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Xu Wugui

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Xu Wugui, through Nü Shang, obtained an audience with Marquis Wu of Wei. The Marquis greeted him with sympathy, saying, 'You are worn out, sir. Troubled by the toil of the mountains and forests, you have at last been willing to come before me.'

Xu Wugui said, 'It is I who would console you, my lord—what have you to console me for? If you let your desires become full and let your likes and dislikes grow, then the true nature of your life is injured. If you banish your desires and restrain your likes and dislikes, then your ears and eyes are injured. I would console you—what have you to console me for?'

Marquis Wu looked detached and did not answer. After a moment, Xu Wugui said, 'Let me tell you, my lord, how I judge dogs. Dogs of the lowest quality stop once they have seized their fill—this is the nature of a cat. Those of middling quality are like one gazing at the sun. Those of the highest quality are as though they had lost themselves. But my judging of dogs is still not as good as my judging of horses.'

When I judge horses: what is straight matches the carpenter’s ink line; what is curved matches the hook; what is square matches the square; what is round matches the compass. This is a horse of the state, but it is not yet the equal of a horse of the world. A horse of the world has a complete natural constitution: it seems anxious, seems lost, as though it had lost one of itself. A horse like this outruns the others and leaves the dust behind; no one knows where it has gone.

Marquis Wu was greatly pleased and laughed. When Xu Wugui came out, Nü Shang said, 'What on earth did you alone use to please our lord? As for what I use to please our lord: speaking horizontally, I use the Poems, the Documents, the Rites, and the Music; speaking vertically, I use the Golden Tablet and the Six Strategies. Those who have served him and achieved great merit are too many to count, yet our lord has never so much as smiled.'

Now, sir, how did you please our lord, so that he became pleased like this?

Xu Wugui said, 'I merely told him about my judging dogs and horses, that is all.'

Nü Shang said, 'Is that so?'

He said: “Have you not heard of the exiles of Yue? After leaving their state for a few days, they are glad to see anyone they know; after ten days or a month away, they are glad to see anyone they once saw in the state; by the time a full year has passed, they are glad merely to see someone who resembles a human being. Is it not that the longer one is away from people, the deeper one’s longing for them becomes?”

One who flees into the empty wilderness, where goosefoot and weeds choke the paths of weasels and similar small animals, and who staggers in that emptiness, is glad when he hears the sound of a human footstep—how much more when his brothers and relatives speak and cough at his side! For a long time now, no one has spoken the words of the True Man at my lord’s side!

Xu Wugui saw Marquis Wu. Marquis Wu said: “Master, you dwell in the mountains and forests, eat acorns and chestnuts, fill yourself with scallions and leeks, and have kept me at a distance for a long time! Are you old now? Or do you wish to seek the taste of wine and meat? Or do I, the solitary one, also have the blessing of the state altars?”

Xu Wugui said: “I, Wugui, was born poor and lowly. I have never dared to eat or drink my lord’s wine and meat. I have come to comfort you.”

The ruler said, "What do you mean? How are you comforting me?"

He replied, "I comfort your spirit and your body."

Marquis Wu said, "What does that mean?"

Xu Wugui said, "Heaven and Earth nurture all things equally. Climbing high does not make one tall; dwelling low does not make one short. You alone are the ruler of a state of ten thousand chariots, yet you make the people of the whole state suffer in order to nourish your ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. The spirit does not approve of this. The spirit loves harmony and hates wickedness. Wickedness is an illness, and so I have come to comfort you."

What is it, then, my lord, that troubles you?

Marquis Wu said, 'I have long wished to see you, Master. I wish to love the people and, for the sake of righteousness, lay down arms; is that possible?'

Xu Wugui said, 'It will not do. Loving the people is the beginning of harming them; laying down arms for righteousness is the root of creating arms. If you proceed from this, my lord, you will likely fail. Whenever one completes something beautiful, it is a tool of evil. Even if you practice benevolence and righteousness, you are close to becoming hypocritical! Form inherently produces form; accomplishment inherently invites attack; change inherently leads to external war.

