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Chapter 22 of 33
庄子
Knowledge (symbolizing intellect and the impulse to seek understanding) traveled north to the Dark Waters, ascended the Hidden Mound hill, and happened upon Nonaction-Without-Speech (symbolizing the true Way that is without action and without words). Knowledge asked Nonaction-Without-Speech: "How should one think, how should one deliberate, in order to know the Way? How should one conduct oneself, how should one settle oneself, in order to abide in the Way? What should one follow, what path should one take, in order to attain the Way?" He asked three times, but Nonaction-Without-Speech did not answer—not because he was unwilling, but because he did not know how to answer. Knowledge received no answer and returned south of the White Waters, ascended the Fox-Gap hill, and encountered Wildly Unrestrained. Knowledge asked Wildly Unrestrained the same questions. Wildly Unrestrained said: "Alas! I know it, and I will tell you." But just as he was about to speak, he forgot the words he wanted to say. Knowledge again received no answer, returned to the Emperor's Palace, met the Yellow Emperor, and asked him the same questions.
The Yellow Emperor said: "Not thinking, not deliberating, only then can one know the Way; not being concerned with conduct and settling, only then can one abide in the Way; not following, not taking any path, only then can one attain the Way."
Knowledge asked the Yellow Emperor: "You and I now know it—were Nonaction-Without-Speech and Wildly Unrestrained the ones who did not know? Who, in the end, is right?"
The Yellow Emperor said: "Nonaction-Without-Speech is truly right; Wildly Unrestrained came close, but you and I, in the end, are far from it. Those who truly know do not speak; those who speak do not truly know. Therefore the sage practices the teaching without words. The Way cannot be attained through seeking; Virtue cannot be reached through deliberate effort. Benevolence can still be practiced; Righteousness already involves loss; Propriety is even more so mutual falsification and pretense. Therefore it is said: When the Way is lost, then Virtue is spoken of; when Virtue is lost, then Benevolence is spoken of; when Benevolence is lost, then Righteousness is spoken of; when Righteousness is lost, then Propriety is spoken of. This thing called Propriety is the flower's superficial adornment of the Way, the beginning of chaos. Therefore it is said: Those who cultivate the Way daily reduce—reduce and reduce again, until they reach the state of nonaction (not acting deliberately, purely following nature). Having reached nonaction, they become capable of everything. Now, having turned oneself into a 'thing' (fixated on one's own form and cognition), how difficult is it to return to the root! If anyone finds it easy, it can only be the Great Person (one who has penetrated the Way)! Life is akin to death; death is the beginning of life—who can discern their threads and strands! Human life is nothing but the gathering of vital energy. When energy gathers, there is life; when energy disperses, there is death. If death and life were originally of the same kind, interconnected and continuous, what would there be for me to worry about! Therefore all things are originally one. People call what they consider beautiful wondrous and what they detest putrid. But the putrid will transform back into the wondrous, and the wondrous will also transform back into the putrid. Therefore it is said: What unites all things under heaven is nothing but one vital energy. The sage therefore treasures that 'One' (the original source of the unity of all things)."
Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor: "When I asked Nonaction-Without-Speech, he did not respond—not that he ignored me, but he did not know how to respond; when I asked Wildly Unrestrained, he intended in his heart to tell me but did not—not that he refused, but his heart wanted to speak yet forgot; now I ask you, and you know it—why do you still say it is not close?"
The Yellow Emperor said: "Nonaction-Without-Speech is truly right precisely because he does not know; Wildly Unrestrained came close precisely because he forgot; you and I, in the end, are far from it precisely because we know." When Wildly Unrestrained heard this, he considered the Yellow Emperor's words to be those of one who truly understands the Way.
🌏 Heaven and Earth possess great beauty, yet speak not; the four seasons have clear regularity, yet debate not; all things have established order, yet proclaim not. The sage takes as his model the great beauty of Heaven and Earth, thereby penetrating the principle of all things. Therefore the Ultimate Person (one of the highest cultivation) is without artificial action, and the Great Sage (the thoroughly transformed sage) does not act arbitrarily—because they observe the Way of Heaven and Earth. The profoundest spirit within the cosmos, exquisite beyond measure, transforms endlessly together with all things. All things live and die, have square and round forms—no one knows their origins. All things grow exuberantly, having existed primordially since ancient times. The Six Realms (heaven and earth with the four directions) though vast, extend not beyond its scope; an autumn hair (the tip of an animal's fur in autumn) though tiny, depends on it to take form. All things under heaven sink and rise, flourish and decline with it, never rigidly fixed throughout their lives. The movements of yin and yang and the four seasons each follow their own order. It is vague and seemingly absent, yet truly real; it arises naturally, without form, yet wondrously unfathomable; all things are nourished by it yet know not of its existence. This is called the Root. Understanding this, one can observe Heaven!
Nie Que asked Pi Yi about the Way. Pi Yi said: "Rectify your form and focus your gaze, and the natural harmony will come; gather your intelligence and concentrate your faith, and the spirit will come to abide. Virtue will show forth its beauty in you; the Way will come to dwell in your heart. You will be like a newborn calf, eyes clear and bright, yet not inquiring whence it came." Before he had finished speaking, Nie Que had already fallen asleep. Pi Yi was overjoyed and departed singing: "Form like dried bone, mind like dead ashes—he has truly grasped the reality of wisdom, no longer bound by past preconceptions. Benighted and obscured, dark and dim, without cunning in his heart—one cannot scheme with him. What manner of man is this!"
Shun asked Cheng: "The Way (the root and operating principle of all things)—can it be possessed?" Cheng said: "Your own body does not belong to you—how could you possess the Way!" Shun said: "My body does not belong to me—to whom does it belong?" Cheng said: "It is the form temporarily entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth; life does not belong to you—it is the vital harmony temporarily entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth; one's nature and destiny do not belong to you—they are the compliance temporarily entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth; your children and descendants do not belong to you—they are the shed shells temporarily entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth (like a cicada's molt—the continuing form of life). Therefore, when walking, you know not where you are going; when resting, you know not what to hold on to; when eating and drinking, you know not the flavor. All of this is nothing but the flowing, never-static vital energy of Heaven and Earth—how could it possibly be possessed by you!"
Confucius asked Lao Dan: "Today in leisure, I venture to inquire of you what is the Ultimate Way." Lao Dan said: "First you must fast and purify—wash your mind, cleanse your spirit, break apart your preconceptions and cleverness. The Way is profound and subtle, difficult to speak of! For the moment, let me give you a rough outline: Brightness arises from darkness, form arises from the formless, spirit arises from the Way, form originates from vital energy, and all things come into being through the mutual generation of their forms. Therefore creatures with nine apertures are born from wombs, and creatures with eight apertures are born from eggs. Its coming leaves no trace, its departure has no boundary; it has no gate and no chamber—it pervades all four directions, vast and boundless. One who attains this has robust limbs, penetrating thought, and sharp ears and eyes. The mind toils not, responding to all things without fixed pattern. Heaven cannot but be high, Earth cannot but be broad, sun and moon cannot but move, all things cannot but flourish—this is the Way! Furthermore, those broadly learned do not necessarily possess true knowledge; those skilled in debate do not necessarily possess real wisdom—the sage has already cast these aside. That which increases and yet is not increased, diminishes and yet is not diminished—this is what the sage preserves. Deep it is, like the vast sea; majestic it is, ending and beginning again, cycling without end. It carries and contains all things without ever being exhausted. The words of those gentlemen are but the outer manifestations of the Way! All things draw nourishment from it and it never fails them—this is the Way!"
"In the Central Kingdoms, there are those who attain the Way—they do not incline toward yin nor toward yang, abiding between Heaven and Earth, temporarily taking human form, and ultimately returning to the origin. From the perspective of the origin, the birth of life is merely the emergence of a form through gathered vital energy. Though the difference between long life and early death exists, how much does it amount to really? It is but a moment—why worth distinguishing the rights and wrongs of Yao and Jie! Melons and fruits have their veins and patterns; though human relations are complex, one can arrange them accordingly. The sage, encountering these things, does not oppose them; having experienced them, does not cling to them. Responding harmoniously—this is Virtue; responding accommodatingly—this is the Way. The rising of emperors and kings, the emergence of governance—all lies herein."
