Zhuangzi

HO TflE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvi. the great forests, the heights and hills, are pleasant to men, is because their spirits cannot overcome (those distracting influences). Virtue overflows into (the love of) fame ; (the love of) fame overflows into violence ; schemes originate in the urgency (of circumstances) ; (the show of) wisdom comes from rivalry; the fuel (of strife) is produced from the obstinate maintenance (of one's own views) ; the business of offices should be apportioned in accordance with the approval of all. In spring, when the rain and the sunshine come seasonably, vegetation grows luxuriantly, and sickles and hoes begin to be prepared. More than half of what had fallen down becomes straight, and we do not know how.

' Stillness and silence are helpful to those who are ill ; rubbing the corners of the eyes is helpful to the aged ; rest serves to calm agitation ; but they are the toiled and troubled who have recourse to these things. Those who are at ease, and have not had such experiences, do not care to ask about them. The spirit-like man has had no experience of how it is that the sagely man keeps the world in awe, and so he does not inquire about it; the sagely man has had no experience of how it is that the man of ability and virtue keeps his age in awe, and so he does not inquire about it ; the man of ability and virtue has had no experience of how it is that the superior man keeps his state in awe, and so he does not inquire about it. The superior man has had no experience of how it is that the small man keeps himself in agreement with his times that he should inquire about it.'

The keeper of the Yen Gate^ on the death of ^ The name of one of the gates in the wall of the capital of Suns:. PT. in. SECT. IV. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 141 his father, showed so much skill in emaciating his person ^ that he received the rank of * Pattern for Officers.' Half the people of his neighbourhood (in consequence) carried their emaciation to such a point that they died. When Yio wished to resign the throne to Hsli Yu, the latter ran away. When Thang offered his to WCl Kwang^, Wti Kwang became angry. When Ki Tha^ heard it, he led his disciples, and withdrew to the river Kho, where the feudal princes came and condoled with him, and after three years, Shan Th<i-tt^ threw himself into the water. Fishing-stakes^ are employed to catch fish ; but when the fish are got, the men forget the stakes. Snares are employed to catch hares, but when the hares are got, men forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas ; but when the ideas are apprehended, men forget the words. Fain would I talk with such a man who has forgot the words ! ^ The abstinences and privations in mourning were so many that there was a danger of their seriously injuring the health ; — which was forbidden. "^ See Bk. VI, par. 3 ; but in the note there, WA Kwang is said to have been of the time of Hwang-Ti ; which is probably an error. * See IV, par. 3 ; but I do not know who K\ Tha was, nor can I explain what is said of him here. * See again IV, par. 3. ' According to some, ' baskets.' This illustration is quoted in the Inscription on the Nestorian Monument, II, 7. 142 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvii.

Of my sentences nine in ten are metaphorical ; of my illustrations seven in ten are from valued writers. The rest of my words are like the water that daily fills the cup, tempered and harmonised by the Heavenly element in our nature 2. The nine sentences in ten which are metaphorical are borrowed from extraneous things to assist (the comprehension of) my argument. (When it is said, for instance), 'A father does not act the part of matchmaker for his own son,' (the meaning is that) * it is better for another man to praise the son than for his father to do so.' The use of such metaphorical language is not my fault, but the fault of men (who would not otherwise readily understand me). Men assent to views which agree with their own, and oppose those which do not so agree. Those which agree with their own they hold to be right, and those which do not so agree they hold to be wrong. The seven out of ten illustrations taken from valued writers are designed to put an end to disputations. Those writers are the men of hoary eld, my predecessors in time. But such as are un- ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 155, 156. ^ See Bk. II, par. 10. PT. III. SECT. V. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 43 versed in the warp and woof, the beginning and end of the subject, cannot be set down as of venerable eld, and regarded as the predecessors of others.

If men have not that in them which fits them to precede others, they are without the way proper to man, and they who are without the way proper to man can only be pronounced defunct monuments of antiquity. Words like the water that daily issues from the cup, and are harmonised by the Heavenly Element (of our nature), may be carried on into the region of the unlimited, and employed to the end of our years. But without words there is an agreement (in principle). That agreement is not effected by words, and an agreement in words is not effected by it. Hence it is said, * Let there be no words.' Speech does not need words. One may speak all his life, and not have spoken a (right) word ; and one may not have spoken all his life, and yet all his life been giving utterance to the (right) words. There is that which makes a thing allowable, and that which makes a thing not allowable. There is that which makes a thing right, and that which makes a thing not right. How is a thing right ? It is right because it is right. How is a thing wrong ? It is wrong because it is wrong. How is a thing allowable ? It is allowable because it is so. How is a thing not allowable ? It is not allowable because it is not so.

