The Book of Chuang Tzu (Penguin) Read online

  ‘Under Heaven there are two great principles,’ replied Confucius. ‘The first is destiny, the other one is duty. The love of a child for its parents, this is destiny, it is there in his heart. A subject’s service of his lord, this is duty, because he must have an overlord, this is how it is in the wide world. These are known as the two great principles. To be obedient to your parents and be prepared to follow them come what may, this is true filial piety. To serve your lord happily, regardless of what he asks you to do, this is real loyalty. To serve your own soul in such a way as to prevent either joy or sorrow within, but outwardly to handle what life throws at you as inevitable and not to be worried by this, this is the perfection of Virtue. Therefore, the person who finds himself in the position of a son or subject has at times to do what he has to do. Caught up in these affairs of state, he forgets his own life. He has no time to sit and contemplate the love of life or the fear of death! Therefore, my dear Sir, go on your mission!

  ‘Let me tell you something else I have found out. In the ebb and flow of relationships between two states, if they live side by side and have regular links, they can show how mutual their interests are through their actions. If, however, they are separated by distance, then they have to rely upon the spoken word, and such messages have to be relayed by someone. But trying to convey the areas of joy and displeasure of both sides in such messages, is about the most thankless task under Heaven. When both sides are happy, the messages have to be laden down with excessive praise. When both sides are angry, the messages have to be laden with excessive aggression. Any exaggeration is false. Where there is falsehood, no one can trust a word and the messenger is in real trouble. This is why the Fa Yen21 says, “Convey what each side wishes to say, but leave out the exaggerations.” Do that and you may well be all right.

  ‘When people gather to wrestle and sport, they always begin in a friendly mood, but always end with anger and aggression. As the pressure mounts, they resort to amazing tricks. When people gather to drink at special ceremonies, they begin in a proper and restrained manner, but soon degenerate into rowdiness. As this grows, their behaviour becomes more and more excessive. This is true of all things. People start off with sincerity but degenerate into rudeness. Things start simply enough, but soon become complex and confusing.

  ‘Words are like the ebb and flow of the wind-blown seas: the purpose of them can become overwhelmed. The wind and seas are easily stirred, and what was attempted can be swamped and lost. Likewise, anger can be whipped up by cunning words and biased speeches. When anger comes, people bellow their rage like animals being driven to their death, their breath comes out in bursts of distress. Then the hearts of both sides are turned to rage. People are driven into a corner, having little idea how they got there but they respond with brutality. They do not know how this happens, so what hope is there of stopping all this? This is why the Fa Yen says, “Do not wander from the original charge you are given. Do not try to force the pace of negotiation. To go beyond what is asked is to be excessive.” To go outside what your charge was, and to try to solve everything yourself, is dangerous. It takes time to arrive at an appropriate settlement. A bad settlement, once made, cannot be changed! Therefore, take care, let your heart follow whatever happens. Accept what happens as it occurs in order to find your true place, follow the middle way. The best thing to do is leave it all to fate, even if this is not easy to do!’

  Yen Ho was about to start as tutor to the eldest son of Duke Ling of the state of Wei, so he went to visit Chu Po Yu22 and said, ‘Here is a man whom Heaven has given a nature devoid of all virtue. If I simply allow him to go on in this way, the state is at risk; if I try to bring him back to a principled life, then my life is at risk. He can just about recognize the excesses of others, but not his own excesses. In a case like this, what can I do?’

  ‘This is a good question!’ said Chu Po Yu. ‘Be on guard, be careful, make sure you yourself are right. Let your appearance be in agreement, let your heart be content and harmonious. However, both these strategies have their dangers. Do not let your outward stance affect your inner self, nor allow your inner self to be drawn out. If you allow yourself to be sucked into his way of things, you will be thrown down, ruined, demolished, and will fall. If your inner harmony becomes drawn out, then you will have fame and a name, you will be called an evil creature. If he acts like a child, then be a child with him; if he permits no restraints, do the same. If he goes beyond the pale, follow him! Understand him, and then guide him back subtly.

  ‘Don’t you know the story of the praying mantis? In its anger it waved its arms in front of a speeding carriage, having no understanding that it could not stop it, but having full confidence in its own powers! Be on guard, be careful! If you are over-confident in this way, you will be in the same danger.

  ‘Don’t you know what a tiger trainer does? He does not give them living animals for food, in case it over-excites them and breeds a love of killing. He does not even give them whole carcasses, for fear of exciting the rage of tearing the animals apart. He observes their appetite and appreciates their ferocity. Tigers are a different creature from humans, but you can train them to obey their trainer if you understand how to adapt to them. People who go against the nature of the tiger don’t last long.

  ‘People who love horses collect their manure and urine in fine baskets and bottles. However, if a mosquito or gadfly lands on the horse, and the groom suddenly swipes it away, the horse breaks its bit, damages its harness and hurts its chest. The groom, out of affection, tried to do what was good, but the end result is the reverse of that. So should we exercise caution!’

  Carpenter Shih was on his way to Chi, when he came to the place called Chu Yuan, where he saw an oak tree which was venerated as the home of the spirits of the land. The tree was so vast that a thousand oxen could hide behind it. It was a hundred spans round and it soared above the hill to eighty feet before it even began to put out branches. There were ten such branches, from any one of which an entire boat could be carved. Masses of people came to see it, giving the place a carnival atmosphere, but carpenter Shih didn’t even look round, just went on his way. His assistant looked at it with great intensity, and then chased after his master and said, ‘Since I first took up my axe and followed you, I have never seen wood such as this. Sir, why did you not even glance at it nor stop, but just kept going?’

  He said, ‘Silence, not another word! The tree is useless. Make a boat from it and it would sink; make a coffin and it would rot quickly; make some furniture and it would fall to pieces; make a door and it would be covered in seeping sap; make a pillar and it would be worm-eaten. This wood is useless and good for nothing. This is why it has lived so long.’

  When Master Shih was returning, the tree appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘What exactly are you comparing me with? With ornamental fruit trees? Trees such as the hawthorn, pear trees, orange trees, citrus trees, gourds and other such fruit trees? Their fruits are knocked down when they are ripe and the trees suffer. The big branches are damaged and the small ones are broken off. Because they are useful, they suffer, and they are unable to live out the years Heaven has given them. They have only their usefulness to blame for this destruction wrought by the people. It is the same with all things. I have spent a long time studying to be useless, though on a couple of occasions I was nearly destroyed. However, now I have perfected the art of uselessness, and this is very useful, to me! If I had been of use, could I have grown so vast? Furthermore, you and I are both things. How can one thing make such statements about another? How can you, a useless man about to die, know anything about a useless tree?’

  When carpenter Shih awoke, he told his apprentice what he had dreamt. The apprentice said, ‘If it wants to be useless, why is it used as the shrine for the spirits of the land?’

  ‘Hush! Don’t say another word!’ said Shih. ‘The tree happens to be here so it is an altar. By this it protects itself from harm from those who do not realize it is useless, for we
re it not an altar, it would run the risk of being chopped down. Furthermore, this tree is no ordinary one, so to speak of it in normal terms is to miss the point.’

  Nan Po Tzu Chi, wandering amongst the mountains of Shang, came upon a great and unusual tree, under which could shelter a thousand chariots, and they would all be covered. Tzu Chi said, ‘What kind of a tree is this? It is surely a most wondrous piece of timber!’ However, when he looked up, he could see that the smaller branches were so twisted and gnarled that they could not be made into rafters and beams; and looking down at the trunk he saw it was warped and distorted and would not make good coffins. He licked one of its leaves and his mouth felt scraped and sore. He sniffed it and it nearly drove him mad, as if he had been drunk for three days.

  ‘This tree is certainly good for nothing,’ said Tzu Chi. ‘This is why it has grown so large. Ah-ha! This is the sort of uselessness that sages live by.

  ‘In the state of Sung there is the district of Ching Shih, which is excellent for growing catalpas, cypresses and mulberry trees. However, those which are more than a handspan or so around are cut down by people who want to make posts for their monkeys; those which are three or four spans around are cut down to make beams for great houses; those of seven to eight spans are cut down by lords and the wealthy who want single planks to form the side of their coffins. As a result, the trees do not live out the years Heaven has allotted them, but instead are cut down by the axe in the prime of their life. This is all the result of being useful! At the sacrifice, oxen marked by the white forehead, pigs that have turned-up noses and men suffering from piles are useless as offerings to the River Ho. Shamans know this and as a result they consider such creatures as being inauspicious. However, the sage, for exactly this same reason, values them highly.

  ‘Crippled Shu, now, is a man with his chin lost in his navel, his shoulders higher than the top of his head and his topknot pointing to Heaven, his five vital organs all crushed into the top of his body and his two thighs pressing into his ribs. By sharpening needles and washing clothes he earns enough to eat. By winnowing rice and cleaning it he was able to feed ten people. When the officials called up the militia, he walked about freely, with no need to hide; when they are trying to raise a large work gang, because of his deformities, no one bothers him. Yet when the officials were handing out grain to the infirm, he received three great portions and ten bundles of firewood. If a man like this, deformed in body, can make a living and live out the years Heaven sends him, how much more should a man who is only deformed in terms of his Virtue!’

  Confucius went to Chu, and Chieh Yu, the madman of Chu, wandered to his gate and said, ‘O Phoenix, O Phoenix! How your virtue has faded! The future cannot be awaited, nor the past reclaimed. When the whole world has the Tao, the sage can succeed. When the whole world has lost the Tao, the sage can only just survive. At a time like this, we are lucky if we can escape punishment. Happiness is as light as a feather, but who knows how to hold it? Misfortune is heavier than the very earth, but who knows how to escape it? Give up, give up trying to teach people Virtue! Watch out, watch out – rushing on into areas already marked out by you! Idiot, idiot, don’t harm my path. I go on my way, walking crookedly, to preserve my feet from harm! The mountain trees are the cause of their own destruction. The fat throws itself into the fire. The cinnamon tree is edible, so it is cut down. The varnish tree is useful and it is cut about. Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful but no one knows the usefulness of the useless!’

