| 家○上○下○二○ ○二年七月二十六日 | 不我應○不知應我也○吾問狂屈○狂屈中欲告 | 知謂黄帝曰○吾問無為謂○無為謂不應我○非 | 人故貴一○ | ○神奇复化為臭腐○故曰○通天下一氣耳○聖 | 者為神奇○其所惡者為臭腐○臭腐复化為神奇 | 死生為徙○吾又何患○故萬物一也○是其所美 | 人之生○氣之聚也○聚則為生○散則為死○若 | 人乎○生也死之徙○死也生之始○孰知其紀○ | 為物也○欲复歸根○不亦難乎○其易也其唯大 | 又損之○以至於無為○無為而無不為也○今已 | 道之華而亂之首也○故曰○為道者日損○損之 | 德而后仁○失仁而后義○失義而后禮○禮者○ | 義可虧也○禮相偽也○故曰○失道而后德○失 | 不言之教○道不可致○德不可至○仁可為也○ | 終不近也○夫知者不言○言者不知○故聖人行 | 黄帝曰○彼無為謂真是也○狂屈似之○我與汝 | 孰是邪○ | 知問黄帝曰○我與若知之○彼與彼不知也○其 | 處無服始安道○無從無道始得道○ | 見黄帝而問焉○黄帝曰○無思無慮始知道○無 | 中欲言而忘其所欲言○知不得問○反於帝宫○ | 知之○將語若○ | 屈焉○知以之言也問乎狂屈○狂屈曰○唉○予 | 不得問○反於白水之南○登狐闋之上○而睹狂 | 三問而無為謂不答也○非不答○不知答也○知 | ○ | 慮則知道○何處何服則安道○何從何道則得道 | 謂焉○知謂無為謂曰○予欲有問乎若○何思何 | 知北游於玄水之上○登隱弅之丘○而适遭無為 | 莊子南華經第二十二章知北游 |
| 可得而有邪○ | 知所持○食不知所味○天地之強陽氣也○又胡 | 汝有○是天地之委蛻也○故行不知所往○處不 | 和也○性命非汝有○是天地之委順也○子孫非 | 曰○是天地之委形也○生非汝有○是天地之委 | 舜曰○吾身非吾有也○孰有之哉○ | 曰○汝身非汝有也○汝何得有夫道○ | 舜問乎丞○道可得而有乎○ | ○ | 自持○媒媒晦晦○無心而不可與謀○彼何人哉 | 曰○形若槁骸○心若死灰○真其實知○不以故 | 言未卒○齧缺睡寐○被衣大說○行歌而去之○ | 無求其故○ | 將為汝美○道將為汝居○汝瞳焉如新生之犢而 | ○天和將至○攝汝知○一汝度○神將來舍○德 | 齧缺問道乎被衣○被衣曰○若正汝形○一汝視 | 畜而不知○此之謂本根○可以觀於天矣○ | 得其序○惛然若亡而存○油然不形而神○萬物 | 天下莫不沉浮○終身不故○陰陽四時運行○各 | 六合為巨○未離其內○秋豪為小○待之成體○ | 圓○莫知其根也○扁然而萬物○自古以固存○ | 謂也○今彼神明至精○與彼百化○物已死生方 | 之理○是故至人無為○大聖不作○觀於天地之 | 有成理而不說○聖人者○原天地之美而達萬物 | 天地有大美而不言○四時有明法而不議○萬物 | 狂屈聞之○以黄帝為知言○ | ○ | ○以其忘之也○予與若終不近也○以其知之也 | 黄帝曰○彼其真是也以其不知也○此其似之也 | 予問乎若○若知之○奚故不近○ | 我而不我告○非不我告○中欲告而忘之也○今 |
| ○ | 辯不若默○道不可聞○聞不若塞○此之謂大得 | 同論也○彼至則不論○論則不至○明見無值○ | 人之所同知也○非將至之所務也○此衆人之所 | 身從之○乃大歸乎○不形之形○形之不形○是 | 其天韜○墮其天帙○紛乎宛乎○魂魄將往○乃 | 化而生○又化而死○生物哀之○人類悲之○解 | 然勃然○莫不出焉○油然寥然○莫不入焉○已 | 人生天地之間○若白駒之過隙○忽然而已○注 | 所起也○ | 之○德也○偶而應之○道也○帝之所興○王之 | 相齒○聖人遭之而不違○過之而不守○調而應 | 為堯○桀之是非○果蓏有理○人倫雖難○所以 | ○雖有壽殀○相去幾何○須臾之說也○奚足以 | 為人○將反於宗○自本觀之○生者○喑噫物也 | 中國有人焉○非陰非陽○處於天地之間○直且 | 而不匱○此其道與○ | 不遺○則君子之道○彼其外與○萬物皆往資焉 | 其損若海○魏魏乎其終則复始也○運量萬物而 | 加益○之而不加損者○聖人之所保也○淵淵乎 | ○辯之不必慧○聖人以斷之矣○若夫益之而不 | ○萬物不得不昌○此其道與○且夫博之不必知 | 方○天不得不高○地不得不廣○日月不得不行 | 思慮恂達○耳目聰明○其用心不勞○其應物無 | 門無房○四達之皇皇也○邀於此者○四肢強○ | 胎生○八竅者卵生○其來無跡○其往無崖○無 | 道○形本生於精○而萬物以形相生○故九竅者 | ○夫昭昭生於冥冥○有倫生於無形○精神生於 | 擊而知○夫道○窅然難言哉○將為汝言其崖略 | 老聃曰○汝齊戒○疏瀹而心○澡雪而精神○掊 | 孔子問於老聃曰○今日晏閑○敢問至道○ |
| ○聽之無聲○於人之論者○謂之冥冥○所以論 | 知藏其狂言而死○又况夫體道者乎○視之無形 | 焉○今於道○秋豪之端萬分未得處一焉○而猶 | 弇堈吊聞之○曰○夫體道者○天下之君子所系 | 予之狂言而死矣夫○ | 予僻陋謾誕○故棄予而死○已矣○夫子無所發 | 神農隱幾擁杖而起○嚗然放杖而笑○曰○天知 | 瞑○妸荷甘日中奓户而入○曰○老龍死矣○ | 妸荷甘與神農學於老龍吉○神農隱幾○闔户昼 | 也○ | 殺非衰殺○彼為本末非本末○彼為積散非積散 | 者也○謂盈虛衰殺○彼為盈虛非盈虛○彼為衰 | 有際者○所謂物際者也○不際之際○際之不際 | 知入焉而不知其所窮○物物者與物無際○而物 | 吾志○吾往焉而不知其所終○彷徨乎馮閎○大 | 乎○澹澹而靜乎○漠而清乎○調而閑乎○寥已 | 有之宫○同合而論○無所終窮乎○嘗相與無為 | 咸三者○異名同實○其指一也○嘗相與游乎無 | 莫必○無乎逃物○至道若是○大言亦然○周遍 | ○正○获之問於監市履狶也○每下愈况○汝唯 | 東郭子不應○莊子曰○夫子之問也○固不及質 | 曰○在屎溺○ | 曰○何其愈甚邪○ | 曰○在瓦甓○ | 曰○何其愈下邪○ | 曰○在稊稗○ | 曰○何其下邪○ | 莊子曰○在螻蟻○ | 東郭子曰○期而后可○ | 莊子曰○無所不在○ | 東郭子問於莊子曰○所謂道○惡乎在○ |
| 曰○臣有守也○臣之年二十而好捶鈎○於物無 | 曰○子巧與○有道與○ | 大馬之捶鈎者○年八十矣○而不失豪芒○大馬 | 而未能無無也○及為無有矣○何從至此哉○ | 光曜曰○至矣○其孰能至此乎○予能有無矣○ | 之而不見○聽之而不聞○搏之而不得也○ | 光曜不得問而孰視其狀貌○窅然空然○終日視 | 光曜問乎無有曰○夫子有乎○其無有乎○ | 是以不過乎昆崙○不游乎太虛○ | ○若是者○外不觀乎宇宙○內不應知乎大初○ | 是問窮也○無應之○是無內也○以無内待問窮 | 者○亦未聞道○道無問○問無應○無問問之○ | 無始曰○有問道而應之者○不知道也○雖問道 | 乎○道不當名○ | 而非也○道不可言○言而非也見知形形之不形 | 無始曰○道不可聞○聞而非也○道不可見○見 | ○孰知不知之知○ | 於是泰清仰而嘆曰○弗知乃知乎○知乃不知乎 | 之外矣○ | 無始曰○不知深矣○知之浅矣○弗知內矣○知 | 弗知與無為之知○孰是而孰非乎○ | 泰清以之言也問乎無始○曰○若是○則無窮之 | 可以散○此吾所以知道之數也○ | 無為曰○吾知道之可以貴○可以賤○可以葯○ | 曰○其數若何○ | 曰○有○ | 曰○子之知道○亦有數乎○ | 又問乎無為○無為曰○吾知道○ | 無窮曰○吾不知○ | 於是泰清問乎無窮○曰○子知道乎○ | 道而非道也○ |
