The Way of Chuang Tzu Book Summary
Note: This summary is made up of my notes, thoughts and highlights of important passages while reading the book. I keep updating the summary when I revisit it, and occasionally may edit it to reduce summary length. Don’t be surprised if it has changed between visits. The author’s words are in normal font, while my interpretations are in italics.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE TO THE READER
St. Augustine once made a rather strong statement (which he later qualified), saying “That which is called the Christian religion existed among the ancients and never did not exist from the beginning of the human race until Christ came in the flesh.”
This book is not intended to prove anything or to convince anyone of anything that he does not want to hear about in the first place.
I simply like Chuang Tzu because he is what he is and I feel no need to justify this liking to myself or to anyone else.
Chuang Tzu is not concerned with words and formulas about reality, but with the direct existential grasp of reality in itself.
But the whole teaching, the “way” contained in these anecdotes, poems, and meditations, is characteristic of a certain mentality found everywhere in the world, a certain taste for simplicity, for humility, self-effacement, silence, and in general a refusal to take seriously the aggressivity, the ambition, the push, and the self-importance which one must display in order to get along in society.
This other is a “way” that prefers not to get anywhere in the world, or even in the field of some supposedly spiritual attainment.
The “Little Way” of Therese of Lisieux is an explicit renunciation of all exalted and disincarnate spiritualities that divide man against himself, putting one half in the realm of angels and the other in an earthly hell.
You enter upon this kind of way when you leave all ways and, in some sense, get lost.
It would be a great mistake to confuse the Taoism of Chuang Tzu with the popular, degenerate amalgam of superstition, alchemy, magic, and health-culture which Taoism later became.
The kind of thought and culture represented by Chuang Tzu was what transformed highly speculative Indian Buddhism into the humorous, iconoclastic, and totally practical kind of Buddhism that was to flourish in China and in Japan in the various schools of Zen. Zen throws light on Chuang Tzu, and Chuang Tzu throws light on Zen.
The fashion of Zen in certain western circles fits into the rather confused pattern of spiritual revolution and renewal.
Chuang Tzu himself would be the first to say that you cannot tell people to do whatever they want when they don’t even know what they want in the first place!
After all, the idea that one can seriously cultivate his own personal freedom merely by discarding inhibitions and obligations, to live in self-centered spontaneity, results in the complete decay of the true self and of its capacity for freedom.
Chuang Tzu believed that the Tao on which Confucius set his heart was not the “great Tao” that is invisible and incomprehensible. It was a lesser reflection of Tao as it manifests itself in human life.
Chuang Tzu held that only when one was in contact with the mysterious Tao which is beyond all existent things, which cannot be conveyed either by words or by silence, and which is apprehended only in a state which is neither speech nor silence (xxv. II.) could one really understand how to live.
The life of riches, ambition, pleasure, is in reality an intolerable servitude in which one “lives for what is always out of reach,” thirsting “for survival in the future” and “incapable of living in the present.”
He sees “happiness” and “the good” as “something to be attained,” and thus he places them outside himself in the world of objects. In so doing, he becomes involved in a division from which there is no escape.
Chuang Tzu does not allow himself to get engaged in this division by “taking sides.”
From the moment “good and evil,” or “right and wrong” are treated as “objects to be attained,” these values lead to delusion and alienation.
“When all the world recognizes good as good, it becomes evil,” because it becomes something that one does not have and which one must constantly be pursuing until, in effect, it becomes unattainable.
The more “the good” is objectively analyzed, the more it is treated as something to be attained by special virtuous techniques, the less real it becomes. As it becomes less real, it recedes further into the distance of abstraction, futurity, unattainability. The more, therefore, one concentrates on the means to be used to attain it.
The way of Tao is to begin with the simple good with which one is endowed by the very fact of existence.
It is more a matter of believing the good than of seeing it as the fruit of one’s effort.
The secret of the way proposed by Chuang Tzu is therefore not the accumulation of virtue and merit taught by Ju, but wu wei, the non-doing, or non-action, which is not intent upon results.
Perfect joy is to be without joy.
“Low virtue never frees itself from virtuousness, therefore it has no virtue.”
Chuang Tzu, surrounded by ambitious and supposedly “practical men,” reflected that these “operators” knew the value of the “useful,” but not the greater value of the “useless.”
The “man of Tao” will prefer obscurity and solitude.
