by An Liu
[5] [What is called] “There is Nothing”:
Look at it; you do not see its form;
listen to it; you do not hear its sound.
Reach for it, and you cannot grasp it;
gaze at it, and you cannot fathom it.
Collected and fused,
floodlike and expansive,
It is something whose brilliance cannot be penetrated by any instrument.
[6] [What is called] There was not yet beginning to have “There was Nothing”:
Encloses Heaven and Earth,
smelts the myriad things,
greatly penetrates the chaotic and obscure
Deeply impenetrable, vast and great, it can have no exterior;
as fine as the tip of a hair, as sharp as a point, it can have no interior.
A space without containment, it generated the root of Something and Nothing.
[7] [What is called] “There was not yet beginning to have ‘There was not yet beginning to have ‘There was nothing.’”
Heaven and Earth had not yet split apart;
yin and yang had not yet been carved out;
the four seasons had not yet differentiated;
the myriad things had not yet been generated.
Enormously peaceful and tranquil,
silently clear and limpid,
none saw its form.
It was like Resplendent Light asking Not Something, who was withdrawn and had lost himself: “I can [conceive of] having Nothing, but I cannot [conceive of] not having Nothing. If I could reach [the state of] Not Nothing, how could even the most marvelous surpass this?”2 [2/10/21–27]
2.2
The Great Clod
loads me with a body,
burdens me with a life,
eases me with old age,
rests me with death.
That I found it good to live is the very reason why I find it good to die.
[You can] hide a boat in a ravine,
hide a fishing net in a marsh:3
people call this “secure.”
However, in the middle of the night, a strong man can put [the boat] on his back and run off with it, and the sleeper does not know about it. It is appropriate to hide small things within the large. But if you do so, your thing just might vanish from you. But if you hide the world in the world, then there is nothing that can conceal its form. [2/10/29–2/11/2]
How can it be said that things are not grandly indiscriminate? You once happen on the shape of a human being and are especially pleased. But humanity has a thousand alterations and ten thousand transformations, never reaching its limit, wearing out and then renewing; should not your joy be incalculable?4 Compare it to a dream:
In a dream we become a bird and fly into the sky.
In a dream we become a fish and disappear into the deep.
When we are dreaming, we do not know it is a dream; only after we awaken do we realize it is a dream. Only when we have a great awakening do we realize that this present moment is the ultimate dream.5 In the beginning before I was born, how could I have known the joy of being alive? Now in this moment when I have not yet died, how can I know that death is not also joyful?
In ancient times, Gongniu Ai suffered from a cyclical illness:6 every seven days he would transform into a tiger. His older brother opened his door and entered to spy on him, and when he did, the tiger snatched and killed him. Thus,
his [outer] patterns and markings became those of a beast;
his fingernails and teeth shifted and changed;
his consciousness and mind altered;
his spirit and form transformed.
When he was a tiger, he did not know that he had ever been a human being. When he was a human being, he knew nothing about being a tiger. These two alternated in opposition, yet each found joy in the form it took. Cleverness and the confusion displace [each other] endlessly, and who knows from what they spring?7 [2/11/4–10]
When water approaches winter, it congeals and becomes ice.
When ice welcomes spring, it melts and becomes water.
Ice and water shift and change in the former and latter positions as if they were running around in an eternal circle; which has the time to know bitterness or joy? Thus
The body is damaged by the privations of cold, heat, aridity, and dampness: the body weakens, yet the spirit remains strong.
The spirit is damaged by the distress of joy, anger, rumination, and worry: the spirit becomes exhausted, yet the body has reserves.
Therefore,
when you skin a worn-out horse after it dies, it is like desiccated wood;
when you skin a young dog after it dies, it still twitches.
Thus,
those who have been murdered, their ghosts haunt;
those who reach their [allotted] time, their spirits go silent.8
Neither of these has their spirit and form expire simultaneously.
In the use of their mind, sages lean on their natures and rely on their spirits. They [nature and spirit] sustain each other, and [so sages] attain their ends and beginnings. Thus when they sleep, they do not dream, and when they awaken, they are not sad. [2/11/12–16]
2.3
Among the people of antiquity were some who situated themselves in the chaotic and obscure. Their spirit and vital energy did not leak out to their exteriors. The myriad things were peaceful and dispassionate and so became contented and tranquil. The qi of [baleful comets such as] “magnolias,” “lances,” “colliders,” and “handles”9 was in every case blocked and dissipated so that they were unable to cause harm. At that time, the myriad peoples were wild and untamed, not knowing East from West;
they roamed with their mouths full,
drummed on their bellies in contentment.
In copulation they followed the harmony of Heaven;
in eating they accorded with the Potency of Earth.
They did not use minute precedent or “right and wrong” to surpass one another. Vast and boundless, this is what we call “Grand Order.” And so those in high station
directed [ministers] on their left and right and did not pervert their natures;
possessed and pacified [the people] and did not compromise their Potency.
