Confucius met with Lao Tzu and spoke about mercy and justice.
“If, while winnowing the chaff, you clog your eyes,” said Lao Tzu, “then heaven and earth, all four countries of the world will change places.” If you are bitten by mosquitoes and mosquitoes, you will not sleep all night. But there is no greater turmoil than sadness about mercy and justice - it revolts my heart. If you tried to keep the Celestial Empire from losing its simplicity, you would move, imitating the wind, stop, returning to natural properties. Why are you beating so zealously, as if in search of a lost son, on all the fixed and portable drums? After all, the swan is white not because it bathes every day; and the crow is black not because it turns black every day. The simplicity of white and black is not worth arguing about; the beauty of name and fame is not worth increasing. When the source dries up, the fish, supporting each other, gather in the shallows and try to give each other moisture with their breath and saliva. But it’s better for them to forget about each other in the vastness of rivers and lakes.
After seeing Lao Tzu, Confucius returned home and remained silent for three days.
- What did you, teacher, return with from Lao Tzu? - asked the students.
“Now I saw the Dragon in him,” answered Confucius. “The dragon curled up into a ball and a body formed, straightened out and a pattern formed, took off on a cloud, on the ether, fed on the forces of heat and cold. I opened my mouth and couldn’t close it. How can I imitate Lao Tzu!
“In that case,” asked Tzu-Gong, “doesn’t that person have the immobility of the Dead and the appearance of a Dragon, the voice of thunder and the silence of the abyss, does he not act like heaven and earth?” Wouldn’t I, Sy, also be worthy of seeing him? - and on behalf of Confucius, Tzu-Gong met with Lao Tzu.
Lao Tzu just squatted down in the hall and said in a weak voice:
“My years are already at sunset, and I’m leaving.” What do you want to warn me about?
- Why are you the only one, First Born, who thinks that the three kings and five ancestors were not wise? - asked Tzu-Gong. - After all, they ruled the Celestial Empire in different ways, but they had the same glory.
“Come closer, young man,” said Lao Tzu. — Why do you think they were governed differently?
“The Tallest One transferred power to the Fencing, the Fencing to the Young Dragon,” said Tzu-Gong. — The Young Dragon used physical force, and the Tester used military force. The Beautiful King submitted to the Inhuman and did not dare to resist him. The Warlike King went against the Inhuman and did not want to submit to him. That's why I say it's different.
“Come closer, young man,” said Lao Tzu. “I’ll tell you how the Celestial Empire was ruled by three rulers and five ancestors. The Yellow Ancestor, ruling the Celestial Empire, led the hearts of people to unity. When parents died, their children did not mourn them and the people did not blame them. Under the Most High, kindred feelings appeared in the hearts of the people of the Celestial Empire. If, because of the death of their parents, people attached less importance to the death of other people's parents, the people did not blame them. Under the Enclosure, rivalry arose in the hearts of the people of the Celestial Empire. Women gave birth after ten moons of pregnancy, children five moons old could speak; Having not yet learned to laugh, they began to recognize people, and then they began to die at a young age. Under the Young Dragon, the hearts of the people of the Celestial Empire changed. People developed passions, and justifications for the use of weapons; the murder of a robber was not considered murder. They divided people into clans and the Celestial Empire for each of them. Therefore, the Celestial Empire was gripped by great horror. Confucians and Mohists rose up. From them came the rules of relationships between people, and now also of relationships with wives. What else is there to talk about! I will tell you how three rulers and five ancestors brought order to the Celestial Empire. It's called - they've put things in order, but worse chaos has never happened. With their knowledge, the three rulers at the top disrupted the light of the sun and the moon, at the bottom they disrupted the essence of the mountains and rivers, and in the middle they reduced the benefits of the four seasons. Their knowledge is more poisonous than the scorpion's tail, than the Xiangui beast. Shouldn't they be ashamed? After all, having failed to find peace in their own nature, they themselves still considered themselves sages. They are shameless!
Tzu-Gong remained standing in confusion and embarrassment.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru