Chapter 769: The Words of Sages Are Hard to Understand

The words of sages are hard to understand.

April 20: 'The words of sages,' hard to understand!

The previous passage said that when Confucius met Laozi, Confucius asked about the Dao..

How could Confucius fail to understand Laozi's Dao?

This, perhaps because the Dao Laozi spoke of is too profound; Confucius's life experience, social experience, and knowledge, insight, and comprehension have not yet surpassed Laozi's; perhaps Confucius and Laozi are not studying the same Dao. Confucius studies the Dao of governing the state and pacifying the nation, the Dao of being human; while Laozi studies the Dao of humanity, the Dao of transcending the mundane. As the saying goes: different Daos, no plotting together.

This, how could Confucius fully comprehend Laozi's Dao?

The Dao Laozi spoke of is formless and elusive. Laozi's other student Zhuangzi explains Laozi's Dao in this way. Zhuangzi says, there is nothing in the world greater than the tip of the fine hair newly born on autumn birds and beasts, while Mount Tai is the smallest. The fine hair is greater than Mount Tai.

Zhuangzi turned his words around, saying the small is great and the great is small. Could this be the explanation of the Dao? Zhuangzi deeply understood Laozi's Dao? While Confucius could not!

Zhuangzi believes that although all things in the world appear myriad and varied, they in fact share one source, which is the 'Dao'. Zhuangzi holds that the 'Dao' is nothingness. If we compare the 'Dao' with 'nothingness', it is like comparing the fine hair with Mount Tai; in that comparison, the fine hair becomes the ultimate end or the beginning of things. All things in the world have a beginning and an ultimate end; thus, the fine hair is naturally the greatest. Carefully considering Zhuangzi's words, it is not without reason: the heavens and earth and all things are a unified whole, and Mount Tai is merely a tiny part of that whole. Therefore, Zhuangzi thinks that if Mount Tai is compared with heaven and earth, is it not small? Because the heavens and earth and all things are a unified whole, and all things arise from the 'Dao', so the fine hair and Mount Tai are essentially the same. Although there is a difference between them, this difference is only temporary and trivial.

This explanation makes people find it hard to believe. Or someone says it is nonsense. How could a sage speak nonsense? Zhuangzi's words are not without reason. Did Confucius not say that a gentleman has three reverences? Among them is 'a gentleman reveres the words of sages'. No matter how a sage speaks, there is reason in it. --

Zhuangzi says: 'There is no longer life than a child's early death, while Pengzu, who lived to eight hundred years old, is short-lived.' This again seems like Zhuangzi speaking nonsense. He is stating things in reverse. This is the sage's way of thinking. The sage's thinking is simply different from ordinary people's. Here we can gain insight: to be a sage, one must consider problems with reverse thinking, study problems, and say what others have not said. --

'You have your feeble, elderly language; I have my youthful, vigorous language.' Zhuangzi is younger than Confucius, the younger generation is to be feared; therefore, Zhuangzi's language is bolder and more daring than Confucius's; fresh and lively.

'You pick and choose among your tattered clothes; I, with my own hands, tear apart all old things and cast aside everything that obstructs my climb to the summit.' Confucius's words are easier for Laozi to understand and readily accepted by people, because Confucius threw Laozi aside; if Confucius had followed Laozi's path step by step, he would not be Confucius, and China would have the term 'Confucius the Sage'. Precisely because Confucius walked his own road, we have the Analects, those star‑like brilliant words that illuminate our spiritual journey; Zhuangzi is the same.

'You preserve your broken limbs and disabled bodies, guarding them in the museum of antiquities in your minds; I, however, burn to ashes all that is dead and paralyzed.' This is to urge people to renew themselves and break free from the ancients' ruts. This is wisdom, this is courage. Confucius has more courage than Laozi; Confucius surpassed Laozi; Zhuangzi has even more courage than Confucius, surpassing and creating himself.

I say, your language will become nothing.

I say, a lamp that has burned out its oil will not shine for long.

I say, life does not go backward.

I say, coffin boards will not bloom or bear fruit." So Zhuangzi says ----------