^RV OF PR|]VC?^ BL 1010 .S3 V.40 The Sacred Books of China ^.— r^ THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST [40] bonbon HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.C. THE 'sacred books of the east TRANSLATED BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS AND EDITED BY F. MAX MULLER VOL. XL AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1891 [ All rights reserved ] O;cforb PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY THE SACRED BOOKS OF CHINA THE TEXTS OF TAOISM TRANSLATED BY JAMES YeGGE PART II THE WRITINGS OF A:WANG-3ZE BOOKS XVIII— XXXIII THE THAI-SHANG TRACTATE OF ACTIONS AND THEIR RETRIBUTIONS APPENDIXES I-VIII AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1891 [A// rights reserved^ CONTENTS. THE WRITINGS OF A^WANG-3ZE. PART II. BOOK PAGE XVIII. xi. A'ih Lo, or Perfect Enjoyment .... I XIX. xii. Ta Shang, or the Full Understanding of Life . . il XX. xiii. Shan Mu, or the Tree on the Mountain . . .27 XXI. xiv. Thien 3ze-fang 42 XXII. XV. Kih Pei Yu, or Knowledge RambHng in the North 57 XXIII. i. XXIV. ii. XXV. iii. XXVI. iv. XXVII. V. XXVIII. vi. XXIX. vii. XXX. viii. XXXI. ix. XXXII. X. XXXIII. xi. PART III. Kang-sang A7/u ..... Hsii Wii-kwei 3eh-yang Wai Wu, or What comes from Without Yii Yen, or Metaphorical Language Zang Wang, or Kings who have wished to resign the Throne ..... Tao A'ih, or the Robber ATih . Yiieh A'ien, or Delight in the Sword-fight Yii-fu, or the Old Fisherman Lieh Yii-khau ..... 74 91 114 131 142 149 166 186 192 202 Thien Hsia, or Historical Phases of Taoist Teaching 214 THE THAI-SHANG TRACTATE OF ACTIONS AND THEIR RETRIBUTIONS. Translation of the Tractate 235 VIU CONTENTS. APPENDIXES. PAGE I. A'/nng A'ang A'ing, or the Classic of Purity . ■ . 247 II. Yin Fu A'ing, or Classic of the Harmony of the Seen and the Unseen 255 III. Yii Shu A''ing, or Classic of the Pivot of Jade . . . 265 IV. Zah Yung A'ing, or Classic of the Directory for a Day . 269 V. Analyses by Lin Hsi-/fung of several of the Books of v^wang-jze 273 VI. List of Narratives, Apologues, and Stories in the Writings of A'wang-^ze 298 VII. The Stone Tablet in the Temple of Lao-^ze. By Hsieh Tao-hang of the Sui dynasty 311 VIII. Record for the Sacrificial Hall of A'wang-^ze. By Sii Shih 320 Index to Vols. XXXIX, XL 325 Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Transla- tions of the Sacred Books of the East ..... 337 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BOOK XVIII. Part II. Section XI. A'ih Lo, or ' Perfect Enjoyment^.' I. Under the sky is perfect enjoyment to be found or not ? Are there any who can preserve themselves alive or not ? If there be, what do they do ? What do they maintain ? What do they avoid ? What do they attend to ? Where do they resort to ? Where do they keep from ? What do they delight in ? What do they dislike ? What the world honours is riches, dignities, lon- gevity, and being deemed able. What it delights in is rest for the body, rich flavours, fine garments, beautiful colours, and pleasant music. What it looks down on are poverty and mean condition, short life and being deemed feeble-. What men consider bitter experiences are that their bodies do not get rest and ease, that their mouths do not get food of rich fla- vour, that their persons are not finely clothed, that their eyes do not see beautiful colours, and that their ears do not listen to pleasant music. If they do not ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150. 2 Of riches, dignities, longevity, and their opposites, enough is said, while the other two qualities are lightly passed over, and re- ferred to only in connexion with ' meritorious officers.' I can only understand them as in the translation. [40] B THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xvili. get these things, they are very sorrowful, and go on to be troubled with fears. Their thoughts are all about the body ; — are they not silly ? Now the rich embitter their lives by their incessant labours ; they accumulate more wealth than they can use : — while they act thus for the body, they make it external to themselves ^ Those who seek for honours carry their pursuit of them from the day into the night, full of anxiety about their methods whether they are skilful or not : — w^hile they act thus for the body they treat it as if it were indifferent to them '\ The birth of man is at the same time the birth of his sorrow ; and if he live long he be- comes more and more stupid, and the longer is his anxiety that he may not die ; how great is his bit- terness ! — while he thus acts for his body, it is for a distant result. Meritorious officers are regarded by the w^orld as good ; but (their goodness) is not sufficient to keep their persons alive. I do not know whether the goodness ascribed to them be really good or really not good. If indeed it be considered good, it is not sufficient to preserve their persons alive ; if it be deemed not good, it is sufficient to preserve other men alive. Hence it is said, ' When faithful remonstrances are not listened to, (the re- monstrant) should sit still, let (his ruler) take his course, and not strive with him.' Therefore when 3ze-hsu 2 strove with (his ruler), he brought on him- ^ If they did not do so, they would be content when they had enough. 2 Wishing to attach it more closely to them, 3 Wu 3ze-hsii, the scourge of A7m ; and who perished miser- ably at last, when the king of Wu would no longer listen to his remonstrances; — in about B.C. 475. PT. II. SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 3 self the mutilation of his body. If he had not so striven, he would not have acquired his fame : — was such (goodness) really good or was it not ? As to what the common people now do, and what they find their enjoyment in, I do not know whether the enjoyment be really enjoyment or really not. I see them in their pursuit of it following after all their aims as if with the determination of death, and as if they could not stop in their course ; but what they call enjoyment would not be so to me, while yet I do not say that there is no enjoyment in it. Is there indeed such enjoyment, or is there not ? I consider doing nothing (to obtain it) to be the great enjoyment \ while ordinarily people consider it to be a great evil. Hence it is said, ' Perfect en- joyment is to be without enjoyment ; the highest praise is to be without praise ^' The right and the wrong (on this point of enjoyment) cannot indeed be determined according to (the view of) the world ; nevertheless, this doing nothing (to obtain it) may determine the right and the wrong. Since perfect enjoyment is (held to be) the keeping the body alive, it is only by this doing nothing that that end is likely to be secured. Allow me to try and explain this (more fully) : — Heaven does nothing, and thence comes its serenity ; Earth does nothing, and thence comes its rest. By the union of these two inac- tivities, all things are produced. How vast and im- perceptible is the jDrocess ! — they seem to come from ^ This is the secret of the Tao. ^ The last member of this sentence is the reading adopted by Wu A7zang towards the conclusion of the thirty-ninth chapter of the Tao Teh A^ing, instead of the common 5^ Wa^ m. ffi£ m. . B 2 4 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVIir. nowhere! How imperceptible and vast! — there is no visible image of it ! All things in all their variety grow from this Inaction, Hence it is said, ' Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do \' But what man is there that can attain to this inaction ? s/ 2. When ATwang-^ze's wife died, Hui-^ze went to \^^ condole with him, and, finding him squatted on the ground, drumming on the basin ^, and singing, said to him, ' When a wife has lived with her husband, and brought up children, and then dies in her old age, not to wail for her is enough. When you go on to drum on this basin and sing, is it not an excessive (and strange) demonstration ? ' ^wang-jze replied, ' It is not so. When she first died, was it possible for me to be singular and not affected by the event ? But I reflected on the commencement of her being ^ She had not yet been born to life ; not only had she no life, but she had no bodily form ; not only had she no bodily form, but she had no breath. Durinor the interminelingf of the waste and dark chaos ^, there ensued a change, and there was breath ; another change, and there was the bodily form ; another change, and there came birth ^ Compare similar statements in the Tao Teh A'ing, ch. 48, et al. ^ The basin or tub, not ' a basin.' The reference is, no doubt, to the basin of ice put down near or under the couch on which the body was laid. I suppose that AVang-jze was squatting so as to have this between his legs. ^ Is the writer referring to the primal creation as we may call it, or development of things out of the chaos, or to some analogous process at the birth of his wife ? However that be, birth and death appear to him to be merely changes of the same kind in the per- petual process of evolution. PT. II. SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 5 and life. There is now a change again, and she is dead. The relation between these things is like the procession of the four seasons from spring to autumn, from winter to summer. There now she lies with her face up, sleeping in the Great Chamber ^ ; and if I were to fall sobbing and going on to wail for her, I should think that I did not understand what was appointed (for all). I therefore restrained myself^ ! ' 3. Mr. Deformed^ and Mr. One-foot^ were looking at the mound-graves of the departed in the wild of Khwan-lun, where Hwang-Ti had entered into his rest. Suddenly a tumour began to grow on their left wrists, which made them look distressed as if they disliked it. The former said to the other, ' Do ^ Between heaven and earth. ^ Was it necessary he should fall singing to his drumming on the basin ? But I subjoin a note here, suggested by the paragraph, which might have found, perhaps, a more appropriate place in the notice of this Book in vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150. In Sir John F. Davis' ' Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants (edition of 1857),' vol. ii, pp. 74-90, we have the amusing story of 'The Philosopher and his Wife.' The philosopher is ^wang-^ze, who plays the part of a magician ; and of his wife it might be said, ' Frailty! thy name is woman ! ' Sir John Davis says, ' The story was translated into French by Pere d'Entrecolles, and supplied the materials of Voltaire's Zadig.' I have not met in Chinese with Father d'Entrecolles' original. All of Zadig which can be supposed to have been borrowed from his translator is only a few sentences. The whole story is inconsistent with the account in paragraph 2 of the death of A'wang-jze's wife, and with all which we learn from his writings of his character. 3 We know nothing of these parties but what we are told here. They are called Shij, meaning 'uncle,' often equivalent in China to our ' Mr.' The lesson taught by them is that of submission to pain and death as merely phenomena in the sphere of change. For the phraseology of their names, see Bk. Ill, par. 3, and Bk. IV, par. 8. THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xvill. you dread it ? ' ' No,' replied he, ' why should I dread it ? Life is a borrowed thing. The living frame thus borrowed is but so much dust. Life and death are like day and night. And you and I were looking at (the graves of) those who have undergone their change. If my change is coming to me, why should I dislike it ? ' 4. When A'wang-5ze went to Kh\x, he saw an empty skull, bleached indeed, but still retaining its shape. Tapping it with his horse-switch, he asked it, saying, ' Did you. Sir, in your greed of life, fail in the lessons of reason, and come to this ? Or did you do so, in the service of a perishing state, by the punishment of the axe ? Or was it through your evil conduct, reflecting disgrace on your parents and on )our wife and children ? Or was it through your hard endurances of cold and hunger } Or was it that you had completed your term of life ? ' Having given expression to these questions, he took up the skull, and made a pillow of it when he went to sleep. At midnight the skull appeared to him in a dream, and said, ' What you said to me was after the fashion of an orator. All )'our words were about the entanglements of men in their lifetime. There are none of those things after death. Would you like to hear me. Sir, tell you about death ? ' ' I should,' said /sfwang-jze, and the skull resumed : ' In death there are not (the distinctions of) ruler above and minister below. There are none of the phenomena of the four seasons. Tranquil and at case, our years are those of heaven and earth. No king in his court has greater enjoyment than we have.' AVangize did not believe it, and said, ' If I PT. II. SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 7 could get the Ruler of our Destiny^ to restore your body to life with its bones and flesh and skin, and to give you back your father and mother, your wife and children, and all your village acquaintances, would you wish me to do so ? ' The skull stared fixedly at him, knitted its brows, and said, ' How should I cast away the enjoyment of my royal court, and under- take aeain the toils of life amonq- mankind ? ' 5. When Yen Ytian went eastwards to KJA, Con- fucius wore a look of sorrow^. 3ze-kung left his mat, and asked him, saying, * Your humble disciple ventures to ask how it is that the going eastwards of Hui to Kh\ has given you such a look of sadness.' Confucius said, ' Your question is good. Formerly Kwan-jze ^ used words of which I very much ap- prove. He said, " A small bag cannot be made to contain what is large ; a short rope cannot be used to draw water from a deep well ^" So it is, and man's appointed lot is definitely determined, and his body is adapted for definite ends, so that neither the one nor the other can be augmented or diminished. I am afraid that Hui will talk with the marquis of KJA about the w^ays of Hwang-Ti, Yao, and Shun, and oro on to relate the words of Sui-san and Shan Nang. The marquis will seek {for the correspond- ence of what he is told) in himself; and, not finding ^ I suppose the Tao; but none of the commentators, so far as I have seen, say anything about the expression. ^ Compare the long discourse of Confucius with Yen Hui, on the latter's proposing to go to Wei, in Bk. IV. ^ Kwan i-wii or Kwan A'ung, the chief minister of duke Hwan of Kh\, whom he is supposed to have in view in his ' small bag and short rope.' 8 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVIII. it there, will suspect the speaker ; and that speaker, being suspected, will be put to death. And have you not heard this ?— Formerly a sea-bird alighted in the suburban country of Lu \ The marquis went out to meet it, (brought it) to the ancestral temple, and prepared to banquet it there. The A'iu-shao ' was performed to afford it music ; an ox, a sheep, and a pig were killed to supply the food. The bird, however, looked at everything with dim eyes, and was very sad. It did not venture to eat a single bit of flesh, nor to drink a single cupful ; and in three days it died. ' The marquis was trying to nourish the bird with what he used for himself, and not with the nourish- ment proper for a bird. They who would nourish birds as they ought to be nourished should let them perch in the deep forests, or roam over sandy plains ; float on the rivers and lakes ; feed on the eels and small fish ; wing their flight in regular order and then stop ; and be free and at ease in their resting- places. It was a distress to that bird to hear men speak ; what did it care for all the noise and hubbub made about it ? If the music of the A'iii-shao " or the Hsien-/6/nh^ were performed in the wild of the Thung-thing^ lake, birds would fly away, and beasts would run off when they heard it, and fishes would dive down to the bottom of the water ; while men, when they hear it, would come all round to- ' Perhaps another and more ridi'culous version of the story told in ' the Narratives of the States,' II, i, art. 7. ^ Tlie name of Shun's music ; — see the Sh{x (in vol. iii), par. 2. =• Called also Ta Shao, in Book XXXIII, par. 2. * Ilwang-'l'i's music ;— see Bk. XIV, par. 3, — But the genuine- ness of the whole paragraph is called in question. PT. II. SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF XWANG-3ZE, 9 gether, and look on. Fishes live and men die in the water. They are different in constitution, and therefore differ in their likes and dislikes. Hence it was that the ancient sages did not require (from all) the same ability, nor demand the same perform- ances. They gave names according to the reality of what was done, and gave their approbation where it was specially suitable. This was what was called the method of universal adaptation and of sure success.' 6. Lieh-jze (once) upon a journey took a meal by the road-side. There he saw a skull a hundred years old, and, pulling away the bush (under which it lay), he pointed to it and said, ' It is only you and I who know that you are not dead, and that (aforetime) you were not alive. Do you indeed really find (in death) the nourishment (which you like) ? Do I really find (in life my proper) enjoyment ? The seeds (of things) are multitudinous and minute. On the sur- face of the water they form a membranous texture. When they reach to where the land and water join they become the (lichens which we call the) clothes of frogs and oysters. Coming to life on mounds and heights, they become the plantain ; and, receiv- ing manure, appear as crows' feet. The roots of the crow's foot become grubs, and its leaves, butter- flies. This butterfly, known by the name of lisii, is changed into an insect, and comes to life under a furnace. Then it has the form of a moth, and is named the k/iu-to. The /c/iu-to after a thousand days becomes a bird, called the /'an-yii-ku. Its saliva becomes the sje-mi, and this again the shih- hsi (or pickle-eater). The i-lo is produced from the pickle-eater; the hwang-kw^ang from the lO THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVIII, /•iii-yu; the mau-zui from the pu-khwan. The ying-hsi uniting with a bamboo, which has long ceased to put forth sprouts, produces the ^/nng- ning; the /7/ing-ning, the panther; the panther, the horse ; and the horse, the man. Man then again enters into the great Machinery (of Evolu- tion), from which all things come forth (at birth), and which they enter at death ^' ^ A much larger paragraph from which this must have been abbreviated, or which must have been enlarged from this, is found in the first Book of Lieh-jze's works (pp. 4, 5). In no Buddhist treatise is the transrotation of births more fully, and, I must add, absurdly stated. PT. 11. SFXT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. I I BOOK XIX. Part II. Section XII. Ta Shang, or 'The Full Understanding of Life^' I. He who understands the conditions of Life does not strive after what is of no use to life ; and he who understands the conditions of Destiny does not strive after what is beyond the reach of knowledge. In nourishing the body it is necessary to have beforehand the things (appropriate to its support) ^ ; but there are cases where there is a superabundance of such things, and yet the body is not nourished^ In order to have life it is necessary that it do not have left the body; but there are cases when the body has not been left by it, and yet the life has perished ^ When life comes, it cannot be declined ; when it goes, it cannot be detained. Alas ! the men of the world think that to nourish the body is sufficient to preserve life ; and when such nourishment is not sufficient to preserve the life, what can be done in the world that will be sufficient ? Though (all that men can do) will be insufficient, yet there are things which they feel they ought to do, and they do not try to avoid doing them. For those who wish to ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 150, 151. "^ Wealth will supply abundantly the things that are necessary and fit for the nourishment of the body, but sudden death may render them unavailing. 2 That is, the higher life of the spirit has perished. 12 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. avoid caring for the body, their best plan Is to aban- don the world. Abandoning the world, they are free from its entanglements. Free from its entangle- ments, their (minds) are correct and their (tempera- ment) is equable. Thus correct and equable, they succeed in securing a renewal of life, as some have done^ In securing a renewal of life, they are not far from the True (Secret of their being). But how is it sufficient to abandon worldly affairs ? and how is it sufficient to forget the (business of) life ? Through the renouncing of (worldly) affairs, the body has no more toil ; through forgetting the (business of) life, the vital power suffers no dimi- nution. When the body is completed and the vital power is restored (to its original vigour), the man is one with Heaven. Heaven and Earth are the father and mother of all things. It is by their union that the body is formed ; it is by their separation that a (new) beginning is brought about. When the body and vital power suffer no diminution, we have what may be called the transference of power. From the vital force there comes another more vital, and man returns to be the assistant of Heaven. 2. My master- Lieh-jze^ asked Yin, (the warden) of the gate -, saying, ' The perfect man walks under I think I have caught the meaning. The phrase signifying ' the renewal of life ' has been used to translate ' being born again ' in John's Gospel, ch. 3, W e find here Lieh-jze {whose name has already occurred several limes) in communication with the warden Yin, who was a contemporary of Lao-jze,and we must refer him therefore to the sixth century n. c. Me could not therefore be contemporary with our author, and yet the three characters of the text mean ' My Master, Lich-,^ze;' and the whole of the paragraph is found in Lieh-jze's second Book (4"-5n') with a good many variants in the text. PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF K'WANG-SZE. 1 3 water without encountering any obstruction, treads on fire without being burned, and walks on high above all things without any fear ; let me ask how he attains to do this^.'*' The warden Yin replied, * It is by his keeping of the pure breath (of life) ; it is not to be described as an achievement of his skill or daring. Sit down, and I will explain it to you. Whatever has form, semblance, sound, and colour is a thing; how can one thing come to be different from another ? But it is not competent for any of these things to reach to what preceded them all ; — they are but (form and) visibility. But (the perfect man) attains to be (as it were) without form, and be- yond the capability of being transformed. Now when one attains to this and carries it out to the highest degree, how can other things come into his way to stop him ? He will occupy the place assigned to him without going beyond it, and lie concealed in the clue which has no end. He will study with de- light the process which gives their beginning and ending to all things. By gathering his nature into a unity, by nourishing his vital power, by concen- trating his virtue, he will penetrate to the making of things. In this condition, with his heavenly consti- tution kept entire, and with no crevice in his spirit, how can things enter (and disturb his serenity) ? ' Take the case of a drunken man fallino- from his carriage ; — though he may suffer injury, he will not The gate was at the passage leading from the Royal Domain of those days into the great feudal territory of 3in; — from the north-west of the present province of Ho-nan into Shen-hsi. ^ Lieh-jze puts an absurd question to the warden, which is re- plied to at length, and unsatisfactorily. We need not discuss either the question or the answer in this place. 14 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. die. His bones and joints are die same as those of other men, but the injury which he receives is dif- ferent : — his spirit is entire. He knew nothing about his getting into the carriage, and knew nothing about his falHng from it. The thought of death or life, or of any alarm or affright, does not enter his breast ; and therefore he encounters danger without any shrinking from it. Completely under the influence of the liquor he has drunk, it is thus with him ; — how much more would it be so, if he were under the influence of his Heavenly constitution ! The sagely man is kept hid in his Heavenly constitution, and therefore nothing can injure him. y 'A man in the pursuit of vengeance would not break the (sword) Mo-ye or Yli-Ziang (which had done the deed); nor would one, however easily made wrathful, wreak his resentment on the fallen brick. In this way all under heaven there would be peace, without the disorder of assaults and fiorhtine, with- out the punishments of death and slaughter: — such would be the issue of the course (which I have de- scribed). If the disposition that is of human origin be not developed, but that which is the gift of Heaven, the development of the latter will produce goodness, while that of the former would produce hurt. If the latter were not wearied of, and the former not slighted, the people would be brought nearly to their True nature.' 3. When A^mg-ni was on his way to /\7^u, as he issued from a forest, he saw a hunchback receiving cicadas (ou the point of a rod), as if he were picking them up with his hand K ' You are clever ! ' said he This i)aragrai)h is also found with variations in Lieh-jze, PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. 1 5 to the man. ' Is there any method in ii ? ' The hunchback rephed, ' There is. For five or six months, I practised with two pellets, till they never fell down, and then I only failed with a small frac- tion^ of the cicadas {which I tried to catch). Having succeeded in the same way with three (pellets), I missed only one cicada in ten. Having succeeded with five, I cauo-ht the cicadas as if I were sfatherinof them. My body is to me no more than the stump of a broken trunk, and my shoulder no more than the branch of a rotten tree. Great as heaven and earth are, and multitudinous as things are, I take no notice of them, but only of the wings of my cicadas ; neither turning nor inclining to one side. I would not for them all exchange the wings of my cicadas ; — how should I not succeed in taking them ?' Confucius looked round, and said to his disciples, ' " Where the will is not diverted from its object, the spirit is con- centrated ; " — this might have been spoken of this hunchback gentleman.' 4. Yen Yuan asked TTung-ni, saying, * When I was crossing the gulf of A7/ang-shan-, the ferryman handled the boat like a spirit. I asked him whether such management of a boat could be learned, and he replied, "It may. Good swimmers can learn it quickly ; but as for divers, without having seen a boat, they can manage it at once." He did not Bk. II (9a). The dexterity of the hunchback in catching the cicadas will remind some readers of the account given by the butcher in Book III of his dexterity in cutting up his oxen. ^ The names of two small weights, used anciently for ' a frac- tion,' ' a small proportion.' ^ This is another paragraph common both to our author and Lieh-jze, but in neither is there any intimation of the place. 1 6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. directly tell me what I asked ; — I venture to ask you what he meant.' A"ung-ni replied, ' Good swimmers acquire the ability quickly ;— they forget the water (and its dangers). As to those who are able to dive, and without having seen a boat are able to manage it at once, they look on the watery gulf as if it were a hill-side, and the upsetting of a boat as the going back of a carriage. Such upsettings and goings back have occurred before them multitudes of times, and have not seriously affected their minds. Wher- ever they go, they feel at ease on their occurrence. ' He who is contending for a piece of earthenware puts forth all his skill ^ If the prize be a buckle of brass, he shoots timorously ; if it be for an article of gold, he shoots as if he were blind. The skill of the archer is the same in all the cases ; but (in the two latter cases) he is under the influence of solicitude, and looks on the external prize as most important. All who attach importance to what is external show stupidity in themselves.' 5. Thien Khai-/'ih^ was having an interview with duke Wei of A'au-, who said to him, ' I have heard that (your master) A'u Hsin^ has studied the subject of Life. What have you, good Sir, heard from him about it in your intercourse with him ? ' Thien Khai-X'ih replied, ' In my waiting on him in the courtyard with my broom, what should I have heard from my master?' Duke Wei said, 'Do not put the question off, Mr. Thien ; I wish to hear what ' I think this is the meaning, y^ is defined by ^f jll] |^ ^, ' to compete for anything by archery.' "^ We have no information about who these personages and the others below were, and I have missed the story, if it be in Lieh-^ze. The duke, it will be seen, had the appanage of A'au. PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. I 7 you have to say.' Khai-Z-ih then replied, ' I have heard my master say that they who skilfully nourish their life are like shepherds, who whip up the sheep that they see lagging behind \' ' What did he mean ? ' asked the duke. The reply was, 'In Lu there was a Shan Pao, who lived among the rocks, and drank only water. He would not share with the people in their toils and the benefits springing from them ; and though he was now in his seventieth year, he had still the complexion of a child. Un- fortunately he encountered a hungry tiger, which killed and ate him. There was also a A'ang !, who hung up a screen at his lofty door, and to whom all the people hurried (to pay their respects)-. In his fortieth year, he fell ill of a fever and died. (Of these two men), Pao nourished his inner man, A and a tiger ate his outer ; while I nourished his outer man, and disease attacked his inner. Both of them neglected whipping up their lagging sheep.' A'ung-nt said, ' A man should not retire and hide himself; he should not push forward and display himself; he should be like the decayed tree which stands in the centre of the ground. Where these three conditions are fulfilled, the name will reach its greatest height. When people fear the dangers of a path, if one man in ten be killed, then fathers and sons, elder brothers and younger, warn one another that they must not go out on a journey without a large number of retainers ; — and is it not a mark of wisdom to do so ? But there are dangers which ^ Pay more attention to any part of their culture which they are neglecting. ^ It served its purpose there, but had not been put in its place with any special object. [40] C l8 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. men incur on the mats of their beds, and in eating and drinking ; and when no warning is given against them ; — is it not a mark of error ^ ? ' 6. The officer of Prayer - in his dark and square- cut robes goes to the pig-pen, and thus counsels the pigs, ' Why should you shrink from dying ? I will for three months feed you on grain. Then for ten days I will fast, and keep vigil for three days, after which I will put down the mats of white grass, and lay your shoulders and rumps on the carved stand ; — will not this suit you ?' If he had spoken from the standpoint of the pigs, he would have said, ' The better plan will be to feed us with our bran and chaff, and leave us in our pen.' When consulting for himself, he preferred to enjoy, while he lived, his carriage and cap of office, and after death to be borne to the grave on the ornamented carriage, with the canopy over his coffin. Consulting for the pigs, he did not think of these things, but for him- self he would have chosen them. Why did he think so differently (for himself and) for the pigs ^ ? 