Man does not oppose Earth and therefore can comfort all things, for his standard is the Earth. Earth does not oppose Heaven and therefore can sustain all things, for its standard is Heaven. Heaven does not oppose Tao and therefore can cover all things, for its standard is Tao. Tao does not oppose Nature and therefore it attains its character of being. To follow Nature as its standard is to model after the square while within the square and the circle while within the circle, and not to oppose Nature in any way. By Nature is meant something that cannot be labeled and something ultimate. To use knowledge is not as good as to have no knowledge. Body and soul are not as good as essence and form. Essence and form are not as good as the formless. That with modes is not as good as that without modes. Hence these model after one another. Because Tao obeys Nature, Heaven relies on it. Because Heaven models after Tao, Earth follows Heaven as its principle. Because Earth models after Heaven, man uses Earth as his form, (ibid., ch. 25)
The sage does not institute forms and names to restrain things. He does not formulate standards of advance so that the degenerate will be discarded. Instead he assists all things in their natural state and does not play the part of their originator. This is why it is said that the sage never discards anyone. “Do not exalt the worthy, so that the people shall not compete. Do not value rare treasures, so that the people shall not steal. Do not display objects of desire, so that the people’s hearts shall not be disturbed.”10 If people are always enabled to free their minds from doubts and desires, they will not be discarded, (ibid., ch. 27)
When essence is scattered, its different dispositions produce multiplicity, and species come into being as concrete things. Because they are scattered, the sage institutes rules for them, lets good be their teacher and evil be their material [as object lessons], changes their way of life, and transforms their customs so they will return to the one. (ibid., ch. 28)
Spirit has no physical form and has no spatial restrictions, whereas concrete things (ch’i) are produced through an integration of elements. When there is an integration without form, it is therefore called a spiritual thing. The nature of the myriad things is spontaneity. It should be followed but not interfered with. . . . The sage understands Nature perfectly and knows clearly the conditions of all things. Therefore he goes along with them but takes no unnatural action. He is in harmony with them but does not impose anything on them. He removes their delusions and eliminates their doubts. Hence the people’s minds are not confused and things are contented with their own nature, (ibid., ch. 29)
How is virtue to be attained? It is to be attained through Tao. How is virtue to be completely fulfilled? It is through non-being as its function. As non-being is its function, all things will be embraced. Therefore in regard to things, if they are understood as non-being all things will be in order, whereas if they are understood as being, it is impossible to avoid the fact that they are products (phenomena). Although Heaven and Earth are extensive, non-being is the mind, and although sages and kings are great, vacuity (hsü) is their foundation. Therefore it is said that by returning and seeing [absolute quiet and perfect non-being], the mind of Heaven and Earth will be revealed.11. . . Tao is indeed the ultimate of greatness. Anything beyond it is not worth honoring. Although [Heaven and Earth] are engaged in great undertakings and have great wealth in possessing the myriad things, each thing still has its own character. Although it is valuable to have non-being as its function, nevertheless there cannot be substance without non-being. . . . (ibid., ch. 38)
Comment. This is the first time in the history of Chinese thought that substance (t’i) and function (yung) are mentioned together. In the Book of Changes, it is said that “the state of absolute quiet and inactivity. . . when acted on, immediately penetrates all things.”12 Neo-Confucianists interpreted the two states as substance and function, but they are so only by implication. The concepts of substance and function definitely originated with Wang Pi. They were to become key concepts in Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism.
