《南華真經義海纂微》Vol. 80

Ze Yang was traveling in the state of Chu. Yi Jie recommended him to the King of Chu, but the king did not receive him. When Yi Jie returned to Pengyang, Pengyang met Wang Guo and asked, “Why did you not recommend me to the King of Chu?” Wang Guo said, “I am not the equal of Gong Yuexiu.” Pengyang asked, “What sort of person is Gong Yuexiu?” Wang Guo replied, “In winter, he fishes and catches turtles by the river; in summer, he rests at the edge of the mountain forests. When people come to visit and ask about him, he says, ‘This is where I live.’ Even Yi Jie could not do this, let alone me. I am not the equal of Yi Jie either.

“Yi Jie has no De, yet considers himself discerning. He does not claim to possess anything mysterious; he relies only on cleverness in dealing with people, and so becomes ensnared in wealth, status, and power. They do not support one another through De; they only wear one another down. Someone frozen stiff must wait until spring to borrow clothes for warmth, while someone overcome by heat longs for the cool winds of winter. The King of Chu is haughty, severe, and merciless, showing no leniency to those who have committed offenses, like a tiger. Who could change him, unless they are skilled at ingratiating themselves with him and can also set their De in order?

“When the sage is in hardship, he can make his family forget poverty; when he rises to prominence, he can make princes and nobles forget their titles and stipends, and become humble. He meets all things with delight and takes pleasure in being with them. With people, he gladly follows the openness of the Dao while preserving himself. Sometimes he need not speak to bring people’s minds and Qi into calm. Simply standing beside them can move them, teaching them the proper bonds between father and son. When he returns to his dwelling, he draws back his giving and no longer interferes. His influence on people’s hearts reaches this far. That is why I say we must wait for someone like Gong Yuexiu.”

Guo Xiang’s Commentary: Wang Guo brings up Gong Yuexiu to restrain Pengyang’s eagerness to advance and seek office. Wang Guo says he is not Yi Jie’s equal because Yi Jie enjoys pursuing wealth and status and cultivating ties with the powerful; he can exhaust his cleverness and reputation in seeking an audience with those above him. But if one carries on this way, one’s De grows shallow and one’s reputation is diminished. Yi Jie lives in accord with the seasons, so he cannot hurry here to satisfy Pengyang’s urgent request.

The sage is detached and free of desire, content with whatever comes, and does not regard luxury as a mark of honor. Thus, his family feels no suffering in poverty. He thinks little of titles and stipends and values De; transcending the self, he does not even feel that glory and wealth have been bestowed upon him. In this way, he can also make princes and nobles lose the grounds on which they consider themselves superior. He follows external things without losing himself. When everyone finds their proper place, their minds and Qi naturally become calm. What need is there for many words? (The original text continues.)

Let fathers fulfill their duties as fathers and sons their duties as sons, so that everyone returns to the proper obligations of their own role and accords with the virtue of Heaven and Earth. Only then can the heart become settled and clear, without divided loyalties. The hope that the King of Chu would set aside his trust in Yijie and instead listen to Gong Yuexiu, the worthy man living in seclusion, was meant to calm the king’s restless heart through Gong Yuexiu’s quiet, peaceful bearing.

Lü’s Commentary: A person like Gong Yuexiu seeks nothing for himself; no wonder he won the King of Chu’s trust. People’s hearts are connected, and this connection can be understood and influenced. Yijie thought he could not influence the king, but the people he associated with were already deeply immersed in wealth and status. Their mutual support would only wear away your virtue day by day, rather than help it grow.

This is like someone freezing in winter who hopes to ward off the cold with spring clothes, or someone suffering heatstroke in summer who longs for the cold wind of winter to cool him. Neither can obtain what is truly needed in this way. The King of Chu is severe and irritable. Without someone skilled at remonstrating, his proper course cannot be unsettled. You want me to go and remonstrate with him, but that is beyond my abilities. Only someone skilled at remonstrating can sway a ruler from his proper course; only someone of upright virtue can correct a ruler’s perversity. Yijie is skilled at remonstrating, while Gong Yuexiu is a man of upright virtue.