| 家○上○下○二○ ○二年七月二十六日 | 韲○錯字左姊字去女右上次右下韭 | 有錯字請通知我 | ○ | ○至言去言○至為去為○齊知之○所知則浅矣 | 不免也○夫務免乎人之所不免者○豈不亦悲哉 | ○能能而不能所不能○無知無能者○固人之所 | 夫○世人直為物逆旅耳○夫知遇而不知所不遇 | 継之○哀樂之來○吾不能御○其去弗能止○悲 | 皋壤與○使我欣欣然而樂與○樂未畢也○哀又 | 也○唯無所傷者○為能與人相將迎○山林與○ | 乎○聖人處物不傷物○不傷物者○物亦不能傷 | ○若儒墨者師○故以是非相韲也○而况今之人 | 黄帝之圃○有虞氏之宫○湯武之室○君子之人 | ○安與之相靡○必與之莫多一○狶韋氏之囿○ | 外不化○與物化者○一不化者也○安化安不化 | 仲尼曰○古之人外化而内不化○今之人內化而 | 無有所迎○回敢問其游○ | 顏渊問乎仲尼曰○回嘗聞諸夫子曰○無有所○ | 愛人也終無已者○亦乃取於是者也○ | 物也○猶其有物也○猶其有物也無已○聖人之 | 有先天地生者物邪○物物者非物○物出不得先 | 死○不以死死生○死生有待邪○皆有所一體○ | 冉求未對○仲尼曰○已矣○末應矣○不以生生 | ○未有子孫而有子孫可乎○ | 也○且又為不神者求邪○無古無今○無始無終 | 仲尼曰○昔之昭然也○神者先受之○今之昧然 | 吾昭然○今日吾昧然○敢問何謂也○ | 有天地可知乎○夫子曰○可○古猶今也○昔日 | 冉求失問而退○明日复見○曰○昔者吾問○未 | 仲尼曰○可○古猶今也○ | 冉求問於仲尼曰○未有天地可知邪○ | 不用者乎○物孰不資焉○ | 是用之者假不用者也○以長得其用○而况乎無 | 視也○非鈎無察也○ |
Chapter 22 - Knowledge Travels North
When Knowledge traveled north, across the Black Water, and over the Dark-Steep Mountain, he met Do-nothing Say-nothing and asked him as follows:--"Kindly tell me by what thoughts, by what cogitations, may Tao be known? By resting in what, by according in what, may Tao be approached? By following what, by pursuing what, may Tao be attained?"
知北游於玄水之上
[This 1st line stresses on word water 水 . It is like our face with eyes as >< looking inwards. Once they cross they form 女 . It sounds similar to Genesis chapter 1 when God moved over the water before creation.]
To these 3 questions, Do-nothing Say-nothing returned no answer. Not that he would not answer, but that he could not. So when Knowledge got no reply, he turned round and went off to the south of the White Water and up the Ku-Chueh Mountain, where he saw All-in-extremes, and to him he put the same questions.
"Ha!" cried All-in-extremes, "I know. I will tell you...."
But just as he was about to speak he forgot what he wanted to say. So when Knowledge got no reply, he went back to the palace and asked the Yellow Emperor, "Now you and I know this, but those 2 know it not. Who is right?"
"Of those 2,"replied the Yellow Emperor, "Do-nothing Say-nothing is genuinely right, and All-in-extremes is near. You and I are wholly wrong. Those who understand it do not speak about it, those who speak about it do not understand it. Therefore the Sage teaches a doctrine which does not find expression in words. Tao cannot be made to come. Virtue cannot be reached. Charity can be evoked. Duty to one's neighbor can be wrongly directed. Ceremonies are mere shams. Therefore it has been said, 'If Tao perishes, then 'Te' will perish. If 'Te' perishes, then charity will perish. If charity perishes, then duty to one's neighbor will perish. If duty to one's neighbor perishes, then ceremonies will perish. Ceremonies are but a showy ornament of Tao, while oft-times the source of trouble.' [No word religion is meditation.]
"Therefore it has been said, 'Those who practice Tao suffer daily loss. If that loss proceeds until inaction ensues, then by that very inaction there is nothing which cannot be done.' Now, we are already beings. And if we desire to revert to our original condition, how difficult that is! 'T is a change to which only the greatest among us are equal. Life follows upon death. Death is the beginning of life. Who knows when the end is reached? The life of a man results from convergence of the vital fluid. Its convergence is life; its dispersion, death. If then life and death are but consecutive states, what need have I to complain?
"Therefore all things are ONE. What we love is animation. What we hate is corruption. But corruption in its turn becomes animation, and animation once more becomes corruption. Therefore it has been said, 'The world is permeated by a single vital fluid, and Sages accordingly venerate ONE'". [venerate the Mystic Portal]
Then Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, "I asked Do-nothing-Say-nothing, but he did not answer me. Not that he would not; he could not. So I asked All-in-extremes. He was just going to tell me, but he did not tell me. Not that he would not; but just as he was going to do so, he forgot what he wanted to say. Now I ask you, and you tell me. How then are you wholly wrong?"
"Of those 2,"replied the Yellow Emperor, "the former was genuinely right, inasmuch as he did not know. The latter was near, inasmuch as he forgot. You and I are wholly wrong, inasmuch as we know."
When All-in-extremes heard of this, he considered that the Yellow Emperor had spoken well. The universe is very beautiful, yet it says nothing. The 4 seasons abide by a fixed law, yet they are not heard. All creation is based upon absolute principles, yet nothing speaks.
And the true Sage, taking his stand upon the beauty of the universe, pierces the principles of created things. Hence the saying that the perfect man does nothing, the true Sage performs nothing, beyond gazing at the universe.
For man's intellect, however keen, face to face with the countless evolutions of things, their death and birth, their square-ness and roundness,- can never reach the root. There creation is, and there it has ever been.
The 6 cardinal points, reaching into infinity, are ever included in Tao. An autumn spike-let, in all its minuteness, must carry Tao within itself. There is nothing on earth which does not rise and fall, but it never perishes altogether.
The Yin and the Yang, and the 4 seasons, keep to their proper order. Apparently destroyed, yet really existing; the material gone, the immaterial left;- such is the law of creation, which passes all understanding. This is called the root, whence a glimpse may be obtained of God. [Should be gazing at the sky, tien]
Yeh Ch'ueh enquired of P'i I about Tao. The latter said, "Keep your body under proper control, your gaze concentrated upon ONE - and the peace of God will descend upon you. Keep back your knowledge, and concentrate your thoughts upon ONE, - and the holy spirit shall abide within you. Virtue shall beautify you, Tao shall establish you, aimless as a new-born calf which reckons not how it came into the world." (meditation instruction; the One is the mark on our forehead or Mystic Portal in Taoism, see Taoist Yoga chapter 1.)
一汝視○一汝度
[Concentrate on Mystic Portal. Sanctify or Seal the Mystic Portal. (I don't know sanctification can be done by own self.)]
