To Eat, Ramble, Float
Bohun Maoren replied,
“It is useless.
I have said to you
that they would come to you
and they have.
It is not you that have caused them to come to you,
but you cannot prevent them from coming to you.
Of what use then was my warning?
It was the outward manifestation
of your extraordinary qualities which draws people
to you and makes them pleased.
But you, in turn, will be influenced by this
and your true nature will be perturbed.
Then no exhortation can reach you.
Those who gather about you will not remonstrate
with you against this.
The insignificant words they utter are poison to a man.
They do not perceive this, nor do they comprehend it.
How could they to make it clear to you?
The clever persists with their labor and the wise
are distressed. Those who are without ability
pursue nothing.
They eat until they are sated
and ramble about idly.
They float aimlessly
like a boat set loose.”
Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 32 Lie Yukou
Homes and apartments in Japan have a foyer just inside the main entrance. A transitional room to divide the exterior and the main room of the home is a space for exchanging shoes for slippers to be worn within the living space. The scene depicts Bohum Maoren’s response upon discovering the foyer of Liezi’s home filled with row after row of shoes placed by visitors who have come to be in Liezi’s presence.
“I told you this would happen”, Bohun Maoren voiced with disappointment, and some disgust. Thus it seems that success is domino-like, bringing inevitable consequences of popularity and fame.
A contemporary parallel to this ancient story was mentioned in course of a recent zoom session. Our host mentioned that he had stepped away from featuring sponsors on his internet channel, to avoid the sponsor insistence that he improve the conversion rate of visitors to his site. To say – the tracking statistics revealed to the advertisers his ambivalence about shilling for the product or service. To avoid the insistence that he “sell, sell, sell” his decision was to step away from featuring ads on his internet site. The estimated the cost of this decision was around $45K per year.
