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"To tell you the truth, Cephalus, I replied, I delight in conversing with very old persons. For as they have gone before us on the road over which perhaps we also shall have to travel, I think we ought to try to learn from them what the nature of that road is,—whether it be rough and difficult, or smooth and easy."
The Republic Of Plato.
VIII
DISSERTATION ON
ENDEAVOUR AND DUTY.
{notes|elucidations and analyses}
An interpretation of Wu Wei.
Hsiu (###) means endeavour. Wu (###) to rush eagerly towards a goal. The sages always rush to do things according to the times. They do not think in their so doing of winning a high position and glory, nor do they study their own personal affairs. They are weighed with the conviction that they must use the doctrine of humanity and justice to rescue the world. This is the meaning of the title.
Some may maintain that the person who acts in the spirit of Wu Wei is one who is in serenity, without speaking, and in meditation, without acting: he will not come when called nor be driven by force. And this demeanour is, it is assumed, the phenomenal appearance of one getting the Cosmic Spirit. Such an interpretation of Wu Wei I cannot admit. I never heard such an explanation from any sage.
Now if it be granted that Shen Nung, Yao, Shun, Yü and T‛ang1 were sages, authors and writers cannot
Wu Wei is not inaction. |
People of old fed on grass, drank spring water, plucked the fruits of the trees for their food and fed on the flesh
Men of Wu Wei were men of action. |
Yao founded the doctrines of filial piety, mercy, benevolence and love, which established the people in brothrerhood. Thus he instructed the Wo people, to the west; he went to the black-teeth people,2a on the east; he looked after the people of the gloomy regions in the north and taught the cloven-footed people of the south. Yao banished his minister, Huan Tou, to the Ch‛un mountain; he drove out the (prince of the) Three Aborigines to the outer San Wei; he exiled the Superintendent of works to Yu Chou; he transported Chi Kun to the mountain Yu.2 Shun taught the art of building houses, by erecting walls and thatching roofs; of breaking-up fallow land and planting cereals and trees, thus helping the people to do away with the rough life of caves, by each having a house of his own. He died at Tsang Wu (Hunan), as he was making a tour of inspection in the south and instructing the Three Aborigines.
Yü3 toiled through rough and stormy weather: the wind combed his hair and the rain drenched his person. He brought the mighty Chiang within banks and led the yellow river into channels. He bore a way through the mountains, hewing the Dragon Gate and drilling away through I Ch‛ueh for the waters to issue forth. He built the dykes and made the Po Yang lake, in the marshy regions. By building roads along the mountains' base, hewing down the thick timber in the way, he opened up lines of communication. In this way he settled 1800 kingdoms. (Book of Histories Pt iii. Bk I. Sec. I.)
T‛ang early and late meditated on the multitude of p. 222 state affairs of his country and became wise in them. Being frugal and economical in his personal habits, he exacted but light taxes and thus enriched the rustic people. His virtue and kindness flowed everywhere, so that the oppressed and poor were relieved. He comforted those who mourned for the dead; he enquired after the sick and fed the orphan and widow. The people clung to him with affection, his commands were readily obeyed in the country. He drilled his troops at Ming Tiao; he invested Hsia at Nan Ch‛ao, and, having reprimanded him for his sins, exiled him to Li Shan.
These Five Sages were the brilliant masters of the empire. They did not spare themselves: they toiled, with
They toiled. |
A person will raise a glass of wine without changing colour; but he who lifts the amphora, a picul in weight, will have the sweat running down his cheeks. How much more so he who carries the anxieties of empire and the affairs of the country. Such anxieties are far heavier than an amphora of a hundred weight. Moreover, the Sage doesn't mind the indignity of labour or the absence of honour: what he is troubled about is lest there be a failure of the Tao in practice: he is not grieved over an early death, but he is concerned about the difficulties and poverty of
They yearned over the people. |
Further the creation of emperors and kings in ancient p. 223 times did not arise from any wish to gratify personal desire.
