The Mountain Tree

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Zhuangzi was walking in the mountains and saw a great tree, whose branches and leaves were thick and flourishing. Woodcutters stopped beside it but did not take it. He asked the reason, and they said, "There is nothing about it that can be used."

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Zhuangzi said, "This tree, by being useless as timber, is able to live out its natural lifespan."

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The Master came out from the mountains and lodged at an old friend's house. The old friend was delighted and ordered a young servant to kill a wild goose and cook it. The young servant asked for instructions, saying, "One of them can call, and the other cannot; which one shall I kill?"

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The host said, "Kill the one that cannot call."

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The next day, a disciple asked Zhuangzi, "Yesterday the tree in the mountains, by being useless as timber, was able to live out its natural lifespan; today the host's wild goose, by being useless, dies. Where will you place yourself, Master?"

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Zhuangzi laughed and said: 'I, Zhou, will place myself between being useful and being useless. Between useful and useless seems so, yet is not; therefore one cannot avoid entanglement. But if one rides on the Way and its virtue and wanders freely, it is not so: without praise and without blame, now a dragon, now a snake, changing with the times, and unwilling to be fixed in any one course. Now up, now down, taking harmony as the measure, wandering in the source of all things.'

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To work with things without being controlled by them—how could one be entangled! This is the rule of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor. As for the true nature of the myriad things and the transmission of human relations, it is not so: joined, then separated; completed, then destroyed; upright, then thwarted; honored, then criticized; active, then diminished; worthy, then plotted against; the unworthy, then bullied. How can anything be made certain! How sad! Disciples, remember this: perhaps it is only the homeland of the Way and its virtue!

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Shinan Yiliao had an audience with the Marquis of Lu, who wore a worried expression. Master Shinan said: 'You, my lord, wear a worried expression—why?'

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The Marquis of Lu said: 'I study the way of the former kings and cultivate the legacy of the former rulers; I revere ghosts and honor the worthy, and I personally practice these things without departing from them for a moment. Yet I cannot avoid trouble; this is why I am worried.'

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Master Shinan said: 'Your method of removing trouble is shallow! The great foxes and patterned leopards dwell in the mountains and forests and hide in rocky caves—this is their stillness. They travel by night and rest by day—this is their caution. Though hungry and thirsty, they still keep their distance amid the rivers and lakes while seeking food—this is their settled way. Yet they cannot avoid the trouble of nets, snares, and traps. What crime do they have? It is their skins that bring disaster on them.'

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Now, is the state of Lu not just your outer skin? I wish that you would hollow out your form and strip away the skin, wash your heart and remove desires, and wander in the wild where no one is. In southern Yue there is a settlement named the Country of Established Virtue. Its people are foolish and plain, with few private interests and scant desires; they know how to work but not how to store things away; they give and do not seek repayment; they do not know where rightness is headed, nor where ritual propriety is leading.

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They act with unrestrained abandon and move as they please; thus they tread the Great Way. In life they can be joyful; in death they can be buried. I wish you, my lord, to leave the state and cast off custom, and to walk together with the Way in mutual support.

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The lord said: 'That road is distant and perilous, and there are rivers and mountains besides. I have neither boat nor carriage—what am I to do?'

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Shinanzi said: 'Let there be no arrogance in your bodily form, and do not remain fixed in one place; make these your carriage.'

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The lord said: 'That road is deep and remote, with no people. With whom shall I be neighbors? I have no grain and no food—how could I reach there?'

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Master Shinan said: 'Lessen your expenditures and diminish your desires; though there be no grain, you will still be sufficient. You should cross the River and float out upon the sea. Gazing toward it, one does not see its shore; the farther you go, the less you know its limit. Those who see you off will all turn back from the shore. From this point you will be far away! Therefore, one who owns others is burdened; one who is owned by others is anxious. Thus Yao did not own others, nor was he owned by others.'

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I wish to remove your burdens and dispel your worries, and to wander alone with the Dao in the country of Great Nothing. When one is crossing a river in two boats joined side by side, and an empty boat comes and strikes the boat, even a narrow-minded person will not become angry. But if there is someone on that boat, one calls out to him to steer clear. If the first call is not heard, and the second call is not heard, then on the third call one is sure to follow with angry words.

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Earlier you were not angry, but now you are angry: earlier it was empty, now it is full. If a person can make himself empty and wander through the world, who can harm him?

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Beigong She, for Duke Ling of Wei, collected taxes to cast bells, and built an altar outside the outer city gate. In three months he completed the upper and lower suspension/arrangement of the bells. Prince Qingji saw him and asked, 'What method have you employed?'

