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1
The time of the autumnal floods was come, and the hundred
streams were all discharging themselves into the Ho. Its current
was greatly swollen, so that across its channel from bank to
bank one could not distinguish an ox from a horse. On this the (Spirit-)
earl of the Ho laughed with delight, thinking that all the
beauty of the world was to be found in his charge. Along the
course of the river he walked east till he came to the North Sea,
over which he looked, with his face to the east, without being
able to see where its waters began. Then he began to turn his
face round, looked across the expanse, (as if he were)
confronting Zo, and said with a sigh, 'What the vulgar saying
expresses about him who has learned a hundred points (of the Tâo),
and thinks that there is no one equal to himself, was surely
spoken of me. And moreover, I have heard parties making little
of the knowledge of Kung-nî and the righteousness of Po-î, and
at first I did not believe them. Now I behold the
all-but-boundless extent (of your realms). If I had not come to
your gate, I should have been in danger (of continuing in my
ignorance), and been laughed at for long in the schools of our
great System.'
Zo, (the Spirit-lord) of the Northern Sea, said, 'A frog in a
well cannot be talked with about the sea;--he is confined to the
limits of his hole. An insect of the summer cannot be talked
with about ice;--it knows nothing beyond its own season. A
scholar of limited views cannot be talked with about the Tâo;--he
is bound by the teaching (which he has received). Now you have
come forth from between your banks, and beheld the great sea.
You have come to know your own ignorance and inferiority, and
are in the way of being fitted to be talked with about great
principles. Of all the waters under heaven there are none so
great as the sea. A myriad streams flow into it without ceasing,
and yet it is not filled; and afterwards it discharges them (also)
without ceasing, and yet it is not emptied. In spring and in
autumn it undergoes no change; it takes no notice of floods or
of drought. Its superiority over such streams even as the Kiang
and the Ho cannot be told by measures or numbers; and that I
have never, notwithstanding this, made much of myself, is
because I compare my own bodily form with (the greatness of)
heaven and earth, and (remember that) I have received my breath
from the Yin and Yang. Between heaven and earth I am but as a
small stone or a small tree on a great hill. So long as I see
myself to be thus small, how should I make much of myself? I
estimate all within the four seas, compared with the space
between heaven and earth, to be not so large as that occupied by
a pile of stones in a large marsh! I estimate our Middle States,
compared with the space between the four seas, to be smaller
than a single little grain of rice in a great granary! When we
would set forth the number of things (in existence), we speak of
them as myriads; and man is only one of them. Men occupy all the
nine provinces; but of all whose life is maintained by grain-food,
wherever boats and carriages reach, men form only one portion.
Thus, compared with the myriads of things, they are not equal to
a single fine hair on the body of a horse. Within this range are
comprehended all (the territories) which the five Tîs received
in succession from one another; all which the royal founders of
the three dynasties contended for; all which excited the anxiety
of Benevolent men; and all which men in office have toiled for.
Po-î was accounted famous for declining (to share in its
government), and Kung-nî was accounted great because of the
lessons which he addressed to it. They acted as they did, making
much of themselves;--therein like you who a little time ago did
so of yourself because of your (volume of) water!'
2
The earl of the Ho said, 'Well then, may I consider heaven and
earth as (the ideal of) what is great, and the point of a hair
as that of what is small?' Zo of the Northern Sea replied, 'No.
The (different) capacities of things are illimitable; time never
stops, (but is always moving on); man's lot is ever changing;
the end and the beginning of things never occur (twice) in the
same way. Therefore men of great wisdom, looking at things far
off or near at hand, do not think them insignificant for being
small, nor much of them for being great:--knowing how capacities
differ illimitably. They appeal with intelligence to things of
ancient and recent occurrence, without being troubled by the
remoteness of the former, or standing on tiptoe to lay hold of
the latter:--knowing that time never stops in its course. They
examine with discrimination (cases of) fulness and of want, not
overjoyed by success, nor disheartened by failure:--knowing the
inconstancy of man's lot. They know the plain and quiet path (in
which things proceed), therefore they are not overjoyed to live,
nor count it a calamity to die: the end and the beginning of
things never occurring (twice) in the same way.
'We must reckon that what men know is not so much as what they
do not know, and that the time since they were born is not so
long as that which elapsed before they were born. When they take
that which is most small and try to fill with it the dimensions
of what is most great, this leads to error and confusion, and
they cannot attain their end. Looking at the subject in this way,
how can you know that the point of a hair is sufficient to
determine the minuteness of what is most small, or that heaven
and earth are sufficient to complete the dimensions of what is
most large?'
