Evidences Of A Full Character (6)

1 Huizi asked Chuang Tzu, “You said that a man should have no passion. What does it mean?”

2 Chuang Tzu replied, “Yes! Human should have no passion so that worldly rightness and wrong, good and badness, kindness and evilness don’t restrict him.”

3 Huizi said, “Can the man without passion and desire, rightness and wrong, good and badness, kindness and evilness be regarded as a man?”

4 Chuang Tzu said: “Nature endows him with body, head, limbs, eyes, ears, nose, tongue and mind and also endows him with life power, thinking and various complexions. He has all of these. How do you say that he isn’t a man?”

5 Huizi replied, “Now that he is a man and has behaviors and various complexions, his mood can be detected by his complexion. How does he has no passion?”

6 Chuang Tzu said, “Alas! Buddy. The passion you mean and that I mean are different. I always uphold that a man should have no passion. Because those passions will bring vexation on himself, which he should ward off.

7 As far as the passion is concerned, many people are skeptical of it. They think that making up one’s mind to be a man of no passion is against the orthodoxy.

8 My meaning actually is not let the mood of outward such as love, accepting or rejecting, pro or con to influence our inward mood. We are just to be an absolutely spectator and let them be.

9 Never do as pulling up the seedlings in order to help them grow faster or robbing the rich and helping the poor. Not trying to improve upon living and keep a peaceful and tranquil heart is important to a man.

10 We should respect other’s right of keeping a peaceful and tranquil heart and don’t open or stir other’s heart carelessly.

11 In this world, there are many people who open other’s heart carelessly and then leave far away. They bequeath an awful mess to other, which is irresponsible.

12 So to be a man of no passion in fact is an active and having significant meaning.”

13 Huizi said, “Everyday we live in a trivial and busy life. All those activities we have done have only one purpose; it is to do some thing good for our body. In order to keep our health, we climb hill in the morning, play ball in the afternoon, take a Sauna bath, study our food that should not be oily or raw, and see doctors to recover it when ill. Do we do less for our sound health? You say ‘not trying to improve upon living’. Is it far from the real life?”

14 Chuang Tzu said, “Alas, you don’t understand it yet. After Tao gives us our expression and form, we should maintain and nourish our body. This point doesn’t conflict what I have said.

15 What I mean ‘not trying to improve upon living’ is that you are asked to keep your sound, tranquil and peaceful heart away from the objective conditions, such as right and wrong, evilness and kindness, happiness and anger.

16 What I mean are to persuade you to protect your spirit hard and carefully, to keep yourself from greed, anger, obsession and worry, to free from hard debating something paradoxical and to live free.

17 You should practice yourself well in the subjective conditions. Enjoying Samadhi and keeping sound, tranquil and peaceful mind are the truth of no passion and not trying to improve upon living.”