Ze Yang

Ze Yang

Ze-yang was roaming in Chu. Yi-jie spoke of him to the king, but the king did not grant him an audience. Yi-jie went home. Peng-yang visited Wang Guo and said, "Why do you not speak of me to the king?" Wang Guo said, "I am not as good as Gong Yue-xiu." Peng-yang said, "What sort of man is Gong Yue-xiu?" Wang Guo replied, "In winter he spears turtles in the river; in summer he rests among the hills. When someone passes by and asks him, he says, 'This is my dwelling.' If Yi-jie has already failed, how much more will I! And again, I am not as good as Yi-jie. As for the sort of man Yi-jie is, he has no virtue but has knowledge. He does not restrain himself, and by this he spiritually entangles his associates. He is firmly plunged into the realm of wealth and honor. He does not help others through virtue—he helps diminish them. The frozen borrow clothing from spring; the sunstroke victim turns to the cold wind of winter. As for the king of Chu, his form is dignified and stern. When it comes to punishing offenses, he is as unforgiving as a tiger—he grants no pardon. Unless it is a flatterer or a man of correct virtue, who can bend him? Therefore, when the sage is in straits, he makes his family forget their poverty; when he succeeds, he makes lords and kings forget their rank and emoluments and become humble. Toward things, he takes delight in them; toward others, he rejoices in what connects with things and preserves himself. Thus sometimes without speaking he nourishes others with harmony; standing alongside others, he transforms them. The proper relationship between father and son—he simply returns home and quietly bestows what he has. The distance between his mind and that of others is so great—that is why I said, 'Wait for Gong Yue-xiu.'"

The sage comprehends all entanglements and pervades the entirety of one body, yet does not know how this is so—this is nature. He returns to fate and stirs into action, taking Heaven as his teacher. Others then follow and name him. But when one is troubled by knowledge and what he does never rests for long—if he tries to stop, what can be done? One who is beautiful from birth—others give him a mirror; unless told, he does not know that he is beautiful to others. Whether he knows it or does not know it, whether he hears it or does not hear it, his capacity for delight never ceases, and others' delight in him never ceases—this is nature. The sage's love for others—others give him a name for it; unless told, he does not know that he loves others. Whether he knows it or does not know it, whether he hears it or does not hear it, his love for others never ceases, and others' contentment with him never ceases—this is nature. Gazing upon one's old state and old capital brings a feeling of ease. Even though hills and grasses and tangled weeds have covered it, so that perhaps nine-tenths of what one enters is obscured, still one feels at ease—how much more so when one sees what one sees and hears what one hears, as from a ten-ren tower set among many open spaces!

Xiang the Minister of Xiang grasped the center of the ring and went along with things to completion. With things he had no end and no beginning, no limit and no time. One who daily transforms with things yet holds to the One without transforming—how could he ever abandon this? To take Heaven as one's teacher yet fail to take Heaven as one's teacher—this is to be swept away along with things. If one makes this his enterprise, what can be done? The sage has never acknowledged Heaven, has never acknowledged man, has never acknowledged a beginning, has never acknowledged things. He goes along with the world without ceasing, and what he practices is complete without being exhausted. In his merging with things, what can be done? Tang obtained his master of charioteering, Men-yin Deng-heng, who became his tutor. He followed his teacher without being confined by him, achieved going along with completion, and became master of his reputation. Reputation and law-governed standards bring about being seen in two ways. Zhong-ni exhausted his reflections and became his tutor. Rong-cheng-shi said: "Eliminate days and there are no years; eliminate the inner and there is no outer."