One is the beginning of number and the ultimate of things. All things are produced by the one and this is why it is the master of all. And all things achieve their completion because of the one. (ibid., ch. 39)
All things in the world came from being, and the origin of being is based on non-being. In order to have being in total, it is necessary to return to non-being. (ibid., ch. 40)
The ten thousand things have ten thousand different forms but in the final analysis they are one. How did they become one? Because of non-being. . . . Therefore in the production of the myriad things, I know its master. Although things exist in ten thousand different forms, their material forces are blended as one. The multitude have their own minds, and different countries have different customs. But if the one is attained, there will be kings and dukes as their masters. One is the master. How can it be abandoned? The greater the number, the further we go astray. We are nearer to [truth] if the number is reduced. When it is reduced to the least (one), we shall arrive at the ultimate. . . . Follow Nature and place perfect principle in the forefront. If we follow it, there will be fortune, and if we disobey it, there will be misfortune, (ibid., ch. 42)
There is a basis for all affairs and a foundation for all things. There may be many roads but their destination is the same, and there may be a hundred deliberations but the result is the same.13 There is a great constancy in Tao and there is a generality in principle. By holding on to the Tao of old, we can master the present.14 Although we live in the present age, we can know the past. This is why it is said [in this chapter] that one may know [the world] without going out of doors or looking through the windows. Non-being is inherent in the one. But when we look for it in the multiplicity of things, it is like Tao which can be looked for but not seen, listened to but not heard, reached for but not touched. If we know it, we do not need to go out of doors. If we do not know it, the further we go, the more beclouded we become. If we know the general principle of things, we can know through thinking even if we do not travel. If we know the basis of things, even if we do not see them, we can point to the principle of right and wrong [which governs them]. (ibid., ch. 47)
4. HO YEN’S
TREATISE ON TAO
Being, in coming into being, is produced by non-being. Affairs, as affairs, are brought into completion by non-being. When one talks about it and it has no predicates, when one names it and it has no name, when one looks at it and it has no form, and when one listens to it and it has no sound—that is Tao in its completeness. Hence it is able to make sounds and echoes brilliant, to cause material force (ch’i) and material objects to stand out, to embrace all physical forms and spiritual activity, and to display light and shadow. Because of it darkness becomes black and plainness becomes white. Because of it the carpenter’s square draws a square and the compass draws a circle. The compass and square obtain forms but Tao has no form. Black and white obtain names but Tao has no name. (Tao lun, or Treatise on Tao, quoted by Chang Chan (fl. 310) in his commentary on the Lieh Tzu, (sptk, 1:2b)
Comment. It is characteristic of both the Light Conversation movement and the Metaphysical School to reject all words and forms as descriptions of the ultimate reality. These may be used, then forgotten, as the fish trap is forgotten once the fish is caught.15 The whole spirit is to get at the ultimate totally, which is not to be limited even by a name.
5. HO YEN’S
TREATISE ON THE NAMELESS
Those accorded fame by the people have names. Those not given fame have no names. As to the sage, his name is really no name, and his fame really no fame. When one realizes that the nameless is Tao and the fameless is great, then the nameless may be spoken of as having a name and the fameless may be spoken of as having fame. But is the sage similar to those who can be accorded names or fame? It is like possessing nothing and thereby possessing everything. However, in possessing things one should be in harmony with possessing nothing, and be different from those who possess what they have. No matter how far apart thin
gs are, things of the same kind respond to one another, and no matter how near they are, things of different kinds do not violate each other. It is like the yang (active cosmic force) in the yin (passive cosmic force) or the yin in the yang. Each attracts and responds to its own kind. The sun in the summer is yang but at night it is yin in the same way as the sun in far-off winter is yin. The sun in the winter is yin but in the daytime it is yang in the same way as the sun in far-off summer is yang. They are all different while nearby, but similar while far away. Only when such similarity and difference are fully comprehended can the discourse on the nameless be understood. How does it happen to be this way? Now Tao never possesses anything. But since the beginning of the universe it has possessed all things