Mair 4:4

[Marblehead]

A carpenter named Shih, who was on his way to Ch'i, came to Bent Shaft.  There he saw a chestnut-leaved oak that served as the local shrine.  The tree was so big that several thousand head of cattle could take shade beneath it and it was a hundred spans in circumference.  It was so tall that it surveyed the surrounding hills; only above eighty feet were there any branches shooting out from its trunk.  It had ten or more limbs from each of which you could make a boat.  Those who came to gaze upon it were as numerous as the crowds in a market.  The master carpenter paid no attention to it, but kept walking without slowing his pace a bit.  After his disciples had had their fill of gazing upon the great tree, they caught up with carpenter Shih and said, "Since we have taken up our axes to follow you, master, we have never seen such marvelous timber as this.  Why, sir, were you unwilling to look at it, but kept on walking without even slowing down?"

 

"Enough!  Don't talk about it!  It's defective wood.  A boat made from it would sink.  A coffin made from it would rot right away.  An implement made from it would break right away.  A door made from it would exude resin.  A pillar made from it would soon be grub-infested.  This tree is worthless.  There's nothing you can make from it.  That's why it could grow to be so old."

 

After the carpenter had returned to his own country, the shrine oak appeared to him in a dream, saying, "With what trees will you compare me?  Will you compare me with those that have fine-grained wood?  As for the hawthorn, the pear, the orange, the pomelo, and other fructiferous trees, once their fruits are ripe, they are torn off, and the trees are thereby abused.  The big branches are broken and the smaller branches are snapped.  These are trees that make their own lives miserable because of their abilities.  Therefore, they cannot finish out the years allotted to them by heaven but die midway.  They are trees that bring upon themselves the assaults of the worldly.  It's the same with all things.  But I have sought for a long time to be useless.  Now, on the verge of death, I have finally learned what uselessness really means and that it is of great use to me.  If, after all, I had been useful, would I have been able to grow so big?  Furthermore, you and I are both things, so why the deuce should you appraise another thing?  You're a defective person on the verge of death.  What do you know about 'defective wood'?"

 

When carpenter Shih awoke, he told the dream to his disciples.  "If the oak's intention is to be useless, then why does it serve as the local shrine?" they asked.

 

"Silence!  Don't say another word!  The oak is merely assuming the guise of a shrine to ward off the curses of those who do not understand it.  If it were not a shrine, it would still face the threat of being cut down.  Moreover, what the oak is preserving is different from the masses of other trees.  If we attempt to understand it on the basis of conventional morality, won't we be far from the point?"

[Taoist Texts]

 

a chestnut-leaved oak that served as the local shrine.   

 

Meaning people gathered to pray under it?

[cold]

Or celebrate!

[Marblehead]

Yep, yep, and yep.

 

It was always there for people to gather around and take shade under.

[Taoist Texts]

Or celebrate!

 

I wonder if some kind tree worship was involved?

Edited December 12, 2016 by Taoist Texts

[Marblehead]

I wander if some kind tree worship was involved?

 

I doubt it. 

[Taoist Texts]

But the tree spirit talked to him;)

[Marblehead]

But the tree spirit talked to him;)

 

Yep.  And you are viewing that literally instead of figuratively.  Chuang Tzu has a number of stories where spirits talk to him.  I have never viewed these literally but rather just a vehicle for presenting a concept.

 

I understand how easy it is to believe in such spirits.  All I can do is state my understandings.

 

In the above, I understand it as a reflection by the carpenter of what he initially said about the tree.  Useless for any carpenter.  But, Hey!, it's uselessness to others allowed it to be very useful to itself, affording it a long life and in the process being useful because of its uselessness.

[Stosh]

The useful aspects of ordinary timber , relates to the functionality of having talents abilities effort, which one barters away. One spending time working all day conventionally may be said to be being useful. But one has spent their precious time , not enriching their experience with useless play , love , pointless discussions , (worship, if you like that stuff) and all the wonderful things one might want to do with their lives, but  rather busting a hump at work to gain stuff , which was supposed to enable one to have the joys already mentioned. 

The tree, was a place to gather , shoot the breeze , rest weary bones , gather etc.. and for that reason it was precious. Its existence was nourishment for the spirit, not the flesh, and it was not traded away for the intermediary of cash, but the rich experiences compounded adding up to a long healthy life of simple joys. 

 

My sister was into ceramics for a while , she enjoyed it quite a lot, she got good at it and made it into her work,, lo and behold ,, as soon as she did that , the fun went out of it. Now , rather than just amusing herself with imperfect experiment, she had schedules and expectations to meet , things depended on getting stuff just right.

The play went out of it, as she chopped up that tree and burnt it to the ground. 

[Marblehead]

I think I will be useful for a moment and post the next section.

[mvingon]

Timely, timely, for me! Thank you both!