Happiness in misery - misfortune in happiness

Glück im Glück - Unluck im Glück is one of the most famous parables from Huainanzi ( Chinese淮南子, German Master of Huainan ), 18th chapter (Chinese 人間訓, Renjianxun , German in the human world ) from the 2nd century v. Chr. The perspective of Taoism in terms of happiness (which is good) and misfortune (which is bad) explained.

translation

The German translation is based on the translation by Claude Larre et al .: Les grands traités du Huainan zi . 1993, pp. 208-209.

Chinese characters	German translation
夫禍富之(also 夫禍福之)轉而相生,	Happiness and unhappiness create each other
其變難見也.	and it is difficult to foresee their change.

近塞上之人有善術者,	A righteous man lived near the border.
馬無故亡而入胡.	For no reason [one day] his horse ran away into barbarian territory.
人皆吊之. (also 人皆弔之.)	All [people] felt sorry for him.
其父曰:	But his father said to him:
"此何遽不為福乎?"	"Who knows if that won't bring you luck?"
居數月,	Several months later
其馬將胡駿馬而歸.	his horse came back with a group of [good, noble] barbarian horses.
人皆賀之.	All [people] complimented him.
其父曰:	But his father said to him:
"此何遽不能為禍乎?"	"Who knows if that won't bring bad luck?"
家富良馬,	A rich house has good horses
其子好騎,	and the son rose with glee [loved to ride].
墮而折其髀.	He fell and broke his leg.
人皆吊之.	All [people] felt sorry for him.
其父曰:	But his father said to him:
"此何遽不為福乎?"	"Who knows if that won't bring you luck?"
居一年,	One year later
胡人大入塞,	the barbarians invaded across the frontier.
丁壯者引弦而戰,	The grown men strung their bows and went to battle.
近塞之人，死者十九,	Nine out of ten border residents were killed
此獨以跛之故,	except for the son because of his broken leg.
父子相保.	Father and son were protected [both survived].

故福之為禍,	Hence: unhappiness causes happiness
禍之為福,	and happiness creates unhappiness.
化不可極,	This happens without end
深不可測也.	and no one can estimate it.

statement

The parable tells how a farmer who lives with his father on the border to the barbarians gets into different situations through no fault of his own. These random events all have serious implications:

His horse runs away from him - as a result of which he loses a significant part of his property and livelihood.
His horse finds its way back and also brings other horses that had run away from the barbarians - which increases the farmer's property.
The farmer is seriously injured while riding the new horses - which reduces his physical and labor power.
When the barbarians attack (because of the lost horses?), The injured farmer cannot go into battle and help defend - whereby he and his father escape death and survive.

These events are spontaneously judged by the other border residents, but the old father of the farmer relativizes these judgments of the situations with his knowledge of Dào (i.e. the right way ):
Everything is an interplay of Yin and Yang , of light and shadow, of luck and Unhappiness , whether in the smallest details or in the great events of life. But since it is impossible within the framework of human perception to recognize all the consequences of an event or a circumstance (and thus to know what is really happiness or really unhappiness ), the reaction of the old man to these events is a stoic equanimity and thus one adequate response. He reacts with Wu wei (Eng. “Not intervening”; “not acting”; this term should not be confused with apathy ) and finds peace and lasting, true happiness in this knowledge: he accepts life as it is .

The wisdom in the parable does not come from a teacher, a monk, or a king, nor is it long discussed. It comes from a simple old man who gives it of himself in very short sentences - repetitions, since there is nothing to add. This indicates that knowledge about Dào is accessible to everyone.

The introductory and leading sentences make it clear that the parable shows only a small section of an infinite sequence: Before the loss of the horse there were other lucky-unlucky situations and after the barbarians have been fended off, others will follow.

Chengyu, parallels and delimitations

Among the Chinese proverbs (Chengyu, Chinese 成語 / 成语 , Pinyin Chéngyǔ ) one finds the phrase

塞翁失馬，焉知非福. / 塞翁失马，焉知非福.