"Human life between Heaven and Earth is like a white horse galloping past a chink in the wall—merely the span of an instant. Rankly, exuberantly, all things are born; spaciously, detachedly, all things dissolve. Having transformed, they live; then transform again and die. Living creatures mourn this, and humanity weeps over it. Yet it is merely untying Heaven's bow-case from it and divesting Heaven's binding." Amidst the drifting and interweaving transformations, the soul is about to depart, and the body follows. This is returning to the great, original source! From having no form to having form, from having form to having no form—this is known to all people, yet not what those who approach the Way pursue, nor what ordinary people can discourse upon. Those who truly attain speak no longer; those who speak have not attained; those who see clearly find themselves unable to encounter it; those who are skilled in debate would do better to fall silent. The Way cannot be heard; what is heard is not as good as stopping one's ears to it. Only this may be called the Great Gain."
Dongguo Zi asked Zhuangzi: "This Way of which you speak—where precisely does it exist?" Zhuangzi said: "It is everywhere." Dongguo Zi said: "Please indicate a specific place—that will count as an answer." Zhuangzi said: "In ants and mole-crickets." Dongguo Zi said: "How could it be so base?" Zhuangzi said: "In the wild weeds in the fields." Dongguo Zi said: "How could it be even lower?" Zhuangzi said: "In bricks and tiles." Dongguo Zi said: "How is this increasingly excessive?" Zhuangzi said: "In excrement and urine." Dongguo Zi fell silent.
Zhuangzi said: "The way you frame your question fails entirely to touch the essential nature of the Way. It is like a market superintendent asking how to inspect a pig by stepping on its leg to determine fatness—the lower you press, the clearer the truth. As long as you do not insist on a fixed location, the Way never departs from any single thing. The highest Way is like this, and the highest discourse is likewise. The terms 'comprehensive,' 'pervasive,' and 'universal'—the names differ but the substance is the same, referring to one and the same thing. Let us together wander in the realm of the formless void, discussing with the gaze of equanimity—then there will be no end to it at all! Let us together abide in nonaction! Bland and tranquil! Still and clear! Harmonious and at ease! My will has become empty and vacant—when I go, I know not to where I travel; when I return, I know not where I stop. I come and go, knowing not where the terminus is. Loitering in the vast, boundless expanse, even one of great wisdom entering therein knows not its end. The Way that governs all things has no boundary with them; things have boundaries—these are what are called the boundaries between things. The boundary that is unboundaried—this is the boundary-within-no-boundary. To speak of fullness and emptiness, rise and fall: the Way can render things full or empty, yet the Way itself is neither full nor empty; the Way can render things flourishing or decaying, yet the Way itself neither flourishes nor decays; the Way can render things with beginnings and ends, yet the Way itself has neither beginning nor end; the Way can assemble and scatter things, yet the Way itself is neither assembled nor scattered."
E He Gan and Shen Nong studied together under Lao Long Ji. Shen Nong leaned on his table, shut the door, and slept during the day. E He Gan pushed the door open around noon and said: "Lao Long Ji has died!" Shen Nong leaned on his table, propped himself on his staff, stood up, and suddenly cast the staff aside with a laugh, saying: "Heaven knew how rustic, shallow, and unruly I was, so it abandoned me and he departed. It is finished! My teacher passed away without leaving behind a single sentence of enlightening discourse before he died!" Yan Gang Diao heard of this and said: "One who has truly embodied the Way is one to whom all superior men under heaven turn. Now Lao Long Ji, with regard to the Way, had attained not even one ten-thousandth of the tip of an autumn hair, and still he understood that one must sheathe one's wild words and die in silence—how much more so those who have actually embodied the Way! Look at it—it has no form; listen to it—it has no sound. People in discussing it call it 'the dim and obscure.' Yet all this talk in discourse about the Way is not the Way itself."
