SUFISM AND TAOISM: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts
First published 1983 by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo
This edition is published by The University of California Press, 1984,
Rev. ed. of: A comparative study of the key philosophical concepts in Sufism and Taoism. 1966-67.
=====
IX Determinism and Freedom
In the previous chapter we came across the concept of the Heavenly
Command (t'ien ming). The concept is philosophically of basic
importance because it leads directly to the idea of determinism
which, in Western thought, is known as the problem of 'predestina-
tion', and in the intellectual tradition of Islam as that of qa<J,a' and
qadar. 1
The most interesting part of the whole problem is admittedly its
profound theological implication within the context of monotheistic
religions like Christianity and Islam. The problem as a theological
one might, at first sight, seem to be quite foreign to the world-view
of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. That such is not the case, however, will
become clear if we but remember that Taoism too has its own
theological aspect.
In the foregoing chapters the Way or the Absolute has been
approached almost exclusively from the metaphysical point of view.
We have been, in other words, trying to analyze the metaphysical
aspect of the Way. And with reason. For that, after all, is the most
fondamental theme upon which is based the whole system of Taoist
philosophy.
But the Way as conceived by the Taoist philosophers is not simply
and exclusively the metaphysical Ground of all beings. It is also God
-the Creator (lit. the Maker-of-things, tsao wu chê), Heaven (t'ien),
or the Heavenly Emperor (t'ien ti), as He is traditionally called in
Chinese. The 'persona!' image of the Absolute in ancient China had
a long history prior to the rise of the philosophical bran ch of Taoism
which we are considering in this book. It was quite a vigorous living
tradition, and exercised a tremendous influence on the historical
molding of Chinese- culture and Chinese mentality. And we would
make a fatal mistake if we imagined that the Way as conceived- or
'encountered', we should rather say - by the Taoist sages were a
purely metaphysical Absolute. For them too the Way was a
metaphysical Absolute as well as a persona! God. The image of the
Maker-of-things must not be taken as a metaphorical or figurative
expression for the metaphysical Principle. The Chuang-tzu has a
Determinism and Freedom 419
chapter entitled 'The Great Lordly Master' .2 The title refers to this
'persona!' aspect of the Way.
If we are to analyze this 'persona!' concept of the Absolute in
terms of the metaphysical structure of the Way, we should perhaps
say that it correspbnds to the stage of' Being' at which the creative
activity of the Way becomes fully manifested. For, strictly speaking,
the Way at the stage of the Mystery, or even at the stage of Nothing,
is absolutely beyond common human cognition. Just as in the
world-view of Ibn 'Arabï the word 'Lord' (rabb) refers to the
ontological stage at which the Absolute manifests itself through
some definite Name - like Producer, for instance - and not to the
absolu te Essence which transcends all determinations and relations,
sois the Taoist concept of 'Maker-of-things' properly to be taken as
referring to the self-manifesting, or creative, aspect of the Way, and
not toits self-concealing aspect. Ail this, however, is but a theoreti-
cal implication of the metaphysical doctrine of Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu. They themselves do not elaborate this point in this
particular form. Besides, the concept of the Absolu te as the highest
Lord of Heaven belongs to a particular domain of religious experi-
ence which is of quite a different nature from that of the ecstatic
intuition of the Absolute as the One, then as 'Nothing', then as the
Mystery of Mysteries, although it is also true that the two types of
religious experience seem to have greatly inftuenced each other in
the historical process of the formation of Taoist philosophy, so
much so that the Taoist concept of the Absolu te as it actually stands
can justifiably be said to con tain two different aspects: metaphysical
and persona!.
However this may be, the description given by Chuang-tzu of the
activity of the Great Lordly Master in the administration of the
affairs of the creaturely world is exactly the same as what he and
Lao-tzu say about the working of Nature or the Absolute. The
following is one of a number of passages which could be cited as
evidence in support of this statement.
Oh my Master, my (sole) Master - He cuts the ten thousand things
into minute pieces. 3 And yet He has no consciousness of doing
'justice'. His bounty ex tends to the ten thousand generations. And
yet He has no consciousness of doing any particular act of 'benevol-
ence' .4 He is older than the oldest time (of history). And yet he has no
consciousness of being aged. He covers Heaven ( which covers every-
thing) and sus tains Earth ( which sustains everything). He carves and
models ail kinds of forms. And yet he has no consciousness of being
Skilful. 5
The point I am making will become clear if one compares this
passage with the words of Lao-tzu about the activity of the Way in
the form of Virtue, which were quoted in the previous chapter.
