Chapter 4 人間世第四

Yan Hui went to see Confucius and asked leave to go. "Where are you going?" "To Wei." "What will you do there?" "I have heard the state of Wei: its lord is young and rules alone; he acts rashly and sees no fault of his own. He uses his people lightly; the dead fill the country like cut reeds; no place for the people to turn. I have heard from you, sir: 'Leave the state that is well governed; go to the state in disorder. A physician's door: many are the sick who come.' I wish to go by what I have learned, and see if the state may be healed."

Confucius said: "Alas! You are going to your hurt. The Way does not wish to be scattered about. If you scatter it, you will be scattered; if you gather, men will gather against you. The man who has the Way does not wish the fame of the Way. Do you understand? If you go and speak of virtue and honor to the young lord, you will be showing him the fault of others. The famous man tears down the one who is not famous. He will set the great men against you, and they will strive to cut you down. Your eyes will go dark; your face will go gray; your mouth will beg to mend it; your look will turn to the wish to please. Fire on fire, water on water: this is adding to what is already too much. The first word will be believed; but the end of it — you will not be believed. You will be ruined before the man who hears you."

"Yet the man who is good stands firm; the man who is not good does not stand. If your virtue is deep and your truth clear, though he be young and rash, still the man of Wei will find a use for you. If your honor is high and your fame great, he will hear your words. If you go as one man to another, and speak no fault of the great, why should you be hurt?"

Still, "goodness, truth, fame" — that is the way of the great house of Ji? Or is it not? He sets two things before you: fame and truth. Fame: men strive for it, and strive to win it. Truth: men keep it, and so they honor it. But if a man is made great by the fame of his goodness, he will be made great and grieve. If a man is set upon the truth of his fame, he will be set upon and slain. Both would be like the man who wanted to be loved by all, and so was loved by all men: all men were close to him, and he was close to them, and no man was set apart by him. But the first of the great men of old was of another kind. He would not go into another man's house; he would not keep another man's state; he would keep his own heart and be true. What could the fame of such a one be? Or would it be of the same kind as yours?

And if you speak of the law, the young lord will say: "He is a man of the law; he loves the people. To love the people is to give them rest." He will lay your law on the people and kill them with it. And you will have a man who is a fire, and you will see that he who is a fire is not seen. And you will fall in the same ruin. And then: and of the truth of the law, the law of the truth: and the man who is of the truth of the law — he will be of the truth of the law, and he will not be of the law.

Do not make the truth your name; do not make the law your fame. The fast of the heart: he does not go by the ear but by the heart. The ear stops at the hearing; the heart stops at the sign; the breath, empty, takes all things in. The Way gathers in the empty; and the empty is the fast of the heart.

He who has not heard it in himself has ears and eyes; he who has heard it in himself has no ears and no eyes; and the man of the Way is empty, and the empty is his house. The fast of the heart: it is not fasting of the belly.

Yan Hui asked: "Before I found it, I was Hui. When I found it, there was no Hui." Confucius said: "So it is. You are empty. Go into the net of men, and be not moved by them. Enter the net, but be not of it. If they will hear you, sing; if they will not, be still. No door, no medicine, one heart to bring them in: dwell in the never-ending, and be in the house of the never-ending."

Yan Hui asked: "What is the fasting of the heart?" Confucius said: "Make your will one. Do not listen with the ear, but with the heart; do not listen with the heart, but with the breath. The ear stops at what it hears; the heart stops at what it signs. The breath is empty and takes all things in. The Way gathers in the empty; the empty is the fast of the heart." Yan Hui said: "Before this, Hui had a Hui. Since then, there has been no Hui. Is that being empty?" Confucius said: "Yes. Now you may go to the lord of Wei. Tell me what you do there."

Yan Hui said: "I shall stand straight and not bend; I shall be as I am." "No. That is not enough. He will see through it; his face will change; and you will bend. The fire is in you. What good is the way of the old kings to the man of today? You will be hurt." Yan Hui said: "Then I shall be upright within and bent without; I shall serve Heaven, and know that my lord and I are both the children of Heaven. Shall I be blamed for weeping with those who weep? Shall I be blamed for singing with those who sing? I shall be straight in myself, and be as the men of Wei are: without blame." Confucius said: "No. Still not enough. Too much seeking to be right; too much holding to the inward; the outward too open. You will not be blamed; but you will not go far." Yan Hui said: "Then I shall be as the lord of Wei: I shall not be different from him, and I shall not be his. I shall be in his house and not of his house." Confucius said: "No. Not enough. Too much the same; not enough the other. You will not be blamed, but you will not go far." Yan Hui said: "I have nothing more to say. May I ask what to do?" Confucius said: "The fast of the heart. You cannot go to Wei with a full heart. Go empty."

