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The Thesis.
1. The Thai-Shang (Tractate) says, 'There are no special doors for calamity and happiness (in men's lot); they come as men themselves call them. Their recompenses follow good and evil as the shadow follows the substance[2].
Machinery to secure retribution.
2. 'Accordingly, in heaven and earth[3] there are spirits that take account of men's transgressions, and, according to the lightness or gravity of their offences, take away from their term of life[4]. When that term is curtailed, men become poor and reduced, and meet with many sorrows and afflictions. All (other) men hate them; punishments and calamities attend them; good luck and occasions for felicitation shun them;
[1. See vol. xxxix, pp. 38-40.
2. This paragraph, after the first three characters, is found in the Zo Khwan, under the tenth and eleventh notices in the twenty-third year of duke Hsiang (B.C. 549),--part of an address to a young nobleman by the officer Min Dze-mâ. The only difference in the two texts is in one character which does not affect the meaning. Thus the text of this Tâoist treatise is taken from a source which cannot be regarded as Tâoistic.
3. This seems equivalent to 'all through space.'
4. The swan in the text here seems to mean 'the whole of the allotted term of life.' Further on, the same character has the special meaning of 'a period of a hundred days.']
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evil stars send down misfortunes on them[1]. When their term of life is exhausted they die.
'There also are the Spirit-rulers in the three pairs of the Thâi stars of the Northern Bushel[2] over men's heads, which record their acts of guilt and wickedness, and take away (from their term of life) periods of twelve years or of a hundred days.
'There also are the three Spirits of the recumbent body which reside within a man's person[3]. As each kang-shän[4] day comes round, they forthwith ascend to the court of Heaven, and report men's deeds of guilt and transgression. On the last day of the moon, the spirit of the Hearth does the same[6].
'In the case of every man's transgressions, when they are great, twelve years are taken from his term of life; when they are small, a hundred days.
'Transgressions, great and small, are seen in several hundred things. He who wishes to seek for long life[6] must first avoid these.
[1. This and other passages show how Tâoism pressed astrology into its service.
2. The Northern Peck or Bushel is the Chinese name of our constellation of the Great Bear, the Chariot of the Supreme Ruler.' The. three pairs of stars, iota, kappa; lambda, mu; nu, xi, are called the upper, middle, and lower Thâi, or 'their three Eminences:' see Reeves's Names of Stars and Constellations, appended to Morrison's Dictionary, part ii, vol. i.
3. The Khang-hsî Dictionary simply explains san shih as 'the name of a spirit;' but the phrase is evidently plural. The names and places of the three spirits are given, and given differently. Why should we look for anything definite and satisfactory in a notion which is merely an absurd superstition?
4. Käng-shän is the name of the fifty-seventh term of the cycle, indicating every fifty-seventh day, or year. Here it indicates the day.
5. The name of this spirit of the fire-place is given by commentators with many absurd details which need not be touched on.
6. Long life is still the great quest of the Tâoist.]
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3. 'Is his way right, he should go forward in it; is it wrong, he should withdraw from it.
The way of a good man.
'He will not tread in devious by-ways; he will not impose on himself in any secret apartment. He will amass virtue and accumulate deeds of merit. He will feel kindly towards (all) creatures[1]. He will be loyal, filial, loving to his younger brothers, and submissive to his elder. He will make himself correct and (so) transform others. He will pity orphans, and compassionate widows; he will respect the old and cherish the young. Even the insect tribes, grass, and trees he should not hurt.
'He ought to pity the malignant tendencies of others; to rejoice over their excellences; to help them in their straits; to rescue them from their perils; to regard their gains as if they were his own, and their losses in the same way; not to publish their shortcomings; not to vaunt his own superiorities; to put a stop to what is evil, and exalt and display what is good; to yield much, and take little for himself; to receive insult without resenting it, and honour with an appearance of apprehension; to bestow favours without seeking for a return, and give to others without any subsequent regret:--this is what is called a good man. All other men respect him; Heaven in its course protects him; happiness and emolument follow him; all evil things keep far from him; the spiritual Intelligences defend him; what he does is sure to succeed[2]
[1. In its widest meaning:--Men, creatures, and all living things.
2. Here are the happy issues of doing good in addition to long life;--compare the Tâo Teh King, ch. 50, et al.]
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Happy issues of his course.
he may hope to become Immaterial and Immortal[1].
He who would seek to become an Immortal of Heaven[1] ought to give the proof of 1300 good deeds; and he who would seek to become an Immortal of Earth[1] should give the proof of three hundred.
The way of a bad man.
4. 'But if the movements (of a man's heart) are contrary to righteousness, and the (actions of his) conduct are in opposition to reason; if he regard his wickedness as a proof of his ability, and can bear to do what is cruel and injurious; if he secretly harms the honest and good; if he treats with. clandestine slight his ruler or parents; if he is disrespectful to his elders and teachers[2]; if he disregards the authority of those whom he should serve; if he deceives the simple; if he calumniates his fellow-learners; if he vent baseless slanders, practise deception and hypocrisy,
[1. Here there appears: the influence of Buddhism on the doctrine of the Tâo. The Rishis of Buddhism are denoted in Chinese by Hsien Zän (###), which, for want of a better term, we translate by 'Immortals.' The famous Nâgârguna, the fourteenth Buddhist patriarch, counts ten classes of these Rishis, and ascribes to them only a temporary exemption for a million years from transmigration, but Chinese Buddhists and Tâoists view them as absolutely immortal, and distinguish five classes:--first, Deva Rishis, or Heavenly Hsien, residing on the seven concentric rocks round Meru; second, Purusha, or Spirit-like Hsien, roaming through the air; third, Nara, or Human Hsien, dwelling among men; fourth, Bhûmi, or Earth Hsien, residing on earth in caves; and fifth, Preta, or Demon Hsien, roving demons. See Eitel's Handbook to Chinese Buddhism, second edition, p. 130. In this place three out of the five classes are specified, each having its own price in good deeds.
2. Literally, 'those born before himself,' but generally used as a designation of teachers.]
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and attack and expose his kindred by consanguinity and affinity; if he is hard, violent, and without humanity; if he is ruthlessly cruel in taking his own way; if his judgments of right and wrong are incorrect; and his likings and aversions are in despite of what is proper; if he oppresses inferiors, and claims merit (for doing so); courts superiors by gratifying their (evil) desires; receives favours without feeling grateful for them; broods over resentments without ceasing; if he slights and makes no account of Heaven's people[1]; if he trouble and throw into disorder the government of the state; bestows rewards on the unrighteous and inflicts punishments on the guiltless; kills men in order to get their wealth, and overthrows men to get their offices; slays those who have surrendered, and massacres those who have made their submission; throws censure on the upright, and overthrows the worthy; maltreats the orphan and oppresses the widow; if he casts the laws aside and receives bribes; holds the right to be wrong and the wrong to be right; enters light offences as heavy; and the sight of an execution makes him more enraged (with the criminal); if he knows his faults and does not change them, or knows what is good and does not do it; throws the guilt of his crimes on others; if he tries to hinder the exercise of an art (for a living); reviles and slanders the sage and worthy; and assails and oppresses (the principles of) reason and virtue[2];
[1. A Confucian phrase. See the Lî Kî, III, v, 13.
2. One is sorry not to see his way to translate here--'Assails and oppresses those who pursue the Tâo and its characteristics.' Julien gives for it--'Insulter et traiter avec cruauté ceux qui se livrent à l'étude de la Raison et de la Vertu.' Watters {footnote p. 240} has--'Insults and oppresses (those who have attained to the practice of) Truth and Virtue.']
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if he shoots birds and hunts beasts, unearths the burrowing insects and frightens roosting birds, blocks up the dens of animals and overturns nests, hurts the pregnant womb and breaks eggs; if he wishes others to have misfortunes and losses; and defames the merit achieved by others if he imperils others to secure his own safety; diminishes the property of others to increase his own; exchanges bad things for good[1]; and sacrifices the public weal to his private advantage; if he takes credit to himself for the ability of others; conceals the excellences of others; publishes the things discreditable to others; and searches out the private affairs of others; leads others to waste their property and wealth; and causes the separation of near relatives[2]; encroaches on what others love; and assists others in doing wrong; gives the reins to his will and puts on airs of majesty; puts others to shame in seeking victory for himself; injures or destroys the growing crops of others; and breaks up projected marriages; if becoming rich by improper means makes him proud; and by a peradventure escaping the consequences of his misconduct, he yet feels no shame; if he owns to favours (which he did not confer), and puts off his errors (on others); marries away (his own) calamity to another, and sells (for gain) his own wickedness; purchases for himself empty praise; and keeps hidden dangerous purposes in his heart; detracts from the excellences
[1. It is a serious mistranslation of this which Mr. Balfour gives:--'returns evil for good,' as if it were the golden rule in its highest expression.
2. Literally, 'separates men's bones and flesh.']
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of others, and screens his own shortcomings if he takes advantage of his dignity to practise intimidation, and indulges his cruelty to kill and wound; if without cause he (wastes cloth) in clipping and shaping it; cooks animals for food, when no rites require it; scatters and throws away the five grains; and burdens and vexes all living creatures; if he ruins the families of others, and gets possession of their money and valuables; admits the water or raises fire in order to injure their dwellings; if he throws into confusion the established rules in order to defeat the services of others; and injures the implements of others to deprive them of the things they require to use; if, seeing others in glory and honour, he wishes them to be banished or degraded; or seeing them wealthy and prosperous, he wishes them to be broken and scattered; if he sees a beautiful woman and forms the thought of illicit intercourse with her; is indebted to men for goods or money, and wishes them to die; if, when his requests and applications are not complied with, his anger vents itself in imprecations; if he sees others meeting with misfortune, and begins to speak of their misdeeds; or seeing them with bodily imperfections he laughs at them; or when their abilities are worthy of praise, he endeavours to keep them back; if he buries the image of another to obtain an injurious power over him[1]; or employs poison to kill trees; if he is indignant and angry with his instructors; or opposes and thwarts his
[1. The crimes indicated here are said to have become rife under the Han dynasty, when the arts of sorcery and witchcraft were largely employed to the injury of men.]
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father and elder brother; if he takes things by violence or vehemently demands them; if he loves secretly to pilfer, and openly to snatch; makes himself rich by plunder and rapine; or by artifice and deceit seeks for promotion; if he rewards and punishes unfairly; if he indulges in idleness and pleasure to excess; is exacting and oppressive to his inferiors; and tries to frighten other men; if he murmurs against Heaven and finds fault with men; reproaches the wind and reviles the rain; if he fights and joins in quarrels; strives and raises litigations; recklessly hurries to join associate fraternities; is led by the words of his wife or concubine to disobey the instructions of his parents; if, on getting what is new, he forgets the old; and agrees with his mouth, while he dissents in his heart; if he is covetous and greedy after wealth, and deceives and befools his superiors (to get it); if he invents wicked speeches to calumniate and overthrow the innocent; defames others and calls it being straightforward; reviles the Spirits and styles himself correct; if he casts aside what is according to right, and imitates what is against it; turns his back on his near relatives, and his face to those who are distant; if he appeals to Heaven and Earth to witness to the mean thoughts of his mind; or calls in the spiritual Intelligences to mark the filthy affairs of his life; if he gives and afterwards repents that he has done so; or borrows and does not return; if he plans and seeks for what is beyond his lot; or lays tasks (on people) beyond their strength; if he indulges his lustful desires without measure; if there be poison in his heart and mildness in his face; if he gives others filthy food to eat; or by corrupt doctrines
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deludes the multitude; if he uses a short cubit, a narrow measure, light weights, and a small pint; mixes spurious articles with the genuine; and (thus) amasses illicit gain; if he degrades (children or others of) decent condition to mean positions; or deceives and ensnares simple people; if he is insatiably covetous and greedy; tries by oaths and imprecations to prove himself correct; and in his liking for drink is rude and disorderly; if he quarrels angrily with his nearest relatives; and as a man he is not loyal and honourable; if a woman is not gentle and obedient; if (the husband) is not harmonious with his wife; if the wife does not reverence her husband; if he is always fond of boasting and bragging; if she is constantly jealous and envious; if he is guilty of improper conduct to his wife or sons; if she fails to behave properly to her parents-in-law; if he treats with slight and disrespect the spirits of his ancestors; if he opposes and rebels against the charge of his sovereign; if he occupies himself in doing what is of no use; and cherishes and keeps concealed a purpose other than what appears; if he utter imprecations against himself and against others (in the assertion of his innocence)[1]; or is partial in his likes and dislikes; if he strides over the well or the hearth; leaps over the food, or over a man[2]; kills newly-born children or brings about abortions[2]; if he does many actions of secret depravity; if he sings and dances on the
[1. The one illustrative story given by Julien under this clause shows clearly that I have rightly supplemented it. He translates it:--'Faire des imprécations contre soi-même et contre les autres.'
2. Trifling acts and villainous crimes are here mixed together.]
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last day of the moon or of the year; bawls out or gets angry on the first day of the moon or in the early dawn; weeps, spits, or urinates, when fronting the north sighs, sings, or wails, when fronting the fire-place and moreover, if he takes fire from the hearth to burn incense; or uses dirty firewood to cook with; if he rises at night and shows his person naked; if at the eight terms of the year[1] he inflicts punishments; if he spits at a shooting star; points at a rainbow; suddenly points to the three luminaries; looks long at the sun and moon; in the months of spring burns the thickets in hunting; with his face to the north angrily reviles others; and without reason kills tortoises and smites snakes[2]:--
'In the case of crimes such as these, (the Spirits) presiding over the Life, according to their lightness or gravity, take away the culprit's periods of twelve years or of one hundred days. When his term of life is exhausted, death ensues. If at death there remains guilt unpunished, judgment extends to his posterity[3].
[1. The commencements of the four seasons, the equinoxes and solstices.
2. Many of the deeds condemned in this long paragraph have a ground of reason for their condemnation; others are merely offences against prevailing superstitions.
3. The principle enunciated here is very ancient in the history of the ethical teaching of China. It appears in one of the Appendixes to the Yî King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvi, p. 419), 'The family that accumulates goodness is sure to have superabundant happiness; the family that accumulates evil is sure to have superabundant misery.' We know also that the same view prevailed in the time of Confucius, though the sage himself does not expressly sanction it. This Tractate does not go for the issues of Retribution beyond the present life.]
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Conclusion of the whole matter.
5. 'Moreover, when parties by wrong and violence take the money of others, an account is taken, and set against its amount, of their wives and children, and all the members of their families, when these gradually die. If they do not die, there are the disasters from water, fire, thieves, and robbers, from losses of property, illnesses, and (evil) tongues to balance the value of their wicked appropriations[1]. Further, those who wrongfully kill men are (only) putting their weapons into the hands of others who will in their turn kill them[2].
'To take to one's self unrighteous wealth is like satisfying one's hunger with putrid food[3], or one's thirst with poisoned wine. It gives a temporary relief, indeed, but death also follows it.
'Now when the thought of doing good has arisen in a man's mind, though the good be not yet done, the good Spirits are in attendance on him. Or, if the thought of doing evil has arisen, though the evil be not yet done, the bad Spirits are in attendance on him.
'If one have, indeed, done deeds of wickedness, but afterwards alters his way and repents, resolved not to do anything wicked, but to practise reverently
[1. These sentences are rather weak. Nothing is said of any recompense to the parties who have been robbed. The thief is punished by the death of others, or the loss of property.
2. A somewhat perplexing sentence. Julien gives for it:--'Ceux qui font périr des hommes innocens ressemblent à des ennemis qui échangent leurs armes et se tuent les uns les autres;' and Watters:--'Those who put others to death wrongly are like men who exchange arms and slay each other.'
3. Literally, 'soaked food that has been spoiled by dripping water.']
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all that is good, he is sure in the long-run to obtain good fortune:--this is called changing calamity into blessing. Therefore the good man speaks what is good, contemplates what is good, and does what is good; every day he has these three virtues:--at the end of three years Heaven is sure to send down blessing on him[1]. The bad man speaks what is wicked, contemplates what is wicked, and does what is wicked; every day he has these three vices:--at the end of three years, Heaven is sure to send down misery on him[1].--How is it that men will not exert themselves to do what is good?'
[1. The effect of repentance and reformation is well set forth; but the specification of three years, as the period within which the recompense or retribution will occur, is again an indication of the weakness in this concluding paragraph.]
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So I must translate the title of this brochure, as it appears in the 'Collection of the Most Important Treatises of the Tâoist Fathers' (vol. xxxix, p. xvii), in which alone I have had an opportunity of perusing and studying the Text. The name, as given by Wylie (Notes, p. 178), Balfour (Tâoist Texts.), and Faber (China Review, vol. xiii, p. 246), is Khing King King[2], and signifies 'The Classic of Purity and Rest.' The difference is in the second character, but both Khing Käng and Khing King are well-known combinations in Tâoist writings; and it will be seen, as the translation of the Text is pursued, that neither of them is unsuitable as the title of the little Book.
It is, as Dr. Faber says, one of the 'mystical canons' of Tâoism; but the mysticism of Tâoism is of a nature peculiar to itself, and different from any mental exercises which have been called by that name in connexion with Christianity or Mohammedanism. It is more vague and shadowy than any theosophy or Sûfism, just as the idea of the Tâo differs from the apprehension of a personal God, however uncertain and indefinite that apprehension may be. Mr. Wylie says the work 'treats under very moderate limits of the subjection of the mental faculties.' This indeed is the consummation to which it conducts the student; a
[1. ###
2. ###.]
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condition corresponding to the nothingness which Lâo-dze contended for as antecedent to all positive existence, and out of which he said that all existing being came, though he does not indicate how.
I give to the Treatise the first place among our appendixes here because of the early origin ascribed to it. It is attributed to Ko Yüan (or Hsüan)[1], a Tâoist of the Wû dynasty (A.D. 222-277), who is fabled to have attained to the state of an Immortal, and is generally so denominated[2]. He is represented as a worker of miracles; as addicted to intemperance, and very eccentric in his ways. When shipwrecked on one occasion, he emerged from beneath the water with his clothes unwet, and walked freely on its surface. Finally he ascended to the sky in bright day[3]. All these accounts may safely be put down as the figments of a later time.
It will be seen that the Text ascribes the work to Lâo-dze himself, and I find it impossible to accept the account of its origin which is assigned by Lî Hsî-yüeh to Ko Hsüan. As quoted by Lî in the first of some notes subjoined to his Commentary, Ko is made to say, 'When I obtained the true Tâo, I had recited this King ten thousand times. It is what the Spirits of heaven practise, and had not been communicated to scholars of this lower world. I got it from the Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa; he received it from the Divine Ruler of the Golden Gate; he received it from the Royal-mother of the West. In all these cases it was transmitted from mouth to mouth, and was not committed to writing. I now, while I am in the world, have written it out in a book. Scholars of the highest order, understanding it, ascend and become officials of Heaven; those of the middle order, cultivating it, are ranked among the Immortals of the Southern Palace; those of the lowest order, possessing it, get long years of life in the world, roam
[1. ### or ###.
2. ###.
3. See the Accounts of Ko in the Biographical Dictionary of Hsiâo Kih-han (1793), and Wang Khî's supplement to the great work of Mâ Twan-lin, ch. 242.]
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through the Three Regions[1], and (finally) ascend to, and enter, the Golden Gate.'
This quotation would seem to be taken from the preface to our little classic by Ho Hsüan. If there were indeed such a preface during the time of the Wû dynasty, the corruption of the old Tâoism must have been rapid. The Hsî Wang-mû, or Royal-mother of the West, is mentioned once in Kwang-dze (Bk. VI, par. 7); but no 'Divine Ruler' disfigures his pages. Every reader must feel that in the Classic of Purity he has got into a different region of thought from that which he has traversed in the Tâo Teh King and in the writings of Kwang-dze.
With these remarks I now proceed to the translation and explanation of the text of our King.
Ch. 1. 1. Lâo the Master[1] said, The Great[2] Tâo has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth[3]. The Great Tâo has no passions[4], but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.
The Great[2] Tâo has no name, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things[3].
I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tâo[6].
1. The name here is Lâo Kün (###). I have stated (vol. xxxix, p. 40) that, with the addition of Thâi Shang, this is the common designation of Lâo-dze as the Father of Tâoism and deifying him, and that it originated probably in the Thang dynasty. It might seem to be used simply here by Ko Hsüan with the same high application; and since in his preface he refers to different 'Divine Rulers,' it may be contended that we ought to translate Lâo Kün by 'Lâo the Ruler.' But I am unwilling to think that the deification of Lâo-dze
[1. The three regions (###)' here can hardly be the trilokya of the Buddhists, the ethical categories of desire, form, and formlessness. They are more akin to the Brahmanic bhuvanatraya, the physical or cosmological categories of bhûr or earth, bhuvah or heaven, and svar or atmosphere.]
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had taken place so early. The earliest occurrence of the combination Lâo Kün which has attracted my notice is in the history of Khung Yung, a descendant of Confucius in the twentieth generation,--the same who is celebrated in the San Dze King, for his fraternal deference at the age of four, and who met with a violent death in A.D. 208. While still only a boy, wishing to obtain an interview with a representative of the Lâo family, he sent in this message to him, 'My honoured predecessor and the honoured Lâo, the predecessor of your Li family, equally virtuous and righteous, were friends and teachers of each other.' The epithet Kün is equally applied to Confucius and Lâo-dze, and the combination Lâo Kün implies no exaltation of the latter above the other.
2. See Tâo Teh King, chaps. 18, 25, 53.
3 T. T. K., chaps. 1, 51, et al.
4. See Kwang-dze, Bk. II, par. 2. 'Passions,' that is, feelings, affections; as in the first of the thirty-nine Articles.
5. T. T. K., chaps. 1, 25, 32, 51.
6. T. T. K., ch. 25.
2. Now, the Tâo (shows itself in two forms); the Pure and the Turbid, and has (the two conditions of) Motion and Rest[1]. Heaven is pure and earth is turbid; heaven moves and earth is at rest. The masculine is pure and the feminine is turbid; the masculine moves and the feminine is still[2]. The radical (Purity) descended, and the (turbid) issue flowed abroad; and thus all things were produced[1].
