batch.motif.daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg-l1289-l1385
---
record_id: batch.motif.daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg-l1289-l1385
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
passage_locator:
label: A. L. M. / CHAPTER I. / TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS. / B.C. 1766.; lines 1289-1385
start: '1289'
end: '1385'
translation: 'Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“being of no use to others, itself would be free from harm.”"
summary: The passage describes the divine or perfect man as unharmed by extreme
flood and drought; presents examples of objects or capacities being useless or
useful depending on circumstance; recounts Yao’s visit to sages and loss of concern
for empire; contrasts Hui Tzŭ’s dismissal of an oversized gourd and useless tree
with Chuang Tzŭ’s alternative uses and defense of uselessness as safety and repose.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A divine man is described as not being harmed by objective existences, including
a flood reaching the sky and a drought hot enough to liquefy metals and scorch
mountains.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A man of Sung carried sacrificial caps to Yüeh, where the people cut their
hair and painted their bodies and had no use for the caps.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Yao visited four sages of Miao-ku-shê mountain and, after returning to Fên-yang,
the empire no longer existed for him.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Hui Tzŭ planted a large gourd seed, obtained a fruit as large as a five-bushel
measure, found it unsuitable for holding liquids or making ladles, and broke it
up.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Chuang Tzŭ replies that Hui Tzŭ did not know how to use large things.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: A chapped-hands salve recipe used by a silk-washing family was sold to a stranger,
who applied it to winter naval warfare for the Prince of Wu against Yüeh.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: 'The same salve had different outcomes: in one setting it aided silk-washing,
and in another it gained territory and a title.'
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Chuang Tzŭ says the large gourd could have been made into a boat for floating
over river and lake.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: Hui Tzŭ compares Chuang Tzŭ’s words to a large, knotty, twisted, worthless
tree that no carpenter will look at.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: Chuang Tzŭ contrasts a wild cat that may be caught in a trap or snare with
a large yak that cannot catch mice.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: Chuang Tzŭ proposes planting the large tree in the domain of non-existence,
resting in inaction beneath its shade, where it would be safe from the axe because
it is useless to others.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: divine man
description: A perfected figure described as unharmed by flood, drought, heat, and
objective existences.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: man of Sung with sacrificial caps
description: A man who brought sacrificial caps from Sung to Yüeh for sale.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: men of Yüeh
description: People who cut off their hair and painted their bodies and therefore
had no use for sacrificial caps.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Emperor Yao
description: Ruler who visited four sages on Miao-ku-shê mountain and returned to
Fên-yang with the empire no longer existing for him.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: four sages of Miao-ku-shê mountain
description: Four sages whom Yao visited on Miao-ku-shê mountain.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Hui Tzŭ
description: A speaker who tells Chuang Tzŭ about the oversized gourd and the worthless
tree.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Chuang Tzŭ
description: A speaker who answers Hui Tzŭ with examples about proper application,
large things, and the safety of uselessness.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: stranger who bought the salve recipe
description: A stranger who bought a chapped-hands salve recipe and informed the
Prince of Wu of it.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Prince of Wu
description: A ruler who used the salve in a winter naval battle against Yüeh and
rewarded the stranger.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: wild cat
description: An agile animal that springs after prey and may be caught in a trap
or snare.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: yak
description: A large animal that cannot catch mice.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: unharmed perfected being
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The figure is said not to drown in a sky-high flood or become hot in a world-scorching
drought.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: seller of unsuitable goods
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He brings sacrificial caps to a people whose customs make them useless.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: people with incompatible customs
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Their hair-cutting and body-painting customs make sacrificial caps unnecessary.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: ruler transformed by sage encounter
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: After visiting the four sages, Yao’s empire no longer exists for him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: mountain sages
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: They are identified as four sages on Miao-ku-shê mountain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: critic of useless largeness
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Hui Tzŭ calls the large gourd and large tree useless and rejects them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: role:7
label: teacher of alternative use and uselessness
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Chuang Tzŭ proposes different applications for the gourd and tree and criticizes
Hui Tzŭ’s judgment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: role:8
label: adaptive user of inherited technique
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The stranger changes the salve’s application from silk-washing to military
use.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: ruler benefiting from practical application
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The Prince of Wu uses the salve in a naval battle and rewards the stranger.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:10
label: agile but vulnerable hunter
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The wild cat’s activity in seeking prey leads to risk of trap or snare.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:11
label: large but unsuited animal
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The yak is large but cannot catch mice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sky-reaching flood
literal_form: A flood reaching to the sky.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: scorched mountains
literal_form: Mountains scorched in an extreme drought.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: Miao-ku-shê mountain
literal_form: The mountain where Yao visits four sages.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: oversized gourd
literal_form: A gourd fruit as large as a five-bushel measure, rejected as useless
but proposed as a boat.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: chapped-hands salve
literal_form: A recipe for salve protecting or curing chapped hands.