Tai Qing asked Qiung Wu (the Boundless): "Do you know the Way?" The Boundless said: "I do not know it." He then asked Wu Wei (Nonaction), and Nonaction said: "I know the Way." Tai Qing said: "The Way that you know—does it have specific content and regularity?" Nonaction said: "It does." Tai Qing said: "And what is that regularity?" Nonaction said: "I know the Way can be noble, can be base, can be drawn together, can be scattered apart. These are what I know to be its features." Tai Qing took these words to Wan Shi (the Untraced) and asked: "If it is so, then which is right and which is wrong—the Boundeless's 'not knowing' or Nonaction's 'knowing'?"
Wan Shi said: "The one who says 'I do not know' is profound; the one who says 'I know' is shallow. Not knowing resides within the Way; knowing stands outside the Way." Tai Qing looked up and sighed deeply, saying: "Not knowing is true knowing, and knowing is rather the not-knowing! Who can truly grasp that 'not-knowing that constitutes knowing'?" Wan Shi said: "The Way cannot be heard—that which is heard is not the Way; the Way cannot be seen—that which is seen is not the Way; the Way cannot be spoken—that which is spoken is not the Way! Do you know that that which imparts form is itself formless! The Way should not be assigned a name."
Wan Shi continued: "If one who asks about the Way answers him, he is one who does not know the Way; even the one who asks the question has never already heard or understood the Way. The Way is, by nature, that which can never be asked; what is asked here, by nature, can never be answered. To ask what can never be asked—this is asking an exhaustibly knotless question; to respond with what can never be a response—this is to have one's innermost mind completely empty. The one thus responding, to the other, whose core self we can observe,: he seeks out nothing nor sees.
Shun asked Cheng about a horse (reading through related 骈母下, substituting the proverb regarding the horse's bodily stance fits these lines and texts best) to thereby illuminate direct discernment: When approaching the fence, two corners exist; these words turn further thought.
Ran Qiu asked Confucius, "Can we know what existed before Heaven and Earth came into being?" Confucius said, "We can. The ancient times and today are the same." Not satisfied with this answer, Ran Qiu withdrew. The next day he met again and said, "Yesterday I asked, 'Can we know what existed before Heaven and Earth came into being?' You said, 'We can. The ancient times and today are the same.' Yesterday I felt it was clear and obvious, but today I feel confused. May I ask what this means?" Confucius said, "Yesterday you felt it clear, because your spirit grasped it first; today you feel confused, because you are again pursuing it with what is not spirit, not luminous! There is no ancient, no present, no beginning, no end. If one said that before there were descendants there were already grandsons, would that be possible?" Ran Qiu did not answer.
Confucius said, "Enough, no need to respond! Do not use the concept of 'life' to turn 'death' into death, nor use the concept of 'death' to turn 'life' into life. Are death and life mutually dependent and mutually opposed? They were originally one and the same body. What thing exists that came before Heaven and Earth? That which creates all things is itself not a thing; things cannot precede things, and before any thing there must be another thing. Tracing back in this way, there is no end! The sage cherishes all things and loves all people without limit, precisely taking this as his model."
Yan Yuan asked Confucius, "I once heard you say: 'Have no sending off, have no welcoming; have no approaching, have no avoiding.' May I ask how one can attain such a state?" Confucius said, "People of ancient times, externally they transformed with things while internally they remained unchanged; people of today, internally they are unstable and changeable while externally they are rigid and fixed. Those who can truly transform along with external things possess within them an unchanging constant. Where is there any change, and where is there any constancy? What need is there to rub and clash, to jostle and grapple with others? By all means, do not contend with others over superiority. The parks of Xiwei, the gardens of the Yellow Emperor, the palaces of Shun, the chambers of Tang and Wu—these were merely places of gradually diminishing scale. Those so-called gentlemen, masters of the Confucian and Mohist schools, still attack and slander one another over right and wrong—how much more so the people of today! The sage dwells among things without harming them. One who does not harm things—things will not harm him either. Only one who harbors no thought of harm toward anything can truly send off and welcome others. The mountain forests! The open wilds! They fill me with joy and delight! Yet before the joy has ended, sorrow comes in its wake. The coming of joy and sorrow, I cannot resist; their departure, I cannot stop. How lamentable! The people of the world are but temporary lodgers in the inn of external things! They know only what they encounter, not what they have not encountered; they know only what they can do, not what they cannot do. Not to know and not to be able—these are unavoidable for all people. Yet there are those who insist on seeking to escape what is inherently unavoidable for people—is this not also lamentable! The highest speech is to do away with speech; the highest action is to do away with action. If one wants all people to know the same things, then what they know would be too shallow indeed!"
