Having obtained provisions in a nearby village, Chen Jen and King Ching Chi were returning to the mountain cave when they stopped beside the road to rest and take their mid-day meal. Finding an inviting spot beside an altar to the grain spirits, they stretched out beneath a plum tree laden with fruit. There then appeared before them an old, toothless woman whose land and altar this was. “Welcome, Masters,” she said. “Pray take of these plums for your meal and for the journey ahead.”
“You are a kind and thoughtful woman,” replied King Ching Chi. “And I see by this well tended altar that you are a good and pious one as well.”
At this the woman laughed uproariously and said, “I tend this altar in honor of my husband now long departed, it having been dear to his heart. As for me, I care nothing for spirits or the vain rituals of men meant to appease and entreat them. The Great Tao is in all things and moves not at the behest of one thing. Nor can the Tao be harnessed as if it were an ox. For it is said: ‘The Tao gives all things their being, but does not lord it over them.’ And I am told it has been written: ‘The Tao accomplishes all things, yet does nothing.’ How then could I honor and live in harmony with the Tao and yet believe in useless rituals whether for the Tao’s sake or that of its creations?”
“You speak from great ignorance!” exclaimed King Ching Chi. “And only your great age which no doubt has dulled your mind can excuse you! Is it not to honor the Tao that we entreat it to bless us? And without rituals would we not all descend to the level of base animals?”
Again the old woman laughed merrily with a great show of her gums and replied: “Would that we did become as the animals! In my fields live many rats that eat of the grains. But I begrudge them not, for they take only what they need and do not cast all in ruin out of greed or spite. And the Tao has placed here also a family of foxes to partake of the rats, taking what they need leaving the rest to live and multiply. Birds, too, feast on these plums and repay in kind by eating the pests. No animal has ever done me any harm, but men and their senseless wars, in greed and spite, have many times laid waste to these fields in my long life. Your rituals and laws, rights and wrongs, benevolence and righteousness have created all this!”
“I will bandy no more words with a foolish woman!” cried King Ching Chi. “It is not meet at all that a mere woman should speak so to a man, by nature her superior, least of all one such as I who have been taught at the feet of the great Master Kung-fu-tzu!”
“Ah,” replied the old woman, “I have heard of this one who teaches freedom through bondage and love through obedience! But does he not know that the Tao is also called the Mysterious Feminine and The Mother of the World? For the Tao is known in its yielding and like the great sea brings all to itself by being the lowest. Is it not said: ‘All the world carries the Yang on its back and embraces Yin to its breast?’ There can be no harmony, Sir, where Yang, force and the external, refuses the Yin, the yielding and the internal. Your Master but adds more to the burdens of men.
But you, Sir, are a young pup and know little of life—though you think you know much having had your nose in a book. I am an old woman, toothless and withered, but I have given birth to eight children and have endured pain and loss that no man I have known could withstand.”
At this King Ching Chi jumped up in anger and turned to Chen Jen saying, “Master, please let us leave the presence of this ignorant and foolish hag!”
But Chen Jen laughed heartily and said, “Would you flee from that which can teach you the most? For truly, your very anger is proof of this woman’s power to guide you, if not of her wisdom. Does the archer refuse to aim at a distant target because greater is the chance of a miss? Or does a tamer of horses only mount horses already tame? You are about to join two old sages in a mountain retreat. Will they bother to confront your self with a test such as this? The Tao is easy to follow when the road is smooth and level. Come, sit down again and let us together learn from this wise woman. For verily, all that she has said has found a home in my heart.”
At this, King Ching Chi begrudgingly sat down beside Chen Jen, but the old woman showed him mercy and excused herself to go fetch them some cooked rice.
“Belief is a tower with weak foundations,” said Chen Jen. “Truth makes a man rigid, and the rigid easily break. A man who possesses either can know neither peace nor harmony, for he must ever defend his position for fear of losing himself. Better to lose your self than to live a life of strife. Let go the teachings of your Master. Let go this desire to be a wise sage. For it is said: ‘The true sage is no sage; true wisdom seems foolish; the true self is no-self.’”