I am content in happiness and do not worry about poverty, so my family too forgets poverty. I honor the Dao and value De, and do not regard rank and stipends as an honor; the lords and princes will therefore set aside their lofty airs. Nurturing people’s hearts with peaceful virtue requires no deliberate words. Living alongside others, one influences them naturally, without recourse to power. Fathers and sons each returning to their proper place does not abandon human relationships. When everyone is content with their own role, no one is compelled to act in a way they will later regret. When people’s hearts reach this state, the entanglements between them are undone. Gong Yuexiu is such a person. He can be recommended to the King of Chu, who will surely trust his words. That is why it is said, “Wait for Gong Yuexiu.”

Yidu’s Commentary: Peng Yang, a native of Lu, had the courtesy name Zeyang. Yijie was from Chu; Wang Guo was a senior official of Chu; and Gong Yuexiu was a man living in seclusion. Yijie lacked virtue in accord with the Way of Heaven and possessed only worldly cleverness, so he could not claim distinction through the wondrous Dao. He was deeply immersed in wealth and status, which would be enough to wear away your virtue, not help it grow. This is like a freezing person hoping to ward off the cold with spring clothes, or someone suffering heatstroke longing for a cold wind to cool him. From this, we can see that seeking Wang Guo’s help is not the most pressing matter.

Moreover, the King of Chu was as formidable as a tiger. If he could not be guided with good words, then he had to be transformed through the proper Way. Though poor, the sage can take joy in his own contentment, so his family too forgets poverty. When he rises to prominence, he does not regard rank and emoluments as an honor, and can likewise lead the lords and princes to set aside the airs of those in high position. He treats people gently and gets along well with them, never setting out to lecture them, yet they are naturally influenced by his peaceful virtue. Living alongside others, he also influences them through his good conduct, so that everyone…

The father and son each returned to live in their own homes, kept to their proper roles, and devoted themselves to the Dao without acting recklessly. The Dao would then naturally take effect among people, so their way of life was far removed from that of ordinary people. Rather than do this, it would be better to leave the King of Chu and follow Yuexiu.

Bixu’s Commentary: Zeyang sought an audience with the King of Chu to pursue profit and rank. The king summoned a recluse in order to curb greed and the urge to compete. A person without De who nevertheless considers himself discerning, and who prizes ornamentation while rejecting simplicity, cannot regard himself as someone who has attained the Dao. Every gesture carries deception; mind and spirit become entangled and blocked. How much more so when desires and cravings are involved?

Helping someone who is freezing or suffering from heatstroke is within the scope of human action. Waiting for spring or winter to arrive, by contrast, is to follow the timing of Heaven. Wangguo followed the timing of Heaven alone and refused to take action to help; this was his failure to rescue Zeyang. Lao Laizi’s wife wove baskets, and Boluan’s wife earned a living pounding rice for others. Neither family minded their poverty. Marquis Wen of Wei honored Duan Ganmu, and Emperor Guangwu of Han associated with Yan Ziling. They could forget rank and salary and lower themselves to befriend worthy men, thereby changing people’s habit of placing too much value on status.

One who delights in living among all things can dwell among ordinary people without being stained by them. One who is in harmony with all things can rein in his sharpness without displaying it. Teaching through silence is as gentle as spring. Settling people’s hearts through the nameless, uncarved simplicity of the Dao allows them to change naturally. The transformation brought about by De follows its proper order, and people live securely in their own places. The Dao is inherently simple and requires no contrived action. Those who rush about eagerly in pursuit of salaries are far removed in their intentions from people who follow the Dao.