Kings are for protection. |
The wisdom of any one man is not great enough to illumine all the empire, so the offices of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers were created, wings on the king's right and left hand to assist the throne. With this help it was possible to overshadow distant kingdoms with kingly virtue and generosity, to influence the various customs and to open up the distant and rustic regions, and the system of Feudal
With ministers to help. |
Let us consider those sages who (started life as common people) were the people of the cotton clothes, and the foot travellers. There was Yi-yun4 who had his first acquaintance with T‛ang, the emperor, when he was cook
Sages are toilers. |
I have read in an old book that Shen Nung was tanned and, that Yao was thin, that Shun was swarthy and that Yü was horny of hands and feet. Whence we may learn of the intense solicitude and toil of the Sages for the people. (Hence it has never been seen that government could be carried on successfully or affairs be transacted satisfactorily if king and people did not exert their physical and mental energies). The configuration of the earth causes water to
Kings toil according to natural law. |
Yu Wei effort. |
The Sages, in all their diverse methods of actions, follow the nature of things. Though there were diversities of methods, yet all reverted to the one objective the preservation of the tottering, the righting of the crooked, which are governed by the one purpose, which is never forgotten, for a moment—the desire to benefit the people. This may be
Examples. |
Tuan Kan Mu refused the emoluments of office and dwelt at home. Wei Wen Hou happened to pass his village and wished to pay his respects. Tuan's servant asked why he came, and Wen Hou replied. "To pay my respects to a worthy man at his home." The servant said. "Tuan Kan Mu is a private individual, and for the Duke to come thus is surely overstepping etiquette." To which reprimand Wei Wen Hou replied: "Tuan Kan Mu is a man who doesn't seek gain or the exercise of power—a true gentleman. His name has travelled widely, though he lives in retirement and in a mean abode. I dare not pass without offering my cordial respects. Tuan Kan Mu is renowned for his virtue,
Influence of personality. |
Later on, when Ts‛in was about to attack Wei, Ssŭ Ma Yü remonstrated, on the grounds that Tuan Kan Mu, the sage, lived there, and that his Prince had gone even to his home to pay his respects. This fact was universally known, amongst the Feudal Lords. To move an army against the country of such a person would be to violate right. Whereupon the troops were disbanded and the attack was never made. Thus Mei Tzû saved both Ts‛u and Sung p. 227 by his forced and swift journey; and Tuan Kan Mu, in the quietude of his home, settled the trouble between Ts‛in and Wei. The one did it by a journey, the other without stirring out. The method of action was radically different, the end attained the same. Both saved their countries from war.
Take, again, the stamping out of a conflagration. Water is hauled from wells and carried to the scene of fire.
Unity in Variety. |
Again the wails of the nine I and eight Ti tribes are very different in sound, but all show the signs of grief. Thus songs are the evidence of joy, wailings the result of grief. What stirs the heart is seen in the outward expression. Hence, each sends forth what moves the feelings. The Sages, neither night nor day, forgot their desire to help the people and, wherever their kindnesses came, it was effective and great.
There are many strange theories to account for the degraded morals of the age. Some account for it by saying that men's natures have their differences, some being good and some bad, just as there is a difference in the leaping
Education will not change the nature. |
When a horse is yet a colt in pasture, he gambols, kicking his heels and erecting his tail, he is not subject to
But will enlighten endowment. |
It may be granted that the superior man whose person is correct and nature good, whose every movement breathes
It is for the normal not the abnormal |
People of beautiful physique need not add powder and lavender to make others like them. Such were Hsi Shih and Yang Wen (two famous beauties). Ugly and deformed persons with narrow chests and protruding stomachs, thick lips and crooked mouths, on the other hand, though they daub themselves with powder and paint and pencil their eyebrows, can never hope to get people to admire their good looks: such were Mo Mu and P‛i Sui.
But the bulk of men do not belong to either extremes, the one needing no instruction, the other incapable of it. p. 229
Improvement is possible. |
The normal is the rule. |
A good horse needs no stirrup and whip to urge it on; but double thongs will not make a bad horse move any faster. Nevertheless, it would be absurd to argue that, therefore, a whip and spurs should never be used! The majority of horses are of the mediocre class.