Nor should you, my lord, mass crane formations between the Liaqiao towers, or parade footmen and steeds in the palace of Zitan, or hide contrariety within gain. Do not overcome others by cleverness, by scheming, or by war. When men kill others' soldiers and people, annex others' lands, and thereby nourish their private selves and their spirits, I do not know what is good in such warfare—where is the victory in it?

If you, my lord, will not stop, then cultivate the sincerity within your breast so as to respond to the feelings of Heaven and Earth and not disturb them. The people have already escaped death—where would you need that “laying down of arms”?

The Yellow Emperor was about to go to Mount Juzi to see Dawei. Fang Ming drove the chariot, Chang Yu rode as attendant on the right, Zhang Ruo and Xi Peng went ahead of the horses, and Kun Hun and Hua Ji followed behind the carriage. When they reached the open country of Xiangcheng, the seven sages all lost their way and had no one to ask for directions. Just then they met a boy tending horses; they asked him the way, saying, “Do you know Mount Juzi?”

He said, “Yes.”

“Do you know where Dawei is?”

He answered, “Yes.”

The Yellow Emperor said, “How extraordinary, little boy! You not only know Mount Juci, but also know where Dawei is. I beg to ask how to govern the world.”

The little boy said, “As for governing the world, it is also merely like this and nothing more—what else is there to attend to! When I was young I roamed by myself within the six directions; by chance I had a malady of dizziness, and an elder taught me, saying: ‘Ride the chariot of the sun and roam in the wilds of Xiangcheng.’”

Now that my illness has somewhat healed, I am about to roam again beyond the six directions. Governing the world is also just like this and nothing more. What else need I attend to?”

Huangdi said, “As for governing the world, that is truly not your affair, sir; nevertheless, may I ask how the world should be governed?”

The boy declined. Huangdi asked again. The boy said, “As for governing the world, how is it any different from herding horses? Just remove what harms the horses, that is all.”

Huangdi bowed twice and touched his head to the ground, called him Heavenly Teacher, and withdrew.

Men of knowledge are unhappy without variations in thought; disputers are unhappy without an ordered sequence in their talk; scrutinizers are unhappy without matters of bullying and scolding: all these are people confined by things.

Men who beckon the world make the court flourish; men of middling worth among the people glory in office; men of sinew and strength boast of hardship; brave men rouse themselves in trouble; men of weapons and armor delight in battle; withered men lodge in reputation; men of law broaden governance; men of ritual instruction revere appearance; men of benevolence and righteousness prize connections.

If farmers have no work of clearing grass and brush, they do not come together; if merchants have no business in the marketplace, they do not come together; when common people have work for morning and evening, they are encouraged; when the hundred craftsmen have skill with tools and implements, they are made strong. If money and goods are not stored up, the greedy worry; if power and authority do not stand out, the boastful grieve; the followers of power and things delight in change.

When they meet the times and have something for which they can be used, they cannot practice non-action. These are all people who follow along with the succession of the years and are not made into mere things by change. They race their bodies and natures, sink into the ten thousand things, and never turn back for the rest of their lives—how sad!

Zhuangzi said: 'If an archer who hits the mark without having set a target beforehand is called a good archer, then everyone in the world is Yi—can that be right?'

Huizi said, "Yes."

Zhuangzi said, "There is no universally recognized right in the world; if each person takes what he himself affirms as right, then everyone in the world would be a Yao—would that do?"

Huizi said, "Yes."

Zhuangzi said, "If so, then the four—Confucians, Mohists, Yang, and Bing—together with you, Master, make five. Who after all is right? Or is it perhaps like Lu Ju? His disciple said, 'I have obtained the Master's Way! I can light a fire and cook a cauldron in winter, and make ice in summer!'"

Lu Ju said, “That is merely summoning yang with yang and yin with yin; it is not what I call the Way. I will show you my Way.”

Thereupon he tuned a zither for him: he placed one in the hall and one in the inner room. When he struck the gong note, the gong note vibrated; when he struck the jue note, the jue note vibrated—the pitches were the same. But if one retuned a single string so that it matched none of the five notes, then when it was struck, all twenty-five strings moved. It had never differed in sound, yet it was already the ruler of the tones! And could it be like this?

