A 585,285
TERSHY OR
OF MCU

n. THA
THE UNN
RARIES:
HIGAN.

The Canon of
Reason and Virtue
*7 TL
Being
Lao-tze's Tao Teh King
Chinese and English
ese
By
Paul Carus
•
ENRO
Chicago
The Open Court Publishing Co.
1913
BL
1900
.63
C34
Copyright by
The Open Court Publishing Co.
1913
Exchange
Library
Univ. of Westerii
Ontario
9.-21
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Foreword .......
Introduction .......
Lao-tze's Tao-Teh-King in Chinese ...
ÔME #FA.......
7 ...................
English Translation ...............
Sze-ma Ch'ien on Lao-tze .........
The Old Philosopher's Canon of Rea-
son and Virtue .....
Comments and Alternative Readings ....
Table of References ...................
189
Index.
207
Foreword
edition of Lao-tze's Tao Teh King we trans-
lated Cheu as “the State of Plenty," and will
only add that the word is made up of the
characters "mouth” and “to use,” its original
meaning being "to supply everywhere; to
make a circuit all around or everywhere; and
plenty." The Cheu dynasty was so called be-
cause the emperor's power reached all over
the civilized world, according to Chinese no-
tions. In the present edition we have pre-
ferred to translate the word Cheu by "the
State of Everywhere."
It would be easy to say that the Old Phi-
losopher was a citizen of Everywhere, and
was born in Good Man's Bend to describe his
innate character; that his home was situated
in Thistle District of Bramble Province to
indicate the poverty and difficulties with
which his life was surrounded.
The plum-tree is the symbol of immortal-
ity, and the ear might signify the man who
was willing to listen. Accordingly Lao-tze's
family name Li (plum) seems to be as much
justified as his proper name Er (ear). What
splendid material with which to change Lao-
tze into a mythical figure! It is as good as
the life of Napoleon of whom Pérèz made a
solar hero, an Apollo, on account of his name
and the several events of his career-his final
sinking in the west and disappearance on an
island in the Atlantic, the ocean of sunset.
Nevertheless the historicity of Lao-tze and
6
Canon of Reason and Virtue
the authenticity of his book seem to be suffi-
ciently well ascertained. .
The historicity of Lao-tze's writing has
been doubted only once, but by so great an
authority as H. A. Giles. We must, however,
King is preserved in quotations in the pre-
Christian writings of Lieh-tze, Chwang-tze,
and Hwai Nan-tze. (For details see the ar.
ticle in reply to Professor Giles in The
Monist, XI, pp. 574-601.)
Lao-tze's book on Reason and Virtue first
bore the title Tao Teh. It was in all
outward appearances a mere collection of
aphoristic utterances, but full of noble mor-
als and deep meditation. It met the reward
which it fully deserved, having by imperial
decree been raised to the dignity of canon-
ical authority; hence the name King or "ca-
non," completing the title Tao Teh King, as
now commonly used, which we translate
"Canon of Reason and Virtue."
Although Confucian philosophy has become
the guiding star of the Chinese government
Lao-tze has taken a firm hold on the hearts of
the people, and in the progress of time his
figure has grown in significance into the sta-
ture of a Christ-like superhuman personality.
So it happened that later traditions added to
Sze-Ma Ch'ien's brief report various details
which became more and more fantastic. We
learn that Yin Hi, the officer of the frontier,
-
..
.
-
.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Foreword
was warned beforehand by astrological sci-
ence of the sage's coming. He is further re-
puted to have accompanied his master into
the deserts of the west, traveling in a car
drawn by black oxen.
Still later legends add to these fables the
story of Lao-tze's miraculous conception
through the influence of a star, and claim that
he was the incarnation of the supreme celes-
tial essence; that he had repeatedly been in-
carnate, once in the village of the state of
Tz'u. This latter birth is represented in anal-
ogy with Buddha's nativity, for his mother
brought forth the divine child from her left
side, and her delivery took place under a tree
in Lao-tze's case it was a plum-tree. The
infant at his very birth pointed to the tree
saying, "I shall take my surname Li (plum)
from this tree." His head was white, and his
countenance that of an aged man, whence it
is said he derived his name Lao-tze, which
not only means the Old Philosopher but also
the Ancient Child. He is said to have wan-
dered to the farthest extremities of the earth,
including the countries Ta Ts'in (which seems
to have represented the Roman Empire) and
Tu K‘ien, where he preached his doctrine and
converted the people to the truth. In China
he is reported to have helped Wu Wang, the
founder of the famous Cheu dynasty, in the
year 112 B. C..
Lao-tze's various disciples developed more
8
Canon of Reason and Virtue
and more the mystical elements of Taoism,
the practical application of which terminated
in a belief in alchemy, especially in an elixir
of life.
The Emperor Wu Ti and the emperors of
the T'ang dynasty were staunch believers in
the Old Philosopher. When in the year 666
A. D. Emperor Kao Tsung canonized him he
gave him a rank among the gods as the Great
Supreme (Tſai Shang), as the Emperor-God of
the Dark First Cause. Hüan Tsung honored
him in 1013 A. D. with the title T'ai Shang
Lao Chiün, the Great Exalted One, the An-
cient Master.
We regret to say that the Taoism of China
is a religion which, powerful though it is,
little accords with the venerable old philos-
an injustice may be branded as a system of
: superstitions and superstitious practices.
The Taoist church is governed by a Taoist
pope who lives in the splendor of a palace
surrounded by extensive parks near Lung
Hu Shan, scarcely less beautiful than the
Lagarden of the Vatican at Rome.
clect fata
..! Lao-tze's Tao Teh King contains so many
is surprising analogies with Christian thought
and sentiment, that were its pre-Christian
origin not established beyond the shadow of
a doubt, one would be inclined to discover in
it traces of Christian influence. Not only
Foreword
does the term Tao (word, reason) correspond
quite closely to the Greek term Logos, but
Lao-tze preaches the ethics of requiting hatred
with goodness. He insists on the necessity of
becoming like unto a little child, of returning
to primitive simplicity and purity, of non-
assertion and non-resistance, and promises
that the crooked shall be straight.
The Tao Teh King is brief, but it is filled
to the brim with suggestive thoughts.
* * *
Two issues of the author's translation of
Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King have appeared and
two editions of an extract entitled The Canon
of Reason and Virtue. In the second issue of
the first edition of Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King
attention has been called to misprints in the
Chinese text, and alternative readings have
been proposed in an additional chapter en-
titled “Emendations and Comments."
The present edition is meant to be popular
and is an enlargement of The Canon of Rea-
son and Virtue. Of the larger edition en-
titled Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King, it incorpo.
rates the main explanations and the Chinese
text which in its revised form we hope is now
quite reliable. A few variants which are im-
portant for the sense of the text have been
added in footnotes. Thus the present little
volume being a combination of the larger and
the smaller editions, is practically a new work.
It contains a comprehensive introduction and
1
10
Canon of Reason and Virtue
incorporates the results of the translator's
latest labors in revising and reconsidering the
many difficult passages of the Tao Teh King.
A number of new interpretations flashed upon
him from time to time, and some of them will
be deemed happy and probably be accepted as
final. This certainly is true of the first para-
graph of Chapter 2, and also of the second
paragraph of Chapter 49.
I do not deem it necessary in this popular
edition to introduce controversies or to criti.
cize other translations; nor do I want to cor-
rect all the mistakes and misprints of my own
former editions. I must be satisfied with
offering the best results of my labors. My
ideal has been to reproduce the original in a
readable form which would be as literal as
the difference of languages permits and as in-
telligible to English-speaking people as is the
original to the educated native Chinese. While
linguistic obscurities have been removed as
much as possible, the sense has upon the whole
not been rendered more definite than the orig-
inal or the traditional interpretation would
warrant. Stock phrases which are easily
understood, such as "the ten thousand things,"
meaning the whole world or nature collec-
tively, have been left in their original form;
but expressions which without a commentary
would be unintelligible, such as "not to depart
from the baggage wagon,” meaning to pre-
serve one's dignity (Chap. 26), have been re-
Foreword
11
placed by the nearest terms that cover their
meaning.
The versification of the quoted poetry is
as literal as possible and as simple as in the
original. No attempt has been made to im-
prove its literary elegance. The translator
was satisfied if he could find a rhyme which
would introduce either no change at all in the
words or such an indifferent change as would
not in the least alter their sense.
The present edition contains also an intro-
duction and comments in which my prior ex-
planations of Lao-tze's thought are restated
in a condensed form together with some new
observations which in their appropriate places
have been incorporated.
The division into chapters as well as the
chapter headings were not made by Lao-tze
but are the work of later Chinese editors.
I have sought the advice of Mr. Ng Poon
Chew, editor of the Chung Sai Yat Po, the
Chinese daily paper of San Francisco, for the
interpretation of some difficult words, and for
doubtful passages I deemed a comparison with
the Manchu translation desirable, for which
purpose I have availed myself of the assist-
ance of Dr. Berthold Laufer of the Field Mu-
seum of Chicago.
Prof. Paul Pelliot, of Paris, has recently
published in the T'oung Pao (1912, pp. 351-
430) an account of a Sanskrit translation of
the Tao Teh King made in the seventh cen-
12
Canon of Reason and Virtue
tury for King Kumara of Assam, vassal to the
famous Harsha Ciladitya, king of Magadha.
Unfortunately this version is lost.
* * *
For further information on Lao-tze the
reader is referred to the author's essays Chi-
nese Philosophy (Religion of Science Library
No. 30), Chinese Thought, "The Authenticity
of the Tao Teh King" (The Monist, Vol. XI,
pp. 574-601), written in reply to Prof. Herbert
A. Giles, "Medhurst's New Translation of the
Tao Teh King" (The Open Court, XX, 174),
and the former more complete edition of
Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King.
This our larger book, entitled Lao-Tze's
Tao Teh King, which contains a verbatim
translation of the Chinese text, has not be-
come entirely antiquated, but we warn stu-
dents that it stands in need of a revision on
the basis of the present emendated edition.
* * *
May this little book fulfil its mission and be
a witness to the religious spirit and philo-
its, speech, and dress are strange to us. We
are not alone in the world; there are others
who search for the truth and are groping
after it. Let us become better acquainted
with them, let us greet them as brothers, let
us understand them and appreciate their ide-
als!
PAUL CARUS.
INTRODUCTION.
A few comments on Lao-tze's favorite
expressions will help the reader to
understand the drift of his thought.
The character taol being composed of
the characters "moving on" and "head,"
depicts a "going ahead.” The original
meaning of the word is “way" in the
same sense as in English, denoting both
"path" and "method.”
The same association of ideas prevails
in almost all languages. The Greek
word methodos2 is a derivative of hodos3
"path" (combined with the preposition
meta, "according to," "after") and so
"method” too originally means "way"
or rather "according to a way.” In the
sense of method the word Tao acquires
the significance of "principle, rational-
2 pétodos. 38865.
14
Canon of Reason and Virtue
.
-
.
ity, or reason,” then "the right way," or
"truth," the Urvernunft of German mys-
tics. Finally Tao comes to possess the
meaning of “rational speech” or “word,”
and in this sense it closely resembles the
Greek Logos, for in addition to its phil-
osophical significance the term Tao
touches a religious chord in the souls
of the Chinese just as did the word
Logos among the Platonists and the
Greek Christians. The term Tao de-
notes "word” and also "way" in the same
religious sense in which they are used
in the New Testament: the former in
the first verse of the Fourth Gospel, “In
the beginning was the word”; and the
latter in the saying of Christ, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life" (John xiv.
6). In both passages the word Tao is
the right term by which to translate
"word," "way," and "truth."
The Tao of man, jan tao,4 is the pro-
cess of ratiocination, and as such it is
fallible; but there is an Eternal Reason,
ch'ang tao, 5 also called t'ien tao, 6 "Heav-
14 0
#
.
-
-
-
---
.
.
....--
...
Introduction
15
en's Reason," i. e., the world-order which
shapes all things, and the burden of
Lao-tze's message is to let this Heaven's
Reason or Eternal Reason prevail. The
man who is guided by the Eternal Rea-
son is the master, chiün;7 the superior
thinker, chiün tze;8 he is the holy man,
shan jan;9 the man of Reason, yin tao
che10 or tung yü tao che;11 and the man
of truth, chen jan.12
We translate Tao by "Reason," and we
capitalize the word in order to remind
the reader that it is not the reason of the
rationalist, nor the rationality of argu-
ment, but the universal world-order, or
in other words, the eternal Reason of
the divine dispensation, the Logos, to
which man looks up with reverence.
The second word of the title, Teh,13
"virtue,” which, strange enough, Legge
translates "attribute,” is made up of
characters meaning "man," "heart” and
7 8
9
10 Literally, "having Reason the one."
11 Literally, “identified with Reason the
one."
12 11
13
.
.
.
.
..
..
..
.
16
Canon of Reason and Virtue
"straight.” It denotes man's straight-
ness of heart.
The favorite phrase of Lao-tze's eth-
ics, which furnishes a key to his mode
of thought, reads wei wu wei, (AS )
"act non-act,” and we have commonly
translated the words by "act with non-
assertion.”
The Chinese wei means not only "to
do something," but also "to act” as on
the stage, or “to make a show, to show
off, to pose, to parade oneself.” The
phrase wei wu wei might be translated
"to do without ado" or "to act without
acting” (viz., without posing), were it
not for the fact that the moral element
is uppermost in Lao-tze's mind. He de-
nounces the vanity of self-display and
egotism, and so we believe that wei wu
wei is best rendered by "acting with
non-assertion.” The meaning is clear
through the context, and there is no
need of interpreting Lao-tze's words
either in a mystical or a quietist sense.
There are three negatives in Chinese:
pu,"not," the simple negation; wu, “lack-
ing in, non-existent, without”; and fei,
Introduction
"by no means." Though we can not lay
down a general rule about their distinc-
tions, there are different shades of mean-
ing according to the context which we
have tried to bring out in our English
version. Sometimes the meaning of the
negated word, or the ironic sense in
which it is used, influences the nega-
tive. In Chapter 49 pu shan, "ungood-
ness”, means "evil," but in Chapter 38,
pu teh, "unvirtue,” means that higher
virtue which makes no show and does
not even assume the name. In Chapter
57 wu shi, "non-diplomacy,” is that
higher mode of statesmanship with
which a good ruler will unostentatiously
govern the empire. On the other hand
Lao-tze speaks of both fei tao, i. e., “lack
of reason” or “anti-reason" (Chapter 53)
and pu tao (Chapters 30 and 55) "un-
reason," which soon ceases, while "the
reason that can be reasoned" (tao ko tao)
is declared to be "by no means the eter-
nal Reason (fei ch’ang tao)."
The term wu, "non-existence" (Chap-
ter 40), is not annihilation but denotes
absence of concrete particularity or of
18
Canon of Reason and Virtue
materiality. It is intended to describe
what we would call the purely formal,
including purely formal thought, viz.,
the prototypes of things as well as
ideals. Materiality makes things real
but non-materiality, 14 as set forth in
Chapter 11, while giving shape to things
by cutting away certain portions, ren-
ders them useful.
Lao-tze's appreciation of oneness is
to be expected of a philosopher of the
Tao, of Divine Reason. He speaks of
oneness15 as giving character to things
that are units (Chapter 39) and unity
cannot be disintegrated (Chapter 10).
Lao-tze's reference to trinity as beget-
ting all things (Chapter 42) is, to say
the least, curious, perhaps profound, and
.-.-
I
-,--
14 For the meaning of "nought" in Oriental
thought see the author's Foundations of Math-
ematics, pp. 134ff. Compare also on the sig-
nificance of non-realities the article “Mysti-
cism" in The Monist, Vol. XVIII, p. 85;
further, Buddhism and Its Christian Critics,
pp. 110, 119ff. and 218, where Goethe is quoted
on nothingness.
15 For the connection of Oneness with Qual-
ity see the author's Personality, pp. 36-38, and
“The Significance of Quality," Monist, XV,
375. Cf. The Phiolsophy of Form, pp. 12-13.
.!1.
.
.
.
.
.
Introduction
19
.
Christians will also be interested in the
idea that the Son of Heaven as the High
Priest of the people must bear the sins
of mankind (Chapter 78).
Lao-tze's style is characterized by par-
adox as in "do without ado" (commonly
translated "act with non-assertion" as
in Chapters 2, 3, 10, etc.); "know the un-
knowable," "be sick of sickness”(Chapter
71); "practice non-practice," "taste the
tasteless" (Chapter 63); "marching with-
out marching” (Chapter 69). Similarly the
phrases “the form of the formless”16 and
"the image of the imageless”17 (Chapter
14) etc. are used to describe what Kant
calls “pure form," i. e., non-material or
ideal forms such as geometrical figures,
and which corresponds to the Buddhist
term arupo, "the formless," in the sense
of "the bodiless."
Undoubtedly the best sayings of Lao-
tze are: “Requite hatred with goodness18
(Chapter 63); and “The good I meet
with goodness; the bad I also meet with
18 % Z
Ž
18 u (Literally, “with virtue.”)
20
Canon of Reason and Virtue
:
goodness19.... The faithful I meet with
faith, the faithless I also meet with
faith” (Chapter 49).
Other remarkable ideas of Lao-tze are
his preference for simplicity (Chapters
17, 28, 37, 57), for purity (Chapter 45),
for emptiness (Chapters 3, 4, 5), for rest
and peace20 (Chapter 31), for silence
(Chapters 2, 23, 43, 56), for tenderness
(Chapters 52, 76, 78), especially the ten-
derness of water (Chapter 78), for weak-
ness (Chapters 36, 40) for compassion
(Chapter 67), for lowliness or humility
(Chapter 61), for thrift (Chapter 59),
for returning home to the Tao (Chapters
25, 40), for spontaneity or lack of effort
(Chapter 6), etc.
He is against restrictions and prohi-
bitions as producing disorder (Chapter
19 ***** **
20 Lao-tze uses no less than eight synonyms
for "rest" or "quietude": (1) tʻien tan, “quie-
tude and peace," Chap. 31; (2) tsing, "quie-
tude," Chaps. 16, 26, 37, 45, 61; (3) ngan,
"stilí,” Chap. 15, and “rest”, Chap. 35; (4)
pʻing, "contentment,” Chap. 35; (5) tai, "com-
fort,” Chap. 35; (6) tsan, “calm," Chap. 4;
(7) tsih, “calm," Chap. 25; (8) yen, “calmly,"
Chap. 26.
î
Introduction
V
57), against ostentation (Chapter 58),
against learnedness as unwisdom (Chap-
ter 81). He believes that the Tao when
sought is found (Chapter 62), and he
praises the state of a little child (Chap-
ters 10, 28, 55). He compares himself
to a babe (Chapter 20) and calls him-
self the child or son of the Tao and the
Tao his mother (Chapter 52); on the
other hand the sage looks upon the peo-
ple as children (Chapter 49).
Heaven's impartiality21 (Chapter 79)
which shows no preference to favorites
is expected of the sage by Lao-tze who
praises the emptiness of heaven (Chap-
ter 5), the lowliness of the valley (Chap-
ters 32, 39, 41, 66), and the stretching
of the bow which brings down the high
and raises the low (Chapter 77), etc.
Though the Tao, being an abstract
philosophical principle, seems to leave
no room for a belief in God, Lao-tze re-
fers repeatedly to God, first identifying
God with Reason as “the arch-father of
the ten thousand things,” (Chapter 4),
and then he speaks of Reason as pre-
21 Compare with this Matt. v. 45.
22
Canon of Reason and Virtue
ceding even "the Lord” (Chapter 4). In
Chapter 70 he calls the Tao "the ances-
tor of words” and “the master of deeds”
which also personifies Reason. The pas-
sage where he speaks of "the father of
the doctrine” (Chapter 42) may be doubt-
ful, for the commentators explain it to
mean "the foundation of the doctrine”;
but the idea of calling the Tao the father
of truth is not contrary to Lao-tze's
thought, for he speaks of the Tao twice
as the "mother" (Chapters 20 and 52)
and once as "the world's mother” (Chap-
ter 52). In Chapter 74, when referring
to divine justice cutting short the lives
of men, the Tao is compared to "the
great carpenter who hews.”. All these
passages are figures of speech, but are
not the Christian ideas of God as a Lord,
as a father, as an architect (as the Free-
masons have it), also allegories?
..
