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The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) · 52 of 57 · tr. James Legge

Book VI (part 13)

See what I have said on II, par. 9. 255:1 This also is obscure; but Confucius is again made to praise the Tâoistic system. 255:2 Î- r is said by Lî Î to have been 'a worthy scholar;' but Î- r is an old name for the swallow, and there is a legend of a being of this name appearing to king Mia, and then flying away as a swallow;--see the Khang-hsî Thesaurus under . The personage is entirely fabulous. 255:3 Dismembered or disfigured you. 256:1 Names of parties, of whom we know nothing. It is implied, we must suppose, that they had suffered as is said by their own inadvertence. 256:2 We must suppose that they had done so. 257:1 'I sit and forget;'--generally thus supplemented ( ). Hui proceeds to set forth the meaning he himself attached to the phrase. 257:2 Another denomination, I think, of the Tâo. The is also explained as meaning, 'the great void in which there is no obstruction ( ). 257:3 Here is another testimony, adduced by our author, of Confucius's appreciation of Tâoism; to which the sage would, no doubt, have taken exception. 257:4 Two of the men in pars. 9, 10. 258:1 Here is the highest issue of Tâoism;--unquestioning submission to what is beyond our knowledge and control.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The text describes the ultimate reality as 'beyond our knowledge' and a 'great void', aligning with negative theology.

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Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis

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 instruction for 'unquestioning submission to what is beyond our knowledge and control' reflects a radical letting-go of will and grasping.

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Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] Commentary notes the text is 'obscure' and refers to submission to what is unknowable, indicating radical concealment.

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Fana Annihilationsoteriology

Sufi self-effacement in God — the via by which the lover is unmade as a separate ego and recovered as God's act; specifies the practice/event rather than mystical_union's resulting state.

The phrase 'I sit and forget' describes a self-effacement or unmaking of the separate ego to recover unity with the Tao.

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Inner Silencepraxis

The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.

[auto] The phrase 'I sit and forget' denotes a practice of stilling the mind and discarding knowledge.

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Meditationpraxis

Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.

The text cites the phrase 'I sit and forget,' indicating a disciplined inward attention or seated contemplative practice.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The passage identifies 'sit and forget' as the highest issue of Taoism, implying a merging with the divine principle.

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Sunyata Emptinesssoteriology

The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.

The text refers to 'the great void in which there is no obstruction' as a denomination of the Tao, conceptually paralleling the doctrine of emptiness.

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Wu Weipraxis

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 highest issue of Taoism as 'unquestioning submission to what is beyond our knowledge and control,' which aligns perfectly with the definition of effortless action aligned with the Dao.

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