VOLUME III, SEMESTER 2, CHAPTER 17, SECTION 2
Zi Qing Carves the Stand, and the Marquis of Lu Fasts to Wait for Him
The cook in the last section laid hand to the work on the dais, with the ruler watching him. This one is fiercer still, for he has not yet laid hand at all, and already the ruler is waiting outside the door, and for a thing not yet made, the ruler first fasted. What is fasting? It is washing the body clean, and washing the heart clean too, and then going to meet a thing of great weight. Hold this act, this section takes it apart to look at.
One. A carpenter made a thing
In the state of Lu there was a carpenter, named Zi Qing, and what he made was a stand. What is a stand? It is the frame the bell and the drum hang on, made of wood, carved over with fierce beasts, set up in the temple hall, and when the bell is struck the sound passes over its body. Think of it as a heavy instrument of the temple hall. Zi Qing made one.
Those who saw it were startled as at a ghost or a spirit, runs the line in the Zhuangzi, in the Mastery of Life. Those who saw it were each of them struck, saying this does not look made by a person, it looks made by a ghost or a spirit. Stop, and read these characters. A carpenter, with a block of wood, made a thing, and the first response of those who saw it is not good, not fine, it is startled, it is this cannot be made by a person.
Two. The Marquis of Lu asked a line
The ruler of Lu heard of it, and he summoned Zi Qing, and asked one line.
By what art did you make it, runs the line in the Zhuangzi, in the Mastery of Life. By what method did you do it? Hear clearly what is in this asking: a ruler is asking a carpenter, how did you do this. In that age, what position was a carpenter? One of the hundred crafts, a person who does the work for others, a servant. What position is a ruler? The highest person in the state. Yet in this line the position turned over, the ruler stands below asking upward. Because the ruler cannot do it, and though he may summon every carpenter under heaven, they cannot make this.
Three. Zi Qing’s answer begins with fasting
Zi Qing’s answer is the deepest place in this story. He says: a laborer like your servant, what art could he have, only, there is one thing.
When your servant is about to make the stand, he never dares to spend his breath on it, he must fast to still his heart, runs the line in the Zhuangzi, in the Mastery of Life. Before I make the stand, I never dare let my breath scatter, I must fast and bring my heart to stillness. Look clear at this line: the one fasting is himself, not the ruler. How many days did he fast? Fasting to the third day, he says, my heart no longer thinks of congratulation and reward, no longer of prize, of rank, of stipend. Fasting to the fifth day, he says, my heart no longer thinks of what others will say of me, no longer of whether they call me skilled or laugh at me as clumsy. Fasting to the seventh day, he said the fiercest line of all.
Then, still, I forgot that I have four limbs and a body, runs the line in the Zhuangzi, in the Mastery of Life. I forgot that I have four limbs, that I have this body.
Four. Then he entered the mountain
Fasting to the seventh day, only then did he enter the mountain. Enter the mountain to do what?
Then he entered the mountain forest, viewed the Heaven-given nature, and the form and frame being at their utmost, only then did the finished stand appear before him, and only then did he lay hand to it, runs the line in the Zhuangzi, in the Mastery of Life. He entered the mountain forest, looked at the born nature of every tree, and seeing a tree whose born frame was just that shape, only then did the stand rise up before his eyes, and at that point only did he lay hand to it. Look at this order again: it is not think of a stand first, then go find wood to make it, it is empty himself first, then go and look at the trees, and seeing the tree that is itself already that stand, then lay hand. And he ended with one line: with the Heaven in me, I meet the Heaven in it.
Five. This passage is the same position as the last section
Set Cook Ding and Zi Qing side by side. Cook Ding, looking at the ox, looks at the seam born between sinew and bone, he does not hack and does not cut, he goes by the seam. Zi Qing, looking at the tree, looks at the born form of that tree, he does not force the making, he waits. The two of them, one taking apart an ox, one carving wood, do one and the same thing: neither of them comes at the thing head-on, they empty themselves and let the grain of the thing show itself, and then they go along it.
This layer, the last chapter just spoke. Li Bing taming water, not damming, but parting, he too went along the water’s own grain. Yu the Great taming water, not damming, but channeling. One taming water, one taking apart an ox, one carving wood, the ancestors set one and the same position out three times.
Six. But the one this section means to look at is the man outside the door
The story is told, now turn the eyes across, to that Marquis of Lu. Set the whole order out again: Zi Qing is about to make a thing, and he first fasts seven days, and in those seven days, what is the ruler doing? Waiting.
A ruler, waiting on a carpenter to fast. He cannot rush him, can you rush him? Rush him and that person’s heart scatters, his breath spends itself, and what he makes will be an ordinary thing. Nor can he change the person, the carpenters under heaven are many, but the one who can make this is only one. Look clear at this scene: in those seven days, in whose hand is the position? In the hand of that carpenter, fasting.
Seven. What this section set, crossing to the next
This section looks at Zi Qing. The stand he made, those who saw it were startled, saying it does not look made by a person, and the ruler asked him by what art, and he said: I first fast seven days, three days to forget reward, five days to forget what others say of me, seven days to forget that I have this body, then I enter the mountain, look at the trees, wait for a tree to become that stand itself, and only then lay hand, with the Heaven in me I meet the Heaven in it. And in those seven days, the ruler waited outside the door.
In the last section, the ruler on the dais waited for a cook to lay hand, in this one, the ruler outside the door waited for a carpenter to fast. The standing, not once did it change, what changed is the position. And the root of the turning is, both times, the same one: he cannot find a second. There is surely a line held in the chest now: the ancestors spoke of matters two thousand years ago, and today? In the workshop today, in the office tower today, is there still a Cook Ding, still a Zi Qing? There is. And people today have given them a most ringing name. The next section goes to look at this name.
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 3 The Hired Emperor, Scarce Enough, the Position Turns Over