老子道德經
​司馬遷史記老子傳
​言
​后
​日其累
​游者可以為輪飛者可以為鄉 ​至於龍吾不能知其乘風雲而上天吾
​弟子曰吾知其能飛魚吾知其能游獸吾知其能走 ​走者可以為因
​欲態色與淫志是皆無益於子之身吾所以告子若是而​= 孔子去謂
​累而行吾聞之賈深藏若虛君子盛德容貌若愚 ​去子之驕氣多
​其人與骨皆已朽突獨其言在耳​,且君子得其時則偶不得其時則運
​日珊周守藏室之史也孔子逸周將問禮於老子 ​老子日子所言者
​司馬遷日 ​老子者楚苦縣厲卿曲仁里人也姓李氏名耳字伯陽識
​司馬遷史記老子傳
​老子修道德其學以自隱無名為務 ​居周久
​26
之見周之衰乃遂去至關 ​關令尹喜日子將隱实溫為我著點於是
​Canon 老子乃著書上下篇音道德之意五千餘言而去莫知其所
​of Reason and Virtue
8 今日見老子其猶龍邪 ​

老子道德經
​上篇
​第一章體道
​老子道德經
​謂之玄玄之又玄眾妙之門​。
故常無欲以觀其妙常有欲以觀其彼此兩者同出而異名同
​道可道非常道名可名非常名無名天地之始有名物之母​。
第二章费身
​天下皆知美之為美斯惡已皆知善之為善斯不善己故有無
​“。相生難易相成長短相形高下相傾音聲相和前後相隨​。是以
​不恃功成而弗居夫惟不居是以弗去​。
8 聖人處無為之事行不言之教​。萬物作焉而不辭生而不有為
​Canon 第三章安民
​不尚賢使民不争不貴難得之貨使民不為盜不見可欲使心
​不不知
​尚無
​是以聖人之治虛其心實其腹弱其志强其骨常使民無
​知無欲使夫知者不敢為也為無為則無不治​。
Virtue
第四章無源
​道冲而用之或不淵乎似萬物之宗挫其銳解其紛​。和其光​。
of Reason and 老子道德經
​天長地久天地所以能長且久者以其不自生故能長生是以
​第七章韜光
​谷神不死是謂玄牝玄牝之門是謂天地根綿若存用之不動​。
第六章成象
​其猶棠箭乎虛而不屈動而愈出多言數窮不如守中​。
天地不仁以萬物為贸狗聖人不仁以百姓為贸狗天地之間​。
第五章虛用
​同其塵港今似若存吾不知誰之子象帝之先​。
30
Canon of Reason and Virtue
持而盈之不如共己揣而銳之​。不可長保金玉滿堂莫之能守​。
第九章運與
​無尤​。
上地 ​無
​地心普淵與普仁言普信政善治事替動管時夫惟不争故
​上普若水水善利萬物而不争​。處眾人之所恶故幾于道居普
​第八章易性
​聖人後其身而身先外其身而身存非以其無私邪故能成其
​老子道德經
​用鑒戶隔以為室當其無有室之用故有之以為利無之以為
​三十輻共一般當其無有車之用挺垃以為器當其無有器之
​第十一章無用
​而不有為而不情長而不宰是謂玄德​。
治國能無為天門開問能為雌明白四達能無知生之帝之生
​載營魄抱一能無雕專氣致柔​。能嬰兒游除立覽能無疵愛民
​第十章能為
​富貴而驕自遺咎功成名遂身退天之道​。
32
第十二章 ​檢欲
​五色令人目盲五音令人耳舉五味令人口爽​。融聘田搬令人
​Canon 心發狂難得之货令人行妨是以聖人為腹不為目故去彼取
​若驚​。是謂寵辱若驚何謂貴大患者身吾所以有大患者為吾
​寵辱若驚置大患者身何謂寵辱若驚龍為下得之若驚失之
​Virtue
愛以身為天下者則可以託天下
​有身​。及吾無身吾有何忠故貫以身為天下者則可以容天下​。
of Reason and c 第十四章賀古
​視之不見名曰夷聽之不聞名日希搏之不得名曰微此三者
​不可致故混而為一其上不聽其下不珠繩女分不可名復
​隨之不見其後執古之道以御今之有以知古始是謂道紀​。
哲歸于無物​。是謂無狀之狀無象之象是謂惚恍迎之不見其首​。
第十五章顯德
​古之普為士者微妙玄通深不可識夫惟不可識故强為之容​。
8 與芬者冬涉川猶分若畏四赌碳夸其若客澳令若水之將釋​。
,
」
c 能安以動之徐生保此道不欲盈夫惟不盈故能弊不新成​。
研 ​教分其若樸曠分其若谷​。评分其若濁就能濁以靜之徐清就
​Canon 「第十六章歸根
​致虛極守靜篤萬物并作吾以觀其復夫物芸芸各復歸其根
​知常曰明不知常安作凶知常
​Virtue
容容乃公公乃王王乃天天乃道道乃久没身不殆​。
第十七章 ​淳風
​太上下不知有之共次親之譽之​。其次畏之其次悔之故信不
​歸根日靜是謂復命復命日常​。of Reason and 足焉​。有不信令其貴言功成事遂百姓皆謂我自然​。
第十八章俗海
​忠信
​大道廢有仁義智慧出有大偽六親不和有孝慈國家昏亂有
​老子道德經
​第十九章還淳
​。故令有所屬見素抱樸少私寡欲​。
絕聖棄智民利百倍絕仁棄義民復孝慈絕巧棄利盜賊無有​。
III
第二十章異俗
​5絕學無憂唯之與阿相去幾何​。普之與惡相去何若人之所畏
​此三者以為文不足​不油我察殖
​治行其未兆如嬰兒之未孩乘女分若無所歸眾人皆有餘而
​8 不可不畏荒令其未央哉眾人熙熙如享大牢如春登堂我獨
​Canon 日
​我獨若遺我愚人之心也战沌女分俗人昭女我獨若昏俗人
​獨問女忽冷若海​。漂分若無所止眾人皆有以而我獨
​預且勵我獨異于人而貴求食於母​。
第二十一章虛心
​Virtue
孔德之容唯道是從道之為物​。惟恍惟惚惚令恍其中有象恍
​各惚其中有物窃令冥分​。其中有精其精甚員其中有信自古
​of Reason and 老子道德經
​「
希言自然飄風不終朝驟雨不終日就為此者天地天地尚不
​第二十三章虛無
​战誠全而歸之​。
長夫惟不争故天下莫能與之爭古之所謂曲則全者皆虛言
​為天下式不自見故明​。不自是故影不自伐故有功不自矜故
​曲則会枉則直霍則弊則新​。少則得多則惑是以聖人抱一​。
第二十二章 ​益謙
​及令其名不去以閱荣甫吾何以知家甫之然战以此​。
8能久而况于人乎故從事于道者道者同于道從事于德者同
​most
Canon 于德從事于失者同于失同于道者道亦樂得之同于德者德
​These 第二十五章 ​象产
​有物混成先天地生寂兮寥分​。獨立而不改周行而不殆可以
​第二十四章普恩
​。
矜者不長其于道也日餘食費行物或惡之故有道者不處也​。
践者不立跨者不行自見者不明自是者不彰自伐者無功自
​Virtue
of Reason and 亦樂得之同于失者失亦樂得之信不足焉有不信​characters
To omitted in These characters
are repeated by Fu Yi
of the Tang according
to Pi Yüan.
| -
為天下母吾不知其名字之曰道强為名之曰大大日逝逝日
​焉人法地地法天天法道法自然
​老子道德經
​第二十六章重德
​重為輕根靜為躁君是以聖人終日行不離瓣雖有榮觀燕
​--
處超然奈何萬乘之主而以身輕天下輕則失臣躁則失君​。
第二十七章巧用
​一的善行無轍迹普言無瑕請善計無籌第善閉無關鍵而不可開​。
{Here the Lin Hi
Yib edition reads
for
遠遠日反故道大天大地大王亦大域中有四大而王居其一
​.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
器聖人用之則為官長故大制不割​。
樂守其辱為天下谷為天下谷常德乃足復歸于朴朴散則為
​其白守其黑為天下式為天下式常德不忒復歸于無極知其
​知其雄守其雌為天下給為天下豁常德不離復歸于腰兒知
​第二十八章反機
​之養不貴其師不愛其資雖智大选是謂要妙​。
物故無藥物是謂襲明故善人者不善人之師不普人者善人
​「善結無繩約而不可解是以聖人常普救人故無棄人常善救
​老子道德經
​道早已​。
勿伐果而無驕果而不得己果而勿强物壯則老是謂不道不
​大軍之後必有凶年​。普者果而已不敢以取强果而勿矜果而
​以道佐人主者不以兵强天下​。其事好還師之所處荆棘生焉
​第三十章偷武
​是以聖人去甚去奢去泰​。
敗之執者失之故物或行或隨或吻或吹或强或贏或載或燈​。
將欲取天下而為之​。吾見其不得已天下神器不可為也為者
​第二十九章無為
​「如
​道常無名朴雖小天下不敢臣侯王若能守萬物將自賓天地
​第三十二章聖德
​Canon of Reason and Virtue
上勢則以喪禮處之殺人眾多以悲哀泣之戰勝以喪禮處之​。
于天下矣吉事尚左凶事尚右偏將軍居左上將軍居右言居
​上勝而不美而美之者是樂殺人关樂殺人者則不可以得志
​兵則貴右兵者不祥之器非君子之器不得已而用之恬淡為
​夫佳兵不祥之器物或惡之故有道者不處君子居則貴左用
​第三十一章 ​偃武
​知止知止所以不殆譬道之在天下猶川谷之於江海也​。
相合以降甘露民莫之令而自均始制有名名亦既有夫亦將
​第三十三章辨德
​知人者智自知者明勝人者有力自勝者强知足者富强行者
​老子道德經
​第三十四章任成一
​有志不失其所者久死而不亡者蒂​。
萬物而不為主常無欲可名于小萬物歸焉而不為主可名為
​大道吧令其可左右萬物特之以生而不辭功成不名有愛養
​8大是以聖人終不為大故能成其大​。
44
第三十五章仁德
​c執大象天下往往而不害安平泰樂與過客此道之出口淡
​Canon 乎其無味視之不足見聽之不足問用之不可既​。
第三十六章微明
​將欲奪之​。必固與之​。是謂微明柔弱勝剛强魚不可脱于渊國
​將欲場之必固張之將欲弱之必固强之將欲廢之必固與之​。
道常無為而無不為侯王若能守萬物將自化化而欲作吾將
​Virtue
of Reason and 第三十七章為政
​之利器不可以示人​。
老子道德經
​「
不居其華故去彼取此​。
識者道之華而思之始是以大丈夫處其厚不居其薄處其實​。
后仁失仁而后義失義而后禮夫禮者忠信之薄而亂之首前
​為上禮為之而莫之應則攘臂而仍之故失道而后德失德而
​為下德為之而有以為上仁為之而無以為上義為之而有以
​上德不德是以有德下德不失德是以無德上德無 ​為而無以
​第三十八章骗德
​下篇
​鎮之以無名之朴無名之朴亦將不欲不欲以静天下将自定​。
46
Canon of Reason and Virtue
反者道之動弱者道之用天地萬物生于有有生于無
​第四十章去用
​非乎故致數車無車不欲球球如玉落落如石​。
為本高以下為基是以侯王自謂孤寡不穀此其以賤為本耶​。
竭萬物無以生將恐诞侯王無以正而貴高將恐嚇故貴以賤
​請將恐裂地無以寧將恐發神無以靈將恐獄谷無以盈將恐
​協萬物得一以生侯王得1以為天下正其致之一也天無以
​昔之得一者天得一以清地得一以寧神得一以靈谷得一以
​第三十九章 ​法本
​老子道德經
​之而損人之所教我亦教之強梁者不得其死吾將以為教父​。
和人之所惡唯孤寡不殼而王公以為稱故或損之而命或盆
​道生一一生三生三三生萬物謝物質陰而抱陽沖氣以為
​第四十二章道化
​隅大器晚成大音希聲​。大象無形道隱無名夫唯道普貨且成​。
上德若谷大白若辱廣德若不足​。建德若倫質貞若渝大方無
​笑不足以為道故建言者有之​。明道若选進道若遇夷道若類​。
上士聞道勤而行之中士聞過若存若亡​。下士聞道大笑之不
​第四十一章同異
​Canon of Reason and Virtue
大辯若訥躁勝寒静勝熱清淨為天下正​。
大成若缺其用不幣大盈若冲其用不窮大直若屈大巧若拙​。
第四十五章洪德
​亡知足不辱​。知止不殆可以長久​。
名與身就親身與貨敦多得與亡就病甚愛必大費多藏必厚
​第四十四章立戒
​有念不言之教無為之天下希及之​。
天下之至柔馳騁天下之至堅無有入無間吾是以知無為之
​第四十三章偏用
​老子道德經
​|
天下常以無事及有事不足以取天下​。
為學日益為道日損損之又損以至于無為無為而無不為取
​第四十八章忘知
​不行而知不見而名不為而成​。
不出戶知天下不窺見天道其出彌導其知彌少是以聖人
​第四十七章鑒遠
​禍莫大于不知足咎莫大于欲得故知足之足常足​。
天下有道却走馬以難​。天下無道戎馬生于郊罪莫大于可欲​。
第四十六章儉欲
​50
第四十九章 ​任德
​。善者吾善之不善者吾亦善之​。
Canon led
第五十章貴生
​夫何故以其無死地​。
入軍不避甲兵咒無所投其角​。虎無所措其爪兵無所容其双
​。十有三人之生動之死地亦
​Virtue
-
-
of Reason and 十有三关何故以其生生之厚​。蓋聞普攝生者陸行不遇见虎​。
出生入死生之徒十有三死之徒​% 天下​。渾其心百姓皆注其耳目聖人皆孩之​。
德信者吾信之不信者吾亦信之德信聖人在天下爍爍為
​聖人無常心以百姓之心為心​Here the Lin H'i
Yih edition reads
第五十一章 ​賽德
​道生之德帝之物形之勢成之​。是以萬物莫不尊道而貫德道
​之尊德之貴夫莫之命而常自然故道生之德畜之長之育之
​老子道德經
​成之熟之養之覆之生而不有為而不恃長而不牢是謂玄德​。
安王
​第五十二章命元
​母没身不塞其允閉其門終身不勤開其名濟其事終身不
​天下有始以為天下母既知其母復知其子既知其子復守其
​「m 我見小日明守柔曰强用其光復歸其明無遺身死是謂習常​。
第五十三章 ​益證
​c 使我介然有知行于大道唯施是畏大道甚夷而民好得朝甚
​Canon 除田甚燕倉甚虛服文絲帶利劍厭飲食財貨有餘是謂盜专​。
非道战​。
第五十四章修觀
​觀國以天下觀天下吾何以知天下之然哉以此​。
修之于天下其德乃普放以身觀身以家觀家以鄉觀鄉​。以國
​Virtue
of Reason and 修之于家其德有餘修之于鄉其德乃長修之于國其德乃豐
​普建者不拔普抱者不脱子孫祭祀不輟修之于身其德乃具​。
第五十五章玄符
​而握固未知牝牡之合而酸作精之至也終日號而临不嘎和
​含德之厚比于赤子毒蟲不龄猛獸不據覆鳥不搏骨弱筋柔
​老子道德經
​謂之不道不道早己​。
第五十六章立德
​其麼是謂玄同故不可得而親​。亦不可得而不可得而利亦
​知者不言言者不知塞其允閉​,其門挫其銳解其粉和其光同
​8 不可得而害不可得而貴亦不可得而賤故為天下貴​。
之至也知和日常知常曰明益生曰祥心使氣曰强物壯將老​。
第五十七章淳風
​c以正治國以奇用兵以無事取天下吾何以知其然战以此天
​III
Virtue
Canon 法令滋彰盗贼多有故聖人云我無為而民自化我好静而民
​下多忌諱而民關質民多利器國家滋督人多技巧奇物滋起​。
第五十八章顺化
​其政問問其民醇醇​。其政察察其民飲飲禍福之所倚福各
​自正我無事​。而民自富我無欲而民自朴​。
禍之所伏就知其極​。其無止正復為奇普復為妖人之迷其日
​固久是以聖人方而不割脈而不划直而不肆光而不媚​。
of Reason and 第五十九章守道
​可以長久是謂深根固蒂長生久視之道​。
則無不刻無不想則莫知其極​,莫知其極可以有國有國之母​。
治人事天莫若商夫惟醫是謂早服早服謂之重積德重積德
​老子道德經
​傷人非其神不傷人聖人亦不傷人夫兩不相傷故德交歸焉
​治大國若烹小鮮以道莅天下​。其鬼不神非其鬼不袖其神不
​「第六十章居位
​第六十一章 ​謙德
​8 大國者下流天下之交天下之牡牝常以静勝牲​。以靜為下故
​Canon of Reason and Virtue
罪以免耶故為天下貴​。
酬馬不如坐進此道古之所以貴此道者何也不日求以得有
​以加人人之不普何棄之有故立天子置三公雅有拱璧以先
​道者萬物之奥普八之寶不善人之所保美言可以市尊行可
​第六十二章為道
​各得其所欲大者宜為下​。
职或下而取大國不過欲兼畜人小國不過欲入事人夫兩者
​「大國以下小國則取小國小國以下大國則取大國故或下以
​第六十三章思始
​不為大故能成其大夫輕諾必寡信多易必多難是以聖人猶
​于其細天下難事必作于易天下大事必作于細是以聖人終
​為無為事無事味無味大小多少報怨以德圖難于其易為大
​老子道德經
​難之放於無難​。
第六十四章守微
​5 于足下為者敗之執者失之聖人無為故無助無執故無失民
​于未亂合抱之木生于毫末九層之臺起于累土千里之行始
​其安易持其去兆易謀其脆易破其微易散為之于未有治之
​欲不貴難得之货學不學復眾人之所以輔萬物之自然而​,
「8之從事常于幾成而敗之慎終如始則無敗事是以聖人欲不
​Canon 不敢為​。
第六十五章淳德
​是謂玄德立德深矣遠矣與物反矣乃至于大順​。
古之普為道者非以明民將以愚之民之難治以其智多以智
​Virtue
第六十六章後已
​江海所以能為百谷王者以其善下之故能為百谷王是以聖
​of Reason and 治國國之賊不以智治國國之福知此兩者亦楷式常知楷式​。
老子道德經
​廣捨後且先死矣夫慈以戰則勝以守則固​。天將救之以慈衛
​勇俊故能廣不敢為天下先故能成器長今捨慈且勇捨儉且
​有三寶特而贊之​。
一曰慈三曰儉三日不敢為天下先慈故能
​天下皆謂我大似不简夫惟大故似不肯若肯久矣其細夫我
​第六十七
​下莫能與之爭​。
民不重處前而民不害是以天下樂推而不厭以其不争故天
​人欲上民必以言下之欲先民​。必以身後之是以聖人處上而
​60
Canon of Reason and Virtue
「8
(ME
PCh以上
​第六十八章配天
​相加​。哀者勝矣​。
第六十九章 ​立用
​謂不爭之德是謂用人之力是謂配天古之極​。
善為士者不武善戰者不怒普勝敵者不爭善用人者為下是
​用兵有言吾不敢為主而為客不敢進寸而退尺是謂行
​接無臂仍無執無兵禍莫大于輕敵輕敵幾喪吾寶故抗兵
​第七十章知難
​吾言甚易知甚易行天下莫能知莫能行言有宗事有君夫唯
​III
.
• Here the Lin H'i
Yih edition reads
哀 ​for 衰
​老子道德經
​第七十三章任為
​不眠是以聖人自知不自見自愛不自貴故去彼取此​。
民不畏威大威至矣無狹其所居無厭其所生夫唯不厥是以
​第七十二章愛已
​the
知不知上​。不知知病夫唯病病是以不棺聖人不病以其病病​。
第七十一章知病
​無知是以不我知知我者希則我貴是以聖人被褐懷玉​。
而自來繹然而普謀天網恢恢球而不失​。
8. 其故是以聖人猶難之​。天之道不争而普勝不言而普應不召
​Canon 死奈何以死懼之若使民常畏死而為奇者吾得執而
​第七十四章制感
​匠劉者希有不傷手矣​。
之就敢常有司殺者殺夫代司殺者殺是謂代大匠劉夫代
​Virtue
第七十五章貪損
​民之饑以其上食稅之多是以饑民之難治以其上之有為​。
of Reason and 者是腎于貴生​。
是以難治民之輕死以其求生之厚是以輕死夫唯無以生為
​第七十六章戒强
​人之生也柔弱其死也堅强萬物草木之生也柔脆其死也枯
​老子道德經
​「第七十七章天道
​共強大處下柔弱處上​。
稿故堅强者死之徒柔弱者生之徒是以兵强則不勝术强則
​8 與之天之道提有餘而補不足人之道則不然損不足以奉有
​天之道其猶張弓乎高者抑之下者舉之有餘者損之不足者
​Canon of Reason and Virtue
德司契​。無德司微天道無親常與善人​。
和大想必有餘怨安以為善是以聖人執左契而不貴于人有
​第七十九章 ​任契
​社稷主受國之不祥是謂天下王正言若反​。
勝强柔之勝剛天下莫不知莫能行故聖人云受國之垢是謂
​天下柔弱莫過于水而攻堅强者莫之能勝其無以易之弱之
​第七十八章任信
​不處其不欲見賢耶​。
餘就能有餘以奉天下唯有道者是以聖人為而不恃功成而
​「
第八十章獨立
​舟驅無所乘之雖有甲兵無所陳之使民復結繩而用之甘其
​小國寡民使有什伯人之器而不用使民重死而不遠徙雖有
​老子道德經
​不相往來​。
第八十一章顯質
​聖人不積既以為人己愈有既以與人已愈多天之道利而不
​信言不美美言不信善者不籍辯者不善知者不博博者不知​。
6害聖人之道為而不爭​。
食美其服安其居樂其俗鄰國相望駕狗之聲相聞民至老死​。

MALDOS
君老​,
THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON
OF REASON AND VIRTUE.
SZE-MA-CHIEN ON LAO-TZE.
Lao-tze was born in the hamlet Ch'ü-
Jan (Good Man's Bend), Li - Hsiang
(Grinding County), K'u-Hien (Thistle
District), of Ch'u (Bramble land). His
family was the Li gentry (Li meaning
Plum). His proper name was Er (Ear),
his posthumous title Po-Yang (Prince
Positive), his appellation Tan (Long-
lobed). In Cheu (the State of Every-
where) he was in charge of the secret
archives as state historian.
