0 and 1

NMH

01-12-2025

As Zhuangzi strolls along the riverbank, watching the fish joyfully dart through the water, he notices Kingfisher perch gloomily on a willow branch and asks:

— I see the river full of fish—each one plump and lively. Why, then, are you so downcast?

Kingfisher sighs:

— Ever since you helped me witness the light of the Dao through The Six Persimmons painting, I have been delighted and pondered even more deeply. Yet the deeper I think, the more lost and distressed I become.

Zhuangzi asks:

— Why so?

Kingfisher answers:

— In the painting, the first and last persimmons are drawn with the simplest strokes—empty and hollow. Emptiness is zero. Zero is void, is nothingness. The beginning is 0, and the end is also 0. Between them, one must still pass through the four stages of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Thinking of that, I see all living beings steeped in suffering. If life begins in nothingness and returns to nothingness, then what meaning does it hold?

Even someone enlightened like Master Muqi could not break free from this natural law.

Zhuangzi says:

— Ah, your feathered kind is once again trying to unravel the Dao’s mystery with dualistic thinking. When you eat a fish, the fish becomes part of you—does that mean the fish has vanished?

Kingfisher startles:

— You mean Master Muqi still exists through his painting?

Zhuangzi gently shakes his head:

— Yes—and also not. Even if the painting were made with the finest paper and the most enduring ink, time will eventually dissolve it back into nothingness.

The Kingfisher scratches his head, wishing to pluck the few sparse feathers there:

— I have thought about this endlessly, yet still cannot grasp it. Please enlighten me.

Zhuangzi closes his eyes, smiling:

— Is that not the spirit of the Japanese? I’ve heard they call their land the Land of the Rising Sun. How could it be nothingness!

Hearing Zhuangzi mention Japan, Kingfisher’s thoughts drift far away to the Japanese kingfisher maidens. He wonders what color robes they might wear over there, and whether they, too, have good fish to eat.

References

[1] Vuong QH. (2024). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?id=N10jEQAAQBAJ

[2] Zhuang Zhou. (1964). Zhuangzi.

[3] Nguyen MH. (2025). Kingfisherish Wandering. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVLLLXNW/ 

[4] Nguyen MH. (2025). On Six Persimmons by Master Muqi Fachang. https://www.xomchim.com/post/on-six-persimmons-by-master-muqi-fachang