All deliberate, systematic, and reflexive “self-cultivation,” whether active or contemplative, personalistic or politically committed, cuts one off from the mysterious but indispensible contact with Tao, the hidden “Mother” of all life and truth.
The true tranquillity sought by the “man of Tao” is Ying ning, tranquillity in the action of non-action.
Abandon the “need to win”.
No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers.
The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.
“You never find happiness until you stop looking for it.”
Life is a continual development. All beings are in a state of flux.
Clouds become rain and vapor ascends again to become clouds. To insist that the cloud should never turn to rain is to resist the dynamism of Tao.
In the teaching of philosophy, Chuang Tzu is not in favor of putting on tight shoes that make the disciple intensely conscious of the fact that he has feet
It is when we insist most firmly on everyone else being “reasonable” that we become, ourselves, unreasonable.
GREAT KNOWLEDGE
Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.
When the body sleeps, the soul is enfolded in One. When the body wakes, the openings begin to function.
With all the varied business of life, the strivings of the heart; Men are blocked, perplexed, lost in doubt. Little fears eat away their peace of heart. Great fears swallow them whole.
The mind fails. It shall not see light again.
Pleasure and rage Sadness and joy Hopes and regrets Change and stability Weakness and decision Impatience and sloth: All are sounds from the same flute, All mushrooms from the same wet mould.
One may well suppose the True Governor To be behind it all. That such a Power works I can believe. I cannot see his form. He acts, but has no form.
THE PIVOT
The theory of reversal that opposites produce each other, depend on each other, and complement each other.
Right turns into wrong and wrong into right—the flow of life alters circumstances and thus things themselves are altered in their turn.
The wise man therefore, instead of trying to prove this or that point by logical disputation, sees all things in the light of direct intuition. He is not imprisoned by the limitations of the “I,” for the viewpoint of direct intuition is that of both “I” and “Not-I.”
Abandoning all thought of imposing a limit or taking sides, he rests in direct intuition.
THREE IN THE MORNING
The truly wise man, considering both sides of the question without partiality, sees them both in the light of Tao. This is called following two courses at once.
CUTTING UP AN OX
When I first began
To cut up oxen I would see before me
The whole ox
All in one mass.
After three years I no longer saw this mass.
I saw the distinctions.
But now, I see nothing
With the eye.
My whole being Apprehends.
My senses are idle. The spirit
Free to work without plan
Follows its own instinct
Guided by natural line,
By the secret opening, the hidden space,
My cleaver finds its own way.
I cut through no joint, chop no bone.
THE MAN WITH ONE FOOT AND THE MARSH PHEASANT
Though she might have all she desired
Set before her.
She would rather run
And seek her own little living Uncaged.
THE FASTING OF THE HEART
If you do not have Tao yourself, what business have you spending your time in vain efforts to bring corrupt politicians into the right path?
The goal of fasting is inner unity.
The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens.
Fasting of the heart begets unity and freedom.
If I can begin this fasting of the heart, self-awareness will vanish. Then I will be free from limitation and preoccupation.
Go among men in their world without upsetting them. You will not enter into conflict with their ideal image of themselves. If they will listen, sing them a song. If not, keep silent. Don’t try to break down their door. Don’t try out new medicines on them. Just be there among them, because there is nothing else for you to be but one of them. Then you may have success!
Look at this window: it is nothing but a hole in the wall, but because of it the whole room is full of light. So when the faculties are empty, the heart is full of light. Being full of light it becomes an influence by which others are secretly transformed.
CONFUCIUS AND THE MADMAN
When the world makes sense The wise have work to do. They can only hide When the world’s askew.
Joy is feather light But who can carry it? Sorrow falls like a landslide Who can parry it?
The tree on the mountain height is its own enemy. The grease that feeds the light devours itself. The cinnamon tree is edible: so it is cut down! The lacquer tree is profitable: they maim it.
Every man knows how useful it is to be useful. No one seems to know How useful it is to be useless.
THE TRUE MAN
The true men of old were not afraid,
When they stood alone in their views.
No great exploits. No plans. If they failed, no sorrow. No self-congratulation in success.
The true men of old Slept without dreams, Woke without worries. Their food was plain. They breathed deep.
Where the fountains of passion Lie deep The heavenly springs Are soon dry.
