Deformities, or Evidence of a Full Character
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Iate of Lu there was a man, named Wang Tai, who had had one of his legs cut off. His disciples were as numerous as those of fucius. g Chi asked fucius, saying, "This Wang Tai has been mutilated, yet he has as many followers in the Lu State as you. He her stands up to preaor sits down to give discourse; yet those who go to him empty, depart full. Is he the kind of person who teach without words and influence peoples minds without material means? What manner of man is this?""He is a sage," replied fucius, "I wao go to him, but am merely behind the others. Even I will go and make him my teacher, -- why not those who are lesser than I? And I will lead, not only the State of Lu, but the whole world to follow him."
"The man has been mutilated," said g Chi, "a people call him Master. He must be very different from the ordinary men. If so, ho<big></big>w does he train his mind?"
"Life ah are indeed ges of great moment," answered fucius, "but they ot affect his mind. Heaven ah may collapse, but his mind will remain. Being indeed without flaw, it will not share the fate of all things. It trol the transformation of things, while preserving its sourtact."
"How so?" asked g Chi. "From the point of view of differentiation of things," replied fucius, "we distinguish between the liver and the gall, between the Chu State and the Yueh State. From the point of view of their sameness, all things are One. He whards things in this light does not even trouble about what reaches him through the senses of hearing and sight, but lets his mind wander in the moral harmony of things. He beholds the unity in things, and does not notice the loss of particular objects. And thus the loss of his leg is to him as would be the loss of so much dirt."
"But he cultivates only himself," said g Chi. "He uses his knowledge to perfect his mind, and develops his mind into the Absolute Mind. But how is it that people flock around him?"
"A man," replied fucius, "does not seek to see himself in running water, but in still water. For only what is itself still instill stillness into others. The grace of earth has reached only the pines and cedars; winter and summer alike, they are green. The grace of God has reached to Yao and to Shun, who aloained rectitude. Happily he was able to rectify himself and thus bee the means through which all were rectified. For the possession of ones inal (nature) is evidenced in true ce.
A man will, single-handed, brave a whole army. And if such a result be achieved by one in search of fame through self trol, how much greater ce? be shown by one who extends his sway over heaven ah and gives shelter to all things, who, lodging temporarily within the fines of a body with pt for the superficialities of sight and sound, brings his knowledge to level all knowledge and whose mind never dies! Besides, he (Wang Tai) is only awaiting his appointed hour to go up to Heaven. Men indeed flo of their own accord. How he take seriously the affairs of this world?"
Shentu Chia had only one leg. He studied under Pohun Wujen (Muddle-Head No-Such-Person") together with Tse {24} of the g State. The latter said to him, "When I leave first, do you remain behind. When you leave first, I will remain behind." day, when they were again together sitting on the same mat in the lecture-room, Tse said, "When I leave first, do you remain behind. Or if you leave first, I will remain behind. I am now about to go. Will you remain or not? I notice you show no respect to a high personage. Perhaps you think yourself my equal?"
"In the house of the Master," replied Shentu Chia, "there is already a high persohe Master). Perhaps you think that you are the high personage and therefore should take prece over the rest. Now I have heard that if a mirror is perfectly bright, dust will not colle it, and that if it does, the mirror is no longer bright. He who associates for long with the wise should be without fault. Now you have been seeking the greater things at the feet of our Master, yet you utter words like these. Dont you think you are making a mistake?"
"You are already mutilated like this." retorted Tse, "yet you are still seeking to pete in virtue with Yao. To look at you, I should say you had enough to do to refle your past misdeeds!"
"Those who cover up their sins," said Shentu Chia, "so as not to lose their legs, are many in hose whet to cover up their misdemeanors and so lose their legs (through punishment)<var>..</var> are few. But only the virtuous man reize the iable and remain unmoved. People who walked in front of the bulls-eye when Hou Yi (the famous archer) was shooting, would be hit. Some who were not hit were just lucky. There are many people with sound legs who laugh at me for not having them. This used to make me angry. But since I came to study under our Master, I have stopped w about it. Perhaps our Master has so far succeeded in washing (purifying) me with his goodness. At any rate, I have been with him een years without being aware of my deformity. Now you and I are roaming in the realm of the spiritual, and you are judging me in the realm of the physical. {25} Are you not itting a mistake?" At this Tse began to fidget and his tenance ged, and he bade Shentu Chia to speak no more.
There was a man of the Lu State who had been mutilated, by the name of Shushan No-toes. He came walking on his heels to see fucius; but fucius said, "You were careless, and sht this misfortune upon yourself. What is the use of ing to me now?" "It was because I was inexperienced and careless with my body that I hurt my feet," replied No-toes. "Now I have e with something more precious tha, and it is that which I am seeking to preserve. There is no man, but Heaveers him; and there is no man, but the Earth supports him. I thought that you, Master, would be like Heaven ah. I little expected to hear these words from you."
"Pardon my stupidity," said fucius. "Why not e in? I shall discuss with you what I have learned." But No-toes left. When No-toes had left, fucius said to his disciples, "Take a good lesson. No-toes is one-legged, yet he is seeking to learn in order to make ato for his previous misdeeds. How much more should those who have no misdeeds for which to atone?"
No-toes went off to see Lao Tan (Laotse) and said, "Is fucius a Perfee or is he not quite? How is it that he is so anxious to learn from you? He is seeking to earn a reputation by his abstruse and strange learning, which is regarded by the Perfee as mere fetters."