Confucius went to Cheu in order to
consult Lao-tze on the rules of pro-
priety.
[When Confucius, speaking of pro-
priety, praised the sages of antiquity),
Lao-tze said: “The men of whom you
speak, Sir, together with their bones,
have mouldered. Their words alone are
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
still extant. If a noble man finds his
time he rises, but if he does not find
his time he drifts like a roving-plant
and wanders about. I observe that the
wise merchant hides his treasures deeply
as if he were poor. The noble man of
perfect virtue assumes an attitude as
though he were stupid. Let go, Sir,
your proud airs, your many wishes, your
affectation and exaggerated plans. All
this is of no use to you, Sir. That is
what I have to communicate to you,
and that is all."
Confucius left. [Unable to understand
Lao-tze], he addressed his disciples, say-
ing: “I know that the birds can fly, I
know that the fishes can swim, I know
that the wild animals can run. For the
running, one could make nooses; for the
swimming, one could make nets; for the
flying, one could make arrows. As to the
dragon I cannot know how he can be-
stride wind and clouds when he heaven-
ward rises. To-day I saw Lao-tze. Is
he perhaps like the dragon?”
Lao-tze practised Reason and virtue.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
71
His doctrine aims at self-concealment
and namelessness.
Lao-tze resided in Cheu most of his
life. When he foresaw the decay of
Cheu, he departed and came to the fron-
tier. The custom house officer Yin-Hi
said: "Sir, since it pleases you to retire,
I request you for my sake to write a
book.”
Thereupon Lao-tze wrote a book of
two parts consisting of five thousand
and odd words, in which he discussed
the concepts of Reason and virtue. Then
he departed.
No one knows where he died.

THE OLD PHILOSOPHER’S CANON
OF REASON AND VIRTUE.
.
I.
1. REASON'S REALIZATION.
1. The Reason that can be reasoned is
not the eternal Reason. The name that
can be named is not the eternal Name.
The Unnamable is of heaven and earth
the beginning. The Namable becomes
of the ten thousand things the mother.
Therefore it is said:
2. "He who desireless is found
The spiritual of the world will sound.
But he who by desire is bound
Sees the mere shell of things around.”
3. These two things are the same in
source but different in name. Their
sameness is called a mystery. Indeed,
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
it is the mystery of mysteries. Of all
spirituality it is the door.
2. SELF-CULTURE.
1. Everywhere it is obvious that if
beauty makes a display of beauty, it is
sheer ugliness. It is obvious that if
goodness makes a display of goodness,
it is sheer badness. For
2. "To be and not to be are mutually con-
ditioned.
The difficult, the easy, are mutually
definitioned.
The long, the short, are mutually ex-
hibitioned.
Above, below, are mutually cogni-
tioned.
The sound, the voice, are mutually
coalitioned.
Before and after are mutually posi-
tioned.”
3. Therefore
The holy man abides by non-assertion
in his affairs and conveys by silence his
instruction. When the ten thousand
things arise, verily, he refuses them not.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
75
He quickens but owns not. He acts
but claims not. Merit he accomplishes,
but he does not dwell on it.
"Since he does not dwell on it
It will never leave him.”
3. KEEPING THE PEOPLE QUIET.
1. Not boasting of one's worth fore-
stalls people's envy.
Not prizing treasures difficult to ob-
tain keeps people from committing theft.
2. Not contemplating what kindles de-
sire keeps the heart unconfused.
3. Therefore the holy man when he
governs empties the people's hearts but
fills their stomachs. He weakens their
ambition but strengthens their bones.
Always he keeps the people unsophisti-
cated and without desire. He causes
that the crafty do not dare to act. When
he acts with non-assertion there is noth-
ing ungoverned.
4. SOURCELESS.
1. Reason is empty, but its use is in-
exhaustible. In its profundity, verily, it
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
resembleth the arch-father of the ten
thousand things.
2. "It will blunt its own sharpness,
Will its tangles adjust;
It will dim its own radiance
And be one with its dust."
3. Oh, how calm it seems to remain! I
know not whose son it is. Apparently
even the Lord it precedes.
5. THE FUNCTION OF EMPTINESS.
1. But for heaven and earth's humane-
ness, the ten thousand things are straw
dogs. But for the holy man's humane-
ness, the hundred families are straw
dogs.
2. Is not the space between heaven and
earth like unto a bellows? It is empty;
yet it collapses not. It moves, and more
and more comes forth. [But]
3. "How soon exhausted is
A gossip's fulsome talk!
And should we not prefer
On the middle path to walk?"
Canon of Reason and Virtue
77
6. THE COMPLETION OF FORM.
1. “The valley spirit not expires,
Mysterious woman 'tis called by the
sires.
The mysterious woman's door, to
boot,
Is called of heaven and earth the root.
Forever and aye it seems to endure
And its use is without effort sure."
7. DIMMING RADIANCE.
1. Heaven endures and earth is lasting.
And why can heaven and earth endure
and be lasting? Because they do not
live for themselves. On that account
can they endure.
2. Therefore
The holy man puts his person behind
and his person comes to the front. He
surrenders his person and his person is
preserved. Is it not because he seeks
not his own? For that reason he can
accomplish his own.
8. EASY BY NATURE.
1. Superior goodness resembleth water.
The water's goodness benefiteth the ten
thousand things, yet it quarreleth not.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
2. Water dwelleth in the places which
the multitudes of men shun; therefore
it is near unto the eternal Reason
3. The dwelling of goodness is in
lowliness. The heart of goodness is in
commotion. When giving, goodness
showeth benevolence. In words, goodness
keepeth faith. In government goodness
standeth for order. In business goodness
exhibiteth ability. The movements of
goodness keep time.
4. It quarreleth not. Therefore it is
not rebuked.
9. PRACTISING PLACIDITY.
1. Grasp to the full, are you not likely
foiled? Scheme too sharply, can you
wear long? If gold and jewels fill the
hall no one can protect it.
2. Rich and high but proud, brings
about its own doom. To accomplish
merit and acquire fame, then to with-
draw, that is Heaven's Way.
10. WHAT CAN BE DONE?
1. Who by unending discipline of the
senses embraces unity cannot be disin-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
79
tegrated. By concentrating his vitality
and inducing tenderness he can become
like a little child. By purifying, by
cleansing and profound intuition he can
be free from faults.
2. Who loves the people when admin-
istering the country will practise non-
assertion.
Opening and closing the gates of
heaven, he will be like a mother-bird;
bright, and white, and penetrating the
four quarters, he will be unsophisticated.
He quickens them and feeds them. He
quickens but owns not. He acts but
claims not. He excels but rules not.
This is called profound virtue.
11. THE FUNCTION OF THE NON-
EXISTENT.
1. Thirty spokes unite in one nave
and on that which is non-existent [on
the hole in the nave] depends the wheel's
utility. Clay is moulded into a vessel
and on that which is non-existent [on
its hollowness] depends the vessel's util-
ity. By cutting out doors and windows
we build a house and on that which is
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
non-existent (on the empty space within]
depends the house's utility.
2. Therefore, existence renders actual
but non-existence renders useful.
12. ABSTAINING FROM DESIRE.
1. “The five colors [combined] the hu-
man eye will blind;
The five notes [in one sound] the hu-
man ear confound;
The five tastes (when they blend] the
human mouth offend."
2. “Racing and hunting will human
hearts turn mad,
Treasures high-prized make human
conduct bad.”
3. Therefore
The holy man attends to the inner and
not to the outer. He abandons the latter
and chooses the former.
13. LOATHING SHAME.
1. “Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trem-
bling.
Rank bodes great heartache. It is
like the body."
Canon of Reason and Virtue
81
2. What means "Favor bodes disgrace;
it is like trembling?"
Favor humiliates. Its acquisition
causes trembling, its loss causes trem-
bling. This is meant by "Favor bodes
disgrace; it is like trembling."
3. What means “Rank bodes great
heartache, it is like the body?”
. I suffer great heartache because I have
a body. When I have no body, what
heartache remains?
4. Therefore who administers the em-
pire as he takes care of his body can be
entrusted with the empire.
14. PRAISING THE MYSTERIOUS.
1. We look at Reason and do not see
it; its name is Colorless. We listen
to Reason and do not hear it; its name
is Soundless. We grope for Reason and
do not grasp it; its name is Bodiless.
2. These three things cannot further
be analyzed. Thus they are combined
and conceived as a unity which on its
surface is not clear and in its depth not
obscure.
3. Forever and aye Reason remains un-
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
namable, and again and again it returns
home to non-existence.
4. This is called the form of the form-
less, the image of the imageless. This
is called the transcendentally abstruse.
5. In front its beginning is not seen.
In the rear its end is not seen.
6. By holding fast to the Reason of
the ancients, the present is mastered
and the origin of the past understood.
This is called Reason's clue.
15. THE REVEALERS OF VIRTUE.
1. Those of yore who have succeeded
in becoming masters are subtile, spirit-
ual, profound, and penetrating. On ac-
count of their profundity they can not
be understood. Because they can not
be understood, therefore I endeavor to
make them intelligible.
2. How cautious they are! Like men
in winter crossing a river. How reluc-
tant! Like men fearing in the four
quarters their neighbors. How reserved!
They behave like guests. How elusive!
They resemble ice when melting. How
simple! They resemble rough wood.
How empty! They resemble the valley.
How obscure! They resemble troubled
waters.
3. Who by quieting can gradually ren-
der muddy waters clear? Who by stir-
ring can gradually quicken the still?
4. He who cherishes this Reason is
not anxious to be filled. Since he is not
filled, therefore he may grow old; with-
out renewal he is complete.
16. RETURNING TO THE ROOT.
1. By attaining the height of abstrac-
2. All the ten thousand things arise,
and I see them return. Now they bloom
in bloom but each one homeward re-
turneth to its root.
3. Returning to the root means rest.
It signifies the return according to des-
tiny. Return according to destiny means
the eternal. Knowing the eternal means
enlightenment. Not knowing the eter-
evil.
4. Knowing the eternal renders com-
prehensive. Comprehensiveness renders
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
broad. Breadth renders royal. Royalty
renders heavenly. Heaven renders Rea-
son-like. Reason renders lasting. Thus
the decay of the body implies no danger.
17. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.
1. Of great rulers the subjects do not
notice the existence. To lesser ones peo-
ple are attached; they praise them. Still
lesser ones people fear, and the meanest
ones people despise.
2. For it is said:
"If your faith be insufficient, verily,
you will receive no faith.”
3. How reluctantly they (the great
rulers] considered their words! Merit
they accomplished; deeds they per-
formed; and the hundred families
thought: “We are independent."
18. THE PALLIATION OF VULGARITY.
1. When the great Reason is oblite-
rated, we have benevolence and justice.
Prudence and circumspection appear,
and we have much hypocrisy.
2. When family relations no longer
harmonize, we have filial piety and pa-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
85
ternal devotion. When the country and
the clans decay through disorder, we
have loyalty and allegiance.
19. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.
1. Abandon your saintliness; put away
your prudence; and the people will gain
a hundredfold!
2. Abandon your benevolence; put
away your justice; and the people will
return to filial piety and paternal devo-
tion.
3. Abandon smartness; give up greed;
and thieves and robbers will no longer
exist.
4. These are three things for which
culture is insufficient. Therefore it is
said:
"Hold fast to that which will endure,
Show thyself simple, preserve thee
pure,
And lessen self with desires fewer."
20. DIFFERENT FROM THE VULGAR.
1. Abandon learnedness, and you have
no vexation. The “yes” compared with
the "yea,” how little do they differ!
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
But the good compared with the bad,
how much do they differ!
2. If what the people dread cannot be
made dreadless, there will be desolation,
alas! and verily, there will be no end
of it.
3. The multitudes of men are happy,
so happy, as though celebrating a great
feast. They are as though in springtime
ascending a tower. I alone remain quiet,
alas! like one that has not yet received
an omen. I am like unto a babe that
does not yet smile.
4. Forlorn am I, O so forlorn! It ap-
pears that I have no place whither I
may return home.
5. The multitude of men all have
plenty and I alone appear empty. Alas!
I am a man whose heart is foolish.
6. Ignorant am I, O, so ignorant! Com-
mon people are bright, so bright, I alone
am dull.
7. Common people are smart, so smart,
I alone am confused, so confused.
8. Desolate am I, alas! like the sea.
Adrift, alas! like one who has no place
where to stay.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
87
9. The multitude of men all possess
usefulness. I alone am awkward and a
rustic too. I alone differ from others,
but I prize seeking sustenance from our
mother.
21. EMPTYING THE HEART.
1. "Vast virtue's form
Follows Reason's norm.
2. “And Reason's nature
Is vague and eluding.
3. “How eluding and vague
All types including !
How vague and eluding,
All beings including !
How deep and how obscure.
It harbors the spirit pure,
Whose truth is ever sure,
Whose faith abides for aye
From of yore until to-day.
4. “Its name is never vanishing,
It heeds the good of everything."
5. Through what do I know that "it
heeds the good of everything"? In this
way, verily: Through IT.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
22. HUMILITY'S INCREASE.
1. “The crooked shall be straight,
Crushed ones recuperate,
The empty find their fill.
The worn with strength shall thrill;
Who little have receive,
And who have much will grieve."
2. Therefore
The holy man embraces unity and be-
comes for all the world a model.
Not self-displaying he is enlightened;
Not self-approving he is distinguished;
Not self-asserting he acquires merit;
Not self-seeking he gaineth life.
Since he does not quarrel, therefore
no one in the world can quarrel with
him.
3. The saying of the ancients: "The
crooked shall be straight,” is it in any
way vainly spoken? Verily, they will
be straightened and return home.
23. EMPTINESS AND NON-EXISTENCE.
1. To be taciturn is the natural way.
A hurricane does not outlast the morn-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
89
ing. A cloudburst does not outlast the
day.
2. Who causes these events but heaven
and earth? If even heaven and earth
cannot be unremitting, will not man be
much less so?
3. Those who pursue their business in
Reason, men of Reason, associate in Rea-
son. Those who pursue their business
in virtue associate in virtue. Those who
pursue their business in ill luck asso-
ciate in ill luck. When men associate
in Reason, Reason makes them glad to
find companions. When men associate
in virtue, virtue makes them glad to
find companions. When men associate
in ill luck, ill luck makes them glad to
find companions.
“If your faith is insufficient, verily
shall ye receive no faith.”
24. TROUBLE FROM INDULGENCE.
1. One on tiptoe is not steady;
One astride makes no advance.
Self-displayers are not enlightened,
Self-asserters lack distinction,
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
Self-approvers have no merit,
And self-seekers stunt their lives.
2. Before Reason this is like surfeit
of food; it is like a wen on the body
with which people are apt to be dis-
11
3. Therefore the man of reason will
not indulge in it.
25. IMAGING THE MYSTERIOUS.
1. There is a Being wondrous and com-
plete. Before heaven and earth, it was.
How calm it is! How spiritual!
2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth
not; around it moveth, and it suffereth
not; yet therefore can it be the world's
mother.
3. Its name I know not, but its nature
I call Reason.
4. Constrained to give a name, I call
it the great. The great I call the de-
parting, and the departing I call the
beyond. The beyond I call home.
5. The saying goes: "Reason is great,
heaven is great, earth is great, and roy-
alty also is great. [There are four things
Canon of Reason and Virtue
91
in the world that are great, and royalty
is one of them.]
6. Man's standard is the earth. The
earth's standard is heaven. Heaven's
standard is Reason. Reason's standard
is intrinsic.
26. THE VIRTUE OF GRAVITY.
1. The heavy is of the light the root,
and rest is motion's master.
2. Therefore the holy man in his daily
walk does not depart from gravity. Al-
though he may have magnificent sights,
he calmly sits with liberated mind.
3. But how is it when the master of
the ten thousand chariots in his per-
sonal conduct is too light for the empire?
If he is too light he will lose his vassals.
If he is too passionate he will lose the
throne.
27. THE FUNCTION OF SKILL.
1. "Good travelers leave no trace nor
track,
Good speakers, in logic show no lack,
Good counters need no counting rack.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
2. “Good lockers bolting bars need not,
Yet none their locks can loose.
Good binders need no string nor knot,
Yet none unties their noose."
3. Therefore the holy man is always
a good saviour of men, for there are no
outcast people. He is always a good
saviour of things, for there are no out-
cast things. This is called applied en-
lightenment.
4. Thus the good man does not respect
multitudes of men. The bad man re-
spects the people's wealth. Who does
not esteem multitudes nor is charmed
by their wealth, though his knowledge
be greatly confused, he must be recog-
nized as profoundly spiritual.
28. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.
1. “Who his manhood shows
And his womanhood knows
Becomes the empire's river.
Is he the empire's river,
He will from virtue never deviate,
And home he turneth to a child's es-
tate.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
93
2.“Who his brightness shows
And his blackness knows
Becomes the empire's model.
Is he the empire's model,
Of virtue ne'er shall he be destitute,
And home he turneth to the absolute.
3. “Who knows his fame
And guards his shame
Becomes the empire's valley.
Is he the empire's valley,
For e'er his virtue will sufficient be,
And home he turneth to simplicity.”
4. Simplicity, when scattered, becomes
a vessel of usefulness. The holy man,
by using it, becomes the chief leader;
and truly, a great principle will never
do harm.
29. NON-ASSERTION.
1. When one desires to take in hand
the empire and make it, I see him not
succeed. The empire is a divine vessel
which cannot be made. One who makes
it, mars it. One who takes it, loses it.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
2. And it is said of beings:
"Some are obsequious, others move
boldly,
Some breathe warmly, others coldly,
Some are strong and others weak,
Some rise proudly, others sneak.”
3. Therefore the holy man abandons
excess, he abandons extravagance, he
abandons indulgence.
30. BE CHARY OF WAR.
1. He who with Reason assists the
master of mankind will not with arms
strengthen the empire. His methods
invite requital.
2. Where armies are quartered briars
and thorns grow. Great wars unfail-
ingly are followed by famines. A good
man acts resolutely and then stops. He
ventures not to take by force.
3. Be resolute but not boastful; reso-
lute but not haughty; resolute but not
arrogant; resolute because you cannot
avoid it; resolute but not violent.
4. Things thrive and then grow old.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
95
This is called un-Reason. Un-Reason
soon ceases.
31. QUELLING WAR.
1. Even victorious arms are unblest
among tools, and people had better shun
them. Therefore he who has Reason
does not rely on them.
2. The superior man when residing at
home honors the left. When using arms,
he honors the right.
3. Arms are unblest among tools and
not the superior man's tools. Only when
it is unavoidable he uses them. Peace
and quietude he holdeth high.
4. He conquers but rejoices not. Re-
joicing at a conquest means to enjoy
the slaughter of men. He who enjoys
the slaughter of men will most assuredly
not obtain his will in the empire.
32. THE VIRTUE OF HOLINESS.
1. Reason, in its eternal aspect, is un-
namable.
2. Although its simplicity seems in-
significant, the whole world does not
dare to suppress it. If princes and kings
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could keep it, the ten thousand things
would of themselves pay homage. Heaven
and earth would unite in dripping sweet
dew, and the people with no one to
command them would of themselves be
righteous.
3. As soon as Reason creates order,
it becomes namable. Whenever the na-
mable in its turn acquires existence, one
learns to know when to stop. By know-
ing when to stop, one avoids danger.
4. To illustrate Reason's relation to
the world we compare it to streams and
creeks in their course towards rivers
and the ocean.
33. THE VIRTUE OF DISCRIMINATION.
1. One who knows others is clever, but
one who knows himself is enlightened.
2. One who conquers others is power-
ful, but one who conquers himself is
mighty.
3. One who knows contentment is rich
and one who pushes with vigor has will.
4. One who loses not his place endures.
5. One who may die but will not per-
ish, has life everlasting.
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34. TRUST IN ITS PERFECTION.
1. How all-pervading is the great Rea-
son! It can be on the left and it can
be on the right.
2. The ten thousand things depend
upon it for their life, and it refuses
them not. When its merit is accom-
plished it assumes not the name. Lov-
ingly it nourishes the ten thousand
things and plays not the lord. Ever de-
sireless it can be classed with the small.
The ten thousand things return home to
it. It plays not the lord. It can be
classed with the great.
3. Therefore
The holy man unto death does not
make himself great and can thus accom-
plish his greatness.
35. THE VIRTUE OF BENEVOLENCE.
1. “Who holdeth fast to the great Form,
Of him the world will come in quest:
For there we never meet with harm,
There we find shelter, comfort, rest."
2. Music with dainties makes the pass-
ing stranger stop. But Reason, when
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coming from the mouth, how tasteless is
it! It has no flavor. When looked at,
there is not enough to be seen; when
listened to, there is not enough to be
heard. However, when used, it is inex-
haustible.
36. THE SECRET'S EXPLANATION.
1. That which is about to contract has
surely been expanded. That which is
about to weaken has surely been
strengthened. That which is about to
fall has surely been raised. That which
is about to be despoiled has surely been
endowed.
2. This is an explanation of the secret
that the tender and the weak conquer the
hard and the strong.
3. As the fish should not escape from
the deep, so with the country's sharp
tools the people should not become ac-
quainted.
37. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERN-
MENT.
1. Reason always practises non-asser-
tion, and there is nothing that remains
undone.
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99
2. If princes and kings could keep
Reason, the ten thousand creatures would
of themselves be reformed. While be-
ing reformed they might yet be anxious
to stir; but I would restrain them by
the simplicity of the Ineffable.
