Texts of Kuo Hsiang

1. The flow of nature is melodic: both inevitable and spontaneous.

2. If by true we mean undistorted, then the true man is simple, though he may be able to do many things. If beauty is truth, than the dragon and phoenix are the most beautiful things because they are the most fiercely themselves.

3. Some people try incredibly hard to be great artists. But great artists become artists without even knowing how. Some people try hard to be wise. But wise people become wise without trying. We can't even become fools or dogs by trying.

4. If you can find simplicity within yourself, you will be at ease no matter where you go and no matter what befalls you. Even death can be faced calmly, as can flood or fire. The sage is not beset by calamities, not because nothing bad ever happens to him, but because he knows what he is and moves forward easily.

5. Keep climbing long enough, and you'll reach the bottom. Keep walking and walking, and you'll end up where you started.

6. Man and nature are not separate, and they are certainly not opposed. The idea that man can conquer nature, or that nature can conquer man, is itself destructive. The sage is everything, everywhere. He unifies his self with the world, or rather realizes the unity that already exists.

7. The Tao makes things possible by leaving them be. It does not make the gods divine, but they are divine. It makes them divine by not making them divine. It does not produce the world; the world produces itself. The Tao makes things happen by not making them happen.

8. The Tao is at the zenith, but it isn't high. It's at the bottom, but it isn't low. It has been around since ancient times, but it isn't old. It's everywhere, but everywhere it isn't anywhere.

9. Nothing makes nature what it is. Nothing owns nature or possesses anything. Nature is not a hierarchy in which some things obey other things. Each thing is what it is. That is the Way.

10. Speech is music. Really, talking is just making some noise. Go ahead.

11. Obviously, Mount T'ai is larger than a hair. But they are both what they are, and so the mountain is not too big and the hair is not too small. The hair isn't sitting there thinking "I'm too small," and the mountain isn't thinking "I'm too big." If whatever is sufficient is big enough, then a hair is as big as a mountain. If what is sufficient is not big enough, then a mountain is as small as a hair. If Mount T'ai is small, nothing in this world is big, and if a hair is big, nothing in this world is small.

12. A short life and a long life are both perfectly sufficient to themselves: they last exactly as long as they last. The quail's glory is as glorious as a god's. If I can be satisfied with what I am and satisfied with my destiny, all things will be at ease with me and I with all things.

13. Each thing emerges in a situation. Big things emerge in big situations such as the world. You can't stop or change that, so don't worry about it.

14. The flight of a huge bird may take half a year, while a little bird's journey lasts half a morning as he flits from tree to tree. They have different capacities, but they both enact what they are perfectly.

15. The huge bird and the little bird have different goals, but they are not conscious of pursuing them. They're naturally different and there is no decent explanation of why. That's what Chuang Tzu means by roaming or freedom. Each thing has its own necessity and each thing has its spontaneity, and these are, finally, the same thing.

16. Each thing exists in the context of the whole, and within that whole, each thing enacts what it is with perfect spontaneity. The p'eng bird soars high and the quail stays on the ground. The cedrela tree lives a long time and the mushroom a moment. They do this without trying, because that's what they are.

17. All of this is as true of governments as of birds. Yao didn't govern by seizing command of things; he governed because that was his necessity. That's why he governed perfectly. It's not too much to say that he didn't govern; certainly he didn't force things to be what he wanted; he allowed things to be what they already were.

18. Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu teach us wu wei, but that doesn't mean you sit silently in the forest. Responsible officials remain in the realm of action without regret, but their action does not seize and transform things; it works with things as they are. The true governor is like a boat unmoored and drifting, moving in whatever direction the current flows. He moves with his people.

19. Wu wei is everywhere. If the ruler doesn't interfere with his prime minister, then the prime minister can serve him freely. The prime minister, in turn, had better just let his officials do their jobs. And the officials should leave the people in peace. In other words, if everyone just does what they are, everything will find its place of repose. No one, from the Emperor to an insect, succeeds by violating the way things are.

