Zhongni — Confucius仲尼篇

Zhongni was living at leisure, and Zigong came in to attend him. There was a look of grief on Zhongni's face. Zigong did not dare to ask. He went out and told Yan Hui, and Yan Hui took up his zither and sang.

Confucius heard it, and sure enough he called Yan Hui in and asked, "Why are you alone joyful?"

Yan Hui said, "Why is the master alone grieving?"

Confucius said, "Speak your own mind first."

He said, "Long ago I heard the master say, 'He who delights in heaven and knows his lot does not grieve.' That is why I am joyful."

Confucius was downcast for a while, and then said,

"Did I say that? Your understanding has gone astray. Those were my words of long ago. Let me set them right by what I say now.

You know only that he who delights in heaven and knows his lot has no grief. You do not know how great is the grief of him who delights in heaven and knows his lot. Now I will tell you what it truly is.

To cultivate the one body, to leave blocked ways and open ways as they come, to know that going and coming do not rest with me, and to let no change or disorder into the heart and its thoughts, this is what you call delighting in heaven and knowing one's lot and having no grief.

In the past I put the Odes and the Documents in order and set the rites and the music right, meaning to govern all under heaven and to leave this to the ages to come. I did not mean to stop at cultivating one body and governing the state of Lu. Yet the lord and the ministers of Lu lost their order day by day, benevolence and righteousness grew ever weaker, and feeling and nature ever thinner. If this way is not practiced in one state and in one age, what of all under heaven and the ages to come?

Then I knew for the first time that the Odes and the Documents and the rites and the music are no help to order or to disorder, and I still do not know the way to reform them. This is what he who delights in heaven and knows his lot grieves over.

Even so, I have found it. Delight and knowledge as men speak of them are not what the ancients called delight and knowledge. To have no delight and no knowledge is true delight and true knowledge. So there is nothing he does not delight in, nothing he does not know, nothing he does not grieve over, nothing he does not do. Why should the Odes and the Documents and the rites and the music be cast away? Why should they be reformed?"

Yan Hui faced north, joined his hands and bowed, and said, "I too have found it."

He went out and told Zigong. Zigong was lost and bewildered. He went home and brooded for seven days, and neither slept nor ate, until he was skin and bone. Yan Hui went to him again and made him understand. Then he returned to the gate of Confucius, and to the end of his life he never ceased to play and sing and recite the books.

A high officer of Chen (陳) came to Lu as an envoy and saw Shusun in private. Shusun said, "There is a sage in our state."

He said, "Is that not Kong Qiu?"

He said, "It is."

"How do you know that he is a sage?"

Shusun said, "I have often heard Yan Hui say, 'Kong Qiu can set the mind aside and use the body alone.'"

The high officer of Chen said, "There is a sage in our state as well. Do you not know of him?"

He said, "Whom do you call a sage?"

He said, "Among the disciples of Lao Dan there is one called Kangcangzi (亢倉子). He has gained the way of Lao Dan, and he can see with his ears and hear with his eyes."

The lord of Lu heard this and was greatly astonished. He sent his chief minister with rich ceremony to bring the man to him. Kangcangzi answered the summons and came, and the lord of Lu humbled his words and questioned him.

Kangcangzi said, "The one who told you spoke wildly. I can see and hear without using my ears and eyes, but I cannot exchange the uses of ear and eye."

The lord of Lu said, "This is stranger still. What is that way of yours? I wish above all to hear it."

Kangcangzi said, "My body is joined to my mind, my mind to my breath, my breath to my spirit, and my spirit to nothing at all. Whatever has the least being and whatever makes the faintest sound, far beyond the eight wild regions or close within my brows and lashes, if it comes toward me I am bound to know it. Yet I do not know whether it is my seven openings and four limbs that feel it, or my heart and belly and six organs that know it. It simply knows of itself."

The lord of Lu was greatly pleased. Another day he told Zhongni of it, and Zhongni laughed and did not answer.