3. “The simplicity of the unexpressed
Will purify the heart of lust.
Is there no lust there will be rest,
And all the world will thus be blest.”
II.
38. DISCOURSE ON VIRTUE.
1. Superior virtue is unvirtue. There-
fore it has virtue. Inferior virtue never
loses sight of virtue. Therefore it has
no virtue.
2. Superior virtue is non-assertion and
without pretension. Inferior virtue as-
serts and makes pretensions.
3. Superior benevolence acts but makes
no pretensions. Superior justice acts
and makes pretensions.
4. Superior propriety acts and when
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no one responds to it, it stretches its arm
and enforces its rules.
5. Thus one loses Reason and then vir-
tue appears. One loses virtue and then
benevolence appears. One loses benev-
olence and then justice appears. One
loses justice and then propriety appears.
The rules of propriety are the sem-
blance of loyalty and faith, and the be-
ginning of disorder.
6. Traditionalism is the flower of Rea-
son, but of ignorance the beginning.
7. Therefore a great organizer abides
by the solid and dwells not in the exter-
nal. He abides in the fruit and dwells
not in the flower.
8. Therefore he discards the latter and
chooses the former.
39. THE ROOT OF ORDER.
1. From of old these things have ob-
tained oneness:
2. “Heaven by oneness becometh pure.
Earth by oneness can endure.
Minds by oneness souls procure.
Valleys by oneness repletion secure.
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“All creatures by oneness to life have
been called.
And kings were by oneness as models
installed.”
Such is the result of oneness.
3. “Were heaven not pure it might be
rent.
Were earth not stable it might be
bent.
Were minds not ensouled they'd be
impotent.
Were valleys not filled they'd soon
be spent.
When creatures are lifeless who can
their death prevent?
Are kings not models, but on haughti-
ness bent,
Their fall, forsooth, is imminent."
4. Thus, the nobles come from the com-
moners as their root, and the high rest
upon the lowly as their foundation.
Therefore, princes and kings call them-
selves orphaned, lonely, and unworthy.
Is this not because they take lowliness
as their root?
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5. The several parts of a carriage are
not a carriage.
6. Those who have become a unity are
neither anxious to be praised with praise
like a gem, nor disdained with disdain
like a stone.
40. AVOIDING ACTIVITY.
1. "Homeward is Reason's course,
Weakness is Reason's force.”
2. Heaven and earth and the ten thou-
sand things come from existence, but
existence comes from non-existence.
41. SAMENESS IN DIFFERENCE.
1. When a superior scholar hears of
Reason he endeavors to practise it.
2. When an average scholar hears of
Reason he will sometimes keep it and
sometimes lose it.
3. When an inferior scholar hears of
Reason he will greatly ridicule it. Were
it not thus ridiculed, it would as Reason
be insufficient.
4. Therefore the poet says:
5. “The Reason-enlightened seem dark
and black,
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103
The Reason - advanced seem going
back,
The Reason - straight - levelled seem
rugged and slack.
6. “The high in virtue resemble a vale,
The purely white in shame must
quail,
The staunchest virtue seems to fail.
7. "The solidest virtue seems not alert,
The purest chastity seems pervert,
The greatest square will rightness
desert.
8. “The largest vessel is not yet com-
plete,
The loudest sound is not speech re-
plete,
The greatest form has no shape con-
crete."
9. Reason so long as it remains latent
is unnamable. Yet Reason alone is good
for imparting and completing.
42. REASON'S MODIFICATIONS.
.1. Reason begets unity; unity begets
duality; duality begets trinity; and trin-
ity begets the ten thousand things.
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2. The ten thousand things are sus-
tained by Yin [the negative principle];
they are encompassed by Yang [the pos-
itive principle], and the immaterial
breath renders them harmonious.
3. That which the people find odious,
to be orphaned, lonely, and unworthy,
kings and princes select as their titles.
Thus, on the one hand, loss implies gain,
and on the other hand, gain implies loss.
4. What others have taught I teach
also.
5. The strong and aggressive do not
die a natural death; but I will obey the
doctrine's father.
43. ITS UNIVERSAL APPLICATION.
1. The world's weakest overcomes the
world's hardest.
2. Non-existence enters into the im-
penetrable.
3. Thereby I comprehend of non-asser-
tion the advantage. There are few in
the world who obtain of non-assertion
the advantage and of silence the lesson.
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105
44. SETTING UP PRECEPTS.
1. “Name or person, which is more near?
Person or fortune, which is more
dear?
Gain or loss, which is more sear?
2. “Extreme dotage leadeth to squander-
ing.
Hoarded wealth inviteth plundering.
3. “Who is content incurs no humilia-
tion,
Who knows when to stop risks no
vitiation,
Forever lasteth his duration.”
45. GREATEST VIRTUE.
1. “Greatest perfection imperfect will be,
But its work ne'er waneth.
Greatest fulness is vacuity,
Its work unexhausted remaineth.”
2. “Straightest lines resemble curves;
Greatest skill like a tyro serves;
Greatest eloquence stammers and
swerves."
3. Motion conquers cold. Quietude
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conquers heat. Purity and clearness are
the world's standard.
46. MODERATION OF DESIRE.
1. When the world possesses Reason,
race horses are reserved for hauling
dung. When the world is without Rea-
son, war horses are bred in the common.
2. No greater sin than yielding to de-
sire. No greater misery than discon-
tent. No greater calamity than greed.
3. Therefore, he who knows content's
content is always content.
47. VIEWING THE DISTANT.
1. “Without passing out of the gate
The world's course I prognosticate.
Without peeping through the win-
dow
The heavenly Reason I contemplate.
The further one goes,
The less one knows."
2. Therefore the holy man does not
travel, and yet he has knowledge. He
does not see things, and yet he defines
them. He does not labor, and yet he
completes.
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107
48. FORGETTING KNOWLEDGE.
1. He who seeks learnedness will daily
increase. He who seeks Reason will
daily diminish. He will diminish and
continue to diminish until he arrives at
non-assertion.
2. With non-assertion there is nothing
that he cannot achieve. When he takes
the empire, it is always because he uses
no diplomacy. He who uses diplomacy
is not fit to take the empire.
• 49. TRUST IN VIRTUE.
1. The holy man has not a heart of
his own. The hundred families' hearts
he makes his heart.
2. The good I meet with goodness;
the bad I also meet with goodness; that
is virtue's goodness. The faithful I meet
with faith; the faithless I also meet with
faith; that is virtue's faith.
3. The holy man dwells in the world
anxious, very anxious in his dealings
with the world. He universalizes his
heart, and the hundred families fix upon
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him their ears and eyes. The holy man
treats them all like children.
50. THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE.
1. Abroad in life, home in death.
2. There are thirteen avenues of life;
there are thirteen avenues of death; on
thirteen avenues men that live pass unto
the realm of death.
3. Now, what is the reason? It is be-
cause they live life's intensity.
4. Yea, I understand that one whose
life is based on goodness, when traveling
on land will not fall a prey to the rhi-
noceros or the tiger. When coming
among soldiers, he need not fear arms
and weapons. The rhinoceros finds no
place wherein to insert its horn. The
tiger finds no place wherein to put his
claws. Weapons find no place wherein to
thrust their blades. The reason is that
he does not belong to the realm of death.
51. NURSING VIRTUE.
1. Reason quickens all creatures. Vir-
tue feeds them. Reality shapes them.
The forces complete them. Therefore
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109
among the ten thousand things there
is none that does not esteem Reason and
honor virtue.
2. Since the esteem of Reason and the
honoring of virtue is by no one com-
manded, it is forever spontaneous.
3. Therefore it is said that Reason
quickens all creatures, while virtue feeds
them, raises them, nurtures them, com-
pletes them, matures them, rears them,
and protects them.
4. To quicken but not to own, to make
but not to claim, to raise but not to rule,
this is called profound virtue.
52. RETURNING TO THE ORIGIN.
1. When the world takes its beginning,
Reason becomes the world's mother.
2. As one knows his mother, so she in
turn knows her child; as she quickens
her child, so he in turn keeps to his
mother, and to the end of life he is not
in danger. Who closes his mouth, and
shuts his sense-gates, in the end of life
he will encounter no trouble; but who
opens his mouth and meddles with af-
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fairs, in the end of life he cannot be
saved.
3. Who beholds his smallness is called
enlightened. Who preserves his tender-
ness is called strong. Who uses Rea-
son's light and returns home to its en-
lightenment does not surrender his per-
son to perdition. This is called prac-
tising the eternal.
53. GAINING INSIGHT.
1. If I have ever so little knowledge,
I shall walk in the great Reason. It is
but expansion that I must fear.
2. The great Reason is very plain, but
people are fond of by-paths.
3. When the palace is very splendid,
the fields are very weedy and granaries
very empty.
4. To wear ornaments and gay clothes,
to carry sharp swords, to be excessive
in drinking and eating, to have a re-
dundance of costly articles, this is the
pride of robbers.
5. Surely, this is un-Reason.
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111
54. THE CULTIVATION OF INTUITION.
1. “What is well planted is not uprooted;
What's well preserved can not be
looted!”
2. By sons and grandsons the sacri-
ficial celebrations shall not cease.
3. Who cultivates Reason in his per-
son, his virtue is genuine.
Who cultivates it in his house, his
virtue is overflowing.
Who cultivates it in his township, his
virtue is lasting.
Who cultivates it in his country, his
virtue is abundant.
Who cultivates it in the world, his
virtue is universal.
4. Therefore,
By one's person one tests persons.
By one's house one tests houses.
By one's township one tests town-
ships.
By one's country one tests countries.
By one's world one tests worlds.
5. How do I know that the world is
such? Through IT.
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55. THE SIGNET OF THE MYSTERIOUS.
1. He who possesses virtue in all its
solidity is like unto a little child.
2. Venomous reptiles do not sting him,
fierce beasts do not seize him. Birds of
prey do not strike him. His bones are
weak, his sinews tender, but his grasp
is firm. He does not yet know the re-
lation between male and female, but his
virility is strong. Thus his metal grows
to perfection. A whole day he might cry
and sob without growing hoarse. This
shows the perfection of his harmony.
3. To know the harmonious is called
the eternal. To know the eternal is
called enlightenment.
4. To increase life is called a blessing,
and heart -directed vitality is called
strength, but things vigorous are about
to grow old and I call this un-Reason.
5. Un-Reason soon ceases !
56. THE VIRTUE OF THE MYSTERIOUS.
1. One who knows does not talk. One
who talks does not know. Therefore the
sage keeps his mouth shut and his sense-
gates closed.
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113
2. "He will blunt his own sharpness,
His own tangles adjust;
He will dim his own radiance,
And be one with his dust."
11
3. This is called profound identifica-
tion.
4. Thus he is inaccessible to love and
also inaccessible to enmity. He is in-
accessible to profit and inaccessible to
loss. He is also inaccessible to favor
and inaccessible to disgrace. Thus he
becomes world-honored.
57. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.
1. With rectitude one governs the
state; with craftiness one leads the army;
with non-diplomacy one takes the em-
pire. How do I know that it is so?
Through IT.
2. The more restrictions and prohibi-
tions are in the empire, the poorer grow
the people. The more weapons the peo-
ple have, the more troubled is the state.
The more there is cunning and skill, the
more startling events will happen. The
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more mandates and laws are enacted, the
more there will be thieves and robbers.
3. Therefore the holy man says: I
practise non-assertion, and the people of
themselves reform. I love quietude, and
the people of themselves become right-
eous. I use no diplomacy, and the peo-
ple of themselves become rich. I have
no desire, and the people of themselves
remain simple.
58. ADAPTATION TO CHANGE.
1. Whose government is unostenta-
tious, quite unostentatious, his people
will be prosperous, quite prosperous.
Whose government is prying, quite pry-
ing, his people will be needy, quite
needy.
2. Misery, alas! rests upon happiness.
Happiness, alas! underlies misery. But
who foresees the catastrophe? It will
not be prevented!
3. What is ordinary becomes again
extraordinary. What is good becomes
again unpropitious. This bewilders peo-
ple, and it happens constantly since times
immemorial.
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115
4. Therefore the holy man is square
but not sharp, strict but not obnoxious,
upright but not restraining, bright but
not dazzling.
:59. HOLD FAST TO REASON.
1. To govern the people is the affair
of heaven and there is nothing like
thrift.
Now consider that thrift is said to
come from early practice.
2. By early practice it is said that we
can accumulate an abundance of virtue.
If one accumulates an abundance of vir-
tue then there is nothing that can not
be overcome.
3. When nothing can not be overcome
then no one knows his limit. When no
one knows his limit one can have pos-
session of the commonwealth.
4. Who has possession of the common-
wealth's mother [thrift] may last and
abide.
5. This is called the possession of deep
roots and of a staunch stem. To life,
to everlastingness, to comprehension,
this is the way.
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60. HOW TO MAINTAIN ONE'S PLACE.
1. Govern a great country as you
would fry small fish: [neither gut nor
scale them.]
2. If with Reason the empire is man-
aged, its ghosts will not spook. Not
only will its ghosts not spook, but its
gods will not harm the people. Not only
will its gods not harm the people, but
neither will its holy men harm the peo-
ple. Since neither will do harm, there-
fore their virtues will be combined.
61. THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY.
1. A great state, one that lowly flows,
becomes the empire's union, and the em-
pire's wife.
2. The wife always through quietude
conquers her husband, and by quietude
renders herself lowly.
3. Thus a great state through lowliness
toward small states will conquer the
small states, and small states through
lowliness toward great states will con-
quer great states.
4. Therefore some render themselves
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117
lowly for the purpose of conquering;
others are lowly and therefore conquer.
5. A great state desires no more than
to unite and feed the people; a small
state desires no more than to devote it-
self to the service of the people; but that
both may obtain their wishes, the greater
one must stoop.
62. PRACTISE REASON.
1. The man of Reason is the ten thou-
sand creatures' refuge, the good man's
wealth, the bad man's stay.
2. With beautiful words one can sell.
With honest conduct one can do still
more with the people.
3. If a man be bad, why should he be
thrown away? Therefore, an emperor
was elected and three ministers ap-
pointed; but better than holding before
one's face the jade table [of the min-
istry] and riding with four horses, is
sitting still and propounding the eternal
Reason.
4. Why do the ancients prize this Rea-
son? Is it not, say, because when sought
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it is obtained and the sinner thereby
honored.
63. CONSIDER BEGINNINGS.
1. Assert non-assertion.
Practise non-practice.
Taste the tasteless.
Make great the small.
Make much the little.
2. Requite hatred with virtue.
3. Contemplate a difficulty when it is
easy. Manage a great thing when it is
small.
4. The world's most difficult undertak-
ings necessarily originate while easy,
and the world's greatest undertakings
necessarily originate while small.
5. Therefore the holy man to the end
does not venture to play the great, and
thus he can accomplish his greatness.
6. Rash promises surely lack faith, and
many easy things surely involve in many
difficulties.
7. Therefore, the holy man regards
everything as difficult, and thus to the
end encounters no difficulties.
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119
64. MIND THE INSIGNIFICANT.
1. What is still at rest is easily kept
quiet. What has not as yet appeared
is easily prevented. What is still feeble
is easily broken. What is still scant is
easily dispersed.
2. Treat things before they exist. Reg-
ulate things before disorder begins. The
stout tree has originated from a tiny
rootlet. A tower of nine stories is raised
by heaping up [bricks of] clay. A thou-
sand miles' journey begins with a foot.
3. He that makes mars. He that grasps
loses.
• The holy man does not make; there-
fore he mars not. He does not grasp;
therefore he loses not. The people when
undertaking an enterprise are always
near completion, and yet they fail.
4. Remain careful to the end as in the
beginning and you will not fail in your
enterprise.
5. Therefore the holy man desires to
be desireless, and does not prize articles
difficult to obtain. He learns, not to
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be learned, and seeks a home where mul-
titudes of people pass by.
6. He assists the ten thousand things
in their natural development, but he does
not venture to interfere.
65. THE VIRTUE OF SIMPLICITY.
1. The ancients who were well versed
in Reason did not thereby enlighten the
people; they intended thereby to make
them simple-hearted.
2. If people are difficult to govern, it
is because they are too smart. To gov-
ern the country with smartness is the
try without smartness is the country's
blessing. He who knows these two things
is also a model [like the ancients]. Al-
ways to know the model is called pro-
found virtue.
3. Spiritual virtue, verily, is profound.
Verily, it is far-reaching. Verily, it is
to everything reverse. But then it will
procure great recognition.
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121
66. PUTTING ONESELF BEHIND.
1. That rivers and oceans can of the
hundred valleys be kings is due to their
excelling in lowliness. Thus they can of
the hundred valleys be the kings.
2. Therefore the holy man, when an-
xious to be above the people, must in his
words keep underneath them. When an-
xious to lead the people, he must with
his person keep behind them.
3. Therefore the holy man dwells
above, but the people are not burdened.
He is ahead, but the people suffer no
harm.
4. Therefore the world rejoices in ex-
alting him and does not tire. Because he
strives not, no one in the world will
strive with him.
67. THE THREE TREASURES.
1. All in the world call me great; but
I resemble the unlikely. Now a man is
great only because he resembles the un-
likely. Did he resemble the likely, how
lasting, indeed, would his mediocrity be!
2. I have three treasures which I
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cherish and prize. The first is called
compassion. The second is called econ-
omy. The third is called not daring to
come to the front in the world.
3. The compassionate can be brave;
the economical can be generous; those
who dare not come to the front in the
world can become perfect as chief ves-
sels.
4. Now, if people discard compassion
and are brave; if they discard economy
and are generous; if they discard mod-
esty and are ambitious, they will surely
die.
5. Now, the compassionate will in at-
tack be victorious, and in defence firm.
Heaven when about to save one will
with compassion protect him.
68. COMPLYING WITH HEAVEN.
1. He who excels as a warrior is not
warlike. He who excels as a fighter is
not wrathful. He who excels in con-
quering the enemy does not strive. He
who excels in employing men is lowly.
2. This is called the virtue of not-
striving. This is called utilizing men's
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123
ability. This is called complying with
heaven-since olden times the highest.
69. THE FUNCTION OF THE MYSTE.
RIOUS
1. A military expert used to say: "I
dare not act as host [who takes the ini-
tiative] but act as guest (with reserve].
I dare not advance an inch, but I with-
draw a foot."
2. This is called marching without
marching, threatening without arms,
charging without hostility, seizing with-
out weapons.
3. No greater misfortune than making
light of the enemy! When we make
light of the enemy, it is almost as though
we had lost our treasure—[compassion].
4. Thus, if matched armies encounter
one another, the one who does so in sor-
row is sure to conquer.
70. DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
1. My words are very easy to under-
stand and very easy to practise, but in
the world no one can understand, no one
can practise them.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
2. Words have an ancestor; Deeds have
a master (viz., Reason]. Since he is not
understood, therefore I am not under-
stood. Those who understand me are
few, and thus I am distinguished.
3. Therefore the holy man wears wool,
and hides in his bosom his jewels.
71. THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE.
1. To know the unknowable, that is
elevating. Not to know the knowable,
that is sickness.
2. Only by becoming sick of sickness
can we be without sickness.
3. The holy man is not sick. Because
he is sick of sickness, therefore he is
not sick.
72. HOLDING ONESELF DEAR.
1. If the people do not fear the dread-
ful, the great dreadful will come, surely.
2. Let them not deem their lives nar-
row. Let them not deem their lot weari-
some. When it is not deemed weari-
some, then it will not be wearisome.
3. Therefore the holy man knows him-
self but does not display himself. He
Canon of Reason and Virtue
125
holds himself dear but does not honor
himself. Thus he discards the latter and
chooses the former.
73. DARING TO ACT.
1. Courage, if carried to daring, leads
to death; courage, if not carried to dar-
ing, leads to life. Either of these two
things is sometimes beneficial, some-
times harmful.
2. “Why 't is by heaven rejected,
Who has the reason detected?”.
Therefore the holy man also regards it
as difficult.
3. The Heavenly Reason strives not,
but it is sure to conquer. It speaks not,
but it is sure to respond. It summons
not, but it comes of itself. It works pa-
tiently, but is sure in its designs.
4. Heaven's net is vast, so vast. It is
wide-meshed, but it loses nothing.
74. OVERCOME DELUSION.
1. If the people do not fear death,
how can they be frightened by death?
If we make people fear death, and sup-
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
posing some would [still] venture to re-
bel, if we seize them for capital punish-
ment, who will dare?
2. There is always an executioner who
kills. Now to take the place of the exe-
cutioner who kills is taking the place of
the great carpenter who hews. If a man
takes the place of the great carpenter
who hews, he will rarely, indeed, fail
to injure his hand.
75. HARMED THROUGH GREED.
1. The people hunger because their
superiors consume too many taxes;
therefore they hunger. The people are
difficult to govern because their supe-
riors are too meddlesome; therefore they
are difficult to govern. The people make
light of death on account of the inten-
sity of their clinging to life; therefore
they make light of death.
2. He who is not bent on life is worth-
ier than he who esteems life.
76. BEWARE OF STRENGTH.
1. Man during life is tender and deli-
cate. When he dies he is stiff and stark.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
127
2. The ten thousand things, the grass
as well as the trees, while they live are
tender and supple. When they die they
are rigid and dry.
3. Thus the hard and the strong are
the companions of death. The tender
and the delicate are the companions of
life.
Therefore he who in arms is strong
will not conquer.
4. When a tree has grown strong it is
doomed.
5. The strong and the great stay below.
The tender and the delicate stay above.
