CONTINGENCIES.
_Argument_:--The external uncertain--The internal alone without
harm--Life and death are external--The soul only is under man's
control--Folly of worldliness--Illustrations.
Contingencies are uncertain. Hence the decapitation of Lung Fêng, the
disembowelment of Pi Kan, the enthusiasm of Chi Tzŭ, the death of Wu
Lai, the flights of Chieh and Chou.
See pp. 40, 72. Wu Lai was an intriguing official who held office
under the tyrant Chou Hsin.
No sovereign but would have loyal ministers; yet loyalty does not
necessarily inspire confidence. Hence Wu Yüan found a grave in the
river;
See p. 221.
and Ch'ang Hung perished in Shu, his blood, after being preserved three
years, turning into green jade.
No parent but would have filial sons; yet filial piety does not
necessarily inspire love. Hence Hsiao Chi sorrowed, and Tsêng Shên
grieved.
The first, prince of the House of Yin, was turned out of doors by his
stepmother. The second, one of the disciples of Confucius and a rare
pattern of filial piety, grieved because his mother was too old to
hit him hard enough. See p. 100.
Wood rubbed with wood produces fire. Metal exposed to fire
will liquefy. If the Positive and Negative principles operate
inharmoniously, heaven and earth are greatly disturbed. Thunder
crashes, and with rain comes lightning, scorching up the tall
locust-trees. One fears lest sky and land should collapse and leave
no escape. Unable to lie _perdu_, the heart feels as though suspended
between heaven and earth.
So in the struggle between peace and unrest, the friction between good
and evil, much fire is evolved which consumes the inner harmony of man.
But the mind is unable to resist fire. It is destroyed, and with it TAO
comes to an end.
* * * * *
Chuang Tzŭ's family being poor, he went to borrow some corn from the
prince of Chien-ho.
"Yes," said the prince. "I am just about collecting the revenue of my
fief, and will then lend you three hundred ounces of silver. Will that
do?"
At this Chuang Tzŭ flushed with anger and said, "Yesterday, as I was
coming along, I heard a voice calling me. I looked round, and in the
cart-rut I saw a stickleback.
"'And what do you want, stickleback?' said I.
"'I am a denizen of the eastern ocean,' replied the stickleback. 'Pray,
Sir, a pint of water to save my life.'
"'Yes,' said I. 'I am just going south to visit the princes of Wu and
Yüeh. I will bring you some from the west river. Will that do?'
"At this the stickleback flushed with anger and said, 'I am out of my
element. I have nowhere to go. A pint of water would save me. But to
talk to me like this,--you might as well put me in a dried-fish shop at
once.'"
The above episode is condemned by Lin Hsi Chung on the score of style.
* * * * *
Jên Kung Tzŭ
A young noble of the Jen State. _Comm._
got a huge hook on a big line, which he baited with fifty oxen. He
squatted down at Kuei-chi, and cast into the eastern ocean. Every day
he fished, but for a whole year he caught nothing. Then came a great
fish which swallowed the bait, and dragging the huge hook dived down
below. This way and that way it plunged about, erecting the dorsal fin.
The white waves rolled mountain high. The great deep was shaken up. The
noise was like that of so many devils, terrifying people for many miles
around.
But when Jên Kung Tzŭ had secured his fish, he cut it up and salted it.
And from Chih-ho eastwards, and from Ts'ang-wu northwards, there was
none but ate his fill of that fish. Even among succeeding generations,
_gobemouches_ of the day recounted the marvellous tale.
To take a rod and line, and go to a pool, and catch small fry is a very
different thing from catching big fish. And by means of a little show
of ability to secure some small billet is a very different thing from
really pushing one's way to the front. So that those who do not imitate
the example of Jên Kung Tzŭ will be very far from becoming leaders in
their generation.
Also spurious.
* * * * *
When some Confucianists were opening a grave in accordance with their
Canons of _Poetry_ and _Rites_, the master shouted out, "Day is
breaking. How are you getting on with the work?"
"Not got off the burial-clothes yet," answered an apprentice. "There is
a pearl in the mouth."