A timid person carrying a sharp sword would be afraid to hew down a person or stab him with it. But a person of courage would roll up his sleeves and sway it and run it into the bone and marrow. But it wouldn't be at all logical to give up the use of all famous swords, the Kan Chiang and Mo Yeh,14 and fight only with fists for these reasons!
What we mean to say applies to things generally, common to all and current in society: we don't refer to the rare and exceptional, to anything at either extreme.14a The extremes of anything cannot be taken as a general standard in an argument.
Some oranges and pumeloes grow in winter; but people say that, in winter, things die, because most things die in winter. Some wheat and greens die in summer; yet people say that summer begets things, because most things do grow in summer. Rivers and streams do, now and then, meander p. 230 and at times wend north and south; yet people say all water flows eastward. The Nieh T‛i, the star near the Great Bear, the Chen Star, sun and moon revolve eastwards; yet people speak of the constellations moving westwards. It is a general way of speaking. It is a manner of speech.
There are Mongols of a penetrating knowledge; yet people generally consider the race sluggish. The southern
Unusual talents. |
Let us again take the common saying that Yao had eyebrows of eight hues and nine penetrative senses; that his acts were all just and free from self-interest. Every word of his was enough to unify the people. Shun is said to have had double pupils which gave him an overwhelming power of penetration in understanding men; an act of his became law, a word an example to the world. Yü had three orifices to the ear which gave him great comprehension of world affairs, enabling him to advance the interests of the people and to eliminate what was detrimental to them, such as the dredging of rivers and the clearing of obstructions from streams. Wen Wang is said to have had four teats and so was prolific in his methods of social economy, resulting in the adhesion of the empire and the affection of the people. Kao Yao16 had equine, long lips and so was called "the perfectly faithful" and spoke no nonsense: hence he judged criminals with perspicacity and his knowledge of men was penetrative. Yü was born as a result of the influence of the stone on his mother: Hsieh as the result of his mother's pregnancy through eating a swallow's egg. Shih Huang17 could write as soon as he was born. All these nine noted men embrace a period of a thousand years; but they are thought of as each one, following on the heels of the other (Sages are rare). At the present time there are no five Sages inspired by Heaven: it is most difficult to obtain the services of such four great men of talent. But p. 231 to adandon learning on this account and simply follow instinct, would be similar to abandoning the ferry boat and walking through the river.
When the two famous swords, Ch‛un Kou and Yu Chang,18 were first put in the furnace, they could neither
Function of education. |
A bright mirror is opaque in its rough state and no object is visible in it; but when ground and burnished with quicksilver, it will show the smallest hair and the finest line.
Now education is as the quicksilver, grindstone and file. To say that there is no advantage in education is to
Education is fruitful. |
How may these propositions be substantiated? Let us do so by some examples, such as the Sung art, the Wu methods of smelting and decorative work in carving. Their work in lines and decorations was profoundly wonderful and their workmanship exquisitely fine. No sage like Yao or Shun could touch it. The embroidery work of the maidens of Honan and the young girls of Wei was marvellous in the combination of colours. Their embroideries and patterns on cloth were a wonderful combination of black, and white and other colours worked into a harmonious whole. It was such that the knowledge of Yü and T‛ang could never match.
What heaven covers, what earth sustains is all embraced within the six points and supported within the universe.
It gives knowledge. |
Instinct alone not reliable. |
Geese fly with the wind to preserve their strength: they sail along with straws in their beaks to ward off any attacks from the shooting arrow. The ant knows to build its mound: the badger and otter build their zigzag paths underground: the tigers have their lairs of grass and the boar its home in the leaves. The moles have their winding subterranean passages as a home for protection against the rain, in cloudy weather, and the sun in its heat.
Thus we find that beast and bird know, by their instincts, how to seek for those safeguards that suit them and which will be a means of defence to them.
Now think of a person born in a secluded and rustic place, growing up in a poor hamlet and a mean abode. Growing up, he has no brothers, and he loses his parents young. Such an one has had no experience of rites and ceremonies. He has had no opportunity to hear the teachings of ancient sages. Living in solitude in his small home and never going out to the world, he, though not stupid by nature, yet could never have much knowledge.
