King Wen thereupon concluded that he had found a Great Teacher and, facing north as a sign of respect, he asked, "Could these methods of government be extended to the whole world?"Go here to read the introductory post to the chapters of the Book of Chuang Tzu.
But the old man of Tsang looked blank and gave no answer, evasively mumbling some excuse; and when orders went out the next morning to make the attempt, the old man ran away the very same night and was never heard of again.
Yen Yuan questioned Confucius about this story, saying, "King Wen didn't amount to very much after all, did he! And why did he have to resort to that business about the dream?"
"Quiet!" said Confucius. "No more talk from you! King Wen was perfection itself - how can there be any room for carping and criticism! The dream - that was just a way of getting out of a moment's difficulty."
~ Burton Watson translation via Terebess Asia Online ~
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Chapter 21, Part 8D - Chuang Tzu
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.