The Fisherman chapter of Zhuangzi is about a more fundamental question: Why do you live so exhaustedly?
The fisherman is just an old man who fishes. He appears on the shore, chats with Confucius for a few moments, and leaves Confucius speechless. He does not say much, but every cut lands on a vital point.
The fisherman speaks of only one thing: the True (zhen 真).
You are not incapable. You are not unlucky. You are not lacking resources. You have forgotten the True. You live too falsely. You act, pretend, and maintain a face that does not belong to you. The more you act, the more tired you become. The more you pretend, the emptier you feel. The more you maintain, the more hollow you become. If you are not tired, who is?
A Fisherman Silences Confucius
The chapter opens beautifully. Confucius is wandering in the Forest of the Black Curtain and rests on the Apricot Altar. His disciples read; Confucius sings and plays the qin. Before the tune is half finished, a fisherman comes down from his boat. His beard and eyebrows are white. His hair is loose, his sleeves rolled up. He walks up from the marsh and stops at the dry land. His left hand rests on his knee; his right hand supports his chin as he listens. When the tune ends, he beckons to Zigong and Zi Lu.
He points to Confucius and asks, “What does he do?”
Zi Lu says, “He is a gentleman of Lu.”
“What clan?”
“The Kong clan.”
“What does this Kong govern?”
Zi Lu does not answer. Zigong says, “This Kong by nature submits to loyalty and trust; he practices benevolence and righteousness; he adorns ritual and music and selects human relations. Above, he is loyal to the ruler; below, he transforms the common people. He would benefit the world. This is what he governs.”
The fisherman asks, “Is he a ruler with territory?” “No.” “Is he an assistant to lords and kings?” “No.”
The fisherman laughs, turns back, and says, “Benevolent he is, but I fear he will not escape harm to himself. He wears out his mind and labors his body, endangering his True. Alas! How far he is from the Way!”
Zigong reports this to Confucius. Confucius pushes aside the qin, rises, and says, “He must be a sage!” He goes down to seek him. At the marsh bank, the fisherman is about to pole his boat away. He turns, sees Confucius, and stands facing him. Confucius steps back, bows twice, and advances.
The fisherman says, “What do you seek?”
Confucius says, “A moment ago you left with unfinished words. I, Qiu, am unworthy and did not understand. I venture to wait in the lower wind, hoping to hear your cough and spit, so that you may finally assist me.”
The fisherman says, “How extreme is your love of learning!”
Confucius bows twice and rises: “I have cultivated learning from youth until now, sixty-nine years, and have never heard the highest teaching. Dare I not be empty-minded?”
Each Station Has Its Own Worries
The fisherman says, “Like follows like, and same sound responds to same sound – this is certainly Heaven’s principle. I will set aside what I have and discuss what you do. What you do is human affairs.
The Son of Heaven, the feudal lords, the great officers, and the common people – when these four are each correct, this is the beauty of governance. When these four leave their stations, there is no greater disorder. When officials govern their duties and people worry about their affairs, nothing is overstepped.
The common people’s worries: fields waste, houses leak, clothing and food are insufficient, taxes are not delivered, wives and concubines are not harmonious, old and young have no order.
The great officers’ worries: ability is unequal to office, official affairs are not governed, conduct is impure, subordinates are idle, merit and fame are not achieved, rank and salary are not maintained.
The feudal lords’ worries: the court has no loyal ministers, the state is confused, craftsmen are unskillful, tribute is not fine, the spring and autumn sacrifices are out of order, and the Son of Heaven is not obeyed.
The Son of Heaven and his officials’ worries: yin and yang are not harmonious, cold and heat are out of season, injuring creatures; feudal lords are violent and attack one another, harming the people; ritual and music are unregulated, resources are exhausted, human relations are disordered, and the people are licentious.
Now you, above, have no position of lord or official; below, you have no office of great minister. Yet you presume to adorn ritual and music, select human relations, and transform the common people – is this not overdoing things?
Moreover, people have eight faults, and affairs have four afflictions. You must examine them.
Eight faults:
- Handling what is not one’s affair – meddling (zong 总).
- Advancing when no one looks – obsequiousness (ning 佞).
- Guessing wishes and speaking accordingly – sycophancy (chan 谄).
- Speaking without choosing right and wrong – flattery (yu 谀).
- Loving to speak of others’ faults – slander (chan 谗).
- Breaking friendships and separating kin – harm (zei 贼).
- Praising the false and ruining the disliked – malice (te 慝).
- Making no choice of good or bad, accommodating both sides, secretly pulling out what one wants – dangerousness (xian 险).
Four afflictions:
- Loving great affairs, changing the constant, to win fame – greed (tao 叨).
- Monopolizing knowledge, taking over affairs, using others for oneself – avarice (tan 贪).
- Seeing one’s fault but not changing, hearing remonstrance and going further – obstinacy (hen 很).
- Accepting only those who agree with oneself; rejecting the good if it differs – pride (jin 矜).
Only when one can remove the eight faults and avoid the four afflictions can one begin to be taught.”
The Man Who Fears His Shadow
Confucius sighs and says, “I was twice driven from Lu, had my traces cut off in Wei, had a tree cut down in Song, and was surrounded in Chen and Cai. I do not know my fault. Why did I meet these four slanders?”
The fisherman’s face changes sadly. He says, “How hard you are to awaken! There is a man who fears his shadow and hates his footprints. He runs to escape them. But the more he lifts his feet, the more footprints there are; the faster he runs, the shadow never leaves him. He thinks he is still too slow, so he runs without rest, exhausts his strength, and dies. He does not know to stay in the shade to rest the shadow, to stay still to stop the footprints. He is extremely foolish.
You examine the space between benevolence and righteousness, the boundary of same and different, the changes of movement and stillness, the measure of receiving and giving, the feelings of like and dislike, the rhythm of joy and anger – yet you are nearly unable to escape.
Carefully cultivate your person, cautiously guard your True, return things to others, and you will have no entanglement. Now you do not cultivate yourself but seek it in others – is this not outward?”
What Is the True?
Confucius asks, “What is the True?”
The fisherman says, “The True is the utmost of essence and sincerity. Without essence and sincerity, one cannot move others. Forced weeping, though sad, is not grieving; forced anger, though severe, is not authoritative; forced affection, though smiling, is not harmonious.
True grief is silent yet grieving; true anger is not yet issued yet awe-inspiring; true affection is not yet smiling yet harmonious. When the True is within, the spirit moves without – this is why the True is valued.
In human relations: serving parents, it is kindness and filial piety; serving the ruler, loyalty and fidelity; drinking wine, joy; mourning, grief. Loyalty takes merit as master; wine takes joy; mourning takes grief; serving parents takes fittingness.
When merit is complete, there is no trace. Serving parents with fittingness, one does not discuss means. Drinking for joy, one does not choose vessels. Mourning with grief, one does not ask about ritual.
Ritual is what the vulgar world does; the True is received from Heaven, natural and unchangeable. Therefore the sage models Heaven and values the True, not bound by custom. The foolish do the opposite. They cannot model Heaven but worry about others; they do not know to value the True; they drift with custom and are never sufficient. Alas! You were early steeped in falsehood and late in hearing the Great Way!”
The Fisherman Leaves
Confucius bows twice and says, “Today I have met you as if by Heaven’s favor. You do not consider it shameful to associate me with your service and teach me personally. May I ask where you dwell? I beg to receive instruction and finally learn the Great Way.”
The fisherman says, “I have heard: with one who can go along, one may go to the wondrous Way; with one who cannot go along, he does not know the Way. Carefully do not go with him, and your person will be without fault. Encourage yourself. I leave you, I leave you!”
He poles his boat away, moving along among the reeds.
Yan Yuan turns the carriage; Zi Lu hands him the strap. Confucius does not look back. He waits until the waves settle and the sound of the oar is gone, then dares to mount.
Zi Lu asks, “I have served you long, yet I have never seen you meet anyone with such reverence. Rulers of ten thousand chariots and lords of a thousand chariots meet you as equals, yet you still look proud. Now a fisherman, holding his oar and standing opposite, makes you bend like a chime-stone, bow and respond to his words – is this not too much? Your disciples are surprised. How did this fisherman deserve it?”
Confucius leans on the crossbar and sighs, “How hard you are to transform! You have been steeped in ritual and righteousness, yet your rustic heart remains. Come, I will tell you: to meet an elder and not respect him is to lose ritual; to see a worthy and not honor him is to lack benevolence.
If he were not a Perfect Man, he could not humble himself before others. If one humbles himself without essence, he does not get the True, and so long injures himself. Alas! Among men, no calamity is greater than lack of benevolence, yet you alone excel in it.
Moreover, the Way is that by which all things proceed. Creatures that lose it die; those that get it live. In affairs, to go against it is to fail; to follow it is to succeed. Where the Way is, the sage honors it. This fisherman can be said to have the Way. How dare I not respect him?”
Final Reflection
The core of this chapter is “model Heaven and value the True” (法天贵真): follow nature, prize authenticity, and do not be bound by custom.
It inherits Zhuangzi’s emphasis on naturalness and inner stillness, but it also differs from the Inner Chapters. It accepts social stations and treats natural benevolence, righteousness, filial piety, and loyalty as expressions of the True when they arise spontaneously. The Inner Chapters tend to dissolve such categories altogether.
The fisherman is a hidden sage. Confucius is humble and willing to learn. The final teaching is simple:
The True is the utmost of essence and sincerity.
Without essence and sincerity, one cannot move others.
You cannot move others because you are not true. You are exhausted because you live falsely. Do not perform, do not pretend, do not maintain. Be yourself. Try to be true once. You may find that when you become true, the world does not collapse. It becomes clearer.
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