and yet it is still called Tao because it can exercise its ability not to possess them. Therefore although it dwells in the realm of the namable, it shows no sign of the nameless. It is like a substance at a distance characterized by yang forgetting that it has a distant counterpart in yin. Hsia-hou Hsüan16 said, “Heaven and Earth rotate spontaneously, and the sage functions spontaneously.” By spontaneity is meant Tao. Essentially speaking, Tao has no name. This is why Lao Tzu said that he was “forced to give it a name.”17 Confucius praised (sage-emperor) Yao, saying, “The people could find no name for him,” but continued to say, “How majestic” was “his accomplishment!”18 It is clear that to give a name perforce is merely to give an appellation on the basis of only what people know. If one already has a name, how can it be said that people could find no name for him? It is only because he has no name that all possible names in the world can be used to call him. But are these really his names? If from this analogy one still does not understand, it would be like looking at the loftiness and eminence of Mount T’ai and yet saying that the original material force [which makes the productions of things possible] is not overwhelming or extensive. (Wu-ming lun, or Treatise on the Nameless, quoted by Chang Chan, ibid., 4:2b-3a)
6. KUO HSIANG’S
COMMENTARY ON THE CHUANG TZU
Topics and Reference:
Following one’s nature and Contentment: 2, 4, 9, 13, 15, 20, 21, 27, 28, 30, 31
Having no mind of one’s own: 8, 14, 29
Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu: 5
Multiplicity of things: 10, 18
Natural self-transformation: 3, 4, 11, 12, 19, 32, 34, 39
Past and present, difference of: 22, 36, 37
Principle (li): 1, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 23, 25, 27-29, 32, 34
Sage: 5, 7, 8, 29
Sagely government: 5, 24, 26, 38
Transcendental and mundane worlds: 5, 29
1. A big thing necessarily comes about in a big situation, and a big situation necessarily comes about with a big thing. It is because of principle that it is naturally so. We need not worry that this will fail. Why be anxious about it? (Chuang Tzu chu or Commentary on the Chuang Tzu, ch. 1, nhcc, 1:2a)
2. The flight of the fabulous (p’eng) bird may take half a year and will not stop until it gets to the Celestial Lake. The flight of a small bird takes only half of the morning and stops at getting from tree to tree. So far as capacities are concerned, there is a difference. But in adapting to their nature, they are the same. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:2b)
3. The fabulous (p’eng bird) and the small (quail) have different interests. Are their interests different because the birds knowingly differ? No, they are naturally different and no one knows why. To be natural means not to take any unnatural action. This is the general idea of [what Chuang Tzu means by] roaming leisurely or freedom. Everything has its own nature and each nature has its own ultimate, (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:4b-5a)
Comment. Kuo Hsiang practically anticipated the Neo-Confucianists, who maintained that there is a Great Ultimate in each and every thing.
4. The universe is the general name for all things. They are the substance of the universe while Nature is their norm. Being natural means to exist spontaneously without having to take any action. Therefore the fabulous p’eng bird can soar high and the quail can fly low, the cedrela can live for a long time and the mushroom for a short time. They are capable of doing these not because of their taking any action but because of their being natural, (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:8b)
5. It is he who does no governing that can govern the empire. Therefore Yao governed by not governing. It was not because of his governing that his empire was governed. Now (the recluse) Hsü Yu19 only realized that since the empire was well governed, he should not replace Yao. He thought it was Yao who did the actual governing. Consequently he said to Yao, “You govern the empire.” He should have forgotten such words and investigated into that condition of peace. Someone may say, “It was Yao who actually governed and put the empire in good order but it was Hsü Yu who enabled Yao to do so by refusing to govern himself.” This is a great mistake. Yao was an adequate example of governing by not governing and acting by not acting. Why should we have to resort to Hsü Yu? Are we to insist that a man fold his arms and sit in silence in the middle of some mountain forest before we will say he is practicing nonaction? This is why the words of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are rejected by responsible officials. This is why responsible officials insist on remaining in the realm of action without regret. . . . For egotistical people set themselves up against things, whereas he who is in accord with things is not opposed to them. . . . Therefore he profoundly and deeply responds to things without any deliberate mind of his own and follows whatever comes into contact with him. He is like an untied boat drifting, claiming neither the east nor the west to be its own. He who is always with the people no matter what he does is the ruler of the world wherever he may be. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:10a-10b)
