CHAPTER XXVI.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Zhuangzi and Giles, Herbert Allen
Confucius bowed and was about to retire, when suddenly his countenance changed and he enquired, "Shall I then be able to enter upon Tao?"
"The wounds of one generation being too much," answered Lao Lai Tzŭ, "you would take to yourself the sorrows of all time. Are you not weary? Is your strength equal to the task?
"To employ goodness as a passport to influence through the gratification of others, is an everlasting shame. Yet this is the common way of all, to lure people by fame, to bind them by ties of gratification.
"Better than extolling Yao and cursing Chieh is oblivion of both, keeping one's praises to oneself. These things react injuriously on self; the agitation of movement results in deflection.
"The true Sage is a passive agent. If he succeeds, he simply feels that he was provided by no effort of his own with the energy necessary to success."
Prince Yüan of Sung dreamed one night that a man with dishevelled hair peeped through a side door and said, "I have come from the waters of Tsai-lu. I am a marine messenger attached to the staff of the River God. A fisherman, named Yü Ch'ieh, has caught me."
When the prince awaked, he referred his dream to the soothsayers, who said, "This is a divine tortoise."
"Is there any fisherman," asked the prince, "whose name is Yü Ch'ieh?"
Being told there was, the prince gave orders for his appearance at court; and the next day Yü Ch'ieh had an audience.
"Fisherman," said the prince, "what have you caught?"
"I have netted a white tortoise," replied the fisherman, "five feet in semi-circumference."
"Bring your tortoise," said the prince. But when it came, the prince could not make up his mind whether to kill it or keep it alive. Thus in doubt, he had recourse to divination, and received the following response:—
Slay the tortoise for purposes of divination and good fortune will result.
So the tortoise was despatched. After which, out of seventy-two omens taken, not a single one proved false.
"A divine tortoise," said Confucius, "can appear to prince Yüan in a dream, yet it cannot escape the net of Yü Ch'ieh. Its wisdom can yield seventy-two faultless omens, yet it cannot escape the misery of being cut to pieces. Truly wisdom has its limits; spirituality, that which it cannot reach.
"In spite of the highest wisdom, there are countless snares to be avoided; If a fish has not to fear nets, there are always pelicans. Get rid of small wisdom, and great wisdom will shine upon you. Put away goodness and you will be naturally good. A child does not learn to speak because taught by professors of the art, but because it lives among people who can themselves speak."
Hui Tzŭ said to Chuang Tzŭ, "Your theme, Sir, is the useless."
"You must understand the useless," replied Chuang Tzŭ, "before you can discuss the useful.
"For instance, the earth is of huge proportions, yet man uses of it only as much as is covered by the sole of his foot. By and by, he turns up his toes and goes beneath it to the Yellow Spring. Has he any further use for it?"
"He has none," replied Hui Tzŭ.
"And in like manner," replied Chuang Tzŭ, "may be demonstrated the use of the useless.
"Could a man transcend the limits of the human," said Chuang Tzŭ, "would he not do so? Unable to do so, how should he succeed?
"The determination to retire, to renounce the world,—such alas! is not the fruit of perfect wisdom or immaculate virtue. From cataclysms ahead, these do not turn back; nor do they heed the approach of devouring flame. Although there are class distinctions of high and low, these are but for a time, and under the changed conditions of a new sphere are unknown.
In the transcendental state.
"Wherefore it has been said, 'The perfect man leaves no trace behind.'
"For instance, to glorify the past and to condemn the present has always been the way of the scholar.
Laudator temporis acti.
Yet if Hsi Wei Shih and individuals of that class
Sc. patriarchs.
were caused to re-appear in the present day, which of them but would accommodate himself to the age?
"Only the perfect man can transcend the limits of the human and yet not withdraw from the world, live in accord with mankind and yet suffer no injury himself. Of the world's teachings he learns nothing. He has that within which makes him independent of others.
"If the eye is unobstructed, the result is sight. If the ear is unobstructed the result is hearing. If the nose is unobstructed, the result is sense of smell. If the mouth is unobstructed, the result is sense of taste. If the mind is unobstructed, the result is wisdom. If wisdom is unobstructed, the result is Tê.
"Tao may not be obstructed. To obstruct is to strangle. This affects the base, and all evils spring into life.
"All sentient beings depend upon breath. If this does not reach them in sufficient quantity, it is not the fault of God. God supplies it day and night without cease, but man stops the passage.
"Man has for himself a spacious domain. His mind may roam to heaven. If there is no room in the house, the wife and her mother-in-law run against one another. If the mind cannot roam to heaven, the faculties will be in a state of antagonism. Those who would benefit mankind from deep forests or lofty mountains are simply unequal to the strain upon their higher natures.
It is for that reason they become hermits.
"Ill-regulated virtue ends in reputation. Ill-regulated reputation ends in notoriety. Scheming leads to confusion. Knowledge begets contentions. Obstinacy produces stupidity. Organised government is for the general good of all.
"Spring rains come in due season, and plants and shrubs burst up from the earth. Weeding and tending do not begin until such plants and shrubs have reached more than half their growth, and without being conscious of the fact.
"Repose gives health to the sick. Rubbing the eyelids removes the wrinkles of old age. Quiet will dispel anxieties. These remedies however are the resource only of those who need them. Others who are free from such ills pay no attention thereto.
"That which the true Sage marvels at in the empire, claims not the attention of the Divine man. That which the truly virtuous man marvels at in his own sphere, claims not the attention of the true Sage. That which the superior man marvels at in his State, claims not the attention of the truly virtuous man. How the mean man adapts himself to his age, claims not the attention of the superior man.