{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_59709/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_59709","id":"gutenberg_59709","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59709","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ethics -- China","Philosophy, Chinese"],"text":"Produced by ellinora, Christopher Wright and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n               CHUANG TZ\u016c\n\n             [Illustration]\n\n_Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer_\n\n      TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE\n\n                   BY\n\n            HERBERT A. GILES\n\n     _H. B. M.'s Consul at Tamsui_\n\n\n             [Illustration]\n\n\n                 LONDON\n            BERNARD QUARITCH\n                  1889\n\n\n\n\n    _CONTENTS._\n\n\n                                                                  _Page_\n\n    INTRODUCTION                                                       v\n\n    NOTE ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF CHUANG TZ\u016c, _by Canon Moore_         xviii\n\n    CHAPTER      I--TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS                               1\n\n       \"        II--THE IDENTITY OF CONTRARIES                        12\n\n       \"       III--NOURISHMENT OF THE SOUL                           33\n\n       \"        IV--MAN AMONG MEN                                     38\n\n       \"         V--THE EVIDENCE OF VIRTUE COMPLETE                   56\n\n       \"        VI--THE GREAT SUPREME                                 68\n\n       \"       VII--HOW TO GOVERN                                     91\n\n       \"      VIII--JOINED TOES                                       99\n\n       \"        IX--HORSES' HOOFS                                    106\n\n       \"         X--OPENING TRUNKS                                   110\n\n       \"        XI--ON LETTING ALONE                                 119\n\n       \"       XII--THE UNIVERSE                                     135\n\n       \"      XIII--THE TAO OF GOD                                   157\n\n       \"       XIV--THE CIRCLING SKY                                 173\n\n       \"        XV--SELF-CONCEIT                                     190\n\n       \"       XVI--EXERCISE OF FACULTIES                            195\n\n       \"      XVII--AUTUMN FLOODS                                    200\n\n       \"     XVIII--PERFECT HAPPINESS                                220\n\n       \"       XIX--THE SECRET OF LIFE                               229\n\n       \"        XX--MOUNTAIN TREES                                   245\n\n       \"       XXI--T'IEN TZ\u016c FANG                                   261\n\n       \"      XXII--KNOWLEDGE TRAVELS NORTH                          276\n\n       \"     XXIII--K\u00caNG SANG CH'U                                   294\n\n       \"      XXIV--HS\u00dc WU KUEI                                      311\n\n       \"       XXV--TS\u00ca YANG                                         335\n\n       \"      XXVI--CONTINGENCIES                                    352\n\n       \"     XXVII--LANGUAGE                                         363\n\n       \"    XXVIII--ON DECLINING POWER                               370\n\n       \"      XXIX--ROBBER CH\u00ca                                       387\n\n       \"       XXX--ON SWORDS                                        407\n\n       \"      XXXI--THE OLD FISHERMAN                                413\n\n       \"     XXXII--LIEH TZ\u016c                                         423\n\n       \"    XXXIII--THE EMPIRE                                       437\n\n    INDEX                                                            455\n\n    ERRATA AND ADDENDA                                               466\n\n\n\n\n_Introduction._\n\n\nChuang Tz\u016d[1] belongs to the third and fourth centuries before Christ.\nHe lived in the feudal age, when China was split up into a number of\nStates owning a nominal allegiance to the royal, and weakly, House of\nChou.\n\n[1] Pronounce _Chwongdza_.\n\nHe is noticed by the historian Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien, who flourished at the\nclose of the second century B.C., as follows:--\n\n Chuang Tz\u016d was a native of M\u00eang.[2] His personal name was Chou.\n He held a petty official post at Ch'i-y\u00fcan in M\u00eang.[3] He lived\n contemporaneously with Prince Hui of the Liang State and Prince Hs\u00fcan\n of the Ch'i State. His erudition was most varied; but his chief\n doctrines are based upon the sayings of Lao Tz\u016d.[4] Consequently,\n his writings, which extend to over 100,000 words, are mostly\n allegorical.[5]\n\n[2] In the modern province of An-hui.\n\n[3] Hence he is often spoken of in the book language as \"Ch'i-y\u00fcan.\"\n\n[4] Pronounce _Lowdza_. The _low_ as in _allow_. See p. vii.\n\n[5] Of an imaginative character, in keeping with the visionary\nteachings of his master.\n\n He wrote _The Old Fisherman_, _Robber Ch\u00ea_, and _Opening Trunks_, with\n a view to asperse the Confucian school and to glorify the mysteries of\n Lao Tz\u016d.[6] _Wei Lei Hs\u00fc_, _K\u00eang Sa\u1e45g Tz\u016d_, and the like, are probably\n unsubstantial figments of his imagination.[7] Nevertheless, his\n literary and dialectic skill was such that the best scholars of the\n age proved unable to refute his destructive criticism of the Confucian\n and Mihist schools.[8]\n\n [6] See chs. xxxi, xxix, and x, respectively.\n\n [7] The second of these personages is doubtless identical, though the\n name is differently written, with the K\u00eang Sang Ch'u of ch. xxiii. The\n identity of the first name has not been satisfactorily settled.\n\n [8] See p. 17.\n\n His teachings were like an overwhelming flood, which spreads at its\n own sweet will. Consequently, from rulers and ministers downwards,\n none could apply them to any definite use.[9]\n\n [9] This last clause is based upon a famous passage in the _Lun\n Y\u00fc:--The perfect man is not a mere thing; i.e._, his functions are\n not limited. The idea conveyed is that Chuang Tz\u016d's system was too\n far-reaching to be practical.\n\n Prince Wei of the Ch'u State, hearing of Chuang Tz\u016d's good report,\n sent messengers to him, bearing costly gifts, and inviting him to\n become Prime Minister. At this Chuang Tz\u016d smiled and said to the\n messengers, \"You offer me great wealth and a proud position indeed;\n but have you never seen a sacrificial ox?--When after being fattened\n up for several years, it is decked with embroidered trappings and led\n to the altar, would it not willingly then change places with some\n uncared-for pigling?... Begone! Defile me not! I would rather disport\n myself to my own enjoyment in the mire than be slave to the ruler of\n a State. I will never take office. Thus I shall remain free to follow\n my own inclinations.\"[10]\n\n[10] See p. 434.\n\nTo enable the reader to understand more fully the writings of Chuang\nTz\u016d, and to appreciate his aim and object, it will be necessary to go\nback a few more hundred years.\n\nIn the seventh century B.C., lived a man, now commonly spoken of as Lao\nTz\u016d. He was the great Prophet of his age. He taught men to return good\nfor evil, and to look forward to a higher life. He professed to have\nfound the clue to all things human and divine.\n\nHe seems to have insisted that his system could not be reduced to\nwords. At any rate, he declared that those who spoke did not know,\nwhile those who knew did not speak.\n\nBut to accommodate himself to conditions of mortality, he called this\nclue TAO, or THE WAY, explaining that the word was to be understood\nmetaphorically, and not in a literal sense as the way or road upon\nwhich men walk.\n\nThe following are sentences selected from the indisputably genuine\nremains of Lao Tz\u016d, to be found scattered here and there in early\nChinese literature:--\n\n All the world knows that the goodness of doing good is not real\n goodness.\n\n When merit has been achieved, do not take it to yourself. On the other\n hand, if you do not take it to yourself, it shall never be taken from\n you.\n\n By many words wit is exhausted. It is better to preserve a mean.\n\n Keep behind, and you shall be put in front. Keep out, and you shall be\n kept in.\n\n What the world reverences may not be treated with irreverence.\n\n Good words shall gain you honour in the market-place. Good deeds shall\n gain you friends among men.\n\n He who, conscious of being strong, is content to be weak,--he shall be\n a cynosure of men.\n\n The Empire is a divine trust, and may not be ruled. He who rules,\n ruins. He who holds by force, loses.\n\n Mighty is he who conquers himself.\n\n He who is content, has enough.\n\n To the good I would be good. To the not-good I would also be good, in\n order to make them good.\n\n If the government is tolerant, the people will be without guile. If\n the government is meddling, there will be constant infraction of the\n law.\n\n Recompense injury with kindness.\n\n The wise man's freedom from grievance is because he will not regard\n grievances as such.\n\nOf such were the pure and simple teachings of Lao Tz\u016d. But it is upon\nthe wondrous doctrine of _Inaction_ that his claim to immortality is\nfounded:--\n\n Do nothing, and all things will be done.\n\n I do nothing, and my people become good of their own accord.\n\n Abandon wisdom and discard knowledge, and the people will be benefited\n an hundredfold.\n\n The weak overcomes the strong, the soft overcomes the hard. All the\n world knows this; yet none can act up to it.\n\n The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has\n no substance enters where there is no fissure. And so I know that\n there is advantage in _Inaction_.\n\nSuch doctrines as these were, however, not likely to appeal with force\nto the sympathies of a practical people. In the sixth century B.C.,\nbefore Lao Tz\u016d's death, another Prophet arose. He taught his countrymen\nthat _duty to one's neighbour_ comprises the whole duty of man.\nCharitableness of heart, justice, sincerity, and fortitude,--sum up the\nethics of Confucius. He knew nothing of a God, of a soul, of an unseen\nworld. And he declared that the unknowable had better remain untouched.\n\nAgainst these hard and worldly utterances, Chuang Tz\u016d raised a powerful\ncry. The idealism of Lao Tz\u016d had seized upon his poetic soul, and he\ndetermined to stem the tide of materialism in which men were being fast\nrolled to perdition.\n\nHe failed, of course. It was, indeed, too great a task to persuade the\ncalculating Chinese nation that by doing nothing, all things would be\ndone. But Chuang Tz\u016d bequeathed to posterity a work which, by reason\nof its marvellous literary beauty, has always held a foremost place.\nIt is also a work of much originality of thought. The writer, it is\ntrue, appears chiefly as a disciple insisting upon the principles of\na Master. But he has contrived to extend the field, and carry his own\nspeculations into regions never dreamt of by Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt may here be mentioned that the historian Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien, already\nquoted, states in his notice of Lao Tz\u016d that the latter left behind\nhim a small volume in 5,000 and odd characters. Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien does\nnot say, nor does he give the reader to understand, that he himself\nhad ever seen the book in question. Nor does he even hint (see p. v.)\nthat Chuang Tz\u016d drew his inspiration from a book, but only from the\n\"sayings\" of Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nConfucius never mentions this book. Neither does Mencius, China's\n\"Second Sage,\" who was born about one hundred years after the death of\nthe First.\n\nBut all this is a trifle compared with the fact that Chuang Tz\u016d himself\nnever once alludes to such a book; although now, in this nineteenth\ncentury, there are some, happily few in number, who believe that we\npossess the actual work of Lao Tz\u016d's pen. It is, perhaps, happier still\nthat this small number cannot be said to include within it the name\nof a single native scholar of eminence. In fact, as far as I know,\nthe whole range of Chinese literature yields but the name of one such\nindividual who has ever believed in the genuineness of the so-called\n_Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.[11] Even he would probably have remained unknown to\nfame, had he not been brother to Su Tung-p'o.[12]\n\n[11] The Canon of Tao, and of T\u00ea, the exemplification thereof. See p.\n125. I have discussed the claims of this work at some length in _The\nRemains of Lao Tz\u016d_: Hong Kong, 1886.\n\n[12] The brilliant philosopher, statesman, poet, &c., of the Sung\ndynasty (A.D. 1036-1101).\n\nChuang Tz\u016d, indeed, puts into the mouth of Lao Tz\u016d sayings which are\nnow found in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, mixed up with a great many other\nsimilar sayings which are not to be found there. But he also puts\nsayings, which now appear in the Tao-T\u00ea-Ching, into the mouth of\nConfucius (p. 275)! And even into the mouth of the Yellow Emperor (pp.\n277-278), whose date is some twenty centuries earlier than that of Lao\nTz\u016d himself!!\n\nTwo centuries before the Christian era, an attempt was made to destroy,\nwith some exceptions, the whole of Chinese literature, in order that\nhistory might begin anew from the reign of the First Emperor of united\nChina. The extent of the actual mischief done by this \"Burning of the\nBooks\" has been greatly exaggerated. Still, the mere attempt at such a\nholocaust gave a fine chance to the scholars of the later Han dynasty\n(A.D. 25-221), who seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if\nnot the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors.\nSome one even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tz\u016d, a\nphilosopher mentioned by Chuang Tz\u016d, not seeing that the individual in\nquestion was a creation of Chuang Tz\u016d's brain!\n\nAnd the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_ was undoubtedly pieced together somewhere about\nthis period, from recorded sayings and conversations of Lao Tz\u016d.[13]\n\n[13] A curious parallelism will be found in _Supernatural Religion_,\nvol. i, p. 460:--\n\n\"No period in the history of the world ever produced so many spurious\nworks as the first two or three centuries of our era. The name of every\nApostle, or Christian teacher, not excepting that of the great Master,\nwas freely attached to every description of religious forgery.\"\n\nChuang Tz\u016d's work has suffered in like manner. Several chapters are\nclearly spurious, and many episodes have been interpolated by feeble\nimitators of an inimitable style.\n\nThe text, as it now stands, consists of thirty-three chapters. These\nare a reduction from fifty-three, which appear to have been in\nexistence in the fourth century A.D.[14] The following is the account\ngiven in the Imperial Catalogue of the first known edition:--\n\n[14] On the authority of the _I-w\u00ean-chih_.\n\n Chuang Tz\u016d, with Commentary, in 10 books. By Kuo Hsiang of the Chin\n dynasty (A.D. 265-420).\n\n The _Shih-shuo-hsin-y\u00fc_[15] states that Kuo Hsiang stole his work from\n Hsiang Hsiu.[16] Subsequently, Hsiang Hsiu's edition was issued, and\n the two were in circulation together. Hsiang Hsiu's edition is now\n lost, while Kuo Hsiang's remains.\n\n [15] A work of the fifth century A.D.\n\n [16] Of the Han dynasty. Mayers puts him a little later, viz., A.D.\n 275.\n\n Comparison with quotations from Hsiang Hsiu's work, as given in\n _Chuang Tz\u016d Explained_, by Lu T\u00ea-ming, shows conclusive evidence of\n plagiarism. Nevertheless, Kuo Hsiang contributed a certain amount of\n independent revision, making it impossible for us to regard the whole\n as from the hand of Hsiang Hsiu. Consequently, it now passes under the\n name of Kuo Hsiang.\n\nSince Kuo Hsiang's time, numberless editions with ever-varying\ninterpretations have been produced to delight and to confuse the\nstudent. Of these, I have chosen six, representative as nearly as\npossible of different schools of thought. Their editors are:--\n\n 1.--KUO HSIANG of the Chin dynasty. (_a_) As given in the _Shih Tz\u016d\n Ch'\u00fcan Shu_, or Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers. (_b_) As\n edited by Tan Y\u00fcan-ch'un, of the Ming dynasty, with his own valuable\n notes.\n\n 2.--L\u00dc HUI-CH'ING of the Sung dynasty.\n\n 3.--LIN HSI-YI of the Sung dynasty.\n\n 4.--WANG Y\u00dc of the Sung dynasty. Son of the famous Wang An-shih.\n\n 5.--HSING TUNG, a Taoist priest of the Ming dynasty.\n\n 6.--LIN HSI-CHUNG, of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties.\n\nWhere there is a consensus of opinion, I have followed such\ninterpretation without demur. But where opinions differ, I have not\nhesitated to accept that interpretation which seemed to me to be most\nin harmony with the general tenor of Chuang Tz\u016d's philosophy. And\nwhere all commentators fail equally, as they sometimes do, to yield\nanything at all intelligible, I have then ventured to fall back upon\nwhat Chuang Tz\u016d himself would have called the \"light of nature.\" Always\nkeeping steadily in view the grand precept of Lin Hsi-chung, that we\nshould attempt to interpret Chuang Tz\u016d neither according to Lao Tz\u016d,\nnor according to Confucius, nor according to Buddha, but according to\nChuang Tz\u016d himself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOf the thirty-three existing chapters, the first seven are called\n\"inside\" chapters, the next fifteen \"outside,\" and the remaining eleven\n\"miscellaneous.\"\n\nThe meaning of \"inside\" and \"outside\" is a matter of dispute. Some\nChinese critics have understood these terms in the obvious sense of\nesoteric and exoteric. But it is simpler to believe with others that\nthe titles of the first seven chapters are taken from the inside or\nsubject-matter, while the outside chapters are so named because their\ntitles are derived casually from words which happen to stand at the\nbeginning or outside of each.\n\nCompared with the \"miscellaneous,\" these latter seem to have been\nclassed together as elucidating a single principle in terms more easy\nof apprehension; while the \"miscellaneous\" chapters embrace several\ndistinct trains of thought, and are altogether more abstruse. The\narrangement is unscientific, and it was probably this which caused\nSu Tung-p'o to decide that division into chapters belongs to a later\nage. He regards chaps. xxix-xxxii as spurious, although Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien\nalludes to two of these as Chuang Tz\u016d's work. It has indeed been held\nthat the inside chapters alone (i-vii) are from Chuang Tz\u016d's own pen.\nBut most of the other chapters, exclusive of xxix-xxxii, contain\nunmistakable traces of a master hand. Ch. xvii, by virtue of an\nexquisite imagery, has earned for its author the affectionate sobriquet\nof \"Chou of the Autumn Floods.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d, it must be remembered, has been for centuries classed as\na heterodox writer. His work was an effort of reaction against the\nmaterialism of Confucian teachings. And in the course of it he was\nanything but sparing of terms. Confucius is dealt with in language\nwhich no modern literate can approve. But the beauty and vigour of the\nlanguage are facts admitted by all. He is constantly quoted in the\ngreat standard lexicon which passes under the name of K'ang Hsi.\n\nBut no acquaintance with the philosophy of Chuang Tz\u016d would assist\nthe candidate for honours at the competitive examinations which are\nthe portals to official place and power. Consequently, Chuang Tz\u016d is\nstudied chiefly by older men, who have retired from office, or who have\nbeen disappointed in their career. Those too who are dominated by a\nreligious craving for something better than mortality, find in his\npages much agreeable solace against the troubles of this world, with an\nimplied promise of another and a better world to come.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt has been publicly announced that translations of Lao Tz\u016d and Chuang\nTz\u016d are to appear among the _Sacred Books of the East_.[17]\n\n[17] _The China Review_, vol. xvi, p. 195.\n\nNow to include the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_ in such a series would be already a\ndoubtful step. Apart from spuriousness, it can only by a severe stretch\nof courtesy be termed a \"sacred book.\" It undoubtedly contains many of\nLao Tz\u016d's sayings, but it also undoubtedly contains much that Lao Tz\u016d\nnever said and never could have said. It illustrates rather that period\nwhen the pure TAO of Lao Tz\u016d began to be corrupted by alchemistic\nresearch and gropings after the elixir of life. It was probably\nwritten up in self-defence against the encroachments of Buddhism, in\nthose early days of religious struggle when China was first flooded\nwith the \"sacred books\" of the West. It is not seriously recognised\nas the Canon of ancient Taoism. Among the Taoists of to-day, not one\nin ten thousand has more than heard its name. For modern Taoism is\nbut a hybrid superstition,--a mixture of ancient nature-worship and\nBuddhistic ceremonial, with TAO as the style of the firm. Its teachings\nare farther removed from the TAO of Lao Tz\u016d than Ritualism from the\nChristianity of Christ.\n\nAs to Chuang Tz\u016d, his work can in no sense be called \"sacred.\" Unless\nindeed we modify somewhat the accepted value of terms, and reckon the\nworks of Aristotle among the \"sacred\" books of the Greeks. Chuang Tz\u016d\nwas scarcely the founder of a school. He was not a Prophet, as Lao Tz\u016d\nwas, nor can he fairly be said ever to have been regarded by genuine\nTaoists as such.\n\nWhen, many centuries later, the light of Lao Tz\u016d's real teachings had\nlong since been obscured, then a foolish Emperor conferred upon Chuang\nTz\u016d's work the title of _Holy Canon of Nan-hua_.[18] But this was done\nsolely to secure for the follies of the age the sanction of a great\nname. Not to mention that Lieh Tz\u016d's alleged work, and many other\nsimilar forgeries have also been equally honoured. So that if works\nlike these are to be included among the _Sacred Books of the East_,\nthen China alone will be able to supply matter for translation for the\nnext few centuries to come.\n\n[18] In A.D. 742.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPartly of necessity, and partly to spare the general reader, I have\nrelegated to a supplement all textual and critical notes involving the\nuse of Chinese characters. This supplement will be issued as soon as\npossible after my return to China. It will not form an integral part\nof the present work, being intended merely to assist students of the\nlanguage in verifying the renderings I have here seen fit to adopt. As\na compromise I have supplied a kind of running commentary, introduced,\nin accordance with the Chinese system, into the body of the text. It is\nhoped that this will enable any one to understand the drift of Chuang\nTz\u016d's allusions, and to follow arguments which are usually subtle and\noft-times obscure.\n\nOnly one previous attempt has been made to place Chuang Tz\u016d in the\nhands of English readers.[19] In that case, the knowledge of the\nChinese language possessed by the translator was altogether too\nelementary to justify such an attempt.[20]\n\n[19] _The Divine Classic of Nan-hua._ By Frederic Henry Balfour,\nF.R.G.S., Shanghai and London, 1881.\n\n[20] One example will suffice. In ch. xxiii (see p. 309) there occurs\na short sentence which means, \"A one-legged man discards ornament, his\nexterior not being open to commendation.\"\n\nMr. Balfour translated this as follows:--\"Servants will tear up a\nportrait, not liking to be confronted with its beauties and its\ndefects.\"\n\n      HERBERT A. GILES.\n\n\n\n\n_Note on the Philosophy of Chaps._ i-vii.\n\n_By the_ REV. AUBREY MOORE,\n\nTutor of Keble and Magdalen Colleges, Oxford; Hon. Canon of Christ\nChurch, &c.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThe translator of Chuang Tz\u016d has asked me to append a note on the\nphilosophy of chs. i-vii. It is difficult to see how one who writes\nnot only in ignorance of Chinese modes of thought, but with the\npreconceptions of Western philosophy, can really help much towards\nthe understanding of an admittedly obscure system, involving terms\nand expressions on which Chinese scholars are not yet agreed. But an\nattempt to point out parallelisms of thought and reasoning between\nEast and West may be of use in two ways. It may stimulate those who\nare really competent to understand both terms in the comparison to\ntell us where the parallelism is real and where it is only apparent;\nand it may help to accustom ordinary readers to look for and expect\nresemblances in systems in which an earlier age would have seen nothing\nbut contrasts.\n\nThere was a time when historians of Greek philosophy used to point out\nwhat were considered to be the characteristics of Greek thought, and\nthen to put down to \"Oriental influence\" anything which did not at once\nagree with these characteristics. How and through what channels this\n\"Oriental influence\" was exercised, it was never easy to determine,\nnor was it always thought worthy of much discussion. In recent times,\nhowever, a greater knowledge of Eastern systems has familiarised us\nwith much which, on the same principle, ought to be attributed to\n\"Greek influence.\" And the result has been that we have learned to put\naside theories of derivation, and to content ourselves with tracing\nthe evolution of reason and of rational problems, and to expect\nparallelisms even where the circumstances are widely different.\n\nOne instance may be worth quoting in illustration. We used to be told\nthat the Greek mind, in its speculation and its art, was characterised\nby its love of order, harmony, and symmetry, in contrast with the\nmonstrous creations of the Oriental imagination, and the \"colossal\nugliness of the Pyramids\"; and it was said with reason that the\nAristotelian doctrine of \"the mean\" was the ripe fruit of the\npractical inquiries of the Greeks, and was the ethical counterpart\nof their artistic development. But in 1861 we were introduced by Dr.\nLegge to a Confucianist work, attributed to Tz\u016d Tz\u016d, grandson of\nConfucius and a contemporary of Socrates, and entitled _The Doctrine\nof the Mean_,[21] which is there represented as the true moral way in\nwhich the perfect man walks, while all else go beyond or fall short of\nit. Yet even those who discovered the doctrine of the Trinity in the\nT\u00e2o-T\u00ea-Ching have not, we believe, suggested that Aristotle had private\naccess to the _Li Chi_.\n\n[21] In 1885 this treatise was republished by Dr. Legge in its place\nas Bk. xxviii of the _L\u00ee K\u00ee_ of _Li Chi_ (Sacred Books of the East,\nvols. xxvii, xxviii), with a new title _The State of Equilibrium and\nHarmony_. But the parallelism with the Aristotelian doctrine is as\nobvious as ever.\n\nWe may then, without bringing any charge of piracy or plagiarism\nagainst either, point out some parallels between Chuang Tz\u016d and a great\nGreek thinker.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d's first chapter is mainly critical and destructive, pointing\nout the worthlessness of ordinary judgments, and the unreality of sense\nknowledge. The gigantic Rukh, at the height of 90,000 _li_, is a mere\nmote in the sunbeam. For size is relative. The cicada, which can just\nfly from tree to tree, laughs with the dove at the Rukh's high flight.\nFor space also is relative. Compared with the mushroom of a day, P'\u00eang\nTsu is as old as Methuselah; but what is his age to that of the fabled\ntree, whose spring and autumn make up 16,000 years? Time, then, is\nrelative too. And though men wonder at him who could \"ride upon the\nwind and travel for many days,\" he is but a child to one who \"roams\nthrough the realms of For-Ever.\"\n\nThis doctrine of \"relativity,\" which is a commonplace in Greek as it\nis in modern philosophy, is made the basis, both in ancient and modern\ntimes, of two opposite conclusions. Either it is argued that all sense\nknowledge is relative, and sense is the only organ of knowledge,\ntherefore real knowledge is impossible; or else the relativity of sense\nknowledge leads men to draw a sharp contrast between sense and reason\nand to turn away from the outward in order to listen to the inward\nvoice. The one alternative is scepticism, the other idealism. In Greek\nthought the earliest representatives of the former are the Sophists, of\nthe latter Heracleitus.\n\nThere is no doubt to which side of the antithesis Chuang Tz\u016d belongs.\nHis exposure of false and superficial thinking looks at first like the\ndestruction of knowledge. Even Socrates was called a Sophist because\nof his destructive criticism and his restless challenging of popular\nviews. But Chuang Tz\u016d has nothing of the sceptic in him. He is an\nidealist and a mystic, with all the idealist's hatred of a utilitarian\nsystem, and the mystic's contempt for a life of mere external activity.\n\"The perfect man ignores _self_; the divine man ignores _action_;\nthe true sage ignores _reputation_\" (p. 5). The Emperor Yao would\nhave abdicated in favour of a hermit, but the hermit replies that\n\"reputation is but the shadow of reality,\" and will not exchange the\nreal for the seeming. But greater than Yao and the hermit is the\ndivine being who dwells on the mysterious mountain in a state of pure,\npassionless inaction.\n\nFor the sage, then, life means death to all that men think life, the\nlife of _seeming_ or reputation, of _doing_ or action, of _being_ or\nindividual selfhood. This leads on to the \"budget of paradoxes\" in\nchap. II. As in the moral and active region we escape from the world\nand self, and are able to reverse and look down upon the world's\njudgments, so in the speculative region we get behind and beyond the\ncontradictions of ordinary thinking, and of speech which stereotypes\nabstractions. The sage knows nothing of the distinction between\nsubjective and objective. It exists only _ex analogi\u00e2 hominis_.\n\"From the standpoint of Tao\" all things are one. People \"guided by\nthe criteria of their own mind,\" see only the contradiction, the\nmanifoldness, the difference; the sage sees the many disappearing in\nthe One, in which subjective and objective, positive and negative, here\nand there, somewhere and nowhere, meet and blend. For him, \"a beam\nand a pillar are identical. So are ugliness and beauty, greatness,\nwickedness, perverseness, and strangeness. Separation is the same as\nconstruction: construction is the same as destruction\" (pp. 19-20).\nThe sage \"blends everything into one harmonious whole, rejecting the\ncomparison of this and that. Rank and precedence, which the vulgar\nprize, the sage stolidly ignores. The universe itself may pass away,\nbut he will flourish still\" (p. 29). \"Were the ocean itself scorched\nup, he would not feel hot. Were the milky way frozen hard he would not\nfeel cold. Were the mountains to be riven with thunder, and the great\ndeep to be thrown up by storm, he would not tremble\" (pp. 27-28).\n\n    Si fractus illabatur orbis,\n      Impavidum ferient ruin\u00e6.\n\nHe is \"embraced in the obliterating unity of God,\" and passing into the\nrealm of the Infinite finds rest therein (p. 31).\n\nIt is impossible in reading this chapter on \"The Identity of\nContraries\" not to be reminded of Heracleitus. The disparagement of\nsense knowledge, and the contempt for common views is indeed equally\nmarked in Eleaticism, and there is much in Chuang Tz\u016d which recalls\nParmenides,[22] so far as the contrast between the way of truth and the\nway of error, the true belief in the One and the popular belief in the\nMany, is concerned. But it seems to me that the \"One\" of Chuang Tz\u016d\nis not the dead Unit of Eleaticism, which resulted from the thinking\naway of differences, but the living Unity of Heracleitus, in which\ncontraries co-exist. Heracleitus, indeed, seems to have been a man\nafter Chuang Tz\u016d's own heart, not only in his obscurity, which won\nfor him the title of \u1f41 \u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2, but in his indifference to worldly\nposition, shown in the fact that, like the Emperor Yao, he abdicates in\nhis brother's favour (_Diog. Laert._ ix. 1), and in his supercilious\ndisregard for the learned like Hesiod and Pythagoras and Xenophanes and\nHecataeus,[23] no less than for the common people[24] of his day.\n\n[22] See the fragments in Ritter and Preller's _Hist. Phil. Gr\u00e6c._ \u00a7 93\nand \u00a7 94 A. B. Seventh edition.\n\n[23] _Heracl. Eph. Rell._ Bywater, xvi.\n\n[24] \u1f40\u03c7\u03bb\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03af\u03b4\u03bf\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f29\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 _Timon ap. Diog. Laert._ ix. i.\n\n\"Listen,\" says Heracleitus, \"not to me, but to reason, and confess the\ntrue wisdom that 'All things are ONE.'\"[25] \"All is One, the divided\nand the undivided, the begotten and the unbegotten, the mortal and the\nimmortal, reason and eternity, father and son, God and justice.\"[26]\n\"Cold is hot, heat is cold, that which is moist is parched, that which\nis dried up is wet.\"[27] \"Good and evil are the same.\"[28] \"Gods\nare mortal, men immortal: our life is their death, our death their\nlife.\"[29] \"Upward and downward are the same.\"[30] \"The beginning and\nthe end are one.\"[31] \"Life and death, sleeping and waking, youth and\nage are identical.\"[32]\n\n[25] \u039f\u1f50\u03ba \u1f10\u03bc\u03b5\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03ad\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03cc\u03bd \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u1f13\u03bd \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\n\u03b5\u1f36\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9. _Heracl. Eph. Rell._ i.\n\n[26] _Hippolytus Ref. haer._ ix. 9.\n\n[27] _Heracl. Eph. Rell._ xxxix.\n\n[28] _Ibid._, lvii.\n\n[29] _Ibid._, lxvii.\n\n[30] _Ibid._, lxix.\n\n[31] _Ibid._, lxx.\n\n[32] _Ibid._, lxxviii.\n\nThis is what reason tells the philosopher. \"All is ONE.\" The world is a\nunity of opposing forces (\u03c0\u03b1\u03bb\u03af\u03bd\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f01\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03af\u03b7 \u03ba\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5 \u1f45\u03ba\u03c9\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1 \u03bb\u03cd\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\n\u03c4\u03cc\u03be\u03bf\u03c5).[33] \"Join together whole and not whole, agreeing and different,\nharmonious and discordant. Out of all comes one: out of one all.\"[34]\n\"God is day-night, winter-summer, war-peace, repletion-want.\"[35]\nThe very rhythm of nature is strife. War, which men hate and the\npoets would banish, \"is the father and lord of all.\"[36] But \"men are\nwithout understanding, they hear and hear not,\"[37] or \"they hear and\nunderstand not.\"[38] For they trust to their senses, which are \"false\nwitnesses.\"[39] They see the contradictions, but know not that \"the\ndifferent is at unity with itself.\"[40] They cannot see the \"hidden\nharmony, which is greater than the harmony which is seen.\"[41] For\nthey live in the external, the commonplace, the relative, and never\nrise above the life of the senses. \"The sow loves the mire.\"[42]\n\"The ass prefers fodder to gold.\"[43] And men love their \"private\nconceits\" instead of clinging to the universal reason which orders all\nthings,[44] and which even the sun obeys.[45]\n\n[33] _Ibid._, xlv.\n\n[34] _Ibid._, lix.\n\n[35] _Ibid._, xxxvi.\n\n[36] _Ibid._, xliv.\n\n[37] _Ibid._, iii.\n\n[38] _Ibid._, v.\n\n[39] _Heracl. Eph. Rell._ iv.\n\n[40] _Ibid._, xlv.\n\n[41] _Ibid._, xlvii.\n\n[42] _Ibid._, liv., and notes.\n\n[43] _Ibid._, li.\n\n[44] _Ibid._, xci, xix.\n\n[45] _Ibid._, xxix.\n\nOf the fragments which remain to us of Heracleitus, the greater number\nbelong to the region of logic and metaphysics, while Chuang Tz\u016d devotes\nmuch space to the more practical side of the question. He not only\nridicules those who trust their senses, or measure by utilitarian\nstandards, or judge by the outward appearance;--he teaches them how\nto pass from the seeming to the true. The wonderful carver, who could\ncut where the natural joints are,[46] is one who sees not with the\neye of sense but with his mind. When he is in doubt he \"falls back\nupon eternal principles\"; for he is \"devoted to TAO\" (chap. iii).\nThere is something of humour, as well as much of truth, in the rebuke\nwhich Confucius, speaking _pro h\u00e2c vice_ as a disciple of Lao Tz\u016d,\nadministers to his self-confident follower who wanted to \"be of use.\"\n\"Cultivate _fasting_;--not bodily fasting, but the fasting of the\nheart.\" TAO can only abide in the life which has got rid of self.\nSo the Duke of Sh\u00ea is reminded that there is something higher than\nduty,[47] viz., _destiny_, the state, that is, in which conscious\nobedience has given way to that which is instinctive and automatic. The\nparable of the trees (pp. 50-53), with its result in the survival of\nthe good-for-nothing, is again a reversal of popular outside judgments.\nFor as the first part of the chapter had taught the uselessness of\ntrying to be useful, so the last part teaches the usefulness of being\nuseless. And the same thought is carried on in the next chapter, which\ndeals with the reversal of common opinion as to persons. Its motto\nis:--Judge not by the appearance. Virtue must prevail and outward form\nbe forgotten. The loathsome leper Ai T'ai To is made Prime Minister by\nthe wise Duke Ai. The mutilated criminal is judged by Lao Tz\u016d to be a\ngreater man than Confucius. For the criminal is mutilated in body by\nman, while Confucius, though men know it not, by the judgment of God is\n\u03c0\u03b5\u03c0\u03b7\u03c1\u03c9\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae\u03bd.\n\n[46] _Cf. Plat. Phaedr._ 265: \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4' \u1f04\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03b1 \u1f91 \u03c0\u03ad\u03c6\u03c5\u03ba\u03b5\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bc\u1f74 \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd\n\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b3\u03bd\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bc\u03b7\u03b4\u1f72\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03bc\u03b1\u03b3\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c0\u1ff3 \u03c7\u03c1\u03ce\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n[47] _Cf._ Herbert Spencer's well-known paradox,--\"The sense of duty\nor moral obligation is transitory, and will diminish as fast as\nmoralisation increases.\"--_Data of Ethics_, p. 127.\n\nThis protest of Chuang Tz\u016d against externality, and judging only by\nthe outward appearance, might easily be translated into Christian\nlanguage. For Christianity also teaches _inwardness_, and, in common\nwith all idealism, resents the delimitation of human life and knowledge\nto \"the things which are seen.\" In its opposition to a mere practical\nsystem like Confucianism, Taoism must have appealed to those deeper\ninstincts of humanity to which Buddhism appealed some centuries later.\nIn practice, Confucianism was limited to the finite. Action, effort,\nbenevolence, unselfishness,--all these have a place in it, and their\ntheatre is the world as we know it. Its last word is worldly wisdom;\nnot selfishness, but an enlarged prudentialism. To the Taoist such a\nsystem savours of \"the rudiments of the world.\" Its \"charity and duty,\"\nits \"ceremonies and music,\" are the \"Touch not, taste not, handle not,\"\nof an ephemeral state of being, and perish in the using. And the sage\nseeks for the Absolute, the Infinite, the Eternal. He seeks to attain\nto TAO.\n\nIt is here that we reach (in chaps. vi, vii) what properly constitutes\nthe _mysticism_ of Chuang Tz\u016d. Heracleitus is not a mystic, though\nhe is the founder of a long line, which through Plato, and Dionysius\nthe Areopagite and John the Scot in the ninth century, and Meister\nEckhart in the thirteenth, and Jacob B\u00f6hme in the sixteenth, reaches\ndown to Hegel. Heracleitus despises the world and shuns it; but he\nhas not yet made flight from the world a dogma. Even Plato, when in\na well-known passage in the Theaetetus,[48] he counsels flight from\nthe present state of things, explains that he means only \"flee from\nevil and become like God.\" Still less has Heracleitus got so far as\nto aim at self-absorption in God. In Greek thought the attempt to\nget rid of consciousness, and to become the unconscious vehicle of a\nhigher illumination, is unknown till the time of Philo. Yet this is the\nteaching of Chuang Tz\u016d. \"The true sage takes his refuge in God, and\nlearns that there is no distinction between subject and object. This is\nthe very axis of TAO\" (p. 18). Abstraction from self, then, is the road\nwhich leads to TAO (chap. vi). The pure of old did not love life and\nhate death. They were content to be passive vehicles of TAO. They had\nreached the state of sublime indifference, they had become \"oblivious\nof their own existence.\" Everything in them was spontaneous; nothing\nthe result of effort. \"They made no plans; therefore failing, they had\nno cause for regret; succeeding, no cause for congratulation\" (p. 69).\n\"They cheerfully played their allotted parts, waiting patiently for the\nend.\" They were free, for they were in perfect harmony with creation\n(p. 71). For them One and not One are One; God and Man. For they had\nattained to TAO, and TAO is greater than God. \"Before heaven and earth\nwere, TAO was. It has existed without change from all time. Spiritual\nbeings draw their spirituality therefrom; while the universe became\nwhat we see it now. To TAO the zenith is not high, nor the nadir low;\nno point of time is long ago, nor by lapse of ages has it grown old\"\n(p. 76). The great legislators obtained TAO, and laid down eternal\nprinciples. The sun and moon, and the Great Bear are kept in their\ncourses by TAO.\n\n[48] _Theaet._ 176. A. \u03b4\u03b9\u1f78 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u1fb6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c7\u03c1\u1f74 \u1f10\u03bd\u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03b4\u03b5 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b5 \u03c6\u03b5\u03cd\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u1f45\n\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u03ac\u03c7\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1. \u03c6\u03c5\u03b3\u1f74 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03af\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u0398\u03b5\u1ff7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd. \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03af\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b4\u03af\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd\n\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f45\u03c3\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n    \"Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;\n    And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.\"\n\nHe who would attain to TAO must get rid of the thought of \"charity and\nduty,\" of \"music and ceremonies,\" of body and mind. The flowers and the\nbirds do not toil, they simply live. That is TAO. And for man a state\nof indifference and calm, the \u1f00\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03be\u03af\u03b1 not of the sceptic but of the\nmystic, a passive reflecting of the Eternal, is the ideal end. \"The\nperfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing, it refuses\nnothing. It receives but does not keep. And thus he can triumph over\nmatter without injury to himself.\" (See p. 98.)\n\nIt would of course be presumption to attempt to assign a meaning to\nTAO, and still more to discover an equivalent in Western thought.\nBut it may be lawful to say that Heracleitus often speaks of \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2\nas Chuang Tz\u016d speaks of TAO. It is Necessity (\u1f00\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03ba\u03b7), or Fate\n(\u03b5\u1f31\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7), or Mind (\u03b3\u03bd\u03ce\u03bc\u03b7), or Justice (\u0394\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae). In nature it appears\nas balance and equipoise; in the State as Law; in man as the universal\nReason, which is _in_ him but not _of_ him. Sometimes it is identified\nwith the mysterious name of Zeus, which may not be uttered;[49]\nsometimes like the \u1f08\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03ba\u03b7 of the Greek poets, it is supreme over gods\nand men. If it is hard to say what is the relation of TAO to God, it\nis not less hard to define the relation of \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 to Zeus. To speak of\nChuang Tz\u016d and Heracleitus as pantheists is only to say that, so far\nas we can translate their language into ours, that name seems less\ninappropriate than Theist or Deist. But it is doubtful whether the\ndistinction between Pantheism and Theism would have been intelligible\nto either philosopher, and certain that if they could have understood\nit, they would have denied to it reality. Both held the immanence of\nthe Eternal Principle in all that is. Both taught that the soul is an\nemanation from the Divine, and both, though in very different degrees,\nseem to teach that a life is perfect in proportion as it becomes one\nwith that from which it came, and loses what is individual in it.\n\n[49] _Heracl. Eph. Rell._ lxv.\n\nIn Chuang Tz\u016d, as in all mystics, there is an element of antinomianism.\nThat \"good and evil are the same,\" may contain a deep truth for the\nsage, but \"take no heed of time, nor of right and wrong\" (p. 31) is,\nto say the least, dangerous teaching for the masses. The mystic's\nutterances will not bear translation into the language of the world,\nand to take them _au pied de la lettre_ can hardly fail to produce\ndisastrous results. This is why antinomianism always dogs the heels of\nmysticism. And this may perhaps help to explain the debased Taoism of\nto-day. But of this I know nothing.\n\nIt would be interesting to know whether in the undisputed utterances\nof Lao Tz\u016d (_i. e._ putting on one side the _T\u00e2o-T\u00ea-Ching_), Quietism\nand the glorification of Inaction are as prominent as they are in\n_Chuang Tz\u016d_. One would be prepared _\u00e0 priori_ to find that they\nare not. Lao Tz\u016d was born at the end of the seventh century B.C.,\nand was, therefore, some fifty years older than Confucius, with\nwhom in 517 B.C., he is said to have had an interview.[50] By the\ntime of Chuang Tz\u016d, who was possibly contemporary with Mencius, and\ntherefore some two or three centuries after Lao Tz\u016d, Confucianism\nhad become to some extent the established religion of China, and\nTaoism, like Republicanism in the days of the Roman Empire, became a\nmere _opposition de salon_. Under such circumstances any elements of\nmysticism latent in Lao Tz\u016d's system would develop rapidly. And the\nantagonism between the representatives of Lao Tz\u016d and Confucius would\nproportionately increase. But philosophy does not become mystical and\ntake refuge in flight until it abandons all hope of converting the\nworld. When effort is useless, the mind idealises Inaction, and seeks a\nmetaphysical basis for it. For mysticism and scepticism flourish in the\nsame atmosphere though in different soils, both, though in different\nways, implying the abandonment of the rational problem. The Sceptic,\nthe Agnostic or Positivist of to-day, declares it insoluble, and\nsettles down content to take things as they are; the mystic retires\ninto himself, and dreams of a state of being which is the obverse of\nthe world of fact.\n\n[50] _Chuang Tz\u016d_, chap. xiv, p. 182-189.\n\nThe triumph of Confucianism in the centuries which intervened between\nLao Tz\u016d and Chuang Tz\u016d would account for the antagonism between Taoism\nand Confucianism as we find it. But it fails to account for the way in\nwhich Confucius is sometimes represented as playing into the hands of\nTaoism. On p. 85 f. n. the translator explains it as a literary _coup\nde main_. Dr. Chalmers, quoted by Dr. Legge,[51] says that both Chuang\nTz\u016d and Lieh Tz\u016d introduced Confucius into their writings \"as the lords\nof the Philistines did the captive Samson on their festive occasions,\n'to make sport for them.'\" But there is not a hint of this given\nin the text, though throughout one long chapter (chap. iv) we find\nConfucius giving a Taoist refutation of Confucianist doctrines when\ndefended by his own pupil Yen Hui. It might seem like an attempt to\ndraw a distinction between Confucius and Confucianism, though elsewhere\nConfucius is ridiculed as wanting in sense.\n\n[51] _Encycl. Met._, Art. \"Lao Tz\u016d.\"\n\nMay not the explanation be as follows?--\n\n(i.) Lao Tz\u016d and Confucius were probably much nearer to one another\nphilosophically than the Taoism of Chuang Tz\u016d and the Confucianism of\nMencius. The passages in which Confucius talks Taoism would, on this\nhypothesis, represent a traditional survival of their real relations to\none another. The episode of Confucius' visit to Lao Tz\u016d \"to ask about\nthe TAO,\" would, whether it records a fact or not, tend in the same\ndirection.\n\n(ii.) From the first we may assume that the one took an ideal, the\nother a practical and utilitarian view of TAO \"the Way\"; Confucius\nfinding it in social duties and the work of practical life, Lao Tz\u016d in\nthe hidden and the _inward_, the \"interior life,\" as Christian mystics\nwould call it. Thus the historian Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien[52] says, \"Lao Tz\u016d\ncultivated the TAO and virtue, his chief aim in his studies being how\nto keep himself concealed and unknown. Seeing the decay of the dynasty\nhe withdrew himself out of sight, and no one knows where he died.\"\n\n[52] Quoted by Dr. Legge, _loc. cit._\n\n(iii.) The divergence between the two views, the ideal and the actual,\nthe mystical and the practical, would increase with time, each\nintensifying the other by opposition and reaction, until the practical\nwon its way to security, and the mystical got left out in the cold,\nperhaps persecuted, certainly suspected, and treated as heterodox,\nand naturally retaliating by scornful criticism of the dominant view.\nWhen this stage is reached, Mencius regards Lao Tz\u016d as a heresiarch,\nwhile Chuang Tz\u016d often treats Confucius with contempt and ridicule.\nFor \"the Way that is walked upon is not the Way,\" and \"the TAO which\nshines forth is not TAO\" (p. 25). But Confucianism being \"established,\"\nthe Taoists are now \"dissenters,\" and not being strong enough to\ndisestablish Confucianism become more and more mystical, and content\nthemselves with a policy of protest.\n\nIf there is little direct evidence for this theory as to the relations\nof Taoism and Confucianism, there is a curious parallel in Western\nthought. When Plato was known only in a neo-Platonic disguise, and\nAristotle judged by the _Organon_, it was possible for partisans to\nrepresent the two philosophers as typical opposites, and to assume\nthat \"every one is born a Platonist or an Aristotelian,\" forgetting\nthat Aristotle was Plato's pupil, and both were followers of Socrates.\nLater on, when Aristotelianism became \"established\" as the Christian\nphilosophy, Platonism, which survived in the more mystical schoolmen,\nfell under suspicion, and not unfrequently justified the suspicion\nby developing in the direction of Pantheism. It was not till the\nthirteenth century that the world appealed from Platonists and\nAristotelians to Plato and Aristotle, and discovered that the divergent\nstreams flowed from neighbouring springs. Such an appeal, it is to\nbe feared, is hardly possible in the case of Lao Tz\u016d and Confucius,\nespecially as the authenticity of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_ is still in\ncontroversy among Sinologues.\n\nMy object, however, in this note, which has grown out of all\nproportion, was not to suggest a theory as to the possible relations of\nLao Tz\u016d and Confucius, but to point out what seemed to be a remarkable\nparallel between the teaching of Chuang Tz\u016d and Heracleitus. In doing\nthis I have accepted Mr. Giles's translation as an ultimate fact, for\nthe simple reason that I do not know a single Chinese character. So\nfar, therefore, as the translation prejudices or prejudges questions of\nChinese scholarship, I must leave the defence to the translator. It is\nalso possible, and more than possible, that my Western preconceptions\nmay have biassed my judgment of Chuang Tz\u016d's philosophical teaching.\nRecent attempts[53] to draw a parallel between the life of Gautama and\nthe life of Christ have shown how easy it is unconsciously to read\nbetween the lines, and find parallelisms where they do not exist. If I\nhave been guilty in the same way, then, with Socrates in the Republic,\nI say, \"I can but suffer the penalty of ignorance; and that penalty is,\nto be taught by those who know.\"\n\n[53] _E.g._ Mr. Edwin Arnold's _Light of Asia_, and still more\nProfessor Seydel's _Das Evangelium von Jesu in seinen Verh\u00e4ltnissen zu\nBuddha-Sage and Buddha-Lehre_. On the other side of the question, _cf._\nDr. Kellogg's _The Light of Asia and The Light of the World_. London,\n1885. And an article in the _Nineteenth Century_ for July, 1888, on\nBuddhism, by the Bishop of Colombo.\n\n      A. L. M.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_Chuang Tz\u016d._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTRANSCENDENTAL BLISS.\n\n _Argument_:--Space infinite--Time infinite--Relativity of magnitudes,\n physical and moral--The magnitude absolute--Usefulness as a test of\n value--The usefulness of the useless.\n\n\nIn the northern ocean there is a fish, called the Leviathan, many\nthousand _li_ in size. This leviathan changes into a bird, called the\nRukh, whose back is many thousand _li_ in breadth. With a mighty effort\nit rises, and its wings obscure the sky like clouds.\n\nAt the equinox, this bird prepares to start for the southern ocean,\nthe Celestial Lake. And in the _Record of Marvels_ we read that when\nthe rukh flies southwards, the water is smitten for a space of three\nthousand _li_ around, while the bird itself mounts upon a typhoon to a\nheight of ninety thousand _li_, for a flight of six months' duration.\n\nJust so are the motes in a sunbeam blown aloft by God. For whether the\nblue of the sky is its real colour, or only the result of distance\nwithout end, the effect to the bird looking down would be just the\nsame as to the motes.\n\n Distance being relative. The rukh at an altitude of 90,000 _li_ (three\n _li_ to a mile) is no more than a mote in a sunbeam a few feet from\n the ground.\n\nIf there is not sufficient depth, water will not float large ships.\nUpset a cupful into a small hole, and a mustard-seed will be your boat.\nTry to float the cup, and it will stick, from the disproportion between\nwater and vessel.\n\nSo with air. If there is not a sufficient depth, it cannot support\nlarge birds. And for this bird a depth of ninety thousand _li_ is\nnecessary; and then, with nothing save the clear sky above, and no\nobstacle in the way, it starts upon its journey to the south.\n\nA cicada laughed, and said to a young dove, \"Now, when I fly with\nall my might, 'tis as much as I can do to get from tree to tree. And\nsometimes I do not reach, but fall to the ground midway. What then can\nbe the use of going up ninety thousand _li_ in order to start for the\nsouth?\"\n\nHe who goes to Mang-ts'ang,\n\n A short distance into the country.\n\ntaking three meals with him, comes back with his stomach as full as\nwhen he started. But he who travels a hundred _li_ must grind flour\nenough for a night's halt. And he who travels a thousand _li_ must\nsupply himself with provisions for three months. Those two little\ncreatures,--what should they know? Small knowledge has not the compass\nof great knowledge any more than a short year has the length of a long\nyear.\n\nHow can we tell that this is so? The mushroom of a morning knows\nnot the alternation of day and night. The chrysalis knows not the\nalternation of spring and autumn. Theirs are short years.\n\nBut in the State of Ch'u there is a tortoise whose spring and autumn\nare each of five hundred years' duration. And in former days there\nwas a large tree which had a spring and autumn each of eight thousand\nyears' duration. Yet, P'\u00eang Tsu\n\n The Methusaleh of China. His age has not been agreed upon by Chinese\n writers, but the lowest computation gives him a life of eight hundred\n years.\n\nis still, alas! an object of envy to all.\n\nIt was on this very subject that the Emperor T'ang\n\n B.C. 1766.\n\nspoke to Chi, as follows:--\"At the barren north there is a great sea,\nthe Celestial Lake. In it there is a fish, several thousand _li_ in\nbreadth, and I know not how many in length. It is called the Leviathan.\nThere is also a bird, called the Rukh, with a back like Mount T'ai,\n\n China's most famous mountain, situated in the province of Shantung.\n\nand wings like clouds across the sky. Upon a typhoon it soars up to a\nheight of ninety thousand _li_, beyond the clouds and atmosphere, with\nonly the clear sky above it. And then it directs its flight towards the\nsouth pole.\n\n\"A quail laughed, and said: Pray, what may that creature be going to\ndo? I rise but a few yards in the air, and settle again after flying\naround among the reeds. That is the most I can manage. Now, where ever\ncan this creature be going to?\"\n\n The repetition of this story, coupled with its quotation from the\n _Record of Marvels_, is considered to give an air of authenticity to\n Chuang Tz\u016d's illustration, which the reader might otherwise suppose to\n be of his own invention.\n\nSuch, indeed, is the difference between small and great. Take, for\ninstance, a man who creditably fills some small office, or who is a\npattern of virtue in his neighbourhood, or who influences his prince to\nright government of the State,--his opinion of himself will be much the\nsame as that quail's. The philosopher Yung laughs at such a one. He, if\nthe whole world flattered him, would not be affected thereby, nor if\nthe whole world blamed him would he lose his faith in himself. For Yung\ncan distinguish between the intrinsic and the extrinsic, between honour\nand shame,--and such men are rare in their generation. But even he has\nnot established himself.\n\n Beyond the limits of an external world. His achievements are after all\n only of the earth, earthy.\n\nThere was Lieh Tz\u016d again.\n\n A personage of whom nothing is really known. He is considered by the\n best authorities to have been of Chuang Tz\u016d's own creation. This,\n however, did not prevent some enterprising scholar, probably of the\n Han dynasty, from discovering a treatise which still passes under Lieh\n Tz\u016d's name.\n\nHe could ride upon the wind, and travel whithersoever he wished,\nstaying away as long as fifteen days. Among mortals who attain\nhappiness, such a man is rare. Yet although Lieh Tz\u016d was able to\ndispense with walking, he was still dependent upon something.\n\n _Sc._ the wind.\n\nBut had he been charioted upon the eternal fitness of Heaven and Earth,\ndriving before him the elements as his team while roaming through the\nrealms of For-Ever,--upon what, then, would he have had to depend?\n\n That is, nourished upon the doctrines of inaction, the continuity of\n life and death, etc., which will be dealt with in later chapters.\n\nThus it has been said, \"The perfect man ignores _self_; the divine man\nignores _action_; the true Sage ignores _reputation_.\"\n\n His--for the three are one--is a bliss \"beyond all that the minstrel\n has told.\" Material existences melt into thin air; worldly joys and\n sorrows cease for him who passes thus into the everlasting enjoyment\n of a transcendental peace.\n\nThe Emperor Yao\n\n B.C. 2356. His reign, coupled with that of Shun who succeeded him,\n may be regarded as the Golden Age of China's history. See p. 8.\n\nwished to abdicate in favour of Hs\u00fc Yu,\n\n A worthy hermit.\n\nsaying, \"If, when the sun and moon are shining, you persist in lighting\na torch, is not that a misapplication of fire? If, when the rainy\nseason is at its height, you still continue to water the ground, is\nnot this a waste of labour? Now, sir, do you assume the reins of\ngovernment, and the empire will be at peace. I am but a dead body,\nconscious of my own deficiency. I beg you will ascend the throne.\"\n\n\"Ever since you, sire, have directed the administration,\" replied Hs\u00fc\nYu, \"the empire has enjoyed tranquillity. Supposing, therefore, that\nI were to take your place now, should I gain any reputation thereby?\nBesides, reputation is but the shadow of reality; and should I trouble\nmyself about the shadow? The tit, building its nest in the mighty\nforest, occupies but a single twig. The tapir slakes its thirst from\nthe river, but drinks enough only to fill its belly. To you, sire,\nbelongs the reputation: the empire has no need for me. If a cook is\nunable to dress his funeral sacrifices, the boy who impersonates the\ncorpse may not step over the wines and meats and do it for him.\"\n\n This illustrates rejection of reputation by the true Sage. See ch. vii.\n\nChien Wu said to Lien Shu,\n\n Both fictitious personages.\n\n\"I heard Chieh Y\u00fc utter something unjustifiably extravagant and without\neither rhyme or reason.\n\n This was an individual, named Lu T'ung, who feigned madness in order\n to escape an official career. For his interview with Confucius, see\n ch. iv, _ad fin._\n\nI was greatly startled at what he said, for it seemed to me boundless\nas the Milky Way, though very improbable and removed from the\nexperiences of mortals.\"\n\n\"What was it?\" asked Lien Shu.\n\n\"He declared,\" replied Chien Wu, \"that on the Miao-ku-sh\u00ea mountain\n\n Which is as fabulous as the story.\n\nthere lives a divine man whose flesh is like ice or snow, whose\ndemeanour is that of a virgin, who eats no fruit of the earth, but\nlives on air and dew, and who, riding on clouds with flying dragons\nfor his team, roams beyond the limits of mortality. This being is\nabsolutely inert. Yet he wards off corruption from all things, and\ncauses the crops to thrive. Now I call that nonsense, and do not\nbelieve it.\"\n\n\"Well,\" answered Lien Shu, \"you don't ask a blind man's opinion of a\npicture, nor do you invite a deaf man to a concert. And blindness and\ndeafness are not physical only. There is blindness and deafness of\nthe mind, diseases from which I fear you yourself are suffering. The\ngood influence of that man fills all creation. Yet because a paltry\ngeneration cries for reform, you would have him condescend to the\ndetails of an empire!\n\n Not seeing that the greater contains the less.\n\n\"Objective existences cannot harm him. In a flood which reached to the\nsky, he would not be drowned. In a drought, though metals ran liquid\nand mountains were scorched up, he would not be hot. Out of his very\ndust and siftings you might fashion two such men as Yao and Shun. And\nyou would have him occupy himself with objectives!\"\n\n Illustrating the inaction of the divine man.\n\nA man of the Sung State carried some sacrificial caps into the Y\u00fceh\nState, for sale. But the men of Y\u00fceh used to cut off their hair and\npaint their bodies, so that they had no use for such things. And so,\nwhen the Emperor Yao, the ruler of all under heaven and pacificator\nof all within the shores of ocean, paid a visit to the four sages of\nthe Miao-ku-sh\u00ea mountain, on returning to his capital at F\u00ean-yang, the\nempire existed for him no more.\n\n This illustrates the rejection of self by the perfect man. Yao had\n his eyes opened to the hollowness and uselessness of all mortal\n possessions. He ceased, therefore, to think any more of himself, and\n _per consequens_ of the empire.\n\nHui Tz\u016d\n\n A celebrated schoolman, contemporary with and antagonistic to Chuang\n Tz\u016d. For an account of his theories, see ch. xxxiii.\n\nsaid to Chuang Tz\u016d, \"The Prince of Wei gave me a seed of a large-sized\nkind of gourd. I planted it, and it bore a fruit as big as a\nfive-bushel measure. Now had I used this for holding liquids, it would\nhave been too heavy to lift; and had I cut it in half for ladles, the\nladles would have been ill adapted for such purpose. It was uselessly\nlarge, so I broke it up.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"it was rather you who did not know how to\nuse large things. There was a man of Sung who had a recipe for salve\nfor chapped hands, his family having been silk-washers for generations.\nWell, a stranger who had heard of it, came and offered him 100 _oz._ of\nsilver for this recipe; whereupon he called together his clansmen and\nsaid, 'We have never made much money by silk-washing. Now, we can make\n100 _oz._ in a single day. Let the stranger have the recipe.'\n\n\"So the stranger got it, and went and informed the Prince of Wu who\nwas just then at war with the Y\u00fceh State. Accordingly, the Prince used\nit in a naval battle fought at the beginning of winter with the Y\u00fceh\nState, the result being that the latter was totally defeated.\n\n They suffered from chapped hands, while their rivals of the Wu State\n were protected by their patent salve.\n\nThe stranger was rewarded with territory and a title. Thus, while the\nefficacy of the salve to cure chapped hands was in both cases the\nsame, its application was different. Here, it secured a title; there, a\ncapacity for washing silk.\n\n\"Now as to your five-bushel gourd, why did you not make a boat of it,\nand float about over river and lake? You could not then have complained\nof its not holding anything! But I fear you are rather woolly inside.\"\n\n Like it. This, of course, is a sneer. Hui Tz\u016d could not see that the\n greatness of a thing depends upon the greatness of its application.\n\nHui Tz\u016d said to Chuang Tz\u016d, \"Sir, I have a large tree, of a worthless\nkind. Its trunk is so irregular and knotty that it cannot be measured\nout for planks; while its branches are so twisted as to admit of no\ngeometrical subdivision whatever. It stands by the roadside, but\nno carpenter will look at it. And your words, sir, are like that\ntree;--big and useless, not wanted by anybody.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" rejoined Chuang Tz\u016d, \"have you never seen a wild cat, crouching\ndown in wait for its prey? Right and left it springs from bough to\nbough, high and low alike,--until perchance it gets caught in a trap\nor dies in a snare. On the other hand, there is the yak with its great\nhuge body. It is big enough in all conscience, but it cannot catch mice.\n\n The adaptability of a thing is oft-times its bane. The inability of\n the yak to catch mice saves it from the snare which is fatal to the\n wild cat.\n\n\"Now if you have a big tree and are at a loss what to do with it, why\nnot plant it in the domain of non-existence,\n\n Beyond the limits of our external world. Referring to the conditions\n of mental abstraction in which alone true happiness is to be found.\n\nwhither you might betake yourself to inaction by its side, to blissful\nrepose beneath its shade?\n\n \"Why does the horizon hold me fast, with my joy and grief in this\n centre?\"--_Emerson._\n\nThere it would be safe from the axe and from all other injury; for\nbeing of no use to others, itself would be free from harm.\"\n\n Illustrating the advantage of being useless. That which is small and\n useful is thus shown to be inferior to that which is large and useless.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE IDENTITY OF CONTRARIES.\n\n _Argument_:--Contraries spring from our subjective\n individuality--Identity of subjective and objective--The centre where\n all distinctions are merged in ONE--How to reach this point--Speech an\n obstacle--The negative state--Light out of darkness--Illustrations.\n\n\nTz\u016d Ch'i of Nan-kuo sat leaning on a table. Looking up to heaven, he\nsighed and became absent, as though soul and body had parted.\n\nYen Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Yu, who was standing by him, exclaimed, \"What are you\nthinking about that your body should become thus like dry wood, your\nmind like dead ashes? Surely the man now leaning on the table is not he\nwho was here just now.\"\n\n\"My friend,\" replied Tz\u016d Ch'i, \"your question is apposite. _To-day I\nhave buried myself_.... Do you understand?... Ah! perhaps you only know\nthe music of Man, and not that of Earth. Or even if you have heard the\nmusic of Earth, you have not heard the music of Heaven.\"\n\n\"Pray explain,\" said Tz\u016d Yu.\n\n\"The breath of the universe,\" continued Tz\u016d Ch'i, \"is called wind. At\ntimes, it is inactive. But when active, every aperture resounds to the\nblast. Have you never listened to its growing roar?\n\n\"Caves and dells of hill and forest, hollows in huge trees of many a\nspan in girth;--these are like nostrils, like mouths, like ears, like\nbeam-sockets, like goblets, like mortars, like ditches, like bogs.\nAnd the wind goes rushing through them, sniffing, snoring, singing,\nsoughing, puffing, purling, whistling, whirring, now shrilly treble,\nnow deeply bass, now soft, now loud; until, with a lull, silence reigns\nsupreme. Have you never witnessed among the trees such a disturbance as\nthis?\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" enquired Tz\u016d Yu, \"since the music of earth consists of\nnothing more than holes, and the music of man of pipes and flutes,--of\nwhat consists the music of Heaven?\"\n\n\"The effect of the wind upon these various apertures,\" replied\nTz\u016d Ch'i, \"is not uniform. But what is it that gives to each the\nindividuality, to all the potentiality, of sound?\n\n\"Great knowledge embraces the whole:\n\n Sees both \"the upper and under side of the medal of Jove\" at once.\n\nsmall knowledge, a part only. Great speech is universal:\n\n Speech, according to Chuang Tz\u016d's ideal, always covers the whole\n ground in question, leaving no room for positive and negative to\n appear in antagonism.\n\nsmall speech is particular.\n\n\"For whether when the mind is locked in sleep or whether when in\nwaking hours the body is released, we are subject to daily mental\nperturbations,--indecision, want of penetration, concealment, fretting\nfear, and trembling terror. Now like a javelin the mind flies forth,\nthe arbiter of right and wrong.\n\n Thus recognising contraries.\n\nNow like a solemn covenanter it remains firm, the guardian of rights\nsecured.\n\n Adhering to an opinion formed.\n\nThen, as under autumn and winter's blight, comes gradual decay, a\npassing away, like the flow of water, never to return. Finally, the\nblock when all is choked up like an old drain,--the failing mind which\nshall not see light again.\n\n\"Joy and anger, sorrow and happiness, caution and remorse, come upon\nus by turns, with ever-changing mood. They come like music from\nhollowness, like mushrooms from damp. Daily and nightly they alternate\nwithin us, but we cannot tell whence they spring. Can we then hope in a\nmoment to lay our finger upon their very Cause?\n\n\"But for these emotions _I_ should not be. But for _me_, they would\nhave no scope. So far we can go; but we do not know what it is that\nbrings them into play. 'Twould seem to be a _soul_; but the clue to its\nexistence is wanting. That such a Power operates, is credible enough,\nthough we cannot see its form. It has functions without form.\n\n As will be gathered later on, Chuang Tz\u016d conceives of the soul as an\n emanation from God, passing to and from this earth through the portals\n of Life and Death.\n\n\"Take the human body with all its manifold divisions. Which part of\nit does a man love best? Does he not cherish all equally, or has he a\npreference? Do not all equally serve him? And do these servitors then\ngovern themselves, or are they subdivided into rulers and subjects?\nSurely there is some soul which sways them all.\n\n\"But whether or not we ascertain what are the functions of this soul,\nit matters but little to the soul itself. For coming into existence\nwith this mortal coil of mine, with the exhaustion of this mortal coil\nits mandate will also be exhausted. To be harassed by the wear and\ntear of life, and to pass rapidly through it without possibility of\narresting one's course,--is not this pitiful indeed? To labour without\nceasing, and then, without living to enjoy the fruit, worn out, to\ndepart, suddenly, one knows not whither,--is not that a just cause for\ngrief?\n\n\"What advantage is there in what men call not dying? The body\ndecomposes, and the mind goes with it. This is our real cause for\nsorrow. Can the world be so dull as not to see this? Or is it I alone\nwho am dull, and others not so?\n\n\"If we are to be guided by the criteria of our own minds, who shall be\nwithout a guide?\n\n The mind should be a _tabula rasa_, free from all judgments or\n opinions of its own as to the external world, and ready only to accept\n things as they are, not as they appear to be.\n\nWhat need to know of the alternations of passion,\n\n As above described.\n\nwhen the mind thus affords scope to itself?--verily even the minds of\nfools! Whereas, for a mind without criteria\n\n As it should be.\n\nto admit the idea of contraries, is like saying, _I went to Y\u00fceh\nto-day, and got there yesterday_.\n\n One of Hui Tz\u016d's paradoxes. See ch. xxxiii.\n\nOr, like placing nowhere somewhere,--topography which even the Great Y\u00fc\n\n The famous engineer of antiquity (B.C. 2205), who drained the empire\n of a vast body of water and arranged its subdivision into nine\n provinces.\n\nwould fail to understand; how much more I?\n\n\"Speech is not mere breath. It is differentiated by meaning. Take away\nthat, and you cannot say whether it is speech or not. Can you even\ndistinguish it from the chirping of young birds?\n\n\"But how can TAO be so obscured that we speak of it as true and\nfalse? And how can speech be so obscured that it admits the idea of\ncontraries? How can TAO go away and yet not remain?\n\n Being omnipresent.\n\nHow can speech exist and yet be impossible?\n\n See p. 13.\n\n\"TAO is obscured by our want of grasp. Speech is obscured by the gloss\nof this world.\n\n _I.e._ by the one-sided meanings attached to words and phrases.\n\nHence the affirmatives and negatives of the Confucian and Mihist\nschools,\n\n Mih Tz\u016d was a philosopher of the fourth century B.C., who propounded\n various theories which were vigorously attacked by the Confucianists\n under Mencius. We shall hear more of him by-and-by.\n\neach denying what the other affirmed and affirming what the other\ndenied. But he who would reconcile affirmative with negative and\nnegative with affirmative,\n\n The \"union of impossibilities,\" which Emerson credits to Plato alone.\n\nmust do so by the light of nature.\n\n _I.e._ Have no established mental criteria, and thus see all things as\n ONE.\n\n\"There is nothing which is not objective: there is nothing which is\nnot subjective. But it is impossible to start from the objective. Only\nfrom subjective knowledge is it possible to proceed to objective\nknowledge. Hence it has been said,\n\n By Hui Tz\u016d.\n\n'The objective emanates from the subjective; the subjective is\nconsequent upon the objective. This is the _Alternation Theory_.'\nNevertheless, when one is born, the other dies. When one is possible,\nthe other is impossible. When one is affirmative the other is negative.\nWhich being the case, the true sage rejects all distinctions of this\nand that. He takes his refuge in GOD, and places himself in subjective\nrelation with all things.\n\n It was to this end that Tz\u016d Ch'i \"buried himself.\"\n\n\"And inasmuch as the subjective is also objective, and the objective\nalso subjective, and as the contraries under each are indistinguishably\nblended, does it not become impossible for us to say whether subjective\nand objective really exist at all?\n\n What is positive under the one will be negative under the other.\n Yet as subjective and objective are really one and the same, their\n positives and negatives must also be one and the same.\n\n It is as though we were to view them through a kind of mental\n Pseudoscope, by which means each would appear to be the other.\n\n\"When subjective and objective are both without their correlates, that\nis the very axis of TAO. And when that axis passes through the centre\nat which all Infinities converge, positive and negative alike blend\ninto an infinite ONE. Hence it has been said that there is nothing\nlike the light of nature.\n\n Probably an allusion to Lao Tz\u016d's \"Use the light that is within you\n to revert to your natural clearness of sight.\" We should then be able\n to view things in their true light. See _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. lii., and\n _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 34.\n\n\"To take a finger in illustration of a finger not being a finger is not\nso good as to take something which is not a finger. To take a horse in\nillustration of a horse not being a horse is not so good as to take\nsomething which is not a horse.\n\n\"So with the universe and all that in it is. These things are but\nfingers and horses in this sense. The possible is possible: the\nimpossible is impossible. TAO operates, and given results follow.\nThings receive names and are what they are. They achieve this by their\nnatural affinity for what they are and their natural antagonism to what\nthey are not. For all things have their own particular constitutions\nand potentialities. Nothing can exist without these.\n\n These last few sentences are repeated in ch. xxvii. _ad init._\n\n \"We can never know anything but phenomena. Things are what they are,\n and their consequences will be what they will be.\"--_J. S. Mill._\n\n\"Therefore it is that, viewed from the standpoint of TAO, a beam and a\npillar are identical.\n\n The horizontal with the vertical.\n\nSo are ugliness and beauty, greatness, wickedness, perverseness, and\nstrangeness. Separation is the same as construction: construction is\nthe same as destruction. Nothing is subject either to construction or\nto destruction, for these conditions are brought together into ONE.\n\n\"Only the truly intelligent understand this principle of the identity\nof all things. They do not view things as apprehended by themselves,\nsubjectively; but transfer themselves into the position of the things\nviewed.\n\n Avoiding the fallacious channels of the senses.\n\nAnd viewing them thus they are able to comprehend them, nay, to master\nthem;--and he who can master them is near. So it is that to place\noneself in subjective relation with externals, without consciousness of\ntheir objectivity,--this is TAO. But to wear out one's intellect in an\nobstinate adherence to the individuality of things, not recognising the\nfact that all things are ONE,--this is called _Three in the Morning_.\"\n\n\"What is _Three in the Morning_?\" asked Tz\u016d Yu.\n\n\"A keeper of monkeys,\" replied Tz\u016d Ch'i, \"said with regard to their\nrations of chestnuts that each monkey was to have three in the morning\nand four at night. But at this the monkeys were very angry, so the\nkeeper said they might have four in the morning and three at night,\nwith which arrangement they were all well pleased. The actual number\nof the chestnuts remained the same, but there was an adaptation to\nthe likes and dislikes of those concerned. Such is the principle of\nputting oneself into subjective relation with externals.\n\n\"Wherefore the true Sage, while regarding contraries as identical,\nadapts himself to the laws of Heaven. This is called following two\ncourses at once.\n\n He is thus prevented from trying to walk through walls, etc., as later\n Taoists have professed themselves able to do, of course with a view\n to gull the public and enrich themselves. \"GOD,\" says Locke, \"when he\n makes the prophet, does not unmake the man.\"\n\n So Carlyle in his essay on Novalis:--\"To a Transcendentalist, matter\n has an existence but only as a Phenomenon.... It is a mere relation,\n or rather the result of a relation between our living souls and the\n great First Cause.\"\n\n\"The knowledge of the men of old had a limit. It extended back to a\nperiod when matter did not exist. That was the extreme point to which\ntheir knowledge reached.\n\n\"The second period was that of matter, but of matter unconditioned.\n\n By time or space. \"Being, in itself,\" says Herbert Spencer, \"out of\n relation, is itself unthinkable.\" _Principles of Psychology_, iii. p.\n 258.\n\n\"The third epoch saw matter conditioned, but contraries were still\nunknown. When these appeared, TAO began to decline. And with the\ndecline of TAO, individual bias arose.\n\n\"Have then these states of falling and rising real existences? Surely\nthey are but as the falling and rising of Chao W\u00ean's music,--the\nconsequences of his playing.\n\nChao W\u00ean played the guitar. Shih K'uang wielded the _b\u00e2ton_.\n\n To keep time.\n\nHui Tz\u016d argued. Herein these three men excelled, and in the practice of\nsuch arts they passed their lives.\n\n\"Hui Tz\u016d's particular views being very different from those of the\nworld in general, he was correspondingly anxious to enlighten people.\nBut he did not enlighten them as he should have done,\n\n By the cultivation and passive manifestation of his own inward light.\n\nand consequently ended in the obscurity of the 'hard and white.'\n\n Hui Tz\u016d regarded such abstractions as hardness and whiteness as\n separate existences, of which the mind could only be conscious\n separately, one at a time.\n\nSubsequently, his son searched his works for some clue, but never\nsucceeded in establishing the principle. And indeed if such were\npossible to be established, then even I am established; but if not,\nthen neither I nor anything in the universe is established!\n\n\"Therefore what the true Sage aims at is the light which comes out\nof darkness. He does not view things as apprehended by himself,\nsubjectively, but transfers himself into the position of the things\nviewed. This is called using the light.\n\n\"There remains, however, Speech. Is that to be enrolled under either\ncategory of contraries, or not? Whether it is so enrolled or not, it\nwill in any case belong to one or the other, and thus be as though it\nhad an objective existence. At any rate, I should like to hear some\nspeech which belongs to neither category.\n\n Contraries being disposed of, there remains the vehicle _Speech_,\n _i.e._ the actual terms in which it is stated that contraries have\n ceased to be.\n\n\"If there was a beginning, then there was a time before that beginning.\nAnd a time before the time which was before the time of that beginning.\n\n\"If there is existence, there must have been non-existence. And if\nthere was a time when nothing existed, then there must have been a time\nbefore that--when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when nothing\ncame into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the\ncategory of existence or of non-existence? Even the very words I have\njust now uttered,--I cannot say whether they have really been uttered\nor not.\n\n _I.e._ The words in the text, denying the existence of contraries.\n\n\"There is nothing under the canopy of heaven greater than the tip of an\nautumn spikelet. A vast mountain is a small thing. Neither is there any\nage greater than that of a child cut off in infancy. P'\u00eang Tsu himself\ndied young. The universe and I came into being together; and I, and\neverything therein, are ONE.\n\n\"If then all things are ONE, what room is there for Speech? On the\nother hand, since I can utter these words, how can Speech not exist?