Yan Hui said: "What is the fast of the heart?" Confucius said: "Make your will one. Do not listen with the ear; listen with the heart. Do not listen with the heart; listen with the breath. The ear stops with the ear; the heart stops with the heart. The breath is empty and waits on all things. The Way gathers in emptiness. Emptiness: that is the fast of the heart." Yan Hui said: "Before, Hui was Hui. Since this, there is no Hui. Is that emptiness?" Confucius said: "Yes. Go to the lord of Wei, and you may move him. Do not move a ghost; move a man. Hear the wind in the trees and the rain on the roof; see the light of Heaven and earth. Be as the hall is empty. What is not full is light; what is light is bright; what is bright is empty. And the empty: the men of old called it the house of the empty. If you go to Wei, go as an empty house, and be welcome."

Yan Hui said: "I have not yet gone out of myself. Is that not enough?" Confucius said: "Before you go out, you have the self. Go out and be without it. Heaven has made you; Heaven has made him. Why should you be different? And if Heaven made you one man and not another, what of it? You go into his house and are welcome; you go out and are not seen. Be as the empty house; go and do."

"May I ask what Heaven made and what man makes?" "Heaven made: the horse has four feet. Man makes: the bridle on the horse's head. Heaven made the footless; man made the shoe. Heaven made the horn; man made the crown. To keep the whole of what Heaven gave and not lose it: that is to keep Heaven whole. Do not fear: you will not be blamed. Do not be glad: you will not lose. Do not be dark: you will not be lit by others. Be as the wood is in the fire; be as the fire is in the wood. And then you may go, and not be blamed for going."

The world runs after one kind of knowing; and that knowing is not the knowing of the Way. It goes out and turns back, and cannot stop: is that not a shame? It knows "this" and does not know "that"; it knows "that" and does not know "this." One who is held in what he knows is a dead man; he is not a man of the Way. He who is lit by his own light is not lit. And the light that is lit by another light is not lit. Nothing is darker than the closed; nothing is lighter than the open. Nothing is more closed than the man who knows; nothing is more open than the man who knows he does not know. So the old saying: "He who knows he does not know is best; he who does not know and thinks he knows is sick." And he who is sick of it and knows it is not sick. The sage is not sick; he knows the sickness and so is not sick.

Confucius asked Yan Hui: "Your family is poor; why do you not go into office?" Yan Hui said: "I have no wish to. I have land outside the city walls, enough for rice and porridge; I have a garden within the walls, enough for hemp and silk; I play the lute, and that is enough for my hand; the Way I have learned from you, sir, is enough for my heart." Confucius said: "Wonderful, your return! Your fields are few, but you would have more; your office is none, but you would have one. The man who has no wish to go out into the world, who has heard the Way and keeps it, who has no wish to be known — he is not easily troubled. He who has lost his own heart may gain it again. He who has lost himself may find himself. He who knows the joy of Heaven has no grief in life and no fear in death."

Confucius asked Zi Sang Hu: "Twice you were driven from Lu; your tree was cut in Song; you lost your standing in Wei; you are friendless in Shang and Zhou. What trouble did you bring, that you meet with such things?" Zi Sang Hu said: "Shall I speak of what would not help me? My mother died young and my father married again, and I have no brother, and I am poor and without friends. I have no clothes but these, and no house but this. How could I wish for more? I have heard it said: 'Do not go against what is given; do not lose what is true.' I go with it, and am not against it. Long ago I heard the words of the great man: 'To go with the world and not be against it; to go out and not be seen.' If I had gone with the world, I should have been seen; and then I should have had to please the world, and be lost. But I am my own man, and the world does not know me. So I am poor without friends. It is Heaven that has put me here; not I."

