Lanming — Surveying Obscurities覽冥訓

Long ago Shi Kuang played the music of White Snow, and spirit beings came down because of it, and wind and rain arrived in fury. Duke Ping fell ill with a crippling sickness, and the land of Jin turned to red barren earth. A common woman cried out to Heaven, and thunder and lightning struck down. Duke Jing's terrace fell, his limbs were hurt and broken, and the sea rose in a great flood. Now the blind music master and the common woman were as low in station as straw, and their power was as light as a flying feather. Yet they made their spirit single and honed their will, they gave themselves to their task and gathered up their spirit, they reached upward to the Nine Heavens and whetted the utmost spirit keen. Seen from this, when high Heaven strikes there is no place to flee, though a man be in an empty cave or a hidden recess, in a far and secret place, in layered chambers of stone, behind barriers and rough passes. This too is clear.

When King Wu marched against Zhou and crossed at Mengjin, the waves of Yanghou ran against the current and struck them, and a swift wind darkened the sky, and men and horses could not see one another. Then King Wu took the yellow axe in his left hand and held the white banner in his right, and he glared and waved it and said, "I hold the world in my charge. Who dares to harm my purpose!" At this the wind died and the waves subsided. The Duke of Luyang was locked in trouble with Han, and when the battle was at its height and the sun was setting, he drew his halberd and waved it, and the sun went back three stations for him. Now one who keeps his nature whole and guards what is true, who does not wear away his own body, meets urgent and pressing trouble with a spirit that reaches through to Heaven. As for one who has never yet come out of his source, what could he do and not accomplish! Now where death and life are one ground, a man cannot be threatened or cowed, and one brave and warlike man becomes the hero of three armies. Those men sought only a name, and even those who can demand so much of themselves are like this. How much more the one who makes Heaven and earth his house, who holds the ten thousand things in his breast and befriends creation, who holds the utmost harmony within, who merely happens to wear a human shape, who looks upon the nine and bores through to the one, who knows what knowing does not know, and whose mind has never once died!

Long ago Yongmenzi came before Lord Mengchang with weeping. Presently he set out his words and made his meaning known, stroking his breast and giving voice. Because of it Lord Mengchang sobbed and choked the more, and his tears ran down and could not be stopped. The spirit takes shape within and awakens sorrow outside in the hearts of others. This is a way that cannot be handed on. If a common man who has not caught the ruling form of it were made to copy its look, he would surely be laughed at. So when Puqiezi took birds one after another at a height of a hundred fathoms, and when Zhan He made the fish run in the depths of a great pool, both had gained the way of clear stillness and the harmony of the great vastness. Now the answering of thing to thing of a kind is dark and subtle, deep and fine. Knowledge cannot discuss it and argument cannot unravel it. So when the east wind comes the wine steeps and brims over, and when the silkworm spits its thread the shang string snaps. Something has stirred a feeling in them. When the drawing follows the ash the moon wanes, and when the whale dies the comet comes out. Something has moved them. So when the sage is in office he holds the Way and does not speak, and his bounty reaches the ten thousand people. When ruler and minister are at odds in their hearts, the turning away and the swerving appear in the sky. Spirit and breath answer each other, and here is the proof. So the clouds of the mountains are like tangled grass, the clouds of the waters like fish scales, the clouds of drought like smoke and fire, the clouds of the long rains like waves on water. Each takes after the shape of its kind, and this is how it stirs a feeling in them.

