Two Great Duties
Some duties follow you wherever you go. Does that mean just gritting your teeth?
Original
天下有大戒二：其一，命也；其一，義也。子之愛親，命也，不可解於心；臣之事君，義也，無適而非君也，無所逃於天地之間。是之謂大戒。是以夫事其親者，不擇地而安之，孝之至也；夫事其君者，不擇事而安之，忠之盛也；自事其心者，哀樂不易施乎前，知其不可奈何而安之若命，德之至也。
In plain words
Under heaven there are two great duties. One is fate; the other is duty. A child's love for its parents is fate: it cannot be untied from the heart. A subject's service to a ruler is duty: wherever you go there is a ruler, and there is nowhere between heaven and earth to escape. These are the great duties. So to serve your parents and give them ease wherever you are is the height of filial care; to serve your ruler and do any task with ease is the fullness of loyalty. And to serve your own heart, so that sorrow and joy do not sway you, and, knowing what cannot be changed, to accept it as fate: that is the height of virtue.
Key words
- 大戒dà jièThe great rule; the deepest constraint.
- 安之若命ān zhī ruò mìngAccepting what can't be changed as fate, calmly.
- 自事其心zì shì qí xīnTending and serving your own heart.
Reading it step by step
These are Confucius's words again, and the listener is the same anxious envoy, the Duke of She, from Day 16. At first it sounds thoroughly Confucian: filial care, loyalty, parents, rulers. Read closely, though, and Zhuangzi adds a layer of his own at the end.
Let's take it in three steps.
First: admit that some things can't be escaped. Loving your parents is fate, tied to your heart from birth. Working for your country or your organisation is duty, and it follows you everywhere. Zhuangzi doesn't say, “None of that matters, run away.” He's honest: between heaven and earth, there's nowhere to run. The first step is to see these two things clearly and stop pretending they aren't there.
Second: don't pick and choose. Serve your parents “wherever you are”; serve your ruler “whatever the task.” Not caring for parents only when it suits you, not doing only the work you like. With things you can't escape, the more you pick, the more it hurts. If you're going to do it, do it steadily.
Third: the real work is inside. Serve your own heart. The first two are duties outward; the last is a duty to yourself. When sorrow or joy arrives, your heart isn't shoved around by it. Knowing what can't be changed, you “accept it as fate.” That isn't giving up. It's stopping the fight with what you can't change, so your strength is left for what you can.
This is the first exercise in bending outside and staying steady inside: outwardly, not one duty missed; inwardly, a heart at rest.
Accept what can't be changed; do well what can.
Accept what can't be changed; do well what can.
Today's question
Write down one “fate” and one “duty” in your life. Where do you pick and choose the most? What would change if you didn't?
Quick check
In this passage, what is “the height of virtue”?
Filial care and loyalty face outward; serving your own heart faces inward. That's Zhuangzi's added layer.
Go deeper
Want the full classroom? Here is the matching lecture from National Taiwan University OpenCourseWare (in Mandarin).
III · Bend Outside, Steady Inside — Go with the world without losing yourself