The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters)

In the Northern Ocean a fish named the Khwän changes into a bird named the Phäng, which flies toward the Southern Ocean, the Pool of Heaven. The book Khî Hsieh records that the phäng flaps for 3000 lî, ascends 90,000 lî, and rests after six months. The text raises whether the sky's azure is its true colour. Water and wind accumulation are compared: neither, if small, supports large things. A cicada and a little dove laugh at the phäng; travellers' provisions are compared by distance. Small knowledge does not reach great; the mushroom, cicada, Ming-ling tree, Tâ-khun tree, and Phäng Zû illustrate short and long life. In Thang's questions to Kî, the khwän and phäng are described again, and a quail laughs at the phäng. Men of limited ability regard themselves so; Yung-dze of Sung would smile at them. Lieh-dze rides the wind, returning after fifteen days. The saying names the Perfect man, Spirit-like man, and Sagely-minded man. Yâo proposes resigning the throne to Hsü Yû, who declines. Kien Wû asks Lien Shû about Khieh-yû's words concerning a Spirit-like man on Kû-shih hill; Lien Shû responds. A man of Sung takes caps to Yüeh, where they are unwanted; Yâo, having seen the four Ones, loses regard for his throne. Hui-dze tells Kwang-dze of a large useless calabash; Kwang-dze answers with the story of a salve sold to the king of Wû and suggests using it as a floating gourd. Hui-dze describes a large useless Ailantus tree; Kwang-dze answers with the wildcat and yak, advising he plant it in a barren waste and rest beneath it.

Nan-kwo Sze-khî sits in a trance; his disciple Yen Khäng Dze-yû asks how his body can seem like a withered tree. Dze-khî says he had lost himself, and distinguishes the notes of Man, Earth, and Heaven, describing the wind blowing through myriad apertures. Dze-yû asks about the notes of Heaven, and Dze-khî answers with a question about whether any other agency excites the sounds. The text contrasts great and small knowledge and speech, describes the moods of the mind, and considers whether a true Governor or Ruler exists among the body's parts, calling the toil of life deplorable. It discusses the predetermined mind, speech, the obscuring of the Tâo, and the contentions between the Literati and the Mohists, urging the pivot of the Tâo. Section 4 gives the finger-and-horse illustrations and tells of the monkey keeper who offered acorns "three in the morning, four in the evening," then reversed them. Section 5 treats the knowledge of the men of old and mentions Kâo Wän's lute-playing, Shih Kwang, and Hui-dze, and the disputes about "the hard" and "the White." Section 6 offers sayings about beginnings and non-existence, the autumn down and Thâi mountain, Phäng Zû, and that Heaven, Earth, and the speaker are one. Section 7 describes the demarcations called the Eight Qualities, the sage, the Khun Khiû, five great qualities, the Heavenly Treasure-house, and Yâo asking Shun about smiting Zung, Kwei, and Hsü-âo. Section 8 has Nieh Khüeh questioning Wang Î about knowledge, right places, tastes, and beauty, naming Mâo Zhiang and Lî Kî, and the spirit-like Perfect man. Section 9 begins with Khü Zhiâo-dze asking Khang-wû Dze about the Master's words.

The text opens with images of seeing an egg and anticipating the cock, seeing a bow and anticipating the roasted dove, and the speaker offers to explain the matter roughly, asking the listener to listen the same way. It poses the question of standing beside the sun and moon and holding all space and time, and states the sagely man keeps his mouth shut, sets aside uncertain questions, and honours the One Lord; while men bustle and toil, the sagely man seems stupid, blending ten thousand years and letting the myriad things pursue their spontaneous course. The speaker asks how one knows the love of life is not a delusion and the dislike of death not like a youth losing his way home. Lî Kî, daughter of the border Warden of Ai, is described: when the ruler of Zin first took her she wept until her dress was wet, but after sharing the king's couch and meat she regretted weeping; so how does one know the dead do not repent their former craving for life. Those dreaming of drinking may wail in the morning; those dreaming of wailing may go hunting; dreamers do not know they dream, and only on waking know it was a dream, with a great awaking to come. Khiû is called bigoted; he and the listener both dream, and the speaker who says so also dreams. Section 10 examines who could adjudicate a dispute, since anyone agreeing or differing cannot resolve it, and appeals to harmonising in the invisible operation of Heaven and the Infinite. Section 11: the Penumbra asks the Shadow about its instability; the Shadow replies it waits on something else. Finally Kwang Kâu recounts dreaming he was a butterfly, then waking uncertain whether Kâu dreamt the butterfly or the butterfly dreams Kâu—the Transformation of Things.