"Why do you not make him regard life ah, and possibility and impossibility as alternations of one and the same principle," answered Lao Tan, "and so release him from these fetters?"
"It is God who has thus punished him," replied No-toes. "How could he be released?"
Duke Ai of the Lu State said to fucius, "In the Wei State there is an ugly person, named Aitai (Ugly) To. The men who have lived with him ot stop thinking about him. Women who have seen him, would say to their parents, Rather than be another mans wife, I would be this mans e. There are scores of suen. He ries to lead others, but only follows them. He wields no power of a ruler by which he may protect mens lives. He has no hoarded wealth by which to gratify their bellies, and is besides frightfully loathsome. He follows but does not lead, and his name is not known outside his own State. Yet men and women alike all seek his pany. So there must be some thing in him that is different from other people. I sent for him, and saw that he was indeed frightfully ugly. Yet we had not been many months together before I began to see there was something in this man. A year had not passed before I began to trust him. As my State wanted a Prime Minister, I offered him the post. He looked sullenly before he replied and appeared as if he would much rather have deed. Perhaps he did not think me good enough for him! At any rate, I gave the post to him; but in a very short time he left me a away. I grieved for him as for a lost friend, as though there were no with whom I could enjoy having my kingdom. What manner of man is this?"
"When I was on a mission to the Chu State," replied fucius, "I saw a litter of young pigs sug their dead mother. After a while they looked at her, and then all left the body a off. For their mother did not look at them any more, nor did she seem any more to have been of their kind. What they loved was their mother; not the body which tained her, but that which made the body what it was. Wh<s>９９lｉb?</s>en a man is killed in battle, his coffin is not covered with a square opy. A man whose leg has been cut off does not value a present of shoes. In each case, the inal purpose of such things is gohe es of the Son of Heaven do not cut their nails or pierce their ears. Those (servants) who are married have to live outside (the palace) and ot be employed again. Such is the importaached to preserving the body whole. How much more valued is one who has preserved his virtue whole? "Now Ugly To has said nothing and is already trusted. He has achieved nothing and is sought after, and is offered the gover of a try with the only fear that he might dee. Indeed he must be the one whose talents are perfed whose virtue is without outward form!"
What do you mean by his talents being perfect?" asked the Duke. Life ah, replied fucius, "possession and loss, success and failure, poverty ah, virtue and vice, good and evil report hunger and thirst, heat and cold -- these are ges of things iural course of events. Day and night they follow upon one another, and no man say where they spring from. Therefore they must not be allowed to disturb the natural harmony, er into the souls domain. One should live so that one is at ease and in harmony with the world, without loss of happiness, and by day and by night, share the (peace of) spring with the created things. Thus tinuously one creates the seasons in ones ow. Such a person may be said to have perfect talents."
"And what is virtue without outward form?"
"When standing still," said fucius, "the water is in the most perfect state of repose. Let that be your model. It remains quietly within, and is not agitated without. It is from the cultivation of such harmony that virtue results. And if virtue takes no outward form, man will not be able to keep aloof from it."
Some days afterwards Duke Ai told Mintse saying, "When first I took over the reins of gover, I thought that in guiding the people and g for their lives, I had done all my duty as a ruler. But now that I have heard the words of a perfect man, I fear that I have not achieved it, but am foolishly squandering my bodily energy and bringing ruin to my try. fucius and <var>..</var>I are not prind minister, but friends in spirit.
Hunchback-Deformed-No-Lips spoke with Duke Ling of Wei and the Duke took a fan. As for the well- formed mehought their necks were toy. Big-Jar-Goiter spoke with Duke Huan of Chi, and the Duke took a fan. As for the well-formed mehought their necks were toy. Thus it is that when virtue excels, the outward form is fotten. But mankind fets not that which is to be fotten, fetting that which is not to be fotten. This is fetfulness indeed!
And thus the Sage sets his spirit free, while knowledge is regarded as extraneous growths - agreements are for tiionships, goods are only for social dealings, and the handicrafts are only for serving erce. For the Sage does not trive, and therefore has no use for knowledge; he does not cut up the world, and therefore requires ing of relationships; he has no loss, and therefore has o acquire; he sells nothing, and therefore has no use for erce. These four qualifications are bestowed upon him by God, that is to say, he is fed by God. And he who is thus fed by God has little o be fed by man.
He wears the human form without human passions. Because he wears the human form he associates with men. Because he has not human passions the questions ht and wrong do not touch him. Infinitesimal indeed is that which belongs to the human; infinitely great is that which is pleted in God.
Hueitse said to gtse, "Do men indeed inally have no passions?"
"Certainly," replied gtse.
"But if a man has no passions," argued Hueitse, "what is it that makes him a man?"
"Tao," replied gtse, "gives him his expressions, and God gives him his form. How should he not be a man?"
"If then he is a man," said Hueitse, "how he be without passions?"
&quht and wrong (approval and disapproval)," answered gtse, "are what I mean by passions. By a man without passions I mean one who does not permit likes and dislikes to disturb his internal ey, but rather falls in lih nature and does not try to improve upon (the materials of) living."
"But how is a man to live this bodily life," asked Hueitse.
"He does not try to improve upon (the materials of) his living?"
"Tao gives him his expression," said gtse, "and God gives him his form. He should not permit likes and dislikes to disturb his internal ey. But now you are devoting your intelligeo externals, and wearing out your vital spirit. Lean against a tree and sing; or sit against a table and sleep! God has made you a shapely sight, yet your only thought is the hard and white." {26}
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