1 THE WAY AND THE GENTLEMAN
The Master said:
‘The Way is the shelterer and sustainer of the myriad things. Vast, vast is its greatness! The gentleman has no choice but to scrape out everything in his heart for it.
‘It is the doer of it by Doing Nothing that we call “Heaven”, the teller of it by Doing Nothing that we call “Power”. It is loving other men and benefiting other things that we call “Goodwill”, bringing all dissimilars within the scope of the similar that we call “Greatness”, acting without compartmentalising that we call “Flexibility”, having the myriad dissimilars in oneself that we call “Wealth”.
‘Therefore it is having a grip on the Power that we mean by “being in control”, the maturation of the Power that we mean by “getting a footing”, accord with the Way that we mean by “having everything at one’s disposal”, refusal to let other things blunt one’s intent that we mean by being “unharmed”.
‘If the gentleman has a clear vision of these ten, then overwhelming is the greatness of his heart as he puts it to work, torrential is its flow on behalf of the myriad things.
‘Such a man as that
Stores his gold in the mountain,
Sinks his pearls in the deep,
Neither treasures goods and chattels
Nor courts the rich and noble,
Is neither glad to live long
Nor sorry to die young,
Neither glorifies success,
Nor vilifies failure.
He will not reserve what would benefit the world
as a private portion for himself.
He will not think of the kingship of the empire
as an illustrious position for himself.
For him the myriad things are a single storehouse,
Life and death the same state. ‘
(Chuang-tzŭ, chapter 12)
2 THE WAY AND KINGLY POWER
The Master said:
‘The Way, in what profundity it dwells! How translucent is its purity! If metal and stone failed to get it, they would have no means to ring, and that is why
Though there’s sound in metal and stone,
Unless they are struck they will not ring.
‘The myriad things, who can fix them in their places? The man of Kingly Power flows on in simplicity and does not deign to be too thoroughly conversant with affairs, sets them up firm at their root and source and knows how to be thoroughly conversant with the daemonic; hence the Power in him ranges wide. Whatever comes forth from his heart, some other thing brought on itself.
So the body without the Way would not be living,
The living without the Way is not illumined.
Whoever by preserving the body lasts out his span of life, and by making Power stand firm is illumined about the Way, is he not one of Kingly Power?
‘So mighty! In a moment it comes forth, in an instant he is moved, and the myriad things follow him! Such a one we call the man of Kingly Power. He goes on gazing into the darkness, listening to the noiseless; within the darkness he alone sees the dawning, within the noiseless he alone hears the harmony. Hence he is able to be the thing in the deepest of the deep, the quintessence in the most daemonic of the daemonic. Therefore in his dealings with the myriad things, from utmost nothingness he supplies their needs, as he gallops with the times he is at the crux within reach of all their one-night stops. The big and the small, the long and the short, he has provision for each of them.’ (Chuang-tzŭ, chapter 12)
3 THE WAY AND THE UTMOST MAN
The Master said:
‘As for the Way, throughout the greatest it never comes to an end, within the smallest is never left out; by it one has all the myriad things at one’s disposal. So wide, wide, that it has room for everything, so profound that it is immeasurable! Punishment and bounty, Goodwill and Duty, are the outermost twigs from the daemonic; who but the Utmost Man can fix them in their places?
‘For the Utmost Man, to be possessor of the whole world is a great thing indeed, but not enough to become a tie to him. Everyone in the empire is eager to grasp the handles, but he refuses to compete; he remains aware of the Flawless and does not shift position with the profitable, he is at the apex of the genuine in things, and is able to abide at the root of them.
‘Therefore he puts heaven and earth outside him, leaves the myriad things behind, and the daemonic in him is never pent in anywhere.
He has access throughout the Way,
Remains joined to the Power,
Retires Goodwill and Duty from their offices,
Has no more use for Rites and Music.
The heart of the Utmost Man has a place where it is fixed.’ (Chuang-tzŭ, chapter 13)