Responding to Emperors and Kings

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Nie Que asked Wang Ni. Four times he asked, and four times Wang Ni said he did not know. Nie Que then leaped up in great joy and went to tell Puyi Zi. Puyi Zi said, 'Is it only now that you understand this? The Youyu clan was not equal to the Tai clan. The Youyu clan still hid benevolence to win people over; they did win people, but never emerged from the non-human. The Tai clan: when it slept, it was calm and unhurried; when it woke, it was blank and unknowing.'

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At one moment he regarded himself as a horse; at another, as a cow. His knowing was true and trustworthy, his virtue utterly genuine; yet he never entered into the non-human.

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Jian Wu went to see Jie Yu the madman. Jie Yu the madman said, 'What did Ri Zhongshi tell you?'

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Jian Wu said, 'He told me: a ruler of men issues from himself the norms, models, principles, and measures; who among the people would dare not obey and be transformed by them!'

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Jie Yu the madman said, 'That is a virtue that deceives. In governing the world, it is like crossing the sea, cutting a river, and making a mosquito carry a mountain. As for the sage's governing, does he govern what is external? He rectifies himself and then acts; firmly, he is able to let each do its own task, and that is all. Moreover, birds fly high to avoid the harm of arrows, and field mice burrow deep beneath the sacred mound to avoid the calamity of smoking and digging—how then can you say these two creatures have no knowledge?'

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Tian Gen was wandering in Yinyang. He came to the banks of the Liao River and happened to meet the Nameless Man. He asked him, 'May I ask how to govern the world?'

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The Nameless Man said, 'Go away! You are a vulgar man! Why is your question so displeasing? I am just now about to become a companion of the Creator. When I tire of that, I ride the bird of the vast and dim, to go beyond the six extremities, wander in the land of Nothing-Whatsoever, and dwell in the wilds of the broad waste. What business do you have to stir my mind with governing the world?'

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He asked again. The Nameless Man said, 'Let your mind wander in blandness, merge your qi in stillness, follow the naturalness of things and allow no private partiality to enter—then the world will be governed.'

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Yang Ziju went to see Lao Dan and said, “Suppose there is a man here: swift and forceful, thoroughly penetrating things with clear discernment, and untiring in learning the Way—could such a person be compared to an enlightened king?”

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Lao Dan said, “In relation to a sage, such a man is one who is driven like a servant, tied by his craft, wearing out his body and unsettling his mind. Moreover, the markings of tigers and leopards draw hunters, while agile monkeys and dogs that seize wildcats draw the leash. Can such a one be compared to an enlightened king?”

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Yang Ziju, his expression changing in awe, said, “May I ask about the governance of an enlightened king?”

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Lao Dan said, “The governance of the enlightened king: his achievement covers the world, yet it seems not to come from himself; his transforming generosity extends to all things, yet the people do not depend on him. No one invokes his name, and things delight in themselves. He stands in the unfathomable and wanders in nonbeing.”

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In Zheng there was a spirit medium named Ji Xian. He knew people's death and life, survival and ruin, misfortune and blessing, longevity and early death. He could foretell the time of fulfillment by year, month, ten-day period, or day, as if divine. When the people of Zheng saw him, they all fled from him. Liezi saw him and was intoxicated in his heart. He returned and told Hu Zi, saying: 'At first I took the Master's Way to be the highest, but now there is something even higher.'

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Hu Zi said: 'What I have taught you so far is only the outward form of the Way, not its substance. Do you think you have attained it? Even with many female birds, if there is no male, how could there be eggs? Yet you use what you have learned of the Way to contend with the world, and are bound to expose yourself. That is why someone can read your features. Try bringing him here and let him see me.'

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The next day, Liezi brought him to see Hu Zi. He came out and said to Liezi: 'Alas! Your teacher is going to die! He will not live! He cannot last beyond ten days! I saw something strange; I saw damp ashes.'

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Liezi went in, and his weeping tears soaked his lapels as he told Hu Zi. Hu Zi said: 'Just now I showed him the pattern of earth: sprouting, yet not stirred, not upright. He probably saw that I had blocked the mechanism of Virtue. Try bringing him again.'

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The next day, Liezi again went with him to see Huzi. Coming out, he said to Liezi, "How fortunate! Your master has met me; he will recover! He is completely alive! I saw his blocked mechanism beginning to stir."

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Liezi went in and told Huzi. Huzi said, "A moment ago I showed him the heavenly soil. Name and reality did not enter, and the mechanism issued from the heel. He probably saw my good mechanism. Try bringing him again."

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The next day, Liezi again went with him to see Huzi. Coming out, he said to Liezi, "Your master is not uniform; I cannot physiognomize him. Try to make him uniform, and I will physiognomize him again."

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Liezi went in and told Huzi. Huzi said, "A moment ago I showed him the Great Void where nothing prevails. He probably saw my balanced qi mechanism. A deep pool forms where the great fish circles and gathers; another where still water gathers; another where flowing water gathers. There are nine names for such pools; here are three. Try bringing him again."

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The next day, Liezi again went with him to see Huzi. Before he could stand firm, he lost himself and ran off. Huzi said, "Chase him!"

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Liezi chased him but could not catch up. He returned and reported to Huzi, saying, "He has vanished, he is gone; I cannot catch him."

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Huzi said, "Just now I showed him that which has not yet emerged from my source. I was empty and yielding with him; he did not know who or what I was. Thus he took me to be yielding and compliant, thus he took me to be drifting with the waves; therefore he fled."

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Then Liezi felt he had not yet truly begun to learn, and returned home. For three years he did not go out. He cooked for his wife and fed pigs as he would feed people, showing no partiality in his dealings. He put aside embellishment and returned to simplicity, standing like a clod in his own natural form. Amid the world's bustle he kept to what was genuine, and remained so to the end.

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Do not be a corpse for fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes; do not be a bearer of affairs; do not be a master of knowledge. Embody the boundless to the full and wander where there is no trace. Exhaust what you have received from Heaven without regarding it as a gain—this is simply emptiness. The Perfect Person’s use of mind is like a mirror: it does not send off, does not welcome; it responds but does not retain. Therefore he can prevail over things without being harmed.

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The emperor of the South Sea was Shu; the emperor of the North Sea was Hu; the emperor of the Center was Hundun. Shu and Hu often met in Hundun’s territory, and Hundun treated them very well. Shu and Hu plotted to repay Hundun’s kindness, saying, 'All people have seven openings for seeing, hearing, eating, and breathing; this one alone has none. Let us try boring them for him.'

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Each day they bored one opening, and on the seventh day Hundun died.

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