World History
Ch. 5: Eurasian Cultural Traditions
Daoism: Selections of Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was a 4th century B.C.E. philosopher who is purported to be the author of the second foundational
text of Daoism, the Zhuangzi (also known by its honorific title, True Classic of Southern (Cultural)
Florescence). The following stories have been attributed to Zhuangzi and each exemplifies the Daoist effort
to understand the character of the world, nature, and humans.
Carving up an Ox
A cook was butchering an ox for Duke Wen Hui.
The places his hand touched,
His shoulder leaned against,
His foot stepped on,
His knee pressed upon,
Came apart with a sound.
He moved the blade, making a noise
That never fell out of rhythm.
It harmonized with the Mulberry Woods Dance,
Like music from ancient times.
Duke Wen Hui exclaimed: "Ah! Excellent!
Your skill has advanced to this level?"
“I have used this knife for nineteen years.
It has butchered thousands of oxen,
But the blade is still like it's newly sharpened.
“The joints have openings,
And the knife's blade has no thickness.
Apply this lack of thickness into the openings,
And the moving blade swishes through,
With room to spare!
“That’s why after nineteen years,
The blade is still like it's newly sharpened.
The cook puts down the knife and answered:
“What I follow is Tao,
Which is beyond all skills.
“Nevertheless, every time I come across joints,
I see its tricky parts,
I pay attention and use caution,
My vision concentrates,
My movement slows down.
“When I started butchering,
What I saw was nothing but the whole ox.
After three years,
I no longer saw the whole ox.
“I move the knife very slightly,
Whump! It has already separated.
The ox doesn't even know it's dead,
and falls to the ground like mud.
“Nowadays, I meet it with my mind
Rather than see it with my eyes.
My sensory organs are inactive
While I direct the mind's movement.
“I stand holding the knife,
And look all around it.
The work gives me much satisfaction.
I clean the knife and put it away.”
“It goes according to natural laws,
Striking apart large gaps,
Moving toward large openings,
Following its natural structure.
Duke Wen Hui said: “Excellent!
I listen to your words,
And learn a principle of life.”
“Even places where tendons attach to bones
Give no resistance,
Never mind the larger bones!
“A good cook goes through a knife in a year,
Because he cuts.
An average cook goes through a knife in a month,
Because he hacks.
World History
Ch. 5: Eurasian Cultural Traditions
Three Friends
There were three friends
Discussing life.
One said:
“Can we live together
and know nothing of it?
Work together
and produce nothing?
Can people fly around in space
and still forget to exist
World without end?”
The three friends looked at each other
and burst out laughing.
They had no explanation.
Thus they were better friends than before.
Then one friend died.
Confucius sent a disciple
to help the other two
Chant the traditional funeral ritual.
His disciple found that one of them had composed a song.
While the other played the lute,
They sang:
“Hey, Sung Hu!
Where'd you go?
You have gone
Where you were before.
And we are here-Damn it! We are here!”
Then the disciple of Confucius burst in on them and exclaimed:
“May I inquire where in the funeral ritual it allows you
to sing so irreverently in the presence of the departed?”
The two friends looked at each other, smiled, and said:
“Well trained in liturgy,
but the poor fellow doesn't understand life and death!”
World History
Ch. 5: Eurasian Cultural Traditions
Lao Tan’s Funeral1
Lao Tan was dead. Chin Shih went to his funeral.
He yelled three times and then came out.
A disciple asked: “Are you not the Master’s friend?”
He replied: “Yes.”
“But then you mourn him like that, is it okay?”
He replied: “Yes. At first I thought he was a great man, but now I see that’s not so.
“Of those who mourn him, there are the elderly who cry for him like they cry for their own son,
and younger people who cry for him like they cry for their own mother.
“When they gather together like this, there must be those who don't want to talk but talk, and
those who don't want to cry but cry.
“This is denying the true self and going against one’s feelings, forgetting one’s given nature. The
ancients would call this the punishment for denying the true self.
“When it was suitable to come into the world, the Master came at the right time. When it was
suitable to depart the world, the Master left naturally.
“If one can calmly wait for the right moment and go with the natural flow, sadness and joy
cannot enter the heart. The ancients would call that being released by the Emperor from hanging
upside down.”
1
Lao Tan is another name for Laozi, the philosopher most commonly credited with being the founder of Daoism.