{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_63958/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_63958","id":"gutenberg_63958","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63958","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Laozi","Laozi. Dao de jing","Philosophy, Chinese"],"text":"LAO-TZ\u016c,\n\n                                \u8001\u5b50\n\n                              A STUDY\n\n                       IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY\n\n                                 by\n\n                         T. WATTERS, M.A.,\n\n    Mem. N.C.B. of the Asiatic Society of London, Hon. Mem. Asiatic\n            Society of Paris, and a Junior Assistant in H.M.\u2019s\n                      Consular Service in China.\n\n\n                              HONGKONG:\n\n                   PRINTED AT THE \u201cCHINA MAIL\u201d OFFICE.\n\n                                1870\n\n                               LONDON:\n\n                         WILLIAMS & NORGATE.\n\n\n\n\n                               PREFACE.\n\nA considerable portion of the following pages has already appeared in\n\u201cThe Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal,\u201d and its reappearance in\nits present form requires an apology. The subject of the work is one\nin which very few take any interest, and the author is very sensible\nof his numerous imperfections in attempting to deal with matters so\ndifficult and abstruse as are treated of in the Tao-t\u00ea Ching. Having\nthus made confession; it only remains for him to thank Mr. Baldwin and\nhis other friends for their kindness in assisting to get the book\nthrough the press.\n\nT. W.\n\nFoochow, _October_ 19, 1869.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER I.\n\n                            INTRODUCTORY.\n\n\nOne of the most remarkable men in the history of China, as also in the\nhistory of philosophy, is Lao-tz\u016d, the author of the _Tao-t\u00ea-ching_\n(\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93). This book deserves, and has obtained with those who know it,\na high place among philosophical works, and the posthumous fortunes of\nits author have very rarely been surpassed. That his own followers\u2014or\nat least those who professed to be and probably believed that they\nwere his followers\u2014should magnify his name was only what we would have\nexpected. They have raised him from the rank of ordinary mortals, and\nrepresented him as an incarnation of deity, showing himself on this\nearth at sundry times and in various manners. His conception and\nbirth, his personal appearance, and everything about him have been\nrepresented by them as supernatural; and the philosophic little\ntreatise which he composed is regarded as a sacred book. Much of this\nhas arisen from a spirit of rivalry with Buddhism. The Taoists did not\nwish to be behind the Buddhists in the amount of glory and mystery\nattaching to the reputed originator of their religion; and they\naccordingly tried to make the fortunes of Lao-tz\u016d like those of\nSh\u00e2kyamuni, the Buddha of the Present.\n\nBoth Confucianists and Buddhists, however, also regard the\n_Tao-t\u00ea-ching_ as a book of deep mysteries, and admit the\nsupernatural, or at least marvellous, character of its author, though,\nas will be seen, many censure him for teaching doctrines either in\nthemselves mischievous or leading to evil results when fully\ndeveloped. At several periods of Chinese history Lao-tz\u016d has enjoyed\nthe patronage of government, and almost supplanted Confucius. Indeed,\nduring several of the dynasties which reigned within the first few\ncenturies of our era, there seems to have been a constant struggle for\nascendancy between the followers of these two philosophic chiefs.\nEmperors have done honour to Lao-tz\u016d in his temple, and the sovereigns\nof the great T\u02bdang dynasty were proud to deem him their lineal\nancestor. One emperor has even written an excellent commentary on his\nbook; and one of the best editions of the _Tao-t\u00ea-ching_ as regards\ntextual excellence is that by a Confucian mandarin under the present\ndynasty. Buddhist monks also have edited the book with annotations,\nand many of them regard it and its author with a reverence second only\nto that with which the Taoists regard them.\n\nIt is not only, however, his own countrymen who have given honour to\nthis prophet. By Western writers also great and mysterious things have\nbeen attributed to him. Some have found in his book an enunciation of\nthe doctrine of the Trinity. The illustrious R\u00e9musat discovered in it\nthe sacred name Jehovah, and many curious analogies with the best\nphilosophic writings of ancient times, and more especially with those\nof Greece. Pauthier, who has read and written largely about Lao-tz\u016d,\nfinds in his teachings the triple Brahma of the ancient Hindoos, the\nAdibuddha of the Northern Buddhists, and an anticipated Christianity.\nThe _Tao_ (\u9053) of which Lao-tz\u016d speaks so much has been likened to God,\nto the Logos of Plato and the Neoplatonists, to \u201cthe nonentity of some\nGerman philosophers,\u201d and to many other things. Pauthier says:\u2014\u201cLe\ndieu invoque et decrit par _Lao-tseu_ est la _Grande Voie_ du monde,\nla _Raison supr\u00eame universelle_ (\u9053) materiellement identique avec le\nmot qui sert \u00e1 designer Dieu dans les langues grecque (_\u03c6\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2_) latine\n(Deus) et leurs deriv\u00e8es modernes; mais les attributs qu\u2019il lui donne\nne sont point ceux qu\u2019ont donn\u00e9es \u00e0 l\u2019Etre supr\u00eame toutes les\ndoctrines spiritualistes de l\u2019Orient, transmises \u00e0 l\u2019Occident par une\nvoie juive et grecque; par les therapeutes et les ess\u00e9niens, dont\nJesus, le fils de l\u2019homme, fut le revelateur et le representant \u00e0\nl\u2019\u00e9tat philosophique.\u201d[1] Our missionaries have used this word _Tao_\nto represent _\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2_ in their translation of the New Testament, and\nthe first five verses of St. John\u2019s Gospel are nearly as much Taoist\nas Christian in the Chinese text.\n\nSome writers on the other hand, such as Gutzlaff, have represented\nLao-tz\u016d as writing nonsense, and they seem to insinuate that he did\nnot even know the meaning of what he was writing. Others, as Voltaire,\nhave charged on him all the follies and superstitions practised by the\nTaoists, and have consequently decried him and his teachings. This is\njust about as wise and just a proceeding as to reproach the Apostle\nPaul on account of the sayings and doings of sects like Muckers, and\nMormons, and Muggletonians. Many also regard Lao-tz\u016d as a mere\nspeculative recluse, shutting himself up from the turmoils and\nmiseries of social life, and publishing theories in politics and\nmorals of no practical tendency whatever. In these respects he is\nconstantly contrasted with Confucius, who is looked upon as an\neminently practical man, teaching to the people only things which they\ncould easily understand, and ever refusing to wander into the regions\nof uncertainty and mystery.\n\nThere are, so far as I know, very few translations of the\n_Tao-t\u00ea-ching_ in western languages. According to Sir J. F. Davis, a\nmanuscript copy of a Latin translation is preserved in the Library of\nthe Royal Society of England. Pauthier has translated part of the book\ninto French, and has announced his determination, to complete the\nwork. Julien, however, perhaps the best and soberest of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nexpounders, has translated into French the entire book, along with\nmany Chinese notes and fragments illustrating the life and teachings\nof its author. Hegel says there is at Vienna a translation of the\n_Tao-t\u00ea-ching_, or as he calls it _Tao-king_, which he himself had\nseen.[2] He does not, however, mention the name of the translator or\nthe language of the translation, but I think we are justified in\ninferring that it is German. In English we have the recent work of the\nRev. Mr. Chalmers, a missionary and scholar of no ordinary\nattainments. He has some excellent remarks in his Introduction, but\nthe translation itself, being almost unaccompanied with note or\ncomment, and being apparently made from a bad text, is rather\ndisappointing. Ritter, Cousin, Hardwicke, Edkins, and many others\nhave given short accounts of Taoism; but few of these have clearly\nseparated Lao-tz\u016d and his doctrines from the later Taoists and their\ndoctrines. The \u201cextravagant vagaries\u201d of the latter may have arisen\noften from misinterpreted or misapplied statements of Lao-tz\u016d, but\nthey are not to be imputed to him.[3] We must ascribe to Lao-tz\u016d only\nthe things which are his\u2014the merits and defects of his own direct\nteachings.\n\n  [1] Chine, p. 114.\n\n  [2] Geschichte der Philosophie, B. 1. p. 142.\n\n  [3] Compare R\u00e9musat, M\u00e9moire sur la vie et les opinions de Lao-tseu,\n  &c., p. 20.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER II.\n\n                        THE LIFE OF LAO-TZ\u016c.\n\n\nThe life of Lao-tz\u016d, like the book which he wrote, is enveloped in\nmystery; and one might almost be excused for doubting whether such a\nperson ever actually existed. One author, indeed, has even gone the\nlength of saying that Lao-tz\u016d was made out of space or vacuity (_hung_\n\u6d2a).[1] The most reliable account of him which has come down to us is\nthat by Sz\u016d Ma-chien, or Sze-ma-thsien (\u53f8\u99ac\u9077), in the _Shi-chi_\n(\u53f2\u8a18), and this is very brief and unsatisfactory. We have also\noccasional notices of him in other old books, but the stories told\nabout him in the Records of Spirits and Fairies and works of a like\nnature are, as Julien observes, only a tissue of falsehoods which all\nsensible men reject.\n\nSz\u016d Ma-chien says[2] Lao-tz\u016d was a native of the hamlet Ch\u02bd\u00fc-jen (\u66f2\u4ec1)\nof the parish Lai or Li (\u53b2) in the district K\u02bdu (\u82e6), a town of the\nstate Chu (\u695a): his surname was Li (\u674e), his name \u00carh (\u8033), his style\nPo-yang (\u4f2f\u967d) and his posthumous designation Tan (\u8043).[3] He was in\noffice at the court of Chou \u5468 as Shou-tsang-sh\u012d-ch\u012d-sh\u012d (\u5b88\u85cf\u5ba4\u4e4b\u53f2),\nwhich Julien translates \u201cgardien des archives.\u201d\n\nI have been unable to obtain from Chinese sources any reliable\nstatement as to the date of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s birth; though Pauthier[4]\nasserts positively that he was born on the 14th day of the 9th moon,\nin the year B.C. 604. In this he is followed by Julien, who, however,\nsays candidly\u2014\u201ccette date (the 3rd year of king Ting \u5b9a of the Chou\ndynasty, corresponding to B.C. 604) que nous inserons ici, est\nconforme a la tradition historique la mieux \u00e9tablie mais elle ne se\ntrouve point dans la notice du Sze-ma-thsien dont nous donnons la\ntraduction.\u201d[5] There is nothing improbable in this date, as we know\nfrom other sources that Lao-tz\u016d was a contemporary of Confucius,\nthough very much his senior; and as Confucius was born about B.C. 550,\nLao-tz\u016d must apparently have been born about the beginning of the\nsixth century B.C. The latter sage indeed, is usually represented as\nhaving attained to a very great age, and as having been alive much\nmore than fifty years before the birth of Confucius. Ch\u02bdao, a well\nknown author, quoted by Ma Tuan-lin, says that it was in the\nforty-second year of the reign of king P\u02bding (\u5e73\u738b) that Lao-tz\u016d gave\nhis book to the keeper of the Pass.[6] This-would carry him up to the\neighth century B.C., king P\u02bding having commenced to reign about the\nyear B.C. 770. Others[7] mention two teachers of Tao (\u9053) as having\nlived during the Chou dynasty, one Lao-tan (\u8001\u8043) and another named\nLao-lai-tz\u016d (\u8001\u840a\u5b50). It is by the name Lao-tan that Confucius usually\nrefers to Lao-tz\u016d, while later authors often use his surname Li or his\nname \u00carh. It must be remembered also that the Lao-tan mentioned by\nConfucius is regarded by a few commentators as a different person from\nthe author of the _Tao-t\u00ea-ching_.\n\nNearly all authorities seem to agree with Sz\u016d Ma-chien as to the place\nof Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s birth in the feudal dependency Ch\u02bdu (\u695a). Under this word\nBiot has the following remarks\u2014\u201cNom d\u2019un ancien royaume de la Chine\ncentrale, a l\u2019\u00e9poque du Tchun-thsieou. Le centre etait dans\nl\u2019arrondissement de Tchi-kiang; la limite nord etait entre le Kiang et\nle Hoang-ho; la limite sud \u00e9tait au midi du Kiang, mais non bien\ndetermin\u00e9e.\u201d[8] The district city K\u02bdu is also said to have belonged to\nthe principality of _Ch\u02bd\u00ean_, It stood near the present Kwei-t\u00ea-foo,\nthe most easterly of the cities of Honan; and the present K\u02bdu-yang\n(\u82e6\u967d) preserves the house of Lao-tz\u016d and a temple dedicated to his\nmemory.[9] Another account, however, represents him as having been\nborn in the district city Po (\u6beb) in the province of Honan.[10] The\nchief of Ch\u02bdu, like the chiefs of many other states, was at the time\nof Lao-tz\u016d and Confucius only nominally a feudal dependent of the\nking. He was originally a Tz\u016d (\u5b50) or Viscount, but the title Wang (\u738b)\nor king was now usurped in the degenerate days of the Chou rulers who\nwere unable to maintain a strong government.\n\nOf the parents of Lao-tz\u016d and of his early years I have not found any\nrecord in Chinese books; but Pauthier says that according to historic\ndata his father was a poor peasant who had remained a bachelor up to\nhis seventieth year, when he married a peasant woman of the unromantic\nage of forty years.[11] Whatever were his circumstances, however, I\nthink we may conclude that Lao-tz\u016d was in early life a diligent\nstudent of the past history and the institutions of the country, and\nhis obtaining office at the court of Chou was probably a consequence\nof his learning and abilities.\n\nAs to the nature of this office I cannot agree with Pauthier and\nJulien in calling it that of historiographer, or keeper of the State\nArchives. The word _tsang_ (\u85cf) means a granary or storehouse, and in a\nnote to a passage in the Li-chi, or Record of Ceremonies, it is\nexplained as the Imperial or National Museum.[12] The _Shou-tsang-sh\u012d_\n(\u5b88\u85cf\u53f2) would accordingly be the officer in charge of the Museum, and\nwe must remember that when Confucius went to the Capital of Chou to\nLao-tz\u016d, he saw in the palace the portraits of the early kings, along\nwith many other relics of antiquity, which possessed him strongly\nwith an idea of the magnificence of the first princes of the\ndynasty.[13] Dr. Legge also, I find, translates the expression by\n\u201cTreasury-keeper.\u201d[14] The legend in the Records of Spirits and\nFairies states that Lao-tz\u016d was in the time of king W\u00ean a\n_Shou-tsang-shi_ and under king Wu a _Chu-hsia-shi_ (\u67f1\u4e0b\u53f2),[15] this\nlatter term meaning assistant historiographer; and it is not\nimprobable that he may have actually held both these offices in\nsuccession under king Ting (\u5b9a) or king Chien (\u7c21), who reigned in the\n6th century B.C.\n\nDuring the time of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s residence at the court of Chou, he was\nvisited by two young gentlemen who had come in a carriage and pair\nfrom the distant state of Lu (\u9b6f). Their names were Ching-shu (\u656c\u53d4)\nand K\u02bdung chiu (\u5b54\u4e18) or Confucius, and they had come to learn from the\nvenerable sage the rites and manners of the olden times. The latter of\nthe two, namely, Confucius, had already been a pupil of Lao-tz\u016d, and\nstill remembered his former master with affection and respect.\nAccording to Chwang-tzu,[16] however, it was not until he was\nfifty-one years old that Confucius went to see Lao-tz\u016d. He himself\nwhen little more than a youth had set out on a converting tour,\nthinking to induce rulers and people throughout the kingdom to cease\nfrom their evil ways and turn to the good old paths of primitive\nvirtue. He did not succeed, however, and he now told his master the\nsorrowful tale of his disappointment. Lao-tz\u016d said to him, \u201cIf it be\nknown that he who talks errs by excess in arguing, and that he who\nhears is confused by too much talk, the way (Tao \u9053)[17] can never be\nforgot.\u201d According to _Sz\u016d Ma-chien_, the Master on another occasion\nlectured his ambitious disciple as follows: \u201cThe men of whom you\nspeak, Sir, have with their bones already all mouldered into dust, and\nonly their sayings abide. Moreover if the superior man \u541b\u5b50 gets his\ntime, he mounts [his car and takes office]: if he does not get his\ntime, he goes through life like a wisp of straw rolling over sand. I\nhave heard that a good merchant with his treasure house deeply stored\nseems devoid of resources, and that the superior man of perfect\nexcellence has an outward semblance of stupidity. Do you, Sir, put\naway your haughty airs and many desires, your flashy manner and\nextravagant will; these are all unprofitable to you, Sir; and this is\nall I have to say to you.\u201d[20] In the _Family Sayings_ we read that\nwhen Confucius was about to leave _Chou_, Lao-tz\u016d gave him as his\nparting gift a warning against going too far in the public reproval of\nthose who were in authority.[21] From this and the other references\nmade to the intercourse between Confucius and Lao-tz\u016d in the Family\nSayings and the Record of Rites (\u79ae\u8a18), it will be seen that they were\non terms of intimate friendship; and though Confucius may have\ndeserved the reproof which, according to _Sz\u016d Ma-chien_, Lao-tz\u016d\nadministered to him, yet this speech has in it so little of the spirit\nin which allusion is made to Lao-tz\u016d by Confucius or his disciples\nthat I am almost tempted to doubt the story.\n\nI have been unable to find in the Chinese works on this subject a\nstatement of the length of time during which Lao-tz\u016d served the king\nof Chou, of the manner in which he performed his duties, or of the\nimmediate reason of his retirement from office. _Sz\u016d Ma-chien_ simply\nsays,[22] \u201cHe cultivated _Tao_ and virtue (\u4fee\u9053\u5fb7), learned to live in\nseclusion and oblivion as the important thing, resided for a long time\nin Chou; when he saw the fortunes of the dynasty going to ruin, he\nleft the country and came to the Pass (\u95dc). The keeper of the Pass, by\nname _Yin-hsi_ (\u5c39\u559c), said to him, \u2018Since you are about to go into\nseclusion, Sir, you must make me a book.\u2019 Hereupon Lao-tz\u016d produced\nhis book in two sections containing more than 5,000 characters and\ndeclaring the meaning of Tao and T\u00ea (\u9053\u5fb7). He then went away, and no\none knows his end.\u201d\n\nIn order to understand the conduct of Lao-tz\u016d, in retiring from office\nin Chou and going into seclusion when he saw its fortunes broken, we\nmust know something of the state of the country at the time. Now the\nreader of the historical and other works relating to this dynasty will\nremember what a miserable picture of the kingdom is given in most of\nthem. The hard won territories of king Wu \u6b66 were now subject to his\ndegenerate descendants only in name. The whole country was torn up\ninto petty states, which were always warring with each other. Year by\nyear, army after army, with flaunting banners and gay pennons, passed\nand repassed through the fields of the people, and left desolation and\nmisery in their track. Fathers and husbands, sons and brothers, were\ntaken away from their homes and their work, and kept in long military\nservice far away from their families. Laxity of morals accompanied\nthis state of civil confusion. Chiefs forgot their allegiance to their\nprinces, and wives their duties to their husbands\u2014usurpers were in the\nstate, and usurpers were in the family. Every little chief was\nstriving with his neighbour for the mastery, and the weak and wicked\nprinces of Chou were unable to overcome them and reduce them to peace\nand obedience. Men of shining abilities and inordinate ambition rose\nto power in each state, and, wishing to satisfy their ambition,\nincreased the anarchy of the kingdom. The decree of Heaven was slowly\nchanging, and already, in the time of Lao-tz\u016d, \u201cIchabod\u201d was written\nup for the princes of Chou. We can now easily see why the philosopher\ntaught that men should not strive, but ever give way; that they should\nbe humble and satisfied with a low condition; that men of virtue and\nintegrity should retire from the dangers and vices of a wicked\ngovernment; and that no honour should be attached to specious\nabilities or rare acquisitions. True to his principles, he himself,\nwhen the prestige of Chou was lost, and the evil days and evil tongues\nwere becoming more and more evil, withdrew from the court and retired\ninto unenvied obscurity.[23] For this course of action, Confucianists\nand others have severely censured Lao-tz\u016d. We must remember, however,\nthat Confucius himself taught (what he had probably learnt from\nLao-tz\u016d) that when good principles prevail in a country, the superior\nman takes office; and that he retires when bad government takes their\nplace. There seem to have been at the time only two courses which an\nupright and faithful public servant could elect to pursue. He might\neither take his life in his hands, and try by strong measures to\nrecall his rulers to the path of virtue; or he might establish his own\ngood character, and then withdraw from temptation and corruption.\nConfucius chose the former course, and ended in disappointment;\nLao-tz\u016d and many others, as we know from the Lun-y\u00fc (\u8ad6\u8a9e), chose the\nlatter course.\n\nThe Pass to which _Sz\u016d Ma-chien_ represents Lao-tz\u016d as going, and\nwhere he met with _Yin-hsi_ \u5c39\u559c, is said in a note to this passage to\nbe probably _Han-ku-kwan_ \u51fd\u8c37\u95dc, the present Ling-pao \u9748\u5bf6 in the\nextreme west of Honan, and on the south bank of the Yellow River. The\nPass and its keeper have since become famous in the legendary and\npoetic literature of China. This is the last historical notice that we\nhave of Lao-tz\u016d. He left the Pass, having enriched the keeper with the\n81 chapters he had composed on _Tao_ and Virtue, and went away. \u201cNo\none knows his end.\u201d We may hope, however, that he died a peaceful,\nhappy death, in a good old age, having attained a clear insight into\nthe nature of _Tao_ \u9053 and _T\u00ea_ \u5fb7.\n\nAccording to the Lao-tz\u016d Lie Chuan \u8001\u5b50\u5217\u50b3 of _Sz\u016d Ma-chien_,[24]\nLao-tz\u016d left a son named Ts\u02bdung \u5b97, who became a high military officer\nunder the chief of Wei \u5fae, and was appointed to the feudal dependency\nTuan-kan \u6bb5\u5e72. His descendants were living in the time of the Han \u6f22\ndynasty in the 2d century B.C.\n\nSuch is the sum of the probably true information which I have\nsucceeded in obtaining about this remarkable man. Many things that we\nwould have liked to know about him are wanting, and part of what we\nhave seems uncertain. In his birth and in his death he was mysterious,\nand through all his life he seems to have courted obscurity. He tells\nus himself that he appeared to mankind stupid and helpless, but that\nhe had within himself precious treasures of which the world did not\nknow.[25] To me he seems to have been a kind and gentle old\nphilosopher, who thought more of what was beyond this world than about\nwhat was in it. I cannot find in him those traits of moroseness and\ncynicism which others have found, nor any trace of the jealousy and\nspite with which he is said to have regarded Confucius.[26] Chu-hsi\n(\u6731\u71b9) or Chu fu tz\u016d, represents him as a man standing aloof from the\nordinary ways of men, loving neither their sounds nor their sights,\nand not living an official life.[27] Confucius himself refers to\nLao-tz\u016d with affectionate respect, and quotes his opinions as\nsufficient answers to the questions of his own disciples. He speaks of\nhim as extensively read in antiquity and acquainted with the present,\nas having penetrated to the sources of Rites and Music, and as\nunderstanding what belonged to Tao and T\u00ea (\u9053\u5fb7\u4e4b\u6b78).[28] The old man\nwho thought that in troubled times, like those in which they were\nliving, men of wisdom and virtue ought not to make a display of those\nqualities, but rather to appear to the world destitute of them, when\nhe found his former pupil parading the kingdom with a crowd of\ndisciples (one of whom acted as his car driver), going from court to\ncourt admonishing and scolding the chiefs, thought it his duty to give\nthe youthful reformer a sharp reproof and an earnest warning. His\nadvice was excellent, and Confucius found out at last that the\nrestoration of peace and good government to a country was not to be\neffected so easily as he had thought, even though the preacher of\nreform dressed unimpeachably, ate and drank only the best he could\nget, had an excellent ear for music, and knew the decrees of Heaven.