the top of Doubt Curtailed and there caught sight of Wild-and-Surly. Knowledge put the same question to Wild-and-Surly. Wild-and-Surly said, ‘Ah ha! I know, and I will tell you.’ In the middle of saying this, he forgot what he was going to say!
Knowledge did not obtain any answers, so he went back to the Emperor’s palace to see the Yellow Emperor and to ask him. The Yellow Emperor said, ‘Practise having no thoughts and no reflections and you will come to know the Tao. Only when you have no place and can see no way forward will you find rest in the Tao. Have no path and no plans and you will obtain the Tao.’
Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, ‘You and I know this, but the others did not know, so which of us is actually right?’
The Yellow Emperor said, ‘Words-of-Actionless-Action was truly right. Wild-and-Surly seems right. In the end, you and I are not close to it.
‘Those who understand, do not say.
Those who say, do not understand.
And so the sage follows the teachings without words.
The Tao cannot be made to occur,
Virtue cannot be sought after.
However, benevolence can be undertaken,
righteousness can be striven for,
rituals can be adhered to.
It is said, “When the Tao was lost, Virtue appeared;
when Virtue was lost, benevolence appeared;
when benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared;
when righteousness was lost, ritual appeared.
Rituals are just the frills on the hem of the Tao, and are signs of impending disorder.”
‘It is said, “One who follows the Tao daily does less and less. As he does less and less, he eventually arrives at actionless action. Having achieved actionless action, there is nothing which is not done.” Now that we have become active, if we wish to return to our original state, we will find it very difficult! Who but the great man could change this?
‘Life follows death and death is the forerunner of life.
Who can know their ways?
Human life begins with the original breath;
When it comes together there is life,
When it is dispersed, there is death.
‘As death and life are together in all this, which should be termed bad? All the forms of life are one, yet we regard some as beautiful, because they are spiritual and wonderful; others we count as ugly, because they are diseased and rotting. But the diseased and rotting can become the spiritual and wonderful, and the spiritual and wonderful can become the diseased and rotting. It is said, “All that is under Heaven is one breath.” The sages always comprehend such unity.’
Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, ‘I asked Words-of-Actionless-Action, and he didn’t say anything to me. Indeed, not only did he not say anything to me, but he didn’t know what to say to me. I asked Wild-and-Surly and he was in the midst of explaining to me, though he did not say anything, then in the midst of it all he forgot what he wanted to say. Then I asked you and you know the answer, so why do you say you are not close to the answer?’
The Yellow Emperor said, ‘Words-of-Actionless-Action was actually right, because he knew nothing. Wild-and-Surly was almost right, because he forgot everything. However, you and I are not close, because we know.’
When Wild-and-Surly heard about this, he concluded that the Yellow Emperor knew what he was talking about.
Heaven and Earth have great beauty but no words.
The four seasons follow their regular path but do not debate it.
All forms of life have their own distinct natures but do not discuss them.
The sage looks at the beauties of Heaven and Earth and comprehends the principle behind all life.
So the perfect man does without doing
and the great sage initiates nothing,
for, as we say, they have glimpsed Heaven and Earth.
Now even the Tao, spirit-like and with perfect clarity, in common with all other forms of life, undergoes the transformations of life. All life forms are already dead or living; they are square or round, and they do not comprehend their beginning.
Yet life goes on, just as it has done from time immemorial.
Even the vastness of distances between the six areas of the world is encompassed by the Tao.
Indeed, even the smallest hair relies upon the Tao for its very being.
Every living thing below Heaven,
those arising and those declining,
are guided by this. Yin and yang.
The four seasons are kept moving by it,
each within its own sphere.
Seeming lost in darkness, it still exists;
Glorious and free, it has no body: it is spirit.
All forms of life are guided by it,
though they do not know it.
This is what is called the root and origin.
It is this which we discern in Heaven.
Yeh Chueh asked Pi I about the Tao, and Pi I said, ‘Attend to your body, concentrate upon the One, and the perfect harmony of Heaven will be yours.
‘Rein in your understanding, unify your stance and the spirit will dwell within you.
‘Virtue will be your beauty and the Tao will be your dwelling place.
‘You will seem like a simple new-born calf and you won’t try to understand the reason why!’
Before he could finish what he was saying, Yeh Chueh fell fast asleep. Pi I was very pleased indeed and wandered off singing this song:
‘Body like a rotten tree stump,
Heart like cold dead ashes,
His understanding is true and real,
Not inclined to pursue questions.
Obscure, obscure, deeply dark,
Heartless, no advice forthcoming,
What sort of person is this!’
Shun asked Cheng, ‘Is it possible to obtain the Tao and have it as mine?’
