The Huainanzi

by An Liu

Moreover, the instinctive responses of human beings are for

  the ears and eyes to respond to stimulus and movement,

  the mind and awareness to recognize worry and happiness.

  The hands and feet to rub at pains and itches and to avoid cold and heat.

  This is how we interact with things.

  If a wasp or a scorpion stings your finger, your spirit cannot remain placid.

  If a mosquito or a gadfly bites your flesh, your nature cannot remain settled.

  The worries and calamities that come to disturb your mind are not limited to the poisonous bites of wasps or scorpions or the annoyance of mosquitoes and gadflies, yet you want to remain tranquil and vacuous. How can it be done?

  The ears of one whose eyes are examining the tip of an autumn hair will not hear the sound of thunder and lightning.

  The eyes of one whose ears are harmonizing the tones of jade and stone will not see the form of Mount Tai.

  Why is this? They are attending to what is small and forgetting what is big. Now the arrival of the myriad things, pulling and plucking at my nature, grabbing and grasping at my feelings, is like a spring or fountain, even if one wanted to not be ruled [by them], could this be achieved? [2/17/13–18]

  Now a person who plants a tree irrigates it with springwater and beds it in fertile soil. If one person nurtures it and ten people harvest it, there will certainly be no spare splinters;70 how much less if the entire kingdom hacks at it together? Though one wanted it to live for a long time, how could this be accomplished?

  If you leave a basin of water in the courtyard to settle for one full day, you will still not be able to see your eyebrows and lashes. If you muddy it with no more than one stir, you will not be able to distinguish square from circular. The human spirit is easy to muddy and difficult to clarify, much like the basin of water. How much more so when an entire age stirs and disturbs it; how can it attain a moment of equanimity? [2/17/20–23]

  2.14

  Antiquity was an age of Utmost Potency.

  Merchants prospered in their markets;

  farmers rejoiced in their work;

  grandees rested secure in their posts;

  and scholar-recluses practiced71 their Way.

  At this time,

  winds and rains were not destructive;

  grasses and trees did not die prematurely;

  the Nine Tripods doubled the flavor [of offerings];72

  pearls and jade were lustrous;

  the Luo River gave forth the “Crimson Writings”;

  the Yellow River gave forth the “Green Chart.”73

  Thus Xu You, Fang Hui, Shan Juan, and Pi Yi74 all attained their Way. Why was this? The rulers of the age had the mind that desires to benefit the world; thus the people could enjoy their ease. The talent of the four masters did not make them able to be wholly good, just like [people] of the current age. Yet no one [today] can match their brilliance, because they encountered the era of Tang and Yu.75

  Coming to the age of [King] Jie of Xia and [King] Djou of Yin,76 they

  cooked people alive,

  condemned remonstrators,

  created the “roasting beam,”77

  forged the “metal pillar,”78

  opened the heart of a worthy man,79

  cut off the feet of a talented knight,80

  minced the daughter of the marquis of Gui,

  pulverized the bones of the earl of Mei.81

  During this time,

  tall mountains collapsed;

  three rivers dried up;

  flying birds snapped their wings;

  running beasts lost their hooves.

  How could it be that at this time alone there were no sages? However, they could not fulfill their Way because they did not meet their age.

  The heavenly bird flies above one thousand ren.

  The beast runs into the dense forest.

  [Yet] calamity still reaches them; how much more so for the common people of ordinary households? Seen from this [perspective], embodying the Way does not rest entirely with us; it is indeed also tied to the era [in which we live]. [2/17/25–2/18/4]

  When the capital of Liyang became a lake in one night,82 those of courageous strength and sage wisdom shared the same fate with the cowardly and unworthy.

  When on top of Mount Wu, a chance wind let loose fire, the [great] gaoxia trees and the glossy ganoderma83 died along with the oxtail-southernwood trees and moxa.

  Thus,

  the river fish does not have clear eyes;

  young crops do not live an entire season.

  This is the way they were born. Thus,

  if the age is orderly, the foolish alone will not be able to disorder it.

  If the age is chaotic, the wise alone will not be able to bring it to order.