Thus,
Humaneness and Rightness were not proclaimed, and the myriad things flourished.
Rewards and punishments were not deployed, and all in the world were respected.
Their Way could give rise to great perfection, but it is difficult to find a quantitative measure for it. Thus,
Calculating by days there is not enough;
calculating by years there is surplus.10 [2/11/18–23]
Fish forget themselves in rivers and lakes.
Humans forget themselves in the techniques of the Way.11
The Genuine of antiquity stood in the foundation of Heaven and Earth, were centered in uninterrupted roaming, embraced Potency, and rested in harmony. The myriad things were to them like smoke piling higher.12 Which of them would willingly create discord in human affairs or use things to trouble their nature and destiny? [2/11/25–26]
2.4
The Way has both a warp and a weft linked together. [The Perfected] attain the unity of the Way and join with its thousand branches and ten thousand leaves. Thus
because they have it in high position, they can promulgate their decrees;
because they have it in low position, they can forget their baseness;
because they have it in poverty, they can take pleasure in their work;
because they have it in distress, they can be settled amid danger.
When the great cold arrives, frost and snow descend: only then do we understand the vigor of pine and cypress;13
Withstanding difficulties, walking into danger, with profit and harm arrayed before them: only then do we understand how sages do not lose the Way.
Thus those who are able to
wear on their heads the Great Circle [of Heaven] will traverse the Grea
t Square [of Earth];
mirror Vast Purity will contemplate Great Luminosity;
stand amid Vast Peace will be situated in the great hall;
roam amid Dark Obscurity will have the same brilliance as the sun and moon.
Thus,
they take the Way as their pole;
Potency as their line;
Rites and Music as their hook;
Humaneness and Rightness as their bait;
they throw them into the rivers;
they float them into the seas.
Though the myriad things are boundless in numbers, which of them will they not possess? [2/11/28–2/12/4]
2.5
Even those who narrowly rely on skewed techniques, who control the human realm, who seek profit above and below according to the customs of the age in order to grope for and link together the subtleties of things: even such people will achieve their ambitions and fulfill their desires. How much more will this be so of those who embrace the precious Way, forget the [emotions associated with the] hepatic and choleric orbs, abandon hearing and seeing, float solitarily beyond the boundless and do not become embroiled with worldly things, who within linger in the realm of the Formless and harmonize with Heaven and Earth? [2/12/4–6]
For such people, they stop perception and embrace Vast Simplicity.
They view benefit and harm as dust and dirt,
view life and death as day and night.
Thus,
when their eyes see the form of the imperial chariot adorned with jade and ivory;
when their ears hear the sounds of “White Snow”14 and [the note] pure jue;15
these things are unable to disorder their spirit.
When they climb the thousand-ren gorge
or peer at a very steep cliff;
these are unable to disturb their harmony.
This is just like the jade of Bell Mountain:16 if you roast it in a charcoal furnace for three days and three nights, its color and luster will not alter. They [sages] have attained the Quintessence of Heaven and Earth.17
For these reasons,
if life is not enough to motivate them, how could benefit be enough to move them?
If death is not enough to stop them, how could harm be enough to frighten them?
They are clear about the division between life and death
and penetrate the distinction between benefit and harm.
Though you offer them the greatness of the world in exchange for a single hair from their arm, none of this will catch their attention. [2/12/8–12]
The significance of nobility and baseness to their persons is like the brief passing of a swift breeze.
The impact of blame and praise on their selves is like an encounter with mosquitoes and gnats. [2/12/14]
2.6
To grasp the intensely bright and not blacken it,
act with the perfectly pure and not sully it,
rest in profound obscurity and not darken it,
sit at the pivot of Heaven and not destroy it,
to be unobstructed by the Mengmen or Zhonglong mountains,18
unhindered by swift currents, deep chasms, or the depths of Lüliang,19
unimpeded by the obstructions of Taihang, Shijian, Feihu, or Gouwang.20
Only those who embody the Way are able to not be defeated [by these things].
For these reasons, their persons reside on rivers and seas, and their spirits roam under the palace gateway.21 Had they not attained the One Source, how could they have reached this point? [2/12/14–18]
For these reasons, residing with the Perfected
makes families forget their poverty,
makes kings and dukes scorn honors and riches
and delight in poverty and baseness,
makes the brave deflate their anger
and makes the greedy diminish their desires.
They sit and do not teach;
they stand and do not dispute.
When they are empty, they go;
when they are full, they return.
Thus they do not speak and can quench others with harmony.
For these reasons, [those who embody] the Utmost Way take no action.
Now a dragon, then a snake,
they expand and contract,
coil and uncoil,
and alter and transform with the seasons.
Outside, they follow prevailing customs;
inside, they guard their nature.
Their ears and eyes are not dazzled.
Their thoughts and reflections are not entangled.
Those who in this way lodge their spirit maintain the simple in order to roam in vast purity, draw into compliance the myriad things, and cause the many excellences to germinate.