1111
420 Sufism and Taoism
The Way gives birth (to the ten thousand things), yet daims no
possession. It does great things, yet does not boast of it. It makes
things grow, yet exercises no authority upon them. This is what 1
would call the Mysterious Virtue. 6
With this general theological background in mind we may rightly
approach the problem of necessity or 'predestination' in Taoism. In
discussing this idea, we shall be mainly dependent upon Chuang-
tzu, because he seems to have been particularly interested in the
problem of Necessity and human Freedom within the particular
context of Taoist philosophy.
We have pointed out earlier in this book the central importance
observed of the concept of Chaos in the philosophical system of
Chuang-tzu. We have observed there that, according to Chuang-
tzu, Being which surrounds us from all sides and in which we live as
part of it, reveals itself as a Chaos when we intuit its reality in the
experience of 'sitting-in-oblivion'. In the ecstatic vision peculiar to
this experience, all things appear 'chaotified'. Nothing remains solid
and stable. We witness the amazing scene of all things being freely
and unobstructedly transmuted into one another.
This image of Being must not mislead us into thinking only that
Reality is literally chaotic and nothing but chaotic. Chaos is a
metaphysical reality. But it represents only one aspect of Reality. In
the very midst of this seeming disorder and confusion, there is
observable a supreme order governing all things and events in the
phenomenal world. In spite of their apparent utter confusion, all
things that exist and all events that occur in the world exist and occur
in accordance with the natural articulations of Reality. In this
respect, the world we live in is a world determined by a rigorous
Necessity. And how could it be otherwise? For the ten thousand
things are nothing but forms in which the Absolute appears as it
goes on determining itself; they are so many forms of the self-
revelation of God.
This concept of the ontological Necessity is expressed by
Chuang-tzu by various terms, such as t'ien (Heaven), t'ien li (the
natural course of things determined by Heaven),ming (Command),
and pu tê i ('that which cannot be evaded').
Chuang-tzu regards 'living in accordance with the t'ien li' as the
ideal way of living in this world for the 'true man'. The expression
means 'to accept whatever is given by nature and not to struggle
against it'. It suggests that there is for everybody and everything a
natural course to take, which has been determined from the very
beginning by Heaven. The world of Being, in this view, is naturally
articulated, and nothing can happen against or outside of the fixed
course. Ali things, whether inanimate or living, seem to exist or live
Determinism and Freedom 421
in docile obedience to their own destinies. They seem to be happy
and contented with existing in absolute conformity with the inevit-
able Law of Nature. They are, in this respect, naturally 'living in
accordance with the t'ien li'.
Only Man, of all existents, can and does revoit against the t'ien li.
And that because of his self-consciousness. It is extremely difficult
for him to remain resigned to his destin y. He tends to struggle hard
to evade it or to change it. And he thereby brings discordance into
the universal harmony of Being. But of course all his violent
struggles are vain and useless, for everything is determined eter-
nally. Herein lies the very source of the tragedy of human existence.
Is there, then, absolutely no freedom for man? Should he
acquiesce without murmuring in his naturally given situation how-
ever miserable it may be? Does Chuang-tzu uphold the principle of
negative passivity or nihilism? Not in the least. But how could he,
then, reconcile the concept of Necessity with that of human free-
dom? This is the question which will occupy us in the following
pages.
The first step one has to take in attempting to salve this question
consists in one's gaining a lucid and deep consciousness that what-
ever occurs in this world occurs through the activity of Heaven -
Heaven here being understood in a 'persona!' sense. Chuang-tzu
gives a number of examples in the form of anecdotes. Here is one of
the m.
A certain man saw a man who had one foot amputated as a
punishment for some crime.
Greatly surprised at seeing the deformity of the man, he cried out:
'What a man! How has he corne to have his foot eut off? Is it due to
Heaven? Oris it due to man?'
The man replied: 'lt is Heaven, not man! At the very moment when
Heaven gave me life, it destined me to become one-footed. (Nor-
mally) the human form is provided with a pair,7 (i.e., normally man is
born with two feet). From this 1 know that my being one-footed is due
to Heaven. It cannot be ascribed to man!' 8
Not only this and similar individual cases of misery and misfortune-
and also happiness and good fortune - but the very beginning and
end of human existence, Life and Death, are due to the Heavenly
Command. In Chapter III we discussed the basic attitude of
Chuang-tzu on the question of Life and Death, but from an entirely
different angle. There we discussed it in terms of the concept of
Transmutation. The same problem cornes up in the present context
in connection with the problem of destiny or Heaven.