Now the burning mirror takes fire from the sun and the dew mirror takes dew from the moon. Between Heaven and earth the cleverest reckoner of calendars cannot state their number, and the hand is lost in a vague blur and cannot take in that light. Yet from within the palm of the hand they draw their own kind from above the Great Ultimate, and water and fire can be brought at once. This is because yin and yang are of one breath and move each other. This is how Fu Yue came to ride the stars Chen and Wei. So the utmost yin is chill and the utmost yang is blazing, and when the two meet they make harmony, and the ten thousand things are born. If there were a crowd of males and no female, what change could be made at all? This is what is called the argument that does not speak, the Way that is not called a way. So one who calls the far off makes it happen by not acting, and one who draws the near close makes it happen by having no business. Only one who travels by night can hold this. So the galloping horses are sent back to make manure, and cart tracks do not reach beyond the far regions. This is called sitting still and racing, sinking out of sight on dry land, dark by day and bright by night, melting glue with winter and making ice with summer. Now the Way goes toward nothing for its own sake and leaves nothing for its own sake. The able have more than enough, the clumsy fall short. Those who go along with it are helped, those who go against it meet ruin. It is like the pearl of the Marquis of Sui and the jade of Mr. He. Whoever gets them is rich, whoever loses them is poor. The measure of gaining and losing is deep and fine, hidden and dark, hard to reach by knowing and not to be settled by argument. How do we know that it is so? Now rehmannia is the medicine that governs the knitting of bone, and licorice is the medicine that governs the growing of flesh. To demand the growing of flesh from what knits bone, and to argue about the knitting of bone from what grows flesh, is like Wangsun Chuo wanting to double the medicine for a withered side and by that to bring a dead man to life. This too may be called losing the argument!

If, because fire can scorch wood, you have it melt metal, then the Way goes forward. If, because the lodestone can move iron, you ask it to draw tiles, then it is hard. Things cannot be argued about by light and heavy. Now the burning mirror taking fire from the sun, the lodestone drawing iron, the crab spoiling lacquer, the mallow turning toward the sun, these even the brightest wisdom cannot make happen. So the examining of ear and eye is not enough to sort out the pattern of things, and the reasoning of heart and mind is not enough to settle right and wrong. So one who takes knowledge for his rule finds it hard to hold a state, and only one who reaches through to the great harmony and keeps to the answer that comes of itself can hold this. So Mount Yao fell and the waters of Boluo dried up. Ou Ye was born and the sword Chungou was made. Zhou did what was without the Way, and Zuoqiang stood at his side. Taigong shared the same age, and so King Wu's merit was established. Seen from this, the road of gain and harm and the gate of blessing and disaster cannot be had by seeking.

Now the Way and its power are like tanned leather and raw hide. Put them far off and they are near. Bring them close and they are far. One who does not get the Way of it is like a man watching minnows. So the sage is like a mirror. He does not send off and does not greet. He answers and does not store away. So he passes through ten thousand changes and takes no harm. What he gains is what he loses. What he loses is not what he gains. Now when a man tunes the strings, he strikes gong and gong answers, he plucks jue and jue stirs. This is like sounds in harmony with each other. But if he retunes a single string so that it matches none of the five notes, and then strums it, all twenty-five strings answer. This has never been anything other than sound, and yet the ruler of tones has already taken shape. So one who reaches through to the great harmony is dim as a man wholly drunk, and lies down sweetly and wanders within it, and does not know how he came there.