For these reasons,
the spirit will depart those who belabor their spirit;
the spirit will lodge with those who rest their spirit.
The Way emerges from the One Source, penetrates the Nine Gateways,22 is scattered through the Six Crossroads,23 and is displayed in the domain of the boundless. It is still and silent and thereby empty and nonexistent. It is not that it acts on things; it is that things act on themselves. For these reasons, when affairs comply with the Way, it is not that the Way has accomplished them, but that the Way has impelled them.24 [2/12/19–25]
2.7
That which Heaven overspreads,
that which Earth bears up,
that which is included in the six coordinates,
that which is animated by the yin and the yang;
that which is moistened by the rain and the dew;
that which is supported by the Way and its Potency:
These all are born from a single father and mother, and all partake of a single harmony.
For these reasons,
the locust and the elm, the orange and the grapefruit, together are brothers;
the You Miao [people] and the [people of] San Wei are joined as a single family.25
When your eyes see the flight of wild geese and swans,
when your ears hear the sounds of the qin26 and the se,27
and your mind is in the midst of Yanmen,28
Within your single person, your spirit divides and splits up within the six coordinates so that in a moment you travel ten million miles.29
For these reasons,
when viewed from the perspective of their difference, [things as close as] the hepatic and choleric orbs can be as different as Hu [northern “barbarians”] and Yue [southern “barbarians”].
When viewed from the perspective of their similarities, the myriad things are a single set.30
The Hundred Traditions31 have different theories, and each has its own origins. For example, the relationship of Mo[zi],32 Yang [Zhu],33 Shen [Buhai],34 and [Lord] Shang35 to the Way of Governing is like that of an individual [umbrella] rib to the whole canopy and like that of an individual spoke to the whole chariot wheel. If you have any one of them, you can complete the number; if you are missing any one of them, it will not affect the utility [of the whole]. Each one thought that he alone had a monopoly [on true governing]; he did not understand the genuine disposition of Heaven and Earth. [2/12/27–2/13/6]
When a smith forges an implement and the metal flies out of the forge, it must be either an overflow or discard. When it hits the ground, it will harden and take the form of something. Although its shape may have some small use, it cannot be treasured as much as the Nine Tripods of the house of Zhou,36 how much more the case when compared to the one who has molded them? And when compared to the Way, their distance is even greater. [2/13/8–10]
When the myriad things differentiate and branch off, when the hundred affairs proliferate and diverge, all have their foundation in a single root, despite their ten million branchings. Those that receive are not what gives [i.e., the Way]. What gives does not receive, and yet there is nothing it does not give. That of which there is nothing that it does not give is like thick rain clouds that accumulate, piling u
p and spreading they make rain, profoundly soaking the myriad things yet not getting wet themselves. [2/13/12–14]
A good archer has the standard of the sight and the target in the same way as the carpenter has the calibrations of the compass and the square. Each has ways of determining perfection. However, Xi Zhong37 could not be Feng Meng,38 and Zaofu39 could not be Bo Le.40 Each had articulated a single corner but did not comprehend the full domain of the myriad techniques.41 [2/13/16–17]
If you dye silk black in ferrous sulfate, it will become blacker than the ferrous sulfate;
if you dye [fabric] blue in indigo, it will become bluer than the indigo.42
Ferrous sulfate is not black; indigo is not blue.43
Although [the fabrics] have surpassed44 their mother [i.e., the original dye], they are not able to transform back. What is the reason? This [would be] comparable to their [color’s] becoming fainter with every turn [in the dye bath].45 How much more is this so of those things that have not yet begun to be fashioned and transformed by ferrous sulfate and indigo?46 Even if you were to etch their transformations onto metal and stone, inscribe them onto bamboo and silk, how could we ever enumerate them? [2/13/19–21]
From this perspective, no thing is not generated from something, and the small and great roam as companions.
The tip of an autumn hair [may be minute], but slip it into space in which there is no gap and it becomes [in effect] enormous.
If you take the thinness of a reed and insert it into something where there is no crack, it becomes [in effect] bulky.
[That which] lacks [even] the fineness of an autumn hair or the thinness of a reed, [extending] unboundedly to the four end points, pervading the Limitless: nothing can stop or impede it. It is exquisitely refined and doubly marvelous. It lifts and lowers the myriad things, harmonizes the nine alterations and transformations: how can anything in Heaven and Earth suffice to explain it?
A fast wind can snap trees, yet it cannot pull out feathers or hair. From the height of a cloud terrace, a person who falls will break his spine and shatter his skull, but for a mosquito or a gnat, it is high enough to take flight from it. Now we, alike with centipedes and worms, mount the Mechanism of Heaven,47 and we receive our form as part of the same set [of living things], but it is the things that fly and are light and that are tiny and minute that find [their form] sufficient to escape with their lives. How much more is this so for that which has no category? Looked at from this perspective, it is even more apparent that what has no form generates what has form. [2/13/23–28]