\n\nI shall now proceed to give a short sketch of the legendary account of\nLao-tz\u016d, as related in the Records of Spirits and Fairies and other\nbooks.\n\nAccording, to some writers Lao-tz\u016d was a spiritual being, eternal and\nself-existing, manifesting himself as a human being on the earth at\nvarious times and under various names. One author, indeed, puts words\nlike these into the mouth of the sage himself.[29] The most celebrated\nof his incarnations was that which occurred during the early part of\nthe Chou dynasty. On this memorable occasion his mother, who had\nconceived by the influence of a shooting star, brought him forth under\na Li (\u674e) or plum tree, a circumstance from which he derived his\nsurname. For seventy-two long years (or, according to a more cruel\nauthor, for eighty-one years) had he remained in the wretched woman\u2019s\nwomb, and at last he delivered himself by bursting a passage under his\nmother\u2019s left arm. From his having at his birth gray hairs and the\ngeneral appearance of an old man, he was called the _Old Boy_ (Lao-tz\u016d\n\u8001\u5b50)[30]; though some have conjectured that this was the nature of his\nmother\u2019s family, which was given to the child because his mother\nobtained him in an improper manner. One writer says that Lao-tz\u016d could\nspeak immediately on being born, and that he himself intimated at the\ntime that the plum tree under which he emerged into the world would\nfurnish his name. Another says that so soon as he was born he mounted\nnine paces in the air\u2014his step producing a lotus flower\u2014and while\npoised there, he pointed with his left hand to heaven and with his\nright hand to earth, saying: \u201cIn Heaven above and on earth beneath it\nis only Tao which is worthy of honour.\u201d The same author remarks that\nSh\u00e2kyamuni on his birth rose seven paces in the air, and pointing in a\nsimilar manner to heaven and earth pronounced himself alone worthy of\nhonour. He observes very properly that there ought not to be such a\ncoincidence.\n\nWhen his mother got an opportunity of examining her wonderful child,\nshe found him a veritable prodigy. Not only had he gray hairs, but he\nhad also very large ears. Hence came his name \u00carh (\u8033), that is, Ears,\nor as others give it Chung-\u00earh (\u91cd\u8033), Heavy ears.[31] Each ear\nterminated in a point and had three passages. Besides these\npeculiarities the infant had handsome eyebrows\u2014large eyes\u2014a\ndouble-ridged nose\u2014square mouth with thick lips. His hands had\nornamental inscriptions on them, and the soles of his feet presented\nthe mysterious numbers, two and five, of which the former represents\nheaven and the latter earth. He had also many other larger and smaller\nbodily virtues and beauties.[32]\n\nLao-tz\u016d left heavenly purity and honour for earthly pollution and\noffice. It was under the Heaven-blessed kings W\u00ean (\u6587\u738b) and Wu (\u6b66\u738b)\nthat he first took service in the state as Treasury keeper and then as\nAssistant historiographer. This account, however, would make him\nsurvive for the more than patriarchal period of five hundred years. He\nis represented as having several interviews with Confucius who, as Sz\u016d\nMa-chien also relates, compared him to a dragon which in a mysterious\nand inexplicable manner mounts a cloud and soars into heaven. This, as\nR\u00e9musat has observed, was intended as a compliment, the dragon being\nwith the Chinese a symbol of what is exalted and not unattended by a\nmysterious power.[33]\n\nOn retiring from office Lao-tz\u016d proceeded westward intending to pass\nthrough the Han-ku-kwan (\u51fd\u8c37\u95dc) to the Kunlun mountains and other distant\nplaces. Yin-hsi (\u5c39\u559c), however, the keeper of the pass, who had known\nfrom the state of the weather that a sage was to come his way,\nrecognised Lao-tz\u016d for such and detained him until he had himself\nlearned Tao. The time came, however, when the two worthies had to\npart. Lao-tz\u016d informed Yin-hsi that he would have to leave him and go\naway on a long wandering through the boundless realms of space.\nYin-hsi begged earnestly that he might be allowed to go with\nhim\u2014saying that he was prepared to follow the Great Genius through\nfire and water above the heavens and beneath the earth. Lao-tz\u016d\ndeclined the offer, but presented his old friend with five thousand\nwords on Tao and T\u00ea.\n\nThe pathetic state of affairs was now rudely interrupted. Just as\nLao-tz\u016d was about to take his departure it was found that his old\nservant Hs\u00fc-chia (\u5f90\u7532), who had attended him for more than two hundred\nyears without pay, seeing Lao-tz\u016d about to set out on an apparently\nunlimited pilgrimage, demanded payment. The arrears of wages due to\nhim amounted to 7,200,000 cash, and he applied to a friend who got\nYin-hsi to speak to the sage. This friend gave his handsome daughter\nin marriage to Hs\u00fc-chia, who was quite delighted with the arrangement.\nJust at this time, however, the master appeared and told Chia that he\nought to remember from what a poor condition he had been raised, and\nthat he would have been dead long ago had it not been for the charm of\nlong life which had been given to him. He also informed Chia that, as\nhe had previously promised, he had intended to pay the debt in gold on\nreaching An-hsi (\u5b89\u606f), a country which Biot identifies with that of\nthe Parthians. Yielding to the last vestige of earthly infirmity\nLao-tz\u016d became angry and ordered Chia to fall on his face to the\nground and open his mouth. The latter could not but obey, he fell to\nthe ground, the charm came forth fresh as when it was swallowed, and\nChia lay like a shrivelled mummy. Through the kindness of Yin-hsi, who\nrecognised the miraculous power of Lao-tz\u016d, and knocked his head on\nthe ground to him, the ungrateful creditor was restored to life by the\nsame wondrous charm. Yin-hsi also paid him on behalf of Lao-tz\u016d the\ngenerous sum of 2,000,000 cash, and sent him away.\n\nLao-tz\u016d having now settled all his mundane affairs, bade farewell to\nthe keeper of the Pass, telling him that he would return to earth\nafter the lapse of a thousand days and that he would be recognised by\nthe sign of a Ch\u02bding Yang (\u9752\u7f8a), literally, an azure sheep. He then\nmounted a cloud and soared out of sight of the weeping Yin-hsi in a\ndazzling glare of light away into the etherial regions, to his home in\nthe heavens.[34]\n\n  [1] T\u02bdai-p\u02bding-kwang-ch\u012b (\u592a\u5e73\u5ee3\u5fd7) ch. 1; and the Shen-hsien-chuan,\n  vol. 1.\n\n  [2] Shi-chi\u2014\u8001\u838a\u7533\u97d3\u5217\u50b3\u4e09\n\n  [3] An author named Ch\u02bden (\u9673) quoted by Ma Tuan-lin, says that, as\n  _Tan_ means flat-eared, it is not probable that it would be given as\n  a posthumous title. Perhaps it is better to regard it as a name or\n  nickname given to him during life.\n\n  [4] W\u00ean-hs\u00eden-t\u02bdung-k\u02bdao (\u6587\u737b\u901a\u8003), Ch. 211.\n\n  [5] Chine, p. 111.\n\n  [6] Tao-t\u00ea-king, Introduction, Note 1 on page xix.\n\n  [7] See the \u5341\u5b57\u5168\u66f8, the extract from Sz\u016d Ma-chien.\n\n  [8] Dict. Villes et Arrond., p. 244.\n\n  [9] Julien, Tao-t\u00ea-king, Introduction, Note 2 on page xix.\n\n  [10] T\u02bdung-chien-kang-mu, Ch. 41.\n\n  [11] Chine, p. 112.\n\n  [12] Li-chi, Ch. 3, Sect. 74, Note.\n\n  [13] See the Chia-y\u00fc (\u5bb6\u8a9e), Vol. 1, Ch. 3.\n\n  [14] Ch. Classics, Vol. 1, Proleg., p. 65.\n\n  [15] K\u02bdang-hsi\u2019s Dictionary. Character _Chu_ (\u67f1).\n\n  [16] See his works, Ch 5, p. 27, the Tien Yun (\u5929\u904b) section.\n\n  [17] Chia-y\u00fc, Vol. 1, Ch. 3.\n\n  [18] Sh\u00ef chi, Lao-tz\u016d.\n\n  [19] See Chia-y\u00fc, Vol. 1, Ch. 3.\n\n  [20] Sh\u00ef chi, Lao-tz\u016d.\n\n  [21] See Chia-y\u00fc, Vol. 1, Ch. 3.\n\n  [22] Sh\u00ef chi, 1, c.\n\n  [23] For the distracted state of China about this period, one may read\n  the Shi-ching, the T\u02bdung-chien, Ch\u02bdun-ch\u02bdiu, the Lun-y\u00fc, and other\n  books.\n\n  [24] See \u5341\u5b57\u5168\u66f8, Introduction.\n\n  [25] Tao-t\u00ea Ching, Chs. 20 and 67.\n\n  [26] See, for instance, a very unfair article on Confucius in the\n  _Fortnightly Review_ for May, 1868, by Sir J. Bowring.\n\n  [27] \u6731\u5b50\u5168\u66f8, Ch. 58.\n\n  [28] Chia-y\u00fc (\u5bb6\u8a9e), Ch. 3.\n\n  [29] See the Yuan-chien-lei-han (\u6df5\u9451\u985e\u5e7d), Ch, 318.\n\n  [30] Chalmers translates this \u201cold philosopher.\u201d\n\n  [31] See the Records of Spirits and Fairies. Art. \u8001\u5b50. Julien\n  has translated this Chapter in the Introduction to his Tao-t\u00ea\n  Ching.\n\n  [32] See \u8001\u5b50\u5fd7\u7565 in the \u5341\u5b57\u5168\u66f8. Also compare the similar legends about\n  the Buddha in Hardy\u2019s Manual of Buddhism, pages 367\u20138\u20139.\n\n  [33] See his M\u00e9moire sur la vie &c., de Lao-tseu, ps. 5 & 6.\n\n  [34] One author, however, represents him as travelling far away to\n  the West and becoming again incarnate as Gotama Buddha\u2014see\n  Yuan-chien &c., ch. 317.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER III.\n\n                      THE TAO-T\u00ca CHING \u9053\u5fb7\u7d93.\n\n\nLao-tz\u016d is said to have died at the age of eighty-one years in B.C.\n523,[1] though, as has been seen, nothing is known positively about\nthe time or manner of his decease. He had, according to historical\ntradition, on leaving the Hanku Pass, consigned his writings on Tao\nand T\u00ea to Yin-hsi, the guardian of the Pass. This latter seems to have\ntransmitted his doctrines to others, more especially to W\u00ean-tz\u016d (\u6587\u5b50),\nwho probably published the first edition of this work known to the\npublic. Some indeed suppose that Lao-tz\u016d did not himself commit\nanything to writing, and that Yin-hsi merely related orally to W\u00ean-tz\u016d\nand others what he had been taught orally by the sage. This opinion\nwill not seem unlikely, if we consider that the use of paper was at\nthis time unknown and that there were very few facilities of any kind\nfor publishing a book. Others suppose that Wen-tz\u016d was an immediate\ndisciple of Lao-tz\u016d and that he published an account of his master\u2019s\ndoctrines after the decease of the latter.[2]\n\nIn any case, however, it appears certain that for a considerable time\nafter the death of its author the work which is now known as the\nTao-t\u00ea ching remained in at least partial obscurity. Mencius does not\nallude by name to Lao-tz\u016d or his teachings, though he refers on\nseveral occasions, and rather unfavourably, to Yang-chu (\u694a\u6731), who is\nsupposed to have been a disciple of the sage. The philosophers Chwang\n(\u838a) and Lie (\u5217), however, contemporaries of Mencius, seem to have been\naware of the existence and contents of the Tao-t\u00ea ching. The latter\nexpressly quotes its words, and both make mention of Lao-tan.\n\nIt has not been ascertained when or by whom its present title was\nimposed on this book. We find early writers quoting its teachings as\nthose of Hwang-Lao (\u9ec3\u8001), that is, of the Emperor Hwang and Lao-tz\u016d.\nThe former lived, or is supposed to have lived, about B.C. 2600, and\nsome parts of the Tao-t\u00ea ching are expressly ascribed to him, for\nexample, Chapter VI is quoted as his.[3] Another title under which\nthis book is referred to by old authors is Lao-tz\u016d-shu (\u8001\u5b50\u66f8), that\nis, the writings of Lao-tz\u016d,[4] and it is not until the time of\nEmperor W\u00ean (\u6587\u5e1d) of the Han dynasty, or about B.C. 160, that we find\nthe term Tao-t\u00ea used. We must remember also that the use of these two\nwords does not indicate that the book treats only of what is meant by\nthem,[5] nor are we to imagine that the former part of the work refers\nexclusively to T\u00ea. The first word of the former part of the book is\nTao, and the first important word of the latter portion is T\u00ea, and\nthese two were simply combined in order to form a designation for the\nwhole, according to the usual Chinese custom.[6] Hi\u00fcan-tsung (\u7384\u5b97), an\nEmperor of the T\u02bdang dynasty, who reigned in the early part of the 8th\ncentury of our era, besides several other innovations, gave a separate\nname to each part of this book, calling the former part the Tao-ching\nand the latter the T\u00ea-ching.[7] These appellations, however, are\nseldom, if ever, used, and the work is now universally known as the\nTao-t\u00ea ching. From the words of Confucius it might even with some\ndegree of probability be inferred that already in his time the name\nTao-t\u00ea was used, the term Ching or classic, being, of course, a much\nlater addition and given by way of respect.\n\nFrom the naming of the book I now proceed to the considerations of the\nway in which it has been divided. Sz\u016d Ma-chien simply says that\nLao-tz\u016d made a book in two parts, containing more than five thousand\ncharacters, and setting forth the signification of Tao and T\u00ea. Ch\u02bdao,\nhowever, says that the work contained 5,748 words in eighty-one\nchapters. The original division was probably only one into two parts;\nafterwards, however, these were subdivided into chapters. The number\nof these latter composing the entire book varies considerably.[8] Some\neditors make fifty-five chapters; some make sixty-four; some, and\nnotably Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang, make sixty-eight; and some seventy-two. The most\nusual number, however, is eighty-one, and this is said to be\nsanctioned by the old and venerable authority of Ho-shang-kung (\u6cb3\u4e0a\u516c)\nof the Han dynasty. The Taoists are very fond of the number three and\nits multiples, and this particular multiple, eighty-one, is associated\nin tradition with Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s birth and the years of his life, and there\nis perhaps no greater reason for preferring this to any other division.\n\nTo Ho-shang-kung is ascribed also the addition of a title to each of\nthe eighty-one chapters. These titles consist of two characters each,\ngiving an epitome of the contents of the chapter, and they resemble\nthe headings of chapters and sections in our own books. Many editors,\nhowever, reject these inventions of Ho-shang-kung, and use the\nordinary Chinese method of distinguishing each chapter by its first\ntwo characters. This is considered the more decorous method, as the\nother seems to be supplementing the author.\n\nI come now to the text of the Tao-t\u00ea ching, and here the most\nbewildering uncertainty and confusion are found. Some editors, wishing\nto have the number of characters as little as possible beyond five\nthousand, have cut them off apparently at pleasure, and without much\nregard for the sense of the author. Others have pursued a contrary\ncourse, and retained or added characters in order apparently to make\nout what they deemed to be the true meaning of any particular passage.\nThis conduct has occasioned great variations in the text, and\nconsequently great uncertainty as to what Lao-tz\u016d actually wrote or\ntaught. Sometimes one editor, by the suppression of, a negative\nparticle or a word of interrogation, gives to a passage a meaning\nunlike or even opposed to that which another editor by the insertion\nof this character gives to the same passage. But not only do different\neditions of this book vary as to insertion and rejection of words:\nthey also differ as to the mode of writing many of those actually\nemployed. Words written in similar manners, or of similar sound, but\nwith widely different significations, frequently replace one another;\nand not unfrequently characters totally different in sound,\nappearance, and meaning are found substituted one for another in the\nsame passage. Hence the number of various readings is exceedingly\ngreat, and the meaning of many passages at least very doubtful. One\nedition gives in the introduction an account of some of the variations\nin the text, which occupies a considerable number of pages; while\nanother edition gives only a text accompanied by various readings.\n\nThe next point to be considered, is the style of our author. This is\nperhaps the most terse and concise ever employed. There is little, if\nany, grace or elegance about it: and most of the chapters seem to be\nmerely notes or texts for philosophical discourses. They are composed\nof short and often enigmatical or paradoxical sentences\u2014not in verse,\nas has been asserted[9]\u2014and with a connexion either very slight or not\nat all perceptible. Much of the present obscurity may be due to the\nantiquity of the language and the uncertainty about the proper\nreading; but much is also due to the brief enigmatical manner in which\nthe author has expressed himself. Many Chinese regard the style as\nprofound and suggestive, and so, no doubt, it is; but we can never get\nat the bottom of the meaning, nor imagine all that is suggested.\n\nConnected with the obscurity of the style, and indeed contributing\nlargely towards it, is the nature of the topics discussed. The origin\nof the universe, and man\u2019s place and destiny in it as an individual, a\nmember of society, and a conscious part of nature, are subjects which\nin all ages and in all countries have puzzled the minds of thoughtful\nmen, and it is of these and similar matters that Lao-tz\u016d principally\ntreats. Such subjects, even when discussed in a clear and plain style\nand with a rich language, are found to be difficult of elucidation;\nand how much more so must they be when discussed in short enigmatical\nsentences? Lao-tz\u016d, like all other philosophers who live and write in\nthe infancy of a literary language, had only a very imperfect medium\nthrough which to communicate his doctrines. The language of his time\nwas rude and imperfect, utterly unfit to express the deep thoughts of\na meditative mind, and hence it could at best but \u201chalf reveal and\nhalf conceal the soul within.\u201d\n\nThe genuineness and sources of this book are also difficult of\ninvestigation, and it is perhaps impossible to ascertain the truth\nabout them with any accuracy. As has been seen, a portion is ascribed\nto the semi-fabulous Emperor Hwang, and Lao-tz\u016d is sometimes\nrepresented as merely transmitting this emperor\u2019s doctrines. Chapter\nXXXI has been declared spurious, and a portion of Chapter XXVII is\nfound first in Ho-shang-kung\u2019s edition.[10] The beginning of the now\nfamous Chapter XIV is very similar to the words ascribed to the\npredecessor of the Emperor Hwang, namely the Emperor Yen (\u708e), by the\nphilosopher Chwang. R\u00e9musat and Pauthier consider the main doctrines\nof the Tao-t\u00ea ching to be derived from Western sources. The former\nasks\u2014Did Lao-tz\u016d learn them from the Jews or from some oriental sect\nunknown to us?[11] But the illustrious _savant_ was unable to give a\nsatisfactory answer. The learned Pauthier thinks that Lao-tz\u016d borrowed\nhis doctrines either from the writings of some of the ancient Chinese\nsages or from some Indian philosophers.[12] In Ma-tuan-lin\u2019s great\nwork a short account is given of an ancient worthy named Y\u016d-hsuing\n(\u9b3b\u718a), who served the celebrated W\u00ean-wang, and who must accordingly\nhave flourished about B.C. 1150.[13] This man seems to have\nanticipated Lao-tz\u016d in certain doctrines, but we have very little\ninformation about him, and what we have can scarcely be called\nreliable. Lao-tz\u016d never alludes to a previous author; but there cannot\nbe much doubt, I think, that he was well acquainted with the history\nand traditions of his country.\n\nWe may probably now understand the nature of the difficulties\nattending the reading and interpreting of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching, of which\nwestern writers have complained. Julien speaks of it as \u201ccet ouvrage\nm\u00e9morable qu\u2019on regarde avec raison comme le plus profond, le plus\nabstrait et le plus difficile de toute la litt\u00e9rature Chinoise.\u201d[14]\nR\u00e9musat and Pauthier have written in a similar manner, and the study\nof a few pages of the work will show how real are the difficulties of\nwhich they complain. But it is not to foreign students alone that\nthese difficulties are perplexing; they are so to the native student\nalso. Some of its editors are accused not only of not appreciating its\nspirit, but even of not understanding its language.\n\nThe number of those who have edited and commented on this work is very\ngreat, embracing Buddhists, Taoists, and Confucianists. The curious\nreader will find a list of many of these in the Observations D\u00e9tach\u00e9es\nprefixed to Julien\u2019s translation. To this list many more names might\nbe added, but it includes nearly all the useful and well known\neditions. It is only necessary here to enumerate a few of the more\nimportant and celebrated editions, and those which are apparently not\nmentioned by Julien and which have come under my notice.\n\n1. The Tao-t\u00ea-ching-chu (\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93\u8a3b) by Ho-shang-kung, or as Ma-tuan-lin\nnames the book, Ho-Shang-Kung-Chu-Lao-tz\u016d, may be regarded as the\nearliest edition of which we have now any exact information. This\nHo-shang-kung lived in the second century B.C., during the reign of\nKing Wen (\u6587\u5e1d) of the Han dynasty. He derived his name from his living\nas a studious hermit on the bank of a river in a grass-made hut, and\nneither his original name nor anything else scarcely is known of him,\nthough Julien calls him \u201cLo-chin-kong.\u201d To him, as has been seen, is\nascribed division of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s book into eighty-one chapters, as also\nthe addition of the two-word heading of each chapter. The original work\nis said to have been long since lost, and professed reprints are now\ngenerally regarded as spurious. Many modern editions, however, present\nwhat they designate Ho-shang-kung\u2019s text, and Julien seems to regard\nhimself as possessing the genuine commentary. The edition of the\nTao-t\u00ea Ching, which forms the first volume in the Sh\u0115-tz\u016d-ch\u02bduan-shu\n(\u5341\u5b57\u5168\u66f8) published during the reign of Chia-Ch\u02bding of the present\ndynasty, professes to give Ho-shang-kung\u2019s text, revised by two\nscholars of the Ming dynasty. Later editors are divided in their\nopinions of the merits of the recluse\u2019s commentary and arrangement of\nthe text. Some regard the commentary as a fair exponent of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nteachings, while others\u2014and these I think the majority\u2014regard it as\nvery bad and evincing an ignorance of the author\u2019s meaning. The text\nwhich is ascribed to him seems to be freer from obscurities than that\nof some later editions, but he is accused of having taken great\nliberties with the words of the original.\n\n2. The edition of Wang-Pi (\u738b\u5f3c). This man was the author of the\nLao-tzu-liao-lun (\u8001\u5b50\u7565\u8ad6), according to Ch\u02bdao. He was a native of\nShan-yang (\u5c71\u967d) in the time of the Chin dynasty, which reigned over\nChina in the third and fourth centuries of our era.[15] His style was\nSzu-fu (\u55e3\u8f14), and he was an early and devoted student of Lao-tz\u016d.\nBesides this, and that he wrote a commentary on the Tao-t\u00ea chin, and\none on the Yi-ching, and died at the early age of twenty-four, much\nregretted by his sovereign, we know little about Wang-Pi. The text\nwhich he gives in his edition is very good, and his notes are very\nbrief. They are, however, in some cases almost as difficult to\ncomprehend as the passages they are intended to explain; though their\nauthor is regarded by many as a better student of Lao-tz\u016d than\nHo-shang-kung, and Mr. Wylie says that his commentary is \u201cgenerally\nesteemed for its depth of thought and chasteness of diction.\u201d[16] He\nalso divided the work into eighty-one chapters. In the 40th year of\nCh\u02bdien-lung, or in 1775, a revised edition of this work was printed in\nthe palace, under the care of three mandarins, who have written a neat\nlittle preface to the book. This edition is valuable as giving the\nvariations of Wang-Pi\u2019s notes which appeared in the great Encyclopedia\nknown as Yung-lo-ta-tien (\u6c38\u6a02\u5927\u5178).\n\n3. The Tao-t\u00ea-ching-shi-yi (\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93\u91cb\u7fa9). This was the work of L\u00fc-yen\n(\u5442\u5d52), better known as L\u00fc-T\u02bdung-p\u02bdin or L\u00fc-tsu, a famous Taoist of the\nT\u02bdang dynasty. His commentary is very diffuse, and does not tend very\nmuch to give a clear conception of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s views. Many Chinese\nscholars, however, believe that the genuine work is not extant, and\nthat all the editions purporting to be from his pen are spurious.