IUI
422 Sufism and Taoism
When Lao-tzii died, (one of his close friends) Ch'in Shih went to the
ceremony of mourning for his death. (Quite perfunctorily) he wailed
over the dead three times, and came out of the room.
Thereupon the disciples (of Lao-tzii) (reproved him for his conduct)
saying, 'Were you not a freind of our Mas ter?'
'Yes, indeed,' he replied.
'Weil, then, is it permissible that you should mourn over his death in
su ch a (perfunctory) way?'
'Yes. (This is about what he deserves.) Formerly 1 used to think that
he was a ('true') man. But now 1 have realized that he was not. (The
reason for this change of my opinion upon him is as follows.) Just now
1 went in to mourn him; 1 saw there old people weeping for him as if
they were weeping for their own child, and young folk weeping for
him as if they were weeping for their own mother. Judging by the fact
that he could arouse the sympathy of his people in such a form, he
must have ( during his lifetime) cunningly induced them somehow to
utter words (of sorrow and sadness) for his death, without explicitly
asking them to do so, and to weep for him, without explicitly asking
them to do so. 9
This, 10 however, is nothing but 'escaping Heaven' (i.e., escaping the
natural course of things as determined by Heaven), and going against
the reality of human nature. These people have completely forgotten
(from where) they received what they received (i.e., the fact that they
have received their life and existence from Heaven, by the Heavenly
Command). In days of old, people who behaved thus were consi-
dered liable for punishment for (the crime of) 'escaping Heaven'.
Your Master came (i.e., was born into this world) qui te naturally,
because it was his ( destined) time (to corne). Now he has ( departed)
quite naturally, because it was his turn (to go).
If we remain content with the 'time' and accept the 'turn', neither
sorrow nor joy can ever creep in. Such an attitude used to be called
among the Ancients 'loosing the tie of the (Heavenly) Emperor' .11
The last paragraph of this passage is found almost verbatim in
another passage which was quoted earlier in Chapter III, 12 where
the particular expression: 'loosing the tie' appears with the same
meaning; namely, that of complete freedom. And this idea would
seem to indicate in which direction one should turn in order to solve
the problem of the conflict between Necessity and human freedom
on the basis of a lucid consciousness that everything is due to the
Will of Heaven.
The next step one should take consists, according to what
Chuang-tzii observes about 'loosing the tie of the Heavenly
Emperor', in one's becoming indifferent to, or transcending, the
effects caused by the turns of fortune. In the latter half of the
anecdote about the one-footed man, the man himself describes the
kind of freedom he enjoys by wholly submitting himself to whatever
has been destined for him by Heaven. Other people - so the man
Determinism and Freedom 423
observes - might imagine that, being one-footed, he must find his
life unbearable. But, he says, such is not actually the case. And he
explains his situation by the image of a swamp pheasant.
Look at the pheasant living in the swamp. (In order to feed itself) the
bird has to bear the trouble of walking ten paces for one peck, and
walking a hundred paces for one drink. (The onlookers might think
that the pheasant must find such a life miserable.) However it will
never desire to be kept and fed in a cage. For (in a cage the btrd would
be able to eat and drink to satiety and) it would be full of vitality, and
yet it would not find itself happy .13
To be deprived of one foot is to be deprived of one's so-called
'freedom'. The one-footed man has to endure inconvenience in
daily life like the swamp pheasant which has to walk so many paces
just for the sake of one peck and one drink. A man of normal bodily
structure is 'free' to walk with his two feet. But the 'freedom' here
spoken of is a physical, external freedom. What really matters is
whether or not the man has a spiritual, inner freedom. If the man
with two feet does not happen to have inner freedom, his situation
will be similar to that of a pheasant in a cage; he can eat and drink
without having to put up with any physical inconvenience, but, in
spite of that, he cannot enjoy being in the wôrld. The real misery of
such a man lies in the fact that he struggles helplessly to change what
can never be changed, that he has to fret away his life.
Chuang-tzii's thought, however, does not stop at this stage. The
inner 'freedom' which is based on a passive acceptance of whatever
is given, or the tranquillity of the mind based on mere resignation in
the presence of Necessity, does r10t for him represent the final stage
of human freedom. In order to reach the last and ultimate stage of
inner freedom, man must go a step further and obliterate the very
distinction - or opposition - between his own existence and Neces-
sity. But how can this be achieved?