This post is part of a series. To view the index, go here.
“You are a kind and thoughtful woman,” replied King Ching Chi. “And I see by this well tended altar that you are a good and pious one as well.”
At this the woman laughed uproariously and said, “I tend this altar in honor of my husband now long departed, it having been dear to his heart. As for me, I care nothing for spirits or the vain rituals of men meant to appease and entreat them. The Great Tao is in all things and moves not at the behest of one thing. Nor can the Tao be harnessed as if it were an ox. For it is said: ‘The Tao gives all things their being, but does not lord it over them.’ And I am told it has been written: ‘The Tao accomplishes all things, yet does nothing.’ How then could I honor and live in harmony with the Tao and yet believe in useless rituals whether for the Tao’s sake or that of its creations?”
“You speak from great ignorance!” exclaimed King Ching Chi. “And only your great age which no doubt has dulled your mind can excuse you! Is it not to honor the Tao that we entreat it to bless us? And without rituals would we not all descend to the level of base animals?”
Again the old woman laughed merrily with a great show of her gums and replied: “Would that we did become as the animals! In my fields live many rats that eat of the grains. But I begrudge them not, for they take only what they need and do not cast all in ruin out of greed or spite. And the Tao has placed here also a family of foxes to partake of the rats, taking what they need leaving the rest to live and multiply. Birds, too, feast on these plums and repay in kind by eating the pests. No animal has ever done me any harm, but men and their senseless wars, in greed and spite, have many times laid waste to these fields in my long life. Your rituals and laws, rights and wrongs, benevolence and righteousness have created all this!”
“I will bandy no more words with a foolish woman!” cried King Ching Chi. “It is not meet at all that a mere woman should speak so to a man, by nature her superior, least of all one such as I who have been taught at the feet of the great Master Kung-fu-tzu!”
“Ah,” replied the old woman, “I have heard of this one who teaches freedom through bondage and love through obedience! But does he not know that the Tao is also called the Mysterious Feminine and The Mother of the World? For the Tao is known in its yielding and like the great sea brings all to itself by being the lowest. Is it not said: ‘All the world carries the Yang on its back and embraces Yin to its breast?’ There can be no harmony, Sir, where Yang, force and the external, refuses the Yin, the yielding and the internal. Your Master but adds more to the burdens of men.
But you, Sir, are a young pup and know little of life—though you think you know much having had your nose in a book. I am an old woman, toothless and withered, but I have given birth to eight children and have endured pain and loss that no man I have known could withstand.”
At this King Ching Chi jumped up in anger and turned to Chen Jen saying, “Master, please let us leave the presence of this ignorant and foolish hag!”
But Chen Jen laughed heartily and said, “Would you flee from that which can teach you the most? For truly, your very anger is proof of this woman’s power to guide you, if not of her wisdom. Does the archer refuse to aim at a distant target because greater is the chance of a miss? Or does a tamer of horses only mount horses already tame? You are about to join two old sages in a mountain retreat. Will they bother to confront your self with a test such as this? The Tao is easy to follow when the road is smooth and level. Come, sit down again and let us together learn from this wise woman. For verily, all that she has said has found a home in my heart.”
At this, King Ching Chi begrudgingly sat down beside Chen Jen, but the old woman showed him mercy and excused herself to go fetch them some cooked rice.
“Belief is a tower with weak foundations,” said Chen Jen. “Truth makes a man rigid, and the rigid easily break. A man who possesses either can know neither peace nor harmony, for he must ever defend his position for fear of losing himself. Better to lose your self than to live a life of strife. Let go the teachings of your Master. Let go this desire to be a wise sage. For it is said: ‘The true sage is no sage; true wisdom seems foolish; the true self is no-self.’”
This post is part of a series. To view the index, go here.
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