These verses describe a concert sponsored by the Yellow Emperor. Beimin Cheng, a member of the court is speaking with the Yellow Emperor. Cheng relates that the music effected him. The concert was in two parts. Here the Yellow Emperor describes the second part – the sensations felt by the listener who is enveloped by the never ending melody, and by co-dependent, inter-dependent, oppositional harmony. The yin and the yang. These lines sublimely portray music, an unchained melody.

In the second part of the performance,
the music followed the harmony of the yin and yang,
encircled by the light of the sun and the moon.

The notes were now short and now long,
now soft and now strong.
Throughout their changes
there was continuous underlying unity.
As there was no dominant theme,
there was an unending melody.

The notes filled the valleys and ravines.
They made all the senses still, preserved the spirit
and gave all things their measure.
The notes resounded gradually and were high and clear.
Hince the spirits remained hidden
and the sun, moon and stars followed their paths.

I set aside the instruments when the performance was over,
but their echoes flowed on without end.

You were bewildered and were not able
to understand it;
you looked for it but could not find it;
you pursued it but could not reach it.

In a daze,
you stood in the midst of the way surrounding you,
and then you leaned against an old tree
and sang quietly.

Your eyes were strained by what you wished to see;
your strength failed in your desire to pursue it
–you could not grasp it.
Your body became an empty hull
as you sought to maintain your self-possession.
This is what made you weary.

Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou, trans. Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, The Revolution of Heaven

*Yesterday our grand daughter Kai would have been eight years old. She was stillborn. Our family has a ritual. We remember her by releasing a paper lantern that floats skyward elevated by air warmed by the small flame. We all watch the floating lantern, carried by the wind, a light becoming as tiny as a star in the night sky…