The pure is the source of the turbid, and motion is the foundation of rest.
If man could always be pure and still, heaven and earth would both revert (to non-existence)[3].
1. This paragraph is intended to set forth 'the production of all things;' but it does so in a way that is hardly intelligible. Comparing what is said here with the utterances in the former paragraph, Tâo would seem to be used in two
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senses; first as an Immaterial Power or Force, and next as the Material Substance, out of which all things come. Li Hsî-yüeh says that in the first member of par. 1 we have 'the Unlimited (or Infinite) producing the Grand (or Primal) Finite.' On the Tâo in par. 2 he says nothing. The fact is that the subject of creation in the deepest sense of the name is too high for the human mind.
2. Compare T. T. K., ch. 61.
3. I do not understand this, but I cannot translate the Text otherwise. Mr. Balfour has:--'If a man is able to remain pure and motionless, Heaven and Earth will both at once come and dwell in him.' Lî explains thus:--###. Compare T. T. K., ch. 16, and especially Ho-shang Kung's title to it,--###.
3. Now the spirit of man loves Purity, but his mind[1] disturbs it. The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw it away[1]. If he could always send his desires away, his mind would of itself become still. Let his mind be made clean, and his spirit will of itself become pure.
As a matter of course the six desires[2] will not arise, and the three poisons[3] will be taken away and disappear.
1. Tâoism thus recognises in man the spirit, the mind, and the body.
2. 'The six desires' are those which have their inlets in the eyes, cars, nostrils, the tongue, the sense of touch, and the imagination. The two last are expressed in Chinese by shän, 'the body,' and î, 'the idea, or thought.'
'The three poisons' are greed, anger, and stupidity;--see the Khang-hsî Thesaurus, under ###.
4. The reason why men are not able to attain to this, is because their minds have not been cleansed, and their desires have not been sent away.
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If one is able to send the desires away, when he then looks in at his mind, it is no longer his; when he looks out at his body, it is no longer his; and when he looks farther off at external things, they are things which he has nothing to do with.
When he understands these three things, there will appear to him only vacancy. This contemplation of vacancy will awaken the idea of vacuity. Without such vacuity there is no vacancy.
The idea of vacuous space having vanished, that of nothingness itself also disappears; and when the idea of nothingness has disappeared, there ensues serenely the condition of constant stillness.
In this paragraph we have what Mr. Wylie calls 'the subjection of the mental faculties;' and I must confess myself unable to understand what it is. It is probably another way of describing the Tâoist trance which we find once and again in Kwang-dze, 'when the body becomes like a withered tree, and the mind like slaked lime' (Bk. II, par. 1, et al.). But such a sublimation of the being, as the characteristic of its serene stillness and rest, is to me inconceivable.
5. In that condition of rest independently of place how can any desire arise? And when no desire any longer arises, there is the True stillness and rest.
That True (stillness) becomes (a) constant quality, and responds to external things (without error); yea, that True and Constant quality holds possession of the nature.
In such constant response and constant stillness there is the constant Purity and Rest.
He who has this absolute Purity enters gradually into the (inspiration of the) True Tâo. And
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having entered thereinto, he is styled Possessor of the Tâo.
Although he is styled Possessor of the Tâo, in reality he does not think that he has become possessed of anything. It is as accomplishing the transformation of all living things, that he is styled Possessor of the Tâo.
He who is able to understand this may transmit to others the Sacred Tâo.
This is the consummation of the state of Purity. In explaining the former sentence of the fifth member, Lî Hsî-yüeh uses the characters of T. T. K., ch. 4, ###, with some variation,--###.
2. 1. Lâo the Master said, Scholars of the highest class do not strive (for anything); those of the lowest class are fond of striving[1]. Those who possess in the highest degree the attributes (of the Tâo) do not show them; those who possess them in a low degree hold them fast (and display them)[2]. Those who so hold them fast and display them are not styled (Possessors of) the Tâo and Its attributes[2].
1. Compare the T. T. K., ch. 41, 1.
2. Compare the T. T. K., ch. 38, 1.
2. The reason why all men do not obtain the True Tâo is because their minds are perverted. Their minds being perverted, their spirits become perturbed. Their minds being perturbed, they are attracted towards external things. Being attracted towards external things, they begin to seek for them greedily. This greedy quest leads to perplexities and annoyances; and these again result in disordered
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thoughts, which cause anxiety and trouble to both body and mind. The parties then meet with foul disgraces, flow wildly on through the phases of life and death, are liable constantly to sink in the sea of bitterness, and for ever lose the True Tâo.
3. The True and Abiding Tâo! They who understand it naturally obtain it. And they who come to understand. the Tâo abide in Purity and Stillness.
Our brief Classic thus concludes, and our commentator Li thus sums up his remarks on it:--'The men who understand the Tâo do so simply by means of the Absolute Purity, and the acquiring this Absolute Purity depends entirely on the Putting away of Desire, which is the urgent practical lesson of the Treatise.'
I quoted in my introductory remarks Lî's account of the origin of the Classic by its reputed author Ko Hsüan. I will now conclude with the words which he subjoins from 'a True Man, Zo Hsüan:'--'Students of the Tâo, who keep this Classic in their hands and croon over its contents, will get good Spirits from the ten heavens to watch over and protect their bodies, after which their spirits will be preserved by the seal of jade, and their bodies refined by the elixir of gold. Both body and spirit will become exquisitely ethereal, and be in true union with the Tâo!'
Of this 'True Man, Zo Hsüan,' I have: not been able to ascertain anything. The Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa, referred to on p. 248, is mentioned in the work of Wang Khî (ch. 241, p. 21b), but with no definite information about him. The author says his surname was Wang, but he knows neither his name nor when he lived.
In the Khien-lung Catalogue of the Imperial Library, ch. 146, Part iii, this Book occupies the first place among all Tâoist works, with three notices, which all precede the account of Ho-shang Kung's Commentary on the Tâo Teh King. From the work of Lâo-dze we are conducted along the course of Tâoist literature to the year 1626, when the catalogue of what is called 'the Tâoist Canon[1]' appeared. Ch. 147 then returns to the Yin Fû King, and treats of nine other works upon it, the last being the Commentary of Lî Kwang-lî, one of the principal ministers and great scholars in the time of Khien-lung's grandfather, known as Khang-hsî from the name of his reign.
In the first of these many notices it is said that the preface of an old copy assigns the composition of the work to Hwang-Tî (in the 27th century B.C.), and says that commentaries on it had been made by Thâi-kung (12th century B.C.), Fan Lî (5th century B.C.), the Recluse of the Kwei Valley (4th century B.C.), Kang Liang (died B.C. 189), Kû Ko Liang (A.D. 181-234), and Lî Khwan of the Thang dynasty (about the middle of our 8th century)[2]. Some writers, going back to the time of Hwang-Tî for the composition of our small classic, attribute it not to that sovereign himself, but to his teacher Kwang Khäng-dze
[1. ###.
2. See also Ma Twan-lin's great work, ch. 211, p. 18a.
3 See Kwang-dze, Bk. XI, par. 4.]
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and many of them hold that this Kwang Khäng-dze was an early incarnation of Lâo-dze himself, so that the Yin Fû might well be placed before the Tâo Teh King! Lî Hsî-yüeh is one of the scholars who adopt this view.
I will not say that under the Kâu dynasty there was no book called Yin Fû, with a commentary ascribed to Thâi-kung[1], for Sze-mâ Khien, in his biography of Sû Khin (Bk. lxix), relates how that adventurer obtained 'the Yin Fû book of Kâu,' and a passage in the 'Plans of the Warring States' tells us that the book contained 'the schemes of Thâi-kung[1].' However this may have been, no such work is now extant. Of all the old commentaries on it mentioned in the Khien-lung Catalogue, the only one remaining is the last,--that of Lî Khwan; and the account which we have of it is not to be readily accepted and relied on.
The story goes that in A.D. 441 Khâu Khien-kih, who had usurped the dignity and title of Patriarch from the Kang family, deposited a copy of the Yin Fû King in a mountain cave. There it remained for about three centuries and a half, till it was discovered by Lî Khwan, a Tâoist scholar, not a little damaged by its long exposure. He copied it out as well as he could, but could not understand it, till at last, wandering in the distant West, he met with an old woman, who made the meaning clear to him, at the foot of mount Lî; after which he published the Text with a Commentary, and finally died, a wanderer among the hills in quest of the Tâo; but the place of his death was never known[2].
The Classic, as it now exists, therefore cannot be traced higher than our eighth century; and many critics hold that, as the commentary was made by Lî Khwan, so the text was forged by him. All that Hsî-yüeh has to say in reply to this is that, if the classic be the work of Lî Khwan, then
[1. See the Khang-hsî Thesaurus under the combination Yin Fû.
2. See the account of Lî Khwan in Wang Khî's continuation of Mâ Twan-lin's work, ch. 242; and various items in the Khien-lung Catalogue.]
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be must think of him as another Kwang Khäng-dze; but this is no answer to the charge of forgery.
As to the name of the Treatise, the force of Fû has been set forth in vol. xxxix, p. 133, in connexion with the title of Kwang-dze's fifth Book. The meaning which I have given of the whole is substantially that of Li Hsî-yüeh, who says that the Yin must be understood as including Yang, and grounds his criticism on the famous dictum in the Great Appendix to the Yî King (vol. xvi, p. 355), 'The successive movement of the Yin and Yang (their rest and active operation) constitutes what is called the course (of things).' Mr. Balfour translates the title by 'The Clue to the Unseen,' which is ingenious, but may be misleading. The writer reasons rather from the Unseen to the Seen than from the Seen to the Unseen.
Mr. Wylie gives his view of the object of the Treatise in these words:--'This short Treatise, which is not entirely free from the obscurity of Tâoist mysticism, professes to reconcile the decrees of Heaven with the current of mundane affairs.' To what extent the Book does this, and whether successfully or not, the reader will be able to judge for himself from the translation which will be immediately subjoined. Li Hsî-yüeh, looking at it simply from its practical object, pronounces it 'hsiû lien kih Shû, a Book of culture and refining[1].' This language suggests the idea of a Tâoist devotee, who has sublimated himself by the study of this Book till he is ready to pass into the state of an Immortal. I must be permitted to say, however, that the whole Treatise appears to me to have come down to us in a fragmentary condition, with passages that are incapable of any satisfactory explanation.
Ch. 1. 1. If one observes the Way of Heaven[1], and maintains Its doings (as his own)[2], all that he has to do is accomplished.
[1. Dr. Williams explains 'hsiû lien (### or ###)' as meaning 'becoming religious, as a recluse or ascetic.']
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1. To explain 'the Way of Heaven,' Lî Hsî-yüeh adduces the last sentence of the T. T. K., ch. 9, 'When the work is done, and one's name has become distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the Way of Heaven.'
2. To explain 'the doings of Heaven,' he adduces the first paragraph of the symbolism of the first hexagram of the Yî, 'Heaven in its motion gives the idea of strength. In accordance with this, the superior man nerves himself to ceaseless activity.'
2. To Heaven there belong the five (mutual) foes[1], and he who sees them (and understands their operation) apprehends how they produce prosperity. The same five foes are in the mind of man, and when he can set them in action after the manner of Heaven, all space and time are at his disposal, and all things receive their transformations from his person[2].
1. The startling name thieves (= foes, robbers) here is understood to mean the 'five elements,' which pervade and indeed make up the whole realm of nature, the heaven of the text including also earth, the other term in the binomial combination of 'heaven and earth.' According to the Tâoist teaching, the element of Earth generates Metal, and overcomes Water; Metal generates Water, and overcomes Wood; Water generates Wood, and overcomes Fire; Wood generates Fire, and overcomes Earth. These elements fight and strive together, now overcoming, now overcome, till by such interaction a harmony of their influences arises, and production goes on with vigour and beauty.
2. It is more difficult to give an account of the operation of the five elements in the mind of man, though I have seen them distributed among the five viscera, and the five virtues of Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Knowledge, and Faith. Granting, however, their presence and operation in the mind, what shall be said on the two concluding members of the paragraph? There underlies them
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the doctrine of the three coordinate Powers;--Heaven, Earth, and Man, which I have never been able to comprehend clearly.
3. The nature of Heaven belongs (also) to Man; the mind of Man is a spring (of power). When the Way of Heaven is established, the (Course of) Man is thereby determined.
These short and enigmatic sentences seem merely to affirm the general subject of the Treatise,--the harmony between the unseen and the seen.
4. When Heaven puts forth its power of putting to death, the stars and constellations lie hidden in darkness. When Earth puts forth its power of putting to death, dragons and serpents appear on the dry ground. When Man puts forth his power of putting to death, Heaven and Earth resume their (proper course). When Heaven and Man exert their powers in concert, all transformations have their commencements determined.
'The power of putting to death here' seems merely to indicate the 'rest' which succeeds to movement. The paragraph is intended to show us the harmony of the Three Powers, but one only sees its meaning darkly. The language of the third sentence about the influence of Man on Heaven and Earth finds its explanation from the phraseology of the thwan of the twenty-fourth hexagram of the Yî (vol. xvi, pp. 107, 108).
5. The nature (of man) is here clever and there stupid; and the one of these qualities may lie hidden in the other. The abuse of the nine apertures is (chiefly) in the three most important, which may be now in movement and now at rest. When fire arises in wood, the evil, having once begun, is sure to go on to the destruction of the wood. When
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calamity arises in a state, if thereafter movement ensue, it is sure to go to ruin.
When one conducts the work of culture and refining wisely we call him a Sage.
The constitution of man is twofold;--his mental constitution, quiet and restful, and his physical constitution, restless and fond of movement. The nine apertures are the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and the lower parts, and of these the eyes, ears, and mouth are the most important; but they all need to be kept in subjection and under restraint. If indulged beyond reason, the ruin of themselves and of the mind and body to which they belong is sure to ensue.
2. 1. For Heaven now to give life and now to take it away is the method of the Tâo. Heaven and Earth are the despoilers of all things; all things are the despoilers of Man; and Man is the despoiler of all things. When the three despoilers act as they ought to do, as the three Powers, they are at rest. Hence it is said, 'During the time of nourishment, all the members are properly regulated; when the springs of motion come into play, all transformations quietly take place.'
Compare ch. I, par. 2. The mutual contention of the five elements in nature only conduces to the nourishment of all its parts; and so man, as one of the three Powers, consumes only to increase his store, and throws down only to build up.
Where the concluding quotation is taken from is not known. Of course any quotation is inconsistent with the idea of the early origin of the Treatise.
2. Men know the mysteriousness of the Spirit's (action), but they do not know how what is not Spiritual comes to be so. The sun and moon have their definite times, and their exact measures as
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large and small. The service of the sages hereupon arises, and the spiritual intelligence becomes apparent.
Compare par. 10 in the fifth Appendix to the Yî King.
3. The spring by which the despoilers are moved is invisible and unknown to all under the sky. When the superior man has got it, he strengthens his body by it; when the small man has got it, he makes light of his life.
The thing is good in itself, but its effect will be according to the character of its user, and of the use which is made of it.
3. 1. The blind hear well, and the deaf see well. To derive all that is advantageous from one source is ten times better than the employment of a host; to do this thrice in a day and night is a myriad times better.
That the loss of one sense may be in a manner compensated for by the greater cultivation of another,--in the case especially of the two senses specified,--is a fact; but I fail to perceive how this is illustrated by what follows in the rest of the paragraph. The illustration is taken from the seventh of the hexagrams in the Yî, but I have not discovered the nexus of it in the text of that classic or in the Appendixes on the thwan or hsiang of the hexagram.
It must be from this paragraph that the bearing of the Treatise on the conduct of military operations has been maintained.
2. The mind is quickened (to activity) by (external) things, and dies through (excessive pursuit of) them. The spring (of the mind's activity) is in the eyes.
Heaven has no (special feeling of) kindness, but so it is that the greatest kindness comes from It.
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The crash of thunder and the blustering wind both come without design.
Mr. Balfour translates the first member here by--'The mind is produced from matter and dies with matter; the working faculty is in the eye;' and says that it embodies a bold denial of any future life, or the existence of spirit, apart from matter. The meaning of the Text, however, is only what I have given;--is moral and not metaphysical. The eye is singled out from the three most important apertures of the body in ch. I, par. 5.
The rest of the paragraph has its parallelisms in Lâo-dze and Kwang-dze.
3. Perfect enjoyment is the overflowing satisfaction of the nature. Perfect stillness is the entire disinterestedness of it. When Heaven seems to be most wrapt up in Itself, Its operation is universal in its character.
A sequel to the preceding paragraph. Lî Hsî-yüeh observes that the having no feeling of kindness is equivalent to Lâo-dze's 'doing nothing.' See the T. T. K., ch. 35, 'The Tâo does nothing, and so there is nothing which It does not do.'
4. It is by its breath that we control whatever creature we grasp. Life is the root of death, and death is the root of life. Kindness springs from injury, and injury springs from kindness. He who sinks himself in water or enters amidst fire brings destruction on himself.
The first member of this paragraph is very difficult to construe. Mr. Balfour gives for it:--'The Laws affecting the animal creation reside in the Breath or Vital Fluid.' The first character of it properly denotes 'birds.' It is often found with another denoting 'quadrupeds;' and again it is found alone denoting both birds and beasts. It is also interchanged with another of the same name, denoting to
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seize or grasp,' in which meaning I have taken it; but the bearing of the saying on the general meaning of the Treatise I have not apprehended.
The next four sayings are illustrations of Lâo-dze's 'contraries' of Tâoism. The final saying is a truism;--is it introduced here as illustrating that whatever is done with design is contrary to the Tâo?
5. The stupid man by studying the phenomena and laws of heaven and earth becomes sage; I by studying their times and productions become intelligent. He in his stupidity is perplexed about sageness; I in my freedom from stupidity am the same. He considers his sageness as being an extraordinary attainment; I do not consider mine so.
Some scholars have expunged this paragraph as not being genuine; it is certainly difficult to construe and to understand.
6. The method of spontaneity proceeds in stillness, and so it was that heaven, earth, and all things were produced. The method of heaven and earth proceeds gently and gradually, and thus it is that the Yin and Yang overcome (each other by turns). The one takes the place of the other, and so change and transformation proceed accordingly.
Kû Hsî praises this paragraph as very good, and the use of the character Zin ('proceeds gently and gradually') as exquisite. After all, what do we learn from it? That Creation proceeded without striving or crying? And that the same Creative Power continues to act in the same way?
7. Therefore the sages, knowing that the method of spontaneity cannot be resisted, take action accordingly and regulate it (for the purpose of culture). The way of perfect stillness cannot be subjected to numerical calculations; but it would seem that there
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is a wonderful machinery, by which all the heavenly bodies are produced, the eight diagrams, and the sexagenary cycle; spirit-like springs of power, and hidden ghostlinesses; the arts of the Yin and Yang in the victories of the one over the other:--all these come brightly forward into visibility.
I cannot say that I fully understand this concluding paragraph of the Yin Fû King. One thing is plain from it,--how the Yî King was pressed into the service of the Tâoism that prevailed when it was written. I leave it with the judgment on it, quoted by Lî Hsî-yüeh from a Lû Zhien-hsü. 'The subject-matter of the Yin Fû and Tâo Teh is all intended to set forth the action by contraries of the despoiling powers in nature and society. As to finding in them directions for the government of states, the conduct of war, and the mastery of the kingdom, with such expressions as those about a wonderful machinery by which the heavenly bodies are produced, the eight diagrams, the cycle, spirit-like springs, and hidden ghostlinesses:--they all have a deep meaning, but men do not know it. They who go to the Yin Fû for direction in war and use Lâo-dze for guidance in government go far astray from the meaning of both.'
Mr. Wylie says (Notes, p. 179) that the Pivot of Jade is much used in the ritual services of Tâoism, meaning that it is frequently read in the assemblies of its monks. The object of the Treatise, according to Li Hsî-yüeh, is 'to teach men to discipline and refine their spirit;' and he illustrates the name by referring to the North Star, which is called 'the Pivot of the Sky,' revolving in its place, and carrying round with it all the other heavenly bodies. So the body of man is carried round his spirit and by it, and when the spirit has been disciplined and refined, till it is freed from every obscuring influence, and becomes solid, soft, and strong as jade, the name, 'the Pivot of Jade,' is appropriate to it.
The name of the Treatise, when given at full length, is--'The True Classic of the Pivot of Jade, delivered by the Heaven-Honoured One, Who produces Universal Transformation by the Sound of His Thunder.' To this personage, as Wylie observes, the Tâoists attribute a fabulous antiquity, but there is little doubt that the author was a Hsüan-yang Dze, about the time of the Yüan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1367). From the work of Wang Khî (ch. 243), we learn that this Hsüan-yang Dze was the denomination of Au-yang Yü-yüen, a scion of the famous Âu-yang family. What he says is to the following effect:--
1. The Heaven-honoured One says, 'All you, Heaven-endowed men, who wish to be instructed
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about the Perfect Tâo, the Perfect Tâo is very recondite, and by nothing else but Itself can it be described. Since ye wish to hear about it, ye cannot do so by the hearing of the ear:--that which eludes both the ears and eyes is the True Tâo; what can be heard and seen perishes, and only this survives. There is (much) that you have not yet learned, and especially you have not acquired this! Till you have learned what the ears do not hear, how can the Tâo be spoken about at all?'
'Heaven-honoured (Thien Zun)' is a title given by the Tâoists to the highest objects of their reverence and worship. Chalmers translates it by 'Celestial Excellency,' and observes that it is given to 'all the Three Pure Ones;' but its application is much more extensive, as its use in this Treatise sufficiently proves. No doubt it was first adopted after the example of the Buddhists, by whom Buddha is styled 'World-honoured,' or 'Ever-honoured' (Shih Zun).
The phrase Thien Zän, which I have translated here 'Heaven-endowed Men,' is common to the three religions of China; but the meaning of it is very different in each. See the Confucian and the Tâoist significations of it in the Khang-hsî Thesaurus, under the phrase. Here it means 'the men possessed by the Tâo;--Tâo-Zän of the highest class.' In a Buddhist treatise the meaning would be 'Ye, devas and men.'