METAMORPHOSIS
There is a time for putting together And another time for taking apart. He who understands This course of events Takes each new state In its proper time With neither sorrow nor joy.
MAN IS BORN IN TAO
If man, born in Tao, Sinks into the deep shadow Of non-action To forget aggression and concern, He lacks nothing His life is secure.
“All the fish needs Is to get lost in water. All man needs is to get lost In Tao.”
TWO KINGS AND NO-FORM
“To organize is to destroy.”
CRACKING THE SAFE
Thus what the world calls good business is only a way
To gather up the loot, pack it, make it secure
In one convenient load for the more enterprising thieves.
Who is there, among those called smart, Who does not spend his time amassing loot For a bigger robber than himself?
The invention Of weights and measures Makes robbery easier. Signing contracts, settings seals, Makes robbery more sure.
Teaching love and duty Provides a fitting language With which to prove that robbery Is really for the general good.
A poor man must swing For stealing a belt buckle But if a rich man steals a whole state He is acclaimed As statesman of the year.
If you want to hear the very best speeches On love, duty, justice, etc., Listen to statesmen.
But when the creek dries up Nothing grows in the valley. When the mound is levelled The hollow next to it is filled. And when the statesmen and lawyers And preachers of duty disappear There are no more robberies either And the world is at peace.
Moral: the more you pile up ethical principles And duties and obligations To bring everyone in line The more you gather loot For a thief like Khang.
By ethical argument And moral principle The greatest crimes are eventually shown To have been necessary, and, in fact, A signal benefit To mankind.
LEAVING THINGS ALONE
I know about letting the world alone, not interfering. I do not know about running things.
Letting things alone: so that men will not blow their nature out of shape! Not interfering, so that men will not be changed into something they are not!
When men do not get twisted and maimed beyond recognition, when they are allowed to live—the purpose of government is achieved.
You delight in doing good, and your natural kindness is blown out of shape. You delight in righteousness, and you become righteous beyond all reason.
Overdo your love of music, and you play corn. Love of wisdom leads to wise contriving. Love of knowledge leads to faultfinding.
The wise man, then, when he must govern, knows how to do nothing. Letting things alone, he rests in his original nature.
He who will govern will respect the governed no more than he respects himself.
THE KINGLY MAN
That which acts on all and meddles in none—is heaven.
His glory is in knowing that all things come together in One And life and death are equal.
HOW DEEP IS TAO!
The king of life goes his way free, inactive, unknown.
Without forethought he comes out, in majesty. Without plan he goes his way and all things follow him. This is the kingly man, who rides above life.
THE LOST PEARL
The Yellow Emperor said: “Strange, indeed: Nothingness Who was not sent Who did no work to find it Had the night-colored pearl!”
IN MY END IS MY BEGINNING
In the Beginning of Beginnings was Void of Void, the Nameless. And in the Nameless was the One, without body, without form.
This One—this Being in whom all find power to exist— Is the Living. From the Living, comes the Formless, the Undivided.
From the act of this Formless, come the Existents, each according To its inner principle. This is Form. Here body embraces and cherishes spirit. The two work together as one, blending and manifesting their Characters. And this is Nature.
The bird opens its beak and sings its note And then the beak comes together again in Silence. So Nature and the Living meet together in Void. Like the closing of the bird’s beak After its song.
Heaven and earth come together in the Unbegun, And all is foolishness, all is unknown, all is like The lights of an idiot, all is without mind! To obey is to close the beak and fall into Unbeginning.
WHEN LIFE WAS FULL THERE WAS NO HISTORY
In the age when life on earth was full, no one paid any special attention to worthy men, nor did they single out the man of ability.
They were honest and righteous without realizing that they were “doing their duty.” They loved each other and did not know that this was “love of neighbor.” They deceived no one yet they did not know that they were “men to be trusted.” They were reliable and did not know that this was “good faith.” They lived freely together giving and taking, and did not know that they were generous. For this reason their deeds have not been narrated. They made no history.
WHEN A HIDEOUS MAN
When a hideous man becomes a father And a son is born to him In the middle of the night He trembles and lights a lamp And runs to look in anguish On that child’s face To see whom he resembles.
THE FIVE ENEMIES
If you compare the robber and the respectable citizen You find that one is, indeed, more respectable than the other: Yet they agree in this: they have both lost The original simplicity of man.
How did they lose it? Here are the five ways: Love of colors bewilders the eye And it fails to see right. Love of harmonies bewitches the ear And it loses its true hearing. Love of perfumes Fills the head with dizziness. Love of flavors Ruins the taste. Desires unsettle the heart Until the original nature runs amok.
These five are enemies of true life. Yet these are what “men of discernment” claim to live for. They are not what I live for: If this is life, then pigeons in a cage Have found happiness!
ACTION AND NON-ACTION
The non-action of the wise man is not inaction. It is not studied. It is not shaken by anything.
The heart of the wise man is tranquil. It is the mirror of heaven and earth The glass of everything. Emptiness, stillness, tranquillity, tastelessness, Silence, non-action: this is the level of heaven and earth.
Wise men find here Their resting place. Resting, they are empty.
From emptiness comes the unconditioned. From this, the conditioned, the individual things. So from the sage’s emptiness, stillness arises: From stillness, action. From action, attainment. From their stillness comes their non-action, which is also action And is, therefore, their attainment. For stillness is joy. Joy is free from care Fruitful in long years.
Joy does all things without concern: For emptiness, stillness, tranquillity, tastelessness, Silence, and non-action Are the root of all things.
It is the words themselves that the world values when it commits them to books: and though the world values them, these words are worthless as long as that which gives them value is not held in honor.
Form and color, name and sound, do not reach to reality. That is why: “He who knows does not say, he who says, does not know.” How then is the world going to know Tao through words?
When I make wheels If I go easy, they fall apart, If I am too rough, they do not fit. If I am neither too easy nor too violent They come out right. The work is what I want it to be. You cannot put this into words: You just have to know how it is.
The men of old Took all they really knew With them to the grave. And so, Lord, what you are reading there Is only the dirt they left behind them.
AUTUMN FLOODS
“Well, the proverb is right. He who has got himself a hundred ideas thinks he knows more than anybody else. Such a one am I. Only now do I see what they mean by EXPANSE!”
The Ocean God replied: “Can you talk about the sea To a frog in a well?
“Of all the waters in the world The Ocean is greatest. All the rivers pour into it Day and night; It is never filled. It gives back its waters Day and night; It is never emptied. In dry seasons It is not lowered. In floodtime It does not rise. Greater than all other waters! There is no measure to tell How much greater! But am I proud of it? What am I under heaven? What am I without Yang and Yin? Compared with the sky I am a little rock, A scrub oak On the mountain side: Shall I act As if I were something?”
Of all the beings that exist (and there are millions), man is only one.
There are no fixed limits Time does not stand still.
Nothing endures, Nothing is final.
You cannot lay hold Of the end or the beginning.
He who is wise sees near and far As the same, Does not despise the small Or value the great: Where all standards differ How can you compare? With one glance He takes in past and present, Without sorrow for the past Or impatience with the present.
All is in movement. He has experience Of fullness and emptiness.
The game is never over Birth and death are even The terms are not final.
GREAT AND SMALL
When we look at things in the light of Tao, Nothing is best, nothing is worst. Each thing, seen in its own light, Stands out in its own way. It can seem to be “better” Than what is compared with it On its own terms. But seen in terms of the whole, No one thing stands out as “better.”
If you measure differences, What is greater than something else is “great,” Therefore there is nothing that is not “great”; What is smaller than something else is “small,” Therefore there is nothing that is not “small.” So the whole cosmos is a grain of rice, And the tip of a hair Is as big as a mountain— Such is the relative view.
Consequently: he who wants to have right without wrong, Order without disorder, Does not understand the principles Of heaven and earth. He does not know how Things hang together.
Can a man cling only to heaven And know nothing of earth? They are correlative: to know one Is to know the other. To refuse one Is to refuse both.
He who forces his way to power Against the grain Is called tyrant and usurper. He who moves with the stream of events Is called a wise statesman.
The true conqueror is he Who is not conquered By the multitude of the small. The mind is this conqueror— But only the mind Of the wise man.
“The man of Tao Remains unknown Perfect virtue Produces nothing ‘No-Self’ Is ‘True-Self.’ And the greatest man Is Nobody.”
THE TURTLE
“What do you think: Is it better to give up one’s life And leave a sacred shell As an object of cult In a cloud of incense Three thousand years, Or better to live As a plain turtle Dragging its tail in the mud?” “For the turtle,” said the Vice-Chancellor, “Better to live And drag its tail in the mud!” “Go home!” said Chuang Tzu. “Leave me here To drag my tail in the mud!”