Lord Ying of Wei had made a covenant with Marquis Mou of Tian, and Marquis Mou of Tian broke it. Lord Ying of Wei was furious and wanted to send an assassin after him. Xi-shou heard of this and was ashamed of it. He said, "You are the ruler of a state of ten thousand chariots, yet you would pursue your enemy like a commoner. I request to receive two hundred thousand armored troops to attack him on your behalf, capture his people, seize his cattle and horses, make his ruler develop internal heat that rises from his back, and then destroy his state. Tian Ji will flee, and then we will whip his back and break his spine." Ji-zi heard of this and was ashamed of it. He said: "Building a wall ten ren high, and when the wall-builders have already made it ten ren high, to then destroy it—this is the sort of suffering inflicted on convict laborers. Now warfare has not been raised for seven years—this is the foundation of true kingship. Xi-shi is a man of disorder; he must not be listened to." Hua-zi heard of this and was disgusted by it. He said: "One who speaks well of attacking Qi is a man of disorder. One who speaks well of not attacking is also a man of disorder. And one who says 'both attacking and not attacking are the acts of a man of disorder'—he is also a man of disorder." The lord said, "Then what should I do?" He replied, "Simply seek the Way." Hui-zi heard of this and arranged an audience with Dai Jin-ren. Dai Jin-ren said: "There is what is called a snail—are you aware of it, my lord?" The lord said, "Yes." "On the left horn of the snail there is a state called the clan of Chu; on the right horn there is a state called the clan of Man. From time to time they fight over territory, and tens of thousands of corpses lie prostrate. They pursue the defeated, and only after fifteen days do they return." The lord said, "Ah! Is this empty talk?" He replied: "Let me make it real for you, my lord. In your mind, consider the four directions and above and below—is there a limit?" The lord said, "There is no limit." He said: "To know that one's mind roams in the limitless, and yet to return to a state that is connected and accessible—is it not as if it barely exists?" The lord said, "Yes." He said: "Within the connected and accessible there is Wei; within Wei there is Liang; within Liang there is the king. Is there a distinction between the king and the clan of Man?" The lord said, "There is no distinction." The guest departed, and the lord was bewildered, as if he had lost something. The guest having departed, Hui-zi was granted an audience. The lord said: "The guest was a great man—even a sage would not be sufficient to match him." Hui-zi said: "Blowing into a flute, one still produces a loud sound. Blowing into the end of a sword, one produces only a faint hiss. Yao and Shun are what men praise. To speak of Yao and Shun before Dai Jin-ren would be like a single faint hiss."

When Zhong-ni was in Chu, he lodged at the inn at Ant Hill. Among his neighbors there was a husband and wife and their male and female slaves ascending to the roof. Zi-lu said: "What are all those people doing, gathering and buzzing like that?" Zhong-ni said: "They are the servants of a sage. He has buried himself among the people and hidden himself among the fields. His reputation has faded away, but his will is boundless. Though his mouth speaks, his heart has never spoken. He goes against the world, and in his heart he scorns to follow its ways. He is a man who sinks into the dust of the world. Could this be Yi-liao of South Market?" Zi-lu asked to go and summon him. Zhong-ni said: "Enough! He knows that I have made myself known to him; he knows that I am coming to Chu. He thinks that I will certainly persuade the king of Chu to summon him, and he will take me for a flatterer. A man like that would be ashamed to hear the words of a flatterer—how much more so to see his person with his own eyes! And what good would it do to keep him here?" Zi-lu went to look, but the house was empty.

The border guard of Changwu asked Zilao, "In governing, do not be crude and careless; in ruling the people, do not be reckless and slipshod. In the past, when I grew grain, if I ploughed crudely and carelessly, the harvest too was crude and careless in its repayment of me; if I weeded recklessly and slipshodly, the harvest too was reckless and slipshod in its repayment of me. The next year I changed my approach—I ploughed deeply and thoroughly harrowed the soil, and the grain grew lush and abundant. I had more than enough to eat all year long."

Zhuangzi heard of this and said: "Nowadays, those who govern their bodies and cultivate their minds often do much what the border guard described—they flee from what is Heaven-born, separate from what is inborn nature, destroy what is genuine feeling, and lose what is spiritual, all because of their many [forced] actions. Those who are crude and careless with their inborn nature—the sprouting of desires and aversions becomes for their nature like reeds and rushes, which begin by growing to support our form but soon uproot our nature, breaking out and leaking from every opening, choosing no place to emerge. Carbuncles, boils, internal fevers, and diabetes—these are such things."

