HOW TO GOVERN.
_Argument_:--Princes should reign, not rule--Rulers find their
standards of right in themselves--They thus coerce their people into
obeying artificial laws, instead of leaving them to obey natural
laws--By action they accomplish nothing--By inaction there is nothing
which they would not accomplish--Individuals think they know what
the empire wants--In reality it is the empire itself which know
best--Illustrations.
Yeh Ch'üeh asked Wang I
See ch. ii.
four questions, none of which he could answer. Thereat the former was
greatly delighted,
For now he discovered that ignorance is true knowledge:--an
explanation which I adopt only for want of a better.
and went off and told P'u I Tzŭ.
Of whom nothing definite is known.
"Have you only just found that out?" said P'u I Tzŭ. "The Emperor Shun
was not equal to T'ai Huang.
A legendary ruler. For Shun, see ch. i.
Shun was all for charity in his zeal for mankind; but although he
succeeded in government, he himself never rose above the level of
artificiality. Now T'ai Huang was peaceful when asleep and inactive
when awake. At one time he would think himself a horse; at another, an
ox.
So effectually had he closed all channels leading to consciousness of
self.
His wisdom was substantial and above suspicion. His virtue was genuine
indeed. And yet he never sank to the level of artificiality."
He was a monarch after the pattern of TAO.
* * * * *
Chien Wu meeting the eccentric Chieh Yü, the latter enquired, saying,
"What did Jih Chung Shih teach you?"
Of the last nothing is known. The first two have been already
mentioned in chs. i. and vi.
"He taught me," replied Chien Wu, "about the laws and regulations which
princes evolve, and which he said none would venture not to hear and
obey."
"That is a false teaching indeed," replied Chieh Yü. "To attempt to
govern mankind thus,--as well try to wade through the sea, to hew a
passage through a river, or make a mosquito fly away with a mountain!
"The government of the truly wise man has no concern with externals.
He first perfects himself, and then by virtue thereof he is enabled to
accomplish what he wants.
Passively, without effort of any kind.
"The bird flies high to avoid snare and dart. The mouse burrows down
below the hill to avoid being smoked or cut out of its nest. Is your
wit below that of these two creatures?"
That you should be unable to devise means of avoiding the artificial
restraints of princes. Better than coercing into goodness is letting
men be good of their own accord.
T'ien Kên
Of whom nothing is known.
was travelling on the south of the Yin mountain. He had reached the
river Liao when he met a certain Sage to whom he said, "I beg to ask
about the government of the empire."
"Begone!" cried the Sage. "You are a low fellow, and your question is
ill timed. God has just turned me out a man. That is enough for me.
Borne on light pinions I can soar beyond the cardinal points, to the
land of nowhere, in the domain of nothingness. And you come to worry me
with government of the empire!"
But T'ien Kên enquired a second time, and the Sage replied, "Resolve
your mental energy into abstraction, your physical energy into
inaction. Allow yourself to fall in with the natural order of
phenomena, without admitting the element of self,--and the empire will
be governed."
By virtue of natural laws which lead, without man's interference, to
the end desired.
Yang Tzŭ Chü went to see Lao Tzŭ, and said, "Suppose a man were ardent
and courageous, acquainted with the order and principles of things,
and untiring in the pursuit of TAO--would he be accounted a wise ruler?"
"From the point of view of a truly wise man," replied Lao Tzŭ, "such a
one would be a mere handicraftsman, wearing out body and mind alike.
The tiger and the pard suffer from the beauty of their skins. The
cleverness of the monkey, the tractability of the ox, bring them both
to the tether. It is not on such grounds that a ruler may be accounted
wise."
"But in what, then," cried Yang Tzŭ Chü, "does the government of a wise
man consist?"
"The goodness of a wise ruler," answered Lao Tzŭ, "covers the whole
empire, yet he himself seems to know it not. It influences all
creation, yet none is conscious thereof. It appears under countless
forms, bringing joy to all things. It is based upon the baseless, and
travels through the realms of Nowhere."
The operation of true government is invisible to the eye of man.
* * * * *
In the State of Chêng there was a wonderful magician, named Chi Han.
He knew all about birth and death, gain and loss, misfortune and
happiness, long life and short life,--predicting events to a day
with supernatural accuracy. The people of Chêng used to flee at his
approach; but Lieh Tzŭ
See ch. i.
went to see him, and became so infatuated that on his return he said to
Hu Tzŭ,
Who appears to have been his tutor.
