Duke Huan was sitting up in his hall reading a book. The wheelwright Pien was down below in the courtyard making a wheel. He put down his chisel and hammer, went up to the hall and asked Duke Huan, "May I ask you, Sir, what words you are reading?"
Duke Huan replied,"The words of the sages."
"Are these sages still living?"
"They are long dead," said Duke Huan.
"Then, Sir, what you are reading is nothing but rubbish left over from these ancient men!"
"How dare you, a wheelwright, comment on what I read! If you can explain this, fine, if not you shall die!" thundered Duke Huan.
The wheelwright replied,"Your Lordship’s servant looks at it from the perspective of his own work. When I work on a wheel, if I hit too softly, pleasant as this is, it doesn’t make for a good wheel. If I hit furiously, I get tired and the thing doesn’t work! So, not too soft, not too vigorous, I grasp it in my hand and hold it in my heart. I cannot express this by word of mouth, I just know it. I cannot teach this to my son, nor can my son learn it from me. So for seventy years I have gone along this path and here I am still making wheels. The ancient ones, when they died, took their words with them. Which is why I can state that Your Lordship is reading is nothing more than rubbish left over from these ancient ones!"
--Chuang Tzu, The Tao of Nature
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