\nL\u00fc-yen was also the editor of a Taoist book written by a celebrated\nindividual of the Han dynasty, and he was the author of a number of\noriginal pieces. He was promoted to the rank of a Genius, and he is\nenrolled as one of the Pa-hsien (\u516b\u4ed9) or Eight Genii, under the style\nShun-yang-ch\u00ean-jen (\u7d14\u694a\u771e\u4eba); and in the 29th year of K\u02bdang-hsi,\nMou-Mu-yuen (\u725f\u76ee\u6e90) published an edition of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching purporting\nto be a revised edition of this man\u2019s work. It is a very useful book,\ngiving in addition to the commentary a list of various readings, the\nsounds of the rare or doubtful characters, and other valuable\ninformation. This is the edition, apparently, to which Julien refers\nas a work \u201cpubli\u00e9e en 1690 par Chun-yang-tchin-jin qui renferme toutes\nles r\u00eaveries des Tao-sse modernes.\u201d[17] I cannot understand, however,\nhow a sinologue of M. Julien\u2019s erudition could mistake the date of the\nfamous L\u00fc-T\u02bdung-pin or forget that he was identical with\nShun-yang-ch\u00ean-jen, A new edition of Mou-Mu-yuen\u2019s book was published\nin the 14th year of Chia-ch\u02bding (1809) by Tsou-Hs\u00fc-k\u02bdun (\u9112\u5b78\u9be4).\n\n4. The edition with notes by Su-Che (\u8607\u8f4d), a relation of the famous\npoet and author of the Sung dynasty, named Su also. Che, or as he is\nalso called Ts\u016d-yu, seems to have been an eclectic philosopher, and he\nhas incurred severe censure from rigid Confucianists for daring to\npresume that the doctrines of Sh\u00e2kyamuni and Lao-tz\u016d could resemble\nthose of their Master. His commentary is written in a liberal and\ngenerous spirit, and shews, besides, a considerable amount of reading,\nmuch in advance of ordinary Chinese authors.\n\n5. Another edition of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching, published during the Sung\ndynasty, was that of L\u00fc-Tung-lai (\u5442\u6771\u840a) or Tsu-ch\u02bdien (\u7956\u8b19), also\nknown as Pei-kung (\u4f2f\u606d). He was a very learned Confucianist, and\nwrote, along with other works, an excellent commentary on the\nCh\u02bdun-ch\u02bdiu (\u6625\u79cb) of Confucius.\n\n6. The Tao-t\u00ea-ch\u00ean-ching-chu (\u9053\u5fb7\u771e\u7d93\u8a3b) by Wu-Ch\u02bd\u00eang (\u5433\u6f84). This man\nwas a native of Lin-chiean-hsien (\u81e8\u5ddd\u7e23) in Kiangsi, and lived under\nthe Yuan or Mongol dynasty. He divided the Tao-t\u00ea Ching into\nsixty-eight chapters by putting, in several instances, two or more of\nthe ordinary chapters into one. His commentary is one of the best and\nof the most popular among the Chinese literati. This is partly owing\nto the fact that Wu-Ch\u02bd\u00eang was also a well-known Confucianist and a\ncommentator on the classics. His style was Yu-ch\u02bding (\u5e7c\u6e05), and it is\nunder the name Oi-yeou-thsing that Julien makes mention of him. In\nChinese books he is also frequently quoted as Ts\u02bdao-lu (\u8349\u5eec). A new\nedition of Wu-Ch\u02bd\u00eang\u2019s excellent work appeared in the eighth year of\nChia-ch\u02bding (1803,) with a preface by Chang-W\u00ean-ping, and another\nedition with a short supplement appeared in the reign of the late\nemperor.\n\n7. Under the Ming dynasty there were several good, editions of this\nwork published, but I have been able to obtain only two of them. The\nTao-t\u00ea-hsing-ming-ch\u02bdien-chi (\u9053\u5fb7\u6027\u547d\u524d\u96c6) was published during the\nreign of Yung-lo in the first quarter of the 15th century. The editor\ndoes not reveal his name but uses a _nom de guerre_, and I have not\nsucceeded in ascertaining anything about his history. The commentary\nwhich he has written is very useful, and evinces a careful study of\nhis author and a familiar acquaintance with Chinese literature. The\ntext and the headings of the Chapters are said to be after\nHo-shang-kung, and the number of the chapters is eighty-one.\n\n8. The Tao-t\u00ea-hsing-ming-hou-chi (\u9053\u5fb7\u6027\u547d\u5f8c\u96c6) appeared in the reign of\nChia-ching (\u5609\u9756) of the same dynasty, and nearly a century after the\nabove edition. The author of this commentary was Chu-Ch\u02bden-hung\n(\u6731\u5bb8\u6d2a), a relative of the royal family, and a military viceroy with\nfull powers for some time. His notes are short and not of great\nutility, but he occasionally introduces quotations from early writers\nillustrative of passages in Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings, and he seems to have\nbeen a man of no mean literary attainments.\n\n9. The Tao-t\u00ea Ching, with Prolegomena and Commentary by Hsu-Ta-ch\u02bdun\n(\u5f90\u5927\u693f), was published in 1760. Ta-ch\u02bdun\u2019s style was Ling-t\u02bdai (\u9748\u80ce),\nand he was born in Wu-chiang-hsien (\u5433\u6c5f\u7e23) in the department of Soochow,\nin the reign of Yung-ch\u00eang. He was well-known during his life as an\naccomplished scholar, and a writer on medicine and other subjects. His\ncommentary on the Tao-t\u00ea Ching is to be reckoned among the most useful\nof all the commentaries that have hitherto appeared. He speaks very\nslightingly of previous editors, more especially of Ho-shang-kung,\nand he advertises his readers that he has not stolen anything from his\npredecessors, but has studied his author. Mr. Wylie says that Ta-ch\u02bdun\nin this commentary, \u201cin a concise and lucid style, develops his ideas\non the work of La\u00f2u-tze, extolling it above the Confucian Classics.\u201d[18]\n\n10. The Tao-t\u00ea-ching-k\u02bdao-yi (\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93\u6537\u7570) by Pi-Yuan (\u7562\u6c85), a high\nofficer under Chien-lung. He published this work in the forty-sixth\nyear of this reign (1781) in two volumes, and with the chapters\ndivided in the usual manner. The text which he gives is that settled\nby Fu-yi (\u5085\u5955), an imperial annalist during the T\u02bdang dynasty, and his\nnotes consist almost exclusively of an enumeration of the variations\npresented by previous editions. Mr. Wylie speaks of it as \u201ca very\nexcellent examination of the purity of the text,\u201d[19] but it is\nscarcely so much as a statement of the various readings, with an\noccasional attempt at explanation or reconciliation.\n\n11. The Lao-tz\u016d-ts\u02bdan-chu (\u8001\u5b50\u53c3\u8a3b). Of this Mr. Wylie writes:\u2014\u201cA\ncritical exposition of the work (that is, of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching)\nwas written by \u502a\u5143\u57a3 E Yu\u00ean-t\u02bd\u00e0n in 1816, entitled the \u8001\u5b50\u53c3\u8a3b\nLa\u00f2u-tsz\u00e8-ts\u02bdan-cho\u00f3.\u201d[20]\n\nAppended to several editions of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching is a small tract\nbearing the name Yin-fu Ching (\u9670\u7b26\u7d93), that is, as explained by one\nauthor, the Classic of the Secret Tally. It contains only a few\nsentences, generally obscure and enigmatical, bearing on subjects\nsimilar to those treated of by Lao-tz\u016d. The author of the work is\nunknown, and some refer it to the ancient Hwang-Ti (about B.C. 2630),\nwhile others bring it down so late as Li-Ch\u02bduan (\u674e\u7b4c) of the T\u02bdang\ndynasty.[21] It seems more probable, however, that it was written by\nT\u02bdai-kung (\u592a\u516c), who is also known as L\u00fc-wang (\u5442\u671b) and Chi\u00e0ng-shang\n(\u59dc\u5c19). He was feudal chief of the principality of Ch\u02bdi (\u9f4a), and lived\nunder kings W\u00ean and Wu of the Chou dynasty (about B.C. 1150 to 1120).\nSz\u016d-ma-ch\u02bdien[22] mentions the book under the title Chou-shu-yin-fu\n(\u5468\u66f8\u9670\u7b26), as having been studied by Su-Ch\u02bdin (\u8607\u79e6), a famous general\nabout the time of Mencius, who attained to the high position of chief\nminister for six of the seven states then contending; hence he is\nfrequently spoken of as Liu-kuo-hsiang (\u5289\u570b\u76f8). The Yin-fu-Ching forms\npart of the curious book called the Magnetic Needle (\u6307\u5357\u91dd), where the\ntext is accompanied with very interesting notes.\n\n  [1] Le Livre des R\u00e9compenses et des Peines &c., par S. Julien\n  Avertissement, p. 6.\n\n  [2] W\u00ean-hsien &c., ch., 211.\n\n  [3] See Lie-tz\u016d\u2019s Chung-hs\u00fc-chen-ching (\u51b2\u865b\u771e\u7d93) Tien-sui (\u5929\u745e) ch.\n  where it forms part of a quotation from Hwang-Ti\u2019s writings.\n\n  [4] See Julien\u2019s Tao-t\u00ea-king, p. xxxiii.\n\n  [5] Hs\u00fc Ta-ch\u02bdun\u2019s Preface to his edition of the Tao-t\u00ea ching.\n\n  [6] See Wu-Ch\u02bd\u00eang\u2019s (\u5433\u6f84) Tao-t\u00ea ching, ch. 1.\n\n  [7] Hs\u00fc Ta-ch\u00fcn\u2019s edition, Prolegomena 2. This statement, however,\n  cannot be verified.\n\n  [8] See Hs\u00fc Ta-ch\u02bd\u00fcn as above.\n\n  [9] Pauthier, Chine, p. iii.\n\n  [10] W\u00ean-hsien &c., ch. 211.\n\n  [11] M\u00e9moire &c., p. 49.\n\n  [12] Chine Moderne, p.f 350, and Chine, p. 95 &c.\n\n  [13] Ch., 211.\n\n  [14] Tao-t\u00ea ching, p. ii\n\n  [15] See the Shang-yu-lu (\u5c19\u53cb\u9304), Ch. 9, art. \u738b.\n\n  [16] Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 179.\n\n  [17] Tao te, &c. Observations D\u00e9tach\u00e9es, p. xxxix.\n\n  [18] Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 173. I have failed, however, to\n  verify the concluding part of the sentence.\n\n  [19] Notes, &c., p. 173.\n\n  [20] Notes, &c., p. 174.\n\n  [21] Notes, &c., p. 173.\n\n  [22] Shi-chi, Ch. 8.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IV.\n\n                GENERAL VIEW OF LAO-TZ\u016c\u2019s TEACHINGS.\n\n\nBefore proceeding to examine in detail the doctrines of the _Tao-t\u00ea\nChing_, I shall briefly indicate their general nature; and by way of\npreface to my own remarks, I now present to the reader the statements\nof two critics of different countries, and of rather widely separated\ndates. One of these, _Chu-hsi_ \u6731\u71b9, a Chinese philosopher who lived in\nthe 12th century, says:\u2014\u201cLao-tz\u016d\u2019s scheme of philosophy consists in\nmodesty, self-emptiness, the saving of one\u2019s powers, and the refusal\nin all circumstances to agitate the bodily humours and spirits.\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s learning consists, generally speaking, in being void of\ndesires, quiet, and free from exertion\u2014in being self-empty, retiring,\nand self-controlling (lit., self-keeping) in actual life. Accordingly,\nwhat his words are ever inculcating is to have in outward deportment a\ngentle tenderness and modesty, and to be at the core void of all\nselfishness, and unhurtful to all things in the world.\u201d[1] The other\ncritic, a French philosopher still living, says:\u2014\u201cLa conception de\n_Lao-tseu_ est un Rationalisme panth\u00e9istique absolu dans lequel le\nmonde sensible est consider\u00e9 comme la cause de toutes les\nimperfections et de toutes les mis\u00e8res, et la personalit\u00e9 humaine\ncomme un mode inf\u00e9rieur et passager du grand \u00catre, de la grande _Uit\u00e9_\nqui est l\u2019origine et la fin de tous les \u00catres. Elle a, comme nous\nl\u2019avons d\u00e9j\u00e0 dit ailleurs une grande analogie avec le syst\u00e8me de\nl\u2019_Identit\u00e8 absolue_ de Schelling. Il y a cette difference, cependant,\nque la conception du premier n\u2019est en quelque sorte qu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tat\nrudimentaire, comme la civilization de son \u00e9poque, tandis que le\nsyst\u00e8me du dernier embrasse tous les progr\u00e8s que la pens\u00e9e\nphilosophique a fait pendant plus de deux mille ans d\u2019incessants et\nsouvent d\u2019infructueus labeurs.\u201d[2] I am unable to coincide perfectly\nwith the opinions of the above critics, especially with those of the\nlatter; and I shall probably refer to them again. There is at least\none respect in which the writings of Lao-tz\u016d resemble those of\nSchelling\u2014that is, in being frequently quite unintelligible to all\nordinary mortals.\n\nPauthier, however, seems to have observed what the Chinese critic\napparently failed to notice\u2014namely, that all Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings are\nthe elucidation and development of his idea of the relations between\nsomething which he names _Tao_ and the Universe. In taking a general\nview of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s philosophy, this is the first observation I have to\nmake:\u2014It is a system which refers all things to _Tao_, as the ultimate\nideal unity of the universe. The sum of the _Tao-t\u00ea Ching_ may be said\nto be that Tao originated all things, is the everlasting model of rule\nfor all things, and that into it all things are finally absorbed. It\nbehoves us then, at the outset, to endeavour to ascertain what that is\nwhich Lao-tz\u016d designates by this name, and to find some sort of an\nequivalent for it in our own language, if possible.\n\nNow the character Tao \u9053 is used in several very different senses in\nthe _Tao-t\u00ea Ching_. (1) It is used in the sense of the _way or means_\nof doing a thing.[3] (2) In some passages it means to speak of or\ndescribe.[4] (3) It is used in the sense of the course\u2014literal and\nmetaphorical\u2014characteristic of and pursued by Heaven, Earth, the\nperfect man, &c.[5] This usage of the word is common to Lao-tz\u016d with\nthe Confucianists and all other Chinese writers. In some places also\nit seems to be used in the sense of good principles\u2014truth\u2014as in\nConfucianist writings. (_See Ch._ 46.). (4) There is the\ntranscendental use of the word, perhaps originated by Lao-tz\u016d,[6] but\nat least chiefly transmitted through him. It is with _Tao_ used in\nthis last sense alone that we have to deal at present, and I shall\naccordingly now give a sketch of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s own account of the _Tao_\nwhich has given a name to his philosophy.\n\n_Tao_, then, is something which existed before heaven and earth were,\nbefore Deity was, and which is, indeed, eternal.[7] It has not any\nname really,[8] and it never had a name; but Lao-tz\u016d feels himself\nobliged to devise an epithet for it, and he adopts the word _Tao_.\nThis word, however, is not to be taken in any of its ordinary\nsignifications,[9] but is used in a peculiar sense, to denote that\nwhich would otherwise be nameless. This _Tao_ cannot be apprehended by\nany of the bodily senses.[10] It is profound, mysterious, and\nextremely subtle.[11] Represented as existing eternally, it is in its\nnature calm, void, solitary, and unchanging;[12] but represented as in\noperation, it revolves through the universe of being, acting\neverywhere, but acting \u201cmysteriously, spontaneously, and without\neffort.\u201d[13] It contains matter, and an inherent power of production;\nand though itself formless, it yet comprehends all possible forms.[14]\nIt is the ultimate cause of the universe, and it is the model or rule\nfor all creatures, but chiefly for man.[15] It represents also that\nideal state of perfection in which all things acted harmoniously and\nspontaneously, and when good and evil were unknown; and the return to\nwhich constitutes the _summum bonum_ of existence.[16] Lao-tz\u016d speaks\nof the _Tao_ under various metaphors\u2014it is the spirit of the void[17]\n(lit., spirit of the valley)\u2014a hollow utensil[18]\u2014a river or\nocean[19]\u2014a parent[20]\u2014a ruler.[21] We will have more to say of this\n_Tao_ shortly; but the above will perhaps suffice for the present to\ngive an idea of what meaning Lao-tz\u016d attached to the word, or rather,\nit should be said, the meanings; for he does not seem to have had in\nhis mind a very clear conception of what _Tao_ actually was.\n\nThe next thing we have to do is to endeavour to find a word which will\ntranslate _Tao_ in this, its transcendental use\u2014a matter of no easy\naccomplishment. Pauthier, as has been seen, renders it by \u201c_Grande\nvoie_ du monde,\u201d by \u201cRaison supr\u00eame universelle:\u201d he also sometimes\nspeaks of it simply as \u201cRaison\u201d[22] or \u201cLogos.\u201d R\u00e9musat[23] also\nrenders it by \u201cLogos\u201d or \u201cRaison;\u201d and it is by the term \u201cRaison\u201d or\n\u201cLogos\u201d that English writers translate the character _Tao_ when it\nrefers to the peculiar doctrines of Lao-tz\u016d and his real or pretended\nfollowers. Julien, however, dissents from this interpretation, and\nrightly I think. After giving an account of _Tao_ as taught by the\nTaoists themselves, he says \u201cIl parait donc impossible de le (i.e.,\n_Tao_) prendre pour la _raison primordiale_, pour _l\u2019intelligence\nsublime_ qui a cr\u00e9\u00e9 et qui r\u00e9git le monde.\u201d[24] It is with great\nhesitation and reluctance, however, that I find myself unable to adopt\nJulien\u2019s own translation\u2014\u201cVoie,\u201d or Way. I quite agree with him as to\nthe reason for not adopting the term Reason\u2014namely, that _Tao_ as\nrepresented by Lao-tz\u016d is devoid of thought, judgment, and\nintelligence (as to action, Lao-tz\u016d is apparently not quite consistent\nwith himself.) Thus it is quite impossible to make it identical with\nthe _Logos_ of Plato, and almost absurd to identify it with the divine\n_Logos_ of the Neoplatonists of Alexandria. But I do not think that\nthe word _way_ is the best we can use to translate _Tao_, and this for\nseveral reasons. A way implies a way-maker apart from and antecedent\nto it, but _Tao_ was before all other existences. Again, when Lao-tz\u016d\nspeaks of it as indeterminate, as profound, and finally as producing,\nnourishing, and absorbing the universe, these terms can scarcely be\napplied to a way, however metaphorically used. Julien says:\u2014\u201cLe sens\nde _Voie_, que je donne au mot _Tao_ \u9053, r\u00e9sulte clairement des\npassages suivants de _Lao-tseu_: \u2018Si j\u2019\u00e9tais dou\u00e9 de quelque prudence,\nje marcherais dans le grand _Tao_\u2019 (dans la grande _Voie_).\u2014Le grand\n_Tao_ est tres-uni (la grande _Voie_ est tres-unie), mais le peuple\naime les sentiers (ch. LIII).\u201d \u201cLe _Tao_ peut \u00eatre regard\u00e9 comme la\nmere de l\u2019univers. Je ne connais pas son nom; pour le qualifier, je\nl\u2019appelle le _Tao_ ou la _Voie_ (ch. XXV).\u201d[25] Now in the former of the\ntwo cases here cited the expression _ta tao_ \u5927\u9053 means, I think, the\ngreat course of duty which all men ought to pursue, but especially\nthose who are in authority\u2014the way of the magistrate or ruler; an\ninterpretation which seems to be supported by the rest of the chapter,\nthough some of the commentators seem to be of the same opinion with\nJulien.[26] It is to be observed that this scholar translates the\nwords \u201c_ta tao_\u201d by \u201cla grande Voie,\u201d but in the same chapter renders\nthe words \u201c_fei tao tsai_\u201d \u975e\u9053\u54c9 simply by \u201cce n\u2019est point pratiquer le\n_Tao_.\u201d The chapter from which the latter of the above two passages is\ncited by Julien also seems to require another word than _way_ to\ntranslate _Tao_, and the same remark applies to the occurrence of the\nword in several other places throughout the _Tao-t\u00ea Ching_.[27] We may\nsay of the _Tao_, as \u201cVoie\u201d or Way, that it revolves everywhere; but\nwe can scarcely speak of it as being parent of the Universe\u2014the first\nand highest existence. _Way_ or _road_ is, no doubt, one of the\nearliest meanings of the character _Tao_, and that which underlies\nmany of its other uses. Nor is it very difficult to trace its progress\nfrom the perfectly concrete _course_ or _channel_, and the abstract\n_line_ or _guide_, to the ideal _path_ or _course_ which universal\nnature eternally and unchangingly pursues. What Lao-tz\u016d does, as it\nseems to me, is to identify Nature and her ideal course; and as he\ncould find no more general word whereby to express this ultimate ideal\nunity, he uses the word _Tao_ to designate it, just as a mathematician\nuses _x_ to express an unknown quantity.\n\nIn order to appreciate Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s system properly, we must substitute\nfor _Tao_ a word corresponding as closely as possible to it in width\nof meaning and vagueness of association. It bears a somewhat close\nanalogy to the _Apeiron_ of the old Ionic philosopher Anaximander; but\nthe Indeterminate or the Indefinite is rather an awkward word to be\nfrequently using, and we do not know enough of Anaximander\u2019s system to\nwarrant us in substituting the _Apeiron_ for _Tao_. In modern times,\nagain, the _Substance_ in Spinoza\u2019s philosophy, and the _Absolute_ in\nSchelling\u2019s, resemble it in many points; but neither could serve as a\nproper translation. I have accordingly determined to express _Tao_ by\nour word _Nature_, using it in its widest and most abstract\nsense\u2014\u201cgreat creating Nature.\u201d But I do not wish to be understood as\nimplying that this word corresponds exactly to _Tao_\u2014far from it. I\nuse it simply as in my opinion the nearest approach we can get.[28]\nSo, then, we may say of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s system that it refers all matter and\nspirit in the universe to one original Nature, from which they both\noriginated, by which they are maintained, and into which they are to\nbe finally absorbed. This is the first general observation I have to\nmake on his philosophy.\n\nAgain, Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s philosophy is eminently an ethical or rather a\npolitico-ethical system. All his teachings aim at making man a better\nindividual, and a better member of society. Whatever the subject be on\nwhich he discourses, there is generally a moral allusion or a moral\nlesson taught in allegory; and the high value which he assigns to\nmoral excellence above all showy accomplishments deserves our greatest\ncommendation, even though we dissent from his disparaging view of\nintellectual acquirements. He appeals more to the heart than to the\nmind\u2014more to the Hebraistic side of our nature than to the Hellenistic\n(to use Mr. Matthew Arnold\u2019s language); and the _Tao-t\u00ea ching_ is more\na book of skeleton sermons than a book of \u201creasoned truth.\u201d The\nintellect, indeed, is not only depressed; but is even sometimes spoken\nof unfavourably, as opposed to the beneficial operation of Nature\n(_Tao_) on men\u2019s hearts.\n\nFurther, the system of Lao-tz\u016d is one purely speculative, and _a\npriori_ (in the Kantian sense). There is in it no gathering of\nfacts\u2014no questioning of nature\u2014no rising from particular facts or\ntruths of greater and greater generality. There is, in short, little\nor nothing of the spirit of the inductive philosophy of modern times\nto be found in the _Tao-t\u00ea ching_. It \u201cnobly takes the _a priori_\nroad,\u201d beginning with the universal cause, and coming down to\nparticular facts; frames hypotheses about nature and morals, and tries\nto make existing circumstances conform to them. This is the character,\nhowever, which it has in common with nearly all early systems of\nphilosophy, and even with some of very modern times. An utterly wrong\nmethod we believe it to be; but we can easily forgive it in Lao-tz\u016d,\nwhen we take into consideration the circumstances amid which he lived,\nand the nature and amount of the materials at his hand.\n\nThe last characteristic of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings to which I shall allude\nat present is that they are all imbued with a genial and sympathetic\nspirit, regarding man not merely as an individual, and not merely as a\nmember of human society, but also a citizen of the universe, if I may\nuse the expression. Modesty, gentleness, forbearance, and self-denial\nare his constant watchwords. He ever inculcates on man, especially in\nhis highest development, a sympathy not only with his fellow men, but\nalso with all the creatures of the earth, and even with inanimate\nnature. This doctrine results, no doubt, from the leading idea that\nall owe their origin to the one all-producing, all-nourishing nature;\nand it is a doctrine of which Lao-tz\u016d seems to have been very fond. He\nfrequently alludes to it as the duty and advantage of man to be\nhumble, gentle, and never striving; and he utterly abhors the idea of\nviolence, and the ostentation of superiority. He goes to excess,\nhowever, I think, in his notions about a peaceful, non-interfering\nmode of life; and carries his doctrine of the imitation of Nature\n(_Tao_) to unwarranted lengths.