Hui Shi asked Chuang Tzu:
— Is it true that people do not initially have human inclinations?
“Yes, that’s true,” replied Chuang Tzu.
- But if a person is devoid of human inclinations, how can one call him a human? Hui Shi asked again.
— The Tao gave him his appearance. Heaven gave him a body, how could he not be called a man?
- But if he is a man, then how can he live without his characteristic inclinations?
“Approval and censure are what I call human inclinations,” explained Zhuang Tzu. “I call a person without human inclinations one who does not allow affirmation or negation to infringe upon himself inside, follows what is in itself such, and does not try to improve what is given by life.
- But if he does not improve what is given by life, how can he manifest himself in this world?
— The Tao gave him his appearance. Heaven gave him a body. He does not allow affirmation and denial to infringe upon himself inside. You bother your mind with thoughts about extraneous things, but inside you rape your soul. Lean against a tree and sing! Lean on the table and sleep! Heaven has entrusted you with a body, and your whole song is “hardness” and “whiteness” (absurd reasoning of the sophists)!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru