Knowing the North

Knowing the North

Zhi wandered north of the Dark Water, climbed the hill of Yin-fen, and happened to meet Wu-wei-wei there. Zhi said to Wu-wei-wei, "I have some questions for you: What should one think and reflect on in order to know the Way? How should one dwell and conduct oneself to be at peace with the Way? From what source and by what path can one obtain the Way?" Three times he asked, and Wu-wei-wei did not answer. It was not that he did not answer; it was that he did not know how to answer.

Zhi could not get his questions answered. He returned south of the White Water, climbed the hill of Hu-que, and there saw Kuang-qu. Zhi put the same questions to Kuang-qu. Kuang-qu said, "Ah, I know the answer. I am about to tell you." But when he was about to speak, he forgot what he had wanted to say.

Zhi could not get his questions answered. He returned to the Imperial Palace, saw the Yellow Emperor, and put the questions to him. The Yellow Emperor said, "Without thinking or reflecting, one first comes to know the Way. Without dwelling or conducting oneself in any particular way, one first comes to be at peace with the Way. Without seeking from any source or following any path, one first comes to obtain the Way."

Zhi asked the Yellow Emperor, "I and you know this, but those two did not. Which of us is right?"

The Yellow Emperor said, "Wu-wei-wei was truly correct; Kuang-qu came close. But you and I are ultimately not close to it at all. Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. Therefore the sage practices the teaching that needs no words. The Way cannot be brought about; virtue cannot be attained. Benevolence can be practiced; righteousness can be diminished; ritual is mutual pretence. Therefore it is said: 'When the Way is lost, then there is virtue. When virtue is lost, then there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost, then there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost, then there is ritual. Ritual is the flower of the Way and the beginning of disorder.' Therefore it is said: 'Those who practice the Way daily diminish. They diminish and diminish again, until they reach non-action. Through non-action, nothing is left undone.' Now that you have become a thing, would it not be difficult to return to the root? If it is easy, is it only for the great man? Life is the companion of death; death is the beginning of life. Who knows their order? Human life is a gathering of qi. When it gathers, there is life; when it scatters, there is death. If life and death are companions, why should I be troubled? Therefore the ten thousand things are one. What one considers marvelous, another considers putrid; the putrid transforms into the marvelous, and the marvelous transforms into the putrid. Therefore it is said: 'Heaven and earth are permeated by a single qi.' Therefore the sage values oneness."

Zhi said to the Yellow Emperor, "I asked Wu-wei-wei, and Wu-wei-wei did not answer me. It was not that he did not answer me; it was that he did not know how to answer me. I asked Kuang-qu, and Kuang-qu in the midst of wanting to tell me did not tell me. It was not that he did not tell me; it was that in the midst of wanting to tell me he forgot. Now I ask you, and you know. Why are we not close to it?"

The Yellow Emperor said, "He was truly correct because of his not knowing. The other came close because of his forgetting. You and I are ultimately not close because of our knowing."

When Kuang-qu heard of this, he considered the Yellow Emperor one who understood words.

Heaven and earth have great beauty but do not speak of it. The four seasons have clear laws but do not deliberate about them. The ten thousand things have their completed patterns but do not explain them. The sage traces the beauty of heaven and earth and penetrates the patterns of the ten thousand things. Therefore the ultimate man practices non-action, the great sage does not contrive—this is what it means to observe heaven and earth. Now that spiritual clarity, that utmost perfection! The hundred transformations, the cycle of death and life, square and round—no one knows their root. Yet the ten thousand things have existed from ancient times, secure and enduring. The six directions are vast, yet they do not go beyond its scope; the tip of an autumn hair is minute, yet it depends on it to take form. Nothing in the world does not rise and sink, yet nothing changes its nature for a lifetime. Yin and yang and the four seasons operate, each in its proper order. Dim and obscure, as if absent yet present; effortless, formless yet spiritual. The ten thousand things are nourished by it without knowing it. This is what is called the root. Through it one can observe Heaven.

Nie Que asked the Way of Bei Yi. Bei Yi said, "Rectify your form, unify your vision, and harmony will come to you. Gather in your knowledge, unify your measures, and the spirit will come to dwell in you. Virtue will become your beauty; the Way will become your home. You will gaze about like a newborn calf, without seeking to know the reason for things."

Before he had finished speaking, Nie Que had fallen fast asleep. Bei Yi was greatly pleased, and walking in song, he departed, saying: "His form is like a withered skeleton, his mind like dead ashes. He truly knows; he does not rely on what he already knows. Obscure and dim, without a mind, one cannot make plans with him. What manner of man is this?"

Shun asked Cheng, "Can the Way be possessed and held?"

Cheng said, "Even your body is not yours to possess. How could you possess the Way?"

Shun said, "If my body is not mine, whose is it?"

Cheng said, "It is the form entrusted to you by heaven and earth. Life is not yours; it is the harmony entrusted to you by heaven and earth. Your nature and destiny are not yours; it is the smooth functioning entrusted to you by heaven and earth. Your grandchildren are not yours; it is the molting and transformation entrusted to you by heaven and earth. Therefore you go without knowing where you will end up; you dwell without knowing what you will hold on to; you eat without knowing the taste. It is the vigorous activity of qi between heaven and earth. How then could you possess and hold it?"