  To blame yourself for the Way’s not being practiced while trapped in a corrupt age is like double-hobbling [the famous horse] Qiji84 and asking him to travel a thousand li. If you put an ape in a cage, it will be just like a pig. It is not that it is no longer clever or agile but that it has nowhere to give free rein to its ability. When Shun was farming in Tao, he could not profit his village. When he faced south as king, his Potency spread through the Four Seas. It could not be that his Humaneness increased; his position was fortuitous and his strategic position advantageous.

  For the ancient sages,

  their harmony and tranquillity were their nature;

  their achieving their ambition and practicing the Way were their destiny.

  For this reason,

  when nature meets destiny, only then can it be effective;

  when destiny attains nature, only then can it be clarified.

  Neither bows of cudrania tree [wood]85

  nor the crossbows of Xizi86

  could be shot without a string.

  Neither the boats of Yue

  nor the skiffs of Shu

  could float without water.

  If now

  the dart and line were shot above;

  the net and snares were spread out below;

  Even if [a bird] wanted to soar, how could it attain the force [to do so]? Thus the Odes says,

  “I pick and pick the chickweed,

  yet do not fill my shallow basket.

  I sigh for the one I cherish,

  posted to the ranks of Zhou.”87

  This speaks of longing for distant ages. [2/18/6–14]

  Translated by Harold D. Roth and Andrew Meyer

  1. Lau (HNZ 2/10/15) mistakenly omits this line, although it is present in all other editions. Thanks to our colleague Judson Murray for pointing this out. Also, we see no need to insert the character you at the beginning of the chapter.

  2. This is a shortened and somewhat altered version of a passage in Zhuangzi 22 “Knowledge wandered North” (ZZ 22/63/1–3). See Mair 1997, 220. Another version of this anecdote appears in 12.45.

  3. Emending the word “mountain” to “fishing net,” following the interpretation of Yu Yue to the parallel passage in Zhuangzi. See Guo Qingfan , Zhuangzi jishi , ed. Wang Xiaoyu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 244. We do not accept Wang Shumin’s proposal to emend “mountain” to “cart” . See Lau, HNZ, 11n.1.

  4. This entire section to this point is found almost verbatim in ZZ 6/16/25. See Graham 1982, 86; and Mair 1997, 55.

  5. These lines are found almost verbatim in ZZ 2/7/1. See Graham 1982, 59–60; and Mair 1997, 22–23.

  6. Gongniu Ai is what might colloquially be called a “weretiger.” Gao You explains that this was a hereditary malady of the Gongniu clan. According to Gao, the ordinary transformation was evidently only psychological and temporary, but if the afflicted actually did eat human flesh, he would transform into a “real tiger.” Those who refrained from eating human flesh would become human again. Gao You may be overinterpreting the HNZ text, however. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:151n.13, 152n.14.

  7. This last phrase appears almost verbatim in ZZ 2/3/30. See Graham 1982, 50; and Mair 1997,
13. The point of the section is that life is precarious and perspectives constantly change. Hence our most profound attachment, self-identity, is far from fixed and secure.

  8. This evidently refers to a state of dementia perceived in some who reach advanced age. In other words, they have lived on past their destined time, so their bodies live on but their spirits are inactive.

  9. These four sobriquets derive from the perceived shapes of ill-augured comets.

  10. The utopia envisioned in this section is quite similar to that found in the “Primitivist” chapters of Zhuangzi (ZZ 8–11/12), but with a significant difference: it is governed by mystically adept sages who actively govern. This suits the overall syncretic vision of the text, which implicitly rejects the Primitivist call for a return to a simple agrarian society. The point of this passage is if you use a momentary materialist perspective to evaluate their society, it will seem impoverished, but if you observe it over a longer duration, you will understand that it embodies a harmony that transcends material concerns.

  11. These two sentences appear also in ZZ 6/18/26. See Graham 1982, 88.

  12. This line parallels ZZ 11/26/27, in which the author explains how an exemplary person would appear:

  sitting still as a corpse he will look majestic as a dragon, from the silence of the abyss he will speak with a voice like thunder, he will have the promptings which are daemonic and the veerings which are from Heaven, he will have an unforced air and do nothing, and the myriad things will be like smoke piling higher and higher. (Graham 1982, 212, italics added)

  13. This is evidently an allusion to Analects 9.27: “The Master said, ‘When the year becomes cold, then we know how the pine and the cypress are the last to lose their leaves.“‘

  14. According to Gao You, “White Snow” was a song played by the ancient music master Shi Kuang that made spirits descend. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:165n.15. See also 6.1.