The grand steward of Shang (商) saw Confucius and said, "Is Qiu (丘) a sage?"

Confucius said, "A sage? How would I dare. But I am a man who has studied widely and knows many things."

The grand steward of Shang said, "Were the Three Kings sages?"

Confucius said, "The Three Kings were good at using wisdom and courage. Whether they were sages I do not know."

He said, "Were the Five Emperors sages?"

Confucius said, "The Five Emperors were good at using benevolence and righteousness. Whether they were sages I do not know."

He said, "Were the Three Sovereigns (皇) sages?"

Confucius said, "The Three Sovereigns were good at following the times. Whether they were sages I do not know."

The grand steward of Shang was greatly startled and said, "Then who is a sage?"

Confucius changed countenance, and after a while he said, "Among the people of the west there is a sage. He does not govern, yet there is no disorder. He does not speak, yet he is trusted of himself. He does not transform, yet things go of themselves. So vast is he that the people can find no name for him. I think that he may be a sage, but I do not know whether he is truly a sage or truly not a sage."

The grand steward of Shang said nothing and reckoned in his heart, "Kong Qiu is deceiving me."

Zixia asked Confucius, "What kind of man is Yan Hui?"

He said, "Hui (回) is better than I am in benevolence."

"What kind of man is Zigong?"

He said, "Ci (賜) is better than I am in speech."

"What kind of man is Zilu?"

He said, "Zilu (由) is better than I am in courage."

"What kind of man is Zizhang?"

He said, "Shi (師) is better than I am in dignity."

Zixia left his mat and asked, "Then why do these four serve you, Master?"

He said, "Sit down. I will tell you. Hui can be benevolent, but he cannot turn back from it. Ci can speak well, but he cannot be slow of speech. Zilu can be brave, but he cannot be timid. Shi can be dignified, but he cannot mix with others. Put together all that the four have and ask me to trade what I am for it, and I would not agree. This is why they serve me with undivided hearts."

Zi Liezi took Huqiu Zilin as his teacher and Bohun Maoren as his friend, and then lived by the southern wall of the city. Those who came to live near him were more each day than could be counted. Even so, Zi Liezi kept himself unseen. Every morning they argued things out together, and there was nothing they did not hear of.

For twenty years he lived with Nanguozi on the other side of one wall, and neither called on the other. When they met on the road, their eyes were as if they did not see each other. The disciples of the school had no doubt that Zi Liezi and Nanguozi were enemies.

A man who had come from Chu asked Zi Liezi, "Why are you and Nanguozi enemies?"

Zi Liezi said, "Nanguozi is full in face and empty in mind. His ears do not hear, his eyes do not see, his mouth does not speak, his mind does not know, his body does not flinch. What would we do by going there? Still, I will try, and go with you."

He chose forty disciples and went with them. They saw Nanguozi, and he was indeed like a figure of clay, and there was no meeting him. They looked back at Zi Liezi, and his body and his spirit were not matched together, and there was no keeping company with him.

Presently Nanguozi pointed to the disciple standing in the last row of Zi Liezi's company and spoke to him, cheerfully, like a man wholly upright and bold.

Zi Liezi's followers were startled, and even when they came home they all had a doubting look. Zi Liezi said,

"He who has gained the meaning does not speak, and he who has gone on to knowledge does not speak either. To make no speech one's speech is also speech, and to make no knowledge one's knowledge is also knowledge. No speech and not speaking, no knowledge and not knowing, are also speech and also knowledge. There is nothing then that is not spoken and nothing that is not known, and there is nothing spoken and nothing known. It is only this. Why are you startled to no purpose?"

When I, Zi Liezi, was learning, after three years my mind did not dare to think of right and wrong and my mouth did not dare to speak of gain and harm, and only then did Laoshang (老商) give me a single glance from the corner of his eye.

After five years my mind thought of right and wrong again and my mouth spoke of gain and harm again, and then Laoshang for the first time relaxed his face and smiled.