Things indeed have what makes them right, and what makes them allowable. There is nothing which has not its condition of right ; nothing which has not its condition of allowability. But without the words of the (water-) cup in daily use, and harmonised by the Heavenly Element (in our 144 THE. TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxvil. nature), what one can continue long in the possession of these characteristics ? All things are divided into their several classes, and succeed to one another in the same way, though of different bodily forms. They begin and end as in an unbroken ring, though how it is they do so be not apprehended. This is what is called the Lathe of Heaven ; and the Lathe of Heaven is the Heavenly Element in our nature.

A^wang-jze said to Hui-jze, 'When Confucius was in his sixtieth year, in that year his views changed \ What he had before held to be right, he now ended by holding to be wrong ; and he did not know whether the things which he now pronounced to be right were not those which he had for fifty-nine years held to be wrong.' Hui-jze replied, ' Confucius with an earnest will pursued the acquisition of knowledge, and acted accordingly.' A^wang-jze rejoined, * Confucius disowned such a course, and never said that it was his. He said, " Man receives his powers from the Great Source ^ (of his being), and he should restore them to their (original) intelligence in his life. His singing should be in accordance with the musical tubes, and his speech a model for imitation. When profit and righteousness are set before him, and his liking (for the latter) and dislike (of the * Compare this with the same language about Au Po-yu in Bk. XXV, par. 8. There is no proof to support our author's assertion that the views of Confucius underwent any change. * ' The Great Source (Root) ' here is generally explained by * the Grand Beginning.' It is not easy to say whether we are to understand an ideal condition of man designed from the first, or the condition of every man as he is born into the world. On the * powers ' received by man, see Mencius VI, i, 6, PT. III. SECT. V. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 45 former), his approval and disapproval, are manifested, that only serves to direct the speech of men (about him). To make men in heart submit, and not dare to stand up in opposition to him ; to establish the fixed law for all under heaven : — ah ! ah ! I have not attained to that." '

3^ng-jze twice took office, and on the two occasions his state of mind was different. He said, ' While my parents were alive I took office, and though my emolument was only three fu^ (of grain), my mind was happy. Afterwards when I took office, my emolument was three thousand /^ung^ ; but I could not share it with my parents, and my mind was sad,' The other disciples asked A'ung-ni, saying, * Such an one as Shan may be pronounced free from all entanglement : — is he to be blamed for feeling as he did ^ ? ' The reply was, ' But he was subject to entanglement*. If he had been free from it, could he have had that sadness ? He would have looked on his three fti and three thousand >^ung no more than on a heron or a mosquito passing before him.'

Yen Kkkng ^ze-yii said to Tung-kwo 3ze-Mi ^, ' When I (had begun to) hear your instructions, the first year, I continued a simple rustic ; the second ^ A ffi = ten tau and four shing, or sixty-four shing, the shing at present being rather less than an EngHsh pint. ^ A y^ung = sixty-four tau; but there are various accounts of its size. ^ This sentence is difficult to construe. * But Confucius could not count his love for his parents an entanglement. ® We must suppose this master to be the same as the Nan-kwo ^zt-m of Bk. II. L 146 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvii. year, I became docile ; the third year, I comprehended (your teaching) ; the fourth year, I was (plastic) as a thing ; the fifth year, I made advances ; the sixth year, the spirit entered (and dwelt in me) ; the seventh year, (my nature as designed by) Heaven was perfected ; the eighth year, I knew no difference between death and life ; the ninth year, I attained to the Great Mystery \ ' Life has its work to do, and death ensues, (as if) the common character of each were a thing prescribed. Men consider that their death has its cause ; but that life from (the operation of) the Yang has no cause. But is it really so ? How does (the Yang) operate in this direction ?

Why does it not operate there ? * Heaven has its places and spaces which can be calculated; (the divisions of) the earth can be assigned by men. But how shall we search for and find out (the conditions of the Great Mystery) ? We do not know when and how (life) will end, but how shall we conclude that it is not determined (from without) ? and as we do not know when and how it begins, how should we conclude that it is not (so) determined ? ' In regard to the issues of conduct which we deem appropriate, how should we conclude that there are no spirits presiding over them ; and where those issues seem inappropriate, how should we conclude that there are spirits presiding over them ? ' ' In illustration of the text here Lfi Shfi-/^ih refers to the use of Miao (i^), in the account of the term 'Spirit,' in the fifth Appendix to the Yi, par. 10, as meaning 'the subtle (presence and operation of God) with all things.' 3ze-yft's further exposition of his attainments is difficult to understand fully. PT. III. SECT. V. THE WRITINGS OF iTWANG-SZE. I47