  15. Jue is the third note in the Chinese pentatonic scale. In traditional Chinese music theory, notes had “pure ” and “muddy ” modulations, the latter being equivalent to the former flattened by one half-tone. For more on these terms, see app. B. The mention here of “pure jue” evidently alludes to an anecdote in which Shi Kuang declared that “pure jue” was the most melancholy of notes. See Hanfeizi, “Ten Faults” (HFZ 10/15/12).

  16. Gao You claims that “Bell Mountain” is an alternative sobriquet for Mount Kunlun. Xu Shen says that it is “a terrain in the northern reaches, where there is no sun, which produces beautiful jade.” Tao Fangqi deduces from this and other evidence that Bell Mountain must be north of Yanmen . See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:166n.17.

  17. Following the emendation of Yu Yue. See Lau, HNZ, 12n.3.

  18. The text here contains the line “only those who embody the Way are able to be undefeated.” We accept its deletion by Wang Niansun (Lau, HNZ, 12n.9) as an intrusion from the commentary, where it must have explained the line “To rest at the pivot of Heaven and not be destroyed.”

  19. According to Gao You, Lüliang is the name of a river near Pengcheng (modern-day Xuzhou). See Zhang Shuangdi, 1:168n.26.

  20. Taihang (Great Array) is a mountain range straddling the frontier between modern Shanxi and Hebei provinces. According to Gao You, Shijian (Rocky Torrent) is the name of a deep gorge, though he gives no location. Also according to Gao You, Feihu (Flying Fox) and Gouwang (Angular View) are the names of narrow valleys, the former in Dai Prefecture and the latter at Yanmen. Wang Niansun argues that Gouwang is a mistake for Gouzhu , the name of a pass mentioned in chap. 4, a judgment with which Lau agrees. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:168–69n.27.

  21. The “palace gateway” (weique ) is the gate to a palace from which edicts are hung. The meaning here is dual: (a) although one’s body is in the mundane world, one’s consciousness inhabits a transcendent plane of awareness; and (b) although one’s person may be on the periphery of the empire, one’s character is suited to the halls of power.

  22. According to Gao You, these are the gates of Heaven. See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:174n.1.

  23. Gao You treats this as a figurative synonym for the six coordinates . Zhang Shuangdi, 1997, 1:174n.1, takes issue with his reading, but if Gao is right that the “Nine Gateways” are celestial, this image must be a terrestrial counterpart.

  24. Disregarding Lau’s (HNZ 2/12/25) proposed addition of .

  25. The You Miao are identified as the San Miao (Three Miao Tribes), a frontier people from the south who were banished by the legendary sage-emperor Shun for some unspecified fault. The people of San Wei are from a mountain (Three Dangers Mountain) in the area of Dunhuang in Gansu Province. The idea is that the Way is able to make peoples as different as these two tribes into the same family.

  26. The qin , commonly but misleadingly translated as “lute,” was a stringed instrument which in the Warring States and Han periods had a wooden sounding board attached to a thinner neck, with five to ten strings secured to the top of the neck and stretched over a wide bridge on the sounding board, beyond which they were attached to individual tuning pegs. As the qin later evolved in the post-Han period, the “neck” eventually disappeared, and the instrument consisted of the sounding board only, tapering from a wider end to a narrower one.

  27. The se , sometimes translated as “zither,” was a stringed instrument with a wide, hollow wooden sounding board and (usually) twenty-five strings that passed over fixed bridges at each end of the sounding board and were secured by pegs. The instrument was tuned by means of individual movable bridges. The se was popular in ancient China but fell into neglect after the Han period.

  28. Yanmen (Wild Goose Gate) is a mountain pass in the district of Yangguo, in the far north, to which geese fly.

  29. Another of the psychological functions of the spirit is imagination. The text argues for a parallel between how the one Way embraces Heaven and Earth, the six coordinates, yin and yang, the rain and the dew; and how the spirit embraces different perceptions, thoughts, and imaginations.