After seven years I followed whatever my mind thought and there was no more right and wrong, and I followed whatever my mouth said and there was no more gain and harm, and then the master for the first time drew me to sit beside him on one mat.

After nine years I let my mind think as it would and my mouth say what it would, and I did not know my own right and wrong or gain and harm, nor the right and wrong or gain and harm of others. Outside and inside had gone as far as they could go.

After that the eye was like the ear, the ear like the nose, the nose like the mouth, and there was nothing that was not the same as the mouth. My mind froze and my body loosened, and bone and flesh melted away. I did not feel what my body leaned on, or what my feet trod on, or what my mind thought, or what my words kept hidden. It was only this, and nothing of the pattern of things was hidden from me.

At first Zi Liezi loved to roam. Huqiuzi said, "Yukou loves to roam. What is it in roaming that he loves?"

Liezi said, "The joy of roaming is that nothing I enjoy stays as it was. Other men roam to look at what is seen. I roam to look at what changes. Roaming, roaming! No one yet has been able to tell one roaming from the other."

Huqiuzi said, "Is Yukou's roaming really the same as other men's, and does he yet say that it is really different from theirs? In whatever is seen, its changing is always seen as well. He enjoys that other things do not stay as they were, and does not know that he too does not stay as he was. He works at roaming outside and does not know how to work at looking within. He who roams outside seeks completeness in things. He who looks within finds enough in himself. To find enough in oneself is the utmost of roaming. To seek completeness in things is roaming that falls short."

At this Liezi never went out again as long as he lived, and thought himself one who did not know how to roam. Huqiuzi said, "Roaming is utmost indeed. He who roams to the utmost does not know where he is going, and he who looks to the utmost does not know what he is looking at. Every thing roams and every thing is looked at. This is what I call roaming, and this is what I call looking. So I say, roaming is utmost indeed, roaming is utmost indeed."

Longshu (龍叔) said to Wen Zhi (文摯), "Your art is subtle. I have an illness. Can you stop it?"

Wen Zhi said, "I will do as you bid. But first tell me the signs of what ails you."

Longshu said, "When my village praises me I count it no glory, and when the state reviles me I count it no shame. I am not glad when I gain and not grieved when I lose. I look on life as on death and on wealth as on poverty. I look on other men as on pigs and on myself as on another man. I dwell in my own house as in an inn, and I look on my own village as on a foreign land.

For all these many ills, rank and reward cannot urge me on, punishment cannot frighten me, rise and fall and gain and harm cannot alter me, grief and joy cannot move me. So I cannot serve the lord of the state, or keep friends, or govern wife and children, or command servants. What illness is this? What remedy can stop it?"

Then Wen Zhi had Longshu stand with his back to the light, and Wen Zhi looked at him from behind, facing the light. After a while he said,

"Ah, I have seen your heart. The square inch of it is empty. You are nearly a sage. Six of the openings of your heart run clear, and one is not open. That may be why you now take the wisdom of a sage for an illness. My shallow art is not what can stop it."

To live always with nothing to depend on is the way. Because one lives by life, one does not perish even when one comes to an end, and this is the constant. To perish by life is misfortune.

To die always with something to depend on is also the way. Because one dies by death, even to perish of oneself before coming to an end is also the constant. To live by death is mere luck.

So to live without use is called the way, and to use the way and gain one's end is called the constant. To die with something used is also called the way, and to use the way and gain one's death is also called the constant.

When Ji Liang (季梁) died, Yang Zhu looked toward his gate and sang. When Sui Wu (隨梧) died, Yang Zhu stroked his corpse and wailed. At the birth of a bondman and at the death of a bondman, the common people will sing and the common people will wail.

