Chao Wen played the lute,
Shih Kuang conducted,
Hui Tzu debated.
The understanding of these three was almost perfect and they followed it to the end of their years. They cared about this because it was different, and they wanted to teach others about it. But it was not possible to make things clear, though they tried to make things simple. They ended up instead with the folly of the ‘hard’ and the ‘white’.
Wen’s son ended up continuing to play Wen’s lute and achieved nothing for himself. If someone like this is called complete, then am I not also? And if someone like this is called incomplete, then surely neither I nor anyone else has ever been complete. Also, by the light shining out of chaos, the sage is guided; he does not make use of distinctions but is led on by the light.
Now, however, I have something to say. Do I know whether this is in the same sort of category as what is said by others? I don’t know. At one level, what I say is not the same. At another level, it most definitely is, and there is no difference between what I say and what others say. Whatever the case, let me try and tell you what I mean.
There is the beginning; there is not as yet any beginning of the beginning; there is not as yet beginning not to be a beginning of the beginning. There is what is, and there is what is not, and it is not easy to say whether what is not, is not; or whether what is, is.
I have just made a statement, yet I do not know whether what I said has been real in what I said or not really said.
Under Heaven there is nothing greater than the tip of a hair, but Mount Tai is smaller; there is no one older than a dead child, yet Peng Tsu died young.
Heaven and Earth and I were born at the same time, and all life and I are one.
As all life is one, what need is there for words? Yet I have just said all life is one, so I have already spoken, haven’t I? One plus one equals two, two, plus one equals three. To go on from here would take us beyond the understanding of even a skilled accountant, let alone the ordinary people. If going from ‘nothing’ to ‘some-thing’ we get to three, just think how much further we would have to go if we went from ‘some-thing’ to something!13
Don’t even start, let’s just stay put.
The great Tao has no beginning, and words have changed their meaning from the beginning, but because of the idea of a ‘this is’ there came to be limitations. I want to say something about these limitations. There is right and left, relationships and their consequences, divisions and disagreements, emulations and contentions. These are known as the eight Virtues.
The sage will not speak of what is beyond the boundaries of the universe – though he will not deny it either. What is within the universe, he says something about but does not pronounce upon. Concerning the record of the past actions of the kings in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the sage discusses but does not judge. When something is divided, something is not divided; when there is disagreement there are things not disagreed about.
You ask, what does this mean? The sage encompasses everything, while ordinary people just argue about things. This is why I say that disagreement means you do not understand at all.
The great Way is not named,
the great disagreement is unspoken,
great benevolence is not benevolent,
great modesty is not humble,
great courage is not violent.
The Tao that is clear is not the Tao,
speech which enables argument is not worthy,
benevolence which is ever present does not achieve its goal,
modesty if flouted, fails,
courage that is violent is pointless.
These five are fine: they are, as it were, rounded. But if they lose this they can become awkward. This is why the one who knows how to stop at what he knows is best. Who knows the argument that needs no words, and the Tao that cannot be named? To those who do, this is called the Treasury of Heaven. Pour into it and it is never full; empty it and it is never empty. We do not know where it comes from originally, and this is called our Guiding Light.
In the olden days Yao said to Shun, ‘I want to attack Tsung, Kuai and Hsu Ao. I have wanted to do this since I became king. What do you think?’
Shun replied, ‘These three rulers are just primitives living in the backwoods – why can’t you just forget them? In ancient times, ten suns rose and all life was illuminated. But how much more does Virtue illuminate life than even these suns!’
Yeh Chueh said to Wang Ni, ‘Do you know, Master, what everything agrees upon?’
‘How can I possibly know?’ said Wang Ni.
‘Do you know, Master, what you do not know?’
‘How can I know?’ he replied.
‘Then does nothing know anything?’
‘How could I know that?’ said Wang Ni. ‘Nevertheless, I want to try and say something. How can I know that what I say I know is not actually what I don’t know? Likewise, how can I know that what I think I don’t know is not really what I do know? I want to put some questions to you:
‘If someone sleeps in a damp place, he will ache all over and he will be half paralysed, but is it the same for an eel? If someone climbs a tree, he will be frightened and shaking, but is it so for a monkey? Out of these three, which is wisest about where to live?
‘Humans eat meat, deer consume grass, centipedes devour snakes and owls and crows enjoy
