CHAIN 10

Once a sea bird alighted in the suburbs of the Lu capital.The marquis of
Lu escorted it to the ancestral temple, where he entertained it, performing
the Nine Shao music for it to listen to and presenting it with the meat of
the T’ai-lao sacrifice to feast on. But the bird only looked dazed and forlorn,
refusing to eat a single slice of meat or drink a cup of wine, and in
three days it was dead.This is to try to nourish a bird with what would
nourish you instead of what would nourish a bird. If you want to nourish
a bird with what nourishes a bird, then you should let it roost in the deep
forest, play among the banks and islands, float on the rivers and lakes, eat
mudfish and minnows, follow the rest of the flock in flight and rest, and
live any way it chooses.A bird hates to hear even the sound of human
voices, much less all that hubbub and to-do.Try performing the Hziench’ih
and Nine Shao music in the wilds around Lake Tung-t’ing—when
the birds hear it they will fly off, when the animals hear it they will run
away, when the fish hear it they will dive to the bottom. Only the people
who hear it will gather round to listen. . . .
Lieh Tzu was on a trip and was eating by the roadside when he saw a
hundred-year-old skull. Pulling away the weeds and pointing his finger, he
said,“Only you and I know that you have never died and you have never
lived.Are you really unhappy? Am I really enjoying myself ?”
The seeds of things have mysterious workings. In the water they
become Break Vine, on the edges of the water they become Frog’s
Robe. If they sprout on the slopes they become Crow’s Feet.The roots
of Crow’s Feet turn into maggots and their leaves turn into butterflies.
Before long the butterflies are transformed and turn into insects that live
under the stove; they look like snakes and their name is Ch’üt’o.After
a thousand days, the Ch’üt’o insects become birds called Dried Leftover
Bones.The saliva of the Dried Leftover Bones becomes Ssu-mi bugs and
the Ssu-mi bugs become Vinegar Eaters.Yi-lo bugs are born from the
Vinegar Eaters, and Huang-shuang bugs from Chiu-yu bugs. Chiu-yu
bugs are born from Mou-jui bugs and Mou-jui bugs are born from Rot
Grubs and Rot Grubs are born from Sheep’s Groom. Sheep’s Groom
couples with bamboo that has not sprouted for a long while and produces
Green Peace plants. Green Peace plants produce leopards and leopards
produce horses and horses produce men. Men in time return again to the
mysterious workings. So all creatures come out of the mysterious workings
and go back into them again.
—BW
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