He whose eyes are going dim sees the autumn hair first. He whose ears are going deaf hears the flying gnat first. He whose mouth is losing its taste tells the Zi River (淄水) from the Sheng River (澠水) first. He whose nose is closing up smells the burnt and the rotten first. He whose body is stiffening runs hardest first. He whose mind is going astray knows right from wrong first. So a thing that has not reached its limit does not turn back.

In Puze (圃澤) of Zheng there were many worthy men, and in Dongli (東里) many clever ones. Among the company of Puze was one called Bofengzi (伯豐子). He passed through Dongli on his way and met Deng Xi (鄧析).

Deng Xi looked back at his followers and laughed, and said, "I will make sport of him for you. What do you make of the man coming there?"

His followers said, "We would like to know."

Deng Xi said to Bofengzi, "Do you know what feeding and being fed mean? Those who are fed by others and cannot feed themselves are of the kind of dogs and pigs. To feed things and make things serve one's use is the strength of a man. That your company eat their fill and are clothed and rest is the work of those who hold the government. Old and young, you herd together and become the stuff of the pen and the straw mat and the kitchen. How do you differ from the kind of dogs and pigs?"

Bofengzi did not answer. One of Bofengzi's followers stepped out of his place and came forward, and said,

"Has the high officer not heard how many skilled men there are in Qi and Lu? Some are good at working earth and wood, some at working metal and leather, some at handling sound and music, some at handling writing and reckoning, some at handling troops, some at handling the ancestral temple. Every skill is there. But there is no one to set them in their places and no one able to direct them. Those who set them in their places have no knowledge, and those who direct them have no ability, and it is the knowing and the able who are directed by them. Those who hold the government are the very men we direct. What have you to boast of?"

Deng Xi had nothing to answer. He gave his followers a look and withdrew.

Gongyi Bo (公儀伯) was known among the lords for his strength. Tangxi Gong (堂谿公) spoke of him to King Xuan of Zhou, and the king sent for him with full ceremony.

Gongyi Bo came, and to look at him he was a weakling. The king was puzzled in his heart and asked in doubt, "What is this strength of yours?"

Gongyi Bo said, "Your servant's strength can break the leg of a spring locust and bear the wing of an autumn cicada."

The king changed countenance and said, "My strength can tear the hide of the rhinoceros and the wild ox and drag nine oxen by the tail, and still I am vexed that it is weak. You break the leg of a spring locust and bear the wing of an autumn cicada, and yet you are known for strength throughout all under heaven. How is this?"

Gongyi Bo sighed long, withdrew from his mat, and said,

"A good question, O king. Your servant will dare to answer with the truth.

Your servant had a teacher called Shangqiuzi (商丘子), whose strength had no match in all under heaven, and yet his own kin did not know it, because he had never once used it. Your servant served him to the death, and then he said to your servant,

'If a man would see what others do not see, let him look at what others do not peer into. If he would gain what others do not gain, let him cultivate what others do not do. So he who learns to see looks first at a cartload of firewood, and he who learns to hear listens first to the striking of a bell. Where there is ease within, there is no hardship without. Where there is no hardship without, a man's name does not pass beyond his own house.'

Now your servant's name is heard among the lords. This means that your servant has broken his teacher's teaching and shown his ability. Even so, your servant's name has not come from trusting in his strength but from knowing how to use his strength. Is that not better than trusting in one's strength?"

Prince Mou of Zhongshan (公子牟) was a worthy prince of the state of Wei. He loved to keep company with worthy men and paid no heed to the affairs of the state, and he was fond of Gongsun Long (公孫龍) of Zhao. The followers of Yuezheng Ziyu (樂正子輿) laughed at him.

Prince Mou said, "Why do you laugh at me for being fond of Gongsun Long?"

Ziyu said, "Gongsun Long is a man who acts without a teacher and learns without a friend. He is glib but wide of the mark. He sprawls and spreads with no school of his own. He loves the strange and speaks wildly. He would muddle men's minds and bend their mouths, and he practices this with Han Tan (韓檀) and his sort."