\n\n\"If it does exist, we have ONE and Speech = two; and two and one =\nthree. From which point onwards even the best mathematicians will fail\nto reach:\n\n TAO.\n\nhow much more then will ordinary people fail?\n\n\"Hence, if from nothing you can proceed to something, and subsequently\nreach three, it follows that it would be still more easy if you were to\nstart from something. To avoid such progression, you must put yourself\ninto subjective relation with the external.\n\n\"Before conditions existed, TAO was. Before definitions existed, Speech\nwas. Subjectively, we are conscious of certain delimitations which\nare,--\n\n  Right         and   Left\n  Relationship  and   Obligation\n  Division      and   Discrimination\n  Emulation     and   Contention\n\nThese are called the _Eight Predicables_.\n\n Not, of course, in the strict logical sense.\n\nFor the true Sage, beyond the limits of an external world, they exist,\nbut are not recognised. By the true Sage, within the limits of an\nexternal world, they are recognised, but are not assigned. And so,\nwith regard to the wisdom of the ancients, as embodied in the canon of\n_Spring and Autumn_,\n\n Confucius' history of his native State. Now one of the canonical books\n of China.\n\nthe true Sage assigns, but does not justify by argument. And thus,\nclassifying he does not classify; arguing, he does not argue.\"\n\n\"How can that be?\" asked Tz\u016d Yu.\n\n\"The true Sage,\" answered Tz\u016d Ch'i, \"keeps his knowledge within him,\nwhile men in general set forth theirs in argument, in order to convince\neach other. And therefore it is said that in argument he does not\nmanifest himself.\n\n Others try to establish their own subjective view. The true Sage\n remains passive, aiming only at the annihilation of contraries.\n\n\"Perfect TAO does not declare itself. Nor does perfect argument express\nitself in words. Nor does perfect charity show itself in act. Nor\nis perfect honesty absolutely incorruptible. Nor is perfect courage\nabsolutely unyielding.\n\n\"For the TAO which shines forth is not TAO. Speech which argues falls\nshort of its aim. Charity which has fixed points loses its scope.\nHonesty which is absolute is wanting in credit. Courage which is\nabsolute misses its object. These five are, as it were, round, with a\nstrong bias towards squareness. Therefore that knowledge which stops at\nwhat it does not know, is the highest knowledge.\n\n\"Who knows the argument which can be argued without words?--the TAO\nwhich does not declare itself as TAO? He who knows this may be said\nto be of GOD. To be able to pour in without making full, and pour out\nwithout making empty, in ignorance of the power by which such results\nare accomplished,--this is accounted _Light_.\"\n\nOf old, the Emperor Yao said to Shun, \"I would smite the Tsungs, and\nthe Kueis, and the Hs\u00fc-aos. Ever since I have been on the throne I have\nhad this desire. What do you think?\"\n\n\"These three States,\" replied Shun, \"are paltry out-of-the-way places.\nWhy can you not shake off this desire? Once upon a time, ten suns came\nout together, and all things were illuminated thereby. How much more\nthen should virtue excel suns?\"\n\n Illustrating the use of \"light.\" Instead of active force, substitute\n the passive but irresistible influence of virtue complete. The sun\n caused the traveller to lay aside his cloak when the north wind\n succeeded only in making him draw it tighter around him.\n\nYeh Ch'\u00fceh asked Wang I,\n\n A disciple and tutor of remote antiquity. Said to have been two of the\n four Sages on the Miao-ku-sh\u00ea mountain mentioned in ch. i.\n\nsaying, \"Do you know for certain that all things are subjectively the\nsame?\"\n\n\"How can I know?\" answered Wang I. \"Do you know what you do not know?\"\n\n\"How can I know?\" replied Yeh Ch'\u00fceh. \"But can then nothing be known?\"\n\n\"How can I know?\" said Wang I. \"Nevertheless, I will try to tell you.\nHow can it be known that what I call knowing is not really not knowing,\nand that what I call not knowing is not really knowing? Now I would\nask you this. If a man sleeps in a damp place, he gets lumbago and\ndies. But how about an eel? And living up in a tree is precarious and\ntrying to the nerves;--but how about monkeys? Of the man, the eel, and\nthe monkey, whose habitat is the right one, absolutely? Human beings\nfeed on flesh, deer on grass, centipedes on snakes, owls and crows on\nmice. Of these four, whose is the right taste, absolutely? Monkey mates\nwith monkey, the buck with the doe; eels consort with fishes, while men\nadmire Mao Ch'iang and Li Chi,\n\n Beauties of the fifth and seventh centuries B.C., respectively. The\n commentators do not seem to have noted the very obvious anachronism\n here involved.\n\nat the sight of whom fishes plunge deep down in the water, birds soar\nhigh in the air, and deer hurry away.\n\n For shame at their own inferiority.\n\nYet who shall say which is the correct standard of beauty? In my\nopinion, the standard of human virtue, and of positive and negative, is\nso obscured that it is impossible to actually know it as such.\"\n\n\"If you then,\" asked Yeh Ch'\u00fceh, \"do not know what is bad for you, is\nthe Perfect Man equally without this knowledge?\"\n\n\"The Perfect Man,\" answered Wang I, \"is a spiritual being. Were the\nocean itself scorched up, he would not feel hot. Were the Milky Way\nfrozen hard, he would not feel cold. Were the mountains to be riven\nwith thunder, and the great deep to be thrown up by storm, he would not\ntremble. In such case, he would mount upon the clouds of heaven, and\ndriving the sun and the moon before him, would pass beyond the limits\nof this external world, where death and life have no more victory over\nman;--how much less what is bad for him?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCh\u00fc Ch'iao addressed Chang Wu Tz\u016d\n\n A disciple and tutor of antiquity.\n\nas follows:--\"I heard Confucius say, 'The true sage pays no heed to\nmundane affairs. He neither seeks gain nor avoids injury. He asks\nnothing at the hands of man. He adheres, without questioning, to TAO.\nWithout speaking, he can speak; and he can speak and yet say nothing.\nAnd so he roams beyond the limits of this dusty world. These,' added\nConfucius, 'are wild words.'\n\n Han Fei Tz\u016d tells us that Lao Tz\u016d, whose doctrines Confucius seems to\n be here deriding, said exactly the opposite of this; viz: \"The true\n Sage is beforehand in his attention to mundane affairs,\" _i.e._ \"takes\n time by the forelock.\" Neither utterance, however, appears in the\n _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 44.\n\nNow to me they are the skilful embodiment of TAO. What, Sir, is your\nopinion?\"\n\n\"Points upon which the Yellow Emperor doubted,\" replied Chang Wu Tz\u016d,\n\"how should Confucius know?\n\n Lao Tz\u016d and the Yellow Emperor have always been mixed up in the heads\n of Taoist writers, albeit separated by a chasm of some two thousand\n years. Confucius is here evidently dealing with the actual doctrines\n of Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nYou are going too fast. You see your egg, and expect to hear it crow.\nYou look at your cross-bow, and expect to have broiled duck before you.\nI will say a few words to you at random, and do you listen at random.\n\n\"How does the Sage seat himself by the sun and moon, and hold the\nuniverse in his grasp? He blends everything into one harmonious whole,\nrejecting the confusion of this and that. Rank and precedence, which\nthe vulgar prize, the Sage stolidly ignores. The revolutions of ten\nthousand years leave his Unity unscathed. The universe itself may pass\naway, but he will flourish still.\n\n\"How do I know that love of life is not a delusion after all? How do I\nknow but that he who dreads to die is not as a child who has lost the\nway and cannot find his home?\n\n\"The lady Li Chi was the daughter of Ai F\u00eang.\n\n A border chieftain.\n\nWhen the Duke of Chin first got her, she wept until the bosom of\nher dress was drenched with tears. But when she came to the royal\nresidence, and lived with the Duke, and ate rich food, she repented\nof having wept. How then do I know but that the dead repent of having\npreviously clung to life?\n\n\"Those who dream of the banquet, wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those\nwho dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join the hunt. While they\ndream, they do not know that they dream. Some will even interpret the\nvery dream they are dreaming; and only when they awake do they know\nit was a dream. By and by comes the Great Awakening, and then we find\nout that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake\nnow, and flatter themselves they know if they are really princes or\npeasants. Confucius and you are both dreams; and I who say you are\ndreams,--I am but a dream myself. This is a paradox. Tomorrow a sage\nmay arise to explain it; but that tomorrow will not be until ten\nthousand generations have gone by.\n\n\"Granting that you and I argue. If you beat me, and not I you, are you\nnecessarily right and I wrong? Or if I beat you and not you me, am I\nnecessarily right and you wrong? Or are we both partly right and partly\nwrong? Or are we both wholly right and wholly wrong? You and I cannot\nknow this, and consequently the world will be in ignorance of the truth.\n\n\"Who shall I employ as arbiter between us? If I employ some one who\ntakes your view, he will side with you. How can such a one arbitrate\nbetween us? If I employ some one who takes my view, he will side with\nme. How can such a one arbitrate between us? And if I employ some one\nwho either differs from, or agrees with, both of us, he will be equally\nunable to decide between us. Since then you, and I, and man, cannot\ndecide, must we not depend upon Another?\n\n Upon God, in whose infinity all contraries blend indistinguishably\n into ONE.\n\nSuch dependence is as though it were not dependence. We are embraced in\nthe obliterating unity of God. There is perfect adaptation to whatever\nmay eventuate; and so we complete our allotted span.\n\n\"But what is it to be embraced in the obliterating unity of God? It\nis this. With reference to positive and negative, to that which is\nso and that which is not so,--if the positive is really positive, it\nmust necessarily be different from its negative: there is no room for\nargument. And if that which is so really is so, it must necessarily be\ndifferent from that which is not so: there is no room for argument.\n\n\"Take no heed of time, nor of right and wrong. But passing into the\nrealm of the Infinite, take your final rest therein.\"\n\n Our refuge is in God alone, the Infinite Absolute. Contraries cannot\n but exist, but they should exist independently of each other without\n antagonism. Such a condition is found only in the all-embracing unity\n of God, wherein all distinctions of positive and negative, of right\n and wrong, of this and of that, are obliterated and merged in ONE.\n\n Herbert Spencer says, \"The antithesis of subject and object, never\n to be transcended while consciousness lasts, renders impossible all\n knowledge of the Ultimate Reality in which subject and object are\n united.\" _Principles of Psychology_, i. p. 272.\n\nThe Penumbra said to the Umbra, \"At one moment you move: at another\nyou are at rest. At one moment you sit down: at another you get up.\nWhy this instability of purpose?\" \"I depend,\" replied the Umbra, \"upon\nsomething which causes me to do as I do; and that something depends\nin turn upon something else which causes it to do as it does. My\ndependence is like that of a snake's scales or of a cicada's wings.\n\n Which do not move of their own accord.\n\nHow can I tell why I do one thing, or why I do not do another?\"\n\n Showing how two or more may be the phenomena of one.\n\nOnce upon a time, I, Chuang Tz\u016d, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering\nhither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was\nconscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was\nunconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I awaked, and\nthere I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man\ndreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I\nam a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a barrier.\nThe transition is called _Metempsychosis_.\n\n Showing how one may appear to be either of two.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nNOURISHMENT OF THE SOUL.\n\n _Argument_:--Life too short--Wisdom unattainable--Accommodation to\n circumstances--Liberty paramount--Death a release--The soul immortal.\n\n\nMy life has a limit, but my knowledge is without limit. To drive the\nlimited in search of the limitless, is fatal; and the knowledge of\nthose who do this is fatally lost.\n\nIn striving for others, avoid fame. In striving for self, avoid\ndisgrace. Pursue a middle course. Thus you will keep a sound body, and\na sound mind, fulfil your duties, and work out your allotted span.\n\nPrince Hui's cook was cutting up a bullock. Every blow of his hand,\nevery heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every thrust of\nhis knee, every _whshh_ of rent flesh, every _chhk_ of the chopper, was\nin perfect harmony,--rhythmical like the dance of the Mulberry Grove,\nsimultaneous like the chords of the Ching Shou.\n\n Commentators are divided in their identifications of these ancient\n _morceaux_.\n\n\"Well done!\" cried the Prince. \"Yours is skill indeed.\"\n\n\"Sire,\" replied the cook; \"I have always devoted myself to TAO. It is\nbetter than skill. When I first began to cut up bullocks, I saw before\nme simply _whole_ bullocks. After three years' practice, I saw no more\nwhole animals.\n\n Meaning that he saw them, so to speak, in sections.\n\nAnd now I work with my mind and not with my eye. When my senses bid me\nstop, but my mind urges me on, I fall back upon eternal principles.\nI follow such openings or cavities as there may be, according to the\nnatural constitution of the animal. I do not attempt to cut through\njoints: still less through large bones.\n\n For a curious parallelism, see Plato's _Ph\u00e6drus_, 265.\n\n\"A good cook changes his chopper once a year,--because he cuts. An\nordinary cook, once a month,--because he hacks. But I have had this\nchopper nineteen years, and although I have cut up many thousand\nbullocks, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone. For at the joints\nthere are always interstices, and the edge of a chopper being without\nthickness, it remains only to insert that which is without thickness\ninto such an interstice.\n\n These words help to elucidate a much-vexed passage in ch. xliii of the\n _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 30.\n\nBy these means the interstice will be enlarged, and the blade will find\nplenty of room. It is thus that I have kept my chopper for nineteen\nyears as though fresh from the whetstone.\n\n\"Nevertheless, when I come upon a hard part where the blade meets with\na difficulty, I am all caution. I fix my eye on it. I stay my hand, and\ngently apply my blade, until with a _hwah_ the part yields like earth\ncrumbling to the ground. Then I take out my chopper, and stand up, and\nlook around, and pause, until with an air of triumph I wipe my chopper\nand put it carefully away.\"\n\n\"Bravo!\" cried the Prince. \"From the words of this cook I have learnt\nhow to take care of my life.\"\n\n Meaning that which informs life, _sc._ the soul.\n\nWhen Hsien, of the Kung-w\u00ean family, beheld a certain official, he was\nhorrified, and said, \"Who is that man? How came he to lose a foot? Is\nthis the work of God, or of man?\n\n\"Why, of course,\" continued Hsien, \"it is the work of God, and not of\nman. When God brought this man into the world, he wanted him to be\nunlike other men. Men always have two feet. From this it is clear that\nGod and not man made him as he is.\n\n It was by God's will that he took office with a view to personal\n aggrandisement. That he got into trouble and suffered the common\n punishment of loss of feet, cannot therefore be charged to man.\n\n\"Now, wild fowl get a peck once in ten steps, a drink once in a\nhundred. Yet they do not want to be fed in a cage. For although they\nwould thus be able to command food, they would not be free.\"\n\n And had our friend above kept out of the official cage he would still\n have been independent as the fowls of the air.\n\nWhen Lao Tz\u016d died, Ch'in Shih went to mourn. He uttered three yells and\ndeparted.\n\nA disciple asked him saying, \"Were you not our Master's friend?\"\n\n\"I was,\" replied Ch'in Shih.\n\n\"And if so, do you consider that a sufficient expression of grief at\nhis loss?\" added the disciple.\n\n\"I do,\" said Ch'in Shih. \"I had believed him to be the man of all men,\nbut now I know that he was not. When I went in to mourn, I found old\npersons weeping as if for their children, young ones wailing as if\nfor their mothers. And for him to have gained the attachment of those\npeople in this way, he too must have uttered words which should not\nhave been spoken, and dropped tears which should not have been shed,\nthus violating eternal principles, increasing the sum of human emotion,\nand forgetting the source from which his own life was received. The\nancients called such emotions the trammels of mortality. The Master\ncame, because it was his time to be born; he went, because it was his\ntime to die. For those who accept the phenomenon of birth and death in\nthis sense, lamentation and sorrow have no place. The ancients spoke\nof death as of God cutting down a man suspended in the air. The fuel\nis consumed, but the fire may be transmitted, and we know not that it\ncomes to an end.\"\n\n The soul, according to Chuang Tz\u016d, if duly nourished and not allowed\n to wear itself out with the body in the pursuits of mortality, may\n become immortal and return beatified to the Great Unknown whence it\n came.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMAN AMONG MEN.\n\n _Argument_:--Man must fall in with his mortal environment--His virtue\n should be passive, not active--He should be rather than do--Talents a\n hindrance--But of petty uselessness great usefulness is achieved.\n\n\nYen Hui went to take leave of Confucius.\n\n A disciple of the Sage. Also known as Tz\u016d Y\u00fcan.\n\n\"Whither are you bound?\" asked the Master.\n\n\"I am going to the State of Wei,\" was the reply.\n\n\"And what do you propose to do there?\" continued Confucius.\n\n\"I hear,\" answered Yen Hui, \"that the Prince of Wei is of mature age,\nbut of an unmanageable disposition. He behaves as if the State were of\nno account, and will not see his own faults. Consequently, the people\nperish; and their corpses lie about like so much undergrowth in a\nmarsh. They are at extremities. And I have heard you, Sir, say that if\na State is well governed it may be neglected; but that if it is badly\ngoverned, then we should visit it.\n\n In the _Lun Y\u00fc_, Confucius says exactly the opposite of this.\n\nThe science of medicine embraces many various diseases. I would test\nmy knowledge in this sense, that perchance I may do some good to that\nState.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Confucius, \"you will only succeed in bringing evil upon\nyourself. For TAO must not be distributed. If it is, it will lose its\nunity. If it loses its unity, it will be uncertain; and so cause mental\ndisturbance,--from which there is no escape.\n\n\"The sages of old first got TAO for themselves, and then got it for\nothers. Before you possess this yourself, what leisure have you to\nattend to the doings of wicked men? Besides, do you know what Virtue\nresults in and where Wisdom ends? Virtue results in a desire for\nfame; Wisdom ends in contentions. In the struggle for fame men crush\neach other, while their wisdom but provokes rivalry. Both are baleful\ninstruments, and may not be incautiously used.\n\n\"Besides, those who, before influencing by their own solid virtue and\nunimpeachable sincerity, and before reaching the heart by the example\nof their own disregard for name and fame, go and preach charity and\nduty to one's neighbour to wicked men,--only make these men hate them\nfor their very goodness' sake. Such persons are called _evil speakers_.\nAnd those who speak evil of others are apt to be evil spoken of\nthemselves. That, alas! will be your end.\n\n\"On the other hand, if the Prince loves the good and hates the bad,\nwhat object will you have in inviting him to change his ways? Before\nyou have opened your mouth to preach, the Prince himself will have\nseized the opportunity to wrest the victory from you. Your eye will\nfall, your expression fade, your words will stick, your face will\nchange, and your heart will die within you. It will be as though you\ntook fire to quell fire, water to quell water, which is popularly known\nas 'pouring oil on the flames.' And if you begin with concessions,\nthere will be no end to them. Neglect this sound advice, and you will\nbe the victim of that violent man.\n\n\"Of old, Chieh murdered Kuan Lung F\u00eang, and Chou slew Prince Pi Kan.\nTheir victims were both men who cultivated virtue themselves in\norder to secure the welfare of the people. But in doing this they\noffended their superiors; and therefore, because of that very moral\nculture, their superiors got rid of them, in order to guard their own\nreputations.\n\n Chieh and Chou are the two typical tyrants of Chinese history.\n\n\"Of old, Yao attacked the Ts'ung-chih and Hs\u00fc-ao countries, and Y\u00fc\nattacked the Yu-hu country. Homes were desolated and families destroyed\nby the slaughter of the inhabitants. Yet they fought without ceasing,\nand strove for victory to the last. These are instances known to all.\nNow if the Sages of old failed in their efforts against this love of\nfame, this desire for victory,--are you likely to succeed? But of\ncourse you have a scheme. Tell it to me.\"\n\n\"Gravity of demeanour,\" replied Yen Hui, \"and dispassionateness; energy\nand singleness of purpose,--will this do?\"\n\n\"Alas!\" said Confucius, \"that will not do. If you make a show of being\nperfect and obtrude yourself, the Prince's mood will be doubtful.\nOrdinarily, he is not opposed, and so he has come to take actual\npleasure in trampling upon the feelings of others. And if he has thus\nfailed in the practice of routine virtues, do you expect that he will\ntake readily to higher ones? You may insist, but without result.\nOutwardly you will be right, but inwardly wrong. How then will you make\nhim mend his ways?\"\n\n\"Just so,\" replied Yen Hui. \"I am inwardly straight, and outwardly\ncrooked, completed after the models of antiquity.\n\n\"He who is inwardly straight is a servant of God. And he who is a\nservant of God knows that the Son of Heaven\n\n The Emperor.\n\nand himself are equally the children of God. Shall then such a one\ntrouble whether man visits him with evil or with good? Man indeed\nregards him as a child; and this is to be a servant of God.\n\n (1) Children are everywhere exempt.--This is the first limb of a\n threefold argument.\n\n\"He who is outwardly crooked is a servant of man. He bows, he kneels,\nhe folds his hands;--such is the ceremonial of a minister. What all men\ndo, shall I dare not to do? What all men do, none will blame me for\ndoing. This is to be a servant of man.\n\n (2) The individual is not punished for the faults of the community.\n\n\"He who is completed after the models of antiquity is a servant of the\nSages of old. Although I utter the words of warning and take him to\ntask, it is the Sages of old who speak, and not I. Thus my uprightness\nwill not bring me into trouble, the servant of the Sages of old.--Will\nthis do?\"\n\n (3) The responsibility rests, not with the mouthpiece, but with the\n authors of the doctrines enunciated.\n\n\"Alas!\" replied Confucius, \"No. Your plans are too many, and are\nlacking in prudence. However, your firmness will secure you from harm;\nbut that is all. You will not influence him to such an extent that he\nshall seem to follow the dictates of his own heart.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Yen Hui, \"I am without resource, and venture to ask for a\nmethod.\"\n\nConfucius said, \"_FAST_.... Let me explain. You have a method, but it\nis difficult to practise. Those which are easy are not from God.\"\n\n\"Well,\" replied Yen Hui, \"my family is poor, and for many months we\nhave tasted neither wine nor flesh. Is not that fasting?\"\n\n\"The fasting of religious observance it is,\" answered Confucius, \"but\nnot the fasting of the heart.\"\n\n\"And may I ask,\" said Yen Hui, \"in what consists the fasting of the\nheart?\"\n\n\"Cultivate unity,\" replied Confucius.\n\n Make of the mind as it were an undivided indivisible ONE.\n\n\"You hear not with the ears, but with the mind; not with the mind, but\nwith your soul.\n\n The vital fluid which informs your whole being; in fact, \"with your\n whole self.\"\n\nBut let hearing stop with the ears. Let the working of the mind stop\nwith itself. Then the soul will be a negative existence, passively\nresponsive to externals. In such a negative existence, only TAO can\nabide. And that negative state is the fasting of the heart.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Yen Hui, \"the reason I could not get the use of this\nmethod is my own individuality. If I could get the use of it, my\nindividuality would have gone. Is this what you mean by the negative\nstate?\"\n\n\"Exactly so,\" replied the Master. \"Let me tell you. If you can enter\nthis man's domain without offending his _amour propre_, cheerful if he\nhears you, passive if he does not; without science, without drugs,\nsimply living there in a state of complete indifference,--you will\nbe near success. It is easy to stop walking: the trouble is to walk\nwithout touching the ground. As an agent of man, it is easy to deceive;\nbut not as an agent of God. You have heard of winged creatures flying.\nYou have never heard of flying without wings. You have heard of men\nbeing wise with wisdom. You have never heard of men wise without wisdom.\n\n Wise of God, without the wisdom of man.\n\n\"Look at that window. Through it an empty room becomes bright with\nscenery; but the landscape stops outside. Were this not so, we should\nhave an exemplification of sitting still and running away at one and\nthe same time.\n\n An empty room would contain something,--a paradox like that in the\n text.\n\n\"In this sense, you may use your ears and eyes to communicate within,\nbut shut out all wisdom from the mind.\n\n Let the channels of your senses be to your mind what a window is to an\n empty room.\n\nAnd there where the supernatural\n\n Something which is and yet is not, like the landscape seen in, and yet\n not in, a room.\n\ncan find shelter, shall not man find shelter too? This is the method\nfor regenerating all creation.\n\n By passive, not by active, virtue.\n\nIt was the instrument which Y\u00fc and Shun employed. It was the secret\nof the success of Fu Hsi and Chi Ch\u00fc. Shall it not then be adopted by\nmankind in general?\"\n\n Who stand much more in need of regeneration than such worthies as were\n these ancient Emperors.\n\nTz\u016d Kao, Duke of Sh\u00ea,\n\n A district of the Ch'u State.\n\nbeing about to go on a mission to the Ch'i State, asked Confucius,\nsaying, \"The mission my sovereign is sending me on is a most important\none. Of course, I shall be received with all due respect, but they\nwill not take the same interest in the matter that I shall. And as an\nordinary person cannot be pushed, still less a Prince, I am in a state\nof great alarm.\n\n\"Now you, Sir, have told me that in all undertakings great and small,\nTAO alone leads to a happy issue. Otherwise that, failing success,\nthere is to be feared punishment from without, and with success,\npunishment from within; while exemption in case either of success or\nnon-success falls only to the share of those who possess the virtue\nrequired.\n\n _I.e._ those to whom the issue, as regards their own reward or\n punishment, is a matter of the completest indifference.\n\n The term _virtue_, here as elsewhere unless specially notified, should\n be understood in the sense of exemplification of TAO.\n\n\"Well, I am not dainty with my food; neither am I always wanting to\ncool myself when hot. However, this morning I received my orders, and\nthis evening I have been drinking iced water. I am so hot inside.\nBefore I have put my hand to the business I am suffering punishment\nfrom within; and if I do not succeed I am sure to suffer punishment\nfrom without. Thus I get both punishments, which is really more than I\ncan bear. Kindly tell me what there is to be done.\"\n\n\"There exist two sources of safety,\" Confucius replied. \"One is\n_Destiny_: the other is _Duty_. A child's love for its parents\nis destiny. It is inseparable from the child's life. A subject's\nallegiance to his sovereign is duty. Beneath the canopy of heaven there\nis no place to which he can escape from it. These two sources of safety\nmay be explained as follows. To serve one's parents without reference\nto _place_ but only to the service, is the acme of filial piety. To\nserve one's prince without reference to the _act_ but only to the\nservice, is the perfection of a subject's loyalty. To serve one's own\nheart so as to permit neither joy nor sorrow within, but to cultivate\nresignation to the inevitable,--this is the climax of Virtue.\n\n\"Now a minister often finds himself in circumstances over which he\nhas no control. But if he simply confines himself to his work, and\nis utterly oblivious of self, what leisure has he for loving life or\nhating death? And so you may safely go.\n\n\"But I have yet more to tell you. All intercourse, if personal, should\nbe characterised by sincerity. If from a distance, it should be carried\non in loyal terms. These terms will have to be transmitted by some one.\nNow the transmission of messages of good- or ill-will is the hardest\nthing possible. Messages of good-will are sure to be overdone with fine\nphrases; messages of ill-will with harsh ones. In each case the result\nis exaggeration, and a consequent failure to carry conviction, for\nwhich the envoy suffers. Therefore it was said in the _Fa-yen_,\n\n Name of an ancient book.\n\n'Confine yourself to simple statements of fact, shorn of all\nsuperfluous expression of feeling, and your risk will be small.'\n\n\"In trials of skill, at first all is friendliness; but at last it is\nall antagonism. Skill is pushed too far. So on festive occasions, the\ndrinking which is in the beginning orderly enough, degenerates into\nriot and disorder. Festivity is pushed too far. It is in fact the same\nwith all things: they begin with good faith and end with contempt. From\nsmall beginnings come great endings.\n\n\"Speech is like wind to wave. Action is liable to divergence from its\ntrue goal. By wind, waves are easily excited. Divergence from the\ntrue goal is fraught with danger. Thus angry feelings rise up without\na cause. Specious words and dishonest arguments follow, as the wild\nrandom cries of an animal at the point of death. Both sides give\nway to passion. For where one party drives the other too much into a\ncorner, resistance will always be provoked without apparent cause. And\nif the cause is not apparent, how much less will the ultimate effect be\nso?\n\n\"Therefore it is said in the _Fa-yen_, 'Neither deviate from nor travel\nbeyond your instructions.\n\n \"Travel beyond your instructions,\" is literally, \"urge a settlement.\"\n\nTo pass the limit is to go to excess.'\n\n\"To deviate from, or to travel beyond instructions, may imperil the\nnegotiation. A settlement to be successful must be lasting. It is too\nlate to change an evil settlement once made.\n\n\"Therefore let yourself be carried along without fear, taking refuge in\n_no alternative_ to preserve you from harm on either side. This is the\nutmost you can do. What need for considering your obligations? Better\nleave all to Destiny, difficult as this may be.\"\n\n It is passing strange that this exposition of the _laissez-aller_\n inaction doctrine of TAO should be placed in the mouth of Confucius,\n who is thus made in some measure to discredit his own teachings. The\n commentators, however, see nothing anomalous in the position here\n assigned to the Sage.\n\nYen Ho\n\n A philosopher from the Lu State.\n\nwas about to become tutor to the eldest son of Prince Ling of the Wei\nState. Accordingly he observed to Ch\u00fc Poh Y\u00fc,\n\n Prime Minister of the Wei State.\n\n\"Here is a man whose disposition is naturally of a low order. To let\nhim take his own unprincipled way is to endanger the State. To try\nto restrain him is to endanger one's personal safety. He has just\nwit enough to see faults in others, but not to see his own. I am\nconsequently at a loss what to do.\"\n\n\"A good question indeed,\" replied Ch\u00fc Poh Y\u00fc, \"You must be careful,\nand begin by self-reformation. Outwardly you may adapt yourself, but\ninwardly you must keep up to your own standard. In this there are two\npoints to be guarded against. You must not let the outward adaptation\npenetrate within, nor the inward standard manifest itself without.\nIn the former case, you will fall, you will be obliterated, you will\ncollapse, you will lie prostrate. In the latter case, you will be a\nsound, a name, a bogie, an uncanny thing. If he would play the child,\ndo you play the child too. If he cast aside all sense of decorum, do\nyou do so too. As far as he goes, do you go also. Thus you will reach\nhim without offending him.\n\n\"Don't you know the story of the praying mantis? In its rage it\nstretched out its arms to prevent a chariot from passing, unaware\nthat this was beyond its strength, so admirable was its energy! Be\ncautious. If you are always offending others by your superiority, you\nwill probably come to grief.\n\n\"Do you not know that those who keep tigers do not venture to give them\nlive animals as food, for fear of exciting their fury when killing the\nprey? Also, that whole animals are not given, for fear of exciting the\ntigers' fury when rending them? The periods of hunger and repletion are\ncarefully watched in order to prevent such outbursts. The tiger is\nof a different species from man; but the latter too is manageable if\nproperly managed, unmanageable if excited to fury.\n\n\"Those who are fond of horses surround them with various conveniences.\nSometimes mosquitoes or flies trouble them; and then, unexpectedly to\nthe animal, a groom will brush them off, the result being that the\nhorse breaks his bridle, and hurts his head and chest. The intention is\ngood, but there is a want of real care for the horse. Against this you\nmust be on your guard.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA certain artisan was travelling to the Ch'i State. On reaching\nCh'\u00fc-y\u00fcan, he saw a sacred _li_ tree,\n\n A worthless species of oak.\n\nlarge enough to hide an ox behind it, a hundred spans in girth,\ntowering up ten cubits over the hill top, and carrying behind it\nbranches, many tens of the smallest of which were of a size for boats.\nCrowds stood gazing at it, but our artisan took no notice, and went on\nhis way without even casting a look behind. His apprentice however\ngazed his fill, and when he caught up his master, said, \"Ever since I\nhave handled an adze in your service, I have never seen such a splendid\npiece of timber as that. How was it that you, sir, did not care to stop\nand look at it?\"\n\n\"It's not worth talking about,\" replied his master. \"It's good for\nnothing. Make a boat of it,--'twould sink. A coffin,--'twould rot.\nFurniture,--'twould soon break down. A door,--'twould sweat. A\npillar,--'twould be worm-eaten. It is wood of no quality, and of no\nuse. That is why it has attained its present age.\"\n\nWhen the artisan reached home, he dreamt that the tree appeared to\nhim in a dream and spoke as follows:--\"What is it that you compare me\nwith? Is it with the more elegant trees?--The cherry-apple, the pear,\nthe orange, the pumelo, and other fruit-bearers, as soon as their\nfruit ripens are stripped and treated with indignity. The great boughs\nare snapped off, the small ones scattered abroad. Thus do these trees\nby their own value injure their own lives. They cannot fulfil their\nallotted span of years, but perish prematurely in mid-career from\ntheir entanglement with the world around them. Thus it is with all\nthings. For a long period my aim was to be useless. Many times I was in\ndanger, but at length I succeeded, and so became useful as I am to-day.\nBut had I then been of use, I should not now be of the great use I\nam. Moreover, you and I belong both to the same category of things.\nHave done then with this criticism of others. Is a good-for-nothing\nfellow whose dangers are not yet passed a fit person to talk of a\ngood-for-nothing tree?\"\n\nWhen our artisan awaked and told his dream, his apprentice said, \"If\nthe tree aimed at uselessness, how was it that it became a sacred tree?\"\n\n Which of course may be said to be of use.\n\n\"What you don't understand,\" replied his master, \"don't talk about.\nThat was merely to escape from the attacks of its enemies. Had it not\nbecome sacred, how many would have wanted to cut it down! The means of\nsafety adopted were different from ordinary means,\n\n In order to reach the somewhat extraordinary goal of uselessness.\n\nand to test these by ordinary canons leaves one far wide of the mark.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTz\u016d Ch'i of Nan-poh\n\n Said to be identical with the individual mentioned at the beginning of\n ch. ii.\n\nwas travelling on the Shang mountain when he saw a large tree which\nastonished him very much. A thousand chariot teams could have found\nshelter under its shade.\n\n\"What tree is this?\" cried Tz\u016d Ch'i. \"Surely it must have unusually\nfine timber.\" Then looking up, he saw that its branches were too\ncrooked for rafters; while as to the trunk he saw that its irregular\ngrain made it valueless for coffins. He tasted a leaf, but it took the\nskin off his lips; and its odour was so strong that it would make a man\nas it were drunk for three days together.\n\n\"Ah!\" said Tz\u016d Ch'i. \"This tree is good for nothing, and that is how it\nhas attained this size. A wise man might well follow its example.\"\n\n And so escape danger from his surroundings.\n\nIn the State of Sung there is a place called Ching-shih, where thrive\nthe beech, the cedar, and the mulberry. Such as are of a one-handed\nspan or so in girth are cut down for monkey-cages. Those of two or\nthree two-handed spans are cut down for the beams of fine houses. Those\nof seven or eight such spans are cut down for the solid sides of rich\nmen's coffins.\n\n To this day, the very best kinds of wood are still reserved for the\n \"planks of old age.\"\n\nThus they do not fulfil their allotted span of years, but perish in\nmid-career beneath the axe. Such is the misfortune which overtakes\nworth.\n\nFor the sacrifices to the River God, neither bulls with white cheeks,\nnor pigs with large snouts, nor men suffering from piles, were allowed\nto be used. This had been revealed to the soothsayers, and these\ncharacteristics were consequently regarded as inauspicious. The wise,\nhowever, would regard them as extremely auspicious.\n\n Readers of _Don Juan_ will recollect how the master's mate had reason\n to share his view.\n\nThere was a hunchback named Su. His jaws touched his navel. His\nshoulders were higher than his head. His hair knot looked up to the\nsky. His viscera were upside down. His buttocks were where his ribs\nshould have been. By tailoring, or washing, he was easily able to earn\nhis living. By sifting rice he could make enough to support a family of\nten.\n\n In all of which occupations a man would necessarily stoop.\n\nWhen orders came down for a conscription, the hunchback stood\nunconcerned among the crowd. And similarly, in matters of public works,\nhis deformity shielded him from being employed.\n\nOn the other hand, when it came to donations of grain, the hunchback\nreceived as much as three _chung_,\n\n An ancient measure of uncertain capacity.\n\nand of firewood, ten faggots. And if physical deformity was thus enough\nto preserve his body until its allotted end, how much more would not\nmoral and mental deformity avail!\n\n A moral and mental deviation would be still more likely to condemn a\n man to that neglect from his fellows which is so conducive to our real\n welfare.\n\nWhen Confucius was in the Ch'u State, the eccentric Chieh Y\u00fc passed his\ndoor, saying, \"O ph\u0153nix, O ph\u0153nix, how has thy virtue fallen!--\n\n By thus issuing forth out of due season.\n\nunable to wait for the coming years or to go back into the past.\n\n When you might be, or might have been, of use. The idea conveyed is\n that Confucianism was unsuited to its age. See _Lun-y\u00fc_, ch. xviii.\n\nIf TAO prevails on earth, prophets will fulfil their mission. If TAO\ndoes not prevail, they will but preserve themselves. At the present day\nthey will but just escape.\n\n\"The honours of this world are light as feathers, yet none estimate\nthem at their true value. The misfortunes of this life are weighty as\nthe earth itself, yet none can keep out of their reach. No more, no\nmore, seek to influence by virtue. Beware, beware, move cautiously on!\nO ferns, O ferns, wound not my steps! Through my tortuous journey wound\nnot my feet! Hills suffer from the trees they produce. Fat burns by its\nown combustibility. Cinnamon trees furnish food: therefore they are\ncut down. The lacquer tree is felled for use. All men know the use of\nuseful things; but they do not know the use of useless things.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE EVIDENCE OF VIRTUE COMPLETE.\n\n _Argument_:--Correspondence between inward virtue and outward\n influence--The virtuous man disregards externals--The possession\n of virtue causes oblivion of outward form--Neglect of the\n human--Cultivation of the divine.\n\n\nIn the State of Lu there was a man, named Wang T'ai, who had had his\ntoes cut off. His disciples were as numerous as those of Confucius.\n\nCh'ang Chi\n\n One of the latter.\n\nasked Confucius, saying, \"This Wang T'ai has been mutilated, yet\nhe divides with you, Sir, the teaching of the Lu State. He neither\npreaches nor discusses; yet those who go to him empty, depart full. He\nmust teach _the doctrine which does not find expression in words_;\n\n The doctrine of TAO. These words occur in chs. ii and xliii of the\n _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 7.\n\nand although his shape is imperfect, his mind is perhaps complete. What\nmanner of man is this?\"\n\n\"He is a prophet,\" replied Confucius, \"whose instruction I have been\nlate in seeking. I will go and learn from him. And if I,--why not those\nwho are not equal to me? And I will take with me, not the State of Lu\nonly, but the whole world.\"\n\n\"The fellow has been mutilated,\" said Ch'ang Chi, \"and yet people call\nhim _Master_. He must be very different from the ordinary run. But how\ndoes he use his mind in this sense?\"\n\n\"Life and Death are all powerful,\" answered Confucius, \"but they cannot\naffect _it_.\n\n The mind, or soul, which is immortal. See ch. iii.\n\nHeaven and earth may collapse, but _that_ will remain. If _this_ is\nfound to be without flaw, it will not share the fate of all things. It\ncan cause other things to change, while preserving its own constitution\nintact.\"\n\n\"How so?\" asked Ch'ang Chi.\n\n\"From the point of view of difference,\" replied Confucius, \"we\ndistinguish between the liver and the gall, between the Ch'u State and\nthe Y\u00fceh State. From the point of view of sameness, all things are\nONE. Such is the position of Wang T'ai. He does not trouble about what\nreaches him through the senses of hearing and sight, but directs his\nwhole mind towards the very climax of virtue. He beholds all things\nas though ONE, without observing their discrepancies. And thus the\ndiscrepancy of his toes is to him as would be the loss of so much mud.\"\n\n\"He devotes himself in fact to himself,\" said Ch'ang Chi, \"and uses his\nwisdom to perfect his mind, until it becomes perfect. But how then is\nit that people make so much of him?\"\n\n His virtue being wholly, as it were, of a selfish order.\n\n\"A man,\" replied Confucius, \"does not seek to see himself in running\nwater, but in still water. For only what is itself still can instil\nstillness into others.\n\n\"The grace of earth has reached only to pines and cedars;--winter and\nsummer alike they are green. The grace of God has reached to Yao and to\nShun alone;--the first and foremost of all creation. Happily they were\nable to regulate their own lives and thus regulate the lives of all\nmankind.\n\n\"By nourishment of physical courage, the sense of fear may be so\neliminated that a man will, single-handed, brave a whole army. And if\nsuch a result can be achieved in search of fame, how much more by one\nwho extends his sway over heaven and earth and influences all things;\nand who, lodging within the confines of a body with its channels of\nsight and sound, brings his knowledge to know that all things are ONE,\nand that his soul endures for ever! Besides, he awaits his appointed\nhour, and men flock to him of their own accord. He makes no effort to\nattract them.\"\n\n That men thus gather around him is the outward sign or evidence of his\n inward virtue complete.\n\nSh\u00ean T'u Chia had had his toes cut off. Subsequently, he studied under\nPoh Hun Wu Jen at the same time as Tz\u016d Ch'an of the Ch\u00eang State. The\nlatter said to him, \"When I leave first, do you remain awhile. When you\nleave first, I will remain behind.\"\n\n Tz\u016d Ch'an was a model minister of the sixth century B.C. Under his\n guidance the people of the Ch\u00eang State became so virtuous that doors\n were not locked at night, nor would any one pick up lost articles left\n lying in the road. He was hardly likely to be ashamed of walking out\n with a mutilated criminal.\n\nNext day, when they were again together in the lecture-room, Tz\u016d Ch'an\nsaid, \"When I leave first, do you remain awhile. When you leave first,\nI will remain. I am now about to go. Will you remain or not? I notice\nyou show no respect to a Minister of State. Perhaps you think yourself\nmy equal?\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" replied Sh\u00ean T'u Chia, \"I didn't know we had a Minister of\nState in the class. Perhaps you think that because you are one you\nshould take precedence over the rest. Now I have heard that if a mirror\nis perfectly bright, dust and dirt will not collect on it. That if they\ndo, it is because the mirror was not bright. He who associates for\nlong with the wise will be without fault. Now you have been improving\nyourself at the feet of our Master, yet you can utter words like these.\nIs not the fault in you?\"\n\n\"You are a fine fellow, certainly,\" retorted Tz\u016d Ch'an, \"you will be\nemulating the virtue of Yao next. To look at you, I should say you had\nenough to do to attend to your own shortcomings!\"\n\n A sneer at his want of toes.\n\n\"Those who disguise their faults,\" said Sh\u00ean T'u Chia, \"so as not to\nlose their toes, are many in number. Those who do not disguise their\nfaults, and so fail to keep them, are few. To recognise the inevitable\nand to quietly acquiesce in Destiny, is the achievement of the virtuous\nman alone. He who should put himself in front of the bull's-eye when\nHou I\n\n A Chinese Tell.\n\nwas shooting, would be hit. If he was not hit, it would be destiny.\nThose with toes who laugh at me for having no toes are many. This\nused to make me angry. But since I have studied under our Master, I\nhave ceased to trouble about it. It may be that our Master has so far\nsucceeded in purifying me. At any rate I have been with him nineteen\nyears without being aware of the loss of my toes. Now you and I are\nengaged in studying the internal. Do you not then commit a fault by\nthus dragging me back to the external?\"\n\nAt this Tz\u016d Ch'an began to fidget, and changing countenance, begged\nSh\u00ean T'u Chia to say no more.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was a man of the Lu State who had been mutilated,--Shu Shan\n_No-toes_. He came walking on his heels to see Confucius; but Confucius\nsaid, \"You did not take care, and so brought this misfortune upon\nyourself. What is the use of coming to me now?\"\n\n\"In my ignorance,\" replied No-toes, \"I made free with my body and lost\nmy toes. But I come with something more precious than toes which I\nnow seek to keep. There is no man, but Heaven covers him: there is no\nman, but Earth supports him;--and I thought that you, sir, would be as\nHeaven and Earth. I little expected to hear these words from you.\"\n\n\"I must apologise,\" said Confucius. \"Pray walk in and let us discuss.\"\nBut No-toes walked out.\n\n\"There!\" said Confucius to his disciples. \"There is a criminal without\ntoes who seeks to learn in order to make atonement for his previous\nmisdeeds. And if he, how much more those who have no misdeeds for which\nto atone?\"\n\nNo-toes went off to Lao Tz\u016d and said, \"Is Confucius a sage, or is he\nnot? How is it he has so many disciples? He aims at being a subtle\ndialectician, not knowing that such a reputation is regarded by real\nsages as the fetters of a criminal.\"\n\n\"Why do you not meet him with the continuity of life and death, the\nidentity of _can_ and _can not_,\" answered Lao Tz\u016d, \"and so release him\nfrom these fetters?\"\n\n\"He has been thus punished by God,\" replied No-toes. \"It would be\nimpossible to release him.\"\n\n A sneer at Confucius. No-toes himself had only been punished by man.\n\nDuke Ai of the Lu State said to Confucius, \"In the Wei State there is a\nleper, named Ai T'ai T'o. The men who live with him like him and make\nno effort to get rid of him. Of the women who have seen him, many have\nsaid to their parents, Rather than be another man's wife, I would be\nhis concubine.\n\n\"He never preaches at people, but puts himself into sympathy with\nthem. He wields no power by which he may protect men's bodies. He has\nat his disposal no appointments by which to gratify their hearts. He\nis loathsome to a degree. He sympathises, but does not instruct. His\nknowledge is limited to his own State. Yet males and females alike all\ncongregate around him.\n\n\"So thinking that he must be different from ordinary men, I sent for\nhim, and saw that he was indeed loathsome to a degree. Yet we had not\nbeen many months together ere my attention was fixed upon his conduct.\nA year had not elapsed ere I trusted him thoroughly; and as my State\nwanted a Prime Minister, I offered the post to him. He accepted it\nsullenly, as if he would much rather have declined. Perhaps he didn't\nthink me good enough for him! At any rate, he took it; but in a very\nshort time he left me and went away. I grieved for him as for a lost\nfriend, and as though there were none left with whom I could rejoice.\nWhat manner of man is this?\n\n\"When I was on a mission to the Ch'u State,\" replied Confucius, \"I saw\na litter of young pigs sucking their dead mother. After a while they\nlooked at her, and then they all left the body and went off. For their\nmother did not look at them any more, nor did she any more seem to be\nof their kind. What they loved was their mother; not the body which\ncontained her, but that which made the body what it was.\n\n\"When a man is killed in battle, his arms are not buried with him.\n\n He has no further use for weapons.\n\nA man whose toes have been cut off does not value a present of boots.\nIn each case the function of such things is gone.\n\n\"The concubines of the Son of Heaven do not cut their nails or pierce\ntheir ears.\n\n For fear of injuring their persons.\n\nHe who has a marriageable daughter keeps her away from menial work. To\npreserve her beauty is quite enough occupation for her. How much more\nso for a man of perfect virtue?\n\n Who should trouble himself only about the internal.\n\n\"Now Ai T'ai T'o says nothing, and is trusted. He does nothing, and is\nsought after. He causes a man to offer him the government of his own\nState, and the only fear is lest he should decline. Truly his talents\nare perfect and his virtue without outward form!\"\n\n\"What do you mean by his talents being perfect?\" asked the Duke.\n\n\"Life and Death,\" replied Confucius, \"existence and non-existence,\nsuccess and non-success, poverty and wealth, virtue and vice, good and\nevil report, hunger and thirst, warmth and cold,--these all revolve\nupon the changing wheel of Destiny. Day and night they follow one\nupon the other, and no man can say where each one begins. Therefore\nthey cannot be allowed to disturb the harmony of the organism, nor\nenter into the soul's domain. Swim however with the tide, so as not to\noffend others. Do this day by day without break, and live in peace with\nmankind. Thus you will be ready for all contingencies, and may be said\nto have your talents perfect.\"\n\n\"And virtue without outward form; what is that?\"\n\n\"In a water-level,\" said Confucius, \"the water is in a most perfect\nstate of repose. Let that be your model. The water remains quietly\nwithin, and does not overflow. It is from the cultivation of such\nharmony that virtue results. And if virtue takes no outward form, man\nwill not be able to keep aloof from it.\"\n\n Mankind will be regenerated thereby, in the same way that evenness is\n imparted by the aid of water to surfaces, although the water is all\n the time closed up and does not overflow.\n\nSome days afterwards Duke Ai told Min Tz\u016d,\n\n One of Confucius' disciples.\n\nsaying, \"When first I took the reins of government in hand, I thought\nthat in caring for my people's lives I had done all my duty as a ruler.\nBut now that I have heard what a perfect man is, I fear that I have not\nbeen succeeding, but foolishly using my body and working destruction\nto my State. Confucius and I are not prince and minister, but merely\nfriends with a care for each other's moral welfare.\"\n\nA certain hunchback, named Wu Ch'un, whose heels did not touch the\nground, had the ear of Duke Ling of Wei. The Duke took a great fancy to\nhim; and as for well-formed men, he thought their necks were too short.\n\nAnother man, with a goitre as big as a large jar, had the ear of\nDuke Huan of Ch'i. The Duke took a great fancy to him; and as for\nwell-formed men, he thought their necks were too thin.\n\nThus it is that virtue should prevail and outward form be forgotten.\nBut mankind forgets not that which is to be forgotten, forgetting that\nwhich is not to be forgotten. This is forgetfulness indeed! And thus\nwith the truly wise, wisdom is a curse, sincerity like glue, virtue\nonly a means to acquire, and skill nothing more than a commercial\ncapacity. For the truly wise make no plans, and therefore require no\nwisdom. They do not separate, and therefore require no glue. They\nwant nothing, and therefore need no virtue. They sell nothing,\nand therefore are not in want of a commercial capacity. These four\nqualifications are bestowed upon them by God and serve as heavenly food\nto them. And those who thus feed upon the divine have little need for\nthe human. They wear the forms of men, without human passions. Because\nthey wear the forms of men, they associate with men. Because they have\nnot human passions, positives and negatives find in them no place.\nInfinitesimal indeed is that which makes them man: infinitely great is\nthat which makes them divine!\n\nHui Tz\u016d said to Chuang Tz\u016d, \"Are there then men who have no passions?\"\n\nChuang Tz\u016d replied, \"Certainly.\"\n\n\"But if a man has no passions,\" argued Hui Tz\u016d, \"what is it that makes\nhim a man?\"\n\n\"TAO,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"gives him his expression, and God gives him\nhis form. How should he not be a man?\"\n\n\"If then he is a man,\" said Hui Tz\u016d, \"how can he be without passions?\"\n\n\"What you mean by passions,\" answered Chuang Tz\u016d, \"is not what I mean.\nBy a man without passions I mean one who does not permit good and evil\nto disturb his internal economy, but rather falls in with whatever\nhappens, as a matter of course, and does not add to the sum of his\nmortality.\"\n\n The play of passion would tend to create conditions which otherwise\n would not exist.\n\n\"But whence is man to get his body,\" asked Hui Tz\u016d, \"if there is to be\nno adding to the sum of mortality?\"\n\n This is of course a gibe. Hui Tz\u016d purposely takes Chuang Tz\u016d's words\n _\u00e0 double entente_.\n\n\"TAO gives him his expression,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"and God gives him his\nform. He does not permit good and evil to disturb his internal economy.\nBut now you are devoting your intelligence to externals, and wearing\nout your mental powers. You prop yourself against a tree and mutter, or\nlean over a table with half-closed eyes.\n\n    God has made you a shapely sight,\n    Yet your only thought is the _hard and white_.\"\n\n Chang Tz\u016d puts his last sentence into doggerel, the more effectively\n to turn the tables against Hui Tz\u016d, whose paradoxical theories he is\n never tired of ridiculing. See ch. ii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE GREAT SUPREME.\n\n _Argument_:--The human and the divine--The pure men of old--Their\n qualifications--Their self-abstraction--All things as ONE--The known\n and the unknown--Life a boon--Death a transition--Life eternal open to\n all--The way thither--Illustrations.\n\n\nHe who knows what God is, and who knows what Man is, has attained.\nKnowing what God is, he knows that he himself proceeded therefrom.\nKnowing what Man is, he rests in the knowledge of the known, waiting\nfor the knowledge of the unknown. Working out one's allotted span, and\nnot perishing in mid career,--this is the fulness of knowledge.\n\nGod is a principle which exists by virtue of its own intrinsicality,\nand operates spontaneously, without self-manifestation.\n\n It is in the human that the divine finds expression. Man emanates from\n God, and should therefore be on earth, in this brief life of ours,\n what God is for all eternity in the universe.\n\nHerein, however, there is a flaw. Knowledge is dependent upon\nfulfilment. And as this fulfilment is uncertain, how can it be known\nthat my divine is not really human, my human really divine?\n\n Not until death lifts the veil can we truly know that this life\n is bounded at each end by an immortality to which the soul finally\n reverts.\n\n    \"Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,\n    All but the page prescribed, their present state.\"\n\nWe must have _pure men_, and then only can we have _pure knowledge_.\n\n \"Pure\" must be understood in the sense of transcendent.\n\nBut what is a pure man?--The pure men of old acted without calculation,\nnot seeking to secure results. They laid no plans. Therefore, failing,\nthey had no cause for regret; succeeding, no cause for congratulation.\nAnd thus they could scale heights without fear; enter water without\nbecoming wet; fire, without feeling hot. So far had their wisdom\nadvanced towards TAO.\n\n \"The world-spirit is a good swimmer, and storms and waves cannot drown\n him.\"--_Emerson._\n\nThe pure men of old slept without dreams, and waked without anxiety.\nThey ate without discrimination, breathing deep breaths. For pure men\ndraw breath from their uttermost depths; the vulgar only from their\nthroats.\n\n \"Uttermost depths\" is literally \"heels,\" but all the best commentators\n take the sentence to mean that pure men breathe with their whole\n being, and not as it were superficially, from the throat only.\n\n This passage is probably responsible for the trick of taking deep\n inhalations of morning air, practised (not without scientific\n foundation) by the followers of the debased Taoism of modern times.\n Other tricks for prolonging life, such as swallowing the saliva three\n times in every two hours, etc., are more open to adverse criticism.\n See the _T'ai-Hsi-Ching_.\n\nOut of the crooked, words are retched up like vomit. If men's passions\nare deep, their divinity is shallow.\n\nThe pure men of old did not know what it was to love life or to\nhate death. They did not rejoice in birth, nor strive to put off\ndissolution. Quickly come, and quickly go;--no more. They did not\nforget whence it was they had sprung, neither did they seek to hasten\ntheir return thither. Cheerfully they played their allotted parts,\nwaiting patiently for the end. This is what is called not to lead the\nheart astray from TAO,\n\n By admitting play of passion in the sense condemned in ch. v. which\n would hinder the mind from resting quietly in the knowledge of the\n known.\n\nnor to let the human seek to supplement the divine.\n\n But to wait patiently for the knowledge of the unknown.\n\nAnd this is what is meant by a pure man.\n\nSuch men are in mind absolutely free; in demeanour, grave; in\nexpression, cheerful. If it is freezing cold, it seems to them like\nautumn; if blazing hot, like spring. Their passions occur like the four\nseasons.\n\n Each at its appointed time.\n\nThey are in harmony with all creation, and none know the limit thereof.\n\n These last few words occur in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. lviii. See _The\n Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 40. Also, with a variation, in ch. xxii of\n this work.\n\nAnd so it is that a perfect man can destroy a kingdom and yet not lose\nthe hearts of the people, while the benefits he hands down to ten\nthousand generations do not proceed from love of his fellow-man.\n\n Whatever he does is spontaneous, and therefore natural, and therefore\n in accordance with right.\n\nHe who delights in man, is himself not a perfect man. His affection is\nnot true charity.\n\n Charity is the universal love of all creation which admits of no\n particular manifestations.\n\nDepending upon opportunity, he has not true worth.\n\n True worth is independent of circumstances. It is a quality which is\n always unconsciously operating for good, and needs no opportunity to\n call it into existence.\n\nHe who is not conversant with both good and evil is not a superior man.\n\n The good, to practise; the evil, to avoid.\n\nHe who disregards his reputation is not what a man should be.\n\n As a mere social unit.\n\nHe who is not absolutely oblivious of his own existence can never be a\nruler of men.\n\nThus Hu Pu Hsieh, Wu Kuang, Poh I, Shu Ch'i, Chi Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc Y\u00fc, Chi T'o,\nand Sh\u00ean T'u Ti, were the servants of rulers, and did the behests of\nothers, not their own.\n\n A list of ancient worthies whose careers had been more or less\n unsuccessful. Of the first and second little is known, except that the\n ears of the latter were seven inches long.\n\n The third and fourth were brothers and are types of moral purity.\n Each refused the throne of their State, because each considered his\n brother more entitled thereto. Finally, they died of starvation on the\n mountains rather than submit to a change of the Imperial dynasty. More\n will be heard of these two later on.\n\n The fifth smeared his body all over with lacquer, so that no one\n should come near him. Of the sixth, nothing is recorded; and of the\n seventh, only that he tied a stone around his neck and jumped into a\n river. See the _Fragmenta_ at the end of the works of Shih Tz\u016d.\n\nThe pure men of old did their duty to their neighbours, but did not\nassociate with them.\n\n Among them, but not of them.\n\nThey behaved as though wanting in themselves, but without flattering\nothers. Naturally rectangular, they were not uncompromisingly hard.\nThey manifested their independence without going to extremes. They\nappeared to smile as if pleased, when the expression was only a natural\nresponse.\n\n As required by the exigencies of society.\n\nTheir outward semblance derived its fascination from the store of\ngoodness within. They seemed to be of the world around them, while\nproudly treading beyond its limits. They seemed to desire silence,\nwhile in truth they had dispensed with language.\n\n See ch. v.\n\nThey saw in penal laws a trunk;\n\n A natural basis of government.\n\nin social ceremonies, wings;\n\n To aid man's progress through life.\n\nin wisdom, a useful accessory; in morality, a guide. For them penal\nlaws meant a merciful administration; social ceremonies, a passport\nthrough the world; wisdom, an excuse for doing what they could not\nhelp; and morality, walking like others upon the path.\n\n Instead of at random across country. At such an early date was\n uniformity a characteristic of the Chinese people.\n\nAnd thus all men praised them for the worthy lives they led.\n\nFor what they cared for could be reduced to ONE, and what they did not\ncare for to ONE also. That which was ONE was ONE, and that which was\nnot ONE was likewise ONE. In that which was ONE, they were of God; in\nthat which was not ONE, they were of Man. And so between the human and\nthe divine no conflict ensued. This was to be a pure man.\n\nLife and Death belong to Destiny. Their sequence, like day and night,\nis of God, beyond the interference of man, an inevitable law.\n\nA man looks upon God as upon his father, and loves him in like measure.\nShall he then not love that which is greater than God?\n\n _Sc._ TAO.\n\nA man looks upon a ruler of men as upon some one better than himself,\nfor whom he would sacrifice his life. Shall he not then do so for the\nSupreme Ruler of Creation?\n\n _Sc._ TAO, the omnipresent, omnipotent Principle which invests even\n God himself with the power and attributes of divinity.\n\n The careful student of pure Taoism will find however that the\n distinction between TAO and God is sometimes so subtle as altogether\n to elude his intelligence.\n\nWhen the pond dries up, and the fishes are left upon dry ground, to\nmoisten them with the breath or to damp them with spittle is not to be\ncompared with leaving them in the first instance in their native rivers\nand lakes. And better than praising Yao and blaming Chieh would be\nleaving them both and attending to the development of TAO.\n\nTAO gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age,\nthis rest in death. And surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my\nlife is the best arbiter of my death.\n\nA boat may be hidden in a creek, or in a bog, safe enough.\n\n The text has \"or a mountain in a bog,\" which taken with the context\n seems to me to be nonsense. Yet all the commentators labour to\n explain away the difficulty, instead of making the obvious change of\n \"mountain\" into \"boat,\" to which change the forms of the two Chinese\n characters readily lend themselves. In over two thousand years of\n literary activity, it seems but rarely to have occurred to the Chinese\n that a _textus receptus_ could contain a copyist's slip.\n\nBut at midnight a strong man may come and carry away the boat on his\nback. The dull of vision do not perceive that however you conceal\nthings, small ones in larger ones, there will always be a chance of\nlosing them.\n\n The boat is figurative of our mortal coil which cannot be hidden from\n decay.\n\nBut if you conceal the whole universe in the whole universe, there will\nbe no place left wherein it may be lost. The laws of matter make this\nto be so.\n\nTo have attained to the human form must be always a source of joy. And\nthen, to undergo countless transitions, with only the infinite to look\nforward to,--what incomparable bliss is that! Therefore it is that the\ntruly wise rejoice in that which can never be lost, but endures alway.\n\n The soul which as TAO, is commensurate only with time and space.\n\nFor if we can accept early death, old age, a beginning, and an end,\n\n As inseparable from Destiny,--already a step in the right direction.\n\nwhy not that which informs all creation and is of all phenomena the\nUltimate Cause?\n\n The long chain of proximate causes reaches finality in TAO. Here we\n have the complete answer to such queries as that propounded to the\n Umbra by the Penumbra at the close of ch. ii.\n\nTAO has its laws, and its evidences. It is devoid both of action and of\nform. It may be transmitted, but cannot be received.\n\n So that the receiver can say he has it.\n\nIt may be obtained, but cannot be seen. Before heaven and earth were,\nTAO was. It has existed without change from all time. Spiritual beings\ndrew their spirituality therefrom, while the universe became what we\ncan see it now. To TAO, the zenith is not high, nor the nadir low; no\npoint in time is long ago, nor by lapse of ages has it grown old.\n\n To the infinite all terms and conditions are relative.\n\nHsi Wei obtained TAO, and so set the universe in order.\n\n A legendary ruler of remote antiquity. In what sense he set the\n universe in order has not been authentically handed down.\n\nFu Hsi obtained it, and was able to establish eternal principles.\n\n The first in the received list of Chinese sovereigns (B.C. 2852). This\n monarch is said to have invented the art of writing and to have taught\n his people to cook.\n\nThe Great Bear obtained it, and has never erred from its course. The\nsun and moon obtained it, and have never ceased to revolve. K'an P'i\nobtained it, and established the K'un-lun mountains.\n\n The divinity of the sacred mountains here mentioned.\n\nP'ing I obtained it, and rules over the streams. Chien Wu obtained it,\nand dwells on Mount T'ai.\n\n See ch. i.\n\nThe Yellow Emperor obtained it, and soared upon the clouds to heaven.\n\n The most famous of China's legendary rulers (B.C. 2697). He is said\n among other things to have invented wheeled vehicles, and generally\n to have given a start to the civilisation of his people. Some of Lao\n Tz\u016d's sayings have been attributed to him; and by some he has been\n regarded as the first promulgator of TAO.\n\nChuan Hs\u00fc obtained it, and dwells in the Dark Palace.\n\n A legendary ruler (B.C. 2513), of whose Dark Palace nothing is known.\n\nY\u00fc Ch'iang obtained it, and fixed himself at the North Pole.\n\n As its presiding genius.\n\nHsi Wang Mu obtained it, and settled at Shao Kuang; since when, no one\nknows; until when, no one knows either.\n\n A lady,--or a place, for accounts vary,--around whose name innumerable\n legends have gathered.\n\nP'\u00eang Tsu obtained it, and lived from the time of Shun until the time\nof the Five Princes.\n\n From 2255 to the 7th century B.C. See ch. i.\n\nFu Y\u00fceh obtained it, and as the Minister of Wu Ting\n\n A monarch of the Yin dynasty, B.C. 1324.\n\ngot the empire under his control. And now, charioted upon one\nconstellation and drawn by another, he has been enrolled among the\nstars of heaven.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNan Po Tz\u016d K'uei\n\n Probably the individual mentioned in chs. ii. and iv.\n\nsaid to N\u00fc Y\u00fc,\n\n By one authority said to be a woman.\n\n\"You are old, Sir, and yet your countenance is like that of a child.\nHow is this?\"\n\nN\u00fc Y\u00fc replied, \"I have learnt TAO.\"\n\n\"Could I get TAO by studying it?\" asked the other.\n\n\"I fear not,\" said N\u00fc Y\u00fc. \"You are not the sort of man. There was Pu\nLiang I. He had all the qualifications of a sage, but not TAO. Now I\nhad Tao, though none of the qualifications. But do you imagine that\nmuch as I wished it I was able to teach TAO to him so that he should be\na perfect sage? Had it been so, then to teach TAO to one who has the\nqualifications of a sage would be an easy matter. No, Sir. I imparted\nas though withholding; and in three days, for him, this sublunary state\nhad ceased to exist.\n\n With all its paltry distinctions of sovereign and subject, high and\n low, good and bad, etc.\n\nWhen he had attained to this, I withheld again; and in seven days more,\nfor him, the external world had ceased to be. And so again for another\nnine days, when he became unconscious of his own existence. He became\nfirst etherealised, next possessed of perfect wisdom, then without past\nor present, and finally able to enter there where life and death are no\nmore,--where killing does not take away life, nor does prolongation of\nlife add to the duration of existence.\n\n In TAO life and death are ONE.\n\nIn that state, he is ever in accord with the exigencies of his\nenvironment;\n\n Literally, there is no sense in which he is not accompanying or\n meeting, destroying or constructing. That is, in spite of his\n spiritual condition as above described, he can still adapt himself\n naturally to life among his fellow-men. The retirement of a hermit is\n by no means necessary to the perfection of the pure man.\n\nand this is to be _Battered but not Bruised_. And he who can be thus\nbattered but not bruised is on the way to perfection.\"\n\n\"And how did you manage to get hold of all this?\" asked Nan Po Tz\u016d\nK'uei.\n\n\"I got it from books,\" replied N\u00fc Y\u00fc; \"and the books got it from\nlearning, and learning from investigation, and investigation from\nc\u00f6-ordination,\n\n Of eye and mind.\n\nand c\u00f6-ordination from application, and application from desire to\nknow, and desire to know from the unknown, and the unknown from the\ngreat void, and the great void from infinity!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFour men were conversing together, when the following resolution was\nsuggested:--\"Whosoever can make Inaction the head, Life the backbone,\nand Death the tail, of his existence,--that man shall be admitted to\nfriendship with us.\" The four looked at each other and smiled; and\ntacitly accepting the conditions, became friends forthwith.\n\nBy-and-by, one of them, named Tz\u016d Y\u00fc, fell ill, and another, Tz\u016d Ss\u016d,\nwent to see him. \"Verily God is great!\" said the sick man. \"See how he\nhas doubled me up. My back is so hunched that my viscera are at the top\nof my body. My cheeks are level with my navel. My shoulders are higher\nthan my neck. My hair grows up towards the sky. The whole economy of\nmy organism is deranged. Nevertheless, my mental equilibrium is not\ndisturbed.\" So saying, he dragged himself painfully to a well, where he\ncould see himself, and continued, \"Alas, that God should have doubled\nme up like this!\"\n\n\"Are you afraid?\" asked Tz\u016d Ss\u016d.\n\n\"I am not,\" replied Tz\u016d Y\u00fc. \"What have I to fear? Ere long I shall be\ndecomposed. My left shoulder will become a cock, and I shall herald\nthe approach of morn. My right shoulder will become a cross-bow, and I\nshall be able to get broiled duck. My buttocks will become wheels; and\nwith my soul for a horse, I shall be able to ride in my own chariot.\nI obtained life because it was my time: I am now parting with it in\naccordance with the same law. Content with the natural sequence of\nthese states, joy and sorrow touch me not. I am simply, as the ancients\nexpressed it, hanging in the air, unable to cut myself down, bound with\nthe trammels of material existence. But man has ever given way before\nGod: why, then, should I be afraid?\"\n\n \"What comes from God to us, returns from us to God.\"--_Plato._\n\nBy-and-by, another of the four, named Tz\u016d Lai, fell ill, and lay\ngasping for breath, while his family stood weeping around. The fourth\nfriend, Tz\u016d Li, went to see him. \"Chut!\" cried he to the wife and\nchildren; \"begone! you balk his decomposition.\" Then, leaning against\nthe door, he said, \"Verily, God is great! I wonder what he will make\nof you now. I wonder whither you will be sent. Do you think he will\nmake you into a rat's liver\n\n The Chinese believe that a rat has no liver.\n\nor into the shoulders of a snake?\"\n\n\"A son,\" answered Tz\u016d Lai, \"must go whithersoever his parents bid him.\nNature is no other than a man's parents.\n\n The term \"Nature\" stands here as a rendering of _Yin_ and _Yang_, the\n Positive and Negative Principles of Chinese cosmogony, from whose\n interaction the visible universe results.\n\nIf she bid me die quickly, and I demur, then I am an unfilial son. She\ncan do me no wrong. TAO gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this\nrepose in old age, this rest in death. And surely that which is such a\nkind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death.\n\n\"Suppose that the boiling metal in a smelting-pot were to bubble up\nand say, 'Make of me an Excalibur;' I think the caster would reject\nthat metal as uncanny. And if a sinner like myself were to say to God,\n'Make of me a man, make of me a man;' I think he too would reject me\nas uncanny. The universe is the smelting-pot, and God is the caster. I\nshall go whithersoever I am sent, to wake unconscious of the past, as a\nman wakes from a dreamless sleep.\"\n\nTz\u016d Sang Hu, M\u00eang Tz\u016d Fan, and Tz\u016d Ch'in Chang, were conversing\ntogether, when it was asked, \"Who can be, and yet not be?\n\n Implying the absence of all consciousness.\n\nWho can do, and yet not do?\n\n By virtue of inaction.\n\nWho can mount to heaven, and roaming through the clouds, pass beyond\nthe limits of space, oblivious of existence, for ever and ever without\nend?\"\n\nThe three looked at each other and smiled; and as neither had any\nmisgivings, they became friends accordingly.\n\nShortly afterwards Tz\u016d Sang Hu died; whereupon Confucius sent Tz\u016d Kung\n\n One of his chief disciples.\n\nto take part in the mourning. But Tz\u016d Kung found that one had composed\na song which the other was accompanying on the lute,\n\n Strictly speaking, a kind of zitha, played with two hammers.\n\nas follows:--\n\n    Ah! Wilt thou come back to us, Sang Hu?\n    Ah! Wilt thou come back to us, Sang Hu?\n    Thou hast already returned to thy God,\n    While we still remain here as men,--alas!\n\nTz\u016d Kung hurried in and said, \"How can you sing alongside of a corpse?\nIs this decorum?\"\n\nThe two men looked at each other and laughed, saying, \"What should\nthis man know of decorum indeed?\"\n\n Not the outward decorum of the body, but the inward decorum of the\n heart.\n\nTz\u016d Kung went back and told Confucius, asking him, \"What manner of men\nare these? Their object is nothingness and a separation from their\ncorporeal frames.\n\n Various commentators give various renderings of this sentence,--mostly\n forced.\n\nThey can sit near a corpse and yet sing, unmoved. There is no class for\nsuch. What are they?\"\n\n\"These men,\" replied Confucius, \"travel beyond the rule of life. I\ntravel within it. Consequently, our paths do not meet; and I was wrong\nin sending you to mourn. They consider themselves as one\nwith God, recognising no distinctions between human and divine. They\nlook on life as a huge tumour from which death sets them free. All the\nsame they know not where they were before birth, nor where they will be\nafter death. Though admitting different elements, they take their stand\nupon the unity of all things. They ignore their passions. They take\nno count of their ears and eyes. Backwards and forwards through all\neternity, they do not admit a beginning or end. They stroll beyond the\ndust and dirt of mortality, to wander in the realms of inaction. How\nshould such men trouble themselves with the conventionalities of this\nworld, or care what people may think of them?\"\n\n\"But if such is the case,\" said Tz\u016d Kung, \"why should we stick to the\nrule?\"\n\n\"Heaven has condemned me to this,\" replied Confucius. \"Nevertheless,\nyou and I may perhaps escape from it.\"\n\n\"By what method?\" asked Tz\u016d Kung.\n\n\"Fishes,\" replied Confucius, \"are born in water. Man is born in TAO. If\nfishes get ponds to live in, they thrive. If man gets TAO to live in,\nhe may live his life in peace.\n\n Without reference to the outward ceremonial of this world.\n\nHence the saying, 'All that a fish wants is water; all that a man wants\nis TAO.'\"\n\n It is of course by a literary _coup de main_ that Confucius is here\n and elsewhere made to stand sponsor to the TAO of the rival school.\n\n\"May I ask,\" said Tz\u016d Kung, \"about divine men?\"\n\n\"Divine men,\" replied Confucius, \"are divine to man, but ordinary to\nGod. Hence the saying that the meanest being in heaven would be the\nbest on earth; and the best on earth, the meanest in heaven.\"\n\n \"Man is a kind of very minute heaven. God is the grand\n man.\"--_Swedenborg._\n\nYen Hui said to Confucius, \"When M\u00eang Sun Ts'ai's mother died, he wept,\nbut without snivelling;\n\n Which the Chinese regard as the test of real sorrow.\n\nhe grieved but his grief was not heartfelt; he wore mourning but\nwithout howling. Yet although wanting in these three points, he is\nconsidered the best mourner in the State of Lu. Surely this is the name\nand not the reality. I am astonished at it.\"\n\n\"M\u00eang Sun,\" said Confucius, \"did all that was required. He has made an\nadvance towards wisdom.\n\n Towards TAO, wherein there is no weeping nor gnashing of teeth.\n\nHe could not do less;\n\n Than mourn outwardly, for fear of committing a breach of social\n etiquette, in harmony if not in accordance with which the true Sage\n passes his life.\n\nwhile all the time actually doing less.\n\n As seen from the absence of those signs which prove inward grief.\n\n\"M\u00eang Sun knows not whence we come nor whither we go. He knows not\nwhether the end will come early or late. Passing into life as a man, he\nquietly awaits his passage into the unknown. What should the dead know\nof the living, or the living know of the dead? Even you and I may be in\na dream from which we have not yet awaked.\n\n\"Then again, he adapts himself physically,\n\n To the ceremonial of the body.\n\nwhile avoiding injury to his higher self.\n\n Keeping his soul free from the disturbance of passion.\n\nHe regards a dying man simply as one who is going home. He sees others\nweep, and he naturally weeps too.\n\n\"Besides, a man's personality is something of which he is subjectively\nconscious. It is impossible for him to say if he is really that which\nhe is conscious of being. You dream you are a bird, and soar to heaven.\nYou dream you are a fish, and dive into the ocean's depths. And you\ncannot tell whether the man now speaking is awake or in a dream.\n\n\"A pleasurable sensation precedes the smile it evokes. The smile itself\nis not dependent upon a reminding nudge.\n\n And just so was M\u00eang Sun's outward expression of grief,--spontaneous,\n as being in harmony with his surroundings.\n\nResign yourself,\n\n To your mortal environment.\n\nunconscious of all changes,\n\n Of life into death, etc.\n\nand you shall enter into the pure, the divine, the ONE.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI Erh Tz\u016d went to see Hs\u00fc Yu. The latter asked him, saying, \"How has\nYao benefited you?\"\n\n\"He bade me,\" replied the former, \"practise charity and do my duty, and\ndistinguish clearly between right and wrong.\"\n\n\"Then what do you want here?\" said Hs\u00fc Yu. \"If Yao has already branded\nyou with charity and duty, and cut off your nose with right and wrong,\nwhat do you do in this free-and-easy, care-for-nobody, topsy-turvy\nneighbourhood?\"\n\n Of TAO.\n\n\"Nevertheless,\" replied I Erh Tz\u016d, \"I should like to be on its\nconfines.\"\n\n\"If a man has lost his eyes,\" retorted Hs\u00fc Yu, \"it is impossible for\nhim to join in the appreciation of beauty. A man with a film over his\neyes cannot tell a blue sacrificial robe from a yellow one.\"\n\n\"Wu Chuang's disregard of her beauty,\" answered I Erh Tz\u016d, \"Ch\u00fc\nLiang's disregard of his strength, the Yellow Emperor's abandonment\nof wisdom,--all these were brought about by a process of filing and\nhammering. And how do you know but that God would rid me of my brands,\nand give me a new nose, and make me fit to become a disciple of\nyourself?\"\n\n\"Ah!\" replied Hs\u00fc Yu, \"that cannot be known. But I will just give\nyou an outline. The Master I serve succours all things, and does\nnot account it _duty_. He continues his blessings through countless\ngenerations, and does not account it _charity_. Dating back to the\nremotest antiquity, he does not account himself old. Covering heaven,\nsupporting earth, and fashioning the various forms of things, he does\nnot account himself skilled. He it is whom you should seek.\"\n\n And he is TAO.\n\n\"I am getting on,\" observed Yen Hui to Confucius.\n\n The most famous of all the disciples of Confucius, admitted by the\n latter to have been as near perfection as possible.