Liezi’s Stories about Confucius

By Wang Meng

In the book Liezi, Zixia asked Confucius, “What do you think of Yan Hui?” Confucius replied, “He’s so benevolent that I cannot possibly compare to him.” “How about Zigong?” “He’s eloquent, how could I compare to him?” “How about Zilu?” “He’s brave, I could never be so.” “How about Zizhang?” “He’s seriousminded, I could never approach his level.”

Zixia then asked, “If you can’t compare to them in these aspects, why do they learn from you?” Confucius replied, “Yan Hui knows only benevolence,but not adaptability; Zigong is versed in debate, yet he knows only speaking, but not modesty or reticence; Zilu only knows‘bravery’ but not ‘timidity’;Zizhang is serious, but knows not when he should be affable or accommodating.”

Liezi had not fabricated all these stories. Confucius did say, “Moderation in all things.”Zhuangzi also advocated being“centered,” thereby maintaining perfect distance from the two extremes and thus remaining invincible. The Book of Changes stressed the harmony between Yin and Yang, which is the essence of what is called the Tao (a Chinese Doctrine). What Laozi talked about was that “Existence was born of nothingness; difficult and simple complement each other;long and short define each other;high and low depend upon one another; voice and sound are in perfect harmony; and before and after follow each other.”

China is ancient and vast, so her parlance is far from simple.On the one hand, according to the traditional Chinese culture,when the emperor decreed a minister to die, the latter had no option but to die; yet he could only thank the emperor before his death. On the other hand, there is also a saying that goes, “Afine bird selects its roost to perch on,just as a wise minister chooses the right master to serve under.”The culture requires the minister to be fully loyal to the emperor,whereas when the emperor is not benevolent, it, on the contrary,requires the minister to risk being sliced to pieces and dare unsaddle the emperor. The culture advocates that one should sacrifice his/her life for the sake of virtue or for a just cause; yet it also allows one to pay attention to his/her own moral uplift without thought of others in times of hardship and when illegitimate government prevails in the state,one could shut up and feign ignorance.

The above Chinese sayings are quite unique and thought provoking. It is a well-rounded mindset that is not about petty titfor-tats, but focuses on the bigger picture. This mindset doesn’t need to be any certain way, and it is wide-open for adaptation.

《列子》中，子夏問孔子：顏回怎么樣？孔子說：顏回仁，我比不上他。子貢怎么樣？子貢雄辯，我比不上他。子路怎么樣？子路勇敢，我比不上他。子張怎么樣？子張嚴肅莊重，我比不上他。

子夏就問：這些方面你都比不上他們，為什么他們跟你學呢？孔子說：顏回仁心強，不知變通；子貢善于辯論，只知說，不知謙讓、不知該沉默時沉默；子路只知道“勇”而不知道“怯”；子張有嚴肅的一面，不知道該隨和時要隨和，要和別人保持適當的一致。

倒也不全是列子瞎編，孔子確實說過“過猶不及”，莊子也主張尋找與各種末端保持距離的“道樞”，立于不敗之地。《周易》講究的是陰陽調和，是一陰一陽謂之道；老子講的則是：“有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相傾，音聲相和，前后相隨。”

中國確實又古又大，所以中國的說法遠遠不那么單純。一方面是君要臣死，臣不得不死，臣死前還要謝恩；一方面是良禽擇木而棲，良臣擇主而事。一方面是盡忠；一方面是舍得一身剮，敢把皇帝拉下馬。一方面是殺身成仁，舍生取義；一方面是窮則獨善其身，邦無道則愚。

這些很有中國味道的說法，都很有趣。這種思維模式是全面思維方式，是周而不比、統籌兼顧，是既要這樣又要那樣、可以這樣也可以那樣的模式，是一種有巨大調整空間的思維方式。