Luzhai’s Oral Commentary: “Spirit” is the natural nature inherent in each person. When people become absorbed in wealth and status and forget this nature, they refuse to acknowledge the natural spirit they possess. This way of acting leads people to influence one another and together embark on a path of self-depletion, which is why it is called “diminishing.” A person who is freezing feels as warm as spring when given clothing; someone suffering from heatstroke feels as cool as winter when given a breeze. In human relations, we should use what we have in abundance to make up for what others lack. Pengyang was eager to advance, which can be called a deficiency. To urge him to withdraw would be like having someone rinse away a burning-hot object from your hand, or being offered clothing when you are cold: each is a way of helping him.

The phrase “a cunning man rectifies De” means that only a true petty man can abase himself to flatter and serve princes and lords. When a ruler forgets his rank and lowers himself to honor worthy people, he turns status into humility. By probing the principles of things and taking joy in them, and by living among all things without obstruction, one can preserve one’s original nature. To bring understanding without speaking is like nourishing the heart with something exceedingly warm and gentle. People who stand and live alongside such a person are naturally transformed, and the stray thoughts in their hearts disperse.

The phrase “bi qi” comes from the Book of Songs. In the original, “bi qi zhi zi” means “that person.” Here the word order is reversed to express this meaning: if that person returns home to live, people of different ranks and generations will each find their proper place. The influence he exerts is unhurried and ample; it needs no force to propel it. At home and throughout the village, people can each live in harmony. This is precisely Yuexiu’s De…

Peng Yang and Xiang Yuan differed from each other so greatly.

The Chu family’s Guanjian says: Wang Guo held that Yijie was single-mindedly pursuing an official career and could not act as Gong Yuexiu did. Both men, however, were valued by the king of Chu. Now Zeyang made promotion and rank his ambition, so he asked Yijie to recommend him. Yijie lacked Virtue, though he was clever and calculating. He did not understand that only the spirit within—the inner spiritual state—is worthy of esteem; instead, he was dazzled by wealth and status. Such men cannot support one another through Virtue; they can only wear one another down. They are like clothes borrowed in spring, which cannot protect against winter’s cold, or like a wind blowing in winter, which cannot dispel the summer heat. To seek something by defying the right time and turning away from what is right brings no benefit in the end.

The spirit within delights in harmony and recoils from what is crooked. Human nature is originally good, and no one is incapable of reaching the state of the spirit. Only after truly experiencing it and firmly believing in it can one have confidence in oneself. Yijie’s eagerness to compete shows that he does not believe he can reach the spirit through Virtue. What is more, the king of Chu was harsh and tyrannical; only sycophants and people of upright Virtue could move him. Human conduct follows one of two paths, good or evil. Why not leave evil behind, turn toward the good, and follow Gong Yuexiu in his way of acting? Perhaps then one could endure. Thus, the text that follows, after speaking of the sages, goes on to praise Gong Yuexiu’s Virtue: he was able to transform the myriad things, and everything he did arose from Wuwei (non-action). To make someone drink the breath of harmony without saying a word, or to change someone simply by standing beside them—these are things a sage can do.

Sages understand how things are interwoven and entangled. They bring the myriad things into wholeness and unity, yet do not know how they do it. This is simply their nature. The myriad things each stir of themselves and each come forth of themselves, taking Heaven as their teacher; people call this process “destiny.” Sadly, people are burdened by knowledge, and what they do often cannot last long. Even if they wish to stop, how could they?

A person is born beautiful, but only knows it when someone holds up a mirror. If no one tells them, they do not know whether they seem beautiful to others. Whether they know or do not know, whether they have heard or not heard, people’s affection for them will never cease. The affection people feel for them has no end; this is simply their nature.

A sage cares for others, and others give him a name for it. If no one tells him, he does not know that the name comes from his care for everyone. Whether he knows or does not know, whether he has heard or not heard, his care for everyone never ceases. People find ease in his Virtue without end; this is simply his nature.

Guo Xiang’s commentary says: “The mysterious and profound reaches everywhere, with nothing beyond its scope; all is clear and open. Yet it does not know why things are as they are, but acts naturally. Is this not simply its nature? What stirs stirs of itself; what comes forth comes forth of itself. Nothing fails to return to its original destiny.”