7. (Once), when duke Hwan * was hunting by a marsh, with Kwan A'ung^ driving the carriage, he saw a ghost. Laying his hand on that of Kwan ^ This may seem to nourish the body, but in reality injures the life. 2 Who had the charge also of the sacrifices. ^ I-in I Isi-/'ung says that the story shows the many troubles that arise from not renouncing the world. Ensnared by the world, men sacrifice for it their higher life, and are not so wise as pigs are for their life. The short paragraph bristles with difficulties. * The first of the leading chieftains among the princes; b. c. 683-642. '' liis chief minister. PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF XWANG-3ZE. 1 9 A'ung, he said to him, ' Do you see anything, Father A'ung ? ' 'Your servant sees nothing,' was the reply. The duke then returned, talking incoherently and becoming ill, so that for several days he did not go out. Among the officers oi KJii there was a Hwang- jze Kao-ao ^ who said to the duke, ' Your Grace is injuring yourself; how could a ghost injure you? When a paroxysm of irritation is dispersed, and the breath does not return (to the body), what remains in the body is not sufficient for its wants. When it ascends and does not descend, the patient becomes accessible to gusts of anger. When it descends and does not ascend, he loses his memory of things. When it neither ascends nor descends, but remains about the heart in the centre of the body, it makes him ill.' The duke said, ' Yes, but are there ghostly sprites-?' The officer replied, 'There are. About mountain tarns there is the Li ; about furnaces, the A'/zieh; about the dust-heaps inside the door, the Lei-thing. In low-lying places in the north-east, the Pei-a and Wa-lung leap about, and in similar places in the north-west there dwells the Yi-yang. About rivers there is the Wang-hsiang; about mounds, the Hsin; about hills, the Khwei ; about wilds, the Fang-hwang; about marshes, the Wei- tho.' ' Let me ask what is the Wei-tho like ? ' asked the duke. Hwang-Jjze said, ' It is the size of the ^ An officer introduced here for the occasion, by surname Hwang, and designation Kao-ao. The 3ze simply = Mr. ^ The commentators have a deal to say about the folklore of the various sprites mentioned. ' The whole shows that ghostly sprites are the fruit of a disordered mind.' It is a toucla of nature that the prince recovers as soon as he knows that the ghost he had seen was of good presage. C 2 20 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. nave of a chariot wheel, and the length of the shaft. It wears a purple robe and a red cap. It dislikes the rumbling noise of chariot wheels, and, when it hears it, it puts both its hands to its head and stands up. He who sees it is likely to become the leader of all the other princes.' Duke Hwan burst out lauo-hino- and said, ' This was what I saw.' On this he put his robes and cap to rights, and made Hwang- j(ze sit with him. Before the day was done, his ill- ness was quite gone, he knew not how. 8. K\ Hsing-jze was rearing a fighting-cock for the king^ Being asked after ten days if the bird were ready, he said, ' Not yet ; he is still vain and quarrelsome, and relies on his own vigour.' Being asked the same after other ten days, he said, ' Not yet ; he still responds to the crow and the appear- ance of another bird.' After ten days more, he re- plied, ' Not yet. He still looks angrily, and is full of spirit.' When a fourth ten days had passed, he replied to the question, ' Nearly so. Though another cock crows, it makes no change in him. To look at him, you would say he was a cock of wood. His quality is complete. No other cock will dare to meet him, but will run from him.' 9. Confucius was looking at the cataract near the gorge of Lii'^, which fell a height of 240 cubits, and ' According to the Lieh-^ze version of tliis story (Bk. II, 1 7^'), the king was king Hsuan, b.c. 827-782. The trainer's rule seems to have been that his bird should meet its antagonist, with all its vigour complete and undisturbed, and not wishing to fight. '•^ I think that there are two versions of this story in Lieh-jze. In Bk.\'lll (4'', r, i'), it appears that Confucius was on his way from Wei to LO, when lie stopped his carriage or cart at this spot to view the cataract, and the incident occurred, and he took the oppor- tunity to give the lesson to his disciples. PT. II. SECT.XII. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE. 2 1 the spray of which floated a distance of forty li, (pro- ducing a turbulence) in which no tortoise, gavial, fish, or turtle could play. He saw, however, an old man swimming about in it, as if he had sustained some great calamity, and wished to end his life. Confucius made his disciples hasten along the stream to rescue the man ; and by the time they had gone several hundred paces, he was walking along singing, with his hair dishevelled, and enjoying him- self at the foot of the embankment. Confucius followed and asked him, saying, ' I thought you were a sprite ; but, when I look closely at you, I see that you are a man. Let me ask if you have any par- ticular way of treading the water.' The man said, ' No, I have no particular way. I began (to learn the art) at the very earliest time ; as I grew up, it became my nature to practise it ; and my success in it is now as sure as fate. I enter and go down with the water in the very centre of its whirl, and come up again with it when it whirls the other way. I follow the way of the water, and do nothing con- trary to it of myself ; — this is how I tread it.' Con- fucius said, ' What do you mean by saying that you began to learn the art at the very earliest time ; that as you grew up, it became your nature to prac- tise it, and that your success in it now is as sure as fate ?' The man replied, ' I was born among these hills and lived contented among them ; — that was why I say that I have trod this water from my earliest time. I grew up by it, and have been happy tread- ing it ; — that is why I said that to tread it had be- come natural to me. I know not how I do it, and yet I do it ; — that is why I say that my success is as sure as fate.' 22 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. ID. AV/ino", the Worker in Rottlera^ wood, carved a bell-stand 2, and when it was completed, all who saw it were astonished as if it were the work of spirits. The marquis of Lii went to see it, and asked by what art he had succeeded in producing it. ' Your subject is but a mechanic,' was the reply; 'what art should I be possessed of? Nevertheless, there is one thing (which I will mention). When your servant had undertaken to make the bell-stand, I did not venture to waste any of my power, and felt it necessary to fast in order to compose my mind. After fasting for three days, I did not presume to think of any congratulation, reward, rank, or emolu- ment (which I might obtain by the execution of my task) ; after fasting five days, I did not presume to think of the condemnation or commendation (which it would produce), or of the skill or want of skill (which it might display). At the end of the seven days, I had forgotten all about myself; — my four limbs and my whole person. By this time the thought of your Grace's court (for which I was to make the thing) had passed away ; everything that could divert my mind from exclusive devotion to the exercise of my skill had disappeared. Then I went into the forest, and looked at the natural forms of the trees. When I saw one of a perfect form, then the figure of the bell-stand rose up to my view, and I applied my hand to the work. Had ' The 3zc or rotllera was and is a very famous tree, called ' the king of trees,' from its stately appearance and the excellence of iis limber. ' The ' bell-stand ' is celebrated in the Shih King, III, i. Ode 8. A complete peal consisted of twelve bells, suspended in two tiers one above the other. PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 23 I not met with such a tree, I must have aban- doned the object ; but my Heaven-given faculty and the Heaven-given quaUties of the wood were con- centrated on it. So it was that my spirit was thus engaged in the production of the bell-stand.' 1 1. Tung-ye Ki ^ was introduced to duke Awang^ to exhibit his drivlncr. His horses went forwards and backwards with the straightness of a line, and wheeled to the riq-ht and the left with the exactness of a circle. The duke thought that the lines and circles could not be surpassed If they were woven with silken strings, and told him to make a hundred circuits on the same lines. On the road Yen Ho^ met the equipage, and on entering (the palace), and seeing the duke, he said, ' A'i's horses will break down,' but the duke was silent, and gave him no reply. After a little the horses did come back, having broken down ; and the duke then said, ' How did you know that It would be so ?' Yen Ho said, * The horses were exhausted, and he was still urging them on. It was this which made me say that they would break down.' 12. The artisan Shul * made things round (and square) more exactly than if he had used the circle ^ K\ would be the name of the charioteer, a gentleman of Lu, called Tung-ye, ' eastern country,' I suppose from the situation of his estate. " Duke .A^wang would be the marquis Thung of Lu, e.g. 693-662. ^ Yen Ho was probably the chief of the Yen family at the time. A scion of it, Yen Hui, afterwards became the favourite disciple of Confucius. He could hardly be the same Yen Ho who is men- tioned in Bk. IV, par. 5. A'i has had, and still has, his representa- tives in every country. * Shui is mentioned in the Shu King, V, xxii, 19, as a famous maker of arrows. Some carry him back to the time of Shun. 24 TIIE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xix. and square. The operation of his fingers on (the forms of) things was hke the transformations of them (in nature), and required no appHcation of his mind ; and so his Intelligence ^ was entire and en- countered no resistance. 13. To be unthought of by the foot that wears it is the fitness of a shoe ; to be unthought of by the waist is the fitness of a orirdle. When one's wisdom does not think of the right or the wrong (of a ques- tion under discussion), that shows the suitability of the mind (for the question) ; when one is conscious of no inward change, or outward attraction, that shows the mastery of affairs. He who perceives at once the fitness, and never loses the sense of it, has the fitness that forg-ets all about what is fittingf. 14. There was a Sun Hsiu^ who went to the door of 3ze-pien AV/ing-5ze, and said to him in a strange perturbed way, * When I lived in my village, no one took notice of me, but all said that I did not culti- vate (my fields) ; in a time of trouble and attack, no one took notice of me, but all said that I had no courage. But that I did not cultivate my fields, was really because I never met with a good year ; and that I did not do service for our ruler, was because I did not meet with the suitable oppor- tunity to do so. I have been sent about my business by the villagers, and am driven away by the registrars of the district ; — what is my crime ? O Heaven! how is it that I have met with such a fate ? ' ' TJlcrally, ' Tower of Intelligence,'— a Taoistic name for the niiud. ' A weakling, of whom we know only what we read here. PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-SZE. 25 Pien-jze ^ said to him, ' Have you not heard how the perfect man deals with himself? He forgets that he has a liver and gall. He takes no thought of his ears and eyes. He seems lost and aimless beyond the dust and dirt of the world, and enjoys himself at ease in occupations untroubled by the affairs of business. He may be described as acting and yet not relying on what he does, as being superior and yet not using his superiority to exer- cise any control. But now you would make a display of your wisdom to astonish the ignorant ; you would cultivate your person to make the in- feriority of others more apparent ; you seek to shine as if you were carrying the sun and moon in your hands. That you are complete in your bodily frame, and possess all its nine openings ; that you have not met with any calamity in the middle of your course, such as deafness, blindness, or lame- ness, and can still take your place as a man among other men ; — in all this you are fortunate. What leisure have you to murmur against Heaven.^* Go away. Sir.' Sun-jze on this went out, and Pien-jze went inside. Having sitten down, after a little time he looked up to heaven, and sighed. His disciples asked him why he sighed, and he said to them, ' Hsiu came to me a little while ago, and I told him the characteristics of the perfect man. I am afraid he will be frightened, and get into a state of perplexity.' His disciples said, ' Not so. If what he said was right, and what you ^ This must have been a man of more note. We find him here with a school of disciples in his house, and sought out for counsel by men like Sun Hsiu. 2 6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XIX. said was wrong-, the wrong wall certainly not be able to perplex the right. If what he said was wTong, and what you said was right, it was just because he was perplexed that he came to you. What was your fault in dealing with him as you did ? ' Pien-^ze said, ' Not so. Formerly a bird came, and took up its seat in the suburbs of Lu ^ The ruler of Lu was pleased with it, and provided an ox, a sheep, and a pig to feast it, causing also the A'iu-shao to be performed to delight it. But the bird began to be sad, looked dazed, and did not venture to eat or drink. This was what is called " Nourishing a bird, as you would nourish yourself." He who would nourish a bird as a bird should be nourished should let it perch in a deep forest, or let it float on a river or lake, or let it find its food naturally and undisturbed on the level dry ground. Now Hsiu (came to me), a man of slender intelligence, and slight information, and I told him of the charac- teristics of the perfect man, it was like using a carriage and horses to convey a mouse, or trying to delight a quail with the music of bells and drums ; — • could the creatures help being frightened ? ' ^ Compare par. 5, Bk. XVIII. PT. ir. SECT. XIII. THE WRITINGS OF K-WANG-BZE. 27 BOOK XX. Part II. Section XIII. Shan Mu, or 'The Tree on the Mountain ^' I. Kwang-^ze was walking on a mountain, when he saw a great tree^ with huQ-e branches and kixuriant fohage. A wood-cutter was resting by its side, but he would not touch it, and, when asked the reason, said, that it was of no use for anything. A'wang-^ze then said to his disciples, ' This tree, because its wood is good for nothing, will succeed in living out its natural term of years.' Having left the moun- tain, the Master lodged in the house of an old friend, w^ho was glad to see him. and ordered his waitine-lad to kill a goose and boil it. The lad said, ' One of our geese can cackle, and the other cannot ; — which of them shall I kill ? ' The host said, ' Kill the one that cannot cackle.' Next day, his disciples asked A"wang-3ze, saying, ' Yesterday the tree on the mountain (you said) would live out its years because of the uselessness of its wood, and now our host's goose has died be- cause of its want of power (to cackle) ; — which of these conditions, Master, would you prefer to be in ? ' ATwang-aze laughed and said, ' (If I said that) I would prefer to be in a position between being fit to be useful and wantino- that fitness, that would ^ See vol. xxxix, p. 151. 2 Compare the accounts of great trees in I, par.6; IV, par. i; et al. 28 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XX. seem to be the right position, but it would not be so, for it would not put me beyond being involved in trouble ; whereas one who takes his seat on the Tao and its Attributes, and there finds his ease and en- joyment, is not exposed to such a contingency. He is above the reach both of praise and of detraction ; now he (mounts aloft) like a dragon, now he (keeps beneath) like a snake ; he is transformed with the (changing) character of the time, and is not willing to addict himself to any one thing ; now in a high position and now in a low, he is in harmony with all his surroundings ; he enjoys himself at ease with the Author of all things ^ ; he treats things as things, and is not a thing to them : — where is his liability to be involved in trouble } This was the method of Shan Nang and Hwang-Ti. As to those who occupy themselves with the qualities of things. and with the teaching and practice of the human relations, it is not so with them. Union brino-s on separation ; success, overthrow ; sharp corners, the use of the file ; honour, critical remarks ; active exer- tion, failure ; wisdom, scheming ; inferiority, being despised :— where is the possibility of unchangeable- ness in any of these conditions ? Remember this, my disciples. Let your abode be here,— in the Tao and its Attributes 2.' 2. I-Hao \ an officer of Shih-nan \ having an in- 1 'r ^ The Tdo; called ^ ^c 5c, in Bk. XII, par. 5. ' But after all it comes to be the same thing in point of fact with those who ground themselves in the Tao, and with others. '• The I-hao here was a scion of the ruling House of Kh^, and IS mentioned fortunately in the Supplement to the 3o-X-/Jwan, under the very year in which Confucius died (b.c. 479)- His residence was m the south of the ' Market Place' of the city where he lived PT. II. SECT. XIII. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. 29 terview with the marquis of Lu \ found him looking- sad, and asked him why he was so. The marquis said, ' I have studied the ways of the former kings, and cuhivated the inheritance left me by my prede- cessors. I reverence the spirits of the departed and honour the men of worth, doing this with personal devotion, and without the slightest intermission. Notwithstandincr, I do not avoid meetinof with calamity, and this it is which makes me sad.' The officer said, * The arts by which you try to remove calamity are shallow. Think of the close-furred fox and of the eleg'antly-spotted leopard. They lodge in the forests on the hills, and lurk in their holes among the rocks ; — keeping still. At night they go about, and during day remain in their lairs ; — so cautious are they. Even if they are suffering from hunger, thirst, and other distresses, they still keep aloof from men, seeking their food about the A'iang and the Ho ; — so resolute are they. Still they are not able to escape the danger of the net or the trap ; and what fault is it of theirs ? It is their skins which occasion them the calamity. 'And is not the state of Lu your lordship's skin ? I wish your lordship to rip your skin from your body, to cleanse your heart, to put away your desires, and to enjoy yourself where you will be which is the meaning of the Shih-nan in the text. The description of his character is that no offer of gain could win him, and no threatening terrify him. We find him here at the court of Lu in friendly conference with the marquis, and trying to persuade him to adopt the ways of Taoism, which he presents to him under the figure of an allegory, an Utopia called 'the State of Established Virtue,' in the south of Yiieh. ^ Probably known to us as ' duke Ai. ^O THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. EK. XX. without the presence of any one. In the southern state of Yiieh, there is a district called " the State of Established Virtue." The people are ignorant and simple; their object is to minimise the thought of self and make their desires few ; they labour but do not lay up their gains ; they give but do not seek for any return ; they do not know what righteous- ness is required of them in any particular case, nor by what ceremonies their performances should be signalised ; acting in a wild and eccentric way as if they were mad, they yet keep to the grand rules of conduct. Their birth is an occasion for joy ; their death is followed by the rites of burial. I should wish your lordship to leave your state ; to give up your ordinary ways, and to proceed to that country by the directest course.' The ruler said, ' The way to it is distant and difficult ; there are rivers and hills ; and as I have neither boat nor carriage, how am I to go ? ' The officer from Shih-nan rejoined, ' If your lordship abjure your personal state, and give up your wish to remain here, that will serve you for a carriage.' The ruler rejoined, ' The way to it is solitary and distant, and there are no people on it ; — whom shall I have as my companions ? I have no provisions prepared, and how shall I get food ? — how shall I be able to get (to the country) ? ' The officer said, ' Minimise your lordship's expenditure, and make your wants few, and though you have no provisions prepared, you will find you have enough. Wade through the rivers and float along on the sea, where however you look, you see not the shore, and, the farther you go, you do not see where your journey is to end ; — those who escorted you to the shore will PT. II. SECT. xni. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 3 I return, and after that you will feel yourself far away. Thus it is that he who owns men (as their ruler) is involved in troubles, and he who is owned by men (as their ruler) suffers from sadness ; and hence Yao would neither own men, nor be owned by them. I wish to remove your trouble, and take away your sadness, and it is only (to be done by inducing you) to enjoy yourself with the Tao in the land of Great Vacuity. * If a man is crossing a river in a boat, and an- other empty vessel comes into collision with it, even though he be a man of a choleric temper, he will not be angry with it. If there be a person, however, in that boat, he will bawl out to him to haul out of the way. If his shout be not heard, he will repeat it ; and if the other do not then hear, he will call out a third time, following up the shout with abusive terms. Formerly he was not angry, but now he is ; formerly (he thought) the boat was empty, but now there is a person in it. If a man can empty himself of himself, during his time in the world, who can harm him }' 3. Pei-kung She ^ was collecting taxes for duke Ling of Wei, to be employed in making (a peal of) bells. (In connexion with the work) he built an altar outside the gate of the suburban wall ; and in three months the bells were completed, even to the suspending of the upper and lower (tiers). The king's son K/iiwg-ki ^ saw them, and asked what ^ Pei-kung, ' Northern Palace,' must have been the name of She's residence, and appears here as if it were his surname. 2 A son, probably of king Alng of Aau (b. c. 544-529). — On the whole paragraph, see par. 10 of the preceding Book. 32 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XX. arts he had employed in the making of them. She repHed, ' Besides my undivided attention to them, I did not venture to use any arts. I have heard the saying, "After all the carving and the chiselling, let the object be to return to simplicity." I was as a child who has no knowledge ; I was extraordinarily slow and hesitating ; they grew like the springing plants of themselves. In escorting those who went and meeting those who came, my object was neither to hinder the comers nor detain the goers. I suffered those who strongly opposed to take their way, and accepted those who did their best to come to terms. I allowed them all to do the utmost they could, and in this way morning and evening I collected the taxes. I did not have the slightest trouble, and how much more will this be the case with those who pursue the Great Way (on a grand scale) ! ' 4. Confucius was kept (by his enemies) in a state of siege between AV/an and 3bai \ and for seven days had no food cooked with fire to eat. The Thai-kung Zan ^ went to condole with him, and said, ' You had nearly met with your death.' ' Yes,' was the reply. ' Do you dislike death ? ' 'I do.' Then Zan continued, ' Let me try and describe a way by which (such a) death may be avoided. — In the eastern sea there are birds which go by the name of I-is^; they fly low and slowly as if they were deficient in power. They fly as if they were ^ Compare Analects XI, ii. =" We might translate Thai-kung by 'the grand-duke.' We know nothing about him. He tries to convert Confucius to Taoism just as l-liao does the marquis of Lu in par. 2 ; and for a tune at least, as A wang-^^ze makes it appear, with more success. * Were these 1-is swallows ? So some of the critics say. PT. II. SECT. XIII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 33 leading- and assisting one anodier, and diey press on one another when they roost. No one ventures to take the lead in going forward, or to be the last in going backwards. In eating- no one ventures to take the first mouthful, but prefers the fragments left by others. In this way (the breaks in) their line are not many \ and men outside them cannot harm them, so that they escape injur}'. ' The straight tree is the first to be cut down ; the well of sweet water is the first to be exhausted. Your aim is to embellish your wisdom so as to startle the ignorant, and to cultivate your person to show the unsiohtliness of others. A lisfht shines around you as if you were carrying with you the sun and moon, and thus it is that you do not escape such calamity. Formerly I heard a highly accom- plished man say, " Those who boast have no merit. The merit which is deemed complete will begin to decay. The fame which is deemed complete will begin to wane." Who can rid himself of (the ideas of) merit and fame, and return and put himself on the level of the masses of men ? The practice of the Tao flows abroad, but its master does not care to dwell where it can be seen ; his attainments in it hold their course, but he does not wish to appear in its display. Always simple and commonplace, he may seem to be bereft of reason. He obliterates the traces of his action, gives up position and power, and aims not at merit and fame. Therefore he does not censure men, and men do not censure him. The perfect man does not seek to be heard of ; how is it that you delight in doing so ? ' ^ A clause of uncertain meaning. [40] D 24 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XX. Confucius said, 'Excellent ;' and thereupon he took leave of his associates, forsook his disciples, retired to the neighbourhood of a great marsh, wore skins and hair cloth, and ate acorns and chestnuts. He went among animals without causing any confusion among their herds, and among birds without troub- line their movements. Birds and beasts did not dislike him ; how much less would men do so ! 5. Confucius asked 3ze-sang Hu\ saying, ' I was twice driven from Lu ; the tree was felled over me in Sung; I was obliged to disappear from Wei ; I was reduced to extreme distress in Shang and A^au^ ; and I was kept in a state of siege between KJi^n and 3hai. I have encountered these various calamities ; my intimate associates are removed from me more and more ; my followers and friends are more and more dispersed ; — why have all these things befallen me?' 3ze-sang Hu replied, 'Have you not heard of the flight of Lin Hui of A'ia^; — how he abandoned his round jade symbol of rank, worth a thousand pieces of silver, and hurried away with his infant son on his back ? If it be asked, "Was it because of the market value of the child ? " But that value was small (compared with the value of the jade token). If it be asked again, " Was it because of the troubles ^ Supposed to have been a recluse. ^ I do not know the particulars of this distress in Shang and A'au, or have forgotten them. A still more full recital of the sage"s misfortunes occurs in Lieh-jze, VII, 8". ^ The text here appears to be somewhat confused. Lin Hui is said to have been a man of the Yin dynasty, and of a state which was called ^ia, and for the verification of such a state I have searched in vain. The explanation cf his conduct put here into his mouth is very good. PT. II, SECT. XIII. THE WRITINGS OF ^\VANG-3ZE. 1^ (of his office) ? " But the child would occasion him much more trouble. Why was it then that, abandoning the jade token, worth a thousand pieces of silver, he hurried away with the child on his back ? Lin Hui (himself) said, "The union between me and the token rested on the ground of gain ; that be- tween me and the child was of Heaven's appoint- ment." Where the bond of union is its profitable- ness, when the pressure of poverty, calamity, dis- tress, and injury come, the parties abandon one another ; when it is of Heaven's appointment, they hold in the same circumstances to one another. Now between abandoning one another, and holding to one another, the difference is great. Moreover, the intercourse of superior men is tasteless as water, while that of mean men is sweet as new wine. But the tastelessness of the superior men leads on to affection, and the sweetness of the mean men to aversion. The union which originates without any cause will end in separation without any cause.' Confucius said, ' I have reverently received your instructions.' And hereupon, with a slow step and an assumed air of ease, he returned to his own house. There he made an end of studying and put away his books. His disciples came no more to make their bow to him (and be taught), but their affection for him increased the more. Another day Sang Hu said further to him, * When Shun was about to die, he charged ^ Yii, saying, ' Be ^ The ^^ }^ of the text here are allowed on all hands to be spurious, and ^ -^ have been substituted for them. \Miat follows, however, from Shun to Yii, is far from being clear, in itself^ or in its connexion. D 2 ^6 THE TEX-TS OF TAOISM. BK. XX. upon your guard. (The attraction of) the person is not like that of sympathy ; the (power of) affection is not Hke the leading (of example). Where there is sympathy, there will not be separation ; where there is (the leading of) example, there will be no toil. Where there is neither separation nor toil, you will not have to seek the decoration of forms to make the person attractive, and where there is no such need of those forms, there will certainly be none for external things.' 