In ancient times Tsang Hsieh invented the written character. Yung Ch‛eng,19 made charts of the heavenly
Progress depends on education. |
The successors of the house of Chou possessed no individual having the talent of these six men; yet all practise what these invented. The present generation has none with the talents of any one of these; but they comprehend the methods of these savants. And how? Because they know, by imitation, what these transmitted, and continue to practise what was given, and so they have the knowledge and can do what was invented.
These examples make clear that education cannot be abandoned.
Again think of a blind person who cannot distinguish night from day, nor differentiate between white and black; yet he can run his fingers over the strings of the harp and strike the correct note, without a single mistake. Now,
The trained mind is best. |
The bow must be stretched on a frame to give it shape. The sword must be ground to give it edge. The jade of incomparable hardness must be carved with figures of beasts, by the application of the stone file. Wood, straight as a line, may be bent into the shape of a wheel so that it becomes exactly circular by the force of the bevelling tool. The hardest quality of the T‛ang jade stone may be made p. 234 into serviceable utensils by scalloping and cutting. How much more so may the mind of man be improved by training.
The human spirit is plastic and impressionable, subtile and tenuous. It responds to change instantly, ever following influence. The clouds soar up, the wind hurries on; each distributing itself where it is. The superior man, by
Effort gives illumination. |
In this way does the Sage exercise his mental powers. He refuses to sit idly at home in silent meditations, thrumming the drum or zither or reading the lore of the ancients. But not so the Worthies (second rate men). They discuss literature all day for their pleasure. They are empiricists in history, enquiring and differentiating the clear and obscure, the good and bad. They seek the reasons for the rise and fall of things in order to find the sources of disaster and happiness. They organize ceremonies and create precedents which may serve as laws. They examine the beginning and end of principles and fathom the essence, even the cause and effect of events. They uphold the true and eliminate the false for the enlightenment of posterity. Dead they bequeathe their art: living they have an honourable name. All this is within the capacity of men. Why is it, then, that men fail in attaining to this? It comes from the superficiality and laziness of men in the pursuit of knowledge.
We see that many people in poor districts strive after perfection; but the people of rich places, like Soochow, have
Effort necessary. |
It has never been known that anything has been accomplished by any person, from the highest to the lowest, who has not striven for success. As the Odes say:—"The day revolves; the night wanes and there is a storing of learning that will reach luminosity." This illustrates my theme. "Renown can be won by effort. Merit can be gained by struggle."
Hence the superior man concentrates his thought on correct principles and selects capable guides. He animates his life by purity of purpose and lofty aims, and breaks off connection with ordinary conventionalism.
How may we know this is true? In olden time Nan Yung Chou24 who, being ashamed of failure in carrying out the teaching of the Sages, braved the inclemencies of weather, travelled over wilds and mountains, pushed his
Renown won. |
Wu had a war with Ts‛u. Ta Hsin,25 the captain of the hosts, on going into battle, touched the arm of his aide-de-camp saying, "Today we are facing the force of the enemies' naked swords and hurtling darts. What if we die,
Merit won. |
Shen Pao Hsü,26 on the other hand, felt that were he to use his bodily strength in facing a terrible enemy, and by shedding his blood fall a corpse, it would be no more than what an ordinary infantryman could do. So he adopted a most effective way. Regardless of personal inconveniences and the shame of it, he became a suppliant to the Feudal Lords, begging their help. To meet the national crisis he wrapped a little food in a napkin, marched on foot, crossing mountains and rivers and valleys. Ascending great mountains, he plunged into the jungle and crossed deep gorges; he traversed over marshes in his journey to Ts‛in. He forced his way past the guards that held the passes. He pushed through thickets and walked over arid plains and stony paths. He was covered with briers and thorns. Though his knees were swollen and his feet raw to the bone, he did not loiter on his journey of seven days and nights, until he came to the palace of Ts‛in. He wept day and night with his face to the wall crying for help and relief. He was so agitated that his face became ashen grey, and his colour changed to black. His tears and humours trickled down, one on the other: eager was he for an interview with the prince of Ts‛in to plead for relief. On an interview being granted, he said that Wu was as a great boar or mighty snake slowly worming its way to the predominant place in the world; the oppression of Ts‛u was but the first movement towards this end. 'I, the king,' he said, 'am already driven from home and compelled to live in a mean abode. My people are scattered; men and women are at their wits end, fleeing hither and thither. This is the urgency of my appeal." The king of Ts‛in, hereupon, sent a large army of 70,000 men and 1,000 chariots to the rescue of Ts‛u under the command of Tzû Hu. He crossed over the Eastern pass, and engaging the p. 237 forces of Wu, routed them at the Chu waters on the Yangtse. In this way the kingdom of Ts‛u was saved. This martial prowess has been inscribed in the ancestral temple and illuminated in the records. Such is an example of the saying, 'Merit is gained by exertion.'