\n\nHaving thus described generally the nature of the teachings of the\n_Tao-t\u00ea ching_, I shall now proceed to examine them more in detail. In\ndoing so it will be convenient to consider them under the three\nleading divisions of Speculative Physics, Politics and Ethics. I must,\nhowever, beg pardon of the pale shade of their author for doing so, as\nI am certain that he would not sanction this division; and at the same\ntime I must forewarn the reader that he is not to think that subjects\nin his opinion appertaining to these three departments are kept\nrigorously distinct. Lao-tz\u016d, like Plato and some other philosophers,\nmakes Physics and Politics subordinate parts of Ethics\u2014the grand, all\nembracing study. So when reading in the _Tao-t\u00ea ching_ about matters\nwhich we regard as belonging peculiarly to one or other of these\ndivisions, we must endeavour to regard them from Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s point of\nview\u2014viz., as part of one universal, all containing nature. If we\nleave out the important word which I enclose in brackets, and\nsubstitute some such word as _yet_ or _still_, we find in the writings\nof a great English poet of the 18th century sentiments very similar to\nthose of the Chinese sage who lived more than two thousand years\nbefore him:\u2014\n\n  \u201cAll are but parts of one stupendous whole,\n  Whose body nature is, and [God] the soul;\n  That, changed through all, and yet in all the same;\n  Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame;\n  Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,\n  Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,\n  Lives through all life, extends through all extent,\n  Spreads undivided, operates unspent:\n  Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,\n  As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart:\n  As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,\n  As the rapt seraph that adores and burns:\n  To _it_ no high, no low, no great, no small;\n  _It_ fills, _it_ bounds, connects, and equals all.\u201d\n\n  [1] Collected Writings, ch. 58.\n\n  [2] Chine Moderne, p. 351.\n\n  [3] Ch. 59.\n\n  [4] Ch. 1. This passage is, however, also rendered according to the\n  metaphor of a road. See Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang\u2019s note.\n\n  [5] Chs. 47, 49, 73, 77.\n\n  [6] See Ch. 25.\n\n  [7] Chs. 25, 26.\n\n  [8] Ch. 41.\n\n  [9] Ch. 1. The word ch\u02bdang (\u5e38), however, may mean lasting, eternal.\n\n  [10] Chs. 14, 35.\n\n  [11] Ch. 1, &c.\n\n  [12] Ch. 25.\n\n  [13] Chs. 25, 37.\n\n  [14] Chs. 14, 21.\n\n  [15] Chs. 1, 51.\n\n  [16] See chs. 18, 38.\n\n  [17 Ch. 6. The character \u8c37 is, however, also rendered otherwise in\n  this page. See Yi-yuan\u2019s edition and that in the \u5341\u5b50\u5168\u66f8.\n\n  [18] Ch. 4.\n\n  [19] Ch. 32.\n\n  [20] Chs. 24, 52.\n\n  [21] Ch. 51. The _Tao_ is also, however, said not to rule over the\n       world. See ch. 34.\n\n  [22] Chine Moderne, p. 351.\n\n  [23] Melanges Posthumes, p. 167, and in the Melanges Asiatiques. See\n  also Julien\u2019s Introduction, p. xii.\n\n  [24] Introduction, p. xiii.\n\n  [25] Introduction, p. xiii.\n\n  [26] See Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang\u2019s note to the passage.\n\n  [27] _E.G._, chs. 16, 14, &c.\n\n  [28] There are several passages in the _Tao-t\u00ea ching_ where Nature\n  could not be used to translate _Tao_; but this may in some cases arise\n  from the fact that Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s conception of Nature was very different\n  from ours.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER V.\n\n                        SPECULATIVE PHYSICS.\n\n\nWhat was Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s conception of the Cosmos? To this question we are\nunfortunately unable to give a clear and satisfactory answer. It is\nonly occasionally, and then usually by way of illustration, that he\nalludes to the material world or to the physical and mental\nconstitution of man. All that we can do, accordingly, is to examine\nthe miscellaneous passages in which he refers to these subjects, and\ncollect from them what information we can as to the notions which\nLao-tz\u016d entertained about the origin and nature of the universe; and\nwe must be prepared to find under the head of speculative physics many\nmore matters than ought properly, according to our ideas, to be so\nincluded.\n\nThe first point to be noticed is that, as has been already seen,\nLao-tz\u016d refers all existing creatures to an eternal, all-producing,\nall-sustaining unity, which he calls Nature (Tao). He does not\ndistinguish between mind and matter, nor would he, in my opinion, have\nrecognised any fundamental or generic difference between them.\nWhether, however, spirit and matter were identical or diametrically\nopposite, they had a common origin in Tao. But though usually he thus\nrefers all things to nature (Tao) as their first cause, yet he\nsometimes seems to speak of the universe as coming from nothing.[1]\nNor is there any contradiction here, since Lao-tz\u016d regarded\nnon-existence (Wu \u7121) as in circumstances identical with existence (Yu\n\u6709); the latter being merely the former contemplated from a different\npoint of view. This opinion, if not explicitly stated by himself, is\nat least implied in his writings, and is explicitly stated by one of\nhis disciples.[2] It must be mentioned, however, that Chu-hsi (\u6731\u71b9)\nascribes the very opposite doctrine to Lao-tz\u016d, who, he says, regarded\nexistence and non-existence as _two_, whereas Chou-tz\u016d (\u5468\u5b50) regarded\nthem as one.[3] In the Tao-t\u00ea Ching the originator of the universe is\nreferred to under the names Non-Existence, Existence, Nature (Tao) and\nvarious other designations\u2014all which, however, represent one idea in\nvarious manifestations. It is in all cases Nature (Tao) which is\nmeant, and we are now prepared to examine the part which Lao-tz\u016d\nassigns to this Tao in the production and regulation of the physical\nworld.\n\nTao, as spoken of by Lao-tz\u016d, may be considered as a potential or as\nan actual existence, and under this latter head it may be contemplated\nin itself and as an operating agent in the universe. Regarded as a\npotential existence it may, when compared with actual existence, be\npronounced non-existence. It is from this point of view imperceptible\nto man, and can be spoken of only negatively; and so such terms as\nnon-existence (\u7121), the unlimited or infinite (\u7121\u6975), the non-exerting\n(\u7121\u7232), the matterless (\u7121\u7269), are the expressions used with reference\nto Tao thus considered.[4] Accordingly Lao-tz\u016d, when speaking of it as\na potential existence, as the logical antecedent of all perceptible\nexistence\u2014seems to regard it as equivalent to the primeval Nothing or\nChaos. So too the Yuan-miao-nei-p\u02bdien (\u5143\u5999\u5185\u7bc7) says that the great\nTao which arose in non-exertion is the ancestor of all things.[5] From\nthis state, however, it passes into the condition of actual existence,\na transition which is expressed under the metaphor of generation.[6]\nTo this doctrine, that existence is generated from non-existence,\nChu-hsi objects; but his objection arises chiefly, I think, from\nsupposing that Lao-tz\u016d regarded them as two distinct things, whereas\nhis doctrine on this subject is exactly like that of Chou-tz\u016d, with\nwhich Chu-hsi seems to agree.[7] We are not to suppose that Nature is\never simply and entirely potential to the utter exclusion of\nactuality, or _vice versa_: on the contrary, these two existences or\nconditions are represented as alternately generating each the\nother.[8] Thus the potential (or nominal non-existence) may be\nsupposed to be in time later than the actual, though the latter must\nalways be logically regarded as consequent on the former. In itself,\nagain, _Tao_, regarded as an actual existence is, as has been seen,\ncalm, void, eternal, unchanging and bare of all qualities. Regarded as\nan agent operating throughout the universe, on the other hand, _Tao_\nmay be spoken of as great, changing, far-extending, and finally\nreturning (to the state of potentiality).[9] A late author gives a\ncurious illustration of the above notions of Lao-tz\u016d, taken from the\nwell-known habits of the Ateuchus with reference to the propagation of\nits species, but this author proceeds on the supposition that\nnon-existence and existence are different. We have now to combine\nthese two conceptions of Tao, as a potential and as an actual\nexistence. Though void, shapeless, and immaterial, it yet contains the\npotentiality of all substance and shape, and from itself it produces\nthe universe,[10] diffusing itself over or permeating all space. It is\nsaid to have generated the world,[11] and is frequently spoken of as\nthe mother of this latter[12]\u2014\u201cthe dark primeval mother, teeming with\ndreamy beings.\u201d All things that exist submit to Tao as their chief,\nbut it displays no lordship over them.[13] In the spring time it\nquickens the dead world, clothes it as with a garment, and nourishes\nit, yet the world knows not its foster-mother. A distinction, however,\nis made\u2014the nameless is said to be the origin of heaven and earth,\nwhile the named is the mother of the myriad objects which inhabit the\nearth. Though there is nothing done in the universe which is not done\nby Nature, though all things depend on it for their existence, yet in\nno case is Nature seen acting.[14] It is in its own deep self a\nunit\u2014the smallest possible quantity\u2014yet it prevails over the wide\nexpanse of the universe, operating unspent but unseen.[15]\n\nWe now come to the generations of the heavens and the earth, and their\nhistory is thus given by Lao-tz\u016d.[16] Tao generated One, One generated\nTwo, Two generated Three, and Three generated the material world. That\nis, according to the explanation given by some, Nature (Tao) generated\nthe Yin-ch\u02bdi (\u9670\u6c23), the passive and inferior element in the\ncomposition of things; this in its turn produced the Yang-ch\u02bdi (\u967d\u6c23),\nthe active and superior element; which again produced Ho (\u548c), that is,\nthat harmonious agreement of the passive and active elements which\nbrought about the production of all things.[17] Another explanation is\nthat Tao considered as Non-existence produced the Great Extreme\n(T\u02bdai-chi \u592a\u6975), which produced the passive and active elements; then\nHarmony united these two and generated the universe.[18] Of this\nsection of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching R\u00e9musat observes\u2014\u201cEn effet, Lao-tseu\nexplique, d\u2019une mani\u00e8re qui est enti\u00e8rement conforme \u00e0 la doctrine\nPlatonicienne, comment les deux principes, celui du ciel et celui de\nla terre, ou l\u2019air grossier et l\u2019ether, sont li\u00e9s entre eux par un\n_Souffle_ qui les unit et qui produit _l\u2019harmonie_. Il est impossible\nd\u2019exprimer plus clairemeut les id\u00e9es de Tim\u00e9e de Locres, dont les\ntermes semblent la traduction du passage Chinois.\u201d[19] The doctrines,\nhowever, on the formation of the world put into the mouth of Tim\u00e6us,\nand the ideas of Lao-tz\u016d on this subject, seem to me to have very\nlittle in common. The Greek philosopher makes a personal deity the\nartificer of the universe, fashioning the world out of the bright and\nsolid elements, fire and earth, which he unites by means of air and\nwater, thus forming a friendship and harmony indissoluble by any\nexcept the author. The _harmony_ of Lao-tz\u016d, on the other hand is, if\nwe understand him aright, only the unconflicting alternation of the\ntwo cosmical elements, and there is no divine Demiurg in his system.\nThere is, however, a statement in the Tim\u00e6us which resembles Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nstatement on this subject, and to which we will refer hereafter.\n\nFirst in order after Tao is T\u02bdien (\u5929), or the material heaven above\nus. This is represented as pure and clear in consequence of having\nobtained the One\u2014that is, in consequence of having participated in the\ngreat \u201cover-soul\u201d or Universal Nature.[20] Were heaven to lose its\npurity and clearness it would be in danger of destruction. Of the\nheavenly bodies and their revolutions, Lao-tz\u016d does not make mention,\nnor have we any means of ascertaining what were his ideas respecting\nthem. Nearly all that he says about T\u02bdien or heaven is metaphorical,\nwith apparent reference to an agent endowed with consciousness\n(according to our ways of thinking). Thus he speaks of it as enduring\nfor a long period because it does not exist for itself; as being free\nfrom partiality towards any of the creatures in the world; as being\nnext in dignity above a king and below Tao, and as taking this last\nfor its rule of conduct.[21]\n\nThe space between heaven and earth is represented as like a bottomless\nbag or tube,[22] though this is perhaps merely a metaphorical\nexpression. The earth itself is at rest,[23] this being the specific\nnature which it has as the result of its participation in Tao. The\nheavens are always revolving over the earth, producing the varieties\nof the seasons, vivifying, nourishing, and killing all things; but it\nremains stationary in calm repose. Were it to lose the informing\nnature which makes it so, the earth would probably be set in motion.\nIts place is next in order after heaven which it takes as its model.\nIt is impartial, spontaneous, unostentatious, and exists long because\nit does not exist for itself. Neither in heaven nor on earth can\nanything violent endure for a lengthened period. The whirlwind and\nheavy rains may come, but they do not last even for a day.[24]\n\nNext to heaven and earth are the \u201cmyriad things\u201d that is, the animate\nand inanimate objects which surround us; and here again it must be\nborne in mind that Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s allusions to these matters are only\nincidental and by way of illustration generally. As has been seen, all\nthings spring from and participate in Nature, which is, as it were,\ntheir mother. This Nature (Tao) is, as we have seen, imperceptible in\nitself, and when considered merely as a potentiality; but it bodies\nitself forth and takes a local habitation and a name in all the\nobjects which exist in the universe, and thus it becomes palpable to\nhuman observation\u2014not in its essence but only in its workings. Now\nthis manifestation of Nature constitutes for each object or class of\nobjects in the world its T\u00ea (\u5fb7)\u2014that is, what it has received or\nobtained from Tao, according to some commentators. T\u00ea is usually\ntranslated by _virtue_, but this word very inadequately represents the\nmeaning of the word in this connection. Sometimes it seems to be\nalmost synonymous with Tao, and has functions assigned to it which at\nother times are represented as pertaining to this latter. If, however,\nwe regard Tao as the great or universal Nature, we may consider T\u00ea as\nthe particular Nature with which creatures are endowed out of the\nformer. It is also the conscious excellence which man and all other\ncreatures obtain when spontaneity is lost. Thus Lao-tz\u016d regards all\nthings as equally with man under the care of Nature, which produces\nand nourishes all alike. Heaven and earth, he says, have no\npartialities\u2014they regard the \u201cmyriad things\u201d as the straw-made dogs\nwhich were formed for the sacrifices and prayers for rain, and cast\naside when the rites were finished.[25] In another passage of the\nTao-t\u00ea Ching it is said that Tao generates all things, T\u00ea nourishes\nall things, Matter (Wu \u7269) bodies them forth, and Order (\u52e2) gives them\nperfection.[26]\n\nLao-tz\u016d, in accordance with popular Chinese ideas, speaks of five\ncolours, five sounds, and five tastes;[27] and he attributes to these\na baneful influence on man, whom he teaches to overcome and nullify\nthem as much as possible. All things in the world, moreover, are\narranged in a system of dualism.[28] Motion is always followed by\nrest, and this again by motion. Long and short, high and low, mutually\nsucceed each other, and are merely relative terms. Solidity gives the\nobject, and hollowness gives its utility, as in the case of wooden or\nearthen vessels. When a thing is to be weakened it must first have\nbeen strengthened; to that from which there is to be taken there must\nfirst have been given. This dualism will be seen to extend into other\nregions besides the physical world, and it is needless to refer to it\nat greater length at present.\n\nFurther, Lao-tz\u016d seems to have regarded all existing things as having\na set time during which to endure. Nature engenders them, nourishes\nthem and finally receives them back into its bosom. They flourish\nuntil they attain to the state of completeness, which is soon lost,\nand then decay and final dissolution ensue.[29] The tree grows from\nthe tiny sapling to its full maturity, then decays and returns to dark\nMother Nature. The process as conceived and sketched by the ancient\nsage is beautifully described in the words of Tennyson\u2014\n\n  \u201cLo! in the middle of the wood,\n  The folded leaf is woo\u2019d from out the bud\n  With winds upon the branch, and there\n  Grows green and broad and takes no care,\n  Sun-steep\u2019d at noon, and in the moon\n  Nightly dew-fed; and turning yellow\n  Falls, and floats adown the air.\n  Lo! sweeten\u2019d with the summer light\n  The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow,\n  Drops in a silent autumn night.\n  All its allotted length of days,\n  The flower ripens in its place,\n  Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil,\n  Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil.\u201d[30]\n\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s mode of contemplating natural phenomena is, indeed,\naltogether much more like that of the poetical metaphysician than that\nof the physicist. He does not look upon a stream, for example, as\ncomposed of certain chemical elements in certain proportions, as\nrunning at a calculable rapid rate, carrying with it an alarming\namount of mud, and having in each microscopic drop exactly so many\nthousands of animalcul\u00e6. He thinks of it rather as at first a tiny\nstream up among the hills, scooping out the hard earth, and slowly\nwearing away impeding stones, in order to make a channel for its\nwaters; as flowing thence down into the vale where it gives itself up\nto enrich the fields; then as passing on thence to join the brimming\nriver, and finally submit itself to the great sea.[31] He regards\neverything from an ethical point of view, and finds a lesson\neverywhere. He does not regard the study of nature as consisting in\nthe investigation of colour, sound, heat, and such things\u2014the less one\nhas to do with these the better. The study should be carried on in\none\u2019s own room without any adventitious aids. The student must\novercome his affections and passions before he can attain to a\nknowledge of the great mysteries of Nature, but having once attained\nthe serene heights of desireless existence he can know all things.[32]\nThis is no doubt a bad way of studying nature, and one which would\nnever conduct to the material benefit of humanity. Yet it also has its\nuses. It helps to make us \u201cmingle with the universe,\u201d have a lower\nappreciation of ourselves, and sympathise affectionately with all\nthat surrounds us. We have abundance of room in the world for the two\nclasses of philosophers\u2014those who experiment on Nature with a view to\nthe material progress of mankind, and those who regard her with the\ndutiful love of a son for a mother.\n\nIn the teachings of Lao-tz\u016d in Speculative Physics, as sketched above,\nthe student of philosophy will find many ideas resembling others with\nwhich he is already more familiar. To those of the sages of Ancient\nGreece it is perhaps unnecessary for me to do more than refer. With\nthem as living also in the comparative childhood of the world Lao-tz\u016d\nmight naturally be supposed to have considerable affinity. In the\nTim\u00e6us of Plato there is a passage which does not accord with the rest\nof that work, nor with the spirit of the other Platonic dialogues, and\nwhich bears considerable resemblance to the doctrine of Lao-tz\u016d about\nthe primordial all-producing Nature (Tao). The hero of the dialogue,\nif such an expression may be used, Tim\u00e6us himself, suddenly leaves the\ntrain of imaginative discourse which he had been for some time\npursuing about the visible universe and the mode in which the divine\nartificer constructed it, and he introduces a new conception, that of\nthe primeval mother, formless, immortal, and indestructible.[33]\nReference has already been made to the resemblance between Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nteachings and those of Anaximander, and Hegel says of the latter\u2019s\nnotion, that the _\u1f04\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd_ is the principle from which endless worlds\nor gods originate and into which they vanish, that it sounds quite\nOriental.[34] But not only are Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s speculations on physics like\nthose of other ancients, they resemble also those of many modern\nphilosophers, and his theory about the study of Nature may well be\ncompared with that of Schelling. The Tao itself, or the primordial\nexistence, appears under various names in the history of Philosophy.\nIt is the T\u02bdai-chi (\u592a\u6975) or Great Extreme\u2014the T\u02bdai-yi (\u592a\u4e00) or Great\nUnit\u2014the _Anima Mundi_\u2014the Absolute\u2014the Vital Force\u2014Gravity\u2014Caloric\u2014when\nconsidered as universally active and productive.\n\n  \u201cThere is but one vast universal dynamic, one mover, one might,\n   Variously operant under the various conditions it finds;\n   And we call that by turns electricity, friction, caloric, and light,\n   Which is none of these things, and yet all of them. Ask of the waves\n     and the winds,\n   Ask of the stars of the firmament, ask of the flowers of the field;\n   They will answer you all of them, naming it each by a different name.\n   For the meaning of Nature is neither wholly conceal\u2019d nor reveal\u2019d;\n   But her mind is seen to be single in her acts that are nowhere the\n     same.\u201d[35]\n\nFurther, Lao-tz\u016d represents pure or abstract existence as identical\nwith non-existence, and in our own century Hegel has said that Being\nand Non-being are the same.[36] Again, Lao-tz\u016d speaks of the ultimate\nexistence as that out of which all other existences have proceeded,\nand he regards it as becoming active and producing from having been\ninactive and quiescent. So many modern philosophers have maintained\nthat God made all things out of himself; and in the opinion of some\nthe Deity became personal from being impersonal, and the Infinite\nmanifested itself as finite in the created universe.[37] But the great\npoint on which Lao-tz\u016d differs from the large majority of modern\nthinkers with regard to the First Cause is that he never introduces or\nsupposes the element of personality; consequently will and design are\nexcluded from his conception of the primordial existence.[38] Here, I\nthink, he is logically more correct than the modern philosopher\nreferred to above, although his notions may be much farther from the\nactual truth than theirs. Again, when Lao-tz\u016d speaks of Nature (Tao)\nas the source whence all things spring\u2014as that which informs and\ncherishes all the world\u2014and as that into which all living creatures,\nhigh and low, finally return\u2014he says what many others have expressed\nin terms often very similar. I select only two or three instances by\nway of illustration. The Pythagorean doctrine is thus put by Virgil\u2014\n\n  \u2014\u201cdeum (i.e. animum) ire per omnes\n  Terrasque tractusque maris c\u00e6lumque profundum.\n  Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum,\n  Quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas;\n  Scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri\n  Omnia.\u201d[39]\n\nStrikingly similar to Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s words are those of the Preacher\u2014\u201cFor\nthat which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing\nbefalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have\nall one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for\nall is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all\nturn to dust again.\u201d[40] In later times Coleridge has said\u2014\u201cLife is\nthe one universal soul, which by virtue of the enlivening Breath, and\nthe informing word, all organised bodies have in common, each after\nits kind. This, therefore, all animals possess, and man as an\nanimal.\u201d[41] More closely resembling Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s statements on this\nsubject, however, are the words of Dr. B\u00fcchner\u2014\u201cD\u2019un autre c\u00f4t\u00e9\nn\u2019oublions pas non plus, que nous ne sommes qu\u2019une partie\nimperceptible, quoique n\u00e9cessaire, du grand tout qui constitue le\nmonde et que nous devons t\u00f4t ou tard perdu notu personalit\u00e9 pour\nrentrer dans la masse commune. La Mati\u00e8re dans son ensemble est la\nm\u00e8re d\u2019ou tout provient et ou tout retourne.\u201d[42]\n\nAs we proceed we will find other doctrines of our author resembling\nthose of writers and thinkers far removed from him in time and space.\nThe illustrations given and referred to above will suffice to show\nthat, in speculations about Nature and the great mystery of existence,\nwe are little, if anything, superior to \u201cthe ancients.