Mao was a man of Yue. One rainy night he was walking along, glancing left and right, his heart trembling with fear. Suddenly a man came up from behind, said he had no umbrella, and asked to borrow his and walk together. Mao had no choice but to agree reluctantly.
The two walked in silence for a long time. Mao began to suspect the other was a ghost. When they reached a bridge, he shoved the man into the river and ran off in a wild panic.
Before long, the sky began to brighten. A pancake seller opened his door, and Mao went in to take shelter. The shopkeeper asked what had happened, and Mao said he had met a ghost.
A little later, another man arrived at the shop, soaked through, saying that a ghost had pushed him into the river.
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Interpretation
This short parable – often titled “Suspecting a Ghost” – is a witty illustration of how fear creates the very thing it fears.
The layers of meaning:
1. Fear distorts perception. Mao is already nervous walking alone on a rainy night. His fear makes him interpret an ordinary traveler as a ghost.
2. We project our fears onto others. Mao assumes the stranger is a ghost. The stranger, meanwhile, assumes Mao is a ghost. Each becomes the other’s nightmare.
3. The cycle of fear is mutual. Mao pushes the man into the river because he thinks he is a ghost. The man later says a ghost pushed him in – meaning Mao. Both are victims of their own fear.
4. The comic resolution: recognition. When they meet in the pancake shop, soaking wet and each convinced the other was a ghost, they laugh. The ghost was never real. Fear itself was the ghost.
5. Daoist theme: empty fear. The mind creates monsters out of nothing. When you see clearly, the ghost disappears. This connects to Zhuangzi’s teaching that fear, like all mental constructions, is empty.
6. Irony of “ghost” and “human.” Each thinks the other is not human. In fact, both are perfectly human – frightened, wet, and ridiculous.
In short: The ghost you fear is often just another frightened person. See clearly, and you will laugh at your own fear.
Note
Zhuangzi
This story is not from the Zhuangzi proper but is a later Daoist-style parable in the Zhuangzi tradition. It appears in collections of Zhuangzi-inspired tales and is often included in modern retellings. It carries the classic Daoist themes of empty fear, relativity, and the mind’s power to create illusion.
Yue (越)
An ancient state in southeastern China, in what is now Zhejiang.
Ghost
In Chinese folk belief, ghosts are restless spirits of the dead. But in this story, the “ghost” is a projection of fear. The real ghost is the mind’s own terror.
Pancake Seller / Shop
A humble, everyday place. The comic resolution happens here: the two “ghosts” meet in a mundane shop, dripping wet. The ordinary world dissolves the supernatural fear.
“A Ghost Pushed Me into the River”
The second man’s report is identical to Mao’s action. Each thinks the other is a ghost. The irony is perfect: they are each other’s ghost.
“The Two Looked at Each Other and Burst Out Laughing”
The punchline. Recognition dissolves fear. This is the Daoist laugh of awakening – seeing that the monster was always yourself.
Parallels in the Zhuangzi
- The man who fears his shadow and hates his footprints (Chapter 31, “The Fisherman”) – running from illusion only exhausts you.
- The empty echo and the shadow (Chapter 27, “Imputed Words”) – things that seem real but depend on something else.
- Zhuangzi’s dream of the butterfly (Chapter 2, “On the Equality of Things”) – who is dreaming whom?
This story belongs to the same family: fear, illusion, and the sudden laughter of insight.
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