Tzu Chan felt uncomfortable and wriggled about and said, ‘Sir, please, say no more about this.’
In the state of Lu there was a mutilated man25 called Shu Shan the Toeless. He came upon his stumps to see Confucius. Confucius said, ‘You were not careful and therefore suffered this fate. It is too late to come and see me now.’
‘Because of my lack of knowledge and through lack of care for my body, I lost my feet,’ said Toeless. ‘Now I have come to you because I still have that which is of greater value than my foot and I wish to save it. There is nothing that great Heaven does not cover, nor anything that the Earth does not sustain. I had hoped you, Sir, would be as Heaven and Earth to me, and I did not expect you to receive me like this!’
‘I am being stupid!’ said Confucius. ‘Good Sir, please do not go away and I will try to share with you what I have learnt!’
However, Toeless left and Confucius said, ‘Be watchful, my followers! Great Toeless has lost his feet but still he wants to learn in order to recompense for his evil deeds. How much more so should you who are able-bodied want to learn!’
Toeless told his story to Lao Tzu, saying, ‘Confucius has definitely not become a perfect man yet, has he? So why does he try to study with you? He seems to be caught up with the search for honour and reputation, without appearing to understand that the perfect man sees these as chains and irons.’
Lao Tzu said, ‘Why not help him to see that death and birth are one thing and that right and wrong are one thing, and so free him from the chains and irons?’
‘Given that Heaven punishes him, how can he be set free?’ asked Toeless.
Duke Ai of Lu said to Confucius, ‘In Wei there was a man with a terrible appearance called Ai Tai To. But those around him thought the world of him and when women saw him they ran to their mothers and fathers saying, “I would rather be the concubine of this gentleman than anyone else’s wife.” This has happened more than ten times. He was never heard to take the lead in anything, but was always in accord with others. He was not powerful and thus able to save people from death, nor was he wealthy and able to feed people. Furthermore, he was so hideous he could scare the whole world. He never took the lead, just agreed with whatever was suggested, and he knew little about the world beyond his own four walls. But people came flocking to him. It is clear he is different from ordinary people, so I asked him to come and see me. He certainly was ugly enough to frighten the whole world. Yet he had only been with me for less than a month when I began to appreciate him. Within a year I had full trust in him. In my country there was no prime minister, so I offered him the post. His response to my request was to look most sorrowful and diffident as if he was going to turn it down. I was ashamed of myself but in the end simply handed over the country to him. Very soon after, he upped and left. I was distressed and felt this a great loss, for I had no one with whom to share the cares of the state. Now, what sort of man is this?’
Confucius said, ‘I was once in the state of Chu on a commission, and I saw some piglets trying to suckle from their dead mother. After a while they started up and left her. She did not seem to notice them and so they no longer felt any affinity with her. What they loved about their mother was not her body but what gave life to the body. When a man is killed in battle, at his burial his battle honours are of little use to him. A man without feet has little love for shoes. In both cases they lack that which makes these of any significance. Indeed, the consorts of the Son of Heaven26 do not cut their own nails or pierce their ears; a newly wed gentleman stays outside the court and is freed from onerous duties. With so much attention being paid to caring for the body, imagine what care should be given to preserving Virtue! Now Ai Tai To speaks not a word, yet he is believed. He does nothing and is loved. People offer him their kingdoms, and their only fear is that he will refuse. He must indeed be a man of perfect character, whose Virtue is without shape!’
‘What do you mean by “perfect character”?’ asked Duke Ai.
Confucius replied, ‘Death, birth, existence and trouble, auspicious and inauspicious signs, wealth, poverty, value and worthlessness, glory and blame, hunger and thirst, cold and hot – all these are the way the world goes and the result of destiny. Day and night follow each other, but there is no way of knowing where they come from. Don’t allow this to disrupt your innate balance, don’t allow this to perturb your mind. If you can balance and enjoy them, have mastery over them and revel in this, if you can do this day in and day out without a break and bring all things together, then this brings forth a heart prepared for changes and this is perfect character.’
‘But what do you mean when you say
