The Human World莊子 內篇 人間世

Yan Hui went to see Zhongni and asked leave to depart.

"Where are you going?"

"I am going to Wei."

"What will you do there?"

"I have heard that the ruler of Wei is in the prime of his years and acts as he pleases. He uses his state lightly and does not see his own faults. He counts the death of his people lightly, and the dead fill the state and lie heaped in the marshes like dry grass. The people have nowhere to turn. I have heard you say, 'Leave the state that is well governed and go to the state that is in disorder. At the physician's gate there are many sick.' If I take what I have heard and think out the rule of it, may that state not be brought to health?"

Zhongni said, "Ah, if you go you will only be punished. The Way does not wish to be mixed. Mixed, it becomes many. Many, it becomes disordered. Disordered, it brings worry. Worried, it cannot save. The utmost men of old first made it whole in themselves, and only then made it whole in others. What you have made whole in yourself is not yet settled. What leisure have you for the doings of a violent man?

And do you know how virtue is scattered and where knowing comes from? Virtue is scattered by fame, and knowing comes out of strife. Fame is the thing by which men push one another. Knowing is the tool of strife. These two are baleful tools, and are not what a man uses to carry his conduct through.

Again, though your virtue be thick and your good faith be firm, you have not reached the breath of the other man. Though your name be unknown and you do not contend, you have not reached the heart of the other man. Yet if you press on and set out words of benevolence and rightness and the measuring line before a violent man, this is to make your own beauty out of another man's ugliness, and that is called harming a man. He who harms a man will surely be harmed by him in return, and you would be a man harmed.

Again, if he loved the worthy and hated the unworthy, why would he use you to seek what is different? If you say nothing at all, well and good. Otherwise the king or the lord will surely take you at a disadvantage and contend with his own quickness. Then your eyes will be dazzled and your face will grow mild and your mouth will make excuses and your bearing will take that shape and your heart will be made over to it as well. This is to put out fire with fire and to stop water with water, and it is called adding more. Once you begin to comply there is no end to it. And if you speak weighty words when you are not trusted, you will surely die before a violent man.

Again, in olden times Jie killed Guan Long Feng, and King Zhou of Shang killed Prince Bi Gan. These were men who cultivated themselves, and as men below comforted the ruler's people, and as men below went against those above them. Therefore their rulers took that cultivation as their pretext and thrust them away. These were men who loved fame.

In olden times Yao attacked Congzhi and Xu'ao, and Yu attacked Youhu. The states became waste ground, and their rulers suffered death as a punishment. Their use of arms did not stop, and their seeking of gain did not end. These were all men who sought fame and gain. Have you alone not heard of it? Fame and gain are what even a sage cannot overcome, and how much less you.

Even so, you must have some reason of your own. Try telling it to me."

Yan Hui said, "To be upright and empty, to be diligent and single. Will that do?"

"Ah, how should that do? The man is full of yang breath and makes a great show of it. His face is never the same, and ordinary men do not cross him. He presses down what others feel in order to have his own heart at ease. Even what might be called the virtue that soaks in day by day would not take hold in him, and how much less a great virtue. He will hold fast and not be changed. He will fall in with you outwardly and give it no thought within. How should that do?"

"Then I will be straight within and bent without, and I will shape my words and set them beside the ancients. To be straight within is to be a companion of heaven. He who is a companion of heaven knows that the Son of Heaven and he himself are alike the children of heaven. Would such a man speak his own words and long for others to call them good, or long for others to call them bad? Men call a man like that a child, and this is what is meant by being a companion of heaven.

To be bent without is to be a companion of men. To raise the tablet, to kneel, to bow the body, these are the rites of a subject, and all men do them. Should I alone dare not do them? He who does what other men do is not faulted by other men, and this is what is meant by being a companion of men.

To shape my words and set them beside the ancients is to be a companion of the ancients. Though the words are teaching, they are in truth reproof. They come from of old and are not of my own making. A man like that may be straight and take no harm from it, and this is what is meant by being a companion of the ancients. Will this do?"