While P'i I was still speaking, Yeh Ch'ueh had gone off to sleep (meditation sitting); at which the former rejoiced greatly, and departed singing,
"Body like dry bone, Mind like dead ashes; This is true knowledge, Not to strive after knowing the whence. In darkness, in obscurity, The mindless cannot plan;- What manner of man is that?"Shun asked Ch'eng, saying, "Can one get Tao so as to have it for one's own?"
"Your very body," replied Ch'eng, "is not your own. How should Tao be?"
"If my body," said Shun, "is not my own, pray whose is it?"
"It is the delegated image of God," replied Ch'eng. "Your life is not your own. It is the delegated harmony of God. Your individuality is not your own. It is the delegated adaptability of God. Your posterity is not your own. It is the delegated exuberant of God. You move, but know not how. You are at rest, but know not why. You taste, but know not the cause. These are the operation of God's laws. How then should you get Tao so as to have it for your own?"
Confucius said to Lao Tzu, "Today, you are at leisure. Pray tell me about perfect Tao."
"Purge your heart by fasting and discipline," answered Lao Tzu. "Wash your soul as white as snow. Discard your knowledge. Tao is abstruse and difficult of discussion. I will try, however, to speak to you of its outline. Light is born of darkness. Classification is born of formlessness. The soul is born of Tao. The body is born of the vital essence.
[Our Spiritual Soul is born of Tao. It is the same as God blowing His Spirit into the depth of our nose in Bible. Praying (gazing) to Our Spiritual Soul or God's Spirit is the same as praying to Tao or God. Jesus said that know the Son before you can know the Father. The Son is our own Spirit or God's Spirit.]
"Thus all things produce after their kind. Creatures with nine channels of communication are born from the womb. Creatures with eight are born from the egg. Of their coming there is no trace. In their departure there is no goal. No entrance gate, no dwelling house, they pass this way and that, as though at the meeting of cross-roads. Those who enter herein become strong of limb, subtle of thought, and clear of sight and hearing. They suffer no mental fatigue, nor meet with physical resistance.
"Heaven cannot but be high. Earth cannot but be broad. The sun and moon cannot but revolve. All creation cannot but flourish. To do so is their Tao. But it is not from extensive study that this may be known, nor by dialectic skill that this may be made clear. The true Sage will have none of these. It is in addition without gain, in diminution without loss, that the true Sage finds salvation.
"Unfathomable as the sea, wondrously ending only to begin again, informing all creation without being exhausted, the Tao of the perfect man is spontaneous in its operation. That all creation can be informed by it without exhaustion, is its Tao.
"In the Middle Kingdom there are men who recognize neither positive nor negative. They abide between heaven and earth. They act their part as mortals, and then return to the Cause. From that standpoint, life is but a concentration of the vital fluid, whose longest and shortest terms of existence vary by an inappreciable space,--hardly enough for the classification of Yao and Chieh.
"Tree-fruits and plant-fruits exhibit order in their varieties; and the relationships of man, though more difficult to be dealt with, may still be reduced to order. The true Sage who meets with these, does not violate them. Neither does he continue to hold fast by them. Adaptation by arrangement is Te (virtue). Spontaneous adaptation is Tao, by which sovereigns flourish and princes succeed.
"Man passes through this sublunary life as a white horse passes a crack. Here one moment, gone the next. Neither are there any not equally subject to the ingress and egress of mortality. One modification brings life; then another, and it is death. Living creatures cry out; human beings sorrow. The bow-sheath is slipped off; the clothes-bag is dropped; and in the confusion the soul wings its flight, and the body follows, on the great journey home!
"The reality of the formless, the unreality of that which has form,--this is known to all. Those who are on the road to attainment care not for these things, but the people at large discuss them. Attainment implies non-discussion: discussion implies non-attainment. Manifested, Tao has no objective value; hence silence is better than argument. It cannot be translated into speech; better then say nothing at all. This is called the great attainment."
Tung Kuo Tzu asked Chuang Tzu, saying, "What you call Tao,--where is it?"
"There is nowhere," replied Chuang Tzu, "where it is not."
