Threads: Across the Books
How Large Can a Person Become?
Your body is less than two metres tall. How large can you actually become?
Original
Mencius 7A13夫君子所過者化，所存者神，上下與天地同流，豈曰小補之哉？Zhuangzi 1北冥有魚，其名為鯤。鯤之大，不知其幾千里也。化而為鳥，其名為鵬。Laozi 25故道大，天大，地大，王亦大。域中有四大，而王居其一焉。I Ching · Qian · Wenyan夫大人者，與天地合其德，與日月合其明，與四時合其序，與鬼神合其吉凶。The Mean 22唯天下至誠，為能盡其性；……可以贊天地之化育，則可以與天地參矣。In plain words
Wherever the noble person passes, people are changed; what he keeps within is beyond knowing. Above and below, he flows together with heaven and earth. How could that be called a small repair?
In the northern dark there is a fish called Kun. No one knows how many thousand li it measures. It changes into a bird called Peng.
So the Dao is great, Heaven is great, earth is great, and the king too is great. There are four greats in the world, and the king is one of them. (The king is usually taken to stand for the human being; some old copies simply write “person”.)
The great person matches heaven and earth in virtue, sun and moon in clarity, the four seasons in order, and the spirits in telling good fortune from bad.
Only the most sincere person under heaven can fully realise his own nature; … able to help heaven and earth in their work of growing all things, he can stand with heaven and earth as a third.
Key words
- 大dàGreat, large. For Laozi a breadth of spirit; for Mencius and the Mean, sincerity reaching all the way to heaven and earth.
- 參cānTo take part; to stand with heaven and earth as a third (the Mean).
- 三才sān cáiHeaven, earth and the human; of six lines, the lowest two are earth, the middle two human, the top two heaven.
Reading it step by step
This is the last page of Threads. We've asked about Heaven, fate, human nature, sincerity, ritual, profit, love, change and joy. Last question: how large can a person become? From a plane, the tallest tower looks like a matchstick, and a person is far smaller. Yet none of these books will let us think of ourselves as small.
First: Daoist greatness is opening out to see the whole. Laozi counts four greats: the Dao, Heaven, earth and the human (the received text says “the king”, usually taken to stand for us). The body is small, so this greatness has to be of the spirit. Zhuangzi opens his book with the fish Kun turning into the bird Peng. A long-standing reading says big birds and small birds should each be content with their size. Another reading says they aren't two kinds fixed at birth: the same person can live like a sparrow or grow into Peng. Daoist greatness means not being trapped by this week's gains and losses or by other eyes, and seeing the human world from the Dao's height.
Second: Confucian greatness is sincerity pushed outward until it reaches heaven and earth. Mencius says people are changed where the noble person passes, and he “flows with heaven and earth above and below”. The Mean says the most sincere person first realises his own nature, then helps others and all things toward theirs, and at last stands with heaven and earth as a third. It is not climbing a peak alone but linking people, one by one. A warning: a sincere farmer has little reach; the powerful have great reach and are the most easily corrupted by it. The larger you are, the more you need modesty. In the I Ching, Modesty is the hexagram with no bad line.
Confucian · toward people
Daoist · toward the heights
Each road goes all the way.
Third: the shared source is the I Ching, where the human stands between heaven and earth. Of a hexagram's six lines, the bottom two are earth, the middle two human, the top two heaven: the three powers. The great person, says the commentary, matches heaven and earth in virtue. Both schools read this older book. The Confucians walked from it toward people, to match Heaven in virtue; the Daoists toward the Dao beyond, to become one with it.
Heaven · top two lines
Earth · bottom two lines
So these are not two halves of one map, to be glued together. Each road goes all the way. But they need each other. Without the Confucian road, the Daoist can end up guarding his own quiet; without the Daoist road, the Confucian can be crushed by duty. At work, with family, facing real faces: Confucian sincerity. Late at night, under praise or blame, facing age and death: Daoist breadth.
After these pages, you can close the books on the table. You needn't pick a side. Walk one road by day and the other by night. Both lead to a larger you.
Walk one road by day, the other by night.
Today's question
When in your life do you most need Confucian sincerity, and when Daoist breadth? Write down one concrete scene for each.
Quick check
What does this page say about the Confucian and Daoist roads?
Both roads are whole and both spring from the I Ching: one leads toward people, one toward the Dao, and a life needs both.
III · Living It — Moving through change, where joy comes from, who to become
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