\u201d The course\nof speculative philosophy seems to be circular\u2014the same truths and\nerrors appearing again and again, so that as Coleridge has said, \u201cFor\nmany, very many centuries it has been difficult to advance a new\ntruth, or even a new error, in the philosophy of the intellect or\nmorals,\u201d[43] or, he might have added, of theoretical physics. Is it\ntrue, after all, that the spirit of the long-deceased philosopher\nreturns from the Elysian fields, forgetting by its Lethean draught all\nthe truths and realities of the eternal, ever-the-same world, to\ninform again a human body? We know that Malebranche\u2019s character was\nlike that of Plato. Schelling, even in external appearance, resembled\nSocrates; Hegel is called the modern Proclus; and the soul of Lao-tz\u016d\nmay have transmigrated into Emerson. This last has been chained to \u201ca\nweight of nerves,\u201d and located in circumstances altogether unlike\nthose of its former earthly existence, a fact which would account for\nmany points of unlikeness. The informing spirit, however, has known no\nchange in \u201cits own deep self:\u201d\n\n  \u201cOur birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;\n    The soul that rises with us, our life\u2019s star,\n  Hath had elsewhere its setting,\n    And cometh from afar;\n  Not in entire forgetfulness\n  And not in utter nakedness,\n  But trailing clouds of glory do we come\n  From God, who is our home.\u201d\n\n  [1] See Ch. 40.\n\n  [2] See Preface to Tao-t\u00ea-ching-chie \u9053\u5fb7\u7d93\u89e3.\n\n  [3] See note in the T\u02bdai-chi-t\u02bdu-shuo (\u592a\u6975\u5716\u8aaa). Hsing-li-ta-ch\u02bduan.\n      Vol. I.\n\n  [4] See Ch. 28, 46.\n\n  [5] Yuan-chien, &c., p. 318.\n\n  [6] Ch. 40. Compare with this Aristotle\u2019s statement, \u201cNature spoken\n      of as generation is the path to Nature.\u201d See Essay V. in Grant\u2019s\n      Aristotle\u2019s Ethics, vol. 1.\n\n  [7] See his \u5168\u66f8, Ch. 85.\n\n  [8] Ch. 2.\n\n  [9] Ch. 25, see Pauthier, Chine Moderne, p. 359.\n\n  [10] See Chs. 21, 25, compare Emerson Miscellanies, p. 32.\n\n  [11] Ch. 51.\n\n  [12] Chs. 6, 52.\n\n  [13] Ch. 34.\n\n  [14] See Chs. 37, 41, 43.\n\n  [15] See Chs. 32, 39.\n\n  [16] Ch. 42.\n\n  [17] See Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang\u2019s note to the passage.\n\n  [18] See the note on this passage in the Tao-t\u00ea-ching-chie; compare\n       also the peculiar interpretation given by Ta-ch\u00fcn.\n\n  [19] M\u00e9moire, &c., p. 36.\n\n  [20] See Chs. 16, 39.\n\n  [21] See Chs. 7, 5, 16, 25.\n\n  [22] See Ch. 5; Julien, however, translates the passage, \u201cL\u2019\u00eatre qui\n       est entre le ciel et la terre resemble \u00e0 un souffict de forge,\u201d\n       &c.\n\n  [23] Ch. 39.\n\n  [24] Ch. 23.\n\n  [25] Ch. 5.\n\n  [26] Ch. 51; but see the different interpretation given by Julien.\n\n  [27] Ch. 12.\n\n  [28] See Chs. 2, 11, 29, 36. Compare Emerson\u2019s Essay on\n       Compensation\u2014_Essays_, vol. i.\n\n  [29] See Chs. 16, 55.\n\n  [30] _The Lotos Eaters_.\n\n  [31] See Chs. 8, 78.\n\n  [32] See Chs. 1, 47.\n\n  [33] Tim\u00e6us, ch. xviii. (Ed. Stallbaum). See also Grote\u2019s Plato,\n       Vol. iii., p. 266\u20137. Tim\u00e6us, however, introduces reason and other\n       ideas not consonant with Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings.\n\n  [34] Geschichte, &c., vol. i, p. 204.\n\n  [35] Robert Lytton\u2019s\u2014\u201cThe Man of Science.\u201d\n\n  [36] See Lewes\u02bc History of Philosophy, vol. ii., p. 533 (New Edition).\n\n  [37] On this subject information will be found in E. Laisset\u2019s\n       Pr\u00e9curseurs et Disciples de Descartes, p. 210, &c.; Hamilton\u2019s\n       Discussions; Lewis\u02bc History of Philosophy, vol. ii.\n\n  [38] Fichte (the elder), however, is at one with Lao-tz\u016d on this\n       point.\n\n  [39] Georgica. Bk. iv., vs. 221\u20136. The rest of the passage does not\n       apply. Compare also Cicero\u2019s criticism on the Pythagorean\n       doctrine, in the De Nat. Deorum, ch. 1, \u00a711.\n\n  [40] Eccles., Ch. iii., vs. 19 and 20.\n\n  [41] Aids to Reflection, p. 4.\n\n  [42] Force et Mati\u00e8re, p. 93 (French translation).\n\n  [43] Biographia Lita., ch. 5; compare also the remarkable words of\n       Hegel. Geschichte, &c., Vol. i., p. 143.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VI.\n\n                              POLITICS.\n\n\nWe now breathe a freer air\u2014escaped from the trammels of Physics, and\nat large in the wide spaces of Politics. Here Lao-tz\u016d speaks more\nplainly and fully, and it is easily seen that he is dealing with\ncongenial subjects. To us also his political aphorisms will come with\nmore freshness and delight than the speculations about things much\nmore beyond his ken with which we were last engaged. Yet we must not\nexpect to find in the _Tao-t\u00ea Ching_ a treatise on Politics, or a\ndiscourse on the best form of government. Lao-tz\u016d does not present to\nus a wax figment of his own imagination\u2014an ideal republic, an Utopia,\nor a New Atlantis. He looks to his own country as it was then,\noppressed and miserable, and he endeavours to recall those in\nauthority to a noble and generous mode of government. His standard of\npolitical excellence may be ideal, and some of his maxims may be\nfanciful, and even bad; still we will find in all a genial human\nphilosophy, which even we of the enlightened nineteenth century cannot\nutterly despise.\n\n\u201cPolitics,\u201d says Sir G. C. Lewes, \u201crelate to human action so far as it\nconcerns the public interest of a community, and is not merely private\nor ethical. Human action, thus defined, consists of\u20141, the acts and\nrelations of a sovereign government, both with respect to its own\nsubjects and other sovereign governments; 2, the acts and relations of\nmembers of the political community, so far as they concern the\ngovernment, or the community at large, or a considerable portion of\nit.\u201d[1] Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings in politics refer more to the former than\nto the latter of these two divisions. He does not, however, omit to\nnotice the relations of the different members of the state, as well to\nthe government as to each other; but he relegates this subject to the\nprovince of ethics. He considers the people more in their private\nrelations than as bound by legal ties to the performance of certain\nacts, and the abstaining from certain other acts, towards their\nfellows. Nor is it from the political stand-point that he contemplates\nthe nature and distribution of wealth, a subject which properly\nbelongs to politics. These and similar matters are all assigned to the\nprivate relations of man to the Universal Nature, and so they will\ncome more properly under the head of ethics.\n\nHaving premised thus much, I now proceed to set forth Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nteachings about \u201cthe acts and relations of a sovereign government,\nboth with respect to its own subjects and other sovereign\ngovernments;\u201d and\n\n1. _Of the institution of the Sovereign_.\u2014It is to the people that he\nassigns the original appointment of an emperor, and he gives a\npeculiar reason for the institution. A bad man still has the law of\nNature (_Tao_) in him; and he is not to be cast aside as a hopeless\ncase, seeing he may be transformed into a virtuous man. Accordingly\nemperors and magistrates were appointed, whose duty it was to save, as\nit were, by precept and example, those who had gone astray.[2] Thus\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s idea of the sovereign is so far purely ethical. He does not\nconceive of him so much as the judge and ruler of the people as their\nmodel and instructor. The man whom the people elect, however, is also\nthe elected of Heaven.[3] As in the case of Saul the Israelites\nanointed him whom the Lord had chosen, so the people raise to the\nthrone him whom Heaven has appointed. Princes exercise government,\nbecause they have received that destiny as their share of the\nUniversal Nature.[4] They obtain their _One_\u2014their individualizing\nnature\u2014in order that they may rule righteously. Sometimes he seems to\nuse the term _Sh\u00eang-j\u0115n_ (\u8056\u4eba) as synonymous with _Wang_ (\u738b), or\nKing.[5] Now the _Sh\u00eang-j\u0115n_ is the man who by his nature is\ncompletely virtuous, perfectly in harmony with the ways heaven has\nordained. He is in short the stoic _Sapiens_, and whether he actually\nadminister public affairs or not, is still a king. The term _Saint_,\nby which Julien renders this expression, scarcely conveys its full\nmeaning; as the _Sh\u00eang-j\u0115n_ is not only holy, but also supremely wise.\nHe is the ideal or typical man, who rules ever and transforms the\nworld; and, failing a better, I shall translate it by the expression\n_godlike man_. In ancient times, it was the _Sh\u00eang-j\u0115n_, or godlike\nman, who was appointed ruler; and if such were the case now, the world\nwould be in peace and prosperity. The man who is destined to become\nking will not use violence to obtain the honour.[6] On the contrary he\nwill be humble and yielding; and so, as water wears away the hard\nopposing rocks, he will finally triumph. In confirmation hereof\nLao-tz\u016d cites the saying of a godlike man:\u2014\u201cTo bear the reproaches of a\nkingdom is to preside over the sacrifices to the gods of the land and\ngrain (_i.e._ to be prince), and to bear a kingdom\u2019s misfortunes\nis to be king of the whole empire\u201d\u2014words true, though seeming\nparadoxical.[7] Lao-tz\u016d, however, has a very high opinion of the\nposition and dignity of the sovereign. There are four great things in\nthe universe, and he is one of them; the remaining three being Nature\n(_Tao_), Heaven, and Earth[8] In another place he even puts the king\nimmediately before Heaven.[9]\n\n2. _The relations of the ruler to his subjects_.\u2014With Lao-tz\u016d, as with\nall Chinese writers on politics, the mode in which, government ought\nto be conducted is a supremely important subject. In his homely\nmanner, he compares the ruling of a large kingdom to the cooking of a\nsmall fish, or the handling of a fine and delicate implement.[10] Too\nmuch cooking spoils the implement. So is it with the kingdom. It is an\netherial instrument which cannot be wrought with\u2014if one works with it\nhe destroys it, and if one handles it he loses it.\n\nThe first duty of the ruler is to rectify himself\u2014to overcome his\nappetites and passions.[11] He must cultivate virtue in himself, and\nproceeding thence he will have it cultivated in his family, and\nfinally in all the empire; and thus the kingdom will remain\nestablished in his family for generations to come.[12] He must be\nserious and grave[13] in his deportment, remembering the greatness of\nhis charge, and whence it was derived. By levity of conduct he will\nlose his ministers, and by violent proceedings he will lose his\nthrone. His models ought to be the Earth,[14] which is always in\npeaceful rest, and the rulers of antiquity, who followed Nature\n(_Tao_). In the early days of innocence and simplicity, subjects only\nknew that they had rulers, so lightly lay the hand of government on\nthem.[15] Then came the time when rulers were loved and lauded, then\nthe time when they were feared, and lastly that in which they were\ntreated with contumely. The prince of the present time ought to return\nas far as possible to the primitive ways. He should, like the great\nUniversal Nature, be free from show of action[16]\u2014if he could only\nkeep the law of Nature, his kingdom would, as a matter of course, be\nin a state of order and tranquility\u2014all things would submit to\nhim, and become, of their own accord, transformed to a state of\ngoodness[17]\u2014even the demons would cease to possess elfish power; or\nif they still possessed it, they would not use it to the detriment of\nmen. The prince ought also, at least outwardly, to be humble and\nmodest, not arrogating precedence and superiority, but rather using\nthe language of self-abasement.[18]\n\nIn the exercise of government Lao-tz\u016d does not allow the use of\nviolence, and he inveighs nobly against military oppression. If the\nprince keep himself from being absorbed in worldly interests\u2014do not\nconfer honour and emoluments on brilliant parts\u2014nor prize what the\nworld holds valuable\u2014nor make display of that which is coveted: his\nexample will have such virtue that all his subjects will cease from\nstrife and violence, and live in peaceful obedience.[19] But if he try\nto have the empire through force, he will fail. He who according to\nthe Law of Nature (_Tao_) would assist the prince will not compel the\nempire by arms\u2014this sort of thing is wont to have its recompense.\nWhere the General pitches his tent, thorns and briers spring up; and\nin the wake of a great army there are inevitably bad years. If there\nbe necessity for fighting\u2014and only then\u2014he who is wise in ruling will\nstrike a decisive blow at the fit time, and then lay down his arms,\nnot glorying in his conquest. Fine arms are inauspicious implements,\nhated by all things; and he who holds to Nature will not continue to\nuse them. The noble man (\u541b\u5b50) in private life esteems the left side,\nand in time of war esteems the right\u2014the left being symbolic of the\n_Yang_ (\u967d) or preserving principle, and the right of the _Yin_ (\u9670) or\nkilling principle. Arms are inauspicious implements\u2014not such as the\nnoble man employs; he uses them only when he has no alternative, but\nhe looks on superiority with indifference, and takes no glory in\nvictory. He who glories in victory delights in the massacre of men,\nand such an one cannot have his will in the empire. To him who slays a\nmultitude of men, a position of dignity is assigned corresponding to\nthat of the chief mourner at a funeral, viz., the right hand side,\nwhich in inauspicious matters is the post of honour, just as in\nauspicious matters the left hand side is the post of honour.[20] Thus\nnot only is the ruler not to use military power to keep his subjects\nin subjection, but he is also not to drag these latter into war for\nhis own aggrandisement. The fighting to which Lao-tz\u016d mainly alludes\nis that of the different principalities of the country among\nthemselves, and on this subject the words of Pascal may be not unaptly\nadded to those of our author:\u2014\u201cLe plus grand des maux est les guerres\nciviles. Elles sont s\u00fbres si on veut r\u00e9compenser le m\u00e9rite; car tous\ndiraient qu\u2019ils meritent. Le mal \u00e0 craindre d\u2019un sot qui succ\u00e8de par\ndroit de naissance n\u2019est ni si grand ni si s\u00fbr.\u201d[21] War is the\nresult, according to Lao-tz\u016d, of bad government, of the lust of power\nand property. If good government prevail in a country, its fleet\nhorses will be employed on the farm; but if ill government prevail,\nand lust and ambition have scope, feuds will continue until war steeds\nbeget war steeds on the plains of the frontier.[22] Whether,\ntherefore, for the purpose of solidifying the prince\u2019s power over his\nsubjects, or for state aggrandisement, war and all violent measures\nare interdicted.\n\nBut not only does Lao-tz\u016d thus advise the ruler against using military\npower in his realm; he also recommends the doing away with capital\npunishment\u2014indeed with all punishment whatever. The people do not fear\ndeath, and how then is it to be used to keep them in dread? If the\npeople could be made to have a constant fear of death, and some commit\na crime, and be apprehended and put to death, would any one continue\nto venture on offending? It is presumptuous then for the magistrate to\nuse capital punishment. There is the eternal executioner, and he who\nputs to death for him is like the man who fells a tree for the head\nwood-man; and such an one seldom fails to wound his hand.[23] Capital\npunishment is thus reserved for something superhuman to execute; and\nthe earthly magistrate has only to endeavour to lead a life free from\nthe appearance of lust and violence.[24]\n\nIt is by justice that a kingdom is well governed, as by stratagem a\nwar is conducted.[25] Yet the prince must be lenient to his people. If\nrestrictions on liberty of action be multiplied, so that his subjects\ncannot lift a hand or move a foot without incurring guilt, they will\nbe prevented from pursuing their industry, and so become poor.[26]\n\nThe levying of excessive taxes[27] by those in authority for the\nindulgence of their sensual appetites, also impoverishes a people, and\naccordingly in government there is nothing like economy.[28] To keep\nthe court in affluence while the fields are weed-grown and the public\ngranaries exhausted; for the rulers to have expensive clothing, sharp\nswords, sumptuous food and excessive wealth, is to glory in plunder,\nbut not to follow Nature. Nor may the prince break his word with\nsubjects\u2014as want of faith in him is followed by want of faith in\nthem.[29]\n\nIt is not necessary for the ruler to explain the nature and method of\nhis government. On the contrary he ought to keep his counsels and his\nconduct secret. Inasmuch as the fish cannot with impunity leave its\nelement, so the sharp engines of government may not be displayed.[30]\nWhen the laws are numerous and obtrusively exhibited, the people\nbecome thieves and robbers; but when they are not so, the people\ncontinue decent and orderly.[31] Thus it is better that the rulers\nkeep the populace in a state of ignorance and stupidity.[32] The\nancient kings went on this principle, and had peaceful reigns.[33] In\nhis own time Lao-ts\u016d considered that the difficulty of keeping the\npeople well governed arose from their being too knowing. He would\naccordingly like to see them recalled to the ways of primitive\nsimplicity, so that their arms would be unworn, and their boats and\ncars unused. He would like to have the people return to the manners\nof the times when knotted cords were still the symbols of words,\nand would have them relish their food, enjoy their clothes,\nfeel comfortable in their homes, and delight in their social\ninstitutions.[34] He would have them brought to think seriously of\ndeath, so that they would end their days in their own country and\nnever leave it for another, even though it were so near that the\nrespective inhabitants could hear the cackling of the fowls and the\nbarking of the dogs in the two places. Thus, while the prince keeps\nhis subjects simple and ignorant, he must have their bodily wants\nsupplied. The godlike man when he rules empties the minds of the\npeople, and fills their stomachs; weakens their wills, and strengthens\ntheir bones (that is, their animal power).[35] He treats them as\nchildren, and is always kind, postponing his own comfort to their good.\n\nThe mode in which the ruler is to obtain respect and esteem from his\nsubjects is by deporting himself humbly towards them, and he must\nnever arrogate greatness to himself.[36] His conduct should be calm\nand unostentatious, while inwardly he is anxious; and his gravity and\nquietness of deportment ought never to be departed from. The prince is\nto save his people, as it were, by setting before them an example of\nhumility, forbearance, and all the other virtues which save a country\nfrom being imbroiled in wars and rebellions\u2014he is to be of one heart\nand one mind with them, and have no will independent of theirs.[37]\n\nThese are the principal duties of the king to his people as indicated\nor conceived of by Lao-tz\u016d\u2014the king being in his contemplation an\nabsolute sovereign. I shall now add, as a comment, the views on this\nsubject set forth by two other authors in widely different\ncircumstances. The writer of Deuteronomy says:\u2014\u201cWhen thou art come\ninto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess\nit, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me,\nlike as all the nations that _are_ about me; thou shalt in any wise\nset _him_ king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose; _one_\nfrom among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not\nset a stranger over thee, which _is_ not thy brother. But he shall not\nmultiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt,\nto the end that he should multiply horses: *** Neither shall he\nmultiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away, neither shall\nhe greatly multiply to himself silver and gold, &c. *** That his heart\nbe not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from\nthe commandment _to_ the right hand or _to_ the left; to the end that\nhe may prolong _his_ days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the\nmidst of Israel.\u201d[38]\n\nThe other writer is the philosopher of Malmesbury. After establishing\nfor the king a title as extravagantly high as any oriental flatterer\ncould have done, he proceeds to prescribe his duties to his people.\nThese are summed up in the sentence, \u201cThe safety of the people is the\nsupreme law\u201d\u2014according to the old maxim, \u201cSalus populi suprema lex.\u201d\nUnder this are included both spiritual and temporal benefits; but the\ndifficulty about the former is left in suspense. Of the latter he\nsays:\u2014\u201cThe benefits of subjects respecting this life only, may be\ndistributed into four kinds\u20141, That they be defended against foreign\nenemies; 2, That peace be preserved at home; 3, That they be enriched,\nas much as may consist with public security; 4, That they enjoy a\nharmless liberty.\u201d[39]\n\n3. The next point to be considered is _the relation of a government to\nthe neighbouring states_. On this subject Lao-tz\u016d has very little to\nsay, and what he does say concerns only the small feudal dependencies\nof the kingdom of _Chow_. All the world\u2014that is, all the world\nknown\u2014was the king\u2019s; but holding under him, at this time indeed only\nnominally for the most part, were chiefs of smaller and larger\nprovinces and principalities. It is of this, in their relations to\neach other and to their titular superior, that Lao-tz\u016d makes mention.\n\nThe different states in their mutual intercourse ought to be guided by\ncourtesy and forbearance. The great kingdom is the reservoir of the\nsmall principalities,[40] and ought to remain in dignified peace,\nwhile these come to give in their allegiance, as the little streams\nfrom the mountains flow to the placid lake or smoothly-flowing river\nas their king. The large state ought thus to remain lowly and humble\ntowards the small one, and not act towards it in an arrogant or\nviolent manner. When a large kingdom abases itself to a small\nprincipality, and when a small state abases itself to a large one, it\nobtains service (and protection) under that large one. It is for this\npurpose that the small state submits; and the large kingdom annexes\nthe small states for the purpose of uniting and maintaining the people.\n\nIt is fit that the large state should always act humbly and meekly,\nand that the small states should own its supremacy; there will thus be\nno need of fighting. There is no greater misfortune in the world than\nto take up a quarrel on a slight pretext.[41] As the soldiers say, it\nis much better to bear than to make the attack\u2014to yield considerably\nthan to advance a little. That is, it is better to have one\u2019s own\nterritory invaded than to make aggression on that of another. The king\nwho is yielding and compliant is sure to be ultimately victorious. If,\nhowever, a prince must go to war, whether to defend his own dominions,\nor at the bidding of his sovereign, he must show clemency. It is the\ntender hearted who gains the victory in the pitched battle, and who\nsucceeds in keeping the beleaguered city.\n\nBy words like these the philosopher endeavoured to dissuade the\nprinces and barons of his time from the border warfare in which they\nwere perpetually engaged. The mutual aggressions and reprisals of\nthese chiefs were in his days desolating the kingdom and gradually\nreducing it to the condition favourable to the production of a tyrant.\nA few centuries after Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s death the man arose who made himself\nking over all the empire (\u738b\u5929\u4e0b), but he was very unlike the king\ndepicted by Lao-tz\u016d and Confucius and Mencius.\n\n4. On the latter of the two departments into which Sir G. C. Lewes\ndivides Politics, namely, the relations of the subjects to their ruler\nand to each other, Lao-tz\u016d, as I have already intimated, does not\ndilate. With him the inhabitants of a kingdom are divided into the\nruling and the ruled. The former class comprises the king and the\nseveral ministers whom he of his sovereign pleasure appoints to\nvarious posts; and the latter comprises all the rest of the\npopulation. Now the relation in which the common people stand to the\nruler resembles that of children to a father. They have no part or lot\nin the administration of government. They are regarded, not as\nindividuals, but as masses. They are the \u201chundred surnames,\u201d or \u201cthe\npeople,\u201d and the ruler of supreme virtue and wisdom\u2014the godlike\nman\u2014regards them all impartially as so many straw-made dog-effigies,\ncreatures made to be used. The subjects imitate their king or chief;\nand as he is, so are they; and excellence in him is followed by\nexcellence in them. The relations of the members of the community to\neach other are referred, as has been stated, to the province of ethics.