ChineseStudy

Zeyang

Contents

Text

English translation

Ze Yang traveled to Chu. Yi Jie spoke of him to the king, but the king did not grant him an audience. Yi Jie returned. Peng Yang went to see Wang Guo and said, "Why do you not, Master, speak of me to the king?"

Wang Guo said, "I am no match for Gongyue Xiu."

Zeyang said, "What sort of person is Gongyue Xiu?"

He said, “In winter he spears soft-shelled turtles in the river; in summer he rests in the mountain thickets. When someone passes by and asks him, he says, ‘This is my dwelling.’”

Yijie could not manage it, much less could I; I am no match for him either. He had no virtue but considerable cleverness. Without openly claiming merit, he used his cleverness to make his dealings seem mysterious, and became deeply entangled in wealth and rank. They do not help one another through virtue; they diminish one another. A freezing person borrows clothing in spring; one suffering from heat looks to the cold wind of winter.

As for the King of Chu as a man, his bearing is exalted and severe. In dealing with offenses, he is as unsparing as a tiger. If not for an eloquent man of upright virtue, who could bend him?

Thus when the sage is poor, he makes his household forget its poverty; when he is successful, he makes kings and dukes forget their ranks and stipends and turn humble. Toward things, he joins them in enjoyment; toward people, he delights in the free passage of things and keeps himself intact. Hence at times, without speaking, he gives people harmony to drink; standing side by side with them, he causes them to transform—such is what is fitting between father and son.

He returns to quiet dwelling; what he puts into practice is at ease and unhurried. As for his relation to the human heart, it is so remote. Hence the saying: “Wait for Gongyue Xiu.”

The sage penetrates entanglements and completely reaches the point where all is one body, yet he does not know how it is so—this is nature. Returning to the mandate, stirring and acting, he takes Heaven as his teacher; people accordingly follow him and name him. But if one worries over knowledge, and what one does always lasts only a little while, what is to be done when it stops? One who is born beautiful: people give him a mirror; unless told, he does not know he is more beautiful than others.

As if knowing it, as if not knowing it; as if hearing it, as if not hearing it: what makes him delightful never ends, and people’s fondness for him never ceases—this is nature. When the sage loves others, people give him that name; if no one tells him, he does not know that he loves them.

As if knowing it, as if not knowing it; as if hearing it, as if not hearing it: his love for others never ends, and people's repose in him never ceases—this is nature. The old state and old capital: to gaze on them brings gladness.

Even if the hills and woods were so dense and tangled that nine out of ten who entered them were lost, one would still feel glad; how much more for what one has seen and heard—like a ten-ren tower suspended in the midst of the crowd! Ranxiangshi obtained the center of the ring and thereby followed along with things' completion. With things, he had neither end nor beginning, neither limit nor season. One who daily transforms with things is the one who does not transform. How could he ever abandon it!

Now, one who takes Heaven as teacher yet does not truly take Heaven as teacher will perish together with things. If he makes this his undertaking, what can be done? The sage has never had Heaven, never had man, never had a beginning, never had things. He walks with the world without ceasing; his course is complete and does not overflow. As for his accordance, what can be said?

Tang obtained his chariot officer; Men Yin Deng Heng served as his tutor. Some transmitted texts instead read “chariot officer Men Yin Deng Heng” continuously; the old commentary generally treats Men Yin as an office and Deng Heng as a person. He followed a teacher without being confined and attained through following things as they came to completion; he managed names for Tang. The phrase “zhi ming ying fa” is obscure, especially the graph ying. According to the old commentaries, both names and standards become manifest through the ministers (“both are seen”). Zhongni exhausted deliberation and served as an aide; the referent of “him/it” has been interpreted in different ways. Rongcheng Shi said: “Without days there is no year; without inside or outside.”

Wei Ying made a covenant with Marquis Mou of Tian; Marquis Mou of Tian broke it. Wei Ying was furious and was about to send someone to stab him. Xishou Gongsun Yan heard of this and was ashamed of it, saying: 'You are the ruler of a state of ten thousand chariots, yet you would pursue revenge as a common fellow.'

Yan asks to receive two hundred thousand armored troops and to attack it on the lord's behalf: to capture its people, tether its cattle and horses, make its ruler's inner heat break out on his back, and then take its state. Once Ji has fled, I will then flog his back and break his spine.

Jizi heard of it and was ashamed of it, saying: 'To build a wall ten ren high: once the wall is already ten ren high, then to destroy it again—this is what the convict laborers suffer. Now arms have not been raised for seven years; this is the foundation for royal rule. Yan is a man of disorder; he must not be heeded.'

Huazi heard of it and considered it disgraceful, saying: 'Those who are good at arguing for attacking Qi are men of disorder; those who are good at arguing against attacking Qi are also men of disorder; and those who say, “Attacking it and not attacking it are both men of disorder,” are again men of disorder.'

The ruler said, 'If that is so, what then?'

He said, 'My lord need only seek its Way, and that is all.'

Huizi heard of this and went to see Dai Jinren. Dai Jinren said, "There is a thing called the snail—do you know it, my lord?"

Said: “Yes.”

There was a state on the left horn of a snail, called the Chu clan; there was a state on the right horn of a snail, called the Man clan. From time to time they fought over land, and the fallen corpses numbered tens of thousands; they pursued the routed enemy for fifteen days before turning back.

The lord said: “Ah! Is this empty talk?”

He said, “Allow me, your servant, to substantiate this for you, my lord. Does your lordship, in your own thinking, take the four directions and above and below to have a limit?”

The lord said, “They are without limit.”

He said, “To know how to let the mind roam in the boundless, and then to turn back and be in the land of thoroughfares—is that not like existing and yet not existing?”

The ruler said, "It is so."

He said, "Within the accessible domain there is Wei; within Wei there is Liang; within Liang there is the king. Is there any distinction between the king and the Man clan?"

The ruler said, "There is no distinction."

When the guest had left, the ruler was dazed as if he had lost something. After the guest had gone out, Huizi came in to see him. The ruler said, 'This guest is a great man; even a sage is not enough to match him.'

Huizi said, 'Blowing into a tube still produces a loud sound; blowing on the head of a sword produces only a faint puff. Yao and Shun are those whom people praise. To speak of Yao and Shun before Dai Jinren is like a single faint puff.'

Confucius went to Chu and lodged at a drink-shop at Ant Mound. Among his neighbors were a husband, wife, and servants who had climbed up to the roof. Zilu said, 'What are these bustling people doing?'

Zhongni said, “He is a servant of the sage. He has buried himself among the people and hidden himself at the margins. His voice has faded away, yet his aspiration is inexhaustible. Though his mouth speaks, his heart has never spoken. He is just about to turn against the world, and his heart disdains to join with it. This is one who has sunk on dry land—is he not Shinan Yiliao?”

Zilu asked to go and summon him. Confucius said, “Let it be! He knows that I, Qiu, have taken note of him; he knows that I am going to Chu; and he will think that I am certain to have the king of Chu summon him. He will also take me for a glib-tongued man. If that is so, then toward such a glib-tongued man he would be ashamed even to hear his words, let alone see him in person! Why, then, would he still be there?”

Zilu went to look, and his room was empty.

The border warden of Changwu asked Zilao, saying: 'When you conduct government, do not be reckless; when you govern the people, do not be slipshod. In the past, when I planted grain, if I plowed it carelessly, its yield repaid me carelessly; if I weeded it sloppily, its yield repaid me sloppily.'

The next year I changed my methods: I plowed deeply and harrowed thoroughly, and the grain grew luxuriant and abundant, so that all year long I had my fill of food.'