He said, ‘As you aren’t in control of your own body, how could you hope to obtain and hold the Tao?’
Shun said, ‘If I don’t control my own body, then who does?’
He said, ‘Your shape is given you by Heaven and Earth. Life is not yours to have, it is the combining harmony of Heaven and Earth. Your innate nature and destiny are not yours to have, they are constructs given you by Heaven and Earth. Grandsons and sons are not yours to have: they are the sloughed-off skins bequeathed to you from Heaven and Earth. You should walk, therefore, as if you don’t know where you are going; remain where you are without knowing why; eat without knowing what you’re tasting. All this arises from the yang breath of Heaven and Earth. How can it then be possible for you to obtain and hold anything?’
Confucius said to Lao Tzu, ‘Now, today, you seem relaxed, so I would like to ask about the perfect Tao.’
Lao Tzu said, ‘You should cleanse and purify your heart through fasting and austerities, wash your spirit to make it clean and repress your knowledge. The Tao is profound and almost impossible to describe! I will attempt to offer some understanding of it:
‘The brightly shining is born from the deeply dark;
that which is orderly is born from the formless;
the spiritual is born from the Tao;
the roots of the body are born from the seminal essence;
all forms of life giv
e each other shape through birth.
Those with nine apertures are born from the womb,
while those with eight are born from eggs.
Of its coming there is no trace,
no sign of its departure,
neither entering the gate nor dwelling anywhere,
open to all the four directions.
Those who travel with the Tao will be strong in body,
sincere and profound in their thought,
clear of sight and hearing,
using their hearts without tiring,
responding to all without prejudice.
As a result of this, Heaven is high and Earth wide,
the sun and moon move and everything flourishes.
This is the Tao!
‘Even the broadest knowledge does not comprehend it.
Reason does not mean wisdom, so the sage casts these aside.
There is something which is complete, no matter what you add;
is not diminished, no matter what you take away.
This is what the sage holds to.
It is as the ocean, deeply deep,
as the mountains, high and proud,
its end is its beginning,
it carries all forms of life and never fails.
The Tao of the nobleman is just external garb!
That which sustains all forms of life and never falters,
this is the true Tao!
‘Here is a man of China, balanced between yin and yang, dwelling between Heaven and Earth. For a while he is a man and then he returns to the origin. Viewed from the perspective of the origin, when life begins for him, he is just a collection of breath. When he dies, whether he is young or very old, these different destinies make little difference, his life-span is so short. What does it mean then to ask which is good and bad between Yao and Shun? The fruits of the trees and the trailing plants have their distinctive patterns. Even human relationships, for all their troubles, have an order and a structure. The sage does not oppose them when he meets them: since he exceeds them by far, he has no need to hold on to them. He responds to them harmoniously: this is his Virtue. He greets them in friendship: this is his Tao. This is how Emperors and kings have arisen.
‘Human life between Heaven and Earth is like a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall, quickly past.
It pours forth, it overwhelms,
yet there is nothing that does not emerge.
It drifts, it swirls,
yet there is nothing that does not return.
Life is transformation, death is also transformation.
All living creatures are saddened, all humanity mourns.
However, it is simply the releasing of the Heavenly bowstring,
or the emptying of the Heavenly satchel,
a yielding and a changing which release the soul, as the body follows,
back at long last to the great Returning.
That without shape comes from shape,
that with shape returns to the shapeless.
‘All people know this:
those with a perfect understanding do not discuss it,
while everyone argues how to set about achieving it.
Those who have achieved it do not discuss it.
Those who discuss have not achieved it.
Those who eagerly search with their keen eyes will not discern it. Be silent, do not debate.
The Tao cannot be heard, so it is better to close your ears than strive to hear.
This is called the great Achievement.’
Master Tung Kuo asked Chuang Tzu, ‘That which is called the Tao, where is it?’
Chuang Tzu replied, ‘There is nowhere where it is not.’
‘But give me a specific example.’
‘In this ant,’ said Chuang Tzu.
‘Is that its lowest point?’
‘In this panic grass,’ said Chuang Tzu.
‘Can you give me a lower example?’
‘In this common earthenware tile,’ said Chuang Tzu.
‘This must be its lowest point!’
‘It’s in shit and piss too,’ said Chuang Tzu.
Master Tung Kuo had no answer to this. Chuang Tzu said, ‘Sir, your questions miss the point. When Inspector Huo asked the superintendents of the market how best to test the value of a pig by treading down on it with his foot, they told him that the lower down the animal you pressed, the closer you were to finding the truth. So you should not look for the Tao in anything specific. There is nothing without it. The perfect Tao is like this – so it is called the Great. Complete, all embracing, universal: three different words but with the same reality, all referring back to the One.
