“Square Stillness” by Ren Adams
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I just came across this passage from Chuang Tsu, which I thought was worth quoting here, because it touches on so many important themes in Taoism:
“The next day the two went again to see Hu Tsu. As the shaman left, he said, ‘Your master is never the same. I have no way to read his face. Wait until he settles down, then I shall examine him again.’
“Lieh Tsu went in and told Hu Tsu. Hus Tsu said, ‘I have just shown him the ultimate harmony, where there is perfect balance. Probably all he saw was the depths of my vital energy in its perfection. When the waves swirl in a torrent, there are dark depths. When the water is still, there are dark depths. When the water flows, there are also dark depths. There are nine names for the dark depths. I demonstrated only three of them. Try to bring him again.’
“The next day the two came to see Hu Tsu again. Before they even sat down, the shaman lost his nerve and fled. ‘Run after him!’ Hu Tsu said. Lieh Tsu ran but could not catch up with the shaman, so he returned and said to Hu Tsu, ‘He has disappeared. He is gone. I could not find him.’
“Hu Tsu said, ‘I just showed him what existed before the beginning of things. Completely open and yielding, I show myself, without a care, like grass bending before the wind and water flowing in waves. That is why he ran away.’
“Whereupon Lieh Tsu realized that he had not yet begun to understand. He went home, and for the next three years he did not go out. He did the cooking for his wife and fed the pigs as though they were human. He took no interest in worldly affairs. He stopped making complications and returned to simplicity. Rooted in the earth and centered in his body, amid all the confusion and distractions of life, he remained one with Tao until the end of his days.”
–Chaung Tsu: Inner Chapters, chapter seven, translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
