The Human World (4)

1 A carpenter called Shijun someday passed by Quyuan, a place in the State of Qi.

2 There was a giant tree beside the temple of Earth God. Its shade was large enough to be as a resting place for thousands of cattle; its trunk was hundreds feet in its waist circle; its top was eight feet higher than the nearby mounds. People guessed that to fell that tree was enough to make into ten more boats.

3 The giant tree attracted many travelers. The carpenter however passed by the tree without a glance and stop.

4 The carpenter’s apprentice was curious why his master passed by the tree without a glance and stop, because he was attracted by the big tree and thought it was a good material for carpentry.

5 The apprentice asked, “Since I have being your apprentice, I never see a tree so splendid and beautiful like this one. Why do you contemptuously disregard it?

6 Shijun kept walking and replied indifferently, “Forget it. The tree is not worth talking about. It is useless. If you use it to make boat, the boat will sink; if you use it to make coffin, the coffin will rot; if you use it to make furniture, the furniture will crack and vulnerable; if you use it to make door, the door is humid; if you use it to make beam, it is liable to eat into. In a word, it is devoid of any merit. This is why it can live so long a time. No carpenter is willing to touch it.”

7 At night, Shijun had a dream in which the big tree said to him: whom do you want to compare me with? Do you compare me with the tree of tidy texture, such as cherry tree, pear tree, orange tree, grapefruit tree or other fruit trees?

8 How pitiful are these fruit trees. After fruiting, they have to be trimmed, after which they look ugly and lose their dignity.

9 Does the value of these trees cause the miserable treatment? They often suffer because people like them. There are numerous cases that sudden misfortune happens to a man because of his talent.

10 It takes me tremendous efforts to become a tree of trash. I was also confronted with being cut down for many times, it was because I kept making efforts to live though those critical situations. I have forged this “trash kongfu” which is very useful to me.

11 If I were yet a little worth being made use of, I couldn’t live through today and grow so high and big.

12 We are the same, being created by God. Why do we criticize one another? Are you, a crap, a dying guy, appropriate to making frivolous remark about a useless tree?”

13 The carpenter waked up and told to his apprentice about the dream. The apprentice asked, “If the tree is determined to be a useless tree, how does it become a splendid tree that is respected by all?”

14 Shijun put his index finger on his lips. “Hush, lower down your voice. To escape the people who dislike tree’s uselessness, the tree stays beside the temple as a God tree. If it isn’t being the God tree, numerous people would have cut it down long time ago.

15 The tree has its own way to keep itself safe so we should not criticize it in the light of common criterion.”

16 Ziqi lived in Nanbo. Someday he toured in Shang where there was a hill. He found a very huge tree on the hill.

17 The tree shade can cover a thousand four-horse chariot. Ziqi signed, “Oh, what a tree. It must have unique characteristics.”

18 Squinting closely at the tree, he found that the branches were too crooked to be used as rafter over beam of house; downward part of the tree were too twisted and texture-disordered to be used as coffin; its leaves tasted thorny to pierce lips and tongue, and smelt stink to make people faint for three days.

19 Ziqi learnt a lesson from it and said, “The tree is really useless, for which it can live through and grow so huge. Those who practice should imitate it and learn something about surviving from it.”

20 There was a manor belonging to Jin in the State of Song. Catalpa, fir and mulberry trees grew exuberantly in this place. When the trees grew to one and half inches in diameter, they were cut down to make monkey cage; When two to three inches, built house; when seven to eight inches, made coffin of rich or high-rank people. The trees died under axe at their vigorous age. The misfortunes befell to them because they were good material for carpentry.

21 The cattle with white dot on its forehead, the pig with too big nose and the person with piles were unqualified to be the sacrifice to the god of river. The flamen of sacrifice thought that they were unpropitious.

22 Man of wisdom doesn’t think they are unpropitious, because creature with defectiveness is lucky indeed.