3
The earl of the Ho said, 'The disputers of the world all say, "That
which is most minute has no bodily form; and that which is most
great cannot be encompassed;"--is this really the truth?' Zo of
the Northern Sea replied, 'When from the standpoint of what is
small we look at what is great, we do not take it all in; when
from the standpoint of what is great we look at what is small,
we do not see it clearly. Now the subtile essence is smallness
in its extreme degree; and the vast mass is greatness in its
largest form. Different as they are, each has its suitability,--according
to their several conditions. But the subtile and the gross both
presuppose that they have a bodily form. Where there is no
bodily form, there is no longer a possibility of numerical
division; where it is not possible to encompass a mass, there is
no longer a possibility of numerical estimate. What can be
discoursed about in words is the grossness of things; what can
be reached in idea is the subtilty of things. What cannot be
discoursed about in words, and what cannot be reached by nice
discrimination of thought, has nothing to do either with
subtilty or grossness.
'Therefore while the actions of the Great Man are not directed
to injure men, he does not plume himself on his benevolence and
kindness; while his movements are not made with a view to gain,
he does not consider the menials of a family as mean; while he
does not strive after property and wealth, he does not plume
himself on declining them; while he does not borrow the help of
others to accomplish his affairs, he does not plume himself on
supporting himself by his own strength, nor does he despise
those who in their greed do what is mean; while he differs in
his conduct from the vulgar, he does not plume himself on being
so different from them; while it is his desire to follow the
multitude, he does not despise the glib-tongued flatterers. The
rank and emoluments of the world furnish no stimulus to him, nor
does he reckon its punishments and shame to be a disgrace. He
knows that the right and the wrong can (often) not be
distinguished, and that what is small and what is great can (often)
not be defined. I have heard it said, "The Man of Tâo does not
become distinguished; the greatest virtue is unsuccessful; the
Great Man has no thought of self;"--to so great a degree may the
lot be restricted.'
4
The earl of the Ho said, 'Whether the subject be what is
external in things, or what is internal, how do we come to make
a distinction between them as noble and mean, and as great or
small?' Zo of the Northern Sea replied, 'When we look at them in
the light of the Tâo, they are neither noble nor mean. Looking
at them in themselves, each thinks itself noble, and despises
others. Looking at them in the light of common opinion, their
being noble or mean does not depend on themselves. Looking at
them in their differences from one another, if we call those
great which are greater than others, there is nothing that is
not great, and in the same way there is nothing that is not
small. We shall (thus) know that heaven and earth is but (as) a
grain of the smallest rice, and that the point of a hair is (as)
a mound or a mountain;--such is the view given of them by their
relative size. Looking at them from the services they render,
allowing to everything the service which it does, there is not
one which is not serviceable; and, extending the consideration
to what it does not do, there is not one which is not
unserviceable. We know (for instance) that East and West are
opposed to each other, and yet that the one cannot be without (suggesting
the idea of) the other;--(thus) their share of mutual service is
determined. Looking at them with respect to their tendencies, if
we approve of what they approve, then there is no one who may
not be approved of; and, if we condemn what they condemn, there
is no one who may not be condemned. There are the cases of Yâo
and Kieh, each of whom approved of his own course, and condemned
the other;--such is the view arising from the consideration of
tendency and aim.
'Formerly Yâo and Shun resigned (their thrones), and yet each
continued to be Tî; Kih-khwâi resigned (his marquisate) which
led to his ruin. Thang and Wû contended (for the sovereignty),
and each became king; the duke of Pâi contended (for Khû), which
led to his extinction. Looking at the subject from these
examples of striving by force and of resigning, and from the
conduct of Yâo (on the one hand) and of Kieh (on the other), we
see that there is a time for noble acting, and a time for mean;--these
characteristics are subject to no regular rule.
5
'A battering ram may be used against the wall of a city, but it
cannot be employed to stop up a hole;--the uses of implements
are different. The (horses) Khih-kî and Hwâ-liû could in one day
gallop 1000 lî, but for catching rats they were not equal to a
wild dog or a weasel;--the gifts of creatures are different. The
white horned owl collects its fleas in the night-time, and can
discern the point of a hair, but in bright day it stares with
its eyes and cannot see a mound or a hill;--the natures of
creatures are different.
'Hence the sayings, "Shall we not follow and honour the right,
and have nothing to do with the wrong? shall we not follow and
honour those who secure good government, and have nothing to do
with those who produce disorder?" show a want of acquaintance
with the principles of Heaven and Earth, and with the different
qualities of things. It is like following and honouring Heaven
and taking no account of Earth; it is like following and
honouring the Yin and taking no account of the Yang. It is clear
that such a course cannot be pursued. Yet notwithstanding they
go on talking so:--if they are not stupid, they are visionaries.
The Tî sovereigns resigned their thrones to others in one way,
and the rulers of the three dynasties transmitted their thrones
to their successors in another. He who acts differently from the
requirements of his time and contrary to its custom is called an
usurper; he who complies with the time and follows the common
practice is said to be righteous. Hold your peace, O earl of the
Ho. How should you know what constitutes being noble and being
mean, or who are the small and who the great?'
6
The earl of the Ho said, 'Very well. But what am I to do? and
what am I not to do? How am I to be guided after all in regard
to what I accept or reject, and what I pursue or put away from
me?' Zo of the Northern Sea replied, 'From the standpoint of the
Tâo, what is noble? and what is mean? These expressions are but
the different extremes of the average level. Do not keep
pertinaciously to your own ideas, which put you in such
opposition to the Tâo. What are few? and what are many? These
are denominations which we employ in thanking (donors) and
dispensing gifts. Do not study to be uniform in doing so;--it
only shows how different you are from the Tâo. Be severe and
strict, like the ruler of a state who does not selfishly bestow
his favours. Be scrupulous, yet gentle, like the tutelary spirit
of the land, when sacrifice is offered to him who does not
bestow his blessing selfishly. Be large-minded like space, whose
four terminating points are illimitable, and form no particular
enclosures. Hold all things in your love, favouring and
supporting none specially. This is called being without any
local or partial regard; all things are equally regarded; there
is no long or short among them.
'There is no end or beginning to the Tâo. Things indeed die and
are born, not reaching a perfect state which can be relied on.
Now there is emptiness, and now fulness;--they do not continue
in one form. The years cannot be reproduced; time cannot be
arrested. Decay and growth, fulness and emptiness, when they end,
begin again. It is thus that we describe the method of great
righteousness, and discourse about the principle pervading all
things. The life of things is like the hurrying and galloping
along of a horse. With every movement there is a change; with
every moment there is an alteration. What should you be doing?
what should you not be doing? You have only to be allowing this
course of natural transformation to be going on.'
7
The earl of the Ho said, 'What then is there so valuable in the
Tâo?' Zo of the Northern Sea replied, 'He who knows the Tâo, is
sure to be well acquainted with the principles (that appear in
the procedures of things). Acquainted with (those) principles,
he is sure to understand how to regulate his conduct in all
varying circumstances. Having that understanding, he will not
allow things to injure himself. Fire cannot burn him who is (so)
perfect in virtue, nor water drown him; neither cold nor heat
can affect him injuriously; neither bird nor beast can hurt him.
This does not mean that he is indifferent to these things; it
means that he discriminates between where he may safely rest and
where he will be in peril; that he is tranquil equally in
calamity and happiness; that he is careful what he avoids and
what he approaches;--so that nothing can injure him. Hence it is
said, "What is heavenly is internal; what is human is external."
The virtue (of man) is in what is Heavenly. If you know the
operation of what is Heavenly and what is Human, you will have
your root in what is Heavenly and your position in Virtue. You
will bend or stretch (only) after the (necessary) hesitation;
you will have returned to the essential, and may be pronounced
to have reached perfection.'
'What do you mean,' pursued the earl, 'by the Heavenly, and by
the Human?' Zo replied, 'Oxen and horses have four feet;--that
is what I call their Heavenly (constitution). When horses' heads
are haltered, and the noses of oxen are pierced, that is what I
call (the doing of) Man. Hence it is said, "Do not by the Human
(doing) extinguish the Heavenly (constitution); do not for your
(Human) purpose extinguish the appointment (of Heaven); do not
bury your (proper) fame in (such) a pursuit of it; carefully
guard (the Way) and do not lose it:--this is what I call
reverting to your True (Nature)."'
8
The khwei desires to be like the millipede; the millipede to be
like the serpent; the serpent like the wind; the wind to be like
the eye; and the eye to be like the mind.
