A little while after this he sent Kun to do some work in the kingdom of Yen. While on the road, bandits captured him. They decided that it would be difficult to sell him as he was, but if they cut off his foot, then they could sell him easily.93 They did this, and sold him in the kingdom of Chi, where, as fortune would have it, he became a palace official in the palace of Duke Kang and so had food to sustain him until the end of his days.
Nieh Chueh bumped into Hsu Yu and said, ‘Master, where are you heading?’
‘I am escaping Yao.’
‘What do you mean?’
Hsu Yu said, ‘Yao has become obsessed with benevolence and I am worried that he will be mocked throughout the world. Future generations might even resort to eating each other because of this! The people come together without difficulty. Give them love, and they will care for you, assist them, and they will rally round you, praise them, and they will be excited, upset them, and they will desert you. Love and assistance arise from benevolence and righteousness, and while some people will deny benevolence and righteousness, the majority look to them for assistance. Benevolence and righteousness conducted under these circumstances become insincere, and possibly may be evil, like lending traps to others. Allowing one man to determine what the world needs through his own powers is like trying to comprehend everything in one moment. Yao knows that the worthy man can assist the whole world, but he does not know that such a person can ruin the whole world, for it is only those outside this sphere of influence who can really understand.’
You have the gullible and the weak, you have the quick and vain and you have the greedy and bent.
Those who are known as the gullible and the weak study under just one master, they say yes to him and then feel privately smug, believing that they have understood all that is necessary, when in fact they have not grasped a single thing. These are known as the gullible and the weak.
The quick and the vain are like lice on a pig. The lice find a place where the bristles are long and well-spaced and they view this as a great palace or vast park. They might choose the groove between the hoof or the area of the nipples and the thigh and in such a safe place they consider this to be their quiet retreat. They do not know that one morning the butcher will make a sweep with his arm, lay out the grass, light the fire and that then they will be burnt up along with the pig. Their progress is limited and their retreat is limited. These are known as the quick and the vain.
The greedy and bent are similar to Shun. Mutton doesn’t want ants, but ants want mutton, especially when it is off. Shun was also off: this was why the hundred tribes were so delighted with him and followed after him. Even though he changed his place of residence three times, each one was counted as a capital city. When he arrived at the wilderness of Teng, he had a hundred thousand families with him. Yao heard of Shun and gave him control over the new and untamed country and said he hoped Shun would bring benefits to all. When Shun was given this command, he was already quite elderly and his hearing and eyesight were poor, but he was unable to retire to his home. These are known as the greedy and the bent.
So it is that the spiritual man dislikes people crowding around him. If they insist on coming, he argues with them, and from this argument comes nothing of any benefit to anyone. Therefore, he ensures he has no attachment to anything, and nothing from which he is separated. Holding fast to Virtue and dwelling in harmony, he follows the world. This is what is known as the true man. He leaves knowledge for the ants, follows the style of fish and abandons the ideas of sheep.
See using the eyes, hear using the ears, have vision using the heart. If you do this the course is straight as if measured using a line, the changes are congenial. The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven. The true man of the past obtained it and was born, lost it and died, obtained it and died, and lost it and was born.
Medicines are like this. There is monkshood, ballflower, cockscomb and chinaroot. They each have their time when they are best suited, though to list all their uses would be impossible.
Kou Chien94 retreated to Mount Kuai Chi with three thousand soldiers in armoured jackets and carrying shields, and Minister Chung alone understood how to save the disaster-ridden state, but he didn’t know how to save himself from a tragic fate.
It is said that the eye of the owl is specially adapted and the leg of the crane has its right proportion. To try and cut out anything from these would be disaster to these creatures.
It is said that the wind blows over the river and the river is diminished. When the sun passes over the river, it loses something. If the sun and wind remain watching over the river, then the river will not be alarmed that they are doing anything