Chuang-tzii often speaks of 'what cannot be evaded' or 'that
which cannot be made otherwise'. Everything is necessarily fixed
and determined by a kind of Cosmic Will which is called the Com-
mand or Heaven. As long as there is even the minutest discrepancy
in the consciousness of a man between this Cosmic Will and his own
persona! will, Necessity is felt to be something forced upon him,
something which he has to accept even against his will. If, under
such conditions, through resignation he gains 'freedom' to some
extent, it cannot be a complete freedom. Complete freedom is
obtained only when man identifies himself with Necessity itself, that
is, the natural course of things and events, and goes on transforming
himself as the natural course of things turns this way or that.
424 Sufism and Taoism
Go with things wherever they go, and let your mind wander about (in
the realm of absolute freedom). Leave yourself wholly to 'that which
cannot be made otherwise', and nourish and foster the ( unperturbed)
balance of the mind. 14 That, surely, is the highest mode of human
existence. 15
To take such an attitude toward the inexorable Necessity of Being
is, needless to say, possible only for the 'true man'. But even the
ordinary man, Chuang-tzü says, should not abandon all hope of
coming doser to this highest ideal. And for this purpose, all that
ordinary people are asked to do is positively accept their destiny
instead of committing themselves passively and sullenly to fatalistic
resignation. Chuang-tzü offers them an easily understandable
reason why they should take the attitude of positive and willing
acceptance. Quite naturally Necessity is re.presented at this level by
the concrete fact of Life and Death.
Life and Death are a matter of the (Heavenly) Command. (They
succeed one another) just as Night and Day regularly go on alternat-
ing with each other. This strict regularity is due to Heaven. There are
things in this world (like Life and Death, Night and Day, and count-
less others) which stand beyond the reach of human intervention.
This is due to the natural structure of things.
Man usually respects his own father as if the latter were Heaven
itself, 16 and loves him (i.e., his father) with sincere devotion. If such is
the case, how much more should he (respect and love) the (Father)
who is far greater than his own!
Man usually regards the ruler whom he serves as superior to himself.
He is willing to die for him. If such is the case, how much more should
he (regard as superior to himself) the true (Ruler)! 17
The expression 'what cannot be evaded' (pu tê i) is liable to suggest
the idea of man's being under unnatural constraint. Such an impres-
sion is produced only because our attention is focused - usually - on
individual particular things and events. If, instead, we direct our
attention to the whole of 'that which cannot be evaded', which is no
other than the Way itself as it manifests its creative activity in the
forms of the world of Being, we are sure to receive quite a different
impression of the matter. And if, further, we identify ourselves with
the working of the Way itself and become completely united and
unified with it, 18 what has been an inexorable Necessity and 'non-
freedom' will immediately turn into an absolute freedom. This is
Freedom, because, such a spiritual state once achieved, man suffers
nothing from outside. Everything is experienced as something com-
ing from inside, as his own. The kaleidoscopic changes that charac-
terize the phenomenal world are his own changes. As Kuo Hsiang
says: 'Having forgotten (the distinction between) Good and Evil,
and having left aside Life and Death, he is now completely one with
Determinism and Freedom 425
the universal Transmutation. Without encountering any obstruc-
tion, he goes wherever he goes' .19
And since everything is his own - or we should say, sin ce every-
thing is himself as he goes on transforming himself with the cosmic
Transmutation - he accepts willingly and lovingly whatever hap-
pens to him or whatever he observes. As Lao-tzü says:
The 'sacred man' has no rigidly fixed mind of his own. 20 He makes the
minds of all people his mind.
'Those who are good, (he says), 1 treat as good. But even those who
are not good also 1 treat as good. (Such an attitude 1 take) because the
original nature of man is goodness.
Those who are faithful 1 treat as faithful. But even those who are not
faithful 1 treat as faithful. (Such an attitude 1 take) because the
original nature of man is faithfulness.
Thus the 'sacred man', while he lives in the world, keeps his mind
wide open. He 'chaotifies' his own mind toward ail. Ordinary men
strain their eyes and ears (in order to distinguish between things).