THE JOY OF FISHES
What you asked me was ‘How do you know What makes fishes happy?’ From the terms of your question You evidently know I know What makes fishes happy.
“I know the joy of fishes In the river Through my own joy, as I go walking Along the same river.”
PERFECT JOY
What the world values is money, reputation, long life, achievement.
What it condemns is lack of money, a low social rank, a reputation for being no good, and an early death.
What it considers misfortune is bodily discomfort and labor, no chance to get your fill of good food.
The rich make life intolerable, driving themselves in order to get more and more money which they cannot really use. In so doing they are alienated from themselves, and exhaust themselves in their own service as though they were slaves of others.
The birth of a man is the birth of his sorrow.
His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present.
You never find happiness until you stop looking for it.
My greatest happiness consists precisely in doing nothing whatever that is calculated to obtain happiness: and this, in the minds of most people, is the worst possible course.
Perfect joy is to be without joy. Perfect praise is to be without praise.
If you ask “what ought to be done” and “what ought not to be done” on earth in order to produce happiness, I answer that these questions do not have an answer. There is no way of determining such things.
Contentment and well-being at once become possible the moment you cease to act with them in view, and if you practice non-doing (wu wei), you will have both happiness and well-being.
Heaven does nothing: its non-doing is its serenity. Earth does nothing: it non-doing is its rest. From the union of these two non-doings All actions proceed, All things are made.
All beings in their perfection Are born of non-doing. Hence it is said: “Heaven and earth do nothing Yet there is nothing they do not do.” Where is the man who can attain To this non-doing?
SYMPHONY FOR A SEA BIRD
You cannot put a big load in a small bag, Nor can you, with a short rope, Draw water from a deep well. You cannot talk to a power politician As if he were a wise man.
When a man doubts, He will kill.
How should you treat a bird? As yourself Or as a bird?
Water is for fish And air for men. Natures differ, and needs with them. Hence the wise men of old Did not lay down One measure for all.
WHOLENESS
All that is limited by form, semblance, sound, color, Is called object. Among them all, man alone Is more than an object. Though, like objects, he has form and semblance, He is not limited to form. He is more. He can attain to formlessness. When he is beyond form and semblance, Beyond “this” and “that,” Where is the comparison With another object? Where is the conflict? What can stand in his way?
So a drunken man, falling Out of a wagon, Is bruised but not destroyed. His bones are like the bones of other men, But his fall is different. His spirit is entire. He is not aware Of getting into a wagon Or falling out of one. Life and death are nothing to him. He knows no alarm, he meets obstacles Without thought, without care, Takes them without knowing they are there If there is such security in wine, How much more in Tao. The wise man is hidden in Tao. Nothing can touch him.
THE NEED TO WIN
When an archer is shooting for nothing He has all his skill. If he shoots for a brass buckle He is already nervous.
His skill has not changed. But the prize Divides him. He cares. He thinks more of winning Than of shooting— And the need to win Drains him of power.
THE WOODCARVER
“I am only a workman: I have no secret. There is only this: When I began to think about the work you commanded I guarded my spirit, did not expend it On trifles, that were not to the point. I fasted in order to set My heart at rest. After three days fasting, I had forgotten gain and success. After five days I had forgotten praise or criticism. After seven days I had forgotten my body With all its limbs.
My own collected thought Encountered the hidden potential in the wood; From this live encounter came the work Which you ascribe to the spirits.”
WHEN THE SHOE FITS
So, when the shoe fits The foot is forgotten, When the belt fits The belly is forgotten, When the heart is right “For” and “against” are forgotten.
No drives, no compulsions, No needs, no attractions: Then your affairs Are under control. You are a free man.
Easy is right. Begin right And you are easy. Continue easy and you are right. The right way to go easy Is to forget the right way And forget that the going is easy.
THE EMPTY BOAT
He who rules men lives in confusion; He who is ruled by men lives in sorrow.
The way to get clear of confusion And free of sorrow Is to live with Tao In the land of the great Void.
If a man is crossing a river And an empty boat collides with his own skiff, Even though he be a bad-tempered man He will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the boat, He will shout at him to steer clear.
If you can empty your own boat Crossing the river of the world, No one will oppose you, No one will seek to harm you.