The sage takes innate nature as his teacher. He does not act to seek fame or elevate his own conduct; he simply follows his nature, and his conduct naturally appears noble, so others cannot help but respect him. If one acts through cleverness and calculation, troubles will come one after another. The sage is like a mirror, reflecting all things without partiality, and so people praise him. Does a mirror reflect images because it knows how to mirror? It is called a mirror because it can reflect by nature.

If no one tells him, he may not know that others think him beautiful. It is like the sage, who is praised by everyone and thereby comes to be called “sage.” A mirror is cherished because it has no personal feelings: whether the other party knows or does not know, hears or does not hear, whatever comes before it is reflected, and so its reflecting never ceases. If the mirror had to wait until it heard or knew something before reflecting it, there would be times when it stopped. How could it continue reflecting for long what it did not naturally favor?

The sage loves people as a mirror reflects things. His actions benefit people, and so they call him loving. If no one tells him, he will not know that he loves people. He treats the people with equanimity, as though they were straw dogs—straw figures used in sacrificial rites and no longer valued once the rites are over. Yet his Dao accords with loving people, so this love does not cease. If he loved people only because he had heard or learned something, that love would eventually fade. Only love that arises from one’s nature can last.

Lü’s commentary says: People’s minds are often entangled in affairs and external things, and they do not know that all things are originally one. Only the sage understands this. Inwardly, he does not cling to “self”; outwardly, he does not regard all things as separate from himself. Things and self are joined as one, and the scope of his understanding naturally extends everywhere without omission. Yet he does not know why he is this way, because he is simply following his nature, not learning it from outside.

Returning to life’s root is called returning to the root. All things arise and change in ceaseless profusion. Even when the sage grows still and returns to the root, this does not hinder their activity. So he may speak all day as though he had never spoken, and act all day as though he had never acted. All of this is simply following what is natural. “Heaven” refers to what people cannot fully know through knowledge. How could I judge for myself that I am a sage? It is others who follow what they see in him and give him that name.

By not clinging to knowledge, one avoids the troubles that arise from it. People worry about what they know and act in haste, rushing ahead until they soon come to a stop. How could they reach a state like the sage’s? A person born beautiful learns that others see them as beautiful only when someone reflects this beauty back to them and tells them so. Whether they know or do not know, hear or do not hear, people’s love for them does not cease, because that love arises from their nature. The sage’s love for people is the same: only when others praise him and tell him does he know that he is regarded as loving. Whether he knows or does not know, hears or does not hear, his care for people never ceases, and people’s ease and trust in him do not cease either. All this comes from nature and is neither increased nor diminished by knowing or not knowing, hearing or not hearing.

Diminution.

Yidu’s Commentary: The sage escapes all constraints, penetrates the Great Dao, and blends completely with the myriad things, with no distinction between inner and outer. He does not know why things are as they are; they are simply so of themselves. This is their nature. Returning to one’s nature and abiding by one’s allotted destiny, whether stirring in stillness or acting in motion, means taking nature as one’s teacher. The sage does not deliberately seek fame, yet people throughout the world naturally give him a name.

When people worry that their understanding is not clear enough, they insist on putting their cleverness to use. But understanding always reaches its limits, so before long they stop whatever they are doing. How, then, can they penetrate the Great Dao?

A mirror has no feelings toward people, yet people like it because it can distinguish beauty from ugliness. When it knows, it seems not to know; when it hears, it seems not to hear. People delight in it and cherish it, and this affection seems endless. If the mirror, too, had awareness and hearing, and developed likes and dislikes as people do, its reflection could not endure for long, and people’s fondness for it could not be without end. The mirror is pleasing precisely because it has no feelings; people’s fondness for it, too, arises from their nature.