77. HEAVEN'S REASON.
1. Is not Heaven's Reason truly like
stretching a bow? The high it brings
down, the lowly it lifts up. Those who
have abundance it depleteth; those who
are deficient it augmenteth.
2. Such is Heaven's Reason. It de-
pleteth those who have abundance but
completeth the deficient.
3. Man's Reason is not so. He depleteth
the deficient in order to serve those who
have abundance.
128
Canon of Reason and Virtue
4. Where is he who would have abun-
dance for serving the world?
5. Indeed, it is the holy man who acts
but claims not; merit he acquires but
he does not dwell upon it, and does
he ever show any anxiety to display his
excellence?
78. TRUST IN FAITH.
1. In the world nothing is tenderer
and more delicate than water. In at-
tacking the hard and the strong noth-
ing will surpass it. There is nothing
that herein takes its place.
2. The weak conquer the strong, the
tender conquer the rigid. In the world
there is no one who does not know it,
but no one will practise it.
3. Therefore the holy man says:
"Him who the country's sin makes his,
We hail as priest at the great sacrifice.
Him who the curse bears of the coun-
try's failing.
As king of the empire we are hailing."
4. True words seem paradoxical.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
129
79. KEEP YOUR OBLIGATIONS.
1. When a great hatred is reconciled,
naturally some hatred will remain. How
can this be made good?
2. Therefore the sage keeps the obli-
gations of his contract and exacts not
from others. Those who have virtue at-
tend to their obligations; those who have
no virtue attend to their claims.
3. Heaven's Reason shows no prefer-
ence but always assists the good man.
80. REMAINING IN ISOLATION.
1. In a small country with few people
let there be aidermen and mayors who
are possessed of power over men but
would not use it. Induce people to grieve
at death but do not cause them to move
to a distance. Although they had ships
and carriages, they should find no occa-
sion to ride in them. Although they had
armours and weapons, they should find
no occasion to don them.
2 Induce people to return to [the old
custom of] knotted cords and to use
130
Canon of Reason and Virtue
light in their food, to be proud of their
clothes, to be content with their homes,
and to rejoice in their customs: then in
a neighboring state within sight, the
voices of the cocks and dogs would be
within hearing, yet the people might
grow old and die before they visited one
another.
81. PROPOUNDING THE ESSENTIAL.
1. True words are not pleasant; pleas-
ant words are not true. The good are
not contentious; the contentious are not
good. The wise are not learned; the
learned are not wise.
2. The holy man hoards not. The more
he does for others, the more he owns
himself. The more he gives to others,
the more will he himself lay up an abun-
dance.
3. Heaven's Reason is to benefit but
not to injure; the holy man's Reason is
to accomplish but not to strive.
COMMENTS AND ALTERNATIVE
READINGS.
CHAPTER 1.
The phrase 'yiu ming, "having name"
(or simply ming, "name") means that
which the definition of a name involves,
and as such the term represents the ac-
tualized types of things. However wu
ming, “not name" or "the Unnamable,"
corresponds to Plato's conception of the
prototype of things before they have
been actualized. Lao-tze speaks with
reverence of the Unnamable,1 which
closely corresponds to the "Ineffable"
of Western mystics.
The words "these two things” appar-
ently refer to the Unnamable and the
Namable.
What Lao-tze calls “the Name” or “the
1 See also Chapters 32 and 41.
132
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Namable” is in Spinoza's language na-
tura naturata, while "the Unnamable” is
natura naturans. In either system the
two are one; they are two aspects of
one and the same thing which in Lao-
tze's taoism is the Tao and in Spinoza's
cosmotheism is God as the eternal sub-
stance.
CHAPTER 2.
The first sentence reads literally, “Un-
der the heavens [i. e., all over the world,
or everywhere] all know [i. e., it is ob-
vious], if beauty acts beauty it is only
ugliness.” The verb "acts” is to be
taken in the same sense as it is used in
English, viz., "making a display or show
of.”
We deem our present rendering an im-
provement on our former version.
According to a notion of the early
Christians the devil would like to play
the part of God, as Tertullian says,
Satanas affectat sacramenta Dei. On
Lao-tze's theory the nature of the devil
consists exactly in the attempt of acting
the part of God.
Comments
133
The close interrelation of goodness
with badness and of beauty with ugli-
ness suggests the quotation on oppo-
sites. It sets forth the coexistence of
contrasts, and their mutual dependence
is more obvious to the Chinese than to
other nations, because in their word-
combinations they use compounds of
contrasts to denote what is common in
both. Thus a combination of the words
“to be” and “not to be” means the strug-
gle for life, or the bread question; "the
high and the low" means altitude;
"much and little" means quantity, etc.
But what originally seems to have been
the trivial observation of a grammar-
school teacher acquires a philosophical
meaning when commented upon by Lao-
tze.
CHAPTER 3.
In former editions we have translated
the verb shang by its common meaning
"to exalt,” but here it is obviously a re-
flex verb meaning “to exalt oneself” or
“to brag, to boast.”
The word fu means literally "stomach”
134
Canon of Reason and Virtue
or "the interior," but it may also mean
"soul,” for according to Chinese ideas
the soul has its seat in the stomach.
The idea that the belly is the noblest
part of the body where tender senti-
ments dwell was quite common among
early peoples. Thus, e. g. the Hebrew ra-
khamim, 2 which originally means "en-
trails,” is used in the sense of "com-
passion" and "love." In Japan that death
was considered most worthy in which
the first attack upon life was made upon
the seat of the properly psychic facul-
ties; therefore the victim of hara-kiri
rips open his belly and is then beheaded
by his best friend so as to shorten the
pain of death. It is, however, quite prob-
able that Lao-tze in this connection re-
ally means what he literally says, viz.,
that the holy man, when he governs,
empties the people's hearts of desires,
but takes care of their bodily wants,
i. e., "fills their stomachs and strength-
ens their bones."
The word kuh might be translated (as
2D"90)
Comments
135
in former editions) "backbone,” but in
the original it reads "bones.” To make
a man strong-boned means to render him
steady in character. I prefer to trans-
late the passage literally in all its rough-
ness and will leave the interpretation
of it to the reader.
CHAPTER 4.
The word tsung,3 "arch-father,” trans-
lates a Chinese term which means "pa-
triarch, or first ancestor, founder of the
family," and is frequently used with ref-
erence to Shang Ti, the Lord on High,
in the sense of God.
The word chʻan, “dust,” is a Buddhist
term which means the worry of world-
liness, and it is possible that this usage
antedates Buddhism and that the word
was current in the same sense in the time
of Lao-tze. If that be so, if chʻan means
the troubles of life, the travailing of the
world, we offer the following alternate
translation of the verse in which the
word occurs:
3
136
Canon of Reason and Virtue
“It will blunt its own sharpness,
Will its tangles unravel;
It will dim its own radiance
And conform to its travail."
The same holds good in Chapter 56,
where the same verse is quoted
CHAPTER 5.
In former editions the translator ac-
cepted the following version: "Heaven
and earth exhibit no benevolence; to
them the ten thousand things are like
straw dogs. The holy man exhibits no
benevolence; to him the hundred fami-
lies are like straw dogs."
Does that mean that heaven and earth
have a mode of procedure of their own;
that their actions can not be measured
by the usual standard of human benevo-
lence? May we assume that human lives
serve their purpose best if they become
sacrifices just as strawdogs are offered
on the altars of heaven and earth? This
solution can neither be proved nor re-
futed, but it seems too modern.
We learn from the commentators that
Proin
Comments
137
straw dogs are burned in place of living
dogs as sacrifices to heaven and earth,
and so the reference to them means
treatment without regard or considera-
tion. It is possible that Lao-tze meant
to say that “heaven and earth” treats all
people with an impartial indifference as
God makes his sun rise on the evil and
on the good (compare Chapter 79). But
Lao-tze might as well have meant the
very opposite, that "if heaven and earth
and also the sage were without benevo-
lence, they would treat the people like
straw dogs.” The Chinese text seems
to favor the former interpretation, but
the first sentence may be conditional and
then the latter rendering which has been
adopted by Harlez would be correct.
The question is whether Lao-tze did
or did not believe that heaven and earth
and the Tao were endowed with senti-
ment. An answer will be difficult if not
impossible, but I am now inclined to
think that he was more of mystic than a
philosopher, and he recognized in the
dispensation of the world a paternal and
loving providence.
138
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The phrase "heaven and earth” has a
deeper meaning to the Chinese than to
us. According to Chinese notions the
primordial essence, called t'ai chi,4 "the
great Ultimate," divided itself into two
principles called Yin and Yang (men-
tioned in Chapter 42). The former is
negative, female, dark, passive; the lat-
ter is positive, male, light and active.
The former is represented by earth, the
latter by heaven; the former by the
moon, the latter by the sun. The “ten
thousand things” (i. e., all existences in
the world), owe their characters to dif-
ferent mixtures of these two elementary
principles.
Emptiness is one of the virtues praised
by Lao-tze, and the emptiness of heaven
is to him an example of the emptiness
which man ought to possess. By empti-
ness Lao-tze understands the absence of
personal ambition, of desire, or to use
4 In Chapter 28, 2, Lao-tze calls this same
ultimate, wu chi, "the infinite." For further
details see Chinese Philosophy, pages 24-34.
Compare also page 167 in this book.
Comments
139
his own phrase, it is “the doing of the
not-doing" (wei wu wei).
Lao-tze concludes the chapter with a
homely saying concerning gossip, which
acquires a deep and peculiar meaning
in the context by comparing "fulsome
talk” to the emptiness of heaven.
The Chinese text reads to yen, liter-
ally, "many words," i. e., gossip.
CHAPTER 6.
The verse quoted in this chapter seems
to be the inscription over a fountain
which it was claimed never ran dry.
People believed that its source was deep
and sprang from the root of heaven and
earth, which would explain that its sup-
ply was inexhaustible. In using this
quotation Lao-tze looks upon the spring
as an emblem of the mysterious nature
of the Tao.
The Manchu version translates the
word ku, valley, as a verb by "nourish-
ing," which makes a very good sense for
the first line, thus: .
"Who nourishes spirituality does not die."
140
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The use of ku (valley) as a verb, mean-
ing “to feed, to nourish, to quicken,” ac-
cording to all dictionaries, is quite com-
mon in Chinese. But we might as well
interpret ku as an adjective or participle
and translate (with Couvreur):5
"L'esprit vivifiant ne meurt pas."
A literal translation would read thus:
"The quickening spirit never dies.
It is called the mysterious woman.
The mysterious woman's gate
Is called of heaven and earth the root.
For ever and aye it abides
[And] its use is without effort.”
The Manchu translator finds a physio-
logical meaning in this chapter. Dr.
Berthold Laufer has kindly furnished
me with a translation of it as follows:
“Who nourishes the soul will not die.
This is called the life of the main artery
(Kuhen-i ergen = Chinese yüen pʻin,
“mysterious woman"). The door of the
life of the main artery is called the root
5 See his French-Chinese Dictionary, p. 447.
Comments
141
of procreation and increase. As if pre-
served for all eternity, it is inexhaustible
in its practical application.”6
Dr. Laufer adds: “It is strange that
the Chinese words for 'heaven and earth'
which otherwise are literally translated,
are here rendered by the verbal nouns
banjibure and fusembure, the former
'creating,' the latter 'increasing.”
CHAPTER 9.
A German proverb says: “Allzu scharf
macht schartig.” This is a truth which
few learn, and so it is daily verified
again and again in business, in politics
and in private life.
The word rh is a copula often trans-
lated "and" or "but.” The character de-
picts the side portions of the face, the
whiskers, or the bristles of an animal,
thus denoting something added or an
extension. The sense of the chapter de-
pends on the grammatical significance
mistaken when we translate “Grasp to
Literally: "Lasting preserved like; used
if, inexhaustible."
142
Canon of Reason and Virtue
the full, is it not likely stopped? Scheme
to being sharp, will you be able long
to guard [your position]?” The verb
jui = scheme, means "to scrutinize, to
examine,” and pao = "to guard, to main-
tain, to protect, to defend."
CHAPTER 10.
The text of the first two sentences is
difficult, and we deem our present ver-
sion an improvement.7 Literally the be-
ginning seems to read thus: "Being in-
sistent in disciplining the sense soul.”
Mr. Ng Poon Chew writes: "The first
two characters are verbs, there is no
question as to that. The word poh is
commonly understood by the Chinese to
be the passive half of the human soul
equivalent to yin in nature.”
The Manchu version (as Dr. Laufer
informs me) in agreement with a Chi-
nese quotation of this passage by Huai
Nan Tze takes all these sentences as
queries.
? For an explanation of the text see "Emen-
dations and Comments," pp. ix-x in the second
issue of Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King.
Comments
143
CHAPTER 11.
Things are shaped by carving, by tak-
ing away, by diminishing the material.
Accordingly, that which is no longer
there, the non-existent, constitutes their
worth. Thus it appears that the part
in this case would be greater than the
whole, or to state the same truth briefly
"less is more.” As Hesiod says in his
Works and Days (30):
Νήπιοι ούδ' ίσασιν όσω πλέον ήμισυ παντός.
"Foolish they are, for they know not
That half than the whole is much greater."
CHAPTER 12.
The meaning of the verses quoted in
this chapter carries out the principle
enunciated in Chapter 11. The utility
of things, as well as the worth of life,
is attained not by having everything in
completion and in fulness, but by select-
ing some parts and omitting others, by
moderation and by discrete elimination.
All the colors blind you, a discrete selec-
tion will make a picture. All the notes
make a noise, while a few of them in
144
Canon of Reason and Virtue
proper succession make a melody. All
the tastes mixed together are offensive,
but a choice of them is pleasant.
Such is Lao-tze's method of teaching
that the form of things is more impor-
tant than substance. (See also Chapter
11.)
In former editions we have translated
the quotation thus:
“The five colors the human eye will
blind,
The five notes the human ear will
rend,
The five tastes the human mouth of-
fend.”
“Racing and hunting will human hearts
turn mad,
Objects of prize make human conduct
bad."
The phrase "he attends to the inner
and not to the outer” reads in a literal
translation "acts the stomach, not acts
the eye.”
The outer and the inner are called in
Chapter 38 the flower and the fruit, the
Comments
145
former being the mere show, the latter
the true import of life.
CHAPTER 13.
The ruler or prime minister who at-
tends to the government as he attends to
his own body, understanding that it is
a source of “great heartache,” is worthy
of the trust.
The comparison of "rank" or "high
office” to the body as a source of great
trouble and anxiety is based on an idea
which also plays an important part in
Buddhism. Buddhist philosophy explains
that the cause of all earthly trouble is
due to the body, and the body ought to
be treated like a wound which is the
source of pain. We attend to it without
loving it. In the “Questions of King
Milinda” (Milindapañha) the Buddhist
saint Nagasena says: “They who have
retired from the world take care of their
bodies as though they were wounds with-
out thereby becoming attached to them”
(Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p.
423). So long as man lives in his bodily
existence he is subject to anxiety; as
146
Canon of Reason and Virtue
soon as he ceases to live in the flesh he
is no more troubled.
The character ching, here translated
“trembling," denotes the state of a shy
horse, and the word "heartache" shows
used in China for stringing up coins.
The last sentence of this chapter has
been omitted because, with the exception
of one word, it is a literal repetition of
the preceding sentence and seems to
have slipped into the text by a copyist's
mistake.
CHAPTER 14.
This chapter is remarkable for several
reasons. Lao-tze speaks of the Tao and
describes it by saying what it is not.
It is not perceptible to the senses; ac-
cordingly it is "colorless," "soundless"
and "bodiless.” It cannot be seen, it
cannot be heard, it cannot be touched;
but this supersensible something, the
purely relational in all things, the divine
Reason, is one and the same throughout.
world-order which moulds all things.
Comments
147
Both its beginning and its end are
wrapped in obscurity.
Lao-tze's expression, “the form of the
formless," corresponds pretty closely to
Kant's term "pure form”; it means the
form which possesses no bodily shape,
and as such it is equivalent to the Bud-
dist term arupo.
It is strange that Lao-tze's description
of the Tao finds an almost literal parallel
in the Phædrus where Plato speaks of the
presence of a being in the over-heaven,
i. e., in the supercelestial place, a being
not perceptible to the senses and to be
apprehended only by the mind, the “pilot
of the soul.” This presence is described
as an essence, truly existent,8 without
color, without shape and impalpable.
Plato says:
Τον δε υπερουράνιον τόπον ούτε τις ύμνησέ πω
των τήδε ποιητής ούτε ποθ' υμνήσει κατ' αξίαν. έχει
δε ώδε. τολμητέον γάρ ούν τό γε αληθές ειπείν άλλως
τε και περί αληθείας λέγοντα: η γαρ αχρωματός τε
και άσχημάτιστος και αναφής ουσία όντως ψυχής
ουσα κυβερνήτη μόνω θεατή νω· περί ήν το της
αληθούς επιστήμης γένος τούτον έχει τον τόπον.
8 όντως όν.
148
Canon of Reason and Virtue
In Jowett's translation this reads:
“Of the heaven which is above the
heavens, what earthly poet ever did or
ever will sing worthily? It is such as
I shall describe; for I must dare to
speak the truth, when truth is my theme.
There abides the very being with which
true knowledge is concerned; the color-
less, the formless, the intangible essence
visible only to mind, who is the pilot of
the soul.”—Phaedrus, pag. 247.
The Latin version of the most impor-
tant part of the passage reads thus:
“Nam essentia vere existens, sine co-
lore, sine figura, sine tactu."
The similarity with Lao-tze is obvious,
only the second term, in Chinese "sound-
less," or "inaudible,” is omitted, while
the Greek "shapeless," viz., non-material
or having no body, has absolutely the
same meaning as the Chinese.
In addition to this surprising similar-
ity between Lao-tze's very words and
the thoughts of a philosopher who lived
about 200 years after him in ancient
Comments
. 149
Greece, a distant country which at that
time was in no connection with China,
we must point out another strange coin-
cidence. The three words, “colorless,"
"soundless" and "incorporeal,” read in
Chinese i, ki, wei, and the French
scholar Abel Rémusat saw in this com-
bination of Chinese characters the cor-
responding three Hebrew letters, Jod,
Heh, Vav, indicating the name Jehovah,
and his theory was accepted by many
others who for some reason or other be-
lieved that there ought to have been a
mysterious prehistoric connection be-
tween the Chinese and the Israelites.
The theory has found the support of a
German translator of Lao-tze's book,
Victor von Strauss, a confessed mystic,
sinologist of standing, and there is no
need to refute it. We see in it a curious
though quite remarkable coincidence.
Liquids generally are clear at the top
and sediments settle at the bottom, but
here Lao-tze, using the simile, reverses
the statement by saying that in its upper
150
Canon of Reason and Virtue
portion the Tao is not clear and in its
lower strata it is not obscure. If we had
not to deal with an author like Lao-tze
who loves to mystify we might assume
some mistake in the text, but as the
statement stands it reminds us of St.
Augustine's description of Christianity
when he comparés religious truth to an
immeasurable ocean in whose waters a
lamb may wade, while an elephant must
swim. The simple mind of a child finds
no difficulty in understanding the mean-
ing of the Tao while a scholar may not
be able to fathom its depth. We may
also say that the deeper problems of
philosophy are in their general aspect
quite simple, but the superficial appli-
cations obscure them by complexity.
CHAPTER 15.
Lao-tze frequently quotes proverbs of
the people and sayings of his predeces-
sors. Of the latter he has a very high
opinion which he here expresses.
Lao-tze says that the sages of yore
behave like guests, alluding to the Chi-
Comments
151
nese custom for guests to be always re-
served and modest. They are elusive
as the Tao is elusive (see Chapter 21),
which means that their words admit of
more than one interpretation and fre-
quently conceal a deeper meaning. In
the same sense the Tao is called elusive
because it has never been grasped in its
full significance. A philosopher may
think he has fathomed its meaning, and
afterwards may find out that his view is
only one aspect and there is more to it.
So a search for truth can never be com-
pleted. Like melting ice the old masters
have more depth than the surface shows.
Further, the sages are simple, without
the polish of artful elegance, and thus
they are compared to "rough wood."
They are empty because they make no
show, and they are like the valley, which
is Lao-tze's favorite simile to indicate
an attitude of lowliness. The more lowly
a river flows the larger and broader will
it be, and the most lowly valley will be-
come the main stream, the ocean river,
of an entire system with many tribu-
taries.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
The last sentence of this chapter is
difficult to interpret, and had perhaps
better be translated:
“Without being fashionable he is per-
fect,"
which would mean "though not in style
he is as he ought to be.” The last three
words read in literal translation “not-
new-perfected” which may mean “not
newly formed,” that is to say, "he is not
of a modern fashion"; or we may trans-
late, “he is not fashionable and yet per-
fect”; or "without being renewed he is
complete," which would imply that the
sage can grow old without standing in.
need of rejuvenescence, viz., natural or
artificial means of recuperating his vital-
ity. But it may mean, as we have trans-
lated it in a former edition, "without
reform he is perfect.” Finally the two
last words may be synonyms, and the
three may mean, "without being renewed
and completed.”
Happily the passage is not of much
consequence, and there is no great harm
if we can not decide which interpreta-
tion is preferable.
Comments
153
CHAPTER 18.
This chapter is directed against the
Confucianist morality of filial piety, loy-
alty, and justice. Lao-tze is disgusted
with the very words. Where the Tao
obtains there is no need of preaching
justice, filial piety and loyalty, for the
vitrue of the Tao is spontaneous. The
men whose hearts are bare of these vir-
tues, parade them in words.