The section opens with statements that life is limited while knowledge is unlimited, and that pursuing the unlimited is perilous; good should not be done for fame nor evil near punishment, and accordance with the Central Element preserves the body and life. Then a cook cuts up an ox for the ruler Wän-hui, describing how he follows the Tâo, using his spirit rather than eyes, keeping his knife sharp nineteen years; Wän-hui says he has learned the nourishment of life. Next Kung-wän Hsien sees the one-footed Master of the Left and reasons his condition comes from Heaven, not Man. Finally, when Lâo Tan dies, Khin Shih condoles by crying out three times only, explaining to the disciples that excessive grief neglects the Heaven-nature, and comparing death to fire transmitted beyond consumed faggots.

Yen Hui tells Kung-nî he intends to go to Wei, whose ruler acts recklessly and lets his people die. Kung-nî warns of the dangers, discusses how virtue and wisdom become instruments of evil, and cites how Kieh killed Kwan Lung-fäng, Kâu killed Pî-kan, and how Yâo attacked Zhung-kih and Hsü-âo and Yü attacked Hû. Yen Hui proposes going with uprightness and humility; Kung-nî rejects this. Yen Hui proposes being a co-worker with Heaven, with men, and with antiquity; Kung-nî again rejects it as too many plans. Kung-nî then prescribes the fasting of the mind, explaining hearing by the spirit and the empty apartment filled with light, referencing Yü, Shun, Fû-hsî, and Kî-khü. Yen Hui reports his former self has passed away. Dze-kâo, duke of Sheh, about to go on a mission to Khî, consults Kung-nî about his anxiety. Kung-nî describes two cautionary considerations—the implanted requirement and the conviction of right—filial duty and loyalty, and discusses messages between states, wrestlers, drinking parties, and the Rules for Speech. Yen Ho, about to teach the son of duke Ling of Wei, consults Kü Po-yü, who advises seeking association and harmony carefully, citing the praying mantis, tiger keepers, and horse lovers. The mechanic Shih passes a giant altar-oak at Khü-yüan and calls it useless; the tree appears to him in a dream defending its uselessness. Nan-po Dze-khî sees a large useless tree at the Heights of Shang; useful trees at King-shih are cut down, and the Kieh book names unfit sacrifices. The deformed Shû supports himself. Confucius goes to Khû, and Khieh-yû the madman passes his door singing of the Phoenix and the advantage of being useless.

In Lû, Wang Thâi, who has lost both feet, draws disciples as numerous as Kung-nî's. Khang Kî asks Kung-nî about him; Kung-nî calls him a sage, saying he keeps hold of the author of all changes, sees the unity in things, and regards the loss of his feet as the loss of so much earth. He speaks of still water, the pine and cypress, Yâo and Shun, and the effect of a single brave soldier. Shän-thû Kîa, another footless man, studies under Po-hwän Wû-zän alongside Dze-khân of Käng. Dze-khân objects to sitting as equals; Shän-thû Kîa answers with the image of a bright mirror and says he has attended their teacher nineteen years without noticing he lacks feet. Dze-khân alters his manner. Shû-shan the Toeless comes on his heels to Kung-nî, who rebukes then invites him in. Afterward Toeless tells Lâo Tan that Khung Khiû has not attained to be a Perfect man; Lâo Tan responds about the unity of life and death. Duke Âi of Lû asks Kung-nî about Âi-thâi Tho, an ugly man of Wei whom his father-in-law, wife, and Duke Âi himself esteemed. Kung-nî tells of piglets abandoning their dead mother and explains perfect powers and their unmanifested realisation, citing still water. Duke Âi repeats this to Min-dze. A lipless, deformed man counsels duke Ling of Wei, and a man with a large goitre counsels duke Hwan of Khî, both winning favour. Kwang-dze discusses the sagely man. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze then debate whether a man can be without passions and desires; Kwang-dze rebukes Hui-dze's toil.