Zhongni said, "Ah, how should that do? There are too many ways of ordering it, and you cannot watch them all. It is stiff, but at least it is no crime. Even so, it stops there. How can it reach as far as changing him? You still make your own mind your teacher."

Yan Hui said, "I have nothing further. I venture to ask the way of it."

Zhongni said, "Fast, and I will tell you. If you act while you still hold something of your own, will it be easy? He who makes it easy, the bright heaven does not think him fitting."

Yan Hui said, "My house is poor, and for some months I have drunk no wine and eaten nothing strong. Can this be called fasting?"

"That is the fasting of sacrifice. It is not the fasting of the mind."

"I venture to ask about the fasting of the mind."

Zhongni said, "Make your will one. Do not listen with your ears but listen with your mind. Do not listen with your mind but listen with your breath. Hearing stops at the ear. The mind stops at what tallies with it. Breath is empty and waits upon things. The Way alone gathers in emptiness. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind."

Yan Hui said, "Before I could put this to use, there was truly a Hui. Now that I can put it to use, there has never been a Hui. May this be called emptiness?"

The master said, "That is all of it. I will tell you. Enter his fence and wander there without being stirred by his name. When you are let in, sing. When you are not, stop. Keep no gate and no poison, make it all one house, and lodge in what cannot be helped. Then you are nearly there.

It is easy to leave no trace. It is hard to walk without treading the ground. What man sets in motion is easy to counterfeit. What heaven sets in motion is hard to counterfeit. You have heard of flying with wings, but you have not heard of flying without wings. You have heard of knowing with knowledge, but you have not heard of knowing without knowledge.

Look at that opening. In the empty room a whiteness is born, and good fortune settles there and stays. Yet if a man does not stay, this is called running while sitting still. Let the ears and eyes lead inward and put mind and knowledge outside, and the spirits of the dead will come and lodge with you, and how much more will men. This is the changing of the ten thousand things. It is the knot that Yu and Shun held to, and what Fuxi and Jiqu practiced to the end, let alone an ordinary man."

Zigao, the Duke of She, was about to go as envoy to Qi, and he asked Zhongni, "The charge the king has laid on me, Zhuliang, is very heavy. Qi will treat an envoy with great respect, no doubt, but without haste. Even a common man is hard to move, and how much more a feudal lord. I am very much afraid.

You have often said to me, 'In all affairs, small or great, it is rare that a thing is happily brought about except by the Way. If the affair is not brought about, there will surely be the trouble that comes from the ways of men. If the affair is brought about, there will surely be the trouble that comes from yin and yang. To be without trouble afterward, whether the thing is brought about or not, only a man of virtue can do.'

My food is coarse and I do not look for what is fine, and no one at my fire asks to be cooled. Yet this morning I received my orders, and this evening I am drinking ice. Is it not that I am burning within? I have not yet come to the real business of the affair, and already I have the trouble of yin and yang. And if the affair is not brought about, there will surely be the trouble that comes from the ways of men. These two are more than a subject can bear. Have you something to tell me?"

Zhongni said, "In the world there are two great bounds. One is fate, and one is rightness. That a child loves his parents is fate, and it cannot be loosed from the heart. That a subject serves his ruler is rightness, and wherever he goes there is no place without a ruler, and there is no escape between heaven and earth. These are called the great bounds.

Therefore he who serves his parents does not choose his ground but is at peace in it, and this is the height of filial love. He who serves his ruler does not choose his task but is at peace in it, and this is the fullness of loyalty. He who serves his own heart is not turned about by sorrow and joy as they pass before him, and knowing what cannot be helped he is at peace in it as in fate, and this is the height of virtue.

A man who is subject and son has from the first what cannot be helped. He goes through the real business of the affair and forgets his own body. What leisure has he to delight in living and hate dying? You may go, sir.

Let me tell again what I have heard. In all dealings, those who are near must rub upon one another with good faith, and those who are far must give their whole heart in words, and the words must be carried by someone. To carry the words of two men's joy or of two men's anger is the hardest thing in the world. When the two are joyful there are sure to be many words of overflowing praise. When the two are angry there are sure to be many words of overflowing blame. Whatever overflows is false. What is false no one believes, and when no one believes, the man who carried the words comes to grief. So the Fa yan says, 'Carry the ordinary truth of the thing and do not carry the overflowing words, and you will be nearly whole.'