"Knowledge that is no-knowledge" is not sheer ignorance, but an intuitive realization that transcends the subject-object dichotomy. It is an existential participation, not an objective observation. In the language of modern philosophy, this approaches Martin Buber's distinction between the "I-Thou" relationship and the "I-It" relationship: the Dao can only be "encountered," never "utilized." In the language of Vedanta philosophy, this approaches the via negativa of saying "not this, not this" (neti neti). Zhuangzi's language is simpler, yet more thoroughgoing: "The Dao cannot be heard; what is heard is not it. The Dao cannot be seen; what is seen is not it. The Dao cannot be spoken; what is spoken is not it." Everything that is "spoken out" is already name-and-form, and the Dao is not name-and-form.
"One Qi Penetrates All Under Heaven" and the Logic of the Identity of Life and Death
"One qi penetrates all under heaven" is the metaphysical cornerstone of the entire chapter. Qi is both the basic element in the cosmological sense and the principle of continuity in the ontological sense. That all things are constituted by qi means there is no absolute rupture between things; that the change of life and death is but the gathering and dispersing of qi means there is no absolute gulf between life and death.
This thought bears a formal resemblance to the doctrine of "arche" (first principle) in the ancient Greek Ionian school, but the direction is utterly different. Thales said all things originate from water—that is a proposition of natural philosophy; Zhuangzi said one qi penetrates all under heaven—that is a proposition of ontology. Zhuangzi's concern is not what matter the cosmos is composed of, but rather: if all things are fundamentally one, how should a person live? The answer is: one should no longer cling to the opposition between "self" and "not-self," should no longer cling to the opposition between "life" and "death," should no longer cling to the opposition between "gain" and "loss." Because all these oppositions are dissolved at the level of "one qi." This is a profound existential philosophy, not a naive materialism.
"Is There Something That Gives Birth to Heaven and Earth?" — The Limit Question of Cosmology
Ran Qiu asked, "Can one know what existed before heaven and earth?" Confucius replied, "The past is the same as the present." The profound meaning of this reply lies in: the infinite regress of asking about time is meaningless. If one says "there is something that precedes heaven and earth," then what precedes that which precedes heaven and earth? Pushing on in this way, "it is like saying there are things without end"—it would go on without end.
This is not an attitude of evading the question, but rather an insight at the philosophical level: the question of the "first cause" in the cosmological sense is itself a false question based on linear thinking about time. The Dao is not within the sequence of time; it is the very condition of time itself. Hence it is said, "There is no past and no present, no beginning and no end." This thought resonates in a certain way with Kant's analysis of the cosmological antinomy: when reason attempts to transcend experience to inquire into the "beginning," it necessarily falls into contradiction. Zhuangzi's uniqueness lies in the fact that he does not reveal this contradiction through logical analysis, but rather transcends the question directly through existential intuition. When you no longer think of the Dao in terms of the categories of "before" and "after," the question of "what was there before heaven and earth" itself has already dissolved.
Associated Concepts
The Equalization of Things (Qi Wu): Directly related to "all things are one" and "one qi penetrates all under heaven." The essence of equalizing things lies in viewing all things from the level of the Dao, whereby all differences and oppositions (high and low, noble and base, beautiful and ugly, right and wrong, life and death) are dissolved. The statement in Knowledge Wandering North that "rotting things transform again into the wondrous, and the wondrous transform again into the rotting" is a typical expression of the thought of equalizing things.