Hui Shi said, “Now the Confucians, Mohists, Yang, and Bing are just now disputing with me: they contradict me with words and overawe me with voices, yet they have never made me out to be wrong. What then is this like?”

Zhuangzi said, “A man of Qi cast his son away into Song: when he appointed him gatekeeper, he did not make bodily wholeness a condition; when he sought a xing-bell, he used cords to bind it; when he sought his lost child, he never once went outside his own territory—there is a forsaking of his kind!”

A man of Chu, lodging as a guest, acts against the gatekeeper; at midnight, when no one is around, he fights with the boatman. Before he has even left the bank, he has already done enough to incur resentment.”

Zhuangzi was attending a funeral and passed by Huizi’s grave. Turning to his followers, he said: “A man of Ying had white plaster smeared on the tip of his nose, as thin as a fly’s wing. He had a craftsman slice it off. Craftsman Shi swung his axe so swiftly that it raised a wind, and the man of Ying let him cut. All the plaster was removed, and his nose was unharmed. The man of Ying stood there without changing expression. Lord Yuan of Song heard of this and summoned Craftsman Shi, saying, ‘Try doing it for me.’

Craftsman Shi said: ‘I once could indeed cut it away. Even so, my counterpart has been dead for a long time!’

Since the Master died, I have had no one to serve as my counterpart! I have had no one to talk with!”

Guan Zhong was ill. Duke Huan asked him, “Uncle Zhong, your illness has become grave. If I may speak without taboo, when it comes to the great illness, to whom should I entrust the state, if that is to be done rightly?”

Guan Zhong said, “Whom does the duke wish to give it to?”

The duke said, “Bao Shuya.”

Guan Zhong said, “That will not do. In his character he is pure and honest, a good man; but toward those who are not his equals, he does not associate with them; moreover, once he hears of another person’s fault, he never forgets it for the rest of his life. If you make him govern the state, above he will come into conflict with the ruler, and below he will run counter to the people. It will not be long before he offends the ruler!”

The duke said, 'If that is so, then who is acceptable?'

He replied, 'If it cannot be avoided, then Xi Peng will do. In his character, he is forgetful toward superiors and estranged from inferiors; he is ashamed not to equal the Yellow Emperor and pities those who do not equal himself. To share virtue with others is called being a sage; to share wealth with others is called being worthy. To lord one's worthiness over others—no one has ever won people thus; to humble one's worthiness before others—no one has ever failed to win people thus.'

In matters of the state there are things he does not hear; in matters of the family there are things he does not see. If it cannot be avoided, then Xi Peng will do.

The king of Wu floated on the Yangtze and climbed Monkey Mountain. When the monkeys saw him, they were frightened, turned and fled into the deep thickets. One monkey, however, twisted and turned, grabbed and scratched, showing off its cleverness before the king. The king shot at it, and it nimbly caught the swift arrows. The king ordered his attendants to hurry forward and shoot it, and the monkey was seized and died.

The king turned and said to his friend Yan Buyi, "This monkey boasted of its cleverness and, relying on its agility, acted insolently toward me; that is how it came to this death. Take warning! Alas, do not use your countenance to be arrogant toward others!"

Yan Buyi returned and took Dong Wu as his teacher in order to weed out his arrogant outward demeanor. He abandoned pleasures and declined prominence; after three years, the people of the state praised him.

Nanbo Ziqi sat leaning on his armrest, looked up to heaven, and sighed. Yan Chengzi came in to see him and said, "Master, you are the most outstanding among creatures. Can the body really be made like a withered skeleton, and the mind really be made like dead ashes?"

He replied, “I once lived in a mountain cave. At that time, Tian He saw me, and the people of Qi congratulated him again and again. I must have put it before him first, so that he knew of it. I must have sold it, and he therefore bought it. If I had not owned it, how could he have known it? If I had not sold it, how could he have bought it? Alas!”

I grieve for people who lose themselves; I also grieve for those who grieve for others; I also grieve for those who grieve over others’ grieving; after that, one daily grows farther away.”

Confucius went to Chu, and the king of Chu feasted him with wine. Sunshu Ao stood holding the cup. Shinan Yiliao received the wine and poured a libation, saying, 'O men of old! At this point speech came to an end.'