Again, those who match strength by skill begin in the open and always end in the dark, and when it goes too far there are many strange tricks. Those who drink wine by the rites begin in order and always end in disorder, and when it goes too far there are many strange pleasures. It is so with all affairs. They begin in good faith and always end in meanness. At the start they are simple, and toward the end they are sure to grow great.

Words are wind and waves. Acting is the losing of what is real. Wind and waves are easily stirred, and the losing of what is real easily becomes danger. So anger rises from no cause, out of clever words and one-sided words.

When a beast dies it does not choose its cry. Its breath comes rough, and with it a savage heart is born. When men are driven too hard, an unworthy heart will surely answer, and they do not know that it is so. And if they do not know that it is so, who knows where it will end?

So the Fa yan says, 'Do not shift the orders you carry, and do not press for a thing to be brought about.' To go beyond the measure is to add to it. To shift the orders and press for the thing to be brought about puts the affair in danger. A fine outcome is long in coming, and a bad outcome leaves no time to mend. Should a man not take care?

And to ride upon things and let the mind wander, and to nourish what is within by lodging in what cannot be helped, that is the height of it. What need is there to contrive a return for anything? Nothing is better than fulfilling your fate, and that is the hard part."

Yan He was about to become tutor to the crown prince of Duke Ling of Wei, and he asked Qu Boyu, "Here is a man whose virtue is a killing thing born of heaven. If I go along with him with no measure, my state is in danger. If I go along with him by a measure, my own body is in danger. His knowing is enough to know the faults of others, but he does not know why he himself is at fault. What am I to do with such a man?"

Qu Boyu said, "A good question. Be watchful, be careful, and set your own body straight. Outwardly nothing is better than to go along with him. Inwardly nothing is better than to be in accord with him.

Even so, there is trouble in these two. Go along with him, but do not be drawn in. Be in accord with him, but do not let it show. If you go along with him outwardly and are drawn in, you will be overturned and ruined, broken and thrown down. If you are in accord with him inwardly and let it show, there will be noise and a name, and it will turn to strangeness and calamity.

If he becomes a child, be a child along with him. If he keeps no boundaries, keep no boundaries along with him. If he keeps no limit, keep no limit along with him. Bring him through it, and enter where there is no flaw.

Do you not know the mantis? It raises its arms in anger to block a cart rut, not knowing that it cannot bear the weight. It thinks its own gift beautiful. Be watchful, be careful. If you heap up your own beauty and make a show of it and so offend him, you are in danger.

Do you not know the man who keeps a tiger? He does not dare give it a living creature, because of the anger of killing. He does not dare give it a whole creature, because of the anger of tearing. He watches the times of its hunger and its fullness, and brings its angry heart through. The tiger is of another kind than man, yet it fawns on the man who keeps it, because he goes with it. And when it kills, it is because he went against it.

The man who loves his horse catches its dung in a basket and its water in a shell. But let a mosquito or a gadfly light on it, and if he slaps it at the wrong moment, the horse will break the bit and smash his head and crush his breast. His intent reaches one way, and his love is lost another. Should he not take care?"

Jiang Shi was going to Qi, and when he came to Quyuan he saw an oak by the village shrine. It was so large that it could hide an ox, and a hundred spans round. In height it looked down on the hills, and it was ten fathoms up before it had branches, and there were more than ten side branches, each big enough to make a boat. Onlookers came like a market crowd, but Jiang Shi did not turn to look and did not break his stride.

His disciple looked his fill and then ran after Jiang Shi and said, "Since I took up the axe and followed you, I have never seen timber as fine as this. You would not even look at it, and you did not stop walking. How is that?"

"Enough, say no more. It is a useless tree. Make a boat of it and it sinks. Make a coffin of it and it soon rots. Make a vessel of it and it soon breaks. Make a door of it and it runs with sap. Make a pillar of it and the worms get in. It is a tree that is no timber. It is good for nothing, and so it has been able to live this long."

