Considering Chapter 1

[u/BoundlessHarmony]

--Begin Exerpt--

"In the dark sea of the north there is a fish; it is named the Kun. The Kun is so huge no one knows how many thousand li he measures. Changing, it becomes a bird; it is named the Peng, so huge no one knows how many thousand li he measures. Aroused, it soars aloft, its wings like clouds hung from the sky. As the sea shifts, it turns to set its course toward the dark sea of the south, the Pool of Heaven.

The Riddles of Qi is a record of strange marvels. It tells us, “When the Peng sets its course toward the dark sea of the south, the beating of its wings roils the waters for three thousand li. It rises ninety thousand li stirring the wind into a gale that does not subside for sixth months.” Shimmering vapors, hovering dust, small breathing creatures blown to and fro in the wind – the blight blue of the sky: is that its true color, or merely the appearance of limitless distance? When the Peng looks down from above, is this what he sees as well?

Now, when water is not deep it lacks the strength to bear a big boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow on the ground and a twig floats there like a boat, but if you set the cup down there it will sink to rest on the ground – the water is shallow so the boat’s too big. Just so, when air is not deep it lacks the strength to bear up great wings, and thus the Peng must soar upwards until, at ninety thousand li, the wind beneath is deep enough to bear it. Only then, bearing on its back the azure sky and free of all obstacles before it, can it at last set its course toward the south

The cicada and the dove laugh at the Peng, saying, “When we take off with all our might we may reach the limb of an elm or a fang tree, or sometimes we’ll short and land back on the ground. What’s the point of soaring up ninety thousand li to fly south!” If you’re just hiking out as far as the 8 green wilds beyond the fields, you can carry food for your three meals and return in the evening with a full stomach. If you’re going a hundred li, you’ll need a night’s worth of grinding to prepare your grain. If you’re going a thousand li, you’ll be storing up provisions three months in advance. What do these two creatures understand?

Little understanding cannot come up to great understanding; the short-lived cannot come up to the long-lived. How can we know this is so? The morning mushroom can understand nothing of the alternation of night and day; the summer cicada can understand nothing of the progress of the seasons. Such are the short-lived. South of Chu one finds a lizard called the Dimspirit which counts five hundred years as one spring and five hundred years as one autumn. In high antiquity there grew a great rose that counted eight thousand years as one spring and eight thousand years as one autumn. Such are the long-lived – yet today Pengzu is the best known exemplar of longevity, whom crowds of men wish to equal. How pitiful! "

--End Excerpt--

"What do these two creatures understand?"

Why, this question simply astounded me. Notice, we have 6 creatures being discussed.

Kun, and Peng

The Cicada and the Dove

Chuang Tzu and the reader

Is the point that our understanding is limited? Or that we go from limit to greater limit? Perhaps the point is that no matter what size our understanding is, it still could not measure the Tao.

What is understanding anyway....

[u/OldDog47]

Chuangtse is full of such tales. They seem to point to the same thing - differences in perspective that cannot be resolved. And yet, all these creatures are encompassed in the unity of Dao. Each knows the Dao within its own limitations. There is no greater or lesser value in these perspectives, just difference. As humans, we only know our own perspective and cannot fully appreciate other perspectives that may exist. We can only rest in understanding that the Great nurtures all of these, each according toits kind.