\n\n\"How so?\" asked the latter.\n\n\"I have got rid of charity and duty,\" replied the former.\n\n\"Very good,\" replied Confucius, \"but not perfect.\"\n\nAnother day Yen Hui met Confucius and said, \"I am getting on.\"\n\n\"How so?\" asked Confucius.\n\n\"I have got rid of ceremonial and music,\" answered Yen Hui.\n\n\"Very good,\" said Confucius, \"but not perfect.\"\n\nOn a third occasion Yen Hui met Confucius and said, \"I am getting on.\"\n\n\"How so?\" asked the Sage.\n\n\"I have got rid of everything,\" replied Yen Hui.\n\n\"Got rid of everything!\" said Confucius eagerly. \"What do you mean by\nthat?\"\n\n\"I have freed myself from my body,\" answered Yen Hui. \"I have discarded\nmy reasoning powers. And by thus getting rid of body and mind, I have\nbecome ONE with the Infinite. This is what I mean by getting rid of\neverything.\"\n\n\"If you have become ONE,\" cried Confucius, \"there can be no room for\nbias. If you have passed into space, you are indeed without beginning\nor end. And if you have really attained to this, I trust to be allowed\nto follow in your steps.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTz\u016d Y\u00fc and Tz\u016d Sang were friends. Once when it had rained for ten days,\nTz\u016d Y\u00fc said, \"Tz\u016d Sang is dangerously ill.\" So he packed up some food\nand went to see him.\n\n In accordance with the exigencies of mortality. How Tz\u016d Y\u00fc knew that\n his friend was ill is not clear. An attempt has been made by one\n commentator on the basis of animal magnetism, in which the Chinese\n have believed for centuries.\n\nArriving at the door, he heard something between singing and\nlamentation, accompanied with the sound of music, as follows:--\n\n\"O father! O mother! O Heaven! O Man!\"\n\nThese words seemed to be uttered with a great effort; whereupon Tz\u016d Y\u00fc\nwent in and asked what it all meant.\n\n\"I was trying to think who could have brought me to this extreme,\"\nreplied Tz\u016d Sang, \"but I could not guess. My father and mother would\nhardly wish me to be poor. Heaven covers all equally. Earth supports\nall equally. How can they make me in particular poor? I was seeking to\nknow who it was, but without success. Surely then I am brought to this\nextreme by _Destiny_.\"\n\n \"The word Fate, or Destiny, expresses the sense of mankind in all\n ages--that the laws of the world do not always befriend, but often\n hurt and crush us.\"--_Emerson._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nHOW TO GOVERN.\n\n _Argument_:--Princes should reign, not rule--Rulers find their\n standards of right in themselves--They thus coerce their people into\n obeying artificial laws, instead of leaving them to obey natural\n laws--By action they accomplish nothing--By inaction there is nothing\n which they would not accomplish--Individuals think they know what\n the empire wants--In reality it is the empire itself which know\n best--Illustrations.\n\n\nYeh Ch'\u00fceh asked Wang I\n\n See ch. ii.\n\nfour questions, none of which he could answer. Thereat the former was\ngreatly delighted,\n\n For now he discovered that ignorance is true knowledge:--an\n explanation which I adopt only for want of a better.\n\nand went off and told P'u I Tz\u016d.\n\n Of whom nothing definite is known.\n\n\"Have you only just found that out?\" said P'u I Tz\u016d. \"The Emperor Shun\nwas not equal to T'ai Huang.\n\n A legendary ruler. For Shun, see ch. i.\n\nShun was all for charity in his zeal for mankind; but although he\nsucceeded in government, he himself never rose above the level of\nartificiality. Now T'ai Huang was peaceful when asleep and inactive\nwhen awake. At one time he would think himself a horse; at another, an\nox.\n\n So effectually had he closed all channels leading to consciousness of\n self.\n\nHis wisdom was substantial and above suspicion. His virtue was genuine\nindeed. And yet he never sank to the level of artificiality.\"\n\n He was a monarch after the pattern of TAO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChien Wu meeting the eccentric Chieh Y\u00fc, the latter enquired, saying,\n\"What did Jih Chung Shih teach you?\"\n\n Of the last nothing is known. The first two have been already\n mentioned in chs. i. and vi.\n\n\"He taught me,\" replied Chien Wu, \"about the laws and regulations which\nprinces evolve, and which he said none would venture not to hear and\nobey.\"\n\n\"That is a false teaching indeed,\" replied Chieh Y\u00fc. \"To attempt to\ngovern mankind thus,--as well try to wade through the sea, to hew a\npassage through a river, or make a mosquito fly away with a mountain!\n\n\"The government of the truly wise man has no concern with externals.\nHe first perfects himself, and then by virtue thereof he is enabled to\naccomplish what he wants.\n\n Passively, without effort of any kind.\n\n\"The bird flies high to avoid snare and dart. The mouse burrows down\nbelow the hill to avoid being smoked or cut out of its nest. Is your\nwit below that of these two creatures?\"\n\n That you should be unable to devise means of avoiding the artificial\n restraints of princes. Better than coercing into goodness is letting\n men be good of their own accord.\n\nT'ien K\u00ean\n\n Of whom nothing is known.\n\nwas travelling on the south of the Yin mountain. He had reached the\nriver Liao when he met a certain Sage to whom he said, \"I beg to ask\nabout the government of the empire.\"\n\n\"Begone!\" cried the Sage. \"You are a low fellow, and your question is\nill timed. God has just turned me out a man. That is enough for me.\nBorne on light pinions I can soar beyond the cardinal points, to the\nland of nowhere, in the domain of nothingness. And you come to worry me\nwith government of the empire!\"\n\nBut T'ien K\u00ean enquired a second time, and the Sage replied, \"Resolve\nyour mental energy into abstraction, your physical energy into\ninaction. Allow yourself to fall in with the natural order of\nphenomena, without admitting the element of self,--and the empire will\nbe governed.\"\n\n By virtue of natural laws which lead, without man's interference, to\n the end desired.\n\nYang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc went to see Lao Tz\u016d, and said, \"Suppose a man were ardent\nand courageous, acquainted with the order and principles of things,\nand untiring in the pursuit of TAO--would he be accounted a wise ruler?\"\n\n\"From the point of view of a truly wise man,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"such a\none would be a mere handicraftsman, wearing out body and mind alike.\nThe tiger and the pard suffer from the beauty of their skins. The\ncleverness of the monkey, the tractability of the ox, bring them both\nto the tether. It is not on such grounds that a ruler may be accounted\nwise.\"\n\n\"But in what, then,\" cried Yang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc, \"does the government of a wise\nman consist?\"\n\n\"The goodness of a wise ruler,\" answered Lao Tz\u016d, \"covers the whole\nempire, yet he himself seems to know it not. It influences all\ncreation, yet none is conscious thereof. It appears under countless\nforms, bringing joy to all things. It is based upon the baseless, and\ntravels through the realms of Nowhere.\"\n\n The operation of true government is invisible to the eye of man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the State of Ch\u00eang there was a wonderful magician, named Chi Han.\nHe knew all about birth and death, gain and loss, misfortune and\nhappiness, long life and short life,--predicting events to a day\nwith supernatural accuracy. The people of Ch\u00eang used to flee at his\napproach; but Lieh Tz\u016d\n\n See ch. i.\n\nwent to see him, and became so infatuated that on his return he said to\nHu Tz\u016d,\n\n Who appears to have been his tutor.\n\n\"I used to look upon your TAO as perfect. Now I know something more\nperfect still.\"\n\n\"So far,\" replied Hu Tz\u016d, \"I have only taught you the ornamentals,\nnot the essentials, of TAO; and yet you think you know all about it.\nWithout cocks in your poultry-yard, what sort of eggs do the hens lay?\nIf you go about trying to force TAO down people's throats, you will be\nsimply exposing yourself. Bring your friend with you, and let me show\nmyself to him.\"\n\nSo next day Lieh Tz\u016d went with Chi Han to see Hu Tz\u016d, and when they\ncame out Chi Han said, \"Alas! your teacher is doomed. He cannot live. I\nhardly give him ten days. I am astonished at him. He is but wet ashes.\"\n\n And cannot burn much longer.\n\nLieh Tz\u016d went in and wept bitterly, and told Hu Tz\u016d; but the latter\nsaid, \"I showed myself to him just now as the earth shows us its\noutward form, motionless and still, while production is all the time\ngoing on. I merely prevented him from seeing my pent-up energy\n\n Of TAO.\n\nwithin. Bring him again.\"\n\nNext day the interview took place as before; but as they were leaving\nChi Han said to Lieh Tz\u016d, \"It is lucky for your teacher that he met me.\nHe is better. He will recover. I saw he had recuperative power.\"\n\nLieh Tz\u016d went in and told Hu Tz\u016d; whereupon the latter replied, \"I\nshowed myself to him just now as heaven shows itself in all its\ndispassionate grandeur, letting a little energy run out of my heels. He\nwas thus able to detect that I had some. Bring him here again.\"\n\nNext day a third interview took place, and as they were leaving, Chi\nHan said to Lieh Tz\u016d, \"Your teacher is never one day like another. I\ncan tell nothing from his physiognomy. Get him to be regular, and I\nwill then examine him again.\"\n\nThis being repeated to Hu Tz\u016d as before, the latter said, \"I showed\nmyself to him just now in a state of harmonious equilibrium. Where the\nwhale disports itself,--is the abyss. Where water is at rest,--is the\nabyss. Where water is in motion,--is the abyss. The abyss has nine\nnames. These are three of them.\"\n\n Alluding to three phases of TAO as manifested at the three interviews\n above described, TAO being the abyss.\n\nNext day the two went once more to see Hu Tz\u016d; but Chi Han was unable\nto stand still, and in his confusion turned and fled.\n\n\"Pursue him!\" cried Hu Tz\u016d; whereupon Lieh Tz\u016d ran after him, but could\nnot overtake him, so he returned and told Hu Tz\u016d that the fugitive had\ndisappeared.\n\n\"I showed myself to him just now,\" said Hu Tz\u016d, \"as TAO appeared\nbefore time was. I was to him as a great blank, existing of itself. He\nknew not who I was. His face fell. He became confused. And so he fled.\"\n\nUpon this Lieh Tz\u016d stood convinced that he had not yet acquired any\nreal knowledge, and at once set to work in earnest, passing three\nyears without leaving the house. He helped his wife to cook the family\ndinner, and fed his pigs just like human beings. He discarded the\nartificial and reverted to the natural. He became merely a shape.\nAmidst confusion,\n\n Of this material world.\n\nhe was unconfounded. And so he continued to the end.\n\nBy Inaction, fame comes as the spirits of the dead come to the boy who\nimpersonates the corpse.\n\n See ch. i. In the old funeral rites of China, a boy was made to sit\n speechless and motionless as a corpse, for the reason assigned in the\n text.\n\nBy Inaction, one can become the centre of thought, the focus of\nresponsibility, the arbiter of wisdom. Full allowance must be made\nfor others, while remaining unmoved oneself. There must be a thorough\ncompliance with divine principles, without any manifestation thereof.\n\n Non mihi res, sed me rebus, subjungere conar.\n\nAll of which may be summed up in the one word _passivity_. For the\nperfect man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing: it refuses\nnothing. It receives, but does not keep. And thus he can triumph over\nmatter, without injury to himself.\n\n Without the wear and tear suffered by those who allow their activities\n free play.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe ruler of the southern sea was called Shu. The ruler of the northern\nsea was called Hu. The ruler of the central zone was called Hun Tun.\n\n This term is generally used to denote the condition of matter before\n separation and subdivision into the phenomena of the visible universe.\n\nShu and Hu often met on Hun Tun's territory, and being always well\ntreated by him, determined to repay his kindness.\n\nThey said, \"All men have seven holes,--for seeing, hearing, eating, and\nbreathing. Hun Tun alone has none. We will bore some for him.\"\n\nSo every day they bored one hole; but on the seventh day Hun Tun died.\n\n Illustrating the perils of action. \"The empire,\" says Lao Tz\u016d, \"is a\n divine trust, and may not be ruled. He who rules, ruins. He who holds\n by force, loses.\"\n\n \"Men's actions,\" says Emerson, \"are too strong for them.\"\n\n With this chapter Chuang Tz\u016d completes the outline of his system. The\n remaining chapters are either supplementary to the preceding seven, or\n independent essays upon cognate subjects.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nJOINED TOES.\n\n _Argument_:--Virtues should be natural, not artificial; passive\n not active. [Chs. viii to xiii inclusive are illustrative of, or\n supplementary to, ch. vii.]\n\n\nJoined toes and extra fingers are an addition to nature, though,\nfunctionally speaking, superfluous. Wens and tumours are an addition to\nthe bodily form, though, as far as nature is concerned, superfluous.\nAnd similarly, to include charity and duty to one's neighbour among the\nfunctions of man's organism, is not true TAO.\n\n The whole of this chapter is a violent tirade against the leading\n doctrines of Confucianism.\n\nFor just as joined toes are but useless lumps of flesh, and extra\nfingers but useless excrescences, so are any artificial additions to\nour internal economy but harmful adjuncts to real charity and duty to\none's neighbour,\n\n Which are the outcome of TAO.\n\nand are moreover prejudicial to the right use of intelligence.\n\nPeople with extra keenness of vision muddle themselves over the five\ncolours, exaggerate the value of shades, and of distinctions of greens\nand yellows for sacrificial robes. Of such was Li Chu.\n\n Who could see a pin's point at a distance of 1,000 _li_. He is\n mentioned by Mencius.\n\nPeople with extra keenness of hearing muddle themselves over the\nfive notes, exaggerate the tonic differences of the six pitch-pipes,\nand the various _timbres_ of metal, stone, silk, and bamboo, of the\n_Huang-chung_, and of the _Ta-l\u00fc_. Of such was Shih K'uang.\n\n The blind musician mentioned in ch. ii. The _Huang-chung_ and the\n _Ta-l\u00fc_ were two of the twelve bamboo tubes, or pitch-pipes, on which\n ancient Chinese music was based. Six were _male_ or positive, and six\n _female_ or negative. Hence they are spoken of collectively as six.\n\nPeople who graft on charity, force themselves to display this virtue\nin order to gain reputation and to enjoy the applause of the world for\nthat which is of no account. Of such were Ts\u00eang and Shih.\n\n Ts\u00eang Sh\u00ean, a famous disciple of Confucius, and Shih Yu, both noted\n for their high moral characters.\n\nPeople who refine in argument do but pile up tiles or knot ropes in\ntheir maunderings over the hard and white, the like and the unlike,\nwearing themselves out over mere useless terms. Of such were Yang and\nMih.\n\n Yang Chu, a philosopher of the fourth century B.C., whose \"selfish\"\n system was condemned by Mencius; and Mih Tz\u016d, already mentioned in ch.\n ii.\n\nTherefore every addition to or deviation from nature belongs not to the\nultimate perfection of all.\n\n Which is in TAO.\n\nHe who would attain to such perfection never loses sight of the natural\nconditions of his existence. With him the joined is not united, nor\nthe separated apart, nor the long in excess, nor the short wanting.\nFor just as a duck's legs, though short, cannot be lengthened without\npain to the duck, and a crane's legs, though long, cannot be shortened\nwithout misery to the crane, so that which is long in man's moral\nnature cannot be cut off, nor that which is short be lengthened. All\nsorrow is thus avoided.\n\nIntentional charity and intentional duty to one's neighbour are surely\nnot included in our moral nature. Yet what sorrow these have involved.\nDivide your joined toes and you will howl: bite off your extra finger\nand you will scream. In one case there is too much, in the other too\nlittle; but the sorrow is the same. And the charitable of the age go\nabout sorrowing over the ills of the age, while the non-charitable cut\nthrough the natural conditions of things in their greed after place and\nwealth. Surely then intentional charity and duty to one's neighbour\nare not included in our moral nature. Yet from the time of the Three\nDynasties downwards what a fuss has been made about them!\n\nThose who cannot make perfect without arc, line, compasses, and square,\ninjure the natural constitution of things. Those who require cords\nto bind and glue to stick, interfere with the natural functions of\nthings. And those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering with\nceremonies and music and preaching charity and duty to one's neighbour,\nthereby destroy the intrinsicality of things.\n\nFor such intrinsicality does exist, in this sense:--Things which\nare curved require no arcs; things which are straight require no\nlines; things which are round require no compasses; things which are\nrectangular require no squares; things which stick require no glue;\nthings which hold together require no cords. And just as all things are\nproduced, and none can tell how they are produced, so do all things\npossess their own intrinsic qualities and none can tell how they\npossess them. From time immemorial this has always been so, without\nvariation. Why then should charity and duty to one's neighbour be as it\nwere glued or corded on, and introduced into the domain of TAO, to give\nrise to doubt among mankind?\n\nLesser doubts change the rule of life; greater doubts change man's\nnature.\n\nHow do we know this? By the fact that ever since the time when Shun bid\nfor charity and duty to one's neighbour in order to secure the empire,\nmen have devoted their lives to the pursuit thereof. Is it not then\ncharity and duty to one's neighbour which change the nature of man?\n\nTherefore I have tried to show that from the time of the Three\nDynasties it has always been the external which has changed the nature\nof man. If a mean man, he will die for gain. If a superior man, he will\ndie for fame. If a man of rank, he will die for his ancestral honours.\nIf a Sage, he will die for the world. The pursuits and ambitions of\nthese men differ, but the injury to their natures involved in the\nsacrifice of their lives is the same.\n\nTsang and Ku were shepherds, both of whom lost their flocks. On\ninquiry, it appeared that Tsang had been engaged in reading, while Ku\nhad gone to take part in some trials of strength. Their occupations had\nbeen different, but the result was in each case loss of the sheep.\n\nPoh I died for fame at the foot of Mount Shou-yang.\n\n See ch. vi.\n\nRobber Ch\u00ea died for gain on Mount T'ai.\n\n Robber Ch\u00ea has a chapter to himself, from which, though spurious, it\n may be gathered that he was a very remarkable personage in his day.\n\n Mount T'ai has been mentioned in ch. i.\n\nTheir deaths were not the same, but the injury to their lives and\nnatures was in each case the same. How then can we applaud the former\nand blame the latter?\n\nAnd so, if a man dies for charity and duty to his neighbour the world\ncalls him a noble fellow; but if he dies for gain, the world calls him\na low fellow. The dying being the same, one is nevertheless called\nnoble and the other low. But in point of injury to life and nature, the\nrobber Ch\u00ea and Poh I are one. Where then does the distinction of noble\nand low come in?\n\nWere a man to apply himself to charity and duty towards his neighbour\nuntil he were the equal of Ts\u00eang or Shih, this would not be what I mean\nby perfection. Or to flavours, until he were the equal of Y\u00fc Erh.\n\n Probably identical with I Ya, the Soyer of China.\n\nOr to sounds, until he were the equal of Shih K'uang. Or to colours,\nuntil he were the equal of Li Chu. What I mean by perfection is not\nwhat is meant by charity and duty to one's neighbour. It is found in\nthe cultivation of TAO. And those whom I regard as cultivators of TAO\nare not those who cultivate charity and duty to one's neighbour. They\nare those who yield to the natural conditions of things. What I call\nperfection of hearing is not hearing others but oneself. What I call\nperfection of vision is not seeing others but oneself.\n\n A saying attributed by Han Fei Tz\u016d to Lao Tz\u016d:--\"To see oneself is to\n be clear of sight.\" See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 18.\n\nFor a man who sees not himself but others, takes not possession of\nhimself but of others, thus taking what others should take and not what\nhe himself should take.\n\n Multi sunt, qui urbes, qui populos habuere in potestate, paucissimi,\n qui se.\n\nInstead of being himself, he in fact becomes some one else. And if a\nman thus becomes some one else instead of himself, this is a fatal\nerror of which both the robber Ch\u00ea and Poh I can be equally guilty.\n\nAnd so, conscious of my own deficiency in regard to TAO, I do not\nventure at my best to practise the principles of charity and duty\nto my neighbour, nor at my worst to fall into the fatal error\nabove-mentioned.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nHORSES' HOOFS.\n\n _Argument_:--Superiority of the natural over the\n artificial--Application of this principle to government.\n\n\nHorses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect\nthem from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up\ntheir heels over the champaign. Such is the real nature of horses.\nPalatial dwellings are of no use to them.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne day Poh Loh\n\n A Chinese Rarey, of somewhat legendary character.\n\nappeared, saying, \"I understand the management of horses.\"\n\nSo he branded them, and clipped them, and pared their hoofs, and put\nhalters on them, tying them up by the head and shackling them by the\nfeet, and disposing them in stables, with the result that two or three\nin every ten died. Then he kept them hungry and thirsty, trotting them\nand galloping them, and grooming, and trimming, with the misery of the\ntasselled bridle before and the fear of the knotted whip behind, until\nmore than half of them were dead.\n\nThe potter says, \"I can do what I will with clay. If I want it round, I\nuse compasses; if rectangular, a square.\"\n\nThe carpenter says, \"I can do what I will with wood. If I want it\ncurved, I use an arc; if straight, a line.\"\n\nBut on what grounds can we think that the natures of clay and wood\ndesire this application of compasses and square, of arc and line?\nNevertheless, every age extols Poh Loh for his skill in managing\nhorses, and potters and carpenters for their skill with clay and wood.\nThose who _govern_ the empire make the same mistake.\n\nNow I regard government of the empire from quite a different point of\nview.\n\nThe people have certain natural instincts;--to weave and clothe\nthemselves, to till and feed themselves. These are common to all\nhumanity, and all are agreed thereon. Such instincts are called\n\"Heaven-sent.\"\n\nAnd so in the days when natural instincts prevailed, men moved quietly\nand gazed steadily. At that time, there were no roads over mountains,\nnor boats, nor bridges over water. All things were produced, each for\nits own proper sphere. Birds and beasts multiplied; trees and shrubs\ngrew up. The former might be led by the hand; you could climb up and\npeep into the raven's nest. For then man dwelt with birds and beasts,\nand all creation was one. There were no distinctions of good and bad\nmen. Being all equally without knowledge, their virtue could not go\nastray. Being all equally without evil desires, they were in a state of\nnatural integrity, the perfection of human existence.\n\nBut when Sages appeared, tripping people over charity and fettering\nwith duty to one's neighbour, doubt found its way into the world. And\nthen with their gushing over music and fussing over ceremony, the\nempire became divided against itself.\n\n Music and ceremonies are important factors in the Confucian system of\n government.\n\nWere the natural integrity of things left unharmed, who could make\nsacrificial vessels? Were white jade left unbroken, who could make\nthe regalia of courts? Were Tao not abandoned, who could introduce\ncharity and duty to one's neighbour? Were man's natural instincts his\nguide, what need would there be for music and ceremonies? Were the five\ncolours not confused, who would practise decoration? Were the five\nnotes not confused, who would adopt the six pitch-pipes?\n\n See chs. viii and x.\n\nDestruction of the natural integrity of things, in order to produce\narticles of various kinds,--this is the fault of the artisan.\nAnnihilation of TAO in order to practise charity and duty to one's\nneighbour,--this is the error of the Sage.\n\nHorses live on dry land, eat grass and drink water. When pleased, they\nrub their necks together. When angry, they turn around and kick up\ntheir heels at each other. Thus far only do their natural dispositions\ncarry them. But bridled and bitted, with a plate of metal on their\nforeheads, they learn to cast vicious looks, to turn the head to bite,\nto resist, to get the bit out of the mouth or the bridle into it. And\nthus their natures become depraved,--the fault of Poh Loh.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the days of Ho Hs\u00fc\n\n A legendary ruler of old.\n\nthe people did nothing in particular when at rest, and went nowhere in\nparticular when they moved. Having food, they rejoiced; having full\nbellies, they strolled about. Such were the capacities of the people.\nBut when the Sages came to worry them with ceremonies and music in\norder to rectify the form of government, and dangled charity and duty\nto one's neighbour before them in order to satisfy their hearts,--then\nthe people began to develop a taste for knowledge and to struggle one\nwith the other in their desire for gain. This was the error of the\nSages.\n\n The simplicity of style, and general intelligibility of this chapter\n have raised doubts as to its genuineness. But as Lin Hsi Chung justly\n observes, its sympathetic tone in relation to dumb animals, stamps it,\n in spite of an undue proportion of word to thought, as beyond reach of\n the forger's art.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nOPENING TRUNKS.\n\n _Argument_:--All restrictions artificial, and therefore\n deceptive--Only by shaking off such fetters, and reverting to the\n natural, can man hope to attain.\n\n\nThe precautions taken against thieves who open trunks, search bags, or\nransack tills, consist of securing with cords and fastening with bolts\nand locks. This is what the world calls wit.\n\nBut a strong thief comes who carries off the till on his shoulders,\nwith box and bag to boot. And his only fear is that the cords and locks\nshould not be strong enough!\n\nTherefore, what the world calls wit, simply amounts to assistance given\nto the strong thief.\n\nAnd I venture to state that nothing of that which the world calls wit,\nis otherwise than serviceable to strong thieves; and that nothing of\nthat which the world calls wisdom is other than a protection to strong\nthieves.\n\nHow can this be shown?--In the State of Ch'i a man used to be able to\nsee from one town to the next, and hear the barking and crowing of its\ndogs and cocks.\n\n So near were they. This sentence has been incorporated in ch. LXXX of\n the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 50.\n\nThe area covered by the nets of fishermen and fowlers, and pricked by\nthe plough, was a square of two thousand and odd _li_.\n\n Of which three go to a mile, roughly. This statement is intended to\n convey an idea of prosperity.\n\nAnd within its four boundaries not a temple or shrine was dedicated,\nnor a district or hamlet governed, but in accordance with the rules\nlaid down by the Sages.\n\nYet one morning\n\n B.C. 481.\n\nT'ien Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d slew the Prince of Ch'i, and stole his kingdom. And\nnot his kingdom only, but the wisdom-tricks which he had got from\nthe Sages as well; so that although T'ien Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d acquired the\nreputation of a thief, he lived as comfortably as ever did either Yao\nor Shun. The small States did not venture to blame, nor the great\nStates to punish him; and so for twelve generations his descendants\nruled over Ch'i.\n\n Commentators have failed to explain away this last sentence. On the\n strength of an obvious anachronism, some have written off the whole\n chapter as a forgery; but the general style of argument is against\n this view.\n\nWas not this stealing the State of Ch'i and the wisdom-tricks of the\nSages as well in order to secure himself from the consequences of such\ntheft?\n\nThis amounts to what I have already said, namely that nothing of what\nthe world esteems great wit is otherwise than serviceable to strong\nthieves, and that nothing of what the world calls great wisdom is other\nthan a protection to strong thieves.\n\nLet us take another example. Of old, Lung F\u00eang was beheaded, Pi Kan was\ndisembowelled, Chang Hung was sliced to death, Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc was chopped to\nmince-meat.\n\n The first two have been already mentioned in ch. iv. Chang Hung was\n minister to Prince Ling of the Chou dynasty. Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc was a name of the\n famous Wu Y\u00fcan, prime minister of the Ch'u State, whose corpse is said\n to have been sewn up in a sack and thrown into the river near Soochow.\n\nAll these four were Sages, but their wisdom could not preserve them\nfrom death.\n\n In fact, it rather hastened their ends.\n\nAn apprentice to Robber Ch\u00ea asked him saying, \"Is there then TAO in\nthieving?\"\n\n\"Pray tell me of something in which there is not TAO,\" Ch\u00ea replied.\n\"There is the _wisdom_ by which booty is located. The _courage_ to\ngo in first, and the _heroism_ of coming out last. There is the\n_shrewdness_ of calculating success, and _justice_ in the equal\ndivision of the spoil. There has never yet been, a great robber who was\nnot possessed of these five.\"\n\nThus the doctrine of the Sages is equally indispensable to good men\nand to Ch\u00ea. But good men are scarce and bad men plentiful, so that the\ngood the Sages do to the world is little and the evil great.\n\nTherefore it has been said, \"If the lips are gone, the teeth will be\ncold.\" It was the thinness of the wine of Lu which caused the siege of\nHan Tan.\n\n The prince of Ch'u held an assembly, to which the princes of Lu and\n Chao brought presents of wine. That of Lu was poor stuff, while the\n wine of Chao was rich and generous. Because, however, the Master of\n the Cellar to the prince of Ch'u failed to get a bribe of wine from\n the prince of Chao, he maliciously changed the presents; and the\n prince of Ch'u, displeased at what he regarded as an insult, shortly\n after laid siege to Han Tan, the chief city of Chao.\n\nIt was the appearance of Sages which caused the appearance of great\nrobbers.\n\nDrive out the Sages and leave the robbers alone,--then only will the\nempire be governed. As when the stream ceases the gully dries up,\nand when the hill is levelled the chasm is filled; so when Sages are\nextinct, there will be no more robbers, but the empire will rest in\npeace.\n\nOn the other hand, unless Sages disappear, neither will great robbers\ndisappear; nor if you double the number of Sages wherewithal to govern\nthe empire will you do more than double the profits of Robber Ch\u00ea.\n\nIf pecks and bushels are used for measurement, they will also be stolen.\n\n There will simply be something more to steal.\n\nIf scales and steelyards are used for weighing, they will also be\nstolen. If tallies and signets are used for good faith, they will\nalso be stolen. If charity and duty to one's neighbour are used for\nrectification, they will also be stolen.\n\nHow is this so?--One man steals a purse, and is punished. Another\nsteals a State, and becomes a Prince. But charity and duty to one's\nneighbour are integral parts of princedom. Does he not then steal\ncharity and duty to one's neighbour together with the wisdom of the\nSages?\n\nSo it is that to attempt to drive out great robbers\n\n Who steal States.\n\nis simply to help them to steal principalities, charity, duty to one's\nneighbour, together with measures, scales, tallies, and signets. No\nreward of official regalia and uniform will dissuade, nor dread of\nsharp instruments of punishment will deter such men from their course.\nThese do but double the profits of robbers like Ch\u00ea, and make it\nimpossible to get rid of them,--for which the Sages are responsible.\n\nTherefore it has been said, \"Fishes cannot be taken away from water:\nthe instruments of government cannot be delegated to others.\"\n\n These words were uttered by Lao Tz\u016d. So say Han Fei Tz\u016d and Huai Nan\n Tz\u016d. They have been incorporated in ch. xxxvi of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n\nIn the wisdom of Sages the instruments of government are found. This\nwisdom is not fit for enlightening the world.\n\nAway then with wisdom and knowledge, and great robbers will disappear!\nDiscard jade and destroy pearls, and petty thieves will cease to exist.\nBurn tallies and break signets, and the people will revert to their\nnatural integrity. Split measures and smash scales, and the people will\nnot fight over quantities. Utterly abolish all the restrictions of\nSages, and the people will begin to be fit for the reception of TAO.\n\nConfuse the six pitch-pipes, break up organs and flutes, stuff up the\nears of Shih K'uang,--and each man will keep his own sense of hearing\nto himself.\n\nPut an end to decoration, disperse the five categories of colour, glue\nup the eyes of Li Chu,--and each man will keep his own sense of sight\nto himself.\n\nDestroy arcs and lines, fling away square and compasses, snap off the\nfingers of Kung Ch'ui,--\n\n A famous artisan who could draw an exact circle with his unaided hand.\n\nand each man will use his own natural skill.\n\nWherefore the saying, \"Great skill is as clumsiness.\"\n\n Extremes meet. These words are attributed to Lao Tz\u016d by Huai Nan Tz\u016d,\n and are incorporated in ch. xlv of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n\nRestrain the actions of Ts\u00eang and Shih, stop the mouths of Yang and\nMih, get rid of charity and duty to one's neighbour,--and the virtue of\nthe people will become one with God.\n\nIf each man keeps to himself his own sense of sight, the world will\nescape confusion. If each man keeps to himself his own sense of\nhearing, the world will escape entanglements. If each man keeps his\nknowledge to himself, the world will escape doubt. If each man keeps\nhis own virtue to himself, the world will avoid deviation from the true\npath.\n\nTs\u00eang, Shih, Yang, Mih, Shih K'uang, Kung Ch'ui, and Li Chu, all set\nup their virtue outside themselves and involve the world in such angry\ndiscussions that nothing definite is accomplished.\n\nHave you never heard of the Golden Age,--\n\n This question must be addressed to the reader.\n\nthe days of Yung Ch'\u00eang, Ta T'ing, Poh Huang, Chung Yang, Li Lu, Li\nHs\u00fc, Hsien Y\u00fcan, H\u00ea Hs\u00fc, Tsun Lu, Chu Yung, Fu Hsi, and Sh\u00ean Nung?\n\n Ancient rulers, several of whom have already been mentioned.\n\nThen the people used knotted cords.\n\n As a means of intercommunication. The details of the system have not,\n however, come down to us.\n\nThey were contented with what food and raiment they could get. They\nlived simple and peaceful lives. Neighbouring districts were within\nsight, and the cocks and dogs of one could be heard in the other, yet\nthe people grew old and died without ever interchanging visits.\n\nIn those days, government was indeed perfect. But nowadays any one can\nexcite the people by saying, \"In such and such a place there is a Sage.\"\n\nImmediately they put together a few provisions and hurry off,\nneglecting their parents at home and their master's business abroad,\nfiling in unbroken line through territories of Princes, with a string\nof carts and carriages a thousand _li_ in length. Such is the evil\neffect of an exaggerated desire for knowledge among our rulers. And if\nrulers aim at knowledge and neglect TAO, the empire will be overwhelmed\nin confusion.\n\nHow can it be shown that this is so?--Bows and cross-bows and hand-nets\nand harpoon-arrows, involve much knowledge in their use; but they carry\nconfusion among the birds of the air. Hooks and bait and nets and\ntraps, involve much knowledge in their use; but they carry confusion\namong the fishes of the deep. Fences and nets and snares, involve much\nknowledge in their use; but they carry confusion among the beasts of\nthe field. In the same way the sophistical fallacies of the hard and\nwhite and the like and the unlike of schoolmen involve much knowledge\nof argument; but they overwhelm the world in doubt.\n\nTherefore it is that whenever there is great confusion, love of\nknowledge is ever at the bottom of it. For all men strive to grasp\nwhat they do not know, while none strive to grasp what they already\nknow; and all strive to discredit what they do not excel in, while none\nstrive to discredit what they do excel in. The result is overwhelming\nconfusion.\n\nThus, above, the splendour of the heavenly bodies is dimmed; below,\nthe energy of land and water is disturbed; while midway the influence\nof the four seasons is destroyed. There is not one tiny creature which\nmoves on earth or flies in air but becomes other than by nature it\nshould be. So overwhelming is the confusion which desire for knowledge\nhas brought upon the world ever since the time of the Three Dynasties\ndownwards! The simple and the guileless have been set aside; the\nspecious and the false have been exalted. Tranquil inaction has given\nplace to a love of disputation; and by disputation has confusion come\nupon the world.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nON LETTING ALONE.\n\n _Argument_:--The natural conditions of our existence require no\n artificial aids--The evils of government--Failure of coercion--TAO the\n refuge--Inaction the secret--The action of Inaction--Illustrations.\n\n\nThere has been such a thing as letting mankind alone; there has never\nbeen such a thing as governing mankind.\n\n With success.\n\nLetting alone springs from fear lest men's natural dispositions\nbe perverted and their virtue laid aside. But if their natural\ndispositions be not perverted nor their virtue laid aside, what room is\nthere left for government?\n\nOf old, when Yao governed the empire, he caused happiness to prevail to\nexcess in man's nature; and consequently the people were not satisfied.\nWhen Chieh\n\n See p. 40.\n\ngoverned the empire he caused sorrow to prevail to excess in man's\nnature; and consequently the people were not contented. Dissatisfaction\nand discontent are subversive of virtue; and without virtue there is no\nsuch thing for an empire as stability.\n\n Virtue, here in its ordinary sense.\n\nWhen man rejoices greatly he gravitates towards the positive pole. When\nhe sorrows deeply he gravitates towards the negative pole.\n\n These \"poles\" are the male and female principles already alluded to\n on p. 82. Originally developed from the Great Monad, they became the\n progenitors of all creation.\n\nIf the equilibrium of positive and negative\n\n In nature.\n\nis disturbed, the four seasons are interrupted, the balance of heat and\ncold is destroyed, and man himself suffers physically thereby.\n\nBecause men are made to rejoice and to sorrow and to displace their\ncentre of gravity, they lose their steadiness, and are unsuccessful\nin thought and action. And thus it is that the idea of surpassing\nothers first came into the world, followed by the appearance of such\nmen as Robber Ch\u00ea, Ts\u00eang, and Shih, the result being that the whole\nworld could not furnish enough rewards for the good nor distribute\npunishments enough for the evil among mankind. And as this great world\nis not equal to the demand for rewards and punishments; and as, ever\nsince the time of the Three Dynasties\n\n The legendary emperors Fu Hsi, Sh\u00ean Nung, and Huang Ti, or the Yellow\n Emperor, already mentioned.\n\ndownwards, men have done nothing but struggle over rewards and\npunishments,--what possible leisure can they have had for adapting\nthemselves to the natural conditions of their existence?\n\nBesides, over-refinement of vision leads to debauchery in\ncolour; over-refinement of hearing leads to debauchery in sound;\nover-refinement of charity leads to confusion in virtue;\n\n Here again the manifestation of TAO. See p. 45.\n\nover-refinement of duty towards one's neighbour leads to perversion of\nprinciple;\n\n The eternal principles which are of TAO and not of man.\n\nover-refinement of ceremonial leads to divergence from the true object;\nover-refinement of music leads to lewdness of thought; over-refinement\nof wisdom leads to an extension of mechanical art; and over-refinement\nof shrewdness leads to an extension of vice.\n\n As shown in the preceding chapter.\n\nIf people adapt themselves to the natural conditions of existence, the\nabove eight\n\n Vision, hearing, charity, duty to one's neighbour, ceremonial, music,\n wisdom, and shrewdness.\n\nmay be or may not be; it matters not. But if people do not adapt\nthemselves to the natural conditions of existence, then these eight\nbecome hindrances and spoilers, and throw the world into confusion.\n\nIn spite of this, the world reverences and cherishes them, thereby\ngreatly increasing the sum of human error. And not as a passing\nfashion, but with admonitions in words, with humility in prostrations,\nand with the stimulus of music and song. What then is left for me?\n\nTherefore, for the perfect man who is unavoidably summoned to power\nover his fellows, there is naught like _Inaction_.\n\n It is not according to the spirit of TAO that a man should shirk his\n mortal responsibilities. On the contrary, TAO teaches him how to meet\n them.\n\nBy means of inaction he will be able to adapt himself to the natural\nconditions of existence. And so it is that he who respects the State as\nhis own body is fit to support it, and he who loves the State as his\nown body, is fit to govern it.\n\n This last sentence is attributed by Huai Nan Tz\u016d to Lao Tz\u016d, and has\n been incorporated in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. xiii. It is curious that\n Chuang Tz\u016d should say nothing about its authorship, and perhaps even\n more curious that Kuo Hsiang, his editor and commentator of the fourth\n century A.D., should say nothing either about the claims of Lao Tz\u016d or\n the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n\nAnd if I can refrain from injuring my internal economy, and from\ntaxing my powers of sight and hearing, sitting like a corpse while\nmy dragon-power is manifested around, in profound silence while my\nthunder-voice resounds, the powers of heaven responding to every phase\nof my will, as under the yielding influence of inaction all things are\nbrought to maturity and thrive,--what leisure then have I to set about\ngoverning the world?\n\n Some of this passage is repeated in ch. xiv.\n\nTs'ui Ch\u00fc\n\n A casual personage.\n\nasked Lao Tz\u016d, saying, \"If the empire is not to be governed, how are\nmen's hearts to be kept in order?\"\n\n\"Be careful,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"not to interfere with the natural\ngoodness of the heart of man. Man's heart may be forced down or stirred\nup. In each case the issue is fatal.\n\n\"By gentleness, the hardest heart may be softened. But try to cut and\npolish it,--'twill glow like fire or freeze like ice. In the twinkling\nof an eye it will pass beyond the limits of the Four Seas. In repose,\nprofoundly still; in motion, far away in the sky. No bolt can bar, no\nbond can bind,--such is the human heart.\"\n\n\"Of old, the Yellow Emperor first caused charity and duty to one's\nneighbour to interfere with the natural goodness of the heart of man.\nIn consequence of which, Yao and Shun wore the hair off their legs\nin endeavouring to feed their people. They disturbed their internal\neconomy in order to find room for charity and duty to one's neighbour.\nThey exhausted their energies in framing laws and statutes. Still they\ndid not succeed.\n\n\"Thereupon, Yao confined Huan Tou on Mount Tsung; drove the chief of\nSan-miao and his people into San-wei, and kept them there; and banished\nthe Minister of Works to Yu Island.\n\n These words are quoted (with variants) from the _Shu Ching_ or Canon\n of History. They refer to individuals who had misconducted themselves\n in carrying out the new _r\u00e9gime._\n\nBut they were not equal to their task, and through the times of the\nThree Princes\n\n The Great Y\u00fc, T'ang, and W\u00ean Wang, founder of the Chou dynasty.\n\nthe empire was in a state of great unrest. Among the bad men were\nChieh and Ch\u00ea; among the good were Ts\u00eang and Shih. By and by, the\nConfucianists and the Mihists arose; and then came exultation and anger\nof rivals, fraud between the simple and the cunning, recrimination\nbetween the virtuous and the evil, slander between the honest and the\ndishonest,--until decadence set in, men fell away from their original\nvirtue, their natures became corrupt, and there was a general rush for\nknowledge.\n\n\"The next thing was to coerce by all kinds of physical torture, thus\nbringing utter confusion into the empire, the blame for which rests\nupon those who would interfere with the natural goodness of the heart\nof man.\n\n\"In consequence, virtuous men sought refuge in mountain caves, while\nrulers of States sat trembling in their ancestral halls. Then, when\ndead men lay about pillowed on each others' corpses, when cangued\nprisoners and condemned criminals jostled each other in crowds,--then\nthe Confucianists and the Mihists, in the midst of gyves and fetters,\nstood forth to preach!\n\n Salvation from the ills of which they and their systems had been the\n cause.\n\nAlas, they know not shame, nor what it is to blush!\n\n\"Until I can say that the wisdom of Sages is not a fastener of cangues,\nand that charity and duty to one's neighbour are not bolts for gyves,\nhow should I know that Ts\u00eang and Shih are not the forerunners\n\n _Lit._ \"sounding arrows,\" used by bandits as a signal for beginning\n the attack.\n\nof Chieh and Ch\u00ea?\n\n The meaning intended is that _good_ cannot exist without its\n correlative _evil_.\n\n\"Therefore I said, 'Abandon wisdom and discard knowledge, and the\nempire will be at peace.'\"\n\n These words have been incorporated in ch. xix of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n The present rendering somewhat modifies the view I expressed on p. 16\n of _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_.\n\nThe Yellow Emperor sat on the throne for nineteen years, and his laws\nobtained all over the empire.\n\nHearing that Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d\n\n Said by some commentators to be another name for Lao Tz\u016d, but if so,\n then it must have been Lao Tz\u016d as he existed, an incarnation of TAO,\n before his appearance in the Confucian age.\n\nwas living on Mount K'ung-t'ung, he went thither to see him, and said,\n\"I am told, Sir, that you are in possession of perfect TAO. May I ask\nin what perfect TAO consists? I desire to avail myself of the good\ninfluence of heaven and earth in order to secure harvests and feed my\npeople. I should also like to control the Two Powers of nature\n\n The _Yin_ and the _Yang_. See pp. 82, 120.\n\nin order to the protection of all living things. How can I accomplish\nthis?\"\n\n\"What you desire to avail yourself of,\" replied Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d, \"is\nthe primordial integrity of matter. What you wish to control are the\ndisintegrators thereof. Ever since the empire has been _governed_ by\nyou, the clouds have rained without waiting to thicken, the foliage\nof trees has fallen without waiting to grow yellow, the brightness of\nthe sun and moon has paled, and the voice of the flatterer is heard on\nevery side. How then speak of perfect TAO?\"\n\nThe Yellow Emperor withdrew. He resigned the Throne. He built himself\na solitary hut. He lay upon straw. For three months he remained in\nseclusion, and then went again to see Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d.\n\nThe latter was lying down with his face to the south. The Yellow\nEmperor approached after the manner of an inferior, upon his knees.\nProstrating himself upon the ground he said, \"I am told, Sir, that\nyou are in possession of perfect TAO. May I ask how my self may be\npreserved so as to last?\"\n\nKuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d jumped up with a start. \"A good question indeed!\"\ncried he. \"Come, and I will speak to you of perfect TAO.\n\n\"The essence of perfect TAO is profoundly mysterious; its extent is\nlost in obscurity.\n\n\"See nothing; hear nothing; let your soul be wrapped in quiet; and your\nbody will begin to take proper form. Let there be absolute repose and\nabsolute purity; do not weary your body nor disturb your vitality,--and\nyou will live for ever. For if the eye sees nothing, and the ear hears\nnothing, and the mind\n\n _Lit._ the heart.\n\nthinks nothing, the soul will preserve the body, and the body will live\nfor ever.\n\n Not in the grosser worldly sense, but as a sublimated unit in eternity.\n\n\"Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without;\nfor much knowledge is a curse. Then I will place you upon that abode\nof Great Light which is the source of the positive Power, and escort\nyou through the gate of Profound Mystery which is the source of the\nnegative Power. These Powers are the controllers of heaven and earth,\nand each contains the other.\n\n Knowledge thereof is knowledge of the great mystery of human existence.\n\n\"Cherish and preserve your own self,\n\n In accordance with the above.\n\nand all the rest will prosper of itself.\n\n The welfare of the people, the success of their harvests, etc.\n\nI preserve the original ONE, while resting in harmony with externals.\nIt is because I have thus cared for my self now for twelve hundred\nyears that my body has not decayed.\"\n\nThe Yellow Emperor prostrated himself and said, \"Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d is\nsurely God....\"\n\nWhereupon the latter continued, \"Come, I will tell you. That self is\neternal; yet all men think it mortal. That self is infinite; yet all\nmen think it finite. Those who possess TAO are princes in this life and\nrulers in the hereafter. Those who do not possess TAO, behold the light\nof day in this life and become clods of earth in the hereafter.\n\n\"Nowadays, all living things spring from the dust and to the dust\nreturn. But I will lead you through the portals of Eternity into the\ndomain of Infinity. My light is the light of sun and moon. My life is\nthe life of heaven and earth. I know not who comes nor who goes. Men\nmay all die, but I endure for ever.\"\n\n \"A mighty drama, enacted on the theatre of Infinitude, with suns for\n lamps, and Eternity as a background; whose author is God, and whose\n purport and thousandfold moral lead us up to the 'dark with excess of\n light' of the throne of God.\"--_Carlyle._\n\nThe Spirit of the Clouds when passing eastwards through the expanse of\nAir\n\n The term here used has also been explained to mean some supernatural\n kind of tree, over which we may imagine the Cloud-Spirit to be passing.\n\nhappened to fall in with the Vital Principle. The latter was slapping\nhis ribs and hopping about; whereupon the Spirit of the Clouds said,\n\"Who are you, old man, and what are you doing here?\"\n\n\"Strolling!\" replied the Vital Principle, without stopping.\n\n Activities ceaseless in their imperceptible operation.\n\n\"I want to _know_ something,\" continued the Spirit of the Clouds.\n\n\"Ah!\" uttered the Vital Principle, in a tone of disapprobation.\n\n\"The relationship of heaven and earth is out of harmony,\" said the\nSpirit of the Clouds; \"the six influences do not combine,\n\n The positive and negative principles, wind, rain, darkness, and light.\n\nand the four seasons are no longer regular. I desire to blend the six\ninfluences so as to nourish all living beings. What am I to do?\"\n\n\"I do not know!\" cried the Vital Principle, shaking his head, while\nstill slapping his ribs and hopping about; \"I do not know!\"\n\nSo the Spirit of the Clouds did not press his question; but three\nyears later, when passing eastwards through the Yu-sung territory, he\nagain fell in with the Vital Principle. The former was overjoyed, and\nhurrying up, said, \"Has your Holiness forgotten me?\"\n\nHe then prostrated himself, and desired to be allowed to interrogate\nthe Vital Principle; but the latter said, \"I wander on without knowing\nwhat I want. I roam about without knowing where I am going. I stroll in\nthis ecstatic manner, simply awaiting events. What should I know?\"\n\n\"I too roam about,\" answered the Spirit of the Clouds; \"but the people\ndepend upon my movements. I am thus unavoidably summoned to power; and\nunder these circumstances I would gladly receive some advice.\"\n\n\"That the scheme of empire is in confusion,\" said the Vital Principle,\n\"that the conditions of life are violated, that the will of God does\nnot triumph, that the beasts of the field are disorganised, that the\nbirds of the air cry at night, that blight reaches the trees and herbs,\nthat destruction spreads among creeping things,--this, alas! is the\nfault of _government_.\"\n\n\"True,\" replied the Spirit of the Clouds, \"but what am I to do?\"\n\n\"It is here,\" cried the Vital Principle, \"that the poison lurks! Go\nback!\"\n\n To the root, to that natural state in which by inaction all things are\n accomplished.\n\n\"It is not often,\" urged the Spirit of the Clouds, \"that I meet with\nyour Holiness. I would gladly receive some advice.\"\n\n\"Feed then your people,\" said the Vital Principle, \"with your heart.\n\n By the influence of your own perfection.\n\nRest in inaction, and the world will be good of itself. Cast your\nslough. Spit forth intelligence. Ignore all differences. Become one\nwith the infinite. Release your mind. Free your soul. Be vacuous. Be\nNothing!\n\n\"Let all things revert to their original constitution. If they do this,\nwithout knowledge, the result will be a simple purity which they will\nnever lose; but knowledge will bring with it a divergence therefrom.\nSeek not the names nor the relations of things, and all things will\nflourish of themselves.\"\n\n \"Knowledge is the knowing that we cannot know.\" _Emerson._\n\n\"Your Holiness,\" said the Spirit of the Clouds, as he prostrated\nhimself and took leave, \"has informed me with power and filled me with\nmysteries. What I had long sought, I have now found.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe men of this world all rejoice in others being like themselves, and\nobject to others not being like themselves.\n\n \"The man, and still more the woman, who can be accused either of doing\n 'what nobody does,' or of not doing 'what everybody does,' is the\n subject of as much depreciatory remark as if he or she had committed\n some grave moral delinquency.\" Mill's _Essay on Liberty_, ch. iii.\n\nThose who make friends with their likes and do not make friends with\ntheir unlikes, are influenced by a desire to differentiate themselves\nfrom others. But those who are thus influenced by a desire to\ndifferentiate themselves from others,--how will they find it possible\nto do so?\n\n As all have similar ambitions, they will only be on the same footing\n as the rest.\n\nTo subordinate oneself to the majority in order to gratify personal\nambition, is not so good as to let that majority look each one after\nhis own affairs. Those who desire to govern kingdoms, clutch at the\nadvantages of the Three Princes without seeing the troubles involved.\nIn fact, they trust to luck. But in thus trusting to luck not to\ndestroy the kingdom, their chances of preserving it do not amount to\none in ten thousand, while their chances of destroying it are ten\nthousand to nothing and even more. Such, alas! is the ignorance of\nrulers.\n\n The above somewhat unsatisfactory paragraph condemns those who strive\n to distinguish themselves from, and set themselves up as _governors_\n of, their fellow-men.\n\nFor, given territory, there is the great thing--Man. Given man, he must\nnot be managed as if he were a mere thing; though by not managing him\nat all he may actually be managed as if he were a mere thing. And for\nthose who understand that the management of man as if he were a mere\nthing is not the way to manage him, the issue is not confined to mere\ngovernment of the empire. Such men may wander at will between the six\nlimits of space or travel over the continent of earth, unrestrained in\ncoming and in going. This is to be distinguished from one's fellows,\nand this distinction is the highest attainable by man.\n\nThe doctrine of the perfect man is to him as shadow to form, as echo to\nsound. Ask and it responds, fulfilling its mission as the help-mate of\nhumanity. Noiseless in repose, objectless in motion, it guides you to\nthe goal, free to come and free to go for ever without end. Alone in\nits exits and its entrances, it rivals the eternity of the sun.\n\nAs for his body, that is in accordance with the usual standard. Being\nin accordance with the usual standard it is not distinguished in\nany way. But if not distinguished in any way, what becomes of the\ndistinction by which he is distinguished?\n\nThose who see what is to be seen,--of such were the perfect men of\nold. Those who see what is not to be seen,--they are the chosen of the\nuniverse.\n\n Spiritual sight carries them beyond the horizon where natural vision\n stops short.\n\nLow in the scale, but still to be allowed for,--matter. Humble, but\nstill to be followed,--\n\n Rather than guided.\n\nmankind. Of others, but still to be attended to,--affairs. Harsh,\nbut still necessary to be set forth,--the law. Far off, but still\nclaiming our presence,--duty to one's neighbour. Near, but still\nclaiming extension,--charity. Of sparing use, but still to be of\nbounteous store,--ceremony. Of middle course, but still to be of\nlofty scope,--virtue. One, but not to be without modification,--TAO.\nSpiritual, yet not to be devoid of action,--GOD.\n\n In inaction there is action.\n\nTherefore the true Sage looks up to God, but does not offer to aid. He\nperfects his virtue, but does not involve himself. He guides himself by\nTao, but makes no plans. He identifies himself with charity, but does\nnot rely on it. He extends to duty towards his neighbour, but does not\nstore it up. He responds to ceremony, without tabooing it.\n\n Although really recognising only the ceremony of the heart which\n requires no outward sign.\n\nHe undertakes affairs without declining them. He metes out law without\nconfusion. He relies on his fellow-men and does not make light of them.\nHe accommodates himself to matter and does not ignore it.\n\n Thus the action of the Sage is after all inaction.\n\nWhile there should be no action, there should be also no inaction.\n\n Of a positive, premeditated character.\n\nHe who is not divinely enlightened will not be sublimely pure. He who\nhas not clear apprehension of TAO will find this beyond his reach. And\nhe who is not enlightened by TAO,--alas indeed for him!\n\nWhat then is TAO?--There is the TAO of God, and the TAO of man.\nInaction and compliance make the TAO of God: action and entanglement\nthe TAO of man. The TAO of God is fundamental: the TAO of man is\naccidental. The distance which separates them is great. Let us all take\nheed thereto!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE UNIVERSE.\n\n _Argument_:--The pr\u00ebeminence of TAO--All things informed thereby--The\n true Sage illumined thereby--His attributes--His perfection--Man's\n senses his bane--Illustrations.\n\n\nVast as is the universe, its phenomena are regular. Countless though\nits contents, the laws which govern these are uniform. Many though its\ninhabitants, that which dominates them is sovereignty. Sovereignty\nbegins in virtue and ends in God. Therefore it is called divine.\n\n The term here used has been elsewhere rendered \"infinite.\"\n\nOf old, the empire was under the sovereignty of inaction. There was the\nvirtue of God,--nothing more.\n\n Meaning, of course, TAO. In other words, all things existed under\n their own natural conditions.\n\nWords being in accordance with TAO, the sovereignty of the empire was\ncorrect. Delimitations being in accordance with TAO, the duties of\nprince and subject were clear. Abilities being in accordance with TAO,\nthe officials of the empire governed. The point of view being always\nin accordance with TAO, all things responded thereto.\n\n Under the reign of inaction, the natural prevailed over the\n artificial. (1) The sovereign could utter no cruel mandate. (2)\n Sovereign and subject each played his allotted part. (3) The right men\n were in the right place. (4) All things were as they were, and not as\n man would have them.\n\nThus, virtue was the connecting link between God and man, while\nTAO spread throughout all creation. Men were controlled by outward\ncircumstances, applying their in-born skill to the development of\ncivilised life. This skill was bound up with the circumstances of life,\nand these with duty, and duty with virtue, and virtue with TAO, and TAO\nwith God.\n\nTherefore it has been said, \"As for those who nourished the empire of\nold, having no desires for themselves, the empire was not in want. They\ndid nothing, and all things proceeded on their course. They preserved a\ndignified repose, and the people rested in peace.\"\n\n We are not told who said these words. They are not in the\n _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_; and yet if Lao Tz\u016d did not utter them, it is difficult\n to say who did.\n\nThe _Record_ says, \"By converging to ONE, all things may be\naccomplished. By the virtue which is without intention, even the\nsupernatural may be subdued.\"\n\n How much more _man_? Kuo Hsiang says the _Record_ was the name of a\n work ascribed to Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nThe Master said, \"TAO covers and supports all things,\"--so vast is its\nextent. Each man should prepare his heart accordingly.\n\n This \"Master\" has been identified with both Chuang Tz\u016d and Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n\"To act by means of inaction is God. To speak by means of inaction\nis Virtue. To love men and care for things is Charity. To recognise\nthe unlike as the like is breadth of view. To make no distinctions is\nliberal. To possess variety is wealth. And so, to hold fast to virtue\nis strength. To complete virtue is establishment. To follow TAO is to\nbe prepared. And not to run counter to the natural bias of things is to\nbe perfect.\n\n\"He who fully realises these ten points, by storing them within\nenlarges his heart, and with this enlargement brings all creation to\nhimself. Such a man will bury gold on the hillside and cast pearls\ninto the sea. He will not struggle for wealth, nor strive for fame. He\nwill not rejoice at old age, nor grieve over early death. He will find\nno pleasure in success, no chagrin in failure. He will not account a\nthrone as his own private gain, nor the empire of the world as glory\npersonal to himself. His glory is to know that all things are ONE, and\nthat life and death are but phases of the same existence!\"\n\n \"Let man learn that he is here, not to work, but to be worked upon;\n and that, though abyss open under abyss, and opinion displace opinion,\n all are at last contained in the Eternal Cause.\" _Emerson._\n\nThe Master said, \"How profound in its repose, how infinite in its\npurity, is TAO!\n\n\"If metal and stone were without TAO, they would not be capable of\nemitting sound. And just as they possess the property of sound but\nwill not emit sound unless struck, so surely is the same principle\napplicable to all creation.\n\n Meaning that all creation is responsive to proper influences, in\n accordance with TAO, if we only knew where to seek them.\n\n\"The man of complete virtue remains blankly passive as regards what\ngoes on around him. He is as originally by nature, and his knowledge\nextends to the supernatural. Thus, his virtue expands his heart, which\ngoes forth to all who come to take refuge therein.\n\n His heart does not initiate the movement, but simply responds to an\n influence brought to bear.\n\n\"Without TAO, form cannot be endued with life. Without virtue, life\ncannot be endued with intelligence. To preserve one's form, live out\none's life, establish one's virtue, and realise TAO,--is not this\ncomplete virtue?\n\n\"Issuing forth spontaneously, moving without premeditation, all things\nfollowing in his wake,--such is the man of complete virtue!\n\n\"He can see where all is dark. He can hear where all is still. In the\ndarkness he alone can see light. In the stillness he alone can detect\nharmony. He can sink to the lowest depths of materialism. To the\nhighest heights of spirituality he can soar. This because he stands in\ndue relation to all things. Though a mere abstraction, he can minister\nto their wants, and ever and anon receive them into rest,--the great,\nthe small, the long, the short, for ever without end.\"\n\n He is, as it were, a law of compensation to all things.\n\nThe Yellow Emperor travelled to the north of the Red Lake and ascended\nthe K'un-lun Mountains. Returning south he lost his magic pearl.\n\n His spiritual part, his soul.\n\nHe employed Intelligence to find it, but without success. He employed\nSight to find it, but without success. He employed Speech\n\n Also explained as \"Strength.\"\n\nto find it, but without success. Finally, he employed Nothing, and\nNothing got it.\n\n He did not employ Nothing _to find it_. He only employed Nothing.\n\n\"Strange indeed,\" quoth the Emperor, \"that Nothing should have been\nable to get it!\"\n\n Knowledge, sight, and speech, tend to obscure rather than illuminate\n the spiritual nature of man. Only in a state of negation can true\n spirituality be found.\n\nYao's tutor was Hs\u00fc Yu. The latter's tutor was Yeh Ch'\u00fceh, and Yeh\nCh'\u00fceh's tutor was Wang I, whose tutor was Pei I.\n\nYao enquired of Hs\u00fc Yu, saying, \"Would Yeh Ch'\u00fceh do to be emperor? I\nam going to get Wang I to ask him.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Hs\u00fc Yu, \"that would be bad indeed for the empire. Yeh\nCh'\u00fceh is a clever and capable man. He is by nature better than most\nmen, but he seeks by means of the human to reach the divine. He\nstrives to do no wrong; but he is ignorant of the source from which\nwrong springs. Emperor forsooth! He avails himself of the artificial\nand neglects the natural. He lacks unity in himself. He worships\nintelligence and is always in a state of ferment. He is a slave to\ncircumstances and to things. Wherever he looks, his surroundings\nrespond. He himself responds to his surroundings.\n\n He is not yet an abstraction, informed by TAO.\n\nHe is always undergoing modifications and is wanting in fixity. How\nshould such a one be fit for emperor? Still every clan has its elder.\nHe may be leader of a clan, but not a leader of leaders. A captain who\nhas been successful in suppressing rebellion, as minister is a bane, as\nsovereign, a thief.\"\n\nYao went to visit Hua. The border-warden of Hua said \"Ha! a Sage. My\nbest respects to you, Sir. I wish you a long life.\"\n\n\"Don't!\" replied Yao.\n\n\"I wish you plenty of money,\" continued the border-warden.\n\n\"Don't!\" replied Yao.\n\n\"And many sons,\" added he.\n\n\"Don't!\" replied Yao.\n\n\"Long life, plenty of money, and many sons,\" cried the warden, \"these\nare what all men desire. How is it you alone do not want them?\"\n\n\"Many sons,\" answered Yao, \"are many anxieties. Plenty of money means\nplenty of trouble. Long life involves much that is not pleasant to put\nup with. These three gifts do not advance virtue; therefore I declined\nthem.\"\n\n\"At first I took you for a Sage,\" said the warden, \"but now I find you\nare a mere man. God, in sending man into the world, gives to each his\nproper function. If you have many sons and give to each his proper\nfunction, what cause have you for anxiety?\n\n\"And similarly, if you have wealth and allow others to share it, what\ntroubles will you have?\"\n\n\"The true Sage dwells like the quail\n\n At random.\n\nand feeds like a fledgeling.\n\n Which is dependent on its parents.\n\nHe travels like the bird, leaving no trace behind. If there be TAO in\nthe empire, he and all things are in harmony. If there be not TAO, he\ncultivates virtue in retirement. After a thousand years of this weary\nworld, he mounts aloft, and riding upon the white clouds passes into\nthe kingdom of God, whither the three evils do not reach, and where he\nrests secure in eternity. What is there to put up with in that?\"\n\nThereupon the border-warden went off, and Yao followed him; saying,\n\"May I ask----,\" to which the warden only replied \"Begone!\"\n\n The style of the above episode varies enough from Chuang Tz\u016d's\n standard to make its authorship doubtful.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Yao was Emperor, Poh Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Kao\n\n Lao Tz\u016d under a previous incarnation. See the Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d of p.\n 125.\n\nwas one of his vassals. But when Yao handed over the empire to Shun,\nand Shun to the Great Y\u00fc, Poh Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Kao resigned his fief and\nbetook himself to agriculture.\n\nThe Great Y\u00fc going to visit him, found him working in the fields;\nwhereupon he approached humbly, saying, \"When Yao was emperor, you,\nSir, were a vassal; but when Yao handed over the empire to Shun, and\nShun to me, you resigned your fief and betook yourself to agriculture.\nMay I enquire the reason of this?\"\n\n\"When Yao ruled the empire,\" said Tz\u016d Kao, \"the people exerted\nthemselves without reward and behaved themselves without punishment.\nBut now you reward and punish them, and yet they are not good. From\nthis point virtue will decline, the reign of force will begin, and the\ntroubles of after ages will date their rise. Away with you! Do not\ninterrupt my work.\" And he quietly went on ploughing as before.\n\n The above episode is unmistakably spurious.\n\nAt the beginning of the beginning, even Nothing did not exist. Then\ncame the period of the Nameless.\n\n \"The Nameless,\" says the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. i, \"was the beginning of\n heaven and earth.\" See also ch. ii, _ante_.\n\nWhen ONE came into existence, there was ONE, but it was formless. When\nthings got that by which they came into existence, it was called their\n_virtue_.\n\n _Sc._ that, by virtue of which they are what they are. See p. 45.\n\nThat which was formless, but divided,\n\n _I.e._ allotted.\n\nthough without interstice,\n\n Unbroken in continuity.\n\nwas called _destiny_.\n\nThen came the movement which gave life, and things produced in\naccordance with the principles of life had what is called _form_. When\nform encloses the spiritual part, each with its own characteristics,\nthat is its _nature_. By cultivating this nature, we are carried back\nto virtue; and if this is perfected, we become as all things were in\nthe beginning. We become unconditioned, and the unconditioned is great.\nAs birds join their beaks in chirping,\n\n Unconsciously.\n\nand beaks to chirp must be joined,--to be thus joined with the universe\nwithout being more conscious of it than an idiot, this is _divine\nvirtue_, this is accordance with the eternal fitness of things.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius asked Lao Tz\u016d, saying, \"There are persons who cultivate TAO\naccording to fixed rules of possible and impossible, fit and unfit,\njust as the schoolmen speak of separating hardness from whiteness as\nthough these could be hung up on different pegs.\n\n See p. 22.\n\nCould such persons be termed sages?\"\n\n\"That,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"is but the skill of the handicraftsman,\nwearing out body and soul alike. The powers of the hunting-dog involve\nit in trouble;\n\n It is kept by man instead of being free.\n\nthe cleverness of the monkey brings it down from the mountain.\n\n Into the hands of man.\n\nCh'iu, what I mean you cannot understand, neither can you put it into\nwords.\n\n Ch'iu was the personal name of Confucius. It is never uttered by the\n Confucianist, the term \"a certain one\" being usually substituted.\n Neither is it ever written down, except with the omission of some\n stroke, by which its form is changed.\n\nThose who have a head and feet, but no mind nor ears, are many. Those\nwho have a body without a body or appearance of one, and yet there\nthey are,--are none. Movement and rest, life and death, rise and fall,\nare not at the beck and call of man. Cultivation of self is in his own\nhands. To be unconscious of objective existences and of God, this is to\nbe unconscious of one's own personality. And he who is unconscious of\nhis own personality, combines in himself the human and the divine.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChiang L\u00fc Mien went to see Chi Ch'\u00ea,\n\n Two obscure personages.\n\nand said, \"The Prince of Lu begged me to instruct him, but I declined.\nHowever, he would take no refusal, so I was obliged to do so. I don't\nknow if I was correct in my doctrine or not. Please note what I said.\nI told him to be decorous and thrifty; to advance the public-spirited\nand loyal, and to have no partialities. Then, I said, no one would\nventure to oppose him.\"\n\nChi Ch'\u00ea sniggered and said, \"Your remarks on the virtues of Princes\nmay be compared with the mantis stretching out its feelers and trying\nto stop a carriage,--not likely to effect the object proposed.\n\n See ch. iv, where the same figure is used.\n\nBesides, he would be placing himself in the position of a man who\nbuilds a lofty tower and makes a display of his valuables where all his\nneighbours will come and gaze at them.\"\n\n Attracting people by means not in accordance with TAO.\n\n\"Alas! I fear I am but a fool,\" replied Chiang L\u00fc Mien. \"Nevertheless,\nI should be glad to be instructed by you in the proper course to\npursue.\"\n\n\"The government of the perfect Sage,\" explained Chi Ch'\u00ea, \"consists in\ninfluencing the hearts of the people so as to cause them to complete\ntheir education, to reform their manners, to subdue the rebel mind, and\nto exert themselves one and all for the common good. This influence\noperates in accordance with the natural disposition of the people, who\nare thus unconscious of its operation. He who can so act has no need\nto humble himself before the teachings of Yao and Shun. He makes the\ndesires of the people coincident with virtue, and their hearts rest\ntherein.\"\n\nWhen Tz\u016d Kung\n\n See ch. vi.\n\nwent south to the Ch'u State on his way back to the Chin State, he\npassed through Han-yin. There he saw an old man engaged in making a\nditch to connect his vegetable garden with a well. He had a pitcher in\nhis hand, with which he was bringing up water and pouring it into the\nditch,--great labour with very little result.\n\n\"If you had a machine here,\" cried Tz\u016d Kung, \"in a day you could\nirrigate a hundred times your present area. The labour required is\ntrifling as compared with the work done. Would you not like to have\none?\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the gardener.\n\n\"It is a contrivance made of wood,\" replied Tz\u016d Kung, \"heavy behind and\nlight in front. It draws up water as you do with your hands, but in a\nconstantly overflowing stream. It is called a well-sweep.\"\n\n Still used all over China.\n\nThereupon the gardener flushed up and said, \"I have heard from my\nteacher that those who have cunning implements are cunning in their\ndealings, and that those who are cunning in their dealings have cunning\nin their hearts, and that those who have cunning in their hearts cannot\nbe pure and incorrupt, and that those who are not pure and incorrupt\nare restless in spirit, and that those who are restless in spirit\nare not fit vehicles for TAO. It is not that I do not know of these\nthings. I should be ashamed to use them.\"\n\nAt this Tz\u016d Kung was much abashed, and said nothing. Then the gardener\nasked him who he was, to which Tz\u016d Kung replied that he was a disciple\nof Confucius.\n\n\"Are you not one who extends his learning with a view to being a Sage;\nwho talks big in order to put himself above the rest of mankind; who\nplays in a key to which no one can sing so as to spread his reputation\nabroad? Rather become unconscious of self and shake off the trammels\nof the flesh,--and you will be near. But if you cannot govern your own\nself, what leisure have you for governing the empire? Begone! Do not\ninterrupt my work.\"\n\nTz\u016d Kung changed colour and slunk away, being not at all pleased with\nthis rebuff; and it was not before he had travelled some thirty _li_\nthat he recovered his usual appearance.\n\n\"What did the man we met do,\" asked a disciple, \"that you should change\ncolour and not recover for such a long time?\"\n\n\"I used to think there was only one man in all the world,\" replied Tz\u016d\nKung.\n\n Meaning Confucius.\n\n\"I did not know that there was also this man. I have heard the\nMaster say that the test of a scheme is its practicability, and that\nsuccess must be certain. The minimum of effort with the maximum of\nsuccess,--such is the way of the Sage.\n\n The absurdity of attributing such doctrines to Confucius will be\n apparent to every student of the Sage's remains.\n\n\"Not so this manner of man. Aiming at TAO, he perfects his virtue. By\nperfecting his virtue he perfects his body, and by perfecting his body\nhe perfects his spiritual part. And the perfection of the spiritual\npart is the TAO of the Sage. Coming into life he is as one of the\npeople, knowing not whither he is bound. How complete is his purity?\nSuccess, profit, skill,--these have no place in his heart. Such a man,\nif he does not will it, he does not stir; if he does not wish it, he\ndoes not act. If all the world praises him, he does not heed. If all\nthe world blames him, he does not repine.\n\n Reminding us of the philosopher Yung of ch. i.\n\nThe praise and the blame of the world neither advantage him nor\notherwise. He may be called a man of perfect virtue. As for me, I am\nbut a mere creature of impulse.\"\n\nSo he went back to Lu to tell Confucius. But Confucius said, \"That\nfellow pretends to a knowledge of the science of the ante-mundane.\nHe knows something, but not much. His government is of the internal,\nnot of the external. What is there wonderful in a man by clearness of\nintelligence becoming pure, by inaction reverting to his original\nintegrity, and with his nature and his spiritual part wrapped up in a\nbody, passing through this common world of ours? Besides, to you and to\nme the science of the ante-mundane is not worth knowing.\"\n\n It is only the present which concerns man.\n\n This last is an utterance which might well have fallen from the lips\n of Confucius. But the whole episode is clearly an interpolation of\n later times.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs Chun Mang was starting eastwards to the ocean, he fell in with Y\u00fcan\nF\u00eang on the shore of the eastern sea.\n\n These names are probably allegorical, but it is difficult to say in\n exactly what sense.\n\n\"Whither bound?\" cried the latter.\n\n\"I am going to the ocean,\" replied Chun Mang.\n\n\"What are you going to do there?\" asked Y\u00fcan F\u00eang.\n\n\"The ocean,\" said Chun Mang, \"is a thing you cannot fill by pouring in,\nnor empty by taking out. I am simply on a trip.\"\n\n You cannot _do_ anything to the infinite.\n\n\"But surely you have intentions with regard to the straight-browed\npeople?... Come, tell me how the Sage governs.\"\n\n The straight-browed, _lit._ horizontal-eyed, people, are said by one\n commentator to have been \"savages.\"\n\n\"Oh, the government of the Sage,\" answered Chun Mang. \"The officials\nconfine themselves to their functions. Ability is secure of employment.\nThe voice of the people is heard, and action is taken accordingly.\nMen's words and deeds are their own affairs, and so the empire is at\npeace. A beck or a call, and the people flock together from all sides.\nThis is how the Sage governs.\"\n\n\"Tell me about the man of perfect virtue,\" said Y\u00fcan F\u00eang.\n\n\"The man of perfect virtue,\" replied Chun Mang, \"in repose has no\nthoughts, in action no anxiety. He recognises no right, nor wrong,\nnor good, nor bad. Within the Four Seas, when all profit--that is his\npleasure; when all share--that is his repose. Men cling to him as\nchildren who have lost their mothers; they rally round him as wayfarers\nwho have missed their road. He has wealth and to spare, but he knows\nnot whence it comes. He has food and drink more than sufficient, but\nknows not who provides it. Such is a man of virtue.\"\n\n\"And now,\" said Y\u00fcan F\u00eang, \"tell me about the divine man.\"\n\n\"The divine man,\" replied Chun Mang, \"rides upon the glory of the sky\nwhere his form can no longer be discerned. This is called absorption\ninto light. He fulfils his destiny. He acts in accordance with his\nnature. He is at one with God and man. For him all affairs cease to\nexist, and all things revert to their original state. This is called\nenvelopment in darkness.\"\n\nM\u00ean Wu Kuei and Ch'ih Chang Man Chi were looking at Wu Wang's troops.\n\n The famous founder of the Chou dynasty, B.C. 1169-1116.\n\n\"He is not equal to the Great Y\u00fc,\" said the latter; and consequently\n\"we are involved in all these troubles.\"\n\n\"May I ask,\" replied M\u00ean Wu Kuei, \"if the empire was under proper\ngovernment when the Great Y\u00fc began to govern it, or had he first to\nquell disorder and then to proceed to government?\"\n\n\"If the empire had all been under proper government,\" said the other,\n\"what would there have been for the Great Y\u00fc to do? He was as ointment\nto a sore. Only bald men use wigs; only sick people want doctors. And\nthe Sage blushes when a filial son, with anxious look, administers\nmedicine to cure his loving father.\n\n Because to need drugs, the father must first have been sick; and this,\n from a Chinese point of view, is clearly the fault of the son.\n\n\"In the Golden Age, good men were not appreciated; ability was not\nconspicuous. Rulers were mere beacons, while the people were free as\nthe wild deer. They were upright without being conscious of duty to\ntheir neighbours. They loved one another without being conscious of\ncharity. They were true without being conscious of loyalty. They were\nhonest without being conscious of good faith. They acted freely in all\nthings without recognising obligations to any one. Thus, their deeds\nleft no trace; their affairs were not handed down to posterity.\n\n Rousseau, in _Du Contrat Social_, thus describes society as it\n would be if every man was a true Christian:--\"Chacun remplirait son\n devoir; le peuple serait soumis aux lois, les chefs seraient justes\n et mod\u00e9r\u00e9s, les magistrats int\u00e8gres, incorruptibles, les soldats\n m\u00e9priseraient la mort, il n'y aurait ni vanit\u00e9 ni luxe.\"\n\n\"A filial son does not humour his parents. A loyal minister does not\nflatter his prince. This is the acme of filial piety and loyalty. To\nassent to whatever a parent or a prince says, and to praise whatever\na parent or a prince does, this is what the world calls unfilial and\ndisloyal conduct, though apparently unaware that the principle is of\nuniversal application. For though a man assents to whatever the world\nsays, and praises whatever the world does, he is not dubbed a toady;\nfrom which one might infer that the world is severer than a father and\nmore to be respected than a prince!