20. The cook, the boy impersonating the dead at the sacrificial rites, and the man in charge of the prayer are all content to fulfill their roles. Birds and animals and all things are content with what they have and what they are. Even Emperor Yao and Hsu Yu were at peace with their situations. This is reality. When each thing finds its truth, it need take no action. Everything will be content and at ease. Though each thing is different from every other, their freedom and their necessity are the same.

21. The spider spins her web and the beetle rolls his ball without any help from an expert. Each creature, even you, has something for which he is suited. Use people who are good at making squares to make squares, and those who are good at making circles to make circles. Then the overall result will be achieved with perfect skill.

22. Sometimes you should act. Sometimes you shouldn't. Both can be in accord with nature. Both can be wu wei.

23. Even in the midst of his business, the sage's mind resides in a mountain forest. He acts in the world, but he wanders freely.

24. The sage has reached the point at which he does not even desire not to desire.

25. The sage reconciles opposites and understands that things are what they are. Therefore he can participate in the changes around him, and find that everything is alright. He embraces things and knows they are all necessary; they are all what they are. People want him to rule, but he works with no goal. Hence he can respond to the world. If you simply identify yourself with the mystery in truth and appreciate the way things are, you partake in the processes by which the world transforms itself, because you act always only as part of the whole.

26. First forget the traces of judment, such as benevolence and righteousness, then forget that you've forgotten. Forget that you have a distinct body; forget that there's a universe outside oneself. Then you will be fully open.

27. The sage has lost his ego. He dwells in the light that emerges from darkness. He sees the unity of good and evil, normalcy and perversion. He allows each thing to find itself, and each person to do what brings her satisfaction. So he doesn't use anything, but everything finds the use of itself liberated from right and wrong. So the changes my be dramatic and the differences extreme, but they circulate freely and the world works itself out.

28. The supreme principle is that right and wrong, life and death, are one. This principle leads beyond limits, and that is a place we can find rest.

29. Flutes differ in length and in pitch and in many other respects. But, insofar as they are flutes, they are also the same.

30. When you've really got it, the outside and the inside merge. The further you wander out there, the deeper within you go. The deeper you go within, the freer your wandering. So the sage wanders in the world to find herself. She finds the empty place within as she merges with all things. She can work hard the livelong day and not harm her spirit. Though she sees everything, she remains what she is. Ferry over to the ordinary and encompass the world.

31. Whether you are a slave or a lord, it is possible to find contentment in the place you inhabit. Seek that contentment instead of pursuing your advancement. Whether something is a hand or a foot, a ruler or a minister, a superior or an inferior, it is where it is supposed to be at the moment. Attendants too can be contented, maybe with more ease and simplicity than a commander can be. Everything has its truth. Embody yours.

32. Paired concepts such as this and that, good and evil, oppose one another, but the sage is both at once. If you have no deliberate mind, no illusion of detachment, you can never be opposed to the way things are. Occupy the center; achieve oneness with things; reside in the world in peace.

33. Everything happens precisely as it happens.

34. Each thing has its spontaneity, and in the spontaneity of each thing what it is emerges necessarily. Follow things and come into accord with them. Keep silent.

35. People are tortured as they chase after this and try to avoid that. The sage has no preconceptions. He proceeds with utter simplicity, identifies himself with the world's transformations and roams in a world he knows to be a unity. But though people are often bewildered by the world, the Tao operates as it must. Things receive many names. But since all things are what they are and all events happen as they happen, the world is actually utterly simple.

36. Whether you're lifting something light or something heavy, obviously your strength is proportioned to your load. When you strive after power and fame, you're showing that you don't understand; your pride and desire for knowledge know no limit. Your every whim implies an infinite burden. Knowledge itself is a pale reflection of unity with things and will be unlearned by the time you achieve a silent harmony with the world. Finding this silent harmony is a matter of always allowing one's strength to be proportioned to one's task. You might be carrying five tons, but if that is proportioned to your strength, you will forget the weight upon your body. If you've got 10,000 things to do, you'll be unaware that you are busy, if only the task is proportioned to your capacity. This is fundamental to living decently. Find your capacity and fill it, but do not exceed it.