2. The Heaven-honoured One says, 'Sincerity is the first step towards (the knowledge of) the Tâo; it is by silence that that knowledge is maintained; it is with gentleness that (the Tâo) is employed. The employment of sincerity looks like stupidity; the employment of silence looks like difficulty of utterance; the employment of gentleness looks like want of ability. But having attained to this, you may
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forget all bodily form; you may forget your personality; you may forget that you are forgetting.'
'All this,' says Lî Hsî-yüeh, 'is the achievement of vacuity, an illustration of the freedom from purpose which is characteristic of the Tâo.' Compare par. 14 in the sixth Book of Kwang-dze.
3. 'He who has taken the first steps towards (the knowledge of) the Tâo knows where to stop; he who maintains the Tâo in himself knows how to be diligently vigilant; he who employs It knows what is most subtle.
'When one knows what is most subtle, the light of intelligence grows (around him); when he can know how to be diligently vigilant, his sage wisdom becomes complete; when he knows where to stop, he is grandly composed and restful.
'When he is grandly composed and restful, his sage wisdom becomes complete; when his sage wisdom becomes complete, the light of intelligence grows (around him); when the light of intelligence grows around him, he is one with the Tâo.
'This is the condition which is styled the True Forgetfulness;--a forgetting which does not forget; a forgetting of what cannot be forgotten.
'That which cannot be forgotten is the True Tâo. The Tâo is in heaven and earth, but heaven and earth are not conscious of It. Whether It seem to have feelings or to be without them, It is (always) one and the same.'
4. The Heaven-honoured One says, 'While I am in this world, what shall I do to benefit life? I occupy myself with this subtle and precious Treatise for the good of you, Heaven-endowed men. Those
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who understand it will be allowed to ascend to the happy seats of the Immortals.
'Students of the Tâo believe that there are (the influences of) the ether and of destiny. But the (conditions of) climate being different, the constitutions received by men are naturally different, and hence they are ascribed to the ether. And the (conditions of) wisdom and stupidity being different, their constitutions as fine and coarse are naturally different, and hence they are ascribed to the destiny. The destiny depends on fate; the ether depends on Heaven.
'The restraints arising from the ether and destiny are the manacles decreed by Heaven. But if one acquire the True Tâo, though stupid, he may become wise; though coarse, he may become fine;--if there only be the decree of fate.
'Stupidity the darkest, and coarseness the densest, are consequences of climate; but the suffering of them and the changing of them may take place, when Heaven and Earth quicken the motive spring. When this is done without the knowledge of men, it is said to take place spontaneously. If it be done with a consciousness of that want of knowledge, it is still said to take place spontaneously. The mystery of spontaneity is greater than that of knowledge; but how it comes to be what it is remains a thing unknown. But as to the Tâo, It has not begun to come under the influence of what makes stupid and coarse. Hear this all ye Heaven (-endowed) men; and let all the multitude in all quarters rejoice.'
It may be considered as a proof of the difficulty of the Text that to this long paragraph Lî Hsî-yüeh does not subjoin a single explanatory remark.
I have nowhere found any mention of the author of this brief composition, or of its date. The use of Buddhistic expressions in it shows that it cannot have had a very early origin. It belongs to the same category of Tâoist writings as the Khing Käng King, which is the first of these appendixes. Lî Hsî-yüeh says, 'The Treatise is called "the Directory for a Day," as showing that during all the hours (the Tâo) should not be left for a single instant (comp. the words of Confucius at the beginning of the Kung Yung). Let the work be done, and there is sure to be the result promised; only there must be the Purity insisted on both of body and mind. In the second paragraph it is said, "During the twelve hours of the day let the thoughts be constantly fixed on absolute Purity;" and in the last paragraph, "During the twelve hours be always pure and undefiled; "--thus showing what the main teaching of the Great Tâoistic system is, and the pre-eminent place which Purity occupies in the "Directory for a Day." The style is so clear and simple that I have left it without note or comment.'
1. As to what should be done in a day, when the eating and drinking has been arranged, let one sit straight with his mouth shut, and not allow a single thought to arise in his mind. Let him forget everything, and keep his spirit with settled purpose. Let
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his lips be glued together, and his teeth be firmly pressed against one another. Let him not look at anything with his eyes, nor listen to a single sound with his ears. Let him with all his mind watch over his inward feelings. Let him draw long breaths, and gradually emit them, without a break, now seeming to breathe, and now not. In this way any excitement of the mind will naturally disappear, the water from the kidneys will rise up, the saliva will be produced in the mouth, and the real efficaciousness becomes attached to the body. It is thus that one acquires the way of prolonging life.
2. During the twelve hours of the day let one's thoughts be constantly fixed on absolute Purity. Where one thought (of a contrary kind) does not arise, we have what we call Purity; where nothing (of a contrary kind) enters the Tower of Intelligence (= the mind), we have what we call the Undefiled. The body is the house of the breath; the mind is the lodging of the spirit. As the thoughts move, the spirit moves; as the spirit moves, the breath is distributed. As the thoughts rest, the spirit rests when the spirit rests, the breath is collected.
The true powers of the five elements unite and form the boat-like cup of jade, (after partaking of which), the body seems to be full of delicious harmony. This spreads like the unguent of the chrismal rite on the head. Walking, resting, sitting, sleeping, the man feels his body flexible as the wind, and in his belly a sound like that of thunder. His ears hear the songs of the Immortals, that need no aid from any instrument; vocal without words, and resounding without the drum. The spirit and the breath effect a union and the bloom of
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childhood returns. The man beholds scenes unfolded within him; Spirits of themselves speak to him; he sees the things of vacuity, and finds himself dwelling with the Immortals. He makes the Great Elixir, and his spirit goes out and in at its pleasure. He has the longevity of heaven and earth, and the brightness of the sun and moon. He has escaped from the toils of life and death.
Accustomed to the phraseology of the Text all his life, the commentator Lî, as has been seen, did not think it necessary to append here any notes of explanation. A few such notes, however, will be welcome to an English reader. 'The twelve hours of the day:'--a Chinese hour is equal to two of our hours, and their twelve to our twenty-four. The twelve hours are named by the twelve branch terms of the cycle.
'The boat-like cup of jade' seems to be a satisfactory rendering of the Chinese characters tâo kwei in the Text, which might be translated 'knife, and jade-symbol.' But Tâo, commonly meaning 'knife,' is in the Shih King (I, v; VII, 2) used of 'a small boat.' In the Khang-hsî Thesaurus, under the phrase, we have the following quotation, as if from Ko Hung's Biographies of Immortals: 'Khän Hsî, a native of the territory of Wû, was studying the Tâo in Shû, when the master Lâo sent a beautiful young lady to him with a tray of gold and a cup of jade filled with medicine, and the message, "This is the mysterious elixir; he who drinks it will not die." And on this he and his wife had each a tâo kwei.' See the account in Ko Hung's work, which is much more diffuse.
In the mention of 'the chrismal rite' there is a reference to what Dr. Williams calls 'a kind of Buddhist baptism or holy unction, by sprinkling, which confers goodness,' 'administered to children, idols, &c.' (See under the characters kwân and ting.)
3. Do not allow any relaxation of your efforts, During all the hours of the day strive always to be
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pure and undefiled. The spirit is the child of the breath; the breath is the mother of the spirit.
As a fowl embraces its eggs, do you preserve the spirit and nourish the breath. Can you do this without intermission? Wonderful! wonderful! The mystery becomes still deeper!
In the body there are seven precious organs, which serve to enrich the state, to give rest to the people, and to make the vital force of the system full to overflowing. Hence we have the heart, the kidneys, the breath, the blood, the brains, the semen, and the marrow. These are the seven precious organs. They are not dispersed when the body returns (to the dust). Refined by the use of the Great Medicine, the myriad spirits all ascend among the Immortals.
If we were sure that we had exactly hit the meaning and spirit of every part of this paragraph, it would hardly be worth while to give more space to its illustration.
A sufficient number of the best of the Treatises of the later Tâoism have been placed before the reader to show him how different they are from the writings of Lâo and Kwang, and how inferior to them. It might seem as if Kwang-dze, when be ceased to write, had broken the staff of Tâoism and buried it many fathoms in the earth. We can hardly wonder that Confucianists, such as Kû Hsî, should pronounce, 'What the sect of Tâo chiefly attend to is,--the preservation of the breath of life;' and that Buddhists, such as Liû Mî, should say of it, 'Long life being attained, its goal is reached.'
The Hsiâo-yâo in the title of this Book denotes the appearance of perfect ease and satisfaction. The Yû, which conveys the idea of wandering or rambling about, is to be understood of the enjoyment of the mind. The three characters describe the chief characteristic of our 'Old Kwang's' life, and therefore he placed the Book at the beginning of his more finished compositions or essays.
But when one wishes to enjoy himself in the fullest and freest way, he must first have before him a view like that of the wide sea or of the expanse of the air, in order that his mind may be free from all restraint, and from the entanglements of the world, and that it may respond in the fitting way to everything coming before it:--it is only what is Great that can enter into this enjoyment. Throughout the whole Book, the word Great has a significant force.
In paragraph 1 we are presented with the illustration of the phäng. Long was the journey which it would undertake, when it contemplated removing to the South. That it required a wind of 90,000 lî to support it, and even then only rested after a flight of six months, was owing to its own Great size, and also because the Southern Ocean was not to be easily reached by a single effort.
What is said, in paragraph 2, about men, when going anywhere, proportioning the provisions which they take
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with them to the length of the journey has the same meaning. How should such creatures as the cicada and the little dove be able to know this? Knowledge is great or small, because the years of the parties are many or few:--so it is that one is inferior to another. Have they not heard of the ming-ling and tâ-khun, which make their spring and autumn for themselves? And so does the phäng, as we may understand. Its not resting till the end of six months is really not a long time to it. The case of Phäng Zû is not worth being taken into account.
This description of the greatness of the phäng is not any fabrication of our author's own, nor any statement peculiar to the Khî Hsieh. The same things are told in the 'Questions of Thang to Kî,' as in paragraph 3.
As to the long journey of the phäng and the marsh-quail's laughing at it, that is not different from what the other two little creatures said above;--arising simply from the difference between the great and the small. And what difference is there between this and the case of those who enjoy themselves for a season in the world? Yung-dze of Sung is introduced (and immediately dismissed), as not having planted himself in the right position, and not being Great. Then Lieh-dze is brought forward, and dismissed as not being Great, because he had something to wait for. It is only he who rides on the twofold primal ether of the Yin and Yang, driving along with the six elements through all their changes as they wax and wane, and enjoying himself at the gate of death, that can be pronounced Great. This is what is called the Perfect Man; the Spirit-like Man; and the Sage Man.
In illustration of this, as instances of the Great Man, we have, in paragraph 4, Hsü Yû, regardless of the name; the personage on the hill of Kû-shih, in paragraph 5, with no thought of the services he could perform; and Yâo with his deep-sunk eyes, in paragraph 6, no longer thinking much of his throne, and regardless of himself. All these characteristics could be used, and made their possessor great; but let not this lead to a suspicion of greatness as
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incompatible with usefulness. As a caution against this, we have, in paragraph 7, the salve to keep the hands from being chapped;--a Great thing when used properly, but of little value when not so used. Let those who exercise their minds look at this:--should they not seek to be useful, and so become Great? We have also the weasel and the yak, the one of which gets into trouble by its being of use, while the other escapes harm by its being of no use. Let those who have work to do in the world look at this. The Great calabash and the Great tree are, each of them, a phäng:--why may we not abandon ourselves to our natural feeling of enjoyment in connexion with them? Let men be satisfied with their Greatness and seek for nothing more.
As to the style of the Book, the sudden statement and the sudden proof; the sudden illustration and the sudden reasoning; the decision, made to appear as no decision; the connexion, now represented as no connexion; the repetition, turning out to be no repetition:--these features come and go on the paragraphs, like the clouds in the open firmament, changing every moment and delightful to behold.
Lû Fang-hû describes it well:--'The guiding thread in the unspun
floss; the snake sleeping in the grass.'
In writings intended to throw light on the Tâo we find many different views, affirmations on one side and denials on the other. These may be called Controversies, and the reason why they are not adjusted is that every one will hold fast to his own view. But every peculiar view arises from the holder's knowledge. Such knowledge, however, tends to the injury of his mind, and serves no purpose, good or bad, in illustrating the nature of the Tâo;--it only increases the confusion of controversy. Hence when we wish to adjust controversies, we must use our knowledge well; and to use our knowledge well, we must stop at the point beyond which it does not extend.
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In this whole Book knowing and not knowing is the thread that runs through it, (and binds its parts together). The expressions about men's being 'in darkness,' in paragraph 2, and the Tâo's being 'obscure,' in paragraph 3, indicate the want of knowledge; those, also in paragraph 3, about 'the light of the mind,' and 'throwing that light on a subject,' indicate the good use of knowledge; those, in paragraph 5, about 'the scintillations of light from the midst of confusion and perplexity,' and 'the store of light,' in paragraph 7, indicate the stopping at the point to which our knowledge does not extend. And what is to be done when we stop at this point? Nothing more can be done; we have simply, as it is said in paragraph 6, to stop here.
When Nan-kwo Dze-khî says, in paragraph 1, 'I had lost myself,' he fully expresses the subject-matter of the Book. If we think that the affirmations and denials made by men's minds are fictions, made out from nothing to be something, that is like the myriad different sounds of the wind, suddenly appearing in their innumerable variations. But who is it that produces all these sounds? As is said in paragraph 2, they are 'the sounds of Earth which are really the notes of Heaven.' The minds of men speak from their possession of knowledge. However great or small their words may be, they are all of their own making. A discourse under a thousand Heads with a myriad Particulars, suddenly arising and as suddenly stopping, may suggest the idea of what we call 'a True Ruler.' But the idea is vague, and though our knowledge does not reach to such a subject, men toil their intelligence to the end of their lives, never stopping till both mind and body are exhausted. What is the reason of this? It is because they have their 'minds completely made up (par. 3).'
Now if words were like the chirpings of very young birds that come upon the ear, there would be no difference between them as regards truth or falsehood, right or wrong; but there is some obscuring influence, through which the different views of the Literati and Mohists are produced, with their confusion and uncertainty. All this is because
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the parties do not use their knowledge well. In their controversies each looks at the other's view only from his own standpoint, and throwing on the subject from that the light of Heaven, thus emptily replying to one another without end. And is this purposely intended to make a violent end of their disputations? (It is not so), for the Tâo is originally one. High and low, beautiful and ugly, ordinary and strange, success and overthrow, have nothing to do with it. The intelligent know this; those who weary their minds in trying to bring about a unity do not know it. At this point the sages throw on the subject the light of Heaven, also wishing to rest in Heaven, and so they come to a natural union:--this is how they use their knowledge well.
And what are we to consider the highest reach of knowledge (see par. 5)? The ancients thought it necessary to place this in the time before anything began to be. A second class would have it that there had (always) been (some) things; and a third class held that between those things (and men) there had been a relativity. Thus it was that gradually there came differences of opinion, in affirmations and denials; and when these once arose, there could not but be the experiences of success and failure.
But any one-sidedness in controversy is not sufficient to be accounted a proof of success or of failure. Not only is the Tâo radically one; but those who employ it, however they may seem to differ, will be found to be substantially one and the same. When the sages, in the midst of slippery confusion and doubtful perplexity, yet find the clearness of conviction, is it not because they place the controversies that we speak of among the things that are not to be used?
But if there were no affirmations and denials, there would be no words. And let me think here. Suppose there were no words of controversy, we must not infer from that that there were no words at all. Is this word correct? Then if I also employ it, I form one class with all who do so? Is it not correct? Then if I also deny it, I form another class with those who do the same. Formerly,
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when speaking of men's words, I said that they should change places, and look at things from the different standpoints of each other; so with reference to my own words, my holding my 'Yea,' does not interfere with my changing my place, and taking my position with those who say 'Nay' in the case. If indeed there be no words of affirmation and denial, what words will there be? We must go back to the beginning when there were no words. We must go back still farther,--to the vacuity before the beginning when there were no words. If we try to go back even farther still, then great and small, long life and short life, heaven and earth and all things, fade away, blending together in the One. But that ONE is also a word. In this way we go on without end, wishing to make an end of controversy, and instead of doing that, our endeavour only serves to increase it. The better plan is to stop, as is proposed in a former paragraph, to stop at this point.--Even this word about having no controversy may be spared.
The sage, by avoiding discussion, reasoning, and the drawing of distinctions, while he availed himself of words, yet retained the advantage of eschewing words, and was also afraid of calling the demarcations (of propositions) by their eight qualities (see par. 7). Still, however, the trace of the use of words remained with him. It is not so in the case of the Great Tâo and the Great Argument. The Tâo (which is displayed) is not the Tâo; the Argument (which is most subtle) does not reach the point; the degree of Non-action is very great; but notwithstanding it is difficult to speak of what is entirely empty of purpose. The way by which the knowledge of the ancients reached the highest point was their stopping when their knowledge extended no farther. If they could know what they did not know, it was by means of the Heavenly Treasure-house; it was thus they could take their place in the centre of the circle, to which all lines converged, and from which all questions could be answered. If they added what they did know to the sum of what they did not know, they then
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possessed the Store of Light; and it was thus that they made provision for the scintillations of slippery doubt.
To the same effect was what Shun told Yâo (end of par. 7). As to the referring what is advantageous and what is hurtful, and the mysteries of life and death, to the sphere of the unknown, that is set forth in the conversation between Nieh Khüeh and Wang Î (par. 8).
As to how it is that rulers and grooms, other men and one's self, do not know each other, that is seen in the conversation between Khü Zhiâo-dze and Khang-wû Dze.
As to what is said about the substance and shadow waiting on each to make their manifestations, and not knowing how they were brought about, and about the dreamer and the man awake doubting about each other, and not knowing how to distinguish between them, we have knowledge stopping at the point to which it does not extend, and gradually entering into the region of transformation.
Is there anything still remaining to be done for the adjustment of controversy? One idea grows up out of another in the Book, and one expression gives rise to another apparently quite different. There is a mutual connexion and reference between its parts. Suddenly the style is difficult as the slope of Yang-khang, and vanishes like the path of a bird; suddenly it looks like so many steep cliffs and successive precipices. When ordinary scholars see this and cannot trace the connexion of thought, if they put it on one side, and did not venture to say anything about it, they might be forgiven. But when they dare to follow their prejudices, and to append their licentious explanations, breaking up the connexion of thought, and bringing down to the dust this wonderful composition, the admiration of thousands of years;--ah! when the old Kwang took his pencil in hand, and proceeded to write down his thoughts, why should we be surprised that such men as these cannot easily understand him?
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'The Great and most Honoured Master' is the Tâo. It appears separately in the Heavenly and Human elements (of our constitution), and exists alone and entire in what is beyond death and life; being, as we say, that which nothing can be without. To describe it as that which stands out superior and alone, we use for it the character Koh (###) (par. 5); to describe it as abiding, we call it the True; to describe it as it vanishes from sight, we apply to it the names of Purity, Heaven, and Unity (par. 12).
When men value it, it is possible to get possession of it. But he who wishes to get it must, with the knowledge which he has attained to, proceed to nourish what that knowledge is still ignorant of. When both of these are (as it were) forgotten, and he comes under the transformation of the Tâo, he enters into the region in which there is neither life nor death;--to the Human element (in him) he has added the Heavenly.
Now what knowledge does not know is the time of birth and death, and what it does know is what comes after birth and precedes death. It would seem as if this could be nourished by the exercise of thought; but if we do this after birth and before death, we must wait for the time of birth and death to verify it. If we try to do so before that time, then the circumstances of the Human and the Heavenly have not yet become subject to their Ruler. It is this which makes the knowledge difficult, and it is only the True Man with the True Knowledge who has no anxiety about it.
In the position which the True man occupies, he has his adversities and prosperities, his successes and defeats, his gains and his losses, his seasons of security and of unrest, all the changes of his circumstances; but his mind forgets them all, and this result is due to his possession of both the Knowledge and the Tâo.
As to his bodily conditions, he has his sleeping and
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awaking, his eating and resting,--his constant experiences; but his mind (also) forgets them all. For the springs of action which move to the touch of Heaven, and the movements of desire are indeed different in men; but when we advance and examine the proper home of the mind, we find no difference between its place and nature at the time of birth and of death, and no complication in these after birth and before death:--so it is that the Mind, the Tâo, the Heavenly, and the Human are simply One. Is not the unconsciousness of the mind the way in which the True man exercises his knowledge and nourishes it? Carrying out this unconsciousness, from the mind to the body and from the body to the world, he comprehends the character of the time and the requirements of everything, without any further qualification. Hence, while the mind has not acquired this oblivion, the great work of life always suffers from some defect of the mind, and is not fit to be commended. But let the mind be able to exercise this quality, and it can be carried out with great and successful merit, and its admirable service be completed. This is the mind of the True man, never exercised one-sidedly in the world, and gaining no one-sided victory either Heavenward or Manward.
Given the True Man with the True Knowledge like this, the nature of death and life may begin to be fully described. Death and life are like the night and the dawn;--is there any power that can command them? Men cannot preside over them. This is what knowledge does not extend to; but within the sphere of knowledge, there is that which is dearer than a Father (par. 5), and more to be honoured than a Ruler; the Eminent, the True, and that moreover over which Heaven cannot preside. Valuable therefore is the nourishing of this Knowledge; and what other art in nourishing it is there but the unconsciousness of which we speak? Why do we say so? The body is born, grows old and dies. This is the common lot. However skilful one may be in hiding it away, it is sure to disappear. Men know that the body is not easily got, but
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they do not know that what might seem like man's body never comes to an end. Being hidden away in a place from which there is no escape for anything, it does not disappear. This takes place after birth and before death, and may be verified at the times of birth and death; but how much better it is to consider Heaven good, old age good, the beginning good and the end good, than vainly to think that the nourishing of knowledge is making the body good! The doing this is what is called the Tâo. And the sage enjoys himself in this; not only because the Tâo itself does not disappear, but also because of all who have got it not a single one has ever passed away from notice.