6. A'wangize in a patched dress of coarse cloth, and having his shoes tied together with strings, was passing by the king of Wei, who said to him, ' How great. Master, is your distress ? ' A"wangize replied, ' It is poverty, not distress ! While a scholar pos- sesses the Tao and its Attributes, he cannot be going about in distress. Tattered clothes and shoes tied on the feet are the sign of poverty, and not of dis- tress. This is what we call not meeting with the right time. Has your majesty not seen the climbing monkey ? When he is among the plane trees, rottleras, oaks, and camphor trees, he grasps and twists their branches (into a screen), where he reigns quite at his ease, so that not even 1^ or Phang Mang^ could spy him out. When, however, he finds himself among the prickly mulberry and date trees, and other thorns, he goes cautiously, casts sidelong glances, and takes every trembling movement with apprehension ; — it is not that his sinews and bones ^ 1 ; — see Book X, par. 2. Phang Mang was a contemporary of 1, learned archery from him, and Uien slew him, that he might himself be the foremost archer in the kingdom ; — see Mencius IV, ii, 24. PT. II. SECT. xiiT. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 37 are straitened, and have lost their suppleness, but the situation is unsuitable for him, and he cannot display his agility. And now when I dwell under a benighted ruler, and seditious ministers, how is it possible for me not to be in distress ? My case might afford an illustration of the cutting out the heart of Pi-kan ^ ! ' 7. When Confucius was reduced to great distress between AV^an and AV^ai, and for seven days he had no cooked food to eat, he laid hold of a decayed tree with his left hand, and with his right hand tapped it with a decayed branch, singing all the while the ode of Piao-shih ^. He had his instrument, but the notes were not marked on it. There was a noise, but no blended melody. The sound of the wood and the voice of the man came together like the noise of the plough through the ground, yet suitably to the feelings of the disciples around. Yen Hui, who was standing upright, with his hands crossed on his breast, rolled his eyes round to observe him. A'ung- ni, fearing that Hui would go to excess in manifest- ing how he honoured himself, or be plunged in sorrow through his love for him, said to him, * Hui, not to receive (as evils) the inflictions of Heaven is easy ; not to receive (as benefits) the favours of men is difficult. There is no beginning which was not an end. The Human and the Heavenly may be one ^ 'A spurious paragraph, no doubt.' Lin Hsi-X-ung thus con- cludes what he has to say on this paragraph ; but it is not without its interest and lessons. - I do not know who this was, nor what his ode or air was. Lu Teh-ming read the character ^, and says that Piao-shih was one of the old royal Tis who did nothing. In all my texts it is wrongly printed with three y^. 38 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xx. and the same. Who, for instance, is it that is now singing ^ ? ' Hui said, ' I venture to ask how not to receive (as evils) the inflictions of Heaven is easy.' A'ung-ni said, ' Hunger, thirst, cold, and heat, and having one's progress entirely blocked up ; — these are the doings of Heaven and Earth, necessary incidents in the revolutions of things. They are occurrences of which we say that we will pass on (composedly) along with them. The minister of another does not dare to refuse his commands ; and if he who is discharging the duty of a minister feels it necessary to act thus, how much more should we wait with ease on the commands of Heaven^!' ' What do you mean by saying that not to receive (as benefits) the favours of men is difficult ? ' A^ung- ni said, ' As soon as one is employed in office, he gets forward in all directions ; rank and emolument come to him together, and without end. But these advantages do not come from one's self; — it is my appointed lot to have such external good. The superior man is not a robber ; the man of worth is no filcher; — if I prefer such things, what am l^? Hence it is said, " There is no bird wiser than the swallow." Where its eye lights on a place that is not suitable for it, it does not mvQ it a second glance. Though it may drop the food from its This question arose out of the previous statement that man and Heaven might be one,— acting with the same spontaneity. Confucius recognises here, as he often does, a power beyond liis own, ' his appointed lot,' what we call destiny, to which the Tao requires submission. This comes very near to our idea of God. ■' Human gifts had such an attraction, thai tlicy tended to take from man his heavenly spontaneity ; and were to' be eschewed, or received only willi great caution. PT. II. SECT. XIIT. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 39 mouth, it abandons it, and hurries off. It is afraid of men, and yet it stealthily takes up its dwelling by his ; finding its protection in the altars of the Land and Grain ^ * What do you mean b}- saying that there is no be- ginning which was not an end?' A'ung-ni said, 'The change — rise and dissolution — of all things (con- tinually) goes on, but we do not know who it is that maintains and continues the process. How do we know when any one begins ? How do we know^ when he will end ? We have simply to wait for it, and nothing more -.' 'And what do you mean by saying that the Human and the Heavenly are one and the same ? ' A'ung-ni said, ' Given man, and you have Heaven ; given Heaven, and you still have Heaven (and nothing more). That man can not have Heaven is owing to the limitation of his nature ". The sagely man quietly passes away with his body, and there is an end of it.' 8. As A'wang A^au was rambling in the park of Tiao- lino- 4 he saw^ a strange bird which came from the o o south. Its wings were seven cubits in width, and ^ What is said here about the swallow is quite obscure. Hsi- X'ung says that all the old attempts to explain it are ridiculous, and then propounds an ingenious one of his own ; but 1 will leave the passage with my reader to deal with it as he best can. ^ Compare with this how in Book XMII we find A'wang-^zc singing by the dead body of his wife. * That man is man and not Heaven is simply from the limi- tation of his nature, — his ' appointed lot.' * Tiao-ling might be translated 'Eagle Mount.' Where it was I do not know ; perhaps the name originated with A wang-jze, and thus has become semi-historical. 40 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XX. its eyes were large, an inch in circuit. It touched the forehead of A^'au as it passed him, and lighted in a grove of chestnut trees. ' What bird is this ? ' said he, 'with such great wings not to go on! and with such large eyes not to see me!' He lifted up his skirts, and hurried with his cross-bow, waiting for (an opportunity to shoot) it. (Meanwhile) he saw a cicada, which had just alighted in a beautiful shady spot, and forgot its (care for its) body. (Just then), a preying mantis raised its feelers, and pounced on the cicada, in its eagerness for its prey, (also) for- getting (its care for) its body ; while the strange bird took advantage of its opportunity to secure them both, in view of that gain forgetting its true (instinct of preservation) '. A'wang A'au with an emotion of pity, said, ' Ah ! so it is that things bring evil on one another, each of these creatures invited its own calamity.' (With this) he put away his cross-bow, and was hurrying away back, when the forester pur- sued him with terms of reproach. When he returned and went into his house, he did not appear in his courtyard ^ for three months ^ (When he came out), Lan 311 ^ (his disciple) asked him, saying, ' Master, why have you for this some time avoided the courtjard so much ? ' A wang-^ze replied, ' I was guarding my person, and forgot myself; I was looking at turbid water, till I ' A wang-jze might now have shot the bird, but we Hke him the better for letting it alone. '^ So then, masters of schools, like AVang-jze, received and taught their disciples in the courtyard of their house ;— in China as elsewhere. For three ' months,' it is conjectured, we should read tliree ' days.' ' The disciple Lan 3u appears here, but not, so far as I know, elsewhere. PT. II. SECT. XIII. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 4 1 mistook the clear pool. And moreover I have heard the Master say^ " Going where certain cus- toms prevail, you should follow those customs." I was walking about in the park of Tiao-ling, and forgot myself. A strange bird brushed past my forehead, and went flying about in the grove of chestnuts, where it forgot the true (art of preserving itself). The forester of the chestnut grove thought that I was a fitting object for his reproach. These are the reasons why I have avoided the courtyard.' 9. Yang-jze, having gone to Sung, passed the night in a lodging-house, the master of which had two concubines ; — one beautiful, the other ugly -. The ugly one was honoured, however, and the beautiful one contemned. Yang-jze asked the reason, and a little boy of the house replied, ' The beauty knows her beauty, and we do not recognise it. The ugly one knows her ugliness, and we do not recognise it.' Yang-^ze said, ' Remember it, my disciples. Act virtuously, and put away the practice of priding your- selves on your virtue. If you do this, where can you o;o to that vou will not be loved ^ ? ' ^ Who was this 'Master?' - The story here is found in Lieh-jze II, 15 *»> ^. The Yang-^ze is there Yang ATi, against whom Mencius so often directed his arguments. ^ See the greater part of this paragraph in Prdmare's ' Notitia Linguae Sinicae,' p. 200, with his remarks on the style. 42 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxi. BOOK XXI. Part II. Section XIV. Thien 3ze-fang^ I. Thien 3ze-fang, sitting in attendance on the marquis Wan of Wei ^, often quoted (with approba- tion) the words of KIA Kung I The marquis said, 'Is Kh\ Kung your preceptor?' 3ze-fang rephed, ' No. He only belongs to the same neighbourhood. In speaking about the Tao, his views are often correct, and therefore I quote themi as I do.' The marquis went on, 'Then have you no preceptor?' ' I have.' ' And who is he ? ' ' He is Tung-kwo Shun^ze ^.' ' And why, my Master, have I never heard you quote his words ? ' 3ze-fang replied, ' He is a man who satisfies the true (ideal of humanity)"'; a man in appearance, but (having the mind of) Heaven. Void of any thought of himself, he accommodates himself to others, and nourishes the true ideal that belongs to him. With all his purity, he is for- bearing to others. Where they are without the Tao, he rectifies his demeanour, so that they under- stand it, and in consequence their own ideas melt ' See vol. xxxix, pp. 151, 152. ^ b.c. 424-387. •"■ Some well-known worthy of Wei. ^ A greater worthy still. He must have lived near the outside suburban wall of the capital, and his residence became a sort of surname. ^ The Human and the Heavenly were blended in his personality. PT. II. SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. away and disappear. How should one like me be fit to quote his words ? ' When 3ze-fang w^ent out, the marquis Wan con- tinued in a state of dumb amazement all the day. He then called Lung Li-/(7/an, and said to him, ' How far removed from us is the superior man of complete virtue ! Formerly I thought the words of the sages and wise men, and the practice of benevo- lence and righteousness, to be the utmost we could reach to. Since I have heard about the preceptor of 3ze-fang, my body is all unstrung, and I do not wish to move, and my mouth is closed up, and I do not wish to speak ; — what I have learned has been only a counterfeit of the truth ^ Yes, (the possession of Wei) has been an entanglement to me.' 2. Wan-po Hsueh-3ze ', on his way to ICM, stayed some time in Lii, where some persons of the state begged to have an interview with him. He refused them, saying, ' I have heard that the superior men of these Middle States ^ understand the (subjects of) ceremony and righteousness, but are deplorabl)- ignorant of the minds of men. I do not wish to see them.' He went on to /\/n; and on his way back (to the south), he again stayed in Lu,when the same persons begged as before for an interview. He then said, ' Formerly they asked to see me, and now again they seek an interviews They will afford me ' So the Khang-hsi dictionary defines the phrase ; — ' a wooden image made of earth,' says Lu Shu-/('ih. ^ A Taoist of note from some region in the south, perhaps from A7ni, having his own share of the Taoistic contempt for knowledge and culture. ■' Probably Lu and the northern states grouped closely round the roval domain. 44 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxi. some opportunity of bringing out my sentiments.' He went out accordingly and saw the visitors, and came in again with a sigh. Next day the same thine occurred, and his servant said to him, ' How is it that whenever you see those visitors, you are sure to come in again sighing?' ' I told you before,' was the reply, ' that the people of these Middle States understand (the subjects of) ceremony and righteous- ness, but are deplorably ignorant of the minds of men. Those men who have just seen me, as they came in and went out would describe, one a circle and another a square, and in their easy carriage would be like, one a dragon and another a tieer. They remonstrated with me as sons (with their fathers), and laid down the way for me as fathers (for their sons). It was this which made me sigh.' A'ung-ni saw the man, but did not speak a word to him. 3^e-lu said, ' You have wished, Sir, to see this Wan-po Hstieh-jze for a long time ; what is the reason that when you have seen him, you have not spoken a word ? ' A''ung-ni replied, ' As soon as my eyes lighted on that man, the Tao In him was appa- rent. The situation did not admit of a word being spoken.' 3. Yen Yuan asked /ifung-ni, saying, ' Master, when you pace quietly along, I also pace along ; when )ou go more quickly, I also do the same ; when )Ou gallop, I also gallop ; but when you race along and spurn the dust, then I can only stand and look, and keep behind you '.' The Master said, ' Hui, what do you mean?' The reply was, 'In saying that "when you, Master, pace quietly along, I also pace ' They arc boili supposed to be on horseback. PT. 11, SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-BZE. 45 along," I mean ^ that when you speak, I also speak. By saying, " When you go more quickly, I also do the same," I mean ^ that when you reason, I also reason. By saying, " When you gallop, I also gallop," I mean ^ that when you speak of the Way, I also speak of the Way ; but by saying, " When you race along and spurn the dust, then I can only stare, and keep behind you," I am thinking how though you do not speak, yet all men believe you ; though you are no partisan, yet all parties approve your catholicity ; and though you sound no instrument, yet people all move on harmoniously before you, while (all the while) I do not know how all this comes about ; and this is all which my words are intended to express^.' A'ung-ni said, ' But you must try and search the matter out. Of all causes for sorrow there is none so orreat as the death of the mind ; — the death of man's (body) is only next to it. The sun comes forth in the east, and sets in the extreme west; — all things have their position determined by these two points. All that have eyes and feet wait for this (sun), and then proceed to do what they have to do. When this comes forth, they appear in their places ; when it sets, they disappear. It is so with all things. They have that for which they wait, and (on its arrival) they die ; they have that for which they wait, and then (again) they live. When once I receive my frame thus completed, I remain unchanged, awaiting the consummation of my course. ^ In these three cases the -^ of the text should be ^. 2 So Hui is made to represent the master as a mental Thaunia- thurgist, and Confucius is made to try to explain the whole thing to him ; — but not to my mind successfully. Still a distinction is maintained between the mind and the body. 46 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxi. I move as acted on by things, day and night with- out cessation, and I do not know when I will come to an end. Clearly I am here a completed frame, and even one who (fancies that he) knows what is appointed cannot determine it beforehand. I am in this way daily passing on, but all day long I am communicating my views to you ; and now, as we are shoulder to shoulder you fail (to understand me) ; — is it not matter for lamentation ? You are able in a measure to set forth what I more clearly set forth ; but that is passed away, and you look for it, as if it were still existing, just as if you were looking for a horse in the now empty place where it was formerly exhibited for sale. You have very much forgotten my service to you, and I have very much forgotten wherein I served you. But nevertheless why should you account this such an evil? What you forget is but my old self; that which cannot be forgotten remains with me.' 4. Confucius went to see Lao Tan, and arrived just as he had completed the bathing of his head, and was letting his dishevelled hair get dry. There he was, motionless, and as if there were not another man in the world \ Confucius waited quietly ; and, when in a little time he was introduced, he said, 'Were my eyes dazed ? Is it really you ? Just now, your body, Sir, was like the stump of a rotten tree. You looked as if you had no thought of anything, as if )'ou had left the society of men, and were standing In the solitude (of yourself).' LaoTan replied, ' I* wa"^ enjoymg myself in thinking about the commencement 'lie was in the Taoistic trance, like Nan-kwo 3ze-/(-//i, at the beginning of the second Book. PT. 11. SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 47 of things \' ' What do you mean ?' ' My mind is so cramped, that I hardly know it ; my tongue is so tied that I cannot tell it ; but I will try to describe it to you as nearly as I can. When the state of Yin was perfect, all was cold and severe ; when the state of Yang- was perfect, all was turbulent and agitated. The coldness and severity came forth from Heaven ; the turbulence and agitation issued from Earth. The two states communicating to- gether, a harmony ensued and things were produced. Some one regulated and controlled this, but no one has seen his form. Decay and growth ; fulness and emptiness ; darkness and light ; the changes of the sun and the transformations of the moon : — these are brought about from day to day ; but no one sees the process of production. Life has its origin from which it springs, and death has its place from which it returns. Beginning and ending go on in mutual contrariety without any determinable commence- ment, and no one knows how either comes to an end. If we disallow all this, who originates and presides over all these phenomena ? ' Confucius said, ' I beg to ask about your enjoy- ment in these thoughts.' Lao Tan replied, ' The ^ This ' commencement of things ' was not the equivalent of ' our creation out of nothing,' for Lao Tan immediately supposes the existence of the primary ether in its twofold state, as Yin and Yang; and also of Heaven and Earth, as a twofold Powder working, under some regulation and control, yet invisible ; that is, under the Tao. In the same way the process of beginning and ending, growth and decay, life and death go on, no one knows how, or how long. And the contemplation of all this is the cause of unceasing delight to the Perfect man, the possessor of the Tao. Death is a small matter, merely as a change of feature; and Confucius acknowledges his immeasurable inferiority lo Lao-jze. 48 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. XXI. comprehension of this is the most admirable and the most enjoyable (of all acquisitions). The getting of the most admirable and the exercise of the thoughts in what is the most enjoyable, consti- tutes what we call the Perfect man.' Confucius said, ' I should like to hear the method of attain- ino- to it.' The reply was, 'Grass-eating animals do not dislike to change their pastures ; creatures born in the water do not dislike to change their waters. They make a small change, but do not lose what is the great and regular requirement (of their nature) ; joy, anger, sadness, and delight do not enter into their breasts (in connexion with such events). Now the space under the sky is occupied by all things in their unity. When they possess that unity and equally share it, then the four limbs and hundred members of their body are but so much dust and dirt, while death and life, their ending and beginning, are but as the succes- sion of day and night, which cannot disturb their enjoyment ; and how much less will they be troubled by gains and losses, by calamity and happiness ! Those who renounce the paraphernalia of rank do it as if they were casting away so much mud ; — they know that they are themselves more honour- able than those paraphernalia. The honour belong- ing to one's self is not lost by any change (of con- dition). Moreover, a myriad transformations may take place before the end of them is reached. What is there in all this sufficient to trouble the mind ? Those who have attained to the Tao understand the subject.' Confucius said, ' O Master, your virtue is equal to that of Meaven and Earth, and still I must borrow PT. 11. SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF X-WANG-3ZE. 49 (some of your) perfect words (to aid me) in the cultivation of my mind. Who among the superior men of antiquity could give such expression to them?' Lao Tan replied, 'Not so. Look at the spring, the water of which rises and overflows ; — it does nothing, but it naturally acts so. So with the perfect man and his virtue ; — he does not culti- vate it, and nothing evades its influence. He is like heaven which is high of itself, like earth which is solid of itself, like the sun and moon which shine of themselves ; — what need is there to cultivate it ?' Confucius went out and reported the conversation to Yen Hui, saying, ' In the (knowledge of the) Tao am I any better than an animalcule in vinegar ? But for the Master's lifting the veil from me, I should not have known the grand perfection of Heaven and Earth.' A 5. At an interview of A'wang-jze with duke Ai ^ of Lu, the duke said, ' There are many of the Learned class in Lu ; but few of them can be com- pared with you, Sir.' A'wang-.^ze replied, ' There are few Learned men in Lu.' ' Everywhere in Lu,' rejoined the duke, ' you see men wearing the dress of the Learned - ; — how can you say that they are few ?' 'I have heard,' said ATwang-^ze, 'that those of them who wear round caps know the times of heaven ; that those who wear square shoes know the contour of the ground ; and that those who saunter about with semicircular stones at their A ^ Duke Ai of Lu died in b.c. 468, a century and more before the birth of A%ang-jze. On that, as well as on other grounds, the paragraph cannot be genuine. ^ Compare the thirty-eighth Book of the Li K\, where Confucius denies that there was any dress peculiar to the scholar. [40] E CO THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXI. girdle-pendents settle matters in dispute as they come before them. But superior men who are pos- sessed of such knowledge will not be found wear- ing the dress, and it does not follow that those who wear the dress possess the knowledge. If your Grace think otherwise, why not issue a notification through the state, that it shall be a capital offence to wear the dress without possessing the knowledge.' On this the duke issued such a notification, and in five days, throughout all Lu, there was no one who dared to wear the dress of the Learned. There was only one old man who came and stood in it at the duke's gate. The duke instantly called him in, and questioned him about the affairs of the state, when he talked about a thousand points and ten thousand divergences from them. A'wang-jze said, * When the state of Lu can thus produce but one man of the Learned class, can he be said to be many?' 6. The ideas of rank and emolument did not enter the mind of Pai-li Hsi\ and so he became a cattle- feeder, and his cattle were all In fine condition. This made duke Mu of A7/in forget the meanness of his position, and put the government (of his state) into his hands. Neither life nor death entered into the mind of (Shun), the Lord of Yli, and therefore he was able to influence others ^. 7. The ruler Yuan^ of Sung wishing to have a map ^ Pai-li Hsi, a remarkable character of the seventh century b. c, who rose to be chief minister to Mu, the earl (or duke) of A7/in, the last of the five Leading Princes of the kingdom. ]\Iu died in B.C. 621. Mcncius has much to say of Pai-li Hsi. "^ Shun's parents wished to kill him ; but that did not trouble his mind ; his filial piety even affected them. ^ His first year as duke of Sung was B.C. 530. The point of the story is not clear. PT. II. SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF A^WANG-SZE. 5 I drawn, the masters of the pencil all came (to under- take the task). Having received his instructions and made their bows, they stood, licking their pencils and preparing their ink. Half their number, how- ever, remained outside. There was one who came late, with an air of indifference, and did not hurry forward. When he had received his instructions and made his bow, he did not keep standing, but proceeded to his shed. The duke sent a man to see him, and there he was, with his upper garment off, sitting cross-legged, and nearly naked. The ruler said, ' He is the man; he is a true draughtsman.' 8. King Wan was (once) looking about him at 3ang \ when he saw an old man fishing ^. But his fishinof was no fishino;. It was not the fishina^ of one whose business is fishing. He was always fishing (as if he had no object in the occupation). The king wished to raise him to ofiice, and put the o-overnment into his hands, but was afraid that such a step would give dissatisfaction to his great minis- ters, his uncles, and cousins. He then wished to dismiss the man altogether from his mind, but he could not bear the thought that his people should be without (such a) Heaven (as their Protector). On this, (next) morning, he called together his great officers, and said to them, ' Last night, I dreamt that I saw a good man, with a dark complexion and a ^ "Where ^^ng was cannot be told. - The old fisherman here was, no doubt, the first marquis of A7/1, after the establishment of the dynasty of A'au, known by various names, as Lii Shang, Thai-kung Wang, and A'iang 3ze-ya. He did much for the new rule, but his connexion with kings Wan and Wu is a mass of fables. The fishing as if he were not fishing betokened in him the aimlessness of the 1 ao. E 2 52 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXI. beard, riding on a piebald horse, one half of whose hoofs were red, who commanded me, saying, "Lodge your o-overnment in the hands of the old man of 3ang ; and perhaps the evils of your people will be cured."' The great officers said eagerly, * It was the king, your father.' King Wan said, ' Let us then submit the proposal to the tortoise-shell' They replied, ' It is the order of your father. Let not )our majesty think of any other. Why divine about it ? ' (The king) then met the old man of 3ang, and committed the government to him. The statutes and laws were not changed by him ; not a one-sided order (of his own) was issued ; but when the king made a survey of the kingdom after three years, he found that the officers had destroyed the plantations (which harboured banditti), and dis- persed their occupiers, that the superintendents of the official departments did not plume themselves on their successes, and that no unusual grain measures were allowed within the different states^ When the ofiicers had destroyed the dangerous plantations and dispersed their occupants, the highest value was set on the common interests ; when the chiefs of de- partments did not plume themselves on their suc- cesses, the highest value was set on the common business ; when unusual grain measures did not enter the different states, the different princes had no jealousies. On this king Wan made the old man his Grand Preceptor, and asked him, with his own face to the north, whether his government might be extended to all the kinodom. The old ' That is, that all combinations formed to resist and warp the course of justice had been put an end to. PT. II. srxT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF i^WANG-3ZE. 5_ man looked perplexed and gave no reply, but with aimless look took his leave. In the mornine he had issued his orders, and at night he had gone his way; nor was he heard of again all his life. Yen Yiian questioned Confucius, saying, ' Was even king Wan unequal to determine his course ? What had he to do with resorting to a dream ? ' A"ung-ni replied, ' Be silent and do not say a word ! King Wan was complete in everything. What have you to do with criticising him ? He only had recourse (to the dream) to meet a moment's difficulty.' 9. Lieh Yii-khau was exhibiting his archery ^ to Po-hwan Wu-san ^. Having drawn the bow to its full extent, with a cup of water placed on his elbow, he let fly. As the arrow was discharged, another was put in its place ; and as that was sent off, a third was ready on the string. All the while he stood like a statue. Po-hwan Wu-^an said, ' That is the shooting of an archer, but not of one who shoots without thinkinp- about his shootine. Let me go up with you to the top of a high mountain, tread- ing with you among the tottering rocks, till we arrive at the brink of a precipice, 800 cubits deep, and (I will then see) if you can shoot.' On this they went up a high mountain, making their way among the tottering rocks, till they came to the brink of a precipice 800 cubits deep. Then Wu-ran turned round and walked backwards, till his feet were two- ^ This must be the meaning of the '^, ' for.' The whole story is found in Lieh-jze, II, p. 5. From Lieh's Book VIII, p. 2, we learn that Lieh-.