Tian Zifang

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Tian Zifang was sitting in attendance on Marquis Wen of Wei and repeatedly praised Xigong. The Marquis said, "Is Xigong your teacher?"

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Zifang said, "No. He is a fellow villager of mine. His judgments are often apt, and that is why I praise him."

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The Marquis said, "Then do you have no teacher?"

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Zifang said, "Yes."

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He asked, 'Who is your teacher?'

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Zifang said, 'Dongguo Shunzi.'

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Marquis Wen said, “If so, why have you, Master, never praised him?”

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Zifang said, “In his person he was true. He had the appearance of a man but the emptiness of Heaven; he followed along and preserved his genuineness; he was clear and could contain things. When a thing lacked the Way, he would straighten his bearing to awaken it, causing a person’s intentions to melt away. How could I, Wuze, be fit to praise him!”

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When Zifang went out, Marquis Wen was dazed and did not speak all day. He summoned his attending ministers before him and said to them, “How far-reaching is the gentleman of complete virtue! At first I took the words of sagely wisdom and the conduct of benevolence and righteousness to be the highest. Having heard of Zifang’s teacher, my body feels loosened and I do not want to move; my mouth is clamped shut and I do not want to speak. What I have learned is merely a clay effigy! Truly, Wei is a burden to me!”

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Wenbo Xuezi was on his way to Qi and lodged in Lu. A man of Lu requested to see him. Wenbo Xuezi said, “That will not do. I have heard that the gentlemen of the Central States are clear about ritual propriety and righteousness but crude when it comes to understanding the human heart. I do not wish to see him.”

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When he reached Qi and was returning, he lodged in Lu again, and this same man once more requested to see him. Wenbo Xuezi said, “Before, he sought to see me; now he again seeks to see me. There must be something by which he will stir me.”

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He went out to see the guest and, on returning inside, sighed. The next day he saw the guest, and again went in and sighed. His servant said, “Every time you see this guest, you always go in and sigh. Why?”

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He said, “I told you already: the people of the Central States are clear about ritual and righteousness, but crude in understanding the human heart. Those who came to see me before—in advancing and withdrawing, each movement was according to compass and square; in their ease, one was like a dragon, one like a tiger. Their remonstrating with me was like a son’s, their guiding me was like a father’s; that is why I sighed.”

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Confucius saw him but did not speak. Zilu said, “Master, you have wished to see Wenbo Xuezi for a long time. You have seen him and do not speak—why is that?”

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Confucius said, “With a person like that, the Way is present as soon as the eyes meet; there is no room even for a voice.”

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Yan Yuan asked Zhongni, “When you walk, Master, I walk; when you hurry, I hurry; when you gallop, I gallop; but when you race away and leave the dust behind, I am left staring blankly behind you.”

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The Master said, “Hui, what do you mean?”

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Yan Yuan said, “When you walk, Master, I walk; when you speak, I speak; when you hurry, I hurry; when you debate, I debate; when you gallop, I gallop; when you speak of the Way, I too speak of the Way. But when you race away and leave the dust behind, and I stare blankly from behind—it is because you are trusted without speaking, you are all-embracing without being partisan, and the people come flooding before you though you hold no official position; I simply do not know why it is so.”

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Zhongni said: “Ah! Can this not be examined? There is no grief greater than the death of the heart, and the death of the person is secondary to it. The sun rises in the east and enters the far west; there is no thing that does not follow this pattern. Those with eyes and feet depend on it and only then accomplish their work. When the sun comes out, they exist; when it sets, they vanish. The ten thousand things are likewise: there is that which they await, and so they die; there is that which they await, and so they live.”

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“Once I received it and took this form, I do not transform but wait for exhaustion. I move in response to things, day and night without a gap, and I do not know where it ends. As if by gradual permeation, it takes form; one who knows fate cannot lay plans before it. I, Qiu, thereby pass away day by day. All my life I have known you, yet even in the crossing of arms I lose the person you were—can this not be grief? You have perhaps seen the change that I have seen.”

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“That has already come to an end, yet you seek it and take it to exist—this is like seeking a horse in an empty marketplace. I try to hold you in mind, yet the person you were swiftly fades; you try to hold me in mind, yet the person I was fades just as swiftly. Nevertheless, what distress do you have? Though you forget the old me, there is in me something not forgotten that remains.”

