The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) · 37 of 57 · tr. James Legge
Book V (part 5)
Though the realisation of this be not manifested in the person, things cannot separate themselves (from its influence).' Some days afterwards duke Âi told this conversation to Min-dze 3 , saying, 'Formerly it seemed to me the work of the sovereign to stand in court with his face to the south, to rule the kingdom, and to pay good heed to the accounts of the people concerned, lest any should come to a (miserable) death;--this p.
233 [paragraph continues] I considered to be the sum (of his duty).
Now that I have heard that description of the Perfect man, I fear that my idea is not the real one, and that, by employing myself too lightly, I may cause the ruin of my state.
I and Khung Khiû are not on the footing of ruler and subject, but on that of a virtuous friendship.' 5.
A person who had no lips, whose legs were bent so that he could only walk on his toes, and who was (otherwise) deformed 1 , addressed his counsels to duke Ling of Wei, who was so pleased with him, that he looked on a perfectly formed man as having a lean and small neck in comparison with him.
Another who had a large goitre like an earthenware jar 1 addressed his counsels to duke Hwan of Khî 2 , who was so pleased with him that he looked on a perfectly formed man as having a neck lean and small in comparison with him 3 .
So it is that when one's virtue is extraordinary, (any deficiency in) his bodily form may be forgotten.
When men do not forget what is (easily) forgotten, and forget what is not (easily) forgotten, we have a case of real oblivion.
Therefore the sagely man has that in which his mind finds its enjoyment, and (looks on) wisdom as (but) the shoots from an old stump; agreements with others are to him but so much glue; kindnesses are p.
234 (but the arts of) intercourse; and great skill is (but as) merchants' wares.
The sagely man lays no plans;--of what use would wisdom be to him?
He has no cutting and hacking to do;--of what use would glue be to him?
He has lost nothing; of what use would arts of intercourse be to him?
He has no goods to dispose of;--what need has he to play the merchant?
(The want of) these four things are the nourishment of (his) Heavenly (nature); that nourishment is its Heavenly food.
Since he receives this food from Heaven, what need has he for anything of man's (devising)?
He has the bodily form of man, but not the passions and desires of (other) men.
He has the form of man, and therefore he is a man.
Being without the passions and desires of men, their approvings and disapprovings are not to be found in him.
How insignificant and small is (the body) by which he belongs to humanity!
How grand and great is he in the unique perfection of his Heavenly (nature)!
Hui-dze said to Kwang-dze, 'Can a man indeed be without desires and passions?' The reply was, 'He can.' 'But on what grounds do you call him a man, who is thus without passions and desires?' Kwang-dze said, 'The Tâo 1 gives him his personal appearance (and powers); Heaven 2 gives him his bodily form; how should we not call him a man?' Hui-dze rejoined, 'Since you call him a man, how p.
235 can he be without passions and desires?' The reply was, 'You are misunderstanding what I mean by passions and desires.
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
The sage is described as having lost nothing and needing no goods to dispose of, reflecting a radical letting-go of will and grasping.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The text contrasts deformed men with perfectly formed ones and redefines ruler-subject relationships as friendship, dissolving conventional binaries.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
[auto] The stories of deformed counselors being preferred over perfect men serve as paradoxes to destabilize ordinary understanding of worth and power.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The passage contrasts forgetting what is easily forgotten (bodily form) with forgetting what is not easily forgotten (virtue), emphasizing the recognition of true nature.
Effortless action aligned with the spontaneous flow of the Dao; non-coercive, non-striving conduct that yields results without forcing — the sage acts without acting.
[auto] The passage explicitly describes the sagely man as one who 'lays no plans' and has 'no cutting and hacking to do,' embodying effortless action aligned with the Dao.