Confucius said: "So it is. The way of the world is full of men who would use you; and you are not of that way. You hold to what is within; and the world does not know you. There is no man so lost as the man who has lost his own heart; no man so poor as the man who has lost himself. If you go into the world with the Way, the world will come to you; and you may be lost in it. If you go against the world with the Way, the world will come against you; and you may be lost in it. But the man of the Way goes neither with it nor against it; he goes alone, and the world does not know him. And so: he is not lost."

Zhuangzi said: "Men know the use of the useful, but none knows the use of the useless."

Yan Hui asked Confucius for permission to travel. "Where?" "To Wei." "Why?" "I heard the ruler of Wei is young and stubborn. He acts carelessly and never sees his own mistakes. He wastes his people's lives — the dead fill the country like dry reeds. You taught me: leave the well-run country; go to the mess. A doctor's door is crowded with patients. I want to use your teaching and see if Wei can be healed."

Confucius said: "You'll get yourself killed. The Way shouldn't be scattered around. If you pile it up, people will fight you. If you go preaching virtue at this young ruler, you're basically pointing out everyone's flaws — and famous men destroy whoever makes them look bad. They'll attack you. Your eyes will go dull, your face gray, your words desperate, your expression fake. It'll be like adding fire to fire, water to water. Your first words might be believed, but by the end they won't. You'll be ruined by the very man you came to help."

"Still — good people stand firm. If your goodness is solid and your heart clear, maybe the ruler will use you. If your reputation is high enough, he might even listen. What if you just talk to him man-to-man, and never criticize the powerful — then you won't get hurt, right?"

Fame and truth: he'll want both. People chase fame. People protect what's true. But if he gets famous for being good, he'll want more and more fame — and suffer for it. If he's obsessed with proving himself right, he'll fight anyone who disagrees. Both are like a man who wants everyone to love him — and gets so loved he can't move. The greatest people of old did it differently. They didn't try to fix others; they kept their own hearts whole.

Fasting of the heart: don't listen with your ears — listen with your mind. Don't listen with your mind — listen with your breath. The ear stops at sounds; the mind stops at thoughts. The breath is empty and open, ready for everything. The Way gathers in emptiness. Emptiness is the fast of the heart.

Yan Hui asked: "Before this, I was Hui. Now, there is no Hui. Is that emptiness?" Confucius said: "Yes. Now you can go see the ruler of Wei."

Yan Hui asked: "What is the fast of the heart?" Confucius said: "Make your will one. Don't listen with your ears; listen with your mind. Don't listen with your mind; listen with your breath. The ear stops at sounds. The mind stops at thoughts. The breath is empty, open to everything. The Way lives in emptiness. Emptiness is the fast of the heart."

Yan Hui said: "Before today, Hui was Hui. Since today, there's no Hui. Is that it?" Confucius said: "That's it. Go to Wei. If they listen, sing; if not, be still. Don't push. One heart, no doors, no plans — and you can enter."

The world runs after one kind of knowing, and it isn't the Way. It runs out and comes back, never stopping. It knows "this" and misses "that." A person stuck in what they know is spiritually dead. The sage doesn't need anyone else's light — his own is enough. Nothing is darker than the closed mind; nothing brighter than the open one. The one who knows he doesn't know is best. The one who doesn't know but thinks he knows is sick. The one who knows he's sick isn't sick. The sage isn't sick — he treats the sickness, and so it doesn't hurt him.

Confucius asked Yan Hui: "You're poor. Why not take a government job?" Yan Hui said: "I don't want one. I have a small farm outside the city — enough for rice porridge. I have a garden — enough for clothes. I play the lute — enough music. And your teaching — enough for my mind." Confucius said: "Wonderful! Contentment is real wealth."

Confucius asked Zi Sang Hu: "Twice exiled from Lu. Your tree cut down in Song. Stripped of office in Wei. No friends in Shang or Zhou. What did you do to deserve this?" Zi Sang Hu said: "My mother died young; my father remarried; I have no brothers; I'm poor and alone. I have no clothes but these, no house but this. What could I want? I was taught: don't fight what you're given; don't lose what's true. I go along with it, and I'm not against it. The great man of old said: 'Go with the world, and don't be seen.' If I had gone along with the world, I'd have been seen — and lost. But I'm my own man, and the world doesn't recognize me. So I'm poor and alone. It's heaven that put me here, not me."

Zhuangzi said: "Everyone knows how useful the useful is. Nobody knows how useful the useless is."