Boju studied under Laozan and said, "Allow me to wander throughout the world." Laozan said, "Enough! The world is just like this." He asked again, and Laozan said, "Where will you begin?" He said, "I will begin in Qi." When he arrived in Qi, he saw an exposed corpse, straightened it out, unfastened his court robes and covered it, cried out to Heaven and wept, saying, "Alas, alas! A great calamity has befallen the world, and you alone have met with it first! They say: 'Do not steal, do not kill.' Once distinctions of honor and disgrace are established, then one sees the sickness they cause. Once goods and wealth are accumulated, then one sees the strife they cause. Now you have established what makes people sick and accumulated what makes people strive, reducing people to destitution without respite—how could you have avoided this? In ancient times, those who ruled considered gains to belong to the people and losses to belong themselves; they considered what was right to belong to the people and what was wrong to belong themselves. So when a single person failed in their proper form, they withdrew and reproached themselves. Now it is not so. They conceal things to fool the ignorant, magnify difficulties to punish those who dare not, make duties heavy to penalize those who cannot bear them, and extend the roads to condemn those who cannot arrive. When the people's knowledge and strength are exhausted, they resort to pretence. When so much pretence emerges daily, how can gentlemen and commoners avoid being pretentish? When strength is insufficient, there is pretence; when knowledge is insufficient, there is deceit; when wealth is insufficient, there is theft. For theft and robbery—upon whom should we place the blame?"

Qu Boyu, at sixty years of age, had transformed sixty times. He had never failed to begin by regarding something as right, only to conclude by rejecting it as wrong. How do we know that what we now call right is not the wrong of his fifty-ninth year? All things have their birth, yet none sees their root; they have their coming forth, yet none sees their gate. People all honor what their knowledge knows, yet none knows to rely on what their knowledge does not know in order to know—can this not be called great perplexity? Enough, enough! There is no escape. Is this what we call being so and so? Is it so?

Confucius asked the Grand Historian Da Tao, Bo Changjian, and Xi Wei: "Duke Ling of Wei gave himself over to drinking and excessive pleasure, did not attend to the governance of his state, and devoted himself to hunting and trapping, failing to respond to the affairs of the feudal lords. Why was he given the posthumous title 'Ling'?" Da Tao said, "It was because of this very thing." Bo Changjian said: "Duke Ling had three wives with whom he bathed in the same tub. Yet when Shi Qiu attended him and came forward to present something, Duke Ling received him with the utmost solemnity. That he was so lax in one respect and so reverent toward a worthy man in another—this is why he was called 'Ling.'" Xi Wei said: "When Duke Ling died, divination indicated that burial in the old tomb would be inauspicious; divination indicated that burial in Shaqiu would be auspicious. They dug several fathoms and found a stone coffin. When they washed it and examined it, there was an inscription which read: 'His son shall not be relied upon; Duke Ling shall seize and bury him here.' That Duke Ling was to be called 'Ling' had long been determined. How could those two have known it?"

Shao Zhi asked Tai Gongdiao, "What do you mean by the talk of the hamlet and the neighborhood?" Tai Gongdiao said: "The hamlet and the neighborhood bring together ten surnames and a hundred individuals to form a shared custom. They bring together differences to form similarities, and disperse similarities to form differences. Now, if you point to the hundred parts of a horse and call it not a horse, yet the horse is tied right before you—it is by assembling its hundred parts that we call it a 'horse.' Thus, mountains accumulate what is low to become high; rivers join waters to become great; the great person brings together and merges to become impartial. Therefore, what enters from without has a principle but does not cling to it; what emerges from within has a standard but does not resist it. The four seasons have different energies, but Heaven does not bestow [favor], so the year is completed; the five offices have different duties, but the ruler does not show private favor, so the state is well governed; civil and martial [virtues]—the great person does not bestow [preference], so virtue is complete. The ten thousand things have each their own principle, but the Way shows no private favor, so it is nameless. Being nameless, it is without action; being without action, there is nothing it does not do. Times have their endings and beginnings, ages have their transformations; calamity and good fortune come in abundance. Where there is obstruction, there is also suitability; each pursues its own different direction—where there is what is correct, there is also what is awry. Compare it to a great marsh: all manner of timber finds its use. Observe a great mountain: wood and stone share the same platform. This is what is meant by the talk of the hamlet and the neighborhood."