"Tell me one place at any rate where it is," said Tung Kuo Tzu.
"It is in the ant," replied Chuang Tzu.
"Why go so low down?" asked Tung Kuo Tzu.
"It is in a tare," said Chuang Tzu.
"Still lower," objected Tung Kuo Tzu.
"It is in a potsherd," said Chuang Tzu.
"Worse still!" cried Tung Kuo Tzu.
"It is in ordure," said Chuang Tzu. And Tung Kuo Tzu made no reply. [Do not quote this to say Tao is in the shit. All things are One or Tao. Cultivating Tao is to know the Tao inside us. To know Tao in others is like praying to idols or others which is useless. Therefore praying to ancestors is wrong when cultivating self.]
"Sir," continued Chuang Tzu, "your question does not touch the essential. When Huo, inspector of markets, asked the managing director about the fatness of pigs, the test was always made in parts least likely to be fat. Do not therefore insist in any particular direction; for there is nothing which escapes. Such is perfect Tao; and such also is ideal speech. Whole, entire, all, are three words which sound differently but mean the same. Their purport is ONE.
"Try to reach with me the palace of Nowhere, and there, amidst the identity of all things, carry your discussions into the infinite. Try to practice with me inaction, wherein you may rest motionless, without care, and be happy. For thus my mind becomes an abstraction. It wanders not, and yet is not conscious of being at rest. It goes and comes and is not conscious of stoppages. Backwards and forwards without being conscious of any goal. Up and down the realms of Infinity, wherein even the greatest intellect would fail to find an end.
"That which makes things the things they are, is not limited to such things. The limits of things are their own limits in so far as they are things. The limits of the limitless, the limitlessness of the limited,--these are called fullness and emptiness, renovation and decay. Tao causes fullness and emptiness, but it is not either. It causes beginning and end, but it is not either. It causes accumulation and dispersion, but it is not either."
O Ho Kan was studying with Shen Nung under Lao Lung Chi. Shen Nung used to remain shut up, with his head on the table, absorbed in day-dreams. On one occasion, O Ho Kan knocked at the door, and entering said, "Lao Lung is dead!"
Thereupon Shen Nung, leaning on his staff, arose; and flinging down his staff with a bang, smiled and said, "O my Master, thou knewest me to be worthless and self-sufficient, and thou didst leave me and die. Now I, having no scope for my vain talk, I too will die."
When Yen Kang Tiao heard this, he said, "Those who exemplify Tao are sought after by all the best men in the empire. Now if one who had not attained to more Tao than the ten-thousandth part of the tip of an autumn spike-let, is still wise enough to withhold vain talk and die,--how much more those who exemplify Tao? To the eye it is formless, and to the ear it is noiseless. Those who discuss it, speak of it as 'the obscure'. But the mere fact of discussing Tao makes it not Tao."
At this the Empyrean asked Without-end, saying, "Do you know Tao?"
"I do not," replied Without-end; whereupon the Empyrean proceeded to ask Inaction.
"I do know Tao," said Inaction.
"Is there any method," asked the Empyrean, "by which you know Tao?"
"There is," replied Inaction.
"What is it?" asked the Empyrean.
"I know," answered Inaction, "that Tao may honor and dishonor, bind and loose. That is the method by which I know Tao."
The Empyrean repeated these words to No-beginning, and asked him which was right, the ignorance of Without-end or the knowledge of Inaction.
"Not to know," replied No-beginning, "is profound. To know is shallow. Not to know is internal. To know is external."
Here the Empyrean broke in with a sigh, "Then ignorance is knowledge, and knowledge ignorance! But pray whose knowledge is the knowledge of not knowing?"
"Tao," said No-beginning, "cannot be heard. Heard, it is not Tao. It cannot be seen. Seen, it is not Tao. It cannot be spoken. Spoken, it is not Tao. That which imparts form to forms is itself formless; therefore Tao cannot have a name."
