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Chuang Tzu
BOOK V.
PART I. SECTION V.
Teh Khung Fu, or 'The Seal of Virtue Complete.'
1. In Lu there was a
Wang Thai who had lost
both his feet; while
his disciples who followed and went about with him were as numerous as those of Kung-ni.
Khang Ki asked Kung-ni
about him, saying, 'Though Wang Thai is a cripple, the disciples who follow him about
divide Lu equally with you, Master. When he stands, he does not teach them; when he sits,
he does not discourse to them. But they go to him empty, and come back full. Is there
indeed such a thing as instruction without words? and while the body is imperfect, may the mind be complete? What sort of man
is he?'
Kung-ni replied, 'This master is a sage. I have only been too
late in going to him. I will make him my teacher; and how much more should those do so
who are not equal to me! Why should only the state of Lu follow him? I will lead on all
under heaven with me to do so.' Khang Ki rejoined, 'He is a man who has lost his feet,
and yet he is known as the venerable Wang;—he must be very different from ordinary men. What is the peculiar way
in which he employs his mind?' The reply was, 'Death and life are great considerations,
but they could work no change in him. Though heaven and earth were to be overturned and
fall, they would occasion him no loss. His judgment is fixed regarding that in which there
is no element of falsehood;
and, while other things change, he changes not. The transformations of things are to him
the developments prescribed for them, and he keeps fast hold of the author of them.'
Khang Ki said, 'What do you mean? When we look at things,' said Kung-ni, 'as they differ,
we see them to be different, (as for instance) the liver and the gall, or Khu and Yueh;
when we look at them, as they agree, we see them all to be a unity. So it is with this
(Wang Thai). He takes no knowledge of the things for which his ears and eyes are the appropriate
organs, but his mind delights itself in the harmony of (all excellent) qualities. He looks
at the unity which belongs to things, and does not perceive where they have suffered loss.
He looks on the loss of his feet as only the loss of so much
earth.'
Khang Ki said, 'He is entirely occupied with his (proper) self. By his knowledge he has discovered (the nature of) his mind, and to that he
holds as what is unchangeable; but how is
it that men make so much of him?' The reply was, 'Men do not look into running water as
a mirror, but into still water;—it is only the still water that can arrest them
all, and keep them (in the contemplation of their real selves). Of things which are what
they are by the influence of the earth, it is only the pine and cypress which are the
best instances;—in winter as in summer brightly green.
Of those which were what they were by the influence of Heaven,
the most correct examples were Yao and Shun; fortunate in (thus) maintaining their own
life correct, and so as to correct the lives of others.
'As a verification of the (power of) the original endowment, when it has been preserved,
take the result of fearlessness,—how the heroic spirit of a single brave soldier
has been thrown into an army of nine hosts.
If a man only seeking for fame and able in this way to secure it can produce such an effect,
how much more (may we look for a greater result) from one whose
rule is over heaven and earth, and holds all things in his treasury, who simply has his
lodging in the six members
of his body, whom his ears and eyes serve but as conveying emblematic images of things,
who comprehends all his knowledge in a unity, and whose mind never dies! If such a man
were to choose a day on which he would ascend far on high, men would (seek to) follow
him there. But how should he be willing to occupy himself with other men?'
2. Shan-thu Kia was (another)
man who had lost his feet. Along with dze-khan
of Kang he studied under the master Po-hwan
Wu-zan. Dze-khan said
to him (one day), 'If I go out first, do you remain behind; and if you go out first, I
will remain behind.' Next day they were again sitting together on the same mat in the
hall, when Dze-khan spoke the same words to him, adding,' Now I am about to go out; will
you stay behind or not? Moreover, when you see one of official rank (like myself), you
do not try to get out of his way;—do you consider yourself equal to one of official
rank?' Shan-thu Kia replied, 'In our Master's school is there indeed such recognition
required of official rank? You are one, Sir, whose pleasure is in your official rank,
and would therefore take precedence of other men. I have heard
that when a mirror is bright, the dust does not rest on it; when dust rests on it the
mirror is not bright. When one dwells long with a man of ability and virtue, he comes
to be without error. There now is our teacher whom you have chosen to make you greater
than you are; and when you still talk in this way, are you not in error?' Dze-khan rejoined,
'A (shattered) object as you are, you would still strive to make yourself out as good
as Yao! If I may form an estimate of your virtue, might it not be sufficient to lead you
to the examination of yourself?' The other said, 'Most criminals, in describing their
offences, would make it out that they ought not to have lost (their feet) for them; few
would describe them so as to make it appear that they should not have preserved their
feet. They are only the virtuous who know that such a calamity was unavoidable, and therefore
rest in it as what was appointed for them. When men stand before (an archer like) I
with his bent bow, if they are in the middle of his field, that is the place where they
should be hit; and if they be not hit, that also was appointed. There are many with their
feet entire who laugh at me because I have lost my feet, which makes me feel vexed and
angry. But when I go to our teacher, I throw off that feeling, and return (to a better
mood);—he has washed, without my knowing it, the other from me by (his instructions
in) what is good. I have attended him now for nineteen years, and have not known that
I am without my feet. Now, you, Sir, and I have for the object of our study the
(virtue) which is internal, and not an adjunct of the body, and yet you are continually
directing your attention to my external body;—are you not wrong in this?' Dze-khan
felt uneasy, altered his manner and looks, and said, 'You need not, Sir, say anything
more about it.'