  30. Similar to ZZ 5/113/14.

  31. For a discussion of the “schools” of early Chinese thought, see 27–28.

  32. Mo Di (also known as Mozi [fl. ca. 450 B.C.E.]) was an influential philosopher whose teachings stressed frugality and “Heaven’s Will” and stood opposed to those of Confucius. A text bearing his name survives.

  33. Yang Zhu (fl. ca. 400 B.C.E.) was a philosopher famous for declaring that he would not sacrifice one hair from his arm to save the empire. Little is known of his life, and no writings reliably attributable to him are extant. Graham and some others regard the first two chapters of the Lüshi chunqiu as products of Yang Zhu’s followers but there is not universal agreement on this. See Angus C. Graham, “The Background of the Mencian Theory of Human Nature,” in Studies in Chinese Philosophy and Philosophical Literature (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1986), 13.

  34. Shen Buhai (ca. 385–337 B.C.E.) was a native of Hann who served as prime minister under Marquis Zhao. He advocated basic reforms to increase the efficiency of government, such as the technique of “form and names” (xingming, see app. A) for the disciplined employment of civil officials. A text bearing his name survives in fragments.

  35. Lord Shang (also known as Shang Yang , Wey Yang, and Gongsun Yang [ca. 390–338 B.C.E.]) was a native of Wey who was employed as prime minister by Duke Xiao of Qin. He is credited with having increased the power of Qin through the institution of basic reforms, including a reliance on strict written laws and rewards and punishments. A text bearing his name survives but is generally regarded as a later attribution.

  36. The Nine Tripods were a fabled set of sacrificial bronze tripods that served as talismans and regalia of the Zhou kings.

  37. Xi Zhong was a cartwright of legendary skill.

  38. Feng Meng was an archer of legendary skill.

  39. Zaofu was a charioteer of legendary skill.

  40. Bo Le was a horse breeder of legendary skill and expertise.

  41. T
his argument follows that found in Zhuangzi 33 in assessing the relative value of the Hundred Traditions.

  42. A similar statement is found in the opening line of Xunzi 1 (XZ 1/3/3): “Though blue dye comes from the indigo plant, it is bluer than indigo” (Knoblock 1988, 1:135).

  43. Accepting Yang Shuda’s emendation of this line. See Lau, HNZ, 13n.12; and Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:180n.24. Ferrous sulfate crystals are greenish; the juice of the indigo plant is also greenish in its raw (unoxydized) state. These lines play on the meaning of qing , which embraces a wide range of colors from green through blue to gray.

  44. Accepting Yu Chang’s reading of guo , “surpass,” for yu , “encounter.” See Zhang Shuangdi 1997, 1:180n.24.

  45. The logic of the passage is this: through successive infusions of ferrous sulfate or indigo, the color of the dyed fabric surpasses (becomes darker than) its “mother” (i.e., the original dye), and this process cannot be reversed. If it could, it would be comparable to an impossible situation in which the color of a dyed fabric got fainter every time it was dipped in the dye bath (the opposite of what actually occurs). But for things that have not yet had the trajectory of their transformation determined (as the color of a fabric is determined by a dye), the possibilities are numberless. See also 16.58.

  46. This metaphorically describes the manner in which the Way generates things: the further along the road to differentiation a thing is, the less likely it will be able to return to its source. This recalls the passage in Laozi 28 describing the breaking up of the Uncarved Block to make vessels.

  47. Tianji , a metaphorical term for the spontaneous nature and patterns of the cosmos, infused by the Way.

  48. This section works out the implications of Laozi 19.

  49. Rejecting Lau’s (HNZ 2/14/20) proposed emendation of to .

  50. Gao You’s commentary identifies the feilian (gryphon) as a winged, hairy beast and the dunyu (sphinx) as a fabled cat, smaller than a tiger. See Zhang Shuangdi 1:193n.22.

  51. Rejecting Lau’s (HNZ 2/14/22–23) emendation of to and to .

  52. The Duke of Thunder was the mythical god of thunder. Many of these mythical figures appear in the Chuci. See CC 5/18/10.