‘Hui-tzu then said to Chuang-tzu, “I have a gigantic tree, but its trunk is too gnarled for the plumb line and its branches too twisted for the ruler; even if it were set in the middle of the road, carpenters would pay no attention to it. Now what you say is grandiose but useless, rejected by everyone alike….
….Now you have a huge tree and worry that it is useless: why not plant it in the vast plain of the homeland of Nothing Whatsoever, roaming in effortlessness by its side and sleeping in freedom beneath it? The reason it does not fall to the axe, and no one injures it, is that it cannot be exploited. So what’s the trouble?”.’
[From ‘The Taoist Classics, The Collected Translations of Thomas Cleary’, Vol 1, p. 55 (Shambhala, Boston 2003)].
The Fisherman
I do not understand
you
my sage
Chuang Tzu
Fishing
with your turtle
in the mud.
The courtier beseeches,
you deny
as the waves slap
against your thigh.
Did you ever catch
anything other
than smelt?
His voice respects
as yours
disdains.
I hope one day
to comprehend
your jabberings!