\n\nFrom the above sketch of the political sentiments contained in the\n_Tao-t\u00ea Ching_, I hope it has been seen that the author was not an\nutterly vain dreamer and theoriser, at least on these matters. It\nwould be very easy to show how many of the Confucianist doctrines in\npolitics closely resemble those of Lao-tz\u016d; though others, also, are\ndiametrically opposite. The teachings of the latter sage, in point of\npracticability at least, are not far removed from those of the former.\n\nIn many points Lao-tz\u016d seems to us to be giving bad advice to the\nruler, and his general notions about a state are very unlike those to\nwhich we are accustomed. That the people should be kept ignorant,\nadvancement in mechanical skill discountenanced, and that the\nstandards of political excellence should be the ideal sages of an\nideal antiquity, are doctrines to which we would refuse to adhere, and\nwhich we would condemn, as savouring of despotism. Yet Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s\nconception of the ruler is not of him as a despot, but rather as a\nsort of dictator during good conduct. He is raised to his high\nposition by the concurrent wishes of heaven and the people, and on his\nobservance of the duties of his office depends his stability on the\nthrone. It is interesting and instructive to compare Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s ideas\non politics with those of Machiavelli, who somewhat resembles him\nalso in his fortunes. Each lived in times of national disaster and\nmisery and each wished for peace in the land. Each longed to see one\nruler installed, and honoured with absolute power. During life neither\nseems to have been appreciated by his fellows; and after death so ill\nwere the merits of both recognised, that the abbreviated form of the\nChristian name of the one became, as some suppose, a familiar term for\nthe original Devil;[42] and the other has been confounded by his\nenemies with charlatans and impostors. The counsels which each gave to\nthe chiefs of the time were those which he deemed useful and\npracticable, though in many cases, if judged by a general standard,\nthey must be condemned. The patriotic fire of the Florentine Secretary\nled him to make rather reckless statements about the license allowed\nto the man who makes and keeps himself an absolute and independent\nprince.[43] So the Chinese moralist, deprecating the evils wrought in\nhis country by unprincipled but clever and ambitious men, recommends a\ngeneral state of ignorance. The serpent wisdom of the professional\nstatesman, however, is far removed from the guileless simplicity of\nthe philosopher. The latter abhors the idea of war, and recoils from\nthe thought of force and ostentation; but the former, with more\nearthly prudence, recommends above all things a good native army,\nserviceable military skill, and splendid enterprises.[44] Machiavelli\nallows the prince to break his word when it suits him for state\npurposes[45] (unless this be ironical), but Lao-tz\u016d requires of the\nking good faith, at least to his subjects. Each of them advises that\nthe ruler should be, or at least appear to be, clement and liberal,\nsparing of the people\u2019s possessions and a fosterer of their material\nprosperity.[46] Many other points of similarity or contrast in the\npolitical opinions of these two eminent men might be adduced, but the\nabove must suffice as examples.\n\nWhen we read Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s sentiments about taxation, over-legislation,\npenal retributions and excessive governmental interference, and\nremember that these same subjects are still eagerly debated among\nWestern philosophers and statesmen, we must ascribe to the Chinese\nsage a remarkable amount of what Humboldt calls the presentiment of\nknowledge. What he, however, could sketch only in faint outline on\nthese subjects, has been broadly discussed in later and more\nauspicious times by men like Adam Smith, Bentham, Emerson and J. S.\nMill. If we _now_ cannot but condemn his ignoring the individuality of\neach member of the state, his discouraging progress in the mechanical\narts, and his magnifying the kingly office, we must remember that\nthere are still among us, notwithstanding the experience and\nstruggles of centuries, almost as great barriers to the enjoyment of\npersonal liberty as were those which Lao-tz\u016d recommends. Large\nstanding armies at the call of one man\u2014\u201cincognoscibility\u201d of the\nlaws\u2014bribery\u2014gerrymandering\u2014and, above all, the power of the many\u2014are\nstill great retarders of human freedom and prosperity. That such\nthings exist, even though the voice of the philosopher is always\nagainst them, should make us indulgent towards the mistaken notions of\na man who lived 2,500 years ago.\n\n  [1] Treatise on the Methods of Observation. Reasoning in Politics,\n      vol. 1, p. 44.\n\n  [2] See Ch. 62. In Pi-yuan\u2019s edition, \u5929\u4e0b is the reading, instead\n      of \u5929\u5b50 of the ordinary texts.\n\n  [3] See Wu-ch\u2018\u00eang\u2019s note to ch. 62 (52 in his edition).\n\n  [4] Ch. 39.\n\n  [5] See Chs. 3, 5. Compare Emerson (Essays, Vol. 2, pp. 208\u20139).\n\n  [6] Ch. 29.\n\n  [7] Ch. 78.\n\n  [8] Ch. 25. We must remember that this passage is susceptible of a\n      metaphorical meaning. See Tao-t\u00ea-hsing-ming-chi\u00e8n-hs\u00fc.\n\n  [9] Ch. 16.\n\n  [10] Chs. 60, 29, 64.\n\n  [11] Chs. 57, 13.\n\n  [12] Ch. 54.\n\n  [13] Ch. 26. For \u81e3, another reading is \u5e73\u2014that is, the\n       gravity which brings esteem.\n\n  [14] Ch. 25. For \u738b here some editions have \u4eba man.\n\n  [15] Ch. 17. This chapter, however, is susceptible of a totally\n       different interpretation, \u592a\u4e0a being regarded as meaning the\n       highest authority. For \u4e0b also some read \u4e0d, not.\n\n  [16] Ch. 48.\n\n  [17] Chs. 37, 32.\n\n  [18] Chs. 66, 68, 39.\n\n  [19] Ch. 2.\n\n  [20] Chs. 30, 31.\n\n  [21] Pens\u00e9es, Art, VII.\n\n  [22] Ch. 46.\n\n  [23] Ch. 74.\n\n  [24] Ch. 57.\n\n  [25] Chs. 57, 8.\n\n  [26] Do. Compare Hobbes (Vol. 2, pp. 178\u20139, Molesworth Ed.).\n\n  [27] Ch. 75.\n\n  [28] Chs. 59, 53.\n\n  [29] Ch. 17.\n\n  [30] Chs. 36, 58.\n\n  [31] Ch. 57.\n\n  [32] Chs. 10, 19.\n\n  [33] Chs. 65, 3.\n\n  [34] Ch. 80.\n\n  [35] Ch, 3. Wu-ch\u2018\u00eang\u2019s note. Julien, however, translates \u201cil vide\n       son c\u0153ur, &c.\u201d Both translations are in harmony with the other\n       teachings of Lao-ts\u016d.\n\n  [36] Chs. 39, 42.\n\n  [37] Ch. 49.\n\n  [38] Ch. xvii., vs. 14 to 20.\n\n  [39] Hobbes\u2019 Works, (Molesworth\u2019s edition), English, Vol. 2, p. 169.\n       Compare also Bacon\u2019s Essay on Seditions and Troubles (Works,\n       Vol. 6, p. 406, &c. Ellis and Spedding\u2019s Ed.).\n\n  [40] Chs. 61, 66.\n\n  [41] Ch. 69.\n\n  [42] See Macaulay\u2019s Essays, Vol, I., Essay 2.\n\n  [43] See _The Prince_, chs, 8, 178.\n\n  [44] See The Prince, ch. 14.\n\n  [45] Do. ch. 18.\n\n  [46] Ch. 16, &c.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER VII.\n\n                               ETHICS.\n\n\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s notions on ethics are fortunately set forth with much more\nfulness than on any other department of knowledge, and in giving a\nbrief account of them one is rather encumbered by the abundance of\naphorisms than perplexed by their paucity. In saying this, however, I\ndo not mean to intimate that the philosopher has elaborated a system\nof speculative or practical morality, or that he has given full and\nexplicit statements about the moral sense and many other subjects\nfamiliar to the student of western ethics. On several of these points\nhe is absolutely silent, and his notions about others are expressed\ndarkly and laconically, and only occasionally in a connected manner.\nWe must, however, make the most we can of the obscure text and\ndiscordant commentaries, in order to learn at least an outline of what\nour author taught.\n\nIn the first place, Lao-tz\u016d seems to have believed in the existence of\na primitive time, when virtue and vice were unknown terms.[1] During\nthis period everything that man did was according to Nature (Tao), and\nthis not by any effort on man\u2019s part, but merely as the result of his\nexistence. He knew not good or evil, nor any of the relative virtues\nand vices which have since obtained names. This was the period of\nNature in the world\u2019s history, a period of extreme simplicity of\nmanners and purity of life corresponding to the Garden-of-Eden state\nof the Hebrews, before man perceived that he was unclothed, and became\nas a God knowing good and evil. To this succeeded the period of Virtue\n(\u5fb7) in two stages or degrees. The higher is almost identical with the\nstate of Nature, as in it also man led a pure life, without need of\neffort and without consciousness of goodness. Of the people of this\nperiod we may speak as the\n\n  \u201cSaturni gentem, haud vinclo nec legibus \u00e6quam,\n   Sponte sua, veterisque dei se more tenentem.\u201d[2]\n\nIn the next and lower stage life was still virtuous, though\noccasionally sliding into vice, and unable to maintain the stability\nof unconscious and unforced excellence.[3] Then came the time when\nhumanity and equity appeared, and when filial piety and integrity made\nthemselves known.[4] These were degenerate days when man was no more\n\u201cNature\u2019s priest\u201d and when the \u201cvision splendid\u201d had almost ceased to\nattend him. Finally came the days when craft and cunning were\ndeveloped, and when insincerity arose. Propriety and carefulness of\nexternal deportment also, according to Lao-tz\u016d, indicated a great\nfalling away from primitive simplicity the beginning of trouble; and\nhe, accordingly, speaks of them rather slightingly. This is a point on\nwhich Confucius seems to have been of a very different opinion,\nalthough he had studied the ceremonial code under Lao-tz\u016d.\n\nSuch is, according to the Tao-t\u00ea Ching, the mode in which the world\ngradually became what it is at present. The book does not contain any\nexpress statement of opinion as to whether each human creature is born\nwith a good or a bad nature. From various passages in it, however, we\nare authorised in inferring that Lao-tz\u016d regarded an infant as good by\nnature. Its spirit comes pure and perfect from the Great Mother, but\nsusceptible to all the evil influences which operate upon it and lead\nit astray.\n\nThe standard of virtue to which Lao-tz\u016d refers is Nature (Tao), just\nas another old philosopher says, \u201cin hoc sumus sapientes, quod naturam\noptimam ducem, tanquam deum, sequimur eique paremus.\u201d[5] By our\nphilosopher, however, Nature is not regarded as personified and\ndeified, but is contemplated as the eternal, spontaneous, and\nemanatory cause. The manifestation of complete virtue comes from\nNature only.[6] This is the guide and model of the universe, and it\nitself has spontaneity as guide, that is, it has no guide whatever.\nAll creatures and man among them, must conform to it or they miss the\nend of their existence and soon cease to be. As Tao, however, is very\nindefinite and intangible, Lao-tz\u016d holds it out to mortals as their\nguide chiefly through the medium of certain other ideas more easily\ncomprehended. Thus Heaven, corresponding somewhat to our notions of\nprovidence, imitates Nature, and becomes to man its visible\nembodiment.[7] In its perfect impartiality, its noiseless working, its\ndisinterested and unceasing well-doing, it presents a rule by which\nman should regulate his life.[8] Not less are the material heavens\nabove him a model in their unerring, and spontaneous obedience to\nNature, and in their eternal purity. The Earth[9] also, with her calm\neternal repose, and the great rivers and seas, are types of the\nfar-off olden times, whose boundless merit raised them to the height\nof fellow-workers with Nature, and to whom all things once paid a\nwilling homage, are patterns for all after ages.[10]\n\nOf a personal deity above all these our author makes no mention, nor\ncan it be inferred with certainty from his book whether he believed in\nthe existence of such a being. In one place he speaks of Nature (Tao)\nas being antecedent to the manifestation of Ti (\u5e1d), a word which the\ncommentators usually explain as meaning lord or master of heaven.[11]\nThe learned Dr. Medhurst translates the passage in question thus, \u201cI\ndo not know whose son it (viz., Ta\u00f3u) is; it is prior to the (Supreme)\nRuler of the visible (heavens).\u201d I do not understand how, after this,\nthe same author can state that the Taoists, that is, with Lao-tz\u016d at\ntheir head, understand the word Ti \u201cin the sense of the Supreme\nBeing.\u201d[12] Ghosts and Spirits (\u9b3c and \u795e) are referred to in the\nTao-t\u00ea Ching, but these are very subordinate beings capable of being\ncontrolled by the saints of the earth. Lao-tz\u016d refers, however, as has\nbeen seen, to a supernatural punisher of crime; and in several\npassages he speaks of heaven in a manner very similar to that in which\nwe do when we mean thereby the Deity who presides over heaven and\nearth.[13] Yet we must not forget that it is inferior and subsequent\nto the mysterious Tao, and in fact produced by the latter. I cannot,\naccordingly, agree with the learned Pauthier when he writes thus about\nthe Sixteenth Chapter of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching\u2014\u201cCe chapitre renferme \u00e0 lui\nseul les \u00e9l\u00e9ments d\u2019une religion; et il n\u2019est pas \u00e9tonnant que les\nSectateurs de Lao-tseu, si habiles, comme tous les Asiatiques, \u00e0 tirer\nd\u2019un principe pos\u00e9 toutes les cons\u00e9quences qui en d\u00e9coulent\nlogiquement, aient \u00e9tabli un culte et un sacerdoce avec les doctrines\ndu philosophe; car d\u00e8s l\u2019instant qu\u2019un Dieu supr\u00eame est annonc\u00e9, que\nles bonnes actions et la connaissance que l\u2019on acquiert de lui sont\nles seuls moyens pour l\u2019homme de parvenir a l\u2019ternelle f\u00e9licit\u00e9 dans\nson sein, il est bien \u00e9vident qu\u2019il faut des m\u00e9diateurs entre ce Dieu\net l\u2019homme pour conduire et \u00e9clairer les intelligences ignorantes et\nfaibles.\u201d[14] Tao with Lao-tz\u016d is not a deity, but is above all\ndeities, and, as has been seen, it is not always represented\nunchangeable. On the contrary, regarded from one point of view the Tao\nis in a state of constant change\u2014\u201ctwinkling restlessly,\u201d to use an\nexpression from Wordsworth. Only when considered as the existence\nwhich was solitary in the universe and eternal, is it spoken of as\nunchanging. Long after Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s time Tao was, indeed, raised or\nrather degraded to be a deity, but the theories of later Taoists are\nseldom the logical developments of the doctrines of Lao-tz\u016d, and in\nthis they err widely.\n\nOf virtue in the abstract little is said by our author, but we know\nthat his idea of it was that it consisted in following Nature (Tao).\nHe generally, however, speaks of it in the concrete as the perfect\nnature of the world or man and the other creatures of the universe.\nSometimes indeed he refers to T\u00ea, Virtue, as if it were a mysterious,\nindependent existence and not an inherent quality. At other times he\nseems to regard good and bad as merely relative terms, the existence\nof the former implying and indeed causing the existence of the latter,\nand vice versa.\n\nDescending from these generalities, however, we now come to the\nconsideration of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s conception of the ideal sage. The virtues\nwhich characterise the perfect man, and which all should endeavour to\npossess, are described in the Tao-t\u00ea Ching with greater or less\nfulness. Among the most important of these is the negative excellence\nof an absence of the bustling ostentation of goodness. Not to be fussy\nor showy, but to do one\u2019s proper work and lead a quiet life without\nmeddling in the concerns of others, are virtues which to Lao-tz\u016d\nseemed of transcendent importance, the expression which I interpreted\nas meaning absence of ostentation or bustle is _wu-wei_ (\u7121\u7232).[15]\nMany Chinese commentators seem to regard this as equivalent to\nnothingness, non-existence, or absolute inaction; so Julien also\ntranslates it usually by \u201cnon-agir.\u201d[16] Though, however, the words\nhave in many places these meanings, yet there are several passages\nwhich seem to require the explanation given above, and which is also\nin harmony with the general tenor of the book. Man\u2019s guide is Nature\n(Tao), and it works incessantly but without noise or show. So also it\nis not an inactive life that Lao-tz\u016d commends, but a gentle one, and\none which does not obtrude itself on the notice of the world. The man\nwho would follow Nature must try to live virtuously without the\nappearance of so doing; he must present a mean exterior while under it\nhe hides the inestimable jewel.[17] The advice which Sir Thomas Browne\ngives is very like the teaching of Lao-tz\u016d. \u201cBe substantially great in\nthyself, and more than thou appearest unto others; and let the world\nbe deceived in thee, as they are in the lights of heaven.\u201d[18] Again,\nthe man who follows Nature is wise but wears the mask of\nignorance[19]\u2014to the world he appears silly and stupid, but in his\nbreast are deep stores of wisdom. So also he does good without the\nshow of doing it; he helps in the amelioration of his fellows, and\nindeed of all things in the world, without talking or making any\ndisplay.[20] He does his alms not before men but in secret and without\na preluding trumpet. Those are rare who can instruct others without\nthe necessity of talking, and benefit them without making a show; but\nin striving to attain to this excellence man is aiming at the\nperfection of Nature.[21] The art of living thus is an art made by\nNature\u2014the silent, informing, universally-operant spirit. By Nature\n(Tao) the passions and other impediments to virtue are lessened more\nand more until man attains to that state of perfection in which he\nacts naturally and so can do all things.[22]\n\nThe virtue of humility is one of which Lao-tz\u016d speaks very highly.\nWater is always with him the type of what is humble; and the godlike\nman, like it, occupies a low position, which others abhor but in which\nhe can profit all around him.[23] \u201cThe supremely virtuous is like\nwater,\u201d are words taken from the Tao-t\u00ea Ching, and frequently\ninscribed on rocks and other objects. Such a man does not claim\nprecedence or merit, nor does he strive with any one.[24] He never\narrogates honour or preferment, yet they come to him;[25] and he is\nyielding and modest, yet always prevails in the end. When success is\nobtained, and his desire accomplished, he modestly retires. Pride, on\nthe other hand, and vaulting ambition, always fail to attain the\nwished-for consummation.[26] So also the man who is violent and\nheadstrong generally comes to a bad end.[27] Some of the commentators,\nhowever, seem to take this humility in a bad sense, and they would\nmake us believe that the quality as recommended by Lao-tz\u016d is not\nvirtue but rather a vice, as partaking of the nature of a trick or\nartifice. The historical instance which they most frequently quote as\nillustrating the success of this humility is the career of the famous\nChang Tz\u016d-fang (\u5f35\u5b50\u623f), a sort of political Uriah Heep.\n\nTo continence also Lao-tz\u016d assigns a high place. The total exemption\nfrom the power of the passions and desire is a moral pre-eminence to\nwhich man should seek to attain\u2014\n\n  \u201cFor not to desire or admire, if a man could learn it, were more\n   Than to walk all day like the Sultan of old in a garden of spice.\u201d\n\nIt is the body, with its inseparably connected emotions and passions,\nwhich is the cause of all the ills that attend humanity;[28] and he\nwho would return to the state of original innocence must overcome his\nbody.[29] To be without desires is to be at rest, and if man were\nfreed from the body he would have no cause for fear. To keep the\ngateways of the senses closed against the sight, sounds and tastes\nwhich distract and mar the soul within, is the simple metaphor which\nLao-tz\u016d uses to express this overcoming of self.[30] This conquest he\nputs above every other. He who knows others is learned, but he who\nknows himself is enlightened; he who overcomes others has physical\nforce, but he who overcomes himself has moral strength.[31] The\ndisastrous consequence of yielding to the bodily appetites is\nbeautifully illustrated by a metaphor familiar to us in a Taoist book\nto which I have already referred. The people of the world following\ntheir desires strive for reputation, grasp at gain, covet wine, and\nlust after beauty\u2014they take the bitter for the pleasant and the false\nfor the real\u2014day and night they toil and moil, morn and even they fret\nand care, nor desist even when their vital energies are almost\nexhausted. Like the moth which extinguishes its life in the dazzling\nblaze of the lamp or the worm which goes to its own destruction in the\nfire, these men do not wait for the command of the king of Death, but\nsend themselves to the grave.[32]\n\nAssociated with continence is the virtue of moderation, which also\nmust form part of the good man\u2019s character. To be content is to be\nrich and brings with it no danger or shame, while there is no greater\ncalamity than not to know when to be satisfied.[33] He who knows where\nto stop will not incur peril, nor will he ever indulge in excess. To\nfill a cup while holding it in the hand is not so good as to let it\nalone, or, as we say, it is hard to carry a full cup even.[34] Too\nsharp an edge cannot be kept on a tool, and a hall full of gold and\nprecious stones cannot be defended; and he who is wanton in prosperity\nleaves a legacy of misfortune. Various other metaphors are used to\ninculcate the necessity of following the mean, and abstaining from\nextravagance. The man who erects himself on tiptoe cannot continue so,\nnor can he who takes long strides continue to walk.[35] The\nintelligent and good man will be moderate in all things, not desiring\nto be prized like jade or slighted like a stone.[36]\n\nIt is also a characteristic of the truly virtuous man that he is\nalways, and especially in privacy, grave and serious, and not\nunmindful of his weak points. He who knows his strength and protects\nhis weakness at the same time will have all the world resorting to him\nfor instruction and example; eternal virtue will not leave him, and he\nwill return to the natural goodness of infancy.[37] Many things fail\nwhen the goal is nearly attained, but the godlike man is careful about\nthe end no less than about the beginning.[38] So also were the sages\nof antiquity whose cautious, hesitating character is portrayed in\noutline as a model for others.[39]\n\nMercy is another virtue to which Lao-tz\u016d attaches considerable\nimportance. Nor is the quality of mercy, as he represents it, strained\nwithin any narrow compass. On the contrary, it flows not only over all\nmankind, but even to the entire world. As has been seen, Lao-tz\u016d would\nhave all capital punishment reserved for a supernatural agent to\nexecute, and he would have the correction of wickedness effected by\nthe quiet influence of a good example. He goes farther than this,\nhowever; for he will have us to abstain from even judging others\u2014from\ndividing men into the righteous and the sinners.[40] It is Heaven\nalone which is to determine the moral worth of human creatures, and\ngive to each his meed. And we must not even assign worldly misfortunes\nto the displeasure of Heaven\u2014must not say that the eighteen on whom\nthe tower of Siloam fell were greater sinners than the other residents\nin Jerusalem. The good man must not only not think too harshly of the\nman who is not good,[41] but he must even love him, and must reward\nill will by virtue\u2014the _ne plus ultra_ of generosity, as one of the\ncommentators observes.[42] So also the feeling of compassion will\ncause the good man to keep his good qualities in the back ground, and\nnot excite the evil passions of the bad man by displaying them\nobtrusively before him. After a great dispute has been adjusted some\ngrudge is sure to remain, so to live peaceably is to be regarded as\nvirtuous.