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Confucius visited Lao Dan. Lao Dan had just washed his hair and was spreading it out to dry, so still that he seemed not to be a human being. Confucius withdrew to one side and waited. After a short while, Confucius saw him and said, "Was I, Qiu, dazzled? Or was it truly so? Just now, sir, your body was stiff as a withered tree, as if you had abandoned things, left other people behind, and stood alone."

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Lao Dan said, "I let my mind roam in the beginning of things."

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Confucius said, "What does that mean?"

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Lao Dan said: 'My mind is hemmed in and cannot know; my mouth is open and cannot speak. Let me try to discuss its general outline for you: The utmost yin is chill and solemn; the utmost yang is blazing bright. The chill solemnity comes from Heaven; the blazing brightness issues from Earth. The two interact and combine into harmony, and things are born from them. Something serves as their order, yet no one sees its form. Waning and waxing, filling and emptying, now dark, now bright, it changes daily and transforms monthly. Each day it acts, yet no one sees its effect.'

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Life has that from which it sprouts; death has that to which it returns. Beginning and end turn back into one another without any discernible beginning or end, and no one knows where they end. If it were not for this, who then would be their source and master?'

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Confucius said: 'May I ask about wandering in this?'

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Lao Dan said, “To attain this is the utmost beauty and the utmost joy. One who attains the utmost beauty and wanders in the utmost joy is called the Ultimate Person.”

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Confucius said, “I would like to hear its method.”

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He said, “Grass-eating beasts do not resent changing marshes; water-dwelling creatures do not resent changing waters. They undergo small changes without losing their great constancy, and joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure do not enter their breasts. As for the world, it is that in which the myriad things are one.”

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If one attains the One and becomes identical with it, then the four limbs and hundred members will become dust and dirt, and death and life, ending and beginning will be like day and night; nothing can disturb him—how much less the boundaries made by gain and loss, misfortune and blessing! To cast off servitude is like casting off mud and mire, knowing that one’s own person is more precious than servitude. What is precious lies in me and is not lost amid change. Moreover, the ten thousand transformations have never had a limit—what could make the heart anxious!

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Those who have already practiced the Way understand this.

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Confucius said: 'Sir, your virtue matches Heaven and Earth, yet you still borrow the highest words to cultivate your mind. Among the noble men of antiquity, who could have escaped this!'

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Lao Dan said, 'Not so. When water surges and eddies, it acts without action, and yet its capacity is naturally so; when the Perfected One is in relation to virtue, he does not cultivate it, and yet things cannot depart from him. It is like heaven being naturally high, earth naturally thick, and the sun and moon naturally bright—what is there to cultivate?'

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Confucius came out and told Yan Hui about it, saying, 'As for me, Qiu, in relation to the Way—am I not like a vinegar gnat? Had the Master not lifted off my covering, I would not know the great whole of Heaven and Earth.'

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Zhuangzi had an audience with Duke Ai of Lu. Duke Ai said, 'Lu has many Confucian scholars, but few who practice your methods, Master.'

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Zhuangzi said, 'Lu has few Confucians.'

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Duke Ai said, 'All within Lu wear Confucian dress; how can you call them few?'

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Zhuangzi said, 'I, Zhou, have heard that among the Confucians, those who wear round caps know the seasons of Heaven; those who wear curved-toe shoes know the forms of Earth; those who wear the jade jue pendant loosely can decide when matters arise. A gentleman who possesses this Way does not necessarily wear this dress; one who wears this dress does not necessarily know this Way. If you, Duke, firmly hold that this is not so, why not proclaim throughout the state: Those who lack this Way but wear this dress shall die for their crime!'

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Thereupon Duke Ai issued the order for five days, and in Lu no one dared wear Confucian dress. Only one man, wearing Confucian dress, stood at the duke’s gate. The duke immediately summoned him and questioned him about affairs of state; with a thousand turns and ten thousand changes, he was not exhausted. Zhuangzi said, “In all of Lu there is only one Confucian—can that be called many?”

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Baili Xi did not let rank and emoluments enter his heart; therefore, when he fed cattle, the cattle grew fat, and he made Duke Mu of Qin forget his lowly status and entrust him with government. The Youyu clan did not let death and life enter its heart; therefore it was able to move others.

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When Duke Yuan of Song was about to have a painting made, all the painters arrived. They received his bow and stood in place, licking their brushes and mixing ink; half of them were still outside. One painter arrived late: leisurely, he did not hurry; having received the bow, he did not stand in place but went straight to the lodging. The duke sent someone to inspect his quarters, and he had taken off his clothes and was sitting with his legs spread, naked. The duke said, “It is well—this is a true painter.”

