Week 2, Reading 1: The Rhinoceros and The Way

Q [151t/m, 152b, 153t] Why does the rhinoceros meet death? This is one of the questions Cai Ze poses to the marquis of Ying. Cai suggests that it isn’t the rhinoceros’ close proximity to danger, but rather his own faculty of temptation that betrays him into death’s arms. Thus being immersed in dangerous circumstances without being privy to “bait” is actually safer than residing in relatively mild circumstances while being easily seduced by “bait”. And the most insidious quality about this bait is that its subject ceases to see the bait as bait, thus himself stirring up the very waters that will engulf him. The subject fails to realize that the profit, expansion, and flourishment he is attracted to, have the power to hold him captive. It’s challenging for most of the Qin leaders to actively choose to retire, because they fail to see this choice for what it really is: a life-affirming act for both the individual and the masses. But it's not only those tempted by greed that are vulnerable; those who possess meritorious qualities can also be gravely disconnected from the way of harmony, the way of The Way. Cai suggests that The Way offers a sage-like understanding of timeliness, and when one is in accordance with It, he is unlikely to meet the punishment of death. For the greatest accomplishment is to be able to preserve both one’s name and one’s life. This practice of being in dialogue with The Way is somewhat of an oxymoron: it requires one to be engaged in the constancy of change. This requires an evergreen practice of recalibration rooted in a deep listening to movements of the present moment. Cai Ze states that although Bi Gan, Wu Zixu, and Prince Shensheng all had meritorious qualities to boast (loyalty, wisdom, and filiality) they could not save, preserve, or order their states. This is because despite the loyalty of the ministers and the filiality of the sons, there can be no order without a “worthy father” or a “clear-sighted ruler”. In other words, every meritorious act needs to be in conscious relationship to the container receiving it. And every “success” needs to be tempered by a quietude so as to stave off the allure of arrogance, expansion, and greed. Reciprocity, symbiosis, conscious relationality: these are the qualities Cai attempts to impress upon the marquis of Ying.

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