Selections from the Writings of Kwang Tzu

#Note# Kwang Tzu (sometimes written Chuang Tzu or Kwang Tze) was a writer of Taoist philosophy who lived around B.C 300. He was a native of the territory of Mang and an officer in the city of Khi-Yuang. This selection of Kwang Tzu's works (or those attributed to him at any rate) is taken from the 1891 translation by James Legge . The texts which appear in this article were selected by Frater Hoath.

The Philosopher and his Wife.
When Kwang Tzu's wife died, Hui Tzu went to condole with him, and, finding him squatted on the ground, drumming on the basin, and singing, said to him, 'When a wife has lived with her husband, and brought up children, and then dies in her old age, not to wail for her is enough. When you go on to drum on this basin and sing, is it not an excessive (and strange) demonstration?' Kwang Tzu replied, 'It is not so. When she first died, was it possible for me to be singular and not effected by the event? But I reflected on the commencement of her being. She had not yet been born to life; not only had she no life, but she had no bodily form; not only had she no bodily form, but she had no breath. During the intermingling of the waste and dark chaos, there ensued a change, and there was breath; another change, and there was the bodily form; another change, and there came birth and life. There is now a change again and she is dead. The relation between these things is like the procession of the four seasons from spring to autumn, from winter to summer. There now she lies with here face up, sleeping in the Great Chamber; and if I were to fall sobbing and going to wail for her, I should think that I did not understand what was appointed (for all). I therefore restrained myself!'

Mr Deformed and Mr One-foot.
Mr Deformed and Mr One-foot were looking at the mound-graves of the departed in the wild of Khwan-lun, where Hwang-Ti had entered into his rest. Suddenly a tumour began to grow on their left wrists, which made them look distressed as if they disliked it. The former said to the other, 'Do you dread it?' 'No' replied he, 'why should I dread it? Life is a borrowed thing. The living frame thus borrowed is but so much dust. Life and death are like day and night. And you and I were looking at (the graves of) those who have undergone their change. If my change is coming to me, why should I dislike it?'

King Hsuan's Fighting Cock
Ki Hsing-tzu was rearing a fighting-cock for the king. Being asked after ten days if the bird were ready, he said, 'Not yet; he is still vain and quarrelsome, and relies on his own vigour.' Being asked the same after another ten days, he said 'Not yet; he still responds to the crow and the appearance of another bird.' After ten days more, he replied, 'Not yet. He still looks angrily, and is full of spirit.' When a fourth ten days had passed, he replied to the question, 'Nearly so. Though another cock crows, it makes no change in him. To look at him, you would say that he was a cock of wood. His quality is complete. No other cock will dare to meet him, but will run from him.'

Perfect Enjoyment.
Under the sky is perfect enjoyment to be found or not? Are there any who can preserve themselves alive or not? If there be, what do they do? What do they maintain? What do they avoid? What do they attend to? Where do they resort to? Where do they keep from? What do they delight in? What do they dislike?
What the world honours is riches, dignities, longevity, and being deemed able. What it delights in is rest for the body, rich flavours, fine garments, beautiful colours, and pleasant music. What it looks down on are poverty and mean condition, short life and being deemed feeble. What men consider bitter experiences are that their bodies do not get rest and ease, that their mouths do not get food of rich flavour, that their persons are not finely clothed, that their eyes do not see beautiful colours, and that their ears do not listen to pleasant music. If they do not get these things, they are very sorrowful, and go on to be troubled with fears. Their thoughts are all about the body; - are they not silly?
Now the rich embitter their lives by their incessant labours; they accumulate more wealth than they can use: - while they act thus for the body, they make it external to themselves. Those who seek for honours carry their pursuit of them from they day into the night, full of anxiety about their methods whether they are skilful or not: - while they act thus for the body they treat it as if it were indifferent to them. The birth of man is at the same time the birth of his sorrow; and if he live long he becomes more and more stupid, and the longer is his anxiety that he may not die; how great is his bitterness! - while he thus acts for his body, it is for a distant result. Meritorious officers are regarded by the world as good; but (their goodness) is not sufficient to keep persons alive. I do not know whether the goodness ascribed to them be really good or really not good. If indeed it be considered good, it is not sufficient to preserve their persons alive; if it be deemed not good, it is sufficient to preserve other men alive. Hence it is said, 'When faithful remonstrances are not listened to, (the remonstrant) should sit still, let (his ruler) take his course, and not strive with him.' Therefore when Tze-hsu strove with his ruler, he brought on himself the mutilation of his body. If he had not so striven, he would not have acquired his fame: - was such (goodness) really good or was it not?
As to what the common people now do, and what they find their enjoyment in, I do not know whether the enjoyment be really enjoyment or really not. I see them in their pursuit of it following after all their aims as if with the determination of death, and as if they could not stop in their course; but what they call enjoyment would not be so to me, while yet I do not say that there is no enjoyment in it. Is there indeed such enjoyment, or is there not? I consider doing nothing (to obtain it) to be the great enjoyment, while ordinary people consider it to be a great evil. Hence it is said, 'Perfect enjoyment is to be without enjoyment; the highest praise is to be without praise.' The right and the wrong (on this point of enjoyment) cannot indeed be determined according to (the view of) the world; nevertheless, this doing nothing (to obtain it) may determine the right and the wrong. Since perfect enjoyment is held to be the keeping of the body alive, it is only by doing nothing that that end is likely to be secured. Allow me to try and explain this (more fully): - Heaven does nothing, and thence comes its serenity; Earth does nothing, and thence comes its rest. By the union of these two inactivates, all things are produced. How vast and imperceptible is the process! - they seem to come from nowhere! How imperceptible and vast! - there is no visible image of it! All things in all their variety grow from this inaction. Hence it is said, 'Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do.' But what man is there that can attain to this inaction?

The Full Understanding of Life.
He who understands the conditions of Life does not strive after what is of no use to his life; and he who understands the conditions of Destiny does not strive after what is beyond the reach of knowledge. In nourishing the body it is necessary to have before hand the things (appropriate to its support); but there are such cases where there is a super abundance of such things, and yet the body is not nourished. In order to have life it is necessary that it do not have left the body; but there are cases when the body has not been left by it, and yet the life has perished.
When life comes, it cannot be declined. Alas! The men of the world think that to nourish the body is sufficient to preserve the life, what can be done in the world that will be sufficient? Though (all that men can do) will be insufficient, yet there are things which they feel they ought to do, and that they do not try to avoid doing them. For those who wish to avoid caring for the body, their best pan is to abandon the world. Abandoning the world, they are free from its entanglements. Free from its entanglements, their (minds) are correct and their (temperament) is equable. Thus correct and equable, they succeed in securing a renewal of life, they are not far from the True (secret of their being). But how is it sufficient to forget the (business of) life? Through the renouncing of (worldly) affairs, the body has no more toil; through forgetting the (business of) life, the vital power suffers no diminution. When the body is completed and the vital power is restored (to its original vigour), the man is one with Heaven. Heaven and Earth are the father and mother of all things. It is by their union that the body is formed; it is by their separation that a (new) beginning is brought about. When the body and vital power suffer no diminution, we have what may be called the transference of power. From the vital force there comes another more vital, and man returns to be the assistant of Heaven.

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Last updated on the 13.March.99