  CHAPTER 5

  Signs of Real Virtue

  In the state of Lu there lived a man called Wang Tai, who had lost a foot – yet the number of his followers was as great as those of Confucius. Chang Chi asked Confucius, ‘Wang Tai has lost a foot, yet he manages to divide up the state of Lu equally with you, Master. He doesn’t preach, he doesn’t debate, but people come empty and leave full. Is it true that there is teaching without words, and that even if the body is not whole, the heart is complete? What kind of man is he?’

  Confucius replied, ‘This master is a sage, and the only reason I have not been his disciple is that I was slow in going to him. I will certainly now go to him as my teacher, and, therefore, how much more should those who are not equal to me! Why stop at just the state of Lu? I will bring all under Heaven to follow him.’

  ‘He is a man who has lost a foot,’ said Chang Chi, ‘yet his authority is above yours! Sir, how very different he is from ordinary people. How exactly does his heart function?’

  ‘Death and birth are matters of great significance,’ said Confucius, ‘but they have no effect on him. Even if Heaven and Earth were to collapse, he would not be disturbed. He truly understands the primary things in life and is not moved by mere things, he understands that some things are predestined and therefore holds true to the unchanging.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘If you look at things in terms of their difference,’ replied Confucius, ‘then the liver and gall are as different as the states of Chu and Yueh; however, study them from the perspective of their sameness, and all life is one. This is what this master does. Such a man is not guided by his eyes and ears, instead he lets his heart decide what is harmonious in its Virtue. He observes the unity and does not see that which is lost. He considers the loss of his foot as being like a lump of earth thrown away.’

  Chang Chi said, ‘In the way he has nurtured himself with knowledge, he has followed his heart, his true heart. Following his heart, he has cultivated an eternal heart, but why should it be that he becomes such a focal point?’

  ‘People don’t look at a flowing river for a mirror, they look at still waters, because only what is still stills things and holds them still. Of those things which are given life by the earth, only the pine and cypress are the best, for they remain green throughout winter and summer. Of those things given life by Heaven, only Shun was true, for he made his own life an example and so guided others’ lives. Holding to the primal strength and eliminating fear, a lone brave knight can overcome nine armies. If this can be achieved by a brave man seeking renown, just imagine what can be achieved by one who is in control of Heaven and Earth and who encompasses all life, who simply uses his physical body as a place to dwell, whose ears and eyes he knows only convey fleeting images, who knows how to unite all knowledge, and whose heart never dies! Such a man as this, when he chooses a day to ascend on high, will be followed by many people. Yet why should he worry about such matters?’

  Shen Tu Chia had lost a foot, and he was a student of Po Hun Wu Jen, along with Cheng Tzu Chan.23 Tzu Chan said to Shen Tu Chia, ‘If I go away from here first, please will you remain behind, and if you go away first, I shall remain behind.’ The very next day they were both sitting together again on the same mat in the hall. Tzu Chan said to Shen Tu Chia, ‘If I go away from here first, please will you remain behind, and if you go away first, I’ll remain behind. Now I am just about to leave, and I really want to know, will you remain behind or not? When you see a top official, you don’t even try to get out of his way. Do you think you are his equal?’

  Shen Tu Chia replied, ‘Within the house of our Master, does such a thing as a top official exist? You behave like a top official and are proud of your status. I recall the saying “If a mirror is bright, then no dust or dirt will collect upon it. And if they do, then the mirror is not bright. If you live for long around virtuous people, you are free from all excess.” Now, you have chosen this master as a master to make you great, yet you can still utter these words. Are you not at fault?’

  ‘Someone like you tries to be as great as Yao,’ said Tzu Chan. ‘Look at your Virtue, isn’t that enough to make you stop and think about yourself?’

  ‘There are many who have caused trouble but who think that they do not deserve punishment,’ said Shen Tu Chia. ‘However, those who do not cause trouble and who think they deserve nothing are few indeed. To know what is beyond your ability to change, and to live with this as your destiny, is the action of a virtu
ous one. Anyone who wanders into the middle of Archer Yi’s24 target will find that such a central place is exactly where you get hit! If they are not hit, then that is destiny. People with both feet often laugh at me for having only one and I used to get very angry. But when I come before our Master, I forget all about that. I don’t know, maybe the Master has cleansed me of all that? I have followed the Master for nineteen years without worrying about the loss of my foot. Now you and I are trying to move beyond the physical body, yet you keep drawing attention to it. Isn’t this rather excessive of you?’

  Tzu Chan felt uncomfortable and wriggled about and said, ‘Sir, please, say no more about this.’

  In the state of Lu there was a mutilated man25 called Shu Shan the Toeless. He came upon his stumps to see Confucius. Confucius said, ‘You were not careful and therefore suffered this fate. It is too late to come and see me now.’