Hui Tzu spoke to Chuang Tzu, saying, ‘I have a big tree, which people call useless. Its trunk is so knotted, no carpenter could work on it, while its branches are too twisted to use a square or compass upon. So, although it is close to the road, no carpenter would look at it. Now, Sir, your words are like this, too big and no use, therefore everyone ignores them.’
Chuang Tzu said, ‘Sir, have you never seen a wild cat or weasel? It lies there, crouching and waiting; east and west it leaps out, not afraid of going high or low; until it is caught in a trap and dies in a net. Yet again, there is the yak, vast like a cloud in heaven. It is big, but cannot use this fact to catch rats. Now you, Sir, have a large tree, and you don’t know how to use it, so why not plant it in the middle of nowhere, where you can go to wander or fall asleep under its shade? No axe under Heaven will attack it, nor shorten its days, for something which is useless will never be disturbed.’
CHAPTER 2
Working Everything Out Evenly
Master Chi of the Southern District sat leaning forward on his chair, staring up at Heaven and breathing steadily, as if in a trance, forgetful of all around him. Master Yen Cheng Yu stood beside him and said, ‘What is it? Is it true that you can make the body like a shrivelled tree, the heart like cold, dead ashes? Surely the man here now is not the same as the one who was here yesterday.’
Master Chi said, ‘Yen, this is a good point to make, but do you really understand?
‘I have lost myself, do you understand?
You hear the pipes of the people, but not the pipes of earth.
Even if you hear the pipes of earth, you don’t hear the pipes of Heaven!’
‘Please explain this,’ said Master Yu.
Master Chi replied,
‘The vast breath of the universe, this is called Wind.
Sometimes it is unmoving;
when it moves it makes the ten thousand openings resound dramatically.
Have you not heard it,
like a terrifying gale?
Mountains and forests are stormed by it,
great trees, a hundred spans round with dips and hollows,
are like noses, like mouths, like ears, like sockets,
like cups, like mortars, like pools, like gulleys;
sounding like a crashing wave, a whistling arrow, a screech; sucking, shouting, barking, wailing, moaning,
the winds ahead howling yeeh,
those behind crying yooh,
light breezes making gentle sounds,
while the typhoon creates a great din.
When the typhoon has passed, all goes quiet again.
Have you not witnessed this disturbance settle down again?’
Master Yu said, ‘What you’ve just described are the notes of the earth, while the notes of humanity come from wind instruments, but you have said nothing about the notes of Heaven.’
‘The role of these forces on all forms of living things is not the same,’ said Master Chi. ‘For each is different, using what they need to be, not influenced by any other force!’
True depth of understanding is wide and steady,
Shallow understanding is lazy and wandering,
Words of wisdom are precise and clear,
Foolish words are petty and mean.
When we sleep, our spirits roam the earth,
when awake our bodies are alert,
whatever we encounter captures us,
day by day our hearts are struggling.
Often simple,
often deep,
often intimate.
Minor troubles make them unsettled, anxious,
Major troubles are plain and simple.
They fly off like an arrow,
convinced that they know right from wrong;
it is like one who makes a sacred promise,
standing sure and true and on their way to victory.
They give way, like autumn and winter,
decaying away with the ebb and flow of each day;
it is like a stream of water, it cannot be brought back;
they stagnate, because they are like old blocked drains,
brought on by old age,
which makes their minds closed as if near death,
and there is nothing which can draw their hearts into the power of the yang –
the life-giving light.
Joy and anger,
sadness and delight,
hope and disappointment;
faithlessness and certainty,
forcefulness and sloth,
eagerness and reticence,
like notes from an empty reed,
or mushrooms growing in dampness,
day and night follow each other before our very eyes and we have no idea why.
Enough, enough!
Morning and night exist,
we cannot know more about the Origin than this!
Without them, we don’t exist,
Without us, they have no purpose.
This is close to our meaning,
but we cannot know what creates things to be thus.
It is as if they have a Supreme Guidance, but there is no way of grasping such a One.
He can certainly act, of that there is no doubt,
but I cannot see his body.
He has desires, but no body.
A hundred parts and nine orifices and six organs,
are parts that go to make up myself,
but is any part more noble than another?
You say I should treat all parts as equally noble:
But shouldn’t I also treat some as better than others?
Don’t they all serve me as well as each other?
If they are all servants, then aren’t they all as bad as each other?
Or are there rulers amongst these servants?
There must be some Supreme Ruler who is over them all.
Though it is doubtful that you can find his true form,
and even if it were possible,
is it not meaningless to his true nature?
When someone is born in this body, doesn’t life continue until death?
Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them,
we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
Working hard until the end of his life,
unable to appreciate any achievement,
worn out and incapable of resting,
isn’t he a pathetic sight?
He may say, ‘I’m still alive,’ but so what?
When the body rots, so does the mind – is this not tragic?
Is this not ridiculous, or is it just me that is ridiculous and everyone else is sane?
If you allow your mind to guide you,
who then can be seen as being without a teacher?
Why is it thought that only the one who understands change and whose heart approves this can be the teacher?
Surely the fool is
