When Knowledge Went North

Knowledge wandered north looking for Tao over the dark sea and up the invisible mountain.

There on the mountain he met Non-Doing, the Speechless One.

He inquired: "Please inform me, Sir,

by what system of thought and what technique of meditation I can apprehend Tao?

By what renunciation or what solitary retirement may I rest in Tao?

Where must I start, what road must I follow to reach Tao?"

Such were his three questions.

Non-Doing, the Speechless One,  made no reply.

Not only that, he did not even know how to reply!

Knowledge swung south to the Bright Sea

And climbed the Luminous Mountain called "Doubt's End."

Here he met Act-On-Impulse, the Inspired Prophet and asked the same questions.

"Ah," cried the Inspired One, "I have the answers and I will reveal them.

But just as he was about to tell everything he forgot all that he had in mind.

Knowledge got no reply.

So Knowledge went at last to the palace of Emperor Ti and asked the same questions of Ti.

Ti replied: "To exercise no-thought and follow no way of meditation is the first step to understanding Tao.

To dwell nowhere and rest in nothing is the first step toward resting in Tao.

To start from nowhere and follow no road is the first step toward attaining Tao".

Knowledge replied: "You know this and I know it. But the other two, they did not know it.

What about that, who is right?"

Ti replied: Only Non-Doing, the Speechless One was perfectly right. He did not know.

Act-on-Impulse, the Inspired Prophet, only seemed right because he had forgotten.

And for us we came nowhere near being right, since we have the answers.

"For he who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know".

And "The wise man gives instruction without the use of speech."

The story got back to Act-on-Impulse who agreed with Ti's way of putting it.

It is not reported that Non-Doing ever heard the matter or made any comment.

From The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton