Selections from Chaung Tzu

Out of the selections that we were reading from Chuang Tzu, I found selection “E” quite interesting. The selection was about the tree that was known as the town shrine, that had no good uses. The carpenter in the story said about the tree “It’s a worthless tree! Make boats out of it and they’d sink; make coffins out of and they’d rot in no time; make vessels out of it and they’d break at once. Use it for doors and it would sweat sap like pine; use it for posts and the worms would eat them up. It’s not a timber-tree there’s nothing it can be used for. That’s how it got to be that old!” The carpenter is talking about how unuseful the tree is, but in a dream, the tree spoke to the carpenter. The tree said that it should not be compared to other trees. His use isn’t to be made into things, but to be a shrine and that is its purpose. It should not be compared to others because it has a completely different use.
I found this selection to be interesting because of the lesson it gives and how that lesson is taught in many different ways today. It reminds of the saying “don’t compare apples with oranges” and even something like “don’t judge a book by its cover” the story contains wise lessons that we learn and think about today, but just in a different context. And that is a pattern that I have been seeing a lot during this class, there are lessons coming from very old Chinese lessons. Even though I never knew that these lessons were rooted in Chinese history, I still have learned them and it’s interesting finding their possible roots.