Lie Yukou

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Lie Yukou was on his way to Qi, but turned back midway and met Bohun Maoren. Bohun Maoren said, 'What made you turn back?'

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He said, 'I was startled.'

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Bohun Maoren said, 'What startled you?'

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He said, 'I once ate at ten drink-shops, and five of them served me first.'

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Bohun Maoren said, 'If that is so, why were you startled at all?'

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He said, 'My inner sincerity has not been dissolved, yet my outward form has taken on a radiance. With this I press upon people's hearts from without, making them take rank and age lightly, and so I draw trouble upon myself. Those drink-sellers are merely tradesmen of food and soup, with no surplus profit; their gains are thin and their power slight, yet even they acted this way—how much more would a lord of ten thousand chariots!'

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My body is worn out for the state, and my knowledge is exhausted in affairs. They will entrust me with tasks and test me by results. That is why I am alarmed.

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Bohun Maoren said: “Excellent, your observation! Just settle yourself where you are—people will come to rely on you!”

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Before long he went there, and the shoes outside the door were already full. Bohun Maoren stood facing north, propping his staff against his chin. After standing a while, he went out without saying a word. The usher informed Liezi; Liezi picked up his shoes and ran barefoot, reaching the gate, and said: “Master, since you have come, can it be that you will not dispense any medicine?”

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He said: “Enough. I already told you that people would cling to you—and indeed they have. It is not that you can make people cling to you; it is that you cannot make people refrain from clinging to you. Why then use this to stir and please them and put forth your singularity? Surely something stirs them, and it shakes your original nature—that too is pointless. Those who associate with you—none of them tells you this.”

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Those petty words of theirs are all poison to people. None awaken, none understand—how can they know one another? The clever labor, the wise worry; the incapable have nothing to seek. They eat their fill and wander for pleasure, drifting like an unmoored boat—empty and roaming free!

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A man of Zheng named Huan chanted and studied in the land of the Qiu clan. In only three years he became a Confucian. The river’s waters nourished the land for nine li, and his influence reached three clans; he made his younger brother a Mohist. Confucians and Mohists debated, and their father supported Di. Ten years later Huan killed himself. His father dreamed that Huan said: “I was the one who made your son a Mohist. Why not look upon my grave? I have already become the fruit of the autumn cypress.” Here 良 is often read as 埌, “grave”; interpretations of the passage vary.

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The Creator’s recompense to a person does not repay the person but repays what is Heaven in the person; that is what makes him be as he is. Yet this man thought he had something by which to differ from others, and so made light of his own kin. The men of Qi, drinking at the well, pulled and jostled one another. Hence it is said: everyone in the present age is a Huan. From this, even one who has virtue rests in not-knowing—how much more one who has the Way!

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The ancients called this the punishment of fleeing Heaven. The sage is at ease with what is at ease for him, and not at ease with what is not at ease for him; the multitude are at ease with what is not at ease for them, and not at ease with what is at ease for them.

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Zhuangzi said: ‘To know the Way is easy; not to speak of it is hard. To know it and not speak of it is the way to Heaven; to know it and speak of it is the way to man. The people of ancient times were Heavenly and not human.’

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Zhu Pingman learned dragon-slaying from Zhili Yi. He exhausted a household fortune of a thousand pieces of gold; after three years his skill was complete, but he had nowhere to use his craft. The sage treats what is certain as not necessarily so, and therefore has no arms; the multitude treat what is not necessarily so as certain, and therefore have many arms. Following arms, therefore, action has something it seeks. Arms—rely on them and you perish.

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The knowledge of the petty man never departs from gift baskets and letter slips; he wears out his spirit on cramped and shallow affairs, and yet wishes to save both the Way and things, to embody the Great One and empty his bodily form. Such a one is deluded within the cosmos; burdened by form, he does not know the Great Beginning. The Consummate Person returns his spirit to the Beginningless and gladly sinks into the land of Nothing-Whatsoever. Water flows in formlessness and pours forth into the Great Clarity.

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How sad! You think knowledge lies in a hair’s breadth, yet you do not know the Great Tranquility.

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There was a man of Song named Cao Shang, who was sent by the king of Song as an envoy to Qin. When he set out, he received several carriages. The king of Qin was pleased with him and added a hundred more. Returning to Song, he visited Zhuangzi and said: “Living in a poor hamlet and narrow lane, hard pressed and weaving sandals, with a withered neck and a sallow face—that is what I, Shang, am poor at. But to rouse a ruler of ten thousand chariots at a stroke and return with a hundred carriages following me—that is what I do well.”

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Zhuangzi said: “When the king of Qin is ill, he summons physicians. One who lances a boil or breaks an abscess gets one carriage; one who licks hemorrhoids gets five carriages. The lower the ailment treated, the more carriages one gets. Could it be that you treated his hemorrhoids? How is it that you got so many carriages? Go on your way!”

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Duke Ai of Lu asked Yan He: “If I make Zhongni the state’s mainstay, might the state perhaps recover?”

