Classical music is wasted upon the simple peasant, but let them hear ‘The Breaking of the Willows’ or ‘The Bright Flowers’ and they will be very jolly. Similarly, wise words do not rest in the hearts of the people. Perfect words do not stay, because vulgar words are in the ascendant. Two basic drums can drown out the sound of the bell and deny the pleasure it could give. These days the whole world is confused. Even if I wanted to go in a particular direction, what good would it do? Since I understand this, if I were to try and force people to go my way, that would just be to fall into a delusion of my own. It is better just to let things be and not force them. If I don’t get into such struggles, I shan’t have anything to worry about. A leper has a son born at night-time and he rushes to find a light to look at him. His eagerness to see is based on his fear that the child will look like him.
A hundred-year-old tree is chopped up and from that is fashioned a sacrificial bowl, engraved and coloured green and yellow. The rest is thrown away into a ditch. Now, if we compare the sacrificial bowl and that which was cast away, there is certainly a difference between them in terms of beauty and ugliness, but they are one in that they have both lost their innate nature. Robber Chih, as distinct from Tseng and Shih, is very different from the others, but they are all one in having lost their innate nature. There are five ways in which the innate nature is lost. The first is when the five colours confuse the eye and deprive it of clarity of vision. The second is when the five notes confuse the ear and deprive it of the ability to hear. The third is when the five smells affect the nose and cause pains and distress to the forehead. The fourth is when the five flavours deaden the mouth and deprive the sense of taste of its ability to enjoy. The fifth is when pleasures and dislikes unsettle the heart and make the innate nature unstable. These five bring troubles to life. Now the followers of Yang and Mo start spreading out, thinking they have discovered something. But I would not describe this as news. What they have grasped only brings distress, so how can this be the right thing? If they have, then we could claim that the dove in the cage has found something worthwhile. Likes and dislikes, music and colours just confuse your inner self, while wearing caps of leather and feathered hats, carrying official decrees in hand and wearing ceremonial robes hinder appreciation of that which is external. Stuffed full of nonsense on the inside and bound by cords externally, people still look around, even when tied up like this, and claim they have grasped something. Why, they are no better off than criminals who are clamped in irons, their fingers in the screw, or tigers and leopards trapped in cages, yet they still think they have grasped something worth following.
CHAPTER 13
Heaven’s Tao
It is Heaven’s Tao to journey and to gather no moss,
thus all the forms of life are brought to perfection.
It is the Emperor’s Tao to journey and to gather no moss,
which is why the whole world comes to his feet.
It is the sages’ Tao to journey and to gather no moss,
thus all that lies within the oceans venerates them.
To understand Heaven clearly,
to comprehend the sages,
to journey through the entire cosmos
following the Virtue of the Emperors and the kings
but also to be spontaneous themselves:
this is the nature of those who comprehend,
seeming not to know
but being centred in stillness.
The sages are quiescent, not because of any value in being quiescent, they simply are still. Not even the multitude of beings can disturb them, so they are calm. Water, when it is still, reflects back even your eyebrows and beard. It is perfectly level and from this the carpenter takes his level. If water stilled offers such clarity, imagine what pure spirit offers! The sage’s heart is stilled! Heaven and Earth are reflected in it, the mirror of all life. Empty, still, calm, plain, quiet, silent, non-active, this is the centredness of Heaven and Earth and of the Tao and of Virtue. The Emperor, king, and sages rest there. Resting, they are empty; empty, they can be full; fullness is fulfilment. From the empty comes stillness; in stillness they can travel; in travelling they achieve. In stillness they take actionless action. Through actionless action they expect results from those with responsibilities. Through actionless action they are happy, very happy; being so happy they are not afflicted by cares and worries, for these have no place, and their years of life are prolonged. Empty, still, calm, plain, quiet, silent, actionless action is the foundation of all life. If you are clear on this and facing south, it means you are a noble like Yao; if you are clear on this and facing north, you will become a minister like Shun.
Looking up to them, you observe the Virtue of