But it is not easy to describe the getting of the Tâo. In the case about which Nü Yü told Nan-po Dze-khwei (par. 8); the talents of a sage and the Tâo of a sage came together in the study of it; three, seven, and nine days are mentioned as the time of the several degrees of attainment; the learner went on from banishing all worldly matters from his mind as foreign to himself till he came to the utter disregard of time. In this way was he led from what was external, and brought inwards to himself; then again from the idea of the Tâo's being a thing, it was exhibited as Tranquillity amid all Disturbances, and he was carried out of himself till he understood that neither death nor life is more than a phenomenon. The narrator had learned all this from writings and from Lo-sung, searching them, and ever more the more remote they were. Truly great is the difficulty of getting the Tâo!
And yet it need not be difficult. It was not so with Dze-yü (par. 9), in whose words about one arm being transformed into a fowl, and the other into a cross-bow, we see its result, as also in what he said about his rump-bone being transformed into a wheel, his spirit into a horse, and one loosing the cord by which his life is suspended.
(Again) we have a similar accordance (with the Tâo) in Dze-lî's question to Dze-lâi (par. 10), about his being made the liver of a rat or the arm of an insect, with the latter's reply and his remark about the furnace of a founder.
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These were men who had got the Tâo; as also were Dze-fan and Khin Kang (par. 11), men after the Maker's mind, and who enjoyed themselves, disporting in the one vital ether of heaven and earth.
The same may be said of Mäng-sun Zhâi (par. 12). If he had undergone a transformation, he would wait for the future transformation of which he did know. So it was that he obtained the Tâo. He and all the others were successful through the use of their mental unconsciousness; and they who pursue this method, must have the idea of I-r Dze, who wished to have his branding effaced, and his dismemberment removed by hearing the substance of the Tâo (par. 13).
Parties who have not lost the consciousness of their minds and wish to do so must become like Yen Hui (par. 4), who separated the connexion between his body and mind, and put away his knowledge, till he became one with the Great Pervader.
Of such as have lost (in part) the consciousness of their minds and wish. to do so entirely, we have an instance in Dze-sang (par. 15), thinking of Heaven and Earth and of his parents as; ignorant of his (miserable) condition, and then ascribing it to Destiny. He exhibited the highest obliviousness:--was he not, with the knowledge which he possessed, nourishing that of which he was ignorant? Such were the True Men, and such was the True Knowledge.
In this Book are to be found the roots of the ideas in the other six Books of this Part. In this they all unite. It exhibits the origin of all life, sets forth the reality of all cultivation, and shows the springs of all Making and Transformation, throwing open the door for the Immortals and Buddhas. Here is the wonderful Elixir produced by the pestle of jade, the touch of which by a finger produces the feathers of Transformation. As to its style, a vast lake of innumerous wavelets, the mingling of a hundred sparkling eddies, a collection of the oldest achievements in composition, a granary filled with all woods;--it is only in the
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power of those who admire the leopard's spots to appreciate it!
Governing the world is like governing horses. There is the government, but the only effect of it is injury. Po-lâo's management of horses (par. 1) in a way contrary to their true nature was in no respect different from the way of the (first) potter and the (first) carpenter in dealing with their clay and wood in opposition to the nature of those substances, yet the world praises them all because of their skill, not knowing wherein the good government of the world consists.
Now the skilful governors of the world simply caused the people to fulfil the conditions of their regular nature (par. 2). It was their gifts which they possessed in common, and their Heaven-inspired instincts, which constituted the (Early) age of Perfect Virtue. When the sages fashioned their benevolence, righteousness, ceremonies, and music, and the people then began to lose their perfect virtue, it was not that they had themselves become different. For benevolence, righteousness, ceremonies, and music, are not endowments forming a part of their regular nature;--they are practised only after men have laid aside the Tâo and its characteristics, and abandoned the guidance of their nature and its feelings. This is what we say that the mechanic does when he hacks and cuts the raw materials to form his vessels. Why should we doubt that it was by Po-lâo's dealing with horses that they became wise enough to play the part of thieves (par. 3); and that it was by the sages' government of the people that their ability Came to be devoted to the pursuit of gain? The error of the sages in this cannot be denied.
From beginning to end this Book is occupied with one idea. The great point in it grew out of the statement in paragraph 3 of the previous Book, that 'all men are furnished with certain regular principles,' and it is the easiest to construe of all Kwang-dze's compositions; but
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the general style and illustrations are full of sparkling vigour. Some have thought that, where the ideas are so few, there is a waste of words about them, and they doubt therefore that the Book was written by some one imitating Kwang-dze; but I apprehend no other hand could have shown such a mastery of his style.
That the world is not well governed is because there are those who try to govern it. When they try to govern it, they cannot but be 'doing' (to that end). Unable to keep from this 'doing,' they cause the world to be happy or to be miserable, both of which things the instincts of man's nature refuse to accept. Although the arts of governing are many, they only cause and increase disorder. Why so? Because they interfere with men's minds.
Now when men are made to be miserable or happy, they come to have great joy or great dissatisfaction. The condition ministers to the expansive or the opposite element (in nature), and the four seasons, the cold and the heat, all lose their regularity. This causes men everywhere in a contentious spirit to indulge their nature to excess, bringing about a change of its attributes, and originating the practice of good and evil. All unite in bringing this state about; and in the end all receive its consequences. Hence such men as Kih the robber, Zäng Shän, and Shih Zhûi ought not to be found in a well-governed age. But those who governed the world went on to distinguish between the good and the bad, and occupied themselves with rewarding and punishing. When they wished men to rest in the requirements of their nature, was it not difficult for them to realise the wish?
And how much more was it so when they went on in addition to insist on acute hearing and clear vision, on benevolence, righteousness, ceremonies, music, sageness, and knowledge (par. 2)! They did not know that these eight things were certainly of no use to the world, but injurious to it. Led astray by them, and not perceiving
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this, they continued to practise them, and to do this every day more and more. This is what we see indeed in the ordinary men of the world, but not what we should have expected from superior men. The Superior man does nothing, and rests in the instincts of his nature. He values and loves his own person, which fits him to be entrusted with the charge of the world, and thereupon we see things becoming transformed of themselves. Yes, we see indeed that men's minds are not to be interfered with (par. 3).
Let me try to attest this from (the example of) the ancient Tîs and Kings. These in their interference with the minds of men, began with their inculcation of benevolence and righteousness, proceeded to their distinctions of what was right and wrong, and ended with their punishments and penalties. Their government of the world ended with the disordering of it. And the result can be seen, the Literati and the Mohists still thinking how they can remedy them.
But let us ask who it really was that brought things to this pass. The answer is supplied to us in the words of Lâo Tan (see T. T. K., ch. 19), 'Abolish sageness and cast away wisdom, and the world will be brought to a state of good order.' But the issue does not commence with the state of the world. When Kwang Khäng-dze replied to Hwang-Tî's questions, he said (par. 4), 'Watch over your body, and increase the vigour of things. Maintain the unity, and dwell in the harmony.' What he said, about the rain descending before the clouds collected, about the trees shedding their leaves before they were yellow, about the light (of the sun and moon) hastening to extinction, about Hwang-Tî's mind being that of a flatterer of which he would make no account, and about how he should do nothing but rest in the instincts of his nature, and not interfere with the minds of men:--all these are expressions bearing on the value and love which should be given to the body. And the lesson in his words does not end with the watching over the body.
There are the words addressed by Hung Mung to Yün
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Kiang, 'Nourish in your mind a great agreement (with the primal ether). (Things) return to their root, and do not know (that they are doing so). As to what you say, that "the mysterious operations of Heaven are not accomplished, that the birds all sing at night, that vegetation withers under calamity, and that insects are all overtaken by disaster:--about all these things there is no occasion for anxiety." While you do nothing, rest in the promptings of your human nature, and do not interfere with the minds of men;--such is the genial influence that attracts and gathers all things round itself (par. 2).'
But the Superior man's letting the world have its own course in this generous way;--this is what the ordinary men of the world cannot fathom. When such men speak about governing, they examine carefully between others and themselves, and are very earnest to distinguish between differing and agreeing. Their only quest is to find how they may overcome others, and the end is that they are always overcome by others. They do not know that in order to reduce others to the level of things, there must be those who cannot be reduced by others to that level. Those are said to be the sole possessors of the power (par. 6).
The teaching of the Great man, however, is not of this nature. He responds to others according to their qualities, without any selfish purpose. Although he is the sole possessor of the power, that power comes to be nothing in his view. Between having and not having there is to him no difference in the use. Doing nothing, and yet sometimes obliged to act, he forthwith does so; when he acts, yet no one sees that he has acted, and it is the same as if he did not act. So it is according to the Tâo; but therein there are both the Heavenly and the Human elements. In accordance with this there are (in actual government) the Lord and the Minister (par. 7). When one discerns this, and knows which element is to be preferred, convinced that it is doing nothing which is valuable, what difficulty has he in governing the world?
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The thread of connexion running through this Book is 'Doing Nothing.' Whether it speaks of the promptings of the nature or of the minds of men, it shows how in regard to both there must be this 'doing nothing.' In the end, with much repetition it distinguishes and discusses, showing that what doing there may be in doing nothing need not trouble us, and is not the same as the 'Extinction' of the Buddhists. There is not much difference between the teaching of this Book, and what we read in the Confucian Analects, 'He did nothing and yet governed efficiently (Bk. XV, ch. iv).' This is an instance of the light thrown by our 'old Kwang' on the King, and shows how an understanding may take place between him and our Literati.
In the style there are so many changes and transformations, so many pauses and rests as in music, conflicting discussions, and subtle disquisitions, the pencil's point now hidden in smoke and now among the clouds, the author's mind teeming with his creations, that no one who has not made himself familiar with a myriad volumes should presume to look and pronounce on this Book.
The afflictions of men in the world are great, because their attainments in the Tâo and Its Attributes are shallow. The Tâo with Its Attributes is the Author of all things. To follow It in Its transformings according to the time is not like occupying one's self with the qualities of things, and with the practice and teaching of the human relations, which only serve to bring on disaster and blame. He who seeks his enjoyment in It, however, must begin by emptying himself. Hence we have, 'Rip your skin from your body, cleanse your heart, and put away your desires (par. 2);' then afterwards 'you can enjoy yourself in the land of Great Vacuity.' In this way one attains to the status represented by coming across 'an empty vessel' and escapes 'the evils which the close-furred fox and the elegantly-spotted leopard' are preparing for themselves.
These are the ideas in the paragraph about Î-liâo of
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Shih-nan which may help to illustrate, and receive illustration from, what Kwang-dze says (par. 1) that 'he would prefer to be in a position between being fit to be useful and wanting that fitness.'
In the case of Pei-kung Shê collecting taxes for the making of a peal of bells, we have only the exercise of a small art (par. 3). He could, however, put away all thought of self, and act as the time required. He was I as a child who has no knowledge,' so slow was he and hesitating in this respect; there escorting those who went, here welcoming those who came. But from all this we may know how far he had advanced (in the knowledge of the Tâo).
But on consideration I think it was only Confucius of whom this could be spoken. Did not he receive a great share of the world's afflictions (par. 4)? When Thâi-kung Zän spoke to him of 'putting away the ideas of merit and fame, and placing himself on the level of the masses of men,' he forthwith put away the idea of himself and complied with the requirements of the time. This was the art by which he enjoyed himself in the Tâo and Its attributes, and escaped the troubles of the world.
He could put away the idea of self in responding to the world, but he could not do so in determining his associations. In consequence of this, more distant acquaintances did not come to lay further afflictions on him, and his nearer friends perhaps came to cast him off because of those afflictions. What was he to do in these circumstances?
If one be able to comply with the requirements of the time in his relations with men, but cannot do so in his relations to Heaven, then in the world he will indeed do nothing to others contrary to what is right, but he will himself receive treatment contrary to it; and what is to be done in such a case? Dze-sang Hû saw the difficulty here and provided for it. What he said about 'a union of Heaven's appointment,' and about 'the intercourse of superior men being tasteless as water,' shows how well he knew the old lessons about a connexion growing out
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of external circumstances and one founded in inward feeling. When one has divested himself of the idea of self, there will not again be such an experience as that of Confucius, when his intimate associates were removed from him more and more, and his followers and friends were more and more dispersed.
And Confucius himself spoke of such a case. What he said about its being 'easy not to receive (as evils) the inflictions of Heaven,' and 'difficult not to receive as benefits the favours of men (par. 7),' shows how truly he perceived the connexion between the Heavenly and the Human (in man's constitution), and between 'the beginning and end' of experiences. When one acts entirely according to the requirements of the time, the more he enlarges himself the greater he becomes, and the more he loves himself the more sorrow he incurs. If he do not do so, then we have the case of him who in the prospect of gain forgets the true instinct of his preservation, as shown in the strange bird of the park of Tiâo-ling (par. 8), and the case of the Beauty of the lodging-house, who by her attempts to show off her superiority made herself contemned. How could such parties so represented occupy themselves with the Tâo and Its attributes so as to escape the calamities of life?
This Book sets forth the principles which contribute to the preservation of the body, and keeping harm far off, and may supplement what still needed to be said on this subject in Book IV. The Tâo and Its attributes occupy the principal place in it; the emptying of Self, and conforming to the time, are things required by them. The exquisite reasonings and deep meaning of the Book supply excellent rules for getting through the world. Only the sixth paragraph is despicable and unworthy of its place. It is evidently a forgery, and I cannot but blame Kwo Dze-hsüan for allowing it to remain as the production of Kwang-dze.
The Tâo made Its appearance before Heaven and Earth. It made things what they are and was Itself no THING,
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being what is called their Root and Origin (par. 2). If we consider It something existing, It was not such; if we consider It as something non-existing, that does not fully express the idea of it. The 'I know it (of Hwang-Tî)' is an addition of 'Knowledge' to the idea of it, and (his) 'Iwill tell you' is the addition of a description of it (par. 1). Therefore he who would embody the Tâo can only employ the names of 'Do Nothing' and 'Returning to the Root,' and then go forward to the region of the Unknown and the Indescribable.
Now the Tâo originally was a Unity. The collection of the breath, constituting life, and its dispersion, which we call death, proceed naturally. The denominations of the former as 'spirit-like and wonderful' and of the latter as 'foetor and putridity' are the work of man. But those of 'Non-action' and 'Returning to the Root' are intended to do honour to the Unity. Knowledge, Heedless Bluster, and Hwang-Tî, all perceived this, but they also went on to reason about it, showing how not to know is better than to know, and not to talk better than to talk.
As it is said in par. 2, 'the beautiful operations of Heaven and Earth, and the distinctive constitutions of all things,' from the oldest time to the present day, go on and continue without any difference. But who is it that makes them to be what they are? And what expression of doubt or speculation on the point has ever been heard from them? It is plain that the doctrine of the Tâo originated with man.
When Phei-î (par. 3) told Nieh Khüeh, 'Keep your body as it should be; look only at the One thing; call in your knowledge; make your measures uniform:'--all this was saying to him that we are to do nothing, and turn to (the Tâo as) our Root. When he further says to him, 'You should have the simple look of a new-born calf; and not ask about the cause of your being what you are:'--this is in effect saying that knowledge is in not knowing, and that speech does not require the use of words.
If you suddenly (like Shun in par. 4) think that the Tâo
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is yours to hold, not only do you not know what the Tâo is, but you do not know yourself. How is this? You are but a thing in the Tâo. If your life came to you without its being produced by the Tâo, you would yourself be a life-producer. But whether one lives to old age or dies prematurely he comes equally to an end. Your life properly was not from yourself, nor is your death your own act. You did not resist (the coming of your life); you do not keep it (against the coming of death); you are about to return to your original source. This simply is what is meant by the Sage's 'Do nothing, and return to your Root.' As to 'the bodily frame coming from incorporeity and its returning to the same (par. 5),' that certainly is a subject beyond the reach of our seeing and hearing; and how can any one say that the Tâo is his to hold?
What Lâo-dze (says to Confucius in par. 5), and what Khäng tells Shun (in par. 4), have not two meanings; but notwithstanding, it should not be said that the Tâo is not to be found anywhere (par. 6). Speaking broadly, we may say that its presence is to be seen in an ant, a stalk of panic grass, an earthenware tile, and in excrement. Seeking for it in what is more delicate and recondite, let us take the ideas of fulness and emptiness, of withering and decay, of beginning and end, of accumulation and dispersion. These are all ideas, and not the names of things; and (the Tâo) which makes things what they are has not the limit which belongs to things. No wonder that Tung-kwo Dze should have been so perplexed as he was!
Those who think that the Tâo has no positive existence (par. 7), speak of it as 'The Mysterious and Obscure,' and then it would seem to be equivalent to the name 'Mystery,' which cannot be rightly applied to it. And those who think that it has a positive existence speak of it as being considered now noble and now mean, now bound and compressed, now dispersed and diffused, and what is One is divided into the noble and the mean, the compressed and the dispersed;--a mode of dealing with it, of which the Tâo will not admit. Better is it to say with No-
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beginning, 'There should be no asking about the Tâo; any question about it should not be replied to.' The opposite of this would imply a knowledge of what is not known, and the use of words which should not be spoken. In accordance with this, when Star-light puts his question to Non-entity, and it is added, 'To conceive the ideas of Existence and Non-existence is not so difficult as to conceive of a Non-existing non-existence,' this is an advance on speaking of (the Tâo) as Non-existent; and when the forger of Swords says to the Minister of War that by long practice he came to the exercise of his art as if he took no thought about it (par. 9), this is an advance on speaking of (the Tâo) as existent.
The substance of what we know is to this effect:--The Tâo was produced before heaven and earth. It made things what they are and is not itself a thing. It cannot be considered as of ancient origin or of recent, standing as it does in no relation to time. It had no beginning and will have no end. Life and death, death and life equally proceed from It. To speak of It as existing or as non-existing is a one-sided presentation of It. Those who have embodied It, amid all external changes, do not change internally. They welcome and meet all men and things, and none can do them any injury (par. 11). Whatever they do not know and are unequal to, they simply let alone. This is the meaning of 'Doing nothing, and turning in everything to the Root.' Where the want of knowledge and of language is the most complete, Zän Khiû (par. 10) and Yen-dze (par. 11) apply to Kung-nî for his judgment in the case, and the consideration of it comes to an end.
In this Book the mysteries of the Tâo are brought to light; one slight turn of expression after another reveals their successive depths, beyond the reach of Reasoning. La Fang-hû says, 'Master this Book, and the Mahâyâna of the Tripitaka will open to you at the first application of your knife.'--Well does he express himself!
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Those who practise the Tâo know that what is external to themselves cannot be relied on, and that what is internal and belonging to themselves, does not receive any injury (par. 1). They are therefore able to enjoy themselves in the world, emptying their minds of all which would interfere with their pursuing their natural course.
What men can themselves control are their minds; external things are all subject to the requirements and commands of the world. Good and evil cannot be prevented from both coming to men, and loyalty and filial duty may find it bard to obtain their proper recompense. From of old it has been so; and the men of the world are often startled to incessant activity with their minds between the thoughts of profit and injury, and are not able to overcome them (par. 1). But do they know that among the enemies (of their serenity) there arc none greater than the Yin and Yang? The water and fire of men's minds produce irregularity in their action, and then again overcome it - but after the harmony of the mind has been consumed: there remains in them no more trace of the action of the Tâo.
On this account, when Kung-nî was obstinately regardless of a myriad generations (in the future), Lâo Lâi-dze still warned him to have done with his self-conceit (par. 5). His reason for doing so was that wisdom had its perils, and even spirit-like intelligence does not reach to everything (par. 6). It was so with the marvellous tortoise, and not with it only. The sage is full of anxiety and indecision (par. 5), and thereby is successful in his undertakings; the man of the greatest knowledge puts away (the idea of) skill, and without any effort shows his skill:--they can both look on what seems to have no use and pronounce it useful, and allow their nature while it is able to enjoy itself to take its course without being anxious about its issue in advantage or injury (par. 1).
And moreover, it is not necessary that they should leave
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the world in order to enjoy themselves. There are the distinctions of antiquity and the present day indelibly exhibited in the course of time (par. 8). The way in which the Perfect man enjoys himself is by his passing through the world of men without leaving any trace of himself. His way is free and encounters no obstruction (par. 9); his mind has its spontaneous and enjoyable movements, and so his spirit is sure to overcome all external obstructions. Very different is this from the way of him who is bent on concealing himself, and on extinguishing all traces of his course (par. 8). He will seek his enjoyment in the great forest with its heights and hills, and not be able to endure the trouble of desiring fame, having recourse also to violence, laying plans, seeking to discharge the duties of office so as to secure general approval.
Thus the Perfect man obtains the harmony of his Heaven (-given nature), and his satisfactions spring up, he knows not how, as when the growing grain in spring has been laid by the rains (par. 9). As to the arts of curing illness, giving rest to old age, and restraining hasty measures to remedy the effects of errors, he can put them on one side, and not discuss them; thus playing the part of one who has apprehended the ideas and then forgets the words in which they were conveyed (par. 11). Let him who occupies himself with the Tâo beware of 'seeking the fish-baskets and hare-snares,' and falling into such mistakes as are instanced in the cases of emaciation to death, or suicide by drowning.
This Book points out the true form of substances, and gave rise to the talk in subsequent ages about the Khân and Lî hexagrams, and about the lead and quicksilver. Nearly the whole of it has been called in question, and the second, third, and fourth paragraphs are so marked by the shallowness of their style, and the eccentricity of their sentiments, that it may be doubted if they are genuine. I suspect they were written and introduced by some imitator of Kwang-dze, and therefore call attention to them and cast them out of my analysis.
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Lin Hsî-kung omits Books XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, and XXXI from his edition of Kwang-dze's Writings. Our Book XXXII, the Lieh Yü-khâu, is with him Book XXVIII. He explains and comments on its various paragraphs as he does in the case of all the previous Books. Instead of subjoining an Analysis and Summary of the Contents in his usual way, he contents himself with the following note:--
In the Notice given by Sû Dze-kan[1] of the Sacrificial Hall to Kwang-dze, he says that after reading the last paragraph of Book XXVII (the Yü Yen, or 'Metaphorical Words'), about Yang Dze-kü, and how (when be left the inn) the other visitors would have striven with him about the places for their mats, he forthwith discarded the four Books that followed,--the Zang Wang, the Tâo Kih, the Yüeh Kien, and the Yü-fû; making the Lieh Yü-khâu immediately follow that paragraph. Having done so, he fully saw the wisdom of what he had done, and said with a laugh, 'Yes, they do indeed belong to one chapter!'
