1. The Useless Tree

Hui said to Chuang:
I have this huge tree,
but it's a "Stink-tree", unfortunately,
It's distorted, full of knots,
and nobody can cut it into anything useful.

All it's good for is collecting dust,
carpenters even avoid it.

...Reminds me of your teachings,
obscure & useless.

Chuang said back:
Do you know how a mouse,
scurries outward,inward,sideward,
and finally, into a trap?

Or how about an elephant,
who is rooted and firm,
strength is easy to see,
but, what if it needs to climb up a tree?

Therefore, considering the Stink-tree,
just re-plant it in the desert,
in the middle of nowhere,
and chill under it's shade,
an overheated travelers' paradise.

obscure & useless? maybe to some, but not to all.

2. A Hat Salesman and a Capable Ruler

There once was a Silk Ceremonial Hat Salesman from Sung,
He opened up shop in the southern region,
with the wild, shaved head, tattooed tribes.
What in the world would a tribesman want,
with a silk ceremonial hat?

There once was a Capable Ruler named Yao of China.
Peace & Unity was the status of his ever-adoring people.
He then visits the Four Perfect Ones,
of the distant mountains of Ku Shih.

Following the conclusion of his trip,
upon re-entering the outskirts of his city,
just above the horizon,
he sees that his throne has been removed.

3. The Breath of Nature

The winds, noiseless, formless,
And only seen when dealing with others.
Mother Nature’s instrument for all.
Every crevice utilized,
For the invisible choir flooding the air.
The mighty roots of a mountain-side tree
clenching into the soil through the gravel:
Mutilated trunks adapting shape over the years,
Features such as hooves, claws, and whiskers,
Like alligator skin, like pus-bellow sacs,
Textures on the tree, hollows full of water.
Sounds of swirling, snarling, and swooshing,
Yelling loudly with weight, shivering,
Tired moans, dried sirens.
Conversations strung between each other.
Soft winds verses strong winds,
Wispy howls or veracious whirls.
Finally, the wind decays.
Muttering their last words,
With soft sighs & hollow woes.
Don’t you feel the power & then it’s subcision?

In response, Yu said: I get it. Earth’s rhythm is found through each crevice. And man’s rhythm is found through instruments. But what’s heaven’s rhythm?

Master Ki’s response: Where’s the root of the whistling through those crevices & instruments? What’s the source of power that creates these echoes and then takes them away?   

4. Great Knowledge

5. The Pivot

6. Three in the Morning

7. Cutting Up an Ox

8. The Man with one Foot and the Marsh Pheasant

9. The Fasting of the Heart

10. Three friends

11. Lao Tzu’s Wake

12. Confucius and the Madman

13. The True Man

14. The True Man

15. Metamorphosis

16. Man is Born in Tao

17. Two Kings and No-Form

18. Cracking the Sale

19. Leaving things Alone

20. The Kingly Man

21. How Deep is Tao!

22. The lost Pearl

23. In my End is my Beginning

24. When life was Full there was no History

25. When a Hideous Man…

26. The Five Enemies

27. Actions and Non-Action

28. Duke Hwan and the Wheelwright

29. Autumn Floods

30. Great and Small

31. The Man of Tao

32. The Turtle

33. Owl and Phoenix

34. The Joy of Fishes

35. Perfect Joy

36. Symphony for a Sea Bird

37. Wholeness

38. The Need to Win

39. The Sacrificial Swine

40. The Fighting Cock

41. The Woodcarver

42. When the Shoe Fits

43. The Empty Boat

44. The Flight of Lin Hui

45. When Knowledge went North

46. The importance of being Toothless

47. Where is Tao?

48. Starlight and Non-being

49. Keng Sang Chu

50. Keng’s Disciple

51. The Tower of the Spirit

52. The Inner Law

53. Apologies

54. Advising the Prince

55. Active Life

56. Monkey Mountain

57. Good Fortune

58. Flight from Benevolence

59. Tao

60. The Useless

61. Means and Ends

62. Flight from the Shadow

63. Chuang Tzu’s Funeral