No-beginning continued, "He who replies to one asking about Tao, does not know Tao. Although one may hear about Tao, he does not really hear about Tao. There is no such thing as asking about Tao. There is no such thing as answering such questions. To ask a question which cannot be asked in vain. To answer a question which cannot be answered is unreal. And one who thus meets the vain with the unreal is one who has no physical perception of the universe, and no mental perception of the origin of existence,--unfit alike to roam over the K'un-lun peak or to soar into the Supreme Void."
Light asked Nothing, saying, "Do you, Sir, exist, or do you not exist?"
But getting no answer to his question, Light set to work to watch for the appearance of Nothing. Hidden, vacuous,--all day long he looked but could not see it, listened but could not hear it, grasped at but could not seize it.
"Bravo!" cried Light. "Who can equal this? I can get to be nothing but I cannot get as far as the absence of nothing. Assuming that Nothing has an objective existence, how can it reach this next stage?"
The man who forged swords for the Minister of War was eighty years of age. Yet he never made the slightest slip in his work.
The Minister of War said to him, "Is it your skill, Sir, or have you any method?"
"It is concentration," replied the man. "When twenty years old, I took to forging swords. I cared for nothing else. If a thing was not a sword, I did not notice it. I availed myself of whatever energy I did not use in other directions in order to secure greater efficiency in the direction required. Still more of that which is never without use;- so that there was nothing which did not lend its aid."
Jen Ch'iu asked Confucius, saying, "Can we know about the time before the universe existed?"
"We can," replied Confucius. "Time was of old precisely what it is now."
At this rebuff, Jen Ch'iu withdrew. Next day he again visited Confucius and said, "Yesterday when I asked you that question and you answered me, I was quite clear about it. Today I am confused. How is this?"
"Your clearness of yesterday," answered Confucius, "was because my answer appealed direct to your natural intelligence. Your confusion of today results from the intrusion of something other than the natural intelligence. There is no past, no present, no beginning, no end. To have posterity before one has posterity,--is that possible?"
Jen Ch'iu made no answer, and Confucius continued, "That will do. Do not reply. If life did not give birth to death, and if death did not put an end to life, surely life and death would be no longer correlates, but would each exist independently. What there was before the universe, was Tao. Tao makes things what they are, but is not itself a thing. Nothing can produce Tao; yet everything has Tao within it, and continues to produces it without end. And the endless love of the Sage for his fellow-man is based upon the same principle." [Don't quote to confirm Tao is in the shit. Chinese writing is different.]
Yen Yuan asked Confucius, saying, "Master, I have heard you declare that there may be no eagerness to conform, no effort to adapt. If so, pray how are we to get along?"
"The men of old," replied Confucius, "practiced physical, but not moral. modification. The man of today practices moral, not physical modification. Let your modification extend to the external only. Internally, be constant without modification.
"How shall you modify, and how shall you not modify? How reconcile the divergence?--By not admitting division.
"There was the garden of Hsi Wei, the park of the Yellow Emperor, the palace of Shun, the halls of T'ang and Wu. These were perfect men; but had they been taught by Confucianists and Mihists, they would have hammered one another to pieces over scholastic quibbles. How much more then the men of today?
"The perfect Sage, in his relations with the external world, injures nothing. Neither does anything injure him. And only he who is thus exempt can be trusted to conform and to adapt.
"Mountain forests and loamy fields swell my heart with joy. But ere the joy be passed, sorrow is upon me again. Joy and sorrow come and go, and over them I have no control.
"Alas! the life of man is but as a stoppage at an inn. He knows that which comes within the range of his experience. Otherwise, he knows not. He knows that he can do what he can do, and that he cannot do what he cannot do. But there is always that which he does not know and that which he cannot do; and to struggle that it shall not be so,--is not this a cause for grief?
"The best language is that which is not spoken, the best form of action is that which is without deeds. Spread out your knowledge and it will be found to be shallow."
(Chuang Tzu liked to use the mouth of Confucius to tell his message. Most Confucianists were/are annoyed; that is why this book is not popular. Most Confucianists did/do not meditate, so their minds were/are shallow. Meditation practitioners should not arouse anger in daily affairs. If so, the mind is still stirred. Don't compare me to this as I have the greatest job to perform.)
Edited on 9th June 2008