37. Joy and sorrow result from desire. If you find a balance with the world, you can be contented with whatever time brings you. The sage follows the flow of nature in every situation. Quietly, he finds peace even in adversity. He will be himself wherever he is. So where does desire come in? He sees that he can't really gain or lose. Just take what you receive.

38. Allow your foot to walk according to its function, your hand to grasp according to its strength. Listen with your ears; see with your eyes. Do not waste your intelligence trying to unravel what cannot be known. Do not waste your energy trying to do what cannot be done. Within your capacities be unrestrained, but there is no point trying to exceed them. Employ your abilities and your possessions as they employ themselves. Try to do whatever happens. If your actions are simple and natural, your destiny will be satisfying, your life a blessing.

39. Society changes from generation to generation, and there is no escape from people. So approach social situations and their changes with flexibility and creativity. Let people change.

40. Be a companion of nature, like a child heedlessly charging straight ahead.

41. Events unfold as they must. So if we leave things alone, they will accomplish what they are fitted for. This is the preservation of life, so don't be anxious.

42. Bad people need to be commanded. But good people need no ruler.

43. If the king does nothing, people will fulfill the roles assigned to them. Those who can see will look; those who can hear will listen; those who are wise will make plans. What need is there to do anything? Only remain at the silent center.

44. The world and the laws that govern it are from the start correct and irreversible. You can't escape reality. So a person is never born by mistake, and my existence right now follows from the nature of the world, and cannot be rescinded by human power or natural disaster. Nature and fate are what they are, what they should be. Thus we can be at ease as we face life or death, wisdom or ignorance, fame or obscurity.

45. People cry over death; that is what life is like here on earth. But the sage can sing even in the presence of a corpse. The world and its laws are of necessity in harmony with one another. There is nobody who has knowledge of the nature of things who is not silently in harmony with the real flow of events, nor anyone who lives in the real world but does not intuit the deepest truth of reality. Thus the sage roams freely in the truth and opens himself to reality. He is in accord with things.

46. Life and death are different, but both can be approached with calm acceptance. Life and death are one because they are both things that happen. Maybe when we're alive, we think of death as death. But maybe when we're dead, we think of life as death. So maybe there's no such thing as life or death, except from inside some particular situation. There is no death, no life. Nothing is possible, and nothing is impossible.

47. The expert driver knows the capacity of his horses, and uses them in accordance with that knowledge. If they are old and broken down, they may still bear a load, but it had better be light. If they are thoroughbreds in the prime of youth, they will enjoy bearing great burdens. If you use each horse according to its capacity, all of them will be preserved, and all of them will be useful. But there are always those who take wu wei as a prescription for laziness. They want to let the horse go and then they think they'll just lie down somewhere. That is not enlightenment. Act according to your capacity and you will leave nothing undone.

48. Wu wei does not mean folding up one's arms or taking a vow of silence. Just let everything, even yourself, act as it does; then it will be content, centered in its nature and destiny. Some people really have no alternative but to rule an empire. If you embrace the Tao and choose simplicity, if you allow each thing to run its course with the greatest intensity, each thing will reach its point of stillness; each thing will find peace.

49. Natural things transform themselves without intending to.

50. In the destruction of the world's and the mind's wholeness, there are four stages.
First, chaos and completeness. This is a state of perfect forgetfulness and non-distinction from things. There is no notion of time and space, no self-consciousness. People are free: they go along with things in full flowing accordance.
Second, beings. In this stage, the distinctiveness of things can be recognized, but it can also be put aside and their oneness recovered.
Third, distinctions. Here, differences between this and that are fundamental and thought to be aspects of the real world. But value is not yet created, and hence truth remains.
Fourth, right and wrong. The Tao and our primoridial oneness is lost in illusion, and people learn to love this and hate that, want this and reject that. All that's left is yearning. [kohn 73]

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