1
CHAPTER 19. V
The display which obtains in Confu-
cian ethics is here condemned, and Lao-
tze's words remind us of Christ's warn-
ings against the self-righteousness of
the Pharisees. Lao-tze wants us to aban-
don: (1) saintliness and prudence, (2)
benevolence and justice, (3) smartness
and greed. He declares that culture (i. e.,
Confucian morality) is insufficient to ac-
complish these three things. He advises:
“Hold fast that which endures,
Mind simplicity, preserve purity,
Lessen self, diminish desire."
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
The word "learnedness" in contrast to
wisdom means the artificial scholarship
of Confucian literati, who like the Phar-
isees of the New Testament insist on
external propriety more than on a re-
generation of the heart.
CHAPTER 20.
Lao-tze continues to criticize Confu-
cianism as represented by the learned
ones, the literati. According to Con-
fucius conventional propriety is a great
virtue, and it is very important that
people reply according to the properly
established modes of speaking. There
are two forms of affirmation in Chinese:
One is pronounced wei, and being
straightforward and manly it is proper
for men and boys to use; the other,
pronounced o, is modest, and it behooves
women and girls to employ no other
form of expressing assent. Lao-tze
would not insist on the significance of
such externalities, and so he says, “What
is the difference between yea' and 'yes'?
There is none. But there is a difference
between bad and good."
Comments
155
In times of disorder lives are con-
stantly endangered and the people be-
come indifferent to death. This is not
the natural state of things and ought
to be avoided. Lao-tze's warning is illus-
trated in modern history by the French
Revolution when the prisoners of the
terrorist government actually joked
about the guillotine and went to the
place of execution with absolute uncon-
cern. Similar conditions prevailed in
China in the days of Lao-tze.
In this chapter, as well as further
down (Chapters 72 and 74), the old phi-
losopher makes reference to the preva-
lence of great disturbances which make
the people restless. A Chinese Jere-
miah, forlorn among people who only
thought of enjoying themselves, he burst
out into bitter lamentation, and we can-
not read these lines without feeling com-
passion for the sage who differed so
much from the rest of the world.
The fourth and eighth sections of this
chapter recall Christ's saying (Matt.
viii. 20): “The foxes have holes, and the
156
Canon of Reason and Virtue
birds of the air have nests; but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head.”
CHAPTER 21.
The last two lines of the quoted verse
in Chapter 21 are obscure in the orig-
inal Chinese. The difficulty lies in the
meaning of the word fu, which means
anything that is first, either in time or
dignity. Literally the eight words read:
"Its-name-not-departs; Thereby-
it notes--all-the first."
The sense seems to be that the Tao is
eternal, for its name never departs.
Therefore it has been in the beginning
of creation. In this sense we have trans-
lated the passage in former editions:
"Its name does not depart
Thence lo! All things take start."
which means, "It is of all the first."
Should fu, however, have to be taken
in the sense of excellence we would pro-
pose either of these two readings:
"Its name does not pass hence
Lo! Here's all excellence !"
Comments
157
or, if we lay stress on the verb yüeh, "it
beholds,” we translate:
"Its name is never vanishing
It heeds the good in everything."
Mr. Ng Poon Chew favors the idea
that the character fu means "the begin-
ning."
The Manchu version follows the last
interpretation. Dr. Laufer translates:
"Hence one investigates all good things,"
-which seems to mean: “Thereby we
learn what in all things is good," and
the concluding sentence would read:
"Whereby do I know what is good in
all things? Through IT.” In other
words: Reason is the standard of ex-
cellence.”
The two last words “through IT” in
this chapter comprise a favorite term
of Lao-tze, and by “IT” Lao-tze means
"Reason.”
U
CHAPTER 22. b.
Lao-tze here as in many other places
quotes a sentiment from the sages of
yore.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
These beautiful lines remind us of
several Biblical sayings, such as “The
crooked shall be made straight” (Is. xl.
4) and “The bruised reed shall he not
break” (Matt. xii. 20). Compare also
the beatitude that those who mourn shall
be comforted (Matt. v. 4).
It is strange, however, that though
Christ's Gospel agrees in spirit so well
with Lao-tze's philosophy he states the
very opposite to the sentiment of the
last two lines, saying: "For whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall
have more abundance: but whosoever
hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath” (Matt. xiii. 12).
The Chinese words ch'ü and ch'üen
here translated "crooked" and "crushed”
may be taken in the physical sense as
"the distorted ones” and also figura-
tively, denoting those morally awry or
wrong-doers.
The character hwo shows "a heart”
and "doubt,” the latter being the pho-
netic (hwo). It means "to delude, to
blind, to embarrass, to bewilder, to un-
Comments
159
settle," and we have translated it by
"grieve.”
The last two lines of the quotation
might also be interpreted to mean,
"What is too little shall receive more;
what is too much shall be in a state of
perplexity." See also Chapter 77, 1-3.
Compare the second section of this
chapter with Chapter 24.
CHAPTER 24.
Mr. Medhurst translates the first sen-
tence: “Who tiptoes totters; who strad-
dles stumbles."
The translator trusts that the style of
this chapter has been greatly improved
in this edition. The first section has
been made more terse, and in the second
the sense comes out more clearly. Yü
shih, in former editions translated "of-
fal of food," means "too much of food”
and is better interpreted as a surfeit of
food. Further we have in former edi-
tions translated chui hing as "excres-
cence in the system.” The word chui (a
synonym of yü) denotes anything that
is redundant, an excrescence, or a wen,
160
Canon of Reason and Virtue
and hing is a peculiar word which lit-
erally means "to go," or "to walk," and
may mean the way of acting, or the bod-
ily system, or almost anything else. We
might translate chui hing "overdoing in
behavior," but it is likely that Lao-tze
actually meant that the overdoing of
self-display is like a wen in the face-
too much and therefore disgusting. Lao-
tze may also think of Confucian super-
erogatory behavior, which is character-
ized by overdoing in politeness and is
offensive to the man who believes in
the simple life.
The new interpretation is supported
by the Manchu version.
The lines here quoted are parallel to
the lines in the second section of Chap-
ter 23. The same words are used, only
the negation pu is differently placed so
as to produce a contrast.
CHAPTER 25.
The word shi, "departing,” may very
well be understood in the sense of dying.
The word fan means literally "return,"
denoting "coming back,” and in order
Comments
161
to imitate the terse Chinese text, the best
translation for “having come back" is
"home.” Lao-tze says: “Reason, the great
distant beyond, is our home.”
Section 5 seems to be a gloss which
slipped into the text. At any rate the
bracketed portion is too trivial to come
from the hand of Lao-tze.
CHAPTER 26.
The word tsz', translated “gravity," is
a peculiar phrase which literally means
"baggage wagon.” The intermediate idea
seems to be "heaviness” or “gravity,"
the latter in the double sense (literal
and figurative) as used in English.
In our former edition it was translated
"dignity.”
CHAPTER 27.
In Section 4 we have adopted an en-
tirely new interpretation. In following
a suggestion of Prof. H. A. Giles, we con-
strue the two characters shan (words 6
and 14) denoting “good” or “goodness,"
as verbs in the sense to consider as good,
and translate "to respect”; and further
162
Canon of Reason and Virtue
the characters shi (words 9 and 21) in
their common meaning as "multitudes,"
not as we had it in former editions
(though it is not wrong), as "educator."
CHAPTER 28.
In order to understand what Lao-tze
means by manhood and womanhood, by
brightness and blackness, by fame and
shame, we must bear in mind what has
been said above in the explanation of
Chapter 5 about the two principles Yin
and Yang. Compare also Lao-tze's views
and the left in times of peace (Chapter
31). Manliness is not worth much un-
less tempered by womanliness, and a
good warrior is not warlike, a good
fighter is not pugnacious (Chap. 68).
The word chih means "to carve, to
form, to regulate," and as a noun "law”
or "norm.” Lao-tze seems to mean that
a government which upholds great prin-
ciples and rules according to the maxims
of the Tao can never do any harm.
Professor Giles translates, "a great
principle can not be divided," which
Comments
163
he interprets to mean, that it applies
universally. (See Emendations and
Comments to Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King,
pp. xxi-xxii.)
CHAPTER 29.
The doctrine of “doing the not-doing"
has rightly been compared to the French
principle of laissez faire, although the
two are not the same. Lao-tze wants
to say here that "he who makeş, mars”;
we therefore should not interfere but
let everything take the course of its
natural development.
CHAPTER 35.
The world is noisy. There is music;
there are dainties to eat; there are many
distractions, and the passing stranger
stops. The Tao is tasteless, is invisible,
is inaudible, but inexhaustible in its use.
We have here a trinity of the negative
qualities of the Tao just as in Chapter
14. Compare also Chapter 42.
CHAPTER 36.
The tendency of the world is to ac-
quire hardness and strength, but in this
164
Canon of Reason and Virtue
chapter the sage warns us to beware of
these qualities, and rather remain tender
and weak. The people should scarcely
know that weapons exist.
On the authority of Professor Giles
the last section of this chapter should
read “Fishes can not be taken away from
the water. The instruments of govern-
ment can not be delegated to others."
Huai Nan Tze tells a story of a sover-
eign who lost his throne by transferring
the power of punishment to his minister.
(See Emendations and Comments to Lao-
Tze's Tao-Teh-King, second issue, pages
xvi-xvii.)
Lao-tze regarded acquaintance with
weapons as an unnatural condition which
would prove fatal to the people, just as
fish must die when they are removed
from their natural element, the water.
CHAPTER 38.
Justice is different from virtue and
benevolence. It is the nature of justice
to act and enforce its pretensions.
True or superior virtue is here called
“unvirtue” because it does not make a
Comments
165
show of virtue; it does not "act virtue.”
A difference between virtue and justice
is that justice doling out punishments
must make a show of its power, and so
"acts and makes pretensions.” It is ob-
vious that here the Confucian concep-
tion of virtue is criticised for the rea-
son that it is always in evidence and is
therefore inferior,-it is shoddy.
Traditionalism (tsʻien shih, "of times
bygone the knowledge”) which is men-
tioned further on in this chapter is a
characteristic feature of Confucian eth-
ics.
In former editions I took tsʻien in the
sense of "early" or "premature" and
translated "quickwittedness”; but we
must bear in mind that we have before
us a criticism of Confucian ethics with
its rules of propriety based upon a rev-
erence for the past, clinging tenaciously
to tradition. Lao-tze says that this re-
spect for bygone times, this tradition-
alism is not commendable. It is but “the
flower of reason,” meaning thereby that
it makes a display or show of virtue;
166
Canon of Reason and Virtue
it parades morality but it does not con-
tain the fruit.
CHAPTER 39.
Plato scholars will note that the famous
dialogue "Parmenides," discussing the
problem of the one and the many, may
fitly be compared with Lao-tze's exposi-
tion of the nature of oneness, the poet-
ical portion of which sounds like a phil-
osophical rhapsody.
The simile that the carriage does not
consist of its parts, but it a definite com-
bination of its parts, is also used in the
Buddhist book, "Questions of King Mi-
linda," written several centuries after
Lao-tze.
The last line in section 7, Ta fang wu
yü (literally, “Greatest square has no
corner") should be compared with the
same sentiment in Chapter 45, ta chih
joh ch'ü ("greatest straightness seems
curved").
CHAPTER 42. V
The subject of oneness or unity treated
in Chapter 39 is here continued, and
Comments
167
..
.
...
.
.
.
...
..-
.
. -
.
unity is represented as the product of
the Tao or Reason.
The trinity idea plays an important
part in human thought almost every-
where, in philosophical systems and in
many religions including Christianity.
The Chinese idea of trinity is based
on the notion that there are two opposed
principles, Yang and Yin, which have
originated, as Lao-tze explains, from a
primordial oneness, called by Cheu-tze
and other later philosophers Chi, the
ultimate, or the absolute. Oneness pro-
duces by differentiation a twohood, viz.,
the twohood of Yang, or heaven, and
Yin, or earth. Between heaven and earth
is the air, Chói, the breath of life; and
from this trinity of Yang, Yin and Ch'i
all things are derived.
Incidentally we must warn the reader
that chi, the ultimate,1 is quite differ-
ent from ch'i, breath.2
Chi is used by Lao-tze in its ordinary
sense in Chapter 16, and 68, last word. For
the philosophical terms tai chi and wu chi
see p. 138 and compare Giles's Dictionary,
No. 859.
2 Ch'i, breath, occurs three times in our
168
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The words ku kwa, here translated “or-
phaned, lonely," mean, the former "a
fatherless son,” and the latter "lonely”;
and in this sense the emperor has been
called the "lonely one” as one who stands
aloof, who is solitary, peerless and with-
out equal. But the original meaning is
still prominent in the term and so we
may look upon Lao-tze's use of the word
as a pun which he uses as a peg upon
which to hang a lesson. The word kwa,
"lonely,” has the meaning of "little” and
“insignificant” which in agreement with
a Chinese view of politeness is also used
in the sense of "your humble servant,"
or as the Germans say, meine Wenigkeit,
which may justly be considered an ade-
quate equivalent for the Chinese kwa.
The term pu ku is used in the same
sense as kwa, meaning literally "not
worthy," as a modest expression in which
the speaker refers to himself. It serves
so commonly as an equivalent for the
text: (1) translated "airs" in Sze ma Tsien's
biography of Lao-tze; (2) translated "vital-
ity" in Chapter 10; and (3) "breath,” in Chap-
ter 42. See Giles's Dictionary No. 1064. The
word is also transcribed k'i.
Comments
169
pronoun of the first person that even
the emperor does not scorn it. However
the former words ku kwa denote the em-
peror as a peerless person, the only one
of his kind, the man who has no equal.
Lao-tze is certainly an original thinker
and yet he disclaims originality; he con-
stantly quotes his predecessors, but he
reads his own thoughts into their say-
ings. He says here, “What others have
taught I teach also," but in Chapter 15
he says that they are too profound to
be understood, and so he endeavors to
make them intelligible.
The chapter concludes with a state-
ment which tradition explains as mean-
ing that he will "expound the doctrine's
foundation, but the literal reading of
the last six words runs thus:
"I shall do the doctrine's father.”
The word fu, "father,” pictures a hand
with a rod and means "rule, authority,
father, fatherly or loving." It is the
most common word for "father” and
170
Canon of Reason and Virtue
ought to be so translated unless weighty
reasons speak against it.
The word wei, commonly translated
“to do,” may mean "to live up to, to ac-
tualize, to exemplify, to do the will of,
to obey." Obviously it means the actual
doing, not the purely theoretical ex-
pounding, and so we explain the passage
to mean, “While the mass of mankind are
violent and self-willed, which leads to
trouble and an unnatural death, I mean
to exemplify in my life the will of the
doctrine's father," or in a more literal
rendering “But I will obey the doctrine's
father (i. e., the Tao)."
CHAPTER 45.
Literally the second quotation reads:
“Greatest straightness is like a curve,
Greatest skill is like awkwardness,
Greatest eloquence is like stammer-
ing."
The first line reminds us of modern
geometry where the straight line may
be regarded as a curve of an infinitely
small curvature. Cf. note on Chapter
41.
Comments
171
CHAPTER 47.
Whether or not Lao-tze meant it, he
here endorses Kant's doctrine of the a
priori, which means that certain truths
can be stated a priori, viz., even before
we make an actual experience. It is
not the globe trotter who knows man-
kind, but the thinker. In order to know
the sun's chemical composition we need
not go to the sun; we can analyze the
sun's light by spectrum analysis. We
need not stretch a tape line to the moon
to measure its distance from the earth,
we can calculate it by the methods of
an a priori science (trigonometry).
CHAPTER 49.
The word shang means "constant,
ordinary, usual, common" etc., and the
contrast requires the sense that the saint
has not the heart as other people have,
which means a heart of his own.
- The "one hundred families" is a Chi-
nese term which means the people of a
district.
172
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The second section of this chapter
contains a difficulty in the text. Its
third sentence reads in the Chinese text
as translated in our former editions,
“Virtue is good"; but this does not make
good sense, as it is trivial. While pon-
dering over the meaning of these two
characters the translator discovered two
versions which replace the word teh,
"virtue,” by its homophone, teh, “to ob-
tain," and it seemed quite probable that
this was the original reading. The change
from teh, "to obtain," to teh, "virtue,"
could naturally and at an early date have
originated through a careless scribe in
a book where the word teh, “virtue,"
occurred so frequently. Once intro-
duced, the mistake could easily have
been perpetuated in the text.
The word teh, “to obtain," makes good
sense and might even suggest itself as
the most appropriate text emendation.
On the ground of this consideration we
might prefer the reading teh, “to ob-
9 See the Emendations and Comments to the
second issue of the author's Lao-Tze's Tao-
Teh-King, p. vii.
Comments
173
tain," and propose to translate the pas-
sage thus:
“The good I meet with goodness, the
bad I also meet with goodness; thus I
obtain goodness (i. e., I actualize vir-
tue.) The faithful I meet with faith, the
faithless I also meet with faith; thus
I obtain faith (i. e., I actualize faith).”
In other words, we must meet not only
the good with goodness but the bad
also with goodness, if we want to actual-
ize the ideal of goodness; and we must
meet not only the faithful with faith
but the faithless also with faith, in order
to actualize the ideal of faith.
This is the obvious meaning of Lao-
tze, for he here expresses his view of the
way a man can become truly good and
faithful. He does not admit any utili-
tarian argument and lays down the rule
for a man who follows the Tao. He can
be truly good and truly faithful only if
he is good and faithful to all, whether
he has to deal with the good or the not-
good, the faithful or the faithless.
The Manchu translator had before him
a text which read teh, "virtue,” not teh,
174
Canon of Reason and Virtue
"obtain,” but he construes teh, "virtue,"
as a genitive. If he is right, we must
translate, “That is virtue's goodness,"
and further down, "That is virtue's
faith.”
After some hesitation we have finally
adopted the interpretation of the Man-
chu version.
CHAPTER 50.
The first line of this chapter contains
much food for thought. In our first
edition we have translated these four
words by “Going forth is life, coming
home is death." We still cling to the
same meaning, but we believe we have
improved the diction by translating
"Abroad in life, home in death."
We must grant, however, that we
might translate, “He who enters life
must return in death," but this inter-
pretation that "he who is born must die,”
is objectionable mainly because it is too
trivial for Lao-tze
The second paragraph in this chapter
is obscure and seems beyond hope of
Comments
175
making good sense. A literal transla-
tion reads:
“Life's followers [are] ten have three
Death's followers [are] ten have three
In man's life the moving to death
places are also ten have three.”
This may mean either ten plus three,
i. e., thirteen, or of ten take three, viz.,
"three in ten."
If the translation “thirteen" be cor-
rect, "thirteen retainers” might accord-
ing to Chinese folklore mean the five
senses and the eight apertures which
make thirteen avenues of life. This
interpretation is based on the view of
the commentator Lu Tze who may be
right, and his view becomes somewhat
probable when we bear in mind Chapter
52, where Lao-tze speaks of the mouth
and the sense-gates as beset with danger.
There he declares that the sage who
keeps these openings closed will to the
end of his life remain safe.
I applied to Mr. Ng Poon Chew for
an explanation and he writes:
“The passage is very vague and ob-
scure, its meaning is no clearer to me
176
Canon of Reason and Virtue
than to you. I have consulted a few
good Chinese scholars and they were all
baffled. The words shi yiu san, “ten
have three,” may mean here "thirteen”
or “three out of ten.”
If we translate "three in ten,” the
reader will naturally ask, Three times
three in ten make nine, where is the
tenth? And we would answer, it is “the
man who bases his life on goodness.”
Three in ten are anxious to live, three
in ten somehow are doomed to death,
and other three in ten walk blindly
toward death; they all live life's in-
tensity. There is but one who is above
life and death, and this is the man who
bases his life on goodness.
In this case we interpret the word fu,
"footman, follower, retainer,” in the
sense of “pursuer.”
We have chosen the former interpre-
tation which seems to us the most prob-
able, but do not claim to have solved the
difficulty.
The last section of this chapter finds
a striking parallel in Plato's Phaedrus,
Comments
177
in the same book and on the same pagina
(248) that contains the reference to the
supercelestial being which is colorless
and shapeless, quoted above in our com-
ments on Chapter 14. The passage in
Plato reads: "There is a law of destiny
that the soul which attains any vision
of truth in company with a god is pre-
served from harm until the next period,
and if attaining always is always un-
harmed.”10
The same idea is expressed in the
famous ode of Horace, Integer vitae.
The belief that a truly good man is
miraculously protected in danger is not
uncommon in folktales and appears to
have been an integral part of primitive
religion.
Are these coincidences between Plato
and Lao-tze accidental or are we to look
upon them as echoes of a notion which in
both the West and East have been in-
herited from a distant prehistoric past?
The latter is certainly not improbable.
“Reality” here translates the word
10 Jowett's translation.
178
Canon of Reason and Virtue
wuh, "concrete things," and commonly
occurs in the phrase "the ten thousand
things” which means the entire world.
The character sh' = "expansion" is a
synonym of wei in the sense of asser-
tion. The sage fears to be or to appear
or to claim too much. He avoids self-
aggrandizement.
CHAPTER 54.
This chapter, like so many other pas-
sages, is directed against the Confu-
cianists who in their ethics insist on
the ritual of ancestral sacrifices. Lao-
tze believes that wherever the Tao is ob-
served, filial piety and sacrificial cele-
brations will be spontaneous.
