Mair 20:5

[Marblehead]

Confucius inquired of Sir Mulberry Thunderclap, saying, "I was twice driven out of Lu, {{Confucius' home state.  It is supremely ironic that he was "twice driven out of Lu."  He had held several posts in the administration of Lu, the highest being Minister of Justice, but he could not keep them for long because his puritanical activism and grandiloquent plans for good government often brought him into conflict with the ruler.  Once, for example, during the reign of Duke Ting, the state of Ch'i purposely sowed seeds of discord between Confucius and his ruler by presenting the latter with 80 beautiful women and 124 fine horses.  Confucius was unhappy about this, of course, because it diverted the ruler's attention from the all-important (to Confucius) business of governing the state well, so he felt that he had no choice but to leave Lu and attempt to persuade some other ruler to adopt his policies.}} had a tree I was resting under chopped down in Sung, had my traces obliterated in Wey, was impoverished in the capitals of the old Shang duchy and the Chou kingdom, and was besieged in the area between Ch'en and Ts'ai.  I have encountered these numerous calamities, my close associates have become increasingly estranged, and my disciples and friends have scattered one after another.  Why is this?"

"Haven't you heard about Lin Hui, the man who fled from the state of Chia?" {{The sinograph for Chia is probably a miswriting of the graphically similar character for Yin (i.e., the Shang dynasty), by which is intended its successor dukedom, Sung.  The latter state was permitted to survive under the Chou dynasty as a haven for the remnants of the Yin aristocracy.}} asked Sir Mulberry Thunderclap.  "He abandoned his jade disk of office that was worth a thousand pieces of gold and rushed away carrying his infant on his back.  Someone asked him, 'Was it for money?  But surely the money value of an infant is small.  Was it because of the bother?  But surely an infant is more bothersome.  Why, then, did you abandon your jade disk and rush off carrying your infant on your back?'  'The union between the former and me is one of profit,' said Lin Hui, 'but the relationship between the latter and me is ordained by heaven.'  When the union of things is determined by profit and they are pressed by impoverishment, misfortune, calamity, and harm, they will abandon each other; when the relationship of things is ordained by heaven and they are pressed by impoverishment, misfortune, calamity, and harm, they will stick together.  Now, sticking together and abandoning each other are far apart indeed!  Furthermore,

The relationships of the gentleman
are as flavorless as water,
While those of the petty person
are as sweet as new wine.

But the flavorlessness of the gentleman leads to closeness while the sweetness of the petty person leads to disaffection.  A union that is without cause will result in separation without cause."

"I respectfully accept your instructions;" said Confucius.  Sauntering slowly, he went back to his own home.  He cut short his studies and cast aside his books.  Though his disciples no longer bowed before him, their love for him increased all the more.

On another day, Mulberry Thunderclap further said to Confucius, "When Shun was on the verge of death, he instructed Yŭ, saying, 'You must be cautious!  For the physical form, nothing is better than compliance; for the emotions, nothing is better than complaisance.  If you are compliant, there will be no separation; if you are complaisant, there will be no toil.  When there is neither separation nor toil, you need not seek to embellish your physical form so that you may depend on it, and when you seek not to embellish your physical form so that you may depend on it, you will definitely not have to depend on things.'"

[wandelaar]

Back to basics!

[Taoist Texts]

40 minutes ago, Marblehead said:

there will be no separation;

of what?

[Marblehead]

35 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

of what?

Body and Spirit (inner essence).