3. In Lu there was a cripple, called Shu-shan the Toeless,
who came on his heels to see Kung-ni. Kung-ni said to him, 'By your want of circumspection
in the past, Sir, you have incurred such a calamity;—of what use is your coming
to me now?' Toeless said, 'Through my ignorance of my proper business and taking too little
care of my body, I came to lose my feet. But now I am come to you, still possessing what
is more honourable than my feet, and which therefore I am anxious to preserve entire.
There is nothing which Heaven does not cover, and nothing which Earth does not sustain;
you, Master, were regarded by me as doing the part of Heaven and Earth;—how could
I know that you would receive me in such a way?' Confucius rejoined, 'I am but a poor
creature. But why, my master, do you not come inside, where I will try to tell you what
I have learned?' When Toeless had gone out, Confucius said, 'Be stimulated to effort,
my disciples. This toeless cripple is still anxious to learn to make up for the evil of
his former conduct;—how much more should those be so whose conduct has been unchallenged!'
Mr. Toeless, however, told Lao Tan (of the interview), saying,
'Khung Khiu, I apprehend, has not yet attained to be a Perfect man. What has he to do
with keeping a crowd of disciples around him? He is seeking to the reputation of being
an extraordinary and marvellous man, and does not know that the Perfect man considers
this to be as handcuffs and fetters to him.' Lao Tan said, 'Why did you not simply lead
him to see the unity of life and death, and that the admissible and inadmissible belong
to one category, so freeing him from his fetters? Would this be possible?' Toeless said,
'It is the punishment inflicted on him by Heaven.
How can he be freed from it?'
4. Duke Ai of Lu asked
Kung-ni, saying, 'There was an ugly man in Wei, called Ai-thai Tho.
His father-in-law, who lived with him, thought so much of him that he could not be away
from him. His wife, when she saw him (ugly as he was), represented to her parents, saying,
"I had more than ten times rather be his concubine than the wife of any other man."
He was never heard to take the lead in discussion, but always seemed to be of the same
opinion with others. He had not the position of a ruler, so as to be able to save men
from death. He had no revenues, so as to be able to satisfy men's craving for food. He
was ugly enough, moreover, to scare the whole world. He agreed
with men instead of trying to lead them to adopt his views; his knowledge did not go beyond
his immediate neighbourhood.
And yet his father-in-law and his wife were of one mind about him in his presence (as
I have said);—he must have been different from other men. I called him, and saw
him. Certainly he was ugly enough to scare the whole world. He had not lived with me,
however. for many months, when I was drawn to the man; and before he had been with me
a full year, I had confidence in him. The state being without a chief minister, I (was
minded) to commit the government to him. He responded to my proposal sorrowfully, and
looked undecided as if he would fain have declined it. I was ashamed of myself (as inferior
to him), but finally gave the government into his hands. In a little time, however, he
left me and went away. I was sorry and felt that I had sustained a loss, and as if there
were no other to share the pleasures of the kingdom with me. What sort of man was he?'
Kung-ni said, 'Once when I was sent on a mission to Khu, I saw some pigs sucking at their
dead mother. After a little they looked with rapid glances, when they all left her, and
ran away. They felt that she did not see them, and that she was no longer like themselves.
What they had loved in their mother was not her bodily figure, but what had given animation
to her figure. When a man dies in battle, they do not at his interment employ the usual
appendages of plumes:
as to supplying shoes to one who has lost his feet, there is no reason why he should care
for them;—in neither case is there the the proper reason for their use'. The members
of the royal harem do not pare their nails nor pierce their ears;
when a man is newly married, he remains (for a time) absent from his official duties,
and unoccupied with them. That their bodies
might be perfect was sufficient to make them thus dealt with;—how much greater results
should be expected from men whose mental gifts are perfect! This Ai-thai Tho was believed
by men, though he did not speak a word, and was loved by them, though he did no special
service for them. He made men appoint him to the government of their states, afraid only
that he would not accept the appointment. He must have been a man whose powers
were perfect, though his realisation of them
was not manifested in his person.'