He said, 'I, Qiu, have heard the word that is not spoken; I have never yet spoken it, and now I speak of it here: Shinan Yiliao juggled balls, and the troubles of the two houses were resolved; Sunshu Ao slept peacefully and held a feather fan, and the men of Ying threw down their weapons; I, Qiu, wish I had a beak three feet long.'

That is called the Way that is not a way; this is called the disputation that is not spoken. Therefore virtue gathers in what the Way unifies, and speech rests in what knowing does not know—this is the utmost. What the Way unifies, virtue cannot make the same. What knowing cannot know, disputation cannot set forth. Names such as Confucian and Mohist are ominous.

Thus the sea does not refuse the waters that flow east; it is the utmost of greatness. The sage encompasses Heaven and Earth, and his blessings reach all under Heaven, yet people do not know what clan he belongs to. Therefore in life he has no rank, in death no posthumous title; he does not accumulate goods, he does not establish a name—this is what is called the Great Man. A dog is not judged good because it barks well; a man is not judged worthy because he speaks well—how much less is he to be judged great for that!

To strive to be great is not enough to make one great—how much less to strive for virtue! As for great completeness, nothing surpasses Heaven and Earth. What then do they seek? And yet they are greatly complete! One who knows great completeness has nothing to seek, nothing to lose, nothing to reject, and does not exchange himself for things. He returns to himself and is not exhausted; he follows antiquity and is not worn away—such is the sincerity of the Great Man.

Zi Qi had eight sons. He lined them up before him and summoned Jiu Fang Yin, saying, 'Physiognomize my sons for me: which of them is auspicious?'

Jiu Fang Yin said, 'Kun is auspicious.'

Ziqi, startled and delighted, said, “How is it?”

He said, “Kun will eat with the lord of the state for the rest of his life.”

Ziqi, dispirited, shed tears and said, “Why has my son come to such an extreme?”

Jiufang Yin said, “To eat with the lord of the state—its blessings reach the three clans, and how much more the parents! Now, Master, you hear this and weep: this is to resist good fortune. The son is auspicious, but the father is not.”

Ziqi said, “Yin, how could you be sufficient to recognize this? Do you say Kun is auspicious? Such auspiciousness is exhausted in wine and meat entering nose and mouth—how are you sufficient to know where they come from! I have never herded, yet a ewe was born in the southwest corner; I have never been fond of hunting, yet a quail was born in the southeast corner. If you do not find this strange, why is that?”

“The place I wander with you, sir is Heaven and Earth. I seek joy with you in Heaven; I seek food with you from Earth. I do not take up affairs with you, do not take counsel with you, do not make prodigies with you.

“I ride with him on the sincerity of Heaven and Earth and do not let things clash with him. I am wholly yielding with him and do not join with him in what affairs deem fitting. And now, is there indeed this worldly recompense? Whenever there is a strange omen, there must be strange conduct. Dangerous indeed! It is not the fault of me or my son—it is almost as if Heaven has given it to him! This is why I weep.”

Before long, Kun was sent to Yan. Robbers seized him on the road. To sell him whole was difficult; it was easier to cut off his foot first. So they cut off his foot and sold him into Qi. He happened to end up in Qu Gong’s street, yet he ate meat throughout his life and died.

Nie Que met Xu You and said, “Where are you going?”

Xu You said, “I am going to flee from Yao.”

Nie Que asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Xu You said, “Yao is earnestly benevolent; I fear he will be laughed at by the world. Later generations will perhaps have people eating one another! The people are not hard to gather: love them, and they draw near; benefit them, and they come; praise them, and they are encouraged; bring upon them what they hate, and they scatter. Love and benefit issue from benevolence and righteousness; those who cast aside benevolence and righteousness are few, while those who profit from benevolence and righteousness are many.”

As for the practice of benevolence and righteousness, it merely lacks sincerity and also serves as a tool for the rapacious. Thus for one man to decide and regulate things for the benefit of the world is like a single glance. Yao knew that worthy men benefit the world, but did not know that they injure the world. Only one who stands outside worthiness knows this.

