The Way of the World by Thomas Cleary

Author:Thomas Cleary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala

When King Zhuang of Chu governed, for three years he issued no orders and took no administrative actions. The minister of the right Yang Yuzuo secretly said to the king, “There is a bird perched on a hill to the south; for three years it hasn’t spread its wings, flown, or called. It has been silent, as if mute. What is it named?”

The king said, “It hasn’t spread its wings, to see to it that the feathers mature. It doesn’t fly or call, so it can observe the standards of the people. Though it hasn’t flown, when it does it will surely fly to the sky; though it hasn’t called, when it does it will surely startle people. You interpret this. I know it.” After another half year of inaction, he began to supervise the administration personally, firing ten and hiring nine, executing five great ministers and promoting six men of integrity; then the state became very orderly. He raised an army to punish Qi, defeating them in Xu province, and beat Jin at Heying. Convening the lords in Song, he finally ruled the world.27

King Zhuang didn’t compromise what was good for the sake of something small, therefore he acquired a great reputation; he didn’t reveal directions too early, therefore he had great success. So it is said, “A great vessel takes a long time to complete; a great voice is rarely heard.”

When King Zhuang of Chu wanted to attack Yue, Tuzi objected, “Why would Your Majesty attack Yue?” The king said, “The government is in chaos, and the military is weak.” Tuzi said, “I may be stupid, but I’m troubled about this. Intelligence is like eyes: we can see things over a hundred paces away, but we can’t see our own eyelashes. Your army will itself be defeated by Qin and Jin, losing hundreds of miles of territory; this is weakness in the military. Zhuang Xiqiao is committing robberies in your territory, yet the police can’t stop him; this is chaos in government. Your weakness and disorder are not less than those of Yue. If you want to attack Yue, this is an example of intelligence being like eyes.” The king then gave up the idea. So the difficulty of knowledge is not in seeing others, but in seeing oneself. So it is said, “Seeing yourself is called enlightenment.”

Zixia saw Master Zeng.28 Master Zeng said, “Why have you gained weight?” Zixia said, “I’ve gained weight because of victory in battle.”

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