If you wish to improve your wisdom And shame the ignorant, To cultivate your character And outshine others; A light will shine around you As if you had swallowed the sun and the moon: You will not avoid calamity.
A wise man has said: “He who is content with himself Has done a worthless work. Achievement is the beginning of failure. Fame is the beginning of disgrace.”
Who can free himself from achievement And from fame, descend and be lost Amid the masses of men? He will flow like Tao, unseen, He will go about like Life itself With no name and no home. Simple is he, without distinction. To all appearances he is a fool. His steps leave no trace. He has no power. He achieves nothing, has no reputation. Since he judges no one No one judges him. Such is the perfect man: His boat is empty.
THE FLIGHT OF LIN HUI
Lin Hui said: “My bond with the jade symbol And with my office Was the bond of self-interest. My bond with the child Was the bond of Tao.”
“The friendship of wise men Is tasteless as water. The friendship of fools Is sweet as wine. But the tastelessness of the wise Brings true affection And the savor of fools’ company Ends in hatred.”
WHEN KNOWLEDGE WENT NORTH
“To exercise no-thought And follow no-way of meditation Is the first step toward understanding Tao. To dwell nowhere And rest in nothing Is the first step toward resting in Tao. To start from nowhere And follow no road Is the first step toward attaining Tao.”
We come nowhere near being right, Since we have the answers. “For he who knows does not speak, He who speaks does not know” And “The Wise Man gives instruction Without the use of speech.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING TOOTHLESS
“His body is dry Like an old leg bone, His mind is dead As dead ashes: His knowledge is solid, His wisdom true! In deep dark night He wanders free, Without aim And without design: Who can compare With this toothless man?”
WHERE IS TAO?
Tao is Great in all things, Complete in all, Universal in all, Whole in all. These three aspects Are distinct, but the Reality is One.
Therefore come with me To the palace of Nowhere Where all the many things are One: There at last we might speak Of what has no limitation and no end. Come with me to the land of Non-Doing:
If it is nowhere, how should I be aware of it? If it goes and returns, I know not Where it has been resting. If it wanders Here then there, I know not where it will end. The mind remains undetermined in the great Void.
That which gives things Their thusness cannot be delimited by things.
So when we speak of ‘limits,’ we remain confined To limited things.
The limit of the unlimited is called ‘fullness.’ The limitlessness of the limited is called ‘emptiness.’ Tao is the source of both. But it is itself Neither fullness nor emptiness.
STARLIGHT AND NON-BEING
I can comprehend the absence of Being But who can comprehend the absence of Nothing? If now, on top of all this, Non-Being IS, Who can comprehend it?”
KENG SANG CHU
The man who has some respect for his person Keeps his carcass out of sight, Hides himself as perfectly as he can.
If the virtuous are honored, The world will be filled with envy. If the smart man is rewarded, The world will be filled with thieves. You cannot make men good or honest By praising virtue and knowledge.
KENG’S DISCIPLE
You want the first elements? The infant has them. Free from care, unaware of self, He acts without reflection, Stays where he is put, does not know why, Does not figure things out, Just goes along with them, Is part of the current. These are the first elements!”
“If you persist in trying To attain what is never attained (It is Tao’s gift!) If you persist in making effort To obtain what effort cannot get; If you persist in reasoning About what cannot be understood, You will be destroyed By the very thing you seek.
“To know when to stop To know when you can get no further By your own action, This is the right beginning!”
THE TOWER OF THE SPIRIT
The spirit has an impregnable tower Which no danger can disturb As long as the tower is guarded By the invisible Protector Who acts unconsciously, and whose actions Go astray when they become deliberate, Reflexive, and intentional.
The unconsciousness And entire sincerity of Tao Are disturbed by any effort At self-conscious demonstration. All such demonstrations Are lies.
When one displays himself In this ambiguous way The world outside storms in And imprisons him.
Each new act Is a new failure.
THE INNER LAW
He whose law is within himself Walks in hiddenness. His acts are not influenced By approval or disapproval.
He who walks in hiddenness Has light to guide him In all his acts.
When he tries to extend his power Over objects, Those objects gain control Of him.
He who is controlled by objects Loses possession of his inner self: If he no longer values himself, How can he value others?
There is no deadlier weapon than the will! The sharpest sword Is not equal to it!