The Fasting of the Mind (Xin Zhai): Lao Dan says, "Fast and purify, drain your mind, wash and cleanse your spirit." The "fasting" here points in the direction of the fasting of the mind—not an external ritual of abstinence, but an internal cleansing and purification of the heart. The fasting of the mind is a concrete form of "reduction."
Sitting in Forgetting (Zuo Wang): It corresponds with the imagery of Nie Que "falling into drowsy sleep." Sitting in forgetting is not seated meditation or entering stillness, but "letting fall the body and limbs, dismissing hearing and sight, departing from form and forsaking knowledge, and becoming identical with the Great Thoroughfare"—letting go of bodily attachment and conceptual cognition, and uniting with the Dao. When Bei Yi saw Nie Que in "drowsy sleep" and was greatly delighted, it was precisely because he witnessed the state of sitting in forgetting.
The Great Void (Tai Xu): Wu Shi's phrase "wandering in the Great Void" points to a state of ultimate emptiness and vacuity, continuous with the "dim and empty" vision when Guang Yao asked Wu You about Nothing. The Great Void is not nothingness, but the emptiness that holds all things.
A White Colt Passing Through a Cleft: Originating from this chapter, it has become a classic image in Chinese literature for lamenting the brevity of life. It echoes the saying in Zhuangzi, Nourishing Life that "my life has a limit."
Externally Transformed While Internally Unchanging: An important proposition in Zhuangzi's cultivation theory, consistent with the thought in Zhuangzi, The Human World that "in form, nothing is better than being compliant; in mind, nothing is better than being harmonious," and also aligned with the thought in Zhuangzi, Signs of Virtue Complete that "talent is complete while virtue is not manifested."
Further Reading
Zhuangzi, On the Equalization of Things: "Heaven and earth are one finger; all things are one horse." "The Dao penetrates all into one." Another classic expression of the thought of the unity of all things, which can be read alongside "one qi penetrates all under heaven."
Zhuangzi, The Great Ancestral Teacher: "The Dao has feeling and trustworthiness, it is without action and without form; it can be transmitted but not received, can be attained but not seen; it is its own root and its own foundation. Before heaven and earth existed, it has been there from ancient times." A positive description of the Dao as ultimate reality, complementary to the via negativa expression of "the Dao cannot be spoken" in Knowledge Wandering North.
Zhuangzi, The Human World: "Yan Hui said, 'May I ask about the fasting of the mind?' Zhongni said, 'Unify your will—do not listen with your ears but listen with your mind; do not listen with your mind but listen with your qi.'" A concrete description of the fasting of the mind, mutually corroborating with Lao Dan's "drain your mind, wash and cleanse your spirit."
Daodejing, Chapter 48: "Pursuing learning, one increases daily; pursuing the Dao, one decreases daily. Decrease and decrease again, until one reaches non-action." The direct source of "those who pursue the Dao decrease daily" in Knowledge Wandering North.
Daodejing, Chapter 38: "When the Dao is lost, then virtue follows; when virtue is lost, then benevolence follows; when benevolence is lost, then righteousness follows; when righteousness is lost, then propriety follows." The original text quotation cited by Huang Di, which can be read to understand Zhuangzi's inheritance and development of Laozi's thought.
Zhuangzi, Autumn Floods: "Viewed from the Dao, nothing is noble and nothing is base." Dissolving value hierarchies from the perspective of the Dao, connected to the proposition that "the Dao is in excrement and urine."
Zhuangzi, Fables: "The goblet words come forth daily, harmonized by the celestial balance." Zhuangzi's reflection on his own mode of speech, resonating with the thought that "the ultimate speech is the absence of speech," which helps explain why Knowledge Wandering North uses fables and dialogues rather than systematic exposition to express the unspeakability of the Dao.
This content is based on classical Daoist texts and is provided for traditional culture study and life reference only. It does not constitute religious, medical, or investment advice.