So did the old scholar see what other eyes for a thousand years had failed to see. No subsequent editor and commentator, however, ventured to take it on him to change the order of the several Books which had been established, following therein the Critical Canon laid down by Confucius about putting aside subjects concerning which doubts are entertained[2]; but we ought not to pass the question by without remark.
The subject of the last paragraph of the Lieh Yü-khâu is Kwang-dze, 'when be was about to die.' It clearly
[1. Sû Shih (###) styled Dze-kan (###) and also, and more frequently, Tung-pho (###)- one of the most celebrated statesmen and scholars of the eleventh century (1036-1101). The notice of the Sacrificial Hall of Kwang-dze was written in 1078. See Appendix viii.
2 See the Confucian Analects II, xviii:--'Learn much and put aside the points of which you stand in doubt, while you speak cautiously at the same time of the others.']
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intimates how he, the man of Khî-yüan, from that time ceased to use his pencil, just as the appearance of the Lin (in the Zo-kwan) did in the case of Confucius. Not a single character therefore should appear as from him after this. We have no occasion therefore to enter into any argument about the Thien Hsiâ (Book XXXIII). We may be sure that it was made, not by Kwang-dze, but by some editor of his writings. Later writers, indeed, contend vehemently for Kwang-dze's own authorship of it. We can only say, Great is the difficulty in treating of the different views of Scholars[1]!
[1. The arguments both of Sû Shih and Lin Hsî-kung as set forth in this note are far from conclusive.]
Paragraph 1. The enjoyment of the Tâo by such vast creatures as the Khwän and the Phäng.
2. The enjoyment and foolish judgments of smaller creatures. Big trees and Phäng Zû.
3. Questions put by Thang to Kî. The Tâo in different men:--Yung-dze; Lieh-dze; and an ideal Tâoist. The Perfect man, the Spirit-like man, and the Sagely-minded man.
4. Yâo wishing to resign the throne to Hsü Yû.
5. Kien Wû and Lien Shû on the ideal Tâoist.
6. A cap-seller of Sung. Yâo after visiting the four Perfect ones.
7. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze:--the great calabashes; the hand-protecting salve; and the great Ailantus tree.
Par. 1. Nan-kwo Dze-khî in a trance, and his disciple. The notes of heaven, earth, and man.
4. 'In the morning three:'--the monkeys and their acorns.
7. Yâo and Shun,--on the wish of the former to smite some small states.
9. Lî Kî before and after her marriage.
10. The penumbra and the shadow. Kwang-dze's dream that he was a butterfly.
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Par. 2. King Wän-hui and his cook;--how the latter cut up his oxen.
3. Kung-wän Hsien and the Master of the Left who had only one foot.
4. The death of Lâo-dze; and adverse judgment on his life.
Pars. 1, 2. Yen Hui and Confucius;--on the proposal of the former to go and convert the ruler of Wei.
3, 4. Dze-kâo and Confucius;--on the mission of the former from Khû to Khî.
5. Yen Ho and Kü Po-yü;--on the former's undertaking to be tutor to the wayward son of duke Ling of Wei.
6. The master-mechanic and the great tree;--so large and old through its uselessness.
7. Nan-po Dze-khî and the great tree, preserved by its uselessness. Trees of Sung cut down because of their good timber. Peculiarities exempting from death as sacrificial victims.
8. The deformed object Shû and his worth.
9. Rencontre between Confucius and the madman of Khû.
Par. 1. Confucius explains the influence of the cripple Wang Thâi over the people of Lû.
2. The fellow-students Dze-khân and the cripple Shän-thû Kiâ.
3. Confucius and Toeless of Shû-shan. judgment of Toeless and Lâo-dze on Confucius.
4. Duke Âi of Lû and Confucius;--on the ugly but most able and fascinating man, Âi-thâi Tho. Admiration for Confucius of duke Âi.
5. The deformed favourites of duke Ling of Wei and duke Hwan of Khî. Argument between Kwang-dze and Hui-dze, growing out of the former's account of them.
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Par. 8. Nan-po Dze-khwei and the long-lived Nü Yü. How Pû-liang Î learned the Tâo.
9. Four Tâoists, and the submission of Dze-yü, one of them, a poor deformed hunchback, to his lot, when he was very ill.
10. The submission of Dze-lâi, another of the four, as his life was ebbing away.
11. Three Tâoists, and the ways of two of them on the death of the third. Conversation on the subject between Confucius and Dze-kung.
12. Confucius and Yen Hui on the mourning of Mäng-sun Zhâi.
13. Î-r Dze and Hsü Yû. How the Tâo will remove the injuries of error, and regenerate the mind.
14. Confucius and Yen Hui. The growth of the latter in Tâoism.
15. Dze-yü and Dze-sang. The penury of the latter and submission to his fate.
Par. 1. Nieh Khüeh, Wang Î, and Phû-î-dze. That Shun was inferior in his Tâoistic attainments to the more ancient sovereign, Thâi.
2. Kien Wû and the recluse Khieh-yü;--on the ideal of government.
3. Thien Kan and a nameless man;--that non-action is the way to govern the world.
4. Yang Dze-kü and Lâo Tan on the nameless government of the Intelligent Kings.
5. Lieh-dze and his master Hû-dze. How the latter defeated the wizard of Käng.
6. The end of Chaos, wrought by the gods of the southern and northern seas.
Par. 4. How two shepherd slaves lose their sheep in
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different ways. The corresponding cases of the righteous Po-î and the robber Kih.
Par. 1. Murder of the ruler of Khî by Thien Khäng-dze, and his usurpation of the State.
2. How the best and ablest of men, such as Lung-fäng, Pî-kan, Khang Hung, and Dze-hsü, may come to a disastrous end, and only seem to have served the purposes of such men as the robber Kih.
3. Evils resulting from such able men as Zäng Shän, Shih Khiû, Yang Kû, Mo Tî, Shih Khwang, Khui, and Lû Kû.
4. Character of the age of Perfect Virtue, and sovereigns who flourished in it in contrast with the time of Kwang-dze.
Par. 3. Zhui Khü and Lâo-dze. The latter denounces the meddling with the mind which began with Hwang-Tî, and the spread of knowledge, as productive of all evil.
4. Hwang-Tî and Kwang Khäng-dze, his master, who discourses on the mystery of the Tâo, and how it promotes long life.
5. Yün Kiang and Hung Mung, or the Leader of the Clouds and the Great Ether;--the wish of the former to nourish all things, and how they would be transformed by his doing nothing.
Par. 4. The loss and recovery by Yâo of his dark-coloured Pearl;--the Tâo.
5. Hsü Yû's reply to Yâo on the character of Nieh Khüeh and his unfitness to take the place of Sovereign.
6. Yâo rejects the good wishes for him of the Border-warden of Hwâ.
7. Yü and Po-khang Dze-kâo. The latter vindicates his resignation of dignity and taking to farming.
9. Confucius and Lâo-dze;--on the attitude to the Tâo of a great sage and ruler.
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10. Kiang-lü Mien and Ki Khêh;--on the counsel which the former had given to the ruler of Lû.
11. Dze-kung and the old gardener;--argument of the latter in favour of the primitive simplicity, and remarks thereon by Confucius.
12. Kun Mâng and Yüan Fung;--on the government of the sage; of the virtuous and kindly man; and of the spirit-like man.
13. Män Wû-kwei and Khih-kang Man-khî;--that there had been confusion and disorder before the time of Shun; and the character of the age of Perfect Virtue.
Par. 6. Yâo and Shun;--on the former's method of government.
7. Confucius, wishing to deposit some writings in the royal Library, is repulsed by Lâo-dze. Argument between them on Benevolence and Righteousness in relation to the nature of man.
8. Shih-khäng Khî and Lâo-dze;--the strange conferences between them, and the charges brought by the one against the other.
10. Duke Hwan and the wheelwright Phien;--that the knack of an art cannot be conveyed to another, and the spirit of thought cannot be fully expressed in writing.
Par. 2. Tang, a minister of Shang, and Kwang-dze on the nature of Benevolence.
3. Pei-män Khäng and Hwang-Tî;--a description of Hwang-Tî's music, the Hsien-khih.
4. Yen Yüan and Kin, the music-master of Lû, on the course of Confucius;--the opinion of the latter that it had been unsuccessful and was verging to entire failure.
5. Confucius and Lâo-dze. The former has not yet got the Tâo, and Lâo-dze explains the reason.
6. Confucius and Lâo-dze. Confucius talks of Benevolence
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and Righteousness; and how the tables are turned on him. He is deeply impressed by the other.
7. Dze-kung, in consequence of the Master's report of his interview, goes also to see Lâo-Sze; and is nonplussed and lectured by him.
8. Confucius sees Lâo-dze again, and tells him how he has profited from his instructions. The other expresses his satisfaction with him.
Par. 2. The state of Perfect Unity, and its gradual Decay.
Pars. 1-7. The Spirit-earl of the Ho and Zo of the Northern Sea;--on various metaphysical questions growing out of the doctrine of the Tâo.
8. The khwe i, the millipede, the serpent, the wind, the eye, and the mind;--how they bad their several powers, but did not know how.
9. Confucius in peril in Khwang is yet serene and hopeful.
10. Kung-sun Lung and Mâu of Wei. The Frog of the dilapidated well, and the Turtle of the Eastern Sea. The greatness of Kwang-dze's teachings.
11. Kwang-dze refuses the invitation of the king of Khû to take office. The wonderful tortoise-shell of the king.
12. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze. The young phoenix and the owl.
13. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze;--how Kwang-dze understood the enjoyment of fishes.
Par. 2. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze;--vindication by the latter of his behaviour on the death of his wife.
3. Mr. Deformed and Mr. One-foot;--their submission under pain and in prospect of death.
4. Kwang-dze and the skull;--what he said to it, and its appearance to him at night in a dream.
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5. The sadness of Confucius on the departure of Yen Hui for Khî; and his defence of it to Dze-kung. The appearance of a strange bird in Lû, and his moralizings on it.
6. Lieh-dze and the skull. The transmutations of things.
Par. 2. Lieh-dze and Kwan Yin;--on the capabilities of the Perfect man.
3. Confucius and the hunchback, who was skilful at catching cicadas with his rod.
4. The boatman on the gulf of Khang-shan, and his skill.
5. Thien Khâi-kih and duke Wei of Kâu;--on the best way to nourish the higher life. How it was illustrated by Thien's master, and how enforced by Confucius.
6. The officer of sacrifice and his pigs to be sacrificed.
7. Duke Hwan gets ill from seeing a ghostly sprite, and how he was cured.
8. The training of a fighting-cock.
9. Confucius and the swimmer in the gorge of Lü.
10. Khing, the worker in rottlera wood, and the bell-frame;--how he succeeded in making it as he did.
11. Tung-yê Kî and his chariot-driving;--how his horses broke down.
12. The skill of the artisan Shui.
14. The weakling Sun Hsiû and the Master Dze-pien Khing-dze, with his disciples.
Par. 1. Kwang-dze and his disciples;--the great tree that was of no use, and the goose that could not cackle.
2. Î-liâo of Shih-nan and the marquis of Lû;--how the former presses it on the marquis to go to an Utopia of Tâoism in the south, to escape from his trouble and sorrow.
3. Pei-kung Shê and prince Khing-kî;--how the former collected taxes and made a peal of bells.
4. How the Thâi-kung Zän condoled with Confucius on his distresses, and tried to convert him to Tâoism.
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5. Confucius and Dze-sang Hû. The Tâoistic effect of their conversation on the former. The dying charge of Shun to Yü.
6. Kwang-dze in rags before the king of Wei. The apologue of the climbing monkey.
7. Confucius and Yen Hui;--on occasion of the perilous situation between Khän and Zhâi. Confucius expounds the principles that supported him.
8. Kwang-dze's experiences in the park of Tiâo-ling;--has the character of an apologue.
9. The Innkeeper's two concubines;--the beauty disliked and the ugly one honoured.
Par. 1. Thien Dze-fang and the marquis Wän of Wei.
2. Wän-po Hsüeh-dze and the scholars of the Middle States.
3. Confucius and Yen Hui;--on the incomprehensibleness to the latter of the Master's course.
4. Conversation between Confucius and Lâo-dze on the beginning of things.
5. Kwang-dze and duke Âi of Lû;--on the dress of the scholar.
6. Pâi-lî Hsî.
7. The duke of Sung and his map-drawers.
8. King Wän and the old fisherman of Zang. Confucius and Yen Hui on king Wän's dream about the fisherman.
9. The archery of Lieh-dze and Po-hwän Wû-zän.
10. Kien Wû, and Sun Shû-âo, the True man. Confucius's account of the True man. The king of Khû and the ruler of Fan.
Par. 1. Knowledge, Dumb Inaction, Head-strong Stammerer, and Hwang-Tî on the Tâo.
3. Nieh Khüeh questioning Phei-î about the Tâo.
4. Shun and his minister Khäng;--that man is not his own.
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5. Confucius and Lâo Tan;--on the Perfect Tâo.
6. Tung-kwo Dze's question to Kwang-dze about where the Tâo was to be found, and the reply.
7. Â-ho Kan, Shän Näng, Lâo-lung Kî, Yen Kang;--Grand Purity, Infinitude, Do-nothing, and No-beginning:--on what the Tâo is.
8. Star-light and Non-entity.
9. The Minister of War and his forger of swords.
10. Zin Khiû and Confucius;--how it was before heaven and earth.
11. Confucius and Yen Hui:--No demonstration to welcome, no movement to meet.
Par. 1. Käng-sang Khû and the people about Wei-lêi hill.
2. Käng-sang Khû and his disciples. He repudiates being likened by them to Yâo and Shun.
3. Käng-sang Khû and the disciple Nan-yung Khû.
4-12. Lâo-dze lessoning Nan-yung Khû on the principles of Tâoism.
Pars. 1, 2. Hsü Wû-kwei, Nü Shang, and the marquis Wû of Wei:--Hsü's discourses to the marquis.
3. Hwang-Tî, with six attending sages, in quest of the Tâo, meets with a wise boy herding horses.
5. Debate between Kwang-dze and Hui-dze, illustrating the sophistry of the latter.
6. The artisan Shih cleans the nose of a statue with the wind of his axe; but declines to try his ability on a living subject.
7. Advice of Kwan Kung on his death-bed to duke Hwan of Khî about his choice of a successor to himself.
8. The king of Wû and the crafty monkey. His lesson from its death to Yen Pû-î.
9. Nan-po Dze-khî and his attendant Yen Khäng-dze.
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The trance is the highest result of the Tâo. Practical lesson to be drawn from it.
10. Confucius at the court of Khû along with Sun Shû-âo and Î-liâo.
11. Dze-khî, and his eight sons, with the physiognomist Kiû-fang Yän.
12. Nieh Khüeh meets Hsü Yû fleeing from the court of Yâo.
Par. 1. Zeh-yang seeking an introduction to the king of Khû. Î Kieh, Wang Kwo, and the recluse Kung-yüeh Hsiû.
3. The ancient sovereign Zän-hsiang; Thang, the founder of the Shang dynasty; Confucius; and Yung-khäng Dze.
4. King Yung of Wei and his counsellors:--on his desire and schemes to be revenged on Thien Mâu of Khî. Tâi Zin-zän and his apologue about the horns of a snail.
5. Confucius and the Recluse at Ant-hill in Khû.
6. The Border-warden of Khang-wû's lessons to Dze-lâo. Kwang-dze's enforcement of them.
7. Lâo-dze and his disciple Po Kü:--that the prohibitions of Law provoke to transgression.
8. The conversion to Tâoism of Kü Po-yü.
9. Confucius and the historiographers;--about the honorary title of duke Ling of Wei.
10. Little Knowledge and the Correct Harmonizer:--on the Talk of the Hamlets and Villages.
11. On the namelessness of the Tâo; and that Tâo is but a borrowed or metaphorical name.
Par. 2. Against delaying to do good when it is in one's power to do it. The apologue of Kwang-dze meeting with a goby on the road.
3. The big fish caught by the son of the duke of Zän.
4. The Resurrectionist Students.
{p. 308}
5. How Lâo Lâi-dze admonished Confucius.
6. The dream of the ruler Yüan of Sung about a tortoise.
7. Hui-dze and Kwang-dze;--on the use of being useless.
11. Illustrations of the evil accruing from going to excess in action, or too suddenly taking action.
Par. 2. Kwang-dze and Hui-dze on Confucius;--did he change his views in his sixtieth year?
3. Confucius and his other disciples:--on Zäng-dze and his twice taking office with different moods of mind.
4. Yen Khing Dze-yû tells his Master Tung-kwo Dze-khî of his gradual attainments.
5. The penumbrae and the shadows.
6. Lâo-dze's lessoning of Yang Dze-khî, and its effects on him.
Par. 1. Yâo's proffers of the throne to Hsü Yû and Dze-kâu Kih-fû. Shun's proffers of it to Dze-kâu Kih-po, to Shan Küan, and to the farmer of Shih-hû. Thâi-wang Than-fû and the northern tribes. Prince Sâu of Yüeh.
2. Counsel of Dze-hwâ Dze to the marquis Kâo of Han.
3. The ruler of Lû and the Tâoist Yen Ho, who hides himself from the advances of the other.
4. Lieh-dze and his wife, on his declining a gift from the ruler of Käng.
5. The high-minded and resolute sheep-butcher Yüeh, and king Kâo of Khû.
6. The poor Yüan Hsien and the wealthy Dze-kung. Zäng-dze, in extreme poverty, maintaining his high and independent spirit. The satisfaction of Confucius in Yen Hui refusing, though poor, to take any official post.
7. Prince Mâu of Kung-shan, living in retirement, was not far from the Tâo.
8. Confucius and the disciples Yen Hui, Dze-lû, and Dze-kung, during the perilous time between Khän and Zhâi.
{p. 309}
9. Shun and the northerner Wû-kâi who refuses the throne. Thang, and Pien Sui and Wû Kwang, who both refused it.
10. The case of the brothers Po-î and Shû-khî, who refused the proffers of king Wû.
Par. 1. The visit of Confucius to the robber Kih, and interview between them.
2. Dze-kang and Mân Kâu-teh (Mr. Full of Gain-recklessly-got) on the pursuit of wealth.
3. Mr. Dissatisfied and Mr. Know-the-Mean;--on the pursuit and effect of riches.
How Kwang-dze dealt with the king of Kâo and his swordsmen, curing the king of his love of the sword-fight. The three Swords.
Confucius and the Old Fisherman;--including the story of the man who tried to run away from his shadow.
Par. 1. Lieh-dze and the effect of his over-manifestation of his attractive qualities. Failure of the warnings of his master.
2. The sad fate of Hwan of Käng, a Confucianist, who resented his father's taking part with his Mohist brother.
5. Kû Phing-man and his slaughtering the dragon.
8. Kwang-dze's rebuke or Zhâo Shang for pandering to the king of Sung, and thereby getting gifts from him.
9. Description to duke Âi of Lû of Confucius by Yen Ho as unfit to be entrusted with the government.
11. Khâo-fû the Correct, and his humility.
12. Kwang-dze's rebuke of the man who boasted of having received chariots from the king of Sung, and comparison of him to the boy who stole a pearl from under the chin of the Black Dragon when he was asleep.
{p. 310}
13. Kwang-dze declines the offer of official dignity. The apologue of the sacrificial ox.
14. Kwang-dze, about to die, opposes the wish of his disciples to give him a grand burial. His own description of what his burial should be.
Par. 1. The method of the Tâo down to the time of Confucius.
2. The method of Mo Tî and his immediate followers.
3, 4. The method of Mo's later followers.
.5. The method of Kwan Yin and Lâo-dze.
6. The method of Kwang-dze.
7. The ways of Hui Shih, Kung-sun Lung, and other sophists.
1. After the Thâi Ki (or Primal Ether) commenced its action, the earliest period of time began to be unfolded.
[1. Hsieh Tâo-häng ###, called also Hsüan-khing (###), was one of the most famous scholars and able ministers of the Sui dynasty (581-618), and also an eloquent writer. His biography is given at considerable length in the fifty-seventh chapter of the Books of Sui.
For about 200 years after the end of the Zin dynasty, the empire had been in a very divided and distracted state. The period is known as the epoch of 'The Southern and Northern Dynasties,' no fewer than nine or ten of which co-existed, none of them able to assert a universal sway till the rise of Sui. The most powerful of them towards the end of the time was 'The Northern Kâu,' in connexion with the Wû-khäng (###) reign of which (558-561) the name of our Hsieh first appears. In the Wû-phing (###) reign of 'The Northern Khî (570 ,576),' we find him member of a committee for revising the rules of 'The Five Classes of Ceremonial Observances,' and gaining distinction as a poet.
When the emperor Wän (###), by name Yang Kien (###), a scion of the ruling House of Sui, a small principality in the present Hû-pei, and founder of the dynasty so called, had succeeded in putting down the various conflicting dynasties, and claimed the sovereignty of the empire in 581, Hsieh freely yielded his allegiance to him, and was employed in the conduct of various affairs. The important paper, of the translation of the greater part of which a translation is here attempted, was the outcome of one of them. Wän Tî regularly observed the Confucian worship of God, but also kept up the ceremonies of Buddhism and Taoism. Having repaired the dilapidated temple of Lâo-dze at his birth-place, he required from Hsieh an inscription for the commemorative tablet in it, the composition of which is referred to the year 586, 'the sixth year of Sui's rule over all beneath the sky.'