The khwei said to the millipede, 'With my one leg I hop about,
and can hardly manage to go along. Now you have a myriad feet
which you can employ; how is it that you are so abundantly
furnished?' The millipede said, 'It is not so. Have you not seen
one ejecting saliva? The largest portion of it is like a pearl,
while the smaller portions fall down like a shower of mist in
innumerable drops. Now I put in motion the springs set in me by
Heaven, without knowing how I do so.'
The millipede said to the serpent, 'I go along by means of my
multitude of feet; and yet how is it that I do not go so fast as
you who have no feet at all?' The serpent replied, 'How can the
method of moving by the springs set in us by Heaven be changed?
How could I make use of feet?'
The serpent said to the wind, 'I get along by moving my backbone
and ribs, thus appearing to have some (bodily) means of
progression. But now you, Sir, rise with a blustering force in
the North Sea, and go on in the same way to the South
Sea;--seemingly without any such means. How does it take place?'
The wind said, 'Yes. With such a blustering force I rise in the
North Sea and go on to the: South Sea. But you can point to me,
and therein are superior to me, as you are also in treading on
me. Yet notwithstanding, it is only I who can break great trees,
and blow down great houses. Therefore he whom all that are small
cannot overcome is a great overcomer. But it is only he who is
the sagely man that is the Great Conqueror (of all).'
9
When Confucius was travelling in Khwang, some people of Sung
(once) surrounded him (with a hostile intention) several ranks
deep; but he kept singing to his lute without stopping. Dze-lû
came in, and saw him, and said, 'How is it, Master, that you are
so pleased?' Confucius said, 'Come here, and I will tell you. I
have tried to avoid being reduced to such a strait for a long
time; and that I have not escaped shows that it was so appointed
for me. I have sought to find a ruler that would employ me for a
long time, and that I have not found one, shows the character of
the time. Under Yâo and Shun there was no one in the kingdom
reduced to straits like mine; and it was not by their sagacity
that men succeeded as they did. Under Kieh and Kâu no (good and
able man) in the kingdom found his way to employment; and it was
not for (want of) sagacity that they failed to do so. It was
simply owing to the times and their character.
2
People that do business on the water do not shrink from meeting
iguanodons and dragons;--that is the courage of fishermen. Those
who do business on land do not shrink from meeting rhinoceroses
and tigers;--that is the courage of hunters. When men see the
sharp weapons crossed before them, and look on death as going
home;--that is the courage of the determined soldier. When he
knows that his strait is determined for him, and that the
employment of him by a ruler depends on the character of the
time, and then meeting with great distress is yet not
afraid;-that is the courage of the sagely man. Wait, my good Yû,
and you will see what there is determined for me in my lot.' A
little afterwards, the leader of the armed men approached and
took his leave, saying, 'We thought you were Yang Hû, and
therefore surrounded you. Now we see our mistake.' (With this)
he begged to take his leave, and withdrew.
10
Kung-sun Lung asked Mâu of Wei, saying, 'When I was young, I
learned the teachings of the former kings; and when I was grown
up, I became proficient in the practice of benevolence and
righteousness. I brought together the views that agreed and
disagreed; I considered the questions about hardness and
whiteness; I set forth what was to be affirmed and what was not,
and what was allowable and what was not; I studied painfully the
various schools of thought, and made myself master of the
reasonings of all their masters. I thought that I had reached a
good understanding of every subject; but now that I have heard
the words of Kwang-dze, they throw me into a flutter of
surprise. I do not know whether it be that I do not come up to
him in the power of discussion, or that my knowledge is not
equal to his. But now I do not feel able to open my mouth, and
venture to ask you what course I should pursue.' Kung-dze Mâu
leant forward on his stool, drew a long breath, looked up to
heaven, smiled, and said, 'Have you not heard of the frog of the
dilapidated well, and how it said to the turtle of the Eastern
Sea, "How I enjoy myself? I leap upon the parapet of this well.
I enter, and having by means of the projections formed by the
fragments of the broken tiles of the lining proceeded to the
water, I draw my legs together, keep my chin up, (and strike
out). When I have got to the mud, I dive till my feet are lost
in it. Then turning round, I see that of the shrimps, crabs, and
tadpoles there is not one that can do like me. Moreover, when
one has entire command of all the water in the gully, and
hesitates to go forward, it is the greatest pleasure to enjoy
one's self here in this dilapidated well;--why do not you,
Master, often come and enter, and see it for yourself? "The
turtle of the Eastern Sea (was then proceeding to go forward),
but before he had put in his left foot, he found his right knee
caught and held fast. On this he hesitated, drew back, and told
(the frog) all about the sea, saying, "A distance of a thousand
lî is not sufficient to express its extent, nor would (a line
of) eight thousand cubits be equal to sound its depth. In the
time of Yü, for nine years out of ten the flooded land (all
drained into it), and its water was not sensibly increased; and
in the time of Thang for seven years out of eight there was a
drought, but the rocks on the shore (saw) no diminution of the
water because of it. Thus it is that no change is produced in
its waters by any cause operating for a short time or a long,
and that they do not advance nor recede for any addition or
subtraction, whether great or small; and this is the great
pleasure afforded by the Eastern Sea." When the frog of the
dilapidated well heard this, he was amazed and terror-struck,
and lost himself in surprise.