Sài wēng shī mǎ, yān zhī fēi fú

Wasn't it lucky that his horse ran away from the old man at the border?

Statement: Today's disaster does not necessarily have to mean disaster in the future.

Starting from the original parable, different versions of the story have been written, which are found in books and on the internet under titles such as The Taoist Farmer , The Farmer and His Horse , The Father, His Son and the Horse , The Old Man Loses a Horse , etc. are found.

While in the original version the son loses his horse and the father comments, in newer (western) versions a more direct view is given preference: the father himself is the horse owner and comments on his own situation. Most of these variants are longer and more dramatically embellished, but the brevity and succinctness of the original text have the advantage of easier recognition.

Western parallels to the parable can be found in the proverbs

To be lucky in adversity.
Every dark cloud has a silver border.
Who knows what this will be for.
In English: A blessing in disguise .

It should be noted, however, that these proverbs point to the perspective "towards happiness".

Hamlet's statement in conversation with Rosenkranz is more neutral :

..., for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

(Eng. ..., because nothing in itself is neither good nor bad, thinking makes it so.)

reception

Mascha Kaléko processed this subject in 1983 in the poem Chinese legend .
Fritz B. Simon used the topic in 1990 in his book My Psychosis, My Bicycle and Me - For Self-Organization of Madness .
Richard Wiseman used a variant of the story in 2003 in his book So Make Your Fortune to explain the difference in the processing of misfortune and strokes of fate in "lucky mushrooms" and "unlucky ones".
Coral Chen wrote a picture book for children in 2011, The Old Man Who Lost His Horse , in both English and Chinese and provided it with her own illustrations.

literature

Charles Le Blanc, Mathieu Rémi: Philosophes taoïstes . Volume 2: Huainan Zi . Gallimard, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-07-011424-4 ( Bibliothèque de la Pléiade . 494).
Claude Larre, Isabelle Robinet , Elisabeth Rochet de la Vallée: Les grands traités du Huainan zi . du Cerf, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-204-04652-3 ( Variétés sinologiques . NS 75), (Translation of chapters 1, 7, 11, 13, 18).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Literally, for example, teaching relating to people or principles in the human world .
↑ In Chinese, the idiom 塞翁失马 ( memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Sàiwēngshīmă, Sai Weng Shi Ma; German: the old man at the border loses a horse ) after missed opportunities or “unfortunate situations” in the sense of “Maybe it will bring something good” or “Now it doesn't look good, but wait for now "used. @1@ 2

↑ Insup Taylor, M. Martin Taylor, Maurice Martin Taylor: Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese . John Benjamin Publishing Company, 1995, p. 69 ( sai weng shi ma )

^ William Shakespeare Hamlet , 2nd scene, 2nd act.

^ Original text by Hamlet in context

^ John Middleton: The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization . Yale University Press, August 1994, ISBN 978-0-300-06080-5 , p. 1.

^ Coral Chen: The Old Man Who Lost His Horse . AuthorHouse, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4678-4776-6 .

[1] Literally, for example, teaching relating to people or principles in the human world .

[2] In Chinese, the idiom 塞翁失马 ( memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Sàiwēngshīmă, Sai Weng Shi Ma; German: the old man at the border loses a horse ) after missed opportunities or “unfortunate situations” in the sense of “Maybe it will bring something good” or “Now it doesn't look good, but wait for now "used. @1@ 2

[3] Insup Taylor, M. Martin Taylor, Maurice Martin Taylor: Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese . John Benjamin Publishing Company, 1995, p. 69 ( sai weng shi ma )

[4] William Shakespeare Hamlet , 2nd scene, 2nd act.

[5] Original text by Hamlet in context

[Middleton1994-6] John Middleton: The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization . Yale University Press, August 1994, ISBN 978-0-300-06080-5 , p. 1.

[Chen2011-7] Coral Chen: The Old Man Who Lost His Horse . AuthorHouse, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4678-4776-6 .