Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. 'How powerful that storm cloud is!' he thought.

But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. 'I wish that I could be a high official!' 'How powerful that official is!' he thought. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant. 'How powerful that merchant must be!' thought the stone cutter. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. “There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life. 'I haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long time.” 'We must schedule more appointments like this,' he told them. He turned to his assistants, a large smile on his face. The emperor walked into the middle of the great hall, stood silently for a moment, then bowed to the empty space. But when he arrived, there was no one there. In the middle of a particularly busy day, the emperor was driven to a meeting hall for an appointment of some kind.

And through a day so tightly scheduled that it would make a stone wall seem open by comparison, the emperor must glide, like a great ship sailing in a steady breeze. From early morning until late at night, practically every minute of the emperor's time is filled in with meetings, audiences, tours, inspections, and who-knows-what.

Now, being emperor in one of the most frantically Confucianist countries in the world is not necessarily all that relaxing. “One of our favorite examples of the value of Nothing is an incident in the life of the Japanese emperor Hirohito.

The tao of pooh goodreads