Pure and warm, he sinks into it. Dull and dim, he comes to his end, as though he had never come out of his source. This is called the great going through. Now when the red serpent-dragon and the blue dragon roam Jizhou, the sky is clear and the earth is settled, poisonous beasts do not stir and flying birds are not startled. They go into the thickets and eat the jianmei, they bite at flavors and hold sweetness in the mouth, and their steps do not leave a plot of a few acres. So the snakes and the swamp eels make light of them and think they could not contend with them in the rivers and the sea. But when the white dawn comes among the dark clouds, when yin and yang cross and struggle, when the whirlwind comes down and the freezing rain is mixed with it, then they mount the rising gale and climb. Their power moves Heaven and earth and their voice shakes the land within the seas. The snakes and the swamp eels cling in the mud a hundred fathoms deep. Bears and brown bears crawl on hill and mountain and coiling rock. Tigers and leopards go into their dens and dare not roar. The monkeys tumble and lose their branches. How much more the snakes and swamp eels alone! When the phoenix flies in the utmost power, thunder does not sound and wind and rain do not rise, streams and valleys do not swell and grass and trees do not sway. So the swallows and sparrows look down on it and think they could not contend with it in the space of the universe. But it goes up ten thousand fathoms and soars beyond the four seas, it passes the Shupu garden of Kunlun and drinks at the rapids of Dizhu, it circles the islets of Mengfan and lingers at the borders of Jizhou, it treads the straight road over Duguang and enters the sun and holds back its pace, it beats its wings over the Ruo River and roosts at evening in the Cave of the Winds. At such a time the wild geese and the swans, the cranes and the storks all take fright and hide themselves away, and not one of them dips its beak at the river's edge. How much more the swallows and sparrows alone! These are the ones who are clear about the traces of small movements and do not know where the great turns come from.

Long ago, in the driving of Wang Liang and Zaofu, they climbed into the chariot and took up the reins, and the horses drew themselves into order and pulled together in accord. Their feet fell evenly and toil and ease were as one. Their hearts were glad and their breath was calm, their bodies were easy and light and ready. They took toil for rest and delighted in going forward. They ran as though vanishing. Left and right they moved as if to the whip, and they turned as if on a ring. The world thought all this skillful, and yet no one had seen what is precious in it. But in the driving of Qianju and Dabing, the reins and the bit are taken away, the whip is thrown down and the crop cast aside. The chariot is not moved and rises of itself. The horses are not driven and run of themselves. They go as the sun goes and move as the moon moves, they shine like the stars and turn like the dark sky, they rush like lightning and leap like spirits. In going forward and back, in bending and stretching, they show no sign and no limit. So without calling or pointing, without a shout of reproof, they pass the homing geese at Jieshi and outrun the kun fowl at Guyu. They gallop as though flying and race as though cut loose. They loose themselves like an arrow and tread the wind, they chase the whirlwind and turn back in an instant. They set out in the morning from Fusang and reach Luotang as the sun goes down. This is borrowing what is not used and by it bringing its use to completion. It is not the care of thought nor the skill of the hands. What is liked and wanted takes shape within the breast, and the spirit passes over into the six horses. This is driving by not driving.

Long ago the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, and Limu and Taishan Ji assisted him. They ordered the measures by which sun and moon move, they ordered the breath of yin and yang, they set the bounds of the four seasons and made right the numbers of the pitch pipes and the calendar. They separated man and woman and distinguished male from female, they made clear high and low and graded noble and base. They kept the strong from covering over the weak and the many from bearing down on the few. So the people kept their lives and did not die young, the harvests ripened and there was no bad year. The hundred officers were upright and had no private ends, high and low were in accord and there was no blame. The laws were clear and not dark, the helpers were fair and did not flatter. Those who tilled did not push over the boundary, those who fished did not quarrel over the bends of the water. What was dropped on the road was not picked up, and prices were not fixed beforehand in the market. City gates were not barred and the towns had no thieves. Travelers from the countryside gave way to one another over goods, and though dogs and pigs spat out beans and grain in the road, no one had a heart for feud or quarrel. Then the sun and moon were pure and bright, and the stars did not lose their courses. Wind and rain came in season and the five grains ripened. Tigers and wolves did not bite at random and birds of prey did not strike without cause. The phoenix flew in the courtyard and the qilin roamed the outskirts. The blue dragon came forward to draw the chariot and Feihuang lay down in the stable. Not one of the lands of Zhubei and Dan'er failed to bring its tribute and its service. And yet this still did not reach the Way of Fuxi.