Hsieh appears to have been a favourite with the emperor Win, but when Wän was succeeded in 605 by his son, known as Yang Tî (###),his relations with {footnote p. 312} the throne became less happy. Offended by a memorial which Hsieh presented, and the ground of offence in which we entirely fail to perceive, the emperor ordered him to put an end to himself. Hsieh was surprised by the sentence, and hesitated to comply with it, on which an executioner was sent to strangle him. Thus ended the life of Hsieh Tâo-häng in his seventieth year. His death was regretted and resented, we are told, by the people generally. A collection of his writings was made in seventy chapters, and was widely read. I do not know to what extent these have been preserved; if many of them have been lost, and the paper, here in part submitted to the reader, were a fair specimen of the others, the loss must be pronounced to be great. Of this paper I have had two copies before me in translating it. One of them is in Ziâo Hung's 'Wings to Lao-dze;' the other is in 'The Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers.' Errors of the Text occur now in the one copy, now in the other. From the two combined a Text, which must be exactly correct or nearly so, is made out.]
{p. 312}
The curtain of the sky was displayed, and the sun and moon were suspended in it; the four-cornered earth was established, and the mountains and streams found their places in it. Then the subtle influences (of the Ether) operated like the heaving of the breath, now subsiding and again expanding; the work of production went on in its seasons above and below; all things were formed as from materials, and were matured and maintained. There were the (multitudes of the) people; there were their rulers and superiors.
2. As to the august sovereigns of the highest antiquity, living as in nests on trees in summer, and in caves in winter, silently and spirit-like they exercised their wisdom. Dwelling like quails, and drinking (the rain and dew) like newly-hatched birds, they had their great ceremonies like the great terms of heaven and earth, not requiring to be regulated by the dishes and stands; and (also) their great music corresponding to the common harmonies of heaven and earth, not needing the guidance of bells and drums.
3. By and by there came the loss of the Tâo, when its Characteristics took its place. They in their turn were lost, and then came Benevolence. Under the Sovereigns and Kings that followed, now more slowly and anon more rapidly, the manners of the people, from being good and simple, became bad and mean. Thereupon came the Literati and the Mohists with their confused contentions; names and
{p. 313}
rules were everywhere diffused. The 300 rules[1] of ceremony could not control men's natures; the 3000 rules[1] of punishment were not sufficient to put a stop to their treacherous villanies. But he who knows how to cleanse the current of a stream begins by clearing out its source, and he who would straighten the end of a process must commence with making its beginning correct. Is not the Great Tâo the Grand Source and the Grand Origin of all things?
4. The Master Lâo was conceived under the influence of a star. Whence he received the breath (of life) we cannot fathom, but he pointed to the (plum-) tree (under which he was born), and adopted it as his surname[2]; we do not understand[2] whence came the musical sounds (that were heard), but he kept his marvellous powers concealed in the womb for more than seventy years. When he was born, the hair on his head was already white, and he took the designation of 'The Old Boy' (or Lâo-dze). In his person, three gateways and two (bony) pillars formed the distinctive marks of his ears and eyes; two of the symbols for five, and ten brilliant marks were left by the wonderful tread of his feet and the grasp of his hands. From the time of Fû-hsî down to that of the Kâu dynasty, in uninterrupted succession, dynasty after dynasty, his person appeared, but with changed names. In the times of kings Wän and Wû he discharged the duties, (first), of Curator of the Royal Library[3], and (next), of the Recorder under the Pillar[3]. Later on in that dynasty he filled different offices, but did
[1. Compare vol. xxviii, p. 323; par. 38.
2 Li (###), a plum-tree. For this and many of the other prodigies mentioned by Hsieh, see what Julien calls 'The Fabulous Legend of Lâo-dze,' and has translated in the Introduction to his version of the Tâo The King. Others of them are found in the Historical, or rather Legendary, Introduction in the 'Collection of Tâoist Treatises,' edited by Lû Yü in 1877.
3 The meaning of the former of these offices may be considered as settled;--see the Dote in Wang Kän-kâi's edition of the 'Historical Records (1870),' under the Biography of Lâo-dze. The nature of the second office is not so clearly ascertained. It was, I apprehend, more of a literary character than the curatorship.]
{p. 314}
not change his appearance. As soon as Hsüan Nî[1] saw him, he sighed over him as 'the Dragon,' whose powers are difficult to be known[2]. Yin (Hsî), keeper of the (frontier) gate, keeping his eyes directed to every quarter, recognised 'the True Man' as he was hastening into retirement. (By Yin Hsî he was prevailed on) to put forth his extraordinary ability, and write his Book in two Parts[3],--to lead the nature (of man) back to the Tâo, and celebrating the usefulness of 'doing nothing.' The style of it is very condensed, and its reasoning deep and far-reaching, The hexagram which is made up of the 'dragons on the wing[4]' is not to be compared with it in exquisite subtlety. (The Zo Kwan) which ends with the capture of the Lin, does not match it in its brightness and obscurity. If employed to regulate the person, the spirit becomes clear and the will is still. If employed to govern the state, the people return to simplicity, and become sincere and good. When one goes on to refine his body in accordance with it, the traces of material things are rolled away from it; in rainbow-hued robes and mounted on a stork he goes forwards and backwards to the purple palace; on its juice of gold and wine of jade[5] he feasts in the beautiful and pure capital. He is lustrous as the sun and moon; his ending and beginning are those of heaven and earth. He who crosses its stream, drives away the dust and noise of the world; he who finds its gate, mounts prancing up on the misty clouds. It is not for the ephemeral fly to know the fading and luxuriance of the Tâ-khun[6], or for a Fäng-î[7] to fathom the depth of an Arm of the sea. Vast indeed (is the Tâo)! words are not sufficient to describe its excellence and powers!
5. Kwang Kâu tells us, that, 'when Lâo Tan died,
[1. Confucius, who was styled after the beginning of our era for several centuries 'Duke Nî, the Illustrious.'
2. See vol. xxxix, pp. 34, 35.
3. See vol. xxxix, p. 35.
4. The Khien or first of all the hexagrams of the Yî King; but the sentence is to be understood of all the hexagrams,--of the Yî as a whole.
5. Compare Pope's line, 'The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew.'
6. Vol. xxxix, p. 166.
7. Vol. xxxix, p. 244.]
{p. 315}
Khin Shih went to condole (with his son), but after crying out three times, immediately left the house[1].' This was what is called the punishment for his neglecting his Heaven (-implanted nature), and although it appears as one of the metaphorical illustrations of the supercilious officer, yet there is some little indication in the passage of the reappearance of the snake after casting its exuviae[2].
[At this point the author leaves the subject of the Tâo and its prophet, and enters on a long panegyric of the founder of the Sui dynasty and his achievements. This sovereign was the emperor Wän (###) the founder of Sui (###), originally Yang Kien, a scion of the House of Sui, a principality whose name remains in Sui-kâu, of the department Teh-an in Hû Pei. He was certainly the ablest man in the China of his day, and deserves a portion of the praise with which Mr. Hsieh celebrates him after his extravagant fashion. He claimed the throne from the year 581. While doing honour to Confucianism, he did not neglect the other two religions in the empire, Tâoism and Buddhism; and having caused the old temple of Lâo-dze to be repaired in grand style in 586, he commissioned Hsieh Tâo-häng to superintend the setting up in it a commemorative Tablet of stone.
I pass over all this, which is related at great length, and proceed to give the inscription. It occupies no fewer than 352 characters in 88 lines, each consisting of four characters. The lines are arranged in what we may call eleven stanzas of equal length, the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines of each rhyming together. There is a good deal of art in the metrical composition. In the first six stanzas the rhyming finals are in the even tone and one of the deflected tones alternately. In the last five stanzas this arrangement is reversed. The rhymes in 7, 9, and 11 are deflected, and in 8 and 10 even. The measure of four characters is the most common in the Shih King or Ancient Book of Poetry.
[1. Vol. xxxix, p. 201.
2. Referring, I suppose, to the illustration of the fire and the faggots.]
{p. 316}
It continued to be a favourite down to the Thang dynasty, after which it fell very much into disuse. Through the many assonances of the Chinese characters, and the attention paid to the tones, we have in Chinese composition much of the art of rhyming, but comparatively little of the genius of poetry.
II.
THE INSCRIPTION.
St. 1. Back in the depths of ancient time;
Remote, before the Tîs began;
Four equal sides defined the earth,
And pillars eight the heaven sustained.
All living things in classes came,
The valleys wide, and mighty streams.
The Perfect Tâo, with movement wise,
Unseen, Its work did naturally.
St. 2. Its power the elements[1] all felt;
The incipient germs of things[2] appeared.
Shepherd and Lord established were,
And in their hands the ivory bonds[3].
The Tîs must blush before the Hwangs[4];
The Wangs must blush before the Tîs[4].
More distant grew Tâo's highest gifts,
And simple ways more rare became.
St. 3. The still placidity was gone,
And all the old harmonious ways.
Men talents prized, and varnished wit;
The laws displayed proved but a net.
[1. 'The five essences;' meaning, I think, the subtle power and operation of the five elements.
2. So Williams, under Wei (###). See also the Khang-hsî Thesaurus under the phrase ###.
3. 'Bonds' with written characters on them superseded the 'knotted cords' of the primitive age. That the material of the bonds should be, as here represented, slips of ivory, would seem to anticipate the progress of society.
4 The Hwangs (###) preceded the Tîs in the Tâoistic genesis of history; and as being more simple were Tâoistically superior to them; so it was with the Tîs and the Wangs or Kings.]
{p. 317}
Wine-cups and stands the board adorned,
And shields and spears the country filled.
The close-meshed nets the fishes scared:
And numerous bows the birds alarmed.
St. 4. Then did the True Man[1] get his birth,
As 'neath the Bear the star shone down[2].
All dragon gifts his person graced;
Like the stork's plumage was his hair.
The complicated he resolved[3], the sharp made blunt[3],
The mean rejected, and the generous chose;
In brightness like the sun and moon,
And lasting as the heaven and earth[3].
St. 5. Small to him seemed the mountains five[4],
And narrow seemed the regions nine[4];
About he went with lofty tread,
And in short time he rambled far.
In carriage by black oxen drawn[5],
Around the purple air was bright.
Grottoes then oped to him their sombre gates,
And thence, unseen, his spirit power flowed forth.
St. 6. The village near the stream of Ko[6]
Traces of him will still retain[6];
But now, as in the days of old,
With changèd times the world is changed.
[1. This of course was Lâo-dze.
2. See above, p. 313, par. 4.
3. In the Tâo Teh King, p. 50, par. 2, and p. 52, par. 1. The reading of line 7 is different in my two authorities in the one ###, in the other ### suppose the correct reading should be ###and have given what I think is the meaning.
4. Two well-known numerical categories. See Mayers's Manual, pp. 320, 321, and p. 340.
5. So it was, according to the story, that Lâo-dze drew near to the barrier gate, when he wished to leave China.
6. The Ko is a river flowing from Ho-nan into An-hui, and falling into the Hwâi, not far from the district city of Hwâi-yüan. It enters the one province from the other in the small department of Po (###), in which, according to a Chinese map in my possession, Lâo-dze was born. The Khang-hsî Thesaurus also gives a passage to the effect that the temple of his mother was hereabouts, at a bend in the Ko.]
{p. 318}
His stately temple fell to ruin
His altar empty was and still;
By the nine wells dryandras grew[1],
And the twin tablets were but heaps of stone.
St. 7. But when our emperor was called to rule,
All spirit-like and sage was he.
Earth's bells reverberated loud,
And light fell on the heavenly mirror down.
The universe in brightness shone,
And portents all were swept away;
(All souls), or bright or dark[2], revered,
And spirits came to take from him their law.
St. 8. From desert sands[3] and where the great trees grow[3],
From phoenix caves, and from the dragon woods,
All different creatures came sincere;
Men of all regions gave their hearts to him.
Their largest vessels brought their gifts,
And kings their rarest things described;
Black clouds a thousand notes sent forth;
And in the fragrant winds were citherns heard[4].
St. 9. Through his transforming power, the tripods were made sure;
And families became polite and courteous.
[1. The nine wells, or bubbling springs, near the village where Lao was born, are mentioned by various writers; but I fail to see how the growth of the trees about them indicated the ruin of his temple.
2. I have introduced the 'all souls' in this line, because of the ### in the second character. Williams defines the first character, yao as 'the effulgence of the sun,' and of 'heavenly bodies generally;' the second (###) is well known as meaning 'the animal soul,' and 'the dark disk of the moon.' The Thesaurus, however, explains the two characters together as a name for the pole star (###; see Analects I, i); and perhaps I had better have followed this meaning.
3. The 'desert sands' were, no doubt, what we call 'the desert of Gobi.' The trees referred to were 'in the extreme East.' The combination phan-mû is not described more particularly.
4. This and the three preceding lines are not a little dark.]
{p. 319}
Ever kept he in mind (the sage) beneath the Pillar[1],
Still emulous of the sovereigns most ancient[2].
So has he built this pure temple,
And planned its stately structure;
Pleasant, with hills and meadows around,
And lofty pavilion with its distant prospect.
St. 10. Its beams are of plum-tree, its ridge-pole of cassia;
A balustrade winds round it; many are its pillars;
About them spreads and rolls the fragrant smoke[3];
Cool and pure are the breezes and mists.
The Immortal officers come to their places[4];
The Plumaged guests are found in its court[4],
Numerous and at their ease,
They send down blessing, bright and efficacious.
St. 11. Most spirit-like, unfathomable,
(Tâo's) principles abide, with their symbolism attached[5].
Loud is Its note, but never sound emits[6],
Yet always it awakes the highest echoes.
From far and near men praise It;
In the shades, and in the realms of light, they look up for Its aid;
Reverently have we graven and gilt this stone
And made our lasting proclamation thereby to heaven and earth.
[1. 'The (sage) beneath the Pillar' must be Lâo-dze. See above in the Introductory notice, p. 313.
2. See the note on the meaning of the epithet vol. xxxix, p. 40.
3. 'The smoke,' I suppose, 'of the incense, and from the offerings.'
4. Tâoist monks are called 'Plumaged or Feathered Scholars (###),' from the idea that by their discipline and pills, they can emancipate themselves from the trammels of the material body, and ascend (fly up) to heaven. Arrived there, as Immortals or Hsien (###), it further appears they were constituted into a hierarchy or society, of which some of them were 'officers,' higher in rank than others.
5. An allusion to the text of the hexagrams of the Yî King, where the explanations of them by king Wän,--his thwan, are followed by the symbolism of their different lines by the duke of Kâu,--his hsiang.
6. See the Tâo Teh King, ch. xli, par. 2.]
1. Kwang-dze was a native (of the territory) of Mäng and an officer in (the city of) Khî-yüan. He had been dead for more than a thousand years, and no one had up to this time sacrificed to him in Mäng. It was Wang King, the assistant Secretary of the Prefect, who superintended the erection of a Sacrificial Hall (to Kwang-dze), and (when the building was finished) he applied to me for
[1. The elder of two brothers, both famous as scholars, poets, and administrators in the history of their country, and sons of a father hardly less distinguished. The father (A.D. 1009-1066) was named Sû Hsün (###) with the designation of Ming-yun (###), and the two names of locality, Lâo-khwan (###) and Mei-shân (###). Of the two brothers the elder (1036-1101), author of the notice here adduced, was the more celebrated. His name was Shih and his designation Dze-kân (###); but he is more frequently styled Tung-pho (###), from the situation of a house which he occupied at one time. His life was marked by several vicissitudes of the imperial favour which was shown to him and of the disgrace to which he was repeatedly subjected. He was versed in all Chinese literature, but the sincerity of his Confucianism has not been called in question. His brother (1039-1112), by name Keh (###), by designation Dze-yû (###) and by locality Ying-pin (###) has left us a commentary on the Tâo Teh King, nearly the whole of which is given by Ziâo Hung, under the several chapters. It seems to have been Keh's object to find a substantial unity under the different forms of Confucian, Buddhistic, and Tâoist thought.
The short essay, for it is more an essay than 'a record,' which is here translated is appended by Ziâo Hung to his 'Wings to Kwang-dze.' It is hardly worthy of Shih's reputation.]
{p. 321}
a composition which might serve as a record of the event; (which I made as follows):--
2. According to the Historical Records (of Sze-mâ Khien), Kwang-dze lived in the time of the kings Hui of Liang (B.C. 370-333 [?])[1] and Hsüan of Khî (B.C. 332-314). There was no subject of study to which he did not direct his attention, but his preference was for the views of Lâo-dze; and thus it was that of the books which he wrote, containing in all more than ten myriad characters, the greater part are metaphorical illustrations of those views. He made 'The Old Fisherman,' 'The Robber Kih,' and 'The Cutting Open Satchels,' to deride the followers of Confucius, and to set forth the principles of Lâo-dze. (So writes Sze-mâ Khien, but) his view is that of one who had only a superficial knowledge of Kwang-dze. My idea is that Kwang wished to support the principles of Khung-dze, though we must not imitate him in the method which he took to do so. (I will illustrate my meaning by a case of a different kind):--A prince of Khû[2] was once hurrying away from the city in disguise[2], when the gate-keeper refused to let him pass through. On this his servant threatened the prince with a switch, and reviled him, saying, 'Slave, you have no strength!' On seeing this, the gate-keeper allowed them to go out. The thing certainly took place in an irregular way, and the prince escaped by an inversion of what was right;--he seemed openly to put himself in opposition, while he was secretly maintaining and supporting. If we think that his servant did not love the prince, our judgment will be wrong; if we think that his action was a model for imitation in serving a prince, in that also we shall be wrong. In the same way the words of Kwang-dze are thrown out in a contradictory manner, with which the tenor of his writing does not agree. The correct interpretation,
[1. Compare vol. xxxix, pp. 36, 37, 39, Sze-mâ Khien enters king Hui's death in this year. The 'Bamboo Books' place it sixteen years later, see 'The General Mirror of History,' under the thirty-fifth year of king Hsien of Kau.
2. I suppose this incident is an invention of Sû Shih's own. I have not met with it anywhere else. In Ziâo's text for the 'in disguise' of the translation, however, there is an error. He gives ### instead of ###.]
{p. 322}
of them shows them to be far from any wish to defame Khung-dze.
3. And there is that in the style which slightly indicates his real meaning. (In his last Book for instance), when discussing the historical phases of Tâoism, he exhibits them from Mo Tî, Khin Hwâ-lî, Phäng Mäng, Shän Tâo, Thien Pien, Kwan Yin, and Lâo Tan, down even to himself, and brings them all together as constituting one school, but Confucius is not among them[1]. So great and peculiar is the honour which he does to him!
4. I have had my doubts, however, about 'The Robber Kih (Bk. XXIX),' and 'The Old Fisherman (Bk. XXXI),' for they do seem to be really defamatory of Confucius. And as to 'The Kings who have wished to Resign the Throne (Bk. XXVIII)' and 'The Delight in the Sword-fight (Bk. XXX);' they are written in a low and vulgar style, and have nothing to do with the doctrine of the Tâo. Looking at the thing and reflecting on it, there occurred to me the paragraph at the end of Book XXVII ('Metaphorical Language'). It tells us that 'when Yang Dze-kü had gone as far as Khin, he met with Lâo-dze, who said to him, "Your eyes are lofty, and you stare; who would live with you? The purest carries himself as if he were defiled, and the most virtuous seems to feel himself defective." Yang Dze-kü looked abashed and changed countenance. When he first went to his lodging-house, the people in it met him and went before him. The master of it carried his mat for him, and the mistress brought to him the towel and comb. The lodgers left their mats and the cook his fire-place, as he went past them. When he went away, the others in the house would have striven with him about (the places for) their mats.'
After reading this paragraph, I passed over the four intermediate Books,--the Zang Wang, the Yüeh Kien, the Yü Fû, and the Tâo Kih, and joined it on to the first paragraph of the Lieh Yü-khâu (Book XXXII). I then read how Lieh-dze had started to go to Khî but came back
[1. See Book XXXIII, pars. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.]
{p. 323}
when he had got half-way to it. (When asked why he had done so), he replied, 'I was frightened, I went into ten soup-shops to get a meal, and in five of them the soup was set before me before I had paid for it.' Comparing this with the paragraph about Yang Dze-kü, the light flashed on me. I laughed and said, 'They certainly belong to one chapter!'
The words of Kwang-dze were not ended; and some other stupid person copied in (these other four Books) of his own among them. We should have our wits about us, and mark the difference between them. The division of paragraphs and the titles of the Books did not proceed from Kwang-dze himself, but were introduced by custom in the course of time[1].
Recorded on the 19th day of the 11th month of the first year of the period Yüan Fäng (1078-1085).
[1. Few of my readers, I apprehend, will appreciate this article, which is to me more a jeu d'esprit than 'a record.' It is strange that so slight and fantastic a piece should have had the effect attributed to it of making the four Books which they call in question be generally held by scholars of the present dynasty to be apocryphal, but still Sû Shih avows in it his belief in Book XXXIII. Compare the quotation from Lin Hsî-kung on pp. 296, 297.]
Â-ho Kan (ancient Tâoist), Part ii, page 67.
Âi (duke of Lû), i, 229, 231, 232; ii 49, 207.
Ailantus, the, i, 174.
Âi-thâi Tho (the ugly man), i, 229.
Balfour, F. H., i, pp. xiv, xv, xviii, xx, 14, 17, 19, 20, 24, 128, 135, 138, 142, 155, 237, 248, 300, 310, 240, 247, 251, 257, 262.
Chalmers, Dr. J., i, pp. xiii, xiv, 64, 91, 93, 104, 107; 123, 124.
Davis, Sir J. F., ii, 5.
Edkins, Dr. J., i, 58.
Eitel, Dr. E. J., i, 44.
Faber, Mr. E., i, 137; ii, 247.
Fan (a state), ii, 55, 56.
Fän (the river), i, 172.
Fan Lî (minister of Yüeh), ii, 255.
Fang-hwang (name of desert-sprite), ii, 19.
Fäng-î (spirit-lord of the Ho), i, 244
Fang Ming (charioteer of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Fei-yo (a chapter of Mo Tî), ii, 216.
Fû-hsî (the ancient sovereign), i, 210, 244, 370; ii, 55.
Fû-mo (=writings), i, 246.
Fû-yao (a whirlwind), i, 165, 167, 300.
Fû Yüeh (the minister of Wû-ting), i, 245.
Gabelentz, Prof. G., i, p. xix, 57, 307, 310.
