1
Lieh Yü-khâu had started to go to Khî, but came back when he was
half-way to it. He met Po-hwän Wû-zän, who said, 'Why have you
come back?' His reply was, 'I was frightened.' 'What frightened
you?' 'I went into ten soup-shops to get a meal. and in five of
them the soup was set before me before (I had paid for it).'
'But what was there in that to frighten you?' (Lieh-dze) said,
'Though the inward and true purpose be not set forth, the body
like a spy gives some bright display of it. And this outward
demonstration overawes men's minds, and makes men on light
grounds treat one as noble or as aged, from which evil to him
will be produced. Now vendors of soup supply their commodity
simply as a matter of business, and however much they may
dispose of, their profit is but little, and their power is but
slight; and yet they treated me as I have said:--how much more
would the lord of ten thousand chariots do so! His body burdened
with (the cares of his) kingdom, and his knowledge overtasked by
its affairs, he would entrust those affairs to me, and exact
from me the successful conduct (of its government). It was this
which frightened me.' Po-hwän Wû-zän replied, 'Admirable
perspicacity! But if you carry yourself as you do, men will
flock to you for protection.'
Not long after, Po-hwän Wû-zän went (to visit Lieh-dze), and
found the space outside his door full of shoes. There he stood
with his face to the north, holding his staff upright, and
leaning his chin on it till the skin was wrinkled. After
standing so for some time, and without saying a word, he was
going away, when the door-keeper went in, and told Lieh-dze. The
latter (immediately) took up his shoes, and ran barefoot after
the visitor. When he overtook him at the (outer) gate, he said,
'Since you, Sir, have come, are you going away without giving me
some medicine?' The other replied, 'It is of no use. I did tell
you that men would flock to you, and they do indeed do so. It is
not that you can cause men to flock to you, but you cannot keep
them from not so coming;--of what use is (all my warning)? What
influences them and makes them glad is the display of your
extraordinary (qualities); but you must also be influenced in
your turn, and your proper nature be shaken, and no warning can
be addressed to you. Those who associate with you do not
admonish you of this. The small words which they speak are
poison to a man. You perceive it not; you understand it
not;--how can you separate yourself from them?
'The clever toil on, and the wise are sad. Those who are without
ability seek for nothing. They eat to the full, and wander idly
about. They drift like a vessel loosed from its moorings, and
aimlessly wander about.'
2
A man of Käng, called Hwan, learned his books in the
neighbourhood of Khiû-shih, and in no longer time than three
years became a Confucian scholar, benefiting the three classes
of his kindred as the Ho extends its enriching influence for
nine lî. He made his younger brother study (the principles of)
Mo, and then they two--the scholar and the Mohist--disputed
together (about their respective systems), and the father took
the side of the younger. After ten years Hwan killed himself.
(By and by) he appeared to his father in a dream, saying, 'It
was I who made your son become a Mohist; why did you not
recognise that good service? I am become (but) the fruit of a
cypress in autumn.' But the Creator, in apportioning the awards
of men, does not recompense them for their own doings, but
recompenses them for the (use of the) Heavenly in them. It was
thus that Hwan's brother was led to learn Mohism. When this Hwan
thought that it was he who had made his brother different from
what he would have been, and proceeded to despise his father, he
was like the people of Khî, who, while they drank from a well,
tried to keep one another from it. Hence it is said, 'Now-a-days
all men are Hwans.' From this we perceive that those who possess
the characteristics (of the Tâo) consider that they do not know
them; how much more is it so with those who possess the Tâo
itself! The ancients called such (as Hwan) 'men who had escaped
the punishment of Heaven.'
3
The sagely man rests in what is his proper rest; he does not
rest in what is not so;--the multitude of men rest in what is
not their proper rest; they do not rest in their proper rest.
4
Kwang-dze said, To know the Tâo is easy; not to say (that you
know it) is difficult. To know it and not to speak of it is the
way to attain to the Heavenly; to know and to speak of it, is
the way to show the Human. The ancients pursued the Heavenly
(belonging to them), and not the Human.'
5
Kû Phing-man learned how to slaughter the dragon from Kih-lî Yî,
expending (in doing so) all his wealth of a thousand ounces of
silver. In three years he became perfect in the art, but he
never exercised his skill.
6
The sage looks on what is deemed necessary as unnecessary, and
therefore is not at war (in himself). The mass of men deem what
is unnecessary to be necessary, and therefore they are often at
war (in themselves). Therefore those who pursue this method of
(internal) war, resort to it in whatever they seek for. But
reliance on such war leads to ruin.
7
The wisdom of the small man does not go beyond (the minutiae of)
making presents and writing memoranda, wearying his spirits out
in what is trivial and mean. But at the same time he wishes to
aid in guiding to (the secret of) the Tâo and of (all) things in
the incorporeity of the Grand Unity. In this way he goes all
astray in regard to (the mysteries of) space and time. The
fetters of embodied matter keep him from the knowledge of the
Grand Beginning. (On the other hand), the perfect man directs
the energy of his spirit to what was before the Beginning, and
finds pleasure in the mysteriousness belonging to the region of
nothingness. He is like the water which flows on without the
obstruction of matter, and expands into the Grand Purity.
Alas for what you do, (O men)! You occupy yourselves with things
trivial as a hair, and remain ignorant of the Grand Rest!
8
There was a man of Sung, called Zhâo Shang, who was sent by the
king of Sung on a mission to Khin. On setting out, he had
several carriages with him; and the king (of Khin) was so
pleased with him that he gave him another hundred. When he
returned to Sung, he saw Kwang-dze, and said to him, 'To live in
a narrow lane of a poor mean hamlet, wearing sandals amid
distress of poverty, with a weazen neck and yellow face;--that
is what I should find it difficult to do. But as soon as I come
to an understanding with the Lord of a myriad carriages, to find
myself with a retinue of a hundred carriages,--that is wherein I
excel.' Kwang-dze replied, 'When the king of Khän is ill, the
doctor whom he calls to open an ulcer or squeeze a boil receives
a carriage; and he who licks his piles receives five. The lower
the service, the more are the carriages given. Did you, Sir,
lick his piles? How else should you have got so many carriages?
Begone!'
9
Duke Âi of Lû asked Yen Ho, saying, 'If I employ Kung-nî as the
support of my government, will the evils of the state be thereby
cured?' The reply was, '(Such a measure) would be perilous! It
would be full of hazard! Kung-nî, moreover, will try to ornament
a feather and paint it; in the conduct of affairs he uses
flowery speeches. A (mere) branch is to him more admirable (than
the root); he can bear to misrepresent their nature in
instructing the people, and is not conscious of the unreality of
his words. He receives (his inspiration) from his own mind, and
rules his course from his own spirit:--what fitness has he to be
set over the people? Is such a man suitable for you (as your
minister)? Could you give to him the nourishment (of the
people)? You would do so by mistake (but not on purpose, for a
time, but not as a permanency). To make the people leave what is
real, and learn what is hypocritical--that is not the proper
thing to be shown to them; if you take thought for future ages,
your better plan will be to give up (the idea of employing
Confucius). What makes government difficult, is the dealing with
men without forgetting yourself; this is not according to the
example of Heaven in diffusing its benefits. Merchants and
traffickers are not to be ranked (with administrative officers);
if on an occasion you so rank them, the spirits (of the people)
do not acquiesce in your doing so. The instruments of external
punishment are made of metal and wood; those of internal
punishment are agitation (of the mind) and (the sense of)
transgression. When small men become subject to the external
punishment, the (instruments of) metal and wood deal with them;
when they become liable to the internal punishments, the Yin and
Yang consume them. It is only the true man who can escape both
from the external and internal punishment.'
10
Confucius said, 'The minds of men are more difficult of approach
than (the position defended by) mountains and rivers, and more
difficult to know than Heaven itself. Heaven has its periods of
spring and autumn, of winter and summer, and of morning and
evening; but man's exterior is thickly veiled, and his feelings
lie deep. Thus the demeanour of some is honest-like, and yet
they go to excess (in what is mean); others are really gifted,
and yet look to be without ability; some seem docile and
impressible, but yet they have far-reaching schemes; others look
firm, and yet may be twisted about; others look slow, and yet
they are hasty. In this way those who hasten to do what is right
as if they were thirsty will anon hurry away from it as if it
were fire. Hence the superior man looks at them when employed at
a distance to test their fidelity, and when employed near at
hand to test their reverence. By employing them on difficult
services, he tests their ability; by questioning them suddenly,
he tests their knowledge; by appointing them a fixed time, he
tests their good faith; by entrusting them with wealth, he tests
their benevolence; by telling them of danger, he tests their
self-command in emergencies; by making them drunk, he tests
their tendencies; by placing them in a variety of society, he
tests their chastity:--by these nine tests the inferior man is
discovered.'
11
When Khâo-fû, the Correct, received the first grade of official
rank, he walked with head bowed down; on receiving the second,
with bent back; on receiving the third, with body stooping, he
ran and hurried along the wall:--who would presume not to take
him as a model? But one of those ordinary men, on receiving his
first appointment, goes along with a haughty stride; on
receiving his second, he looks quite elated in his chariot; and
on receiving the third, he calls his uncles by their personal
names;--how very different from Hsü (Yû) in the time (of Yâo of)
Thang!
Of all things that injure (men) there is none greater than the
practising of virtue with the purpose of the mind, till the mind
becomes supercilious. When it becomes so, the mind (only) looks
inwards (on itself), and such looking into itself leads to its
ruin. This evil quality has five forms, and the chief of them is
that which is the central. What do we mean by the central
quality? It is that which appears in a man's loving (only) his
own views, and reviling whatever he does not do (himself).
Limiting (men's advance), there are eight extreme conditions;
securing (that advance), there are three things necessary; and
the person has its six repositories. Elegance; a (fine) beard;
tallness; size; strength; beauty; bravery; daring; and in all
these excelling others:--(these are the eight extreme
conditions) by which advance is limited. Depending on and
copying others; stooping in order to rise; and being straitened
by the fear of not equalling others:-- these are the three
things that lead to advancing. Knowledge seeking to reach to all
that is external; bold movement producing many resentments;
benevolence and righteousness leading to many requisitions;
understanding the phenomena of life in an extraordinary degree;
understanding all knowledge so as to possess an approach to it;
understanding the great condition appointed for him, and
following it, and the smaller conditions, and meeting them as
they occur:--(these are the six repositories of the person).
12
There was a man who, having had an interview with the king of
Sung, and been presented by him with ten carriages, showed them
boastfully to Kwang-dze, as if the latter had been a boy.
Kwang-dze said to him, 'Near the Ho there was a poor man who
supported his family by weaving rushes (to form screens). His
son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand
ounces of silver. The father said, "Bring a stone, and break it
in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine
khung deep, and under the chin of the Black Dragon. That you
were able to get it must have been owing to your finding him
asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences to you will not be
small!" Now the kingdom of Sung is deeper than any pool of nine
khung, and its king is fiercer than the Black Dragon. That you
were able to get the chariots must have been owing to your
finding him asleep. Let him awake, and you will be ground to
powder.'
13
Some (ruler) having sent a message of invitation to him,
Kwang-sze replied to the messenger, 'Have you seen, Sir, a
sacrificial ox? It is robed with ornamental embroidery, and
feasted on fresh grass and beans. But when it is led into the
grand ancestral temple, though it wished to be (again) a
solitary calf, would that be possible for it?
14
When Kwang-dze was about to die, his disciples signified their
wish to give him a grand burial. 'I shall have heaven and
earth,' said he, 'for my coffin and its shell; the sun and moon
for my two round symbols of jade; the stars and constellations
for my pearls and jewels; and all things assisting as the
mourners. Will not the provisions for my burial be complete?
What could you add to them?' The disciples replied, 'We are
afraid that the crows and kites will eat our master.' Kwang-dze
rejoined, 'Above, the crows and kites will eat me; below, the
mole-crickets and ants will eat me:--to take from those and give
to these would only show your partiality.'
The attempt, with what is not even, to produce what is even will
only produce an uneven result; the attempt, with what is
uncertain, to make the uncertain certain will leave the
uncertainty as it was. He who uses only the sight of his eyes is
acted on by what he sees; it is the (intuition of the) spirit,
that gives the assurance of certainty. That the sight of the
eyes is not equal to that intuition of the spirit is a thing
long acknowledged. And yet stupid people rely on what they see,
and will have it to be the sentiment of all men;--all their
success being with what is external:--is it not sad? |