Confucius asked Lao Dan, saying, "Today I have leisure. May I venture to ask about the supreme Way?" Lao Dan replied, "You must fast and purify. Cleanse your heart and wash your spirit. Shatter and discard your knowledge! The Way is profound and difficult to speak of. I will tell you its rough outline. What is bright is born from what is dark; what has form is born from the formless. Spirit is born from the Way; the physical body is born from essence; and all things give birth to one another through their forms. Thus creatures with nine orifices are born from the womb; those with eight orifices are born from eggs. Their coming leaves no trace; their going has no boundary. They pass through no gate, no chamber, and spread in all directions in vastness. Those who partake of this: their four limbs are strong, their thoughts and understanding are clear, their ears and eyes are keen. They use their minds without labor; they respond to things without fixed method. Heaven could not but be high; Earth could not but be broad; the sun and moon could not but move; all things could not but flourish—is this not the Way? Moreover, wide learning does not necessarily mean knowledge; clever disputation does not necessarily mean wisdom—the sage has done with these. As for what cannot be increased by adding to it, nor decreased by taking from it—that is what the sage preserves. How deep and vast it is, like the sea! How lofty it is, ending only to begin again! It moves and measures all things without exhaustion. Is this not the outward aspect of the Way of the noble person? All things go to it for sustenance, and it is never exhausted—is this not the Way? In the Middle Kingdom there are people who are neither yin nor yang, who dwell between Heaven and Earth, who for the time being are human, and who will return to the Source. Looked at from the root, living things are but a mass of breath. Whether they live long or die young, what difference is it? It is but a moment's affair—how could it be enough to establish the right and wrong of a Yao or a Jie? Fruits and gourds have their principles; human relationships, though complex, still have their mutual order. When the sage encounters them, he does not go against them; when they pass, he does not cling to them. To respond to them harmoniously—that is virtue. To respond to them spontaneously—that is the Way. It is by this that emperors arise and kings are born. Man lives between Heaven and Earth like a white colt passing through a crack—suddenly he is here. Seething and surging, all things emerge; flowing and shimmering, all things enter. Having transformed, they are born; transforming again, they die. Living things mourn it; humans grieve it. They loosen their heavenly sheath, shed their heavenly wrapping. Confused and shifting, the soul and spirit depart, and the body follows—this is the great return! From the formless to form, and from form to the formless—this is what all men know. But it is not what those who would reach the utmost concern themselves with. This is what ordinary people all discuss. Those who reach the utmost do not discuss; those who discuss do not reach. Clear vision encounters no worth. Disputation is not as good as silence. The Way cannot be heard; if it is heard, that is not the Way. Hearing is not as good as blocking it out. This is called the Great Attainment."

Dongguo Zi asked Zhuangzi, "Where does this thing called the Way exist?" Zhuangzi said, "It is everywhere." Dongguo Zi said, "You must be more specific before I can accept that." Zhuangzi said, "It is in the ants." "How could it be so low?" "It is in the crabgrass." "How could it be even lower?" "It is in the tiles and bricks." "How could it be even more extreme?" "It is in the excrement and urine." Dongguo Zi made no reply. Zhuangzi said, "Your question, sir, does not get to the substance. When the market inspector asks about testing pigs, the lower the part he steps on, the more he knows about the pig. Do not insist on any fixed point—nothing escapes the things. The supreme Way is like this; so are great words. 'All-pervading,' 'universal,' 'complete'—these three are different names for the same reality; they point to one thing. Try wandering together in the Palace of Nothing-at-All. Join together in discussion, and there will be no end to it! Try being together in nonaction. How tranquil and still it is! How empty and clear! How harmonious and at ease! My purpose is fulfilled. I go forth and do not know where I will arrive; I come back and do not know where I will stop. I have come and gone, and do not know where it will end. Wandering in vast and open space, great knowledge enters in and does not know where it will end. That which makes things what they are has no boundaries with things. But things have boundaries—these are what we call the boundaries of things. The boundary that is no boundary; the no-boundary that is a boundary—we speak of fullness and emptiness, of decline and destruction. But what brings about fullness and emptiness is not itself fullness or emptiness; what brings about decline and destruction is not itself decline or destruction; what brings about root and branch is not itself root or branch; what brings about accumulation and dispersal is not itself accumulation or dispersal."

Ehe Gan and Shen Nong studied together under Lao Long Ji. Shen Nong was leaning on his table, dozing behind closed doors in the daytime. Ehe Gan threw open the door at midday and came in, saying, "Old Long Ji is dead!" Shen Nong leaned on his table, leaned on his staff, and with a clatter let it fall, laughing and saying, "Heaven knew that I was crude and arrogant, so he abandoned me and died. It's all over! You will never be able to use your wild words to bring him back to life now!" Yan Gang Diao heard of this and said, "He who embodies the Way is what the noble people of the world depend upon. Now Lao Long Ji had not obtained even one part in ten thousand of the tip of a autumn hair of the Way, and yet he still knew to hide his wild words and die—how much more would one who truly embodies the Way!" The Way is seen but has no form; it is heard but has no sound. Those who discuss it among men call it dark and obscure. Thus to discuss the Way is not the Way itself."