^jze's teacher in archery was Yin Hsi, the warden of the pass famous in the history of Lao-^ze. ^ Mentioned in Book V, par. 2. 54 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxr. thirds of their length outside the edge, and beckoned ^'u-khall to come forward. He, however, had fallen prostrate on the ground, with the sweat pouring down to his heels. Then the other said, ' The Per- fect man looks up to the azure sky above, or dives down to the yellow springs beneath, or soars away to the eight ends of the universe, without any change coming over his spirit or his breath. But now the trepidation of your mind appears in your dazed eyes ; your inward feeling of peril is extreme ! ' ID. A'ien Wu asked Sun-shu Ao ^, saying, 'You, Sir, were thrice chief minister, and did not feel elated ; you were thrice dismissed from that posi- tion, without manifesting any sorrow. At first I was in doubt about you, (but I am not now, since) I see how regularly and quietly the breath comes through your nostrils. How is it that you exercise your mind.?' Sun-shu Ao replied, 'In what do I surpass other men ? When the position came to me, I thought it should not be rejected ; when it was taken away, I thought it could not be retained. I considered that the getting or losing it did not make me what I was, and was no occasion for any mani- festation of sorrow ; — that was all. In what did I surpass other men ? And moreover, I did not know whether the honour of it belonged to the dignity, or to myself. If it belonged to the dignity, it was nothing to me ; if it belonged to me, it had nothing ' Sun-shQ Ao;— see Mencius VI, ii, 15. He was, no doubt, a^ good and able man, chief minister to king iTwang of Khn. The legends or edifying stories about him are many ; but A%ang- .^ze, I think, is the author of his being thrice raised and thrice dismissed from office. PT. II. SECT. XIV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 55 to do with the dignity. While occupied with these uncertainties, and looking round in all directions, what leisure had I to take knowledge of whether men honoured me or thought me mean ? ' A'ung-ni heard of all this, and said, 'The True men of old could not be fully described by the wisest, nor be led into excess by the most beautiful, nor be forced by the most violent robber. Neither Fu-hsi nor Hwang-Ti could compel them to be their friends. Death and life are indeed great con- siderations, but they could make no change in their (true) self; and how much less could rank and emolument do so ? Being such, their spirits might pass over the Thki mountain and find it no obstacle to them ^ ; they might enter the greatest gulphs, and not be ,wet by them ; they might occupy the lowest and smallest positions without being distressed by them. Theirs was the fulness of heaven and earth ; the more that they gave to others, the more they had.' The kinof of K/m and the ruler of Fan ^ were sittinof tooether. After a little while, the attendants of the king said, ' Fan has been destroyed three times.' The ruler of Fan rejoined, 'The destruction of Fan has not been sufficient to destroy what we had that was most deserving to be preserved.' Now, ^ It is difficult to see why this should be predicated of the 'spirits' of the True men. 2 Fan was a small state, held at one time by descendants of the famous duke of A'au;— see the 3o AVnvan, I, vii, 6; V, xxiv, 2. But we do not know what had been the relations between the powerful A7m and the feeble Fan, which gave rise to and could explain the remarks made at the entertainment, more honourable to Fan than to AVni. ^6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK.XXI. if the destruction of Fan had not been sufficient to destroy that which it had most deserving to be preserved, the preservation of Khi\ had not been sufficient to preserve that in it most deserving to be preserved. Looking at the matter from this point of view, Fan had not begun to be destroyed, and Khi\ had not begun to be preserved. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF i:WANG-3ZE. 57 BOOK XXII. Part II. Section XV. A'ih Pei Yii, or ' Knowledge Rambling in the North \' I. Knowledofe - had rambled northwards to the region of the Dark Water ^, where he ascended the height of Imperceptible Sloped when it happened that he met with Dumb Inaction 2. Knowledo-e addressed him, saying, ' I wish to ask you some questions : — By what process of thought and anxious consideration do we get to know the Tao ? Where should we dwell and what should we do to find our rest in the Tao ? From what point should we start and what path should we pursue to make the Tao our own ? ' He asked these three questions, but Dumb Inaction^ gave him no reply. Not only did he not answer, but he did not know how to answ^er. Knowledge ^, disappointed by the fruitlessness of his questions, returned to the south of the Bright ' See vol. xxxix, p. 152. ^ All these names are metaphorical, having more or less to do with the qualities of the Tao, and are used as the names of per- sonages, devoted to the pursuit of it. It is difficult to translate the name K/iwzug J^/tu (^^ M)- ^^'^ old reading is ^^, which Medhurst explains by ' Bent or Crooked Discourse.' ' Blurter,' though not an elegant Enghsh term, seems to express the idea our author would convey by it. Hwang-Ti is different from the other names, but we cannot regard him as here a real personage. " These names of places are also metaphorical and Taoistic. eg THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxii. Water \ and ascended die height of the End of Doubt \ where he saw Heedless Bkirter, to whom he put the same questions, and who repHed, ' Ah ! I know, and will tell you.' But while he was about to speak, he forgot what he wanted to say. Knowledge, (again) receiving no answer to his questions, returned to the palace of the Ti ^ where he saw Hwang-Ti^, and put the questions to him. Hwang-Ti said, ' To exercise no thought and no anxious consideration is the first step towards know- ing the Tao; to dwell nowhere and do nothing is the first step towards resting in the Tao; to start from nowhere and pursue no path is the first step towards making the Tao your own.' Knowledge then asked Hwang-Ti, saying, ' I and you know this ; those two did not know it ; which of us is right ? ' The reply was, ' Dumb Inaction ^ is truly right; Heedless Blurter has an appearance of being so ; I and you are not near being so. (As it is said), " Those who know (the Tao) do not speak of it ; those who speak of it do not know it* ; " and " Hence the sage conveys his instructions without the use of speech*." The Tao cannot be made ours by constraint ; its characteristics will not come to us (at our call). Benevolence may be practised ; Righteousness may be partially attended to ; by Ceremonies men impose on one another. Hence it ' See note 3, on preceding page. '^ Ti might seem to be used here for 'God,' but its juxtaposition with Hwang-Ti is against our translating it so. * See note 2, on preceding page. See the Tao Teh ^ing, chaps. 56 and 2. iTwang-jze is quoting, no doubt, these two passages, as he vaguely intimates I think by the^^^^, with which the sentence commences. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 59 is said, "When the Tao was lost, its Characteristics appeared. When its Characteristics were lost, Bene- volence appeared. When Benevolence was lost, Righteousness appeared. When Righteousness was lost, Ceremonies appeared. Ceremonies are but (the unsubstantial) flow^ers of the Tao, and the com- mencement of disorder ^" Hence (also it is further said), " He who practises the Tao, daily diminishes his doino-. He diminishes it and aeain diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing. Having arrived at this non-inaction, there is nothing that he does not do ^" Here now there is something, a regularly fashioned utensil ; — if you wanted to make it return to the original condition of its materials, would it not be difficult to make it do so ? Could any but the Great Man accomplish this easily - ? ' Life is the follower of death, and death is the predecessor of life ; but who knows the Arranger (of this connexion between them) ^ ? The life is due to the collectingf of the breath. When that is collected, there is life ; when it is dispersed, there is death. Since death and life thus attend on each other, why should I account (either of) them an evil ? ' Therefore all thinofs ^o throuQfh one and the same experience. (Life) is accounted beautiful be- cause it is spirit-like and wonderful, and death is accounted ugly because of its foetor and putridity. But the foetid and putrid is transformed again into the spirit-like and wonderful, and the spirit-like and wonderful is transformed again into the foetid and ^ See the Tao Teh A'ing, chaps. 38 and 48. ^ This sentence is metaphorical of the Tao, whose spell is broken by the intrusion of Knowledge. ^ This ' Arranger' is the Tao. 6o THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XXii. putrid. Hence it is said, "All under the sky there is one breath of life, and therefore the sages prized that unity ^"' Knowledge 2 said to Hwang-Ti -, ' I asked Dumb Inaction-, and he did not answer me. Not only did he not answer me, but he did not know how to answer me. I asked Heedless Blurter, and while he wanted to tell me, he yet did not do so. Not only did he not tell me, but while he wanted to tell me, he forgot all about my questions. Now I have asked you, and you knew (all about them) ; — why (do you say that) you are not near doing so ? ' Hwang-Ti replied, ' Dumb Inaction ^ was truly right, because he did not know the thing. Heedless Blurter 2 was nearly right, because he forgot it. I and you are not nearly right, because we know it.' Heedless Blurter^ heard of (all this), and considered that Hwang-Tt ^ knew how to express himself (on the subject). 2. (The operations of) Heaven and Earth proceed in the most admirable way, but they say nothing about them ; the four seasons observe the clearest laws, but they do not discuss them ; all things have their complete and distinctive constitutions, but they say nothing about them^. The sages trace out the admirable operations of Heaven and Earth, and reach to and understand the distinctive constitutions of all things ; and thus It Is that the Perfect Man (Is said to) do nothing and the Greatest Sage to originate nothing, such language showing that they look to Heaven and Earth as ' I have not been able to trace this quotation to its source. ^ See note 2, p. 57. ■' Compare Analects XVII, xix, 3. PT. ir. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF ^-WANG-SZE. 6l their models Even they, with their spirit-hke and most exquisite intelligence, as well as all the tribes that undergo their transformations, the dead and the living, the square and the round, do not under- stand their root and origin, but nevertheless they all from the oldest time by it preserve their being. Vast as is the space included within the six car- dinal points, it all (and all that it contains) lies within (this twofold root of Heaven and Earth) ; small as is an autumn hair, it is indebted to this for the com- pletion of its form. All things beneath the sky, now rising, now descending, ever continue the same through this. The Yin and Yang, and the four seasons revolve and move by it, each in its proper order. Now it seems to be lost in obscurity, but it continues ; now it seems to glide away, and have no form, but it is still spirit-like. All things are nou- rished by it, without their knowing it. This is what is called the Root and Origin ; by it we may obtain a view of what we mean by Heaven ^. 3. Nieh AV^iieh^ asked about the Tao from Phei-i ^, who replied, ' If you keep your body as it should be, and look only at the one thing, the Harmony of Heaven will come to you. Call in your knowledge, and make your measures uniform, and the spiritual (belonging to you) will come and lodge with you ; the Attributes (of the Tao) will be your beauty, and the Tao (itself) v>^ill be your dwelling-place. You will have the simple look of a new-born calf, and ^ Compare the Tao Teh A'ing, eh. 25. ^ The binomial ' Heaven and Earth ' here gives place to the one term ' Heaven,' which is often a synonym of Tao. ^ See his character in Book XII, par. 5, where Phei-i also is mentioned. 62 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxii. will not seek to know the cause (of your being what you are).' Phei-i had not finished these words when the other dozed off into a sleep. Phei-i was greatly pleased, and walked away, sing- ing as he went, ' Like stump of rotten tree his frame. Like lime when slaked his mind became^ Real is his wisdom, solid, true. Nor cares w^hat's hidden to pursue. O dim and dark his aimless mind ! No one from him can counsel find. What sort of man is he ? ' 4. Shun asked (his attendant) AV^ang^, saying, 'Can I get the Tao and hold it as mine?' The reply was, ' Your body is not your own to hold ; — how then can you get and hold the Tao?' Shun resumed, ' If my body be not mine to possess and hold, who holds it ?' AV^ang said, ' It is the bodily form entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Life is not yours to hold. It is the blended harmony (of the Yin and Yang), entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Your nature, constituted as it is, is not yours to hold. It is entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth to act in accordance with it. Your grandsons and sons are not yours to hold. They are the exuviae^ entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Therefore when we walk, we should not know where we are going ; when we stop and rest, we should not know what to occupy ourselves with ; ' See the account of Nan-kwo 3ze-X'/n in Book II, par. i. ^ Not tlie name of a man, but an office. ^ The term in ilie text denotes the cast-ofF skin or shell of insects, snakes, and crabs. See the account of death and hfe in par. I. PT.li. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF X"WANG-3ZE. 63 when we eat, we should not know the taste of our food; — all is done by the strong Yang influence of Heaven and Earth \ How then can you get (the Tao), and hold it as your own ? ' 5. Confucius asked Lao Tan, saying, ' Being at leisure to-day, I venture to ask you about the Per- fect Tao.' Lao Tan replied, ' You must, as by fasting and vigil, clear and purge your mind, wash your spirit white as snow, and sternly repress your knowledge. The subject of the Tao is deep, and difficult to describe ; — I will give you an outline of its simplest attributes. ' The Luminous was produced from the Obscure ; the Multiform from the Unembodied ; the Spiritual from the Tao; and the bodily from the seminal essence. After this all things produced one another from their bodily organisations. Thus it is that those which have nine apertures are born from the womb, and those with eioht from e^os ^ But their coming leaves no trace, and their going no monu- ment ; they enter by no door ; they dwell in no apartment ^ : — they are in a vast arena reaching in all directions. They who search for and find (the Tao) in this are strong in their limbs, sincere and far-reaching in their thinking, acute in their hearing, and clear in their seeing. They exercise their minds without being toiled ; they respond to everything aright without regard to place or circumstance. Without this heaven would not be high, nor earth ^ It is an abstruse point why only the Yang is mentioned here, and described as ' strong.' ^ It is not easy to see the pertinence of this iUustration. ^ Hu Wan-ying says, ' With this one word our author sweeps away the teaching of Purgatorial Sufferings.' 64 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM, BK. XXII. broad ; the sun and moon would not move, and nothino- would flourish : — such is the operation of the Tao. * Moreover, the most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it ; reasoning will not make men wise in it ; — the sages have decided against both these methods. However you try to add to it,' it admits of no increase ; however you try to take from it, it admits of no diminution ; — this is what the sages maintain about it. How deep It is, like the sea! How grand it is, beginning again when it has come to an end ! If it carried along and sus- tained all things, without being overburdened or weary, that would be like the way of the superior man, merely an external operation ; when all things go to it, and find their dependence in it ; — this is the true character of the Tao. ' Here is a man (born) in one of the middle states \ He feels himself independent both of the Yin and Yang 2, and dwells between heaven and earth ; only for the present a mere man, but he will return to his original source. Looking at him in his origin, when his life begins, we have (but) a gela- tinous substance in which the breath is collecting. Whether his life be long or his death early, how short is the space between them ! It is but the name for a moment of time, insufficient to play the part of a good Yao or a bad ATieh in. ' The fruits of trees and creeping plants have their distinctive characters, and thouorh the relation- * The commentators suppose that by ' the man ' here there is intended ' a sage ; ' and they would seem to be correct. ■ Compare the second sentence in the Tao Teh A'ing, ch. 42. PT. n. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-SZE. 65 ships of men, according to which they are classi- fied, are troublesome, the sage, when he meets with them, does not set himself in opposition to them, and when he has passed through them, he does not seek to retain them ; he responds to them in their regular harmony according to his virtue ; and even when he accidentally comes across any of them, he does so according to the Tao. It was thus that the Tis flourished, thus that the kings arose. ' Men's life between heaven and earth is like a white ^ colt's passing a crevice, and suddenly dis- appearing. As with a plunge and an effort they all come forth ; easily and quietly they all enter again. By a transformation they live, and by another trans- formation they die. Living things are made sad (by death), and mankind grieve for it ; but it is (only) the removal of the bow from its sheath, and the empty- ing the natural satchel of its contents. There may be some confusion amidst the yieldine to the change ; but the intellectual and animal souls are takino- their leave, and the body will follow them : — This is the Great Returning home. ' That the bodily frame came from incorporeity, and will return to the same, is what all men in com- mon know, and what those who are on their way to (know) it need not strive for. This is what the multitudes of men discuss tOQ^ether. Those whose (knowledge) is complete do not discuss it ; — such discussion shows that their (knowledge) is not com- plete. Even the most clear-sighted do not meet ' Why is it the colt here is ' white? ' Is it to heighten the im- pression made by his speedy disappearing ? or is it merely the adoption of the phrase from the Shih, II, iv, 2 ? [40] F 56 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxil. (with the Tao) ; — it is better to be silent than to reason about it. The Tao cannot be heard with the ears ; — it is better to shut the ears than to try and hear it. This is what is called the Great Attainment.' 6. Tung-kwo 3ze^ asked A^vang-jze, saying, 'Where is what you call the Tao to be found?' A'wang-jze replied, ' Everywhere.' The other said, ' Specify an instance of it. That will be more satis- factory.' ' It is here in this ant.' ' Give a lower instance.' 'It is in this panic grass.' ' Give me a still lower instance.' ' It is in this earthenware tile.' ' Surely that is the lowest instance ? ' ' It is in that excrement ^.' To this Tung-kwo 3ze gave no reply. A'wang-jze said, ' Your questions, my master, do not touch the fundamental point (of the Tao). They remind me of the questions addressed by the super- intendents of the market to the inspector about ex- amining the value of a pig by treading on it, and testing its weight as the foot descends lower and lower on the body^. You should not specify any particular thing. There is not a single thing with- out (the Tao). So it is with the Perfect Tao. And if we call it the Great (Tao), it is just the same. There are the three terms, — "Complete," "All- embracing," " the Whole." These names are differ- ^ Perhaps the Tung-kwo Shun-jze of Bk. XXI, par. i. ^ A comcmpluous reply, provoked by Tung-kwo's repeated in- terrogation as to where the Tao was to be found, the only question being as to what it was. •'' We do not know the practices from which our author draws his illustrations here sufficiently to make out his meaning clearly. The signification of the characters J£ and ^M may be gathered indeed from the 1 Li, Books 7-9 ; but that is all. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 67 ent, but the reality (sought in them) is the same ; referrinor to the One thinof^ 'Suppose we were to tr)^ to roam about in the palace of No-where ; — when met there, we might discuss (about the subject) without ever coming to an end. Or suppose we were to be to- gether in (the region of) Non-action ; — should we say that (the Tao was) Simplicity and Stillness ? or Indifference and Purity ? or Harmony and Ease ? My will would be aimless. If it went nowhere, I should not know where it had got to ; if it went and came again, I should not know where it had stopped ; if it went on going and coming, I should not know when the process would end. In vague uncertainty should I be in the vastest waste. Though I entered it with the greatest knowledge, I should not know how inexhaustible it was. That which makes things what they are has not the limit which belongs to things, and when we speak of things being limited, we mean that they are so in themselves. (The Tao) is the limit of the unlimited, and the bound- lessness of the unbounded. ' We speak of fulness and emptiness ; of withering and decay. It produces fulness and emptiness, but is neither fulness nor emptiness ; it produces wither- ing and decay, but is neither withering nor decay. It produces the root and branches, but is neither root nor branch ; it produces accumulation and dispersion, but is itself neither accumulated nor dispersed.' 7. A-ho Kan - and Shan Nang studied together ^ The meaning of this other illustration is also very obscure to me ; and much of what follows to the end of the paragraph. ^ We can hardly be said to know anything more of the first and third of these men than what is mentioned here. F 2 58 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxil. under Lao-lung K\. Shan Nangi was leaning for- ward on his stool, having shut the door and gone to sleep in the day time. At midday A-ho Kan pushed open the door and entered, saying, 'Lao- lung is dead.' Shan Nanor leant forward on his stool, laid hold of his staff and rose. Then he laid the staff aside with a clash, laughed and said, ' That Heaven knew how cramped and mean, how arrogant and assuming I was, and therefore he has cast me off, and is dead. Now that there is no Master to correct my heedless words, it is simply for me to die ! ' Yen Kang, (who had come in) to condole, heard these words, and said, 'It is to him who em- bodies the Tao that the superior men everywhere cling. Now you who do not understand so much as the tip of an autumn hair of it, not even the ten- thousandth part of the Tao, still know how to keep hidden your heedless words about it and die ; — how much more might he who embodied the Tao do so ! We look for it, and there is no form ; we hearken for it, and there is no sound. When men try to discuss it, we call them dark indeed. When they discuss the Tao, they misrepresent it.' Hereupon Grand Purity^ asked Infinitude ^, say- ing, ' Do you know the Tao?' ' I do not know it,' was the reply. He then asked Do-nothing -, who replied, ' I know it.' ' Is your knowledge of it de- Shan Nang is well known, as coming in the chronological list between Fu-hsi and IIwang-Tt; and we are surprised that a higher place is nol given to him among the Taoist patriarchs than our author assigns to him here. "^ 'I'hese names, like those in the first paragraph of the Book, are metaphorical, intended, no doubt, to set forth attributes of the Tao, and to suggest to the reader what it is or what it is not. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF X'WANG-SZE. 69 termined by various points?' * It is.' 'What are they?' Do-nothing^ said, 'I know that the Tao may be considered noble, and may be considered mean, that it may be bound and compressed, and that it may be dispersed and diffused. These are the marks by which I know it.' Grand Purity took the words of those two, and asked No-beginning ^ saying, ' Such were their repHes ; which was right ? and which was wrong? Infinitude's saying that he did not know^ it ? or Do-nothing's saying that he knew^ it ? ' No-beginning said, ' The " I do not know it" was profound, and the "I know it" was shallow. The former had reference to its internal nature ; the latter to its external conditions. Grand Purity looked up and sighed, saying, ' Is " not to know it" then to know it ? And is " to know it" not to know it ? But who knows that he who does not know it (really) knows it?' No-beginning replied, 'The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It. The Tao cannot be seen ; what can be seen is not It. The Tao cannot be expressed in words ; wdiat can be expressed in words is not It. Do we know the Formless which gives form to form ? In the same way the Tao does not admit of beine named.' No-beginning (further) said, 'If one ask about the Tao and another answer him, neither of them knows it. Even the former who asks has never learned anything about the Tao. He asks what does not admit of being asked, and the latter answers where answer is impossible. When one asks what does not admit of being asked, his questioning is in (dire) ' See note 2 on last page. 70 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXII. extremity. When one answers where answer is im- possible, he has no internal knowledge of the subject. When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally know nothing of the Grand Com- mencement ^ Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwan-lun -, nor roam in the Grand Void.' 8. Starlight^ asked Non-entity^, saying, ' Master, do you exist? or do you not exist .'^ ' He got no answer to his question, however, and looked sted- fastly to the appearance of the other, which was that of a deep void. All day long he looked to it, but could see nothing ; he listened for it, but could hear nothing ; he clutched at it, but got hold of nothing ^ Starlight then said, ' Perfect ! Who can attain to this ? I can (conceive the ideas of) existence and non-existence, but I cannot (conceive the ideas of) non-existing non-existence, and still there be a non- existing existence. How is it possible to reach to this?' 9. The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had not lost a hair's-breadth of his ability ^ The Minister said to ^ The first beginning of all things or of anything. - The Khwan-lun may be considered the Sacred Mountain of Taoism. ^ The characters Kwang Yao denote the points of light all over the sky, ' dusted with stars.' I can think of no better transla- tion for them, as personified here, than 'starlight.' 'Non-entity' is a personification of the Tao; as no existing thing, but the idea of the order thai pervades and regulates throughout the universe. * A quotation from the Tao Teh A'ing, ch. 14. " Compare the case of the butcher in Bk. Ill, and other similar passages. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE, 71 him, ' You are indeed skilful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so ?' The man said, 'Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art ; and how much more one who is ever at work on it ! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it ? ' 10. Zan AV/iu^ asked A'ung-ni, saying, 'Can it be known how it was before heaven and earth ?' The reply was, ' It can. It was the same of old as now.' Zan A7/iu asked no more and withdrew. Next day, however, he had another interview, and said, ' Yesterday I asked whether it could be known how it was before heaven and earth, and you. Master, said, "It can. As it is now, so it was of old." Yesterday, I seemed to understand you clearly, but to-day it is dark to me. I venture to ask you for an explanation of this.' A'ung-ni said, ' Yesterday you seemed to understand me clearly, because your own spiritual nature had anticipated my reply. To- day it seems dark to you, for you are in an unspiritual mood, and are trying to discover the meaning. (In this matter) there is no old time and no present ; no beginning and no ending. Could it be that there were grandchildren and children before there were (other) grandchildren and children - ? ' ^ One of the disciples of Confucius ; — Analects VI, 3. '^ Hu Wan-ying says, ' Before there can be grandsons and sons there must be grandfathers and fathers to transmit them, so before 72 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxii. Zan A7/iu had not made any reply, when A'ung-ni went on, ' Let us have done. There can be no an- swering (on your part). We cannot with Hfe give life to death ; we cannot with death give death to life. Do death and life wait (for each other)? There is that which contains them both in its one com- prehension ^ Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing ? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing. Things came forth and could not be be- fore things, as if there had (previously) been things ; — as if there had been things (producing one an- other) without end. The love of the sages for others, and never coming to an end, is an idea taken from this -.' ir. Yen Yiian asked A"ung-ni, saying, 'Master, I have heard you say, " There should be no demon- stration of welcoming ; there should be no move- ment to meet ;" — I venture to ask in what way this affection of the mind may be shown.' The reply was, ' The ancients, amid (all) external changes, did not change internally ; now-a-da)s men change internally, but take no note of external changes. When one only notes the changes of things, himself continuing one and the same, he does not change. How should there be (a difference between) his changing and not changing.? How should he put himself in contact with (and come under the influence of) those external changes ? He is sure, however, there were (the present) heaven and earth, there must have been another heaven and earth.' But I am not sure that he has in this remark exactly caught our audior's meaning. ' Meaning the Tao. 2 ^n obscure remark. PT. II. SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 73 to keep his points of contact with them from being many. The park of Shih-wei\ the garden of Hwang- Ti, the palace of the Lord of Yii, and the houses of Thang and Wu ; — (these all were places in which this was done). But the superior men (so called, of later days), such as the masters of the Literati and of Mohism, were bold to attack each other widi their controversies ; and how much more so are the men of the present day ! Sages in dealing with others do not wound them ; and they who do not wound others cannot be wounded by them. Only he whom others do not injure is able to welcome and meet men. ' Forests and marshes make me joyful and glad ; but before the joy is ended, sadness comes and succeeds to it. When sadness and joy come, I can- not prevent their approach ; when they go, I cannot retain them. How sad it is that men should only be as lodging-houses for things, (and the emotions which they excite) ! They know what they meet, but they do not know what they do not meet ; they use what power they have, but they cannot be strong where they are powerless. Such ignorance and powerlessness is what men cannot avoid. That they should try to avoid what they cannot avoid, is not this also sad ? Perfect speech is to put speech away; perfect action is to put action away ; to digest all knowledge that is known is a thing to be despised.' ^ This personage has occurred before in Bk. VI, par. 7, — at the head of the most ancient sovereigns, who were in possession of the Tao. His ' park ' as a place for moral and intellectual inquiry is here mentioned ; — so early was there a certain quickening of the mental faculties in China. 74 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM, BK. xxiil. BOOK XXIII. Part III. Section I. Kang-sang Khu'^. I. Among the disciples - of Lao Tan there was a Kang-sang K/m, who had got a greater knowledge than the others of his doctrines, and took up his residence with it in the north at the hill of Wei-lei ^. His servants who were pretentious and knowing he sent away, and his concubines who were officious and kindly he kept at a distance ; living (only) with those who were boorish and rude, and employing (only) the bustling and ill-mannered *. After three years there was great prosperity^ in Wei-lei, and the people said to one another, ' When Mr. Kang- sang first came here, he alarmed us, and we thought him strange ; our estimate of him after a short acquaintance was that he could not do us much good ; but now that we have known him for years, we find him a more than ordinary benefit. Must he not be near being a sage ? Why should you not ^ See vol. xxxix, p. 153. "^ The term in the text commonly denotes ' servants.' It would seem here simply to mean ' disciples.' =* Assigned variously. Probably the mount Yu in the ' Tribute of Yii,' — a hill in the present department of Tang-Mu, Shan-tung. * The same phraseology occurs in Bk. XI, par. 5 ; and also in the Shih, II, vi, i, q. v. ^ That is, abundant harvests. The :^ of the common text should, probably, be %M- PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 75 unite in blessing him as the representative of our departed (whom we worship), and raise an altar to him as we do to the spirit of the grain ^ ?' Kang- sang heard of it, kept his face indeed to the south '\ but was dissatisfied. His disciples thought it strange in him, but he said to them, ' Why, my disciples, should you think this strange in me } When the airs of spring come forth, all vegetation grows ; and, when the autumn arrives, all the previous fruits of the earth are matured. Do spring and autumn have these effects without any adequate cause ? The processes of the Great Tao have been in operation. I have heard that the Perfect man dw^ells idly in his apartment within its surrounding walls ^, and the people get wild and crazy, not knowing how they should repair to him. Now these small people of Wei-lei in their opinionative way want to present their offerings to me, and place me among such men of ability and virtue. But am I a man to be set up as such a model ? It is on this account that I am dissatisfied when I think of the words of Lao Tan ■*.' 2. His disciples said, ' Not so. In ditches eight cubits wide, or even twice as much, big fishes can- not turn their bodies about, but minnows and eels find them sufficient for them ^ ; on hillocks six or ^ I find it difficult to tell what these people wanted to make of A7m, further than what he says himself immediately to his disciples. I cannot think that they wished to make him their ruler. ^ This is the proper position for the sovereign in his court, and for the sage as the teacher of the world. K/m accepts it in the latter capacity, but with dissatisfaction. ^ Compare the Li A'l, Bk. XXXVIII, par. 10, et al. * As if he were one with the Tao. * I do not see the appropriateness here of the ^(j in the text. 76 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiii. seven cubits high, large beasts cannot conceal them- selves, but foxes of evil omen find it a good place for them. And moreover, honour should be paid to the wise, offices given to the able, and preference shown to the good and the beneficial. From of old Yao and Shun acted thus ; — how much more may the people of Wei-lei do so ! O Master, let them have their way!' Kang-sang replied, ' Come nearer, my little child- ren. If a beast that could hold a carriag-e in its mouth leave its hill by itself, it will not escape the danger that awaits it from the net ; or if a fish that could swallow a boat be left dry by the flowing away of the water, then (even) the ants are able to trouble it. Thus it is that birds and beasts seek to be as high as possible, and fishes and turtles seek to lie as deep as possible. In the same way men who wish to preserve their bodies and lives keep their persons concealed, and they do so in the deepest retirement possible. And more- over, what was there in those sovereicrns to entitle them to your laudatory mention ? Their sophis- tical reasonings (resembled) the reckless breaking down of walls and enclosures and planting the wild rubus and wormwood in their place ; or makino- the hair thm before they combed it ; or counting the grains of rice before they cooked them \ They would do such things with careful discrimination ; but what was there in them to benefit the world ? If you raise the men of talent to office, you will create disorder ; making the people strive with one ' All these condemnatory descriptions of Yao and Shun are eminently Taoistic, but so metaphorical that it is not easy to appreciate them. PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF A'\VANG-3ZE. ']^ another for promotion ; if you employ men for their wisdom, the people will rob one another (of their reputation) ^ These various things are insufficient to make the people good and honest. They are very eager for gain ; — a son will kill his father, and a minister his ruler (for it). In broad daylight men will rob, and at midday break through walls. I tell you that the root of the greatest disorder was planted in the times of Yao and Shun. The branches of it will remain for a thousand a^es ; and after a thousand ages men will be found eating one another ^! 3. (On this) Nan-yung Khi\ ^ abruptly sat right up and said, ' What method can an old man like me adopt to become (the Perfect man) that you have described ? ' Kang-sang 3ze said, ' Maintain your body complete ; hold your life in close embrace ; and do not let your thoughts keep working anxiously: — do this for three years, and you may become the man of whom I have spoken.' The other rejoined, ' Eyes are all of the same form, I do not know any difference between them : — yet the blind have no power of vision. Ears are all of the same form ; I do not know any difference between them : — yet the deaf have no power of hearing. Minds are all of the same nature, I do not know any difference between them ; — yet the mad cannot make the minds of other men their own. (My) personality is indeed like (yours), but things seem to separate ' Compare the Tao Teh A'ing, ch. 3. ^ KltVi is in all this too violent. ^ A disciple of Kang-sang A7/u ; — ' a sincere seeker of the Tao, very much to be pitied/ says Lin Hsi-/C'ung. 78 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxiil. between iis^ I wish to find in myself what there is in you, but I am not able to do so \ You have now said to me, " Maintain your body complete ; hold your life in close embrace ; and do not let your thoughts keep working anxiously." With all my eftbrts to learn your Way, (your words) reach only my ears.' Kang-sang replied, ' I can say nothing more to you,' and then he added, ' Small flies cannot transform the bean caterpillar^; Ylieh ^ fowls can- not hatch the eggs of geese, but Lu fowls ^ can. It is not that the nature of these fowls is different ; the ability in the one case and inability in the other arise from their different capacities as large and small. My ability is small and not sufficient to transform you. Why should you not go south and see Laoize ? ' 4. Nan-yung AV/u hereupon took with him some rations, and after seven days and seven nights arrived at the abode of Lao-jze, who said to him, ' Are you come from AV/u's ? ' 'I am,' was the reply. 'And why, Sir, have you come with such a multitude of attendants ^ ? ' Nan-yung was frightened, and turned his head round to look behind him. Lao-jze said, 'Do you not understand my meaning ?' The other held his head down and was ashamed, and then he lifted it up, and sighed, saying, ' I for- got at the moment what I should reply to your ^ The ^^ in the former of these sentences is difficult. I take it in the sense of ^, and read it pht. ^ Comj)are the Shih, II, v, Ode 2, 3. ' I believe the fowls of Shan-tung are still larger than those of ^ih-Xiang or Ffi-X'icn. ■* A good instance of Lao's metaphorical style. PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. 79 question, and in consequence I have lost what I wished to ask you.' ' What do you mean ? ' ' If I have not wisdom, men say that I am stupid \ while if I have it, it occasions distress to myself. If I have not benevolence, then (I am charged) with doing hurt to others, while if I have it, I distress myself. If I have not righteousness, I (am charged with) injuring others, while if I have it, I distress myself. How can I escape from these dilemmas ? These are the three perplexities that trouble me ; and I wish at the suggestion of A7/u to ask you about them.' Lao-^ze replied, ' A little time ago, when I saw you and looked right into your eyes ^ I understood you, and now your words confirm the judgment which I formed. You look frightened and amazed. You have lost your parents, and are try- ing with a pole to find them at the (bottom of) the sea. You have gone astray ; you are at your wit's end. You wish to recover your proper nature, and you know not what step to take first to find it. You are to be pitied ! ' 5. Nan-yung KJm asked to be allowed to enter (the establishment), and have an apartment assigned to him^. (There) he sought to realise the qualities which he loved, and put away those which he hated. For ten days he afflicted himself, and then waited again on Lao-^ze, who said to him, ' You must purify yourself thoroughly ! But from your symptoms of ^ In the text ;^ ^. The -%i must be an erroneous addition, or probably it is a mistake for the speaker's name j^. ^ Literally, ' between the eye-brows and eye-lashes.' ^ Thus we are as it were in the school of Lao-^ze, and can see how he deals with his pupils. 8o THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiii. distress, and signs of impurity about you, I see there still seem to cling to you things that you dislike. When the fettering influences from without become numerous, and you try to seize them (you will find it a difficult task) ; the better plan is to bar your inner man agfainst their entrance. And when the similar influences within get intertwined, it is a difficult task to grasp (and hold them in check) ; the better plan is to bar the outer door against their exit. Even a master of the Tao and its character- istics will not be able to control these two influences together, and how much less can one who is only a student of the Tao do so ! ' Nan-yung KJiix said, 'A certain villager got an illness, and when his neigh- bours asked about it, he was able to describe the malady, though it was one from which he had not suffered before. When I ask you about the Grand Tao, it seems to me like drinkinof medicine which (only serves to) increase my illness. I should like to hear from you about the regular method of guarding the life ; — that will be sufficient for me.' Lao-^ze replied, ' (You ask me about) the regular method of guarding the life ; — can you hold the One thing fast in your embrace ? Can you keep from losing it ? Can you know the lucky and the unlucky without having recourse to the tortoise-shell or the divining stalks ? Can you rest (w^iere you ought to rest) ? Can you stop (when you have got enough) .-* Can you give over thinking of other men, and seek what you want in yourself (alone) ? Can you flee (from the allurements of desire) ? Can you maintain an entire simplicity? Can you become a little child ? The child will cry all the day, without its throat becoming hoarse ; — so perfect is the harmony (of PT. III. SECT. r. THE WRITINGS OF XWANG-3ZE. 8 1 its physical constitution). It will keep its fingers closed all the day without relaxing their grasp ; — such is the concentration of its powers. It will keep its eyes fixed all day, without their moving; — so is it unaffected by what is external to it. It walks it knows not whither ; it rests where it is placed, it knows not why ; it is calmly indifferent to things, and follows their current. This is the regular method of oruardino- the life \' 6. Nan-yung KJiix said, ' And are these all the characteristics of the Perfect man ? ' Lao-^ze replied, ' No. These are what we call the breaking up of the ice, and the dissolving of the cold. The Perfect man, along with other men, gets his food from the earth, and derives his joy from his Heaven (-conferred nature). But he does not like them allow himself to be troubled by the consideration of advantage or injury coming from men and things ; he does not like them do strange things, or form plans, or enter on undertakings ; he flees from the allurements of desire, and pursues his way with an entire sim- plicity. Such is the way by which he guards his life.' ' And is this w^hat constitutes his perfection ? ' ' Not quite. I asked you whether you could become a little child. The little child moves unconscious of what it is doing, and walks unconscious of whither it is going. Its body is like the branch of a rotten tree, and its mind is like slaked lime -. Being such, misery does not come to it, nor happiness. It has ^ In this long reply there are many evident recognitions of passages in the Tao Teh A'ing; — compare chapters 9, 10, 55, 58- * See the description of 3ze-X'/n's Taoistic trance at the begin- ning of the second Book. [40] G 82 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIII. neither misery nor happiness ; —how can it suffer from the calamities incident to men ^ ? ' 7. 2 He whose mind ^ is thus grandly fixed emits a Heavenly light. In him who emits this heavenly light men see the (True) man. When a man has cultivated himself (up to this point), thenceforth he remains constant in himself. When he is thus con- stant in himself, (what is merely) the human element will leave him*, but Heaven will help him. Those whom their human element has left we call the people of Heaven^. Those whom Heaven helps we call the Sons of Heaven. Those who would by learning attain to this^ seek for what they cannot ^ Nan-yung Khii disappears here. His first master, Kang-sang Kh\\, disappeared in paragraph 4. The different way in which his name is written by Sze-ma K/nen is mentioned in the brief intro- ductory note on p. 153. It should have been further stated there that in the Fourth Book of Lieh-^ze (IV, 2^-'^^) some account of him is given with his name as written by Kfntn. A great officer of Kh^n is introduced as boasting of him that he was a sage, and, through his mastery of the principles of Lao Tan, could hear with his eyes and see with his ears. Hereupon Khang-jhang is brought to the court of the marquis of Lu to whom he says that the report of him which he had heard was false, adding that he could dispense with the use of his senses altogether, but could not alter their several functions. This being reported to Confucius, he simply laughs at it, but makes no remark. ^ I suppose that from this to the end of the Book we have the sentiments of ^wang-^^ze himself. Whether we consider them his, or the teachings of Lao-jze to his visitor, they are among the depths of Taoism, which I will not attempt to elucidate in the notes here. ^ The character which I have translated 'mind' here is '^^ meaning ' the side walls of a house,' and metaphorically used for 'the breast,' as the house of the mind. Hu explains it by i^ gjxj). He is emancipated from the human as contrary to the heavenly. " Tlic Tao. PT, III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 8'3 learn. Those who would by effort attain to this, attempt what effort can never effect. Those who aim by reasoning to reach it reason where reasoning has no place. To know to stop where they cannot arrive by means of knowledge is the highest attain- ment. Those who cannot do this will be destroyed on the lathe of Heaven. 8. Where things are all adjusted to maintain the body ; where a provision against unforeseen dangers is kept up to maintain the life of the mind ; where an inward reverence is cherished to be exhibited (in all intercourse) with others ; — where this is done, and yet all evils arrive, they are from Heaven, and not from the men themselves. They will not be sufficient to confound the established (virtue of the character), or be admitted into the Tower of Intelli- gence. That Tower has its Guardian, who acts unconsciously, and whose care will not be effective, if there be any conscious purpose in it ^ If one who has not this entire sincerity in himself make any outward demonstration, every such demonstration will be incorrect. The thing will enter into him, and not let go its hold. Then with every fresh demonstration there will be still greater failure. If he do what is not good in the light of open day, men will have the opportunity of punishing him ; if he do it in darkness and secrecy, spirits- will inflict the punishment. Let a man understand this — his relation both to men and spirits, and then he will do what is good in the solitude of himself. ^ This Guardian of the Mind or Tower of Intelligence is the TA ao. ^ One of the rare introductions of spiritual agency in the early Taoism. G 2 84 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIII. He whose rule of life is in himself does not act for the sake of a name. He whose rule is outside himself has his will set on extensive acquisition. He who does not act for the sake of a name emits a light even in his ordinary conduct; he whose will is set on extensive acquisition is but a trafficker. Men see how he stands on tiptoe, while he thinks that he is overtopping others. Things enter (and take possession of) him who (tries to) make himself exhaustively (acquainted w^th them), while when one is indifferent to them, they do not find any lodg- ment in his person. And how can other men find such lodo^ment ? But when one denies lodgment to men, there are none who feel attachment to him. In this condition he is cut off from other men. There is no weapon more deadly than the wilP; — even Mu-ye^ was inferior to it. There is no robber greater than the Yin and Yang, from whom nothing can escape of all between heaven and earth. But it is not the Yin and Yang that play the robber; — it is the mind that causes them to do so. 9. The Tao is to be found in the subdivisions (of its subject) ; (It is to be found) in that when com- plete, and when broken up. What I dislike in con- sidering it as subdivided, is that the division leads to the multiplication of it ; — and what I dislike in that multiplication is that it leads to the (thought of) effort to secure it. Therefore when (a man) ' That is, the will, man's own human element, in opposition to the Heavenly element of the Tao. ^ One of the two famous swords made for Ho-lu, the king of Wu. Sec the account of their making in the seventy-fourth chapter of the 'History of the Various States;' very marvellous, but evidently, and acknowledged to be, fabulous. PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF A'\VANG-3ZE. 85 comes forth (and is born), if he did not return (to his previous non-existence), we should have (only) seen his ghost ; when he comes forth and gets this (return), he dies (as we say). He is extinguished, and yet has a real existence : — (this is another way of saying that in life we have) only man's ghost. By taking the material as an emblem of the im- material do we arrive at a settlement of the case of man. He comes forth, but from no root ; he re- enters, but by no aperture. He has a real existence, but it has nothing to do with place ; he has con- tinuance, but it has nothing to do with beginning or end. He has a real existence, but it has nothing to do with place, such is his relation to space; he has continuance, but it has nothing to do with beginning or end, such is his relation to time ; he has life ; he has death ; he comes forth ; he enters ; but we do not see his form ; — all this is what is called the door of Heaven. The door of Heaven is Non-Existence. All things come from non-existence. The (first) existences could not bring themselves into exist- ence ; they must have come from non-existence. And non-existence is just the same as non-existing. Herein is the secret of the sages. 10. Amonof the ancients there were those whose knowledge reached the extreme point. And what was that point ? There were some who thought that in the beginning there was nothing. This was the extreme point, the completest reach of their knowledge, to which nothing could be added. Again, there were those who supposed that (in the begin- ning) there were existences, proceeding to consider life to be a (gradual) perishing, and death a return- ing (to the original state). And there they stopped, 85 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiil. making, (however), a distinction between life and death. Once again there were those who said, ' In the beginning there was nothing ; by and by there was Hfe ; and then in a Httle time life was succeeded by death. We hold that non-existence was the head, life the body, and death the os coccygls. But of those who acknowledge that existence and non- existence, death and life, are all under the One Keeper, we are the friends.' Though those who maintained these three views were different, they were so as the different branches of the same ruling Family (of Khi\) \ — the A'aos and the /v'ings, bear- ing the surname of the lord whom they honoured as the author of their branch, and the A'ias named from their appanage ; — (all one, yet seeming) not to be one. The possession of life is like the soot that collects under a boiler. When that is differently distributed, the life is spoken of as different. But to say that life is different in different lives, and better in one than in another, is an improper mode of speech. And yet there may be something here which we do not know, (As for instance), at the la sacrifice the paunch and the divided hoofs may be set forth on separate dishes, but they should not be considered as parts of different victims ; (and again), when one is inspect- ing, a house, he goes over it all, even the adytum for the shrines of the temple, and visits also the most private apartments; doing this, and setting a different estimate on the different parts. Let me try and speak of this method of appor- ' Both Lao ami A'wang belonged to K/m, and this illustration was natural to them. PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-SZE. 87 tioning one's approval : — life is the fundamental consideration in it ; knowledge is the instructor. From this they multiply their approvals and dis- approvals, determining what is merely nominal and what is real. They go on to conclude that to them- selves must the appeal be made in everything, and to try to make others adopt them as their model ; prepared even to die to make good their views on every point. In this way they consider being em- ployed in office as a mark of wisdom, and not being so employed as a mark of stupidity, success as entitling to fame, and the want of it as disgraceful. The men of the present day who follow this dlfferen- tiatlngf method are like the cicada and the little dove ^ ; — there is no difference between them. II. When one treads on the foot of another In the market-place, he apologises on the ground of the bustle. If an elder tread on his younger brother, he proceeds to comfort him ; If a parent tread on a child, he says and does nothing. Hence it is said, ' The greatest politeness Is to show no special respect to others ; the greatest righteousness is to take no account of things ; the greatest wisdom is to lay no plans ; the greatest benevolence is to make no demonstration of affection ; the greatest good faith is to give no pledge of sincerity.' Repress the impulses of the will ; unravel the errors of the mind ; put away the entanglements to virtue ; and clear away all that obstructs the free course of the Tao, Honours and riches, distinctions and austerity, fame and profit ; these six things pro- duce the impulses of the will. Personal appearance ^ See in Bk. I, par. 2. 88 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiii. and deportment, the desire of beauty and subtle reasonings, excitement of the breath and cherished thoughts ; these six things produce errors of the mind. Hatred and longings, joy and anger, grief and delight ; these six things are the entanglements to virtue. Refusals and approachments, receiving and giving, knowledge and ability ; these six things obstruct the course of the Tao. When these four conditions, with the six causes of each, do not agitate the breast, the mind is correct. Being cor- rect, it is still ; being still, it is pellucid ; being pellucid, it is free from pre-occupation ; being free from pre-occupation, it is in the state of inaction, in which it accomplishes everything. The Tao is the object of reverence to all the virtues. Life is what gives opportunity for the dis- play of the virtues. The nature is the substantive character of the life. The movement of the nature is called action. When action becomes hypocritical, we say that it has lost (its proper attribute). The wise communicate with what is external to them and are always laying plans. This is what with all their wisdom they are not aware of ; — they look at things askance. When the action (of the nature) is from external constraint, we have what is called virtue ; when it is all one's own, we have what is called government. These two names seem to be opposite to each other, but in reality they are in mutual accord. 1 2. ! 1 was skilful in hitting the minutest mark, but stupid in wishing men to go on praising him without end. The sage is skilful Heavenwards, but stupid ^ See on V, par. 2. PT. III. SECT. I. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 89 manwards. It is only the complete man who can be both skilful Heavenwards and good manwards. Only an insect can play the insect, only an insect show the insect nature. Even the complete man hates the attempt to exemplify the nature of Heaven. He hates the manner in which men do so, and how much more would he hate the doino- so by himself before men ! When a bird came in the way of I, he was sure to obtain it ; — such was his mastery with his bow. If all the world were to be made a cage, birds would have nowhere to escape to. Thus it was that Thang caged I Yin by making him his cook ^ and that duke Mu of A7/in caged Pai-li Hsi by giving the skins of five rams for him ^. But if you try to cage men by anything but what they like, you will never succeed. A man, one of whose feet has been cut off, dis- cards ornamental (clothes) ; — his outward appearance will not admit of admiration. A criminal under sentence of death will ascend to any height without fear ; — he has ceased to think of life or death. When one persists in not reciprocating the gifts (of friendship), he forgets all others. Having for- gotten all others, he may be considered as a Heaven-like man. Therefore when respect is shown to a man, and it awakens in him no joy, and when contempt awakens no anger, it is only one who shares in the Heaven-like harmony that can be thus. When he would display anger and yet is not angry, the anger comes out in that repression of it. When he would put forth action, and yet does not do so, ^ See IMencius V, i, 7. "^ JMencius V, i, 9. 90 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiil. the action is in that not-acting. Desiring to be quies- cent, he must pacify all his emotions ; desiring to be spirit-like, he must act in conformity with his mind. When action is required of him, he wishes that it may be right ; and it then is under an inevitable constraint. Those who act according to that in- evitable constraint pursue the way of the sage. PT, III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-,=!ZF.. 9 1 BOOK XXIV. Part III. Section II. Hsii Wu-kwei^ I. Hsli Wu-kwel havinor obtained throuoh Nii Shang ^ an introduction to the marquis Wu of Wei ^ the marquis, speaking to him with kindly sympathy^, said, ' You are ill. Sir ; you have suffered from your hard and laborious toils ^ in the forests, and still you have been willing to come and see poor me^.' Hsii Wu-kwei replied, ' It is I who have to comfort your lordship ; what occasion have you to comfort me ? If your lordship go on to fill up the measure of your sensual desires, and to prolong your likes and dislikes, then the condition of your mental nature will be diseased, and if you discourage and repress those desires, and deny your likings and dislikings, that will be an affliction to your ears and eyes 1 See vol. xxxix, pp. 153, 154. ^ A favourite and minister of the marquis Wu. ^ This was the second marquis of Wei, one of the three princi- palities into which the great state of 3in had been broken up, and which he ruled as the marquis K\ for sixteen years, b. c. 386-371. His son usurped the title of king, and was the ' king Hui of Liang,' whom Mencius had interviews with. Wu, or ' martial,' Nvas A'l's honorary, posthumous epithet. * The character (^) which I thus translate, has two tones, the second and fourth. Here and elsewhere in this paragraph and the next, it is with one exception in the fourth tone, meaning ' to com- fort or reward for toils endured.' The one exception is its next occurrence, — ' hard and laborious toils.' ^ The appropriate and humble designation of himself by the ruler of a state. 