Huizi said to Zhuangzi: “The King of Wei gave me the seeds of a great gourd. I planted them, and they bore a fruit that could hold five shi. When I used it to hold water or broth, its strength could not support itself. When I split it into a ladle, it was so flat and broad that it held nothing. It was not that it was not huge and hollow – I smashed it because it was useless.”
Zhuangzi said: “You are indeed clumsy in using what is big. There was a man of Song who was good at making a medicine to prevent chapped hands. For generations his family had been engaged in bleaching silk floss. A traveler heard of it and asked to buy the formula for a hundred pieces of gold. The family gathered and discussed: ‘For generations we have bleached silk floss and earned no more than a few pieces of gold. Now in one morning we can sell the skill for a hundred pieces of gold. Let us give it to him.’ The traveler got it and used it to persuade the King of Wu. Yue had trouble, and the King of Wu made him a general. In winter, he fought a naval battle with the men of Yue and greatly defeated them. The king divided land and enfeoffed him. The ability to prevent chapped hands was one and the same: one used it to gain a fief, while others did not escape bleaching silk floss – this is the difference in use. Now you have a gourd of five shi. Why not consider making it into a great vessel and float on the rivers and lakes, instead of worrying that it is too flat and broad to hold anything? Then you, Master, still have a mind like tangled weeds!”
Interpretation
This passage is the closing section of the Xiaoyaoyou (“Free and Easy Wandering”) chapter of the Zhuangzi. Huizi complains that Zhuangzi’s teachings are “big but useless.” Zhuangzi replies that Huizi is “clumsy in using what is big.”
The same medicine can be used to bleach silk floss or to win a war and gain a fief. The difference is not in the thing itself, but in how it is used and from what perspective it is seen. The great gourd cannot hold water or serve as a ladle, but it can be made into a float and carry a person freely on rivers and lakes. What Huizi calls “useless” is simply something whose use he has not yet discovered.
Laozi says in the Daodejing:
The gourd is useful precisely because it is hollow and empty. Zhuangzi’s central idea of “the use of the useless” appears throughout the Zhuangzi. In the Renjianshi chapter (In the Human World), a twisted tree survives because it is useless to lumbermen. In Xiaoyaoyou, the great gourd can float; the great tree can give shade. What the world calls useless may be great use from a larger perspective.
Confucius says in the Analects:
A vessel has only one fixed function. A gentleman should not be limited to one use.
Zhuangzi’s Own Teaching
The example of the “seeds of the great gourd” that Huizi used was intended to mock Zhuangzi’s teachings as great but useless. The example of the “medicine for chapped hands” that Zhuangzi used was intended to prove that his teachings are greatly useful – it is just that Huizi cannot understand and grasp them.
Insights
- Things have their great uses when great, and their small uses when small. The key issue is that one must know how to make good use of different things.
- All things have their use. The same object, because people view it with different eyes, can play different roles and have different effects.
- One must be good at shifting perspectives and opening a new path, discovering the value and strengths of different things – only then can one surpass others.
Note
Huizi / Hui Shi
A Warring States philosopher and politician, leading figure of the School of Names, also called the Logicians. He served as prime minister of Wei and was a friend and rival of Zhuangzi. He loved logical paradoxes, such as “The greatest has nothing outside it; the smallest has nothing inside it,” and “Heaven and Earth are low; mountains and marshes are level.” In the Zhuangzi, he often appears as a clever but limited debater.
The King of Wei (魏王)
Likely King Hui of Wei (梁惠王), also known as King Hui of Liang, a Warring States ruler. He appears in both the Zhuangzi and the Mencius. Here he is said to have given Huizi the seeds of a great gourd. The story is likely a philosophical parable rather than a historical record.
The Man of Song
A person from the state of Song, a small state in ancient China, descended from the Shang dynasty. Song was known for merchants and artisans. This man’s family had a secret formula for a medicine that prevented hands from chapping.
Bleaching Silk Floss
An ancient textile task: washing and bleaching silk floss in water. It was hard on the hands, especially in winter. The medicine was valuable to these workers because it kept their hands from cracking.
The Traveler
A stranger who buys the formula for a hundred pieces of gold. He then uses it strategically: he persuades the King of Wu to make him a general. The same medicine that helped silk bleachers now helps soldiers fight a winter naval battle.
The King of Wu and Yue
Wu and Yue were two ancient states in the Yangtze River delta, famous for their long rivalry and naval warfare. Historical figures include King Helü and King Fuchai of Wu, and King Goujian of Yue. In this parable, “Yue had trouble,” and the King of Wu sends the traveler as a general. In winter, they fight a water battle. The medicine prevents the soldiers’ hands from chapping, giving Wu an advantage. The traveler is rewarded with land and a title.
The Great Gourd and Five Shi (五石之瓠)
Shi is an ancient Chinese unit of volume. Five shi is enormous. A gourd that large could not be used as an ordinary container or ladle. But it could be used as a float to cross rivers and lakes.
Rivers and Lakes (江湖)
Literally “rivers and lakes.” In Chinese culture, it later came to mean the wide world outside court, or a life of freedom and retreat. Zhuangzi’s image of floating on rivers and lakes suggests freedom, ease, and wandering beyond conventional utility.
Tangled-Weeds Mind
Peng is fleabane, a plant that grows in a tangled, messy way. A “tangled-weeds mind” is a mind blocked, narrow, and confused by fixed ideas. Zhuangzi uses this to criticize Huizi’s inability to see the great gourd’s potential.
The Allusion of the Chapped-Hands Medicine (不龟手之药)
This became a famous Chinese allusion for using the same thing in different ways. The medicine is the same; one family uses it to bleach silk, another to win a war. The difference lies in vision, strategy, and context.
“Clumsy in Using What Is Big” (拙于用大)
A key phrase from this passage. It means someone does not know how to make use of large things or grand ideas. Huizi is clever with small logical distinctions but clumsy with large possibilities.
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