In ancient times the four poles gave way and the nine provinces split. Heaven did not cover all and the earth did not bear all. Fire blazed and was not put out, water spread wide and did not rest. Fierce beasts ate the good people and birds of prey snatched the old and the weak. Then Nuwa smelted stones of five colors to mend the blue sky, and cut off the feet of the great turtle to set up the four poles. She killed the black dragon to save Jizhou, and heaped up reed ash to stop the flooding water. The blue sky was mended, the four poles stood straight, the flooding water dried up and Jizhou was at peace. The cunning creatures died and the good people lived. With the square land at their back they held the round sky in their arms. They made spring mild and summer bright, autumn killing and winter sparing. They pillowed on the square and slept by the plumb line. Where yin and yang were blocked and sunk and did not pass, she bored through and set them in order. What turned the breath against its course and went against things, what harmed the people and heaped up thick, she cut off and stopped. At that time men lay at their ease and rose and gazed about. One took himself for a horse and another took himself for an ox. They walked as though stumbling and looked as though in the dark. In their simplicity they all had their share of harmony, and none knew where it came from. They drifted and did not know what to seek, they wandered dimly and did not know where they were going. At that time not one of the birds and beasts, the vipers and the snakes, failed to hide its claws and teeth and put away its stinging poison, and none had a heart to snatch or to bite. Consider the greatness of her work. Above it touched the Nine Heavens, below it fitted the yellow earth. Her name was laid upon later ages and her light lies deep over the ten thousand things. She rode the thunder chariot and yoked the Yinglong dragon, with the blue dragon as her outside horse. She held the rarest of tokens and made the Luotu her mat, yellow clouds wound about her, before her went the white serpent-dragon and behind her the racing snake. She drifted and roamed at ease, she led the spirits and climbed the Nine Heavens. She made her court before the Lord at the Gate of the Spirits, and rested quiet and still beneath Taiyi. And yet she did not make her merit plain and did not spread her fame abroad. She hid the Way of the true man and followed what Heaven and earth are of themselves. Why was this? The Way and its power reached upward, and knowledge and contrivance died away.

By the time of Jie of Xia, the ruler was dark and not clear, and the Way spilled over and was not cultivated. He threw away the kindness and the punishments of the Five Emperors and kicked over the laws and the records of the Three Kings. Because of this the utmost power died out and was not raised up, and the Way of the emperors was covered over and did not rise. Deeds were done against the blue sky and orders were given against the four seasons. Spring and autumn drew in their harmony, and Heaven and earth took away their power. A kind ruler sat in office and was not at ease, the great officers hid the Way and did not speak. The mass of ministers measured their lord's wishes and kept what he thought fitting in their hearts, they put their own kin far off and so found room for themselves. Crooked men joined in pairs and banded together and plotted in secret. They set themselves between ruler and minister, between father and son, and vied to carry a proud ruler and take after his wishes, and they threw men into disorder to bring off their own affairs. Because of this, ruler and minister were at odds and not close, and kin were estranged and did not hold together. The planted altar tree withered and its ground split open. The Rong Terrace shook and turned over. Dogs howled in packs and went into the pools, pigs carried off their bedding and slept in the far corners. Beautiful women pulled at the roads with blackened faces and no adornment, sweet voices swallowed charcoal and shut themselves in and did not sing. Mourning did not run out its grief and hunting did not hear out its joy. The Old One of the West broke her hair ornament and the Yellow Spirit whistled and moaned. Flying birds had their wings broken and running beasts had their legs made useless. The mountains had no tall trunks and the marshes no standing water. Foxes turned their heads into their burrows and horses and cattle were let loose and lost. In the fields no grain stood and on the roads no sedge or fan grass grew. Heaped metal broke at the edges and layered jade had no grain. The chiming stones and the tortoise shells had no belly, and the yarrow stalks and the counting rods were laid out day after day.

