Chuang-Tzu
X (24)
The true men of old did not reject
the views of the few; they did not seek to accomplish their ends like
heroes; they did not lay plans to attain those ends. Being such,
though they might [make] mistakes, yet they had no occasion for
repentance; though they might succede [sic], they had no
complacency... So it was that by their knowledge they ascended to &
reached the Tao.
V. 1.2
X (25)
The true men of old knew nothing of the love of life & the
hatred of death ... They accepted their life & rejoiced in it, they
forgot all fear of death ... Thus there was in them what is called the
want of any mind to resist the Tao &
of all attempts by means of the human to assist theHeavenly.
V1. 2.
Their minds were free from all thought, their demeanor was still & unmoved ...They did in regard to all things what was suitable & no one could know how far their action would go.
V. 1. 3.
X (26)
He who tries to share his joys with others
is not a sagely man; he who manifests affection is not benevolent; he
who observes times & seasons is not a man of wisdom; he to whom
profit & injury are not the same is not a superior man...
V1.3.
When the springs are dried up the fishes collect
together on the land. Then that they should moisten one another there
by the damp about them ... it were better for them to forget one
another in the rivers & lakes.
V1. 5.
X (27)
The Tao is a thing which accompanies all other
things & meets them, which is present when they are overthrown
& when they obtain their completion. Its name is Tranquillity amid
all disturbances, meaning that such disturbances lead to its
perfection.
V1-8
X (28)
"Fishes forget one another in the rivers and lakes, men forget one
another in the acts of the Tao."
V1. 11.
When one rests in what has been arranged & puts away all
thought of the transformation, he is in unity with the mysterious
heaven.
V1. 12.
In the light of these
and the preceding Merton selections from
Chuang Tzu, this:
Reading Chuang Tzu, I wonder seriously if the wisest
answer (on the human level, apart from the answer of faith) is not
beyond both ethics and politics. It is a hidden answer, it defies
analysis and cannot be embodied in a program. Ethics and politics, of
course: but only in passing, only as a "night's lodging." There is
a time for action, a time for "commitment," but never for total
involvement in the intricacies of a movement. There is a moment of
innocence and kairos, when action makes a great deal of
sense. But who can recognize such moments? Not he who is debauched by
a series of programs. And when all action has become absurd, shall one
continue to act simply because once, a long time ago, it made a great
deal of sense? As if one were always getting somewhere? There is a
time to listen, in the active life as everywhere else, and the better
part of action is waiting, not knowing what next, and not having a
glib answer.
Conjectures of A Guilty Bystander, p. 173.