CHAPTER 56.
The quotation is the same as in Chap-
ter 4, only here it is attributed to the
sage, in the former place to the Tao.
The sage identifies himself with the mor-
tal coil he is heir to, with ch'an, his dust
or the troubles of his bodily life, and this
is called here "a profound identifica-
tion.” Even in the lowliness of his con-
Comments
179
dition the sage feels his own dignity
as a man of the Tao.
This same idea has produced the con-
ception of the god-man in Christianity
as well as in pagan religions.
CHAPTER 57.
When, as Hamlet says, "the time is
out of joint," we observe that political
disorder produces restlessness among
the people and in its wake come start-
ling events. The people are frightened
and superstition dominates their minds.
The result is that ghosts will spook and
the gods will be angry, as stated in
Chapter 60.
CHAPTER 59.
The "mother of the commonwealth"
is commonly interpreted to be thrift.
It is not impossible that Lao-tze means
the Tao or Reason, but in the same chap-
ter he uses the term Tao in the more
general sense as “way.”
CHAPTER 60.
Whatever the first sentence of this
chapter may mean, it is oddly expressed.
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
One should govern a country as one
would fry small fish, and we have added
the traditional explanation in brackets,
"neither gut nor scale them,” which
means the same as the rule wei wu wei,
i. e., do the not-doing, practice non-
meddle with their affairs.
In ancient times ghosts were feared,
and ghosts begin to spook, or at least
are believed to spook, where crimes keep
the minds of the people in a state of
fearful and unsettled expectancy. See
Chapter 57.
CHAPTER 61. V
This chapter contains more wisdom
than it seems to possess at first sight.
The same idea is expressed in the Eng-
lish saying that by stooping one con-
quers. It is also echoed in the New
Testament where Jesus says that he who
wishes to be the master of all should be
their servant. In an empire or confed-
eracy of states that state takes the lead
which renders the greatest service to the
others. For instance Prussia took the
.
-
.
.
---
Comments
181
lead in Germany because through its sys-
tematic administration and well-organ-
ized army it offered protection and other
advantages to the smaller states and so
served their interests. In the same way
Athens gained and lost ascendency in
Greece; its downfall dates from the time
when it ceased to serve the others and
loss of the thirteen American colonies
England has adopted the same maxim
of serving the interests of her depen-
dencies. This policy which has proved
successful and has repeatedly saved the
British empire from dismemberment, was
pronounced by Lao-tze in plain terms
two and a half millenniums ago.
CHAPTER 62. *
The proposition that “when sought the
Tao is obtained,” reminds one of the
New Testament verse, “Seek and ye shall
find.”
CHAPTER 63. V
In the famous passage, “Requite hatred
with virtue," the word teh, "virtue,” is
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Canon of Reason and Virtue
-1
-
-
.
.
. .
..-..
.-
.
.
.
..
.
.
::.
.
.
.
..
commonly translated "goodness.” We
grant that this is the meaning, but we
prefer a literal rendering. The sentence
recalls Christ's injunction, "Love your
enemies," but it means that we should
treat those who hate us with justice and
goodness, according to the rules of the
Tao, the eternal Reason. It is not so
emphatic as the Christian saying, but it
is more logical and less paradoxical.
The sentence before the last means:
Rash promises are easily made; and if
we take things easy in the beginning
without thinking of the consequences we
shall soon be involved in complications.
CHAPTER 64.
The last word here translated by “in-
terfere” is in Chinese wei, “to do" or
"to act."
The terms "likely" and "unlikely" are
literal translations of the Chinese.
Likely apparently means what is com-
mon or usual, and the unlikely, what is
unusual.
Comments
183
CHAPTER 70. V
When Lao-tze says, "words have an
ancestor, deeds have a master," he per-
sonifies Reason which makes the con-
ception of Tao resemble Christian the-
ism; but we can not deny that in this
atmosphere of abstract thought the ex-
pressions, “ancestor” and “master” may
be regarded as intentional similes, just
as in other chapters the Tao is compared
to a "father" (Chapters 4 and 42), a
"mother" (Chapter 20, also 1 and 52),
“the Lord” (Chapter 4) and the "great
carpenter" (Chapter 74). Nevertheless
the fact remains that Lao-tze has re-
peatedly personified the Tao in spite of
its abstract nature.
CHAPTER 71.
The passage "to know the unknow-
able" is a smooth and quite correct trans-
lation, but there is a deeper sense in it
and it certainly should not be inter-
preted in the sense of agnosticism. A
strictly correct literal translation should
read “know the not-knowing," which
184
Canon of Reason and Virtue
means "be familiar with that state of
mind where knowing (the noetic fac-
ulty) is not the mecium of our mental
life.” It is an expression of Lao-tze's
mysticism in which the attitude of heart
is considered superior to comprehension,
and seems to involve what European
mystics call intuition and what is char-
acterized by St. Paul as the "peace that
passeth understanding." We can retain
the translation "unknowable" if it is
understood in this sense, not as anything
incomprehensible, an x in cognition, but
as a mental attitude, as the feeling of the
ineffable.
The connection between the first and
second paragraphs consists in the idea
that courage is sometimes successful and
sometimes it brings harm. We do not
know the reason why heaven sometimes
dooms a hero. The word "doom," trans-
lated in the text "reject," reads in the
Chinese "hate."
Comments
.185
CHAPTER 74.
The "great carpenter who hews" is
undoubtedly the Tao, or as theists would
say, God. Compare our comment on
Chapter 70.
We read in the Bible, “Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
CHAPTER 75.
The last sentence finds its parallel in
the New Testament (John xii. 25) where
we read: "He that loveth his life shall
lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eter-
nal."
CHAPTER 78, V
In China the emperor takes the guilt
of the whole nation upon himself when
he brings his annual sacrifice, a full
burnt offering, to Shang Ti the Lord on
High, and this is expressed in the quota-
tion of this chapter which thus bears a
remarkable similarity to the Christian
doctrine that Christ as the High Priest
takes the sins of mankind upon his own
186
Canon of Reason and Virtue
shoulders. Here is another coincidence
of the East with the West. The priest
according to the primitive custom speaks
in the name of the sacrificial animal, and
the sacrificial animal represents the god
himself.
CHAPTER 79.
The original reads, “The holy man
keeps the left (tso) of contract" and tso,
"left," means the debit side. The right
side of the contract table contained the
claims, ch'eh, which in its original mean-
ing denotes "to go through” and then
"that which can be enacted.”
CHAPTER 80.
Lao-tze is not in favor of progress.
He is bent on preaching that the Tao
can be actualized in primitive conditions
as well as, if not more easily than, in a
highly complicated state of civilization.
His ideal is not the luxury of wealth
and power and learnedness, but the sim-
ple life of simple-minded people. He
may even be accused of reactionary ten-
dencies, for he is ready to abandon the
Comments
187
O
advance made by his predecessors up to
his own time and give up the practice
of writing on bamboo slips, in favor of
the prehistoric mode of keeping memo-
randa by knotted cords (chieh shing), or
as they are now called with an American
name, quipu, a method of assisting the
memory by threads of various dyes knot-
ted in special ways.
Lao-tze will scarcely find followers for
his proposal to revert to primitive con-
ditions, but even here where he is mis.
taken, there is a truth at the bottom
of his thought. It is the ideal of a sim-
ple life, so much preached and so little
brings new inventions but also loosens
the old ideals of simplicity, purity, hon-
esty and faith. In place of the restful
contentedness of former ages, the new
generation is filled with desires. People
have become reckless, arrogant, and lux-
urious. Learnedness takes the place of
wisdom, and a pretentious display of
filial piety supplants spontaneous re-
spect for parents.
188
Canon of Reason and Virtue
OUR FRONTISPIECE.
Our frontispiece pictures Lao-tze in
the traditional style as seated on an ox
while about to travel westward. It is
the reproduction of a delicate drawing
by Shoso Mishima.
The inscription is a quotation from
Chapter 70 of the Tao Teh King which
hides his jewels."
CONCLUSION.
i
The kind reader who has patiently fin-
ished this little book will be amazed
when he considers the depth of Lao-tze's
thought. And this man lived in an age
of decay, more than five hundred years
before the Christian era and one hun-
dred years before the foundation of Bud-
dhism, yet he has anticipated in pithy
sayings the best that has been taught
by the noblest sages of mankind who
came after him, Socrates and Plato, Bud-
dha and Christ.
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TABLE OF REFERENCES.
[The numbers refer to chapters of the text.]
Abandon, extravagance, 29; learnedness, 20; saintli.
ness, 19.
Abroad in life, 50.
Absolute (wu chi = without limit), 28. Synonyms are:
“form of the formless" (wu chwang chi chwang) and
"image of the imageless" (wu hsiang chi hsiang) 14;
"great form or image," 35, 41; "non-existence," "not
to be," etc. (wu) 2, 11, 40, (wu yiu) 43, (wu wuh),
14; "mystery" (hsüen = abyss), 1, 6, 14; "abstrac-
tion's height" (hü chi), 16. See footnote on p. 167.
Abundance, for serving, 77; gained by giving, 81.
Acts (wei), Benevolence, 38; but claims not, 2, 10, 77;
(accomplishes) but strives not, 81; with non-asser-
tion, 3. See also "Non-assertion" for wu wei = "not
act.”
Actual, Existence renders, 11.
Adrift, 20.
All-pervading, Reason is, 34.
Ambition, Holy man weakens, 3.
Ancestor, Words have an, 70.
Ancients, prize Reason, 62; Reason of the, 14; Saying
of the, 22; versed in Reason, 65.
Archfather, 4.
Arms, are unblest, 31; Threatening without, 69; Who
is strong in, 76.
Assert non-assertion, 63.
190
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Astride makes no advance, 24.
Awkward, I alone am, 20.
Babe (ying 'rh = infant child), Like unto a, 20. See
also “Child."
Bad, The, 49; and the good, 20; man respects wealth, 27.
Badness and goodness, 2.
Be and not be, 2.
Beauty and ugliness, 2.
Beginning, not seen, 14; of ignorance, 38.
Being, A wondrous and complete, 25.
Beings (wuh), Reason includes all, 21.
Bellows, Like unto a, 5.
Benevolence (jan), Abandon, 19; acts, 38; Goodness
showeth, 8; when Reason is obliterated, 18.
Beyond, The, 25.
Binders, Good, need no knots, 27.
Blunt his sharpness, 56.
Bodiless, Reason is, 14.
Body (shan), Decay of the, 16; Rank like the, 13; Wen
on the, 24. See also “Person."
Bones, are weak, 55; Strengthens his, 3.
Bow, Heaven's Reason like a, 77.
Breath (ch'i), 42. See also “Vitality."
Business, Goodness in, 8; in Reason, 23.
By-paths, People fond of, 53.
Calamity, Greed a, 46.
Calm, Reason is, 4.
Carpenter, The great, 74.,
Carriage, Parts not a, 39; No occasion to ride in, 80.
Catastrophe, 58.
Chastity, 41.
Child, Like a little, 10, 55; Reason knows her, 52. There
are four Chinese words used by Lao-tze which mean
child: (1) Ying 'rh, "little child," 10, or "babe," 20,
or "infant," 28; (2) tsz', 52; (3) chʻih tsz' and (4) hai,
which is a verb and means "to treat like a child," 49.
Child's estate, 28.
Children, The holy man treats all like, 49.
Table of References
191
Claims, and obligations, 79; not, Acts but, 2, 10, 77.
Clay, moulded into a vessel, 11; Tower raised by heap.
ing, 64.
Clever and enlightened, 33.
Cloudburst does not last, 23.
Clue, Reason's, 14.
Colorless, Reason is, 14.
Colors, Five, 12.
Commoners, Nobles come from, 39.
Commonwealth's mother, 59. See also “State."
Companions, Glad to find, 23; of life and death, 76.
Compassion, 67.
Complete, Being, 25; without renewal, 15.
Conquers, but rejoices not, 31; himself is mighty, Who,
33; through lowliness, 61.
Content, Who is, 44; Who knows, is content, 46; Who
knows, is rich, 33; with their homes, 80.
Contentious are not good, The, 81.
Counters, Good, need no counting rack, 27.
Courage leads to death, 73.
Crafty do not dare to act, 3.
Creatures, 39.
Crooked shall be straight, 22.
Crossing a river, 15.
Culture is insufficient, 19.
Curse of the country's failing, 78.
Curves, Straightest lines resemble, 45.
Danger, No (pu tai), 16; Not in, 52; One avoids, 32.
See also “Vitiation."
Death, Courage leads to, 73; Die a natural, 42; Hard
and strong are companions of, 76; Home in, 50; In-
duce people to grieve at, 80; Make people fear, 74;
People make light of, 75; Realm of, 50.
Deeds have a master, 70.
Deficient The, 77.
Departing, The great I call, 25.
Depth not obscure, 14.
Desire, Abstaining from, 12; Bound by, 1; Sin and, 46;
What kindles, 3.
192
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Desires fewer, 19.
Desireless, Holy man desires to be, 64; Reason ever,
34; Who is found, 1.
Desolation, No end of, 20.
Differ from others, 20. Compare "Unlikely."
Difficult and easy, 63.
Diplomacy, No, 48, 53, 57.
Discipline of the senses, 10.
Discontent a misery, 46.
Disdain like a stone, 39.
Disorder, Beginning of, 38; When clans decay through,
18.
Display, Makes a, 2; Holy man does not, 72, 77.
Distant, Viewing the, 47.
Doom, Brings its own, 9.
Doors and windows, Cutting out, 11.
Dotage leads to squandering, 44.
Dread, death, People, 74; What people, 20.
Dreadful, The, 72.
Drinking, Excessive in, 53.
Duality, 42.
Duration, Forever lasteth his, 44.
Dust, One with its, 56.
Dwell not in the external, 38; on merit, Holy man
does not, 2, 77.
Ear, Five notes confound the, 12. See also “Outer."
Earth, is lasting, 7; is man's standard, 25.
Easy, and difficult, 2, 63; to understand, My words are,
70.
Economy, 67.
Eloquence stammers, 45.
Eluding, Reason's nature is, 21.
Elusive, Masters of yore, 15.
Empire, a divine vessel, 29; King of, 78; Model of, 28;
Not fit to take the, 48; Too light for the, 26; Trusted
with the, 13; Wife of the, 61.
Empties, Holy man, 3.
Table of References
193
Empty, Bellows is, 5; Granaries are, 53; I alone ap-
pear, 20; Masters of yore, 15; Reason is, 4; will be
filled, The, 22.
End not seen, 14.
Endures (ch'ang = is eternal), Heaven, 7; (shuh = re.
liable, solid) that which, 19; (pu sz' = not dies) Val-
ley, spirit, 16; (chiu = lasts), Who loses not his place,
33. See also "Lasting" and "Solidity."
Enemy, Making light of the, 69.
Enlightened, Who beholds his smallness is, 52; Who
knows himself is, 33.
Enlightenment, 27; Knowing the eternal is, 16, 55.
Envy forestalled, 3.
Eternal, Knowing the, 16; Practising the, 52; Reason,
The, 32; To know the harmonious is called the, 55.
Everlastingness, Way to, 59.
Excels but rules not, 10.
Excess, Holy man abandons, 29; in drinking, 53.
Executioner who kills, 74.
Existence, comes from non-existence (wu), 40; renders
actual, 11.
Expanded, Has been, 36.
Expansion, I must fear, 53.
External, Dwells not in the, 38.
Extravagance, Holy man abandons, 29.
Eye, Five colors blind the, 12.
Faith, abides, 21; Goodness keepeth, 8; If insufficient
receives no faith, 17, 23; Rash promises lack, 63;
Semblance of, 38; The faithful I meet with, 49.
Fame, To acquire, 19; Who knows his, 28.
Father, Doctrine's, 42.
Favor bodes disgrace, 13.
Filial piety, People will return to, 19; when family re-
lations no longer harmonize, 18.
Fish, As you fry, 60; should not escape from the deep,
36.
Five colors, notes and tastes, 12.
Fower, and fruit, 38; of Reason, 38.
Foolish (yü = simple minded), 20.
194
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Forlorn am I, 20.
Form, The greatest, 41; of the formless, 14; Vast vir.
tue's, 21; Who holdeth fast to the great, 35.
Former and latter, 12, 38, 72.
Four, quarters, Neighbors in the, 15; quarters, Pene-
trating the, 10; things, Reason, Heaven, Earth and
Royalty, are great, 25.
Front, Not daring to come to the, 67.
Fruit and flower, 38.
Fulness of rest, 16.
Fulsome talk, 5.
Gain and loss, 42, 44.
Gate, Out of the, 47.
Gates, of heaven, 10; Sense-, 52, 56.
Gem, Like a, 39. See also "Jewels."
Ghosts will not spook, 60.
Gives (yü), The more he, the more he lays up, 81. The
same word is translated "augmenteth" in 77.
God, arch-father of the ten thousand things, 4. See
reference under "Tao."
Gods will not harm, 60.
Gold and jewels, 9.
Good, and the bad, The, 20; man, acts resolutely, 30;
man, Heaven's Reason assists the, 79; man does not
respect multitudes, 27.
Goodness, and badness, 2; The good I meet with, 49;
resembleth water, 8.
Gossip's talk, 5.
Govern without smartness, 65.
Grasp to the full, 9.
Gravity (lit. "baggage wagon"), 26.
Great, All call me, 67; Four things are, 25; Reason ob-
literated, 18; rivers, 32; rulers, 17; the small, Make,
63.
Greed, Give up, 19; No greater calamity than, 46.
Guest, I act as, 69; Masters of yore behave as, 15.
Happiness and misery, 58.
Happy, Multitudes are, 20.
Hard and strong are companions of death, 76.
Table of References
195
Harm, Gods will not, 60; No, 66. See also “Danger."
Harmony, Perfection of, 55.
Hatred, when reconciled, 79; with virtue, Requite, 63.
Heart, Emptying the, 21; Holy man empties, 3; Holy
man has not, of his own, 49; is foolish, 20; Purifying
the, of lust, 37; Racing will turn mad the, 12.
Heartache, Rank bodes, 13.
Heaven, and earth, 32, 39; and earth, cannot be un-
remitting, 23; and earth, Humaneness of, 5; and earth,
Root of, 6; and earth, Space between, 5; Complying
with, 68; endures, 7; is earth's standard, 25; Open-
ing and closing the gates of, 10; rejected, By, 73;
renders Reason-like, 16.
Heaven's, net, 73; Reason, 77, 79, 81; standard is Rea-
son, 25; way (Tao), 9.
Heavenly, Reason, 73; Reason I contemplate, 47; Roy-
alty renders, 16.
High, but proud, 9; in virtue, 41; Reason brings down
the, 77.
Hold fast, to Reason, 14, 59; to what will endure, 19.
Holy man (shang jan), a saviour of men, 27; abandons
excess, 29; abides by non-assertion, 2; acts but claims
not, 77; attends to the inner, 12; desires to be desire-
less, 64; does not depart from gravity, 26; does not
make himself great, 34; does not travel, 47; dwells
above, 66; dwells in the world, 49; embraces unity,
22; empties people's hearts, 3; has not heart of his
own, 49; hoards not, 81; Humaneness of, 5; knows
himself, 72; not sick, 71; puts his person behind, 7;
Reason of the, 81; regards as difficult, 63, 73; says,
“I practice non-assertion,” 57; says, “Who the curse
bears," 78; square not sharp, 58; treats all like
children, 49; uses simplicity, 28; wears wool, 70;
will not harm, 60.
Home, Crooked will return (fu kwei), 22; he turneth
(fu kwei), 28; (ju = coming back) in death, 50; No
place to return (kwei), 20; (fu) Seeks a, 64; (fan),
The beyond I call, 25; to enlightenment, Returns (fu
kwei), 52; to non-existence, 14; to Reason, 34. See
also "Homeward."
196
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Homes, Content with their, 80.
Homeward, Reason's course, 40; returneth (fu kwei)
to its root, 16.
Honors, not himself, 72; Superior man, the left and
right, 31.
Horses, 46; Riding with four, 62.
Host, I dare not act as, 69.
Humaneness, Heaven and earth's, 5.
Humiliation, Incurs no, 44.
Humility, The virtue of, 61.
Hundred families, 5, 17; Hearts of, 49.
Hunger, People, 75.
Hurricane does not last, 23.
Hypocrisy when Reason is obliterated, 18.
Ice melting, 15.
Identification, 56. See also “One," 4, and "Sameness,"
Ignorance, Traditionalism the beginning of, 38.
Ignorant am I, 20.
Image of the imageless, 14. See also “Form."
Inaccessible, 56.
Independent (tsz'jan = self-like), 17. See also “In-
trinsic," "Natural," "Spontaneous," and "Without
Effort."
Indulgence, Holy man abandons, 29.
Ineffable (wu ming), Simplicity of, 37. See also "Un-
namable."
Inexhaustible, Reason is, 4, 35.
Infinite, See “Absolute."
Inner (stomach), The, 12.
Intensity, Life's, 50; of clinging to life, 75.
Interfere (wei), 64. See also "Acts” and “Assert.”
Intrinsic (tsz' jan = self-like), Reason's standard is:
25. See also "Independent," "Natural,” “Spontaneo:1,"
and “Without Effort."
Intuition, Cultivation of, 54; Profound, 10.
Isolation, Remaining in, 80.
It (= Reason), 21, 54, 57.
Itself (tsz'), Heaven Reason comes of, 73.
Table of References
197
Jade table, Holding the, 62.