There are the Xuan-shu type, the Ru-xu type, and the Quan-lou type. What is called the Xuan-shu type: when they learn the words of one master, they grow pleased and self-satisfied and privately delight themselves; they think they have enough, not knowing that from the beginning there has never been any thing. Therefore they are called the Xuan-shu type.

The Ru-xu type are the lice on a pig: they choose the sparse bristles and long hairs and think it a vast palace and great park; in the crooks of hooves, the bends of the haunches, between nipples, thighs and legs, they think they have safe rooms and favorable places. They do not know that one day the butcher will swing his arms, spread the straw, take up fire and smoke, and they will be scorched together with the pig.

These advance within a domain and retreat within a domain; this is what is called the Ru-xu type. The Juan-lou type is Shun. Mutton does not crave ants; ants crave mutton, because mutton is rank. Shun had conduct that was rank like mutton, and the people delighted in him; therefore he moved three times, and each time a city formed, and at the waste of Deng there were more than a hundred thousand families.

Yao heard of Shun’s worth and raised him up from the barren land, saying, 'I hope to obtain the blessings that come with his arrival.'

Shun was raised from the barren land; his years had grown long, his hearing and eyesight had declined, and yet he could not retire and return. This is what is called 'quanlou'—bent and worn. Therefore the spiritual man hates the coming of the crowd; when the crowd comes, they do not accord; when they do not accord, there is harm. Thus he is neither excessively close nor excessively distant; he embraces virtue and warms with harmony, and thereby follows the world. This is called the True Man.

Before ants he discards knowledge; before fish he obtains the plan; before sheep he discards intention. With the eye he looks at the eye; with the ear he listens to the ear; with the mind he returns to the mind. One who is like this: his levelness is like the carpenter’s inkline; his transformations follow along. The True Man of old! He treats things by Heaven and does not let the human enter Heaven—the True Man of old!

Obtaining it, one may live; losing it, one may die. Obtaining it, one may die; losing it, one may live: this is medicine. Its actual substances are jin, jiegeng, jiyong, and shiling; at the right time these become sovereign remedies—how could it ever be fully spoken!

Goujian, with three thousand armored and shield-bearing men, encamped at Kuaiji. Only Zhong could understand how a state in danger of ruin might survive; only Zhong did not understand why his own person was sorrowful. Hence it is said: The owl’s eyes have what suits them; the crane’s legs have their joints; to sever them is sad.

Hence it is said: When the wind passes over, the river suffers loss; when the sun passes over, the river suffers loss. Even if wind and sun together kept watch over the river, the river would still think itself never disturbed, for it relies on its source and flows on. Thus water’s keeping to earth is sure; the shadow’s keeping to man is sure; things’ keeping to things is sure.

Therefore the eye is imperiled by clear sight, the ear by keen hearing, the mind by chasing after things. Whatever capacity is lodged in the storehouse is imperiled. Once peril takes shape, there is no time to change it. As misfortune grows, it gathers more and more; its return comes by way of achievement; its fruit waits long. Yet people take these as their own treasures—is this not sad?

Hence ruined states and slaughtered people are without end, because people do not know to ask about this. Thus the foot treads on the ground; though it treads, it depends on what it does not tread, and only then can it go widely. Human knowledge is small; though small, it depends on what it does not know, and only then knows what Heaven means.

To know the Great Unity, to know the Great Yin, to know the Great Eye, to know the Great Equalizer, to know the Great Square, to know the Great Truthfulness, to know the Great Fixity—this is the utmost. The Great Unity penetrates them; the Great Yin unties them; the Great Eye sees them; the Great Equalizer follows them; the Great Square embodies them; the Great Truthfulness examines them; the Great Fixity holds them. In exhausting there is Heaven; in following there is illumination; in the obscure there is a pivot; in the beginning there is that other.

Then his untying it seems like not untying it; his knowing it seems like not knowing it. Not knowing, and only then knowing it. If one asks about it, one may not have a boundary, and yet one may not be without a boundary. The jumbled and slippery has substance; past and present do not take each other's place, and it cannot be diminished—how could this not be called a great exposition and summary!

Why not ask about this too? Why be confused like this! Use non-confusion to undo confusion, and return to non-confusion—this is still the Great Non-confusion.

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