A mirror can show a person’s reflection, but it cannot speak. Unless someone tells it, it does not know how beautiful a reflection it has produced. The sage loves people without private feeling, and people give him a name. Unless someone tells him, he does not know that people praise him for caring for the people. If he loved people through hearing and awareness, that love would eventually come to an end. People accept the sage’s benevolence with ease; this feeling, too, arises from their nature and never ceases.

Bixu’s Commentary: The sage understands how all things are interwoven and bring one another into being, and does not cling to any one thing. He is all-embracing and perfectly integrated, with the myriad things united with himself. To cling to knowing why things are as they are is to move away from one’s nature. Stillness and motion differ, yet both take nature as their teacher. The sage does not seek fame. People experience his transformative influence and, following its course, give him a name.

Human life is limited, yet people worry about knowledge without limit, and soon want to stop; still, they do not know what to do. When someone is beautiful, others use a mirror to show them their reflection, so they can see how beautiful they appear to others. Whether they know or do not know, hear or do not hear, how could the delight inspired by beauty ever change? People’s fondness for beauty never ceases; this is their nature. The sage’s love for people has no end, and people’s willing acceptance of his benevolence has no end either. This, too, arises from their nature.

Yanzhai’s Oral Commentary: “Intertwined and bound together” refers to Yin-Yang moving back and forth, depending on one another without ceasing. The sage understands the transformations of Yin-Yang and the principles of creation, investigates both the subtle and the manifest, grasps the mystery of the myriad things as one, and follows nature without knowing why things are as they are. He lets the workings, arising, and transformations of things take their course… [The original ends here.]

In the end, everything returns to Heaven’s mandate and takes nature as its foundation. Why worry that one’s wisdom is insufficient?

People use their individual intelligence to generate all kinds of worries and schemes, yet how many of these truly come to pass as hoped? What people undertake rarely unfolds entirely according to plan. If one is always bent on making things happen, acting without pause, and using strategy to force an outcome, what can this do against Heaven’s mandate? Things naturally come to a stop when the time is right. What can one do about that?

The “time” spoken of here can also be understood as “destiny.” The roots of worry mostly lie in the discriminating mind. If you know that there are things you do not know, you will not worry. Beauty often appears only in contrast with ugliness; if no one told you what ugliness was, you would not know what beauty was. The distinction between beauty and ugliness is precisely where worry begins. If you do not recognize or hear about the benefits that come from making such distinctions, worry will not continue without end. Forget the distinction between beauty and ugliness, and hold no preference for one thing over another: even if others admire me, their admiration will endure. This is the principle of nature, and so it is called “nature”—one’s inborn nature.

The entanglements and constraints of the world keep people from being free. They arise from the “self” in the heart, which sets oneself against external things. Only the sage can use the Dao to connect all things, fully grasp their principles, and bring them together as one, without deliberately probing why they are as they are. The sage meets all things through their own nature and does not develop preferences by distinguishing “self” from “things.” In that case, what difference is there between one and another?

Thus, even in stillness and Wuwei, actions may still take place; from this we can see that action, too, remains within the principle of returning to Heaven’s mandate. Movement and stillness are each the source of the other, and the changes of Yin-Yang never come to a complete end. All this takes nature as its teacher. It does not arise from deliberate arrangement, yet there is a principle that governs it.

When someone reaches a state of expansive Virtue and unhindered transformation, people call that person a “sage.” The sage does not claim to be wise. This is what is meant by “great Virtue must receive its name.” People are always anxious that their wisdom is insufficient, yet what they do often fails to come to fruition. If they still hope to win a name through their wisdom, rushing about day and night without pause, what can they do?

A mirror offers an example. A person sees that they are beautiful by looking in a mirror; without someone telling them, they may not realize that the mirror is always reflecting them. Their fondness for the mirror will endure. The sage cares for the people, and the people praise the sage for it: the principle is the same. The sage’s care for people and efforts to bring them peace do not cease. All of this arises naturally from one’s inborn nature, with each thing resting in its proper place.