逍遙遊

In the northern darkness there is a fish called Kun. The Kun is so vast that no one knows how many thousands of li it measures. It transforms into a bird called Peng. The Peng's back is so vast that no one knows how many thousands of li it stretches. When it rouses itself and flies, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. This bird, when the sea churns, sets off for the southern darkness — the southern darkness, which is the Pool of Heaven.

The Qixie is a record of wonders. The Qixie says: 'When the Peng sets off for the southern darkness, it beats the water for three thousand li, then spirals upward on a whirlwind to a height of ninety thousand li, riding the winds of the sixth month.' Shimmering heat-haze, swirling dust, the breath of living things blowing against one another — is the blue of the sky its true color? Or is it simply that the sky is so far away that it has no limit? When the Peng looks down, it sees the same thing.

Now if the water is not deep enough, it will not have the strength to bear a great boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the floor, and a mustard seed will serve as a boat; but place the cup there and it sticks fast — the water is too shallow and the boat too large. If the wind is not strong enough, it will not have the strength to bear great wings. Therefore at ninety thousand li, the wind is all beneath the Peng, and only then does it mount the wind. With the blue sky at its back and nothing to obstruct it, only then does it set its course for the south.

The cicada and the young dove laugh at the Peng, saying: 'We spring up with a burst and fly toward the elm or sandalwood tree, and sometimes we don't even make it and just tumble to the ground. What's the use of going ninety thousand li to the south?' If you're going to the nearby countryside, you can bring enough food for three meals and come back with your belly still full. If you're going a hundred li, you must grind grain the night before. If you're going a thousand li, you must lay in provisions for three months. What do these two little creatures know!

Small knowledge cannot match great knowledge; a short life cannot match a long life. How do we know this is so? The morning mushroom does not know the waxing and waning of the moon; the summer cicada does not know spring and autumn — these are short-lived. South of Chu there is a tree called the Dark Spirit, for which five hundred years is a single spring and five hundred years a single autumn. In high antiquity there was a great cedar, for which eight thousand years was a single spring and eight thousand years a single autumn. Yet Pengzu alone is famous today for his longevity, and everyone tries to match him — is this not pitiful!

Tang's questions to Ji tell us the same thing. In the far north, where the land is barren, there lies the Dark Sea — the Pool of Heaven. There is a fish there, thousands of li across, and no one knows how long it is; its name is Kun. There is a bird there called Peng; its back is like Mount Tai, its wings like clouds hanging from the sky. It spirals upward on a whirlwind to ninety thousand li, breaks through the clouds, carries the blue sky on its back, and only then does it head south toward the southern darkness.

The marsh quail laughs at the Peng, saying: 'Where does it think it's going? I spring up with a bound and come down after a few dozen feet, fluttering among the bushes and brambles — this is the perfection of flight! Where does it think it's going?' This is the debate between the great and the small.

So those whose wisdom can fill one office, whose conduct can win over one district, whose virtue can please one ruler, whose ability can impress one state — they see themselves just as the marsh quail sees itself. Song Rongzi would laugh at such people. If the whole world praised him, he would not be encouraged; if the whole world condemned him, he would not be discouraged. He had fixed the boundary between inner and outer, distinguished the borderline of honor and disgrace — and that was all. He was not anxious about the world. Even so, there was something he had not yet established.

Liezi could ride the wind and travel with wonderful ease, returning after fifteen days. He was not anxious about acquiring blessings. Yet although he could dispense with walking, he still had something he depended on.

But suppose one were to mount upon the truth of heaven and earth, ride the changes of the six energies, and wander through the limitless — what would such a person need to depend on? Therefore it is said: the utmost person has no self, the spirit person has no achievement, the sage has no name.

