Let me try explaining what I mean. From the Three Dynasties on down, everyone in the world has altered his inborn nature because of some [external] thing. The petty man? - he will risk death for the sake of profit. The knight? - will risk it for the sake of fame. The high official? - he will risk it for family; the sage? - he will risk it for the world. All these various men go about the business in a different way, and are tagged differently when it comes to fame and reputation; but in blighting their inborn nature and risking their lives for something they are the same.Go here to read the introductory post to the chapters of the Book of Chuang Tzu.
The slave boy and the slave girl were out together herding their sheep, and both of them lost their flocks. Ask the slave boy how it happened: well, he had a bundle of writing slips and was reading a book. Ask the slave girl how it happened: well, she was playing a game of toss-and-wait-your-turn. They went about the business in different ways, but in losing their sheep they were equal.
Po Yi died for reputation at the foot of Shou-yang mountain; Robber Chih died for gain on top of Eastern Mound. The two of them died different deaths, but in destroying their lives and blighting their inborn nature they were equal. Why then must we say that Po Yi was right and Robber Chih wrong?
Everyone in the world risks his life for something. If he risks it for benevolence and righteousness, then custom names him a gentleman; if he risks it for goods and wealth, then custom names him a petty man. The risking is the same, and yet we have a gentleman here, a petty man there. In destroying their lives and blighting their inborn nature, Robber Chih and Po Yi were two of a kind. How then can we pick out the gentleman from the petty man in such a case?
~ Burton Watson translation via Terebess Asia Online ~
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...which begs the question, "what is the inborn nature?"
ReplyDelete"Inborn nature" (xing) here has to do with prenatal or congenital qi; as opposed to acquired nature, what is modified or altered by the externals. Taoist meditation is in part a technique to return to the prenatal qi, the inborn nature...the Tao. It's a little bit like Adam and Eve before the fall...what's "God-given", not acquired.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very important passage in Chuang Tzu.
I feel a need to clarify...in my teacher's words, the inborn (congenital) nature is "the innermost place of a person's psyche...composed of a pure and clean mental state, free of any ideas, yet full of the minuteness of all universal things." ... Also called the "true heart", "In the endless vicissitudes of change and transformation, there exists an eternal dominator that is never subject to any transformation and change. We call it Congenital Nature or the True Heart." Also true nature, true self, congenital mind, or mind-will.
ReplyDeleteAhh... got it, thanks!
ReplyDelete