Comment. Practically all commentators praise or defend their authors. Kuo Hsiang, on the contrary, criticized Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu. Like Wang Pi, he inclined to Taoism in his metaphysics but adhered to Confucianism in social and political philosophy. For this reason, he rated Confucius far above these Taoist philosophers.20
6. The cook, the boy impersonating the dead at sacrificial rites, and the officer of prayer each is contented with his duties. Birds and animals and the myriad things are contented with their endowment. Emperor Yao and Hsü Yu were tranquil in their circumstances. This is the perfect reality of the universe. When everything attains its reality, why should it take any action? Everything will be contented and at ease. Therefore, although Yao and Hsü Yu and Heaven and Earth are different, their freedom is the same. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:11a)
7. Although the sage is in the midst of government, his mind seems to be in the mountain forest. . . . His abode is in the myriad things, but it does not mean that he does not wander freely. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:11b-14b)
8. The mind of the sage penetrates to the utmost the perfect union of yin and yang and understands most clearly the wonderful principles of the myriad things. Therefore he can identify himself with changes and harmonize with transformations, and finds everything all right wherever he may go. He embraces all things and thus nothing is not in its natural state. The world asks him [to rule] because of disorder. He has no deliberate mind of his own. Since he has no deliberate mind of his own, why should he not respond to the world? He who identifies himself with the profoundly mysterious state and understands its wonder to the utmost, appreciates the nature of all things, partakes in the creative and transforming process of the universe, and fulfills the fame of Yao and Shun.21 He can do so because he acts by taking no [unnatural] action. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:13b)
9. If one is contented wherever he goes, he will be at ease wherever he may be. Even life and death cannot affect him. How much less can flood or fire? The perfect man is not besieged by calamities, not because he escapes from them but because he advances the principles of things and goes forward and naturally comes into union with good fortune. (ch. 1, nhcc, 1:14a)
10. Pipes and flutes differ in length and the various notes differ in pitch. Hence the multiplicity and complexity of long and short, low and high, tones. Although tones vary in a thousand ways, the principle of
their natural endowment is the same. (ch. 2, nhcc, 1:19a)
11. The music of Nature is not an entity existing outside of things. The different apertures, the pipes and flutes and the like, in combination with all living beings, together constitute Nature. Since non-being is non-being, it cannot produce being. Before being itself is produced, it cannot produce other beings. Then by whom are things produced? They spontaneously produce themselves, that is all. By this is not meant that there is an “I” to produce. The “I” cannot produce things and things cannot produce the “I”. The “I” is self-existent. Because it is so by itself, we call it natural. Everything is what it is by nature, not through taking any action. Therefore [Chuang Tzu] speaks in terms of Nature. The term Nature (literally “Heaven”) is used to explain that things are what they are spontaneously, and not to mean the blue sky. But someone says that the music of Nature makes all things serve or obey it. Now, Nature cannot even possess itself. How can it possess things? Nature is the general name for all things. Nature does not set its mind for or against anything. Who is the master to make things obey? Therefore all things exist by themselves and come from nature. This is the Way of Heaven. (ch. 2, nhcc, 1:21a)
12. Everything is natural and does not know why it is so. The further things differ in physical form, the further they are alike in being natural. . . . Heaven and Earth and the myriad things change and transform into something new every day and so proceed with time. What causes them? They do so spontaneously. . . . What we call things are all what they are by themselves; they did not cause each other to become so. Let us then leave them alone and principle will be perfectly realized. The ten thousand things are in ten thousand different conditions, and move forward and backward differently, as if there is a True Lord to make them do so. But if we search for evidences for such True Lord, we fail to find any. We should understand that things are all natural and not caused by something else. (ch. 2, nhcc, 1:22b-23a)
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