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Beigong She said: 'Within the One, I did not dare to set up anything. I have heard it said: "Having carved and having polished, one returns to uncarved simplicity."'

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I was simple and unknowing, as if without knowledge; I was vague and drifting, as if slack and uncertain. In the gathering blur, I merely sent off what departed and welcomed what arrived. Those who came I did not forbid; those who went I did not stop. I followed the strong and overbearing, went along with the bent and dependent, and let each exhaust itself. Thus, though I collected levies morning and evening, not a hair was harmed—how much more so for one who possesses the Great Way!

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Confucius was surrounded between Chen and Cai and for seven days had no cooked food. Dagong Ren went to console him and said, “Master, were you not close to death?”

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Confucius said, “Yes.”

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Dagong Ren said, “Do you detest death?”

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Confucius said, “Yes.”

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Ren said, 'I once spoke of the way of not dying. In the Eastern Sea there is a bird named Yidai. As a bird, it flutters weakly and seems incapable; it flies only when drawn along, and perches only when pressed close; advancing, it dares not go in front; retreating, it dares not lag behind; eating, it dares not taste first, but must take the leftovers. For this reason it is not rejected in its ranks, and outsiders in the end cannot harm it; thus it escapes misfortune.'

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“Straight trees are felled first; sweet wells are drained first. You perhaps think: ‘I embellish knowledge to startle the foolish; I cultivate myself to make defilement manifest; I shine brightly as if carrying the sun and moon as I walk.’ Therefore you cannot escape. Long ago I heard the man of great completion say: ‘Those who praise themselves have no merit; those who complete merit fall; those who complete fame are diminished.’”

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'Who can discard merit and fame and return to be with the common crowd? The Way flows but does not dwell in the bright; virtue is put into practice but claims no name. Pure and ordinary, one is compared to a madman; erasing traces, discarding power, not acting for merit or fame. Therefore he finds no fault with others, and others find no fault with him. The Perfect Man is not known—why are you delighted?'

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Confucius said, 'Excellent!'

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He took leave of his associates, left his disciples, fled to the great marshes, wore furs and coarse cloth, ate acorns and chestnuts; entering among beasts, he did not disturb the herd; entering among birds, he did not disturb the flock. Birds and beasts did not loathe him—how much less would people!

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Confucius asked Zisang Hu, saying: “I was expelled from Lu twice, suffered the felling of a tree in Song, had my traces erased in Wei, was reduced to hardship in Shang and Zhou, and was besieged between Chen and Cai. Having encountered these several calamities, my kin and close associates have grown more distant and my disciples and friends more scattered. Why is this?”

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Zisang Hu said: “Have you not heard of the flight of the people of Jia? Lin Hui abandoned a jade disk worth a thousand pieces of gold and, carrying an infant on his back, fled. Someone said: ‘Was it for gain? The infant brings little material gain. Was it for the burden? The infant’s burden is great. To abandon a jade disk worth a thousand pieces of gold and carry an infant on his back as he flees—why is this?’”

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Lin Hui said: “That one is joined by profit; this one is bound by natural kinship.”

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Those joined by profit, when pressed by poverty, misfortune, trouble, and harm, abandon one another. Those joined by natural ties, when pressed by poverty, misfortune, trouble, and harm, take one another in. The distance between taking in and abandoning is great indeed. Moreover, the friendship of the noble person is bland as water; the friendship of the petty person is sweet as sweet wine. The noble person is bland yet intimate; the petty person is sweet yet severed. Those who join without cause will separate without cause.”

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Confucius said: “I respectfully receive your instruction.”

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He walked back slowly and leisurely, cut off learning and threw away books; his disciples no longer bowed before him, yet their affection for him increased all the more. Another day, Sang Hu said again: “When Shun was about to die, he admonished Yu in earnest, saying: ‘Be on your guard! For the body, nothing is better than following along; for the feelings, nothing is better than following one’s true nature.’”

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Follow along, and one does not become separated; follow one’s true nature, and one is not toiled. Not separated and not toiled, one does not seek adornment to serve the body. Not seeking adornment to serve the body, one naturally does not depend on things.”

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Zhuangzi wore a robe of coarse cloth that had been patched; he straightened his belt and tied his shoes, and passed by the King of Wei. The King of Wei said: “Why is the Master so worn out?”

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Zhuangzi said: “It is poverty, not exhaustion. When a scholar possesses the Way and its virtue but cannot put them into practice, that is exhaustion; worn clothes and shoes with holes are poverty, not exhaustion—this is what is called not meeting the right time. Has the King not seen the leaping monkey? When it finds itself among nan, zi, and yuzhang trees, it grasps the vines and branches and lords it over them as king and elder; even Yi and Fengmeng could not look at it askance.