Giles, H. A., i, pp. xiv, xviii, xx, 4, 15, 17, 18, 19, 248, 249, et al.
Han (state), ii, 152, 153, 189.
Han (river). In phrase Ho Han (= Milky Way), i, 170.
Han Fei (the author), i, 5, 6, 69, 81, 97, 98, 102, 103, 104, 107, 109, 113.
Han-tan (capital of Kao), i, 284, 390.
Han Ying (the writer), i, 89, 90, 92.
Hâo (river), i, 391, 392.
Hardwick, Archdeacon, i, 13, 40, 41.
Ho (river), i, 389; ii, 132, 173, 211.
Ho Han, see Han. Kiang Ho, see Kiang.
Ho-hsü (prehistoric sovereign), i, 279.
Ho-kwan Dze (the author), i, 12.
Ho-po (the spirit-ruler of the Ho), i, 374, 377, 378, 379, 382, 383.
Ho-shang Kung (the author), i, 7, 8, 12, 46, 75, 77, 81, 83, 87, 97, 98, 99, 101. 111, 117, 119, 123.
Hsî Kiang (the Western Kiang), ii, 133.
Hsî Phäng (a minister of Khî), ii, 102.
Hsî-phäng (an attendant of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Hsî Shih (the Beauty), i, 354.
Hsî Wang-mû (queen of the Genii), i, 245; ii, 248, 249.
Hsiang-Hsiû (the commentator), i, 10.
Hsiang-khäng (name of a desert), ii, 96, 97.
Hsiang-lî Khin (a Mohist), ii, 220.
Hsiang-wang (= Mr. Purposeless), i, 312.
Hsiâo-kî (son of Kao Zung of Yin), ii, 132.
Hsiâo-po (name of duke Hwan of Khî), ii, 177.
Hsieh Tâo-häng (minister and scholar of Sui dynasty), ii, 311, 312.
{p. 326}
Hsien-khih (Hwang-Tî's music), i, 348; ii, 8, 218.
Hsien-yüan Shih (Hwang-Tî), i, 287.
Hsin (the mound-sprite), ii, 19.
Hsing-than (apricot altar), ii, 192.
Hsio-kiû (a kind of dove), i, 166.
Hsü-âo (state), i, 190, 206.
Hsü Wû-kwei (a recluse), ii, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94.
Hsü-yî (a mystical name), i, 247.
Hsü Yû (a contemporary and teacher of Yâo), i, 169, 255, 256, 312; ii, 108, 161, 183, 210.
Hsü-yü (name of count of kî), i, 239.
Hsüan-ming (name of Profundity), i, 247.
Hsüan Shui (the dark river, metaphorical), ii, 57.
Hsüan-yang Dze (an author), ii, .265.
Hsüan Ying (editor), i, p. xx, 197,269.
Hû (state), i, 206.
Hû (god of Northern sea), i, 267.
Hû Pû-kieh (ancient worthy), i, 239.
Hû-dze (teacher of Lieh-dze), i, 263, 264, 265.
Hû Wän-ying (editor and commentator), i, p. xx, 325; ii, 63, 71.
Hui (favourite disciple of Confucius), i, 209. See Yen Yüan.
Hui-dze, or Hui Shih (philosopher, and friend of Kwang-dze), i, 172, 174, 186, 234, 235, 391, 392; ii, 4, 137, 144, 229.
Hwâ (a place), i, 313.
Hwâ, Eastern, the (divine ruler of), ii, 248, 254.
Hwâ-kieh Shû (a man with one foot), ii, 5.
Hwâ-liû (one of king Mû's famous horses), i, 381.
Hwâ-shan (a hill), ii, 222.
Hwan (Confucianist of Käng), ii, 204, 205.
Hwan (duke of Khî), i, 233, 343; ii, 18, 201 101, 177.
Hwan Tan (minister Of Yâo), i, 295.
Hwan Twan (a Tâoist sophist), ii, 230.
Hwang-fû Mî (the writer), i, 8.
Hwang-kwang (some strange production), ii, 9.
Hwang-kung (the first of the upper musical Accords), i, 269.
Hwang Liâo (a sophist), ii, 231.
Hwang-Tî (the ancient sovereign), i, 193, 244, 256, 295, 297, 298, 299, 311, 338, 348, 370; ii, 7, 28, 55, 58, 60, 73, 96, 97, 171, 172, 218, 255.
Hwang-dze Kâo-âo (an officer of Khî), ii, 19.
Hwun-tun (chaos), i, 267, 322.
Î (name of a place); may be read Âi, i, 194.
Î (the ancient archer), i, 227; ii, 36, 99.
Î (wild tribes so named), ii, 220.
Î-î (a bird), ii, 32.
Î Kieh (a parasite of the court of Khû), ii, 114.
Î-liâo (a scion of the house of Khû), ii, 28, 104; 121.
Î-lo (some strange growth), ii, 9.
Î-r Sze (a fabulous personage), i, 255, 256.
Î-shih (name for speculation about the origin of things), i, 247
Î Yin (Thang's adviser and minister), i, 6; ii, 162.
Jesuit translation of the Tâo Teh King, i, pp. xii, xiii, 95, 115.
Julien, Stanislas (the Sinologue), i, pp. xiii, xv, xvi, xvii, 12, 13, 34, 35, 72, 73, 104, 109, 123, 124; ii, 239, 243, 245.
Kan Ying Phien (the Treatise), i, p. xi, 38, 40, 43; ii, 235-246.
Kan-yüeh (a place in Wû, famous for its swords), i, 367.
Kao Yû (the glossarist), i, 86.
Kau-kien (king of Yüeh), ii, 111.
Kû (name of the stream, near whose bank Lao-dze was born), ii, 317.
Kû Yüan or Hsüan (a Tâoist writer), ii) 248.
Kû (name for female slave), i, 273.
Kû-kû (ancient state), ii, x63) 173.
Kû Khî (an attendant of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Kû-khüeh (metaphorical name for a height), ii, 58.
Kumârgîva (Indian Buddhist), i, 76, 90.
Kung-kung (Yâo's minister of works), i, 295.
Kung Po (earl of Kung), ii, 161.
Kung Shan (mount Kung), ii, 161.
Kung-sun Lung (noble, and sophist
{p. 327}
of Kâo), i, 387, 389; ii, 230. See Ping.
Kung-dze Mâu (a prince of Wei), i, 387.
Kung-wän Hsien (a man of Wei), i, 200.
Kung-yüeh Hsiû (a recluse of Khû), ii, 114, 115.
Kwâi-khî (hill in Yüeh), ii, 111. 133.
Kwan Lung-fang (minister of Hsiâ), i, 205, 283; ii, 131.
Kwan-dze (minister of duke Hwan of Khî), ii, 7; called Kwan Kung, ii, 18, 19, 101, 177; and Kung-fû, ii, 19, 101.
Kwan Yin (the warden Yin Hsî), i, 5, 35; ii, 12, 13, 226, 227.
Kwang Khäng-dze (teacher of Hwang-Tî), i, 297, 298, 299; ii, 255, 256, 257.
Kwang-yâo (= starlight), ii, 70.
Kwei (an ancient state), i, 190.
Kwei Kû Dze (the famous Recluse), ii, 255.
Khäng-zhang (? = Kang-sang Khû), ii, 82.
Khan-pei (spirit presiding over Khwän-lun), i, 244.
Khao-fû (ancestor of Confucius), ii, 209.
Khan Khien-kih (usurping patriarch of Taoism), ii, 256.
Kho (a river), ii, 14.
Khû Hwo (a Mohist of the South), ii, 220.
Khung-dze (Confucius), called also Khung Khiu, Khiu, Khung-shih, and Kang-nî, i, 34; 35, 203, 204, 208, 221, 223, 224, 228, 229, 230, 233, 250, 251, 253, 256, 257, 320, 322, 338, 339, 351, 354, 355, 357, 358, 360, 361, 362, 375, 376, 385, 386; ii, 7, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 55, 63, 71, 72, 104, 105, 117, 120, 121, 166, 167, 168, 169, 172, 177, 180, 192, 193, 194, 197, 198, 199, 207, 208, 209.
Khung-thung (a mountain), i, 297.
Khwan (a river), ii, 141. See Kho.
Khwän (the great fish), i, 1645 167.
Khwän (a son of Dze-khî), ii, 106, 107.
Khwän Hwun (an attendant of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Khwän-lun (the mountain), i, 244, 311; ii, 5.
Khwang (music-master of Zin), i, 186, 269, 274, 286.
Khwang (a district), i, 385.
Khwang-dze (an old worthy), ii, 180.
Khwei (prince of Kao), ii, 186.
Khwei (a hill-sprite), ii, 19.
Khwei (name of one-footed dragon), i, 384.
Kan-dze (a worthy of Wei), ii, 159.
Kän Zän (the True Man, highest master of the Tâo), ii, 110. See especially in Book VI.
Käng (the state), i, 226, 262, 263 ii, 204.
Kang Häng (a poet), i, 89.
Kang Kân (editor of Lieh-dze), i, 117.
Kang Liang (famous Tâoist), ii, 255.
Kang Tâo-ling (first Tâoist master), i, 42.
Käng Zhang (the Kâu library), i, 339.
Kang Zo (an attendant of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Kâo (the state), ii, 186, 187.
Kâo and Kâo Wän (a lutist of Zin), i, 186.
Kâo-hsî (marquis of Han), ii, 152, 153.
Kâo Wang (king of Khû), ii, 135.
Kâu (the dynasty), i, 338, 339, 353 (in i, 352, and ii, 34, 189, Kâu must be = Wei); ii, 163, 164.
Kâu (the tyrant of Yin), i, 205, 359) 386; ii) 131, 171) 173, 177; 178.
Kâu Kung (the famous duke of Kau), i, 314; ii, 178, 218; but in ii, 16, another duke.
Kâu-shui (a river), ii, 162.
Keh Ho (the Keh Kiang), ii, 134.
Kî (a wise man in time of Thang), i, 167.
Kî, meaning king Kî, ii, 178; meaning Liû-hsiâ Hui, ii, 168.
Kî Hsien (wizard of Käng), i, 263.
Kî Hsing-dze (a rearer of gamecocks), ii, 20.
Kî Kän (a Tâoist master), ii, 129.
{p. 328}
Kî Kheh (officer of Lû), i, 318.
Kî Khih (a Mohist of the South), ii, 220.
Kî-khü (prehistoric sovereign), i, 210.
Kî Thâ (ancient worthy), i, 239; ii, 141.
Kî-dze (an officer of Wei), ii, 118.
Kî Dze (the count of Wei), i, 239; ii, 131.
Kiâ Yü (Narratives of the School), i, 91.
Kih (the robber so-called), i, 273, 275, 283, 284, 285, 292, 295, 328; ii, 166, 167, 168, 170, 172, 175.
Kih (knowledge personified), i, 311 ii, 57, 58, 60.
Kih-hwo (as a name, Mr. Know-the-Mean), ii, 180, 181, 182, 183.
Kih-kung (as a name), ii, 180.
Kih-khwâi (marquis of Yen), i, 380.
Kih-lî Yî (a name), ii, 206.
Kiang (the river), ii, 29, 102, 126, 131, 136 (the Clear Kiang), 174, 219.
Kiang-lü Mien (officer of Lû), i; 318, 319.
Kieh (the tyrant of Hsiâ), i, 205, 242, 291, 295, 380, 386; ii, 131, 162, 177, 178.
Kieh (name of an old book), i, 220.
Kieh-dze (a Tâoist master), ii, 129.
Kieh-dze Thui (officer of duke Wän of Zin), ii, 173.
Kieh-yung (name of a book of Mo Tî), ii, 218.
Kien Ho-hâu (a certain marquis in Wei), ii, 132.
Kien Wû (a fabulous Tâoistic personage), i, 170, 244, 260; ii, 54
Kin (music-master of Lû), i, 351.
King (the emperor, of Han), i, 8.
Kiû-fang Yän (a physiognomist), ii, 106, 107.
Kiû-shâo (Shun's music), ii, 8.
Ko-lû (Hwang-Tî's battle-field), ii, 171, 173
Kû Hsî (the philosopher), i, 23, 54, 56, 89, 167; ii, 263, 272.
Kû Hsin (a Tâoist master), ii, 16.
Kû-ko Liang (the famous), ii, 255.
Kû-liang (duke of Sheh in Khû), i, 210.
Kû-lü (a certain hunchback), ii, 14.
Kû Phing-man (a Tâoist), ii, 206.
Kû Zung-zän (officer of prayer in temple), ii, 18.
Kû-yung (prehistoric sovereign), i, 287.
Kü Liang (a strong man), i, 256.
Kü Po-yü (a minister of Wei), i, 215; ii, 124.
Kü-Zhze (a hill), ii, 96.
Kun Mang (name for primal ether), i, 322, 323.
Kung (a minister of Yüeh), ii, 111.
Kung Kwo (the Middle States), ii, 43, 216.
Kung-shan (a dependency of Wei), ii, 159.
Kwan-hsü (the ancient sovereign), i, 244.
Kwang-dze and Kwang Khâu (our author), i, pp. xi, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 172, 173, 174, 197, 234, 235, 332, 346, 347, 387, 389, 390, 391, 392; ii, 4, 5, 6, 27, 36, 39, 40, 49, 50, 66, 98, 99, 132, 133, 137, 138, 144, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 205, 207, 211, 212, 227.
Kwang Kung (duke of Lû), ii, 23.
Khâi (or Zhâi, the state), i, 352; ii, 32, 34.
Khän (the state), i, 352; ii; 32, 34, 160, 161, 172, 197.
Khäng (a minister of Shun), ii, 62.
Khang Hung (a historiographer and musician of Kâu), i, 283; ii, 131.
Khang Kî (a disciple of Confucius), i, 223, 224, 225.
Khang-shän (the name of a gulf), ii, 15.
Khang-wû (a district), i, 192, ii, 121.
Khang-yü (an attendant of Hwang-Tî), ii, 96.
Khî (the state), i, 210, 211, 217, 233, 281, 282; ii, 17, 19, 43, 100, 118, 119, 169, 172, 189, 205.
Khî Hsieh (an old book), i, 165.
Khî Kung (a worthy of Wei), ii, 42.
Khî-shan (early seat of the house of Kau), ii, 151, 163.
Khieh Khâu (= vehement debater), i, 312.
Khieh-yü (the madman of Khû), i, 170, 221, 260.
{p. 329}
Khien-lung, the catalogue of, ii, 255, 256.
Khih-kang Man-khî (a man of king Wû's time), i, 324.
Khih-kî (one of king Mû's steeds), i, 381; ii, 175.
Khih Shâu (title of minister of war), ii, 115.
Khih Shui (the Red-water, metaphorical), i, 311.
Khih-wei (a prehistoric sovereign), i, 244; ii, 731 138; (also, an assistant historiographer), ii, 124, 125.
Khih-yû (rebel against Hwang-Tî), ii, 171.
Khin (the state and dynasty), ii, 147 (but this is doubtful), 207.
Khin Hwâ-lî (a contemporary and disciple of Mo Tî), ii, 218, 221.
Khin Shih (a Tâoist), i, 201.
Khing (worker in rottlera wood), ii, 22.
Khing Käng King (name of Tâoist Treatise), ii, 247, 254.
Khing-lang (name of an abyss), ii, 162.
Khiû (the name of Confucius), i, 193, 195, 251, 252, 317, 360, 362; ii, 7, 104, 168, 170, 172, 174, 175.
Khiû-shih (name of a place), ii, 204.
Kho Shih (=Mr. Provocation), ii, 119.
Khû (the state), i, 221, 2249 230, 319, 390; ii, 6, 14, 55, 56, 98, 100, 104, 120, 155, 156, 169.
Khü-kung (a man of Khî), ii, 108.
Khü Zhiâo-dze (a Tâoist), i, 192.
Khü-yüan (a place in Khî), i, 217.
Khui (ancient artificer), i, 286.
Khun Khiû (the classic), i, 189, 360; ii, 216.
Khung Shan (a hill), i, 295.
Lan Zü (disciple of Kwang-dze), ii, 40.
Lâo-dze, Lâo Tan, Lâo and Tan alone (our Lâo-dze), i, pp. xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 44, 201, 228, 229, 261, 262, 294, 317, 339, 340; 341, 355, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362; ii, 46, 47, 49, 63, 74, 75, 78, 79, 81, 122, 147, 148, 226, 227.
Lâo Kün (a designation of Lâo-dze), i, 40; ii, 249, 250, 253.
Lâo's golden principle, i, 31, 106.
Lâo's views on war, i, 72, 73, 110, 111, 112.
Lâo's temple and tablet, ii, 311-320.
Lâo Lâi-dze (a Tâoist of Khû), ii, 135.
Lâo-lung Kî (ancient master of the Tâo), ii, 68.
Lei-thing (sprite of the dust-heap), ii, 19.
Lî (classic so called), i, 67, 360; ii, 75, 216.
Lî (sprite of mountain tarns), 11, 19.
Lî Hsî-yüeh (the commentator), i, p. xvii; ii, 248, 251, 253, 256, 257, 258, 264, 265, 269, 271.
Lî Kwang-tî (a modern scholar), ii, 255.
Lî Kî (the beauty), i, 191, 194.
Lî Kû (the man of wonderful vision), i, 269, 274, 286, 287, 311.
Lî-khû and Lî-lû (prehistoric sovereigns), i, 287.
Lî Khwan (supposed author of the Yin Fû King), ii, 255, 256.
Lî Lung (the black dragon), ii, 211.
Lî R (surname and name of Lâo-dze), i, 34, 35.
Liang (the state or city) i, 391. ii, 120; (also, a place on the borders of Phei), ii, 147.
Liâo Shui (a river), i, 260.
Lieh-dze and Lieh Yü-khâu (the philosopher), i, 5, 85, 116, 168, 263, 264, 265; ii, 9, 53, 154 (### Lieh-dze), 202, 203.
Lien Shû (a Tâoist in time of Confucius), i, 170, 171.
Lin Hsî-kung (editor of Kwang-dze), i, p. xx, 232, 233, 375; ii, 18, 100, 117, 273-297.
Lin Hui (of the Yin dynasty), ii, 34, 35.
Ling (duke of Wei), 1, 215, 233; ii, 124, 125, 126.
Ling Thâi (= the Intelligence), ii, 24.
Liû An, i. q. Hwâi-nan Dze (the writer), i, 5, 6, 7, 51, 86, 101, 102, 106, 107, 113.
Liû-hsiâ Kî (brother of the robber Kih) ii, 166, 167, 175.
{p. 330}
Liû Hsiang (Han officer and writer), i, 97, 100, 107; ii, 132.
Liû Hsin (Han librarian, son of Hsiang), i, 6.
Lo-sung (name for reading), i, 247.
Lû (the state), i, 223, 224; 228, 229, 284, 353; ii, 8, 17, 22, 26, 29, 34, 43; 49, 50, 153, 157, 160, 167, 168, 169, 172, 175, 193, 197, 216.
Lû Kü (a philosopher), ii, 99.
Lû Näng-shih (commentator), i, 76.
Lû Shih (work of Lo Pî), i, 351.
Lû Shû-kih (the editor), i, p. xix, 143, 148, 150, 153, 154, 161; ii, 146, 179.
Lû Teh-ming (the author), i, p. xix, 103; ii. 37.
Lû Zhien-hsü (a writer), ii, 264.
Lû Liang (the gorge of Lü), ii. 20.
Lû Shui (a river), ii, 163.
Lû Zû (famous Tâoist), (i. q. Lü Tung-pin, Lü Khun-yang), i, pp. xvi, xvii.
Lung-fäng, ii, 131. See Kwan Lung-fäng.
Lung Lî-khän (a minister of Wei), ii, 43.
Mân Kâu-teh (unprincipled debater), ii, 176, 177, 178.
Man-shih (= Mr. Stupidity), ii, 119, 120.
Män Wû-kwei (man in time of king Wû), ii, 324, 325.
Män-yin Täng-häng (officer of Thang), ii, 117.
Mäng-sun Zhâi or Shih (member of Mäng-sun family), i, 253, 254.
Mäng Dze-fan (Tâoist, time of Confucius), i, 250.
Mâo Zhiang (the beauty), i, 191.
Mâu (prince of Wei), ii, 159.
Mayers's Manual, i, 40, 41, 67, 301, 374; ii, 317, et al.
Mencius, i, 65, 111, 131, 134, 372, 380; ii, 54, 116, 216.
Miâo-kû-shih (a mysterious hill), i, 170, 172.
Min-dze (disciple of Confucius), i, 232.
Ming (a hill in the north), i, 347.
Ming-ling (a great tree), i, 166.
Mo, Mo-dze, and Mo Tî (the heresiarch; his followers), i, 182, 270, 287, 296, 360; ii, 73, 99, 100, 177, 178, 204, 205, 219, 220, 221.
Mû (duke of Khin), ii, 50, 89.
Nan-kwo Dze-khî (a great Tâoist), i, 176.
Nan-po Dze-khî (same as the above), i, 219; ii, 103. See Dze-khî.
Nan-yüeh (Yüeh in the south), ii, 30.
Nestorian monument, the, i, 94.
Nieh-hsü (name for hearing or report), i, 247.
Nieh Khüeh (ancient Tâoist), i, 190, 192, 259, 312; ii, 61, 62, 108.
Nü Shang (favourite of marquis of Wei), ii, 91, 92, 93.
Nü Yü (great Tâoist), i, 245.
Numerical categories:--
Three precious things, i, 110; precious ones, or refuges, i, 43; 111; pure ones, i, 43; three meals, i, 166; dynasties, i, 271; Mâo, and three Wei, i, 295; dynasties, kings of the, i, 295, 381; hosts, i, 334; Hwang and five Tî, i, 353; five Tî and three Wang, i, 376; branches of kindred, ii, 204; most distinguished officers, ii, 156; swords, ii, 189; luminaries, ii, 190; pairs of Thâi stars, ii, 236; spirits of the recumbent body, ii, 236; regions, ii, 249; poisons, ii, 251; despoilers, ii, 260.