Yao offered the empire to Xu You, saying: 'When the sun and moon have risen, if you still keep torches burning, would not their light be hard-pressed? When the seasonal rains have fallen, if you still go on irrigating the fields, would not your labor be wasted? If you were to take your place, the empire would be well ordered, yet I still occupy the position — I see myself as lacking. Please take the empire.' Xu You said: 'You govern the empire, and the empire is already well governed. If I were to replace you, would I do it for the name? Name is merely the guest of reality — shall I become a guest? The wren nests in the deep forest, but uses only one branch. The mole drinks from the river, but takes only a bellyful. Go home and rest, my lord — I have no use for the empire! Though the cook may not tend his kitchen, the priest and the impersonator of the dead do not leap over the wine vessels and sacrificial stands to take his place.'

Jian Wu said to Lian Shu: 'I heard Jieyu's words — grand but without substance, going on and on without return. I was frightened by his talk — boundless as the Milky Way, wildly extravagant, not close to human experience.' Lian Shu said: 'What did he say?' 'He said that on distant Guye Mountain there lives a spirit person. Her skin is like ice and snow, her grace like that of a young maiden. She does not eat the five grains but sucks the wind and drinks the dew. She mounts the clouds, rides flying dragons, and wanders beyond the four seas. By concentrating her spirit, she can protect creatures from plague and ensure the ripening of the harvest.' I took this for madness and did not believe it.' Lian Shu said: 'Of course! The blind cannot appreciate patterns and colors; the deaf cannot appreciate bells and drums. But is it only the body that can be blind and deaf? Understanding too can be so. These words apply to you. This person, with such virtue, will merge all things into one. The world begs for order, but who would wear themselves out making the empire their business? Nothing can harm this person — a flood that reaches the sky cannot drown her, a drought so fierce that metals and stones melt and hills and fields scorch cannot burn her. From her very dust and chaff you could mold a Yao or a Shun — why would she bother with mere things!'

Huizi said to Zhuangzi: 'The King of Wei gave me the seeds of a great gourd. I planted them, and when they matured the fruit was large enough to hold five bushels. I tried to use it for holding water, but it was too heavy to lift. I cut it in half to make ladles, but they were so large and flat there was nothing they could scoop. It was not that the gourd wasn't impressively big — I just smashed it because it was useless.' Zhuangzi said: 'You are certainly clumsy when it comes to using big things! There was a man of Song who was skilled at making a salve to prevent chapped hands. For generations his family had made their living bleaching silk. A traveler heard of it and offered to buy the formula for a hundred pieces of gold. The clan gathered to discuss it and said: "For generations we have bleached silk and never earned more than a few pieces of gold. Now in one morning we can sell the technique for a hundred — let us give it to him." The traveler got it and used it to persuade the King of Wu. When the state of Yue caused trouble, the King of Wu put the traveler in command of his fleet. In the winter, they fought a naval battle with Yue and routed them utterly. The traveler was enfeoffed with a grant of land. The ability to prevent chapped hands was the same in both cases — but one man used it to win an enfeoffment, while the other could never get beyond bleaching silk. The difference lay in how it was used. Now you have a gourd large enough to hold five bushels — why didn't you think of tying it to your waist as a great buoy and floating through the rivers and lakes, instead of worrying that it was too flat and big for a ladle? Your mind, sir, is still full of tangled weeds!'

Huizi said to Zhuangzi: 'I have a great tree — people call it the ailanthus. Its trunk is so gnarled and knotted that no carpenter's line can be applied to it. Its branches are so bent and twisted that no square or compass can measure them. It stands by the road, and no carpenter gives it a second look. Your words are just like that — big and useless, rejected by everyone.' Zhuangzi said: 'Have you never seen a wildcat or a weasel? It crouches low and waits, then leaps this way and that, high and low, until it lands in a trap or dies in a net. But the yak is as huge as a cloud hanging from the sky — it certainly knows how to be big, yet it cannot catch mice. Now you have this great tree, and you worry that it is useless. Why not plant it in the village of Nothing Whatsoever, in the wilds of the Boundless, and wander in effortless action by its side, or lie down to sleep beneath it in free and easy wandering? It will never fall to the axe, and nothing will ever harm it. If there is no use for it, how can it come to grief?'