When Jiang Shi came home, the oak of the shrine appeared to him in a dream and said, "To what would you compare me? Would you compare me to the fine-grained trees? The hawthorn and the pear, the orange and the pomelo, and the rest that bear fruit, when their fruit ripens they are stripped and abused, the big branches broken and the small branches torn. This is to make their own lives bitter by what they can do. So they do not live out the years given them but die young along the way, beaten down by the ways of the world. There is nothing among the ten thousand things that is not so.

And I have sought to be good for nothing for a long time. I came near to dying, and only now have I got it, and it is my great use. If I had been of use, could I have grown this great?

And you and I are both things. How should one thing judge another? You are a useless man who has come near to dying. What should you know of a useless tree?"

Jiang Shi woke and told the meaning of his dream. His disciple said, "If it wished to be good for nothing, how is it that it became the tree of the shrine?"

"Hush, say nothing. It is only lodging there. It takes that for abuse from those who do not know it. If it had not become the tree of the shrine, it would almost surely have been cut. And what it guards is different from what the crowd guards. To praise it by what is right would be far from the mark."

Nanbo Ziqi was wandering on the hill of Shang when he saw a great tree that was not like others. A thousand teams of four horses could have taken shelter in its shade and been hidden there.

Ziqi said, "What tree is this? This must be timber unlike any other."

He looked up at its small branches, and they were curled and bent and could not be made into ridgepoles and beams. He looked down at its great root, and the grain was split and it could not be made into a coffin. He licked a leaf, and his mouth was blistered and hurt. He smelled it, and it left a man drunk and raving for three days without stopping.

Ziqi said, "This is indeed a tree that is no timber, and so it has come to be this great. Ah, it is by being no timber like this that the spirit man is what he is."

In Song there is a place called Jingshi where the catalpa and the cypress and the mulberry do well. Those a span or two round are cut down by men who want stakes to tether monkeys. Those three or four spans round are cut down by men who want ridgepoles for a tall and famous house. Those seven or eight spans round are cut down for the houses of the noble and the rich, who want the side boards of a coffin. So they do not live out the years given them but die young along the way under the axe. This is the trouble that comes of being timber.

So it is said that in the sacrifice for warding off ill, an ox with a white forehead, a pig with a turned-up snout, and a man with piles may not be given to the Yellow River. This is what the shamans all know, and they hold it unlucky. Yet this is the very thing the spirit man holds to be greatly lucky.

There was a man called Zhili Shu. His chin was buried in his navel, his shoulders were higher than the crown of his head, his topknot pointed at the sky, his five organs were up above, and his two thighs were his ribs.

By sewing and by washing he had enough to feed himself. By winnowing and sifting the grain he had enough to feed ten men.

When those above called up soldiers, Zhili went about among them with his sleeves rolled up. When those above had a great levy of labor, Zhili was given no work, for he had a lasting illness. When those above gave grain to the sick, he received three measures of grain and ten bundles of firewood.

Now a man who has made his own body disjointed still has enough to nourish his body and to live out the years given him. How much more a man who has made his own virtue disjointed.

Confucius went to Chu, and Jieyu, the madman of Chu, wandered before his gate and said,

"Phoenix, phoenix, how has your virtue fallen so low? The age to come cannot be waited for, and the age gone by cannot be overtaken. When the world has the Way, the sage brings his work to completion. When the world is without the Way, the sage only stays alive. In a time like this, he barely escapes punishment.

Good fortune is lighter than a feather, yet no one knows how to carry it. Misfortune is heavier than the earth, yet no one knows how to avoid it.

Enough, enough, of setting your virtue before men. Danger, danger, of marking the ground and running along the line.

Thorn bushes, thorn bushes, do not wound my going. My steps turn and wind, so do not wound my feet."

The trees of the hill rob themselves, and the fat in the lamp burns itself away. The cinnamon tree can be eaten, and so it is cut. The lacquer tree can be used, and so it is gashed.

All men know the use of what is useful, but no one knows the use of what is useless.