Zen 96

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Zen 96 Page 6

by Alexander Goldstein

scholars do that for the sake

  Of fame in coming generations;

  Great officers strive for the sake

  Of their clans' prosperity, while

  Sagely minded leaders just for the sake

  Of their leadership do so.

  These various classes, with different statuses

  And different reputations, have agreed

  In doing injury to their primaries,

  Sacrificing their nature. But what's the use?

  According to my viewpoint, all those

  Who knew well to govern people would not act so.

  From of old men have been vested

  With their constant roles: they wove

  And made themselves clothes;

  They tilled the ground and got rich crops --

  That was their common faculty;

  They were all one and did not form themselves

  Into the classes, so were they constituted

  And left to their naturalness without reserve.

  But if the raw materials had not been hacked,

  Who could have made the sacrificial vessels?

  If the natural jade had not been cut and carved,

  Who could have made the sacred discs and tablets?

  If the instincts of the nature had not been departed,

  How should music and rites have come into function?

  If all colours gathered together had not been perplexed,

  How should the ornamental figures have been formed?

  If all the musical notes had not been disconcerted,

  How should they have supplemented them by accords?

  Therefore, should we consider the cutting and hacking

  Of the raw materials in order to form the tools and vessels

  As the crime of the skilful craftsmen of the olden times?

  The question remains open, as the injury has been done

  To the primary nature for the sake of discrimination. . .

  Was it the error of the sagely founders of civilization?

  60

  At the Dawn of Humanity

  I've seen how horses can with their hoofs

  Tread on the hoarfrost and deep snow,

  And with their hair they can withstand

  The biting wind and severe cold; they feed

  On the lush grass and drink icy water;

  They prance with their legs and leap -- this is

  The true nature of them, dwelling in freeside.

  Though there're made for them grand stables

  And spacious dormitories, they would prefer

  Not to use them at all. But when some men arose

  And said, "We know well how to breed horses,"

  They proceeded to singe and mark them,

  To clip their mane, to pare their hoofs, to halter

  Their heads, to bridle and confine them in corrals.

  They proceeded further to subject them to hunger

  And thirst, to gallop them and race them and

  To make them go together in regular order:

  In front there were the evils of the bit

  And hard breast-bands, but behind there were

  The terrors of whipping and switching.

  The first potter (whose name is forbidden to utter,

  But you probably know whom I mean) once said,

  "I know well how to deal with clay," and men

  Proceeded then to mould it into circles as exact

  As if made by the compass, and into squares

  As exact as if formed by the measuring setsquare.

  The first carpenter (whose name is forbidden to utter,

  But you probably know whom I mean) once said,

  "I know well how to deal with wood," and all men

  Proceeded then to make it bent as if by application

  Of the setsquare, and straight as if by application

  Of the plumb-line. But is it the nature of clay and wood

  To require the application of the compass and setsquare?

  And yet, age after age men have praised those first grooms,

  Saying, "They knew well how to breed horses," and also

  The first potter and carpenter, saying, "They knew well

  How to deal with clay and wood." But wasn't it the error

  Committed by the founding fathers at the dawn of humanity?

  61

  A Robber or a Benefactor?

  What occupation is there

  Which has not its principles?

  Has a robber also any norms

  Or principles in his proceeding?

  That a robber in his recklessness

  Is able to come to the conclusion

  That there are treasures and valuables

  Hidden in a place shows his insight;

  That he is the first to enter it

  Shows his courage; that he is the last

  To quit it shows his awareness of duty;

  That he knows whether the robbery

  May be attempted or not shows his wisdom;

  And that he makes an equal division

  Of the plunder among his men and partners

  Shows his strong sense of righteousness.

  At large, without all the five qualities

  No one on earth has ever attained

  To become someone clever.

  Looking at the subject in this way,

  We see that good men do not arise

  Without having the principles of respectability,

  And that none could have pursued one's course

  Without the same norms and principles.

  The matter is that the good men are few,

  But those who are not good are many. . .

  It follows that those who are extremely wise

  Benefit the world in a few moments,

  But injure it in many.

  62

  Saints and Thieves

  Formerly, in the neighbouring countries

  Their hamlets and towns could see each other;

  Their cocks and dogs never ceased to answer

  The crowing and barking of one another;

  Their men might not die till they were old

  And yet, all their life they would have

  No communication together -- in those

  Olden days perfect good order prevailed.

  So it was not very long ago. But yet,

  One day a foreign host got permission

  To pass through their territories and,

  By the way, they took those countries

  In hand with all their cities and lands.

  And was it only the lands that they

  Stole insidiously? I don't think so.

  Along with them they stole as well

  The regulations of their governments

  And all worthy men observed in them.

  And so, though they got the name

  Of being the thieves and robbers

  Who acted, laughing in their beards,

  Yet they themselves continued to live

  As securely as they had seen fit:

  Small states did not dare

  To find fault with them; all the great

  Did not dare to take them off;

  For many generations they have possessed

  Those countries as their cradled land.

  Thus, do we not have a case in which

  Not only did they steal the foreign lands,

  But at the same time the regulations

  Of those countries' sagely managed reigning,

  Which thereby served to guard their people,

  Thieves and robbers by definition, as they were?

  Let me try to set forth this point still further.

  Have not there been among those

  Vulgarly styled the worthiest and cleverest,

  Such as have collected their valuables

  And ruling methods for those foreign invaders?

  And among those styled the most saint

  And divined such as have guarde
d their values

  For appropriation by the treacherous attackers?

  Hence, we have the saying which states:

  "When saints are born great robbers arise."

  63

  Blinded by Science

  People of modern cosmological theories

  Always try to reach extremity:

  Some hold that at first there was

  Not anything -- this is the utmost point

  To which nothing can be added.

  Some hold that there was Big Bang,

  But without any recognition of it

  On the part of the cosmic consciousness.

  Some hold that there was such recognition,

  But there had not begun to be any sort

  Of expression of different opinions. . .

  The knowledge of all three sorts

  Of modern inference in their research

  Is nearly perfect and therefore

  The scholars practise it further, zealously.

  They like their own knowledge so long

  As it is different from that of others.

  They love it and wish to make it known

  All over the other countries. However,

  As it can't be made clear, though they try

  To make it so, they end with obscure talks

  About difficulties in their course

  Of proving their conceptual doctrines.

  But when they all have retired

  The great problems stop to arise --

  The world comes to be at peace

  And there will be no big deals.

  Till they have not disappeared,

  The problems won't cease to appear.

  The more right that is attached

  To the views of the scientists

  And the governmental structures,

  The more advantage will accrue

  To such men as the world's proprietors.

  And their descendants, what else,

  With all the threads and ties of their fathers

  At intricate designs and sophisticated schemes,

  Yet to the end of life they are doomed

  To accomplish nothing significantly valued,

  Continuing the line in hands of those

  Who have all along observed, researched

  And rectified the evolution of mankind.

  64

  The Knowledge

  Nowadays such is the state of things

  That we shall see the people stretching out

  Their necks and standing on tiptoe

  While they say, "In such and such a place

  There is a wise and capable leader to follow."

  Then they carry with them whatever they may

  Have left and hurry towards it,

  Abandoning their parents in their hometown

  And neglecting the service

  Of their native community abroad.

  Their footsteps may be traced in lines

  From one country to another

  For more than thousands of miles.

  This is owing to the error of their superiors

  In their inordinate fondness for knowledge.

  When those superiors do really love

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