At this time Tai Qing asked Wu Qiong, "Do you know the Way?" Wu Qiong said, "I do not know." He then asked Wu Wei, and Wu Wei said, "I know the Way." "Do you who know the Way have some method for it?" "I have." "What is your method?" Wu Wei said, "I know that the Way can be honored or debased, can be contracted or dispersed. This is how I know the method of the Way." Tai Qing used these words to ask Wu Shi, saying, "In that case, Wu Qiong's not knowing and Wu Wei's knowing—which is right and which is wrong?" Wu Shi said, "Not knowing is profound; knowing is shallow. Not knowing is inward; knowing is outward." Thereupon Tai Qing looked up and sighed, saying, "Not knowing is knowing! Knowing is not knowing! Who knows the knowledge of not knowing?" Wu Shi said, "The Way cannot be heard, for what is heard is not the Way. The Way cannot be seen, for what is seen is not the Way. The Way cannot be spoken, for what is spoken is not the Way. Know that what gives form to form is formless—the Way does not admit of names." Wu Shi continued, "If one asks about the Way and another answers, neither knows the Way. Even the one who asks about the Way has never heard the Way. The Way admits of no questions; questions admit of no answers. To question what admits of no questions is to be impoverished in questioning. To answer what admits of no answers is to have nothing within. To meet a questioner who is impoverished with nothing within—one such as this cannot observe the universe without, nor know the Great Beginning within. Therefore he does not surpass Mount Kunlun, nor roam in the Great Void."

Guang Yao asked Wu You, saying, "Do you exist? Or do you not exist?"

Guang Yao could not get an answer. He scrutinized Wu You's appearance closely—vast and empty, hollow and void. He looked at him all day but could not see him; listened to him all day but could not hear him; reached out for him but could not grasp him.

Guang Yao said, "This is perfection! Who else could reach this point? I can manage 'having non-being,' but I have not yet managed 'having no non-being.' And when it comes to being Wu You, how could one reach this?"

A great blacksmith in Da Ma who hammered hooks was eighty years old, yet he never missed by a hair's breadth. The lord of Da Ma said, "Is it skill? Or is there a Way?"

The blacksmith said, "Your servant has something he holds to. When I was twenty, I took pleasure in hammering hooks. I paid no attention to other things; I paid no attention to anything that was not a hook."

What one puts to use is always sustained by what one does not use. Thus one can long preserve one's use. And how much more so the one who uses nothing! What thing would fail to provide for him?

Ran Qiu asked Zhong Ni, "Can what existed before there was heaven and earth be known?"

Zhong Ni said, "It can. The past is just like the present."

Ran Qiu, having failed to understand the question, withdrew. The next day he returned and said, "The other day I asked, 'Can what existed before there was heaven and earth be known?' You said, 'It can. The past is just like the present.' Yesterday I was clear about it; today I am confused. May I ask what you meant?"

Zhong Ni said, "Yesterday you were clear because the spirit received it first. Today you are confused because you are seeking it with the spiritless part as well. There is no past and no present; there is no beginning and no end. Could there be descendants before there are children?"

Ran Qiu did not respond.

Zhong Ni said, "Enough! You should not respond! It does not use life to give life to the living, nor does it use death to bring death to the dead. Do life and death depend on each other? They are all parts of one body. Is there something that existed before heaven and earth that is a thing? That which makes things things is not a thing. Things cannot come before other things—and yet there are things. There are things without end. When the sage's love for others is also without end, it too draws from this."

Yan Yuan asked Zhong Ni, "I have once heard you say, 'Send nothing forth; bring nothing in.' I venture to ask about wandering."

Zhong Ni said, "The people of ancient times were transformed outwardly but not inwardly. The people of today are transformed inwardly but not outwardly. One who transforms along with things is one who does not transform. How can one settle into transformation? How can one settle into non-transformation? How can one settle into mutual conformity? There must be no excess. The pastures of the Xi Wei clan, the gardens of the Yellow Emperor, the palaces of the You Yu clan, the chambers of Tang and Wu—men of virtue, like the Ru and the Mo, took their masters as a basis and thereby ground each other down with right and wrong. And how much more so the people of today! The sage dwells among things without harming them. One who does not harm things cannot be harmed by things either. Only one who is harmless is able to send forth and receive. The forests and marshes—would they make me happy and joyful? But before the joy is exhausted, sorrow follows. When joy and sorrow come, I cannot keep them away; when they go, I cannot stop them. How sad! The people of the world are nothing more than way stations for things! One knows what one encounters but does not know what one does not encounter. One knows what one can do but does not know what one cannot do. The ignorant and the incapable—these are what people cannot avoid. To strive to avoid what people cannot avoid—is that not also sad indeed! The ultimate word discards words; the ultimate action discards action. To make uniform what knowledge knows—that is shallow."