Prince Mou changed countenance and said, "Why do you paint the faults of Gongsun Long so? I ask to hear the truth of it."

Ziyu said,

"What I laugh at is how Gongsun Long took in Kong Chuan (孔穿). He said, 'A good archer can make the point of the next arrow strike the notch of the one before, so that shot follows shot and arrow joins arrow. The first arrow reaches the mark and does not break off and fall, and the notch of the last arrow still holds the bowstring, so that they look like one.' Kong Chuan was astonished.

Then Gongsun Long said, 'That is not the wonder of it. Among the disciples of Feng Meng (逢蒙) there was one called Hongchao (鴻超). He was angry with his wife and would frighten her, so he drew the Wuhao (烏號) bow and set a Qiwei (綦衛) arrow to it and shot at her eye. The arrow came and touched the pupil, and her eyelid did not blink. The arrow fell to the ground, and no dust rose.' How can these be the words of a wise man?"

Prince Mou said, "The words of a wise man are of course not what a fool can understand. The point of the next arrow strikes the notch of the one before because the pull behind is even with the pull in front. The arrow touches the pupil and the eyelid does not blink because the force of the arrow is spent. What do you doubt in this?"

Yuezheng Ziyu said, "You are of Gongsun Long's party. How could you not dress up his flaws? I will tell you worse. Gongsun Long deceived the king of Wei, saying, 'There is intent without mind. There is pointing that does not reach. There is a thing that is not exhausted. There is a shadow that does not move. A hair draws a thousand jun. A white horse is not a horse. An orphan calf has never had a mother.' There is no end to the ways he betrays his kind and turns reason upside down."

Prince Mou said, "You do not understand the utmost words and so you call them worse. The worse is in you. Where there is no intent, minds are the same. Where there is no pointing, everything is reached. What exhausts a thing is always there. That the shadow does not move is explained by its being made anew. That a hair draws a thousand jun is because the force is perfectly even. That a white horse is not a horse is because form and name are apart. That an orphan calf has never had a mother is because, if it had a mother, it would not be an orphan calf."

Yuezheng Ziyu said, "You take every sound Gongsun Long makes for reason. If he let it out of some other hole, you would take that up as well."

Prince Mou was silent a long while, then begged leave to go, and said, "Let me wait a few days and call on you again to discuss it."

Yao had governed all under heaven for fifty years, and he did not know whether all under heaven was governed or not governed, nor whether the countless people wished to have him over them or did not wish it.

He asked those about him, and those about him did not know. He asked the outer court, and the outer court did not know. He asked those in the fields, and those in the fields did not know.

Then Yao put on plain clothes and roamed the broad thoroughfare, and heard the children singing, "You have set up all us people, and nothing is not your utmost. Knowing nothing and understanding nothing, we follow the rule of the sovereign."

Yao was glad and asked, "Who taught you to say this?"

The children said, "We heard it from a high officer."

He asked the high officer, and the high officer said, "It is an old poem."

Yao returned to his palace, called Shun, and gave over all under heaven to him. Shun did not decline, but received it.

Guan Yinxi (關尹喜) said,

"When there is no dwelling on oneself, things with form show themselves. Its movement is like water, its stillness like a mirror, its answering like an echo. So its way follows things. Things go against the way of themselves. The way does not go against things.

He who follows the way well uses neither ears nor eyes, neither strength nor mind. To wish to follow the way and to seek it by sight and hearing and body and wit is not fitting.

Look for it in front, and of a sudden it is behind. Use it, and it fills the six empty quarters. Put it aside, and no one knows where it is. It is not something a man with a mind can gain from afar, nor something a man without a mind can gain from near by. Only he who gains it in silence and completes it in his nature gains it.

To know and yet have no feeling, to be able and yet not act, is true knowing and true ability. If it starts from no knowledge, how can there be feeling? If it starts from no ability, how can there be action? It is a heap of clods and a pile of dust. Though it does nothing, it is not the pattern of things."