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: large useless tree
literal_form: A large tree with knotty trunk and twisted branches, useless to carpenters
and safe from the axe.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:11
- id: sym:7
label: domain of non-existence
literal_form: A place where the large tree may be planted and where one may rest
in inaction beneath its shade.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:8
label: trap and snare
literal_form: Devices in which the wild cat may be caught or die.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Divine man unaffected by extremes
summary: The passage states that the divine man cannot be harmed by objective existences,
even by a sky-high flood or a scorching drought.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Unsuitable caps and Yao’s sage visit
summary: The Sung man’s caps are useless among the people of Yüeh, and Yao’s visit
to the mountain sages is followed by loss of concern for empire.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Large gourd reinterpreted as boat
summary: Hui Tzŭ destroys an oversized gourd after finding it useless for containers
or ladles, while Chuang Tzŭ says it could have served as a boat.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Salve changes value by application
summary: A silk-washing family’s salve recipe is sold to a stranger, who applies
it in winter naval warfare and gains reward after Wu defeats Yüeh.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Useless tree as safety and repose
summary: Hui Tzŭ calls the large tree useless; Chuang Tzŭ answers with animal contrasts
and proposes placing the tree in non-existence, where its uselessness protects
it from harm.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Perfected being immune to environmental catastrophe
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The divine man is described as unharmed by sky-high flood and world-scorching
drought.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses the flood and drought as examples of invulnerability
rather than as a full flood-renewal or world-destruction narrative.
- id: motif:2
label: Sage encounter leading to rejection of worldly dominion
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- mystical_quest
basis: Yao visits four mountain sages and afterward the empire exists for him no
more.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is brief and does not narrate the sages’ teaching or the details
of Yao’s inner change.
- id: motif:3
label: Misjudged useless object becomes useful by different application
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The large gourd is judged useless for liquids or ladles, but Chuang Tzŭ proposes
using it as a boat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The object is not actually used as a boat in the passage; the use is proposed
rhetorically.
- id: motif:4
label: Same technique yields different fortunes under different use
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The chapped-hands salve supports ordinary silk-washing in one context but
gains territory and title in a naval-war context.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is framed as practical analogy rather than a sacred or mythic
event.
- id: motif:5
label: Uselessness as protection and freedom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The large tree’s uselessness to carpenters makes it safe from the axe and
suitable for repose in inaction.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents this as philosophical instruction; symbolic interpretation
beyond that should be reviewed.
- id: motif:6
label: Skill and adaptability as vulnerability
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The wild cat’s active hunting exposes it to traps, while the large yak’s
inability to catch mice spares it from that danger.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The animal contrast functions as an analogy within the tree discussion,
not as an independent animal tale.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 1289-1295
quote_or_summary: "“In a flood which reached to the sky, he would not be drowned.
In a drought, though metals ran liquid and mountains were scorched up, he would
not be hot.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1299-1304
quote_or_summary: A man of Sung takes sacrificial caps to Yüeh, but the people of
Yüeh cut their hair and paint their bodies and have no use for them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1304-1307
quote_or_summary: Yao, ruler and pacificator, visits four sages of Miao-ku-shê mountain
and, after returning to Fên-yang, the empire exists for him no more.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1316-1324
quote_or_summary: Hui Tzŭ receives and plants a large gourd seed; the fruit is five-bushel
size, too awkward for liquids or ladles, so he breaks it up.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: lines 1326-1327
quote_or_summary: Chuang Tzŭ says Hui Tzŭ “did not know how to use large things.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1327-1342
quote_or_summary: A family’s salve for chapped hands is sold to a stranger, who
gives it to the Prince of Wu for use in winter naval war against Yüeh, resulting
in Yüeh’s defeat.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1342-1346
quote_or_summary: The salve’s efficacy is the same, but one use yields a title and
another only supports washing silk.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: lines 1347-1349
quote_or_summary: Chuang Tzŭ asks why Hui Tzŭ did not make the five-bushel gourd
into a boat and “float about over river and lake.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 1354-1362
quote_or_summary: Hui Tzŭ describes a large worthless tree with knotty trunk and
twisted branches that no carpenter wants, and likens Chuang Tzŭ’s words to it.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 1364-1374
quote_or_summary: Chuang Tzŭ describes a wild cat springing for prey and risking
trap or snare, then contrasts a huge yak that cannot catch mice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 1376-1385
quote_or_summary: Chuang Tzŭ says the large tree could be planted in the domain
of non-existence, where one may rest beneath its shade; being useless to others,
it is safe from axe and injury.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/daoist/project-gutenberg/chuang-tzu-giles.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is strong because the passage is explicit. Motif labeling
is interpretive, especially where philosophical examples are mapped to broad motif
families. No external comparison claims were made.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage text and metadata were used. Editorial notes embedded in the passage were treated as part of the provided text where they clarify the examples.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:daoist-zhuangzi-giles-gutenberg__l1289-l1385
passage_sha256=a99cbeb788235ffb01ba7515446648bd923b38db067e5321114aec9263df5b70