'And moreover, when you, who have not wisdom enough to know
where the discussions about what is right and what is wrong
should end, still desire to see through the words of Kwang-dze,
that is like employing a mosquito to carry a mountain on its
back, or a millipede to gallop as fast as the Ho runs;--tasks to
which both the insects are sure to be unequal. Still further,
when you, who have not wisdom enough to know the words employed
in discussing very mysterious subjects, yet hasten to show your
sharpness of speech on any occasion that may occur, is not this
being like the frog of the dilapidated well?
'And that (Kwang-dze) now plants his foot on the Yellow Springs
(below the earth), and anon rises to the height of the Empyrean.
Without any regard to south and north, with freedom he launches
out in every direction, and is lost in the unfathomable. Without
any regard to east and west, starting from what is abysmally
obscure, he comes back to what is grandly intelligible. (All the
while), you, Sir, in amazement, search for his views to examine
them, and grope among them for matter for discussion;--this is
just like peeping at the heavens through a tube, or aiming at
the earth with an awl; are not both the implements too small for
the purpose? Go your ways, Sir.
'And have you not heard of the young learners of Shâu-ling, and
how they did in Han-tan? Before they had acquired what they
might have done in that capital, they had forgotten what they
had learned to do in their old city, and were marched back to it
on their hands and knees. If now you do not go away, you will
forget your old acquirements, and fail in your profession.'
Kung-sun Lung gaped on the speaker, and could not shut his
mouth, and his tongue clave to its roof. He slank away and ran
off.
11
Kwang-dze was (once) fishing in the river Phû, when the king of
Khû sent two great officers to him, with the message, 'I wish to
trouble you with the charge of all within my territories.'
Kwang-dze kept on holding his rod without looking round, and
said, 'I have heard that in Khû there is a spirit-like
tortoise-shell, the wearer of which died 3000 years ago, and
which the king keeps, in his ancestral temple, in a hamper
covered with a cloth. Was it better for the tortoise to die, and
leave its shell to be thus honoured? Or would it have been
better for it to live, and keep on dragging its tail through the
mud?' The two officers said, 'It would have been better for it
to live, and draw its tail after it over the mud.' 'Go your
ways. I will keep on drawing my tail after me through the mud.'
12
Hui-dze being a minister of state in Liang, Kwang-dze went to
see him. Some one had told Hui-dze that Kwang-dze was come with
a wish to supersede him in his office, on which he was afraid,
and instituted a search for the stranger all over the kingdom
for three days and three nights. (After this) Kwang-dze went and
saw him, and said, 'There is in the south a bird, called "the
Young Phoenix;"--do you know it? Starting from the South Sea, it
flies to the Northern; never resting but on the bignonia, never
eating but the fruit of the melia azederach, and never drinking
but from the purest springs. An owl, which had got a putrid rat,
(once), when a phoenix went passing overhead, looked up to it
and gave an angry scream. Do you wish now, in your possession of
the kingdom of Liang, to frighten me with a similar scream?'
13
Kwang-dze and Hui-dze were walking on the dam over the Hâo, when
the former said, 'These thryssas [sic] come out, and play about
at their ease;--that is the enjoyment of fishes.' The other
said, 'You are not a fish; how do you know what constitutes the
enjoyment of fishes?' Kwang-dze rejoined, 'You are not I. How do
you know that I do not know what constitutes the enjoyment of
fishes?' Hui-dze said, 'I am not you; and though indeed I do not
fully know you, you certainly are not a fish, and (the argument)
is complete against your knowing what constitutes the happiness
of fishes.' Kwang-dze replied, 'Let us keep to your original
question. You said to me, "How do you know what constitutes the
enjoyment of fishes?" You knew that I knew it, and yet you put
your question to me;--well, I know it (from our enjoying
ourselves together) over the Hâo.' |