Zhuangzi heard it and said: 'Nowadays, when people regulate their bodily form and order their minds, much of it resembles what the border warden said: they flee their Heaven, depart from their nature, extinguish their true feelings, lose their spirit, and make the multitude their business. Therefore, for those who are careless with their nature, the sprouts of desire and aversion become their nature—like the reeds and rushes just sprouting: at first they seem to support my bodily form, but soon they uproot my nature.'

They all rupture, leak, and erupt together, not choosing where they issue forth—festering boils, scabies, abscesses, internal heat, and urine like grease are precisely this.

Bai Ju studied under Lao Dan and said, “I beg leave to wander through the world.”

Lao Dan said, “Let it be! The world is just like this.”

He asked again, and Lao Dan said, 'Where will you begin?'

He said, 'I will begin in Qi.'

When he arrived in Qi, he saw an executed man there. He pushed the man and forced him straight, took off his court robe and covered him, cried out to Heaven and wailed over him, saying: 'Sir! Sir! The world has a great calamity, and you alone have been the first to encounter it. It is said, "Do not steal; do not kill." Once honor and disgrace are established, only then does one see what afflicts people; once goods and wealth are gathered, only then does one see what people contend for.'

Today they set up what people find afflictive and gather what people contend for, impoverishing people’s bodies and leaving them no time to rest. If one wants not to reach this pass, can it be done? The rulers of men in antiquity regarded gains as residing with the people and losses as residing with themselves; they regarded what was right as residing with the people and what was wrong as residing with themselves. Therefore, if even one form lost its proper form, they would withdraw and reproach themselves.

Now it is not so: they conceal things and treat those who do not recognize them as stupid; they make difficulties great and blame those who dare not undertake them; they make tasks heavy and punish those who cannot bear them; they set the road far off and punish those who do not arrive. When the people’s knowledge and strength are exhausted, they fall back on pretense. With pretense coming forth daily in abundance, how can the officers and common people avoid being false? When strength is insufficient, there is pretense; when knowledge is insufficient, there is deceit; when goods are insufficient, there is theft.

For acts of theft, whom can one rightly blame?

Qu Boyu lived to sixty and changed sixty times. He never failed to begin by affirming something as right and to end by dismissing it as wrong. He did not know whether what he now called right was not the wrong of his fifty-nine years. All things have birth, yet none sees their root; they have emergence, yet none sees their gate.

All people honor what their knowledge knows, but no one knows how to rely on what their knowledge does not know and thereby know. Can this not be called a great perplexity? Enough! Enough! Moreover, there is nowhere to escape. Is this what is called “Is it so? Is it so?”

Zhongni asked the Grand Scribe Da Tao, Bo Changqian, and Xi Wei: “Duke Ling of Wei drank wine and wallowed in pleasure, and did not attend to the government of the state; he hunted with nets and tethered arrows, and did not respond to the meetings of the feudal lords. Why was he known by the posthumous title Duke Ling?”

Da Tao said, “It is because of this.”

Bo Changqian said, “Duke Ling had three wives and bathed with them in the same tub. When Shi Qiu came to attend him and entered the chamber, the duke grasped a piece of silk and supported him by the arm. His impropriety was as extreme as that, yet when he saw a worthy man he was as reverent as this—this is why he was Duke Ling.”

Xi Wei said, “When Duke Ling died, divination for burial at the old burial ground was inauspicious; divination for burial at Shaqiu was auspicious. They dug several ren and found a stone outer coffin. They washed it and examined it: there was an inscription saying, ‘Do not rely on his son; Duke Ling will seize it and dwell there.’”

Duke Ling's being 'Ling' has long been so! How could those two men be sufficient to recognize it?

Shao Zhi asked Tai Gong Diao, 'What are the words of the hamlets and villages?'

Tai Gong Diao said, 'As for the hamlet and village: it joins ten surnames and a hundred names to form customs; it combines differences to make sameness and disperses sameness to make differences. Now, pointing to a horse's hundred parts, one does not get the horse; yet when the horse is tethered before one, one sets up its hundred parts and calls it a horse.'

