Chuang Tzu heard this and said, ‘People today, when looking after themselves and caring for their hearts, are very much like this border guard’s description. They ignore Heaven, wander from their innate nature, dissolve their real being, extinguish their spirit and follow the common herd. So it is that someone who is careless with their innate nature causes evil and hatred to arise, affecting their innate nature like rank weeds and bushes. These weeds and bushes, when they first appear, seem helpful and supportive, but slowly they affect the innate nature. They become like a mass of suppurating sores which break out in scabs and ulcers, oozing pus from this disease. This is how it is.’
Po Chu studied under Lao Tzu and said, ‘I would like to be allowed to wander the world.’
Lao Tzu said, ‘No! Everywhere under Heaven is the same.’
He asked again and Lao Tzu said, ‘Where will you go first?’
‘I will start with Chi.’
When he arrived in Chi he saw the corpse of a criminal. He lugged the body about to put it into the proper ritual position, took off his robes and covered the body, crying to Heaven and saying, ‘My son, my son! Everyone under Heaven is in great trouble, and you, my son, have found this out earlier than the rest of us. It is said, “Don’t steal, don’t murder.” However when praise and failure have been defined, suffering appears. When goods and fortunes have been amassed, argument appears. To establish things that bring suffering, to amass what brings argument, to cause distress and restlessness to others, one asks how is this possible?’
The scholar rulers of old saw their success in terms of the people and saw their failures in terms of themselves. They viewed the people as right and themselves as wrong. Thus, if even one person suffered, they would accept this as being their responsibility and retire. This is certainly not the case today. Today’s rulers hide what should be done and then blame the people when they don’t understand. They make the problems greater and punish those who cannot manage. They push people to the limit and execute those who can’t make it. When people realize that they simply haven’t the energy, they use pretence. When every day there is so much falsehood, how can the scholars and the people not become compromised! When strength is lacking, deceit is used; when knowledge is lacking, deception is used; when material goods are lacking, theft is used. But who really is to blame for these thefts and robbery?’
Chu Po Yu had lived for sixty years and he changed at sixty. He had never questioned that he was right, but he came to change his views and saw that from the beginning he had been wrong. Now it was not possible to know whether what he had been saying for fifty-nine years was right or wrong. All forms of life are born, yet it is not possible to see their source. They all go forth, but it is not easy to see by which gate. People all respect what they understand as knowledge, but they do not understand what their knowledge does not understand and so gain understanding. So isn’t this simply great confusion? Well, well! There is no way out of that. This comes from saying definitely this, definitely that, doesn’t it?
Confucius asked the Great Historians, Ta Tao, Po Chang Chien and Hsi Wei, ‘Duke Ling of Wei enjoyed wine, women and song, and didn’t look after the affairs of his kingdom, going off hunting with nets and bows, not attending to the sessions with the other lords. Why then is he called Duke Ling?’
Ta Tao said, ‘Because this was so, he was titled so.’
Po Chang Chien said, ‘This Duke Ling had three wives and he bathed with them in the same bathtub. However, when Shih Chiu appeared before him with imperial gifts, he himself would serve him. Duke Ling was corrupt in the first case and yet, when he saw a worthy man, he behaved quite correctly. This was the reason he was called Duke Ling.’
Hsi Wei said, ‘Duke Ling died and divination was made to see whether he should be buried in the family tomb, but the oracle said no. When divination was made to see if he should be buried on Sand Hill, the oracle was good. When they dug down, they discovered a stone tomb. After cleaning it and looking carefully at it they found an inscription which said: ‘Do not rely upon your descendants, Duke Ling will take this for himself.’ It’s obvious, therefore, that Duke Ling was called Ling long before he was born. However, you can’t expect these two to know anything about all this!’
Little Knowledge asked Great Official Accord, saying, ‘What do people mean when they say Talk of the Villages?’
Great Official Accord said, ‘Talk of the Villages refers to the union of the ten surnames and hundred names into one code of living. What is different is united to form a commonality. What is in common is broken up to form the differences. If you point to different parts of a horse you do not have “a horse”. However, if you have the whole animal in all its parts standing before you, you have a horse. In this way the hills and mountains arise, little layer upon little layer, and so become lofty, and the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers have become great through the conjoining of small streams.
‘The great man shows his greatness by combining all the common
