Bit by Bit - Chapter 3, Part 8

Trey Smith

When Lao Tan died, Chin Shih went to mourn for him; but after giving three cries, he left the room.

"Weren't you a friend of the Master?" asked Lao Tzu's disciples.

"Yes."

"And you think it's all right to mourn him this way?"

"Yes," said Chin Shih. "At first I took him for a real man, but now I know he wasn't. A little while ago, when I went in to mourn, I found old men weeping for him as though they were weeping for a son, and young men weeping for him as though they were weeping for a mother. To have gathered a group like that, he must have done something to make them talk about him, though he didn't ask them to talk, or make them weep for him, though he didn't ask them to weep. This is to hide from Heaven, turn your back on the true state of affairs, and forget what you were born with. In the old days, this was called the crime of hiding from Heaven. Your master happened to come because it was his time, and he happened to leave because things follow along. If you are content with the time and willing to follow along, then grief and joy have no Way to enter in. In the old days, this was called being freed from the bonds of God.

"Though the grease burns out of the torch, the fire passes on, and no one knows where it ends."
~ Burton Watson translation ~

Each life is extinguished at some point. It will happen to all of us. We will leave behind loved ones and friends.

When we mourn a death, we don't mourn FOR the dead; we mourn for ourselves and the living. We experience the sorrow of knowing that we won't be able to share and communicate with the deceased again. The pain is not theirs; it is ours alone.

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