VOLUME III, SEMESTER 3, CHAPTER 33, SECTION 2
Nine kinds of living labor
The last section cut open the alive and dead of labor. This section lands living labor on the solid ground, and counts it out one by one. In a share of labor, the places a man can put the heart in, which in the end are they. Count nine kinds. Counted through, you will find that whatever the work you do, these nine places, place by place, can bring a dead labor back to life.
One, the first three, the heart in, the fixed mind, the not letting go
The first three are the three most against the body of living labor, hidden right in the moment you do the thing.
The first, the heart in. It is what the last section said, to put the heart in, and not only set the body there. One same work, the one done with the heart in and the one without, come out wholly two. The second, the fixed mind. It is that in doing this thing, the heart does not run off elsewhere. Qing fasting to still the heart was stilling exactly this, drawing the heart back, laying it whole on the one thing before him. A man who can hold the mind fixed, his share of labor can sink down, can drive in. The third, the not letting go. It is a heart that will not make do with the thing made. A hair off will not do, it must be done till he himself can pass it. Cook Ding’s knife unchanged nineteen years leaned on exactly this not letting go on the craft.
These first three, the heart in, the fixed mind, the not letting go, are the ground floor of living labor. They ask not that you have high skill, ask not that you do high work. Even if you only sweep a street, with the heart in, the mind fixed, not letting go, that share of sweeping labor is alive. These three, in every man, in every work, can be put to use at once.
Two, the middle three, the eye holding man, holding the thing, holding measure
The middle three move the heart from the self out onto the man and the thing you serve.
The fourth, the eye holding man. That man of the last section who moved the hottest plate aside, who kept in mind the guest does not eat hot spice, is the eye holding man. When he does this labor, in his heart is set the man this labor is to serve. The fifth, the eye holding the thing. It is the heart set on this thing itself coming off, coming out good, and not only making do and pushing it past. A man whose eye holds the thing will of himself make up the place not yet done, because he cares whether this thing comes off, not only whether he himself has handed in his task.
The sixth, holding measure. It is to know, in this thing, how the heavy and the light, the pressing and the slack, should be set, what to spend more force on, what to hold in. Qing going into the mountain to pick the wood saw at one glance which tree was born to be that frame, and this is measure, the gripping, among countless ways, of the one most right. These middle three, the eye holding man, the thing, the measure, are the three by which living labor flows outward. With them, a labor is no longer only completed, it begins to warm others, to bring the thing off, to sit just right. It turns from a labor of one’s own, into a labor that can add a thing to others, to the thing.
Three, the last three, the taking on, the pressing forward, the seeing of meaning
The last three are the three that drive down deepest in living labor, and grow up highest.
The seventh, the taking on. It is that when this thing goes wrong, you are willing to carry it, not push it, not dodge it, not lay it on another. The last chapter spoke of the charge rule, and that weighs what your position ought to carry. What is said here, the taking on, is that willing force in your heart, and that a rule cannot weigh out. The eighth, the pressing forward. It is not to rest content standing in place, always wishing to push this craft one inch further. Cook Ding, from seeing a whole ox, to no whole ox in the eye, was pressed forward the whole way. A man willing to press forward, his labor, year on year, is alive, is growing.
The ninth, and the one at the bottom: the seeing of meaning. It is that in this labor you can see why it is worth doing, can see a little tie of it to others, to this world. This one is the most needful. A man who cannot see the meaning, though he barely reach the first eight, his heart is still empty, still takes labor for trading his life for money. And a man who can see the meaning, though he does the meanest work, his heart is lit. He knows this share of his labor has landed on some man, on some needful thing. The seeing of meaning is that one breath that lets the first eight kinds of living labor truly come alive, and live long.
Four, these nine, strung together, are one road
Set these nine out, and you will see they are not nine loose things, they are one road going inward, and growing outward.
The first three, the heart in, the fixed mind, the not letting go, are to draw the heart into this one thing. The middle three, the eye holding man, the thing, the measure, are to move the heart from the self out onto others and the thing. The last three, the taking on, the pressing forward, the seeing of meaning, are to drive this labor deep and grow it high. A man, from drawing the heart in, to giving the heart out, to seeing the meaning of all this, this is the whole road of a labor from dead to alive, from small to large.
Mark one thing. Of these nine, not one asks that you do high work, make big money, have great skill to reach it. The street sweeper can reach it, the plate carrier can reach it, and more than two thousand years ago a man who slaughtered oxen, a man who did carpentry, both reached it. This matter of living labor is equal to all men. It picks not the work, picks not the man, it asks you only one line: this share of your labor, is it done living, or endured dead.
Five, keep to your position and act
To close this section, call one line from the Doctrine of the Mean, which tells that reasoning of living labor, not picking the work and alive right where you stand, down to the root. The gentleman keeps to his position and acts. So runs the line in the Book of Rites, the Doctrine of the Mean.
Put it plain. To keep to is to go along with, to rest in. Keep to your position and act, is to rest in this position you are now in, and right in this position, do the thing you ought well, and do it alive. It goes on to say, in wealth and honor act as in wealth and honor, in poverty and meanness act as in poverty and meanness, in the position of wealth act well what that position ought to act, in the position of meanness act well what that position ought to act.
This line is exactly the floor of living labor. It says, you need not wait for a better position, a higher work, before you can do your labor alive. Right in this position you are now in, along this labor before you, with the heart in, the mind fixed, not letting go, the eye holding man and thing, willing to take on, willing to press forward, seeing the meaning, this share of your labor, right now, is alive. Living labor is not far off, not elsewhere, not in the next better work. It is in the one thing in your hand at this moment. Keep to your position and act, do it alive right where you stand, this is a thing every man can do, right now.
Six, what this section set, crossing to the next
Good. This section counted living labor into nine kinds.
The first three, the heart in, the fixed mind, the not letting go, draw the heart into this thing. The middle three, the eye holding man, the thing, the measure, move the heart out onto others and the thing. The last three, the taking on, the pressing forward, the seeing of meaning, drive this labor deep and grow it high. These nine strung together are the whole road of a labor from dead to alive, from small to large. And this road is equal to all men, picking not the work, picking not the man. Through the Doctrine of the Mean, keep to your position and act, we saw living labor is not elsewhere, it is in the one thing in your hand at this moment, alive right where you stand.
The position this section set is: living labor has nine kinds, doable everywhere, doable by everyone, with no need to wait for a better position.
So these nine kinds of living labor, on what are they lit. That thing that makes the alive stay alive and the dead stay dead, from where in the end does it come. A machine will not do a labor alive, a set of rules will not of itself do a labor alive. What makes labor come alive, in the end. The next section closes the last floor of the front half of the term: what makes labor come alive is the man standing behind it.
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 3, What makes labor come alive is the man standing behind it