\n\n\"If you tell a man he is a wheedler, he will not like it. If you tell\nhim he is a flatterer, he will be angry. Yet he is everlastingly\nboth. But all such sham and pretence is what the world likes, and\nconsequently people do not punish each other for doing what they do\nthemselves. For a man to arrange his dress, or make a display, or suit\nhis expression so as to get into the good graces of the world, and yet\nnot to call himself a flatterer; to identify himself in every way\nwith the yeas and nays of his fellows, and yet not call himself one of\nthem;--this is the height of folly.\n\n\"A man who knows that he is a fool is not a great fool. A man who\nknows his error is not greatly in error. Great error can never be\nshaken off; a great fool never becomes clear-headed. If three men are\ntravelling and one man makes a mistake, they may still arrive at their\ndestination, error being in the minority. But if two of them make a\nmistake, then they will not succeed, error being in the majority. And\nnow, as all the world is in error, I, though I know the true path, am\nalas! unable to guide.\n\n\"Grand music does not appeal to vulgar ears. Give them the _Ch\u00ea-yang_\nor the _Huang-hua_,\n\n The \"Not for Joseph\" and \"Sally Come Up\" of ancient China.\n\nand they will roar with laughter. And likewise great truths do not\ntake hold of the hearts of the masses. And great truths not finding\nutterance, common-places carry the day. Two earthen instruments will\ndrown the sound of one metal one; and the result will not be melodious.\n\n\"And now, as all the world is in error, I, though I know the true\npath,--how shall I guide? If I know that I cannot succeed and yet try\nto force success, this would be but another source of error. Better,\nthen, to desist and strive no more. But if I strive not, who will?\n\n\"An ugly man who has a son born to him in the middle of the night will\nhurry up with a light, in dread lest the child should be like himself.\n\n\"An old tree is cut down to make sacrificial vessels, which are then\nornamented with colour. The stump remains in a ditch. The sacrificial\nvessels and the stump in the ditch are very differently treated as\nregards honour and dishonour; equally, as far as destruction of the\nwoods original nature is concerned. Similarly, the acts of Robber Ch\u00ea\nand of Ts\u00eang and Shih are very different; but the loss of original\nnature is in each case the same.\n\n\"The causes of this loss are five in number; viz.--The five colours\nconfuse the eye, and the eyes fail to see clearly. The five sounds\nconfuse the ear, and the ear fails to hear accurately. The five scents\nconfuse the nose, and obstruct the sense of smell. The five tastes cloy\nthe palate, and vitiate the sense of taste. Finally, likes and dislikes\ncloud the understanding, and cause dispersion of the original nature.\n\n\"These five are the banes of life; yet Yang and Mih regarded them as\nthe _summum bonum_.\n\n As attainment of TAO. For Yang Chu and Mih Tzu, see chs. ii and viii.\n\nThey are not my _summum bonum_. For if men who are thus fettered can be\nsaid to have attained the _summum bonum_, then pigeons and owls in a\ncage may also be said to have attained the _summum bonum_!\n\n\"Besides, to stuff one's inside with likes and dislikes and sounds and\ncolours; to encompass one's outside with fur caps, feather hats, the\ncarrying of tablets, or girding of sashes--full of rubbish inside while\nswathed in magnificence without--and still to talk of having attained\nthe _summum bonum_;--then the prisoner with arms tied behind him and\nfingers in the squeezer, the tiger or the leopard which has just been\nput in a cage, may justly consider that they too have attained the\n_summum bonum_!\"\n\n \"L'homme,\" says Rousseau (_op. cit._), \"est n\u00e9 libre, et partout il\n est dans les fers.\"\n\n This chapter, as it stands, is clearly not from the hand of Chuang\n Tz\u016d. One critic justly points out the want of logical sequence in\n arrangement of argument and illustrations. Another, while admitting\n general refinement of style, calls attention to a superficiality of\n thought noticeable in certain portions. \"Yet only those,\" he adds,\n \"who eat and sleep with their Chuang Tz\u016ds would be able to detect\n this.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE TAO OF GOD.\n\n _Argument_:--TAO is repose--Repose the secret of the\n universe--Cultivation of essentials--Neglect of accidentals--The\n sequence of TAO--Spontaneity of true virtue--TAO is unconditioned--TAO\n cannot be conveyed--Illustrations.\n\n\nThe TAO of GOD operates ceaselessly; and all things are produced. The\nTAO of the sovereign operates ceaselessly; and the empire rallies\naround him. The TAO of the Sage operates ceaselessly; and all within\nthe limit of surrounding ocean acknowledge his sway. He who apprehends\nGod, who is in relation with the Sage, and who recognises the radiating\nvirtue of the sovereign,--his actions will be to him unconscious, the\nactions of repose.\n\n With him all will be inaction, by which all things will be\n accomplished.\n\nThe repose of the Sage is not what the world calls repose. His repose\nis the result of his mental attitude. All creation could not disturb\nhis equilibrium: hence his repose.\n\nWhen water is still, it is like a mirror, reflecting the beard and the\neyebrows. It gives the accuracy of the water-level, and the philosopher\nmakes it his model. And if water thus derives lucidity from stillness,\nhow much more the faculties of the mind? The mind of the Sage being in\nrepose becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.\n\nRepose, tranquillity, stillness, inaction,--these were the levels of\nthe universe, the ultimate perfection of TAO.\n\n In the early days of Time, ere matter had assumed shape, it was by\n such levels that the spiritual was adjusted.\n\nTherefore wise rulers and Sages rest therein. Resting therein they\nreach the unconditioned, from which springs the conditioned; and with\nthe conditioned comes order.\n\n Meaning those laws which are inseparable from concrete existences.\n\nAgain, from the unconditioned comes repose, and from repose comes\nmovement,\n\n When once inner repose has been established, outer movement results as\n a matter of necessity, without injury to the organism.\n\nand from movement comes attainment. Further, from repose comes\ninaction, and from inaction comes potentiality of action.\n\n When inaction has been achieved, action results spontaneously and\n unconsciously to the organism.\n\nAnd inaction is happiness; and where there is happiness no cares can\nabide, and life is long.\n\nRepose, tranquillity, stillness, inaction,--these were the source of\nall things. Due perception of this was the secret of Yao's success\nas a ruler, and of Shun's success as his minister. Due perception of\nthis constitutes the virtue of sovereigns on the throne, the TAO of\nthe inspired Sage and of the uncrowned King below. Keep to this in\nretirement, and the lettered denizens of sea and dale will recognise\nyour power. Keep to this when coming forward to pacify a troubled\nworld, and your merit shall be great and your name illustrious, and\nthe empire united into one. In your repose you will be wise; in your\nmovements, powerful. By inaction you will gain honour; and by confining\nyourself to the pure and simple, you will hinder the whole world from\nstruggling with you for show.\n\nTo fully apprehend the scheme of the universe,\n\n _Lit._: \"the virtue of heaven and earth,\" meaning their inaction by\n which all things are brought to maturity.\n\nthis is called the great secret of being in accord with GOD, whereby\nthe empire is so administered that the result is accord with man. To be\nin accord with man is human happiness; to be in accord with God is the\nhappiness of God.\n\nChuang Tz\u016d said, \"O my exemplar! Thou who destroyest all things, and\ndost not account it cruelty; thou who benefitest all time, and dost\nnot account it charity; thou who art older than antiquity and dost not\naccount it age; thou who supportest the universe, shaping the many\nforms therein, and dost not account it skill;--this is the happiness of\nGod!\"\n\nTherefore it has been said, \"Those who enjoy the happiness of God, when\nborn into the world, are but fulfilling their divine functions; when\nthey die, they do but undergo a physical change. In repose, they exert\nthe influence of the Negative; in motion, they wield the power of the\nPositive.\"\n\n See _ante_, chs. vi and xi.\n\nThus, those who enjoy the happiness of God have no grievance against\nGod, no grudge against man. Nothing material injures them; nothing\nspiritual punishes them. Accordingly it has been said, \"Their motion is\nthat of heaven;\n\n One of ceaseless revolution, without beginning or end.\n\ntheir repose is that of earth. Mental equilibrium gives them the\nempire of the world. Evil spirits do not harass them without; demons\ndo not trouble them within. Mental equilibrium gives them sovereignty\nover all creation.\" Which signifies that in repose to extend to the\nwhole universe and to be in relation with all creation,--this is the\nhappiness of God. This enables the mind of the Sage to cherish the\nwhole empire.\n\nFor the virtue of the wise ruler is modelled upon the universe, is\nguided by TAO, and is ever occupied in inaction. By inaction, he\nadministers the empire, and has energy to spare; but by action he finds\nhis energy inadequate to the administration of the empire. Therefore\nthe men of old set great store by inaction.\n\nBut if rulers practise inaction and the ruled also practise inaction,\nthe ruled will equal the rulers, and will not be as their subjects. On\nthe other hand, if the ruled practise action and rulers also practise\naction, rulers will assimilate themselves to the ruled, and will not be\nas their masters. Rulers must practise inaction in order to administer\nthe empire. The ruled must practise action in order to subserve the\ninterests of the empire. This is an unchangeable law.\n\n And one over which the commentators have exhausted not a little wit.\n At the end of the chapter, the reader will be able to draw his own\n conclusions.\n\nThus, the men of old, although their knowledge did not extend\nthroughout the universe, were not troubled in mind. Although their\nintellectual powers beautified all creation, they did not rejoice.\nAlthough their abilities exhausted all things within the limits of\nocean, they did not act.\n\nHeaven has no parturitions, yet all things are evolved. Earth knows\nno increment, yet all things are nourished. The wise ruler practises\ninaction, and the empire applauds him. Therefore it has been said,\n\"There is nothing more mysterious\n\n In its action.\n\nthan heaven, nothing richer than earth, nothing greater than the wise\nruler.\" Wherefore also it has been said, \"The virtue of the wise ruler\nmakes him the peer of heaven and earth.\" Charioted upon the universe,\nwith all creation for his team, he passes along the highway of\nmortality.\n\nThe essential is in the ruler; the accidental in the ruled.\n\n _Lit._ the \"root,\" and the \"tip\" of the branch, respectively.\n\nThe _ultima ratio_ lies with the prince; representation is the duty of\nthe minister.\n\nAppeal to arms is the lowest form of virtue. Rewards and punishments\nare the lowest form of education. Ceremonies and laws are the lowest\nform of government. Music and fine clothes are the lowest form of\nhappiness. Weeping and mourning are the lowest form of grief. These\nfive should follow the movements of the mind.\n\nThe ancients indeed cultivated the study of accidentals, but they did\nnot allow it to precede that of essentials. The prince precedes, the\nminister follows. The father precedes, the son follows. The elder\nbrother precedes, the younger follows. Seniors precede, juniors follow.\nMen precede, women follow. Husbands precede, wives follow. Distinctions\nof rank and precedence are part of the scheme of the universe, and\nthe Sage adopts them accordingly. In point of spirituality, heaven\nis honourable, earth is lowly. Spring and summer precede autumn and\nwinter: such is the order of the seasons. In the constant production\nof all things, there are phases of existence. There are the extremes\nof maturity and decay, the perpetual tide of change. And if heaven and\nearth, divinest of all, admit of rank and precedence, how much more\nman?\n\nIn the ancestral temple, parents rank before all; at court, the most\nhonourable; in the village, the elders; in matters to be accomplished,\nthe most trustworthy. Such is the order which appertains to TAO. He who\nin considering TAO disregards this order, thereby disregards TAO; and\nhe who in considering TAO disregards TAO,--whence will he secure TAO?\n\nTherefore, those of old who apprehended TAO, first apprehended God.\nTAO came next, and then charity and duty to one's neighbour, and\nthen the functions of public life, and then forms and names, and\nthen employment according to capacity, and then distinctions of good\nand bad, and then discrimination between right and wrong, and then\nrewards and punishments. Thus wise men and fools met with their dues;\nthe exalted and the humble occupied their proper places. And the\nvirtuous and the worthless being each guided by their own natural\ninstincts, it was necessary to distinguish capabilities, and to adopt\na corresponding nomenclature, in order to serve the ruler, nourish the\nruled, administer things generally, and elevate self. Where knowledge\nand plans are of no avail, one must fall back upon the natural. This\nis perfect peace, the acme of good government. Therefore it has been\nwritten, \"Wherever there is form, there is also its name.\" Forms and\nnames indeed the ancients had, but did not give precedence to them.\n\nThus, those of old who considered TAO, passed through five phases\nbefore forms and names were reached, and nine before rewards and\npunishments could be discussed.\n\n As given in the preceding paragraph.\n\nTo rise _per saltum_ to forms and names is to be ignorant of their\nsource; to rise _per saltum_ to rewards and punishments is to be\nignorant of their beginning. Those who invert the process of discussing\nTAO, arguing in a directly contrary sense, are rather to be governed by\nothers than able to govern others themselves.\n\nTo rise _per saltum_ to forms and names and rewards and punishments,\nthis is to understand the instrumental part of government, but not to\nunderstand the great principle of government.\n\n Which is TAO.\n\nThis is to be of use in the administration of the empire, but not to\nbe able to administer the empire. This is to be a sciolist, a man of\nnarrow views.\n\nCeremonies and laws were indeed cultivated by the ancients; but they\nwere employed in the service of the rulers by the ruled. Rulers did not\nemploy them as a means of nourishing the ruled.\n\n From the beginning of this chapter, the argument has been eminently\n unsatisfactory.\n\nOf old, Shun asked Yao, saying, \"How does your Majesty employ your\nfaculties?\"\n\n\"I am not arrogant towards the defenceless,\" replied Yao. \"I do not\nneglect the poor. I grieve for those who die. I pity the orphan. I\nsympathise with the widow. Beyond this, nothing.\"\n\n\"Good indeed!\" cried Shun, \"but yet not great.\"\n\n\"How so?\" inquired Yao.\n\n\"Be passive,\" said Shun, \"like the virtue of God. The sun and moon\nshine; the four seasons revolve; day and night alternate; clouds come\nand rain falls.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Yao, \"what a muddle I have been making. You are in accord\nwith God; I am in accord with man.\"\n\nOf old, heaven and earth were considered great; and the Yellow Emperor\nand Yao and Shun all thought them perfection. Consequently, what did\nthose do who ruled the empire of old? They did what heaven and earth\ndo; no more.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius was going west to place his works in the Imperial\nlibrary of the House of Chou, Tz\u016d Lu\n\n The most popular of all the disciples of Confucius. In the striking\n words of Mr. Watters, \"He was equally ready to argue, fight, be\n silent, pray for his master, and die with him. So it is very unfair\n in Dr. Legge to call him _a kind of_ Peter, meaning of course Simon\n Peter, a man who lacked faith, courage, and fidelity, and who moreover\n cursed and swore.\"--_Guide to the Tablets in a Confucian Temple._\n\ncounselled him, saying, \"I have heard that a certain librarian of the\nCh\u00eang department, by name Lao Tan,\n\n Or, as usually named in this work, Lao Tz\u016d. \"Ch\u00eang\" appears to have\n been merely a distinctive name.\n\nhas resigned and retired into private life. Now as you, Sir, wish to\ndeposit your works, it would be advisable to go and interview him.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" said Confucius; and he thereupon went to see Lao Tz\u016d. The\nlatter would not hear of the proposal; so Confucius began to expound\nthe doctrines of his twelve canons, in order to convince Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n These twelve have been variously enumerated as (1) the _Book of\n Changes_, Parts i and ii, with the ten _Wings_. (2) The twelve Dukes\n of the _Spring and Autumn_, etc.\n\n\"This is all nonsense,\" cried Lao Tz\u016d, interrupting him. \"Tell me what\nare your criteria.\"\n\n\"Charity,\" replied Confucius, \"and duty towards one's neighbour.\"\n\n\"Tell me, please,\" asked Lao Tz\u016d, \"are these part of man's original\nnature?\"\n\n The question of an innate moral sense early occupied the attention of\n Chinese thinkers.\n\n\"They are,\" answered Confucius. \"Without charity, the superior man\ncould not become what he is. Without duty to one's neighbour, he would\nbe of no effect. These two belong to the original nature of a pure man.\nWhat further would you have?\"\n\n\"Tell me,\" said Lao Tz\u016d, \"in what consist charity and duty to one's\nneighbour?\"\n\n\"They consist,\" answered Confucius, \"in a capacity for rejoicing in all\nthings; in universal love, without the element of self. These are the\ncharacteristics of charity and duty to one's neighbour.\"\n\n\"What stuff!\" cried Lao Tz\u016d. \"Does not universal love contradict itself?\n\n If every one loves every one, there can be no such thing as love, just\n as absolute altruism only achieves the same result as absolute egoism.\n\nIs not your elimination of self a positive manifestation of self?\n\n On the \"Don't nail his ear to the pump\" principle.\n\nSir, if you would cause the empire not to lose its source of\nnourishment,--there is the universe, its regularity is unceasing; there\nare the sun and moon, their brightness is unceasing; there are the\nstars, their groupings never change; there are birds and beasts, they\nflock together without varying; there are trees and shrubs, they grow\nupwards without exception, Be like these; follow TAO; and you will be\nperfect. Why then these vain struggles after charity and duty to one's\nneighbour, as though beating a drum in search of a fugitive. Alas! Sir,\nyou have brought much confusion into the mind of man.\"\n\n The drum similitude occurs again in ch. xiv.\n\nShih Ch'\u00eang Ch'i\n\n Of whom nothing is known.\n\nvisited Lao Tz\u016d, and addressed him, saying, \"Having heard, Sir, that\nyou were a Sage, I put aside all thought of distance to come and visit\nyou. Travelling many stages, the soles of my feet thickened, but I\ndid not venture to rest. And now I see you are not a Sage. While rats\nfeasted off your leavings, you turned your sister out of doors. This is\nnot charity. Though you have no lack of food, raw and cooked, you are\nstingy beyond all bounds.\"\n\nAt this Lao Tz\u016d was silent and made no reply; and the next day Shih\nCh'\u00eang Ch'i came again and said, \"Before, I was rude to you; now, I am\nsorry. How is this?\"\n\n\"I have no pretension,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"to be possessed of cunning\nknowledge nor of divine wisdom. Had you yesterday called me an ox,\nI should have considered myself an ox. Had you called me a horse, I\nshould have considered myself a horse.\n\n\"For if men class you in accordance with truth, and you reject the\nclassification, you only double the reproach. My humility is natural\nhumility. It is not humility for humility's sake.\"\n\nShih Ch'\u00eang Ch'i moved respectfully away.\n\n Without allowing his shadow to fall on Lao Tz\u016d. Bringing one foot up\n to the other only. Not venturing to let it pass as in ordinary walking.\n\nThen he advanced again, also respectfully, and said, \"May I ask you\nabout personal cultivation?\"\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"Your countenance is a strange one. Your eyes protrude.\nYour jaws are heavy. Your lips are parted. Your demeanour is\nself-satisfied. You look like a man on a tethered horse.\n\n His body there, his mind elsewhere.\n\nYou are too confident. You are too hasty. You think too much of your\nown powers. Such men are not trusted. Those who are found on the wrong\nside of a boundary line are called thieves.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"TAO is not too small for the greatest, nor too great for\nthe smallest. Thus all things are embosomed therein; wide indeed its\nboundless capacity, unfathomable its depth.\n\n\"Form, and virtue, and charity, and duty to one's neighbour, these\nare the accidentals of the spiritual. Except he be a perfect man, who\nshall determine their place? The world of the perfect man, is not that\nvast? And yet it is not able to involve him in trouble. All struggle\nfor power, but he does not join. Though discovering nothing false, he\nis not tempted astray. In spite of the utmost genuineness, he still\nconfines himself to essentials.\n\n To the root, not to the branch.\n\n\"He thus places himself outside the universe, beyond all creation,\nwhere his soul is free from care. Apprehending TAO, he is in accord\nwith virtue. He leaves charity and duty to one's neighbour alone. He\ntreats ceremonies and music as adventitious. And so the mind of the\nperfect man is at peace.\n\n\"Books are what the world values as representing TAO. But books are\nonly words, and the valuable part of words is the thought therein\ncontained. That thought has a certain bias which cannot be conveyed in\nwords, yet the world values words as being the essence of books. But\nthough the world values them, they are not of value; as that sense in\nwhich the world values them is not the sense in which they are valuable.\n\n\"That which can be seen with the eye is form and colour; that which can\nbe heard with the ear is sound and noise. But alas! the people of this\ngeneration think that form, and colour, and sound, and noise, are means\nby which they can come to understand the essence of TAO. This is not\nso. And as those who know, do not speak, while those who speak do not\nknow, whence should the world derive its knowledge?\"\n\n The first half of this last sentence has been pitchforked _\u00e0 propos de\n bottes_ into ch. lvi of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao\n Tz\u016d_, pp. 7 and 38.\n\nDuke Huan.\n\n The famous ruler of the Ch'i State. Flourished 7th century B.C.\n\nwas one day reading in his hall, when a wheelwright who was working\nbelow,\n\n Below the covered dais, termed \"hall,\" which has an open frontage, in\n full view of which such work might be carried on.\n\nflung down his hammer and chisel, and mounting the steps said, \"What\nwords may your Highness be studying?\"\n\n\"I am studying the words of the Sages,\" replied the Duke.\n\n\"Are the Sages alive?\" asked the wheelwright.\n\n\"No,\" answered the Duke; \"they are dead.\"\n\n\"Then the words your Highness is studying,\" rejoined the wheelwright,\n\"are only the dregs of the ancients.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, sirrah!\" cried the Duke, \"by interfering with what I\nread? Explain yourself, or you shall die.\"\n\n\"Let me take an illustration,\" said the wheelwright, \"from my own\ntrade. In making a wheel, if you work too slowly, you can't make it\nfirm; if you work too fast, the spokes won't fit in. You must go\nneither too slowly nor too fast. There must be co-ordination of mind\nand hand. Words cannot explain what it is, but there is some mysterious\nart herein. I cannot teach it to my son; nor can he learn it from me.\nConsequently, though seventy years of age, I am still making wheels in\nmy old age. If the ancients, together with what they could not impart,\nare dead and gone, then what your Highness is studying must be the\ndregs.\"\n\n This episode of the wheelwright is to be found in the works of Huai\n Nan Tz\u016d, of the 2nd century B.C. He used it to illustrate the opening\n words of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_; and in _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 6, it\n is stated that he stole it from Chuang Tz\u016d without acknowledgment.\n\n When that statement was made I had not come to the conclusion, now\n forced upon me, that the above chapter is not from the hand of Chuang\n Tz\u016d. As one critic remarks, the style is generally admirable; but it\n is not the style of Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE CIRCLING SKY.\n\n _Argument_:--The Ultimate Cause--Integrity of TAO--Music and\n TAO--Failure of Confucianism--Confucius and Lao Tz\u016d--Confucius attains\n to TAO--Illustrations.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to ch. v.]\n\n\n\"The sky turns round; the earth stands still; sun and moon pursue one\nanother. Who causes this? Who directs this? Who has leisure enough to\nsee that such movements continue?\n\n\"Some think there is a mechanical arrangement which makes these bodies\nmove as they do. Others think that they revolve without being able to\nstop.\n\n\"The clouds cause rain; rain causes clouds. Whose kindly bounty is\nthis? Who has leisure enough to see that such, result is achieved?\n\n\"Wind comes from the north. It blows now east, now west; and now it\nwhirls aloft. Who puffs it forth? Who has leisure enough to be flapping\nit this way or that? I should like to know the cause of all this.\"\n\n We are not told the name of this questioner.\n\nWu Han Chao\n\n An ancient worthy.\n\nsaid, \"Come here, and I will tell you. Above there are the Six\nInfluences\n\n The _Yin_ and _Yang_ principles, wind, rain, darkness, and light; as\n in ch. xi.\n\n Some commentators read, the \"Six Cardinal Points,\" _viz._: N., E., S.,\n W., above, and below.\n\nand the Five Virtues.\n\n Charity, duty to one's neighbour, order, wisdom, and truth.\n\nIf a ruler keeps in harmony with these, his rule is good; if not, it is\nbad. By following the nine chapters of the Lo book,\n\n Containing a mystic revelation of knowledge in the form of a diagram,\n supposed to have been delivered to one of the legendary rulers of\n China more than 2,000 years before the Christian era.\n\nhis rule will be a success and his virtue complete; he will watch over\nthe interests of his people, and all the empire will owe him gratitude.\nThis is to be an eminent ruler.\"\n\n \"A very round answer,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"to a very square question.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTang, a high official of Sung, asked Chuang Tz\u016d about charity. Chuang\nTz\u016d said, \"Tigers and wolves have it.\"\n\n\"How so?\" asked Tang.\n\n\"The natural love between parents and offspring,\" replied Chuang\nTz\u016d,--\"is not that charity?\"\n\nTang then inquired about perfect charity.\n\n\"Perfect charity,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"does not admit of love for the\nindividual.\"\n\n It embraces all men equally. To love one person would imply at least\n the possibility of hating another. See also p. 167, where Lao Tz\u016d\n refutes the doctrine of universal love.\n\n\"Without such love,\" replied Tang, \"it appears to me there would be no\nsuch thing as affection, and without affection no filial piety. Does\nperfect charity not admit of filial piety?\"\n\n\"Not so,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d. \"Perfect charity is the more extensive term.\nConsequently, it was unnecessary to mention filial piety. It was not\nthat filial piety was omitted. It was merely not particularised.\n\n\"A man who travels southwards to Ying,\n\n Capital of the Ch'u State.\n\ncannot see Mount Ming in the north. Why? Because he is too far off.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said that it is easy to be respectfully filial,\nbut difficult to be affectionately filial.\n\n The artificial is easier than the natural.\n\nBut even that is easier than to become unconscious of one's natural\nobligations, which is in turn easier than to cause others to be\nunconscious of the operations thereof.\n\n _I.e._ to be filial without letting others be conscious of the fact.\n\nSimilarly, this is easier than to become altogether unconscious of the\nworld, which again is easier than to cause the world to be unconscious\nof one's influence upon it.\n\n Such is perfect charity, which operates without letting its operation\n be known.\n\n\"True virtue does nothing, yet it leaves Yao and Shun far behind. Its\ngood influence extends to ten thousand generations, yet no man knoweth\nit to exist. What boots it then to sigh after charity and duty to one's\nneighbour?\n\n\"Filial piety, fraternal love, charity, duty to one's neighbour,\nloyalty, truth, chastity, and honesty,--these are all studied efforts,\ndesigned to aid the development of virtue. They are only parts of a\nwhole.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, 'Perfect honour includes all the honour a\ncountry can give. Perfect wealth includes all the wealth a country can\ngive. Perfect ambition includes all the reputation one can desire.' And\nby parity of reasoning, TAO does not admit of sub-division.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPei M\u00ean Ch'\u00eang\n\n Of whom nothing is recorded.\n\nsaid to the Yellow Emperor, \"When your Majesty played the _Han-ch'ih_\n\n Name of a piece of music, the meaning of which is not known.\n\nin the wilds of Tung-t'ing, the first time I heard it I was afraid,\nthe second time I was amazed, and the last time I was confused,\nspeechless, overwhelmed.\"\n\n\"You are not far from the truth,\" replied the Yellow Emperor. \"I played\nas a man, drawing inspiration from God. The execution was punctilious,\nthe expression sublime.\n\n\"Perfect music first shapes itself according to a human standard; then\nit follows the lines of the divine; then it proceeds in harmony with\nthe five virtues; then it passes into spontaneity. The four seasons are\nthen blended, and all creation is brought into accord. As the seasons\ncome forth in turn, so are all things produced. Now fulness, now decay,\nnow soft and loud in turn, now clear, now muffled, the harmony of _Yin_\nand _Yang_. Like a flash was the sound which roused you as the insect\nworld is roused,\n\n By the warm breath of spring.\n\nfollowed by a thundering peal, without end and without beginning,\nnow dying, now living, now sinking, now rising, on and on without a\nmoment's break. And so you were afraid.\n\n\"When I played again, it was the harmony of the _Yin_ and _Yang_,\nlighted by the glory of sun and moon; now broken, now prolonged, now\ngentle, now severe, in one unbroken, unfathomable volume of sound.\nFilling valley and gorge, stopping the ears and dominating the senses,\nadapting itself to the capacities of things,--the sound whirled around\non all sides, with shrill note and clear. The spirits of darkness kept\nto their domain. Sun, moon, and stars, pursued their appointed course.\nWhen the melody was exhausted I stopped; if the melody did not stop, I\nwent on.\n\n The music was naturally what it was, independently of the player.\n\nYou would have sympathised, but you could not understand. You would\nhave looked, but you could not see. You would have pursued, but you\ncould not overtake. You stood dazed in the middle of the wilderness,\nleaning against a tree and crooning, your eye conscious of exhausted\nvision, your strength failing for the pursuit, and so unable to\novertake me. Your frame was but an empty shell. You were completely at\na loss, and so you were amazed.\n\n\"Then I played in sounds which produce no amazement, the melodious\nlaw of spontaneity, springing forth like nature's countless buds, in\nmanifold but formless joy, as though poured forth to the dregs, in deep\nbut soundless bass. Beginning nowhere, the melody rested in void; some\nwould say dead, others alive, others real, others ornamental, as it\nscattered itself on all sides in never to be anticipated chords.\n\n\"The wondering world enquires of the Sage. He is in relation with its\nvariations and follows the same eternal law.\n\n\"When no machinery is set in motion, and yet the instrumentation is\ncomplete, this is the music of God. The mind awakes to its enjoyment\nwithout waiting to be called. Accordingly, Yu Piao praised it, saying,\n'Listening you cannot hear its sound; gazing you cannot see its form.\n\n Yu Piao is said to have been one of the pre-historic rulers of China.\n Readers of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_ (ch. xiv) will here find another nail\n for the coffin of that egregious fraud. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_,\n p. 14. Also ch. xxii of this work.\n\nIt fills heaven and earth. It embraces the six cardinal points.'\nNow you desired to listen to it, but you were not able to grasp its\nexistence. And so you were confused.\n\n\"My music first induced fear; and as a consequence, respect. I then\nadded amazement, by which you were isolated.\n\n From consciousness of your surroundings.\n\nAnd lastly, confusion; for confusion means absence of sense, and\nabsence of sense means TAO, and TAO means absorption therein.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius travelled west to the Wei State, Yen Y\u00fcan\n\n The \"John\" among the disciples of Confucius. He closed a pure and\n gentle life at the early age of 32, to the inexpressible grief of the\n Sage.\n\nasked Shih Chin,\n\n Chief musician of the Lu State.\n\nsaying, \"What think you of my Master?\"\n\n\"Alas!\" replied Shih Chin, \"he is not a success.\"\n\n\"How so?\" enquired Yen Y\u00fcan.\n\n\"Before the straw dog has been offered in sacrifice,\" replied Shih\nChin, \"it is kept in a box, wrapped up in an embroidered cloth, and\nthe augur fasts before using it. But when it has once been offered up,\npassers-by trample over its body, and fuel-gatherers pick it up for\nburning. Then, if any one should take it, and again putting it in a box\nand wrapping it up in an embroidered cloth, watch and sleep alongside,\nhe would not only dream, but have nightmare into the bargain.\n\n The thing being uncanny. From which it would appear that the use of\n the straw dog was to induce dreams of future events.\n\n\"Now your Master has been thus treating the ancients, who are like\nthe dog which has already been offered in sacrifice. He causes his\ndisciples to watch and sleep alongside of them. Consequently, his tree\n\n Beneath which he used to teach.\n\nhas been cut down in Sung; they will have none of him in Wei; in fact,\nhis chances among the Shangs and the Chous are exhausted. Is not this\nthe dream? And then to be surrounded by the Ch'\u00eans and the Ts'ais,\nseven days without food, death staring him in the face,--is not this\nthe nightmare?\n\n\"For travelling by water there is nothing like a boat. For travelling\nby land there is nothing like a cart. This because a boat moves readily\nin water; but were you to try to push it on land you would never\nsucceed in making it go.\n\n Be in harmony with your surroundings.\n\nNow ancient and modern times may be likened unto water and land; Chou\nand Lu to the boat and the cart. To try to make the customs of Chou\nsucceed in Lu, is like pushing a boat on land: great trouble and no\nresult, except certain injury to oneself. Your Master has not yet\nlearnt the doctrine of non-angularity, of self-adaptation to externals.\n\n\"Have you never seen a well-sweep? You pull it, and down it comes. You\nrelease it, and up it goes. It is the man who pulls the well-sweep, and\nnot the well-sweep which pulls the man; so that both in coming down and\ngoing up, it does not run counter to the wishes of the man. And so it\nwas that the ceremonial and obligations and laws of the Three Emperors\nand Five Rulers did not aim at uniformity of application but at good\ngovernment of the empire. Their ceremonial, obligations, laws, etc.,\nwere like the cherry-apple, the pear, the orange, and the pumelo,--all\ndiffering in flavour but each palatable. They changed with the changing\nseason.\n\n\"Dress up a monkey in the robes of Chou Kung,\n\n See ch. iv.\n\nand it will not be happy until they are torn to shreds. And the\ndifference between past and present is much the same as the difference\nbetween Chou Kung and a monkey.\n\n\"When Hsi Shih\n\n A famous beauty of old.\n\nwas distressed in mind, she knitted her brows. An ugly woman of the\nvillage, seeing how beautiful she looked, went home, and having worked\nherself into a fit frame of mind, knitted her brows. The result was\nthat the rich people of the place barred up their doors and would not\ncome out, while the poor people took their wives and children and\ndeparted elsewhere. That woman saw the beauty of knitted brows, but she\ndid not see wherein the beauty of knitted brows lay.\n\n In suitability to the individual.\n\nAlas! your Master is emphatically not a success.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius had lived to the age of fifty-one without hearing TAO, when\nhe went south to P'ei, to see Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"So you have come, Sir, have you? I hear you are\nconsidered a wise man up north. Have you got TAO?\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" answered Confucius.\n\n\"In what direction,\" asked Lao Tz\u016d, \"have you sought for it?\"\n\n\"I sought it for five years,\" replied Confucius, \"in the science of\nnumbers, but did not succeed.\"\n\n\"And then?...\" continued Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Then,\" said Confucius, \"I spent twelve years seeking for it in the\ndoctrine of the _Yin_ and _Yang_, also without success.\"\n\n\"Just so,\" rejoined Lao Tz\u016d. \"Were TAO something which could be\npresented, there is no man but would present it to his sovereign,\nor to his parents. Could it be imparted or given, there is no man\nbut would impart it to his brother or give it to his child. But this\nis impossible, for the following reason. Unless there is a suitable\nendowment within, TAO will not abide. Unless there is outward\ncorrectness, TAO will not operate. The external being unfitted for the\nimpression of the internal, the true Sage does not seek to imprint. The\ninternal being unfitted for the reception of the external, the true\nSage does not seek to receive.\n\n Attempting neither to teach nor to learn.\n\n\"Reputation is public property; you may not appropriate it in excess.\nCharity and duty to one's neighbour are as caravanserais established by\nwise rulers of old; you may stop there one night, but not for long, or\nyou will incur reproach.\n\n\"The perfect men of old took their road through charity, stopping\na night with duty to their neighbour, on their way to ramble in\ntranscendental space. Feeding on the produce of non-cultivation, and\nestablishing themselves in the domain of no obligations, they enjoyed\ntheir transcendental inaction. Their food was ready to hand; and\nbeing under no obligations to others, they did not put any one under\nobligation to themselves. The ancients called this the outward visible\nsign of an inward and spiritual grace.\n\n\"Those who make wealth their all in all, cannot bear loss of money.\nThose who make distinction their all in all, cannot bear loss of fame.\nThose who affect power will not place authority in the hands of others.\nAnxious while holding, distressed if losing, yet never taking warning\nfrom the past and seeing the folly of their pursuit,--such men are the\naccursed of God.\n\n\"Resentment, gratitude, taking, giving, censure of self, instruction\nof others, power of life and death,--these eight are the instruments\nof right; but only he who can adapt himself to the vicissitudes of\nfortune, without being carried away, is fit to use them. Such a one\nis an upright man among the upright. And he whose heart is not so\nconstituted,--the door of divine intelligence is not yet opened for\nhim.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius visited Lao Tz\u016d, and spoke of charity and duty to one's\nneighbour.\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"The chaff from winnowing will blind a man's eyes so\nthat he cannot tell the points of the compass. Mosquitoes will keep a\nman awake all night with their biting. And just in the same way this\ntalk of charity and duty to one's neighbour drives me nearly crazy.\nSir! strive to keep the world to its own original simplicity. And as\nthe wind bloweth where it listeth, so let Virtue establish itself.\nWherefore such undue energy, as though searching for a fugitive with a\nbig drum?\n\n See p. 167.\n\n\"The snow-goose is white without a daily bath. The raven is black\nwithout daily colouring itself. The original simplicity of black and of\nwhite is beyond the reach of argument. The vista of fame and reputation\nis not worthy of enlargement. When the pond dries up and the fishes are\nleft upon dry ground, to moisten them with the breath or to damp them\nwith a little spittle is not to be compared with leaving them in the\nfirst instance in their native rivers and lakes.\"\n\n Repeated from ch. vi.\n\nOn returning from this visit to Lao Tz\u016d, Confucius did not speak for\nthree days. A disciple asked him, saying, \"Master, when you saw Lao\nTz\u016d, in what direction did you admonish him?\"\n\n\"I saw a Dragon,\" replied Confucius, \"--a Dragon which by convergence\nshowed a body, by radiation became colour, and riding upon the clouds\nof heaven, nourished the two Principles of Creation. My mouth was\nagape: I could not shut it. How then do you think I was going to\nadmonish Lao Tz\u016d?\"\n\nUpon this Tz\u016d Kung remarked, \"Ha! then a man can sit corpse-like\nmanifesting his dragon-power around, his thunder-voice heard though\nprofound silence reigns, his movements like those of the universe? I\ntoo would go and see him.\"\n\n More repetition, this time from ch. xi.\n\nSo on the strength of his connection with Confucius, Tz\u016d Kung obtained\nan interview. Lao Tz\u016d received him distantly and with dignity, saying\nin a low voice, \"I am old, Sir. What injunctions may you have to give\nme?\"\n\n\"The administration of the Three Kings and of the Five Rulers,\" replied\nTz\u016d Kung, \"was not uniform; but their reputation has been identical.\nHow then, Sir, is it that you do not regard them as Sages?\"\n\n\"Come nearer, my son,\" said Lao Tz\u016d. \"What mean you by _not uniform_?\"\n\n\"Yao handed over the empire to Shun,\" replied Tz\u016d Kung; \"and Shun to\nY\u00fc. Y\u00fc employed labour, and T'ang employed troops. W\u00ean Wang followed\nChou Hsin and did not venture to oppose him. Wu Wang opposed him and\nwould not follow. Therefore I said _not uniform_.\"\n\n\"Come nearer, my son,\" said Lao Tz\u016d, \"and I will tell you about the\nThree Kings and the Five Rulers.\n\n\"The Yellow Emperor's administration caused the affections of the\npeople to be catholic. Nobody wept for the death of his parents, and\nnobody found fault.\n\n All loved each other equally.\n\n\"The administration of Yao diverted the affections of the people into\nparticular channels. If a man slew the slayer of his parents, nobody\nblamed him.\n\n Filial affection began to predominate.\n\n\"The administration of Shun brought a spirit of rivalry among the\npeople. Children were born after ten months' gestation; when five\nmonths old, they could speak; and ere they were three years of age,\n\n Including gestation.\n\ncould already tell one person from another. And so early death came\ninto the world.\n\n A veritable anti-climax, hopelessly unworthy of either Lao Tz\u016d or\n Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"The administration of Y\u00fc wrought a change in the hearts of the people.\nIndividuality prevailed, and force was called into play. Killing\nrobbers was not accounted murder; and throughout the empire people\nbecame sub-divided into classes. There was great alarm on all sides,\nand the Confucianists and the Mihists arose. At first the relationships\nwere duly observed; but what about the women of to-day?\n\n Meaning that in the olden days men could not marry before thirty,\n women before twenty, whereas now the State is cursed with early\n marriages. Or, according to Dr. Legge's view of a famous passage in\n the Book of Rites, that formerly it was shameful in men and women not\n to be married at the age of thirty and twenty, respectively, whereas\n now the State is cursed with late marriages.\n\n\"Let me tell you. The government of the Three Kings and Five Rulers was\nso only in name. In reality, it was utter confusion. The wisdom of the\nThree Kings was opposed to the brilliancy of the sun and moon above,\ndestructive of the energy of land and water below, and subversive of\nthe influence of the four seasons between.\n\n More repetition. See ch. x. _ad fin._\n\nThat wisdom is more harmful than a hornet's tail, preventing the very\nanimals from putting themselves into due relation with the conditions\nof their existence--and yet they call themselves Sages! Is not their\nshamelessness shameful indeed?\"\n\nAt this Tz\u016d Kung became ill at ease.\n\n The whole of the above episode may without hesitation be written off\n as a feeble forgery.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius said to Lao Tz\u016d, \"I arranged the Six Canons of Poetry,\nHistory, Rites, Music, Changes, and Spring and Autumn. I spent much\ntime over them, and I am well acquainted with their purport. I used\nthem in admonishing seventy-two rulers, by discourses on the wisdom of\nancient sovereigns and illustrations from the lives of Chou and Shao.\nYet not one ruler has in any way adopted my suggestions. Alas that\nman should be so difficult to persuade, and wisdom so difficult to\nillustrate.\"\n\n\"It is well for you, Sir,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"that you did not come\nacross any real ruler of mankind. Your Six Canons are but the worn-out\nfoot-prints of ancient Sages. And what are foot-prints? Why, the words\nyou now utter are as it were foot-prints. Foot-prints are made by the\nshoe: they are not the shoe itself.\n\n\"Fish-hawks gaze at each other with motionless eyes,--and their young\nare produced. The male of a certain insect chirps with the wind while\nthe female chirps against it,--and their offspring is produced. There\nis another animal which, being an hermaphrodite, produces its own\noffspring. Nature cannot be changed. Destiny cannot be altered. Time\ncannot stop. TAO cannot be obstructed. Once attain to TAO, and there is\nnothing which you cannot accomplish. Without it, there is nothing which\nyou can accomplish.\"\n\nFor three months after this Confucius did not leave his house. Then he\nagain visited Lao Tz\u016d and said, \"I have attained. Birds lay eggs, fish\nspawn, insects undergo metamorphosis, and mammals suckle their young.\n\n _Lit._ \"when a younger brother comes, the elder cries,\"--from which\n may be inferred the meaning in the translation.\n\n The whole sentence signifies that every development proceeds according\n to fixed laws. It is useless to try to _do_ anything. Nature is always\n self-similar.\n\nFor a long time I have not been enlightened. And he who is not\nenlightened himself,--how should he enlighten others?\"\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"Ch'iu, you have attained!\"\n\n \"The style of this chapter,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"gives it a foremost\n place among the 'outside' essays of Chuang Tz\u016d. But the insertion\n of that dialogue between Confucius and Lao Tz\u016d on charity and duty\n towards one's neighbour is like eking out a sable robe with a dog's\n tail.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSELF-CONCEIT.\n\n _Argument_:--Would-be sages--The vanity of effort--Method of the true\n Sage--Passivity the key--The soul and mortality--Re-absorption into\n the immortal.\n\n\nSelf-conceit and assurance, which lead men to quit society, and be\ndifferent from their fellows, to indulge in tall talk and abuse of\nothers,--these are nothing more than personal over-estimation, the\naffectation of recluses and those who have done with the world and have\nclosed their hearts to mundane influences.\n\nPreaching of charity and duty to one's neighbour, of loyalty and truth,\nof respect, of economy, and of humility,--this is but moral culture,\naffected by would-be pacificators and teachers of mankind, and by\nscholars at home or abroad.\n\nPreaching of meritorious services, of fame, of ceremonial between\nsovereign and minister, of due relationship between upper and lower\nclasses,--this is mere government, affected by courtiers or patriots\nwho strive to extend the boundaries of their own State and to swallow\nup the territory of others.\n\nLiving in marshes or in wildernesses, and passing one's days in\nfishing--this is mere inaction, affected by wanderers who have turned\ntheir backs upon the world and have nothing better to do.\n\nExhaling and inhaling,\n\n The \"breathing\" theory. See ch. vi., _ad init._\n\ngetting rid of the old and assimilating the new, stretching like a bear\nand craning like a bird,--\n\n As these creatures are supposed to do in order to get good air into\n their systems.\n\n--this is but valetudinarianism, affected by professors of hygiene and\nthose who try to preserve the body to the age of P'\u00eang Tsu.\n\n See ch. i.\n\nBut in self-esteem without self-conceit, in moral culture without\ncharity and duty to one's neighbour, in government without rank and\nfame, in retirement without solitude, in health without hygiene,--there\nwe have oblivion absolute coupled with possession of all things; an\ninfinite calm which becomes an object to be attained by all.\n\nSuch is the TAO of the universe, such is the virtue of the Sage.\nWherefore it has been said, \"In tranquillity, in stillness, in the\nunconditioned, in inaction, we find the levels of the universe, the\nvery constitution of TAO.\"\n\n Almost verbatim from ch. xiii, p. 158, where the passage appears as\n part of Chuang Tz\u016d's own text, and not as a quotation from any other\n author.\n\nWherefore it has been said, \"The Sage is a negative quantity, and is\nconsequently in a state of passivity. Being passive he is in a state of\nrepose. And where passivity and repose are, there sorrow and anxiety do\nnot enter, and foul influences do not collect. And thus his virtue is\ncomplete and his spirituality unimpaired.\"\n\nWherefore it has been said, \"The birth of the Sage is the will of God;\nhis death is but a modification of existence. In repose, he shares\nthe passivity of the _Yin_; in action, the energy of the _Yang_. He\nwill have nothing to do with happiness, and so has nothing to do with\nmisfortune.\n\n Each of which proceeds from the other in an endless chain.\n\nHe must be influenced ere he will respond. He must be urged ere he will\nmove. He must be compelled ere he will arise. Ignoring the future and\nthe past, he resigns himself to the laws of God.\n\n\"And therefore no calamity comes upon him, nothing injures him, no man\nis against him, no spirit punishes him. He floats through life to rest\nin death. He has no anxieties; he makes no plans. His honour does not\nmake him illustrious. His good faith reflects no credit upon himself.\n\n It is all God's, as part of the great scheme.\n\nHis sleep is dreamless, his awaking without pain. His spirituality is\npure,\n\n Without desires.\n\nand his soul vigorous. Thus unconditioned and in repose, he is a\npartaker of the virtue of God.\"\n\nWherefore it has been said, \"Sorrow and happiness are the heresies\n\n Evil influences.\n\nof virtue; joy and anger lead astray from TAO; love and hate cause the\nloss of virtue. The heart unconscious of sorrow and happiness,--that is\nperfect virtue. ONE, without change,--that is perfect repose. Without\nany obstruction,--that is the perfection of the unconditioned. Holding\nno relations with the external world,--that is perfection of the\nnegative state. Without blemish of any kind,--that is the perfection of\npurity.\"\n\nWherefore it has been said, \"If the body toils without rest, it dies.\nIf the mind is employed without ceasing, it becomes wearied; and being\nwearied, its power is gone.\"\n\nPure water is by nature clear. If untouched, it is smooth. If dammed,\nit will not flow, neither will it be clear. It is an emblem of the\nvirtue of God. Wherefore it has been said, \"Pure, without admixture;\nuniform, without change; negative, without action; moved, only at the\nwill of God;--such would be the spirituality nourished according to\nTAO.\"\n\nThose who possess blades from Kan\n\n The Wu State.\n\nor Y\u00fceh, keep them carefully in their scabbards, and do not venture to\nuse them. For they are precious in the extreme. The spirit spreads\nforth on all sides: there is no point to which it does not reach,\nattaining heaven above, embracing earth beneath. Influencing all\ncreation, its form cannot be portrayed. Its name is then _Of-God_.\n\n Such is man's spiritual existence before he is born into the world of\n mortals.\n\nThe TAO of the pure and simple consists in preserving spirituality. He\nwho preserves his spirituality and loses it not, becomes one with that\nspirituality. And through that unity the spirit operates freely, and\ncomes into due relationship with God.\n\n Returning after its brief career on earth, to the eternity whence it\n came.\n\nA vulgar saying has it, \"The masses value money; honest men, fame;\nvirtuous men, resolution; and Sages, the soul.\"\n\nThus, the pure is that in which there is nothing mixed; the simple is\nthat which implies no injury to the spirituality. And he who can keep\nthe pure and simple within himself,--he is a divine man.\n\n It requires but scant acumen to relegate this chapter to the limbo of\n forgeries. Lin Hsi Chung thinks it is probably from the hand of the\n unknown artist who is responsible for ch. xiii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nEXERCISE OF FACULTIES.\n\n _Argument_:--TAO unattainable by mundane arts--To be reached through\n repose--The world's infancy--The reign of peace--Government sets\n in--TAO declines--The true Sages of old--Their purity of aim.\n\n\nThose who exercise their faculties in mere worldly studies, hoping\nthereby to revert to their original condition; and those who sink\ntheir aspirations in mundane thoughts, hoping thereby to reach\nenlightenment;--these are the dullards of the earth.\n\nThe ancients, in cultivating TAO, begat knowledge out of repose. When\nborn, this knowledge was not applied to any purpose; and so it may be\nsaid that out of knowledge they begat repose. Knowledge and repose thus\nmutually producing each other, harmony and order were developed. Virtue\nis harmony; TAO is order.\n\nVirtue all-embracing,--hence charity. TAO all-influencing,--hence\nduty to one's neighbour. From the establishment of these two springs\nloyalty. Then comes music, an expression of inward purity and truth;\nfollowed by ceremonial, or sincerity expressed in ornamental guise. If\nmusic and ceremonial are ill regulated, the empire is plunged into\nconfusion. And to attempt to correct others while one's own virtue is\nclouded, is to set one's own virtue a task for which it is inadequate,\nthe result being that the natural constitution of the object will\nsuffer.\n\nPrimeval man enjoyed perfect tranquillity throughout life. In his day,\nthe Positive and Negative principles were peacefully united; spiritual\nbeings gave no trouble; the four seasons followed in due order; nothing\nsuffered any injury; death was unknown; men had knowledge, but no\noccasion to use it. This may be called perfection of unity.\n\n All things, all conditions, were ONE.\n\nAt that period, nothing was ever made so; but everything was so.\n\nBy and by, virtue declined. Sui Jen\n\n The Prometheus of China.\n\nand Fu Hsi\n\n See ch. vi.\n\nruled the empire. There was still natural adaptation,\n\n Of man to his surroundings.\n\nbut the unity was gone.\n\n The tide of coercion had set in.\n\nA further decline in virtue. Sh\u00ean Nung\n\n The inventor of agriculture.\n\nand Huang Ti\n\n The Yellow Emperor. See ch. vi.\n\nruled the empire. There was peace, but the natural adaptation was gone.\n\nAgain virtue declined. Yao and Shun ruled the empire. Systems of\ngovernment and moral reform were introduced. Man's original integrity\nwas scattered. Goodness led him astray from TAO;\n\n But for goodness, evil could not exist.\n\nhis actions imperilled his virtue.\n\n As opposed to inaction.\n\nThen he discarded natural instinct and took up with the intellectual.\nMind was pitted against mind, but it was impossible thus to settle\nthe empire. So art and learning were added. But art obliterated\nthe original constitution, and learning overwhelmed mind; upon\nwhich confusion set in, and man was unable to revert to his natural\ninstincts, to the condition in which he at first existed.\n\nThus it may be said that the world destroys TAO, and that TAO destroys\nthe world. And the world and TAO thus mutually destroying each other,\nhow can the men of TAO elevate the world, and how can the world elevate\nTAO? TAO cannot elevate the world; neither can the world elevate TAO.\nThough the Sages were not to dwell on mountain and in forest, their\nvirtue would still be hidden;--hidden, but not by themselves.\n\nThose of old who were called retired scholars, were not men who hid\ntheir bodies, or kept back their words, or concealed their wisdom.\nIt was that the age was not suitable for their mission. If the age\nwas suitable and their mission a success over the empire, they simply\neffaced themselves in the unity which prevailed. If the age was\nunsuitable and their mission at failure, they fell back upon their own\nresources and waited. Such is the way to preserve oneself.\n\nThose of old who preserved themselves, did not ornament their knowledge\nwith rhetoric. They did not exhaust the empire with their knowledge.\nThey did not exhaust virtue. They kept quietly to their own spheres,\nand reverted to their natural instincts. What then was left for them to\n_do_?\n\nTAO does not deal with detail. Virtue does not take cognizance of\ntrifles. Trifles injure virtue; detail injures TAO. Wherefore it has\nbeen said, \"Self-reformation is enough.\" He whose happiness is complete\nhas attained his desire.\n\nOf old, attainment of desire did not mean _office_. It meant that\nnothing could be added to the sum of happiness. But now it does mean\noffice, though office is external and is not a part of oneself. That\nwhich is adventitious, comes. Coming, you cannot prevent it; going, you\ncannot arrest it. Therefore, not to look on office as the attainment of\ndesire, and not because of poverty to become a toady, but to be equally\nhappy under all conditions,--this is to be without sorrow.\n\nBut now-a-days, both having and not having\n\n Office.\n\nare causes of unhappiness. From which we may infer that even happiness\nis not exempt from sorrow.\n\n A _reductio ad absurdum_.\n\nWherefore it has been said, \"Those who over-estimate the external and\nlose their natural instincts in worldliness,--these are the people of\ntopsy-turvydom.\"\n\n We are left in the dark as to the authorship of the numerous\n quotations in this and the preceding chapter. It is, however, a point\n of minor importance, neither chapter having the slightest claim to be\n regarded as the genuine work of Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nAUTUMN FLOODS.\n\n _Argument_:--Greatness and smallness always relative--Time and\n space infinite--Abstract dimensions do not exist--Their expression\n is concrete--Terms are not absolute--Like causes produce unlike\n effects--In the unconditioned alone can the absolute exist--The only\n absolute is TAO--Illustrations.\n\n [This chapter is supplementary to chapter ii. It is the most popular\n of all, and has earned for its author the sobriquet of \"Autumn\n Floods.\"]\n\n\nIt was the time of autumn floods. Every stream poured into the river,\nwhich swelled in its turbid course. The banks receded so far from one\nanother that it was impossible to tell a cow from a horse.\n\nThen the Spirit of the River laughed for joy that all the beauty of\nthe earth was gathered to himself. Down with the stream he journeyed\neast, until he reached the ocean. There, looking eastwards and seeing\nno limit to its waves, his countenance changed. And as he gazed over\nthe expanse, he sighed and said to the Spirit of the Ocean, \"A vulgar\nproverb says that he who has heard but part of the truth thinks no one\nequal to himself. And such a one am I.\n\n\"When formerly I heard people detracting from the learning of\nConfucius or underrating the heroism of Poh I,\n\n See ch. vi.\n\nI did not believe. But now that I have looked upon your\ninexhaustibility--alas for me had I not reached your abode, I should\nhave been for ever a laughing-stock to those of comprehensive\nenlightenment!\"\n\n The Spirit of a paltry river learns that the ripple of his rustic\n stream is scarcely the murmur of the world.\n\nTo which the Spirit of the Ocean replied, \"You cannot speak of ocean to\na well-frog,--the creature of a narrower sphere. You cannot speak of\nice to a summer insect,--the creature of a season. You cannot speak of\nTAO to a pedagogue: his scope is too restricted. But now that you have\nemerged from your narrow sphere and have seen the great ocean, you know\nyour own insignificance, and I can speak to you of great principles.\n\n\"There is no body of water beneath the canopy of heaven which is\ngreater than ocean. All streams pour into it without cease, yet it\ndoes not overflow. It is constantly being drained off, yet it is never\nempty. Spring and autumn bring no change; floods and droughts are\nequally unknown. And thus it is immeasurably superior to mere rivers\nand brooks,--though I would not venture to boast on this account, for\nI get my shape from the universe, my vital power from the _Yin_ and\n_Yang_. In the universe I am but as a small stone or a small tree on\na vast mountain. And conscious thus of my own insignificance, what is\nthere of which I can boast?\n\n\"The Four Seas,--are they not to the universe but like puddles in a\nmarsh? The Middle Kingdom,--is it not to the surrounding ocean like a\ntare-seed in a granary? Of all the myriad created things, man is but\none. And of all those who inhabit the land, live on the fruit of the\nearth, and move about in cart and boat, an individual man is but one.\nIs not he, as compared with all creation, but as the tip of a hair upon\na horse's skin?\n\n\"The succession of the Five Rulers, the contentions of the Three Kings,\nthe griefs of the philanthropist, the labours of the administrator, are\nbut this and nothing more.\n\n _Sc._ ambition.\n\nPoh I refused the throne for fame's sake. Confucius discoursed to get\na reputation for learning. This over-estimation of self on their part,\nwas it not very much your own in reference to water?\"\n\n\"Very well,\" replied the Spirit of the River, \"am I then to regard the\nuniverse as great and the tip of a hair as small?\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" said the Spirit of the Ocean. \"Dimensions are limitless;\ntime is endless. Conditions are not invariable; terms are not final.\nThus, the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as\ntoo little, nor the great as too much; for he knows that there is no\nlimit to dimension. He looks back into the past, and does not grieve\nover what is far off, nor rejoice over what is near; for he knows that\ntime is without end.\n\n Space infinite has been illustrated by Locke by a centre from which\n you can proceed for ever in all directions. Time infinite, by a point\n in a line from which you can proceed backwards and forwards for ever.\n\nHe investigates fulness and decay, and does not rejoice if he succeeds,\nnor lament if he fails; for he knows that conditions are not invariable.\n\n Fulness and decay are the inevitable precursors of each other.\n\nHe who clearly apprehends the scheme of existence, does not rejoice\nover life, nor repine at death; for he knows that terms are not final.\n\n Life and death are but links in an endless chain.\n\n\"What man knows is not to be compared with what he does not know.\nThe span of his existence is not to be compared with the span of\nhis non-existence. With the small to strive to exhaust the great,\nnecessarily lands him in confusion, and he does not attain his object.\nHow then should one be able to say that the tip of a hair is the _ne\nplus ultra_ of smallness, or that the universe is the _ne plus ultra_\nof greatness?\"\n\n These predicates are abstract terms, which are not names of real\n existences but of relations, states, or conditions of existences; not\n things, but conditions of things.\n\n\"Dialecticians of the day,\" replied the Spirit of the River, \"all\nsay that the infinitesimally small has no form, and that the\ninfinitesimally great is beyond all measurement. Is that so?\"\n\n\"If we regard greatness as compared with that which is small,\" said\nthe Spirit of the Ocean, \"there is no limit to it; and if we regard\nsmallness as compared with that which is great, it eludes our sight.\n\n That is, if we proceed from the concrete to the abstract. Given\n a large or a small thing, there is no limit to the smallness or\n greatness with which each may be respectively compared.\n\nThe infinitesimal is a subdivision of the small; the colossal is an\nextension of the great. In this sense the two fall into different\ncategories.\n\n\"Both small and great things must equally possess form. The mind\ncannot picture to itself a thing without form, nor conceive a form\nof unlimited dimensions. The greatness of anything may be a topic of\ndiscussion, or the smallness of anything may be mentally realized.\nBut that which can be neither a topic of discussion nor be realized\nmentally, can be neither great nor small.\n\n\"Therefore, the truly great man, although he does not injure others,\ndoes not credit himself with charity and mercy.\n\n These are natural to him.\n\nHe seeks not gain, but does not despise his followers who do. He\nstruggles not for wealth, but does not take credit for letting\nit alone. He asks help from no man, but takes no credit for his\nself-reliance, neither does he despise those who seek preferment\nthrough friends. He acts differently from the vulgar crowd, but takes\nno credit for his exceptionality; nor because others act with the\nmajority does he despise them as hypocrites. The ranks and emoluments\nof the world are to him no cause for joy; its punishments and shame\nno cause for disgrace. He knows that positive and negative cannot be\ndistinguished,\n\n What is positive under certain conditions will be negative under\n others. These terms are in fact identical. See ch. ii.\n\nthat great and small cannot be defined.\n\n They are infinite.\n\n\"I have heard say, the man of TAO has no reputation; perfect virtue\nacquires nothing; the truly great man ignores self;--this is the height\nof self-discipline.\"\n\n Clause 2 of the above quotation appears with variations in ch. xxxviii\n of the _Tao-Te-Ching_. The variations settle the correctness of the\n rendering already given in _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 26.\n\n\"But how then,\" asked the Spirit of the River, \"are the internal\nand external extremes of value and worthlessness, of greatness and\nsmallness, to be determined?\"\n\n With no standard of measurement.\n\n\"From the point of view of TAO,\" replied the Spirit of the Ocean,\n\"there are no such extremes of value or worthlessness. Men\nindividually value themselves and hold others cheap. The world\ncollectively withholds from the individual the right of appraising\nhimself.\n\n\"If we say that a thing is great or small because it is relatively\ngreat or small, then there is nothing in all creation which is not\ngreat, nothing which is not small. To know that the universe is but as\na tare-seed, and that the tip of a hair is a mountain,--this is the\nexpression of relativity.\n\n\"If we say that something exists or does not exist, in deference to the\nfunction it fulfils or does not fulfil, then there is nothing which\ndoes not exist, nothing which does exist. To know that east and west\nare convertible and yet necessary terms,--this is the due adjustment of\nfunctions.\n\n Any given point is of course east in relation to west, west in\n relation to east. Absolutely, it may be said that its westness does\n not exclude its eastness; or, that it is neither east nor west.\n\n\"If we say that anything is good or evil because it is either good or\nevil in our eyes, then there is nothing which is not good, nothing\nwhich is not evil. To know that Yao and Chieh were both good and both\nevil from their opposite points of view,--this is the expression of a\nstandard.\n\n\"Of old Yao abdicated in favour of Shun, and the latter ruled. Kuei\nabdicated in favour of Chih, and the latter failed.\n\n Kuei was a prince of the Yen State, who was humbugged into imitating\n the glorious example of Yao and abdicating in favour of his minister\n Chih. Three short years of power landed the latter in all the horrors\n of a general revolution.\n\nT'ang and Wu\n\n See ch. xii.\n\ngot the empire by fighting. By fighting, Poh Kung lost it.\n\n A revolutionary leader who, on the failure of his scheme, ended his\n life by strangulation. See the _Tso Chuan_, 16th year of Duke Ai.\n\nFrom which it may be seen that the rationale of abdicating or fighting,\nof acting like Yao or like Chieh, must be determined according to the\nopportunity, and may not be regarded as a constant quantity.\n\n\"A battering-ram can knock down a wall, but it cannot repair the breach.\n\n This sentence has sorely puzzled all commentators.\n\nDifferent things are differently applied.\n\n\"Ch'ih-Chi and Hua Liu could travel 1,000 _li_ in one day, but for\ncatching rats they were not equal to a wild cat.\n\n Two of the eight famous steeds of Muh Wang, a semi-historical ruler of\n old.\n\nDifferent animals possess different aptitudes.\n\n\"An owl can catch fleas at night, and see the tip of a hair, but if\nit comes out in the daytime its eyes are so dazzled it cannot see a\nmountain. Different creatures are differently constituted.\n\n\"Thus, as has been said, those who would have right without its\ncorrelative, wrong; or good government without its correlative,\nmisrule,--they do not apprehend the great principles of the universe\nnor the conditions to which all creation is subject. One might as\nwell talk of the existence of heaven without that of earth, or of the\nnegative principle without the positive, which is clearly absurd. Such\npeople, if they do not yield to argument, must be either fools or\nknaves.\n\n\"Rulers have abdicated under different conditions, dynasties have been\ncontinued under different conditions. Those who did not hit off a\nfavourable time and were in opposition to their age,--they were called\nusurpers. Those who did hit off the right time and were in harmony\nwith their age,--they were called patriots. Fair and softly, my River\nfriend; what should you know of value and worthlessness, of great and\nsmall?\"\n\n It is therefore quite unnecessary to teach you where to fix the limits\n of that of which you know nothing.\n\n\"In this case,\" replied the Spirit of the River, \"what am I to do and\nwhat am I not to do? How am I to arrange my declinings and receivings,\nmy takings-hold and my lettings-go?\"\n\n\"From the point of view of TAO,\" said the Spirit of the Ocean, \"value\nand worthlessness are like slopes and plains.\n\n A slope to-day may be a plain to-morrow.\n\nTo consider either as absolutely such would involve great injury to\nTAO. Few and many are like giving and receiving presents. These must\nnot be regarded from one side, or there will be great confusion to TAO.\n\n It would be unfair only to regard, from the receiver's standpoint, the\n amount given. The intention of the giver must also be taken into the\n calculation.\n\nBe discriminating, as the ruler of a State whose administration is\nimpartial. Be dispassionate, as the worshipped deity whose dispensation\nis impartial. Be expansive, like the points of the compass, to whose\nboundlessness no limit is set. Embrace all creation, and none shall be\nmore sheltered than another. This is the unconditioned. And where all\nthings are equal, how can we have the long and the short?\n\n\"TAO is without beginning, without end. Other things are born and die.\nThey are impermanent; and now for better, now for worse, they are\nceaselessly changing form. Past years cannot be recalled: time cannot\nbe arrested. The succession of states is endless; and every end is\nfollowed by a new beginning. Thus it may be said that man's duty to his\nneighbour is embodied in the eternal principles of the universe.\n\n All he has to _do_ is to _be_.\n\n\"The life of man passes by like a galloping horse, changing at every\nturn, at every hour. What should he do, or what should he not do, other\nthan let his decomposition go on?\"\n\n\"If this is the case,\" retorted the Spirit of the River, \"pray what is\nthe value of TAO?\"\n\n\"Those who understand TAO,\" answered the Spirit of the Ocean, \"must\nnecessarily apprehend the eternal principles above mentioned and be\nclear as to their application. Consequently, they do not suffer any\ninjury from without.\n\n They never oppose, but let all things take their course.\n\n\"The man of perfect virtue cannot be burnt by fire, nor drowned in\nwater, nor hurt by frost or sun, nor torn by wild bird or beast. Not\nthat he makes light of these; but that he discriminates between safety\nand danger. Happy under prosperous and adverse circumstances alike,\ncautious as to what he discards and what he accepts;--nothing can harm\nhim.\n\n Plato taught that it was impossible to make a slave of a wise man,\n meaning that the latter by virtue of his mental endowment would rise\n superior to mere physical thrall. \"A wise and just man,\" said he,\n \"could be as happy in a state of slavery as in a state of freedom.\"\n\n\"Therefore it has been said that the natural abides within, the\nartificial without. Virtue abides in the natural. Knowledge of the\naction of the natural and of the artificial has its root in the\nnatural, its development in virtue. And thus, whether in motion or\nat rest, whether in expansion or in contraction, there is always a\nreversion to the essential and to the ultimate.\"\n\n Those eternal principles which embody all human obligations.\n\n\"What do you mean,\" enquired the Spirit of the River, \"by the natural\nand the artificial?\"\n\n\"Horses and oxen,\" answered the Spirit of the Ocean, \"have four feet.\nThat is the natural. Put a halter on a horse's head, a string through a\nbullock's nose,--that is the artificial.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, do not let the artificial obliterate the\nnatural; do not let will obliterate destiny; do not let virtue be\nsacrificed to fame. Diligently observe these precepts without fail, and\nthus you will revert to the divine.\"\n\n If man does not set himself in opposition to God, the result will be\n TAO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe walrus envies the centipede;\n\n Its many legs and nimble gait.\n\nthe centipede envies the snake;\n\n Which moves without legs.\n\nthe snake envies the wind;\n\n Which moves far more quickly even without body.\n\nthe Wind envies the eye;\n\n Which travels even without moving.\n\nthe eye envies the mind;\n\n Which can comprehend the whole universe, past and present alike.\n\nThe walrus said to the centipede, \"I hop about on one leg, but not very\nsuccessfully. How do you manage all these legs you have?\"\n\n \"Walrus\" is of course an analogue. But for the one leg, the\n description given by a commentator of the creature mentioned in the\n text applies with significant exactitude.\n\n\"I don't manage them,\" replied the centipede. \"Have you never seen\nsaliva? When it is ejected, the big drops are the size of pearls, the\nsmall ones like mist. They fall promiscuously on the ground and cannot\nbe counted. And so it is that my mechanism works naturally, without my\nbeing conscious of the fact.\"\n\nThe centipede said to the snake, \"With all my legs I do not move as\nfast as you with none. How is that?\"\n\n\"One's natural mechanism,\" replied the snake, \"is not a thing to be\nchanged. What need have I for legs?\"\n\nThe snake said to the wind, \"I can manage to wriggle along, but I have\na form. Now you come blustering down from the north sea to bluster away\nto the south sea, and you seem to be without form. How is that?\"\n\n\"'Tis true,\" replied the wind, \"that I bluster as you say; but any one\nwho can point at me or kick at me, excels me.\n\n As I cannot do as much to them.\n\nOn the other hand, I can break huge trees and destroy large buildings.\nThat is my strong point. Out of all the small things in which I do not\nexcel I make one great one in which I do excel. And to excel in great\nthings is given only to the Sages.\"\n\n Everything has its own natural qualifications. What is difficult to\n one is easy to another.\n\n No illustration is given of the \"eye\" and \"mind.\" \"'Tis the\n half-length portrait,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"of a beautiful\n girl;\"--which is ingenious if not sound.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius visited K'uang, the men of Sung surrounded him closely.\n\n This is a mistake. \"K'uang\" was in the Wei State, and it was by the\n men of Wei that Confucius was surrounded.\n\nYet he went on playing and singing to his guitar without ceasing.\n\n\"How is it, Sir,\" enquired Tz\u016d Lu, \"that you are so cheerful?\"\n\n See p. 165. Tz\u016d Lu would have been the first to be cheerful himself.\n\n\"Come here,\" replied Confucius, \"and I will tell you. For a long time I\nhave been struggling against failure, but in vain. Fate is against me.\nFor a long time I have been seeking success, but in vain. The hour has\nnot come.\n\n\"In the days of Yao and Shun, no man throughout the empire was a\nfailure, though no one was conscious of the gain. In the days of Chieh\nand Chou, no man throughout the empire was a success, though no one\nwas conscious of the loss. The times and circumstances were adapted\naccordingly.\n\n\"To travel by water and not avoid sea-serpents and dragons,--this is\nthe courage of the fisherman. To travel by land and not avoid the\nrhinoceros and the tiger,--this is the courage of hunters. When bright\nblades cross, to look on death as on life,--this is the courage of the\nhero. To know that failure is fate and that success is opportunity, and\nto remain fearless in great danger,--this is the courage of the Sage.\nYu! rest in this. My destiny is cut out for me.\"\n\nShortly afterwards, the captain of the troops came in and apologised,\nsaying, \"We thought you were Yang Hu; consequently we surrounded you.\nWe find we have made a mistake.\" Whereupon he again apologised and\nretired.\n\n Yang Hu was \"wanted\" by the people of Wei, and it appears that\n Confucius was unfortunately like him in feature. But the whole episode\n is clearly the interpolation of a forger.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nKung Sun Lung\n\n A philosopher of the Chao State, whose treatise on the \"hard and\n white\" etc. is said to be still extant. See ch. ii.\n\nsaid to Mou of Wei, \"When young I studied the TAO of the ancient Sages.\nWhen I grew up I knew all about the practice of charity and duty to\none's neighbour, the identification of like and unlike, the separation\nof hardness and whiteness, and about making the not-so so, and the\nimpossible possible. I vanquished the wisdom of all the philosophies.\nI exhausted all the arguments that were brought against me. I thought\nthat I had indeed reached the goal. But now that I have heard Chuang\nTz\u016d, I am lost in astonishment at his grandeur. I know not whether it\nis in arguing or in knowledge that I am not equal to him. I can no\nlonger open my mouth. May I ask you to impart to me the secret?\"\n\nKung Tz\u016d Mou leant over the table and sighed. Then he looked up to\nheaven, and smiling replied, saying, \"Have you never heard of the frog\nin the old well?--The frog said to the turtle of the eastern sea,\n'Happy indeed am I! I hop on to the rail around the well. I rest in the\nhollow of some broken brick. Swimming, I gather the water under my arms\nand shut my mouth. I plunge into the mud, burying my feet and toes;\nand not one of the cockles, crabs, or tadpoles I see around me are my\nmatch. [Fancy pitting the happiness of an old well against all the\nwater of Ocean!] Why do you not come, Sir, and pay me a visit?'\n\n\"Now the turtle of the eastern sea had not got its left leg down ere\nits right had already stuck fast, so it shrank back and begged to be\nexcused. It then described the sea, saying, 'A thousand _li_ would\nnot measure its breadth, nor a thousand fathoms its depth. In the\ndays of the Great Y\u00fc, there were nine years of flood out of ten; but\nthis did not add to its bulk. In the days of T'ang, there were seven\nyears out of eight of drought; but this did not narrow its span. Not\nto be affected by duration of time, not to be affected by volume of\nwater,--such is the great happiness of the eastern sea.'\n\n To be impervious to external influences.\n\n\"At this the well-frog was considerably astonished, and knew not\nwhat to say next. And for one whose knowledge does not reach to the\npositive-negative domain,\n\n Where contraries are identical.\n\nto attempt to understand Chuang Tz\u016d, is like a mosquito trying to carry\na mountain, or an ant to swim a river,--they cannot succeed. And for\none whose knowledge does not reach to the abstrusest of the abstruse,\nbut is based only upon such victories as you have enumerated,--is not\nhe like the frog in the well?\n\n\"Chuang Tz\u016d moves in the realms below while soaring to heaven above.\nFor him north and south do not exist; the four points are gone; he is\nengulphed in the unfathomable. For him east and west do not exist.\nBeginning with chaos, he has gone back to TAO; and yet you think you\nare going to examine his doctrines and meet them with argument! This is\nlike looking at the sky through a tube, or pointing at the earth with\nan awl,--a small result.\n\n The area covered by an awl's point being infinitesimal.\n\n\"Have you never heard how the youth of Shou-ling went to study at\nHan-tan? They did not learn what they wanted at Han-tan, and forgot\nall they knew before into the bargain, so that they returned home in\ndisgrace. And you, if you do not go away, you will forget all you know,\nand waste your time into the bargain.\"\n\nKung Sun Lung's jaw dropped; his tongue clave to his palate; and he\nslunk away.\n\n Another spurious episode, as is evident from its general weakness,\n not to mention repetitions of figures and allusions taken from other\n chapters.\n\nChuang Tz\u016d was fishing in the P'u when the prince of Ch'u sent two high\nofficials to ask him to take charge of the administration of the Ch'u\nState.\n\nChuang Tz\u016d went on fishing, and without turning his head said, \"I have\nheard that in Ch'u there is a sacred tortoise which has been dead now\nsome three thousand years. And that the prince keeps this tortoise\ncarefully enclosed in a chest on the altar of his ancestral temple. Now\nwould this tortoise rather be dead and have its remains venerated, or\nbe alive and wagging its tail in the mud?\"\n\n\"It would rather be alive,\" replied the two officials, \"and wagging its\ntail in the mud.\"\n\n\"Begone!\" cried Chuang Tz\u016d. \"I too will wag my tail in the mud.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHui Tz\u016d was prime minister in the Liang State. Chuang Tz\u016d went thither\nto visit him.