The Useless Tree

C arpenter Stone was traveling to Qi. Passing through Qu Yuan, he came upon a shrine oak — a sacred tree growing at a local earth-deity's altar. The thing was enormous. Its shade could cover a herd of thousands of oxen. Measured around the trunk: a hundred spans. Its height overlooked the hills, sixty to eighty feet before the first branch. A dozen or more boat-length planks could have come out of its sides alone. People were gathered around it as if at a market. Carpenter Stone walked straight past without a glance and kept moving. Carpenter Stone was going to Qi. Reaching Qu Yuan, he saw a shrine oak. It was so large it could shade several thousand oxen; a hundred spans measured around the trunk; its height overlooked the hills, sixty to eighty feet before a branch appeared; a dozen or more planks suitable for boats could come from its sides. Onlookers were as thick as a marketplace. Carpenter Stone did not look back and walked on without stopping.

His apprentice had been unable to tear himself away. He finally ran to catch up. "Master — I have carried your ax since I was young and never seen timber this fine. You didn't even look. Why?" Carpenter Stone said: "Enough. Don't speak of it. It is useless wood. Make a boat from it — it sinks. Make a coffin — it rots too fast. Make a tool — it splits. Make a door — it weeps resin. Make a pillar — it gets eaten by worms. This is worthless timber with nothing to offer. That is why it has lived this long." His apprentice lingered to look at the tree, then ran to catch up with Carpenter Stone. "Since I first took up ax and adze to follow you, I have never seen timber this fine. Yet you did not deign to look; you walked on without stopping. Why?" Carpenter Stone said: "Enough — say no more. It is useless wood (散木). Make a boat from it — it sinks. Make a coffin — it rots quickly. Make a tool — it splits quickly. Make a door — it weeps resin and swells. Make a pillar — it is eaten by insects. This is worthless wood, with no use whatsoever. That is why it has lived this long."

Carpenter Stone got home. That night the shrine oak came to him in a dream. It said: "What are you going to compare me with? With fine timber? With the useful trees — the cherries, the pears, the oranges, the citrons, all the fruit-bearing trees? When their fruit ripens, they are stripped and humiliated. Their great branches are broken off; their small branches are yanked down. Their usefulness makes their lives miserable. They are cut short before their natural end, worn down by the world. All useful things come to this." Carpenter Stone returned home. The shrine oak appeared to him in a dream, saying: "What will you compare me with? Will you compare me with the useful timber trees? The cherry-plum, pear, orange, citron — all the fruit-bearing plants: when their fruit ripens they are stripped and humiliated; the great branches broken, the small branches pulled off. They are tormented by their own usefulness and do not complete their heaven-allotted years, dying in their prime — they beat themselves against the world. All things are thus."

“If I had been useful, could I have grown this big?”

"As for me — I have been seeking to be of no use for a long time. I nearly died before I found it. Now I have it, and that is my great use. If I had been useful, could I have grown this big? "Besides — you and I are both just things. What gives you the right to judge things? You are a dying, useless man. What do you know about useless wood?" "As for me, I have sought to be without use for a long time; I nearly died in the attempt — now I have achieved it, and that is my great use. If I had been useful, could I have grown this large? Moreover, you and I are both things — how can one thing presume to judge another? You, a man near death and a useless one (散人) at that — what do you know of useless wood?"

Carpenter Stone woke up and told his apprentice about the dream. The apprentice said: "If the tree wants to be useless, why does it serve as a shrine tree?" "Hush," Carpenter Stone said. "Don't say a word about it. It only plays that role — to endure the contempt of those who do not understand it. If it were not a shrine tree, it would very nearly be cut. And what it is protecting is something altogether different from what the others protect. To praise it in the usual terms of moral worth would be to miss it by a long way." Carpenter Stone awoke and told the dream to his apprentice. The apprentice said: "If the tree aims at being useless, why does it serve as a shrine tree?" Carpenter Stone said: "Hush — say nothing. It merely lodges in that role, as a way to endure the reproach of those who do not understand it. If it were not a shrine tree, it would nearly be cut down. Moreover, what it preserves is different from all the rest. To honor it with the word 義 (righteous propriety) — would that not be to go quite far astray?"

There is a second such tree. Nanbó Zǐqí was wandering at Shāng Hill when he came upon an enormous tree unlike any he had seen. Sheltering beneath its canopy, he thought, could be a thousand chariot-teams. He looked up at the fine branches: gnarled and twisted — useless for beams. He looked down at the great roots: splitting apart — useless for coffins. He gnawed a leaf: his mouth burned and festered. He smelled it: the scent drove you wild and frenzied for three days. Nanbó Zǐqí said: "This is truly a tree with no useful timber." And yet here it stood. Nanbó Zǐqí was wandering at Shāng Hill and came upon a great tree of exceptional character. The shade for a thousand four-horse chariots could be concealed beneath it. He looked up at the fine branches — gnarled and twisted, useless for beams or ridgepoles. He looked down at the great roots — they split apart, useless for coffins. He gnawed a leaf: his mouth was burned and injured. He smelled it: it drove a man wild and frenzied for three days without ceasing. Nanbó Zǐqí said: "This is truly a tree with no useful timber. 此果不材之木也哉？"

無用 The original Chinese · honored as an artifact

匠石之齊，至乎曲轅，見櫟社樹。其大蔽數千牛，絜之百圍，其高臨山，十仞而後有枝，其可以為舟者旁十數。

Opening lines, classical Chinese · Zhuangzi 莊子 · Zhuang Zhou