Shao Zhi said, "Then is it sufficient to call this the Way?" Tai Gongdiao said: "No. Now, when we count the number of things, they do not stop at ten thousand, yet we designate them as the 'ten thousand things' because we use the large number as a term to refer to them. Thus, Heaven and Earth are the largest of forms; yin and yang are the largest of energies; the Way is what is impartial in them. Because of their greatness, it is permissible to use this as a term to refer to them. But once one has already possessed [the Way], how could one then compare it to something? If one tries to make such distinctions, it is like comparing a dog to a horse—the gap is far too great."

Shao Zhi said: "Within the four directions, within the six dimensions, from where do the ten thousand things that are born arise?" Tai Gongdiao said: "Yin and yang illuminate each other, cover each other, and govern each other. The four seasons replace each other, give birth to each other, and kill each other. Desires and aversions, parting and joining—from these things arise in succession. Male and female unite in part—from these things there is constancy. Safety and danger alternate, calamity and good fortune give rise to each other, urgency and ease rub against each other, gathering and dispersing bring things to completion. These are what can be recorded of name and reality, what can be marked of the subtle. The sequence of mutual ordering, the successive operation of mutual influence—when exhausted, they return; when ended, they begin. This is what pertains to things. What words can exhaust, what knowledge can reach—this only goes as far as things. One who has glimpsed the Way does not follow where things perish, does not trace where things arise. This is where discussion stops."

Shao Zhi said: "The doctrine of Ji Zhen that [the world] is produced by 'non-action,' and the doctrine of Jie Zi that [the world is produced by] 'something causing it' — between these two schools' discussions, which one is correct in its understanding of reality, and which one is biased in its grasp of principle?"

Tai Diao replied: "The crowing of a dog and the barking of a dog are things all people know. Yet even the greatest sage cannot use words to describe how they spontaneously transform themselves, nor can he use his mind to fathom what they are about to do. Analyzing them to their finest point, the subtle reaches the point where there is no gradation; the great reaches the point where it cannot be encompassed. Both 'something causing it' and 'non-action' fail to go beyond the realm of things and ultimately fall into error. 'Something causing it' has substance; 'non-action' is empty. Having name and having substance is where things reside; having no name and having no substance is in the emptiness of things. What can be spoken and what can be thought — the more one speaks of it, the further one departs from it. What has not yet been born cannot be forbidden; what has already died cannot be reached. Death and life are not far apart, yet their principle cannot be perceived. 'Something causing it' and 'non-action' are merely hypotheses conjured by doubt. If I examine them at their root, their going has no limit; if I seek them at their end, their coming has no cessation. No limit, no cessation — this is speaking of nothing, and it shares the same principle with things. 'Something causing it' and 'non-action' are the root of speech, and they share the beginning and end with things. The Way cannot have existence, and what exists cannot be non-existent. The name 'Way' is merely a borrowed designation through which one proceeds. 'Something causing it' and 'non-action' are merely one-sided views of things — how could they be of use in the great scope? If one's words are sufficient, then speaking all day one exhausts the Way; if one's words are insufficient, then speaking all day one exhausts things. The Way is the ultimate of things — neither speech nor silence is adequate to convey it. Neither speaking nor remaining silent — in this, discussion reaches its limit."