APOLOGIES
The greatest politeness Is free of all formality. Perfect conduct Is free of concern. Perfect wisdom Is unplanned. Perfect love Is without demonstrations. Perfect sincerity offers No guarantee.
ADVISING THE PRINCE
“Abandon your plan To be a ‘loving and equitable ruler.’ Try to respond To the demands of inner truth. Stop vexing yourself and your people With these obsessions! Your people will breathe easily at last. They will live And war will end by itself!”
ACTIVE LIFE
If an expert does not have some problem to vex him, he is unhappy! If a philosopher’s teaching is never attacked, he pines away! If critics have no one on whom to exercise their spite, they are unhappy. All such men are prisoners in the world of objects.
He who wants followers, seeks political power. He who wants reputation, holds an office. The strong man looks for weights to lift. The brave man looks for an emergency in which he can show bravery.
Where would the gardener be if there were no more weeds? What would become of business without a market of fools? Where would the masses be if there were no pretext for getting jammed together and making noise? What would become of labor if there were no superfluous objects to be made?
Those who are caught in the machinery of power take no joy except in activity and change—the whirring of the machine!
Whenever an occasion for action presents itself, they are compelled to act; they cannot help themselves.
MONKEY MOUNTAIN
“This animal advertised his cleverness. He trusted in his own skill. He thought no one could touch him. Remember that! Do not rely on distinction and talent when you deal with men!”
FLIGHT FROM BENEVOLENCE
When justice and benevolence are in the air, a few people are really concerned with the good of others, but the majority are aware that this is a good thing, ripe for exploitation.
Thus benevolence and justice rapidly come to be associated with fraud and hypocrisy.
There are three classes of people to be taken into account: yes-men, blood-suckers, and operators.
The yes-men adopt the line of some political leader, and repeat his statements by heart, imagining that they know something, confident that they are getting somewhere.
The blood-suckers are like lice on a sow. They rush together where the bristles are thin, and this becomes their palace and their park.
The man of spirit, on the other hand, hates to see people gather around him.
The true man sees what the eye sees, and does not add to it something that is not there.
He understands things in their obvious interpretation and is not busy with hidden meanings and mysteries.
TAO
Beyond the smallest of the small There is no measure. Beyond the greatest of the great There is also no measure. Where there is no measure There is no “thing.”
To name a name Is to delimit a “thing.”
When I look beyond the beginning I find no measure. When I look beyond the end I find also no measure. Where there is no measure There is no beginning of any “thing.”
To name Tao Is to name no-thing. Tao is not the name Of “an existent.” “Cause” and “chance” Have no bearing on Tao. Tao is a name That indicates Without defining.
Tao is beyond words And beyond things. It is not expressed Either in word or in silence. Where there is no longer word or silence Tao is apprehended.
THE USELESS
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu: “All your teaching is centered on what has no use.” Chuang replied: “If you have no appreciation for what has no use You cannot begin to talk about what can be used.”
MEANS AND ENDS
The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.
Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.
FLIGHT FROM THE SHADOW
if he merely stepped into the shade, his shadow would vanish, and if he sat down and stayed still, there would be no more footsteps.
CHUANG TZU’S FUNERAL
“I shall have heaven and earth for my coffin; the sun and moon will be the jade symbols hanging by my side; planets and constellations will shine as jewels all around me, and all beings will be present as mourners at the wake. What more is needed? Everything is amply taken care of!” But they said: “We fear that crows and kites will eat our Master.” “Well,” said Chuang Tzu, “above ground I shall be eaten by crows and kites, below it by ants and worms. In either case I shall be eaten. Why are you so partial to birds?”
GLOSSARY
One of the four basic virtues of Ju, Chih is wisdom.
Ju – The ethical and scholarly philosophy of the Confucians.
Jen – One of the four basic virtues of Confucian ethics, Jen is the compassion that enables one to identify with the joys and troubles of others.
Li – Another of the four basic virtues of Ju, Li is the correct understanding and practice of rites and ceremonies.
Tao – The Way, the Absolute, the Ultimate Principle.
Tien – Heaven.
Wu wei – Non-action, non-volitional living, obeying the Tao.
Yi – One of the four basic virtues of Ju, Yi is the sense of justice, responsibility, duty, and obligation to others.
Ying ning – Tranquillity in the action of non-action: a concept of Chuang Tzu.
Zen or Ch’an – A school of Mahayana Buddhism practicing direct intuition of the ground of being.
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