92 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv. (deprived of their accustomed pleasures) ; — it is for me to comfort your lordship, what occasion have you to comfort me ? ' The marquis looked con- temptuous, and made no reply. After a little time, Hsli Wu-kwei said, ' Let me tell your lordship something: — I look at dogs and judge of them by their appearance ^ One of the lowest quality seizes his food, satiates himself, and stops ; — he has the attributes of a fox. One of a medium quality seems to be looking at the sun. One of the highest quality seems to have forgotten the one thing, — himself. But I judge still better of horses than I do of doofs. When I do so, I find that one oroes straio-ht- forward, as if following a line ; that another turns off, so as to describe a hook ; that a third describes a square as if following the measure so called ; and that a fourth describes a circle as exactly as a compass would make it. These are all horses of a state ; but they are not equal to a horse of the kingdom. His qualities are complete. Now he looks anxious ; now to be losing the way ; now to be forgetting himself. Such a horse prances along, or rushes on, spurning the dust and not knowing where he is.' The marquis was greatly pleased and laughed. When Hsli Wu-kwei came out. Nil Shane said to him, ' How was it. Sir, that you by your counsels produced such an effect on our ruler ? In my coun- sellings of him, now indirectly, taking my subjects from the Books of Poetry, History, Rites, and Music ; now directly, from the Metal Tablets ", and the six Bow-cases 2, all calculated for the service (of the ' Literally, ' 1 physiognomise dogs.' '^ The names of two Books, or Collections of Tablets, the former PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 93 State), and to be of great benefit ; — in these coun- sellings, repeated times without number, I have never seen the ruler show his teeth in a smile : — by what counsels have you made him so pleased to-day?' Hsu Wu-kwei replied, ' I only told him how I judged of dogs and horses by looking at their appearance.' 'So?' said Nil Shang, and the other rejoined, 'Have you not heard of the wanderer ^ from Yiieh ? when he had been gone from the state several days, he was glad when he saw any one whom he had seen in it ; when he had been gone a month, he was glad when he saw any one whom he had known in it ; and when he had been gone a round year, he was glad when he saw any one who looked like a native of it. The longer he was gone, the more longingly did he think of the people ; — was it not so ? The men who withdraw to empty valleys, where the hellebore bushes stop up the little paths made by the weasels, as they push their way or stand amid the waste, are glad when they seem to hear the sounds of human footsteps ; and how much more would they be so, if it were their brothers and relatives talking and laughing by their side ! How long it is since the words of a True- man were heard as he talked and laughed by our ruler's side !' 2, At (another) interview of Hsu Wu-kwei with the marquis Wu, the latter said, ' You, Sir, have been dwelling in the forests for a long time, living containing Registers of the Population, the latter treating of mili- tary subjects. ^ Kwo Hsiang makes this ' a banished criminal.' This is not necessary. ^ Wu-kwei then had a high opinion of his own attainments in Taoism, and a low opinion of Nii Shang and the other courtiers. C)4 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv. on acorns and chestnuts, and satiating yourself with onions and chives, without thinking of poor me. Now (that you are here), is it because you are old ? or because you wish to try again the taste of wine and meat ? or because (you wish that) I may enjoy the happiness derived from the spirits of the altars of the Land and Grain?' Hsu Wu-kwei replied, ' I was born in a poor and mean condition, and have never presumed to drink of your lordship's wine, or eat of your meat. My object in coming was to comfort your lordship under your troubles.' ' What ? comfort me under my troubles ? ' ' Yes, to comfort both your lordship's spirit and body.' The marquis said, 'What do you mean?' His visitor replied, ' Heaven and Earth have one and the same purpose In the production (of all men). However hieh one man be exalted, he should not think that he Is favourably dealt with ; and however low may be the position of another, he should not think that he Is unfavourably dealt with. You are Indeed the one and only lord of the 10,000 chariots (of your state), but you use your dignity to embitter (the lives of) all the people, and to pamper your ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. But your spirit does not acquiesce in this. The spirit (of man) loves to be in harmony with others and hates selfish indul- gence \ This selfish Indulgence is a disease, and therefore I would comfort you under It. How Is It that your lordship more than others brings this disease on yourself ? ' The marquis said, ' I have wished to see you, Sir, for a long time. I want to love my people, and by the exercise of righteous- * Wii-kwei had a high idea of the constitution of human nature. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 95 ness to make an end of war ; — will that be sufficient ?' Hsu Wii-kwei replied, ' By no means. To love the people is the first step to injure them\ By the exercise of riohteousness to make an end of war is the root from which war is produced \ If your lordship try to accomplish your object in this way, you are not likely to succeed. All attempts to accomplish what we think good (with an ulterior end) is a bad contrivance. Although your lord- ship practise benevolence and righteousness (as you propose), it will be no better than hypocrisy. You may indeed assume the (outward) form, but suc- cessful accomplishment will lead to (inward) conten- tion, and the change thence arising will produce outward fighting. Your lordship also must not mass files of soldiers in the passages of your gal- leries and towers, nor have footmen and horsemen in the apartments about your altars ^. Do not let thoughts contrary to your success lie hidden in your mind ; do not think of conquering men by artifice, or by (skilful) plans, or by fighting. If I kill the officers and people of another state, and annex its territory, to satisfy my selfish desires, while in my spirit I do not know whether the fighting be good, where is the victory that I gain ? Your lordship's best plan is to abandon (your purpose). If you will cultivate in your breast the sincere purpose (to love the people), and so respond to the feeling of Heaven and Earth, and not (further) vex yourself, then your people will already have escaped death ; — what * Taoistic teaching, but questionable. ^ We need more information about the customs of the feudal princes fully to understand the language of this sentence. g6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIV. occasion will your lordship have to make an end of war ? ' 3. Hwang-Ti was going to see Ta-kwel ^ at the hill of A'u-jhze. Fang Ming was acting as charioteer, and K/iding Yli was occupying the third place in the carriage. A^angZo and Hsi Phang went before the horses ; and Khwan Hwun and Kii Kk\ followed the carriage. When they arrived at the wild of Hsiang- k/i^ng, the seven sages were all perplexed, and could find no place at which to ask the way. Just then they met with a boy tending some horses, and asked the way of him. ' Do you know,' they said, ' the hill of A'u-jhze?' and he replied that he did. He also said that he knew where Ta-kwei was living. ' A strange boy is this ! ' said Hwang-Ti. * He not only knows the hill of A^iiihze, but he also knows where Ta-kwei is livinof. Let me ask him about the government of mankind.' The boy said, * The administration of the kingdom is like this (which I am doing) ; — what difficulty should there be in it ? When I was young, I enjoyed myself roaming over all within the six confines of the world of space, and then I began to suffer from indistinct sight. A wise elder taught me, saying, " Ride in the chariot of the ^ Ta (or Thai)-k\vei (or Avei) appears here as the name of a person. It cannot be the name of a hill, as it is said by some to be. The whole paragraph is parabolic or allegorical ; and Ta- kwei is probably a personification of the Great Tao itself, though no meaning of the character kwei can be adduced to justify this interpretation. The horseherd boy is further supposed to be a per- sonification of the ' Great Simplicity,' which is characteristic of the Tao, the spontaneity of it, unvexed by the wisdom of man. The lesson of the paragraph is that taught in the eleventh Book, and many other places. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 97 sun, and roam in the wild of Hsianor-A7^anof. ' Now the trouble in my eyes is a little better, and I am again enjoying myself roaming outside the six con- fines of the world of space. As to the government of the kingdom, it is like this (which I am doing); — what difficulty should there be in it?' Hwang-Ti said, 'The administration of the world is indeed not your business, my son ; nevertheless, I beg to ask you about it' The little lad declined to answer, but on Hwang-Ti putting the question again, he said, ' In what does the governor of the kingdom differ from him who has the tending of horses, and who has only to put away whatever in him would injure the horses ? ' Hwang-Ti bowed to him twice with his head to the ground, called him his ' Heavenly Master',' and withdrew. 4. If officers of wisdom do not see the changes which their anxious thinking has suggested, they have no joy ; if debaters are not able to set forth their views in orderly style, they have no joy; it critical examiners find no subjects on which to exer- cise their powers of vituperation, they have no joy : — they are all hampered by external restrictions. Those who try to attract the attention of their age (wish to) rise at court ; those who try to win the regard of the people- count holding office a glory ; those who possess muscular strength boast of doing what is difficult ; those who are bold and daring exeri; themselves in times of calamity ; those who are able ^ This is the title borne to the present day by the chief or pope of Taoism, the representative of A'ang Tao-ling of our first century. ^ Taking the initial /('ung in the third tone. If we take it in the first tone, the meaning is different. [nO] II gg THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv. swordmen and spearmen delight in fighting ; those whose powers are decayed seek to rest in the name (they have gained) ; those who are skilled in the laws seek to enlarge the scope of government ; those who are proficient in ceremonies and music pay careful attention to their deportment ; and those who profess benevolence and righteousness value opportunities (for displaying them). The husbandmen who do not keep their fields well weeded are not equal to their business, nor are traders who do not thrive in the markets. When the common people have their appropriate employ- ment morning and evening, they stimulate one another to diligence ; the mechanics who are masters of their implements feel strong for their work. If their wealth does not increase, the greedy are dis- tressed ; if their power and influence is not growing, the ambitious are sad. Such creatures of circumstance and things delight in changes, and if they meet with a time when they can show what they can do, they cannot keep them- selves from taking advantage of it. They all pursue their own way like (the seasons of) the year, and do not change as things do. They give the reins to their bodies and natures, and allow themselves to sink beneath (the pressure of) things, and all their lifetime do not come back (to their proper selves) : — is it not sad ' ? 5. /v"wang-jze said, ' An archer, without taking aim beforehand, yet may hit the mark. If we say that he is a good archer, and that all the world may ' All the parties in this paragraph disallow the great principle of Taoism, which does everything by doing nothing. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'\VANG-3ZE. 99 be Is ', is this allowable ? ' Hui-^ze replied, ' It is.' K'vja.ng-^ze continued, ' All men do not agree in counting the same thing to be right, but every one maintains his own view to be right ; (if we say) that all men may be Yaos, is this allowable ? ' Hui-^ze (again) replied, 'It is;' and A'wang-jze went on, ' Very well ; there are the literati, the followers of Mo (Ti), of Yang (A'li), and of Ping " ; — making four (different schools). Including yourself, Master, there are five. Which of your view^s is really right ? Or will you take the position of Lu A'ii ^ ? One of his disciples said to him, " Master, I have got hold of your method. I can in winter heat the furnace under my tripod, and in summer can produce ice." LCi ATi said, " That is only with the Yang element to call out the same, and with the Yin to call out the yin ; — that is not my method. I will show you what my method is." On this he tuned two citherns, placing one of them in the hall, and the other in one of the inner apartments. Striking the note Kung"* in the one, the same note vibrated in the other, and so it was with the note A'io'*; the two instru- ments being tuned in the same way. But if he had differently tuned them on other strings different ^ The famous archer of the Hsia dynasty, in the twenty-second century b. c. '■* The name of Kung-sun Lung, the Lung Li-/7/an of Bk. XXI. par. I. ' Only mentioned here. The statement of his disciple and his remark on it are equally obscure, though the latter is partially illus- trated from the twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and other hexagrams of the Yih A'ing. * The sounds of the first and third notes of the Chinese musical scale, corresponding to our A and E. I know too litde of music myself to pronounce further on Lij A'ii's illustration. II 2 lOO THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIV. from the normal arrangement of the five notes, the five-and-twenty strings would all have vibrated, without any difference of their notes, the note to which he had tuned them ruling and guiding all the others. Is your maintaining your view to be right just like this ?' Hui-jze replied, ' Here now are the literati, and the followers of Mo, Yang, and Ping. Suppose that they have come to dispute with me. They put forth their conflicting statements ; they try voci- ferously to put me down ; but none of them have ever proved me wrong : — what do you say to this ? ' A'wang-jze said, ' There was a man of Kh\ who cast away his son in Sung to be a gate- keeper there, and thinking nothing of the mutilation he would incur ; the same man, to secure one of his sacrificial vessels or bells, would have it strapped and secured, while to find his son who was lost, he would not go out of the territory of his own state : — so forgetful was he of the relative importance of things. If a man of KJm, going to another state as a lame gate-keeper, at midnight, at a time when no one was nigh, were to fight with his boatman, he would not be able to reach the shore, and he would have done what he could to provoke the boatman's animosity \' 6. As ATwang-jze was accompanying a funeral, when passing by the grave of Hui-jze^, he looked ^ 'riie illustrations in this last member of the paragraph are also obscure. Lin Ilsi-^'ung says that all the old explanations of them are defective ; his own explanation has failed to make itself clear to me. 2 The expression in the last sentence of the paragraph, 'the Master,' makes it certain that this was the grave of ^wang-^ze's friend with whom he had had so many conversations and arguments. PT. III. SECT. 11. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. lOI round, and said to his attendants, 'On the top of the nose of that man of Ying-^ there is a (little) bit of mud like a fly's wing.' He sent for the artisan Shih to cut it away. Shih whirled his axe so as to produce a wind, wdiich immediately carried off the mud en- tirely, leaving the nose uninjured, and the (statue of) the man of Ying^ standing undisturbed. The ruler Yiian of Sung ^ heard of the feat, called the artisan Shih, and said to him, ' Try and do the same thing on me.' The artisan said, ' Your servant has been able to trim things in that way, but the material on which I have worked has been dead for a long time.' A'wang-.^ze said, ' Since the death of the Master, I have had no material to work upon. I have had no one with whom to talk.' 7. Kwan A'ung being ill, duke Hwan went to ask for him, and said, ' Your illness, father A^mg, is very severe ; should you not speak out your mind to me ? Should this prove the great illness, to whom will it be best for me to entrust my State ?' Kwan A^ung said, ' To whom does your grace wish to en- trust it?' 'To Pao Shii-ya ^,' was the reply. 'He will not do. He is an admirable officer, pure and incorruptible, but with others who are not like him- self he will not associate. And when he once hears ' Ymg was the capital of Kim. I have seen in China about the graves of wealthy and distinguished men many life-sized statues of men somehow connected wiih them. 2 Yiian is called the ' ruler ' of Sung. That duchy was by this time a mere dependency of Kfn. The sacrifices of its old ruling House were finally extinguished by Kfn in b. c. 206. 3 Pao Shu-ya had been the life-long friend of the dying premier, and to him in the first place had been owing the elevation of Hwan to the marquisate. 102 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv, of another man's faults, he never forgets them. If you employ him to administer the state, above, he will take the leading of your Grace, and, below, he will come into collision with the people ; — in no long time you will be holding him as an offender.' The duke said, ' Who, then, is the man ? ' The reply was, ' If I must speak, there is Hsi Phang^; — he will do. He is a man who forgets his own high position, and against whom those below him wall not revolt. He is ashamed that he is not equal to Hwang-Ti, and pities those who are not equal to himself. Him who imparts of his virtue to others we call a sage ; him who imparts of his wealth to others we call a man of worth. He who by his w^orth would preside over others, never succeeds in winning them ; he w^ho w'lth his worth condescends to others, never but succeeds in winning them. Hsi Phang has not been (much) heard of in the state ; he has not been (much) distinguished in his own clan. But as I must speak, he Is the man for you.' 8. The king of Wu, floating about on the ATiang, (landed and) ascended the Hill of monkeys, which all, when they saw him, scampered off In terror, and hid themselves among the thick hazels. There was one, however, w^hich, In an unconcerned way, swung about on the branches, displaying Its cleverness to the king, who thereon discharged an arrow at It. With a nimble motion it caught the swift arrow, and the king ordered his attendants to hurry forward and shoot It ; and thus the monkey was seized and killed. The king then, looking round, said to his friend Yen ' For a long time a great officer of Kid, but lie died in the same )ear as Kwan -ATung himself. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A:WANG-3ZE. I03 Pu-i\ 'This monkey made a display of its artful- ness, and trusted in its agility, to show me its arro- gance ; — this it was which brought it to this fate. Take warning from it. Ah ! do not by your looks give yourself haughty airs !' Yen Pu-i \ when he returned home, put himself under the teaching of Tung Wu^ to root up- his pride. He put away what he delighted in and abjured distinction. In three years the people of the kingdom spoke of him with admiration. 9. Nan-po 3ze-/C'//i^ was seated, leaning forward on his stool, and sighing gently as he looked up to heaven. (Just then) Yen AV/ang-jze ^ came in, and said, when he saw him, ' Master, you surpass all others. Is it right to make your body thus like a mass of withered bones, and your mind like so much slaked lime ? ' The other said, ' I formerly lived in a grotto on a hill. At that time Thien Ho ^ once came to see me, and all the multitudes of Kh\ congratulated him thrice (on his having found the proper man). I must first have shown myself, and so it was that he knew me ; I must first have been selling (what I had), and so it was that he came to buy. If I had not shown what I possessed, how should he have known it; if I had not been selling (myself), how should he have come to buy me ? I pity ^ We know these names only from their occurrence here. Tung \Vu must have been a professor of Taoism. 2 The text here is ]|)[j, 'to help ;' but it is explained as = '^}, ' a hoe.' The Khang-hsi dictionary does not give this meaning of the character, but we find it in that of Yen Yiian. ^ See the first paragraph of Bk. II. ' 5) TK '^"^^ ^^ ^^^ tB ^Q of Sze-ma A7nen, who became marquis of A7n in b. c. 389. I04 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv. the men who lose themselves ^ ; I also pity the men who pity others (for not being known) ; and I also pity the men who pity the men who pity those that pity others. But since then the time is long gone by; (and so I am in the state in which you have found me)^. lo. A'ung-ni, having gone to Khix, the king ordered wine to be presented to him. Sun Shu-ao =* stood, holding the goblet in his hand. !-liao of Shih-nan ^ having received (a cup), poured its contents out as a sacrificial libation, and said, 'The men of old, on such an occasion as this, made some speech.' A'ung-ni said, ' I have heard of speech without words ; but I have never spoken it; I will do so now. f-liao of Shih-nan kept (quietly) handling his little spheres, ' In seeking for worldly honours. That is, I have abjured all desire for worldly honour, and de- sire attainment in the Tao alone. ' See Mencius VI, ii, 15. Sun Shu-ao was chief minister to king iOwang who died in b.c. 591, and died, probably, before Confucius was born, and I-liao (p. 28, n. 3) appears in public life only after the death of the sage. The three men could not have appeared together at any time. This account of their doing so was devised by our author as a peg on which to hang his own lessons in the rest of the paragraph. The two historical events referred to I have found it diflicult to discover. They are instances of doing nothing, and yet thereby accomplishing what is very great. The action of i-liao in ' quietly handling his balls ' recalls my seeing the same thing done by a gentleman at AV/ii-fau, the city of Confucius, in 1873. Being left there with a companion, and not knowing how to get to the Grand Canal, many gentlem.en came to advise with us how we should proceed. Among them was one who, while tendering his advice, kept rolling about two brass balls in one palm with tlic fingers of the other hand. When I asked the meaning of his action, I was told, ' To show how he is at his ease and master of the situation.' I mention the circumstance because I have nowhere found the phrase in the text adequately explained. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. IO5 and the difficulties between the two Houses were resolved ; Sun Shu-ao slept undisturbed on his couch, with his (dancer's) feather in his hand, and the men of Ying enrolled themselves for the w^ar. I wish I had a beak three cubits lone ^' In the case of those two (ministers) we have what is called ' The Way that cannot be trodden ^ ;' in (the case of A'ung-ni) we have what is called ' the Argu- ment without words -.' Therefore when all attri- butes are comprehended in the unity of the Tao, and speech stops at the point to which knowledge does not reach, the conduct is complete. But where there is (not) ^ the unity of the Tao, the attributes cannot (always) be the same, and that which is be- yond the reach of knowledge cannot be exhibited by any reasoning. There may be as many names as those employed by the Literati and the Mohists, but (the result is) evil. Thus when the sea does not reject the streams that flow into it in their eastward course, we have the perfection of greatness. The sage embraces in his regard both Heaven and Earth ; his beneficent influence extends to all under the sky ; and we do not know from whom it comes. There- fore though when living one may have no rank, and when dead no honorary epithet ; though the reality (of what he is) may not be acknowledged and his name not established ; we have in him what is called ' The Great Man.' A dog is not reckoned good because it barks well ; and a man is not reckoned wise because he speaks ^ This strange wish concludes the speech of Confucius. What follows is from A'wang-jze. "^ Compare the opening chapters of the Tao Teh A'ing. ^ The Tao is greater than any and all of its attributes. I06 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv. skilfully ;— how much less can he be deemed Great ! If one thuiks he is Great, he is not fit to be ac- counted Great ; — how much less is he so from the practice of the attributes (of the Tao)M Now none are so grandly complete as Heaven and Earth ; but do they seek for anything to make them so grandly complete ? He who knows this grand completion does not seek for it ; he loses nothing and abandons nothing ; he does not change himself from regard to (external) things ; he turns in on himself, and finds there an inexhaustible store ; he follows antiquity and does not feel about (for its lessons) ; — such is the perfect sincerity of the Great Man. II. 3ze-/'/^i ^ had eight sons. Having arranged them before him, he called A'iu-fang Yan ^, and said to him, ' Look at the physiognomy of my sons for me ; — which will be the fortunate one ? ' Yan said. ' Khwan is the fortunate one.' ^z^-Ichi looked startled, and joyfully said, 'In what way?' Yan replied, ' Khwan will share the meals of the ruler of a state to the end of his life.' The father looked uneasy, burst into tears, and said, ' What has my son done that he should come to such a fate ? ' Yan replied, ' When one shares the meals of the ruler of a state, blessings reach to all within the three branches of his kindred^, and how much more to his father and mother ! But you. Master, weep when you hear this ; — you oppose (the idea of) such happiness. It is the good fortune of your son, and * See note 3 on previous page. ^ This can hardly be any oiher but Nan-kwo ^ze-kh\. ^ A famous physiognomist ; some say, of horses. Hwai-nan 3ze calls him A'iu-fang Kao (ffi.). ^ See Mayers's Manual, p. 303. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-SZE. IO7 you count it his misfortune.' ^7,Q-kk\ said, ' O Yan, what sufficient ground have you for knowing that this will be Khwan's good fortune ? (The fortune) that is summed up in wine and flesh affects only the nose and the mouth, but you are not able to know how it will come about. I have never been a shep- herd, and yet a ewe lambed in the south-west corner of my house. I have never been fond of hunting, and yet a quail hatched her young in the south-east corner. If these were not prodigies, what can be accounted such } Where I wish to occupy my mind with my son is in (the wide sphere of) heaven and earth ; I wish to seek his enjoyment and mine in (the idea of) Heaven, and our support from the Earth. I do not mix myself up with him in the affairs (of the world) ; nor in forming plans (for his advantage) ; nor in the practice of what is strange. I pursue with him the perfect virtue of Heaven and Earth, and do not allow ourselves to be troubled by outward things. I seek to be with him in a state of undisturbed indifference, and not to practise what affairs might indicate as likely to be advan- tageous. And now there is to come to us this vulgar recompense. Whenever there is a strange realisation, there must have been strange conduct. Danger threatens ; — not through any sin of me or of my son, but as brought about, I apprehend, by Heaven. It is this which makes me weep ! ' Not long after this, ^zQ-k/ii sent off Khwan to go to Yen\ wdien he was made prisoner by some robbers on the way. It would have been difficult to sell him if he were whole and entire, and they thought ^ The state so called. I08 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIV. their easiest plan was to cut off (one of his) feet first. They did so, and sold him in Kh\, where he became Inspector of roads for a Mr. Kh\x^. Never- theless he had flesh to eat till he died. 12. Nieh AVmeh met Hsli Yu (on the way), and said to him, ' Where, Sir, are you going- x.q}' 'I am fleeing from Yao,' was the reply. 'What do you mean ? ' ' Yao has become so bent on his benevo- lence that I am afraid the world will laugh at him, and that in future ages men will be found eating one another^. Now the people are collected together without difliculty. Love them, and they respond with affection ; benefit them, and they come to you ; praise them, and they are stimulated (to please you) : make them to experience what they dislike, and they disperse. When the loving and benefiting proceed from benevolence and righteousness, those who forget the benevolence and righteousness, and those who make a profit of them, are the many. In this way the practice of benevolence and righteous- ness comes to be without sincerity and is like a borrowing of the instruments with which men catch birds ^ In all this the one man's seekino; to benefit the world by his decisions and enactments (of such a nature) is as if he were to cut through (the nature of all) by one operation ; — Yao knows how wise and superior men can benefit the world, but he does not ' One expert supposes the text here to mean ' duke Khxa;' but there was no such duke of Kh\. The best explanation seems to be that Khn was a rich gentleman, inspector of the roads oiKhX, or of the streets of its capital, who bought Khwan to take his duties for him. ^ Compare in Bk. XXIII, par. 2. ' A scheming for one"s own advantage. PT.Ill.SECT.il. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. IO9 also know how they injure it. It is only those w^ho stand outside such men that know this \' There are the pliable and weak ; the easy and hasty ; the grasping and crooked. Those who are called the pliable and weak learn the words of some one master, to which they freely yield their assent, being secretly pleased with themselves, and think- ing that their knowledge is sufficient, while they do not know that they have not yet begun (to under- stand) a single thing. It is this which makes them so pliable and weak. The easy and hasty are like lice on a pig. The lice select a place w^iere the bristles are more wide apart, and look on it as a great palace or a large park. The slits between the toes, the overlappings of its skin, about its nipples and its thighs, — all these seem to them safe apart- ments and advantageous places ; — they do not know that the butcher one morning, swinging about his arms, will spread the grass, and kindle the fire, so that they and the pig will be roasted together. So do they appear and disappear with the place where they harboured : — this is why they are called the easy and hasty. Of the grasping and crooked we have an example in Shun. Mutton has no craving for ants, but ants have a craving for mutton, for it is rank. There was a rankness about the conduct of Shun, and the people were pleased with him. Hence w^hen he thrice changed his residence, every one of them became a capital city ^. When he came to the wild ^ I suppose that the words of Hsii Yu stop with this sen- tence, and that from this to the end of the paragraph we have the sentiments of ^wang-jze himself. The style is his, — graphic but sometimes coarse. ^ See note on Mencius V, i, 2, 3. jlO THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxiv, of Tang', he had 100,000 famiUes about him. Yao having heard of the virtue and abiHty of Shun, appointed him to a new and uncultivated territory, saying, ' I look forward to the benefit of his coming here.' When Shun was appointed to this new terri- tory, his years were advanced, and his intelligence was decayed; — and yet he could not find a place of rest or a home. This is an example of being grasping and wayward. Therefore (in opposition to such) the spirit-like man dislikes the flocking of the multitudes to him. When the multitudes come, they do not agree ; and when they do not agree, no benefit results from their coming. Hence there are none whom he brings very near to himself, and none whom he keeps at a great distance. He keeps his virtue in close embrace, and warmly nourishes (the spirit of) harmony, so as to be in accordance with all men. This is called the True man 2. Even the knowledge of the ant he puts away ; his plans are simply those of the fishes ^ ; even the notions of the sheep he discards. His seeing Is simply that of the eye; his hearing that of the ear ; his mind is governed by its general exercises. Beino- such, his course is straight and level as if marked out by a line, and its every change is in accordance (with the circum- stances of the case). 13. The True men of old waited for the issues of events as the arrangements of Heaven, and did not by their human efforts try to take the place of Heaven. The True men of old (now) looked on ' Situation unknown. "^ The spirit-like man and the true man are the same. •'' Fishes forget everything in llie water. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A:WANG-3ZE. I I I success as life and on failure as death ; and (now) on success as death and on failure as life. The operation of medicines will illustrate this: — there are monk's-bane, the /-ieh-kang, the tribulus fruit, and china-root ; each of these has the time and case for which it is supremely suitable ; and all such plants and their suitabilities cannot be mentioned particularly. Kau-/w'ien^ took his station on (the hill of) Kwai-/f7?i with 3,000 men with their buff-coats and shields: — (his minister) Kung knew how the ruined (Yiieh) might still be preserved, but the same man did not know the sad fate in store for himself. Hence it is said, * The eye of the owl has its proper fitness ; the leg of the crane has its proper limit, and to cut off any of it would distress (the bird).' Hence (also) it is (further) said, ' When the wind passes over it, the volume of the river is diminished, and so it is w^hen the sun passes over it. But let the wind and sun keep a watch together on the river, and it will not begin to feel that they are doing it any injury: — it relies on its springs and flows on.' Thus, water does its part to the ground with undeviating exactness ; and so does the shadow to the substance ; and one thing to another. Therefore there is danger from the power of vision in the eyes, of hearing in the ears, and of the inordinate thinking of the mind ; yea, there is danger from the exercise of every power of which man's constitution is the depository. ^ See the account of the struQ:trle between Kau-X'ien of Yiieh and Fu-y('/^ai of Wu in the eightieth and some following chapters of the ' History of the various States of the Eastern A'au (Li eh Kwo A'ih).' We have sympathy with Kau-X-ien, till his ingratitude to his two great ministers, one of whom was Wan ATung (the Aung of the text), shows the baseness of his character. 112 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIV. When the danger has come to a head, it cannot be averted, and the calamity is perpetuated, and goes on increasing. The return from this (to a state of security) is the result of (great) effort, and success can be attained only after a long time ; and yet men consider (their power of self-determination) as their precious possession: — is it not sad? It is in this way that we have the ruin of states and the slaughtering of the people without end ; while no one knows how to ask how it comes about. 14. Therefore, the feet of man on the earth tread but on a small space, but going on to where he has not trod before, he traverses a great distance easily; so his knowledge is but small, but going on to what he does not already know, he comes to know what is meant by Heaven^ He knows it as The Great Unity; The Great Mystery; The Great Illuminator; The Great Framer ; The Great Bound- lessness ; The Great Truth ; The Great Determiner. This makes his knowledge complete. As The Great Unity, he comprehends it ; as The Great Mystery, he unfolds it; as the Great Illuminator, he contem- plates it; as the Great P>amer, it is to him the Cause of all ; as the Great Boundlessness, all is to him its embodiment; as The Great Truth, he examines it; as The Great Determiner, he holds it fast. Thus Heaven is to him all ; accordance with it is the brightest intelligence. Obscurity has in this its pivot ; in this is the beginning. Such being the ' This paragraph grandly sets forth the culmination of all in- quiries into the Tao as leading to the knowledge of Heaven; and the means by which it may be attained to. PT. III. SECT. II. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. H3 case, the explanation of it is as if it were no ex- planation ; the knowledge of it is as if it were no knowledge. {At first) he does not know it, but afterwards he comes to know it. In his inquiries, he must not set to himself any limits, and yet he cannot be without a limit. Now ascending, now descending, then slipping from the grasp, (the Tao) is yet a reality, unchanged now as in antiquity, and always without defect : — may it not be called what is capable of the greatest display and expansion ? Why should we not inquire into it ? Why should we be perplexed about it ? With what does not perplex let us explain what perplexes, till we cease to be perplexed. So may we arrive at a great freedom from all perplexity ! [40] 114 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxv. BOOK XXV. . Part III. Section III. 3eh-yang^ I. 3Gh-yang having travelled to AV/u, I A'ieh ^ spoke of him to the king, and then, before the king had granted him an interview, (left him, and) re- turned home. 3^h-yang went to see Wang Kwo ", and said to him, ' Master, why do you not mention me to the king ? ' Wang Kwo replied, ' I am not so good a person to do that as Kung-ylieh Hsiu *.' ' What sort of man is he ? ' asked the other, and the reply was, ' In winter he spears turtles in the A'iang, and in summer he rests in shady places on the mountain. When passers-by ask him (what he is doing there), he says, "This is my abode." Since 1 A'ieh was not able to induce the king to see you, how much less should I, who am not equal to him, be able to do so ! I A'ieh's character is this : — he has no (real) virtue, but he has knowledge. If you do not freely yield yourself to him, but employ him to carry on his spirit-like influence (with you), you will certainly get upset and benighted in the region of riches and honours. His help will not be of a virtuous character, but will go to make your virtue * See vol. xxxix, pp. 154, 155. 2 A native of Khu, and, j)robably, a parasite of the court. ^ An officer of AVni, 'a worthy man.' * A reckise of K/m, but not keeping quite aloof from the court. PT. III. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. II5 less ; — it will be like heaping on clothes in spring as a protection against cold, or bringing back the cold winds of winter as a protection against heat (in summer). Now the king of KJi\\ is of a domineering presence and stern. He has no for- giveness for offenders, but is merciless as a tiger. It is only a man of subtle speech, or one of correct virtue, who can bend him from his purpose ^ ' But the sagely man ^, when he is left in obscurity, causes the members of his family to forget their poverty; and, when he gets forward to a position of influence, causes kings and dukes to forget their rank and emoluments, and transforms them to be humble. With the inferior creatures, he shares their pleasures, and they enjoy themselves the more ; with other men, he rejoices in the fellowship of the Tao, and preserves it in himself. Therefore though he may not speak, he gives them to drink of the harmony (of his spirit). Standing in association with them, he transforms them till they become in their feeling towards him as sons with a father. His wish is to return to the solitude of his own mind, and this is the effect of his occasional inter- course with them. So far-reaching is his influence on the minds of men ; and therefore I said to you, "Wait for Kung-yiieh Hsiu." ' 2. The sage comprehends the connexions be- tween himself and others, and how they all go to constitute him of one body with them, and he does not know how it is so ; — he naturally does so. In fulfilling his constitution, as acted on and acting, he ' INIuch of the description of I A'ieh is difficult to construe. ^ Kung-yiieh Hsiu. I 2 I l6 TiiE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxv. (simply) follows the direction of Heaven ; and it is in consequence of this that men style him (a sage). If he were troubled about (the insufficiency of) his knowledge, what he did would always be but small, and sometimes would be arrested altogether ; — how would he in this case be (the sage) ? When (the saee) is born with all his excellence, it is other men who see it for him. If they did not tell him, he would not know that he was more excellent than others. And when he knows it, he is as if he did not know it ; when he hears it, he is as if he did not hear it. His source of joy in it has no end, and men's admiration of him has no end ; — all this takes place naturally ^ The love of the sage for others receives its name from them. If they did not tell him of it, he would not know that he loved them ; and when he knows it, he is as if he knew it not ; when he hears it, he is as if he heard it not. His love of others never has an end, and their rest in him has also no end : — all this takes place naturally \ 3. When one sees at a distance his old country and old city, he feels a joyous satisfaction ^. Though it be full of mounds and an overgrowth of trees and grass, and when he enters it he finds but a tenth part remaining, still he feels that satis- faction. How much more when he sees w'hat he saw, and hears what he heard before I All this is to him like a tower eighty cubits high exhibited in the sight of all men. ' That is, ' he does so in the spontaneity of his nature.' The 1^ requires the employment of the term ' nature ' here, not according to any abstract usage of the term, but meaning the natural constitution. Compare the j'^ ^ in ^Mencius VII, i, 30. ^ So does he rejoice in attaining to the knowledge of his nature. PT. in. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-HZE. I] 7 (The sovereig;n) Zan-hsiangi was possessed of that central principle round which all things re- volve-, and by it he could follow them to their completion. His accompanying them had neither ending nor beginning, and was independent of impulse or time. Daily he witnessed their changes, and himself underwent no change ; and why should he not have rested in this? If we (try to) adopt Heaven as our Master, we incapacitate ourselves from doing so. Such endeavour brings us under the power of things. If one acts in this way, what is to be said of him ? The sage never thinks of Heaven nor of men. He does not think of takings the initiative, nor of anything external to himself. He moves along with his age, and does not vary or fail. Amid all the completeness of his doings, he is never exhausted. For those who wish to be in accord with him, what other course is there to pursue ? When Thang got one to hold for him the reins of government, namely, Man-yin Tang-hang 3, he employed him as his teacher. He followed his master, but did not allow himself to be hampered by him, and so he succeeded in following things to their completion. The master had the name ; but that name was a superfluous addition to his laws, and the tw^ofold character of his government was made apparent ^. A'ung-ni's ' Task ) our thoughts to the utmost ' was his expression of the duties of a ^ A sage sovereign prior to tlie three Hwang or August ones. ^ See tlie same phraseology in Book II, par. 3. ^ I have followed Lin Hsi-/'un2: in taking these four cliaracters as the name of one man. ■* There was a human element in it instead of the Heavenly only; but some critics think the text here is erroneous or defective. Il8 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXV. master. Yung-khang said, ' Take the days away and there will be no year ; without what is internal there will be nothing external ^' 4. (King) Yung^ of Wei made a treaty with the marquis Thien Mau^ (of /v/ii), which the latter violated. The king was enraged, and intended to send a man to assassinate him. When the Minister of War^ heard of it, he was ashamed, and said (to the king), 'You are a ruler of 10,000 chariots, and by means of a common man would avenge yourself on your enemy. I beg you to give me, Yen, the command of 200,000 soldiers to attack him for you. I will take captive his people and officers, halter (and lead off) his oxen and horses, kindling a fire within him that shall burn to his backbone. I will then storm his capital ; and when he shall run away in terror, I will flog his back and break his spine.' Al-jze ^ heard of this advice, and was ashamed of it, and said (to the king), ' We have been raising the wall (of our capital) to a height of eighty cubits, and the work has been completed. If we now get it thrown down, it will be a painful toil to the convict builders. It is now seven years ^ Said to have been employed by Hwang-Ti to make the calendar. 2 B.C. 370-317- '■' I do not find the name Mau as belonging to any of the Thien rulers of A'/n. The name of the successor of Thien Ho, who has been before us, was -^, \Vu, for which ^, INIau, may be a mistake; or 'the marquis Mau' may be a creation of our author. ■■ Literally, ' the Rhinoceros' Head,' the tide of ' the Minister of War ' in Wei, who was at this time a Kung-sun Yen. See the memoir of him in Sze-ma AVnen, Book IX of his Biographies. ° I do not know that anything more can be said of A'l and Hwa than that they were ofiicers of Wei. PT. III. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. II 9 since our troops were called out, and this is the foundation of the royal sway. Yen would introduce disorder ; — he should not be listened to.' Hwa-jze ^ heard of this advice, and, greatly disapproving of it, said (to the king), ' He who shows his skill in say- ing " Attack KJA " would produce disorder ; and he who shows his skill in saying " Do not attack it" would also produce disorder. And one who should (merely) say, " The counsellors to attack Kh\ and not to attack it would both produce dis- order," would himself also lead to the same result.' The king said, ' Yes, but what am I to do ? ' The reply was, ' You have only to seek for (the rule of) the Tao (on the subject).' Hui-jze, having heard of this counsel, introduced to the king Tai Sin-san^, who said, ' There is the creature called a snail ; does your majesty know it ?' ' I do.' ' On the left horn of the snail there is a kinodom which is called Provocation, and on the right horn another which is called Stupidity. These two kingdoms are continually striving about their territories and fighting. The corpses that lie on the ground amount to several myriads. The army of one may be defeated and put to flight, but in fifteen days it will return.' The king said, ' Pooh ! that is empty talk ! ' The other rejoined, ' Your servant begs to show your majesty its real signifi- cance. When your majesty thinks of space — east, west, north, and south, above and beneath— can you set any limit to it ? ' 'It is illimitable,' said the kino; ; and his visitor went on, ' Your majesty knows ^ See note 5 on preceding page. - Evidently a man of considerable reach of thought. I20 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxv. how to let your mind thus travel through the illimit- able, and yet (as compared with this) does it not seem insienificant whether the kins^doms that communi- cate one with another exist or not ? ' The king replies, ' It does so;' and Tai Sii'^-'^'an said, finally, 'Among those kingdoms, stretching one after an- other, there is this Wei ; in Wei there is this (city of) Liang ^ ; and in Liang there is your majesty. Can you make any distinction between yourself, and (the king of that kingdom of) Stupidity?' To this the king answered, ' There is no distinction,' and his visitor went out, while the king remained disconcerted and seemed to have lost himself. When the visitor was gone, Hui-jze came in and saw the king, who said, ' That stranger is a Great man. An (ordinary) sage is not equal to him.' Hui-jze replied, ' If you blow into a flute, there come out its pleasant notes ; if you blow into a sword-hilt, there is nothing but a wheezing sound. Yao and Shun are the subjects of men's praises, but if you speak of them before Tai 5in--£^an, there will be but the wheezing sound.' 5. Confucius, having gone to A7m, was lodging in the house of a seller of Congee at Ant-hill. On the roof of a neighbouring house there appeared the husband and his wife, with their servants, male and female 2. 3^e-lu said, ' What are those people doing, ' Liang, the capital, came to be used also as the name of the state ; — as in Mcncius. ^ ' They were on the roof, repairing it,' say some. ' They had got on the roof, to get out of the way of Confucius,' say others. The sequel shows that this second interpretation is correct ; but we do not see how the taking to the roof facilitated their departure from the house. PT. in. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-HZE. 121 collected there as we see them ?' A'ung-ni replied, ' The man is a disciple of the sages. 1 le is burying himself among the people, and hiding among the fields. Reputation has become little in his e3'es, but there is no bound to his cherished aims. ThouLdi he may speak with his mouth, he never tells what is in his mind. Moreover, he is at variance with the age, and his mind disdains to associate with it ; — he is one who may be said to lie hid at the bottom of the water on the dry land. Is he not a sort of I Liao of Shih-nan ? ' 3^e-l^i asked leave to go and call him, but Confucius said, ' Stop. He knows that I understand him well. He knows that I am come to Khi\, and thinks that T am sure to try and get the king to invite him (to court). He also thinks that I am a man swift to speak. Being such a man, he would fee] ashamed to listen to the w^ords of one of voluble and flattering tongue, and how much more to come himself and see his person! And why should we think that he will remain here ? ' 3^e-lLi, however, went to see how it was, but found the house empty. 6. The Border-warden of A'/^ang-wu \ in question- ing 3ze-lao^, said, ' Let not a ruler in the exercise of his government be (like the farmer) who leaves the clods unbroken, nor, in regulating his people, (like one) who recklessly plucks up the shoots. Formerly, in ploughing my corn-fields, I left the clods un- broken, and my recompense was in the rough unsatisfactory crops ; and in weeding, I destroyed and tore up (many good plants), and my recompense was in the scantiness of my harvests. In subse- ^ Probably the same as the A7;ang-wu 3ze in Book II, par. 9. "^ See Analects IX, vi, 4. 122 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxv. quent years I changed my methods, ploughing deeply and carefully covering up the seed ; and my harvests were rich and abundant, so that all the year I had more than I could eat.' When A'wangize heard of his remarks, he said, ' Now-a- days, most men, in attending to their bodies and regulating their minds, correspond to the descrip- tion of the Border-warden. They hide from them- selves their Heaven (-given being) ; they leave (all care of) their (proper) nature ; they extinguish their (proper) feelings ; and they leave their spirit to die : — abandoning themselves to what is the general prac- tice. Thus dealine with their nature like the farmer who is neelieent of the clods in his soil, the illeoriti- mate results of their likings and dislikings become their nature. The bushy sedges, reeds, and rushes, which seem at first to spring up to support our bodies, gradually eradicate our nature, and it be- comes like a mass of running sores, ever liable to flow out, with scabs and ulcers, discharging in flow- ing matter from the internal heat. So indeed it is!' 7. Po A^u^ was studying with Lao Tan, and asked his leave to go and travel everywhere. Lao Tan said, ' Nay ; — elsewhere it is just as here.' He re- peated his request, and then Lao Tan said, ' Where would you go first ? ' 'I would begin with A7ii,' replied the disciple. ' Having got there, I would go to look at the criminals (who had been exe- cuted). With my arms I would raise (one of) them up and set him on his feet, and, taking off my court robes, I would cover him with them, appealing at * Wc can only say of Po A'ii that he was a disciple of Lao-jze. PT. III. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF i^WANG-SZE. 123 the same time to Heaven and bewailing his lot, while I said \ " My son, my son, you have been one of the first to suffer from the great calamities that afflict the world 2." ' (Lao Tan) said\ '(It is said), " Do not rob. Do not kill." (But) in the setting- up of (the ideas of) glory and disgrace, we see the cause of those evils ; in the accumulation of pro- perty and wealth, we see the causes of strife and contention. If now you set up the things against which men fret ; if you accumulate what produces strife and contention among them ; if you put their persons in such a state of distress, that they have no rest or ease, although you may wish that they should not come to the end of those (criminals), can your wish be realised ? ' The superior men (and rulers) of old considered that the success (of their government) was to be found in (the state of) the people, and its failure to be soucrht in themselves ; that the rioht mioht be with the people, and the wrong in themselves. Thus it was that if but a single person lost his life, they retired and blamed themselves. Now% however, it is not so. (Rulers) conceal w^hat they want done, and hold those who do not know it to be stupid ; they require what is very difficult, and condemn those who do not dare to undertake it ; they impose heavy burdens, and punish those who are unequal to them ; they require men to go far, and put them to death when they cannot accomplish the distance. When the people know that the utmost of their ^ There are two P[ here, and the difficulty in translating is to determine the subject of each. ^ The ^^ of the text here is taken as = ^^. 124 TME TEXTS OF TAOISM.' BK. xxv. Strength will be Insufficient, they follow it up with deceit. When (the rulers) daily exhibit much hypo- crisy, how can the officers and people not be hypocri- tical ? Insufficiency of strength produces hypocrisy; insufficiency of knowledge produces deception ; in- sufficiency of means produces robbery. But in this case against whom ought the robbery and theft to be charged ? ' 8. When KW Po-yil was in his sixtieth year, his views became changed in the course of it \ He had never before done anything but consider the views which he held to be right, but now he came to condemn them as wrong ; he did not know that M^hat he now called right was not what for fifty-nine years he had been calling wrong. All things have the life (which we know), but we do not see its root; they have their goings forth, but we do not know the door by which they depart. Men all honour that which lies within the sphere of their know- ledge, but they do not know their dependence on what lies without that sphere which would be their (true) knowledge : — may we not call their case one of great perplexity ? Ah ! Ah ! there is no escaping from this dilemma. So it is ! So it is ! 9. A'ung-ni asked the Grand Historiographer' Ta Thao, (along with) Po A7/ang-/'//ien and A7/ih-wei, saying, 'Duke Ling of Wei was so addicted to ^ Confucius thought highly of this All Po-yii, and they were friends (Analects, XIV, 26; XV, 6). It would seem from this paragrajih ihat, in his sixtieth year, he adopted the principles of Taoism. Whether he really did so we cannot tell. See also Book IV, par. 5. ^ We must translate here in the singular, for in the historiographer's department there were only two officers with the title of 'Grand;' Po Kh:i\-ig-khm\ and A7/ih-wei would be inferior members of it. PT. III. SFXT. III. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. I 25 drink, and abandoned to sensuality, that he did not attend to the government of his state. Occupied in his pursuit of hunting with his nets and bows, he kept aloof from the meetings of the princes. In what was it that he showed his title to the epithet of Ling^?' Ta Thao said, ' It was on account of those very things.' Po A7/ang-/7/ien said, ' Duke Ling had three mistresses with whom he used to bathe in the same tub. (Once, however), when Shih-^hiii came to him w^ith presents from the imperial court, he made his servants support the messenger in bearing the gifts ^ So dissolute was he in the former case, and when he saw a man of worth, thus reverent was he to him. It was on this account that he was styled "Duke Ling."' K/nh.- wei said, * When duke Ling died, and they divined about burying him in the old tomb of his House, the answer was unfavourable ; wdien they divined about burying him on Sha-Z'/nu, the answer was favour- able. Accordingly they dug there to the depth of several fathoms, and found a stone coffin. Having w^ashed and inspected it, they discovered an inscrip- tion, which said, " This grave will not be available for your posterity ; Duke Ling will appropriate it for himself" ^ Ling (^m), as a posthumous epithet, has various meanings, n,one of them very bad, and .^ome of them very good. Confucius ought to have been able to soh-e his question himself better than any of the historiographers, but he propounded his doubt to them for reasons which he, no doubt, had. ^ We are not to suppose that the royal messenger found him in the tub with his three wives or mistresses. The two incidents mentioned illustrate two different phases of his character, as some of the critics, and even the text itself, clearly indicate. 126 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXV. Thus that epithet of Ling had long been settled for the duke \ But how should those two be able to know this ? ' ID. Shao A"ih" asked Thai-kung Thiao ^ saying, 'What do we mean by "The Talk of the Hamlets and Villages ? " ' The reply was, ' Hamlets and Villages are formed by the union — say of ten surnames and a hundred names, and are considered to be (the source of) manners and customs. The differences between them are united to form their common character, and what is common to them is separately apportioned to form the differences. If you point to the various parts which make up the body of a horse, you do not have the horse ; but when the horse is before you, and all its various parts stand forth (as forming the animal), you speak of " the horse." So it is that the mounds and hills are made to be the elevations that they are by accumulations of earth which individually are but low. (So also rivers like) the A^iang and the Ho obtain their greatness by the union of (other smaller) waters with them. And (in the same way) the Great man exhibits the common sentiment of humanity by the union in himself of all its individualities. Hence when ideas come to him from without, though he ^ This explanation is, of course, absurd. ^ These two names are both metaphorical, the former meaning ' Small Knowledge,' and the latter, ' The Grand Public and Just Harmonizer.' Small Knowledge would look for the Tao in the ordinary talk of ordinary men. The other teaches him that it is to be found in ' the Great man,' blending in himself what is 'just' in the sentiments and practice of all men. And so it is to be found in all the phenomena of nature, but it has itself no name, and does nothing. PT. III. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF i2-WANG-3ZE. 1 27 has his own decided view, he does not hold it with bigotry ; and when he gives out his own decisions, which are correct, the views of others do not oppose them. The four seasons have their different elemental characters, but they are not the partial gifts of Heaven, and so the year completes its course. The five official departments have their different duties, but the ruler does not partially employ any one of them, and so the kingdom is governed. (The gifts of) peace and war{are different), but the Great man does not employ the one to the prejudice of the other, and so the character (of his administration) is perfect. All things have their different constitutions and modes of actions, but the Tao (which directs them) is free from all partiality, and therefore it has no name. Having no name, it therefore does nothing. Doing nothing, there is nothing w^hich it does not do. ' Each season has its ending and beginning ; each age has its changes and transformations ; misery and happiness regularly alternate. Here our views are thwarted, and yet the result may afterwards have our approval ; there we insist on our own views, and looking at things differently from others, try to correct them, w^hile we are in error ourselves. The case may be compared to that of a great marsh, in which all its various vegetation finds a place, or we may look at it as a great hill, where trees and rocks are found on the same terrace. Such may be a description of w^hat is intended by " The Talk of the Hamlets and Villaees." ' Shao A'ih said, ' Well, is it sufficient to call it (an expression of) the Tao ? ' Thai-kung Thiao said, ' It is not so. If w^e reckon up the number of things. 128 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxv. they are not 10,000 merely. When we speak of them as " the Myriad Thhigs," we simply use that laro-e number by way of accommodation to denomi- nate them. In this way Heaven and Earth are the greatest of all things that have form ; the Yin and Yancr are the grreatest of all elemental forces. But the Tao is common to them. Because of their greatness to use the Tao or (Course) as a title and call it "the Great Tao" is allowable. But what com- parison can be drawn between it and " the Talk of the Hamlets and Villages ? " To argue from this that it is a sufficient expression of the Tao, is like calling a dog and a horse by the same name, while the difference between them is so great.' II. Shao K\h. said, 'Within the limits of the four cardinal points, and the six boundaries of space, how was it that there commenced the production of all things?' Thai-kung Thiao replied, 'The Yin and Yane reflected lioht on each other, covered each other, and regulated each the other ; the four seasons gave place to one another, produced one another, and brought one another to an end. Likings and dislikings, the avoidings of this and movements towards that, then arose (in the things thus pro- duced), in their definite distinctness ; and from this came the separation and union of the male and female. Then were seen now security and now in- security, in mutual change ; misery and happiness produced each other ; gentleness and urgency pressed on each other ; the movements of collection and dispersion were established :— these names and pro- cesses can be examined, and, however minute, can be recorded. The rules determining the order in which they follow one another, their mutual influence. PT. III. SECT. III. THE WRITINGS OF A'\VANG-3ZE. I 29 now acting directly and now revolving, how, when they are exhausted, they revive, and how they end and begin again ; these are the properties belonging to things. Words can describe them and knowledge can reach to them ; but with this ends all that can be said of things. Men who study the Tao do not follow on when these operations end, nor try to search out how they began : — with this all discussion of them stops.' Shao A'ih said, ' Al A'an ^ holds that (the Tao) forbids all action, and A'ieh-jze ^ holds that it may perhaps allow of influence. Which of the two is correct in his statements, and which is one-sided in his ruling ? ' Thai-kung Thiao replied, ' Cocks crow and dogs bark ; — this is what all men know. But men with the greatest wisdom cannot describe in words whence it is that they are formed (with such different voices), nor can they find out by think- ing what they wish to do. We may refine on this small point ; till it is so minute that there is no point to operate on, or it may become so great that there is no embracing it. " Some one caused it ; " " No one did it ; " but we are thus debating about things ; and the end is that we shall find we are in error. " Some one caused it;" — then there was a real Being. " No one did it;" — then there was mere vacancy. To have a name and a real existence, — that is the condition of a thing. Not to have a name, and not ^ Two masters of schools of Taoism. Who the former was I do nol know ; but Sze-ma A7Hen in the seventy-fourth Book of his Records mentions several Taoist masters, and among them Xieh-jze, a native of Kh\, 'a student of the arts of the Tao and its Characteristics, as taught by Hwang-Ti and Lao-jze, and who also published his views on the subject.' [40] K I -O THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxv, to have real being ; — that is vacancy and no thing. We may speak and we may think about it, but the more we speak, the wider shall we be of the mark. Birth, before it comes, cannot be prevented ; death, when it has happened, cannot be traced farther. Death and life are not far apart ; but why they have taken place cannot be seen. That some one has caused them, or that there has been no action in the case are but speculations of doubt. When I look for their origin, it goes back into infinity ; when I look for their end, it proceeds without termination. Infinite, unceasing, there is no room for words about (the Tao). To regard it as in the category of things is the origin of the language that it is caused or that it is the result of doing nothing; but it would end as it began with things. The Tao can- not have a (real) existence ; if it has, it cannot be made to appear as if it had not. The name Tao is a metaphor, used for the purpose of description \ To say that it causes or does nothing is but to speak of one phase of things, and has nothing to do with the Great Subject. If words were sufficient for the purpose, in a day's time we might exhaust it ; since they are not sufficient, we may speak all day, and only exhaust (the subject of) things. The Tao is the extreme to which things conduct us. Neither speech nor silence is sufficient to convey the notion of it. Neither by speech nor by silence can our thoughts about it have their highest expression. ' A very important statement with regard to the meaning of the name Tao. PT. in. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-SZE. I31 BOOK XXVI. Part III. Section IV. Wai Wu, or ' What comes from Without '.' I. What comes from without cannot be deter- mined beforehand. So it was that Lungf-fano- ^ was killed ; Pi-kan immolated ; and the count of K\ (made to feign himself) mad, (while) O-lai died^, and A'ieh and A'au both perished. Rulers all wish their ministers to be faithful, but that faithfulness may not secure their confidence ; hence Wu Ytin became a wanderer alonof the A'ianor^ and AV/anof Hune died in Shu, where (the people) preserved his blood for three years, when it became changed into green jade^. Parents all wish their sons to be filial, but that filial duty may not secure their love ; hence ^ See vol. xxxix, p. 155. ^ The name of Kwan Lung-fang, a great officer of A'ieh, the tyrant of Hsia ; — see Bk. IV, par. i, et al. ^ A scion of the Hne of Khm whose fortunes cuhninated in Shih Hwang-Ti. O-lai assisted the tyrant of Shang, and was put to death by king Wu of ^au. * The famous Wu 3ze-hsu, the hero of Revenge, who made his escape along the A^ang, in about b. c. 512, to Wu, after the murder of his father and elder brother by the king of Kh\\.. ^ See Bk. X, par. 2. In the 3o-^'wan, under the third year of duke Ai, it is related that the people of A'au killed A7/ang Hung ; but nothing is said of this being done in Shu, or of his blood turning to green jade ! This we owe to the A7mn KK\\\ of Lii. K 2 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvi. Hsiao-zC-i ' had to endure his sorrow, and 3ang Shan his griefs. When wood is rubbed against wood, it begins to burn ; when metal is subjected to fire, it (melts and) flows. When the Yin and Yang act awry, heaven and earth are greatly perturbed; and on this comes the crash of thunder, and from the rain comes fire, which consumes great locust trees ^ (The case of men) is still worse. They are troubled between two pitfalls ^ from which they cannot es- cape. Chrysalis-like, they can accomplish nothing. Their minds are as if hung up between heaven and earth. Now comforted, now pitied, they are plunged in difficulties. The ideas of profit and of injury rub against each other, and produce in them a very great fire. The harmony (of the mind) is consumed in the mass of men. Their moonlike intelligence cannot overcome the (inward) fire. They thereupon fall away more and more, and the Course (which they should pursue) is altogether lost. 2. The family of AVang A'au being poor, he went to ask the loan of some rice from the Marquis Super- intendent of the Ho\ who said, 'Yes, I shall be ^ Said to have been the eldest son of king Wu Ting or Kao 3ung of the Yin dynasty. I do not know the events in his expe- rience to which our author must be referring. '^ The well-known disciple of Confucius, famous for his filial piety. * The lightning accompanying a thunderstorm. * The ideas of profit and injury immediately mentioned. ^ In another version of this story, in Liu Hsiang's Shwo Yiian, XI, art. 13, the party applied to is ' duke Wan of Wei ; ' but this does not necessarily conflict wiUi the text. The genuineness of the paragraph is denied by Lin Hsi-X'ung and others; but I seem to see the hand of A'wang-jze in it. PT. III. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF A'VVANG-3ZE. 1 33 getting the (tax-) money from the people (soon), and I will then lend you three hundred ounces of silver ; — will that do ? ' /iTwang /vau flushed wath anger, and said, ' On the road yesterday, as I was coming here, I heard some one calling out. On looking round, I saw a goby in the carriage rut, and said to it, "Goby fish, what has brought you here ? " The goby said, " I am Minister of Waves in the Eastern Sea. Have you, Sir, a gallon or a pint of water to keep me alive ? " I replied, " Yes, I am eoine south to see the kino-s of Wu and Ylieh, and I will then lead a stream from the Western A'iang to meet you; — will that do?" The goby flushed with anger, and said, " I have lost my proper ele- ment, and I can here do nothing for myself; but if I could get a gallon or a pint of water, I should keep alive. Than do what you propose, you had better soon look for me in a stall of dry fish." ' 3. A son of the duke of Zan\ having provided himself with a great hook, a powerful black line, and fifty steers to be used as bait, squatted down on (mount) Kwai R7n, and threw the line into the Eastern Sea. Morning after morning he angled thus, and for a whole year caught nothing. At the end of that time, a great fish swallowed the bait, and dived down, dragging the great hook with him. Then it rose to the surface in a flurry, and flapped with its fins, till the white waves rose like hills, and the waters were lashed into fury. The noise was like that of imps and spirits, and spread terror ^ I suppose this was merely a district of A7/u, and the duke of it merely the officer in charge of it ;— according to the practice of the rulers of AVni, after they usurped the title of King. 134 TiiE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvi. for a thousand li. The prince having got such a fish, cut it in sHces and dried them. From the A^eh river ^ to the east, and from 3hang-wu^ to the north, there was not one who did not eat his full from that fish ; and in subsequent generations, story-tellers of small abilities have all repeated the story to one another with astonishment. (But) if the prince had taken his rod, with a fine line, and gone to pools and ditches, and watched for minnows and gobies, it would have been difficult for him to get a large fish. Those who dress up their small tales to obtain favour with the magistrates are far from being men of great understanding ; and therefore one who has not heard the story of this scion of Za.n is not fit to take any part in the government of the world ; — far is he from being so ^ 4. Some literati, students of the Odes and Cere- monies, were breaking open a mound over a grave *. The superior among them spoke down to the others, ' Day is breaking in the east ; how is the thing going on?' The younger men replied, ' We have not yet opened his jacket and skirt, but there is a pearl in the mouth. As it is said in the Ode, " The bright, green grain Is growing on the sides of the mound. ^ The ^Ij ifp]' of the text = the J[/f /£, still giving its name to the province so called. ^ Where Shun was burled. * This last sentence is difficult to construe, and to understand. — The genuineness of this paragraph is also questioned, and the style is inferior to that of the preceding. ■' I can conceive of A'wang-jze telling this story of some literati who had been acting as resurrectionists, as a joke against their class ; but not of his writing it to form a part of his work. PT. III. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 35 While living, he gave nothing away ; Why, when dead, should he hold a pearl in his mouth ^ ? " ' Thereupon they took hold of the whiskers and pulled at the beard, while the superior introduced a piece of fine steel into the chin, and gradually separated the jaws, so as not to injure the pearl in the mouth. 5. A disciple of Lao Lai-jze ^, while he was out gathering firewood, met with A^ung-ni. On his return, he told (his master), saying, ' There is a man there, the upper part of whose body is long and the lower part short. He is slightly hump-backed, and his ears are far back. When you look at him, he seems occu- pied with the cares of all within the four seas ; I do not know whose son he is.' Lao Lai-jze said, ' It is Kkm; call him here;' and when A'ung-ni came, he said to him, ' K/im, put away 3^our personal conceit, and airs of wisdom, and show yourself to be indeed a superior man.' A'ung-ni bowed and was retiring, when he abruptly changed his manner, and asked, ' Will the object I am pursuing be thereby advanced.-*' Lao Lai-jze replied, ' You cannot bear the sufferings of this one age, and are stubbornly regardless of the ^ This verse is not found, so far as I know, anywhere else. 2 Lao Lai-jze appears here as a contemporary of Confucius, and the master of a Taoistic school, and this also is the view of him which we receive from the accounts in Sze-ma Khitw and Hwang- fu Mi. Sze-ma says he published a work in fifteen sections on the usefulness of Taoism. Some have imagined that he was the same as Lao-jze himself, but there does not appear any ground for that opinion. He is one of the twenty-four examples of Filial Piety so celebrated among the Chinese ; but I suspect that the accounts of him as such are fabrications. He certainly lectures Confucius here in a manner worthv of Lao Tan. 136 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvi. evils of a myriad ages : — is it that you purposely make yourself thus unhappy ? or is it that you have not the ability to comprehend the case ? Your obstinate purpose to make men rejoice in a partici- pation of your joy is your life-long shame, the proce- dure of a mediocre man. You would lead men by your fame ; you would bind them to you by your secret art. Than be praising Yao and condemning A'ieh, you had better forget them both, and shut up your tendency to praise. If you reflect on it, it does nothing but injury; your action in it is entirely wrong. The sage is full of anxiety and indecision in under- taking anything, and so he is always successful. But what shall I say of your conduct ? To the end it is all affectation.' 6. The ruler Ylian of Sung ^ (once) dreamt at mid- night that a man with dishevelled hair peeped in on him at a side door and said, ' I was coming from the abyss of 3ai-lu, commissioned by the Clear A^'iang to go to the place of the Earl of the Ho ; but the fisher- man Yu 5u has caught me.' When the ruler Yuan awoke, he caused a diviner to divine the meaning (of the dream), and was told, ' This is a marvellous tor- toise.' The ruler asked if amonof the fishermen there was one called Yti ^W, and being told by his atten- dants that there was, he gave orders that he should be summoned to court. Accordingly the man next day appeared at court, and the ruler said, ' What have you caught (lately) in fishing ? ' The reply was, ' I have caught in my net a white tortoise, sieve- like, and five cubits round.' ' Present the prodigy here,' said the ruler ; and, when it came, once and ^ Compare in Bk. XXI, par. 7. PT. III. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-SZE. 1 37 again he wished to kill it, once and again he wished to keep it alive. Doubting- in his mind (what to do), he had recourse to divination, and obtained the answer, ' To kill the tortoise for use in divining will be fortunate.' Accordingly they cut the creature open, and perforated its shell in seventy-two places, and there was not a single divining slip which failed \ A'ung-ni said, ' The spirit-like tortoise could show itself in a dream to the ruler Yiian, and yet it could not avoid the net of Yii ^u. Its wisdom could re- spond on seventy-two perforations without failing in a single divination, and yet it could not avoid the agony of having its bowels all scooped out. We see from this that wisdom is not without its perils, and spirit-like intelligence does not reach to everything. A man may have the greatest wisdom, but there are a myriad men scheming against him. Fishes do not fear the net, though they fear the pelican. Put away your small wisdom, and your great wisdom will be bright ; discard your skilfulness, and you will become naturally skilful. A child when it is born needs no great master, and yet it becomes able to speak, living (as it does) among those who are able to speak.' 7. Hui-^ze said to A'wang-.^ze, ' You speak. Sir, of what is of no use.' The reply was, ' When a man knows what is not useful, you can then begin to speak to him of what is useful. The earth for in- stance is certainly spacious and great ; but what a ^ The story of this wonderful tortoise is found at much greater length, and with variations, in Sze-ma -Oien's Records, Bk. LXVIII, q. V. The moral of it is given in the concluding remarks from Confucius. 138 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXVI. man uses of it is only sufficient ground for his feet. If, however, a rent were made by the side of his feet, down to the yellow springs, could the man still make use of it ?' Hui-jze said, ' He could not use it,' and A'wang-jze rejoined, ' Then the usefulness of what is of no use is clear \' 8. A%ang-jze said, ' If a man have the power to enjoy himself (in any pursuit), can he be kept from doing so ? If he have not the power, can he so enjoy himself? There are those whose aim is bent on concealing themselves, and those who are deter- mined that their doings shall leave no trace. Alas ! they both shirk the obligations of perfect knowledge and great virtue. The (latter) fall, and cannot re- cover themselves ; the (former) rush on like fire, and do not consider (what they are doing). Though men may stand to each other in the relation of ruler and minister, that is but for a time. In a changed age, the one of them would not be able to look down on the other. Hence it is said, " The Perfect man leaves no traces of his conduct." 'To honour antiquity and despise the present time is the characteristic of learners '^ ; but even the dis- ciples of A7/ih-wei ^ have to look at the present age ; and who can avoid being carried along by its course ? It is only the Perfect man who is able to enjoy him- self in the world, and not be deflected from the right, ^ See Bk. I, par. 6, and XXIV, par. 14. The conversations between our author and Hui-jze often turned on this subject. ^ Docs our aullior mean by ' learners ' the Hterati, the disciples of Confucius? * jOih-wei, — see Bk. VI, par. 7. Perhaps 'the disciples of ^^ih-wei ' are those who in our author's time called themselves such, but were not. PT. III. SECT. IV. THE WRITL\GS OF A'\VANG-3ZE. 1 39 to accommodate himself to others and not lose him- self. He does not learn their lessons ; he only takes their ideas into consideration, and does not discard them as different from his own. 9. ' It is the penetrating eye that gives clear vision, the acute ear that gives quick hearing, the discrimi- nating nose that gives discernment of odours, the practised mouth that gives the enjoyment of flavours, the active mind that acquires knowledge, and the far-reaching knowledge that constitutes virtue. In no case does the connexion with what is without like to be obstructed ; obstruction produces stoppage ; stoppage, continuing without intermission, arrests all progress ; and with this all injurious effects spring up. ' The knowledge of all creatures depends on their breathing^. But if their breath be not abundant, it is not the fault of Heaven, which tries to penetrate them with it, day and night without ceasing; but men notwithstanding shut their pores against it. The womb encloses a large and empty space ; the heart has its spontaneous and enjoyable movements. If their apartment be not roomy, wife and mother- in-law will be bickering ; if the heart have not its spontaneous and enjoyable movements, the six facul- ties of perception ^ will be in mutual collision. That ^ There seems to underlie this statement the Taoist dogma about the regulation of the ' breath/ as conducive to long life and mental cultivation. ^ Probably what in Buddhist literature are called ' the Six En- trances (^ y\)/ ^^'hat Mayers denominates ' The Six Organs of Admittance, or Bodily Sensations,' the Shac^ayatana, the eye, ear, nose, mouth, body, and mind, — one of the twelve Nidanas in the Buddhist system. 140 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK.xxvi. the great forests, the heights and hills, are pleasant to men, is because their spirits cannot overcome (those distracting influences). Virtue overflows into (the love of) fame ; (the love of) fame overflows into violence ; schemes originate in the urgency (of cir- cumstances) ; (the show of) wisdom comes from rivalry; the fuel (of strife) is produced from the obstinate maintenance (of one's own views) ; the business of offices should be apportioned in accord- ance with the approval of all. In spring, when the rain and the sunshine come seasonably, vegetation grows luxuriantly, and sickles and hoes begin to be prepared. More than half of what had fallen down becomes straight, and we do not know how. 10. ' Stillness and silence are helpful to those who are ill ; rubbing the corners of the eyes is helpful to the aged ; rest serves to calm agitation ; but they are the toiled and troubled who have recourse to these things. Those who are at ease, and have not had such experiences, do not care to ask about them. The spirit-like man has had no experience of how it is that the sagely man keeps the world in awe, and so he does not inquire about it; the sagely man has had no experience of how it is that the man of ability and virtue keeps his age in awe, and so he does not in- quire about it ; the man of ability and virtue has had no experience of how it is that the superior man keeps his state in awe, and so he does not inquire about it. The superior man has had no experience of how it is that the small man keeps himself in agree- ment with his times that he should inquire about it.' 1 1. The keeper of the Yen Gate\ on the death of ^ The name of one of the gates in the wall of the capital of Sung. PT. III. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. I4I his father, showed so much skill in emaciating his person ^ that he received the rank of ' Pattern for Officers.' Half the people of his neighbourhood (in consequence) carried their emaciation to such a point that they died. When Yao wished to resign the throne to Hsii Yii, the latter ran away. When Thang offered his to Wu Kwang^ Wii Kwang be- came angry. When Ki Tha ^ heard it, he led his disciples, and withdrew to the river Kho, w'here the feudal princes came and condoled with him, and after three years, Shan Thu-ti^ threw himself into the water. Fishing-stakes^ are employed to catch fish ; but when the fish are got, the men forget the stakes. Snares are employed to catch hares, but when the hares are got, men forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas ; but when the ideas are apprehended, men forget the words. Fain w^ould I talk W'ith such a man who has foro^ot the w^ords ! ^ The abstinences and privations in mourning were so many that there was a danger of their seriously injuring the health ; — which was forbidden, " See Bk. VI, par. 3 ; but in the note there, Wu Kwang is said to have been of the time of Hwang-Ti ; which is probably an error. ' See IV, par. 3 ; but I do not know who K\ Tha Avas, nor can I explain what is said of him here. * See again IV, par. 3. " According to some, ' baskets.' This illustration is quoted in the Inscription on the Nestorian IMonument, II, 7. 142 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvii. BOOK XXVII. Part III. Section V. Yii Yen, or 'Metaphorical Language^.' I. Of my sentences nine in ten are metaphorical ; of my illustrations seven in ten are from valued writers. The rest of my words are like the water that daily fills the cup, tempered and harmonised by the Heavenly element in our nature-. The nine sentences in ten which are metaphorical are borrowed from extraneous things to assist (the comprehension of) my argument. (When it is said, for instance), ' A father does not act the part of matchmaker for his own son,' (the meaning is that) ' it is better for another man to praise the son than for his father to do so.' The use of such meta- phorical language is not my fault, but the fault of men (who would not otherwise readily under- stand me). Men assent to views which agree with their own, and oppose those which do not so agree. Those which agree with their own they hold to be right, and those which do not so agree they hold to be wrong. The seven out of ten illustrations taken from valued writers are designed to put an end to disputations. Those writers are the men of hoary eld, my predecessors in time. But such as are un- ' See vol. xxxi.x, pp. 155, 156. ^ See Bk. II, par. 10. PT. III. SECT. V. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 43 versed in the warp and woof, the beginning and end of the subject, cannot be set down as of venerable eld, and regarded as the predecessors of others. If men have not that in them which fits them to precede others, they are without the way proper to man, and they who are without the way proper to man can only be pronounced defunct monuments of antiquity. Words like the water that daily issues from the cup, and are harmonised by the Heavenly Element (of our nature), may be carried on into the region of the unlimited, and employed to the end of our years. But without words there is an agreement (in prin- ciple). That agreement is not effected by words, and an agreement in words is not effected by it. Hence it is said, ' Let there be no words.' Speech does not need words. One may speak all his life, and not have spoken a (right) word ; and one may not have spoken all his life, and yet all his life been giving utterance to the (right) words. There is that which makes a thing allowable, and that which makes a thing not allowable. There is that which makes a thing right, and that which makes a thing not right. How is a thing right ? It is right because it is right. How is a thing wrong? It is wrong because it is wrong. How is a thing allow- able ? It is allowable because it is so. How is a thingf not allowable ? It is not allowable because it is not so. Things indeed have what makes them right, and what makes them allowable. There is nothinor which has not its condition of ricrht ; nothino- which has not its condition of allowability. But without the words of the (water-) cup in daily use, and harmonised by the Heavenly Element (in our 144 '^"^^ TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxvii. nature), what one can continue long in the possession of these characteristics ? All thines are divided into their several classes, and succeed to one another in the same way, though of different bodily forms. They begin and end as in an unbroken ring, though how it is they do so be not apprehended. This is what is called the Lathe of Heaven ; and the Lathe of Heaven is the Heavenly Element in our nature. 2. A'wang-jze said to Hui-jze, 'When Confucius was in his sixtieth year, in that year his views changed \ What he had before held to be right, he now ended by holding to be wrong ; and he did not know whether the things which he now pronounced to be right were not those which he had for fifty-nine years held to be wrong,' Hui-jze replied, ' Confucius with an earnest will pursued the acquisition of know- ledge, and acted accordingly.' A'wang-jze rejoined, ' Confucius disowned such a course, and never said that it was his. He said, " Man receives his powers from the Great Source^ (of his being), and he should restore them to their (original) intelligence in his life. His singing should be in accordance with the musical tubes, and his speech a model for imitation. When profit and righteousness are set before him, and his liking (for the latter) and dislike (of the ^ Compare this with the same language about A'ii Po-yii in Bk. XXV, par, 8. There is no proof to support our author's assertion that the views of Confucius underwent any change. ^ ' The Great Source (Root) ' here is generally explained by ' the Grand Beginning.' It is not easy to say whether we are to understand an ideal condition of man designed from the first, or the condition of every man as he is born into the world. On ihe * powers ' received by man, see Mencius VI, i, 6. PT. III. SECT. V. THE WRITINGS OF iTWANG-SZE. I 45 former), his approval and disapproval, arc mani- fested, that only serves to direct the speech of men (about him). To make men in heart submit, and not dare to stand up in opposition to him ; to esta- blish the fixed law for all under heaven : — ah ! ah ! I have not attained to that," ' 3. 3^ng-3ze twice took office, and on the two occasions his state of mind was different. He said, ' While my parents were alive I took office, and though my emolument was only three fu^ (of grain), my mind was happy. Afterwards when I took office, my emolument was three thousand /^ung'^; but I could not share it with my parents, and my mind was sad.' The other disciples asked A'ung-ni, say- ing, ' Such an one as Shan may be pronounced free from all entano^lement : — is he to be blamed for feeling as he did ^ ? ' The reply was, ' But he was subject to entanglement*. If he had been free from it, could he have had that sadness ? He would have looked on his three fu and three thou- sand /{'ung no more than on a heron or a mosquito passing before him.' 4. Yen A'/zang 3ze-y