Jewels, Gold and, 9; Hides his, 70.
Justice, acts, 38; Put away, 19; when Reason is ob-
literated, 18.
Keep time, Movements of goodness, 8.
King of the empire, 78.
Kings, as models, 39; keep Reason, 32, 37; of the hun.
dred valleys, 66; Titles of, 39, 42.
Knotted cords, 80.
Know, the less we, 47; the unknowable, 71.
Knowable, Not to know the, 71.
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Lasting (chiu), Earth is, 7; Reason means, 16. See
also "Endures."
Latter, Former and, 12, 38, 72.
Laws and mandates, 57.
Learned, Learn not to be, 64; The wise are not, 81.
Learnedness, Abandon, 20; Who seeks, 48.
Left and right, Reason on the, 34; The superior man
honors the, 31.
Life, Abroad in, 50; Called to, 39; Courage leads to,
73; everlasting, Who may die but will not perish
has, 33; Tender and delicate are companions of, 76;
Way to, 59; Who is not bent on, 75.
Likely, Resemble the, 67.
Lockers, Good, need no bolts, 27.
Logic, Good speakers lack no, 27.
Lord, Reason precedes the, 4; Reason plays not the, 34.
Loves the people, Who, 10.
Lovingly Reason nourishes all things, 34.
Lowliness, as their root, 39; of a great state, 61; of
ocean, 66.
Lowly, employer of men, 68; flows a great state, 61;
Reason lifts up the, 77. See also "Valley."
Loyalty, Semblance of, 38; when the clans decay, 18.
Makes mars, One who, 29, 64.
Manhood shows, Who his, 28.
Man's Reason is not like Heaven's Reason, 77.
198
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Marching without marching, 69.
Mars, One who makes, 29, 64.
Master, Deeds have a, 70; of mankind, 30; Rest is mo-
tion's, 26.
Masters of yore, 15.
Matched armies, 69.
Meddlesome, Superiors are, 75.
Mediocrity, 67.
Merit, Accomplish, 9, 17; Holy man acquires, 77; Holy
man does not dwell on, 2.
Middle path, 5.
Mighty, Who conquers himself is, 33.
Military expert, 69.
Minds by oneness souls procure, 39.
Misery, and happiness, 58; Discontent a, 46.
Model (shih), He becomes the empire's, 28; Holy man
becomes a, 22; (chang) If kings are not, 39; (shih)
Who knows is, 65.
Moderation of desire, 46.
Mother, knows her child, 52; of the commonwealth, 59;
of the ten thousand things, 1; Reason the world's, 25,
52; Seeking sustenance from our, 20.
Mother-bird, Like a, 10. See also “Womanhood."
Motion, and quietude, 45; Rest is master of, 26.
Mouth, Five tastes offend the, 12; Reason when coming
from the, 35; Who opens his, 52.
Movements of goodness, 8.
Multitudes of men, 20, 27, 64.
Music, 35.
Mysterious, Praising the, 14; woman, 6.
Mystery of mysteries, l.
Namable (yiu ming), becomes the mother of ten thou-
sand things, The, 1; Reason becomes, 32.
Name, Eternal, 1; I know not its, 25; of Reason is
never vanishing, 21; or person, 44.
Narrow, Not deem their lives, 72.
Natural (tsz' jan), To be taciturn is, 23. See also "In-
dependent," "Intrinsic," "Spontaneous" and "With-
out Effort.”
Table of References
199
Nave of wheel, 11.
Net, Heaven's, 73.
Non-assertion, 29; Acts with, 3; Advantage of, 43; As-
sert, 63; Holy man abides by, 2; Nothing that can-
not be achieved with, 48; Practise, 10, 57; Reason
practises, 37; Superior virtue is, 38.
Non-diplomacy, One takes the empire with, 57.
Non-existence (wu yiu) enters the impenetrable, 43;
(wu) Existence comes from, 40; (wu wuh), Reason
returns to, 14; renders useful, 11.
Non-practice, Practice, 63.
Notes, The five, 12.
Obligations and claims, 79.
Obscure, Reason is deep and, 21.
Obsequious, Some are, 29.
Obtained, Reason when sought is, 62.
Ocean and rivers, 32, 66. See also “Sea.”
Omen, Received no, 20.
One with its dust, 4, 56.
Oneness obtained by heaven and earth, minds, crea-
tures, and valleys, 39. See "Unity."
Order, Goodness standeth for, 8; Reason creates, 32.
Organizer, A great, 38.
Orphaned, title of kings, 39, 42.
Others have taught, What, 42. See also “Masters of
yore."
Outer (ear), The, 12.
Owns, The more he gives the more he, 81.
Paradoxical, True words seem, 78.
, Passions rise, 16.
Perfect as chief vessels, 67.
Perfection, imperfect, 45; of his harmony, 55.
Person (shan), is preserved, 7; Name or, 44; to perdi-
tion, Surrenders his, 52; Who cultivates reason in his,
54; With his, keeps behind, 66. See also "Body."
Poet (chien yen = builder of words), 41.
Practice, non-assertion, 10; non-practice, 63.
Preference, Heaven's Reason shows no, 79.
200
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Pretensions, Justice makes, 38.
Pride of robbers, 53.
Priest at the great sacrifice, 78.
Principle, A great, 28.
Profound, Masters of yore are, 15; Spiritual virtue is,
65; virtue, 10, 51.
Prohibitions and restrictions, 57.
Promises, Rash, 63.
Propriety, 38.
Proud, High and, 9; of their clothes, 80; Some are, 29.
Prying government, 58.
Punishment, Capital, 74.
Pure, chastity, 41; Heaven becometh, 39; Preserve thee,
19; [Reason] harbors the spirit, 21.
Purifying can cleanse from faults, 10.
Purity the world's standard, 45.
Quarrel, Goodness does not, 8; Holy man does not, 22.
Quickens, but owns not, 2, 10, 51; the still, 15.
Quietude, and motion, 45; he holdeth high, 31; I love,
57; renders lowly, 61.
Race horses haul dung, 46.
Racing will human hearts turn mad, 12.
Rank like the body, 13.
Rash promises lack faith, 63.
Reality shapes all creatures, 51.
Reason, Ancients prize, 62; and learnedness, 48; begets
unity, 42; Business in, 23; creates order, 32; eternal,
1, 8; Heaven's, is to benefit, 81; Heaven's, like a
bow, 77; Heaven's, shows no preference, 79; Home-
ward the course of, 40; I contemplate heavenly, 47;
I shall walk in the great, 53; if lost, then virtue ap-
pears, 38; in his person, Who cultivates, 54; includes
all types (wuh), 21; Inferior scholar ridicules, 41; is
all-pervading, 34; is eluding (hu), 21; is empty, 4; is
Heaven's standard, 25; is not seen nor heard, 35; is
tasteless, 35; is very plain, 53; is world-honored, 62;
Its nature I call, 25; like a stream, 32; Man of, a
refuge, 62; Man of, will not indulge, 24; Man's, de-
Table of References
201
pleteth, 77; means lasting, 16; Name of, never van-
ishing, 21; of the ancients, 14; of the holy man, 81;
practises non-assertion, 37; precedes the Lord, 4; pre-
vails, Race horses haul dung when, 46; quickens all
creatures, 51; renders lasting, 16; returns to non-
existence (wu wuh), 14; strives not, 73, 81; Superior
scholar practises, 41; that can be reasoned, 1; Tradi-
tionalism the flower of, 38; Truth of, is sure, 21; un-
namable, 32, 41; Virtue's form follows norm of, 21;
Water near to the eternal, 8; We do not see, 14;
when latent, 41; when obliterated, 18; when sought
is obtained, 62; Who assists with, -30; Who cher-
isnes, is not anxious to be filled, 15; Who has, does
not rely on arms, 31; Who seeks, will diminish, 48;
world's mother, 52.
Reason-like, Heaven renders, 16.
Reason's, clue, 14; nature is eluding, 21; standard is
intrinsic, 25.
Reform of themselves, People, 57; Ten thousand things,
37.
Refuge, Man of Reason a, 62.
Relativity, 2.
Renewal, Complete without, 15.
Reptiles, Venomous, 55.
Requital, His methods invite, 30.
Requite hatred with virtue, 63.
Resolute, Be, 30.
Rest (tsing = not a ripple, purity), Fulness of, 16; if
there is no lust, 37; is motion's master, 26; (t'ai)
There we find shelter, comfort, 35; (ngan) What is at,
64. See also "Quietude.”
Restrictions and prohibitions, 57.
Return home (fu kwei), Crooked will, 22; No place to,
20; to enlightenment, 52; to its root, 16; to non-
existence, Reason will, 14; to Reason, 34.
Reverse to everything, 65.
Rhinoceros, 50.
Right. See “Left and right.”
Risks no vitiation, 44.
River, Crossing a, 15; He becomes the empire's, 28.
202
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Rivers and the ocean, 32, 66.
Robbers, Pride of, 53; Thieves and, 57. See also
"Thieves."
Root, Lowliness their, 39; Returning to, 16.
Rootlet, Tree originated from tiny, 64.
Royalty, is great, 25; renders heavenly, 16.
Rulers, Great, 17. See also “Masters of yore."
Rustic, I alone am a, 20.
Sacrificial celebrations shall not cease, 54.
Sage keeps his obligations, 79.
Sages, Great, 17.
Saintliness, Abandon, 19.
Sameness [of Namable and Unnamable), 1.
Saviour, Holy Man is a, 27.
Scheme too sharply, 9.
Scholar, Inferior and superior, 41.
Sea, Desolate like the, 20. See also "Ocean."
Seeks not his own, 7.
Self, Lessen, 19.
Self-displaying, 22, 24.
Self-seeking, 22, 24.
Sense-gates, He shuts, 52, 56.
Senses, Discipline of the, 10.
Sharp, tools, 36; swords, 53; Square but not, 58.
Sharpness, Blunts its own, 4.
Shell of things, l.
Sick of sickness, 71.
Silence (pu yen = not speaks), Instruction by, 2; Les-
son of, 43; Who knows [keeps, i. e.] does not talk, 56.
Simple, Masters of yore, 15; Show thyself, 19.
Simplicity, in habits, 17, 57; of Reason, 32; of the un-
expressed, 37; Returning to, 28.
Sin, and desire, 46; The country's, 78.
Sinner can be saved, 62.
Skill, Function of, 27; like a tyro, 45.
Slaughter of men, 31.
Small, country, How to govern a, 80; Make great the, 63.
Smart, Common people are, 20, 65.
Smartness, Abandon, 19; Govern without, 65.
· Table of References
203
Soldiers, Coming among, 50.
Solid, Great organizer abides by the, 38.
Solidity of virtue, 55.
Sought is obtained, Reason when, 62.
Sound, and voice, 2; The loudest, 41.
Soundless, Reason is, 14. Cf. also 35.
Sourceless, 4.
Speakers, Good, no logic lack, 27.
Spiritual, Masters of yore are, 15; of the world, 1; Pro-
foundly, 27; virtue is profound, 65.
Spirituality, Door of, 1.
Spokes, Thirty, 11.
Spontaneous (tsz' jan = self-like), 51. See also "Inde-
pendent," "Intrinsic," "Natural" and "Without ef-
fort."
Spook, Ghosts will not, 60.
Squandering, Dotage leads to, 44.
Square, but not sharp, Holy man is, 58; The greatest, 41.
Stammers, Greatest eloquence, 45.
Standard, Purity, 45; The earth man's, 25.
Startling events, 57.
State, A great, 61; A neighboring, 80. See also “Com-
monwealth."
Stomachs, Holy man fills, 3. See also “Outer."
Stone, Disdain like a, 39.
Stoop to conquer, 61.
Stop, Knowing when to, 32, 44.
Straight, Crooked shall be, 22; levelled seem rugged, 41.
Straightest lines resemble curves, 45.
Straw dogs, 5.
Streams and creeks run towards the ocean, 32.
Strength, Beware of, 76.
Strives not, Heavenly Reason, 73; Holy man's Reason,
81.
Strong, and hard are companions of death, 76; do not
die natural death, 42; Some are, 29; The weak con-
quer the, 78; Who preserves his tenderness is, 52.
Superior, man, 31; virtue, 38.
Sure (chan), Truth (tsing) of Reason is, 21.
204
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Surface not clear, 14.
Surfeit of food, 24.
Taciturn (= speaking little) is natural, 23. See also
“Silence."
Talk, Fulsome, 5; One who knows does not, 56.
Tao. See "Reason,” “Way,” “Master,” “Lord,” “Fa.
ther," "Mother," "Carpenter.”
Tasteless, Reason is, 35; Taste the, 63.
Tastes, The five, 12.
Taxes, Too many, 75.
Ten thousand chariots, Master of, 26.
Ten thousand things, The, Archfather of, 4; are straw
dogs, 5; arise, 2, 16; benefited by water, 8; come
from existence, 40; depend upon Reason, 34; esteem
Reason, 51; Holy man assists, 64; Holy man refuses
not, 2; Mother of, 1; of themselves be reformed, 37;
of themselves pay homage, 32; Refuge of the, 62;
Trinity begets the, 42; while they live, 76.
Tender, and delicate are companions of life, 76; and
weak, The, 36; Water is, 78.
Tenderness, Inducing, 10; Who preserves, is strong, 52.
Theft, Keeps from, 3.
Thieves, and robbers, 57; will not exist, 19.
Thirteen avenues of life and of death, 50.
Three, things (colorless, soundless, bodiless) form a
unity, 14; things (saintliness, benevolence, smartness)
for which culture is insufficient, 19; treasures, 67.
Thrift an early practice, 59.
Tiger, 50.
Tiptoe, One on, is not steady, 24.
Traditionalism, the flower of Reason, 38.
Travel, Holy man does not, 47.
Travelers, Good, leave no trace, 27.
Treasure, Compassion our, 69.
Treasures, high prized, 12; Not prizing, 3; Three, 67.
Treat things before they exist, 64.
Trinity, Duality begets, 42.
True words, are not pleasant, 81; seem paradoxical, 78.
Types (siang), Reason includes all, 21.
Table of References
205
Ugliness and beauty, 2.
Unexhausted, 45.
Unexpressed (wu ming = not name), Simplicity of the,
37. See also “Unnamable."
Unity, Holy man embraces, 22; Reason begets, 42;
Those who have become a, 39; Three things (color-
less, soundless, bodiless) form a, 14; Who embraces,
10. See also "Oneness."
Unknowable, To know the, 71.
Unlikely, I resemble the, 67.
Unnamable (wu ming), beginning of heaven and earth,
1; Reason is, 14, 32, 41. See also "Unexpressed."
Unostentatious, Whose government is, 58.
Un-Reason (fei tao), soon ceases, 30, 55; This is, 53.
Unsophisticated, He will be, 10; Holy man keeps the
people, 3.
Unvirtue (pu teh) contrasted to "no virtue" (wu teh),
38.
Unworthy, title of kings, 39, 42.
Usefulness, Men possess, 20, Vessel of, 28.
Utility depends on the non-existent, 11.
Vacuity, Fulness is, 45. See also "Emptiness."
Vale, The high in virtue resemble a, 41.
Valley, Empire's, 28; Masters of yore resemble the, 15;
spirit, 6.
Valleys filled by oneness, 39; Rivers and oceans kings
of, 66.
Venomous reptiles, 55.
Vessel, Empire a divine, 29; not complete, The largest,
41; of usefulness, Simplicity becomes a, 28; Utility
of, 11.
Vessels, Become perfect as chief, 67.
Virility, 55.
Virtue (teh), appears when Reason is lost, 38; (chang
teh = eternal virtue), 28; feeds them, 51; is un-virtue,
Superior, 38; Never deviate from, 28; of not-striving,
68; Profound, 10, 51, 65; Requite hatred with, 63;
Solidest, 41; Spiritual, 65; Superior, 38.
Virtue's form, Vast, 21.
206
II
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Vitality (ch'i), 10, 55. See “Breath."
Vitiation (pu tai), Risks no, 44. See “Danger, No."
Vulgar, Different from the, 20.
Vulgarity, Palliation of, 18.
War, Be chary of, 30; horses in the common, 46; Quel.
ling, 31.
Warlike, Warrior not, 68.
Water, is tender, 78; Superior goodness resembleth, 8;
Who can render clear muddy, 15.
Way (tao), Heaven's, 9; to life, 59.
Weak, conquer the strong, 28; Some are, 29; Tender
and, 36.
Weakest overcomes the hardest, World's, 43.
Weakness is Reason's force, 40.
Wealth, Hoarded, 44; The people's 27.
Wearisome, Not deem their lot, 72.
Wen on the body, 24.
Wife conquers her husband, 61.
Wise are not learned, The, 81.
Without effort (pu ch'in) sure, Valley spirit is, 6. See
also tsz' jan under the words "Spontaneous" and “In-
dependent," "Intrinsic" and "Natural” which convey
a similar idea.
Woman, The mysterious, 6.
Womanhood knows, Who his, 28.
Wood, Rough, 15.
Wool, Holy man wears, 70.
Words, are not pleasant, True, 81; have an ancestor, 70;
seem paradoxical, True, 78.
World-honored, Reason is, 62; The sage is, 56.
Worn with strength shall thrill, The, 22.
Yang and Yin, 42.
Yes and yea, 20.
Yore, Masters of, 15.
INDEX.
[The numbers refer to pages of this book. This is an
Index to the Foreword, the Introduction and the Com-
ments (pp. 3–22 and pp. 131-188). For passages in the
Canon of Reason and Virtue the reader should look up
the Table of References.]
Abroad, 174.
Ancestor, Words have an,
183.
Arch-father (tsung), 135.
Arupo, 19.
Augustine, St., 150.
Confucius, 3, 4, 69, 70.
Contrasts, Combination of,
133.
Couvreur, 140.
Crooked, 158.
Dragon, 70.
Dust (ch'an), 135, 178.
Backbone, 135.
Baggage wagon, 11.
Bodiless, 146, 149.
Body, Rank like, 145.
Emptiness explained, 138.
Enemies, 182.
Eternal Reason, 14.
Eye (the outer), 144.
Carpenter, Great, 185.
Ch'an (dust), 135, 178.
Chi, 138.
Cheu dynasty, 5.
Cheu-tze 167.
Ch'i (breath), 167.
China, Taoism of, 8.
Chiün (Master), 8, 15.
Chwang-tze, 4.
Colorless, 146, 149.
Father, 183; The doc-
trine's, 169.
Filial piety, 153.
First (fu), 156.
Flower and fruit, 144; of
reason, 165.
Formless, 19.
French Revolution, 155.
208
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Frontispiece, 188.
Fruit, 166, Flower and,
144.
Fu (first), 156; (stomach)
133.
Fulsome talk, 139.
Laufer, 11, 140, 141, 142,
157.
Learnedness, 154.
Left and right, 186.
Legge, 15.
Literati, 154.
Logos, 9, 14.
Ghosts, 180.
Giles, H. A., 6, 161, 162,
Manchu, 11, 139, 157, 160,
164.
God, 21-22.“
Gravity, 161.
Guests, 151.
173, 174.
Manhood, 162.
Master, 8; Deeds have a,
183.
Medhurst, 12, 159.
Milindapañha, 145.
Mother, 183.
Hamlet, 179.
Hara-kiri, 134.
Harlez, 137.
Heartache, 145, 146.
Heaven and earth, 136,
138.
Heaven's Reason, 15.
Hesiod, 143.
Holy man, The, 186.
Home, 161, 174.
Horace, 177.
Huai Nan Tze, 142, 164.
Nagasena, 145.
Namable, 132.
Name explained, 131.
Napoleon, 5.
Nativity, 7:
Negatives, Three, 16-17.
Ng Poon Chew, 11, 142,
157, 175.
Non-existence (wu), 17-18
Non-existent, 143.
Nought, 18.
Incorporeal, 146, 149.
Ineffable, 131.
Infinite, The, 138.
It, 157.
Jehovah, 149.
Justice, 164,
Oneness, 18, 166.
Originality, 169.
Orphaned, 168.
Paradox, 19.
Pharisees, 153.
Plato, 131, 147, 166, 176,
177.
Poh, 142.
Kant, 19, 147, 171.
Knotted cords, 187.
Laissez faire, 163.
Lao-tze's names, 5.
Rank like body, 145.
Reactionary, 186.
Index
209
Theism, 183.
Thirteen, 175.
Traditionalism, 165.
Trinity, 163, 167.
Tsung (arch-father), 135.
Unity, 167.
Unknowable, 184.
Unlikely, 182.
Unnamable explained, 131
Unvirtue, 17.
Virtue is good, 172.
Warlike, 162.
Warren, 145.
Warrior, 162.
Wei wu wei, 16, 139, 180.
Wen, 159, 160.
Womanhood, 162.
World, 132.
Reality, 177-8.
Return, 160.
Right and left, 186.
Sense soul, 142.
Shang Ti, 135, 185.
Soul, Sense, 142.
Soul (stomach), 134.
Soundless, 146, 148, 149.
Spinoza, 132.
Spook, 180.
Stomach (fu), 133; (soul)
134; (the inner), 144.
Straightness like a curve,
170.
Strauss, Victor von, 149.
Straw dogs, 136-137.
Surfeit, 159.
Sze-Ma Ch'ien, 4.
Tao explained, 13-15.
Taoism of China, 8.
Teh explained, 15-16.
Ten thousand things, 138.
Tertullian, 132.
Yang and Yin, 167.
Yea and yes, 154.
Yin-Hi, 71.

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