The Book of Chuang Tzu (Penguin)

and discussed the affairs of the kingdom with him, and though they went through a thousand issues and tens of thousands of digressions, the old man was never at a loss.

Chuang Tzu said, ‘So, in the whole kingdom of Lu there is just this one man who is among the learned ones. How can you claim there are many?’

Po Li Hsi⁸³ did not allow thoughts of fame and fortune to enter his heart. Instead, he looked after cattle, and his cattle prospered. Seeing this, the Duke Mu of Chin forgot Po Li Hsi’s servile state and he turned over the running of the government to him. Shun of the Yu⁸⁴ family did not allow death nor birth to enter his heart, and this is how he could influence others.

Ruler Yuan of Sung wanted a map drawn up and so the artists flocked to him. They received their materials and instructions and formed up in line, licking their pencils and grinding their ink. There were so many that half had to remain outside. One artist arrived late, insolently and without any concern for speed. Having received his instructions and materials, he did not join the line, but went off to his own studio. The ruler sent someone to see what he was up to. He found him with his robe off, sitting cross-legged and almost naked. The ruler said, ‘Splendid, this is indeed a true craftsman!’

King Wen⁸⁵ was touring the sights of Tsang and he saw an old man fishing. However, his fishing was not real fishing. He was not fishing as if he had to fish for any good reason, but just because he fished. King Wen wanted to summon him to take over governing the kingdom, but he was worried that such an action would upset his great ministers, uncles and cousins. He tried to erase the matter from his mind, but he could not bear the thought that all his people, all one hundred families, would be deprived of such a gift from Heaven. The next morning he summoned his great ministers and said, ‘Last night I dreamed that I saw a man of quality, bearded and with a dark complexion, riding a dappled horse, half of whose hooves were red. This man ordered me, “Pass your government over to the old man of Tsang and the woes of your people will be healed!”’

The great ministers were certainly impressed and said, ‘It was the late king, Your Majesty.’

King Wen said, ‘Let us ask the diviner.’

The great ministers said, ‘It is the command of the late King. Your Majesty should not doubt this, so there is no need for a diviner!’

So in due course the King handed over the government to the Old Man of Tsang. However, all the old order and regulations persisted unchanged and no new laws were sent out. Three years later King Wen toured his kingdom. He found that the officers in the districts had broken down the gates of the different groups and dispersed them, that the chiefs of the departments no longer bragged about their positions, and that no one brought illegal weights or measures into the country. The district officials had destroyed the fortified places and scattered those within, because they identified with those above them. The chiefs of departments sought no special honours, because they saw even the most mundane task as an honour. With no different weights and measures, the princes were no longer in two minds whether to use the official ones.

King Wen appreciated the true worth of having found a great teacher, and, facing north, he asked him, ‘Could this government be extended to all the Earth?’ The Old Man of Tsang looked confused and gave no answer. The next morning he gave orders with a distracted look, and by night he was gone and was never heard of again.

Yen Yuan asked Confucius about this. ‘King Wen wasn’t really up to it, was he? What was all that stuff about a dream?’

Confucius said, ‘Silence, don’t say a word! King Wen knew what he was about. Let there be no criticism of him! He only used the dream to extract himself from his difficulty.’

Lieh Yu Kou was displaying his skills at archery to Po Hun Wu Jen. He drew his bow fully back and placed a bowl of water upon his elbow. The arrow flew from his bow and no sooner had it gone than a second arrow was there and fired, followed by a third at the ready. And all this time he stood still as a statue.

Po Hun Wu Jen said, ‘This is indeed the archery of an archer, not the non-archery of an archer. Let us go to the top of a high mountain, climbing up the rocks until we come to the edge of a drop eight hundred feet deep. Could you shoot then?’

So they set off, to the top of a high mountain, scrambling over the rocks, until they reached a drop of eight hundred feet. Here Wu Jen turned round and walked backwards towards the drop until his feet were half over the edge, whereupon he bowed to Yu Kou and asked him to join him. Yu Kou fell to the ground, sweat pouring from him, drenching him to his feet.

Po Hun Wu Jen said, ‘The perfect man can stare at the azure Heavens above, or go down into the Yellow Springs below, or journey away to the eight ends of the cosmos, without affecting his spirit and original breath. Now here you are grovelling and your eyes agog. In such a state of mind, if you were to take aim, you would be in great danger!’

Chien Wu said to Sun Shu Ao, ‘Sir, three times you were appointed Prime Minister without showing any enthusiasm and three times you were dismissed without showing any distress. To begin with I really didn’t believe this. But now I see you, nose to nose, I see how calm and unruffled you are. Sir, have you some