Now the lives of mortals have much in common. Their bodies, minds, knowledge, anxieties, troubles and toils, their sensibilities to pain, heat and cold are similar; and the Sage, realizing the difficulties of men, exerts himself to gain success. He toils and worries and acts most carefully: he never avoids any trouble: he always confronts every crisis.
I have heard that Wen Tzŭ Fa27 (General of Ts‛u) went to the war forthright, straight as an arrow. His strategy was superb. His convergence of troops was like the roar of thunder: his deployment of them like the wind and rain. He wheeled troops into circles methodically: he formed them into squares exactly. He broke the power
Success depends on effort. |
The farmer who is not energetic will never have overflowing granaries. The charioteer who does not train his mind, will never be an expert in his art. Generals and statesmen who are not forceful, will never bring any labour to consummation. Kings and dukes who are indolent, will have no renown in posterity. The Ode says:—
MY HORSES ARE PIEBALD; THE SIX REINS ARE SILKEN: I GALLOP THEM AND URGE THEM ON, EVERYWHERE SEEKING INFORMATION AND COUNSEL.28 |
These words speak of those who concentrate the mind on their business.
Persons conversant with work are not to be frightened by anything uncommon. Persons who are well-informed
Education gives truth. |
In ancient times Hui, King of Ts‛in, gave an interview to Sie Tzŭ and gladly listened to his suggestions. But when he questioned T‛ang Ku Liang, he heard from him that Sie Tzŭ was nothing but a charlatan, always suiting p. 239 his clever talk to the listener, being only desirous of gaining the goodwill of his prince. Hui Wang, therefore, changed his mind and, when Sie Tzŭ came again, he was not welcomed. Again music never varies; it is always the same. A mistake of a note lies in the faulty ear not in the string. To think sweet is bitter does not lie in any changed quality of an article but in the taste of the palate. A man of Ts‛u boiled a monkey and invited his neighbours to partake of it. When told it was broth made of dog's flesh, they enjoyed it. But hearing later it was monkey's broth, they vomited it all up. The symptom was governed by mental conditions.
The musician, Han Tan,38 composed a new tune, giving out it was the creation of Li Ch‛i.39 Everybody strove to learn it. But on hearing later that it was not his creation, they gave it up. They really didn't judge from its merit as music. They hadn't the taste for that. They were enamoured of a name. A rustic found a rough jade and prized it as a thing of beauty. When he showed it to others, they said it was a common stone, which made him throw it away. He hadn't the connoisseur's discernment and knowledge of the preciousness of jade. Thus when there is a true knowledge there is real appreciation. This is a universal proposition. Whenever there is no real appreciation, then people esteem things simply because of their antiquity or tradition.
This was the case with Mr. Ho who got a piece of hardest jade from a thicket of bramble, at the cost of much blood. Two successive kings, thinking he was trying to palm this on them as real jade, cut off the one and the other of his feet. They did not know its real value.
Now let us mention an old sword, rusty, indented, knarled and blunt but with the reputation of being the sword of Ch‛ing Hsiang and much prized: for the possession of it there is quite a competition: or a lute, which may be out of tune, its strings flabby, its tuning keys cracked; but let it be looked on as a lute of Ts‛u Chuang, even the Palace ladies and Temple musicians all want to play on it. A p. 240 ram's-head sword, made from the rich ore of the Miao mines, which can cut the sides of a ship or pierce the rhinoceros-hide armour, has no competitors for its possession. A lute whose body is made of the hardest wood, gathered from near the waters of Chien, does not find eager players though its tones be mellow, resonant, and harmonious.