[43] The good man keeps his proof of an agreement, but he\ndoes not claim from the other party to it the fulfillment of the\nagreement, that is, he will not sue him at a court of law. This spirit\nof mercy and compassion ought not only to prevail in private and\nsocial life, but it ought to extend also to the seat of power and even\nto temper the fierce passions of warfare. Then from the circle of\nhumanity Lao-ts\u016d looks abroad over the ample spaces of nature, and\nextends to them also a kindly sympathy. The good man never injures\nanything in the world; on the contrary he saves the inferior\ncreatures and assists them in their ever-renewed operations of coming\ninto existence, growing, and returning to their original source.[44]\nDid the whole creation in his eyes, too, groan and travail in pain?\n\nOf courage, truth, honesty, and several other virtues Lao-tz\u016d does not\nmake much mention. He seems also to think lightly of conventional\nhumanity and equity, but Han W\u00ean Kung says this was because he had a\nlow conception of these two virtues. According to the figure used by\nHan, Lao-tz\u016d was as a man sitting at the bottom of a well and\npronouncing the sky to be of small dimensions.[45] He teaches,\nhowever, the mutual dependence of man upon man, and the consequent\nnecessity of the interchange of good offices. The good man gives and\nasks not\u2014does good and looks not for recompense. He who is virtuous is\nmaster of him who is not virtuous, but respect and affection must\nexist between them. The ruler and the ruled also are mutually\ndependent, and they too must reciprocate kindness and forbearance.\n\nLao-tz\u016d repeatedly condemns the vices of much and fine talking. The\nwise man, he says, does not talk, and to do without audible words is\nto follow Nature.[46] Man ought to be silent in his actions as is the\nall-working Nature. Faithful words, are not fine, and fine words are\nnot faithful; the virtuous man is not argumentative and _vice versa_.\n\nTo learning and wisdom our author does not, I think, assign a\nsufficiently high place, but seems rather to condemn them.[47]\nLearning adds to the evils of existence, and if we could put it away\nwe would be exempt from anxiety. The ancient rulers kept the people\nignorant and they had good government\u2014so the people ought still to be\nkept in ignorance. But perhaps Lao-tz\u016d refers to the faults of those\npersons who drink only slightly of the Pierian spring and then boast\nof what they acquire, thereby doing injury to themselves and to\nsociety. It would, however, have been better if he had distinguished\nbetween the pretenders to knowledge, and those who have drunk deeply\nat the fountain of wisdom by assigning to intellectual worth its\nproper importance.[48]\n\nLao-tz\u016d, as has been seen, is not unmindful of the infirmity of noble\nminds which expects a recompense for a virtuous life. Nor are the\ninducements which he holds out of a slight or unworthy nature. On the\ncontrary, they are to souls which have begun to delight in the path of\nvirtue, and also to those still walking in \u201cerror\u2019s wandering wood,\u201d\ncalculated to have a great effect. The desires and appetites must all\nbe overcome and self must be subdued, but to him who obtains the\nvictory there remain grand prizes. The gateways of knowledge are open\nto him, and he can contemplate the mysterious operations of\nnature.[49] Fame and greatness come to him unsolicited, and the years\nof his life are increased. Having the guileless purity of an\ninfant\u2014becoming like a little child\u2014he will enjoy an exemption from\nthe fear of noxious animals and wicked men.[50] Fierce beasts cannot\ngore or tear him, nor the soldier wound him in battle, that is, having\nperfect love towards all things he will not fear harm from any.[51]\nThe godlike man does not use his neighbour as a foil to set off his\nown excellence, but rather assimilates himself to all. Thus he comes\ninto intimate union with his fellow creatures and is set on high\nwithout incurring any ill-will. He lives not for himself but for\nothers, and his life is prolonged by so doing. He does not amass for\nhimself, nor does he bury his talent in the barren ground of itself.\nHe spends it in the service of his fellows and it comes back to him\nwith interest.[52] The more he serves the more he has wherewith to\nserve, and the more he gives the richer he becomes. It is almost\nsurprising to find this thought thus expressed by Lao-tz\u016d, and the\nwords of one of his disciples, following out the idea, are somewhat\nremarkable\u2014\u201cThere is also accumulation which causes deficiency, and a\nnon-hoarding which results in having something over.\u201d[53] There are\nseveral passages in the Tao-t\u00ea Ching besides the above, which might be\nincluded among the \u201ctestimonia anim\u00e6 naturaliter Christian\u00e6.\u201d\nHumility, charity, and the forgiveness of injuries which are sometimes\nspoken of as purely Christian virtues are certainly inculcated by\nLao-tz\u016d.[54] But to return to our subject.\u2014Man\u2019s life ought thus to be\ncontinued opposition to self, gaining more and more control over it,\nuntil the passions cease to trouble and self is perfectly vanquished.\nThen comes the end which crowns the work. When the fleshly appetites\nhave been subdued, and the spirit has attained that state in which it is\n\n     \u2014\u201cequable and pure;\n  No fears to beat away\u2014no strife to heal\u2014\n  The past unsighed for, and the future sure,\u201d\n\n\nthen comes death. And what after death? Man returns to Nature, which\ndelights to receive him, and identifies him with her own mysterious\nself. Hither, too, come all the myriad things which had once emanated\nfrom the womb of the same all-producing mother. This in reality means\nthat man and all other creatures return to nothingness. This is the\ndreamless sleep wherewith our life is rounded\u2014this is the end of all\nour woe and misery, to be\n\n     \u2014\u201cSwallowed up and lost\n  In the wide womb of uncreated night\n  Devoid of sense and motion.\u201d\n\nThere is at least one passage in which Lao-tz\u016d seems to speak of a\nlife after death,[55] but this passage presents great difficulties,\nand perhaps refers only to the \u201cfancied life in others\u2019 breath\u201d by\nwhich a man though dead is not lost. That man loses his individuality\nand that he loses his existence are two doctrines strongly opposed to\nLao-tz\u016d. The individual is everything with the one, nothing with the\nother.[56] As to the immortality of the soul, this is a doctrine of\nwhich many other excellent philosophers before the rise of\nChristianity had little or no conception. We are wont to regard the\ntheory of the soul\u2019s mortality as dismal and hopeless; yet Lao-tz\u016d\nholds out the hope of annihilation or at least of absorption into\nuniversal Nature as the highest reward for a life of untiring virtue.\nFew, he says, understand the matter; and few as yet even understand\nthe meaning of the immortality of the soul. The belief that the soul\nis mortal no less than the opposite belief seems to lead to the\npossession of a calm, contented spirit, and an indifference to the\nthings of this life. The strange but eloquent words of the\nHydriotaphia on this subject will form the closing sentence of this\nchapter:\u2014\u201cAnd if any have been so happy as truly to understand\nChristian annihilation, ecstasies, exolution, liquefaction,\ntransformation, the kiss of the spouse, gustation of God, and\ningression into the divine shadow, they have already had an handsome\nanticipation of heaven; the glory of the world is surely over, and the\nearth in ashes unto them.\u201d[57]\n\n  [1] See chs. 2, 38, and compare the words of Pascal\u2014\u201cla vraie morale\n      se moque de la morale, c\u2019est a dire que la morale du jugement se\n      moque de la morale de l\u2019esprit qui est sans r\u00e8gle.\u201d Pens\u00e9es,\n      Art. xxv., 56.\n\n  [2] \u00c6neid, B. 7, vs. 203\u20134.\n\n  [3] Compare Carlyle,\u2014\u201cAlready to the popular judgment, he who\n      talks much about virtue in the abstract, begins to be suspect,\u201d\n      &c. Essay on Characteristics. So also Emerson writes\u2014\u201cOur moral\n      nature is vitiated by any interference of our will.\u201d Essays,\n      Vol. I., p. 119.\n\n  [4] See chs. 18, 38.\n\n  [5] The words of Cato in Cic. De Senectute.\n\n  [6] Compare Emerson: \u201cThe Supreme Critic on the errors of the past\n      and the present, and the only prophet of that which must be, is\n      that great Nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft\n      arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Oversoul, within which\n      every man\u2019s particular being is contained and made one with all\n      others; that common heart, of which all sincere conversation is\n      the worship, to which all right action is submission; that\n      overpowering reality which confutes our tricks and talents, and\n      constrains every one to pass for what he is, and to speak from his\n      character, and not from his tongue, and which evermore tends to\n      pass into our thought and hand, and become wisdom, and virtue, and\n      power and beauty.\u201d Essays, Vol. I., p. 244.\n\n  [7] Chs. 30, 55.\n\n  [8] Chs. 7, 77.\n\n  [9] Ch. 25.\n\n  [10] Chs. 15, 68. Compare the saying of Sir T. Browne\u2014\u201cLive by\n       old ethicks and the classical rules of honesty.\u201d\n\n  [11] Ch. 4. The word _hsiang_ \u8c61 is also explained here as meaning\n       _probably_ or _it seems_; the equivalent of _yu_ (\u7336).\n\n  [12] Dissertation on the Theology of the Chinese, &c., p. 246.\n\n  [13] Chs. 73, 77.\n\n  [14] Chine, pp. 116\u20137.\n\n  [15] See chs. 2, &c. Wei (\u7232) sometimes means to _esteem_. and\n       _Wei-wu-wei_ would then mean to esteem without appearing to do\n       so. Compare Sh\u012d-wu-shi (\u4e8b\u7121\u4e8b), Shang-t\u00ea pu-t\u00ea (\u4e0a\u5fb7\u4e0d\u5fb7), &c.\n\n  [16] In this he is often followed by Mr. Chalmers. Pauthier also so\n       translates the expression.\n\n  [17] See chs. 41, 70.\n\n  [18] Christian Morals, Section xix.\n\n  [19] So Celsus represents the early Christians as saying\u2014\u201cWisdom is a\n       bad thing in life, foolishness is to be preferred.\u201d Neander,\n       Ch. Hist., Vol. I., p. 164 (Amer. Translation).\n\n  [20] See chs. 45, 71, 77. Compare the statement attributed to Gotama\n       Buddha. \u201cGreat King, I do not teach the law to my pupils, telling\n       them, Go, ye saints, and before the eyes of the Brahmans and\n       householders perform, by means of your supernatural powers,\n       miracles greater than any man can perform. I tell them, when I\n       teach them the law, Live, ye saints, hiding your good works, and\n       showing your sins.\u201d Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. I.,\n       p. 249; translated from Burnouf, Introduction \u00e0 l\u2019Histoire du\n       Buddhisme Indien, p. 170.\n\n  [21] Compare Emerson\u2014\u201cThe man may teach by doing, and not otherwise.\n       If he can communicate himself he can teach, but not by word.\u201d\n       Essay IV., Vol. I., p. 136.\n\n  [22] Ch. 48. _Wu-wei_ here may have another meaning. Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang and\n       Julien regard it as meaning _inaction_, and make it synonymous\n       with _Wu-shi_. See Mr. Chalmers\u2019 extraordinary translation of\n       this chapter.\n\n  [23] Chs. 8, 78.\n\n  [24] Chs. 22, 34, 66.\n\n  [25] Compare the saying of Solomon,\u2014\u201cBefore honour is humility.\u201d\n       Proverbs, xviii. 12.\n\n  [26] See chs. 92, 24.\n\n  [27] Ch. 42.\n\n  [28] Ch. 13.\n\n  [29] Ch. 37.\n\n  [30] Chs. 52, 56.\n\n  [31] Ch. 33. Compare the words of Sir T. Browne:\u2014\u201cRest not in an\n       ovation, but a triumph over thy passions.\u201d Christian Morals,\n       sect. 2. So also Solomon\u2014\u201c_He that is_ slow to anger is better\n       than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that\n       taketh a city.\u201d Proverbs, xvi. 32. Compare also Horace\u2019s Ode to\n       Sallust, vs. 9, &c.\n\n  [32] \u609f\u9053\u9304. Ch. 2, p. 11.\n\n  [33] See Chs. 33, 44, 46, 29, 32.\n\n  [34] Ch. 9. Compare Horace\u2019s advice:\u2014\u201cQuod satis est cui contigit,\n       hic nihil amplius optet.\u201d\n\n  [35] Ch. 24.\n\n  [36] Ch. 39.\n\n  [37] Chs. 26, 28.\n\n  [38] Chs. 63, 64.\n\n  [39] Ch. 15.\n\n  [40] Chs. 19, 73.\n\n  [41] Ch. 27. The word _shan_ (\u5584), however, rendered _good_, is also\n       susceptible of the interpretation _clever_ or _expert_. See\n       Wu-ch\u00eang\u2019s note (ch. 22 in his edition).\n\n  [42] Ch. 63. In the Kan-ying-p\u02bdien (\u611f\u61c9\u7bc7) it is said \u201cLook on the\n       acquisitions of others as if they were yours, and the losses of\n       others as if they were yours.\u201d Ch. 2. In this book are taught\n       many other excellent lessons which are apparently derived from\n       the Tao-t\u00ea Ching.\n\n  [43] Ch. 79.\n\n  [44] See chs. 27, 64. So the Kan-ying-p\u02bdien says:\u2014\u201cThe tiny insects\n       and plants and trees may not be injured.\u201d\n\n  [45] Works, ch. 11 \u539f\u9053.\n\n  [46] Chs. 23, 56. Compare \u201cLet us be silent, for so are the gods.\u201d\n       Also the words of the Tatler:\u2014\u201cSilence is sometimes more\n       significant and sublime than the most noble and most expressive\n       eloquence, and is on many occasions the indication of a great\n       mind.\u201d No. 133.\n\n  [47] Chs. 65, 20, 48.\n\n  [48] Compare Emerson, Essays vol. i., p. 261\u20132.\n\n  [49] Ch. 1. Chalmers, however, translates\u2014\u201cIn eternal non-existence,\n       therefore, man seeks to pierce the primordial mystery, and in\n       eternal existence, to behold the issues of the Universe.\u201d See\n       also the German translation given in Hegel, Geschichte, &c.\n       Vol. i., p. 142.\n\n  [50] Chs. 7, 59.\n\n  [51] Chs. 50, 55.\n\n  [52] See chs. 66, 7, 81.\n\n  [53] Quoted by Wu-ch\u02bd\u00eang in a note to ch. 81.\n\n  [54] Compare Pauthier, Chine, p. 117.\n\n  [55] Ch. 23. See Pauthier. Chine Moderne, ps. 356\u20137.\n\n  [56] Emerson, however, also speaks of the \u201cindividual soul mingling\n       with the Universal Soul.\u201d Essays.\n\n  [57] Ch. 5.\n\n\n\n\n                            CHAPTER VIII.\n\n                       LAO-TZ\u016c AND CONFUCIUS.\n\n\nIt is not unusual for foreigners no less than for Chinese to speak of\nLao-tz\u016d and Confucius as having lived on very bad terms with each\nother and as having been diametrically opposite in their teachings.\nOne Chinese scholar who ought to have known much better sins very\nbadly in this respect. The excellent little book of Mr. Edkins on the\nReligious Condition of the Chinese contains the following:\n\u201cContemporary with Confucius, there was an old man afterwards known as\nLaou-tsoo, who meditated in a philosophic mood upon the more profound\nnecessities and capacities of the human soul. He did so in a way that\nConfucius, the prophet of the practical, could not well comprehend. He\nconversed with him once, but never repeated his visit, for he could\nnot understand him. Laou-tsoo recommended quiet reflection. Water that\nis still is also clear, and you may see deeply into it. Noise and\npassion are fatal to spiritual progress. The stars are invisible\nthrough a clouded sky. Nourish the perceptive powers of the soul in\npurity and rest.\u201d[1] Others have expressed a similar opinion and with\nno more accuracy. This view, however, is not strictly correct. As has\nbeen seen, Confucius was a disciple of Lao-tz\u016d, and there is no\nevidence to prove that any other than friendly relations existed\nbetween them. A Confucianist philosopher has somewhere remarked that\nConfucius and Lao-tz\u016d were not the authors of opposite systems and\nfounders of rival schools of philosophy, and the observation is quite\ncorrect. It was not until long after the two sages were dead that the\nfollowers of the one came to look on those of the other as heretics\nand enemies. Not only, however, did Confucius himself live in\nfriendship with his instructor, so far as we know, but he also imbibed\nnot a few of his tenets. The influence of Lao-tz\u016d on his disciple, and\nthe amount of similarity between the doctrines of the two are subjects\nwell deserving a serious study. That they differ widely on many points\nis a fact known to everybody, but few, so far as my knowledge extends,\nhave studied the affinities between them. To a thorough-going\nConfucianist the mere idea of doing such a a thing is horrible, and\nthe Temple of Literature closed against the reception of the tablets\nof the rare individuals who have essayed the task, deters the after\ngenerations. By one, however, not anxious about his posthumous tablet,\nand who takes pleasure in finding how near the divergent lines of\northodoxy and heterodoxy may be found to have originally converged,\nthe work may be attempted without any misgivings. The present writer\ncan do nothing more than merely try to sketch a few of the features of\nresemblance between the teachings of the two sages in speculative\nPhysics, Politics and Ethics, following the division adopted above.\n\nThe theories of Lao-tz\u016d and Confucius on the physical world being\nprobably merely the popular and traditional notions of the time, might\nnaturally be expected to have not a little in common. For example, the\nemanation of the visible universe, including also all that makes up\nman, from an eternal existence at once material and immaterial, seems\nto have been an old idea with the Chinese, and it is found in the\nteachings of both the sages. Thus, as has been seen, the T\u02bdai-chi\n(\u592a\u6975) or Grand Extreme, as it is translated, is only _Tao_ under\nanother name. Indeed Confucius uses the latter word in this\nconnection very much after the manner of Lao-tz\u016d. In the appendix to\nthe Yi-ching (\u6613\u7d93) it is stated that what is antecedent to external\nform is called _Tao_; and in another passage it is said that one\npassive and one active element (one Yin and one Yang) are called\nTao.[3] In the Li-chi (\u79ae\u8a18) Confucius says to Tz\u016d-kung that _Tao_ is\nthat which the whole world, (\u5929\u4e0b may also mean the empire),\nesteems.[4] Other writers also, such as the author of the preface to\nthe Yi-ching, distinctly assert that the two terms T\u02bdai-chi and Tao\nhave the same signification. Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s doctrine of dualism also, and\nhis theory that contraries produce each other are found explicitly\ntaught in the Confucian classics. Thus the Yi-ching says that hard and\nsoft alternately thrust each other forth,[5] and in another passage it\nis said that the Yin and the Yang, or the passive and active elements\nor powers of nature, generate each other. Again Lao-tz\u016d teaches that\nall the operations of Nature (Tao) and Heaven and earth are carried on\nwithout any show of effort, silently and quietly. So also does\nConfucius teach. In the Li-chi, for example, he says that the\nT\u02bdien-tao or Way of Heaven is to be without exertion and yet have the\nworld completed.[6] In the Chung-yung a similar observation is made\nrespecting Ch\u02bd\u00eang (\u8aa0) which Legge translates \u201csincerity\u201d but which is\nevidently another designation of Tao, as Mr. Meadows long ago\nstated.[7] Further, it is almost unnecessary to state that in the\nquinary classification of such things as tastes and colours our two\nsages perfectly agree. Not only, however, do we find the same ideas on\nthese matters in Confucian classics and the Tao-t\u00ea Ching but we also\nnot seldom find in them similar forms of expression.[8] Thus, for\ninstance, the poetical metaphor by which Lao-tz\u016d speaks of the sea and\nthe great rivers as being kings to the small streams which flow into\nthem is found in the Shu King and the Shi Khing. In the former the\nChiang (\u6c5f) and Han (\u6f22) are described as proceeding to the sovereign\nCourt of the Sea,[9] and in the latter it is written that the full\ntide flows back to pay court to the sea, but the people of the country\nforget their allegiance. It may be mentioned that we ourselves speak\nof _tributary_ streams, and Tennyson has expressed the Chinese idea\nfully in the words\n\n  \u201cFlow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,\n     Thy tribute wave deliver.\u201d\n\nComing now to Politics we find that on Government and other matters\nconnected with the State, the Confucian writings contain many opinions\nclosely resembling those of Lao-tz\u016d. Thus in the Lun-y\u00fc, Book xv.,\nConfucius is represented as saying\u2014\u201cMay not Shun be instanced as\nhaving governed efficiently without exertion? What did he do? He did\nnothing but gravely and reverently occupy his imperial seat.\u201d Here the\nvery expression of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching is used\u2014\u7121\u7232\u800c\u6cbb\u2014and Dr. Legge has,\nI think, rightly translated wu-wei by \u201cwithout exertion.\u201d[10] So also\nin the Shu King it is said of King Wu, after his war with Shou was\nfinished, that \u201che had only to let his robes fall down, and fold his\nhands, and the empire was orderly ruled.\u201d[11] Other passages in the\nLun-y\u00fc show us that Confucius also disliked war, and the petty\nsquabbles into which the ambitious feudal chiefs of his time were\nconstantly falling. Again, Lao-tz\u016d has been greatly reproached by\nConfucianists and others for declining to continue in office under the\nkings of Chow, but he went little farther in this respect than his\nmore fortunate disciple who was more earthly wise though less\npolitically consistent. Each kept his precious gem secreted for years,\nbut there was this difference, that Confucius was eager for a bidder\nwho would please him, and Lao-tz\u016d seeing there was no chance of a\nsuitable bidder preferred to keep his gem. Not only, however, did\nConfucius himself abstain for a considerable time from active official\nlife, but he also commended those of the past and some of his\ncontemporaries who had retired into privacy during evil times, and his\napprobation of Ning-wu\u2019s conduct is expressed in language worthy of\nLao-tz\u016d.[12] Besides, Confucius had the utmost contempt for the\nmandarins and chiefs of his time, and regarded them as either utter\nvillains or as mere nobodies.[13] Again, just as Lao-tz\u016d teaches that\nthe ruler must first correct himself, making the purity of his own\ninner life his first and greatest care and then cultivating moral\nexcellence in his family, so Confucius repeatedly teaches the same\ndoctrine and illustrates it by the example of the ancients. Like ruler\nlike people, is a maxim with him. If the sovereign be wicked the\npeople also will be wicked, and if he be good they also will be\ngood.[14] Lao-tz\u016d says that government must be conducted by\nuprightness or rectitude (\u6b63). So Confucius says that to govern means\nto rectify, and in another passage he depicts the evil results of a\ngovernment which is not conducted in uprightness. Another political\ndoctrine which is stated expressly in the Tao-t\u00ea Ching is that capital\npunishment is the work of a superhuman agent and that no one on earth\ncan safely act as proxy for that agent. Through all the Confucian\nwritings also there runs the idea that it is Heaven or the Upper Ruler\nthat is offended with wicked states, rebellious chiefs, or oppressive\nrulers, and that all national rewards and punishments come from the\nsame source. Confucius, however, and his followers seem to have\nbelieved that the virtuous neighbouring state, the pious sovereign, or\nthe successful rebel received a Heavenly edict to annex the wicked\nterritory, slay the mutinous chief, or dethrone the impious prince\u2014a\npolitical idea not confined to ancient times or to China. Yet there\nare several passages in the Classics which seem to represent\nConfucius, too, as forbidding, or at least disapproving of, capital\npunishment. Thus in the Lun-y\u00fc he is made to say to Chi-k\u02bdang, who had\nasked him about slaying the bad in order to perfect the good\u2014\u201cWhy use\ncapital punishment at all? Do you desire virtue and the people will be\nvirtuous. The moral character of the ruler is to that of his subjects\nas wind is to grass\u2014when the wind blows the grass bends.\u201d[15] And in\nanother passage he is represented as approving of an old saying that\nafter good government for a hundred years capital punishment might be\ndispensed with.[16] Another maxim of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching also inculcated\nby Confucius is this\u2014that the sovereign ought to anticipate and be\nprepared for reverses of fortune\u2014that he ought to devise measures for\nrepressing rebellion while as yet there is no sign of disturbance;\nthis, says the Shu King, was the method pursued by the ancient\nrulers.[17] So also both sages taught that the ruler should always be\ngrave and serious, mindful of the solemn charge which he has received\nfrom Heaven.[18] In the Confucian writings, again, no less than in the\nTao-t\u00ea Ching, rulers are forbidden to covet and strive for rare and\noutlandish objects, such things having a tendency to stir up strife\nand lead the heart astray.[19] Further in the high pre-eminence\nassigned to the sovereign, Confucius is of the same mind with Lao-tz\u016d.