The 'sacred man', on the contrary, keeps his eyes and ears (free) like
an infant. 21
Here the attitude of the 'sacred man' toward things is sharply
contrasted with that of ordinary people. The former is characterized
by not-having-a-rigidly-fixed-mind, that is, by an endless ftexibility
of the mind. This ftexibility is the result of his having completely
unified himself with the Transmutation of the ten thousand things.
The 'sacred man' is also said to have 'chaotified' his mind. This
simply means that his mind is beyond and above all relative distinc-
tions - between 'good' and 'bad', 'right' and 'wrong', 'truthful' and
'untruthful', etc. Being one with the Way as it manifests itself, how
could he make such distinctions? Is everything nota particular form
of Virtue which is itself the activity of the Way? And is it not also the
case that every particular form of Virtue is his own form?
Chuang-tzü sees in such a situation the manifestation of the
absolute freedom of man.
The great clod (i.e., the earth - Heaven and Earth, or Nature) has
placed me in a definite form (i.e., has furnished me with a definite
bodily form). It has placed upon me the burden of life. It will make
my life easier by making me old. And (finally) it will make me restful
by letting me die. (Ali these four stages are nothing but four different
forms of my own existence, which, again, are four of the infinitely
variegated forms of Nature.) If 1 am glad to have my Life, 1 must be
glad also to obtain my Death.
What Chuang-tzü is concerned with in this particular context is not
the problem of transcending Life and Death. The question at issue is
that of Necessity, of which Life and Death are but two concrete
426 Sufism and Taoism
conspicuous examples. The gist of his argument is that the Necessity
of Being will no longer be 'necessity' when man becomes com-
pletely one with Necessity itself. Wherever he may go, and into
whatever form he may be changed, he will always be with the
Necessity which has ceased to be 'necessity'. If, on the contrary, the
union is not complete, and if there is even one part of the whole left
alien to himself, that particular part may at any moment damage his
freedom.
(A fisherman) hides his boat in the ravine, and hides his fishing-net 22
in the swamp, thinking that the boat and net are thereby ensured
(against thieves). In the middle of the night, however, a powerful
man (i.e., a thief) may (corne and) carry them off on his back, without
the stupid (fisherman) noticing it.
Hiding, in this way, a small thing in a large place will certainly serve
your purpose to some extent. But (that will guarantee no absolute
security, for) there will still be ample possibility (for the small thing)
to escape and disappear.
If, on the contrary, you hide the whole world in the whole world
itself ,23 nothing will find any place through which it might escape.
This is the greatest truth common to ail things.
It is quite by chance that you have acquired the form of a man. Even
such a thing is enough to make you glad. But (remember that) a thing
like the human form is nothing but one of the infinitely variegated
(phenomenal) forms of the universal Transmutation. (If only one
phenomenal form is sufficient to make you so glad) incalculable
indeed will be your joy (if you could experience with the Way ail the
transformations it manifests). Therefore the 'sacred man' wanders to
his content in the realm of 'that from which there is no escape
and in which ail things have their existence'. And (being in such a
spiritual state) he finds everything good - early death is good, old age
is good, the beginning is good, the end is good. (The 'sacred man' is,
after ail, a human being). And yet he serves as a model for the people
in this respect. Ali the more so, then, should (the Way itself be taken
as the model for ail men - the Way) upon which depend the ten
thousand things and which is the very ground of the universal
Transmutation. 24
In Chapter III we read a story of a 'sacred man' whose body was
made hideously deformed by some serious illness and who made the
following remark upon his own situation.25
Whatever we obtain (i.e., Life) is due to the coming of the time.
Whatever we lose (i.e., Death) is also due to the arrivai of the turn.
We must be content with the 'time' and accept the 'turn'. Then
neither sorrow nor joy will creep in. Such an attitude used to be called
among the Ancients 'loosing the tie (of Heaven)'. If man cannot
loose himself from the tie, it is because 'things' bind him fast.
And to this he adds:
Determinism and Freedom 427
From of old, nothing has ever won against Heaven. How could 1
resent (what has happened to me)?