Now the Canon of _Poetry_ says--
The greenest corn
Grows over graves.
In life, no charity;
In death, no pearl.
So seizing the corpse's brow with one hand, and forcing down its chin
with the other, these Confucianists proceed to tap its cheeks with a
metal hammer, in order to make the jaws open gently and not injure the
pearl!
The above, pronounced by Lin Hsi Chung to be spurious, is aimed at
the Confucianists, who are ready to commit any outrage on natural
feeling so long as there is no violation of the details of their own
artificial system.
A disciple of Lao Lai Tzŭ
A sage of the Ch'u State.
while out gathering fuel, chanced to meet Confucius. On his return, he
said, "There is a man over there with a long body and short legs, round
shoulders and drooping ears. He looks as though he were sorrowing over
mankind. I know not who he can be."
"It is Confucius!" cried Lao Lai Tzŭ. "Bid him come hither."
When Confucius arrived, Lao Lai Tzŭ addressed him as follows:--
"Ch'iu! Get rid of your dogmatism and your specious knowledge, and you
will be really a superior man."
Confucius bowed and was about to retire, when suddenly his countenance
changed and he enquired, "Shall I then be able to enter upon TAO?"
"The wounds of one generation being too much," answered Lao Lai Tzŭ,
"you would take to yourself the sorrows of all time. Are you not weary?
Is your strength equal to the task?
"To employ goodness as a passport to influence through the
gratification of others, is an everlasting shame. Yet this is the
common way of all, to lure people by fame, to bind them by ties of
gratification.
"Better than extolling Yao and cursing Chieh is oblivion of both,
keeping one's praises to oneself. These things react injuriously on
self; the agitation of movement results in deflection.
"The true Sage is a passive agent. If he succeeds, he simply feels that
he was provided by no effort of his own with the energy necessary to
success."
* * * * *
Prince Yüan of Sung dreamed one night that a man with dishevelled hair
peeped through a side door and said, "I have come from the waters of
Tsai-lu. I am a marine messenger attached to the staff of the River
God. A fisherman, named Yü Ch'ieh, has caught me."
When the prince awaked, he referred his dream to the soothsayers, who
said, "This is a divine tortoise."
"Is there any fisherman," asked the prince, "whose name is Yü Ch'ieh?"
Being told there was, the prince gave orders for his appearance at
court; and the next day Yü Ch'ieh had an audience.
"Fisherman," said the prince, "what have you caught?"
"I have netted a white tortoise," replied the fisherman, "five feet in
semi-circumference."
"Bring your tortoise," said the prince. But when it came, the prince
could not make up his mind whether to kill it or keep it alive. Thus
in doubt, he had recourse to divination, and received the following
response:--
_Slay the tortoise for purposes of divination and good fortune will
result._
So the tortoise was despatched. After which, out of seventy-two omens
taken, not a single one proved false.
"A divine tortoise," said Confucius, "can appear to prince Yüan in a
dream, yet it cannot escape the net of Yü Ch'ieh. Its wisdom can yield
seventy-two faultless omens, yet it cannot escape the misery of being
cut to pieces. Truly wisdom has its limits; spirituality, that which it
cannot reach.
"In spite of the highest wisdom, there are countless snares to be
avoided; If a fish has not to fear nets, there are always pelicans.
Get rid of small wisdom, and great wisdom will shine upon you. Put
away goodness and you will be naturally good. A child does not learn
to speak because taught by professors of the art, but because it lives
among people who can themselves speak."
* * * * *
Hui Tzŭ said to Chuang Tzŭ, "Your theme, Sir, is the useless."
"You must understand the useless," replied Chuang Tzŭ, "before you can
discuss the useful.
"For instance, the earth is of huge proportions, yet man uses of it
only as much as is covered by the sole of his foot. By and by, he
turns up his toes and goes beneath it to the Yellow Spring. Has he any
further use for it?"
"He has none," replied Hui Tzŭ.
"And in like manner," replied Chuang Tzŭ, "may be demonstrated the use
of the useless.