\n\nSome one remarked, \"Chuang Tz\u016d has come. He wants to be minister in\nyour place.\"\n\nThereupon Hui Tz\u016d was afraid, and searched all over the State\n\n With warrants.\n\nfor three days and three nights to find him.\n\nThen Chuang Tz\u016d went to see Hui Tz\u016d, and said, \"In the south there is a\nbird. It is a kind of ph\u0153nix. Do you know it? It started from the south\nsea to fly to the north sea. Except on the _wu-t'ung_ tree,\n\n _Eleococca verrucosa_. Williams.\n\nit would not alight. It would eat nothing but the fruit of the bamboo,\ndrink nothing but the purest spring water. An owl which had got the\nrotten carcass of a rat, looked up as the ph\u0153nix flew by, and screeched.\n\n To warn it off.\n\nAre you not screeching at me over your kingdom of Liang?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d and Hui Tz\u016d had strolled on to the bridge over the Hao, when\nthe former observed, \"See how the minnows are darting about! That is\nthe pleasure of fishes.\"\n\n\"You not being a fish yourself,\" said Hui Tz\u016d, \"how can you possibly\nknow in what consists the pleasure of fishes?\"\n\n\"And you not being I,\" retorted Chuang Tz\u016d, \"how can you know that I do\nnot know?\"\n\n\"If I, not being you, cannot know what you know,\" urged Hui Tz\u016d, \"it\nfollows that you, not being a fish, cannot know in what consists the\npleasure of fishes.\"\n\n\"Let us go back,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"to your original question. You\nasked me how I knew in what consists the pleasure of fishes. Your very\nquestion shows that you knew I knew.\n\n For you asked me _how_ I _knew_.\n\nI knew it from my own feelings on this bridge.\"\n\n From my own feelings above the bridge I infer those of the fishes\n below.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nPERFECT HAPPINESS.\n\n _Argument_:--The uncertainty of human happiness--What the world aims\n at is physical well-being--This is not profitable even to the body--In\n inaction alone is true happiness to be found--Inaction the rule of\n the material universe--Acquiescence in whatever our destiny may bring\n forth--Illustrations.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to chapter vi.]\n\n\nIs perfect happiness to be found on earth, or not? Are there those who\ncan enjoy life, or not? If so, what do they do, what do they affect,\nwhat do they avoid, what do they rest in, accept, reject, like, and\ndislike?\n\nWhat the world esteems comprises wealth, rank, old age, and goodness\nof heart. What it enjoys comprises comfort, rich food, fine clothes,\nbeauty, and music. What it does not esteem comprises poverty, want\nof position, early death, and evil behaviour. What it does not enjoy\ncomprises lack of comfort for the body, lack of rich food for the\npalate, lack of fine clothes for the back, lack of beauty for the\neye, and lack of music for the ear. If men do not get these, they are\ngreatly miserable. Yet from the point of view of our physical frame,\nthis is folly.\n\n Physically we can, and most of us do, get along very well without\n these extras.\n\nWealthy people who toil and moil, putting together more money than they\ncan possibly use,--from the point of view of our physical frame, is not\nthis going beyond the mark?\n\nOfficials of rank who turn night into day in their endeavours to\ncompass the best ends;--from the point of view of our physical frame,\nis not this a divergence?\n\nMan is born to sorrow, and what misery is theirs whose old age with\ndulled faculties only means prolonged sorrow! From the point of view of\nour physical frame, this is going far astray.\n\nPatriots are in the world's opinion admittedly good. Yet their goodness\ndoes not enable them to enjoy life;\n\n Patriotism has been illustrated in China by countless heroic deeds,\n associated always with the death of the hero concerned.\n\nand so I know not whether theirs is veritable goodness or not. If the\nformer, it does not enable them to enjoy life; if the latter, it at any\nrate enables them to cause others to enjoy theirs.\n\nIt has been said, \"If your loyal counsels are not attended to, depart\nquietly without resistance.\" Thus, when Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc\n\n The famous Wu Y\u00fcan, 6th century B.C., whose opposition to his\n sovereign led to his own disgrace and death.\n\nresisted, his physical frame perished; yet had he not resisted, he\nwould not have made his name. Is there then really such a thing as this\ngoodness, or not?\n\nAs to what the world does and the way in which people are happy now, I\nknow not whether such happiness be real happiness or not. The happiness\nof ordinary persons seems to me to consist in slavishly following the\nmajority, as if they could not help it. Yet they all say they are happy.\n\n \"The general average of mankind are not only moderate in intellect,\n but also in inclinations: they have no tastes or wishes strong enough\n to incline them to do anything unusual.\" Mill's _Essay on Liberty_.\n\nBut I cannot say that this is happiness or that it is not happiness. Is\nthere then, after all, such a thing as happiness?\n\nI make true pleasure to consist in _inaction_, which the world regards\nas great pain. Thus it has been said, \"Perfect happiness is the absence\nof happiness;\n\n The non-existence of any state or condition necessarily includes the\n non-existence of its correlate. If we do not have happiness, we are\n at once exempt from misery; and such a negative state is a state of\n \"perfect happiness.\"\n\nperfect renown is the absence of renown.\"\n\nNow in this sublunary world of ours it is impossible to assign positive\nand negative absolutely. Nevertheless, in inaction they can be so\nassigned. Perfect happiness and preservation of life are to be sought\nfor only in inaction.\n\nLet us consider. Heaven does nothing; yet it is clear. Earth does\nnothing; yet it enjoys repose. From the inaction of these two proceed\nall the modifications of things. How vast, how infinite is inaction,\nyet without source! How infinite, how vast, yet without form!\n\nThe endless varieties of things around us all spring from inaction.\nTherefore it has been said, \"Heaven and earth do nothing, yet there is\nnothing which they do not accomplish.\" But among men, who can attain to\ninaction?\n\n Lin Hsi Chung condemns the whole of the above exordium as too closely\n reasoned for Chuang Tz\u016d, with his rugged, elliptical style.\n\nWhen Chuang Tz\u016d's wife died, Hui Tz\u016d went to condole. He found the\nwidower sitting on the ground, singing, with his legs spread out at a\nright angle, and beating time on a bowl.\n\n\"To live with your wife,\" exclaimed Hui Tz\u016d, \"and see your eldest son\ngrow up to be a man, and then not to shed a tear over her corpse,--this\nwould be bad enough. But to drum on a bowl, and sing; surely this is\ngoing too far.\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d. \"When she died, I could not help\nbeing affected by her death. Soon, however, I remembered that she had\nalready existed in a previous state before birth, without form, or even\nsubstance; that while in that unconditioned condition, substance was\nadded to spirit; that this substance then assumed form; and that the\nnext stage was birth. And now, by virtue of a further change, she is\ndead, passing from one phase to another like the sequence of spring,\nsummer, autumn, and winter. And while she is thus lying asleep in\nEternity, for me to go about weeping and wailing would be to proclaim\nmyself ignorant of these natural laws. Therefore I refrain.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA hunchback and a one-legged man were looking at the tombs of departed\nheroes, on the K'un-lun Mountains, where the Yellow Emperor rests.\nSuddenly, ulcers broke out upon their left elbows, of a very loathsome\ndescription.\n\n\"Do you loathe this?\" asked the hunchback.\n\n\"Not I,\" replied the other, \"why should I? Life is a loan with which\nthe borrower does but add more dust and dirt to the sum total of\nexistence. Life and death are as day and night; and while you and I\nstand gazing at the evidences of mortality around us, if the same\nmortality overtakes me, why should I loathe it?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d one day saw an empty skull, bleached, but still preserving\nits shape. Striking it with his riding whip, he said, \"Wert thou once\nsome ambitious citizen whose inordinate yearnings brought him to this\npass?--some statesman who plunged his country in ruin and perished in\nthe fray?--some wretch who left behind him a legacy of shame?--some\nbeggar who died in the pangs of hunger and cold? Or didst thou reach\nthis state by the natural course of old age?\"\n\nWhen he had finished speaking, he took the skull, and placing it under\nhis head as a pillow, went to sleep. In the night, he dreamt that the\nskull appeared to him and said, \"You speak well, Sir; but all you say\nhas reference to the life of mortals, and to mortal troubles. In death\nthere are none of these. Would you like to hear about death?\"\n\nChuang Tz\u016d having replied in the affirmative, the skull began:--\"In\ndeath, there is no sovereign above, and no subject below. The workings\nof the four seasons are unknown. Our existences are bounded only by\neternity. The happiness of a king among men cannot exceed that which we\nenjoy.\"\n\nChuang Tz\u016d, however, was not convinced, and said, \"Were I to prevail\nupon God to allow your body to be born again, and your bones and flesh\nto be renewed, so that you could return to your parents, to your wife,\nand to the friends of your youth,--would you be willing?\"\n\nAt this, the skull opened its eyes wide and knitted its brows and said,\n\"How should I cast aside happiness greater than that of a king, and\nmingle once again in the toils and troubles of mortality?\"\n\n Reminding us strangely of _Hamlet_.\n\nWhen Yen Y\u00fcan\n\n See p. 179.\n\nwent eastwards to the Ch'i State, Confucius was sad. Tz\u016d Kung arose and\nsaid, \"Is it, Sir, because Hui\n\n Yen Y\u00fcan's personal name.\n\nhas gone east to Ch'i that you are sad?\"\n\n\"A good question,\" replied Confucius. \"There is a saying by Kuan Chung\n\n Prime Minister to Duke Huan of the Ch'i State, 7th century B.C.\n\nof old which I highly esteem: 'Small bags won't hold big things; short\nropes won't reach down deep wells.' Thus, destiny is a pre-arrangement,\njust as form has its limitations. From neither, to neither, can you\neither take away or add. And I fear lest Hui, on his visit to the\nprince of Ch'i, should preach the Tao of Yao and Shun, and dwell on\nthe words of Sui Jen and Sh\u00ean Nung. The prince will then search within\nhimself, but will not find. And not finding, he will doubt. And when a\nman doubts, he will kill.\n\n _Lit._ \"he will die.\" But the verb \"to die\" is often used in the sense\n of \"to make to die;\" and this seems to be the only available sense\n here.\n\n\"Besides, have you not heard that of old when a sea-bird alighted\noutside the capital of Lu, the prince went out to receive it, and gave\nit wine in the temple, and had the _Chiu Shao_\n\n Music composed by the legendary Emperor Shun.\n\nplayed to amuse it, and a bullock slaughtered to feed it? But the bird\nwas dazed and too timid to eat or drink anything; and in three days it\nwas dead. This was treating the bird like oneself, and not as a bird\nwould treat a bird. Had he treated it as a bird would have treated a\nbird, he would have put it to roost in a deep forest, to wander over a\nplain, to swim in a river or lake, to feed upon fish, to fly in order,\nand to settle leisurely. When the bird was already terrified at human\nvoices, fancy adding music! Play the _Hsien Ch'ih_\n\n Music of the Yellow Emperor.\n\nor the _Chiu Shao_ in the wilds of Tung-t'ing, and birds will fly away,\nbeasts will take themselves off, and fishes will dive down below. But\nmen will collect to hear.\n\n See p. 244.\n\n\"Water, which is life to fishes, is death to man. Being differently\nconstituted, their likes and dislikes are different. Therefore the\nSages of the past favoured not uniformity of skill or of occupation.\nReputation was commensurate with reality; means were adapted to the\nend. This was called a due relationship with others coupled with\nadvantage to oneself.\"\n\n Several sentences of the above are clearly in imitation of parts of\n ch. ii. The whole episode is beyond doubt a forgery.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLieh Tz\u016d, being on a journey, was eating by the roadside, when he saw\nan old skull. Plucking a blade of grass, he pointed at it and said,\n\"Only you and I know that there is no such thing as life and no such\nthing as death.\n\n _Lit._ \"that you have never died nor lived.\"\n\nAre you really at peace? Or am I really happy?\n\n Who can say whether what we call death may not after all be life, and\n life death?\n\n\"Certain germs, falling upon water, become duckweed. When they reach\nthe junction of the land and the water, they become lichen. Spreading\nup the bank, they become the dog-tooth violet. Reaching rich soil, they\nbecome _wu-tsu_, the root of which becomes grubs, while the leaves\ncomes from butterflies, or _hs\u00fc_. These are changed into insects,\nborn in the chimney corner, which look like skeletons. Their name is\n_ch'\u00fc-to_. After a thousand days, the _ch'\u00fc-to_ becomes a bird, called\n_Kan-y\u00fc-ku_, the spittle of which becomes the _ss\u016d-mi_. The _ss\u016d-mi_\nbecomes a wine fly, and that comes from an _i-lu_. The _huang-k'uang_\nproduces the _chiu-yu_ and the _mou-jui_ produces the glow-worm.\nThe _yang-ch'i_ grafted to an old bamboo which has for a long time\nput forth no shoots, produces the _ch'ing-ning_, which produces the\nleopard, which produces the horse, which produces man.\n\n\"Then man goes back into the great Scheme, from which all things come\nand to which all things return.\"\n\n Such is the eternal round, marked by the stages which we call life and\n death.\n\n Many of the names in the above paragraph have not been identified even\n by Chinese commentators. On all counts then they may safely be left\n where they are.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nTHE SECRET OF LIFE.\n\n _Argument_:--The soul is from God--Man's body its vehicle--The soul\n quickening the body is life--Care of the internal and of the external\n must be simultaneous--In due nourishment of both is TAO.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to chapter iii.]\n\n\nThose who understand the conditions of life devote no attention\nto things which life cannot accomplish. Those who understand the\nconditions of destiny devote no attention to things over which\nknowledge has no control.\n\nFor the due nourishment of our physical frames, certain things are\nneedful. Yet where such things abound, the physical frame is not always\nnourished. For the preservation of life it is necessary that there\nshould be no abandonment of the physical frame. Yet where the physical\nframe is not abandoned, life does not always remain.\n\nLife comes, and cannot be declined. It goes, and cannot be stopped.\nBut alas! the world thinks that to nourish the frame is enough to keep\nlife. And if indeed it is not enough, what then is the world to do?\n\nAlthough not enough, it must still be done. It cannot be neglected. For\nif one is to neglect the physical frame, better far to retire at once\nfrom the world. By renouncing the world, one gets rid of the cares\nof the world. The result is a natural level, which is equivalent to a\nre-birth. And he who is re-born is near.\n\n To TAO.\n\nBut what inducement is there to renounce the affairs of men, to become\nindifferent to life?--In the first case, the physical body suffers no\nwear and tear; in the second, the vitality is left unharmed. And he\nwhose physical frame is perfect and whose vitality is in its original\npurity,--he is one with God.\n\n Mens sana in corpore sano.\n\nHeaven and earth are the father and mother of all things. When they\nunite, the result is shape. When they disperse, the original condition\nis renewed.\n\n As in the case of ordinary mortals.\n\nBut if body and vitality are both perfect, this state is called _fit\nfor translation_.\n\n In the Biblical sense, as applied to Enoch.\n\nSuch perfection of vitality goes back to the minister of God.\n\n \"Vitality\" is the subtle essence, the immaterial informing principle\n which, united with matter, exhibits the phenomenon of life. The term\n has already occurred in ch. xi.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLieh Tz\u016d asked Kuan Yin,\n\n A sage who by some is said to have flourished five or six hundred\n years before Lieh Tz\u016d; by others, to have been an immediate disciple\n of Lao Tz\u016d, and to have been entrusted by him with the publication of\n the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n\nsaying, \"The perfect man can walk through solid bodies without\nobstruction. He can pass through fire without being burnt. He can scale\nthe highest heights without fear. How does he bring himself to this?\"\n\n\"It is because he is in a condition of absolute purity,\" replied Kuan\nYin. \"It is not cunning which enables him to dare such feats. Be\nseated, and I will tell you.\n\n\"All that has form, sound, and colour, may be classed under the head\n_thing_. Man differs so much from the rest, and stands at the head of\nall things, simply because the latter are but what they appear and\nnothing more. But man can attain to formlessness and vanquish death.\nAnd with that which is in possession of the eternal, how can mere\nthings compare?\n\n\"Man may rest in the eternal fitness; he may abide in the everlasting;\nand roam from the beginning to the end of all creation. He may bring\nhis nature to a condition of ONE; he may nourish his strength; he may\nharmonize his virtue, and so put himself into partnership with God.\nThen, when his divinity is thus assured, and his spirit closed in on\nall sides, how can anything find a passage within?\n\n He is beyond the reach of objective existences.\n\n\"A drunken man who falls out of a cart, though he may suffer, does\nnot die. His bones are the same as other people's; but he meets his\naccident in a different way. His spirit is in a condition of security.\nHe is not conscious of riding in the cart; neither is he conscious of\nfalling out of it. Ideas of life, death, fear, etc., cannot penetrate\nhis breast; and so he does not suffer from contact with objective\nexistences. And if such security is to be got from wine, how much more\nis it to be got from God. It is in God that the Sage seeks his refuge,\nand so he is free from harm.\n\n\"An avenger does not snap in twain the murderous weapon; neither does\nthe most spiteful man carry his resentment to a tile which may have hit\nhim on the head. And by the extension of this principle, the empire\nwould be at peace; no more confusion of war, no more punishment of\ndeath.\n\n\"Do not develop your artificial intelligence, but develop that\nintelligence which is from God. From the latter, results virtue; from\nthe former, cunning. And those who do not shrink from the natural, nor\nwallow in the artificial,--they are near to perfection.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius was on his way to the Ch'u State, he came to a forest\nwhere he saw a hunchback catching cicadas as though with his hand.\n\n It is still the delight of the Chinese _gamin_ to capture the noisy\n \"scissor-grinder\" with the aid of a long bamboo tipped with bird-lime.\n\n\"How clever you are!\" cried Confucius. \"Have you any _way_ of doing\nthis?\"\n\n \"Way,\" _i.e._ road, is the primary meaning of TAO.\n\n\"I have a way,\" replied the hunchback. \"In the fifth and sixth moons I\npractise balancing two balls one on top of the other.\n\n At the top of his pole.\n\nIf they do not fall, I do not miss many cicadas. When I can balance\nthree balls, I only miss one in ten; and when five, then it is as\nthough I caught the cicadas with my hand. My body is as motionless as\nthe stump of a tree; my arms like dead branches. Heaven and earth and\nall creation may be around me, but I am conscious only of my cicada's\nwings. How should I not succeed?\"\n\nConfucius looked round at his disciples and said, \"Singleness of\npurpose induces concentration of the faculties. Of such is the success\nof this hunchback.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYen Y\u00fcan said to Confucius, \"When I crossed over the Shang-sh\u00ean rapid,\nthe boatman managed his craft with marvellous skill. I asked him if\nhandling a boat could be learnt. 'It can,' replied he. 'The way of\nthose who know how to keep you afloat is more like sinking you. They\nrow as if the boat wasn't there.'\n\n\"I enquired what this meant, but he would not tell me. May I ask its\nsignification.\"\n\n\"It means,\" answered Confucius, \"that such a man is oblivious of the\nwater around him. He regards the rapid as though dry land. He looks\nupon an upset as an ordinary cart accident. And if a man can but be\nimpervious to capsizings and accidents in general, whither should he\nnot be able comfortably to go?\n\n\"A man who plays for counters will play well. If he stakes his girdle,\n\n In which he keeps his loose cash.\n\nhe will be nervous; if yellow gold, he will lose his wits. His skill\nis the same in each case, but he is distracted by the value of his\nstake. And every one who attaches importance to the external, becomes\ninternally without resource.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nT'ien K'ai Chih had an audience of Duke Wei of Chou. The Duke asked\nhim, saying, \"I have heard that Chu Hsien is studying the art of life.\nAs you are a companion of his, pray tell me anything you know about it.\"\n\n\"I do but ply the broom at his outer gate,\" replied T'ien K'ai Chih;\n\"what should I know about my Master's researches?\"\n\n\"Don't be so modest,\" said the Duke. \"I am very anxious to hear about\nit.\"\n\n\"Well,\" replied T'ien, \"I have heard my master say that keeping life is\nlike keeping a flock of sheep. You look out for the laggards, and whip\nthem up.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\" asked the Duke.\n\n\"In the State of Lu,\" said T'ien, \"there was a man named Shan Pao. He\nlived on the mountains and drank water. All worldly interests he had\nput aside. And at the age of seventy, his complexion was like that of a\nchild. Unluckily, he one day fell in with a hungry tiger who killed and\nate him.\n\n\"There was also a man named Chang I, who frequented the houses of rich\nand poor alike. At the age of forty he was attacked by some internal\ndisease and died.\n\n\"Shan Pao took care of his inner self, and a tiger ate his external\nman. Chang I took care of himself externally, but disease attacked him\ninternally. These two individuals both omitted to whip up the laggards.\"\n\n There is no particular record of the worthies mentioned above.\n\nConfucius said, \"Neither affecting obscurity, nor courting prominence,\nbut unconsciously occupying the happy mean,--he who can attain to these\nthree will enjoy a surpassing fame.\n\n\"In dangerous parts, where one wayfarer out of ten meets his death,\nfathers and sons and brothers will counsel each other not to travel\nwithout a sufficient escort. Is not this wisdom? And there where men\nare also greatly in danger, in the lists of passion, in the banquet\nhour, not to warn them is error indeed.\"\n\n Physical precautions are not alone sufficient. Man's moral nature\n equally requires constant watchfulness and care.\n\nThe Grand Augur, in his ceremonial robes, approached the shambles and\nthus addressed the pigs:--\n\n\"How can you object to die? I shall fatten you for three months. I\nshall discipline myself for ten days and fast for three. I shall strew\nfine grass, and place you bodily upon a carved sacrificial dish. Does\nnot this satisfy you?\"\n\nThen speaking from the pigs' point of view, he continued, \"It is better\nperhaps after all to live on bran and escape the shambles....\"\n\n\"But then,\" added he, speaking from his own point of view, \"to enjoy\nhonour when alive one would readily die on a war-shield or in the\nheadsman's basket.\"\n\nSo he rejected the pigs' point of view and adopted his own point of\nview. In what sense then was he different from the pigs?\n\n Even as a pig thinks of nothing but eating, so was the Grand Augur\n ready to sacrifice everything, life itself, for paltry fame.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Duke Huan was out hunting, with Kuan Chung as his charioteer, he\nsaw a bogy. Catching hold of Kuan Chung's hand, he asked him, saying,\n\"What do you see?\"\n\n\"I see nothing,\" replied Kuan Chung. But when the Duke got home he\nbecame delirious, and for many days was unable to go out.\n\nThere came a certain Huang Tz\u016d Kao Ngao of the Ch'i State\n\n \"A sage of the Ch'i State,\"--as the commentators usually say when in\n reality they know nothing about the individual.\n\nand said, \"Your Highness is self-injured. How could a bogy injure you?\nWhen the vital strength is dissipated in anger, and is not renewed,\nthere is a deficiency. When its tendency is in one direction upwards,\nthe result is to incline men to wrath. When its tendency is in one\ndirection downwards, the result is loss of memory. When it remains\nstagnant, in the middle of the body, the result is disease.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Duke, \"but are there such things as bogies?\"\n\n\"There are,\" replied Huang. \"There is the mud spirit Li; the fire\nspirit Kao; Lei T'ing, the spirit of the dust-bin; P'ei O and Wa Lung,\nsprites of the north-east; Yi Yang of the north-west; Wang Hsiang of\nthe water; the Hsin of the hills; the K'uei of the mountain; the P'ang\nHuang of the moor; the Wei I of the marsh.\"\n\n The garb and bearing of the above beings are very fully described by\n commentators.\n\n\"And what may the Wei I be like?\" asked the Duke.\n\n\"The Wei I,\" replied Huang, \"is as broad as a cart-wheel and as long\nas the shaft. It wears purple clothes and a red cap. It is a sentient\nbeing, and whenever it hears the rumble of thunder, it stands up in a\nrespectful attitude. Those who see this bogy are like to be chieftains\namong men.\"\n\nThe Duke laughed exultingly and said, \"The very one I saw!\" Thereupon\nhe dressed himself and sat up; and ere the day had closed, without\nknowing it, his sickness had left him.\n\n The above episode teaches that the evils which appear to come upon us\n from without, in reality have their origin within.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChi Hsing Tz\u016d was training fighting cocks for the prince.\n\n Of Ch'i, says a commentator.\n\nAt the end of ten days the latter asked if they were ready. \"Not yet,\"\nreplied Chi; \"they are in the stage of seeking fiercely for a foe.\"\n\nAgain ten days elapsed, and the prince made a further enquiry. \"Not\nyet,\" replied Chi; \"they are still excited by the sounds and shadows of\nother cocks.\"\n\nTen days more, and the prince asked again. \"Not yet,\" answered Chi;\n\"the sight of an enemy is still enough to excite them to rage.\"\n\nBut after another ten days, when the prince again enquired, Chi said,\n\"They will do. Other cocks may crow, but they will take no notice. To\nlook at them one might say they were of wood. Their virtue is complete.\nStrange cocks will not dare meet them, but will run.\"\n\n Illustrating the value of internal concentration.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius was looking at the cataract at L\u00fc-liang. It fell from a\nheight of thirty _jen_,\n\n 1 _jen_ = 7 Chinese feet. What the ancient Chinese foot measured, it\n is impossible to say. For the height of the cataract it will be near\n enough to say 200 English feet.\n\nand its foam reached forty _li_ away. No scaly, finny creature could\nenter therein.\n\n Meaning the rapids below.\n\nYet Confucius saw an old man go in, and thinking that he was suffering\nfrom some trouble and desirous of ending his life, bade a disciple\nrun along the side to try and save him. The old man emerged about a\nhundred paces off, and with flowing hair went carolling along the\nbank. Confucius followed him and said, \"I had thought, Sir, you were a\nspirit, but now I see you are a man. Kindly tell me, is there any way\nto deal thus with water?\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the old man; \"I have no way. There was my original\ncondition to begin with; then habit growing into nature; and lastly\nacquiescence in destiny. Plunging in with the whirl, I come out with\nthe swirl. I accommodate myself to the water, not the water to me. And\nso I am able to deal with it after this fashion.\"\n\n\"What do you mean,\" enquired Confucius, \"by your original condition to\nbegin with, habit growing into nature, and acquiescence in destiny?\"\n\n\"I was born,\" replied the old man, \"upon dry land, and accommodated\nmyself to dry land. That was my original condition. Growing up on the\nwater, I accommodated myself to the water. That was what I meant by\nnature.\n\n Habit is second nature.\n\nAnd doing as I did without being conscious of any effort so to do, that\nwas what I meant by destiny.\"\n\n Objective existences cannot injure him who puts his trust in God.\n\n [This episode occurs _twice_, with textual differences, in the works\n of Lieh Tz\u016d, chs. ii. and viii.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCh'ing, the chief carpenter,\n\n Of the Lu State.\n\nwas carving wood into a stand for hanging musical instruments.\nWhen finished, the work appeared to those who saw it as though of\nsupernatural execution. And the prince of Lu asked him, saying, \"What\nmystery is there in your art?\"\n\n\"No mystery, your Highness,\" replied Ch'ing; \"and yet there is\nsomething.\n\n\"When I am about to make such a stand, I guard against any diminution\nof my vital power. I first reduce my mind to absolute quiescence. Three\ndays in this condition, and I become oblivious of any reward to be\ngained. Five days, and I become oblivious of any fame to be acquired.\nSeven days, and I become unconscious of my four limbs and my physical\nframe. Then, with no thought of the Court present to my mind, my skill\nbecomes concentrated, and all disturbing elements from without are\ngone. I enter some mountain forest. I search for a suitable tree. It\ncontains the form required, which is afterwards elaborated. I see the\nstand in my mind's eye, and then set to work. Otherwise, there is\nnothing. I bring my own natural capacity into relation with that of the\nwood. What was suspected to be of supernatural execution in my work was\ndue solely to this.\"\n\n To obliteration of self in the infinite causality of God.\n\nTung Yeh Chi exhibited his charioteering skill before Duke Chuang.\n\n \"Of Lu,\" says one commentator. But another points out that Yen Ho\n (_infra_) is mentioned in chapter iv. as tutor to the son of Duke Ling\n of Wei, which would involve an anachronism.\n\nBackwards and forwards he drove in lines which might have been ruled,\nsweeping round at each end in curves which might have been described by\ncompasses.\n\nThe Duke, however, said that this was nothing more than weaving; and\nbidding him drive round and round a hundred times, returned home.\n\nYen Ho came upon him, and then went in and said to the Duke, \"Chi's\nhorses are on the point of breaking down.\"\n\nThe Duke remained silent, making no reply; and in a short time it was\nannounced that the horses had actually broken down, and that Chi had\ngone away.\n\n\"How could you tell this?\" said the Duke to Yen Ho.\n\n\"Because,\" replied the latter, \"Chi was trying to make his horses\nperform a task to which they were unequal. Therefore I said they would\nbreak down.\"\n\n Illustrating the strain which mortality daily puts upon the bodies and\n minds of all men.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCh'ui the artisan could draw circles with his hand better than with\ncompasses. His fingers seemed to accommodate themselves so naturally\nto the thing he was working at, that it was unnecessary to fix his\nattention. His mental faculties thus remained ONE, and suffered no\nhindrance.\n\nTo be unconscious of one's feet implies that the shoes are easy.\nTo be unconscious of a waist implies that the girdle is easy. The\nintelligence being unconscious of positive and negative implies\nthat the heart is at ease. No modifications within, no yielding to\ninfluences without,\n\n But always following a natural course.\n\n--this is ease under all conditions. And he who beginning with ease, is\nnever not at ease, is unconscious of the ease of ease.\n\n Such is the condition of oblivion necessary to the due development of\n our natural spontaneity.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA certain Sun Hsiu went to the house of Pien Ch'ing Tz\u016d\n\n Both unknown to fame.\n\nand complained, saying, \"In peace I am not considered wanting in\npropriety. In times of trouble I am not considered wanting in courage.\nYet my crops fail; and officially I am not a success. From my village\nan outcast, I am an outlaw from my State. How have I offended against\nGod that he should visit me with such a fate?\"\n\n\"Have you not heard,\" replied Pien Tz\u016d, \"how the perfect man conducts\nhimself? He is oblivious of his physical organisation. He is beyond the\nreach of sight and hearing. He moves outside the limits of this dusty\nworld, rambling transcendentally in the domain of no-affairs. This is\ncalled acting but not from self-confidence, influencing but not from\nauthority.\n\n That is, acting not in consequence of self-confidence, but without\n reference to it; _sc._ naturally. Influencing, not because of\n authority, but gaining authority because of natural influence.\n\n This quotation appears, though Chuang Tz\u016d or whoever may be\n responsible for this episode does not say so, in chs. x. and li. of\n the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_.\n\n\"But you, you make a show of your knowledge in order to startle fools.\nYou cultivate yourself in contrast to the degradation of others. And\nyou blaze along as though the sun and moon were under your arms.\n\n These last three sentences will be found verbatim in ch. xx.\n\nWhereas, that you have a whole body in a whole skin, and have not\nperished in mid career, dumb, blind, or halt, but actually hold a place\namong men,--this ought to be enough for you. Why rail at God? Begone!\"\n\nSun Hsiu went away, and Pien Tz\u016d went in and sat down. Shortly\nafterwards, he looked up to heaven and sighed; whereupon a disciple\nasked him what was the matter.\n\n\"When Hsiu was here just now,\" answered Pien Tz\u016d, \"I spoke to him of\nthe virtue of the perfect man. I fear lest he be startled and so driven\non to doubt.\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" answered the disciple. \"If he was right and you were wrong,\nwrong will never drive right into doubt. If, on the other hand, he was\nwrong and you were right, he brought his doubt with him, and you are\nnot responsible.\"\n\n\"Not so,\" said Pien Tz\u016d. \"Of old, when a bird alighted outside the\ncapital of Lu, the prince was delighted, and killed an ox to feed it\nand had the _Chiu Shao_ played to entertain it. The bird, however,\nwas timid and dazed and dared not to eat or drink. This was treating\nthe bird like oneself. But to treat a bird as a bird would treat a\nbird, you must put it to roost in a deep forest, let it swim in river\nor lake, and feed at its ease on the plain. Now Sun Hsiu is a man of\nsmall understanding; and for me to speak to him of the perfect man is\nlike setting a mouse to ride in a coach or a band of music to play to a\nquail. How should he not be startled?\"\n\n The above episode has already appeared in ch. xviii., _ad fin._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nMOUNTAIN TREES.\n\n _Argument_:--The alternatives of usefulness and\n uselessness--TAO a _tertium quid_--The human a hindrance to the\n divine--Altruism--Adaptation--Destiny--Illustrations.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to chapter iv.]\n\n\nChuang Tz\u016d was travelling over a mountain when he saw a huge tree well\ncovered with foliage. A woodsman had stopped near by, not caring to\ntake it; and on Chuang Tz\u016d enquiring the reason, he was told that it\nwas of no use.\n\n\"This tree,\" cried Chuang Tz\u016d, \"by virtue of being good for nothing\nsucceeds in completing its allotted span.\"\n\nWhen Chuang Tz\u016d left the mountain, he put up at the house of an old\nfriend. The latter was delighted, and ordered a servant to kill a goose\nand cook it.\n\n\"Which shall I kill?\" enquired the servant; \"the one that cackles or\nthe one that doesn't?\"\n\nHis master told him to kill the one which did not cackle. And\naccordingly, the next day, a disciple asked Chuang Tz\u016d, saying,\n\"Yesterday, that tree on the mountain, because good for nothing, was to\nsucceed in completing its allotted span. But now, our host's goose,\nwhich is good for nothing, has to die. Upon which horn of the dilemma\nwill you rest?\"\n\n\"I rest,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d with a smile, \"halfway between the two. In\nthat position, appearing to be what I am not, it is impossible to avoid\nthe troubles of mortality;\n\n The text is here doubtful, and commentators explain according to the\n fancy of each. When a Chinese commentator does not understand his\n text, he usually slurs it over. He never says \"I do not understand.\"\n Chu Fu Tz\u016d alone could rise to this height.\n\nthough, if charioted upon TAO and floating far above mortality, this\nwould not be so. No praise, no blame; both great and small; changing\nwith the change of time, but ever without special effort; both above\nand below; making for harmony with surroundings; reaching creation's\nFirst Cause; swaying all things and swayed by none;--how then shall\nsuch troubles come? This was the method of Sh\u00ean Nung and Huang Ti.\n\n \"If another guest had happened to arrive,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"I\n fancy the chance even of the cackling goose would have been small.\"\n\n\"But amidst the mundane passions and relationships of man, such would\nnot be the case. For where there is union, there is also separation;\nwhere there is completion, there is also destruction; where there is\npurity, there is also oppression; where there is honour, there is\nalso disparagement; where there is doing, there is also undoing; where\nthere is openness, there is also underhandedness; and where there is no\nsemblance, there is also deceit. How then can there be any fixed point?\nAlas indeed! Take note, my disciples, that such is to be found only in\nthe domain of TAO.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI Liao\n\n A sage of the Ch'u State.\n\nof Shih-nan paid a visit to the prince of Lu. The latter wore a\nmelancholy look; whereupon the philosopher of Shih-nan enquired what\nwas the cause.\n\n\"I study the doctrines of the ancient Sages,\" replied the prince. \"I\ncarry on the work of my predecessors. I respect religion. I honour the\ngood. Never for a moment do I relax in these points; yet I cannot avoid\nmisfortune, and consequently I am sad.\"\n\n\"Your Highness' method of avoiding misfortune,\" said the philosopher of\nShih-nan, \"is but a shallow one. A handsome fox or a striped leopard\nwill live in a mountain forest, hiding beneath some precipitous cliff.\nThis is their repose. They come out at night and keep in by day. This\nis their caution. Though under the stress of hunger and thirst, they\nlie hidden, hardly venturing to slink secretly to the river bank in\nsearch of food. This is their resoluteness. Nevertheless, they do not\nescape the misfortune of the net and the trap. But what crime have they\ncommitted? 'Tis their skin which is the cause of their trouble; and is\nnot the State of Lu your Highness' skin? I would have your Highness put\naway body and skin alike, and cleansing your heart and purging it of\npassion, betake yourself to the land where mortality is not.\n\n TAO.\n\n\"In Nan-y\u00fceh there is a district, called Established-Virtue. Its\npeople are simple and honest, unselfish, and without passions. They\ncan make, but cannot keep. They give, but look for no return. They are\nnot conscious of fulfilling obligations. They are not conscious of\nsubservience to etiquette.\n\n Theirs is the natural etiquette of well-regulated minds.\n\nTheir actions are altogether uncontrolled, yet they tread in the way of\nthe wise. Life is for enjoyment; death, for burial. And thither I would\nhave your Highness proceed, power discarded and the world left behind,\nonly putting trust in TAO.\"\n\n\"The road is long and dangerous,\" said the prince. \"Rivers and hills to\nbe crossed, and I without boat or chariot;--what then?\"\n\n\"Unhindered by body and unfettered in mind,\" replied the philosopher,\n\"your Highness will be a chariot to yourself.\"\n\n\"But the road is long and dreary,\" argued the prince, \"and uninhabited.\n\n This is a play on \"where mortality is not,\" above.\n\nI shall have no one to turn to for help; and how, without food, shall I\never be able to get there?\"\n\n\"Decrease expenditure\n\n Of energy.\n\nand lessen desires,\" answered the philosopher, \"and even though without\nprovisions, there will be enough. And then through river and over sea\nyour Highness will travel into shoreless illimitable space. From the\nborder-land, those who act as escort will return; but thence onwards\nyour Highness will travel afar.\n\n\"It is the human in ourselves which is our hindrance; and the human\nin others which causes our sorrow. The great Yao had not this human\nelement himself, nor did he perceive it in others. And I would have\nyour Highness put off this hindrance and rid yourself of this sorrow,\nand roam with TAO alone through the realms of Infinite Nought.\n\n\"Suppose a boat is crossing a river, and another empty boat is about to\ncollide with it. Even an irritable man would not lose his temper. But\nsupposing there was some one in the second boat. Then the occupant of\nthe first would shout to him to keep clear. And if the other did not\nhear the first time, nor even when called to three times, bad language\nwould inevitably follow. In the first case there was no anger, in the\nsecond there was; because in the first case the boat was empty, and in\nthe second it was occupied. And so it is with man. If he could only\nroam empty through life, who would be able to injure him?\"\n\n With his mind in a negative state, closed to all impressions conveyed\n within by the senses from without.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPei Kung Sh\u00ea, minister to Duke Ling of Wei, levied contributions for\nmaking bells. An altar was built outside the city gate;\n\n For purposes of sacrifice.\n\nand in three months the bells, upper and lower, were all hung.\n\n The bell-chime consisted of a frame with bells swung on an upper and\n lower bar.\n\nWhen Wang Tz\u016d Ch'ing Chi\n\n Minister to the ruling House of Chou.\n\nsaw them, he asked, saying, \"How, Sir, did you manage this?\"\n\n\"In the domain of ONE,\" replied Sh\u00ea, \"there may not be managing. I have\nheard say that which is carved and polished reverts nevertheless to\nits natural condition. And so I made allowances for ignorance and for\nsuspicion. I betrayed no feeling when welcomed or dismissed. I forbade\nnot those who came, nor detained those who went away. I showed no\nresentment towards the unwilling, nor gratitude towards those who gave.\nEvery one subscribed what he liked; and thus in my daily collection of\nsubscriptions, no injury was done.--How much more then those who have\nthe great WAY?\"\n\n If my success was due to the simple principle above enunciated, what a\n success would result from TAO, which is the infinite extension of such\n principles into every phase of existence!\n\n The Chinese word here used for \"way,\" as a synonym of TAO, settles the\n original meaning of the latter in the sense of \"road.\" Thus Lao Tz\u016d is\n said to have explained that the WAY he taught was not the way which\n could be walked upon.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius was hemmed in between Ch'\u00ean and Ts'ai, he passed seven\ndays without food.\n\nThe minister Jen went to condole with him, and said, \"You were near,\nSir, to death.\"\n\n\"I was indeed,\" replied Confucius.\n\n\"Do you fear death, Sir?\" enquired Jen.\n\n\"I do,\" said Confucius.\n\n\"Then I will try to teach you,\" said Jen, \"the way not to die.\n\n\"In the eastern sea there are certain birds, called the _i-\u00earh_.\nThey behave themselves in a modest and unassuming manner, as though\nunpossessed of ability. They fly simultaneously: they roost in a body.\nIn advancing, none strives to be first; in retreating, none ventures to\nbe last. In eating, none will be the first to begin; it is considered\nproper to take the leavings of others. Therefore, in their own ranks\nthey are at peace, and the outside world is unable to harm them. And\nthus they escape trouble.\n\n\"Straight trees are the first felled. Sweet wells are soonest\nexhausted. And you, you make a show of your knowledge in order to\nstartle fools. You cultivate yourself in contrast to the degradation of\nothers. And you blaze along as though the sun and moon were under your\narms; consequently, you cannot avoid trouble.\n\n See p. 243.\n\n\"Formerly, I heard a very wise man say, Self-praise is no\nrecommendation. In merit achieved there is deterioration. In fame\nachieved there is loss. Who can discard both merit and fame and become\none with the rest? TAO pervades all things but is not seen. T\u00ca\n\n This is \"virtue,\" the expression of TAO.\n\nmoves through all things but its place is not known. In its purity\nand constancy, it may be compared with the purposeless. Remaining\nconcealed, rejecting power, it works not for merit nor for fame. Thus,\nnot censuring others, it is not censured by others.\n\n\"And if the perfect man cares not for fame, why, Sir, should you take\npleasure in it?\"\n\n\"Good indeed!\" replied Confucius; and forthwith he took leave of his\nfriends and dismissed his disciples and retired to the wilds, where he\ndressed himself in skins and serge and fed on acorns and chestnuts. He\npassed among the beasts and birds and they took no heed of him. And if\nso, how much more among men?\n\n An unquestionably spurious episode.\n\nConfucius asked Tz\u016d Sang Hu,\n\n See ch. vi.\n\nsaying, \"I have been twice expelled from Lu. My tree was cut down in\nSung. I have been tabooed in Wei. I am a failure in Shang and Chou. I\nwas surrounded between Ch'\u00ean and Ts'ai. And in addition to all these\ntroubles, my friends have separated from me and my disciples are gone.\nHow is this?\"\n\n See p. 180.\n\n\"Have you not heard,\" replied Sang Hu, \"how when the men of Kuo fled,\none of them, named Lin Hui, cast aside most valuable regalia and\ncarried away his child upon his back? Some one suggested that he was\ninfluenced by the value of the child;--but the child's value was small.\nOr by the inconvenience of the regalia;--but the inconvenience of the\nchild would be much greater. Why then did he leave behind the regalia\nand carry off the child?\n\n\"Lin Hui himself said, 'The regalia involved a mere question of money.\nThe child was from God.'\n\n\"And so it is that in trouble and calamity mere money questions are\nneglected, while we ever cling nearer to that which is from God. And\nbetween neglecting and clinging to, the difference is great.\n\n\"The friendship of the superior man is negative like water. The\nfriendship of the mean man is full-flavoured like wine. That of the\nsuperior man passes from the negative to the affectionate. That of the\nmean man passes from the full-flavoured to nothing. The friendship of\nthe mean man begins without due cause, and in like manner comes to an\nend.\n\n\"I hear and obey,\" replied Confucius; and forthwith he went quietly\nhome, put an end to his studies and cast aside his books. His disciples\nno longer saluted him as teacher; but his love for them deepened every\nday.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn another occasion, Sang Hu said to him again, \"When Shun was about\nto die, he commanded the Great Y\u00fc as follows:--Be careful. Act in\naccordance with your physical body. Speak in accordance with your\nfeelings. You will thus not get into difficulty with the former nor\nsuffer annoyance in the latter. And as under these conditions you will\nnot stand in need of outward embellishment of any kind, it follows that\nyou therefore will not stand in need of anything.\"\n\n Also an episode of doubtful authorship. The commentators, however,\n have nothing to say against its genuineness.\n\nChuang Tz\u016d put on cotton clothes with patches in them, and arranging\nhis girdle and tieing on his shoes,\n\n To keep them from falling off.\n\nwent to see the prince of Wei.\n\n\"How miserable you look, Sir!\" cried the prince.\n\n\"It is poverty, not misery,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d. \"A man who has TAO\ncannot be miserable. Ragged clothes and old boots make poverty, not\nmisery. Mine is what is called being out of harmony with one's age.\n\n\"Has your Highness never seen a climbing ape? Give it some large tree,\nand it will twist and twirl among the branches as though monarch of all\nit surveys. Yi and F\u00eang M\u00eang\n\n An ancient archer and his apprentice.\n\ncan never catch a glimpse of it.\n\n\"But put it in a bramble bush, and it will move cautiously with\nsidelong glances, trembling all over with fear. Not that its muscles\nrelax in the face of difficulty, but because it is at a disadvantage\nas regards position, and is unable to make use of its skill. And how\nshould any one, living under foolish sovereigns and wicked ministers,\nhelp being miserable, even though he might wish not to be so?\n\n\"It was under such circumstances that Pi Kan was disembowelled.\"\n\n See ch. iv. The above episode is too much even for Chinese critics,\n and has been condemned accordingly.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius was hemmed in between Ch'\u00ean and Ts'ai and had gone seven\ndays without food, then, holding in his left hand a piece of dry wood\nand in his right hand a dry stick, he sang a ballad of Piao Shih.\n\n An ancient ruler.\n\nHe had an instrument, but the gamut was wanting. There was sound, but\nno tune. The sound of the wood accompanied by the voice of the man\nyielded a harsh result, but it was in keeping with the feelings of his\naudience.\n\nYen Hui, who was standing by in a respectful attitude, thereupon began\nto turn his eyes about him; and Confucius, fearing lest he should be\ndriven by exaltation into bragging, or by a desire for safety into\nsorrow,\n\n As a result of hearing the song.\n\nspoke to him as follows:--\n\n\"Hui! it is easy to escape injury from God; it is difficult to avoid\nthe benefits of man. There is no beginning and there is no end. Man and\nGod are ONE. Who then was singing just now?\"\n\n\"Pray, Sir, what do you mean,\" asked Yen Hui, \"by saying that it is\neasy to escape injury from God?\"\n\n\"Hunger, thirst, cold, and heat,\" replied Confucius, \"are but as\nfetters in the path of life. They belong to the natural laws which\ngovern the universe; and in obedience thereto I pass on my allotted\ncourse. The subject dares not disregard the mandates of his prince. And\nif this is man's duty to man, how much more shall it be his duty to\nGod?\"\n\n\"What is the meaning of difficult to avoid the benefits of man?\" asked\nYen Hui.\n\n\"If one begins,\" replied Confucius, \"by adaptation to surroundings,\nrank and power follow without cease. Such advantages are external; they\nare not derived from oneself. And my life is more or less dependent\nupon the external. The superior man does not steal these; nor does the\ngood man pilfer them. What then do I but take them as they come?\n\n\"Therefore it has been said that no bird is so wise as the swallow. If\nit sees a place unfit to dwell in, it will not bestow a glance thereon;\nand even though it should drop food there, it will leave the food and\nfly away. Now swallows fear man. Yet they dwell among men. Because\nthere they find their natural abode.\"\n\n In the same way, man should adapt himself to the conditions which\n surround him.\n\n\"And what is the meaning,\" enquired Yen Hui, \"of no beginning and no\nend?\"\n\n\"The work goes on,\" replied Confucius, \"and no man knoweth the cause.\nHow then shall he know the end, or the beginning? There is nothing left\nto us but to wait.\"\n\n\"And that man and God are ONE,\" said Yen Hui. \"What does that mean?\"\n\n\"That man is,\" replied Confucius, \"is from God. That God is, is also\nfrom God. That man is not God, is his nature.\n\n _Sc._ that which makes him man.\n\nThe Sage quietly waits for death as the end.\"\n\n Which shall unite him once again with God.\n\nWhen Chuang Tz\u016d was wandering in the park at Tiao-ling, he saw a\nstrange bird which came from the south. Its wings were seven feet\nacross. Its eyes were an inch in circumference. And it flew close past\nChuang Tz\u016d's head to alight in a chestnut grove.\n\n\"What manner of bird is this?\" cried Chuang Tz\u016d. \"With strong wings it\ndoes not fly away. With large eyes it does not see.\"\n\n Or it would not have flown so near.\n\nSo he picked up his skirts and strode towards it with his cross-bow,\nanxious to get a shot. Just then he saw a cicada enjoying itself in the\nshade, forgetful of all else. And he saw a mantis spring and seize it,\nforgetting in the act its own body, which the strange bird immediately\npounced upon and made its prey. And this it was which had caused the\nbird to forget its own nature.\n\n And approach so close to man.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n This episode has been widely popularised in Chinese every-day life.\n Its details have been expressed pictorially in a roughly-executed\n woodcut, with the addition of a tiger about to spring upon the man,\n and a well into which both will eventually tumble. A legend at the\n side reads,--\"All is Destiny!\"\n\n\"Alas!\" cried Chuang Tz\u016d with a sigh, \"how creatures injure one\nanother. Loss follows the pursuit of gain.\"\n\n Those who would prey on others are preyed upon in turn themselves.\n\nSo he laid aside his bow and went home, driven away by the park-keeper\nwho wanted to know what business he had there.\n\nFor three months after this, Chuang Tz\u016d did not leave the house; and at\nlength Lin Ch\u00fc\n\n A disciple.\n\nasked him, saying, \"Master, how is it that you have not been out for so\nlong?\"\n\n\"While keeping my physical frame,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"I lost sight of\nmy real self. Gazing at muddy water, I lost sight of the clear abyss.\nBesides, I have learnt from the Master as follows:--\"When you go into\nthe world, follow its customs.\"\n\n This saying is attributed, in uncanonical works, to Confucius. But if\n any one was \"Master\" to Chuang Tz\u016d, it would of course be Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nNow when I strolled into the park at Tiao-ling, I forgot my real self.\nThat strange bird which flew close past me to the chestnut grove,\nforgot its nature. The keeper of the chestnut grove took me for a\nthief. Consequently I have not been out.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Yang Tz\u016d\n\n Yang Chu. See ch. viii.\n\nwent to the Sung State, he passed a night at an inn.\n\nThe innkeeper had two concubines, one beautiful, the other ugly. The\nlatter he loved; the former, he hated.\n\nYang Tz\u016d asked how this was; whereupon one of the inn servants said,\n\"The beautiful one is so conscious of her beauty that one does not\nthink her beautiful. The ugly one is so conscious of her ugliness that\none does not think her ugly.\"\n\n\"Note this, my disciples!\" cried Yang Tz\u016d. \"Be virtuous, but without\nbeing consciously so; and wherever you go, you will be beloved.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nT'IEN TZ\u016c FANG.\n\n _Argument_:--TAO cannot be imparted in words--It is not at man's\n disposal--It does not consist in formal morality--It is an inalienable\n element of existence--Without it the soul dies--With it man is happy\n and his immortality secure--Illustrations.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to chapter vi.]\n\n\nT'ien Tz\u016d Fang was in attendance upon Prince W\u00ean of Wei.\n\n Whose tutor he was.\n\nHe kept on praising Ch'i Kung, until at length Prince W\u00ean said, \"Is\nCh'i Kung your tutor?\"\n\n\"No,\" replied Tz\u016d Fang; \"he is merely a neighbour. He discourses\nadmirably upon TAO. That is why I praise him.\"\n\n\"Have you then no tutor?\" enquired the Prince.\n\n\"I have,\" replied Tz\u016d Fang.\n\n\"And who may he be?\" said Prince W\u00ean.\n\n\"Tung Kuo Shun Tz\u016d,\" answered Tz\u016d Fang.\n\n\"Then how is it you do not praise him?\" asked the Prince.\n\n\"He is perfect,\" replied Tz\u016d Fang. \"In appearance, a man; in reality,\nGod. Unconditioned himself, he falls in with the conditioned, to his\nown greater glory. Pure himself, he can still tolerate others. If men\nare without TAO, by a mere look he calls them to a sense of error, and\ncauses their intentions to melt away. How could I praise him?\"\n\nThereupon Tz\u016d Fang took his leave, and the Prince remained for the\nrest of the day absorbed in silence. At length he called an officer\nin waiting and said, \"How far beyond us is the man of perfect virtue!\nHitherto I have regarded the discussion of holiness and wisdom, and the\npractice of charity and duty to one's neighbour, as the utmost point\nattainable. But now that I have heard of Tz\u016d Fang's tutor, my body\nis relaxed and desires not movement, my mouth is closed and desires\nnot speech. All I have learnt, verily it is mere undergrowth. And the\nkingdom of Wei is my bane.\"\n\n TAO is not to be reached by the superficial worker, or by such as\n value the distinctions of this world.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d\n\n \"A sage from the south,\" as the commentators say, anticipating the\n \"Middle Kingdom\" below.\n\nwas on his way to Ch'i, he broke his journey in Lu. A certain man of Lu\nbegged for an interview, but W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d said, \"No. I have heard\nthat the gentlemen of the Middle Kingdom are experts in ceremonies and\nobligations, but wanting in knowledge of the human heart. I do not\nwish to see him.\"\n\nSo he went on to Ch'i; but once more at Lu, on his way home, the same\nman again begged to have an interview.\n\n\"When I was last here,\" cried W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d, \"he asked to see me,\nand now again he asks to see me. Surely he must have something to\ncommunicate.\"\n\nWhereupon he went and received the stranger, and on returning gave vent\nto sighs. Next day he received him again, and again after the interview\ngave vent to sighs. Then his servant asked him, saying, \"How is it that\nwhenever you receive this stranger, you always sigh afterwards?\"\n\n\"I have already told you,\" replied W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d, \"that the people\nof the Middle Kingdom are experts in ceremonies and obligations but\nwanting in knowledge of the human heart. The man who visited me came\nin and went out as _per_ compasses and square. His demeanour was now\nthat of the dragon, now that of the tiger. He criticised me as though\nhe had been my son. He admonished me as though he had been my father.\nTherefore I gave vent to sighs.\"\n\nWhen Confucius saw W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d, the former did not utter a word.\nWhereupon Tz\u016d Lu said, \"Master, you have long wished to see W\u00ean Po\nHs\u00fceh Tz\u016d. How is it that when you do see him you do not speak?\"\n\n\"With such men as these,\" replied Confucius, you have only to look,\nand TAO abides. There is no room for speech.\"\n\n See ch. v, _ad init._, on \"the Doctrine which is not expressed in\n words.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYen Y\u00fcan\n\n See p. 179.\n\nasked Confucius, saying, \"Master, when you go at a walk, I go at a\nwalk. When you trot, I trot. When you gallop, I gallop. But when you\ndash beyond the bounds of mortality, I can only stand staring behind.\nHow is this?\"\n\n\"Explain yourself,\" said Confucius.\n\n\"I mean,\" continued Yen Y\u00fcan, \"that as you speak, I speak. As you\nargue, I argue. As you preach TAO, so I preach TAO. And by 'when you\ndash beyond the bounds of mortality I can only stand staring behind,'\nI mean that without speaking you make people believe you, without\nstriving you make people love you, without factitious attractions you\ngather people around you. I cannot understand how this is so.\"\n\n\"What is there to prevent you from finding out?\" replied Confucius.\n\"There is no sorrow to be compared with the death of the mind. The\ndeath of the body is of but secondary importance.\n\n Cf. ch. ii, \"The body decomposes, and the mind goes with it. This is\n our real cause for sorrow.\"\n\n\"The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. There is no place\nwhich he does not illuminate; and those who have eyes and feet depend\nupon him to use them with success. When he comes forth, that is\nexistence; when he disappears, that is non-existence.\n\n\"And every human being has that upon which he depends for death or for\nlife.\n\n Mind, which rises with life and sets at death.\n\nBut if I, receiving this mind-informed body, pass without due\nmodification to the end,\n\n So that the mind perishes with the body.\n\nday and night subject to ceaseless wear and tear like a mere thing,\nunknowing what the end will be, and in spite of this mind-informed body\n\n Which should teach a higher lesson.\n\nconscious only that fate cannot save me from the inevitable\ngrave-yard,--then I am consuming life until at death it is as though\nyou and I had but once linked arms to be finally parted for ever! Is\nnot that indeed a cause for sorrow?\n\n The motive of this involved paragraph is identical with that of Mr.\n Mallock's famous essay _Is Life Worth Living?_\n\n\"Now you fix your attention upon something in me which, while you look,\nhas already passed away. Yet you seek for it as though it must be still\nthere,--like one who seeks for a horse in a market-place.\n\n In the interim the animal has been sold.\n\nWhat I admire in you is transitory. Nevertheless, why should you\ngrieve? Although my old self is constantly passing away, there remains\nthat which does not pass away.\"\n\n The mind, which feeds and thrives upon change.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius went to see Lao Tz\u016d. The latter had just washed his head, and\nhis hair was hanging down his back to dry. He looked like a lifeless\nbody; so Confucius waited awhile, but at length approached and said,\n\"Do my eyes deceive me, or is this really so? Your frame, Sir, seems\nlike dry wood, as if it had been left without that which informs it\nwith the life of man.\"\n\n Chuang Tz\u016d (?) is here repeating himself.\n\n\"I was wandering,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"in the unborn.\"\n\n Reflecting upon the state of man before his birth into the world.\n\n\"What does that mean?\" asked Confucius.\n\n\"My mind is trammelled,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"and I cannot know. My mouth\nis closed and I cannot speak. But I will try to tell you what is\nprobably the truth.\n\n\"The perfect Negative principle is majestically passive. The perfect\nPositive principle is powerfully active. Passivity emanates from heaven\nabove; activity proceeds from earth beneath. The interaction of the two\nresults in that harmony by which all things are produced. There may\nbe a First Cause, but we never see his form. His report fills space.\nThere is darkness and light. Days come and months go. Work is being\nconstantly performed, yet we never witness the performance. Life must\nbring us from somewhere, and death must carry us back. Beginning and\nend follow ceaselessly one upon the other, and we cannot say when the\nseries will be exhausted. If this is not the work of a First Cause,\nwhat is it?\"\n\n\"Kindly explain,\" said Confucius, \"what is to be got by wandering as\nyou said.\"\n\n\"The result,\" answered Lao Tz\u016d, \"is perfect goodness and perfect\nhappiness. And he who has these is a perfect man.\"\n\n\"And by what means,\" enquired Confucius, \"can this be attained?\"\n\n\"Animals,\" said Lao Tz\u016d, \"that eat grass do not mind a change of\npasture. Creatures that live in water do not mind a change of pond. A\nslight change may be effected so long as the essential is untouched.\n\n\"Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, find no place in that man's breast; for\nto him all creation is ONE. And all things being thus united in ONE,\nhis body and limbs are but as dust of the earth, and life and death,\nbeginning and end, are but as night and day, and cannot destroy his\npeace. How much less such trifles as gain or loss, misfortune or good\nfortune?\n\n\"He rejects rank as so much mud. For he knows that if a man is of\nhonourable rank, the honour is in himself, and cannot be lost by change\nof condition, nor exhausted by countless modifications of existence.\nWho then can grieve his heart? Those who practise TAO understand the\nsecret of this.\"\n\n\"Master,\" said Confucius, \"your virtue equals that of Heaven and Earth;\nyet you still employ perfect precepts in the cultivation of your heart.\nWho among the sages of old could have uttered such words?\"\n\n\"Not so,\" answered Lao Tz\u016d. \"The fluidity of water is not the result\nof any effort on the part of the water, but is its natural property.\nAnd the virtue of the perfect man is such that even without cultivation\nthere is nothing which can withdraw from his sway. Heaven is naturally\nhigh, the earth is naturally solid, the sun and moon are naturally\nbright. Do they cultivate these attributes?\"\n\nConfucius went forth and said to Yen Hui,\n\n\"In point of TAO, I am but as an animalcule in vinegar. Had not the\nMaster opened my eyes, I should not have perceived the vastness of the\nuniverse.\"\n\n He who would concentrate himself upon life after death must first\n familiarise himself with life before birth.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Chuang Tz\u016d was at an interview with Duke Ai of Lu,\n\n Who had then been dead 120 years.\n\nthe latter said, \"We have many scholars, Sir, in Lu, but few of your\nschool.\"\n\n\"In Lu,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"there are but few scholars.\"\n\n\"Look at the number who wear scholars' robes,\" said the Duke. \"How can\nyou say they are few?\"\n\n\"Scholars who wear round hats,\" answered Chuang Tz\u016d, \"know the seasons\nof Heaven. Scholars who wear square shoes know the shape of Earth.\n\n According to ancient Chinese cosmogony, \"Heaven is round: Earth is\n square.\"\n\nAnd scholars who loosely gird themselves are ready to decide whatever\nquestions may arise. But scholars who have TAO do not necessarily\nwear robes; neither does the wearing of robes necessarily mean that a\nscholar has TAO. If your Highness does not think so, why not issue an\norder through the Middle Kingdom, making death the punishment for all\nwho wear the robes without having the TAO?\"\n\nThereupon Duke Ai circulated this mandate for five days, the result\nbeing that not a single man in Lu dared to don scholars' robes,--with\nthe exception of one old man who, thus arrayed, took his stand at the\nDuke's gate.\n\n My Ming editor (a priest) says this was Confucius himself!\n\nThe Duke summoned him to the presence, and asked him many questions on\npolitics, trying to entangle him, but in vain. Then Chuang Tz\u016d said,\n\"If there is only one scholar in Lu, surely that is not many.\"\n\n It is unnecessary, says Lin Hsi Chung, to descend to anachronisms in\n reference to the genuineness of this episode.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRank and power had no charms for Po Li Ch'i.\n\n 7th century BC. This story is alluded to by Mencius.\n\nSo he took to feeding cattle. His cattle were always fat, which caused\nDuke Mu of Ch'in to ignore his low condition and entrust him with the\nadministration.\n\nShun cared nothing for life or death. He was therefore able to\ninfluence men's hearts.\n\n His parents even went so far as to try to kill him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrince Y\u00fcan of Sung desiring to draw a map, the officials of that\ndepartment presented themselves, and after making obeisance stood\nwaiting for the order, more than half of them already licking their\nbrushes and mixing their ink.\n\nOne of them arrived late. He sauntered in without hurrying himself; and\nwhen he had made obeisance, did not wait but went off home.\n\nThe Prince sent a man to see what he did. He took off his clothes and\nsquatted down bare-backed.\n\n\"He will do,\" cried the Prince. \"He is a true artist.\"\n\n The commentators do not get much out of this episode. Lin Hsi Chung\n damns it as a forgery.\n\nWhen W\u00ean Wang was on a tour of inspection in Tsang, he saw an old man\nfishing. But his fishing was not real fishing, for he did not fish to\ncatch fish, but to amuse himself.\n\n Wherefore, from the standpoint of TAO, he was the more likely to\n succeed.\n\nSo W\u00ean Wang wished to employ him in the administration of government,\nbut feared lest his own ministers, uncles, and brothers, might object.\nOn the other hand, if he let the old man go, he could not bear to think\nof the people being deprived of such an influence.\n\nAccordingly, that very morning he informed his ministers, saying, \"I\nonce dreamt that a Sage of a black colour and with a large beard,\nriding upon a parti-coloured horse with red stockings on one side,\nappeared and instructed me to place the administration in the hands of\nthe old gentleman of Tsang, promising that the people would benefit\ngreatly thereby.\"\n\nThe ministers at once said, \"It is a command from your Highness'\nfather.\"\n\n\"I think so,\" answered W\u00ean Wang. \"But let us try by divination.\"\n\n\"It is a command from your Highness' late father,\" said the ministers,\n\"and may not be disobeyed. What need for divination?\"\n\nSo the old man of Tsang was received and entrusted with the\nadministration. He altered none of the existing statutes. He issued\nno unjust regulations. And when, after three years, W\u00ean Wang made\nanother inspection, he found all dangerous organisations broken up,\nthe officials doing their duty as a matter of course, while the use of\nmeasures of grain was unknown within the four boundaries of the State.\nThere was thus unanimity in the public voice, singleness of official\npurpose, and identity of interests to all.\n\nSo W\u00ean Wang appointed the old man Grand Tutor; and then, standing with\nhis face to the north,\n\n An attitude of respect. Facing the south was the conventional position\n of a ruler.\n\nasked him, saying, \"Can such government be extended over the empire?\"\n\nThe old man of Tsang was silent and made no reply. He then abruptly\ntook leave, and by the evening of that same day had disappeared, never\nto be heard of again.\n\nYen Y\u00fcan said to Confucius, \"If W\u00ean Wang was unable to do this of\nhimself, how was he able to do it by a dream?\"\n\n\"Silence!\" cried Confucius: \"It is not for you to criticise W\u00ean Wang\nwho succeeded in fulfilling his mission. The dream was merely to\nsatisfy the vulgar mind.\"\n\n The whole episode is of course spurious.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLieh Y\u00fc K'ou\n\n _Or_ Lieh Tz\u016d. See ch. i.\n\ninstructed Po Hun Wu J\u00ean\n\n See ch. v.\n\nin archery. Drawing the bow to its full, he placed a cup of water on\nhis elbow and began to let fly. Hardly was one arrow out of sight ere\nanother was on the string, the archer standing all the time like a\nstatue.\n\n\"But this is shooting under ordinary conditions,\" cried Po Hun Wu J\u00ean;\n\"it is not shooting under extraordinary conditions. Now I will ascend a\nhigh mountain with you, and stand on the edge of a precipice a thousand\nfeet in height, and see how you can shoot then.\"\n\nThereupon Wu J\u00ean went with Lieh Tz\u016d up a high mountain, and stood on\nthe edge of a precipice a thousand feet in height, approaching it\nbackwards until one-fifth of his feet overhung the chasm, when he\nbeckoned to Lieh Tz\u016d to come on. But the latter had fallen prostrate on\nthe ground, with the sweat pouring down to his heels.\n\n\"The perfect man,\" said Wu J\u00ean, \"soars up to the blue sky, or dives\ndown to the yellow springs,\n\n The infernal regions.\n\nor flies to some extreme point of the compass, without change of\ncountenance. But you are terrified, and your eyes are dazed. Your\ninternal economy is defective.\"\n\n You have not TAO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChien Wu\n\n See ch. i.\n\nsaid to Sun Shu Ao,\n\n A famous minister of the Ch'u State.\n\n\"Sir, you have been three times called to office without showing any\nelation, and you have been three times dismissed without displaying any\nchagrin. At first, I doubted you; but now I notice that your breathing\nis perfectly regular. How do you manage thus to control your emotions?\"\n\n\"I am no better than other people,\" replied Sun Shu Ao. \"I regard\noffice when it comes as something which may not be declined; when it\ngoes, as something which cannot be kept. To me both the getting and\nlosing are outside my own self; and therefore I feel no chagrin. How am\nI better than other people?\n\n\"Besides, I am not conscious of office being either in the hands\nof others or in my own. If it is in the hands of others, my own\npersonality disappears; if in mine, theirs. And amidst the cares of\ndeliberation and investigation, what leisure has one for troubling\nabout rank?\"\n\nWhen Confucius heard this, he said, \"The perfect Sages of old!--cunning\nmen could not defeat them; beautiful women could not seduce them;\nrobbers could not steal from them;\n\n They were unmoved in the face of danger.\n\nFu Hsi and the Yellow Emperor could not make friends of them. Life and\ndeath are great; yet these gave them no pang.\n\n That would cause them to sacrifice truth.\n\nHow much less then rank and power!\n\n\"The souls of such men pierced through huge mountains as though\nthey had been nothing; descended into the abyss without getting\nwet; occupied lowly stations without chagrin. They filled the whole\nuniverse; and the more they gave to others, the more they had\nthemselves.\"\n\n These last words occur in chapter lxxxi. of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. It is,\n to say the least, strange to find them here in the mouth of Confucius\n without a hint as to their alleged Taoistic source.\n\n The explanation is that when this episode was penned, that patchwork\n treatise which passes under the name of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_ had not\n been pieced together.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe Prince of Ch'u was sitting with the Prince of Fan. By and by, one\nof the officials of Ch'u said, \"There were three indications of the\ndestruction of the Fan State.\"\n\n\"The destruction of the Fan State,\" cried the Prince of Fan, \"did not\nsuffice to injure my existence.\n\n Which was already, by virtue of TAO, beyond the reach of mundane\n influences.\n\nAnd while the destruction of the Fan State did not suffice to injure\nmy existence, the preservation of the Ch'u State will not be enough to\npreserve yours.\n\n You being without TAO.\n\nFrom this point of view it will be seen that while we Fans have not\nbegun to be destroyed, you Ch'us have not begun to exist.\"\n\n A good specimen of the _Fallacia Amphiboli\u00e6_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nKNOWLEDGE TRAVELS NORTH.\n\n _Argument_:--Inaction and TAO--The universe our model--Spontaneity our\n watchword--Omnipresence and indivisibility of TAO--External activity,\n internal passivity--Man's knowledge finite--Illustrations.\n\n[This chapter is supplementary to chapter vi.]\n\n\nWhen Knowledge travelled north, across the Black Water, and over the\nDark-Steep Mountain, he met Do-nothing Say-nothing and asked of him as\nfollows:--\n\n\"Kindly tell me by what thoughts, by what cogitations, may TAO be\nknown? By resting in what, by according in what, may TAO be approached?\nBy following what, by pursuing what, may TAO be attained?\"\n\nTo these three questions, Do-nothing Say-nothing returned no answer.\nNot that he would not answer, but that he could not. So when Knowledge\ngot no reply, he turned round and went off to the south of the White\nWater and up the Ku-ch\u00fceh Mountain, where he saw All-in-extremes, and\nto him he put the same questions.\n\n\"Ha!\" cried All-in-extremes, \"I know. I will tell you....\"\n\nBut just as he was about to speak he forgot what he wanted to say. So\nwhen Knowledge got no reply, he went back to the palace and asked the\nYellow Emperor. The latter said, \"By no thoughts, by no cogitations,\nTAO may be known. By resting in nothing, by according in nothing, TAO\nmay be approached. By following nothing, by pursuing nothing, TAO may\nbe attained.\"\n\nThen Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, \"Now you and I know this,\nbut those two know it not. Who is right?\"\n\n\"Of those two,\" replied the Yellow Emperor, \"Do-nothing Say-nothing\nis genuinely right, and All-in-extremes is near. You and I are wholly\nwrong. Those who understand it do not speak about it, those who speak\nabout it do not understand it.\n\n These words occur in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. vi. See also _ante_, p.\n 170.\n\nTherefore the Sage teaches a doctrine which does not find expression in\nwords.\n\n See _ante_, ch. v. Also _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 7.\n\nTAO cannot be made to come. Virtue cannot be reached.\n\n Virtue (T\u00ca), here the exemplification of TAO.\n\nCharity can be evoked. Duty to one's neighbour can be wrongly directed.\nCeremonies are mere shams.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, 'If TAO perishes, then T\u00ca will perish. If\nT\u00ca perishes, then charity will perish. If charity perishes, then duty\nto one's neighbour will perish. If duty to one's neighbour perishes,\nthen ceremonies will perish. Ceremonies are but a showy ornament of\nTAO, while oft-times the source of trouble.'\n\n The above is from the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. xxxviii. It is interesting\n to note how the Yellow Emperor annihilates time by quoting a work not\n written until many centuries after his date.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, 'Those who practise TAO suffer daily loss.\nIf that loss proceeds until inaction ensues, then by that very inaction\nthere is nothing which cannot be done.'\n\n Also in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. xlviii.\n\n\"Now, we are already beings. And if we desire to revert to our original\ncondition, how difficult that is! 'Tis a change to which only the\ngreatest among us are equal.\n\n\"Life follows upon death. Death is the beginning of life. Who knows\nwhen the end is reached? The life of man results from convergence of\nthe vital fluid. Its convergence is life; its dispersion, death. If\nthen life and death are but consecutive states, what need have I to\ncomplain?\n\n\"Therefore all things are ONE. What we love is animation. What we\nhate is corruption. But corruption in its turn becomes animation, and\nanimation once more becomes corruption.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, The world is permeated by a single vital\nfluid, and Sages accordingly venerate ONE.\"\n\n \"Tota formatio procedens ex nomine uno.\" _Liber Jezirah_, p. Bi.\n (Parisiis: G. Postello, 1552.)\n\nThen Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, \"I asked Do-nothing\nSay-nothing, but he did not answer me. Not that he, would not; he could\nnot. So I asked All-in-extremes. He was just going to tell me, but he\ndid not tell me. Not that he would not; but just as he was going to do\nso, he forgot what he wanted to say. Now I ask you, and you tell me.\nHow then are you wholly wrong?\"\n\n\"Of those two,\" replied the Yellow Emperor, \"the former was genuinely\nright, inasmuch as he did not _know_. The latter was near, inasmuch as\nhe _forgot_. You and I are wholly wrong, inasmuch as we _know_.\"\n\n TAO is attained, not by knowledge, but by absence of knowledge.\n\nWhen All-in-extremes heard of this, he considered that the Yellow\nEmperor had spoken well.\n\n \"Spoken knowingly\" gives the only chance of bringing out what is here\n a forced play upon words.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe universe is very beautiful, yet it says nothing. The four seasons\nabide by a fixed law, yet they are not heard. All creation is based\nupon absolute principles, yet nothing speaks.\n\nAnd the true Sage, taking his stand upon the beauty of the universe,\npierces the principles of created things. Hence the saying that the\nperfect man does nothing, the true Sage performs nothing, beyond\ngazing at the universe.\n\n In the hope of attaining, by contemplation, a like spontaneity.\n\nFor man's intellect, however keen, face to face with the countless\nevolutions of things, their death and birth, their squareness and\nroundness,--can never reach the root. There creation is, and there it\nhas ever been.\n\n But the secret of life is withheld.\n\nThe six cardinal points, reaching into infinity, are ever included in\nTAO. An autumn spikelet, in all its minuteness, must carry TAO within\nitself. There is nothing on earth which does not rise and fall, but it\nnever perishes altogether.\n\n Nihilo nil posse reverti.\n\nThe _Yin_ and the _Yang_, and the four seasons, keep to their proper\norder. Apparently destroyed, yet really existing; the material gone,\nthe immaterial left;--such is the law of creation, which passeth\nall understanding. This is called the root, whence a glimpse may be\nobtained of God.\n\n From this point, upon which the finger of man can never be laid, his\n mind may perhaps faintly discern the transcendent workings of that\n Power by which all creation is swayed;--\"uncover those secret recesses\n where Nature is sitting at the fires in the depths of her laboratory.\"\n _Swedenborg._\n\nYeh Ch'\u00fceh enquired of P'i I about TAO.\n\n For the former see ch. ii. Of the latter there is no record.\n\nThe latter said, \"Keep your body under proper control, your gaze\nconcentrated upon ONE,--and the peace of God will descend upon you.\nKeep back your knowledge, and concentrate your thoughts upon ONE,--and\nthe holy spirit shall abide within you. Virtue shall beautify you, TAO\nshall establish you, aimless as a new-born calf which recks not how it\ncame into the world.\"\n\nWhile P'i I was still speaking, Yeh Ch'\u00fceh had gone off to sleep; at\nwhich the former rejoiced greatly, and departed singing,\n\n    \"Body like dry bone,\n    Mind like dead ashes;\n    This is true knowledge,\n    Not to strive after knowing the whence.\n    In darkness, in obscurity,\n    The mindless cannot plan;--\n    What manner of _man_ is that?\"\n\n His mortal trammels had fallen off by his absorption into TAO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nShun asked Ch'\u00eang,\n\n His tutor.\n\nsaying, \"Can one get TAO so as to have it for one's own?\"\n\n\"Your very body,\" replied Ch'\u00eang, \"is not your own. How should TAO be?\"\n\n\"If my body,\" said Shun, \"is not my own, pray whose is it?\"\n\n\"It is the delegated image of God,\" replied Ch'\u00eang. \"Your life is not\nyour own. It is the delegated harmony of God.\n\n The affinity of the _Yin_ and _Yang_ causes them, when in due\n proportions, to combine and produce life.\n\nYour individuality is not your own. It is the delegated adaptability of\nGod.\n\n Providing the endless variety of shapes with an endless variety of\n complexion.\n\nYour posterity is not your own. It is the delegated exuvi\u00e6 of God.\n\n As God sends us into the world, so He wishes us to \"increase and\n multiply.\"\n\nYou move, but know not how. You are at rest, but know not why. You\ntaste, but know not the cause. These are the operation of God's laws.\nHow then should you get TAO so as to have it for your own?\"\n\n _Cf._ \"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,\"\n etc. I. Corinthians vi. 19.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius said to Lao Tz\u016d, \"To-day you are at leisure. Pray tell me\nabout perfect TAO.\"\n\n\"Purge your heart by fasting and discipline,\" answered Lao Tz\u016d. \"Wash\nyour soul as white as snow. Discard your knowledge. TAO is abstruse and\ndifficult of discussion. I will try, however, to speak to you of its\noutline.\n\n\"Light is born of darkness. Classification is born of formlessness. The\nsoul is born of TAO. The body is born of the vital essence.\n\n Existence springs from non-existence.\n\n\"Thus all things produce after their kind. Creatures with nine channels\nof communication are born from the womb. Creatures with eight are born\nfrom the egg.\n\n Nature is always self-similar.\n\nOf their coming there is no trace. In their departure there is no goal.\nNo entrance gate, no dwelling house, they pass this way and that, as\nthough at the meeting of cross-roads.\n\n\"Those who enter herein become strong of limb, subtle of thought, and\nclear of sight and hearing. They suffer no mental fatigue, nor meet\nwith physical resistance.\n\n\"Heaven cannot but be high. Earth cannot but be broad. The sun and moon\ncannot but revolve. All creation cannot but flourish. To do so is their\nTAO.\n\n\"But it is not from extensive study that this may be known, nor by\ndialectic skill that this may be made clear. The true Sage will have\nnone of these. It is in addition without gain, in diminution without\nloss, that the true Sage finds salvation.\n\n\"Unfathomable as the sea, wondrously ending only to begin again,\ninforming all creation without being exhausted, the TAO of the perfect\nman is spontaneous in its operation. That all creation can be informed\nby it without exhaustion, is its TAO.\n\n The TAO of TAO.\n\n\"In the Middle Kingdom there are men who recognise neither positive nor\nnegative. They abide between heaven and earth. They act their part as\nmortals, and then return to the Cause.\n\n\"From that standpoint,\n\n Of the Cause, _sc._ God, which is commensurate with infinity.\n\nlife is but a concentration of the vital fluid, whose longest and\nshortest terms of existence vary by an inappreciable space,---hardly\nenough for the classification of Yao and Chieh.\n\n As good and bad. See ch. iv.\n\n\"Tree-fruits and plant-fruits exhibit order in their varieties; and the\nrelationships of man, though more difficult to be dealt with, may still\nbe reduced to order.\n\n These have been classified as follows:--\n\n  1. Sovereign     and Subject.\n  2. Husband        \"  Wife.\n  3. Father         \"  Son.\n  4. Elder Brother  \"  Younger Brother.\n  5. Friend         \"  Friend.\n\nThe true Sage who meets with these, does not violate them. Neither does\nhe continue to hold fast by them.\n\n He adapts himself to the exigencies of his environment.\n\nAdaptation by arrangement is T\u00ca. Spontaneous adaptation is TAO, by\nwhich sovereigns flourish and princes succeed.\n\n\"Man passes through this sublunary life as a white horse passes\na crack. Here one moment, gone the next. Neither are there any\nnot equally subject to the ingress and egress of mortality. One\nmodification brings life; then another, and it is death. Living\ncreatures cry out; human beings sorrow. The bow-sheath is slipped off;\nthe clothes-bag is dropped; and in the confusion the soul wings its\nflight, and the body follows, on the great journey home!\n\n\"The reality of the formless, the unreality of that which has\nform,--this is known to all. Those who are on the road to attainment\ncare not for these things, but the people at large discuss them.\nAttainment implies non-discussion: discussion implies non-attainment.\nManifested, TAO has no objective value; hence silence is better than\nargument. It cannot be translated into speech; better then say nothing\nat all. This is called the great attainment.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTung Kuo Tz\u016d asked Chuang Tz\u016d, saying, \"What you call TAO,--where is\nit?\"\n\n\"There is nowhere,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"where it is not.\"\n\n\"Tell me one place at any rate where it is,\" said Tung Kuo Tz\u016d.\n\n\"It is in the ant,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Why go so low down?\" asked Tung Kuo Tz\u016d.\n\n\"It is in a tare,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Still lower,\" objected Tung Kuo Tz\u016d.\n\n\"It is in a potsherd,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Worse still!\" cried Tung Kuo Tz\u016d.\n\n\"It is in ordure,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d. And Tung Kuo Tz\u016d made no reply.\n\n\"Sir,\" continued Chuang Tz\u016d, \"your question does not touch the\nessential. When Huo, inspector of markets, asked the managing director\nabout the fatness of pigs, the test was always made in parts least\nlikely to be fat. Do not therefore insist in any particular direction;\nfor there is nothing which escapes. Such is perfect TAO; and such also\nis ideal speech. _Whole_, _entire_, _all_, are three words which sound\ndifferently but mean the same. Their purport is ONE.\n\n\"Try to reach with me the palace of Nowhere, and there, amidst the\nidentity of all things, carry your discussions into the infinite. Try\nto practise with me inaction, wherein you may rest motionless, without\ncare, and be happy. For thus my mind becomes an abstraction. It wanders\nnot, and yet is not conscious of being at rest. It goes and comes and\nis not conscious of stoppages. Backwards and forwards without being\nconscious of any goal. Up and down the realms of Infinity, wherein even\nthe greatest intellect would fail to find an end.\n\n\"That which makes things the things they are, is not limited to such\nthings. The limits of things are their own limits in so far as they\nare things. The limits of the limitless, the limitlessness of the\nlimited,--these are called fulness and emptiness, renovation and decay.\nTAO causes fulness and emptiness, but it is not either. It causes\nrenovation and decay, but it is not either. It causes beginning and\nend, but it is not either. It causes accumulation and dispersion, but\nit is not either.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nO Ho Kan was studying with Sh\u00ean Nung under Lao Lung Chi.\n\n No record of the first and last. Sh\u00ean Nung was a legendary emperor who\n invented agriculture. See p. 196.\n\nSh\u00ean Nung used to remain shut up, with his head on the table, absorbed\nin day-dreams. On one occasion, O Ho Kan knocked at the door, and\nentering said, \"Lao Lung is dead!\"\n\nThereupon Sh\u00ean Nung, leaning on his staff, arose; and flinging down his\nstaff with a bang, smiled and said, \"O my Master, thou knewest me to be\nworthless and self-sufficient, and thou didst leave me and die. Now I,\nhaving no scope for my vain talk, I too will die.\"\n\nWhen Yen Kang Tiao\n\n \"A man of TAO.\" _Comm._\n\nheard this, he said, \"Those who exemplify TAO are sought after by all\nthe best men in the empire. Now if one who has not attained to more\nTAO than the ten-thousandth part of the tip of an autumn spikelet, is\nstill wise enough to withhold vain talk and die,--how much more those\nwho exemplify TAO? To the eye it is formless, and to the ear it is\nnoiseless. Those who discuss it, speak of it as 'the obscure.' But the\nmere fact of discussing TAO makes it not TAO.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt this the Empyrean asked Without-end, saying, \"Do you know TAO?\"\n\n\"I do not,\" replied Without-end; whereupon the Empyrean proceeded to\nask Inaction.\n\n\"I do know TAO,\" said Inaction.\n\n\"Is there any method,\" asked the Empyrean, \"by which you know TAO?\"\n\n\"There is,\" replied Inaction.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the Empyrean.\n\n\"I know,\" answered Inaction, \"that TAO may honour and dishonour, bind\nand loose. That is the method by which I know TAO.\"\n\nThe Empyrean repeated these words to No-beginning, and asked him which\nwas right, the ignorance of Without-end or the knowledge of Inaction.\n\n\"Not to know,\" replied No-beginning, \"is profound. To know is shallow.\nNot to know is internal. To know is external.\"\n\nHere the Empyrean broke in with a sigh, \"Then ignorance is knowledge,\nand knowledge ignorance! But pray whose knowledge is the knowledge of\nnot knowing?\"\n\n\"TAO,\" said No-beginning, \"cannot be heard. Heard, it is not TAO. It\ncannot be seen. Seen, it is not TAO. It cannot be spoken. Spoken,\nit is not TAO. That which imparts form to forms is itself formless;\ntherefore TAO cannot have a name.\"\n\n Form precedes name.\n\nNo-beginning continued, \"He who replies to one asking about TAO, does\nnot know TAO. Although one may hear about TAO, he does not really hear\nabout TAO. There is no such thing as asking about TAO. There is no\nsuch thing as answering such questions. To ask a question which cannot\nbe asked is vain. To answer a question which cannot be answered is\nunreal. And one who thus meets the vain with the unreal is one who has\nno physical perception of the universe, and no mental perception of the\norigin of existence,--unfit alike to roam over the K'un-lun peak or to\nsoar into the Supreme Void.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLight asked Nothing, saying, \"Do you, Sir, exist, or do you not exist?\"\n\nBut getting no answer to his question, Light set to work to watch for\nthe appearance of Nothing.\n\nHidden, vacuous,--all day long he looked but could not see it, listened\nbut could not hear it, grasped at but could not seize it.\n\n See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 31.\n\n\"Bravo!\" cried Light. \"Who can equal this? I can get to be nothing,\n\n Darkness.\n\nbut I cannot get as far as the absence of nothing. Assuming that\nNothing has an objective existence, how can it reach this next stage?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe man who forged swords for the Minister of War was eighty years of\nage. Yet he never made the slightest slip in his work.\n\nThe Minister of War said to him, \"Is it your skill, Sir, or have you\nany method?\"\n\n Any TAO?--in its earlier sense of _way_ of doing things.\n\n\"It is concentration,\" replied the man. \"When twenty years old, I took\nto forging swords. I cared for nothing else. If a thing was not a\nsword, I did not notice it. I availed myself of whatever energy I did\nnot use in other directions in order to secure greater efficiency in\nthe direction required. Still more of that which is never without use;--\n\n TAO.\n\nSo that there was nothing which did not lend its aid.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJen Ch'iu asked Confucius, saying, \"Can we know about the time before\nthe universe existed?\"\n\n\"We can,\" replied Confucius. \"Time was of old precisely what it is now.\"\n\nAt this rebuff, Jen Ch'iu withdrew. Next day he again visited Confucius\nand said, \"Yesterday when I asked you that question and you answered\nme, I was quite clear about it. To-day I am confused. How is this?\"\n\n\"Your clearness of yesterday,\" answered Confucius, \"was because my\nanswer appealed direct to your natural intelligence. Your confusion of\nto-day results from the intrusion of something other than the natural\nintelligence.\n\n You have passed from \"simple apprehension\" to \"judgment.\"\n\nThere is no past, no present, no beginning, no end.\n\n To-day will be the yesterday of to-morrow.\n\nTo have posterity before one has posterity,--is that possible?\"\n\nJen Ch'iu made no answer, and Confucius continued, \"That will do.\nDo not reply. If life did not give birth to death, and if death did\nnot put an end to life, surely life and death would be no longer\ncorrelates, but would each exist independently. What there was before\nthe universe, was TAO. TAO makes things what they are, but is not\nitself a thing. Nothing can produce TAO; yet everything has TAO within\nit, and continues to produce it without end.\n\n In its offspring.\n\nAnd the endless love of the Sage for his fellow-man is based upon the\nsame principle.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYen Y\u00fcan asked Confucius, saying, \"Master, I have heard you declare\nthat there may be no eagerness to conform, no effort to adapt. If so,\npray how are we to get along?\"\n\n Reach that condition which is only attained by adaptation to\n environment.\n\n\"The men of old,\" replied Confucius, \"practised physical, but not\nmoral, modification.\n\n They adapted themselves to the requirements of matter, while their\n hearts remained the same.\n\nThe men of to-day practise moral, not physical modification.\n\n They allow their hearts to be influenced while resisting the\n exigencies of the external.\n\nLet your modification extend to the external only. Internally, be\nconstant without modification.\n\n\"How shall you modify, and how shall you not modify? How reconcile the\ndivergence?--By not admitting division.\n\n _I.e._ \"by being constant without modification,\" says Lin Hsi Chung.\n\n\"There was the garden of Hsi Wei, the park of the Yellow Emperor, the\npalace of Shun, the halls of T'ang and Wu.\n\n The allusion appears to be to schools of learning, like the Grove of\n Academus. See chs. vi, xii.\n\nThese were perfect men; but had they been taught by Confucianists and\nMihists, they would have hammered one another to pieces over scholastic\nquibbles. How much more then the men of to-day?\n\n\"The perfect Sage, in his relations with the external world, injures\nnothing. Neither does anything injure him. And only he who is thus\nexempt can be trusted to conform and to adapt.\n\n\"Mountain forests and loamy fields swell my heart with joy. But ere the\njoy be passed, sorrow is upon me again.\n\n Familiarity destroys the charm.\n\nJoy and sorrow come and go, and over them I have no control.\n\n\"Alas! the life of man is but as a stoppage at an inn. He knows that\nwhich comes within the range of his experience. Otherwise, he knows\nnot. He knows that he can do what he can do, and that he cannot do what\nhe cannot do. But there is always that which he does not know and that\nwhich he cannot do; and to struggle that it shall not be so,--is not\nthis a cause for grief?\n\n\"The best language is that which is not spoken, the best form of action\nis that which is without deeds.\n\n Then conformity and adaptation are not required.\n\nSpread out your knowledge and it will be found to be shallow.\"\n\n It will by no means cover the area of the knowable. \"Read this\n chapter,\" says one critic, \"and the _Tripitaka_ and the _Mah\u00e2y\u00e2na_\n will open out before you as beneath a sharp-edged blade.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nK\u00caNG SANG CH'U.\n\n _Argument_:--The operation of TAO is not seen--Spheres of action\n vary--TAO remains the same--Spontaneity essential--TAO can be\n divided but remains entire--It is infinite as Time and Space--It is\n unconditioned--The external and the internal--Illustrations.\n\n\nAmong the disciples of Lao Tz\u016d was one named K\u00eang Sang Ch'u. He\nalone had attained to the TAO of his Master. He lived up north, on\nthe Wei-lei Mountains. Of his attendants, he dismissed those who\nwere systematically clever or conventionally charitable. The useless\nremained with him; the incompetent served him. And in three years the\ndistrict of Wei-lei was greatly benefited.\n\nOne of the inhabitants said in conversation, \"When Mr. K\u00eang Sang first\ncame among us, we did not know what to make of him. Now, we could not\nsay enough about him in a day, and even a year would leave something\nunsaid. Surely he must be a true Sage. Why not pray to him as to the\nspirits, and honour him as a tutelary god of the land?\"\n\nOn hearing of this, K\u00eang Sang Ch'u turned his face to the south\n\n Towards the abode of Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nin shame, at which his disciples were astonished. But K\u00eang Sang said,\n\"What cause have you for astonishment? The influence of spring quickens\nthe life of plants, and autumn brings them to maturity. In the absence\nof any agent, how is this so? It is the operation of TAO.\n\n\"I have heard that the perfect man may be pent up like a corpse in a\ntomb, yet the people will become unartificial and without care.\n\n So powerful will be his influence.\n\nBut now these poor people of Wei-lei wish to exalt me among their wise\nand good. Surely then I am but a shallow vessel; and therefore I was\nshamed for the doctrine of Lao Tz\u016d.\"\n\nThe disciples said, \"Not so. In a sixteen-foot ditch a big fish has not\nroom to turn round; but 'tis the very place for an eel. On a six or\nseven-foot hillock a large beast finds no shelter, while the uncanny\nfox gladly makes its lair therein. Besides, ever since the days of Yao\nand Shun it has always been customary to honour the virtuous, advance\nthe able, give precedence to the good and useful. Why not then among\nthe people of Wei-lei? Let them do it, Sir.\"\n\n\"Come here, my children,\" said K\u00eang Sang Ch'u. \"A beast big enough to\nswallow a cart, if it wanders alone from the hills, will not escape the\nsorrow of the snare. A fish big enough to gulp down a boat, if stranded\non the dry shore will become a prey to ants. Therefore it is that birds\nand beasts love height, and fishes and turtles love depth. And the man\nwho cares for himself hides his body. He loves the occult.\n\n There is a play here upon words.\n\n\"As to Yao and Shun, what claim have they to praise? Their fine\ndistinctions simply amounted to knocking a hole in a wall in order to\nstop it up with brambles;\n\n They had better have left the wall alone.\n\nto combing each individual hair; to counting the grains for a rice\npudding! How in the name of goodness did they profit their generation?\n\n\"If the virtuous are honoured, emulation will ensue. If knowledge be\nfostered, the result will be theft.\n\n People will employ their knowledge against each other.\n\nThese things are of no use to make people good. The struggle for wealth\nis so severe. Sons murder their fathers; ministers their princes; men\nrob in broad daylight, and bore through walls at high noon. I tell you\nthat the root of this great evil is from Yao and Shun, and that its\nbranches will extend into a thousand ages to come. A thousand ages\nhence, man will be feeding upon man!\"\n\nNan Yung Ch'u\n\n A disciple.\n\nsadly straightened his seat and said, \"But what is one of my age to do\nthat he may attain to this?\"\n\n\"Preserve your form complete,\" said K\u00eang Sang, \"your vitality secure.\nLet no anxious thoughts intrude. And then in three years' space you may\nattain to this.\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" said Nan Yung, \"that there is any difference in the\nform of eyes; yet blind men cannot see. I do not know that there is any\ndifference in the form of ears; yet deaf men cannot hear. I do not know\nthat there is any difference in the form of hearts;\n\n The seat of the intellect.\n\nyet fools cannot use theirs to any purpose. The forms are alike; yet\nthere is something which differentiates them. One will succeed, and\nanother will not. Yet you tell me to preserve my form complete, my\nvitality secure, and let no anxious thoughts intrude. But so far I only\nhear TAO with my ears.\"\n\n\"Well said!\" cried K\u00eang Sang; and then he added, \"Small wasps cannot\ntransform huge caterpillars.\n\n According to Chinese notions, the wasp has no young. It transforms a\n small caterpillar into the required offspring.\n\nBantams cannot hatch the eggs of geese. The fowls of Lu can. Not that\nthere is any difference in the hatching power of chickens. One can and\nanother cannot, because one is naturally fitted for working on a large,\nthe other on a small scale. My talents are of the latter order. I\ncannot transform you. Why not go south and see Lao Tz\u016d?\"\n\nSo Nan Yung took some provisions, and after a seven days' journey\narrived at the abode of Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Have you come from K\u00eang Sang Ch'u?\" said the latter.\n\n\"I have,\" replied Nan Yung.\n\n\"But why,\" said Lao Tz\u016d, \"bring all these people with you?\"\n\n Meaning the questions he was going to ask.\n\nNan Yung looked back in alarm, and Lao Tz\u016d continued, \"Do you not\nunderstand what I say?\"\n\nNan Yung bent his head abashed, and then looking up, said with a sigh,\n\"I have now forgotten how to answer, in consequence of missing what I\ncame to ask.\"\n\n He was so confused by Lao Tz\u016d's question coming before he had had time\n to state his mission.\n\n\"What do you mean?\" said Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n\"If I do not know,\" replied Nan Yung, \"men call me a fool. If I do\nknow, I injure myself. If I am not charitable, I injure others. If I\nam, I injure myself. If I do not do my duty to my neighbour, I injure\nothers. If I do it, I injure myself. My trouble lies in not seeing how\nto escape from these three dilemmas. On the strength of my connection\nwith K\u00eang Sang, I would venture to ask advice.\"\n\n\"When I saw you,\" said Lao Tz\u016d, \"I knew in the twinkling of an eye what\nwas the matter with you. And now what you say confirms my view. You\nare confused, as a child that has lost its parents. You would fathom\nthe sea with a pole. You are astray. You are struggling to get back to\nyour natural self, but cannot find the way. Alas! alas!\"\n\nNan Yung begged to be allowed to remain, and set to work to cultivate\nthe good and eliminate the evil within him. At the expiration of ten\ndays, with sorrow in his heart, he again sought Lao Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Have you thoroughly cleansed yourself?\" said Lao Tz\u016d. \"But this\ngrieved look.... There is some evil obstruction yet.\n\n\"If the disturbances are external,\n\n _Sc._ sensual.\n\ndo not be always combating them, but close the channels to the mind. If\nthe disturbances are internal, do not strive to oppose them, but close\nall entrance from without.\n\n And the mind will recover itself.\n\nIf the disturbances are both internal and external, then you will not\neven be able to hold fast to Tao, still less practise it.\"\n\n\"If a rustic is sick,\" said Nan Yung, \"and another rustic goes to see\nhim; and if the sick man can say what is the matter with him,--then he\nis not seriously ill. Yet my search after TAO is like swallowing drugs\nwhich only increase the malady.\n\n Although really not so very far from TAO (_sc._ health) as evidenced\n by my being able to describe my complaint, which a man sick of some\n serious disease is scarcely able to do.\n\nI beg therefore merely to ask the art of preserving life.\"\n\n\"The art of preserving life,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"consists in being able\nto keep all in ONE,\n\n _Sc._ Body and soul. See the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. x, where this idea\n has been reproduced.\n\nto lose nothing, to estimate good and evil without divination,\n\n To know that each is bound up in the other.\n\nto know when to stop, and how much is enough, to leave others alone\nand attend to oneself, to be without cares and without knowledge,--to\nbe in fact as a child. A child will cry all day and not become hoarse,\nbecause of the perfection of its constitutional harmony.\n\n Also reproduced in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. lv.\n\nIt will keep its fist tightly closed all day and not open it, because\nof the concentration of its virtue. It will gaze all day without taking\noff its eyes, because its sight is not attracted by externals. In\nmotion, it knows not whither it is bound; at rest, it is not conscious\nof doing anything; but unconsciously adapts itself to the exigencies of\nits environment. This is the art of preserving life.\"\n\n\"Is this then the virtue of the perfect man?\" cried Nan Yung.\n\n\"Not so,\" said Lao Tz\u016d. \"I am, as it were, but breaking the ice.\n\n\"The perfect man shares the food of this earth, but the happiness of\nGod. He does not incur trouble either from men or things. He does not\njoin in censuring, in plotting, in toadying. Free from care he comes,\nand unconscious he goes;--this is the art of preserving life.\"\n\n\"This then is perfection?\" inquired Nan Yung.\n\n\"Not yet,\" said Lao Tz\u016d. \"I specially asked if you could be as a child.\nA child acts without knowing what it does; moves without knowing\nwhither. Its body is like a dry branch; its heart like dead ashes.\nThus, good and evil fortune find no lodgment therein; and there where\ngood and evil fortune are not, how can the troubles of mortality be?\n\n\"Those whose hearts are in a state of repose give forth a divine\nradiance, by the light of which they see themselves as they are. And\nonly by cultivating such repose can man attain to the constant.\n\n\"Those who are constant are sought after by men and assisted by God.\nThose who are sought after by men are the people of God; those who are\nassisted by God are his chosen children.\n\n The stuff of which rulers are made.\n\n\"To study this is to study what cannot be learnt. To practise this is\nto practise what cannot be accomplished. To discuss this is to discuss\nwhat can never be proved. Let knowledge stop at the unknowable. That\nis perfection. And for those who do not follow this, God will destroy\nthem!\n\n \"Knowledge,\" says Emerson in his _Montaigne, or the Sceptic_, \"is the\n knowing that we cannot know.\"\n\n\"With such defences for the body, ever prepared for the unexpected,\ndeferential to the rights of others,--if then calamities overtake you,\nthese are from God, not from man. Let them not disturb what you have\nalready achieved. Let them not penetrate into the soul's abode. For\nthere resides the Will. And if the will knows not what to will, it will\nnot be able to will.\n\n Inability to exercise the functions of will is TAO.\n\n\"Whatsoever is not said in all sincerity, is wrongly said. And not to\nbe able to rid oneself of this vice is only to sink deeper towards\nperdition.\n\n\"Those who do evil in the open light of day,--men will punish them.\nThose who do evil in secret,--God will punish them. Who fears both man\nand God, he is fit to walk alone.\n\n The term here used for \"God\" means strictly those \"spirits\" which are\n the avenging emissaries of the Deity.\n\nThose who are devoted to the internal,\n\n To self-culture.\n\nin practice acquire no reputation. Those who are devoted to the\nexternal, strive for pre-eminence among their fellows. Practice\nwithout reputation throws a halo around the meanest. But he who strives\nfor pre-eminence among his fellows, he is as a huckster whose weariness\nall perceive though he himself puts on an air of gaiety.\n\n\"He who is naturally in sympathy with man, to him all men come. But\nhe who forcedly adapts, has no room even for himself, still less for\nothers. And he who has no room for others, has no ties. It is all over\nwith him.\n\n\"There is no weapon so deadly as man's will. Excalibur is second to it.\nThere is no bandit so powerful as Nature.\n\n The interaction of the Positive and Negative principles, which\n produces the visible universe.\n\nIn the whole universe there is no escape from it. Yet it is not Nature\nwhich does the injury. It is man's own heart.\n\n\"TAO informs its own subdivisions, their successes and their failures.\nWhat is feared in subdivision is separation.\n\n From the parent stock of TAO.\n\nWhat is feared in separation, is further separation.\n\n So that all connection is severed.\n\nThus, to issue forth without return, this is development of the\nsupernatural. To issue forth and attain the goal, this is called\ndeath. To be annihilated and yet to exist, this is convergence of the\nsupernatural into ONE. To make things which have form appear to all\nintents and purposes formless,--this is the sum of all things.\n\n Man's final triumph over matter.\n\n\"Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence\nwithout limitation; there is continuity without a starting-point.\nExistence without limitation is _Space_. Continuity without a\nstarting-point is _Time_. There is birth, there is death, there is\nissuing forth, there is entering in. That through which one passes in\nand out without seeing its form, that is the Portal of God.\n\n\"The Portal of God is Non-Existence. All things sprang from\nNon-Existence. Existence could not make existence existence. It must\nhave proceeded from Non-Existence,\n\n The idea of existence, independent of its correlate, cannot be\n apprehended by the human intellect.\n\nAnd Non-Existence and Nothing are ONE.\n\n If all things sprang from non-existence, it might be urged that\n non-existence had an objective existence. But non-existence is\n nothing, and nothing excludes the idea of something, making subjective\n and objective nothings ONE.\n\nHerein is the abiding-place of the Sage.\n\n There where the matter of mortality shares the tenuity of the formless.\n\n\"The knowledge of the ancients reached the highest point,--the time\nbefore anything existed. This is the highest point. It is exhaustive.\nThere is no adding to it.\n\n\"The second best was that of those who started from existence. Life\nwas to them a misfortune. Death was a return home. There was already\nseparation.\n\n\"The next in the scale said that at the beginning there was nothing.\nThen life came, to be quickly followed by death. They made Nothing the\nhead, Life the trunk, and Death the tail of existence, claiming as\nfriends whoever knew that existence and non-existence, and life and\ndeath were all ONE.\n\n\"These three classes, though different, were of the same clan; as were\nChao Ching who inherited fame, and Chia who inherited territory.\n\n The fact of inheritance was the same, but not the thing inherited,--by\n these men of Ch'u.\n\n There are various interpretations of this passage. No two commentators\n agree.\n\n\"Man's life is as the soot on a kettle.\n\n Meaning, concentrated smoke.\n\nYet men speak of the subjective point of view. But this subjective\npoint of view will not bear the test. It is a point of knowledge we\ncannot reach.\n\n Individual standards are fallacious. What is subjective from one point\n of view is objective from another.\n\n\"At the winter sacrifice, the tripe may be separated from the great\ntoe; yet these cannot be separated.\n\n Each carries away the characteristics of the whole.\n\nHe who looks at a house, visits the ancestral hall, and even the\nlatrines. Thus every point is the subjective point of view.\n\n Or else he has not seen the house but only a part. Where then is the\n subjective point of view of the house, and by analogy, of the man?\n\n\"Let us try to formulate this subjective point of view. It originates\nwith life, and, with knowledge as its tutor, drifts into the admission\nof right and wrong.\n\n In the abstract.\n\nBut one's own standard of right is _the_ standard, and others have to\nadapt themselves to it. Men will die for this. Such people look upon\nthe useful as appertaining to wisdom, the useless as appertaining\nto folly; upon success in life as honourable, upon failure as\ndishonourable.\n\n Not knowing the value of the useless, or perceiving that what is so at\n one time is not so at another.\n\nThe subjective point of view is that of the present generation, who\nlike the cicada and the young dove see things only from their own\nstandpoint.\n\n See ch. i.\n\n\"If a man treads upon a stranger's toe in the market-place, he\napologises on the score of hurry. If an elder brother does this, he is\nquit with an exclamation of sympathy. And if a parent does so, nothing\nwhatever is done.\n\n The child being part of himself.\n\n\"Therefore it has been said, 'Perfect politeness is not artificial;\n\n Kuo Hsiang says this means treating others as oneself. Lin Hsi Chung\n takes the \"natural\" or \"spontaneous\" view which is here adopted.\n\nperfect duty to one's neighbour is not a matter of calculation; perfect\nwisdom takes no thought; perfect charity recognises no ties; perfect\ntrust requires no pledges.'\n\n\"Discard the stimuli of purpose. Free the mind from disturbances. Get\nrid of entanglements to virtue. Pierce the obstructions to TAO.\n\n\"Honours, wealth, distinction, power, fame, gain,--these six stimulate\npurpose.\n\n\"Mien, carriage, beauty, arguments, influence, opinions,--these six\ndisturb the mind.\n\n Referring, of course, to the mien, carriage, etc. of others.\n\n\"Hate, ambition, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure,--these six are\nentanglements to virtue.\n\n\"Rejecting, adopting, receiving, giving, knowledge, ability,--these six\nare obstructions to TAO.\n\n The key to which is inaction.\n\n\"If these twenty-four be not allowed to run riot, then the mind will\nbe duly ordered. And being duly ordered, it will be in repose. And\nbeing in repose, it will be clear of perception. And being clear of\nperception, it will be unconditioned. And being unconditioned, it will\nbe in that state of inaction by which there is nothing which cannot be\naccomplished.\n\n\"TAO is the sovereign lord of T\u00ca.\n\n T\u00ca is the \"virtue\" of spontaneity.\n\nLife is the glorifier of T\u00ca.\n\n By means of which it can be manifested.\n\nNature is the substance of life.\n\n The code of which life is the embodiment.\n\nThe operation of that nature is action. The perversion of that action\nis error.\n\n\"People who know put forth physical power. People who know employ\nmental effort. But what people who know do not know is to be as the eye.\n\n Which sees without looking.\n\n\"Emotion which is spontaneous is called virtue passive. Emotion which\nis not evoked by the external is called virtue active. The names of\nthese are antagonistic; but essentially they are in accord.\n\n All \"virtue\" should proceed from the real self, _sc._ from God.\n\n\"Yi was skilled in hitting the bull's-eye; but stupid at preventing\npeople from praising him for so doing.\n\n See ch. v.\n\nThe Sage devotes himself to the natural and neglects the artificial.\nFor only the Perfect Man can devote himself profitably to the natural\nand artificial alike. Insects influence insects;\n\n So as to make others like themselves\n\nbecause insects are natural. When the Perfect Man hates the natural,\nit is the artificially natural which he hates. How much more man's\nalternate naturalness and artificiality?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"If a bird falls in with Yi, Yi will get it. Such is his skill. And if\nthe world were made into a cage, birds would have no place of escape.\nSo it was that by cookery T'ang got hold of I Yin, and by five rams'\nskins Duke Mu of Ch'in got Po Li Ch'i. But had these princes not been\nthemselves successful at getting, they never would have got these men.\n\n Apocryphal stories both. I Yin was the successful and famous minister\n of the founder of the Shang dynasty. For Poh Li Ch'i, see p. 270.\n\n\"A one-legged man discards ornament, his exterior not being open to\ncommendation. Condemned criminals will go up to great heights without\nfear, for they no longer regard life and death from their former point\nof view. And those who pay no attention to their moral clothing\n\n Artificial virtues.\n\nand condition become oblivious of their own personality; and by thus\nbecoming oblivious of their personality, they proceed to be the people\nof God.\n\n\"Wherefore, if men revere them, they rejoice not. If men insult them,\nthey are not angered. But only those who have passed into the eternal\nharmony of God are capable of this.\n\n\"If your anger is external, not internal, it will be anger proceeding\nfrom not-anger. If your actions are external, not internal, they will\nbe actions proceeding from inaction.\n\n\"If you would attain peace, level down your emotional nature. If you\ndesire spirituality, cultivate adaptation of the intelligence. If\nyou would have your actions in accordance with what is right, allow\nyourself to fall in with the dictates of necessity. For necessity is\nthe TAO of the Sage.\"\n\n Do nothing save what you cannot help doing.\n\n The authorship of this chapter has been disputed. Lin Hsi Chung\n regards the question as by no means settled.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nHS\u00dc WU KUEI.\n\n _Argument_:--TAO is passionless--Immorality of the moral--Obstructions\n to natural virtue--The evils of action--Too much zeal--The outward and\n visible--The inward and spiritual--Illustrations.\n\n\nHs\u00fc Wu Kuei, introduced by N\u00fc Shang, went to see Wu Hou of Wei.\n\n A hermit, a minister, and a prince, respectively.\n\nThe Prince greeted him sympathisingly, and said, \"You are suffering,\nSir. You must have endured great hardships in your mountain life that\nyou should be willing to leave it and visit me.\"\n\n\"It is I who should sympathise with your Highness, not your Highness\nwith me,\" answered Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei. \"If your Highness gives free play to\npassion and yields to loves and hates, then the natural conditions of\nyour existence will suffer.\n\n Internally.\n\nAnd if your Highness puts aside passion and abjures loves and hates,\nthen your senses of sight and hearing will suffer.\n\n Externally.\n\nIt is I who should sympathise with your Highness, not your Highness\nwith me.\"\n\nThe Prince was too astonished to reply; and after a while Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei\ncontinued, \"I will try to explain to your Highness how I judge of dogs.\nThe lowest in the scale will eat their fill and then stop, like a cat.\nThose of the middle class are as though staring at the sun. The highest\nclass are as though they had parted with their own individuality.\n\n\"But I do not judge of dogs as well as I judge of horses. I judge of\nhorses as follows. Their straightness\n\n In running.\n\nmust be that of a line. Their curve must be that of an arc. Their\nsquareness, that of the square. Their roundness, that of the compasses.\n\n One commentator applies all this to the shape of the animals.\n\nThese are the horses of the State. They are not equal to the horses\nof the Empire. The horses of the Empire are splendid. They move as\nthough anxious to get along, as though they had lost the way, as though\nthey had parted with their own individuality. Thus, they outstrip all\ncompetitors, over the unstirred dust, out of sight!\"\n\nThe Prince was greatly pleased and smiled. But when Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei went\nout, N\u00fc Shang asked him, saying, \"What can you have been saying to his\nHighness? Whenever I address him, it is either in a pacific sense,\nbased upon the Canons of _Poetry_, _History_, _Rites_, and _Music_; or\nin a belligerent sense, based upon the _Golden Roster_ or the _Six\nPlans of Battle_.\n\n Ancient military treatises.\n\nI have transacted with great success innumerable matters entrusted to\nme, yet his Highness has never vouchsafed a smile. What can you have\nbeen saying to make him so pleased as all this?\"\n\n\"I merely told him,\" replied Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei, \"how I judged of dogs and\nhorses.\"\n\n\"Was that all?\" enquired N\u00fc Shang, incredulously.\n\n\"Have you not heard,\" said Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei, \"of the outlaw of Y\u00fceh? After\nseveral days' absence from his State, he was glad to meet any one he\nhad known there. After a month, he was glad to meet any one he had even\nseen there. And after a year, he was glad to meet any one who was in\nany way like to his fellow-countrymen. Is not this a case of absence\nfrom one's kind increasing the desire to be with them?\n\n\"Thus a man who had fled into the wilderness, where bishop-wort chokes\nthe path of the weasel and stoat, now advancing, now stopping,--how\nhe would rejoice if the footfall of a fellow-creature broke upon his\near. And how much more were he to hear the sound of a brother's, of a\nrelative's voice at his side. Long it is, I ween, since his Highness\nhas heard the voice of a pure man at his side!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHs\u00fc Wu Kuei went to visit the Prince. The latter said, \"Living, Sir,\nup in the hills, and feeding upon berries or satisfying yourself with\nleeks, you have long neglected me. Are you now growing old? Or do\nyou hanker after flesh-pots and wine? Or is it that mine is such a\nwell-governed State?\"\n\n\"I am of lowly birth,\" replied Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei. \"I could not venture to eat\nand drink your Highness' meat and wine. I came to sympathise with your\nHighness.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" cried the Prince? \"What is there to sympathise\nabout?\"\n\n\"About your Highness' soul and body,\" replied Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei.\n\n\"Pray explain,\" said the Prince.\n\n\"Nourishment is nourishment,\" said Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei.\n\n To a peasant as to a prince.\n\n\"Being high up does not make one high, nor does being low make one low.\nYour Highness is the ruler of a large State, and you oppress the whole\npopulation thereof in order to satisfy your sensualities. But your soul\nis not a party to this. The soul loves harmony and hates disorder. For\ndisorder is a disease. Therefore I came to sympathise. How is it that\nyour Highness alone is suffering?\"\n\n\"I have long desired to see you,\" answered the Prince. \"I wish to love\nmy people, and by cultivation of duty towards one's neighbour to put an\nend to war. Can this be done?\"\n\n\"It cannot,\" replied Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei. \"Love for the people is the root of\nall evil to the people. Cultivation of duty towards one's neighbour\nin order to put an end to war is the origin of all fighting. If your\nHighness starts from this basis, the result can only be disastrous.\n\n Why try to \"do\" anything?\n\n\"Everything that is made good, turns out bad.\n\n The artificial is impermanent.\n\nAnd although your Highness should make charity and duty to one's\nneighbour, I fear they would be spurious articles. For the inward\nintention would appear in the outward manifestation. The adoption of a\nfixed standard\n\n _I.e._ of the personal standard of individuals. See pp. 305, 306.\n\nwould lead to complications. And revolutions within lead to fighting\nwithout. Surely your Highness would not make a bower into a\nbattlefield, nor a shrine of prayer into a scene of warfare!\n\n This, of course, refers to the mind.\n\n\"Have nothing within which is obstructive of virtue. Seek not to\nvanquish others in cunning, in plotting, in war. If I slay a whole\nnation and annex the territory in order to find nourishment for my\npassions and for my soul,--irrespective of military skill, wherein does\nthe victory lie?\n\n \"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and\n lose his own soul?\"\n\n\"If your Highness will only abstain, that will be enough. Cultivate\nthe sincerity that is within your breast, so as to be responsive to the\nconditions of your environment, and be not aggressive. The people will\nthus escape death;\n\n From oppression.\n\nand what need then to put an end to war?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen the Yellow Emperor went to see TAO upon the Ch\u00fc-tz'\u016d Mountain,\nFang Ming was his charioteer, Ch'ang Y\u00fc sat on his right, Chang Jo and\nHsi P'\u00eang were his outriders, and K'un Hun and Hua Chi brought up the\nrear.\n\n Commentators tear this passage to tatters.\n\nOn reaching the wilds of Hsiang-ch'\u00eang,\n\n The limit of the known.\n\nthese seven Sages lost their way and there was no one of whom to ask\nthe road. By and by, they fell in with a boy who was grazing horses,\nand asked him, saying, \"Do you know the Ch\u00fc-tz'\u016d Mountain?\"\n\n\"I do,\" replied the boy.\n\n\"And can you tell us,\" continued the Sages, \"where TAO abides?\"\n\n\"I can,\" replied the boy.\n\n\"This is a strange lad,\" cried the Yellow Emperor. \"Not only does he\nknow where the Ch\u00fc-tz'\u016d Mountain is, but also where TAO abides! Come\ntell me, pray, how would you govern the empire?\"\n\n\"I should govern the empire,\" said the boy, \"just the same as I look\nafter my horses. What else should I do?\n\n\"When I was a little boy and used to live within the points of the\ncompass,\n\n In Vanity Fair.\n\nmy eyes got dim of sight. An old man advised me to mount the chariot of\nthe sun\n\n _I.e._ of Intelligence.\n\nand visit the wilds of Hsiang-ch'\u00eang. My sight is now much better, and\nI continue to dwell without the points of the compass. I should govern\nthe empire in just the same way. What else should I do?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said the Yellow Emperor, \"government is not your trade.\nStill I should be glad to hear what you would do.\"\n\nThe boy declined to answer, but on being again urged, cried out, \"What\ndifference is there between governing the empire and looking after\nhorses? See that no harm comes to the horses, that is all!\"\n\nThereupon the Emperor prostrated himself before the boy; and addressing\nhim as Divine Teacher, took his leave.\n\n Divine Teacher means \"inspired by God.\" The term used is that employed\n in modern times for the head or Pope of debased Taoism, often wrongly\n rendered as the \"Master of Heaven.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf schemers have nothing to give them anxiety, they are not happy. If\ndialecticians have not their premisses and conclusion, they are not\nhappy. If critics have none on whom to vent their spleen, they are not\nhappy. Such men are the slaves of objective existences.\n\nThose who attract the sympathies of the world, start new dynasties.\nThose who win the people's hearts, take high official rank. Those\nwho are strong undertake difficulties. Those who are brave encounter\ndangers. Men of arms delight in war. Men of peace think of nothing but\nreputation. Men of law strive to improve the administration. Professors\nof ceremony and music cultivate deportment. Moralists devote themselves\nto the obligations between man and man.\n\nTake away agriculture from the husbandman, and his classification is\ngone. Take away trade from the merchant, and his classification is\ngone. Daily work is the stimulus of the labourer. The skill of the\nartisan is his pride. If money cannot be made, the avaricious man\nis sad. If his power meets with a check, the boaster will repine.\nAmbitious men love change.\n\nThus, men are always doing something; inaction is to them impossible.\nThey observe in this the same regularity as the seasons, ever without\nchange. They hurry to destruction, dissipating in all directions their\nvital forces, alas! never to return.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d said, \"If archers who aimed at nothing and hit something\nwere accounted good shots, everybody in the world would be another Yi.\n\n See p. 308.\n\nCould this be so?\"\n\n\"It could,\" replied Hui Tz\u016d.\n\n\"If there was no general standard of right in the world,\" continued\nChuang Tz\u016d, \"but each man had his own, then everybody would be a Yao.\nCould this be so?\"\n\n\"It could,\" replied Hui Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Very well,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d. \"Now there are the Confucianists, the\nMihists, the schools of Yang\n\n Yang Chu. See ch. viii.\n\nand Ping,\n\n Kung Sun Lung. See ch. xvii.\n\nmaking with your own five in all. Pray which of these is right?\n\n\"Possibly it is a similar case to that of Lu Ch\u00fc?\n\n Of whom there is no record.\n\n--A disciple said to him, 'Master, I have attained to your TAO. I can\ndo without fire in winter: I can make ice in summer.'\n\n\"'You merely avail yourself of latent heat and latent cold,' replied Lu\nCh\u00fc. 'That is not what I call TAO. I will demonstrate to you what my\nTAO is.'\n\n\"Thereupon he tuned two lutes, and placed one in the hall and the other\nin the adjoining room. And when he struck the _Kung_ note on one, the\n_Kung_ note on the other sounded; when he struck the _chio_ note on\none, the _chio_ note on the other sounded. This because they were both\ntuned to the same pitch.\n\n\"But if he changed the interval of one string, so that it no longer\nkept its place in the octave, and then struck it, the result was that\nall the twenty-five strings jangled together. There was sound as\nbefore, but the influence of the key-note was gone. Is this your case?\"\n\n\"The Confucianists, the Mihists, and the followers of Yang and Ping,\"\nreplied Hui Tz\u016d, \"are just now engaged in discussing this matter with\nme. They try to overwhelm me with argument or howl me down with noise.\nYet they have not proved me wrong. Why then should you?\"\n\n\"A man of the Ch'i State,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"sent away his son into\nthe Sung State, to be a door-keeper, with maimed body.\n\n Doorkeepers in ancient times were, for obvious reasons, deprived of\n their feet.\n\nBut a vase, which he valued highly, he kept carefully wrapped up.\n\n Thus Hui Tz\u016d sacrifices the greater to the less.\n\n\"He who would seek for a stray child, but will not leave his home, is\nlike to lose him.\n\n Thus restricted to his four antagonistic schools is Hui Tz\u016d's search\n for TAO.\n\n\"If a man of Ch'u, who was sent away to be a door-keeper, began, in the\nmiddle of the night, when no one was about, to fight with the boatman,\nI should say that before his boat left the shore he would already have\ngot himself into considerable trouble.\"\n\n A maimed man (Hui Tz\u016d) should avoid quarrels. His own share of TAO is\n insufficient even for himself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d was once attending a funeral, when he passed by the grave of\nHui Tz\u016d. Turning to his attendants, he said, \"A man of Ying\n\n Capital of the Ch'u state.\n\nwho had his nose covered with a hard scab, no thicker than a fly's\nwing, sent for a stone-mason to chip it off. The stone-mason plied his\nadze with great dexterity while the patient sat still and let him chip.\nWhen the scab was all off, the nose was found to be uninjured, the man\nof Ying never having moved a muscle.\n\n\"When Y\u00fcan, prince of Sung, heard of this, he summoned the stone-mason\nand said, 'Try to do the same for me.'\n\n\"'I used to be able to do it Sire,' replied the stone-mason, 'but my\nmaterial has long since perished.'\n\n\"And I too, ever since he perished, have been without my material,\nhaving no one with whom I can speak.\"\n\n A generous compliment to an old adversary.\n\n \"There was no one,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"in all Chuang Tz\u016d's\n generation who could understand him; neither is there any one now, at\n this late date, any more than there was then.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nKuan Chung being at the point of death, Duke Huan went to see him.\n\n See p. 226.\n\n\"You are ill, venerable Sir,\" said the Duke, \"really ill. You had\nbetter say to whom, in the event of your getting worse, I am to entrust\nthe administration of the State.\"\n\n\"Whom does your Highness wish to choose?\" enquired Kuan Chung.\n\n\"Will Pao Y\u00fc do?\" asked the Duke.\n\n Kuan Chung and Pao Y\u00fc are the \"Damon and Pythias\" of China.\n\n\"He will not,\" said Kuan Chung. \"He is pure, incorruptible, and good.\nWith those who are not like himself, he will not associate. And if\nhe has once heard of a man's wrong-doing, he never forgets it. If\nyou employ him in the administration of the empire, he will get to\nloggerheads with his prince and to sixes and sevens with the people. It\nwould not be long before he and your Highness fell out.\"\n\n\"Whom then can we have?\" asked the Duke.\n\n\"There is no alternative,\" replied Kuan Chung; \"it must be Hsi P'\u00eang.\nHe is a man who forgets the authority of those above him, and makes\nthose below him forget his. Ashamed that he is not the peer of the\nYellow Emperor,\n\n In virtue.\n\nhe grieves over those who are not the peers of himself.\n\n\"To share one's virtue with others is called true wisdom. To share\none's wealth with others is reckoned meritorious. To exhibit superior\nmerit is not the way to win men's hearts. To exhibit inferior merit\nis the way. There are things in the State he does not hear; there are\nthings in the family he does not see.\n\n Purposely ignoring petty faults.\n\nThere is no alternative; it must be Hsi P'\u00eang.\"\n\n Of whom commentators give no further notice.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe prince of Wu took a boat and went to the Monkey Mountain, which\nhe ascended. When the monkeys saw him, they fled in terror and hid\nthemselves in the thicket. One of them, however, disported himself\ncarelessly, as though showing off its skill before the prince. The\nprince took a shot at it; but the monkey, with great rapidity, seized\nthe flying arrow with its hand. Then the prince bade his guards try,\nthe result being that the monkey was killed.\n\n The skill of the poor monkey availed nothing against the cloud of\n arrows discharged by the guards. _On peut \u00eatre plus fin qu'un autre,\n mais on ne peut pas \u00eatre plus fin que tous les autres._\n\nThereupon the prince turned to his friend Yen Pu I, and said, \"That\nmonkey flaunted its skill and its dexterity in my face. Therefore it\nhas come to this pass. Beware! Do not flaunt your superiority in the\nfaces of others.\"\n\nYen Pu I went home, and put himself under the tuition of Tung Wu,\n\n A professor of TAO.\n\nwith a view to get rid of such superiority. He put aside all that gave\nhim pleasure and avoided gaining reputation. And in three years his\npraise was in everybody's mouth.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTz\u016d Chi of Nan-poh\n\n See ch. iv.\n\nwas sitting leaning on a table. He looked up to heaven and sighed, at\nwhich juncture Yen Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d entered and said, \"How, Sir, can such an\nimportant person as yourself be in body like dry wood, in mind like\ndead ashes?\"\n\n Instead of exerting yourself for the benefit of mankind. The speaker,\n says one commentator, was \"a disciple.\"\n\n\"I used to live in a cave on the hills,\" replied Tz\u016d Chi. \"At that\ntime, T'ien Ho,\n\n The famous founder of the later House of Ch'i.\n\nbecause he once saw me, was thrice congratulated by the people of\nCh'i. Now I must have given some indication by which he recognised me.\n\n As a Sage.\n\nI must have sold for him to buy. For had I not manifested myself, how\nwould he have recognised me? Had I not sold, how could he have bought?\n\n\"Alas! I grieve over man's self-destruction.\n\n As reputation comes, reality goes.\n\nAnd then I grieve over one who grieves for another. And then I grieve\nover him who grieves over one who grieves for another! And so I get\ndaily farther and farther away.\"\n\n And become like dry wood, my soul absorbed into TAO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius went to Ch'u, the prince entertained him at a banquet.\nSun Shu Ao stood up with a goblet of wine in his hand, and I Liao of\nShih-nan poured a libation, saying, \"On such occasions as this, the men\nof old were wont to make some utterance.\"\n\n\"Mine,\" replied Confucius, \"is the doctrine of wordless utterances.\nShall I who make no utterances, make utterance now?\n\n\"I Liao of Shih-nan played with his ball, and the trouble of two houses\nwas arranged.\n\n A man of great strength who refused to aid in settling a State\n quarrel. He was a great ball player,--whatever that may have been.\n\nSun Shu Ao remained quietly in repose, and the men of Ying threw down\ntheir arms.\n\n No one dared attack them, so powerful was the prestige of their\n minister.\n\nI should want a three-foot tongue indeed!\n\n To achieve more by talk than these two achieved by inaction.\n\n\"Theirs was the TAO of inaction. His was the argument of silence.\nWherefore, for T\u00ca\n\n The manifestation of TAO.\n\nto rest in undivided TAO,\n\n By which all things are ONE.\n\nand for speech to stop at the unknowable,--this is perfection.\n\n\"With undivided TAO, T\u00ca cannot be coincident.\n\n The latter is multiform.\n\nNo argument can demonstrate the unknowable. Subdivision into\nConfucianists and Mihists only makes confusion worse confounded.\n\n\"The sea does not reject the streams which flow eastward into it.\nTherefore it is immeasurably great. The true Sage folds the universe\nin his bosom. His good influence benefits all throughout the empire,\nwithout respect to persons. Born without rank, he dies without titles.\nHe does not take credit for realities.\n\n But attributes it all to circumstances.\n\nHe does not establish a name.\n\n For what he has done.\n\nThis is to be a great man.\n\n\"A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker.\n\n He must also bite.\n\nA man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker. How\nmuch less in the case of greatness? And if doing great things is not\nenough to secure greatness, how much less shall it secure virtue?\n\n\"In point of greatness, there is nothing to be compared with the\nuniverse. Yet what does the universe seek in order to be great?\n\n\"He who understands greatness in this sense, seeks nothing, loses\nnothing, rejects nothing, never suffers injury from without. He takes\nrefuge in his own inexhaustibility. He finds safety in according with\nhis nature. This is the essence of true greatness.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTz\u016d Chi had eight sons. He ranged them before him, and summoning Chiu\nFang Yin, said to him, \"Examine my sons physiognomically, and tell me\nwhich will be the fortunate one.\"\n\n\"K'un,\" replied Chiu Fang Yin, \"will be the fortunate one.\"\n\n\"In what sense?\" asked the father, beaming with delight.\n\n\"K'un,\" said Chiu Fang Yin, \"will eat at the table of a prince, and so\nend his days.\"\n\nThereupon Tz\u016d Chi burst into tears and said, \"What has my son done that\nthis should be his fate?\"\n\n\"Eating at the table of a prince,\" replied Chiu Fang Yin, \"will benefit\nthe family for three generations. How much more his father and mother!\nBut for you, Sir, to go and weep is enough to turn back the luck from\nyou. The son's fortune is good, but the father's bad.\"\n\n\"Yin,\" said Tz\u016d Chi, \"I should like to know what you mean by calling\nK'un fortunate. Wine and meat gratify the palate, but you do not say\nhow these are to come.\n\n\"Supposing that to me, not being a shepherd, a lamb were born in the\nsouth-west corner of my hall; or that to me, not being a sportsman,\nquails were hatched in the north-east corner. If you did not call that\nuncanny, what would you call it?\n\n\"My sons and I do but roam through the universe. With them I seek\nthe joys of heaven; with them I seek the fruits of earth. With them\nI engage in no business; with them I concoct no plots; with them I\nattempt nothing out-of-the-way. With them I mount upon the truth of\nthe universe, and do not offer opposition to the exigencies of our\nenvironment. With them I accommodate myself naturally; but with them I\ndo not become a slave to circumstances. Yet now the world is rewarding\nme!\n\n\"Every uncanny effect must be preceded by some uncanny cause. Alas! my\nsons and I have done nothing. It must be the will of God. Therefore I\nweep.\"\n\nShortly afterwards, when K'un was on his way to the Yen State, he was\ncaptured by brigands. To sell him as he was, would be no easy matter.\nTo sell him without his feet would be easy enough. So they cut off his\nfeet and sold him into the Ch'i State, where he became door-keeper to\nDuke Ch\u00fc and had meat to his dinner for the rest of his life.\n\n Commentators make terrible havoc here.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYeh Ch'\u00fceh meeting Hs\u00fc Yu, said to him, \"Where are you going?\"\n\n\"Away from Yao!\" replied the latter.\n\n\"What do you mean?\" asked Yeh Ch'\u00fceh.\n\n\"Yao,\" said Hs\u00fc Yu, \"thinks of nothing but charity. I fear he will\nbecome a laughing-stock to the world, and that in future ages men will\neat one another.\n\n See p. 296.\n\n\"There is no difficulty in winning the people. Love them and they will\ndraw near. Profit them and they will come up. Praise them and they will\nvie with one another. But introduce something they dislike, and they\nwill be gone.\n\n\"Love and profit are born of charity and duty to one's neighbour. Those\nwho ignore charity and duty to one's neighbour are few; those who make\ncapital out of them are many.\n\n\"For the operation of these virtues is not disinterested. It is like\nlending gear to a sportsman.\n\n With a view to share the game.\n\nWherefore, for one man to dogmatise for the good of the whole empire,\nis like splitting a thing at a single blow.\n\n Without reference to method or the requirements of the case in point.\n\n\"Yao knows that good men benefit the empire. But he does not know that\nthey injure it. Only those on a higher level than good men know this.\n\n\"There are nincompoops; there are parasites; there are enthusiasts.\n\n\"A man who learns from a single teacher, and then goes off exultant,\nsatisfied with his acquirements though ignorant that there was a time\nwhen nothing existed,--such a one is a nincompoop.\n\n\"Parasites are like the lice on a pig's back. They choose bald patches,\nwhich are to them palaces and parks. The parts between the toes, the\njoints, the dugs, and the buttocks, are to them so many comfortable and\nconvenient resting-places. They know not that one day the butcher will\ntuck up his sleeves and spread straw and apply fire, and that they will\nperish in the singeing of the pig. As they sow, so do they reap. This\nis to be a parasite.\n\n\"Of enthusiasts, Shun is an example. Mutton does not care for ants; it\nis the ants which care for the mutton. Mutton has a frowsy smell; and\nthere is a frowsiness about Shun which attracts the people. Therefore\nit was that after three changes of residence, when he came to the T\u00eang\ndistrict, he had some hundred thousand families with him.\n\n\"Then Yao, hearing of his goodness, appointed him to a barren region,\ntrusting, as he said, that Shun's arrival would enrich it. When Shun\ntook up this appointment, he was already old, and his intellect was\nfailing; yet he would not cease work and retire from office. He was, in\nfact, an enthusiast.\n\n\"So it is that the spiritual man dislikes a crowd. For where there is a\ncrowd there is diversity, and where there is diversity advantage does\nnot accrue. He is therefore neither very intimate, nor very distant. He\nclings to virtue and nourishes a spirit of harmony, in order to be in\naccord with his fellow-men. This is to be a divine man.\n\n\"Leave wisdom to ants. Strive for what fishes desire.\n\n To be left alone in the water.\n\n\"Leave attractiveness to mutton. Use your eyes to contemplate, your\nears to listen to, your mind to consider, their own internal workings.\nFor him who can do these things, his level will be that of a line, his\nmodifications in due and proper season.\n\n\"Therefore, the divine man trusts to the natural development of events.\nHe does not strive to introduce the artificial into the domain of the\nnatural. Accordingly, life is a gain and death a loss, or death is a\ngain and life a loss.\n\n According to circumstances.\n\n\"For instance, drugs. They are characteristically poisonous. Such are\n_Chieh-K\u00eang_, _Chi-Yung_, and _Shih-Ling_. Circumstances, however,\nmake of each a sovereign remedy. The list is inexhaustible.\n\n Chieh-K\u00eang is the _Platycodon grandiflorum_. It is used by Chinese\n doctors as a tonic, astringent, and vermifuge.\n\n\"When Kou Chien encamped with three thousand armed warriors at\nKuei-ch'i,\n\n Leading the men of Wu to attack the Y\u00fceh State.\n\nonly Chung\n\n W\u00ean Chung, minister of Y\u00fceh.\n\nsaw that defeat would be followed by a rally. Yet he could not foresee\nthe evil that was to come upon himself. Wherefore it has been said, 'An\nowl's eyes are adapted to their use. A crane's leg is of the length\nrequired. 'Twould be disastrous to shorten it.'\n\n This illustration has been used in ch. viii, p. 101.\n\n\"Thus it has been said, 'The wind blows and the river suffers. The sun\nshines and the river suffers.' But though wind and sun be both brought\ninto relation with the river, it does not really suffer therefrom. Fed\nfrom its source, it still continues to flow on.\n\n The Sage too has a source from which the nourishment of his soul is\n supplied.\n\n\"The relation between water and earth is determinate. The relation\nbetween a man and his shadow is determinate. The relation between thing\nand thing is determinate.\n\n\"The relation between eye and vision is baneful.\n\n Because indeterminate.\n\nThe relation between ear and hearing is baneful. The relation between\nmind and object is baneful. The relation between all kinds of\ncapacity and man's inner self is baneful. If such banefulness be not\ncorrected, disasters will spring up on all sides. Retrogression is\nhard to achieve, and success long in coming. Yet alas! men regard such\ncapacities as valuable possessions.\n\n\"The destruction of States and the ceaseless slaughter of human beings\nresult from an inability to examine into this.\n\n\"The foot treads the ground in walking; nevertheless it is the ground\nnot trodden on which makes up the good walk. A man's knowledge is\nlimited; but it is upon what he does not know that he depends to extend\nhis knowledge to the apprehension of God.\n\n\"Knowledge of the great ONE, of the great Negative, of the great\nNomenclature, of the great Uniformity, of the great Space, of the great\nTruth, of the great Law,--this is perfection.\n\n\"The great ONE is omnipresent. The great Negative is omnipotent.\nThe great Nomenclature is all-inclusive. The great Uniformity is\nall-assimilative. The great Space is all-receptive. The great Truth is\nall-exacting. The great Law is all-binding.\n\n\"The ultimate end is God. He is manifested in the laws of nature. He\nis the hidden spring. At the beginning, he was.\n\n Had an objective existence.\n\nThis, however, is inexplicable. It is unknowable. But from the\nunknowable we reach the known.\n\n\"Investigation must not be limited, nor must it be unlimited.\n\n It must be undertaken from the standpoint of the unconditioned.\n\nIn this vague undefinedness there is an actuality. Time does not change\nit. It cannot suffer diminution. May we not then call it our great\nGuide?\n\n\"Why not bring our doubting hearts to investigation thereof? And then,\nusing certainty to dispel doubt, revert to a state without doubt, in\nwhich doubt is doubly dead?\"\n\n Doubt dispelled leaves conviction firmer still.\n\n Lin Hsi Chung says that this essay begins with the subtle to end in\n the abstruse. \"The force of language,\" adds he, \"can no farther go!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nTS\u00ca YANG.\n\n _Argument_:--Influence of virtue concealed--The true Sage a\n negative quantity--The great, the small, the infinite--Crime and\n Capital--Rulers and their vices--What is Society? Predestination or\n Chance? Illustrations.\n\n\nWhen Ts\u00ea Yang visited the Ch'u State, I Chieh\n\n An official of Ch'u.\n\nspoke of him to the prince; but the latter refused an audience.\n\nUpon I Chieh's return, Ts\u00ea Yang went to see Wang Kuo,\n\n A local Sage.\n\nand asked him to obtain an interview with the prince.\n\n\"I am not so fitted for that,\" replied Wang Kuo, \"as Kung Y\u00fceh Hsiu.\"\n\n A hermit.\n\n\"What sort of a man is he?\" enquired Ts\u00ea Yang.\n\n\"In winter,\" said Wang Kuo, \"he catches turtles on the river. In\nsummer, he reposes in some mountain copse. If any passers-by ask\nof him, he tells them, \"This is my home.\" Where I Chieh could not\nsucceed, still less should I. I am not equal even to him.\n\n\"He is a man without virtue, but possessed of knowledge. Were it not\nfor an air of arrogance, he would be very popular with his superiors.\nBut help without virtue is a hindrance. Shivering people borrowing\nclothes in the coming spring! Hot people thinking of last winter's icy\nblast!\n\n\"The prince of Ch'u is dignified and severe. In punishing, he is\nmerciless as a tiger. Only a very practised or a very perfect man could\ninfluence him.\n\n\"The true Sage, when in obscurity, causes those around him to forget\ntheir poverty. When in power, he causes princes to forget ranks\nand emoluments, and to become as though of low estate. He rejoices\nexceedingly in all creation. He exults to see TAO diffused among his\nfellow-men, while suffering no loss himself.\n\n TAO is a constant quantity. It can be shared, but cannot be divided.\n\n\"Thus, although silent, he can instil peace; and by his mere presence\ncause men to be to each other as father and son. From his very return\nto passivity comes this active influence for good. So widely does he\ndiffer in heart from ordinary men. Wherefore I said, 'Wait for Kung\nY\u00fceh Hsiu.'\n\n\"The true Sage is free from all embarrassments. All things are to him\nas ONE. Yet he knows not that this is so. It is simply nature. In the\nmidst of action he remains the same. He makes God his guide, and\nmen make him theirs. He grieves that wisdom carries one but a short\ndistance, and at times comes altogether to a deadlock.\n\n\"To a beauty, mankind is the mirror in which she sees herself. If no\none tells her she is beautiful, she does not know that she is so. But\nwhether she knows it or whether she does not know it, whether she hears\nit or whether she does not hear it, her joy will never cease, neither\nwill mankind ever cease to take pleasure therein. It is nature.\n\n\"The love of a Sage for his fellows likewise finds expression among\nmankind. Were he not told so, he would not know that he loved his\nfellows. But whether he knows it or whether he does not know it,\nwhether he hears it or whether he does not hear it, his love for his\nfellows is without end, and mankind cease not to repose therein.\n\n\"The old country, the old home, gladden a wanderer's eyes. Nay, though\nnine-tenths of it be a howling wilderness, still his eye will be\nglad. How much more to see sight and hear hearing, from a lofty dais\nsuspended in their very midst!\"\n\n The joy of the wanderer is as that of the mind returning to a\n consciousness only of itself.\n\nJen Hsiang Shih reached the centre and attained.\n\n The centre at which all Infinities converge. See p. 18. This\n individual was a legendary ruler of old.\n\nHe recognised no beginning, no end, no quantity, no time. Daily\nmodified together with his environment, as part of ONE he knew no\nmodification. Why not rest in this?\n\nTo strive to follow God and not to succeed is to display an activity\nfatal to itself. How can success ever be thus achieved?\n\nThe true Sage ignores God. He ignores man. He ignores a beginning. He\nignores matter. He moves in harmony with his generation and suffers\nnot. He takes things as they come and is not overwhelmed. How are we to\nbecome like him?\n\nT'ang appointed his Equerry, M\u00ean Yin T\u00eang H\u00eang, to be his tutor,\nlistening to his counsels but not being restricted by them. He got TAO\nfor himself and a reputation for his tutor. But the reputation was a\nviolation of principle, and landed him in the domain of alternatives.\n\n Instead of ONE. No ingenuity of commentator has here succeeded in\n making sense.\n\nAs a tutor, Confucius pushed care and anxiety to an extreme limit.\n\nYung Ch'\u00eang Shih\n\n Lao Tz\u016d's tutor.\n\nsaid, \"Take away days, and there would be no years. No inside, no\noutside.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrince Hui of Wei had made a treaty with prince Wei of Ch'i, which the\nlatter broke.\n\nThereupon prince Hui was wroth, and was about to send a man to\nassassinate him. But the Captain-General heard of this, and cried out\nin shame, \"Sire, you are ruler over a mighty State, yet you would seek\nthe vengeance of a common man. Give me two hundred thousand warriors,\nand I will do the work for you. I will take his people prisoners, and\ncarry off their oxen and horses. I will make the heat of the prince's\nmind break out on his back. Then I will seize his country, and he will\nflee. Then you can wring his neck as you please.\"\n\nWhen Chi Tz\u016d heard this, he cried out in shame and said, \"If you are\nbuilding a ten-perch wall, and when the wall is near completion,\ndestroy it, you inflict great hardship on the workmen.\n\n Alluding to the _corv\u00e9e_ system of public works. The speaker was an\n official of Wei.\n\nNow for seven years the troops have not been called out. That is,\nas it were, your Highness' foundation work. Listen not to the\nCaptain-General. He is a mischievous fellow.\"\n\nWhen Hua Tz\u016d\n\n Also an official of Wei.\n\nheard this, he was very indignant and said, \"He who argued in favour of\npunishing the Ch'i State was a mischievous fellow. And he who argued\nagainst punishing the Ch'i State was a mischievous fellow. And he who\nsays that either of the above is a mischievous fellow, is a mischievous\nfellow himself.\"\n\n\"Where then shall I find what to do?\" enquired the prince.\n\n\"In TAO alone,\" said Hua Tz\u016d.\n\nWhen Hui Tz\u016d heard this, he introduced Tai Chin Jen to the prince.\n\n A Sage of the Liang State. For Hui Tz\u016d, see p. 8.\n\n\"There is a creature called a snail,\" said Tai Chin Jen. \"Does your\nHighness know what I mean?\"\n\n\"I do,\" replied the prince.\n\n\"There is a kingdom on its left horn,\" continued Tai Chin Jen, \"ruled\nover by _Aggression_, and another on its right horn, ruled over by\n_Violence_. These two rulers are constantly fighting for territory. In\nsuch cases, corpses lie about by thousands, and one party will pursue\nthe other for fifteen days before returning.\"\n\n\"Whew!\" cried the prince. \"Surely you are joking.\"\n\n\"Sire,\" replied Tai Chin Jen, \"I beg you to regard it as fact. Does\nyour Highness recognise any limit to space?\"\n\n\"None,\" said the prince, \"It is boundless.\"\n\n\"When, therefore,\" continued Tai Chin Jen, \"the mind descends from the\ncontemplation of boundless space to the contemplation of a kingdom\nwith fixed boundaries, that kingdom must seem to be of dimensions\ninfinitesimally small?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" replied the prince.\n\n\"Well then,\" said Tai Chin Jen, \"in a kingdom with fixed boundaries\n\n Meaning the then empire of the Chous.\n\nthere is the Wei State. In the Wei State there is the city of Liang. In\nthe city of Liang there is a prince. In what does that prince differ\nfrom Violence?\"\n\n In his pettiness.\n\n\"There is no difference,\" said the prince.\n\nThereupon Tai Chin Jen took his leave, and the prince remained in a\nstate of mental perturbation, as though he had lost something.\n\nWhen Tai Chin Jen had gone, Hui Tz\u016d presented himself, and the prince\nsaid, \"Our friend is truly a great man. Sages are not his equal.\"\n\n\"If you blow through a tube,\" replied Hui Tz\u016d, \"the result will be a\nnote. If you blow through the hole in a sword-hilt, the result will\nbe simply _whssh_. Yao and Shun have been belauded by mankind; yet\ncompared with Tai Chin Jen they are but _whssh_.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius went to Ch'u, he stopped at a restaurant on Mount I. The\nservant to a man and his wife who lived next door, got up on top of the\nhouse.\n\n\"Whatever is he doing up there?\" asked Tz\u016d Lu.\n\n\"He is a Sage,\" replied Confucius, \"under the garb of a menial. He\nburies himself among the people.\n\n So as to get into closer relation with them.\n\nHe effaces himself at the wayside. Fame, he has none; but his\nperseverance is inexhaustible. Though his mouth speaks, his heart\nspeaks not. He has turned his back upon mankind, not caring to abide\namongst them. He has drowned himself on dry land. I think 'tis I Liao\nof Shih-nan.\"\n\n See p. 325.\n\nTz\u016d Lu asked to be allowed to go and call him; but Confucius stopped\nhim, saying, \"No. He knows that I know what he is. He knows that I have\ncome to Ch'u to recommend him to the prince. And he looks on me as a\ntoady. Under the circumstances, as he would scorn to hear the words\nof a toady, how much more would he scorn to see him in the flesh! How\ncould you keep him?\"\n\nTz\u016d Lu went to see, but the house was empty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe border-warden of Ch'ang-wu said to Tz\u016d Lao,\n\n Ch'in Lao, or Ch'in Chang, a disciple of Confucius.\n\n\"A prince in his administrative details must not lack thoroughness;\nin his executive details he must not be inefficient. Formerly, in\nmy ploughing I lacked thoroughness, and the results also lacked\nthoroughness. In my weeding I was inefficient, and the results were\nalso inefficient. By and by, I changed my system. I ploughed deep, and\nweeded carefully, the result being an excellent harvest, more than I\ncould get through in a year.\"\n\nChuang Tz\u016d, upon hearing this, observed, \"The men of to-day in\ntheir self-regulation and their self-organisation are mostly as the\nBorder-warden has described. They put their Godhead out of sight. They\nabandon their natural dispositions. They get rid of all feeling. They\npart with their souls, carried away by the fashion of the hour.\n\n\"Those who lack thoroughness in regard to their natural dispositions\nsuffer an evil tribe to take the place thereof.\n\n The physical senses.\n\nThese grow up rank as reeds and rushes, at first of apparent value\nto the body, but afterwards to destroy the natural disposition. Then\nthey break out, at random, like sores and ulcers carrying off pent-up\nhumours.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPoh Ch\u00fc was studying under Lao Tz\u016d. \"Let us go,\" said he, \"and wander\nover the world.\"\n\n One commentator says Poh Ch\u00fc was a \"criminal,\" probably from his\n sympathetic remarks in the context.\n\n\"No,\" replied Lao Tz\u016d, \"the world is just as you see it here.\"\n\nBut as he again urged it, Lao Tz\u016d said, \"Where would you go to begin\nwith?\"\n\n\"I would begin,\" answered Poh Ch\u00fc, \"by going to the Ch'i State. There I\nwould view the dead bodies of their malefactors. I would push them to\nmake them rise. I would take off my robes and cover them. I would cry\nto God and bemoan their lot, as follows:--'O sirs, O sirs, there was\ntrouble upon earth, and you were the first to fall into it!'\n\n\"I would say, 'Perhaps you were robbers, or perhaps murderers?'...\nHonour and disgrace were set up, and evil followed. Wealth was\naccumulated, and contentions began. Now the evil which has been set up\nand the contentions which have accumulated, endlessly weary man's body\nand give him no rest. What escape is there from this?\n\n This might almost have come from _The Curse of Capital_, (Aveling) or\n from one of Mr. Hyndman's discourses.\n\n\"The rulers of old set off all success to the credit of their people,\nattributing all failure to themselves. All that was right went to\nthe credit of their people, all that was wrong they attributed to\nthemselves. Therefore, if any matter fell short of achievement, they\nturned and blamed themselves.\n\n\"Not so the rulers of to-day. They conceal a thing and blame those who\ncannot see it. They impose dangerous tasks and punish those who dare\nnot undertake them. They inflict heavy burdens and chastise those who\ncannot bear them. They ordain long marches and slay those who cannot\nmake them.\n\n\"And the people, feeling that their powers are inadequate, have\nrecourse to fraud. For when there is so much fraud about,\n\n In the rulers.\n\nhow can the people be otherwise than fraudulent? If their strength is\ninsufficient, they will have recourse to fraud. If their knowledge is\ninsufficient, they will have recourse to deceit. If their means are\ninsufficient, they will steal. And for such robbery and theft, who is\nreally responsible?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Ch\u00fc Poh Y\u00fc\n\n See p. 49.\n\nreached his sixtieth year, he changed his opinions. What he had\npreviously regarded as right, he now came to regard as wrong. But who\nshall say whether the right of to-day may not be as wrong as the wrong\nof the previous fifty-nine years?\n\n See p. 365.\n\nThings are produced around us, but no one knows the whence. They issue\nforth, but no one sees the portal. Men one and all value that part of\nknowledge which is known. They do not know how to avail themselves of\nthe unknown in order to reach knowledge. Is not this misguided?\n\n Men value the phenomena of which the senses make them conscious, but\n not the phenomena of the senses themselves.\n\nAlas! alas! the impossibility of escaping from this state results in\nwhat is known as elective affinity.\n\n Adaptation to the suitable; being as one is because more adapted to\n that than to something to which one is not adapted. See ch. ii, where\n this idea is first broached.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius asked the historiographers Ta T'ao, Poh Ch'ang Ch'ien, and\nHsi Wei, saying, \"Duke Ling was fond of wine and given up to pleasure,\nand neglected the administration of his State. He spent his time\nin hunting, and did not cultivate the goodwill of the other feudal\nprinces. How was it he came to be called _Ling_?\"\n\n The name _Ling_ means \"knowing,\" which may be taken in two senses.\n\n\"For those very reasons,\" replied Ta T'ao.\n\n\"The Duke,\" said Poh Ch'ang Ch'ien, \"had three wives. He was having\na bath together with them when Shih Ch'in, summoned by his Highness,\nentered the apartment. Thereupon the Duke covered himself and the\nladies. So outrageously did he behave on the one hand, and yet so\nrespectful was he towards a virtuous man. Hence he was called _Ling_.\"\n\n\"When the Duke died,\" said Hsi Wei, \"divination showed that it would\nbe inauspicious to bury him in the old family burying-ground, but\nauspicious to bury him at Sha-ch'iu. And upon digging a grave there,\nseveral fathoms deep, a stone coffin was found, which, being cleaned,\nyielded the following inscription:--_Posterity cannot be trusted. Duke\nLing will seize this for his tomb._\n\n\"As a matter of fact, Duke Ling had been named Ling long before. What\nshould these two persons know about it?\"\n\n As evidenced by the inscription, the Duke had been so named long\n before, in the Book of Fate.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nShao Chih asked T'ai Kung Tiao, saying, \"What is meant by society?\"\n\n The first name signifies _Small Knowledge_. Of the second personage\n there is no record.\n\n\"Society,\" replied T'ai Kung Tiao, \"is an agreement of a certain number\nof families and individuals to abide by certain customs. Discordant\nelements unite to form a harmonious whole. Take away this unity and\neach has a separate individuality.\n\n\"Point at any one of the many parts of a horse, and that is not a\nhorse, although there is the horse before you. It is the combination of\nall which makes the horse.\n\n\"Similarly, a mountain is high because of its individual particles. A\nriver is large because of its individual drops. And he is a just man\nwho regards all parts from the point of view of the whole.\n\n\"Thus, in regard to the views of others, he holds his own opinion, but\nnot obstinately. In regard to his own views, while conscious of their\ntruth, he does not despise the opinions of others.\n\n\"The four seasons have different characteristics, but God shows no\npreference for either, and therefore we have the year complete.\n\n With results which could not be otherwise achieved.\n\nThe functions of the various classes of officials differ; but the\nsovereign shows no partiality, and therefore the empire is governed.\nThere are the civil and the military; but the truly great man shows\nno preference for either, and therefore their efficacy is complete.\nAll things are under the operation of varying laws; but TAO shows no\npartiality and therefore it cannot be identified.\n\n As the given part of anything.\n\nNot being able to be identified, it consequently does nothing. And by\ndoing nothing all things can be done.\n\n\"Seasons have their beginnings and their ends. Generations change\nand change. Good and evil fortune alternate, bringing sorrow here,\nhappiness there.\n\n Nunc mihi, nunc alio, benigna.\n\nHe who obstinately views things from his own standpoint only, may be\nright in one case and wrong in another. Just as in a great jungle all\nkinds of shrubs are found together; or as on a mountain you see trees\nand stones indiscriminately mixed,--so is what we call society.\"\n\n\"Would it not do then,\" asked Shao Chih, \"if we were to call this TAO?\"\n\n\"It would not,\" replied T'ai Kung Tiao. \"All creation is made up\nof more than ten thousand things. We speak of creation as the _Ten\nThousand Things_ merely because it is a convenient term by which to\nexpress a large number. In point of outward shape the universe is vast.\nIn point of influence the Positive and Negative principles are mighty.\nYet TAO folds them all in its embrace. For convenience' sake the bond\nof society is called great. But how can that which is thus conditioned\n\n By having a name.\n\nbe compared with TAO? There is as wide a difference between them as\nthere is between a horse and a dog.\"\n\n\"Whence then,\" enquired Shao Chih, \"comes the vitality of all things\nbetween the four points of the compass, between heaven above and earth\nbeneath?\"\n\n\"The Positive and Negative principles,\" answered T'ai Kung Tiao,\n\"influence, act upon, and regulate each other. The four seasons\nalternate with, give birth to, and destroy one another. Hence, loves\nand hates, and courses rejected and courses adopted. Hence too, the\nintercourse of the sexes.\n\n\"States of peril and safety alternate. Good and evil fortune give birth\nto one another. Slowness and speed are mutually exclusive. Collection\nand dispersion are correlates. The actuality of these may be noted.\n\n There is the name and the embodiment.\n\nThe essence of each can be verified. There is regular movement\nforward, modified by deflection into a curve. Exhaustion leads to\nrenewal. The end introduces a new beginning. This is the law of\nmaterial existences. The force of language, the reach of knowledge,\ncannot pass beyond the bounds of such material existences. The disciple\nof TAO refrains from prying into the states after or before. Human\nspeculation stops short of this.\"\n\n\"Chi Ch\u00ean,\" said Shao Chih, \"taught _Chance_; Chieh Tz\u016d taught\n_Predestination_.\n\n \"Two Sages.\" _Comm._\n\nIn the speculations of these two schools, on which side did right lie?\"\n\n\"The cock crows,\" replied T'ai Kung Tiao, \"and the dog barks. So much\nwe know. But the wisest of us could not say why one crows and the other\nbarks, nor guess why they crow or bark at all.\n\n\"Let me explain. The infinitely small is inappreciable; the infinitely\ngreat is immeasurable. Chance and Predestination must refer to the\nconditioned. Consequently, both are wrong.\n\n\"Predestination involves a real existence.\n\n Of a God.\n\nChance implies an absolute absence of any principle. To have a name and\nthe embodiment thereof,--this is to have a material existence. To have\nno name and no embodiment,--of this one can speak and think; but the\nmore one speaks the farther off one gets.\n\n\"The unborn creature cannot be kept from life.\n\n So powerful is its \"will to live.\"\n\nThe dead cannot be tracked. From birth to death is but a span; yet the\nsecret cannot be known. Chance and Predestination are but _\u00e0 priori_\nsolutions.\n\n\"When I seek for a beginning, I find only time infinite. When I look\nforward to an end, I see only time infinite. Infinity of time past and\nto come implies no beginning and is in accordance with the laws of\nmaterial existences. Predestination and Chance give us a beginning, but\none which is compatible only with the existence of matter.\n\n And not with the time before matter was.\n\n\"TAO cannot be existent. If it were existent, it could not be\nnon-existent. The very name of TAO is only adopted for convenience'\nsake. Predestination and Chance are limited to material existences. How\ncan they bear upon the infinite?\n\n\"Were language adequate, it would take but a day to fully set forth\nTAO. Not being adequate, it takes that time to explain material\nexistences. TAO is something beyond material existences. It cannot be\nconveyed either by words or by silence. In that state which is neither\nspeech nor silence, its transcendental nature may be apprehended.\"\n\n \"With this essay in China,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"what need to fetch\n Buddhist books from the West?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nCONTINGENCIES.\n\n _Argument_:--The external uncertain--The internal alone without\n harm--Life and death are external--The soul only is under man's\n control--Folly of worldliness--Illustrations.\n\n\nContingencies are uncertain. Hence the decapitation of Lung F\u00eang, the\ndisembowelment of Pi Kan, the enthusiasm of Chi Tz\u016d, the death of Wu\nLai, the flights of Chieh and Chou.\n\n See pp. 40, 72. Wu Lai was an intriguing official who held office\n under the tyrant Chou Hsin.\n\nNo sovereign but would have loyal ministers; yet loyalty does not\nnecessarily inspire confidence. Hence Wu Y\u00fcan found a grave in the\nriver;\n\n See p. 221.\n\nand Ch'ang Hung perished in Shu, his blood, after being preserved three\nyears, turning into green jade.\n\nNo parent but would have filial sons; yet filial piety does not\nnecessarily inspire love. Hence Hsiao Chi sorrowed, and Ts\u00eang Sh\u00ean\ngrieved.\n\n The first, prince of the House of Yin, was turned out of doors by his\n stepmother. The second, one of the disciples of Confucius and a rare\n pattern of filial piety, grieved because his mother was too old to\n hit him hard enough. See p. 100.\n\nWood rubbed with wood produces fire. Metal exposed to fire\nwill liquefy. If the Positive and Negative principles operate\ninharmoniously, heaven and earth are greatly disturbed. Thunder\ncrashes, and with rain comes lightning, scorching up the tall\nlocust-trees. One fears lest sky and land should collapse and leave\nno escape. Unable to lie _perdu_, the heart feels as though suspended\nbetween heaven and earth.\n\nSo in the struggle between peace and unrest, the friction between good\nand evil, much fire is evolved which consumes the inner harmony of man.\nBut the mind is unable to resist fire. It is destroyed, and with it TAO\ncomes to an end.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d's family being poor, he went to borrow some corn from the\nprince of Chien-ho.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the prince. \"I am just about collecting the revenue of my\nfief, and will then lend you three hundred ounces of silver. Will that\ndo?\"\n\nAt this Chuang Tz\u016d flushed with anger and said, \"Yesterday, as I was\ncoming along, I heard a voice calling me. I looked round, and in the\ncart-rut I saw a stickleback.\n\n\"'And what do you want, stickleback?' said I.\n\n\"'I am a denizen of the eastern ocean,' replied the stickleback. 'Pray,\nSir, a pint of water to save my life.'\n\n\"'Yes,' said I. 'I am just going south to visit the princes of Wu and\nY\u00fceh. I will bring you some from the west river. Will that do?'\n\n\"At this the stickleback flushed with anger and said, 'I am out of my\nelement. I have nowhere to go. A pint of water would save me. But to\ntalk to me like this,--you might as well put me in a dried-fish shop at\nonce.'\"\n\n The above episode is condemned by Lin Hsi Chung on the score of style.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJ\u00ean Kung Tz\u016d\n\n A young noble of the Jen State. _Comm._\n\ngot a huge hook on a big line, which he baited with fifty oxen. He\nsquatted down at Kuei-chi, and cast into the eastern ocean. Every day\nhe fished, but for a whole year he caught nothing. Then came a great\nfish which swallowed the bait, and dragging the huge hook dived down\nbelow. This way and that way it plunged about, erecting the dorsal fin.\nThe white waves rolled mountain high. The great deep was shaken up. The\nnoise was like that of so many devils, terrifying people for many miles\naround.\n\nBut when J\u00ean Kung Tz\u016d had secured his fish, he cut it up and salted it.\nAnd from Chih-ho eastwards, and from Ts'ang-wu northwards, there was\nnone but ate his fill of that fish. Even among succeeding generations,\n_gobemouches_ of the day recounted the marvellous tale.\n\nTo take a rod and line, and go to a pool, and catch small fry is a very\ndifferent thing from catching big fish. And by means of a little show\nof ability to secure some small billet is a very different thing from\nreally pushing one's way to the front. So that those who do not imitate\nthe example of J\u00ean Kung Tz\u016d will be very far from becoming leaders in\ntheir generation.\n\n Also spurious.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen some Confucianists were opening a grave in accordance with their\nCanons of _Poetry_ and _Rites_, the master shouted out, \"Day is\nbreaking. How are you getting on with the work?\"\n\n\"Not got off the burial-clothes yet,\" answered an apprentice. \"There is\na pearl in the mouth.\"\n\nNow the Canon of _Poetry_ says--\n\n    The greenest corn\n    Grows over graves.\n    In life, no charity;\n    In death, no pearl.\n\nSo seizing the corpse's brow with one hand, and forcing down its chin\nwith the other, these Confucianists proceed to tap its cheeks with a\nmetal hammer, in order to make the jaws open gently and not injure the\npearl!\n\n The above, pronounced by Lin Hsi Chung to be spurious, is aimed at\n the Confucianists, who are ready to commit any outrage on natural\n feeling so long as there is no violation of the details of their own\n artificial system.\n\nA disciple of Lao Lai Tz\u016d\n\n A sage of the Ch'u State.\n\nwhile out gathering fuel, chanced to meet Confucius. On his return, he\nsaid, \"There is a man over there with a long body and short legs, round\nshoulders and drooping ears. He looks as though he were sorrowing over\nmankind. I know not who he can be.\"\n\n\"It is Confucius!\" cried Lao Lai Tz\u016d. \"Bid him come hither.\"\n\nWhen Confucius arrived, Lao Lai Tz\u016d addressed him as follows:--\n\n\"Ch'iu! Get rid of your dogmatism and your specious knowledge, and you\nwill be really a superior man.\"\n\nConfucius bowed and was about to retire, when suddenly his countenance\nchanged and he enquired, \"Shall I then be able to enter upon TAO?\"\n\n\"The wounds of one generation being too much,\" answered Lao Lai Tz\u016d,\n\"you would take to yourself the sorrows of all time. Are you not weary?\nIs your strength equal to the task?\n\n\"To employ goodness as a passport to influence through the\ngratification of others, is an everlasting shame. Yet this is the\ncommon way of all, to lure people by fame, to bind them by ties of\ngratification.\n\n\"Better than extolling Yao and cursing Chieh is oblivion of both,\nkeeping one's praises to oneself. These things react injuriously on\nself; the agitation of movement results in deflection.\n\n\"The true Sage is a passive agent. If he succeeds, he simply feels that\nhe was provided by no effort of his own with the energy necessary to\nsuccess.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrince Y\u00fcan of Sung dreamed one night that a man with dishevelled hair\npeeped through a side door and said, \"I have come from the waters of\nTsai-lu. I am a marine messenger attached to the staff of the River\nGod. A fisherman, named Y\u00fc Ch'ieh, has caught me.\"\n\nWhen the prince awaked, he referred his dream to the soothsayers, who\nsaid, \"This is a divine tortoise.\"\n\n\"Is there any fisherman,\" asked the prince, \"whose name is Y\u00fc Ch'ieh?\"\n\nBeing told there was, the prince gave orders for his appearance at\ncourt; and the next day Y\u00fc Ch'ieh had an audience.\n\n\"Fisherman,\" said the prince, \"what have you caught?\"\n\n\"I have netted a white tortoise,\" replied the fisherman, \"five feet in\nsemi-circumference.\"\n\n\"Bring your tortoise,\" said the prince. But when it came, the prince\ncould not make up his mind whether to kill it or keep it alive. Thus\nin doubt, he had recourse to divination, and received the following\nresponse:--\n\n_Slay the tortoise for purposes of divination and good fortune will\nresult._\n\nSo the tortoise was despatched. After which, out of seventy-two omens\ntaken, not a single one proved false.\n\n\"A divine tortoise,\" said Confucius, \"can appear to prince Y\u00fcan in a\ndream, yet it cannot escape the net of Y\u00fc Ch'ieh. Its wisdom can yield\nseventy-two faultless omens, yet it cannot escape the misery of being\ncut to pieces. Truly wisdom has its limits; spirituality, that which it\ncannot reach.\n\n\"In spite of the highest wisdom, there are countless snares to be\navoided; If a fish has not to fear nets, there are always pelicans.\nGet rid of small wisdom, and great wisdom will shine upon you. Put\naway goodness and you will be naturally good. A child does not learn\nto speak because taught by professors of the art, but because it lives\namong people who can themselves speak.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHui Tz\u016d said to Chuang Tz\u016d, \"Your theme, Sir, is the useless.\"\n\n\"You must understand the useless,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"before you can\ndiscuss the useful.\n\n\"For instance, the earth is of huge proportions, yet man uses of it\nonly as much as is covered by the sole of his foot. By and by, he\nturns up his toes and goes beneath it to the Yellow Spring. Has he any\nfurther use for it?\"\n\n\"He has none,\" replied Hui Tz\u016d.\n\n\"And in like manner,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"may be demonstrated the use\nof the useless.\n\n\"Could a man transcend the limits of the human,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d,\n\"would he not do so? Unable to do so, how should he succeed?\n\n\"The determination to retire, to renounce the world,--such alas! is\nnot the fruit of perfect wisdom or immaculate virtue. From cataclysms\nahead, these do not turn back; nor do they heed the approach of\ndevouring flame. Although there are class distinctions of high and low,\nthese are but for a time, and under the changed conditions of a new\nsphere are unknown.\n\n In the transcendental state.\n\n\"Wherefore it has been said, 'The perfect man leaves no trace behind.'\n\n\"For instance, to glorify the past and to condemn the present has\nalways been the way of the scholar.\n\n Laudator temporis acti.\n\nYet if Hsi Wei Shih and individuals of that class\n\n _Sc._ patriarchs.\n\nwere caused to re-appear in the present day, which of them but would\naccommodate himself to the age?\n\n\"Only the perfect man can transcend the limits of the human and yet not\nwithdraw from the world, live in accord with mankind and yet suffer no\ninjury himself. Of the world's teachings he learns nothing. He has that\nwithin which makes him independent of others.\n\n\"If the eye is unobstructed, the result is sight. If the ear is\nunobstructed the result is hearing. If the nose is unobstructed, the\nresult is sense of smell. If the mouth is unobstructed, the result is\nsense of taste. If the mind is unobstructed, the result is wisdom. If\nwisdom is unobstructed, the result is T\u00ca.\n\n\"TAO may not be obstructed. To obstruct is to strangle. This affects\nthe base, and all evils spring into life.\n\n\"All sentient beings depend upon breath. If this does not reach them in\nsufficient quantity, it is not the fault of God. God supplies it day\nand night without cease, but man stops the passage.\n\n\"Man has for himself a spacious domain. His mind may roam to heaven.\nIf there is no room in the house, the wife and her mother-in-law run\nagainst one another. If the mind cannot roam to heaven, the faculties\nwill be in a state of antagonism. Those who would benefit mankind from\ndeep forests or lofty mountains are simply unequal to the strain upon\ntheir higher natures.\n\n It is for that reason they become hermits.\n\n\"Ill-regulated virtue ends in reputation. Ill-regulated reputation\nends in notoriety. Scheming leads to confusion. Knowledge begets\ncontentions. Obstinacy produces stupidity. Organised government is for\nthe general good of all.\n\n\"Spring rains come in due season, and plants and shrubs burst up from\nthe earth. Weeding and tending do not begin until such plants and\nshrubs have reached more than half their growth, and without being\nconscious of the fact.\n\n\"Repose gives health to the sick. Rubbing the eyelids removes the\nwrinkles of old age. Quiet will dispel anxieties. These remedies\nhowever are the resource only of those who need them. Others who are\nfree from such ills pay no attention thereto.\n\n\"That which the true Sage marvels at in the empire, claims not the\nattention of the Divine man. That which the truly virtuous man marvels\nat in his own sphere, claims not the attention of the true Sage.\nThat which the superior man marvels at in his State, claims not the\nattention of the truly virtuous man. How the mean man adapts himself to\nhis age, claims not the attention of the superior man.\n\n\"The keeper of the Yen gate,\n\n Of the capital of the Sung State.\n\nhaving maltreated himself severely in consequence of the death of his\nparents, received a high official post.\n\n In reward for his filial piety.\n\nHis relatives thereupon maltreated themselves, and some half of them\ndied.\n\n In the vain endeavour to secure like rewards.\n\n\"Yao offered the empire to Hs\u00fc Yu, but Hs\u00fc Yu fled. T'ang offered it to\nWu Kuang, but Wu Kuang declined with anger.\n\n See pp. 6, 72.\n\n\"When Chi T'o heard of Hs\u00fc Yu's flight, he took all his disciples with\nhim and jumped into the river K'uan;\n\n As a tribute to his eminent virtue.\n\nupon which the various feudal princes mourned for three years,\n\n They did not resign their fiefs at his example.\n\nand Sh\u00ean T'u Ti had the river filled up.\n\n Fearing similar ill-advised acts. For names, see pp. 6, 72.\n\n\"The _raison d'\u00eatre_ of a fish-trap is the fish. When the fish is\ncaught, the trap may be ignored. The _raison d'\u00eatre_ of a rabbit-snare\nis the rabbit. When the rabbit is caught the snare may be ignored. The\n_raison d'\u00eatre_ of language is an idea to be expressed. When the idea\nis expressed, the language may be ignored. But where shall I find a man\nto ignore language, with whom I may be able to converse?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nLANGUAGE.\n\n _Argument_:--Speech, natural and artificial--Natural speech in harmony\n with the divine--Destiny--The ultimate cause--Purification of the\n soul--Illustrations.\n\n\nOf language put into other people's mouths, nine tenths will succeed.\nOf language based upon weighty authority, seven tenths. But language\nwhich flows constantly over, as from a full goblet, is in accord with\nGod.\n\n The natural overflowings of the heart.\n\nWhen language is put into other people's mouths, outside support is\nsought. Just as a father does not negotiate his son's marriage; for any\npraise he could bestow would not have the same value as praise by an\noutsider. Thus, the fault is not mine, but that of others.\n\n Who will not believe the original speaker.\n\nTo that which agrees with our own opinions we assent; from that which\ndoes not we dissent. We regard that which agrees with our own opinion\nas right. We regard that which differs from our opinion as wrong.\nLanguage based on weighty authority is used to bar further argument.\nThe authorities are our superiors, our elders in years. But if they\nlack the requisite knowledge and experience, being our superiors only\nin the sense of age, then they are not our superiors. And if men are\nnot the superiors of their fellows, no one troubles about them. And\nthose about whom no one troubles are merely stale.\n\nLanguage which flows constantly over, as from a full goblet, is in\naccord with God.\n\n Embracing both positive and negative in ONE.\n\nBecause it spreads out on all sides, it endures for all time. Without\nlanguage, contraries are identical. The identity is not identical with\nits expression: the expression is not identical with its identity.\nTherefore it has been said, Language not expressed in language is not\nlanguage. Constantly spoken, it is as though not spoken. Constantly\nunspoken, it is not as though not spoken.\n\nFrom the subjective point of view, there are possibilities and\nimpossibilities, there are suitabilities and unsuitabilities. This\nresults from the natural affinity of things for what they are and their\nnatural antagonism to what they are not. For all things have their own\nparticular constitutions and potentialities. Nothing can exist without\nthese.\n\n See p. 19.\n\nBut for language that constantly flows over, as from a full goblet, and\nis in accord with God, how should the permanent be attained?\n\nAll things spring from germs. Under many diverse forms these things\nare ever being reproduced. Round and round, like a wheel, no part of\nwhich is more the starting-point than any other. This is called the\nequilibrium of God. And he who holds the scales is God.\n\n Alluding to the Identity-philosophy, which means, in the words of\n Emerson, \"that nature iterates her means perpetually on successive\n planes.... The whole art of the plant is still to repeat leaf on leaf\n without end.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d said to Hui Tz\u016d, \"When Confucius reached his sixtieth year\nhe changed his opinions. What he had previously regarded as right, he\nultimately came to regard as wrong. But who shall say whether the right\nof to-day may not be as wrong as the wrong of the previous fifty-nine\nyears?\"\n\n See p. 345.\n\n\"He was a persevering worker,\" replied Hui Tz\u016d, \"and his wisdom\nincreased day by day.\"\n\n His conversion was no spasmodic act.\n\n\"Confucius,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"discarded both perseverance and\nwisdom, but did not attempt to formulate the doctrine in words. He\nsaid, 'Man has received his talents from God, together with a soul to\ngive them life. He should speak in accordance with established laws.\nHis words should be in harmony with fixed order. Personal advantage\nand duty to one's neighbour lie open before us. Likes and dislikes,\nrights and wrongs, are but as men choose to call them. But to bring\nsubmission into men's hearts, so that they shall not be stiff-necked,\nand thus fix firmly the foundations of the empire,--to that, alas! I\nhave not attained.'\"\n\n \"From the above,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"we may see that Hui Tz\u016d, though\n skilled in winning debates was unskilled in winning hearts.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTs\u00eang Tz\u016d held office twice. His emotions varied in each case.\n\n See pp. 100, 352.\n\n\"As long as my parents were alive,\" said he, \"I was happy on a small\nsalary. When I had a large salary, but my parents were no more, I was\nsad.\"\n\nA disciple said to Confucius, \"Can we call Ts\u00eang Tz\u016d a man without\ncares to trouble him?\"\n\n Money being no object to him.\n\n\"He had cares to trouble him,\" replied Confucius. \"Can a man who has no\ncares to trouble him feel grief? His small salary and his large salary\nwere to him like a heron or a mosquito flying past.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYen Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Yu said to Tung Kuo Tz\u016d Chi,\n\n See p. 324.\n\n\"One year after receiving your instructions I became naturally simple.\nAfter two years, I could adapt myself as required. After three years,\nI understood. After four years, my intelligence developed. After five\nyears, it was complete. After six years, the spirit entered into me.\nAfter seven, I knew God. After eight, life and death existed for me no\nmore. After nine, perfection.\n\n\"Life has its distinctions; but in death we are all made equal. That\ndeath should have an origin, but that life should have no origin,--can\nthis be so? What determines its presence in one place, its absence in\nanother?\n\n\"Heaven has its fixed order.\n\n Visible to all.\n\nEarth has yielded up its secrets to man. But where to seek whence am I?\n\n\"Not knowing the hereafter, how can we deny the operation of Destiny?\nNot knowing what preceded birth, how can we assert the operation of\nDestiny? When things turn out as they ought, who shall say that the\nagency is not supernatural? When things turn out otherwise, who shall\nsay that it is?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe various Penumbr\u00e6 said to the Umbra, \"Before you were looking down,\nnow you are looking up. Before you had your hair tied up, now it is all\nloosed. Before you were sitting, now you have got up. Before you were\nmoving, now you are stopping still. How is this?\"\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" replied the Umbra, \"the question is hardly worth asking.\n\n Ultimate causes being unknowable.\n\nI do these things, but I do not know why. I am like the scaly back of\nthe cicada, the shell of the locust,--apparently independent, but not\nreally so. By firelight or in daylight I am seen: in darkness or by\nnight I am gone. And if I am dependent on these, how much more are they\ndependent on something else? When they come, I come with them. When\nthey go, I go with them. When they live, I live with them. But who it\nis that gives the life, how shall we seek to know?\"\n\n Repeated, with variations, from ch. ii.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nYang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc\n\n See p. 100.\n\nwent southwards to P'ei, and when Lao Tz\u016d was travelling westwards\nto Ch'in, hastened to receive him outside the city. Arriving at the\nbridge, he met Lao Tz\u016d; and the latter standing in the middle of the\nroad, looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, \"At first, I thought\nyou could be taught. I think so no more.\"\n\nYang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc made no reply, but when they reached the inn, handed\nLao Tz\u016d water for washing and rinsing, and a towel and comb. He then\nremoved his own boots outside the door, and crawling on his knees\ninto the Master's presence, said, \"I have been wishing to ask for\ninstruction, Sir, but as you were travelling and not at leisure, I did\nnot venture. You are now, Sir, at leisure. May I enquire the reason of\nwhat you said?\"\n\n\"You have an overbearing look,\" said Lao Tz\u016d. \"Who would live with such\na man? He who is truly pure behaves as though he were sullied. He who\nhas virtue in abundance behaves as though it were not enough.\"\n\n These last two sentences occur in the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. xli, and\n also in the works of Lieh Tz\u016d as part of that author's own text. See\n _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 29.\n\nYang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc changed countenance at this, and replied, \"I hear and\nobey.\"\n\nNow when Yang Tz\u00fc Ch\u00fc first went to the inn, the visitors there had\ncome out to receive him. Mine host had arranged his mat, while the\nlandlady held towel and comb. The visitors had given him up the best\nseats, and those who were cooking had left the stove free for him. But\nwhen he went back,\n\n After his interview with Lao Tz\u016d.\n\nthe other visitors struggled to get the best seats for themselves.\n\n So changed was he in spirit.\n\n Lin Hsi Chung considers that this chapter should immediately precede\n what is now ch. xxxii, from which it has been separated by the\n interpolation of the four following chapters, all admittedly spurious.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nON DECLINING POWER.\n\n[Spurious.]\n\n\nYao offered to resign the empire to Hs\u00fc Yu, but the latter declined.\n\nHe then offered it to Tz\u016d Chou Chih Fu, who said, \"There is no\nobjection to making me emperor. But just now I am suffering from a\ntroublesome disease, and am engaged in trying to cure it. I have no\nleisure to look after the empire.\"\n\nNow the empire is of paramount importance. Yet here was a man who would\nnot allow it to injure his chance of life. How much less then would he\nlet other things do so? Yet it is only he who would do nothing in the\nway of government who is fit to be trusted with the empire.\n\n Those personages who have not been previously mentioned may be taken\n to be allegorical.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nShun offered to resign the empire to Tz\u016d Chou Chih Poh. The latter\nsaid, \"Just now I am suffering from a troublesome disease, and am\nengaged in trying to cure it. I have no leisure to look after the\nempire.\"\n\nNow the empire is a great trust; but not to sacrifice one's life for it\nis precisely where the man of TAO differs from the man of the world.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nShun offered to resign the empire to Shan Ch\u00fcan. Shan Ch\u00fcan said, \"I\nam a unit in the sum of the universe. In winter I wear fur clothes. In\nsummer I wear grass-cloth. In spring I plough and sow, toiling with\nmy body. In autumn I gather in the harvest, and devote myself to rest\nand enjoyment. At dawn I go to work; at sunset I leave off. Contented\nwith my lot I pass through life with a light heart. Why then should I\ntrouble myself with the empire? Ah, Sir, you do not know me.\"\n\nSo he declined, and subsequently hid himself among the mountains,\nnobody knew where.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nShun offered the empire to a friend, a labourer of Shih Hu.\n\n\"Sire,\" said the latter, \"you exert yourself too much. The chief thing\nis to husband one's strength;\"--meaning that in point of real virtue\nShun had not attained.\n\nThen, husband and wife, bearing away their household gods and taking\ntheir children with them, went off to the sea and never came back.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen T'ai Wang Shan Fu was occupying Pin, he was attacked by savages.\nHe offered them skins and silk, but they declined these. He offered\nthem dogs and horses, but they declined these also. He then offered\nthem pearls and jade, but these too they declined. What they wanted was\nthe territory.\n\n\"To live with a man's elder brother,\" said T'ai Wang Shan Fu,\n\n Addressing his own people.\n\n\"and slay his younger brother; to live with a man's father and slay his\nson,--this I could not bear to do. Make shift to remain here. To be my\nsubjects or the subjects of these savages, where is the difference?\nBesides I have heard say that we ought not to let that which is\nintended to nourish life become injurious to life.\"\n\n Alluding to the \"territory.\"\n\nThereupon he took his staff and went off. His people all followed him,\nand they founded a new State at the foot of Mount Ch'i.\n\nNow T'ai Wang Shan Fu undoubtedly had a proper respect for life. And\nthose who have a proper respect for life, if rich and powerful, do not\nlet that which should nourish injure the body. If poor and lowly, they\ndo not allow gain to involve them in physical wear and tear.\n\nBut the men of the present generation who occupy positions of power and\ninfluence, are all afraid of losing what they have got. Directly they\nsee a chance of gain, away goes all care for their bodies. Is not that\na cause for confusion?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn three successive cases the people of Y\u00fceh had put their prince to\ndeath. Accordingly, Shou, the son of the last prince, was much alarmed,\nand fled to Tan Hs\u00fceh, leaving the State of Y\u00fceh without a ruler.\n\nShou was at first nowhere to be found, but at length he was traced to\nTan Hs\u00fceh. He was, however, unwilling to come forth, so they smoked him\nout with moxa. They had a royal carriage ready for him; and as Shou\nseized the cord to mount the chariot, he looked up to heaven and cried,\n\"Oh! ruling, ruling, could I not have been spared this?\"\n\nIt was not that Shou objected to be a prince. He objected to the\ndangers associated with such positions. Such a one was incapable of\nsacrificing life to the State, and for that very reason the people of\nY\u00fceh wanted to get him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe States of Han and Wei were struggling to annex each other's\nterritory when Tz\u016d Hua Tz\u016d went to see prince Chao Hsi. Finding\nthe latter very downcast, Tz\u016d Hua Tz\u016d said, \"Now suppose the\nrepresentatives of the various States were to sign an agreement before\nyour Highness, to the effect that although cutting off the left hand\nwould involve loss of the right, while cutting off the right would\ninvolve loss of the left, nevertheless that whosoever would cut off\neither should be emperor over all,--would your Highness cut?\"\n\n\"I would not,\" replied the prince.\n\n\"Very good,\" said Tz\u016d Hua Tz\u016d. \"It is clear therefore that one's two\narms are worth more than the empire. And one's body is worth more than\none's arms, while the State of Han is infinitely less important than\nthe empire. Further, what you are struggling over is of infinitely less\nimportance than the State of Han. Yet your Highness is wearing out body\nand soul alike in fear and anxiety lest you should not get it.\"\n\n\"Good indeed!\" cried the prince. \"Many have counselled me, but I have\nnever heard the like of this.\"\n\nFrom which we may infer that Tz\u016d Hua Tz\u016d knew the difference between\nwhat was of importance and what was not.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe prince of Lu, hearing that Yen Ho had attained to TAO, despatched\nmessengers with presents to open communications.\n\nYen Ho lived in a hovel. He wore clothes of coarse grass, and occupied\nhimself in tending oxen.\n\nWhen the messengers arrived, Yen Ho went out to meet them; whereupon\nthey enquired, \"Is this where Yen Ho lives?\"\n\n\"This is Yen Ho's house,\" replied the latter.\n\nThe messengers then produced the presents; but Yen Ho said, \"I fear you\nhave made a mistake. And as you might get into trouble, it would be as\nwell to go back and make sure.\"\n\nThis the messengers accordingly did. When however they returned, there\nwas no trace to be found of Yen Ho. Thus it is that men like Yen Ho\nhate wealth and power.\n\nWherefore it has been said that the best part of TAO is for\nself-culture, the surplus for governing a State, and the dregs for\ngoverning the empire. From which we may infer that the great deeds of\nkings and princes are but the leavings of the Sage. For preserving the\nbody and nourishing vitality, they are of no avail. Yet the superior\nmen of to-day endanger their bodies and throw away their lives in their\ngreed for the things of this world. Is not this pitiable?\n\nThe true Sage in all his actions considers the why and the wherefore.\nBut there are those now-a-days who use the pearl of the prince of Sui\nto shoot a bird a thousand yards off.\n\n A wonderfully brilliant gem, of a \"ten chariot\" illuminating power.\n\nAnd the world of course laughs at them. Why? Because they sacrifice the\ngreater to get the less. But surely life is of more importance even\nthan the prince's pearl!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLieh Tz\u016d was poor. His face wore a hungry look.\n\nA visitor one day mentioned this to Tz\u016d Yang\n\n Prime Minister.\n\nof Ch\u00eang, saying, \"Lieh Tz\u016d is a scholar who has attained to TAO. He\nlives in your Excellency's State, and yet he is poor. Can it be said\nthat your Excellency does not love scholars?\"\n\nThereupon Tz\u016d Yang gave orders that Lieh Tz\u016d should be supplied with\nfood. But when Lieh Tz\u016d saw the messengers, he bowed twice and declined.\n\nWhen the messengers had gone, and Lieh Tz\u016d went within, his wife gazed\nat him, and beating her breast said, \"I have heard that the wife and\nchildren of a man of TAO are happy and joyful. But see how hungry I am.\nHis Excellency sent you food, and you would not take it. Is not this\nflying in the face of Providence?\"\n\n\"His Excellency did not know me personally,\" answered Lieh Tz\u016d with a\nsmile. \"It was because of what others said about me that he sent me the\nfood. If then men were to speak ill of me, he would also act upon it.\nFor that reason I refused the food.\"\n\nSubsequently, there was trouble among the people of Ch\u00eang, and Tz\u016d Yang\nwas slain.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Prince Chao of the Ch'u State lost his kingdom, he was followed\ninto exile by his butcher, named Y\u00fceh.\n\nOn his restoration, as he was distributing rewards to those who had\nremained faithful to him, he came to the name of Y\u00fceh.\n\nY\u00fceh, however, said, \"When the prince lost his kingdom, I lost my\nbutchery. Now that the prince has got back his kingdom, I have got\nback my butchery. I have recovered my office and salary. What need for\nfurther reward?\"\n\nOn hearing this, the prince gave orders that he should be made to take\nhis reward.\n\n\"It was not through my fault,\" argued Y\u00fceh, \"that the prince lost\nhis kingdom, and I should not have taken the punishment. Neither was\nit through me that he got it back, and I cannot therefore accept the\nreward.\"\n\nWhen the prince heard this answer, he commanded Y\u00fceh to be brought\nbefore him. But Y\u00fceh said, \"The laws of the Ch'u State require that a\nsubject shall have deserved exceptionally well of his prince before\nbeing admitted to an audience. Now my wisdom was insufficient to\npreserve this kingdom, and my courage insufficient to destroy the\ninvaders. When the Wu soldiers entered Ying, I feared for my life and\nfled. That was why I followed the prince. And if now the prince wishes\nto set law and custom aside and summon me to an audience, this is not\nmy idea of proper behaviour on the part of the prince.\"\n\n\"Y\u00fceh,\" said the prince to Tz\u016d Chi, his master of the horse, \"occupies\na lowly position; yet his principles are of the most lofty. Go, make\nhim a San Ching.\"\n\n\"I am aware,\" replied Y\u00fceh to the master of the horse, \"that the post\nof San Ching is more honourable than that of butcher. And I am aware\nthat the emolument is larger than what I now receive. Still, because I\nwant preferment and salary, I cannot let my prince earn the reputation\nof being injudicious in his patronage. I must beg to decline. Let me go\nback to my butchery.\"\n\nAnd he adhered to his refusal.\n\nY\u00fcan Hsien dwelt in Lu,--in a mud hut, with a grass-grown roof, an\napology for a door, and two mulberry-trees for door-posts. The windows\nwhich lighted his two rooms were no bigger than the mouth of a jar, and\nwere closed by a wad of old clothes. The hut leaked from above and was\ndamp under foot; yet Y\u00fcan Hsien sat gravely there playing on the guitar.\n\nTz\u016d Kung came driving up in a fine chariot, in a white robe lined with\npurple; but the hood of the chariot was too big for the street.\n\nWhen he went to see Y\u00fcan Hsien, the latter came to the door in a\nflowery cap, with his shoes down at heel, and leaning on a stalk.\n\n\"Good gracious!\" cried Tz\u016d Kung, \"whatever is the matter with you?\"\n\n\"I have heard,\" replied Y\u00fcan Hsien, \"that he who is without wealth is\ncalled poor, and that he who learns without being able to practise is\nsaid to have something the matter with him. Now I am merely poor; I\nhave nothing the matter with me.\"\n\nTz\u016d Kung was much abashed at this reply; upon which Y\u00fcan Hsien smiling\ncontinued, \"To try to thrust myself forward among men; to seek\nfriendship in mutual flattery; to learn for the sake of others; to\nteach for my own sake; to use benevolence and duty to one's neighbour\nfor evil ends; to make a great show with horses and carriages,--these\nthings I cannot do.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTs\u00eang Tz\u016d lived in the Wei State. His wadded coat had no outside\ncloth. His face was bloated and rough. His hands and feet were horny\nhard. For three days he had had no fire; no new clothes for ten years.\nIf he set his cap straight the tassel would come off. If he drew up his\nsleeve his elbow would poke through. If he pulled up his shoe, the heel\nwould come off. Yet slipshod he sang the _Sacrificial Odes of Shang_,\nhis voice filling the whole sky, as though it had been some instrument\nof metal or stone.\n\nThe Son of Heaven could not secure him as a minister. The feudal\nprinces could not secure him as a friend. For he who nourishes his\npurpose becomes oblivious of his body. He who nourishes his body\nbecomes oblivious of gain. And he who has attained TAO becomes\noblivious of his mind.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Come hither,\" said Confucius to Yen Hui. \"Your family is poor, and\nyour position lowly. Why not go into official life?\"\n\n\"I do not wish to,\" replied Yen Hui. \"I have fifty acres of land\nbeyond the city walls, which are enough to supply me with food. Ten\nmore within the walls provide me with clothes. My lute gives me all\nthe amusement I want; and the study of your doctrines keeps me happy\nenough. I do not desire to go into official life.\"\n\n\"Bravo! well said!\" cried Confucius with beaming countenance. \"I have\nheard say that those who are contented do not entangle themselves\nin the pursuit of gain. That those who have really obtained do not\nfear the contingency of loss. That those who devote themselves to\ncultivation of the inner man, though occupying no position, feel no\nshame. Thus indeed I have long preached. Only now, that I have seen Yen\nHui, am I conscious of the realisation of these words.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrince Mou of Chung-shan said to Chan Tz\u016d, \"My body is in the country,\nbut my heart is in town. What am I to do?\"\n\n\"Make life of paramount importance,\" answered Chan Tz\u016d, \"and worldly\nadvantage will cease to have weight.\"\n\n\"That I know,\" replied the Prince; \"but I am not equal to the task.\"\n\n\"If you are not equal to this,\" said Chan Tz\u016d, \"then it were well for\nyou to pursue your natural bent. Not to be equal to a task, and yet\nto force oneself to stick to it,--this is called adding one injury to\nanother. And those who suffer such two-fold injury do not belong to the\nclass of the long-lived.\"\n\nPrince Mou of Wei was heir to the throne of a large State. For him to\nbecome a hermit among the hills was more difficult than for an ordinary\ncotton-clothed scholar. And although he had not attained to TAO, he may\nbe said to have been on the way thither.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Confucius was caught between the Ch'\u00eans and the Ts'ais, he went\nseven days without proper food. He ate soup of herbs, having no rice.\nHe looked very much exhausted, yet he sat within playing his guitar and\nsinging to it.\n\nYen Hui was picking over the herbs, while Tz\u016d Lu and Tz\u016d Kung were\ntalking together. One of them said, \"Our Master has twice been driven\nout of Lu. They will have none of him in Wei. His tree was cut down in\nSung. He got into trouble in Shang and Chou. And now he is surrounded\nby the Ch'\u00eans and the Ts'ais. Whoever kills him is to be held\nguiltless. Whoever takes him prisoner is not to be interfered with. Yet\nall the time he goes on playing and singing without cease. Is this the\nright thing for a superior man to do?\"\n\nYen Hui said nothing, but went inside and told Confucius, who laid\naside his guitar and said with a loud sigh, \"Yu and Tz\u016d are ignorant\nfellows.\n\n These were their personal names.\n\nBid them come, and I will speak to them.\"\n\nWhen they entered Tz\u016d Lu said, \"We seem to have made a thorough\nfailure.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" cried Confucius. \"The superior man who succeeds\nin TAO, has success. If he fails in TAO, he makes a failure. Now I,\nholding fast to the TAO of charity and duty towards one's neighbour,\nhave fallen among the troubles of a disordered age. What failure is\nthere in that?\n\n\"Therefore it is that by cultivation of the inner man there is no\nfailure in TAO, and when danger comes there is no loss of virtue. It is\nthe chill winter weather, it is frost, it is snow, which bring out the\nluxuriance of the pine and the fir.\n\n See _Lun Y\u00fc_, ix, 27.\n\nI regard it as a positive blessing to be thus situated as I am.\"\n\nThereupon he turned abruptly round and went on playing and singing.\n\nAt this Tz\u016d Lu hastily seized a shield and began dancing to the music,\nwhile Tz\u016d Kung said, \"I had no idea of the height of heaven and of the\ndepth of earth.\"\n\nThe ancients who attained TAO were equally happy under success and\nfailure. Their happiness had nothing to do with their failure or their\nsuccess. TAO once attained, failure and success became mere links in a\nchain, like cold, heat, wind, and rain. Thus Hs\u00fc Yu enjoyed himself at\nYing-yang, and Kung Poh found happiness on the hill-top.\n\n Whither he retired after a reign of 14 years.\n\nShun offered to resign the empire to his friend Pei Jen Wu Ts\u00ea.\n\n\"What a strange manner of man you are!\" cried the latter. \"Living in\nthe furrowed fields, you exchanged such a life for the throne of Yao.\nAnd as if that was not enough, you now try to heap indignity upon me. I\nam ashamed of you.\"\n\nThereupon he drowned himself in the waters of Ch'ing-ling.\n\n \"But how about preservation of life?\" asks Lin Hsi Chung with a sneer.\n\nWhen T'ang was about to attack Chieh, he went to consult with Pien Sui.\n\n\"It is not a matter in which I can help you,\" said the latter.\n\n\"Who can?\" asked T'ang.\n\n\"I do not know,\" replied Pien Sui.\n\nT'ang then went to consult with Wu Kuang.\n\n\"It is not a matter in which I can help you,\" said the latter.\n\n\"Who can?\" asked T'ang.\n\n\"I do not know,\" replied Wu Kuang.\n\n\"What do you think of I Yin?\" asked T'ang.\n\n\"He forces himself,\" said Wu Kuang, \"to put up with obloquy. Beyond\nthis I know nothing of him.\"\n\nSo T'ang took I Yin into his counsels. They attacked Chieh, and\nvanquished him.\n\nThen T'ang offered to resign the empire in favour of Pien Sui. But\nPien Sui declined, saying, \"When your Majesty consulted with me about\nattacking Chieh, you evidently looked on me as a robber.\n\n Who would steal territory. But men of TAO wage no wars.\n\nNow that you have vanquished him, and you offer to resign in my favour,\nyou evidently regard me as covetous. I was born indeed in a disordered\nage. But for a man without TAO to thus insult me twice, is more than I\ncan endure.\"\n\nSo he drowned himself in the river Chou.\n\nThen T'ang offered to resign in favour of Wu Kuang, saying, \"The wise\nplan, the brave execute, the good rest therein,--such was the TAO of\nthe ancients. Why, Sir, should not you occupy the throne?\"\n\nBut Wu Kuang declined, saying, \"To depose a ruler is not to do one's\nduty to one's neighbour. To slay the people is not charity. For others\nto suffer these wrongs, while I enjoy the profits, is not honest. I\nhave heard say that one should not accept a wage unless earned in\naccordance with right; and that if the world is without TAO, one should\nnot put foot upon its soil, still less rule over it! I can bear this no\nlonger.\"\n\nThereupon he took a stone on his back and jumped into the river Lu.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt the rise of the Chou dynasty there were two scholars, named Po I and\nShu Ch'i, who lived in Ku-tu.\n\nOne of these said to the other, \"I have heard that in the west there\nare men who are apparently in possession of TAO. Let us go and see\nthem.\"\n\n Meaning the men of Chou.\n\nWhen they arrived at Ch'i-yang, Wu Wang\n\n The writer meant W\u00ean Wang, father of Wu Wang.\n\nheard of their arrival and sent Shu Tan\n\n Chou Kung.\n\nto enter into a treaty with them. They were to receive emoluments of\nthe second degree and rank of the first degree. The treaty was to be\nsealed with blood and buried.\n\nAt this the two looked at each other and smiled. \"Ah!\" said one of\nthem, \"this is strange indeed. It is not what we call TAO.\n\n\"When Sh\u00ean Nung ruled the empire, he worshipped God without asking for\nany reward. Sometimes it was the law he put in force; sometimes it was\nhis personal influence he brought to bear. He was loyal and faithful\nto his people without seeking any return. He did not build his success\nupon another's ruin, nor mount high by means of another's fall, nor\nseize opportunities to secure his own advantage.\n\n\"But now that the Chous, beholding the iniquities of the Yins,\nhave taken upon themselves to govern, we have intrigues above and\nbribes below. Troops are mobilised to protect prestige. Victims are\nslaughtered to give good faith to a treaty. A show of virtue is made to\namuse the masses. Fighting and slaughter are made the means of gain.\nConfusion has simply been exchanged for disorder.\n\n\"I have heard tell that the men of old, living in quiet times, never\nshirked their duties; but lighting upon troublous times, nothing could\nmake them stay. The empire is now in darkness. The virtue of the Chous\nhas faded. For the empire to be united under the Chous would be a\ndisgrace to us. Better flee away and keep our actions pure.\"\n\nAccordingly, these two philosophers went north to Mount Shou-yang,\nwhere they subsequently starved themselves to death.\n\nMen like Poh I and Shu Ch'i, if wealth and honour came to them so that\nthey could properly accept, would assuredly not have recourse to such\nheroic measures, nor would they be content to follow their own bent,\nwithout giving their services to their generation. Such was the purity\nof these two scholars.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nROBBER CH\u00ca.\n\n[Spurious.]\n\n\nConfucius was on terms of friendship with Liu Hsia Chi, whose younger\nbrother was known as \"Robber Ch\u00ea.\"\n\n This is an anachronism. Liu Hsia Chi (_or_ Hui) was a virtuous\n official of the Lu State. He flourished some 80 and more years before\n the time of Confucius.\n\nRobber Ch\u00ea had a band of followers nine thousand strong. He ravaged\nthe whole empire, plundering the various nobles and breaking into\npeople's houses. He drove off oxen and horses. He stole men's wives and\ndaughters. Family ties put no limit to his greed. He had no respect for\nparents nor for brothers. He neglected the worship of his ancestors.\nWherever he passed, the greater States flew to arms, the smaller ones\nto places of safety. All the people were sore distressed.\n\n\"A father,\" said Confucius to Liu Hsia Chi, \"should surely be able\nto admonish his son; an elder brother to teach his younger brother.\nIf this be not so, there is an end of the value attached to these\nrelationships.\n\n\"Now you, Sir, are one of the scholars of the age, while your younger\nbrother is the Robber Ch\u00ea, the scourge of the empire. You are unable to\nteach him, and I blush for you. Let me go and have a talk with him on\nyour behalf.\"\n\n\"As to what you say, Sir, about fathers and elder brothers,\" answered\nLiu Hsia Chi, \"if the son will not listen to his father, nor the\nyounger brother to his elder brother, what becomes of your arguments\nthen?\n\n\"Besides, Ch\u00ea's passions are like a bubbling spring. His thoughts are\nlike a whirlwind. He is strong enough to defy all foes. He can argue\nuntil wrong becomes right. If you follow his inclinations, he is\npleased. If you oppose them he is angry. He is free with the language\nof abuse. Do not go near him.\"\n\nConfucius paid no attention to this advice; but with Yen Hui as\ncharioteer and Tz\u016d Kung on his right, went off to see Robber Ch\u00ea.\n\nThe latter had just encamped to the south of T'ai-shan, and was engaged\nin devouring a dish of minced human liver. Confucius alighted from his\nchariot, and advancing addressed the doorkeeper as follows:--\n\n\"I am Confucius of the Lu State. I have heard of the high character of\nyour captain.\"\n\nHe then twice respectfully saluted the doorkeeper, who went in to\nannounce his arrival.\n\nWhen Robber Ch\u00ea heard who it was, he was furious. His eyes glared like\nstars. His hair raised his cap from his head as he cried out, \"What!\nthat crafty scoundrel Confucius of Lu? Go, tell him from me that he\nis a mere word-mongerer. That he talks nonsense about W\u00ean Wang and Wu\nWang. That he wears an extravagant cap, with a thong from the side of\na dead ox. That what he says is mostly rhodomontade. That he consumes\nwhere he does not sow, and wears clothes he does not weave. That his\nlips patter and his tongue wags. That his rights and wrongs are of his\nown coining, whereby he throws dust in the eyes of rulers and prevents\nthe scholars of the empire from reverting to the original source of all\nthings.\n\n _Sc._ TAO.\n\nThat he makes a great stir about filial piety and brotherly love, glad\nenough himself to secure some fat fief or post of power. Tell him that\nhe deserves the worst, and that if he does not take himself off his\nliver shall be in my morning stew.\"\n\nBut Confucius sent in again, saying, \"I am a friend of Liu Hsia Chi. I\nam anxious to set eyes upon your captain's shoe-strings.\"\n\n Another interpretation is \"upon your captain's feet visible from\n beneath the screen.\"\n\nWhen the doorkeeper gave this second message, Robber Ch\u00ea said, \"Bring\nhim before me!\" Thereupon Confucius hurried in, and avoiding the place\nof honour stepped back and made two obeisances.\n\nRobber Ch\u00ea, flaming with anger, straddled out his two legs, and laying\nhis hand upon his sword glared at Confucius and roaring like a tigress\nwith young, said, \"Ch'iu! come here. If what you say suits my ideas,\nyou will live. Otherwise you will die.\"\n\n\"I have heard,\" replied Confucius, \"that the world contains three\nclasses of virtue. To grow up tall, of a beauty without compare, and\nthus to be the idol of young and old, of noble and lowly alike,--this\nis the highest class. To be possessed of wisdom which embraces the\nuniverse and can explain all things,--this is the middle class. To\nbe possessed of courage which will stand test and gather followers\naround,--this is the lowest class.\n\n\"Now any man whose virtue belongs to either of these classes is fit to\noccupy the place and title of ruler. But you, Captain, unite all three\nin yourself. You are eight feet two in height. Your expression is very\nbright. Your lips are like vermilion. Your teeth like a row of shells.\nYour voice is like a beautiful bell;--yet you are known as Robber Ch\u00ea.\nCaptain, I blush for you.\n\n\"Captain, if you will hearken to me I will go south for you to Wu and\nY\u00fceh, north to Ch'i and Lu, east to Sung and Wei, and west to Chin and\nCh'u. I will have a great wall built for you of many _li_ in extent,\nenclosing hamlets of many hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, over\nwhich State you shall be ruler. Your relations with the empire will\nenter upon a new phase. You will disband your men. You will gather your\nbrothers around you. You will join in worship of your ancestors. Such\nis the behaviour of the true Sage and the man of parts, and such is\nwhat the world desires.\"\n\n\"Ch'iu! come here,\" cried Robber Ch\u00ea in a great rage. \"Those who are\nsquared by offers and corrected by words are the stupid vulgar masses.\nThe height and the beauty which you praise in me are legacies from my\nparents. Even though you did not praise them, do you think I should be\nignorant of their existence? Besides, those who flatter to the face\nspeak evil behind the back. Now all you have been saying about the\ngreat State and its numerous population simply means squaring me by\noffers as though one of the common herd. And of course it would not\nlast.\n\n\"There is no State bigger than the empire. Yao and Shun both got this,\nyet their descendants have not territory enough to insert an awl's\npoint. T'ang and Wu Wang both sat upon the Imperial throne, yet their\nposterity has been obliterated from the face of the earth.\n\n Hardly in Chuang Tz\u016d's time.\n\nWas not this because of the very magnitude of the prize?\n\n\"I have also heard that in olden times the birds and animals\noutnumbered man, and that the latter was obliged to seek his safety\nby building his domicile in trees. By day he picked up acorns\nand chestnuts. At night he slept upon a branch. Hence the name\n_Nest-builders_.\n\n\"Of old, the people did not know how to make clothes. In summer they\ncollected quantities of fuel, and in winter warmed themselves by fire.\nHence the name _Provident_.\n\n\"In the days of Sh\u00ean Nung, they lay down without caring where they were\nand got up without caring whither they might go. A man knew his mother\nbut not his father. He lived among the wild deer. He tilled the ground\nfor food. He wove cloth to cover his body. He harboured no thought of\ninjury to others. These were the glorious results of an age of perfect\nvirtue.\n\n\"The Yellow Emperor, however, could not attain to this virtue. He\nfought with Ch'ih Yu at Ch\u014f-lu, and blood flowed for a hundred _li_.\nThen came Yao and Shun with their crowd of ministers. Then T'ang who\ndeposed his sovereign, and Wu Wang who slew Chou. After which time\nthe strong took to oppressing the weak, the many to coercing the few.\nIn fact, ever since T'ang and Wu Wang we have had none other than\ndisturbers of the peace.\n\n\"And now you come forward preaching the old dogmas of W\u00ean Wang\nand palming off sophistries without end, in order to teach future\ngenerations. You wear patched clothes and a narrow girdle, you talk\nbig and act falsely, in order to deceive the rulers of the land, while\nall the time you yourself are aiming at wealth and power! You are the\nbiggest thief I know of; and if the world calls me Robber Ch\u00ea, it most\ncertainly ought to call you Robber Ch'iu.\n\n\"By fair words you enticed Tz\u016d Lu to follow you. You made him doff his\nmartial cap,\n\n Shaped like a cock's comb.\n\nand ungird his long sword, and sit a disciple at your feet. And all\nthe world cried out that Confucius could stop violence and prevent\nwrong-doing. By and by, when Tz\u016d Lu wished to slay the prince of Wei,\nbut failed, and was himself hacked to pieces and exposed over the\neastern gate of Wei,--that was because you had not properly instructed\nhim.\n\n See the account in the _Tso Chuan_.\n\n\"You call yourself a man of talent and a Sage forsooth! Twice you have\nbeen driven out of Lu. You were tabooed in Wei. You were a failure in\nCh'i. You were surrounded by the Ch'\u00eans and the Ts'ais. In fact, the\nempire won't have you anywhere. It was your teaching which brought Tz\u016d\nLu to his tragical end. You cannot take care, in the first place, of\nyourself, nor, in the second place, of others. Of what value can your\ndoctrine be?\n\n\"There is none to whom mankind has accorded a higher place than to the\nYellow Emperor. Yet his virtue was not complete. He fought at Ch\u014f-lu,\nand blood ran for a hundred _li_. Yao was not paternal.\n\n He killed his eldest son.\n\nShun was not filial.\n\n He banished his mother's younger brother.\n\nThe great Y\u00fc was deficient in one respect.\n\n He was wanting in natural feeling. When engaged in his great\n engineering work of draining the empire, he even passed his own door\n without going in to see his family.\n\nT'ang deposed his sovereign. Wu Wang vanquished Chou. W\u00ean Wang was\nimprisoned at Yin Li.\n\n\"Now these six worthies enjoy a high reputation among men. Yet a fuller\ninvestigation shows that in each case a desire for advantage disturbed\ntheir original purity and forced it into a contrary direction. Hence\nthe shamelessness of their deeds.\n\n\"Among those whom the world calls virtuous were Poh I and Shu Ch'i.\nThey declined the sovereignty of Ku-chu and died of starvation on Mount\nShou-yang, their corpses deprived of burial.\n\n\"Pao Chiao made a great show of virtue and abused the world in general.\nHe grasped a tree and died.\n\n Tz\u016d Kung, one of Confucius' disciples, is said to have scolded Pao\n Chiao so vigorously that the latter withered up into dead wood.\n\n\"Sh\u00ean T'u Ti, when no heed was paid to his counsels, jumped into the\nriver with a stone on his back and became food for fishes.\n\n See p. 72.\n\n\"Chieh Tz\u016d T'ui was truly loyal. He cut a slice from his thigh to feed\nW\u00ean Wang. Afterwards, when W\u00ean Wang turned his back upon him, he\nretired in anger, and grasping a tree, was burnt to death.\n\n He took refuge in a forest, from which W\u00ean Wang, anxious to recover\n his friend, tried to smoke him out!\n\n\"Wei Sh\u00eang made an assignation with a girl beneath a bridge. The girl\ndid not come, and the water rose. But Wei Sh\u00eang would not leave. He\ngrasped a buttress and died.\n\n\"These four differed in no way from dogs and pigs going about begging\nto be slaughtered. They all exaggerated reputation and disregarded\ndeath. They did not reflect upon their original nature and seek to\npreserve life into the old age allotted.\n\n\"Among ministers whom the world calls loyal, none can compare with\nWang Tz\u016d, Pi Kan, and Wu Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc. The last-mentioned drowned himself.\nPi Kan was disembowelled. These two worthies are what men call loyal\nministers; yet, as a matter of fact, all the world laughs at them!\n\n\"Thus, from the most ancient times down to Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc and Pi Kan, there\nhave been none deserving of honour. And as to the sermon you, Ch'iu,\npropose to preach to me,--if it is on ghostly subjects, I shan't\nunderstand them, and if it is on human affairs, why there is nothing\nmore to be said. I know it all already.\n\n\"I will now tell you a few things. The lust of the eye is for beauty.\nThe lust of the ear is for music. The lust of the palate is for\nflavour. The lust of ambition is for gratification. Man's greatest\nage is one hundred years. A medium old age is eighty years. The lowest\nestimate is sixty years. Take away from this the hours of sickness,\ndisease, death, mourning, sorrow, and trouble, and there will not\nremain more than four or five days a month upon which a man may open\nhis mouth to laugh. Heaven and Earth are everlasting. Sooner or later\nevery man has to die. That which thus has a limit, as compared with\nthat which is everlasting, is a mere flash, like the passage of some\nswift steed seen through a crack. And those who cannot gratify their\nambition and live through their allotted span, are men who have not\nattained to TAO.\n\n\"Ch'iu! all your teachings are nothing to me. Begone! Go home! Say no\nmore! Your doctrine is a random jargon, full of falsity and deceit. It\ncan never preserve the original purity of man. Why discuss it further?\"\n\nConfucius made two obeisances and hurriedly took his leave. On mounting\nhis chariot, he three times missed hold of the reins. His eyes were so\ndazed that he could see nothing. His face was ashy pale. With down-cast\nhead he grasped the bar of his chariot, unable to find vent for his\nfeelings.\n\nArriving outside the eastern gate of Lu, he met Liu Hsia Chi, who said,\n\"I have not seen you for some days. From the look of your equipage I\nshould say you had been travelling. I guess now you have been to see\nCh\u00ea.\"\n\nConfucius looked up to heaven, and replied with a sigh, \"I have.\"\n\n\"And did he not rebuff you,\" asked Liu Hsia Chi, \"as I said he would?\"\n\n\"He did,\" said Confucius. \"I am a man who has cauterized himself\nwithout being ill. I hurried away to smooth the tiger's head and comb\nout his beard. And I very nearly got into the tiger's mouth.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTz\u016d Chang asked Man Kou T\u00ea,\n\n Which means \"Full of the Ill-gotten.\"\n\nsaying, \"Why do you not practise virtue? Otherwise, it is impossible\nto inspire confidence. And without confidence, no place. And without\nplace, no wealth. Thus, with a view to reputation or to wealth, duty\ntowards one's neighbour is the true key.\n\n As leading to reputation, which was what Tz\u016d Chang wanted.\n\nIf you were to discard all thoughts of reputation and wealth and attend\nto the cultivation of the heart, surely you would not pass one day\nwithout practising the higher virtues.\"\n\n\"Those who have no shame,\" replied Man Kou T\u00ea,\n\n Meaning himself.\n\n\"grow rich. Those who inspire confidence make themselves conspicuous.\n\n Meaning Tz\u016d Chang.\n\nReputation and wealth are mostly to be got out of shamelessness and\nconfidence inspired. Thus, with a view to reputation or to wealth, the\nconfidence of others is the true key.\n\n As leading to wealth, which was what Man Kou T\u00ea wanted.\n\nIf you were to discard all thoughts of reputation and wealth, surely\nthe virtuous man would then have no scope beyond himself.\"\n\n Beyond his own nature.\n\n\"Of old,\" said Tz\u016d Chang, \"Chieh and Chou sat upon the Imperial throne,\nand the whole empire was theirs. Yet if you were now to tell any common\nthief that his moral qualities resembled theirs, he would resent it as\nan insult. By such miserable creatures are they despised.\"\n\n\"Confucius and Mih Tz\u016d, on the other hand, were poor and simple enough.\nYet if you were to tell any Prime Minister of to-day that his moral\nqualities resembled theirs, he would flush with pride and declare you\nwere paying him too high a compliment. So truly honourable is the man\nof learning.\n\n\"Thus, the power of a monarch does not necessarily make him worthy;\nnor do poverty and a low station necessarily make a man unworthy.\nThe worthy and the unworthy are differentiated by the worthiness and\nunworthiness of their acts.\"\n\n\"A petty thief,\" replied Man Kou T\u00ea, \"is put in gaol. A great brigand\nbecomes ruler of a State. And among the retainers of the latter, men\nof virtue will be found.\n\n\"Of old, Duke Huan, named Hsiao Poh, slew his elder brother and took\nhis sister-in-law to wife. Yet Kuan Chung became his minister.\n\n\"T'ien Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d killed his prince and seized the kingdom. Yet\nConfucius accepted his pay.\n\n See p. 111.\n\n\"To condemn a man in words, yet actually to take service under\nhim,--does not this show us practice and precept directly opposed to\none another?\n\n\"Therefore it was written, 'Who is bad? Who is good? He who succeeds is\nthe head. He who does not succeed is the tail.'\"\n\n\"But if you do not practise virtue,\" said Tz\u016d Chang, \"and make no\ndistinction between kith and kin, assign no duties to the worthy and\nto the unworthy, no precedence to young and old, how then are the Five\nBonds and the Six Ranks to be distinguished?\"\n\n Commentators are divided as to these Bonds and Ranks. One makes the\n former calendaric. Another considers that the five cardinal virtues\n and six ranks of nobility are meant. Of the latter there are only\n five, but \"sovereign\" is added to patch the deficiency.\n\n\"Yao slew his eldest son,\" answered Man Kou T\u00ea. \"Shun banished his\nmother's brother. Was there kith and kin in that?\n\n\"T'ang deposed Chieh. Wu Wang slew Chou. Was that the duty of the\nworthy towards the unworthy?\n\n\"Wang Chi was the legitimate heir, but Chow Kung slew his elder\nbrother. Was that precedence of young and old?\n\n\"The false principles of the Confucianists, the universal love of the\nMihists,--do these help to distinguish the Five Bonds and the Six Ranks?\n\n\"You, Sir, are all for reputation. I am all for wealth. As to which\npursuit is not in accordance with principle nor in harmony with right,\nlet us refer to the arbitration of Wu Yoh.\"\n\n\"The mean man,\" said Wu Yoh, \"devotes himself to wealth. The superior\nman devotes himself to reputation. The moral results are different in\neach case. But if both would set aside their activities and devote\nthemselves to doing nothing, the results would be the same.\n\n\"Wherefore it has been said, 'Be not a mean man. Revert to your natural\nself. Be not a superior man. Abide by the laws of heaven.'\n\n\"As to the straight and the crooked, view them from the standpoint of\nthe infinite.\n\n All distinctions are thus merged.\n\nGaze around you on all sides, until time withdraws you from the scene.\n\n\"As to the right and the wrong, hold fast to your magic circle,\n\n At the centre of which all positives and negatives converge. See ch.\n ii, p. 18.\n\nand with independent mind walk ever in the way of TAO.\n\n\"Do not swerve from the path of virtue; do not bring about your own\ngood deeds,--lest your labour be lost. Do not make for wealth; do not\naim at success,--lest you cast away that which links you to God.\n\n\"Pi Kan was disembowelled. Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc had his eyes gouged out.\n\n Better known as Wu Y\u00fcan. See p. 112. He expressed a wish to be buried\n on the road to the Y\u00fceh State that he might witness the defeat of the\n Wu State. Whereupon the prince of the latter State at once had him\n deprived of sight.\n\nSuch was the fate of loyalty.\n\n\"Chih Kung bore witness against his father. Wei Sh\u00eang was drowned. Such\nare the misfortunes of the faithful.\n\n\"Pao Chiao dried up where he stood. Sh\u00ean Tz\u016d would not justify himself.\n\n He would not defend himself against a charge of putting poison in his\n father's food.\n\nSuch are the evils of honesty.\n\n\"Confucius did not visit his mother.\n\n There is no authority for this statement.\n\nK'uang Tz\u016d did not visit his father.\n\n By whom he had been turned out of doors.\n\nSuch are the trials which come upon the upright.\n\n\"The above instances have been handed down to us from antiquity and are\ndiscussed in modern times. They show that men of learning emphasized\ntheir precepts by carrying them out in practice; and that consequently\nthey paid the penalty and fell into these calamities.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDiscontent asked Complacency, saying, \"There is really no one who\ndoes not either aim at reputation or make for wealth. If a man is\nrich, others flock around him. These necessarily take a subordinate\nposition, and consequently pay him court. And it would seem that\nsuch subordination and respect constitute a royal road to long life,\ncomfort, and general happiness. How is it then that you, Sir, have no\nmind for these things? Is it that you are wanting in wit? Or is it that\nyou are physically unable to compete, and therefore go in for being\nvirtuous, though all the time unable to forget?\"\n\n\"You and your friends,\" replied Complacency, \"regard all men as alike\nbecause they happen to be born at the same time and in the same place\nas yourselves. You look on us as scholars who have separated from\nhumanity and cast off the world, and who have no guiding principle\nbeyond poring over the records of the past and present, or indulging in\nthe logomachy of this and that.\n\n\"Were we to lead the mundane lives you do, it would be at the sacrifice\nof the very conditions of existence. And surely thus we should be\nwandering far from the royal road to long life, comfort, and general\nhappiness. The discomfort of wretchedness, the comfort of well-being,\nyou do not refer to the body.\n\n But to some external cause of which the body becomes subjectively\n conscious.\n\nThe abjectness of terror, the elation of joy, you do not refer to the\nmind itself. You know that such things are so, but you do not know how\nthey are so. Wherefore, though equalling the Son of Heaven in power,\nand with all the empire as your personal property, you would not be\nfree from care.\"\n\n\"Wealth,\" replied Discontent, \"is of the greatest service to a man.\nIt enables him to do good, and to exert power, to an extent which the\nperfect man or the true Sage could never reach. He can borrow the\ncourage and strength of others to make himself formidable. He can\nemploy the wisdom and counsels of others to add clearness to his own\ndeliberations. He can avail himself of the virtue of others and cause\nit to appear as his own. Without being in possession of a throne, he\ncan wield the authority of a prince.\n\n\"Besides, the pleasures of music, beauty, rich food, and power, do not\nrequire to be studied before they can be appreciated by the mind; nor\ndoes the body need the example of others before it can enjoy them. We\nneed no teacher to tell us what to like or dislike, to follow or to\navoid. Such knowledge is instinctive in man. The world may condemn this\nview, but which of us is free from the taint?\"\n\n\"The wise man,\" answered Complacency, \"acts for the common weal, in\npursuit of which he does not overstep due limits. Wherefore, if there\nis a sufficiency, he does not strive for more. He has no use for more,\nand accordingly does not seek it. But if there is not a sufficiency,\nthen he seeks for more. He strives in all directions, yet does not\naccount it greed. If there is a surplus, he declines it. Even though\nhe refused the whole empire, he would not account it honesty. To him,\nhonesty and greed are not conditions into which we are forced by\noutward circumstances, but characteristics innate in the individual.\nHe may wield the power of the Son of Heaven, but will not employ it\nfor the degradation of others. He may own the whole empire, yet will\nnot use his wealth to take advantage of his fellows. But a calculation\nof the troubles and the anxieties inseparable therefrom, cause him\nto reject these as injurious to his nature, not from a desire for\nreputation.\n\n\"When Yao and Shun occupied the throne, there was peace. They did not\ntry to be beneficent rulers. They did not inflict injury by doing good.\n\n They were simply natural, and good results followed.\n\n\"Shan Ch\u00fcan and Hs\u00fc Yu both declined the proffered throne. Theirs was\nno empty refusal. They would not cause injury to themselves.\n\n\"In all these cases, each individual adopted the profitable course in\npreference to the injurious course. And the world calls them virtuous,\nwhereby they acquire a reputation at which they never aimed.\"\n\n\"It is necessary,\" argued Discontent, \"to cling to reputation. If\nall pleasures are to be denied to the body and one's energies to be\nconcentrated upon health with a view to the prolongation of life, such\nlife would be itself nothing more than the prolonged illness of a\nconfirmed invalid.\"\n\n\"Happiness,\" said Complacency, \"is to be found in contentment. Too much\nis always a curse, most of all in wealth.\n\n\"The ears of the wealthy man ring with sounds of sweet music. His\npalate is cloyed with rich meats and wine. In the pursuit of pleasure,\nbusiness is forgotten. This is confusion.\n\n\"He eats and drinks to excess, until his breathing is that of one\ncarrying a heavy load up a hill. This is misery.\n\n\"He covets money to surround himself with comforts. He covets power\nto vanquish rivals. But his quiet hours are darkened by diabetes and\ndropsy. This is disease.\n\n\"Even when, in his desire for wealth, he has piled up an enormous\nfortune, he still goes on and cannot desist. This is shame.\n\n\"Having no use for the money he has collected, he still hugs it to him\nand cannot bear to part with it. His heart is inflamed, and he ever\nseeks to add more to the pile. This is unhappiness.\n\n\"At home, he dreads the pest of the pilfering thief. Abroad, the\ndanger of bandit and highwayman. So he keeps strict guard within, while\nnever venturing alone without. This is fear.\n\n\"These six are the greatest of the world's curses. Yet such a man never\nbestows a thought upon them, until the hour of misfortune is at hand.\nThen, with his ambitions gratified, his natural powers exhausted, and\nnothing but wealth remaining, he would gladly obtain one day's peace,\nbut cannot do so.\n\n\"Wherefore, if reputation is not to be enjoyed and wealth is not to be\nsecured, how pitiable it is that men should harass their minds and wear\nout their bodies in such pursuits!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nON SWORDS.\n\n[Spurious.]\n\n\nOf old, W\u00ean Wang of Chao loved sword-play. Swordsmen thronged his\nhalls, to the number of three thousand and more. Day and night they had\nbouts before the prince. In the course of a year, a hundred or so would\nbe killed or wounded. Yet the prince was never satisfied.\n\nWithin three years, the State had begun to go to rack and ruin, and\nother princes to form designs upon it. Thereupon the Heir Apparent, Li,\nbecame troubled in mind; and said to the officers of his household,\n\"Whosoever shall persuade the prince to do away with these swordsmen,\nto him I will give a thousand ounces of silver.\"\n\nTo this his officers replied, \"Chuang Tz\u016d is the man.\"\n\nThereupon the Heir Apparent sent messengers to Chuang Tz\u016d with a\nthousand ounces of silver, which he would not accept, but accompanied\nthe messengers back to their master.\n\n\"What does your Highness require of me,\" asked Chuang Tz\u016d, \"that you\nshould bestow upon me a thousand ounces?\"\n\n\"I had heard,\" replied the young prince, \"that you were a famous Sage,\nand I ventured to send this money as a present to your servants.\n\n Merely a ceremonious phrase.\n\nBut as you would not receive it, what more can I say?\"\n\n\"I understand,\" answered Chuang Tz\u016d, \"that your Highness would have\nme cure the prince of his peculiar weakness. Now suppose that I do\nnot succeed with the prince, and consequently with your Highness, the\npunishment of death is what I have to expect. What good would the\nthousand ounces be to me then?\"\n\n\"On the other hand, if I succeed with the prince, and consequently with\nyour Highness, the whole State of Chao contains nothing I could not\nhave for the asking.\"\n\n\"You must know, however,\" said the young prince, \"that my father will\nonly receive swordsmen.\"\n\n\"Well,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"I am a good swordsman myself.\"\n\n\"Besides which,\" added the Heir Apparent, \"the swordsmen he is\naccustomed to see have all dishevelled hair hanging over their temples.\nThey wear slouching caps with coarse tangled tassels, and short-tailed\ncoats. They glare with their eyes and talk in a fierce tone. This is\nwhat my father likes. But if you go to him dressed in your ordinary\nscholar's dress, the result is sure to be disastrous.\"\n\n\"I will accustom myself to the dress,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d; and after\npractising for three days, he went again to see the young prince, who\naccompanied him into his father's presence.\n\nThe latter drew a sharp sword and awaited Chuang Tz\u016d's approach. But\nChuang Tz\u016d, when he entered the door of the audience chamber, did not\nhurry forward, neither did he prostrate himself before the prince.\n\n\"What have you to say to me,\" cried the prince, \"that you have obtained\nyour introduction through the Heir Apparent?\"\n\n\"I have heard,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"that your Highness loves\nsword-play. Therefore I have come to exhibit my skill.\"\n\n\"What can you do in that line?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"Were I to meet an opponent,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"at every ten paces, I\ncould go on for a thousand _li_ without being stopped.\"\n\n\"Bravo!\" cried the prince. \"There is not your match in the empire.\"\n\n\"When I fight,\" continued Chuang Tz\u016d, \"I make a show of being weak but\npush a vigorous attack. The last to start, I am the first to arrive. I\nshould like your Highness to make trial of me.\"\n\n\"Rest awhile,\" replied the prince. \"Stay here and await orders. I will\narrange a day for you.\"\n\nThereupon the prince spent seven days in trying his swordsmen. Some\nsixty of them were either killed or wounded, but at length he selected\nfive or six and bade them attend in the audience-chamber with their\nswords. He then summoned Chuang Tz\u016d and said, \"Now I will see what your\nswordsmanship is worth.\"\n\n\"I have been longing for this,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Does it matter to you,\" asked the prince, \"of what length your weapon\nmay be?\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d. \"I have three swords, of which I will\nask your Highness to choose one. We will then proceed to the trial.\"\n\n\"Which are your three swords?\" enquired the prince.\n\n\"There is the sword of the Son of Heaven,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"the sword\nof the Princes, and the sword of the People.\"\n\n\"What is the sword of the Son of Heaven?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"The stone wall of Yen-ch'i is its point,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n Some take \"stone wall\" as the name of a place.\n\n\"The mountains of Ch'i are its edge. Chin and Wei are its back. Chou\nand Sung are its hilt. Han and Wei are its sheath. It is enclosed in\nthe four hordes of barbarians, wrapped in the four seasons, surrounded\nby the great ocean. It is made of the five elements. It is the arbiter\nof punishment and reward. It operates under the influence of the Yin\nand the Yang. In spring and summer it is at rest. In autumn and winter\nit moves abroad. Push it, it does not advance. Raise it, it does not go\nup. Lower it, it does not go down. Whirl it around, it does not change\nposition. Above, it cleaves the floating clouds; below, it cuts through\nthe density of earth. One flash of this blade, and the princes of the\nempire submit. Such is the sword of the Son of Heaven.\"\n\nAt this the prince seemed absorbed in his reflections. Then he\nenquired, saying, \"And what is the sword of the Princes?\"\n\n\"The Wise and brave,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"are its point. The\nincorruptible are its edge. The virtuous are its back. The loyal are\nits hilt. The heroic are its sheath. You may push this sword too, it\nwill not advance. Raise it, it will not go up. Lower it, it will not go\ndown. Whirl it around, it will not change position. Above, it models\nitself upon the round heaven, in order to keep in harmony with the sun,\nmoon, and stars. Below, it models itself upon the square earth, in\norder to keep in harmony with the four seasons. It adapts itself to the\nwishes of the people, in order to diffuse peace on all sides. One flash\nof this blade is like a roaring clap of thunder. Between the boundaries\nof the State there is not left one but who yields and obeys the command\nof his prince. Such is the sword of the Princes.\"\n\n\"And the sword of the People?\" enquired the prince.\n\n\"The sword of the People,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"has dishevelled hair\nhanging over its temples. It wears a slouching cap with coarse tangled\ntassel, and a short-tailed coat. It glares with its eyes and talks in\na fierce tone. When it engages in conflict, above, it cuts off head\nand neck; below, it smites liver and lungs. Such is the sword of the\nPeople. It is like a game-cock. One day, its life is cut short, and it\nis of no more use to the State.\n\n\"Now you, great prince, wield sovereign power, and yet you devote\nyourself to this sword of the People. I am truly ashamed of it.\"\n\nThereupon the prince drew Chuang Tz\u016d up on to the dais, and the\nattendants served food, the king three times assisting with his own\nhand.\n\n The prince each time received the dish from the attendants, handed it\n to Chuang Tz\u016d, and then walked _round_ to his own seat again.\n\n\"Be seated, great prince,\" said Chuang Tz\u016d, \"and compose your mind. I\nhave said all I have to say on swords.\"\n\nAfter this the prince did not quit his palace for three months, while\nthe swordsmen, submitting to the new order of things, died in their own\nhomes.\n\n One commentator says \"killed themselves in their own dwellings.\" But\n if so, Chuang Tz\u016d's influence was of small practical value as far as\n the swordsmen were concerned. They might as well have continued their\n profession of arms.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nTHE OLD FISHERMAN.\n\n[Spurious.]\n\n\nConfucius, travelling in the Black Forest, rested awhile at Apricot\nAltar. His disciples sat down to their books, and he himself played\nupon the lute and sang.\n\nHalf way through the song, an old fisherman stepped out of a boat and\nadvanced towards them. His beard and eyebrows were snowy white. His\nhair hung loose, and he flapped his long sleeves as he walked over the\nforeshore. Reaching firm ground, he stood still, and with left hand on\nhis knee and right hand to his ear, listened.\n\nWhen the song was finished, he beckoned to Tz\u016d Kung and Tz\u016d Lu, both of\nwhom went to him. Then pointing with his finger, he enquired, saying,\n\"What is that man doing here?\"\n\n\"He is the Sage of Lu,\" replied Tz\u016d Lu.\n\n\"Of what clan?\" asked the old man.\n\n\"Of the K'ung family,\" replied Tz\u016d Lu.\n\n\"And what is his occupation?