Duke Ai said, 'What is meant by saying that his powers were complete?' Kung-ni replied,
'Death and life, preservation and ruin, failure and success, poverty and wealth, superiority
and inferiority, blame and praise, hunger and thirst, cold and heat;—these are the
changes of circumstances, the operation of our appointed lot. Day and night they succeed
to one another before us, but there is no wisdom able to discover
to what they owe their origination. They are not sufficient therefore to disturb the harmony
(of the nature), and are not allowed to enter into the treasury of intelligence. To cause
this harmony and satisfaction ever to be diffused, while the feeling of pleasure is not
lost from the mind; to allow no break to arise in this state day or night, so that it
is always spring-time
in his relations with external things; in all his experiences to realise in his mind what
is appropriate to each season (of the year):—these
are the characteristics of him whose powers are perfect.'
'And what do you mean by the realisation of these powers not being manifested in the person?'
(pursued further the duke). The reply was, 'There is nothing so level as the surface of
a pool of still water. It may serve as an example of what I mean. All within its circuit
is preserved (in peace), and there comes to it no agitation from without. The virtuous
efficacy is the perfect cultivation of the harmony (of the nature). Though the realisation
of this be not manifested in the person, things cannot separate themselves (from its influence).'
Some days afterwards duke Ai told this conversation to Min Tzu,
saying, 'Formerly it seemed to me the work of the sovereign to stand in court with his
face to the south, to rule the kingdom, and to pay good heed to the accounts of the people
concerned, lest any should come to a (miserable) death;—this
I considered to be the sum (of his duty). Now that I have heard that description of the
Perfect man, I fear that my idea is not the real one, and that, by employing myself too
lightly, I may cause the ruin of my state. I and Khung Khiu are not on the footing of
ruler and subject, but on that of a virtuous friendship.'
5. A person who had no lips, whose legs were bent so that he could only walk on his toes,
and who was (otherwise) deformed,
addressed his counsels to duke Ling of Wei, who was so pleased with him, that he looked
on a perfectly formed man as having a lean and small neck in comparison with him. Another
who had a large goitre like an earthenware jar
addressed his counsels to duke Hwan of Khi,
who was so pleased with him that he looked on a perfectly formed man as having a neck
lean and small in comparison with him.
So it is that when one's virtue is extraordinary, (any deficiency in) his bodily form
may be forgotten. When men do not forget what is (easily) forgotten, and forget what is
not (easily) forgotten, we have a case of real oblivion. Therefore the sagely man has
that in which his mind finds its enjoyment, and (looks on) wisdom as (but) the shoots
from an old stump; agreements with others are to him but so much glue; kindnesses are
(but the arts of) intercourse; and great skill is (but as) merchants'
wares. The sagely man lays no plans;—of what use would wisdom be to him? He has
no cutting and hacking to do;—of what use would glue be to him? He has lost nothing;
of what use would arts of intercourse be to him? He has no goods to dispose of;—what
need has he to play the merchant? (The want of) these four things are the nourishment
of (his) Heavenly (nature); that nourishment is its Heavenly food. Since he receives this
food from Heaven, what need has he for anything of man's (devising)? He has the bodily
form of man, but not the passions and desires of (other) men. He has the form of man,
and therefore he is a man. Being without the passions and desires of men, their approvings
and disapprovings are not to be found in him. How insignificant and small is (the body)
by which he belongs to humanity! How grand and great is he in the unique perfection of
his Heavenly (nature)!
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, 'Can a man indeed be without desires and passions?' The reply
was, 'He can.' 'But on what grounds do you call him a man, who is thus without passions
and desires?' Chuang Tzu said, 'The Tao
gives him his personal appearance (and powers); Heaven
gives him his bodily form; how should we not call him a man?' Hui Tzu rejoined, 'Since
you call him a man, how can he be without passions and desires?'
The reply was, 'You are misunderstanding what I mean by passions and desires. What I mean
when I say that he is without these is, that this man does not by his likings and dislikings
do any inward harm to his body;—he always pursues his course without effort, and
does not (try to) increase his (store of) life.' Hui Tzu rejoined, 'If there were not
that increasing of (the amount) of life, how would he get his body?'
