Happy Wanderings
In the Northern Ocean there is a fish called the Kun which is many thousands of li in size.It changes into a bird named Peng whose back is many thousand li in breadth.When it rises and flies its wings are like the clouds filling the sky.
When this bird moves across the ocean,it heads for the South Sea,the Celestial Lake.In Chi Hsieh's record of wonder it says:"When Peng is headed toward the Southern Ocean it splashes along the water sot three thousand li. It rises with the wind and wings its way up to ninety thousand li;it flies for six months and then it rests".Heat shimmers in the air like galloping horses,dust creatures are blown about in the sky.
The sky is blue.Is that really so?Or does it look blue because it stretches off into infinity? When Peng looks down from above,it will also seem blue.A large boat draws a great deal of water.Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the ground,and a mustard seed can float there like a little ship.Place a cup in it,and it will not move,because the water is shallow and the boat is large.Only at a certain height is there enough air space for a great wingspan.So Peng rises to ninety thousand li and there is enough air below him.Then he mounts the wind,and with the blue sky at his back,and nothing in his way,he heads for the south.
A cicada and a young dove laugh at Peng saying,"When we try hard we can reach the trees,but sometimes we fall short and drop on the ground. How is it possible to rise ninety thousand li,and head south?" If you go into the country you take enough food for three meals,and come back with your stomach as full as ever.If you travel a hundred li,you grind enough grain for an overnight stay.If you travel a thousand li,you must have three months supply.What do these two small creatures know?Little knowledge is not to be compared with great knowledge,nor a short life with a long life.
How do we know that this is so?
The morning mushroom knows nothing of the twilight or the dawn,nor the chrysalis of spring and autumn.These are short lived.South of Chu there is a ming ling tree whose spring is five hundred years.A long time ago there was a tortoise whose spring was eight thousand years and autumn eight thousand years. Peng Chu is a man famous for his long life.Isn't it sad that everyone wants to imitate him?
In the dialog of Tang and Chi there is the same story:"In the barren north there is a dark sea,the Celestial Lake.There is a fish living there several thousand li in breadth and no one knows its length.Its name is Kun.And there too lives a bird called Peng.Its back is like Mt. Tai,and its wings are like the clouds across the heavens.It spirals up to ninety thousand li,beyond the clouds and the wind,and with blue sky above it heads south to the South Sea.A quail by the marsh laughs saying 'Where does he think he is going? I bob up and down a few feet,fluttering among the weeds and bushes.This is perfection in flying.What is he up to? This is the difference between small and great"
Thus those who are wise enough to hold an official position,fair enough to keep peace in a community,virtuous enough to be a ruler and govern a state,look upon themselves in the same way.
Yet Sung Yung Tsu laughs at them.For if the whole world praised him he would not be moved.If the whole world blamed him,he would not be discouraged.He knows the difference between that which is within and that which is without.He is clear about honor and disgrace. But that is all.Though such a man in the world is rare he is still imperfect.
Leih Tsu rode on the wind and the light and at ease,and returned after fifteen days.Men as happy as he are rare.Though he no longer needed to walk he still depended on something.But suppose that someone rides on the follow of heaven and earth and the transformation of the six elements and wanders in the infinite.on what is he dependent? Therefore it is said"The perfect man has no self,the holy man has no merit,the sage has no reputation."
Yao thought that he would cede the empire to Hsu Yu saying "When the sun and the moon are shining,isn't it hard to see the torch? When the rainy season starts,isn't it a waste of labor to continue to water the fields? If you take over,the empire will be well ruled.I am now the ruler and I feel inadequate. May I give the empire into your care?
Hsu Yu said "You are ruling the empire and the world is already at peace.If I took your place,I would only be doing it for your name. Name is only a shadow of reality. Do I want to be just a shadow?The sparrow building a nest in the deep wood occupies but a single twig.The muskrat drinks only enough to fill its belly.Go in peace my lord. I have no use for the empire.If the cook at a ritual ceremony is not attending to the food offering,the priests and the representatives of the dead do not leap over the wine and meat to take his place."