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Yan He said: “How perilous! Zhongni is busy adorning feathers and painting, devoting himself to ornate words. He takes a branch for the main point, makes a display before the people by suppressing his nature, and does not know that he is not trusted. These ornate words enter the heart and come to govern the spirit—how could that qualify him to stand above the people? Is he suited to you? Even if this judgment is mistaken, perhaps it may be acceptable. To make the people leave what is real and learn what is false is no way of demonstrating before the people.” (The phrase 予颐与 is obscure; commentators have suspected faulty punctuation or textual corruption.)

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If you plan for later generations, it is better to stop it. It will be hard to govern.”

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To bestow benefits on others and not forget it is not the distribution of Heaven; merchants do not count it worthy. Even if people count it because of some deed, the spiritual person does not count it. What serves as external punishment is metal and wood; what serves as internal punishment is agitation and transgression. When a petty person incurs external punishment, metal and wood interrogate him; when he incurs internal punishment, yin and yang consume him.

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Only the True Man can escape the punishments that come from without and from within.

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Confucius said: 'In all cases the human heart is more dangerous than mountains and rivers, and harder to know than Heaven. Heaven still has its fixed seasons—spring, autumn, winter, summer, morning and evening—but humans have a thick outward appearance and deep-seated feelings. Thus some are outwardly modest yet inwardly arrogant; some have strong points yet appear unworthy; some are compliant and quick-tempered yet perceptive; some are firm yet slack; some are slow yet fierce. Therefore, those who rush toward righteousness as if thirsting for it will flee from it as if from heat.'

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Therefore the noble man sends him far away and observes his loyalty; keeps him near and observes his respect; employs him on many errands and observes his ability; questions him suddenly and observes his wisdom; sets him an urgent deadline and observes his trustworthiness; entrusts him with wealth and observes his benevolence; tells him of danger and observes his integrity; makes him drunk with wine and observes his deportment; places him in mixed company and observes his countenance.

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When the nine tests have all been applied, the unworthy person is caught.

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Zheng Kaofu bent low on his first appointment, stooped on his second, and bowed down on his third, walking along the wall—who would dare act improperly? But men of that sort: on the first appointment they swagger; on the second they dance on the carriage; on the third they call their uncles by name. Who can compare with Tang Yao and Xu You?

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There is no greater harm than virtue having a mind, and the mind having eyelashes; once it has eyelashes and looks inward, looking inward ruins it! Baleful virtues are five, and the middle virtue is first. What is the middle virtue? The middle virtue is to have something by which one approves oneself and to censure what one does not do. Exhaustion has eight poles, success has three certainties, and the body has six storehouses.

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Being handsome, having a fine beard, being tall, large, strong, beautiful, brave, and daring—these eight all surpass others, and for that very reason one is trapped. Being compliant and accommodating, bowing and yielding, constrained and fearful—these three ways of being inferior to others all make their way through. Wisdom and cleverness reaching outward, courage and action bringing much resentment, benevolence and righteousness bringing much blame—these six are what punish one another.

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One who comprehends the nature of life is great; one who comprehends knowledge is small. One who comprehends the great decree follows it; one who comprehends the small decree encounters it.

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A man had an audience with the king of Song and was granted ten carriages. He used them to flaunt his status before Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi said: “By the river lived a poor family who made their living weaving mugwort stalks into mats. Their son dived into a deep pool and found a pearl worth a thousand pieces of gold. His father said to him: ‘Bring a stone and smash it! A pearl worth a thousand gold must lie beneath the chin of the black dragon in the ninefold abyss.

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‘That you were able to get the pearl must have been because you happened upon its sleep. If the black dragon had awakened, what tiny bit of you would be left?’

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Now the depth of Song is not merely a ninefold abyss; the fierceness of the king of Song is not merely that of a black dragon. That you got the carriages must have been because you happened upon his sleep. If the king of Song were to awaken, you would be reduced to powder.’

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Someone came to offer Zhuangzi a post. Zhuangzi answered the envoy: ‘Have you seen the sacrificial ox? They dress it in embroidered brocade and feed it hay and beans. When it is led into the great ancestral temple, even if it wished to be a lone calf, could it possibly do so?’

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Zhuangzi was nearing death, and his disciples wanted to give him a lavish burial. He said: “I take Heaven and Earth as my coffin and outer coffin, the sun and moon as paired jade discs, the stars as pearls and small beads, and the myriad things as funeral offerings. Are my burial furnishings not complete? What could be added to them?”

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The disciples said: 'We fear that crows and kites will eat you, Master.'

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Zhuangzi said: 'Above ground I would be eaten by crows and kites; below ground I would be eaten by mole crickets and ants. To take from those and give to these—how partial that is!'

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To level by means of the unlevel, that leveling is itself unlevel; to verify by means of the unverified, that verification is itself unverified. The clear-sighted are merely made its servants; the spiritlike verifies it. That the clear-sighted cannot match the spiritlike has long been so. Yet fools rely on what they see and impose it on others; their achievement is external. Is this not sad!

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