Chuang Tzu said, 'The Tao gives him his personal appearance (and powers); Heaven gives
him his bodily form; and he does not by his likings and dislikings do any internal harm
to his body. But now you, Sir, deal with your spirit as if it were something external
to you, and subject your vital powers to toil. You sing (your ditties), leaning against
a tree; you go to sleep, grasping the stump of a rotten dryandra tree. Heaven selected
for you the bodily form (of a man), and you babble about what is strong and what is white.'
1 See pp. 133, 134.
2 The native state
of Confucius, part of the present Shan-tung.
3 A Taoist of complete
virtue; but probably there was not really such a person. Our author fabricates him according
to his fashion.
4 The character uh
(###) does not say that he had lost both his feet, but I suppose that such is the meaning,
because of what is said of Toeless below that 'he walked on his heels to see Confucius.'
The feet must have been amputated, or mutilated rather (justly or unjustly), as a punishment;
but Chuang Tzu wished to say nothing on that point.
5 Perhaps a disciple
of Confucius;—not elsewhere mentioned as such.
6 Seethe Tao Teh King,
ch. 2.
7 Literally, 'the
Senior;' often rendered 'Teacher.'
8 'That in which there
is no element of falsehood' is the Tao, which also is the 'Author' of all the changes
that take place in time and space. See the Introductory Note on the title and subject
of the Book.
9 Wang Thai saw all
things in the Tao, and the Tao in all things. Comp. Book XI, par. 7, et al.
10 Notwithstanding
his being a cripple. He forgets that circumstance himself, and all others forget it, constrained
and won by his embodiment of the Tao. What follows is an illustration of this, exaggerated
indeed, but not so extravagantly as in many other passages.
11 In the Taoistic
meaning of the term.
12 The royal army
consisted of six hosts; that of a great feudal prince of three. 'Nine hosts' = a very
great army.
13 The arms, legs,
head, and trunk.
14 Another cripple
introduced by our author to serve his purpose.
15 Kung-sun Khiao;
a good and able minister of Kang, an earldom forming part of the present Ho-nan. He was
a contemporary of Confucius, who wept when he heard of his death in B. C. 522. He was
a scion of the ruling house, which again was a branch of the royal family of Kau.
16 A Taoist teacher.
See XXI, par. 9; XXXII, par. 1.
17 A famous archer
of antiquity in the twenty-second century B.C., or perhaps earlier.
18 'Toeless' is a
sort of nickname. Shu-shan or Shu hill was, probably, where he dwelt:—'Toeless of
Shu hill.'
19 'Heaven' here is
a synonym of Tao. Perhaps the meaning is 'unavoidable;' it is so in the Taoistic order
of things.
20 It was in the sixteenth
year of duke Ai that Confucius died. Ai was marquis of Lu from B.C. 494 to 468.
21 The account of
Ai-thai Tho is of course Chuang Tzu's own fabrication. Ai-thai is understood to be descriptive
of his ugliness, and Tho to be his name.
22 Perhaps this was
spoken by his wife before their marriage.
23 One sees dimly
the applicability of this illustration to the case in hand. What made Ai-thai Tho so much
esteemed was his mental power, quite independent of his ugly person.
24 See the Li Ki VIII,
i, 7; but the applicability of these two illustrations is not so clear.
25 These two have
force as in 'reasoning from the less to t e greater.' With the latter of the two compare
the mosaical provision in Deuteronomy xxiv. 5.
26 'Powers' are the
capacities of the nature,—the gift of the Tao. 'Virtue' is the realisation or carrying
out of those capacities.
27 Specially the season
of complacent enjoyment.
28 So, in Lin Hsi-kung;
but the meaning has to be forced out of the text.
29 The disciple Min
Sun or Min Dze-Khien.
30 These two men are
undoubtedly inventions of Chuang Tzu. They are brought before us, not by surnames and
names, but by their several deformities.
31 The first of the
five presiding chiefs; marquis of Khi from B.C. 685 to 643.
32 Lin Hsi-kung wonders
whether the story of the man who was so taken with the charms of a one-eyed courtesan,
that he thought other women all had an eye too many, was taken from this!
33 Lu Shu-kih maintains
here that 'the Tao' and 'Heaven' have the same meaning; nor does he make any distinction
between mao (###), 'the personal appearance,' and hsing (###), 'the figure' or 'bodily
form.'
34 Compare in the
Tao Teh King expressions in li, 2, and lv, 5.
35 Apparently a gross
meaning attached by Hui Tzu to Chuang Tzu's words.
36 Chuang Tzu beats
down his opponent, and contemptuously refers to some of his well-known peculiarities;—as
in II, par. 5, XXXIII, par. 7, and elsewhere.
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