"Could a man transcend the limits of the human," said Chuang Tzŭ,
"would he not do so? Unable to do so, how should he succeed?
"The determination to retire, to renounce the world,--such alas! is
not the fruit of perfect wisdom or immaculate virtue. From cataclysms
ahead, these do not turn back; nor do they heed the approach of
devouring flame. Although there are class distinctions of high and low,
these are but for a time, and under the changed conditions of a new
sphere are unknown.
In the transcendental state.
"Wherefore it has been said, 'The perfect man leaves no trace behind.'
"For instance, to glorify the past and to condemn the present has
always been the way of the scholar.
Laudator temporis acti.
Yet if Hsi Wei Shih and individuals of that class
_Sc._ patriarchs.
were caused to re-appear in the present day, which of them but would
accommodate himself to the age?
"Only the perfect man can transcend the limits of the human and yet not
withdraw from the world, live in accord with mankind and yet suffer no
injury himself. Of the world's teachings he learns nothing. He has that
within which makes him independent of others.
"If the eye is unobstructed, the result is sight. If the ear is
unobstructed the result is hearing. If the nose is unobstructed, the
result is sense of smell. If the mouth is unobstructed, the result is
sense of taste. If the mind is unobstructed, the result is wisdom. If
wisdom is unobstructed, the result is TÊ.
"TAO may not be obstructed. To obstruct is to strangle. This affects
the base, and all evils spring into life.
"All sentient beings depend upon breath. If this does not reach them in
sufficient quantity, it is not the fault of God. God supplies it day
and night without cease, but man stops the passage.
"Man has for himself a spacious domain. His mind may roam to heaven.
If there is no room in the house, the wife and her mother-in-law run
against one another. If the mind cannot roam to heaven, the faculties
will be in a state of antagonism. Those who would benefit mankind from
deep forests or lofty mountains are simply unequal to the strain upon
their higher natures.
It is for that reason they become hermits.
"Ill-regulated virtue ends in reputation. Ill-regulated reputation
ends in notoriety. Scheming leads to confusion. Knowledge begets
contentions. Obstinacy produces stupidity. Organised government is for
the general good of all.
"Spring rains come in due season, and plants and shrubs burst up from
the earth. Weeding and tending do not begin until such plants and
shrubs have reached more than half their growth, and without being
conscious of the fact.
"Repose gives health to the sick. Rubbing the eyelids removes the
wrinkles of old age. Quiet will dispel anxieties. These remedies
however are the resource only of those who need them. Others who are
free from such ills pay no attention thereto.
"That which the true Sage marvels at in the empire, claims not the
attention of the Divine man. That which the truly virtuous man marvels
at in his own sphere, claims not the attention of the true Sage.
That which the superior man marvels at in his State, claims not the
attention of the truly virtuous man. How the mean man adapts himself to
his age, claims not the attention of the superior man.
"The keeper of the Yen gate,
Of the capital of the Sung State.
having maltreated himself severely in consequence of the death of his
parents, received a high official post.
In reward for his filial piety.
His relatives thereupon maltreated themselves, and some half of them
died.
In the vain endeavour to secure like rewards.
"Yao offered the empire to Hsü Yu, but Hsü Yu fled. T'ang offered it to
Wu Kuang, but Wu Kuang declined with anger.
See pp. 6, 72.
"When Chi T'o heard of Hsü Yu's flight, he took all his disciples with
him and jumped into the river K'uan;
As a tribute to his eminent virtue.
upon which the various feudal princes mourned for three years,
They did not resign their fiefs at his example.
and Shên T'u Ti had the river filled up.
Fearing similar ill-advised acts. For names, see pp. 6, 72.
"The _raison d'être_ of a fish-trap is the fish. When the fish is
caught, the trap may be ignored. The _raison d'être_ of a rabbit-snare
is the rabbit. When the rabbit is caught the snare may be ignored. The
_raison d'être_ of language is an idea to be expressed. When the idea
is expressed, the language may be ignored. But where shall I find a man
to ignore language, with whom I may be able to converse?"