The section opens by stating that knowing the part the Heavenly plays and the part the Human ought to play is the perfection of knowledge, but adds that such knowledge awaits confirmation, and that there must first be the True man before there is True knowledge. It then describes the True men of old: their conduct, breathing from the heels, indifference to life and death, and freedom from thought. The sagely man is characterized, and figures such as Hû Pû-kieh, Wû Kwang, Po-î, Shû-khî are named as serving others. Further traits of the True men are described regarding punishments, ceremonies, wisdom, and virtue. Death and life are said to be ordained from Heaven; fishes stranded on land are contrasted with forgetting one another in rivers, and praising Yâo and condemning Kieh with forgetting both. The great Mass of nature is described, and the image of hiding a boat, hill, and world. The Tâo is then described, followed by a list of beings who got It—Shih-wei, Fû-hsî, the Wei-tâu, Sun and Moon, Khan-pei, Fäng-î, Kien Wû, Hwang-Tî, Kwan-hsü, Yü-khiang, Hsî Wang-mû, Phäng Zû, Fû Yüeh. Nan-po Dze-khwei asks Nü Yü about his youthful complexion; Nü Yü explains learning the Tâo through Pû-liang Î over successive days, and names a lineage of transmission. Four men—Dze-sze, Dze-yü, Dze-lî, Dze-lâi—become friends; Dze-yü falls ill and Dze-sze visits, and Dze-yü accepts his deformity. Dze-lâi falls ill and Dze-lî visits, using the founder-and-metal image. Dze-sang Hû, Mäng Dze-fan, and Dze-khin Kang are friends; Dze-sang Hû dies, and Confucius sends Dze-kung, who finds the survivors singing; Confucius explains their ways. Yen Hui asks Kung-nî about Mäng-sun Zhâi's mourning without tears.

The span opens mid-passage: when others wailed, he wailed too, having his own reason. It observes that each has an individuality, and questions whether one determines it correctly; it raises dreaming of being a bird soaring or a fish diving, and not knowing whether those now speaking are awake or dreaming. It states that meeting the pleasurable does not produce the smile, and that resting in what has been arranged, putting away thought of transformation, brings unity with the mysterious Heaven. In the next section, Î-r Dze goes to see Hsü Yû, who asks what benefit he received from Yâo. Î-r Dze reports Yâo told him to labour at benevolence and righteousness and tell right from wrong. Hsü Yû asks why he then came, saying Yâo branded and disfigured him. Î-r Dze says he would skirt along the hedges; Hsü Yû replies it cannot be, citing blind eyes. Î-r Dze cites Wû-kwang, Kü-liang, and Hwang-Tî recovering under moulding, asking whether the Maker might restore him. Hsü Yû says it cannot yet be known, then praises his Master, who blends qualities and favours all without counting benevolence. Then Yen Hui tells Kung-nî he is making progress, having ceased thinking of benevolence and righteousness, then losing ceremonies and music, then sitting and forgetting everything—becoming one with the Great Pervader. Kung-nî says Hui has become superior and asks to follow him. Finally, Dze-yü and Dze-sang are friends; after ten days' rain Dze-yü brings rice, hears singing-wailing to a lute crying "O Father! O Mother! O Heaven! O Men!" Dze-sang says he sought who brought him to extremity, concluding it was appointed for him.

Nieh Khüeh puts four questions to Wang Î, none of which Wang Î can answer. Nieh Khüeh, delighted, informs Phû-î-dze, who says that he of the line of Yü was not equal to him of the line of Thâi: Yü kept benevolence to constrain men, while Thâi slept tranquilly and considered himself now a horse, now an ox. Kien Wû visits the mad recluse Khieh-yü, who asks what Zäh-kung Shih told him. Kien Wû reports that rulers who enact righteous measures transform all; Khieh-yü calls this the hypocrisy of virtue, comparing such governing to wading the sea or a mosquito carrying a mountain. Thien Kän, rambling near the Liâo-water, meets the nameless man and asks how to govern the world; the nameless man rebuffs him, then, on being asked again, counsels pure simplicity and letting things take their course. Yang Dze-kü asks Lao Tan whether an alert, intelligent student of the Tâo compares to the intelligent kings; Lao Tan replies that such a man is only a toiling underling, and describes the kings' unattributed governing. In Käng, the wizard Ki-hsien foretells fortunes. Lieh-dze, fascinated, tells Hû-dze, who presents himself to the wizard on four successive days—showing forms of earth, life issuing, grand harmony, and pure vacancy—until the wizard flees. Lieh-dze then withdraws home three years, cooking, feeding pigs, returning to simplicity. Passages describe non-action and the perfect man's mind as a mirror. Shû, Ruler of the Southern Ocean, and Hû, Ruler of the Northern Ocean, meeting in the land of Chaos, bore seven orifices in him to repay his kindness; after seven days Chaos dies.