Four seas, the, i, 171y 295; philosophers or perfect Ones, i, 172; boundaries (= a neighbourhood), i, 230; seasons, i, 239 et saepe; quarters of the earth, i, 330; wild tribes on the four quarters, ii, 189, 220; evils, the, ii, 196, 197; misrepresentations, the, ii, 197.
Five grains, the, i, 171; chiefs, i, 245; viscera, i, 220, 247, 268, 294; colours, i, 328; notes of music, i, 328; weapons, i, 334; punishments, i, 335; elements, i, 346; ii, 189, 258; virtues, i, 349; regulators of the five notes, i, 351; fivefold arrangement of the virtues, ii, 178, 179; feudal lordships, ii, 220; mountains, ii, 317.
Six elemental energies, i, 169, 301; conjunctions (= the universe
{p. 331}
of space), i, 189; members of the body, i, 226; extreme points (= all space), i, 346, 351; musical Accords, i, 269; comprehensions (= universe of space), i, 330; classics, i, 360; Bow-cases (name of a book), ii, 92; faculties of perception, ii, 139; parties in the social organisation, ii, 179; desires, ii, 251.
Seven precious organs of the body, ii, 272.
Eight qualities in discussions, i, 189; subjects of delight, i, 293; apertures or orifices of the body, ii, 63; defects of conduct, ii, 196, 197; eight diagrams, the, ii, 264.
Nine hosts, i, 225 divisions of the Lo writing, i, 346; provinces, i, 376; ii, 317; apertures of the body, ii, 25, 63, 259, 260; Shâo (a full performance of the music of Shun), ii, 26.
Twelve Ming or classics, i, 339; hours (of a day), ii, 270.
O-lâi (a minister of Yin, killed by king Wû), ii, 131.
Pâi Kung (duke or chief of Pâi in Khû), i, 380.
Pâi-lî Hsî (the famous), ii, 50.
Pâo Shû-yâ (minister of Khî), ii, 101.
Pâo Ziâo, and Pâo-dze (ancient worthy), ii, 73, 180.
Paradisiacal and primeval state, i, 26-28, 277-279, 287, 288, 325.
Pei-kung Shê (officer of Wei), ii, 31.
Pei-kî (the North Pole), i, 245.
Pei-män Khäng (attendant on Hwang-Tî), i, 348.
Pei-zän Wû-kâi (a friend of Shun), ii, 161.
Pî-kan (the famous prince of Yän), i, 205, 283; ii, 37,131, 174, 180.
Piâo-shih (prehistoric sovereign), ii, 37.
Pien Sui (worthy at court of Thang), ii, 162.
Pien-dze (a Tâoist master), ii, 25, 26.
Pin (early settlement of House of Kâu), ii, 150.
Ping (name of Kung-sun Lung), ii, 99, 100.
Po-hâi (district along gulf of Kih-lî), ii, 189.
Po-hwän Wû-zän (Tâoist teacher), i, 226; ii, 53, 202, 203.
Po-î (elder of the brothers of Kû-kû), i, 239, 273; 375, 376; ii, 163, 173.
Po Kü (disciple of Lâo-dze), ii, 122.
Po Khäng-khien (historiographer of Wei), ii, 124, 125.
Po-khäng Dze-kâo (Tâoist, time of Yâo) i, 315.
Po-lâo (first subduer of horses), i, 276, 277, 279.
Po Shûi (the Bright Water, metaphorical), ii, 57, 58.
Pû-liang Î (ancient Tâoist), i, 245.
Pû (or Wû) Zû (= Mr. Dissatisfied), ii, 180, 181, 183.
Phäng (the great bird), i, 164, 165, 167.
Phäng Mäng (a famous archer), ii, 36.
Phäng Mäng (a Tâoist master), ii, 223, 225.
Phäng Zû (the patriarch), i, 167, 188, 245, 364.
Phäng Yang (the same as Zeh-yang), ii; 114.
Phâo-ting (a cook), i, 198, 199, 200.
Phei (place where Lao-dze lived), i, 354; ii, 147.
Phei-î (ancient Tâoist), i, 312; ii, 61, 62.
Phien (a wheelwright), i, 343.
Phi-yung (king Wän's Music), ii, 218.
Phû (a river of Khän), i, 390.
Phû-i-dze (ancient Tâoist), i, 259.
Rémusat (the Sinologue), i, pp. xiii, xxi, 12, 57.
Rishis (of Buddhism), ii, 238.
Sacrificial hall of Kwang-dze, ii, 320.
San Miâo (the tribes so called), i, 295.
San-wei (the place so called), i, 295.
Sâu (a prince of Yüeh), ii, 151, 152.
Shâ-khiû (a hill in Wei), ii, 125.
Shan Küan (worthy, in favour of whom Shun wished to resign), ii, 183.
Shän-khiû (name of a height), i, 260.
{p. 332}
THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
Shän Ming (name for perspicacity), i, 247.
Shän Näng (the ancient sovereign), i, 370; ii, 7, 28, 67, 68, 164, 171.
Shan Pâo (a recluse), ii, 17.
Shän Tâo (an earnest Tâoist), ii, 223, 224, 225.
Shän-thû Kiâ (a mutilated Tâoist), i, 226.
Shän-thû Tî (a worthy of Yin, a suicide), i, 239; ii, 141, 173, perhaps the same as Shän-dze, or Shäng-dze.
Shän-dze (a prince of Sin), ii, 180.
Shang (the dynasty), i, 346, 352; ii, 34 (meaning duchy of Sung).
Shang Sung (sacrificial odes of Shang), ii, 158.
Shâo (a ducal appanage), i, 361.
Shâo-kwang (name of a palace), i, 245.
Shâo Kih (an inquirer about the Tâo), ii, 126, 127, 128.
Shâu-ling (a city), i, 390.
Shâu-yang (a hill), i, 273; ii, 165, 173.
Sheh (district of Khû), i, 210.
Shih (name of Hui-dze), ii, 231. See Hui-dze.
Shih (the classic so called), i, 360; ii, 216, 271.
Shih (name of a mechanic), i, 217, 218; ii, 101.
Shih (officer of Wei, Shih Yü and Shih Zhiû), i, 269, 274, 287, 292, 295, 328.
Shih-hû (a place), ii, 150.
Shih-khang (a barrier wall), ii, 189.
Shih-khäng Khî (a Tâoist, hardly believing in Lâo-dze), i, 340, 341.
Shih-nan (where Î-liâo lived), ii, 28, 104, 121.
Shû (the deformed worthy), i, 220.
Shû (the classic so called), i, 360; ii, 216.
Shû (god of the Northern sea), i, 266, 267.
Shû (region in the West), ii, 131.
Shû-khî (brother of Po-î), i, 239; ii, 163, 173.
Shû-r (ancient cook), i, 274.
Shû-tan (the duke of Kau, q. v.), ii, 163.
Shui (i. q. Khui, q. v.).
Shun (the sovereign, called also Yû yü) i, 171, 190, 210, 225, 282, 295, 315, 331, 338, 347, 359, 380; ii, 7, 35, 62, 73, 109, 120, 150; 161, 170, 171, 173, 178, 183, 218.
Strauss, Victor von (translator and philosopher), i, p. xiii, 58, 123, 124.
Sû Shih (called also Dze-kan, and Tung-pho), ii, 320, with his father and brother.
Sû Zhin (the adventurer), ii, 256.
Sui (a small state), ii, 154.
Sui (the dynasty), i, 7, 8; ii, 311.
Sui-zän (prehistoric sovereign, inventor of fire), i, 370; ii, 7.
Sun Shû-âo (minister of Khû), ii, 54, 104, 105.
Sung (the state), i, 168, 172, 219, 301, 352, 386; ii, 34, 50, 101, 136, 169, 189, 197, 207, 211.
Sung Hsing (a Tâoist master), ii, 221.
Sze-mâ Kwang (statesman and historian), i, 86.
Sze-mâ Khien (the historian), i, 4, 5, 6, 7, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 67, 101, 123; ii, 321, et al.
Tâ Hsiâ (name of Yü's music), ii, 218.
Tâ Hû (Thang's music), ii, 218.
Tâ-kung Zän (an officer of Khâi or Zhâi), ii, 32 (or Thâi Kung).
Tâ-kwei (name for the Tâo), ii, 96.
Tâ Kang (Yao's music), ii, 218.
Tâ-khun (a great tree), i, 166.
Tâ Lü (first of the lower musical Accords), i, 269.
Tâ Mo (Great Vacuity,--the Tâo), ii, 31.
Tâ Shâo (name of Shun's music), ii, 218.
Tâ Thâo (historiographer of Wei), ii, 124, 125.
Tâ-ying (Tâoist of Khî, with a goitre), i, 233.
Tâi (the mount, i. q. Thâi), ii, 189.
Tan Hsüeh (a certain cave), ii, 151, 152.
Tang (a high minister of Shang), i, 346.
Täng (a place or region), ii, 110.
Täng Ling-dze (a Mohist), ii, 220.
Tâo, (the Tâo), passim; meaning of the name, i, 12, 15. The Great Tâo, i, 61, 68, 76, 96; ii, 249.
Tâo Kih (the robber Kih). See Kih.
{p. 333}
Tâo Khiû (Confucius!), ii, 172.
Tâoist canon, the, ii, 255.
Temple of Lao-dze, the, ii, 319.
Tî (God), i, 202, 243, ? 314, 367; ii, 58 (probably meaning Hwang-Tî). In ii, 111, l.7, the character = to rule, to be sovereign in.
Tî (the rude tribes of the North), ii, 150.
Tî (name of the heresiarch Mo, and sometimes used for Mohists). See Mo.
Tiâo-ling (a park), ii, 39.
Tung-kwo Shun-dze (great Tâoist teacher), ii, 42.
Tung-kwo Sze (an inquirer after the Tâo), ii, 66.
Tung-kwo Sze-khî (i. q. Nan-kwo Dze-khî, q.v.), ii, 145.
Tung Kung-shû (the Han scholar), i, 109, 110.
Tung Wû (Tâoist teacher), ii, 103.
Tung-yê Kî (a great charioteer), ii, 23.
Thâi (the mountain), i, 188, 244, 296; ii, 167.
Thâi (certain stars), ii, 236.
Thâi-hsiâ (name of Yü's music), ii, 218.
Thâi-hû (name of Thang's music), ii, 218.
Thâi Kung (old minister and writer), ii, 255.
Thâi-kung Thiâo (a Tâoist master), ii, 126, 127, 128.
Thâi-kung Zän (a Tâoist who tried to instruct Confucius), ii, 32.
Thâi-kî (the primal ether), i, 243.
Thâi Khing (Grand Purity), ii, 68, 69.
Thâi Shang (name of Tractate), i, 40; ii, 235.
Thâi Shih (prehistoric sovereign), i, 259.
Thâi-wang Than-fû (ancestor of Kâu), ii, 150, 151.
Thang (the Successful, founder of Shang), i, 6, 167, 359, 380, 388; ii, 73, 141, 162, 170, 171, 173, 178.
Thang (meaning Yâo), i, 370; ii, 210.
Thang Wän (a book of Lieh-dze), i, 07.
Thien (heavenly, in the Tâoistic sense), i, 309, et al.; see p. 16. Applied by Kwang-dze to the fictitious beings, introduced by him as expositors of the Tâo, i, 299, et al.
Thien Ho (a ruler of Khî), ii, 103;? same as Thien Man, ii, 118.
Thien Kän (a mystical name), i, 260, 261.
Thien Khäng-dze, and Thien Khang (who usurped the rulership of Khî), i, 282; ii, 177.
Thien Phien (Tâoist teacher), ii, 223, 225.
Thien Shih (name applied by Hwang-Tî to a boy), ii, 97; title of Tâoist master, i, 42.
Thien Zun (a Tâoist deifying title), ii, 265, 266.
Thien Dze (highest name of the sovereign), ii, 195, et al.
Thien Dze-fang (preceptor of marquis of Wei), ii, 42, 43.
Thung-thing (the lake), i, 348; ii, 8.
Thung-thû (a certain region), ii, 110.
Zâi-1û (name of an abyss), ii, 136.
Zang (a place), ii, 51; (a name for a male slave), i, 273.
Zäng (the disciple Zäng Shän), i, 269, 274, 287, 292, 295, 328; ii, 132, 145, 158.
Zâu (birthplace of Mencius), ii, 216.
Zeh-yang (designation of Phäng Yang), ii, 114.
Ziâo Hung (commentator and editor), i, pp. xv, xix, 76, 84, 90, 119, 123, et al.
Ziâo-liâo (the orthotomus or tailor-bird), i, 170.
Zin (the state), 1, 194, 319; ii, 169, 189.
Zo Khwan (the book so called), i, 106; ii, 210, 235, et al.
Zung (a state), i, 190.
Dze-hsü (the famous Wû Dze-hsü or Wû Yüan), i, 283; ii, 2, 174, 180.
Dze-hwa Sze (Tâoist of Wei), ii, 152, 153.
Dze-kung (the disciple), i, 92, 251, 252, 253, 319, 320, 321, 358, 360; ii, 7, 157, 160, 161, 167,193, 194.
Dze-kang (disciple of Confucius), ii, 176, 177.
Dze-kâo (designation of duke of Sheh), i, 210.
Sze-kâu Kih-fû, and Dze-kâu Kih-po (men to whom Yâo and Shun
{p. 334}
wished to resign the throne), ii, 149.
Dze-khän (a minister of Käng), i, 226, 227, 228.
Dze-khî (minister of war of Khû), ii, 156.
Dze-khî, ii, 106. See Nan-kwo Dze-khî.
Dze-khin Kang (a Tâoist), i, 250.
Dze-lâi (a Tâoist), i, 247, 249.
Dze-lâo (disciple of Confucius), ii, 121.
Dze-lî (a Tâoist), i, 247, 249.
Dze Lieh-dze, ii, 154. See Lieh-dze.
Dze-lû (the disciple), i, 92, 338, 386; ii, 44, 121, 160, 161, 172, 193, 200.
Dze-sang Hû (a Tâoist), i, 250, 251.
Dze-sze (a Tâoist), i, 247.
Dze-wei kih lin (a certain forest), ii, 192.
Dze-yang (minister of Käng), ii, 154.
Dze-yû. See Yen Khäng.
Dze-yü (a Tâoist), i, 247.
Zhâi (the state), i, 352; ii, 32, 349 160, 161, 172, 197.
Zhan-liâo (name for vague uncertainty), i, 247.
Zhang-wû (where Shun was buried), ii, 134.
Zhâo Shang (a man of Sung), ii, 207.
Zhui Khü. (a contemporary of Lao-dze), i, 294.
Zhung-kih (a state), i, 206; perhaps i. q. Zung.
Zhze (name of Dze-kung, q.v.), ii, 160.
[Zh and Kh are sometimes interchanged in spelling names.]
Wän (the king), i, 359; ii, 51, 52, 53) 168, 172, 173. (The famous duke of Zin), ii, 173. (A marquis of Wei), ii, 42, 43. (A king of Kâo), ii, 186, 190, 191. (The emperor of Sui), ii, 311, 315.
Wän-hui (? king Hui of Liang), i, 198, 200.
Wän-po Hsüeh-dze (a Tâoist of the South), ii, 43, 44.
Wang Î (ancient Tâoist), i, 190, 191, 192, 259, 312.
Wang Khî (commentator of Mâ Twan-lin), i, 40; ii, 265.
Wang Pî (or Fû-sze, early commentator), i, p. xv; 8, 55, 74, 75, 83, 93, 94, 101, et al.
Wang Thai (Tâoist cripple and teacher), i, 223, 224.
Wang-dze, Khing-kî (a prince so named), ii, 31.
War, against, i, 100, 110, 112.
Water, as an emblem of the Tâo, i, 52, 58, 75, 120.
Wei (the state ###), i, 172, 387; ii, 42, 91, 118; 152, 189.
Wei (the state ###), i, 203, 229, 351, 352; ii, 31, 34,158, 169, 172, 197.
Wei Kung (duke Wei of Kâu), ii, 16.
Wei Shäng (a foolish ancient), ii, 174, 180.
Wei-tâu (Ursa Major), i, 244.
Williams, Dr., i, 319, 353, 370; ii, 192, 257.
Wû (the state), i, 173; ii, 102, 133; (the dynasty), ii, 248, 249.
Wû (the king), i, 359, 380; ii, 73, 163, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 178, 218. (His music), ii, 218.
Wû-âo (name for songs), i, 247.
Wû-hsien Thiâo (a Tâoist of uncertain date), i, 346.
Wû Kwang (a worthy, in favour of whom Thang wished to resign), i, 239; ii, 141, 162, 163.
Wû-kâi (name of Thien Dze-fang), ii, 42. Of another, ii, 161.
Wû-kih (the toeless), i, 228.
Wû-kwang (distinguished for beauty), i, 256.
Wû Khäng (the commentator), i, p. xvii, 9, 67, 72, 81, 88, 97, 108, 109, et al.
Wû Khiung (= Infinity), ii, 69.
Wû Shih (= Mr. No-beginning), ii, 69.
Wû-shun (the Lipless), i, 233.
Wû-ting (a king of Shang), i, 245.
Wû-zû (=Mr. Discontent), ii, 180, 183
Wû-wei (= Mr. Do-nothing), ii, 68, 69.
Wû-wei Wei (Dumb-Inaction), ii, 57, 58, 60.
Wû-yo (= Mr. No-agreement), ii, 179.
Wû-Yû (= Mr. Non-existence), ii, 70.
Wû Yün (i. q. Wû Dze-hsü), ii, 131, 174.
{p. 335}
Wylie, Mr. A., i, 9, 39; ii, 257, 265, et al.
Yak (the bos grunniens of Thibet), i, 174, 317.
Yang (the emperor of the Sui dynasty), ii, 311.
Yang (the heresiarch Yang Kû), i, 270, 287; ii, 99, 100.
Yang Hû (a bad officer), i, 387.
Yang Dze-kü (a contemporary of Lao-dze; perhaps the same as the above; but the surname Yang is a different character), i, 261; ii, 99, 100. Yang-dze, ii, 41, 147, 148. This is Yang-kû in Lieh-dze; but the Yang is that of Yang Dze-kü.
Yâo (the ancient sovereign), i, 169, 172, 190, 206, 225, 242, 282, 291, 295, 312, 313, 314, 315, 338, 347, 359, 386; ii, 31, 108, 110, 120, 136, 141, 149, 162, 170, 171, 173, 178, 183.
Yen (the state so called), ii, 107, 229.
Yen (name of the above), i, 176.
Yen (name of minister of War in Wei), ii, 118.
Yen Ho (a worthy of Lû in Wei, as teacher of its ruler's son), i, 215. (The same, or another of the same name in Lû), ii, 23, 153, 207.
Yen Kang (attendant at an old Tâoist establishment), ii, 68.
Yen Khäng Dze-yû (attendant of Nan-kwo Dze-khî), i, 176; ii, 103 (Yen Khäng-dze), 145.
Yen Khî (a place in Yen), ii, 189.
Yen Män (gate of capital of Sung), ii, 140.
Yen Pû-î (friend of a king of Wû), ii, 102, 103.
Yen Shû (a mole), i, 170.
Yen Yüan, Yen Hui, and Hui alone (Confucius's favourite disciple), i, 203, 206, 207, 208, 209, 253, 256, 257, 351; ii, 7, 15, 44, 49, 53, 72, 158, 159, 160, 167, 200.
Yî (the classic so called), i, 360; ii, 216.
Yin (the dynasty), ii, 164. (Also a mountain), i, 260.
Yin-fän (an imperceptibly sloping hill, metaphorical), ii, 57.
Yin Wän (Tâoist master), ii, 221.
Yin and Yang (the constituents of the primal ether, and its operation), i, 249, 291, 292, 297, 299, 349, 365, 369; ii, 61, 64, 84, 99, 132. See also ii, 146, 147, 195, 208, 216.
Ying (the capital of Khû), i, 347; ii, 101, 230.
Ying (a river), ii, 161.
Yo (the classic so called), ii, 216, 218.
Yo Î (a leading man in the kingdom in third cent. B.C.), i, 7.
Yo Khän (a descendant of Yo Î and pupil of Ho-shang Kung), i, 7.
Yû (name of Dze-1û), i, 339; ii, 160, 201.
Yû Khao Shih (the Nest-er sovereign), ii, 171.
Yû-lî (where king Wän was confined), ii, 173.
Yû Piâo Shih (ancient sovereign), i, 351.
Yû Shih (the master of the Right, who had lost a foot), i, 200.
Yû Tû (the dark capital, in the north), i, 295.
Yû Zü kih shan (a hill in Wû), ii, 102.
Yü (the Great), i, 181, 206, 210, 315, 359, 388; ii, 35, 173, 218, 220.
Yü Hwang-Tî, or Yü Hwang Shang Tî (great Tâoist deity), i, 43,44.
Yü khiang (the spirit of the northern regions), i, 245.
Yü Shih, Yû-yü, and Yü alone (names for Shun), i, 245; 259, 272, 370; ii, 50.
Yü Shû King (the Treatise so called), ii, 265-268.
Yü Zü (a fisherman), ii, 136, 137.
Yüan Hsien (disciple of Confucius), ii, 157.
Yüan Kün (a ruler of Sung), ii, 50, 101, 136, 137.
Yüeh (the state), i, 172, 173, 181, 224; ii, 93, 133, 151, 152, 169, 229.
Yüeh (a sheep-butcher of Khû), ii, 155, 156.
Yung (a king of Wei), ii, 118.
Yung-khäng Shih (a minister of Hwang-Tî), ii, 118.
Zäh-kung Shih (a teacher of Confucius's time), i, 260.
{p. 336}
THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
Zäh Kung King (the Treatise so called), ii, 269-272.
Zän (name of a region in the South; probably a district of Khû), ii, 133, 134. In ii, 32, the Zän in Thâi-kung Zän may indicate a different quarter, or the Zän there may be simply a name.
Zän-hsiang (a prehistoric sovereign), ii, 117.
Zän Khiû (disciple of Confucius), ii, 71, 72.
Zo (Spirit-lord of the Northern sea), i, 374, 375, 377, 378, 379, 382, 383, 384.
Zû and Zû-kê (Literati, = Confucianists), i, 182, 296, 360; ii, 73, 100.