10. Heaven

David Kishik

 

“What do you mean by the heavenly and the human?”

 

Jo of the North Sea said: 

 

"Horses and Oxen have four feet: 

 

this is what I mean by the Heavenly. 

 

Putting a halter on the horse's head, 

 

piercing the Ox’s nose:

 

this is what I mean by the human. 

 

So I say: 

 

do not let what is human wipe out what is Heavenly.”

 

What is Zhuangzi teaching us with this allegory?

 

That Heaven has nothing to do with an afterlife. 

 

Since Heaven hides within our bare life. 

 

While the human is this life’s form:

 

its clothes and words,

 

its cities and smartphones,

 

its artworks and philosophies.

 

A naked life is not bad but weak;

not violent but vulnerable.  

 

So I say:

 

whatever form your life assumes,

 

take good care of what is in you,

 

which never stopped shivering, 

 

like a baby right out of the womb, 

 

because this is Heaven.