‘Imagine that we were wandering in the palace of No-Place.
Harmony and unity would be our themes, never ending, never failing!
Join with me in actionless action!
In simplicity and quietude!
In disinterest and purity!
In harmony and ease!
My intentions are now aimless.
I go nowhere and have no idea how I got there;
I go and I come and don’t know why.
I have been, I have gone.
I have no idea when my journey is over.
I wander and rest in limitless vastness.
Great knowledge comes in and I have no idea where it will all end.
‘If you can regard things as simply things, then you do not share the limited nature of things. The limitless arises out of the limited, and the boundless arises out of the restricted.
‘We talk of fullness and emptiness; of withering and decaying. The Tao makes them full or empty but is not defined by fullness or emptiness. It creates withering and decay, but it is not defined by withering or decay. It produces the roots and branches, but it is neither root nor branch. It gathers together and it disperses, but it is neither of these itself.’
Ah Ho Kan and Shen Nung were fellow students of Lao Lung Chi. One midday Shen Nung was sitting on his seat with the door shut and he was fast asleep, when Ah Ho Kan opened the door and came in, saying,
‘Lao Lung is dead.’
Shen Nung leaned forward, grasped his staff and rose to his feet. Then he dropped his staff and burst out laughing, ‘Our Heavenly wise Master, he knew just how cramped and mean, arrogant and wilful I am and this is why he has gone and cast me aside and died. My Master has gone off! He has died without giving me words to control my wildness!’
Yen Kang Tiao heard all this and said, ‘The one who embodies the Tao has noblemen from all over the world coming to him. Now, regarding the Tao, you who haven’t grasped even a tip of the hair of it, not even a ten-thousandth part, nevertheless you still know enough to curb your wild words and to die without uttering them. How much more is this the case with someone who embodies the Tao! You can look for it but it has no shape. You can listen for it, but it has no voice. Those who discuss it call it deeply dark. To talk of the Tao is not to know the Tao.’
Great Purity asked Endless, ‘Sir, do you know the Tao?’
‘I do not know it,’ said Endless.
Then he asked Actionless Action, who replied, ‘I know the Tao.’
‘Sir,’ asked Great Purity, ‘about your knowledge of the Tao, do you have some special hints?’
‘I have.’
‘What are they?’
Actionless Action said, ‘I know that the Tao can elevate and bring low, bind together and separate. These are the hints I would give you to know the Tao.’
With these different answers Great Purity went to No Beginning and said, ‘Between Endless’s statement that he doesn’t know, and Actionless Action’s statement that he does know, I am left wondering which of these is right and which is wrong.’
No Beginning said, ‘Not to know is profound and to know is shallow. To be without knowledge is to be inward, to know is to be outward.’
Then indeed did Great Purity cast his eyes upward and sigh, ‘Not to know is to know and to know is not to know!
Who knows about not knowing about knowing?’
No Beginning said:
‘The Tao cannot be heard: what is heard is not the Tao.
The Tao cannot be seen: what can be seen is not the Tao.
The Tao cannot be spoken: what is spoken is not the Tao.
Do we know what form gives form to the formless?
The Tao has no name.’
No Beginning continued:
‘To be questioned about the Tao and to give an answer means that you don’t know the Tao.
‘One who asks about the Tao has never understood anything about the Tao.
‘Do not ask about the Tao, for the asking is not appropriate, nor can the question be answered, because it is like asking those in dire extremity. To answer what cannot be answered is to show no inner understanding. When someone without inner understanding waits for an answer from those in dire extremity, they illustrate that they neither grasp where they stand outwardly nor understand the great Beginning within. So they cannot cross the Kun Lun mountains nor wander in the great Void.’
Starlight asked No Existence, ‘Master, do you exist? Or do you not exist?’
Starlight could get no answer, but he looked upon the form of the other and saw a deep void. All day long he stared but could see nothing, listened but heard nothing, reached out his hand but held nothing.
Starlight said, ‘Perfect! Who can reach such heights? I can imagine existence and non-existence but not non-existing non-existence; yet here we have non-existence of non-existence, how amazing!’
The swordsmith of the Grand Marshal was eighty years old, but he had not lost any of his skills. The Grand Marshal said, ‘Master, you are so skilful! Do you have the Tao?’
He said, ‘I do have the Tao. From the age of twenty onwards I have been devoted to making swords. I pay no heed to anything else, I look at nothing but swords. By being so constant I am now able to do it without thinking. Time brings one to such art, so imagine how much more significant this would be for one who used the same method but never ignored anything. Everything would depend on him and everything would be achieved!’
Jan Chiu asked Confucius, ‘Is it possible to know anything about what there was, before Heaven and Earth?’