"I used to look upon your TAO as perfect. Now I know something more
perfect still."
"So far," replied Hu Tzŭ, "I have only taught you the ornamentals,
not the essentials, of TAO; and yet you think you know all about it.
Without cocks in your poultry-yard, what sort of eggs do the hens lay?
If you go about trying to force TAO down people's throats, you will be
simply exposing yourself. Bring your friend with you, and let me show
myself to him."
So next day Lieh Tzŭ went with Chi Han to see Hu Tzŭ, and when they
came out Chi Han said, "Alas! your teacher is doomed. He cannot live. I
hardly give him ten days. I am astonished at him. He is but wet ashes."
And cannot burn much longer.
Lieh Tzŭ went in and wept bitterly, and told Hu Tzŭ; but the latter
said, "I showed myself to him just now as the earth shows us its
outward form, motionless and still, while production is all the time
going on. I merely prevented him from seeing my pent-up energy
Of TAO.
within. Bring him again."
Next day the interview took place as before; but as they were leaving
Chi Han said to Lieh Tzŭ, "It is lucky for your teacher that he met me.
He is better. He will recover. I saw he had recuperative power."
Lieh Tzŭ went in and told Hu Tzŭ; whereupon the latter replied, "I
showed myself to him just now as heaven shows itself in all its
dispassionate grandeur, letting a little energy run out of my heels. He
was thus able to detect that I had some. Bring him here again."
Next day a third interview took place, and as they were leaving, Chi
Han said to Lieh Tzŭ, "Your teacher is never one day like another. I
can tell nothing from his physiognomy. Get him to be regular, and I
will then examine him again."
This being repeated to Hu Tzŭ as before, the latter said, "I showed
myself to him just now in a state of harmonious equilibrium. Where the
whale disports itself,--is the abyss. Where water is at rest,--is the
abyss. Where water is in motion,--is the abyss. The abyss has nine
names. These are three of them."
Alluding to three phases of TAO as manifested at the three interviews
above described, TAO being the abyss.
Next day the two went once more to see Hu Tzŭ; but Chi Han was unable
to stand still, and in his confusion turned and fled.
"Pursue him!" cried Hu Tzŭ; whereupon Lieh Tzŭ ran after him, but could
not overtake him, so he returned and told Hu Tzŭ that the fugitive had
disappeared.
"I showed myself to him just now," said Hu Tzŭ, "as TAO appeared
before time was. I was to him as a great blank, existing of itself. He
knew not who I was. His face fell. He became confused. And so he fled."
Upon this Lieh Tzŭ stood convinced that he had not yet acquired any
real knowledge, and at once set to work in earnest, passing three
years without leaving the house. He helped his wife to cook the family
dinner, and fed his pigs just like human beings. He discarded the
artificial and reverted to the natural. He became merely a shape.
Amidst confusion,
Of this material world.
he was unconfounded. And so he continued to the end.
By Inaction, fame comes as the spirits of the dead come to the boy who
impersonates the corpse.
See ch. i. In the old funeral rites of China, a boy was made to sit
speechless and motionless as a corpse, for the reason assigned in the
text.
By Inaction, one can become the centre of thought, the focus of
responsibility, the arbiter of wisdom. Full allowance must be made
for others, while remaining unmoved oneself. There must be a thorough
compliance with divine principles, without any manifestation thereof.
Non mihi res, sed me rebus, subjungere conar.
All of which may be summed up in the one word _passivity_. For the
perfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing: it refuses
nothing. It receives, but does not keep. And thus he can triumph over
matter, without injury to himself.
Without the wear and tear suffered by those who allow their activities
free play.
* * * * *
The ruler of the southern sea was called Shu. The ruler of the northern
sea was called Hu. The ruler of the central zone was called Hun Tun.
This term is generally used to denote the condition of matter before
separation and subdivision into the phenomena of the visible universe.
Shu and Hu often met on Hun Tun's territory, and being always well
treated by him, determined to repay his kindness.
They said, "All men have seven holes,--for seeing, hearing, eating, and
breathing. Hun Tun alone has none. We will bore some for him."
So every day they bored one hole; but on the seventh day Hun Tun died.
Illustrating the perils of action. "The empire," says Lao Tzŭ, "is a
divine trust, and may not be ruled. He who rules, ruins. He who holds
by force, loses."
"Men's actions," says Emerson, "are too strong for them."
With this chapter Chuang Tzŭ completes the outline of his system. The
remaining chapters are either supplementary to the preceding seven, or
independent essays upon cognate subjects.