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King Wen was surveying the district of Zang when he saw a man fishing, and yet his fishing was no fishing. He was not one who held his rod with the intent to fish; he simply fished as a constant practice. King Wen wished to raise him up and entrust him with government, but feared that the great ministers and his elder kinsmen would not be at ease; he wished to let the matter end and release him, but could not bear that the common people should be without a protector.

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The next morning, he told the great officers of his dream: “I dreamed of a worthy man, dark of complexion and bearded, riding a piebald horse with red hooves on one side. He cried out, ‘Entrust the government to the elder Zang; perhaps the people will be relieved of their suffering!’” The great officers were startled and said, “That was the former king.”

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King Wen said, 'In that case, let us divine it.'

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The great officers said, 'This is the command of the former ruler. Let the king have no other concern; why divine again?'

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Thereupon he welcomed Zang the Elder and entrusted him with government. The statutes and laws were not altered, and no partial decrees were issued. After three years, when King Wen surveyed the state, the ranked knights had broken up their factions and dispersed their groups, the senior officials did not make a display of virtue, and the measuring vessels did not dare enter the four borders. That the ranked knights broke up their factions and dispersed their groups meant that unity was prized; that the senior officials did not make a display of virtue meant that they shared the same task; that the measuring vessels did not dare enter the four borders meant that the feudal lords had no divided loyalties.

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King Wen then made him Grand Master, turned north, and asked, 'Can governance reach all under Heaven?'

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The old man of Zang, blankly unresponsive, did not answer; vaguely he declined. Having received the command in the morning, he fled that night, and was never heard of again for the rest of his life. Yan Yuan asked Zhongni: 'Was King Wen perhaps still not [fully] there? Why, then, did he resort to a dream?'

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Zhongni said: 'Hush, say nothing! King Wen brought it to the utmost; what is there to discuss or criticize? He simply followed the moment.'

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Lie Yukou shot for Bohun Wuren. He drew the bow to the full and placed a cup of water on his elbow. He released: as soon as an arrow went, another was fitted; as soon as an arrow was nocked, another was lodged in place. At that moment he was like a statue of a person. Bohun Wuren said: 'This is the shooting of shooting; it is not the shooting of not-shooting. Come with me up a high mountain, tread on a perilous rock, and face a hundred-ren abyss—could you shoot then?'

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Thereupon Bohun Wuren climbed the high mountain, trod the perilous rock, and faced the hundred-ren abyss. Turning his back and inching backward, with two portions of his feet hanging outside, he bowed to Yukou and beckoned him forward. Yukou lay flat on the ground, sweating down to his heels. Bohun Wuren said: 'As for the ultimate person: above he peers into the blue sky, below he dives into the Yellow Springs, he roams freely through the eight farthest reaches, yet his spirit and vital energy do not change. Now you are startled, with a frightened, unsettled gaze—your inner composure is in danger!'

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Jianwu asked Sunshu Ao: 'You three times became prime minister and did not show glory; three times you left it and had no worried expression. At first I doubted you; now I see the space between your nose lively and at ease—how then do you use your mind?'

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Sunshu Ao said: 'How would I surpass others? I regard its coming as impossible to refuse and its going as impossible to stop. I take gain and loss to be not mine, and so I simply have no worried expression. How would I surpass others? Moreover, I do not know whether it lies in the other or in me. If it is in the other, then it is not in me; if it is in me, then it is not in the other.'

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He is just about to linger, just about to look around on all sides—what leisure has he to arrive at the question of whether people are noble or base?

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Zhongni heard this and said: 'As for the True Man of antiquity: the wise cannot persuade him, beauties cannot make him wanton, robbers cannot plunder him, and Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor cannot befriend him. Life and death are great, yet they do not alter him—how much less rank and salary!'

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One who is like this: his spirit passes through great mountains without obstruction, enters deep springs without getting wet, dwells in lowliness and smallness without exhaustion, and fills heaven and earth. By giving of what he has to others, he himself becomes all the richer.

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The King of Chu sat together with the Lord of Fan. After a moment, those at the King of Chu's side said three times, 'Fan has perished.' The Lord of Fan said, 'The perishing of Fan is not enough to make me lose my existence. Since the perishing of Fan is not enough to make me lose my existence, then the existence of Chu is not enough to preserve existence. From this perspective, Fan has never perished, and Chu has never existed.'

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