In the later age the seven states were of different stock, and the great lords made their own laws and each had its own customs, and the men of the Vertical and Horizontal alliances came in between them. They raised troops and matched strength against one another. They attacked cities and killed without measure, they overturned what was high and made what was at peace unsafe. They dug up graves and scattered the bones of men. They made their battering rams great and raised high mounds of earth. They cleared the roads for battle and made the roads to death easy. They fell upon stern enemies and cut down what was without right. A hundred went out and one came back, and yet their fame swelled for nothing. Because of this, men of strong build and quick feet were made front rank soldiers a thousand li away, while the old and the frail of their households grieved bitterly at home. Servants and grooms pushed the carts and carried the grain. The roads were long and far, and frost and snow gathered again and again. Their short coarse coats were in rags, the men were worn thin and the carts were broken. The mud came up to their knees. They held each other up along the road, they shook their heads on the way, and they lay down against the cart shafts and died. So those who were said to take in states and hold land had fallen corpses by the tens of thousands and broken carts by the hundreds and thousands, and the men wounded by bow and crossbow, by spear and halberd, by arrow and stone, were carried along the roads. So the world came to pillow on men's heads and eat men's flesh, to pickle men's livers and drink men's blood, and to find it sweeter than the flesh of fattened beasts. So since the Three Dynasties the world has never been able to rest in its own nature, to delight in its own customs, to keep out its full span and not die young from the cruelty of men. Why is this so? The great lords attacked by force, and the world was not joined into a single house.

By the present time the Son of Heaven is in the highest place. He holds the world with the Way and its power and helps it with kindness and right. Those near offer their wisdom and those far off cherish his power. He folds his hands and bows and points and waves, and the four seas come as guests and submit. In spring and autumn, in winter and summer, all bring their tribute and their service. The world is mingled into one and sons and grandsons follow one another. This is how the Five Emperors welcomed the power of Heaven. Now the sage cannot give birth to his time, but when the time comes he does not let it slip. There are able men to assist him. He drives out the first shoots of slander and flattery, he puts an end to clever arguments, he does away with cutting laws and sets aside vexing and harsh affairs. He turns back the traces of rumor and blocks the gate of factions. He melts away knowledge and ability and cultivates the great constant. He breaks down his limbs and puts aside his keen ears and eyes, he passes through into the great mingled dark, he loosens his thoughts and sets his spirit free, still as though he had no soul, and he lets the ten thousand things each return again to its root. Then this is cultivating the traces of Fuxi and turning back to the Way of the five constants.

Now Qianju and Dabing set out no reins and no bit, and were known through the world for driving well. Fuxi and Nuwa set out no laws and no measures, and left the utmost power to later ages. Why was this? They were utterly empty and without things, pure and single, and did not chatter over harsh affairs. The Zhou shu says, "If you pounce on a pheasant and do not take it, go once more with the wind." Now look at the rule of Shen, Han, and Shang Yang. They pulled up the root and threw away the trunk into the weeds, and did not search to the end for the place it all came from. By what were they to arrive here? They cut out the five punishments and made harsh laws, so they turned their backs on the root of the Way and its power and contended over the tip of an awl or a knife. They mowed down the people and used up more than half of them, and they were pleased with themselves and always thought they were ruling well. This is like holding firewood in your arms to put out a fire, or boring a hole to let the water out. Now if a catalpa grows where it was planted in a well, there is no room for the bucket. If branches grow where they were planted in a ditch, there is no room for a boat. Within three months they must die. Why is this so? All of them grew wildly and had no root of their own. The He River bends nine times and pours into the sea, and its flow is never cut off, because Kunlun sends it down. Standing water that does not drain away spreads wide as far as the eye can see, and yet if no rain falls for ten days or a month it dries up into a parched marsh, because it takes what is poured in and has no source. It is like Yi, who asked the Queen Mother of the West for the medicine of no death, and Heng'e stole it and fled to the moon. He stood in dismay at his loss and had nothing to carry it on. Why was this? He did not know where the medicine of no death came from. So begging fire is not as good as taking up a fire drill, and borrowing a place to draw water is not as good as digging a well.