However, an expert does not look on things in that light. A swordsman desires edge on his sword rather than a mere renown of name such as a Mei Yang, or a Mo Hsien sword. An organist seeks tone, volume, harmony in his instrument rather than merely a celebrated name such as Lan Hsieh, Hao Chung. What a rider wants is a horse that can do a 1,000 li a day, not mere famous names. A poet or scholar wants reason and solid matter in his books and not merely names such as Hung Fan and Shang Sung.40 The Sage discriminates between the true and false in literature, just as his eye distinguishes light and dark, or as the ear discriminates bass from tenor. But not so the multitude. It is not governed by any real standard in what it accepts. For example: A son born after his father's death, when the time comes for him to pay his vows at the grave, he will do so with ceremonious tears: but his heart will not really be stirred. It is just the same in the case of twins that are so much alike that only the mother can know the one from the other. In the case of pieces of jade of equal hardness and quality, it is only a good artificer that can discriminate them. It is only a sage can appreciate the fine and delicate points in a book. Now if a new and great writer appears and composes a book, should it be attributed to Confucius or Mencius, litterateurs thumb each sentence and finger each word. Many will accept and read it. Beauties need not all be of the kind of Hsi Shih. Savants need not be of the type of Confucius or Mencius to express clearly the knowledge they have of matters. Hence, in composing a book, a writer aims at a clear expression of ideas to gain appreciative readers. When a reader of intelligence is found whose mind reflects as in a mirror the truth expounded, he doesn't mind whether p. 241 the book he reads is of ancient or modern date. A writer could die without regret feeling that he had written his work with clearness for the information of his readers.
Of old Duke Ping of Ts‛in, Shansi, ordered his foundry-man to cast a bell. When this was done, he asked the minister of music, Shih Kuang, for his opinion on its tone. Shih Kuang replied that it was imperfect. Duke Ping, in turn, said that the opinions of the expert artificers were all favourable. How then did he consider it imperfect? Shih Kuang replied that it might do if posterity were without a person who understood music: but a true musician would at once discern its imperfection. Thus the wish of Shih Kuang was for a perfect-toned bell to satisfy the ear of a musician of all times.
Now the men of the Three Dynasties, were such as I am: the Five Worthies were of similar knowledge to mine.
Endeavour necessary. |
On correct lines. |
Today people with only ordinary talents and intelligence p. 242 and of no distinction, without any definite calling and who cultivate no art, will not escape the finger of scorn and the contempt of the world, if they neglect education.
Take the case of acrobats. They bend their bodies into a ring and turn and twist themselves into all sorts of strange and fantastic shapes, like genii. Their bodies are as flexible as are the autumn hairs to the winds. They can twist and twirl their bodies with lightning speed.
Gymnasts, again, can lift heavy weights and bend tough sticks: they can mount trees like monkeys, play in the branches and do their dressing as they stand on a twig of a tree: they hurry and skip, jump and gambol like a dragon, in a way that stops the heart of the looker-on and makes the knees of the beholder tremble and shake. But they themselves are indifferent and smile nonchalantly. These, however, were not born thus with such nimble limbs. Gymnasts have no specially supple joints. They attained this art by immersing themselves in it, and by exercise they perfected themselves, step by step.
Hence, a growing tree is not seen to add to its stature. The wearing away of a hard substance is not visible in the
Education gives culture. |
We may sum up and say, anything that costs only small labour is of little worth. That which is difficult of attainment, only, is of value. A gentleman who cultivates the beautiful, may reap no immediate gain: happiness is in the coming. Such will be gathered only in posterity. Hence the Ode says:—
"THE DAYS COME AND GO: LEARNING TAKES TIME TO GAIN BRILLIANCY." |
Pt: IV. Bk 1. IV |
This, then, is the lesson.