\nAs the latter ranks him with Heaven and Earth, so also does the\nformer.[20] In the opinion of each he reigns by divine right, and is\nhimself indeed at least half divine. Son of Heaven is a frequent\ndesignation of him in the Classics. Confucius indeed in some places is\nmuch more wildly extravagant in his statements about the sovereign\nthan we would be inclined to expect. Finally, to both sages the great\nand paramount consideration for a prince or chief seemed to be the\npeace and prosperity of his people. Light taxes, few legal\nrestrictions, and a general kind treatment are strongly recommended by\nboth.[21] They differ, however, in this respect that while Lao-tz\u016d\noverlooks or slights education, Confucius regards it as of great\nimportance; but few who know the nature of the education which\nConfucius recommended to his son of carp-derived name, but which he\ndid not give him, would be disposed to regret the want of it in a\nruler or magistrate.\n\nIt now remains to speak of the Ethical teachings of Lao-tz\u016d and\nConfucius, and here also we find considerable similarity, only a few\ninstances of which can now be indicated. As Confucius disclaimed the\ndistinction of being original in his views, I am much inclined to\nbelieve that the resemblance between the doctrines of the classics and\nthose of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching often point to a borrowing on the part of\nthe former from the latter. The low place which is assigned to\nintellectual and mechanical accomplishment in this work seems to be\nwrong, and Confucius would scarcely go so far. He too, however, places\nvirtue above wisdom, and seems sometimes to think that perfect virtue\nensures to its possessor other and less noble qualities. He is not\nunmindful of the value of intellectual acquirements and assigns to\nthem considerable importance. It must be remembered besides that the\naccomplishments of which Lao-tz\u016d speaks disparagingly are those\nmore for show than utility, and that in this respect Confucius\nis at one with him. The vice of talking specious and flattering words\nis condemned by the one as strongly as by the other. Artful words and\na clever appearance are seldom virtuous, is a sentence which Confucius\nis represented as repeating on several occasions.[22] In the Yi-ching\nit is said that the good man talks little and the violent man talks\nmuch.[23] Here it is worthy of notice that the word which is opposed\nto _chi_ (\u5409), good, is not _hsiung_ (\u51f6), wicked, but _ts\u02bdao_ (\u8e81), a\nword which means fierce or violent. Indeed Confucius insists on the\ngentle life no less earnestly than Lao-tz\u016d, although he is not always\nconsistent. He also recommends abstinence from litigation. Like\nLao-tz\u016d he teaches that the man of extensive influence ought to abase\nhimself before others\u2014ought to yield and never wrangle.[24] On some\noccasions Confucius is represented as holding the maxim that what a\nman would not desire another to do to him he should not do to\nothers,[25] while he is also represented as objecting to the words of\nLao-tz\u016d that injury should be repaid by kindness.[26] But on the other\nhand he makes it one of the characteristics of the Ch\u016dn-tz\u016d (\u541b\u5b50) or\nnoble man, that he does not strive, and a yielding, forbearing\ndisposition is one of the virtues which admiring disciples have\nassigned to \u201cthe Master\u201d himself. In connection with this it may be\nmentioned that the Confucian writings are as bitter as the Tao-t\u00ea\nChing against the show and consciousness of being virtuous. The words\nof the Emperor Shun to Y\u00fc as recorded in the Shu King are very like\nthose of Lao-tz\u016d, \u201cWithout any prideful presumption, there is no one\nin the empire to contest with you the palm of ability; without any\nboasting, there is no one in the empire to contest with you the claim\nof merit.\u201d[27]\n\nThe lofty eminence on which Lao-tz\u016d places the God-like man is not\ngreater than that to which Confucius raises him. This person ranks,\naccording to both, with Heaven and Earth, and assists these in their\ngreat unceasing labours of producing, nourishing, and ruling the\ncreatures of the universe.[28] With Heaven and Earth he makes a\ntrinity, and is scarcely inferior to them. Like Heaven, which he\nimitates, he is free from partialities, and is universal in his\nsympathies.[29] One of the philosophers, Ch\u02bd\u00eang, a Confucianist after\nthe most straitest sect, forgets his master\u2019s doctrine in this respect\nand through excess of orthodoxy actually becomes heterodox.[30]\nCriticising Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s statement that Heaven, Earth, and the God-like\nman are _pu jen_ (\u4e0d\u4ec1), that is, are without any partialities or\nparticular affection, he says that we may make this remark of Heaven\nand Earth but not of the God-like man who feels for and compassionates\nhis fellow creatures, and thus is able to enlarge his way of life.[31]\nThis author, however, seems to be here guilty of a _sophisma\nequivocationis_, as _j\u0115n_ in the former part of the paragraph is used\nin a bad sense while in the latter part it has a good sense. The words\nof the King of Chow to the newly appointed Chief Hu on this subject\nare very similar to those of Lao-tz\u016d\u2014\u201cGreat Heaven has no\naffections\u2014it helps only the virtuous.\u201d[32] So also, as Lao-tz\u016d says\nit is Heaven\u2019s way to take from that which has too much and give to\nthat which wants, the _Shu-ching_ says in like terms \u201cIt is virtue\nwhich moves Heaven; there is no distance to which it does not reach.\nPride brings loss, and humility receives increase:\u2014this is the way of\nHeaven.\u201d[33]\n\nAgain, the doctrine of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching, that violence and excess\ncannot endure, appears also in the Confucian works. It occurs, for\ninstance, in the Li-chi, and it is worthy of observation that the\nillustrious commentator on the passage regards the expression there\nused as a quotation, but does not know from what work.[34] Had the\nwords been identical there could not have been any possibility of\ndoubt. There is also a common saying among the Chinese, derived from\nthe Yi-ching, that when the sun has reached his meridian he begins to\ndecline, and when the moon has reached her full she begins to wane,\nthus intimating the fickleness of fortune. This idea is represented in\nthe Tao-t\u00ea Ching under a different figure.\n\nIn many passages of the books which go by his name, Confucius is made\nto impress on his disciples the necessity of attending to what is\nunseen and internal, and taking it for granted that the visible and\nexternal will follow as a natural consequence.[35] In this too he is\nnearly like to Lao-tz\u016d. One passage of the Lun-y\u00fc even speaks of _Li_\n(\u79ae), or the full complement of external virtues, on which Confucius\ngenerally lays great stress as something to be postponed to the\ngenuine qualities of the heart.[36] The whole of the thirty-third\nchapter of the Chung-yung may be regarded as a sort of commentary on\nwhat Lao-tz\u016d has said on this and some other topics. The passages\nquoted in this chapter from the Shi-ching are merely texts which have\nnot the slightest reference to the homilies on them except in one or\ntwo cases.\n\nFurther, as Lao-tz\u016d believed in a long-past time of simplicity and\npurity, so also did Confucius, and his love for antiquity and his\nesteem for the ancient sages were perhaps even greater than those of\nLao-tz\u016d.[37] Of the five characteristics given of the old kings who\nhad kept good government in their kingdoms the first is that they\nhonoured those who had Te (\u5fb7), that is, their perfect inborn nature,\nand this is explained to mean those who approach _Tao_. Both sages\nrepresent the ancients as solid and not showy, as wanting in\nintellectual arts but perfect in simple virtue. They should be, both\nthought, in the conduct of life no less than in affairs of State the\nmodels for all after generations. Turn to the good old paths wherein\nour forefathers walked who were better than we, is what Lao-tz\u016d and\nConfucius equally teach. Go back, says the latter, to the days of Yao\nand Shun, and Y\u00fc, and kings W\u00ean and Wu, and Duke Chou, and make them\nyour patterns in all things even as they made Heaven theirs. Ascend\nstill further, says Lao-tz\u016d, and follow the lives of those primitive\nworthies who died before the arts and vices of civilisation had\nappeared on the earth.\n\nWhat the inducements are which Lao-tz\u016d holds out to a life of\nself-subduing and virtue has been seen already, and those which the\nConfucian books hold out to such a life are very similar.[38] An\ninsight into the mysteries of Providence, length of years, a peaceful\ndeath, and a good name among men are the chief rewards for such a\nlife. Confucius in one place is represented as making perfect\nknowledge precede self-purification.[39] This, however, is not, I\nthink, in accordance with the general spirit of his teachings, and if\nhe ever did make the statement reported it is probably only one of\nthose nonsensical utterances which he seems to have occasionally made,\nsolely for the purpose of having a long string of short sentences. The\nstatement in question is even on Chu-hsi\u2019s interpretation absurd and\nimpossible.\n\nIn their views about death, also, our two sages seem to have been much\nalike. They do not refer to a state of existence hereafter, and they\nseem to have regarded the grave as the end of man, so far as his\nconsciousness of being was concerned, at least. On this subject,\nhowever, we must speak with caution as the utterances of both are few\nand dark.\n\nA few general observations will now conclude these rather disjointed\nremarks about the points of similarity in the Tao-t\u00ea Ching and the\nConfucian classics. The Chung-yung, or Constant Mean, called by Dr.\nLegge the Doctrine of the Mean, amplifies and illustrates several of\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s teachings, and every reader of the book must have observed\nthe frequency of the occurrence of the word Tao in it. The expression\nChung-yung is, indeed, sometimes almost convertible with this word,\nand Confucius speaks of _keeping_ it in terms very similar to those\nwhich Lao-tz\u016d uses about Tao. Again, the Li (\u79ae) of the Li-chi, Lun-y\u00fc,\nand other works is a word of far wider and deeper signification than\nour translations usually represent. It seems often to indicate the\ncarrying out of the theoretical Tao into practical life.[40] Several\npassages in the classic, named from the word, might be cited in\nsupport of the above view, and in one remarkable sentence, Confucius\nsays that Li must have had its origin in the \u201cGreat One.\u201d[41] The\nShu-ching, or Classic of historical excerpts, contains, as has been\nseen, many doctrines and sayings similar to those of the Tao-t\u00ea Ching,\nand a similar remark applies to the Yi-Ching, especially to its\nappendix. The collection of early moral and immoral ballads usually\ndignified by the title Shi-ching or Classic of poetry, as might have\nbeen expected, does not throw much light on the influence exercised by\nLao-tz\u016d over Confucius or the similarity of their teachings, and the\nsame is true of the Ch\u02bdun-ch\u02bdiu (\u6625\u79cb) or Annals of his Dynasty by\nConfucius. Descending to Mencius we find in the sayings recorded of\nhim many doctrines very like some of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s, and it is a remarkable\nfact that he never refers to the latter either in praise or in\ndispraise. Later Confucianists have regarded their Master as a born\nsage, and they would generally scout the idea that he was under\nserious obligations to any one, and to Lao-tz\u016d in particular.\n\nWhile noticing the many points of affinity between Lao-tz\u016d and\nConfucius, we ought not to forget that there are at the same time\ngreat and important differences between them. The type of mind of the\nformer does not very much resemble that of the latter. Lao-tz\u016d is\nchiefly synthetic and Confucius analytic in tendency. The former likes\nto sum up particular virtues and existences, and refer them to one\nall-embracing idea. The latter shows how one great principle branches\noff and becomes separated into many secondary odes and finally\npermeates all things. The one is a philosopher at home, and the other\na schoolmaster abroad. The relation between the two may in some\nrespects be compared to that between Plato and Aristotle, if it be\nlawful to compare small things with great. The character of Plato\u2019s\nmind also somewhat resembles that of Lao-tz\u016d, while Aristotle is very\nfaintly foreshadowed in Confucius. He was a disciple of Plato and yet\nhe came to differ very widely from his master, but not more than\nConfucius did from Lao-tz\u016d. In both cases the disciple became more\npractical and less theoretical than his master. Yet it must be borne\nin mind that many of Confucius\u2019 teachings in politics and morals are\neither nonsensical or at least vague and incomprehensible, and that\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s general theories are not seldom applicable to particulars\nand the actual world.\n\n  [1] Page 9.\n\n  [2] Vol. ii., Appendix, ch. 12.\n\n  [3] Vol. ii., Appendix, ch. 5.\n\n  [4] Ch. 10, page 65, compare also the Chung-Yung, ch. 27.\n\n  [5] Vol. ii., Appendix, ch. 2.\n\n  [6] Ch. 9, p. 6. See also the remarks of Callery in his note to this\n      passage. Li-ki, p. 142.\n\n  [7] Chinese Classics, vol. i., p. 282 3\u20134. The Chinese and their\n      Rebellions, p. 351.\n\n  [8] Compare Yi-ching, Vol. ii., Appendix, ch. 11, with the Tao-t\u00ea\n      ching, ch. 6.\n\n  [9] Legge\u2019s Shu, vol. i., p. 113.\n\n  [10] Chinese Classics, vol. 1, p. 159.\n\n  [11] Legge\u2019s Shu King, vol. ii., p. 316.\n\n  [12] Legge\u2019s Ch. Classics, vol, i., p. 44.\n\n  [13] See for instance Legge, Ch. Classics, vol. i., p. 136.\n\n  [14] See Legge, vol. i., ps. 122, 130; also the Li-chi, ch. 4, p. 52.\n\n  [15] Legge, &c., vol. i., p. 122.\n\n  [16] Legge, &c., vol. i., p. 131.\n\n  [17] Legge\u2019s Shu King, vol. ii., p. 525. Vol. i., p. 257.\n\n  [18] Legge\u2019s Shu King, vol. i., p. 74, also vol. ii., p. 532.\n\n  [19] Legge\u2019s Shu King, vol. i., p. 349. Vol. ii., p. 574.\n\n  [20] See Li-chi, ch, 8, p. 70.\n\n  [21] Legge Shu King, &c., vol. i., p. 158.\n\n  [22] See Legge, Ch. Classics, vol. i., 166 and p. 3. Compare also the\n       memorable words in the Li-chi, ch. 9, p. 489.\n\n  [23] Vol. ii., Appendix, Part 2, ch. 12.\n\n  [24] See Legge Ch. Classics, vol. i, p. 21.\n\n  [25] See Legge, vol. i., p. 165.\n\n  [26] See Legge, vol. i., p. 152.\n\n  [27] Legge\u2019s Shu King, vol. i., p. 60. See also Dr. Legge\u2019s note on\n       the passage. See also do. p. 257.\n\n  [28] See Li-chi, ch. 4, p. 52.\n\n  [29] See Legge\u2019s Chinese Classics, vol. i., p. 14.\n\n  [30] See the \u6027\u7406\u7e39\u984c, ch., 17, p. 2.\n\n  [31] A quotation from the Lun-y\u00fc, B. xv, ch. 28.\n\n  [32] Legge\u2019s Shu king, vol. ii., p. 490. See also, vol. i., p. 209.\n\n  [33] Legge\u2019s voL i., p. 65. Reference is apparently made to the\n       Yi-ching where \u8b19 and \u640d are two of the Diagrams. It is a\n       wonder that this escaped Dr. Legge\u2019s notice.\n\n  [34] See Li-chi, ch. 1, p. 1, and Chu-hsi\u2019s note.\n\n  [35] Compare on this, other topics mentioned by Lao-tz\u016d, the character\n       of the \u5112 in the Li-chi, ch. 10.\n\n  [36] Legge\u2019s Ch. Classics, vol. i., p. 21.\n\n  [37] See Legge\u2019s Shu, &c., vol. ii., p. 491.\n\n  [38] For the duty of self-denial at certain times see the Li-chi,\n       ch. 3, p. 53, and Callery\u2019s Li-ki, p. 31.\n\n  [39] The Great Learning. See Legge\u2019s Ch. Classics, vol. i., p. 222.\n\n  [40] In the Li-chi, Confucius says that as a parrot does not cease to\n       be a bird though it can speak, so though creatures have the\n       appearance of men, yet if they have not Li they are not men.\n       Ch. 1., p. 4.\n\n  [41] Li-chi, ch. 4, p. 60.\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER IX.\n\n                             CONCLUSION.\n\n\nIt would be a very interesting study to examine the points of\nsimilarity and difference in the writings of the early Buddhists and\nthe teachings of Lao-tz\u016d; but this cannot be attempted here. There is\none circumstance, however, to which I shall allude, that is, the\nresemblance of the Buddhist Bodhisattva (P\u02bdusa) Mandjusri to Lao-tz\u016d.\nThe Nepaulese traditions about this P\u02bdusa also make him to be a\nforeigner and to have come to their country from China, though other\naccounts represent him as returning from the latter country to his\nhome in Nepaul. A full and very interesting account of Mandjusri, or\n\u201cMa\u00f1dju\u00e7ri,\u201d as Burnouf writes it, will be found in that accomplished\nscholar\u2019s \u201cLe Lotus de la bonne Loi.\u201d[1] R\u00e9musat and Pauthier insist\non the western origin of Lao-tz\u016d\u2019s doctrines, and there are certainly\nnot a few points of resemblance between them and some of the early\nIndian systems of religion and philosophy. Of these the doctrine of\nannihilation, or at least of final absorption, is one of the most\nstriking.\n\nAnother interesting study in connection with Lao-tz\u016d would be to trace\nthe history of his opinions among succeeding generations. This would\nhowever, be in great degree a painful study. The metaphysical work of\nChwang-tz\u016d, wild and extravagant though it be occasionally, is worthy\nof being read, and M. Julien has kindly promised to translate it for\nus. Lie-tz\u016d and several others of his followers are also worth\nreading, but the great majority of so called Taoist books are utterly\ndespicable at least in our eyes. Mr. Edkins says of the \u201cTaoist\nsystem\u201d\u2014\u201cIts appeal is made to the lower wants of the Chinese. It\ninvents divinities to promote the physical well-being of the people.\nThe gods of riches, of longevity, of war, and of particular disease,\nall belong to this religion.\u201d[2] The pure and spiritual sayings\nuttered by Lao-tz\u016d have been taken in a gross sense and perverted by\nthoughtless, faithless people, who would have a meritorious life\nconsist solely in external acts, thus entirely reversing their\nmaster\u2019s precepts. He spoke of length of days to be desired as the\nresult of a calm and philosophic life, but degenerate followers sought\nfor many years, in ways shameful to relate. They changed his plain and\nsimple language into euphuistic terms which cause them to be\nreproached. The Taoists, says one author, call the chattering of their\nteeth the Heavenly drum, they swallow their spittle and call it the\nFairy Spring, they speak of horse\u2019s excrement as magical fuel and of\nrats as vivifying medicine. By _such_ means they think they can attain\nTao, but, as the writer asks,\u2014can they attain it?[3]\n\nThough his doctrines, however, have become greatly corrupted and\nperverted the greatness of Lao-tz\u016d himself has not diminished. From\nthe time of the Empress (\u7ac7) of the West Hans, near the end of the Chou\ndynasty, the beginning of his honour dates, and from the time of the\nChin and Liang dynasties down to the Great T\u02bdang dynasty, his\ndoctrines and his name were glorified.[4] He was promoted to be a\nGod, and wonderful things were invented about him and the _Tao_ of\nwhich he spoke so much. One of the T\u02bdang emperors conferred on him the\nsublime title\u2014Great Ruler of the very exalted mysterious Beginning.\nNor has he remained without honour among outside barbarians.\nCunningham says:\u2014\u201cHe (Lao-tz\u016d) was therefore a contemporary of Sakya\nMuni, by whom he is said to have been worsted in argument. By the\nTibetan Buddhists he is called Sen-rabs; but this perhaps signifies\nnothing more than that he was of the race or family of Sena. His faith\ncontinued paramount in Great Tibet for nine centuries, until Buddhism\nwas generally introduced by Seong-Stan in the middle of the seventh\ncentury.\u201d[5] It seems to me more than doubtful, however, whether these\nTirthikas of India, to whom Cunningham alludes as the adherents of\nLao-tz\u016d\u2019s faith, can be regarded as such. A large and influential\nschool could not be established in so short a time as elapsed between\nthe time when Lao-tz\u016d flourished and the time of Buddha\u2019s preaching,\nif indeed any time whatever elapsed. It is perhaps sufficient to\nobserve that there is a considerable amount of similarity between the\ntenets imputed to the Tirthikas and those of the Chinese philosopher.\n\nThe followers of Lao-tz\u016d spread his fame among the Japanese islands\nalso, where Sinto or Sh\u00ean-tao, that is the Spiritual Tao, was known\nbefore Buddhism was introduced. Sir R. Alcock, however, says\u2014\u201cThat\nthere was an indigenous religion as old as their (the Japanese)\nhistory, one formed by and for themselves in long-past ages, the\nSintoo, which survives to this day; that some ten or fifteen centuries\nago or more, this was overlaid by the Confucian doctrines\u2014a code of\nmoral ethics, not a religion in the proper sense of the term\u2014and about\nthe seventh century both were in great degree supplemented by the\nBuddhist faith derived from China, we do know with tolerable\ncertainty. But this is nearly the sum.\u201d[6] Mr. Edkins has given a\nshort but very interesting account of Taoism in Japan, derived\nprincipally from K\u00e6mpfer. It is somewhat remarkable that as the\nJapanese have their spiritual chief or Mikado so the Chinese Taoists\nalso have one, and each is supposed to be a present deity having a\nsacred title derived through many ages. The Chinese chief, however, is\na much less powerful and important personage than the Mikado. The\nfirst of the Taoist patriarchs in China was Chang Tao-ling (\u5f35\u9053\u9675) who\nlived in the time of the Han dynasty.[7] Lao-tz\u016d appeared to him on\nthe Stork-cry Hill and told him that in order to attain the state of\nimmortality which he was seeking he must subdue a number of demons.\nTao-ling in his eagerness slew too many, and Lao-tz\u016d told him that\nShang Ti required him to do penance for a time. Finally, however, he\nwas allowed to become an immortal, and the spiritual chiefdom of the\nTaoists was given to his family for ever. The descendants of Tao-ling\nreside at the Dragon-tiger Hill near Kwei-hsi in the province of\nKiangsi. It is apparently about this Chang Tao-ling that Edkins\nsays\u2014\u201cChang, one of the genii of Taouist romance, is believed to be\nidentical with the star cluster of the same name, and he is\nrepresented by painters and idol-makers with a bow in his hands,\nshooting the heavenly dog.\u201d[8] One title of this spiritual chief in\nChina is T\u02bdien-shi, or Heavenly Teacher and the original patriarch\nseems to be worshipped in Japan under this name. Commodore Perry says\nthat of the two and twenty shrines in the kingdom which command the\nhomage of pilgrimage, \u201cthe great and most sacred one is that of the\nSun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-sin, at Isye.\u201d Previously he had stated\u2014\u201cIt\nis said that the only object of _worship_ among the Sintoos is the\nSun-goddess, Ten-sio-dai-zin, who is deemed the patron divinity of\nJapan *** The Mikado is supposed to be her lineal descendant.\u201d[8] Why,\nhowever, the deity should be a female and a Sun-goddess I do not\nunderstand.\n\nWe must now bid farewell to Lao-tz\u016d. The study of his work and his\nlife, as also of the fortunes of his doctrines, is a difficult task\nbut not without interest and instruction, and the writer is afraid he\nhas lingered too long over it. He hopes, however, that his efforts\nwill even in a very small degree help to raise Lao-tz\u016d to the place in\nthe history of Philosophy, and in the history of the benefactors of\nhumanity, to which he is fairly entitled.\n\n  [1] Page 498, &c.\n\n  [2] Religious Condition, &c., p. 68.\n\n  [3] See the Yuan-chien, &c., ch. 319.\n\n  [4] See Chu-hsi\u2019s Tsa-cho, ch. 9.\n\n  [5] Ladak, p. 358.\n\n  [6] The Capital of the Tycoon, vol. ii., p. 258\n\n  [7] See for this man the \u5c19\u53cb\u9304 ch. 8.\n\n  [8] Religious Condition, &c., p. 140.\n\n  [9] American Expedition to Japan, ps. 24\u20135.\n\n\n\n\n                               FINIS.\n\n\n\n\n                        TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n 1. Obvious minor typographical errors have been silently corrected.\n 2. Hyphenation of words and titles has been standardized to the most\n    commonly used version for a given part of speech.\n 3. Spelling has been standardized except in the case of direct quotes\n    of other writers.\n 4. Footnotes have been renumbered and placed at the end of each\n    chapter.\n 5. Chinese romanization standardized to use the Unicode reversed\n    comma \u02bd to mark aspirated stops in initial consonants.","title":"Lao-tzu, A Study in Chinese Philosophy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31757}