Chien Wu questioned Lien Shu: I heard Chieh Yu telling strange stories,long and fantastic,going on and on without end.I was amazed at his words. They seemed to be as boundless as the Milky Way and had no connection with the way things really are."
Lien Shu asked."What did he say?"
"Far away on Mount Ku lives a holy man. His flesh and skin are like ice and snow:he is as gentle as a young girl.He eats none of the five grains,but takes down deep draughts of the wind and drinks the dew.He rides on the clouds and mounts the flying dragon and wanders beyond the four seas.By using his spiritual powers he can protect creatures from sickness and decay,and ensure a rich harvest.I think that it is ridiculous and do not believe it.
Lien Shu said,"so it is. The blind cannot appreciate beautiful patterns,and the deaf cannot hear the sounds of bells and drums. Blindness and deafness are not just physical,they can be mental too. Yours is case and point.That holy man with all of his virtues looks on all of the confusion of ten thousand things as one. Because of his very existence, the world is emerging from chaos.Why should he do anything about it?Nothing can harm him.A great flood reaching the sky could not drown him.Though a great drought caused metals and rocks to melt and scorched the earth.he would feel no heat.From his own substance he can create philosopher kings like Yao or Shun. Why should he be bothered with worldly things?"
A man from the state of Sing selling ceremonial caps made a trip to the state of Yeuh. But Yeuh people,having short hair and tattooed bodies, had no use for them.Yao brought order to the people of the world and ruled wisely over the lands bounded by the four seas. But returning south to the Fen River after his visit on Mount Kui,he lost interest in the empire.
Huei Tsu said to Chuang Tsu, "The Prince of Wei gave me a seed of a large-sized kind of gourd. I planted it, and it bore a fruit as big as a five-bushel measure. Now had I used this to carry water, but it was too heavy to lift. So I cut it in half for ladles, but they were to shallow to hold anything. They were big,unwieldy and useless so I smashed them into pieces.
Chuang Tzu said"My friend,you are not very intelligent in your use of large things.There was a man of Sung who could make a for salve for chapped hands. His family had had a silk bleaching business for generations. A traveler heard of this and offered to buy the secret formula for a hundred pieces of gold.The family gathered together to have a conference and said, "We have been bleaching silk for generations and have earned only a few pieces of gold. Now in one day we can sell the secret in one day for one hundred pieces of gold. Let him have it." The traveler took it and offered it to the King of Wu. Wu and Yueh were at war. The King of Wu entrusted the traveler with the command of his fleet. In the winter the fleet fought a naval battle against Yeuh and totally defeated them.The traveler was rewarded with a fife and a title.
"In both cases the cure chapped hands was same,but was used differently. One man got a title, while the others are still bleaching silk"Now you had a gourd big enough to hold five-bushel. Why didn't you think of making it into a great barrel and using it to float along the rivers and lake instead of its being useless for holding anything. Your mind mind my friend is still very cluttered with trivia."
Huei Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "I have a big tree ailanthus tree. Its trunk is so gnarled and full of knots that it is impossible to measure it accurately.Its branches are too twisted and crooked for anyone to measure with a compass or square. It stands at the side of the road, but no carpenter would give it a second glance. Now your words are as big and useless, no one wants to hear what you have to say."
Chuang Tzu replied "Have you ever watched a wild cat or a weasel? It crouches close to the ground and wait for its prey. It leaps up and down.first one way and then the other,until it catches and kills its prey. Then again there is the yak as great as a cloud shadowing sky. Big as it is it cannot catch mouse. Now if you have a giant tree and are concerned that it is useless.Why don't you plant it on land where nothing grows,in a wild barren place? There you may saunter idly around it,doing nothing,and lie down to sleep beneath its boughs.No one will ever try to cut it down.Nothing can harm it since it has no use.How can it cause you anxiety?"