Thus mounds and mountains accumulate the low to become high; rivers join waters to become great; the great man merges and combines [them] to become impartial. Therefore, what enters from outside has a host yet does not cling; what issues from within has a standard yet does not resist.

The four seasons have different qi, yet Heaven does not bestow partially; thus the year is completed. The five offices have different duties, yet the ruler is not partial; thus the state is governed. Civil and martial [capacities] differ, yet the great man does not bestow partially; thus virtue is complete. The myriad things have different principles, yet the Dao is not partial; thus it is nameless. Being nameless, it is non-action; through non-action, nothing is not done.

Time has endings and beginnings; the world has changes and transformations. Fortune and misfortune flow on without cease. When things arrive, some are obstructed and some are fitting; each sacrifices itself to a different face. Where there is correction, there is deviation. Compare it to a great marsh: the hundred materials all have their measure. Look at a great mountain: wood and stone share the same altar. This is what is called the talk of the hamlet.

Shao Zhi said, 'If so, is it enough to call it the Dao?'

Da Gongdiao said, 'Not so. Now when one reckons the number of things, it does not stop at ten thousand; yet we sum them up as “the ten thousand things” because we use the greatest number as a designation and call them by it. Therefore Heaven and Earth are the greatest among forms; yin and yang are the greatest among qi; and the Dao is what is common to them.'

To follow their greatness and use it as a designation to call them is acceptable; but once such a designation already exists, how can one then make comparisons? If you argue in this way, it is like a dog and a horse: the distance by which it falls short is great indeed.

Shaozhi said: "Within the four quarters, inside the six directions, whence do the myriad things arise?"

Dagong Diao said: “Yin and yang illuminate, cover, and govern one another; the four seasons alternate, generate, and destroy one another. Desire and aversion, departure and approach, arise from this; male and female join, and generation follows. Safety and danger exchange, misfortune and blessing give rise to one another, and slowness and urgency rub against one another; through gathering and dispersal, things take shape. These are matters of names and actualities that can be recorded, and subtle aspects that can be noted.”

Following their sequence, they mutually order one another; in their movement and operation, things act on one another; when exhausted they turn back; when ended they begin again—this is what belongs to things. What words can exhaust and what knowledge can reach go only as far as the utmost limits of things. One who sees the Way does not follow where things are discarded, nor trace back to where they arise: this is where such discussion stops."

Shao Zhi said: 'Ji Zhen's doctrine of “nothing acts” and Jie Zi's doctrine of “something causes it”—of these two doctrines, which is correct with respect to the facts, and which is one-sided with respect to principle?'

Dagong Diao said: 'Cocks crow and dogs bark—this is what people know. Yet even one of great wisdom cannot use words to explain how they spontaneously transform, nor use thought to fathom what they are about to do. If one analyzes this, the subtle reaches the incomparable, and the great reaches what cannot be encompassed. “Something causes it” and “nothing acts” both fail to escape from things and are ultimately regarded as errors.'

'If something causes it, then it is real; if nothing acts, then it is empty. To have name and reality is where things dwell; to lack name and reality is in the emptiness of things. What can be spoken and thought—when spoken, it becomes more remote. The unborn cannot be forbidden; the dead cannot be blocked. Life and death are not far apart, yet their principle cannot be seen. “Something causes it” and “nothing acts” are what doubt borrows.'

I observe its root: as it goes back, it is inexhaustible; I seek its tip: as it comes forward, it does not stop. Inexhaustible and unstopping, what words call “nothing” shares a principle with things. “Something causes it” and “nothing acts” are the root of speech; they begin and end together with things. The Way cannot be possessed, nor can it be done without. The name “Way” is borrowed so that it may proceed. “Something causes it” and “nothing acts” are but one corner among things—what can they do for the Great Square?

If words are sufficient, then one may speak all day and exhaust the Way; if words are insufficient, then one may speak all day and exhaust only things. The Way is the utmost of things; speech and silence are both insufficient to carry it. Neither speech nor silence—discussion has its limit.

Feedback