Useful and Useless

One day, Chuang Tzu and his friend Hui Tzu were having a discussion about the Tao. At one point, in disagreeing with Chuang Tzu, Hui Tzu said: “Suppose I have this big tree called the Shu tree. Its trunk is all twisted lumps and knotty bumps; its branches are all bent and crooked. It has no straight runs anywhere that can be used as timber, so carpenters and builders pass by without a second look. What you are talking about now is just like that tree—ideas that are big but useless. That’s why people ignore you.”

Sensing the challenge in his friend’s words, Chuang Tzu smiled. “Hui Tzu, have you seen wildcats and foxes? They are certainly not big, and they seem quite useful as they jump this way and that. They may move around with great speed and agility, but then they fall into a trap and die in the hunter’s net. Compare them to the bison, this huge animal with a body that seems as big as a cloud in the sky. It cannot catch mice like cats can, but its strength is far beyond anything smaller creatures can muster.

“This big Shu tree is no different. You consider it useless, but think about what happens when you plant such a tree in an empty field. Everyone will come to enjoy its shade and rest freely under its shelter. As you have pointed out, no one will ever chop it down, so it will always be around. It is precisely because it is useless that it will never be harmed. In other words, its uselessness turns out to be its greatest usefulness!”