\" said the old man.\n\n\"He devotes himself,\" replied Tz\u016d Lu, \"to loyalty and truth. He\npractises charity and duty towards his neighbour. He regulates\nceremonies and music. He distinguishes the relationships of man. He is\nloyal to his prince above, a reformer of the masses below. Thus he will\nbe of great service to the whole empire. Such is his occupation.\"\n\n\"Is he a ruler of a State?\" asked the old man.\n\n\"He is not,\" said Tz\u016d Kung.\n\n\"A minister?\" said the old man.\n\n\"No,\" said Tz\u016d Kung.\n\nThen the old man laughed and walked away, saying, \"Charity is charity,\nyet I fear he will not escape the wear of mind and tear of body which\nimperil the original purity of man. How far, alas, has he wandered from\nthe true path!\"\n\n From TAO.\n\nTz\u016d Kung went back and told Confucius, who, laying aside his lute,\narose and said, \"This man is a Sage!\"\n\nThereupon he followed the old man down the shore, catching him up just\nas he was drawing in his boat with his staff. Perceiving Confucius, the\nold man turned round to receive him, at which Confucius stepped back\nand prostrated himself twice before advancing.\n\n\"What do you want, Sir?\" asked the fisherman.\n\n\"Just now, venerable Sir,\" replied Confucius, \"you left without\nfinishing your remarks. In my stupidity I cannot make out what you\nmean. Therefore I have come in the humble hope of hearing any words\nwith which you may deign to help me.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the old man, \"you are certainly anxious to learn.\"\n\nAt this Confucius prostrated himself twice, and when he got up said,\n\"Yes, I have been a student from my youth upwards until now, the\nsixty-ninth year of my age. Yet I have never heard the true doctrine,\nwhich I am now ready to receive without bias.\"\n\n\"Like species follow like,\" answered the old man. \"Like sounds respond\nto like.\n\n See p. 283, and the experiment of the two lutes, p. 319.\n\nThis is a law of nature. I will now with your leave apply what I know\nto what you occupy yourself with,--the affairs of men.\n\n\"The Son of Heaven, the princes, the ministers, and the people,--if\nthese four fulfil their proper functions, the result is good\ngovernment. If they quit their proper places, the result is unutterable\nconfusion. When the officials mind their duties and the people their\nbusiness, neither is injured by the other.\n\n\"Barren land, leaky roofs, want of food and clothing, inability to meet\ntaxation, quarrels of wives and concubines, no precedence between young\nand old,--such are the sorrows of the people.\n\n\"Capacity unequal to one's duties, and inability to carry on\nroutine work, absence of clean-handedness, and carelessness among\nsubordinates, lack of distinction and want of preferment,--such are the\nsorrows of ministers.\n\n\"The Court without loyal ministers and the State in rebellion, the\nartisan unskilful and the tribute unsatisfactory, the periodical lev\u00e9es\nunattended and the Son of Heaven displeased,--such are the sorrows of\nthe princes.\n\n\"The two great principles of nature working inharmoniously, heat and\ncold coming at irregular seasons so that men and things suffer, the\nprinces rebellious and fighting among themselves so that the people\nperish, music and ceremonies ill regulated, wealth dissipated, the\nrelationships of man disregarded, the masses sunk in immorality,--such\nare the sorrows which fall to the share of the Son of Heaven.\n\n\"But now you, Sir, occupying neither the more exalted position of ruler\nnor performing the subordinate functions of minister, nevertheless\ntake upon yourself to regulate music and ceremonies and to distinguish\nthe relationships of man, in order to reform the masses. Are you not\ntravelling out of your own sphere?\n\n\"Further, men have eight blemishes, and there are four things which\nobstruct business. These should be investigated.\n\n\"Meddling with matters which do not matter to you, is prying.\n\n\"To push one's way in, regardless of neglect, is to be forward.\n\n\"To adapt one's thoughts and arrange one's words, is sycophancy.\n\n\"To applaud a person, right or wrong, is flattery.\n\n\"To love speaking evil of others, is slander.\n\n\"To sever friendships and break ties, is mischievousness.\n\n\"To praise people falsely with a view to injure them, is malice.\n\n\"To give ready assent with a view to worm out the wishes of others,\ngood and bad alike, is to be a hypocrite.\n\n\"These eight blemishes cause a man to throw others into confusion and\nbring injury upon himself. The superior man will not have him for a\nfriend; the enlightened prince will not employ him as his minister.\n\n\"To love the conduct of great affairs, and to introduce change into\nestablished order with a view to gain reputation,--this is ambition.\n\n\"To strive to get all into one's own hands, and to usurp what should be\nat the disposal of others,--this is greed.\n\n\"To know one's faults but not to correct them, to receive admonition\nbut only to plunge deeper,--this is obstinacy.\n\n\"To suffer those who are like oneself, but as for those unlike not to\ncredit them with the virtues they really possess,--this is bigotry.\n\n\"Such are the four things which obstruct business. And only he who can\nput aside the above eight and abstain from the above four is fit for\ninstruction.\"\n\nAt this Confucius heaved a sigh of distress. Then having twice\nprostrated himself, he arose and said, \"Twice was I driven from Lu. I\nwas tabooed in Wei. My tree was cut down in Sung. I was surrounded by\nthe Ch'\u00eans and the Ts'ais. I know not what my fault is that I should\nhave suffered these four persecutions.\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" said the old man in a vexed tone, \"How slow of perception\nyou are.\n\n\"There was once a man who was so afraid of his shadow and so disliked\nhis own footsteps that he determined to run away from them. But the\noftener he raised his feet the more footsteps he made, and though he\nran very hard his shadow never left him. From this he inferred that\nhe went too slowly, and ran as hard as he could without resting, the\nconsequence being that his strength broke down and he died. He was not\naware that by going into the shade he would have got rid of his shadow,\nand that by keeping still he would have put an end to his footsteps.\nFool that he was!\n\n\"Now you occupy yourself with charity and duty to one's neighbour. You\nexamine into the distinction of like and unlike, the changes of motion\nand rest, the canons of giving and receiving, the emotions of love and\nhate, and the restraint of joy and anger. Yet you cannot avoid the\ncalamities you speak of.\n\n\"Reverently care for your body. Carefully preserve your natural\npurity. Leave externals to others. Then you will not be involved. But\nas it is, instead of improving yourself you are trying to improve other\npeople. Surely this is dealing with the external.\"\n\n\"Then may I enquire,\" said Confucius in a tone of distress, \"what is\nthe original purity?\"\n\n\"Our original purity,\" replied the fisherman, \"is the perfection of\ntruth unalloyed. Without this, we cannot influence others. Hence, those\nwho weep to order, though they mourn, do not grieve. Those who assume\nanger, though violent, do not inspire awe. Those who affect friendship,\nthough they smile, are not in unison.\"\n\n\"Real mourning grieves in silence. Real anger awes without expression.\nReal friendship is unison without the aid of smiles. Our emotions are\ndependent upon the original purity within; and accordingly we hold the\nlatter in esteem.\n\n\"If applied to human affairs, then in serving our parents we are\nfilial, in serving our prince we are loyal, in the banquet hour we are\nmerry, in the hour of mourning we are sad.\n\n\"The object of loyalty is successful service; of a banquet, mirth; of\nmourning, grief; of serving parents, gratifying their wishes. If the\nservice is accomplished, it matters not that no trace remain.\n\n In the way of kudos to the accomplisher.\n\nIf parents be gratified, it matters not how. If a banquet results in\nmirth, the accessories are of no importance. If there be real grief in\nmourning, it matters not what ceremonies may be employed.\n\n\"Ceremonial is the invention of man. Our original purity is given to\nus from God. It is as it is, and cannot be changed. Wherefore the true\nSage models himself upon God, and holds his original purity in esteem.\nHe is independent of human exigencies. Fools, however, reverse this.\nThey cannot model themselves upon God, and have to fall back on man.\nThey do not hold original purity in esteem. Consequently they are ever\nsuffering the vicissitudes of mortality, and never reaching the goal.\nAlas! you, Sir, were early steeped in deceit, and are late in hearing\nthe great doctrine.\"\n\nConfucius, having again prostrated himself twice, arose and said,\n\n\"It has been a godsend to meet you, Sir, to-day. Pray allow me to\nfollow you as your servant, that I may benefit by your teaching. I\nventure to ask where you live that I may enter upon my duties and learn\nthe great doctrine.\"\n\n\"I have heard,\" replied the old man, \"that if a man is a fit companion,\none may travel with him into the uttermost depths of TAO. But that\nif he is not a fit companion, and does not know TAO, one must avoid\nhis company, that no harm may befall. Excuse me, I must leave you.\"\nThereupon he pushed off his boat, and disappeared among the reeds.\n\n\"Yen Y\u00fcan then brought up the chariot, and Tz\u016d Lu offered the\nhand-cord to Confucius. But the latter paid no attention. He waited\nuntil the ripples on the water had smoothed down and the sound of the\npunt-pole had died away, before he ventured to get up.\n\nTz\u016d Lu, who was at the side of the chariot, enquired saying, \"Master,\nI have been in your service now for a long time, yet never did I see\nyou treat any man like this. In the presence of a ruler of ten thousand\nor a thousand chariots, I have never seen you treated other than with\ngreat respect, while you yourself would wear a haughty air. Yet before\nthis old fisherman, leaning on his punt-pole, you cringe and bow and\nprostrate yourself twice before answering. Is not this too much? The\ndisciples do not know what to make of it. Why this behaviour to an old\nfisherman?\"\n\n\"Yu!\" cried Confucius, resting on the bar of the chariot; \"it is\ndifficult to make anything of you. You have long studied ceremonies and\nduty to your neighbour, yet you have not succeeded in getting rid of\nthe old evil nature. Come here, and I will tell you.\n\n\"To meet an elder without respect is want of ceremony. To see a Sage\nand not to honour him, is not to be in charity with man. Unless\nyou are in charity with man, you cannot humble yourself before a\nfellow-creature. And unless you can honestly do this, you can never\nattain to that state of original purity; but the body will constantly\nsuffer. Alas! there is no greater evil than not to be in charity with\nman. Yet in such a plight, O Yu, are you.\n\n\"Further. TAO is the source of all creation. Men have it, and live.\nThey lose it, and die. Affairs in antagonism thereto, fail; in\naccordance therewith, succeed. Therefore, wherever TAO abides, there is\nthe reverence of the true Sage. And as this old fisherman may be said\nto possess TAO, could I venture not to respect him?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\nLIEH TZ\u016c.\n\n _Argument_:--Outward manifestation of inward grace--Its\n dangers--Self-esteem--Its errors--Inscrutability of TAO--Artificiality\n of Confucius--Tests of virtue--Chuang Tz\u016d declines office--His death.\n\n\nWhen Lieh Tz\u016d\n\n Lieh Y\u00fc K'ou, a name well known in connection with TAO. But it is\n extremely doubtful if such a man ever lived. His record is not given\n by the historian Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien, and he may well have been no more\n than an allegorical personage created by Chuang Tz\u016d for purposes of\n illustration. It was however thought necessary under the Han dynasty\n to supply his \"Works\"; and the treatise thus provided still passes\n under his name, though generally regarded as a forgery. See pp. 4, 5.\n\nwent to Ch'i, half way there he turned round and came back. Falling in\nwith Poh Hun Wu Jen, the latter said, \"How is it you are so soon back\nagain?\"\n\n\"I was afraid,\" replied Lieh Tz\u016d.\n\n\"Afraid of what?\" asked Poh Hun Wu Jen.\n\n\"Out of ten restaurants at which I ate,\" said Lieh Tz\u016d, \"five would\ntake no payment.\"\n\n\"And what is there to be afraid of in that?\" enquired Poh Hun Wu Jen.\n\n\"The truth within not being duly assimilated,\" replied Lieh Tz\u016d, \"a\ncertain brightness is visible externally. And to conquer men's hearts\nby force of the external is to induce in oneself a disregard for\nauthority and age which is the precursor of trouble.\n\n\"A restaurant keeper is one who lives by retailing soup. When his\nreturns are counted up, his profit is but small, and his influence is\nnext to nothing. But if such a man could act thus, how much more the\nruler of a large State? His bodily powers worn out in the duties of his\nposition, his mental powers exhausted by details of administration, he\nwould entrust me with the government and stimulate me by reward. That\nis what I was afraid of.\"\n\n\"Your inner lights are good,\" replied Poh Hun Wu Jen; \"but if you\nremain stationary at this point, the world will still gather around\nyou.\"\n\n Contrary to TAO.\n\nShortly afterwards Poh Hun Wu Jen went to visit Lieh Tz\u016d, and lo! his\ncourt-yard was filled with boots.\n\n Of the visitors come to hear him. These were left outside the door, in\n accordance with an ancient custom mentioned in the _Book of Rites_.\n See p. 368.\n\nPoh Hun Wu Jen stood there awhile, facing the north, his cheek all\nwrinkled by resting it on his staff. Then, without a word, he departed.\n\nUpon this being announced to Lieh Tz\u016d,\n\n By the servant whose duty it was to receive guests.\n\nhe seized his shoes and ran out barefoot.\n\n In his hurry.\n\nWhen he reached the outer gate, he called aloud, \"Master! now that you\nhave come, will you not give me medicine?\"\n\n\"It is all over!\" cried Poh Hun Wu Jen. \"I told you that the world\nwould gather around you. It is not that you can make people gather\naround you. You cannot prevent them from doing so. Of what use would my\ninstruction be? Exerting influence thus unduly over others, you are by\nthem influenced in turn. You disturb your natural constitution, and are\nof no further account.\n\n              None of your companions\n              Warn you of this.\n              Their paltry talk\n              Is but poison to a man.\n    They are not awake, not alive to the situation.\n        How should one of these help you?\n\n In the original, these lines rhyme.\n\n\"The shrewd grow weary, the wise grieve. Those who are without\nabilities have no ambitions. With full bellies they roam happily about,\nlike drifting boats, not caring whither they are bound.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThere was a man of the Ch\u00eang State, named Huan. He pursued his studies\nat a place called Ch'iu-shih. After three years only, he had graduated\nas a Confucianist; and like a river which fertilises its banks to a\ndistance of nine _li_, so did his good influence reach into three\nfamilies.\n\n His father's, his mother's, and his wife's.\n\nHe caused his younger brother to graduate as a Mihist. But inasmuch as\nin the question of Confucianism _versus_ Mihism,\n\n The philosophy of Mih Tz\u016d, who taught the doctrine of universal love,\n etc. See pp. 17, 440.\n\nthe father took the side of the Mihist, at the end of ten years Huan\ncommitted suicide.\n\nThen the father dreamed that Huan appeared to him and said, \"It was I\nwho caused your son to become a Mihist. Why give all the credit to him\nwho is but as the fruit of an autumn pine?\"\n\n Various interpretations of this simile are given: none satisfactory.\n _E.g._ (1) Like a dry cone. (2) Which another has planted and reared.\n\nVerily God does not reward man for what he does, but for what he is.\n\n _I.e._ for the natural, not for the artificial.\n\nAnd it was in this sense that the younger brother was caused to become\na Mihist.\n\n He was naturally so inclined.\n\nWhereas a man who should regard his distinctive abilities as of his own\nmaking, without reference to his parents, would be like the man of\nCh'i who dug a well and then wanted to keep others away from it.\n\n Forgetting that God put the spring there in the first instance.\n\nHence the saying that the men of to-day are all Huans.\n\nWherefore it follows that men of true virtue are unconscious of its\npossession. How much more then the man of TAO? This is what the\nancients called escaping the vengeance of God.\n\n Which would be incurred by aping his goodness.\n\nThe true Sage rests in that which gives rest, and not in that which\ndoes not give rest. The world rests in that which does not give rest,\nand not in that which does give rest.\n\n The natural and the artificial.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChuang Tz\u016d said, \"To know TAO is easy. The difficulty lies in the\nelimination of speech. To know TAO without speech appertains to the\nnatural. To know TAO with speech appertains to the artificial. The men\nof old were natural, not artificial.\n\n\"Chu P'ing Man spent a large patrimony in learning under Chih Li I how\nto kill dragons.\n\n To acquire TAO. There is no record of the persons mentioned.\n\nBy the end of three years he was perfect, but there was no direction in\nwhich he could show his skill.\n\n TAO cannot be put into practice.\n\n\"The true Sage regards certainties as uncertainties; therefore he is\nnever up in arms.\n\n In a state of mental disturbance.\n\nMen in general regard uncertainties as certainties; therefore they are\nconstantly up in arms. To accustom oneself to arms causes one to fly to\narms on every provocation; and to trust to arms is to perish.\"\n\n\"The intelligence of the mean man does not rise beyond bribes and\nletters of recommendation. His mind is be-clouded with trivialities.\nYet he would penetrate the mystery of TAO and of creation, and rise to\nparticipation in the ONE. The result is that he is confounded by time\nand space; and that trammelled by objective existences, he fails to\nreach apprehension of that age before anything was.\n\n\"But the perfect man,--he carries his mind back to the period before\nthe beginning. Content to rest in the oblivion of nowhere, passing away\nlike flowing water, he is merged in the clear depths of the infinite.\n\n\"Alas! man's knowledge reaches to the hair on a hair, but not to\neternal peace.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA man of the Sung State, named Ts'ao Shang, acted as political agent\nfor the prince of Sung at the court of the Ch'in State. When he went\nthither, he had a few carriages; but the prince of Ch'in was so pleased\nwith him that he added one hundred more.\n\nOn his return to Sung, he visited Chuang Tz\u016d and said, \"As for\nliving in poverty in a dirty hovel, earning a scanty subsistence by\nmaking sandals, with shrivelled face and yellow ears,--this I could\nnot do. Interviewing a powerful ruler, with a retinue of a hundred\ncarriages,--that is my forte.\"\n\n\"When the prince of Ch'in is sick,\" replied Chuang Tz\u016d, \"and he summons\nhis physician to open a boil or cleanse an ulcer, the latter gets one\ncarriage. The man who licks his piles gets five. The more degrading the\nwork, the greater the number of carriages given. You, Sir, must have\nbeen attending to his piles to get so many carriages. Begone with you!\"\n\n \"Not,\" says Lin Hsi Chung, \"from the pen of Chuang Tz\u016d.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nDuke Ai of Lu asked Yen Ho, saying, \"Were I to make Confucius a pillar\nof my realm, would the State be profited thereby?\"\n\n\"It would be most perilous!\" replied Yen Ho. \"Confucius is a man of\noutward show and of specious words. He mistakes the branch for the root.\n\n Accessories for fundamentals.\n\nHe seeks to impress the people by an overbearing demeanour, the\nhollowness of which he does not perceive. If he suits you, and you\nentrust him with the welfare of the State, it will only be by mistake\nthat he will succeed.\n\n This passage is variously interpreted.\n\n\"To cause the people to leave the true and study the false does not\nso much affect the people of to-day as those of coming generations.\nWherefore it is better not to have Confucius.\n\n\"The difficulty of governing lies in the inability to practise\nself-effacement. Man does not govern as God does.\n\n Regardless of self.\n\n\"Merchants and traders are altogether out of the pale.\n\n Of TAO.\n\nOr if chance ever brings them within it, their rights are never freely\nadmitted.\n\n\"External punishments are inflicted by metal and wood. Internal\npunishments are inflicted by anxiety and remorse. Fools who incur\nexternal punishment are treated with metal or wood. Those who incur\ninternal punishment are devoured by the conflict of emotions. It is\nonly the pure and perfect man who can succeed in avoiding both.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConfucius said, \"The heart of man is more dangerous than mountains and\nrivers, more difficult to understand than Heaven itself. Heaven has its\nperiods of spring, summer, autumn, winter, daytime and night. Man has\nan impenetrable exterior, and his motives are inscrutable. Thus some\nmen appear to be retiring when they are really forward. Others have\nabilities, yet appear to be worthless. Others are compliant, yet gain\ntheir ends. Others take a firm stand, yet yield the point. Others go\nslow, yet advance quickly.\n\n\"Those who fly to duty towards their neighbour as though thirsting\nafter it, drop it as though something hot. Thus the loyalty of\nthe superior man is tested by employing him at a distance, his\nrespectfulness by employing him near at hand. His ability, by\ntroublesome missions. His knowledge, by unexpected questions. His\ntrustworthiness, by specification of time limits. His integrity by\nentrusting him with money. His fidelity, by dangerous tasks. His\ndecorum, by filling him with wine. His morality, by placing him in\ndisreputable surroundings. Under the application of these nine tests,\nthe inferior man stands revealed.\n\n\"Ch\u00eang K'ao Fu, on receiving his first appointment, bowed his head. On\nreceiving his second appointment, he hunched his back. On receiving his\nthird appointment, he fell upon his face, walking away at the side of\nthe path.\n\n Instead of in the middle as any blustering braggart would have done.\n\nWho would not try to be like him?\n\n\"Yet ordinary men, on their first appointment, become self-important.\nOn their second, they give themselves airs in their chariots. On their\nthird, they call their own fathers by their personal names.\n\n As we should say, \"by their Christian names.\" The term \"fathers\"\n includes uncles.\n\nWhich of them can be compared with Hs\u00fc Yu of old?\n\n\"There is nothing more fatal than intentional virtue, when the mind\nlooks outwards.\n\n Spontaneity is the essence of real virtue.\n\nFor by thus looking outwards, the power of introspection is destroyed.\n\n\"There are five sources of injury to virtue.\n\n Eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and thought.\n\nOf these, that which aims at virtue is the chief. What is it to aim at\nvirtue? Why a man who aims at virtue practises what he approves and\ncondemns what he does not practise.\n\n    Compounds for sins he feels inclined to\n    By damning those he has no mind to.\n\n\"There are eight causes of failure, three certain elements of success.\nThere are six sources of strength and weakness.\n\n\"Beauty, a long beard, size, height, robustness, grace, courage,\ndaring,--these eight, in which men surpass their fellows, are therefore\npassports to failure.\n\n\"Modesty, compliance, humility,--these three are sure roads to success.\n\n\"Wisdom manifests itself in the external.\n\n Whereby the internal suffers.\n\nCourage makes itself many enemies. Charity and duty towards one's\nneighbour incur many reproaches.\n\n Three sources of weakness.\n\n\"To him who can penetrate the mystery of life, all things are revealed.\nHe who can estimate wisdom at its true value,\n\n _Sc._ at nothing.\n\nis wise. He who comprehends the Greater Destiny, becomes himself part\nof it.\n\n Of the great scheme of the universe, seen and unseen.\n\nHe who comprehends the Lesser Destiny, resigns himself to the\ninevitable.\"\n\n Referring to life as ordinarily regarded by mortals. Three sources of\n strength.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA man who had been to see the prince of Sung and had been presented\nwith ten chariots, was putting on airs in the presence of Chuang Tz\u016d.\n\n\"At Ho-Shang,\" said the latter, \"there was a poor man who supported his\nfamily by plaiting rushes. One day his son dived into the river and got\na pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father bade him fetch a\nstone and smash it to pieces, explaining that he could only have got\nsuch a pearl very deep down from under the nose of the dragon, which\nmust have been asleep. And he said he was afraid that when the dragon\nwaked, the boy would have a poor chance.\n\n If found with it in his possession.\n\n\"Now the State of Sung is deeper than a deep river, and the prince of\nSung is fiercer than a dragon. To get these chariots, you must have\ncaught him asleep. And when he wakes, you will be ground to powder.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSome prince having invited Chuang Tz\u016d to enter his service, Chuang Tz\u016d\nsaid in reply to the envoy, \"Sir, have you ever noticed a sacrificial\nox? It is bedecked with ribbons and fares sumptuously. But when it\ncomes to be slaughtered for the temple, would it not gladly exchange\nplaces with some neglected calf?\"\n\n Quoted, with variants, by the historian Ss\u016d-ma Ch'ien, in his\n biographical notice of Chuang Tz\u016d. See _Introduction_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Chuang Tz\u016d was about to die, his disciples expressed a wish to\ngive him a splendid funeral. But Chuang Tz\u016d said, \"With Heaven and\nEarth for my coffin and shell; with the sun, moon, and stars as my\nburial regalia; and with all creation to escort me to the grave,--are\nnot my funeral paraphernalia ready to hand?\"\n\n    And had he not high honour?--\n    The hillside for his pall;\n    To lie in state while angels wait\n    With stars for tapers tall;\n\n    And the dark rock pines like nodding plumes\n          Above his bier to wave,\n    And God's own hand in that lonely land\n          To lay him in the grave.\n\n  _The Burial of Moses_ (Mrs. Alexander).\n\n\"We fear,\" argued the disciples, \"lest the carrion kite should eat the\nbody of our Master\"; to which Chuang Tz\u016d replied, \"Above ground I shall\nbe food for kites; below I shall be food for mole-crickets and ants.\nWhy rob one to feed the other?\n\n With this may be compared the reply of Diogenes on a similar occasion.\n When the old cynic asked to be left unburied, his friends objected\n that he would be eaten by dogs and birds.\n\n \"Place my staff near me,\" said Diogenes, \"that I may drive them away.\"\n\n \"How will you manage that?\" enquired the friends. \"You will not be\n conscious.\"\n\n \"What then will it matter to me to be torn by beasts,\" cried Diogenes,\n \"if I am not conscious of it?\"\n\n\"If you adopt, as absolute, a standard of evenness which is so only\nrelatively, your results will not be absolutely even. If you adopt,\nas absolute, a criterion of right which is so only relatively, your\nresults will not be absolutely right. Those who trust to their senses\nbecome slaves to objective existences. Those alone who are guided by\ntheir intuitions find the true standard. So far are the senses less\nreliable than the intuitions. Yet fools trust to their senses to know\nwhat is good for mankind, with alas! but external results.\"\n\n As the genuine text of the _Spring and Autumn_ ends with the\n appearance of the _ch'i lin_ (or _kilin_) and the death of Confucius,\n so have disciples of Chuang Tz\u016d agreed that the genuine text of Chuang\n Tz\u016d comes to a fitting close at the death-bed of their great Master.\n\n The final chapter is but a summary of the whole, compiled by the early\n editors of the work.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nTHE EMPIRE.\n\n[Summary by early editors.]\n\n\nSystems of government are many. Each man thinks his own perfect. Where\nthen does what the ancients called the system of TAO come in? There is\nnowhere where it does not come in.\n\nIt may be asked whence our spirituality, whence our intellectuality.\nThe true Sage is born; the prince is made. Yet all proceed from an\noriginal ONE.\n\nHe who does not separate from the Source is one with God. He who\ndoes not separate from the essence is a spiritual man. He who does\nnot separate from the reality is a perfect man. He who makes God the\nsource, and T\u00ca the root, and TAO the portal, passively falling in with\nthe modifications of his environment,--he is the true Sage.\n\n These are but four different denominations of the ideal man.\n\nHe who practises charity as a kindness, duty to one's neighbour as a\nprinciple, ceremony as a convenience, music as a pacificator, and thus\nbecomes compassionate and charitable,--he is a superior man.\n\n We sink here to a lower level, though still a high one. The \"superior\n man\" is the ideal man of Confucian ethics. In him divinity finds no\n place.\n\nHe who regulates his conduct by law, who regards fame as an external\nadjunct, who verifies his hypotheses, who bases his judgment upon\nproof,--such men rank one, two, three, four, etc. It is thus that\nofficials rank. In a strict sense of duty, in making food and raiment\nof paramount importance, in caring for and nourishing the old, the\nweak, the orphan, and the widow, they all exemplify the principle of\ntrue government.\n\n Partly, if not wholly. This the dead level of ordinary mortality,\n still within the operation of TAO.\n\nThus far-reaching was the extension of TAO among the ancients.\n\nThe companion of the gods, the purifier of the universe, it nourishes\nall creation, it unites the empire, it benefits the masses.\nIlluminating the fundamental, it is bound up with the accessory,\nreaching to all points of the compass and to the opposite extremes of\nmagnitude. There is indeed nowhere where it is not!\n\nHow it enlightened the polity of past ages is evidenced in the records\nwhich historians have preserved to us. Its presence in the Canons\nof _Poetry_, _History_, _Rites_, and _Music_, has been made clear\nby many scholars of Chou and Lu. It informs the Canon of _Poetry_\nwith its vigour, the Canon of _History_ with its usefulness, the\nCanon of _Rites_ with its adaptability, the Canon of _Music_ with its\nharmonising influence, the Canon of _Changes_ with its mysterious\nPrinciples, and the _Spring and Autumn_ with its discriminations.\nSpread over the whole world, it is focussed in the Middle Kingdom, and\nthe learning of all schools renders constant homage to its power.\n\nBut when the world is disorganised, true Sages do not manifest\nthemselves, TAO ceases to exist as ONE, and the world becomes cognisant\nof the idiosyncrasies of the individual. These are like the senses of\nhearing, sight, smell, and taste,--not common to each organ. Or like\nthe skill of various artisans,--each excellent of its kind and each\nuseful in its turn, but not equally at the command of all.\n\nConsequently, when a mere specialist comes forward and dogmatises on\nthe beauty of the universe the principles which underlie all creation,\nthe position occupied by the ancients in reference to the beauty of the\nuniverse, and the limits of the supernatural,--it follows that the TAO\nof inner wisdom and of outer strength is obscured and prevented from\nasserting itself. Every one alas! regards the course he prefers as the\ninfallible course. The various schools diverge never to meet again; and\nposterity is debarred from viewing the original purity of the universe\nand the grandeur of the ancients. For the system of TAO is scattered in\nfragments over the face of the earth.\n\nNot to covet posthumous fame, nor to aim at dazzling the world, nor to\npose as a benefactor of mankind, but to be a strict self-disciplinarian\nwhile lenient to the faults of others,--herein lay the TAO of the\nancients.\n\nMih Tz\u016d and Ch'in Hua Li\n\n A disciple of Mih Tz\u016d.\n\nbecame enthusiastic followers of TAO, but they pushed the system too\nfar, carrying their practice to excess. The former wrote an essay\n_Against Music_, and another which he entitled _Economy_.\n\n To be found in the collection which passes under the name of Mih Tz\u016d.\n\nThere was to be no singing in life, no mourning after death. He taught\nuniversal love and beneficence towards one's fellow men, without\ncontentions, without censure of others. He loved learning, but not in\norder to become different from others. Yet his views were not those of\nthe ancient Sages, whose music and rites he set aside.\n\nThe Yellow Emperor gave us the _Hsien-ch'ih_. Yao gave us the\n_Ta-chang_. Shun, the _Ta-shao_. Y\u00fc, the _Ta-hsia_. T'ang, the _Ta-hu_.\nW\u00ean Wang, the _P'i-yung_. Wu Wang and Chou Kung added the _Wu_.\n\n Famous musical compositions.\n\nThe mourning ceremonial of old was according to the estate of each, and\ndetermined in proportion to rank. Thus, the body of the Son of Heaven\nwas enclosed in a seven-fold coffin. That of a feudal prince, in a\nfive-fold coffin. That of a minister, in a three-fold coffin. That of a\nprivate individual, in a two-fold coffin. But now Mih Tz\u016d would have no\nsinging in life, no mourning after death, and a single coffin of only\nthree inches in thickness as the rule for all alike!\n\nSuch doctrines do not illustrate his theory of universal love;\n\n They betray a want of sympathy with human weaknesses.\n\nneither does his practice of them establish the fact of his own\npersonal self-respect. They may not suffice to destroy his system\naltogether; though it is unreasonable to prohibit singing, and weeping,\nand rejoicing in due season.\n\nHe would have men toil through life and hold death in contempt. But\nthis teaching is altogether too unattractive. It would land mankind in\nsorrow and lamentation. It would be next to impossible as a practical\nsystem, and cannot, I fear, be regarded as the TAO of the true Sage.\nIt would be diametrically opposed to human passions, and as such would\nnot be tolerated by the world. Mih Tz\u016d himself might be able to carry\nit out; but not the rest of the world. And when one separates from the\nrest of the world, his chances of developing an ideal State become\nsmall indeed.\n\nMih Tz\u016d argued in favour of his system as follows:--Of old, the great\nY\u00fc drained off the flood of waters, and caused rivers and streams to\nflow through the nine divisions of the empire and the parts adjacent\nthereto,--three hundred great rivers, three thousand branches, and\nstreams without number. With his own hands he plied the bucket and\ndredger, in order to reduce confusion to uniformity,\n\n Make all streams flow to the sea.\n\nuntil his calves and shins had no hair left upon them. The wind bathed\nhim, the rain combed him; but he marked out the nations of the world,\nand was in very truth a Sage. And because he thus sacrificed himself to\nthe commonwealth, ages of Mihists to come would also wear short serge\njackets and straw sandals, and toil day and night without stopping,\nmaking self-mortification their end and aim, and say to themselves, \"If\nwe cannot do this, we do not follow the TAO of Y\u00fc, and are unworthy to\nbe called Mihists.\"\n\nThe disciples of Hsiang Li Ch'in,\n\n A professor of Mihism.\n\nthe followers of the five princes, Mihists of the south, such as K'u\nHuo, Chi Ch'ih, and T\u00eang Ling,--all these studied the canon of Mih Tz\u016d,\nbut their disagreements and agreements were not identical. They called\neach other schismatics, and quarrelled over the \"hard and white,\" the\n\"like and unlike,\" and argued over questions of \"odd and even.\" Ch\u00fc\nTz\u016d was their Sage, and they wanted to canonise him as a saint, that\nthey might carry on his doctrines into after ages. Even now these\ndifferences are not settled.\n\nThus we see that Mih Tz\u016d and Ch'in Hua Li, while right in theory, were\nwrong in practice. They would merely have taught mankind to vie with\neach other in working the hair off their calves and shins. The evil of\nthat system would have predominated over the good. Nevertheless, Mih\nTz\u016d was undoubtedly a well-meaning man. In spite of failure, with all\nits withering influences, he stuck to his text. He may be called a man\nof genius.\n\n But not a true Sage.\n\nNot to be involved in the mundane, not to indulge in the specious, not\nto be overreaching with the individual, nor antagonistic to the public;\nbut to desire the tranquillity of the world in general with a view\nto the prolongation of life, to seek no more than sufficient for the\nrequirements of oneself and others, and by such a course to purify the\nheart,--herein lay the TAO of the ancients.\n\nSung Hsing and Yin W\u00ean became enthusiastic followers of TAO. They\nadopted a cap, shaped like the Hua Mountain, as a badge. They bore\nthemselves with kindly discrimination towards all things. They spoke of\nthe passive qualities of the heart as though they had been active; and\ndeclared that whosoever could bring joy among mankind and peace within\nthe girdle of ocean should be made ruler over them.\n\nThey suffered obloquy without noticing the insult. They preserved\nthe people from strife. They prohibited aggression and caused arms to\nlie unused. They saved their generation from wars, and carried their\nsystem over the whole empire, to the delight of the high and to the\nimprovement of the lowly. Though the world would have none of them,\nyet they struggled on and would not give way. Hence it was said that\nwhen high and low became tired of seeing them, they intruded themselves\nby force. In spite of all this, they did too much for others, and too\nlittle for themselves.\n\n\"Give us,\" said they, \"but five pints of rice, and it will be enough.\"\nThe master could not thus eat his fill; but the disciples, although\nstarving, did not forget the world's claims.\n\n This is not satisfactorily explained by any commentator. Kuo Hsiang\n says that these two men regarded the world as their \"master.\"\n\nDay and night they toiled on, saying, \"Must we necessarily live? Shall\nwe ape the so-called saviours of mankind?\"\n\n\"The superior man,\" they say, \"is not a fault-finder. He does not\nappropriate the credit of others. He looks on one who does no good to\nthe world as a worthless fellow. He regards prohibition of aggressive\nactions and causing arms to lie unused, as external; the diminution and\nrestraint of our passions, as internal. In all matters, great or small,\nsubtle or gross, such is the point to which he attains.\"\n\nTo be public-spirited and belong to no party, in one's dealings not\nto be all for self, to move without being bound to a given course, to\ntake things as they come, to have no remorse for the past, no anxiety\nfor the future, to have no partialities, but to be on good terms with\nall,--herein lay the TAO of the ancients.\n\nP'\u00eang M\u00eang, T'ien P'ien, and Sh\u00ean Tao, became enthusiastic followers\nof TAO. Their criterion was the identity of all things. \"The sky,\"\nsaid they, \"can cover but cannot support us. The earth can support\nbut cannot cover us. TAO can embrace all things but cannot deal with\nparticulars.\"\n\nThey knew that in creation all things had their possibilities and their\nimpossibilities. Therefore they said, \"Selection excludes universality.\nTraining will not reach in all directions. But TAO is comprehensive.\"\n\nConsequently, Sh\u00ean Tao discarded all knowledge and self-interest and\nbecame a fatalist.\n\n It is about as difficult to apprehend TAO apart from fatalism as the\n omniscience of God apart from predestination.\n\nPassivity was his guiding principle. \"For,\" said he, \"we can only know\nthat we know nothing, and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.\n\n\"Take any worthless fellow who laughs at mankind for holding virtue\nin esteem, any unprincipled vagabond who reviles the great Sages of\nthe world, and subject him to torture. In his agony he will sacrifice\npositive and negative alike. If he can but get free, he will trouble no\nmore about knowledge and forethought. Past and future will cease to\nexist for him, in his then neutral condition.\n\n\"Move when pushed, come when dragged. Be like a whirling gale, like a\nfeather in the wind, like a mill-stone going round. The mill-stone as\nan existence is perfectly harmless. In motion or at rest it does no\nmore than is required, and cannot therefore incur blame.\n\n\"Why? Because it is simply an inanimate thing. It has no anxieties\nabout itself. It is never entangled in the trammels of knowledge. In\nmotion or at rest it is always governed by fixed laws, and therefore it\nnever becomes open to praise. Hence it has been said, 'Be as though an\ninanimate thing, and there will be no use for Sages.'\n\n\"For a clod cannot be without TAO,\"--at which some full-blooded young\nbuck covered the argument with ridicule by crying out, \"Sh\u00ean Tao's TAO\nis not for the living, but for the dead!\"\n\nIt was the same with T'ien P'ien. He studied under P'\u00eang M\u00eang; with the\nresult that he learnt nothing.\n\n TAO cannot be learnt.\n\nP'\u00eang M\u00eang's tutor said, \"Those of old who knew TAO, reached the point\nwhere positive and negative ceased to exist. That was all.\"\n\nNow the bent of these men is one of opposition, which it is difficult\nto discuss. They act in every way differently from other people, but\ncannot escape the imputation of purpose.\n\n Which takes the place of spontaneity.\n\nWhat they call Tao is not TAO; and what they predicate affirmatively\ncannot escape being negative. The fact is that P'\u00eang M\u00eang, T'ien P'ien,\nand Sh\u00ean Tao, did not know TAO. Nevertheless they all had a certain\nacquaintance with it.\n\nTo make the root the essential, to regard objective existences as\naccidental, to look upon accumulation as deficiency, and to meekly\naccept the dispositions of Providence,--herein lay the TAO of the\nancients.\n\nKuan Yin and Lao Tz\u016d became enthusiastic followers of TAO.\n\n For Kuan Yin, see p. 230.\n\nThey based their system upon nothingness, with ONE as their criterion.\nTheir outward expression was gentleness and humility. Their inward\nbelief was in unreality and avoidance of injury to all things.\n\nKuan Yin said, \"Adopt no absolute position. Let externals take care of\nthemselves. In motion, be like water. At rest, like a mirror.\n\n Receptive, but not permanently so.\n\nRespond, like the echo.\n\n Only when called upon.\n\nBe subtle, as though non-existent. Be still, as though pure. Regard\nuniformity as peace. Look on gain as loss. Do not precede others.\nFollow them.\"\n\nLao Tz\u016d said, \"He who conscious of being strong, is content to be\nweak,--he shall be a cynosure of men.\n\n This is quoted by Huai Nan Tz\u016d as a saying by Lao Tz\u016d, and appears in\n ch. xxviii of the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_. See _The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d_, p. 21.\n\n\"He who conscious of purity, puts up with disgrace,--he shall be the\ncynosure of mankind.\n\n\"He who when others strive to be first, contents himself with the\nlowest place, is said to accept the contumely of the world.\n\n\"He who when others strive for the substantial, contents himself with\nthe unsubstantial, stores up nothing and therefore has abundance. There\nhe is in the midst of his abundance which comes to him without effort\non his part. He does nothing, and laughs at the artifices of others.\n\n\"He who when others strive for happiness is content with security, is\nsaid to aim at avoiding evil.\n\n Compare the _Tao-T\u00ea-Ching_, ch. xxii.\n\n\"He who makes depth of fundamental importance and moderation his rule\nof life, is said to crush that which is hard within him and temper that\nwhich is sharp.\n\n\"To be in liberal sympathy with all creation, and not to be aggressive\ntowards one's fellow-men,--this may be called perfection.\"\n\nO Kuan Yin! O Lao Tz\u016d! verily ye were the true Sages of old.\n\nSilence, formlessness, change, impermanence, now life, now death,\nheaven and earth blended in one, the soul departing, gone no one knows\nwhere: suddenly, no one knows whither, as all things go in turn, never\nto come back again;--herein lay the TAO of the ancients.\n\nChuang Tz\u016d became an enthusiastic follower of TAO. In strange terms,\nin bold words, in far-reaching language, he gave free play to his\nthoughts, without following any particular school or committing himself\nto any particular line.\n\nHe looked on the world as so sunk in corruption that it was impossible\nto speak gravely. Therefore he employed \"goblet words\" which apply in\nvarious directions; he based his statements upon weighty authority in\norder to inspire confidence; and he put words in other people's mouths\nin order to secure breadth.\n\n See ch. xxvii _ad init._\n\nIn accord with the spirit of the universe, he was at peace with all\ncreation. He judged not the rights and wrongs of mankind, and thus\nlived quietly in his generation. Although his book is an extraordinary\nproduction, it is plausible and harmless enough. Although the style is\nmost irregular, it is at the same time ingenious and attractive.\n\nAs a thinker, he is endlessly suggestive. Above, he roams with God.\nBelow, he consorts with those who are beyond the pale of life and\ndeath, who deny a beginning and an end. In relation to the root,\n\n The origin of all things.\n\nhe speaks on a grand and extensive scale. In relation to TAO, he\nestablishes a harmony between man and the higher powers. Nevertheless,\nhe yields to the modifications of existence and responds to the\nexigencies of environment. His arguments are inexhaustible, and never\nillogical. He is far-reaching, mysterious, and not to be fully explored.\n\n It is impossible for a European critic to believe that Chuang Tz\u016d\n penned the above paragraphs. See _post_, p. 454.\n\nHui Tz\u016d was a man of many ideas. His works would fill five carts. But\nhis doctrines are paradoxical, and his terms are used ambiguously.\n\nHe calls infinite greatness, beyond which there is nothing, the Greater\nOne. He calls infinite smallness, within which there is nothing, the\nLesser One.\n\n Recognising two absolute extremes.\n\nHe says that that which is without dimensions measures a thousand _li_.\n\n On the principle that mathematical points, though themselves without\n dimensions, collectively fill up space.\n\nThat heaven and earth are equally low. That mountain and marsh are\nequally level.\n\n It depends upon the point of view.\n\nThat the sun at noon is the sun setting.\n\n To people living farther east.\n\nThat when an animal is born, it dies.\n\n As regards its previous state it dies when leaving it for a new state.\n\nThat the likeness of things partly unlike is called the lesser\nlikeness of unlikes. That the likeness of things altogether unlike is\ncalled the greater likeness of unlikes. That southwards there is no\nlimit, and yet there is a limit. That one can reach Y\u00fceh to-day and yet\nbe there before. That joined rings can be separated. That the middle of\nthe world is north of Yen and south of Y\u00fceh.\n\n It is wherever the speaker is. The space between Yen and Y\u00fceh is as\n zero compared with the infinite.\n\nThat he loves all creation equally, just as heaven and earth are\nimpartial to all.\n\n In covering and supporting all.\n\nAccordingly, Hui Tz\u016d was regarded as a great philosopher and a\nvery subtle dialectician; and became a favourite with the other\ndialecticians of the day.\n\nHe said that there were feathers in an egg.\n\n Because on a chicken.\n\nThat a fowl had three feet.\n\n The third being _volition_.\n\nThat Ying was the world.\n\n As you cannot say it is not the world.\n\nThat a dog could be a sheep. That a mare could lay eggs. That a nail\nhas a tail.\n\n Names being arbitrary in all cases.\n\nThat fire is not hot.\n\n It is the man who feels it hot.\n\nThat mountains have mouths.\n\n As evidenced by echoes.\n\nThat wheels do not press down the ground.\n\n Touching only at a point.\n\nThat the eye does not see.\n\n It is the man.\n\nThat the finger does not touch. That the uttermost extreme is not the\nend. That a tortoise is longer than a snake.\n\n Because longer lived!\n\nThat a carpenter's square is not square.\n\n Like Horace's Whetstone which makes other things sharp, \"exsors ipsa\n secandi.\"\n\nThat compasses will not make a circle.\n\n It is the draughtsman.\n\nThat a round hole will not surround a square handle. That the shadow\nof a flying bird does not move. That there is a moment when a\nswiftly-flying arrow is neither moving nor at rest. That a dog is not a\nhound.\n\n Two things cannot be identical unless even their names are the same.\n\nThat a bay horse and a dun cow are three.\n\n Taken separately they are two. Taken together they are one. One and\n two make three.\n\nThat a white dog is black.\n\n If his eyes are black. Part standing for the whole.\n\nThat a motherless colt never had a mother.\n\n When it had a mother, it was not an orphan.\n\nThat if you take a stick a foot long and every day cut it in half, you\nwill never come to the end of it.\n\n Compare \"Achilles and the Tortoise,\" and the sophisms of the Greek\n philosophers.\n\nAnd such was the stuff which dialecticians used to argue about with Hui\nTz\u016d, also without ever getting to the end of it.\n\nHuan T'uan and Kung Sun Lung were of this class. By specious premisses\nthey imposed on people's minds and drove them into false conclusions.\nBut though they won the battle in words, they did not carry conviction\ninto their adversaries' hearts. Theirs were but the snares of the\nsophist.\n\nHui Tz\u016d daily devoted his intelligence to such pursuits, purposely\nadvancing some preposterous thesis upon which to dispute. That was his\ncharacteristic. He had besides a great opinion of his own wisdom, and\nused to say, \"The universe does not hold my peer.\"\n\nHui Tz\u016d makes a parade of his strength, but is devoid of any sound\nsystem. An eccentric fellow in the south, named Huang Liao, asked why\nthe sky did not fall and the earth sink; also, whence came wind, rain,\nand thunder.\n\nHui Tz\u016d was not backward in replying to these questions, which he\nanswered unhesitatingly. He went into a long discussion on all\ncreation, and talked away without end, though to himself he seemed to\nbe saying very little. He supplemented this with most extraordinary\nstatements, making it his chief object to contradict others, and being\ndesirous of gaining fame by defeating all comers. Thus, he was never\npopular. Morally, he was weak; physically, he was violent. His was a\ndark and narrow way.\n\nLooked at from the point of view of the TAO of the universe, the\nvalue of Hui Tz\u016d may be compared with the efforts of a mosquito or a\ngadfly. Of what use was he to the world? As a specialist, he might have\nsucceeded. But to let him put himself forward as an exponent of TAO,\nwould have been dangerous indeed.\n\nHe would not however be content to be a specialist. He must needs roam\ninsatiably over all creation, though he only succeeded in securing the\nreputation of a sophist.\n\nAlas for the talents of Hui Tz\u016d! He is extravagantly energetic, and yet\nhas no success. He investigates all creation, but does not conclude in\nTAO. He makes a noise to drown an echo. He is like a man running a race\nwith his own shadow. Alas!\n\n As to the genuineness of this concluding chapter, every one may form\n his own opinion. The question has been hotly fought, and great names\n could be mentioned on each side. Wang An Shih and Su Tung P'o both\n thought that it might well have come from the hand of Chuang Tz\u016d.\n Lin Hsi Chung thought not, and on his side the majority of Western\n students will in all probability be ranged.\n\n\n\n\n_INDEX_\n\n\n  Accidentals, 162\n\n  Achilles and the Tortoise, 453\n\n  Action, 5, 266, 293\n\n  Affirmative and Negative, 17\n\n  Aggression, 340\n\n  Ai, Duke, 62, 268, 429\n\n  Ai F\u00eang, 29\n\n  Ai T'ai T'o, 62\n\n  All-in-extremes, 276\n\n  Alternation theory, 18\n\n  Anger, 310\n\n  Ants and Mutton, 330\n\n  Apricot Altar, 413\n\n  Archery, 60, 255, 272, 308, 309, 318\n\n  Argument, Futility of, 30\n\n  Arms, Appeal to, 162\n\n  Arms, Men of, 318\n\n  Artificial, The, 147, 175, 210, 232, 309\n\n  Augur and the pigs, The Grand, 236\n\n\n  Balancing balls, 233\n\n  Bantams, 297\n\n  Battered but not Bruised, 80\n\n  Battering-ram, 207\n\n  Battle, The Six Plans of, 313\n\n  Beauty, 182, 260, 337\n\n  Bells, Chime of, 250\n\n  Bird, The strange, 258\n\n  Bishop-wort, 313\n\n  Black Forest, The, 413\n\n  Black Water, The, 276\n\n  Blades from Kan, 193\n\n  Boats, 75, 249, 295\n\n  Body, The human, 15;\n    (without body) 145\n\n  Body and soul parted, 12, 324\n\n  Bogy, A, 236\n\n  Books, 170\n\n  Boots, (for the toeless) 63;\n    (outside door) 368, 424\n\n  Border-warden, The, 141\n\n  Breathing from the heels, 69\n\n  Business, 133\n\n  Butcher, The faithful, 376\n\n  Butterfly, Chuang Tz\u016d a, 32\n\n\n  Canon of Confucianism, 166, 188, 312, 438, 439\n\n  Cataract, A, 238\n\n  Caterpillars, 297\n\n  Cats, 312;\n    (wild) 10\n\n  Centipede, The, 211\n\n  Ceremonial, 89, 108, 121, 133, 162, 195, 277, 318, 440\n\n  Chance, 350\n\n  Chan Tz\u016d, 380\n\n  Ch'ang Chi, 56\n\n  Chang Hung, 112\n\n  Ch'ang Hung, 352\n\n  Chang I, 235\n\n  Chang Jo, 316\n\n  Chang Wu Tz\u016d, 28\n\n  Ch'ang Y\u00fc, 316\n\n  Chao Hsi, 373\n\n  Chao W\u00ean, 22\n\n  Chapped hands, Salve for, 9\n\n  Charioteering, 241\n\n  Charity, 88, 100, 101, 108, 114, 122, 133, 277, 307\n\n  Ch\u00ea, Robber, 103, 112, 120, 155, 387\n\n  Ch'\u00eans and Ts'ais, 180, 251, 253, 255, 380\n\n  Ch\u00ea-yang, The, 154\n\n  Ch'\u00eang, 281\n\n  Ch\u00eang K'ao Fu, 431\n\n  Ch\u00eang State, The, 59, 94\n\n  Ch'i, Mt., 372\n\n  Ch'i Kung, 261\n\n  Ch'i State, The, 50, 65, 110\n\n  Ch'i-yang, 384\n\n  Chi Ch'\u00ea, 145, 146\n\n  Chi-yung, 331\n\n  Chi T'o, 72, 361\n\n  Chi Tz\u016d (1) 72, 352; (2) 339\n\n  Chi Ch\u00ean, 350\n\n  Chi Ch'ih, 442\n\n  Chi Ch\u00fc, 45\n\n  Chi Hsing Tz\u016d, 238\n\n  Chi Han, Magician, 94\n\n  Chiang L\u00fc Mien, 145, 146\n\n  Chieh, 40, 119, 383\n\n  Chieh-k\u00eang, 331\n\n  Chieh Tz\u016d, 350\n\n  Chieh Y\u00fc, 7, 55, 92\n\n  Chien Ho, 353\n\n  Chien Wu, 6, 77, 92, 273\n\n  Chih, 206\n\n  Ch'ih Chang Man Chi, 152\n\n  Ch'ih Chi, 207\n\n  Chih-ho, 354\n\n  Chih Kung, 401\n\n  Ch'ih Yu, 392\n\n  Children, 299, 300, 301, 358\n\n  Chin, Duke of, 29\n\n  Chin State, The, 147\n\n  Ch'in Hua Li, 440\n\n  Ch'in Lao, 342\n\n  Chin-shao, The, 226, 244\n\n  Ch'in Shih, 36\n\n  Ch'in State, The, 368\n\n  Ch'ing, Carpenter, 240\n\n  Ch'ing-ning, The, 228\n\n  Ching-shih, 53\n\n  Ching Shou, The, 33\n\n  Ch'iu (Confucius), 145, 189\n\n  Chiu Fang Yin, 327\n\n  Ch'iu-shih, 426\n\n  Chiu-yu, The, 228\n\n  Ch\u014f-lu, 392\n\n  Chou, 40\n\n  Chou, River, 383\n\n  Chou Kung, 181, 384\n\n  Chrysalis, 3\n\n  Chu Hsien, 234\n\n  Chu Yung, 116\n\n  Ch'u State, The, 3 _et alt. pass._\n\n  Chuan Hs\u00fc, 77\n\n  Chuang, Duke, 241\n\n  Chuang Tz\u016d, 9,\n    (and the butterfly) 32; 66, 137, 159, 215, 216,\n    (asked to take office) 217, 434,\n    (and the fishes) 218,\n    (death of wife) 223,\n    (and the skull) 224,\n    (and the geese) 245; 254, 258, 268,\n    (and TAO) 285, 318,\n    (at Hui Tz\u016d's grave) 321,\n    (and the stickleback) 353,\n    (and the useless) 358,\n    (on Confucius) 365; 407, 427,\n    (death of) 434,\n    (his genius) 449\n\n  Chui, 115, 242\n\n  Chun Mang, 150\n\n  Chung, 332\n\n  Chung Yang, 116\n\n  Ch\u00fc Ch'iao, 28\n\n  Ch\u00fc Liang, 88\n\n  Ch\u00fc Poh Y\u00fc, 49, 345\n\n  Ch'\u00fc-to, 228\n\n  Ch\u00fc Tz\u016d, 442\n\n  Ch\u00fc Tz\u016d, Mt., 316\n\n  Ch\u00fc Y\u00fcan, 50\n\n  Cicadas, 2, 258, 306,\n    (catching) 232\n\n  Class distinctions, 187\n\n  Classification, 168\n\n  Clouds and rain, 165, 173\n\n  Cocks and dogs, 117, 350\n\n  Cock-fighting, 238\n\n  Coffins, 53, 441\n\n  Cold, Latent, 319\n\n  Colossal, The, 204\n\n  Colour Sense, The, 99, 108, 115, 121, 155\n\n  Common-places, 154\n\n  Complacency, 402\n\n  Concentration, 34, 240, 300\n\n  Conditioned, The, 158\n\n  Confucius, 28, 38, 45, 55, 56,\n    (and the leper) 62, 83,\n    (and Lao Tz\u016d) 144, 166, 182, 184, 188, 266, 282; 149,\n        179, 182, 201,\n    (in danger) 213, 251; 225,\n    (on concentration) 232, 235,\n    (at the cataract)\n\n  238; 253, 255, 263, 272, 274, 282, 290, 291, 325, 338, 341, 346,\n    (and Lao Lai Tz\u016d) 356;\n    (changed his opinions) 365; 366,\n    (and Robber Ch\u00ea) 387; 429\n\n  Conscription, 54\n\n  Cooks, 6, 33, 104\n\n  Correlatives, 207, 208\n\n  Corpse, (boy who impersonates) 6, 97;\n    (singing near a) 83\n\n  Cunning, 315\n\n  Crane's legs, A, 101, 332\n\n  Criteria (of our minds), 16,\n    (of Confucius), 166\n\n\n  Dark, Seeing in the, 139\n\n  Dark Palace, The, 77\n\n  Dark-Steep Mt., The, 276\n\n  Death. _See_ Life and Death.\n\n  Death of Chuang Tz\u016d's wife, 223\n\n  Destiny, 46, 64, 74, 90, 143, 189, 258\n\n  Determinate relations, 332\n\n  Dialecticians, 318\n\n  Dimensions, 202\n\n  Discontent, 402\n\n  Discord and accord, 320\n\n  Distance relative, 2\n\n  Diversity, 331\n\n  Divination, 357\n\n  Divine Man, 7, 85, 151, 193, 331, 361\n\n  Divine Teacher, The, 317\n\n  Do-nothing Say-nothing, 276\n\n  Doctrine of Silence, 56\n\n  Dogs, (straw) 180,\n    (how to judge of) 312, 327,\n    (why they bark) 350\n\n  Dog-tooth violet, 228\n\n  Doorkeepers, 320, 329\n\n  Doubts, 102, 117, 244, 334\n\n  Dove, young, 2, 306\n\n  Dragon, Lao Tz\u016d a, 185\n\n  Dragons, 214, 263\n\n  Dragon-power, 122, 185\n\n  Dream, Life a, 30, 86\n\n  Dreamless sleep, 82, 192\n\n  Dregs of knowledge, 172\n\n  Drugs, 299, 331\n\n  Drunken man, A, 232\n\n  Duck's legs, A, 101\n\n  Duckweed, 228\n\n  Dust-bin, Spirit of the, 237\n\n  Duty, 46, 88, 101, 108, 114, 121, 122, 133, 166, 277, 298,\n        307, 367, 433\n\n  Dying, No advantage in not, 15\n\n\n  Ear, The, 333\n\n  Earth, 161, 173, 223;\n    (music of) 12\n\n  Eel's habitat, The, 27, 295\n\n  _Ego_, Whence the, 14\n\n  Emotions, 308\n\n  Empyrean, The, 288\n\n  Energy, Hu Tz\u016d shows his internal, 96\n\n  Enthusiasts, 330\n\n  Essentials, 162\n\n  Evil speakers, 39\n\n  Excalibur, 82, 303\n\n  Exhaling and inhaling, 191\n\n  Existence and non-existence, 206, 304\n\n  External, The, 49, 82, 103, 156, 235, 299, 302, 310, 315\n\n  Extremes meet, 115\n\n  Eye, The, 211, 333\n\n\n  Fa Yen, The, 47\n\n  Failure, Causes of, 432\n\n  Fallacia amphiboli\u00e6, 275\n\n  Fame _or_ Reputation, 5, 103\n\n  Fan, Prince of, 275\n\n  Fang Ming, 316\n\n  Fasting, 42, 43, 282\n\n  Father praising son, 363\n\n  F\u00ean-yang, 8\n\n  F\u00eang M\u00eang, 255\n\n  Fighting, 207, 315\n\n  Fighting-cocks, 238\n\n  Filial piety, 153, 175, 186, 361\n\n  Finger, 19\n\n  Fire eternal, 37\n\n  Fire Spirit, The, 237\n\n  Fire, Production of, 353\n\n  First Cause, 246, 267\n\n  Fisherman, 357\n\n  Fishes, 114, 174, 185, 295, 296, 331, 354;\n    happiness of, 218\n\n  Fish-hawks, 189\n\n  Five Bonds, The, 399\n\n  Five Princes, 78\n\n  Five Rulers, The, 186, 202\n\n  Flattery, 153\n\n  Fools, 154\n\n  Foot, The, 333\n\n  Foot-prints, 188\n\n  Footsteps, Afraid of his, 418\n\n  Forgetfulness, 65\n\n  Form, 144, 297\n\n  Forms and Name, 163\n\n  Four Seas, The, 123, 151, 202\n\n  Foxes, 247, 295\n\n  Friendship, 253\n\n  Frog of the Well, 201, 215\n\n  Fu Hsi, 45, 77, 116, 196, 274\n\n  Fu Y\u00fceh, 78\n\n  Fulness and decay, 203, 287\n\n\n  Gain, 103\n\n  Gambling, 234\n\n  Geese, 297\n\n  Gentleness, 123\n\n  Glow-worm, 228\n\n  Glue, Sticking without, 102\n\n  God, 1, 15, 31, 68, 82, 163, 257, 282, 301, 333\n\n  Goitre, A large, 65\n\n  Golden Age, 116, 152\n\n  Golden Roster, 313\n\n  Goose, The cackling, 245\n\n  Gourd, Five-bushel, 9\n\n  Government, (a curse) 92; 107, 114, 119, 123, 130, 132, 146;\n    (by the true Sage) 151; 163, 164, 186, 187, 317\n\n  Grand Augur, The, 236\n\n  Grand Tutor, 272\n\n  Grave, Opening a, 355\n\n  Great Bear, The, 77\n\n  Great truths, 154\n\n  Great Y\u00fc, The, 16, 142, 152, 215, 254\n\n  Grief, Real, 85\n\n\n  Han-ch'ih, The, 176\n\n  Han-tan, 216, 217;\n    (siege of) 113\n\n  Han-yin, 147\n\n  Happiness, (in inaction) 158, 159,\n    (elements of) 220, 405,\n    (of fishes) 218,\n    (and sorrow) 199, 221\n\n  Hard and White, The, 22, 67, 100, 117\n\n  H\u00ea Hs\u00fc, 116\n\n  Hearing, Sense of, 99, 104, 115, 121, 311, 333, 359\n\n  Heart, Natural goodness of, 123,\n    (the seat of intellect) 297\n\n  Heat, Latent, 319\n\n  Heaven, 161, 173, 223\n\n  Hermaphrodites, 189\n\n  Heron, 366\n\n  Ho Hs\u00fc, 109\n\n  Ho-shang, 434\n\n  Horses, 19, 106, 209, 228, 285, 312, 316, 347\n\n  Hou I _or_ Yi, 60, 255, 308, 309, 319\n\n  House, A, 306\n\n  Hsi P'\u00eang, 316, 322\n\n  Hsi Shih knits her brows, 182\n\n  Hsi Wang Mu, 78\n\n  Hsi Wei, 76, 292, 346\n\n  Hsi Wei Shih, 359\n\n  Hsiang-ch'\u00eang, 316\n\n  Hsiang Li Ch'in, 442\n\n  Hsiao Chi, 352\n\n  Hsiao Poh (Duke Huan), 399\n\n  Hsien of the Kung-w\u00eans, 35\n\n  Hsien-ch'ih, The, 227\n\n  Hsien Y\u00fcan, 116\n\n  Hsin, The, 237\n\n  Hs\u00fc (butterflies), 228\n\n  Hs\u00fc-aos, The, 26, 40\n\n  Hs\u00fc Wu Kuei, 311\n\n  Hs\u00fc Yu, 6, 87, 140, 329, 361, 382, 404, 432\n\n  Hs\u00fc Y\u00fc Chi T'o, 73, 361\n\n  Hu, 98\n\n  Hu Pu Hsieh, 72\n\n  Hu Tz\u016d, 94\n\n  Hua, 141;\n    (Mt.) 443\n\n  Hua Chi, 316\n\n  Hua Lin, 207\n\n  Hua Tz\u016d, 339\n\n  Huan (Confucianist), 426\n\n  Huan of Ch'i, Duke, 65, 170, 236, 322, 399\n\n  Huan Tou, 124\n\n  Huan T'uan, 453\n\n  Huang-chung, 100\n\n  Huang-hua, The, 154\n\n  Huang-k'uang, The, 228\n\n  Huang Liao, 453\n\n  Huang Ti. _See_ Yellow Emperor\n\n  Huang Tz\u016d Kao Ngao, 236\n\n  Hui, Prince, 33, (of Wei) 338\n\n  Hui Tz\u016d, 8, 66, 217, 218, 223, 318, 321, 341, 358, 361, 365, 450\n\n  Hunchbacks, 55, 65, 224, 232\n\n  Hun Tun, 98\n\n\n  I, Mt., 341\n\n  I Chieh, 335\n\n  I-\u00earh, The, 251\n\n  I \u00carh Tz\u016d, 87\n\n  I Liao, 247, 325, 342\n\n  I-lu, 228\n\n  I Yin, 309, 383\n\n  Immunity of Drunkards, 232\n\n  Inaction, 80, 97, 122, 131, 134, 136, 137, 158, 159, 160,\n        165, 222, 288, 308, 318\n\n  Infinite, One with the, 89\n\n  Infinitesimal, The, 204\n\n  Influences, The Six, 129, 174\n\n  Instincts, 107\n\n  Intelligence, 139\n\n  Internal, The, 49, 122, 156, 235, 299, 302, 310, 315\n\n  Intrinsicality, 102\n\n  Irrigation, 147\n\n\n  Jen, 251\n\n  Jen Ch'iu, 290\n\n  Jen Hsiang Shih, 337\n\n  Jen Kung Tz\u016d, 354\n\n  Jih Chung Shih, 92\n\n  Joy and sorrow, 293\n\n\n  Kan, Blades from, 193\n\n  Kan-y\u00fc-ku, 228\n\n  Kao, 237\n\n  K\u00eang Sang Ch'u, 294\n\n  Kings, The Three, 186\n\n  Knotted Cords, 116\n\n  Knowledge, (Great) 13;\n    (of the ancients) 21, 161, 304;\n    (limit to) 302;\n    (perfection of) 333;\n    (a curse) 115, 118, 125, 129, 298;\n    (from repose) 195;\n    (shallowness of) 293;\n    (personified) 276;\n    (of the wherefore) 368\n\n  Kou Chien, 332\n\n  Ku, Shepherd, 103\n\n  K'u Huo, 442\n\n  Ku-tu, 384\n\n  Ku-ch\u00fceh, Mt., 276\n\n  Kuan Chung, 226, 236, 322, 399\n\n  Kuan Lung F\u00eang, 40, 112, 352\n\n  Kuan Yin, 230, 447\n\n  K'uang, 213\n\n  Kuang Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d, 125\n\n  K'uang Tz\u016d, 401\n\n  Kuei, 206\n\n  K'uei, The, 237\n\n  Kueis, The, 26\n\n  Kuei-ch'i, 332\n\n  Kuei Chi, 354\n\n  K'un, 327\n\n  K'un Hun, 316\n\n  K'un-lun Mountains, 139, 224, 289\n\n  Kung Ch'ui the artisan, 115, 242\n\n  Kung Poh, 382\n\n  K'ung-t'ung, 126\n\n  Kung Sun Lung, 214, 319, 453\n\n  Kung Tz\u016d Mou, 215\n\n  Kung Y\u00fceh Hsiu, 335\n\n  Kuo, men of, 253\n\n\n  Laggards, Whipping up the, 234\n\n  Language, The best, 293\n\n  Lao Lai Tz\u016d, 356\n\n  Lao Lung Chi, 287\n\n  Lao Tz\u016d (and No-toes), 61; 93, 123, 137, 142;\n    (and Confucius) 144, 166; 168, 169, 182, 184, 266, 282;\n    (and K\u00eang Sang Ch'u) 294;\n    (and Nan Yung), 298;\n    (and Poh Ch\u00fc) 343;\n    (and Yang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc) 368;\n    (death of) 36\n\n  Law, The, 133, 162;\n    (men of), 318\n\n  Laws of Nature, 135\n\n  Lei T'ing, 237\n\n  Leopard, The, 228, 247\n\n  Leper, A, 62\n\n  Leviathan, The, 1, 3\n\n  Li, 237\n\n  _Li_ to a mile, Three, 2\n\n  Li Chi, 27, 29\n\n  Li Chu, 104, 115\n\n  Li Hs\u00fc, 116\n\n  Li Lu, 116\n\n  _Li_ tree, Sacred, 50\n\n  Liang, City of, 341\n\n  Liang State, The, 218\n\n  Liao, River, 93\n\n  Liberty, 36, 37\n\n  Lichen, 228\n\n  Lieh Tz\u016d (his supernatural power) 4,\n    (and the magician) 94,\n    (and the skull) 227,\n    (and the perfect man) 230,\n    (and archery) 272,\n    (declines food) 375; 423\n\n  Lien Shu, 6\n\n  Life (art of) 234;\n    (and death) 203, 229, 291, 305;\n    (a tumour) 84;\n    (transitory) 209, 285\n\n  Light (personified) 289,\n    (of Nature) 19\n\n  Likes and dislikes, 155, 156, 366\n\n  Like and the Unlike, The, 100, 117\n\n  Lin Ch\u00fc, 259\n\n  Lin Hsia Chi, 387\n\n  Lin Hui, 253\n\n  Ling of Chou, Prince, 112\n\n  Ling of Wei, Prince, 49, 65, 250, 346\n\n  Lo Book, The, 174\n\n  Long life, 141\n\n  Love for the people, 314, 329\n\n  Lu Ch\u00fc, 319\n\n  Lu State, The, 56, 113, 145, _et alt. pass._\n\n  Lu T'ung, 7\n\n  _Lun Y\u00fc_, The, 382\n\n  Lung F\u00eang, 40, 112, 352\n\n  Lutes, The two, 319\n\n  L\u00fc-liang, Cataract at, 238\n\n\n  Magic Circle, The, 400\n\n  Man (not a free agent) 145,\n    (origin of) 228,\n    (pre-eminent) 231\n\n  Mang-ts'ang, 2\n\n  Mankind, 133\n\n  Man Kou T\u00ea, 397\n\n  Mantis, The praying, 49, 258\n\n  Mao Ch'iang, 27\n\n  Map-making, 270\n\n  Matter, 133\n\n  Measures, 114, 115\n\n  Mechanical, The, 147\n\n  M\u00ean Wu Kuei, 152\n\n  M\u00ean Yin T\u00eang H\u00eang, 338\n\n  M\u00eang Sun Ts'ai, 85\n\n  M\u00eang Tz\u016d Fan, 83\n\n  Mental criteria, 16\n\n  Mental equilibrium, 160\n\n  Metempsychosis, 32\n\n  Methusaleh, A Chinese, 3\n\n  Miao-ku-sh\u00ea Mountain, 7, 8\n\n  Middle Kingdom, The, 202, 262, 269, 284\n\n  Mih Tz\u016d, 17, 100, 116, 155, 292;\n    (his works and doctrines) 440\n\n  Min Tz\u016d, 65\n\n  Mind, The, (without body) 145, 211, 264, 333;\n    (function of) 97, 360\n\n  Minister of War, 290\n\n  Mirror, The mind a, 97,\n    (mankind a) 337\n\n  Modification, Physical and moral, 292\n\n  Monkeys, 20, 27, 145, 181, 255, 323\n\n  Monkey Mountain, The, 323\n\n  Moon, The, 29, 165, 173\n\n  Moses, Burial of, 435\n\n  Mosquitoes, 184, 366\n\n  Motes in sunbeam, 1\n\n  Mother-in-law and wife, 360\n\n  Mou of Chung-shan, Prince, 380\n\n  Mou of Wei, 214\n\n  Mou-jui, The, 228\n\n  Mourning, 162, 186\n\n  Mu of Ch'in, Duke, 309\n\n  Mud spirit, The, 237\n\n  Muh Wang, 207\n\n  Mulberry Grove, The, 33\n\n  Murder, Origin of, 296\n\n  Music and Ceremonial, 89, 100, 108, 115, 155, 162, 177,\n        195, 318, 440\n\n  Music of Heaven, 12, 13, 178\n\n  Mutilation, 35, 56, 59, 61, 320, 329\n\n  Mutton and Ants, 330\n\n\n  Names, 163\n\n  Nameless, The, 143\n\n  Nan Po Tz\u016d K'uei, 78\n\n  Nan-y\u00fceh, 248\n\n  Nan Yung Ch'u, 296\n\n  Nature, 189, 303;\n    (habit second) 239\n\n  Natural, The, 102, 131, 144, 175, 210, 232, 309\n\n  Necessity, 310\n\n  Negative, Positive and, 120, 127, 266, 349\n\n  Negative quantity, The Sage a, 192\n\n  Neglect better than care, 74\n\n  Nest-builders, The, 391\n\n  Nincompoops, 330\n\n  Nightmare, 180\n\n  No-beginning, 288\n\n  No-Toes, 61\n\n  Non-existence, Domain of, 11\n\n  Nose, Scab on the, 321\n\n  Nothing, (as an existence) 23;\n    (its success) 139, 143, 289\n\n  N\u00fc Shang, 311\n\n  N\u00fc Y\u00fc, 78\n\n\n  O Ho Kan, 287\n\n  Objective, The, 17, 18, 145\n\n  Obstinacy, 360\n\n  Office, Value of, 198, 434\n\n  Officials, 221\n\n  ONE, All things, 23, 73, 89, 128, 136, 143, 250, 278,\n        281, 303, 333, 336;\n    (the Greater and Lesser) 450\n\n  One-legged men, 224, 309\n\n  Owl's sight, An, 207, 332\n\n\n  P'ang Huan, 237\n\n  Pao Chiao, 394, 401\n\n  Pao Y\u00fc, 322\n\n  Parasites, 330\n\n  Passions, 66, 311\n\n  Passivity, 97, 138, 165, 192, 266\n\n  Patriots, 208, 221\n\n  Peace, Men of, 318\n\n  Pearl in corpse's mouth, 355\n\n  Pecks and bushels, 114\n\n  P'ei, 368\n\n  Pei I, 140\n\n  Pei Jen Wu Ts\u00ea, 382\n\n  Pei Kung Sh\u00ea, 250\n\n  Pei M\u00ean Ch'\u00eang, 176\n\n  P'ei O, 237\n\n  P'\u00eang M\u00eang, 445\n\n  P'\u00eang Tsu, 3, 78\n\n  Penumbra and Umbra, 32, 367\n\n  Perfect ambition, honour, &c., 176\n\n  Perfect Man, The, 27, 97, 146, 151, 169, 183, 210, 231,\n        295, 301, 359\n\n  Perfect music, 177\n\n  Personality, Man's, 87\n\n  Physical life, 230\n\n  P'i I, 281\n\n  Pi Kan, 40, 112, 352, 395\n\n  Piao Shih, 255\n\n  Pien Ch'ing Tz\u016d, 242\n\n  Pien Sui, 383\n\n  Pigs, 236, 286, 330\n\n  Pin, 371\n\n  Ping, 319\n\n  P'ing I, 77\n\n  Plains, Slopes and, 208\n\n  Ploughing, 342\n\n  Po Li Ch'i, 270, 309\n\n  Poh Ch'ang Ch'ien, 346\n\n  Poh Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Kao, 142\n\n  Poh Ch\u00fc, 343\n\n  Poh Huang, 116\n\n  Poh Hun Wu Jen, 59, 272, 423\n\n  Poh I, 72, 103, 201, 384, 394\n\n  Poh Kung, 207\n\n  Poh Loh, 106\n\n  Politeness, Perfect, 307\n\n  Portal of God, 304\n\n  Positive and Negative, 120, 127, 205, 266, 349\n\n  Precedence, 162\n\n  Predestination, 350\n\n  Predicables, Eight, 24\n\n  Prometheus, A Chinese, 196\n\n  Provident, The, 392\n\n  P'u I Tz\u016d, 91\n\n  Pu Liang I, 79\n\n  Punishments, 124, 162\n\n  Pure Man, The, 69, 72, (a) 313\n\n  Purity, Absolute, 127\n\n  Purpose, Discard, 307\n\n\n  Quail, 4\n\n  Rain, 165, 173\n\n  Rarey, A Chinese, 106\n\n  Rat's liver, 82\n\n  Raven, Blackness of, 185\n\n  Record of Marvels, The, 1, 4\n\n  Red Lake, The, 139\n\n  Relations determinate, &c., 332\n\n  Relativity, (of Distance) 2,\n    (of Time) 3\n\n  Repose, 127, 157, 158, 195\n\n  Reputation, 5, 360\n\n  Retired scholars, 197\n\n  Rewards and Punishments, 162\n\n  Rhinoceros, 214\n\n  Rice-pudding, Grains in a, 296\n\n  Riches, 141\n\n  Right and Wrong, 244, 306, 345, 366\n\n  Rings, Joined, 451\n\n  River God, 53, 200, 357\n\n  Rivers perennial, 332\n\n  Robber Ch\u00ea, 103, 112, 120, 155, 387\n\n  Robbers _v._ Sages, 113\n\n  Robbery, Origin of, 296\n\n  Round Squareness, 25\n\n  Rukh, The, 1, 3\n\n  Rule of life, 84\n\n  Ruler, The Wise, 161\n\n  Rulers (of old) 344,\n    (the Five) 186\n\n  Rustic, The sick, 299\n\n\n  Sacrifices, 6, 53, 305\n\n  Sacrificial caps, 8\n\n  Sage, The True, 146, 192, 326, 336\n\n  Sages a curse, 108, 113, 117, 125\n\n  Salve for chapped hands, 9\n\n  San Ching, 377\n\n  San-miao, 124\n\n  San-wei, 124\n\n  Sang Hu, 83, 253, 254\n\n  Scales and Steelyards, 114\n\n  Schemes, 317, 360\n\n  Scholars' robes, 269\n\n  Sciolist, The, 164\n\n  Sea-bird, Arrival of a, 226, 244\n\n  Sea-serpents, 214\n\n  Seasons, The, 162, 165, 348\n\n  Secret of existence, 280\n\n  Self, 5, 145\n\n  Senses, The, 20, 99, 100, 155, 311, 343\n\n  Sha-ch'iu, 346\n\n  Shadow, Afraid of his, 418\n\n  Shadow, Man and his, 332\n\n  San Ch\u00fcan, 371, 404\n\n  Shan Pao, 235\n\n  Shang Mountain, 52\n\n  Shang-sh\u00ean Rapid, The, 233\n\n  Shao Chih, 347\n\n  Shao Kuang, 78\n\n  Sh\u00ea, Duke of, 45\n\n  Sh\u00ean Nung, 116, 196, 226, 246, 287, 385\n\n  Sh\u00ean T'u Chia, 59\n\n  Sh\u00ean T'u Ti, 72, 394\n\n  Sh\u00ean Yao, 443\n\n  Shih Ch'\u00eang Chi, 168\n\n  Shih Chin, 179\n\n  Shih Ch'iu, 346\n\n  Shih-hu, 371\n\n  Shih K'uang, 22, 100, 104, 115\n\n  Shih-ling, 331\n\n  Shih-nan, 247, 325, 342\n\n  Shih Y\u00fc, 100, 116, 120, 155\n\n  Shou (Prince of Y\u00fceh), 373\n\n  Shou-ling, The youth of, 216\n\n  Shou-yang, Mt., 103, 385\n\n  Shu, 98, 352\n\n  Shu Ch'i, 72, 384, 394\n\n  Shu Shan _No-toes_, 61\n\n  Shu Tan (Chou Kung), 384\n\n  Shun, The Emperor, 5 _et alt. pass._\n\n  Sight, Sense of, (its failure) 139; 311, 359\n\n  Silence, Doctrine of, 56, 293, 325\n\n  Sincerity, Cultivation of, 316\n\n  Singing alongside a corpse, 83\n\n  Six Influences, The, 129, 174\n\n  Six Ranks, The, 399\n\n  Skull (Chuang Tz\u016d and the) 224;\n    (Lieh Tz\u016d and the) 227\n\n  Sky, The, 173\n\n  Slopes and plains, 208\n\n  Smell, Sense of, 155, 360\n\n  Snake, The (moves without legs) 211;\n    (its shoulders) 82\n\n  Snail, The, 340\n\n  Snow-goose, Whiteness of, 185\n\n  Society, 347\n\n  Sons, 141\n\n  Soot, Life as mere, 305\n\n  Sophistry, 117;\n    (of Hui Tz\u016d) 451\n\n  Sorrow, 199, 221, 293\n\n  Soul, The, 14, 37, 57\n\n  Soyer, A Chinese, 104\n\n  Space, 202, 304, 340\n\n  Speech, (Great) 13;\n    (not mere breath) 16, 17, 22;\n    (a surplus) 23;\n    (like wind to wave) 47;\n    (failure of) 139;\n    (no room for) 264\n\n  Spirit of the Clouds, 129\n\n    \"      \"    Ocean, 200\n\n    \"      \"    River, 200\n\n  \"Spring and Autumn,\" 24\n\n  Square and Compasses, 101, 263\n\n  Ss\u016d-mi, The, 228\n\n  Standard of right, 306\n\n  Standards must be absolute, 436\n\n  Stars, The, 167\n\n  Stealing purses, 114;\n    (States) 114\n\n  Stickleback, Chuang Tz\u016d and the, 353\n\n  Stoat, The, 313\n\n  Stone-mason's skill, A, 321\n\n  Straight-browed people, The, 150\n\n  Straw dog, The, 179\n\n  Strength of no avail, 139\n\n  Stupidity, 360\n\n  Su, Hunchback, 55\n\n  Subjective, The, 17, 18, 305, 306, 364\n\n  Success, Causes of, 432\n\n  Sui Jen, 196, 226\n\n  Summum bonum, The, 155\n\n  Sun and Moon, 29, 165, 167, 173, 243\n\n  Sun Hsiu, 242\n\n  Sun Hsiu Ao, 273, 325\n\n  Sung Hsing, 443\n\n  Sung State, The, 8, 9, 53\n\n  Supreme Void, The, 289\n\n  Swallow, Wisdom of the, 257\n\n  Swords, Forging, 290;\n    (the Three), 410\n\n\n  Ta-l\u00fc, 100\n\n  Ta T'ao, 346\n\n  Ta T'ing, 116\n\n  T'ai, Mt., 3, 77, 103\n\n  Tai Chin Jen, 340\n\n  T'ai Huang, 91\n\n  T'ai Kung Tiao, 347\n\n  T'ai Wang Shan Fu, 371\n\n  Talkers, 327\n\n  Tan-hs\u00fceh, 373\n\n  T'ang, The Emperor, 3, 207, 215, 292, 309, 361, 383\n\n  TAO, 16;\n    (axis of) 18, 24;\n    (perfect) 25;\n    (gives form) 75, 76, 79;\n    (man born in) 85;\n    (in everything) 112;\n    (in abstraction) 127;\n    (of God and man) 134, 135, 137, 138, 157, 163, 167;\n    (capacity of) 169, 182, 197;\n    (eternal) 209,\n    (how to reach) 277, 281;\n    (is everywhere) 285, 288, 303, 316\n    (and T\u00ca) 326;\n    (functions of) 438;\n    (and fatalism) 446\n\n  T'ai Hsi Ching, The, 70\n\n  Tao-T\u00ea-Ching, The, 19, 34, 56, 71, 111, 115, 122, 125,\n        136, 143, 170, 172, 179, 205, 231, 243, 275, 277,\n        278, 300, 369, 448\n\n  Tapir, The, 6\n\n  Taste, Sense of, 155\n\n  T\u00ca (see _Virtue_), 45\n\n  Teeth cold, 113\n\n  Tell, A Chinese, 60, 255\n\n  T\u00eang Ling, 442\n\n  Thieves, 110, 169\n\n  Thieving, Art of, 112\n\n  Things, 231\n\n  Thoroughness, 342\n\n  Thought, 170\n\n  Three in the Morning, 20\n\n  Three Dynasties, 101, 118, 120\n\n  Three Princes, 124, 132, 186, 202\n\n  Tiao-ling, 258\n\n  T'ien Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d, _or_ T'ien Ho, 111, 324\n\n  T'ien K'ai Chih, 234\n\n  T'ien K\u00ean, 93\n\n  T'ien P'ien, 443\n\n  Tigers, 174, 214, 263\n\n  Time, 189, 202, 291, 304\n\n  Tit, The, 6\n\n  Toes, 305, 306\n\n  Tongue, A three-foot, 326\n\n  Topsy-turvydom, 199\n\n  Tortoise, 3, 357;\n    (Chuang Tz\u016d and the) 217\n\n  Translation (as of Enoch), 230\n\n  Travelling, 180\n\n  Trees Useless, 10, 51, 52, 245\n\n  Tripe, 305\n\n  Tsang, Old man of, 271\n\n  Tsang, Shepherd, 103\n\n  Ts'ang-wu, 354\n\n  Ts'ao Shang, 428\n\n  Ts\u00ea Yang, 335\n\n  Ts\u00eang Sh\u00ean, 100, 116, 120, 155, 352, 366\n\n  Ts\u00eang Tz\u016d, 378\n\n  Ts'ui Ch\u00fc, 123\n\n  Tsun Lu, 116\n\n  Tsung, Mt., 124\n\n  Tsungs, The, 26\n\n  Ts'ung-chih, 40\n\n  Tung Kuo Shun Tz\u016d, 261\n\n  Tung Kuo Tz\u016d, 285\n\n  Tung Kuo Tz\u016d Chi, 366\n\n  Tung-t'ing, 176, 227\n\n  Tung Yeh Chi, 241\n\n  Turtle of eastern sea, 215, 296, 335\n\n  Tz\u016d Ch'an, 59\n\n  Tz\u016d Chang, 397\n\n  Tz\u016d Ch'i, 12, 52, 324, 327\n\n  Tz\u016d Ch'in Chang, 83\n\n  Tz\u016d Chou Chih Fu, 370\n\n  Tz\u016d Chou Chih Poh, 370\n\n  Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc _or_ Wu Y\u00fcan, 112, 221, 352, 401\n\n  Tz\u016d Hua Tz\u016d, 373\n\n  Tz\u016d Kao, 45\n\n  Tz\u016d Kung, 83, 147, 185, 225, 378, 381, 388, 413\n\n  Tz\u016d Lai, 81\n\n  Tz\u016d Lao, 342\n\n  Tz\u016d Li, 81\n\n  Tz\u016d Lu, 165, 231, 263, 342, 381;\n    (death of) 393; 413\n\n  Tz\u016d Sang, 90\n\n  Tz\u016d Sang Hu, 83, 253, 254\n\n  Tz\u016d Ss\u016d, 80\n\n  Tz\u016d Yang of Ch\u00eang, 375\n\n  Tz\u016d Y\u00fc, 80, 90\n\n\n  Ugliness, 260\n\n  Umbra and Penumbra, 32, 367\n\n  Uncanny events, 328\n\n  Unconditioned, The, 158, 209, 307\n\n  Uniformity (of results), 186, 132, 227, 331\n\n  Universe, The, 19, 29, 161, 167, 279, 290\n\n  Universal Love, 167\n\n  Untrodden ground, 333\n\n  Useful and Useless, The, 11, 306, 358\n\n  Usurpers, 208\n\n\n  Valetudinarianism, 191\n\n  Vengeance not extended against things, 232\n\n  Violence, 340\n\n  Virtue (T\u00ca), 45, 133, 143, 151, 176, 185, 252, 277, 308,\n        326, 360\n\n  Virtue, Man of Perfect, 210\n\n  Vision (Eye and) 333;\n    (perfection of) 104, 139\n\n  Vital Principle, The, 129\n\n\n  Wa Lung, 237\n\n  Walrus, The, 211\n\n  Wang Hsiang, 237\n\n  Wang I, 26, 91, 140\n\n  Wang Kuo, 335\n\n  Wang T'ai, 56\n\n  Wang Tz\u016d, 395\n\n  Wang Tz\u016d Ch'ing Chi, 250\n\n  War, 315, 318\n\n  Wasps, 297\n\n  Water, (Fluidity of) 268;\n    (to men and fishes) 227\n\n  Water-level, The, 64, 157\n\n  Wealth, 221;\n    (value of) 403;\n    (evil of) 405\n\n  Weasel, The, 313\n\n  Weeding plants, 360\n\n  Weeping, 162;\n    (without snivelling) 85\n\n  Wei, Prince of, 9, 38, 254, 338\n\n  Wei, Prince Wu of, 311\n\n  Wei, The State of, 38, 49\n\n  Wei of Ch'i, Prince, 338\n\n  Wei of Chou, Duke, 234\n\n  Wei I, The, 237\n\n  Wei-lei Mountains, 294\n\n  Wei Sh\u00eang, 395, 401\n\n  Weights and measures a curse, 114\n\n  Well-sweep, A, 147, 181\n\n  W\u00ean of Wei, Prince, 261\n\n  W\u00ean Chung, 332\n\n  W\u00ean Po Hs\u00fceh Tz\u016d, 262\n\n  W\u00ean Wang, 273\n\n  W\u00ean Wang of Chao, 407\n\n  Wheel of Existence, The, 228\n\n  Wheelwright, The, 171\n\n  Whole made up of parts, 347\n\n  Wife, Mother-in-law and, 360\n\n  Wigs, 152\n\n  Wind, 173, 211, 332\n\n  Wine, Thin, 113\n\n  Winnowing, Chaff from, 184\n\n  Wisdom a curse, 115, 121, 125, 188\n\n  Wisdom-tricks, 111\n\n  Without-end, 288\n\n  Wolves, 174\n\n  Words, 170, 171\n\n  Wu, Prince of, 9, 323\n\n  Wu Chuang, 88\n\n  Wu Ch'un, Hunchback, 65\n\n  Wu Han Chao, 173\n\n  Wu Kuang, 72, 361, 383\n\n  Wu Lai, 352\n\n  Wu Ting, 78\n\n  Wu-tsu, 228\n\n  Wu Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc, 395\n\n  Wu Wang, 152, 207, 292, 384\n\n  Wu Yoh, 400\n\n  Wu Y\u00fcan, 112, 221, 352, 401\n\n\n  Yak, The, 10\n\n  Yang-ch'i, The, 228\n\n  Yang Chu, 100, 116, 155, 259, 318\n\n  Yang Hu, 214\n\n  Yang Tz\u016d Ch\u00fc, 93, 368, 369\n\n  Yao, The Emperor, 5, _et alt. pass._\n\n  Yeh Ch'\u00fceh, 26, 91, 140, 281, 329\n\n  Yellow Emperor, The, 28, 77, 123, 125, 139, 176, 196,\n        224, 246, 274, 277, 292, 316\n\n  Yellow Spring, The, 358\n\n  Yen Gate, The, 361\n\n  Yen State, The, 329\n\n  Yen Ch'\u00eang Tz\u016d Yu, 12, 324, 366, 441\n\n  Yen ch'i, 410\n\n  Yen Ho, 48, 241, 374, 429\n\n  Yen Hui _or_ Yen Y\u00fcan, 38, 85, 179, 225, 233, 256, 264,\n        272, 291, 379, 381, 388\n\n  Yen Kang Tiao, 287\n\n  Yen Pu I, 324\n\n  Yi, 60, 255, 308, 309, 319\n\n  Yi Yang, 237\n\n  Yin, Mountain, 93\n\n  Yin and Yang, The, 82, 120, 126, 177, 192, 201, 280\n\n  Yin-li, 394\n\n  Yin W\u00ean, 443\n\n  Ying, 451\n\n  Ying, A man of, 321\n\n  Ying-yang, 382\n\n  Y\u00fc, The Great, 16, 142, 152, 215, 254\n\n  Y\u00fc Ch'iang, 78\n\n  Y\u00fc Ch'ieh, 357\n\n  Y\u00fc Erh, 104\n\n  Yu-hu, 40\n\n  Yu island, 124\n\n  Yu Piao, 179\n\n  Y\u00fcan of Sung, Prince, 270, 321\n\n  Y\u00fcan F\u00eang, 150\n\n  Y\u00fcan Hsien, 378\n\n  Y\u00fceh State, The, 8, 9, 16, 313, 451\n\n  Yung Ch'\u00eang, 116\n\n  Yung Ch'\u00eang Shih, 338\n\n\n\n\n_ERRATA AND ADDENDA_\n\n\n Page 1, line 3 (from bottom), insert comma after \"sunbeam.\"\n\n \" 49, line 2, _Prince_ Ling is the same individual as the _Duke_ Ling\n of pp. 65, 250, 346.\n\n [All such terms are, of course, arbitrary, being used merely as\n convenient equivalents of the Chinese titles in the text]\n\n\"60, \" 13, For \"Hou I\" read \"Hou Yi.\" [This for the sake of uniformity.\n_See_ pp. 255, 308, &c.]\n\n\"65, \" 16, For \"too short\" read \"too scraggy.\"\n\n\"65, \" 20, For \"too thin\" read \"too scraggy.\"\n\n\"72, \" 4, For \"Chi Tz\u016d Hs\u00fc Y\u00fc\" read \"Chi Tz\u016d, Hs\u00fc Y\u00fc.\"\n\n\"170, \" 3 (from bottom), After \"Duke Huan.\" omit the full stop.\n\n\"228, \" 14, For \"glow-worm\" read \"fire-fly.\"\n\n\"230, \" 22, For \"to the minister\" read \"to be the minister.\"\n\n\"262, \" 22, For \"W\u00ean Po\" read \"W\u00ean Poh.\"\n\n\"270, \" 6, For \"Po Li Ch'i\" read \"Poh Li Ch'i.\"\n\n\"272, \" 3 (from bottom), For \"Po Hun\" read \"Poh Hun.\"\n\n\"309, \" 12 For \"Duke Mu\" read \"Duke Muh.\"\n\n\"309, \" 12 For \"Po Li Ch'i\" read \"Poh Li Ch'i.\"\n\n\"314, last line, \"Love for the people,\" &c. Compare p. 329, lines 17\nand 18, \"There is no difficulty,\" &c. The conflict between the meanings\nof these two passages has not been pointed out. The first passage is\nrendered by some commentators, \"Not to be able to love the people is\nthe,\" &c. Neither rendering is quite satisfactory; for reasons which\nwould require quotations from the Chinese text.\n\nPage 324, lines 15 and 26, For \"Tz\u016d Chi\" read \"Tz\u016d Ch'i.\"\n\n\"327, \" 18 and 28, For \"Tz\u016d Chi\" read \"Tz\u016d Ch'i.\"\n\n\"328, line 7, For \"Tz\u016d Chi\" read \"Tz\u016d Ch'i.\"\n\n\"346, \" 5, After \"Duke Ling,\" add \"of Wei.\"\n\n\"371, \" 17, For \"Shih Hu\" read \"Shih-hu.\"\n\n\"373, \" 3, For \"Tan Hs\u00fceh\" read \"Tan-hs\u00fceh.\"\n\n\"394, \" 8, For \"Yin Li\" read \"Yin-li.\"\n\n [These last three corrections mean that I have written names of\n _places_ with a hyphen between the transliteration of the component\n Chinese characters, the names of _men_ with a capital letter to the\n transliteration of each of the Chinese characters which go to make up\n the surname and personal name]\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\nWYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C.\n\n\n\n\n_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._\n\n =Chinese Sketches.= Death of an\n Emperor--Etiquette--Gambling--F\u00eang-shui--Opium--Pawnbrokers--\n Slang--Inquests, &c. &c.\n\n =Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.= Translation of the _Liao\n Chai_. 2 vols. 8vo.\n\n =Historic China, and other Sketches.=\n\n =Gems of Chinese Literature.= Containing Extracts from various\n Authors, from B.C. 500 to A.D. 1600.\n\n =A Short History of Koolangsu.=\n\n =On Some Translations and Mistranslations in Williams' Syllabic\n Dictionary.=\n\n =Dictionary of Colloquial Idioms in the Mandarin Dialect.=\n\n =Chinese without a Teacher=: Being a Collection of Easy and Useful\n Sentences in the Mandarin Dialect. With a Vocabulary. 2nd Edition.\n\n =Synoptical Studies in Chinese Character.=\n\n =Handbook of the Swatow Dialect.=\n\n =Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms.= Translated from the Chinese. With\n copious Notes.\n\n =Two Chinese Poems=: The =San Tz\u016d Ching=, _or the Trimetrical\n Classic_; and the =Ch'ien Tz\u016d W\u00ean=, _or Thousand Character Essay_.\n Metrically translated.\n\n =From Swatow to Canton=: An Overland Journey.\n\n =A Glossary of Reference=, on Subjects connected with the Far East.\n 2nd Edition.\n\n =The Remains of Lao Tz\u016d.= Hong Kong: 1886.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes:\n\nItalic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n\nObvious printer\u2019s errors corrected.\n\nEvery effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as\npossible, including obsolete and variant spellings, non-standard\npunctuation, inconsistently hyphenated words, and other inconsistencies.\n\nIn the original text, the first digit of the first footnote on page x\nis illegible. Corrected based on context.","title":"Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":112991}