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When it reaches the midst of zhe, ji, zhi, and gou thickets, it walks warily and looks sideways, trembling and shuddering. This is not because its sinews and bones have become more tense and no longer supple, but because its situation is disadvantageous, not enough for it to display its ability. Now to dwell between a benighted ruler and chaotic ministers and wish not to be exhausted—how could that be possible? This is the proof of Bi Gan’s having his heart cut out!”

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Confucius was stranded between Chen and Cai and for seven days had no fire-cooked food. With his left hand resting on a withered tree and his right striking a withered branch, he sang the air of the Biao clan: there was the instrument but no fixed measure; there was sound but no gong or jue notes. The sound of the wood and the sound of the man were distinct and fittingly attuned to the human heart. Yan Hui held his hands clasped respectfully and turned his eyes to look at him.

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Zhongni feared that he might enlarge himself into grandiosity and love himself into grief. He said, “Hui, not to receive Heaven’s harm is easy; not to receive man’s benefit is hard. There is no beginning that is not also an end; man and Heaven are one. Who is it, then, that sings now?”

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Yan Hui said, “May I ask what is meant by ‘it is easy not to suffer harm from Heaven’?”

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Zhongni said, “Hunger and thirst, cold and heat, being distressed and constrained so that one cannot proceed—these are the courses of Heaven and Earth, the flow of things in motion. This is what is meant by saying, ‘pass away together with them.’ As a subject, one dares not depart from them. If holding to the way of a subject is already like this, how much more so the way of facing Heaven!”

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“What does ‘not to receive man’s benefit is hard’ mean?”

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Zhongni said: “At first being employed, one reaches everywhere; rank and emolument both arrive and do not run out. The benefit that comes from things is not the self; my mandate has what lies outside me. The gentleman does not act as a robber, the worthy does not steal—if I were to take it, what would that be? Hence it is said: No bird is wiser than the yier swallow; where its eyes deem it unfit to stay, it does not give a glance; even if it drops a fruit, it abandons it and flies away. It fears humans, yet it enters among human dwellings.

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The altars of soil and grain remain there—that is all!

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“What is meant by ‘there is no beginning that is not also an end’?”

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Zhongni said, “The myriad things are transformed and succeed one another, yet how this succession occurs remains unknown. How could one know where it ends or begins? Remain upright and await the changes—that is all.”

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“What is meant by ‘humans and Heaven are one’?”

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Zhongni said, “There is the human, and this is Heaven; there is Heaven, and that too is Heaven. Human beings cannot take possession of Heaven: such is their nature. The sage calmly lets the body pass away with change and comes to an end.”

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Zhuang Zhou was wandering in the enclosure at Diaoling when he saw a strange magpie coming from the south. Its wings spanned seven chi, and its eyes were large, measuring an inch from top to bottom. It brushed against Zhuang Zhou’s forehead and settled in the chestnut grove. Zhuang Zhou said, 'What bird is this! Its wings are large, yet it does not fly away; its eyes are large, yet it does not see.'

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Lifting his robe, he strode quickly, holding his slingshot and waiting for it. He saw a cicada that had just gained fine shade and forgotten its own body. A mantis, taking cover, pounced on it, and seeing the gain before it forgot its own form. The strange magpie followed and profited from it, and seeing profit forgot its true nature. Zhuang Zhou, startled, said, 'Ah! Things indeed entangle one another; the two kinds summon one another.'

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He dropped his slingshot and turned and left; the keeper of the chestnut grove chased him and berated him. Zhuang Zhou went back and for three months did not go out. Lin Qie followed and asked him, 'Master, why have you remained indoors lately?'

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Zhuang Zhou said: 'I kept to the outward form and forgot my own person; I looked at muddy water and became lost in the clear depths. Moreover, I heard my teacher say: "When entering their customs, follow their commands."'

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Today I roamed in Diaoling and forgot myself; a strange magpie touched my forehead, and I wandered in the chestnut grove and forgot my true nature. The keeper of the chestnut grove regarded me as a disgrace; that is why I did not go out.

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Yangzi went to Song and lodged at an inn. The innkeeper had two concubines: one was beautiful and one was ugly. The ugly one was honored and the beautiful one was lowly. Yangzi asked the reason. The young man of the inn replied, “The beautiful one considers herself beautiful, but I do not know her as beautiful; the ugly one considers herself ugly, but I do not know her as ugly.”

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Yangzi said, “Disciples, remember this: if you practice worthiness but remove the conduct of considering yourself worthy, where could you go and not be loved?”

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