Instead of 'loosing the tie of Heaven', people ordinarily remain
bound up by all things. This is to say, instead of 'hiding the whole
world in the world', they are simply trying to 'hide smaller things in
larger things'. In the minds of such people, there can be no room for
real freedom. They are, at every moment of their existence, made
conscious of the absolu te Necessity of the Will of Heaven or -which
is the same thing - the Law of Nature, oppressing them, constrain-
ing them against their will, and making them feel that they are in a
narrow cage. This understanding of the Will of Heaven is by no
means mistaken. For, ontologically, the course of things is abso-
lutely and 'necessarily' fixed by the very activity of the Way, and no
one can ever escape from it. And 'nothing has ever won against
Heaven'. On the other hand, however, there is spiritually a certain
point at which this ontological Necessity becomes metamorphosed
into an absolute Freedom. When this crucial turning point is actu-
ally experienced by a man, he is a 'sacred man' or Perfect Man as
understood in Taoist philosophy. In the following chapters we shall
be concerned with the structure of the concept of the Perfect Man in
Taoism.
Notes
1. In the first Part of the present book Ibn 'Arabi' s interpretation of the qadâ' and
qadar has been given in detail.
2. **mi (±Jt:;fl 1 J{Ff!UH l;;f>:fM:fr, )l.:fr, ftmif, ftllfif,
].:). ii:tAmït!?.. *:t±ili.1). shih means a teacher or leader who is obediently followed
by his followers. Here the Absolute or God who 'instructs' ail existent things as to
how they should exist is compared to an aged venerable Master instructing his
students in the Truth. The idea is comparable with the Western concept of 'Lord' as
applied to God.
3. The word here is usually interpreted as meaning 'to crush'. Ch'êng Hsüan
Ying IJl±T-irtJp. 282), for example explicates the sentence as
follows: (This may be visualized by the fact that) when autumn cornes, frost falls and
crushes the ten thousand things (and destroys them). Frost does not eut them down
and crush them with any special intention to do so. How could it have the feeling of
administering 'justice'? Ch'êng
Hsüan Ying's idea is that the 'justice' of the Way corresponds to the relentless
-destructive activity of the cold season, while the aspect of' benevolence' corresponds
to the 'fostering' activity of spring. Concerning this latter aspect he says: 'The mild
warmth of spring fosters the ten thousand things. But how is it imaginable that spring
should have the emotion of love and affection and thereby do the work of' benevol-
ence'? It would seem, however, better to understand the word 'cutting to pieces' as
referring to the fact that the creative activity brings into actual existence an infinite
number of individual things.
11
11
,,
428 Sufism and Taoism
4. Note again the sarcastic tone in which the Confucian virtue is spoken of.
5. VI, 281.
6. Tao tê Ching. LI.
7. Kuo Hsiang says: 'Having a pair here means man's walking (usually) with
two feet. Nobody would ever doubt that the human form being provided with two
feet is due to the Heavenly Command (or destiny)'.
To this Ch' êng Hsüan Ying adds: Since being biped is due to the
Heavenly Command, it is evident that being one-footed also is not due to man.
UtJ"ff ).
8. Chuang-tzü, III, p. 124.
9. Sin ce he himself was nota' true man', he could not te a ch his people how to behave
properly.
1 O. 'This' refers to the behavior of the people who were weeping so bitterly for him.
11. op. cit., III, pp. 127v-128.
12. ibid., VI, p. 260.
13. ibid., III, p. 126.
14. chungq:t(:E1i:Jf: rq:i, lfù/f'ibZ.rftJ).
15. op. cit., IV, p. 160.
16. ReadingrUX:A:R_1 instead of rtJ:RAX:J.
17. op. cit., VI, p. 241.
18. To express the idea Chuang-tzu uses the phrase: meaning 'to be trans-
muted into the Way' (Cf. VI, p. 242).
19. 5UE1:=.. VI, p. 243.
20. -m-.c.'. In this combination, the word ch' ang (-m-) - whose original meaning is, as
we saw earlier, 'eternal', 'unalterable' - means 'stiff' and 'inflexible'.
21. Tao Tê Ching, XLIX.
22. The text has IS!lJ1n1'J which is meaningless. Following the suggestion by Yü
Yüeh (
Ll1 iUî PIAAfu ) 1 read AfI instead of w.
23. This refers to the spiritual stage of complete unification with the Way which
comprises everything. 'Hiding the whole world in the whole world' is contrasted to
hiding, as we usually do, smaller things in larger things. In the latter case, there are
always possibilities for the smaller things to go somewhere else, while in the former,
there is absolutely no such possibility. Thus 'hiding the whole world in the whole
world' is paradoxically tantamount to 'hiding nothing' or 'leaving everything as it
naturally is'.
Determinism and Freedom 429
24. Chuang-tzü, VI, pp. 243-244.
25. ibid., VI, p. 260.