The penumbrae (once) asked the shadow^, saying, * Formerly you were looking down, and now you are looking up ; formerly you had your hair tied up, and now it is dishevelled ; formerly you were sitting, and now you have risen up ; formerly you were walking, and now you have stopped : — how is all this ? ' The shadow said, ' Venerable Sirs, how do you ask me about such small matters ? These things all belong to me, but I do not know how they do so. I am (like) the shell of a cicada or the cast-off skin of a snake ^ ; — like them, and yet not like them. With light and the sun I make my appearance ; with darkness and the night I fade away. Am not I dependent on the substance from which I am thrown ? And that substance is itself dependent on something else ! When it comes, I come with it ; when it goes, I go with it. When it comes under the influence of the strong Yang, I come under the same. Since we are both produced by that strong Yang, what occasion is there for you to question me ? '

Yang ^ze-^ii ^ had gone South to Phei *, while L^o Tan was travelling in the west in K/i'm^. (He thereupon) asked (Lao-jze) to come to the border (of Phei), and went himself to Liang, where he met him. Lao-jze stood in the middle of the way, and, looking up to heaven, said with a sigh, ' At first I thought that you might be taught, but now I see that you cannot be.' Yang ^ze-M made no reply ; ^ Compare Bk. 11, par. 11. ^ Such is the reading of 3iao Hung. ' No doubt the Yang ^u of Lieh-jze and Mencius. * See in XIV, 26 b. ^ In the borders of Phei ; can hardly be the great State. 148 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvil. and when they came to their lodging-house, he brought in water for the master to wash his hands and rinse his mouth, along with a towel and comb. He then took off his shoes outside the door, went forward on his knees, and said, ' Formerly, your disciple wished to ask you, Master, (the reason of what you said) ; but you were walking, and there was no opportunity, and therefore I did not presume to speak. Now there is an opportunity, and I beg to ask why you spoke as you did.' Lao-jze replied, ' Your eyes are lofty, and you stare ; — who would live with you ?

The purest carries himself as if he were soiled ; the most virtuous seems to feel himself defective.' Yang ^ze-M looked abashed and changed countenance, saying, ' I receive your commands with reverence.' When he first went to the lodging-house, the people of it met him and went before him. The master of it carried his mat for him, and the mistress brought the towel and comb. The lodgers left their mats, and the cook his fire-place (as he passed them). When he went away, the others in the house would have striven with him about (the places for) their mats ^ ^ So had his arrogant superciliousness given place to humility. PT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF iTWANG-SZE. I49

Yao proposed to resign the throne to Hsii Y<i, who would not accept it. He then offered it to 3ze-^au Kih-fiX^, but he said, ' It is not unreasonable to propose that I should occupy the throne, but I happen to be suffering under a painful sorrow and illness. While I am engaged in dealing with it, I have not leisure to govern the kingdom.' Now the throne is the most important of all positions, and yet this man would not occupy it to the injury of his life ; how much less would he have allowed any other thing to do so ! But only he who does not care to rule the kingdom is fit to be entrusted with it. Shun proposed to resign the throne to ^ze-Mu A'ih-po ^, who declined in the very same terms as A'ih-fu had done. Now the kingdom is the greatest of all concerns, and yet this man would not give his life in exchange for the throne. This shows how they who possess the Tdo differ from common men. ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 156, 157. ^ We know nothing of this man but what is related here. He is, no doubt, a fictitious character. ^ih-fQ and -ff'ih-po are supposed to be the same individual. See Hwangfii Mi, I, 7. 150 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvili. Shun proposed to resign the throne to Shan A'lian ^, who said, ' I am a unit in the midst of space and time.

In winter I wear skins and furs ; in summer, grass-cloth and linen ; in spring I plough and sow, my strength being equal to the toil ; in autumn I gather in my harvest, and am prepared to cease from labour and eat. At sunrise I get up and work ; at sunset I rest. So do I enjoy myself between heaven and earth, and my mind is content : — why should I have anything to do with the throne ? Alas ! that you. Sir, do not know me better ! ' Thereupon he declined the proffer, and went away, deep among the hills, no man knew where. Shun proposed to resign the throne to his friend, a farmer of Shih-h{i ^. The farmer, however, said (to himself), ' How full of vigour does our lord show himself, and how exuberant is his strength ! If Shun with all his powers be not equal (to the task of government, how should I be so ?).' On this he took his wife on his back, led his son by the hand, and went away to the sea-coast, from which to the end of his life he did not come back. When Thai-wang Than-fu ^ was dwelling in Pin ^, the wild tribes of the North attacked him. He tried to serve them with skins and silks, but they were not satisfied. He tried to serve them with dogs and horses, but they were not satisfied, and then ^ Nor do we know more of Shan -ffiian, though Mt relates a visit of Yao to him.

2 Name of a place ; where it was is very uncertain. * An ancestor of the House of ^au, who about b.c. 1325 removed from Pin (in the present small department so called of Shen-hsi), and settled in the district of ^^i-shan, department of Fang-jhiang. He was the grandfather of king Wan. PT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF iTWANG-^ZE. I5I with pearls and jade, but they were not satisfied. What they sought was his territory. Thai-wang Than-fu said (to his people), ' To dwell with the elder brother and cause the younger brother to be killed, or with the father and cause the son to be killed, — this is what I cannot bear to do. Make an effort, my children, to remain here. What difference is there between being my subjects, or the subjects of those wild people ? And I have heard that a man does not use that which he employs for nourishing his people to injure them.' Thereupon he took his staff and switch and left, but the people followed him in an unbroken train, and he established a (new) state at the foot of mount Kh\ \ Thus Thai-wang Than-fii might be pronounced one who could give its (due) honour to life. Those who are able to do so, though they may be rich and noble, will not, for that which nourishes them, injure their persons ; and though they may be poor and mean, will not, for the sake of gain, involve their bodies (in danger).

The men of the present age who occupy high offices and are of honourable rank all lose these (advantages) again, and in the prospect of gain lightly expose their persons to ruin : — is it not a case of delusion } The people of Yueh three times in succession killed their ruler, and the prince Sau ", distressed by it, made his escape to the caves of Tan, so that Ylieh was left without a ruler. The people sought ^ See note 3, p. 150. * Sze-ma Kh\QXi takes up the history of Yiieh at a later period, and we have from him no details of this prince Sau. Tan-hsiieh was the name of a district in the south of Yiieh, in which was a valley with caves containing cinnabar; — the fabled home of the phoenix. 152 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxviii. for the prince, but could not find him, till (at last) they followed him to the cave of Tan. The prince was not willing to come out to them, but they smoked him out with moxa, and made him mount the royal chariot. As he took hold of the strap, and mounted the carriage, he looked up to heaven, and called out, ' O Ruler, O Ruler, could you not have spared me this ? ' Prince Sau did not dislike being ruler ; — he disliked the evil inseparable from being so. It may be said of him that he would not for the sake of a kingdom endanger his life ; and this indeed was the reason why the people of Yiieh wanted to get him for their ruler.

Han ^ and Wei ^ were contending about some territory which one of them had wrested from the other. 3ze-hwa 3ze ^ went to see the marquis A^'ao-hsi (of Han) ^, and, finding him looking sorrowful, said, ' Suppose now that all the states were to sign an agreement before you to the effect that "Whoever should with his left hand carry off (the territory in dispute) should lose his right hand, and whoever should do so with his right hand should lose his left hand, but that, nevertheless, he who should carry it off was sure to obtain the whole kingdom ;" would your lordship feel yourself able to carry it off?' The marquis said, ' I would not carry it off,' and 3ze-hwa rejoined, 'Very good. Looking at the thing from this point of view, your two arms are of more value to you than the whole kingdom. But ^ Two of the three states into which the great state of 3i^ was divided about the beginning of the fifth century b.c. ■•* A native, we may call him a philosopher, of Wei. ' Began his rule in b.c. 359. ?T. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. I 53 your body is of more value than your two arms, and Han is of much less value than the whole kingdom. The territory for which you are now contending is further much less important than Han : — your lordship, since you feel so much concern for your body, should not be endangering your life by indulging your sorrow.' The marquis iTao-hsi said, ' Good ! Many have given me their counsel about this matter; but I never heard what you have said.' 3ze-hwi ^ze may be said to have known well what was of great importance and what was of little.

The ruler of Lu, having heard that Yen Ho^ had attained to the Tao, sent a messenger, with a gift of silks, to prepare the way for further communication with him. Yen Ho was waitingf at the door of a mean house, in a dress of coarse hempen cloth, and himself feeding a cow^. When the messenger arrived. Yen Ho himself confronted him. ' Is this,' said the messenger, ' the house of Yen Ho ? ' * It is,' was the reply ; and the other was presenting the silks to him, when he said, ' I am afraid you heard (your instructions) wrongly, and that he who sent you will blame you. You had better make sure.' The messenger on this returned, and made sure that he was right ; but when he came back, and sought for Yen Ho, he was not to be found. Yes ; men like Yen Ho do of a truth dislike riches and honours. Hence it is said, ' The true ^ Perhaps the Yen Ho of IV, 5. ^ The same thing is often seen at the present day. The party in charge of the cow pours its prepared food down its throat from a joint of bamboo. object of the Tao is the regulation of the person. Quite subordinate to this is its use in the management of the state and the clan ; while the government of the kingdom is but the dust and refuse of it.' From this we may see that the services of the Tis and Kings are but a surplusage of the work of the sages, and do not contribute to complete the person or nourish the life.

Yet the superior men of the present age will, most of them, throw away their lives for the sake of their persons, in pursuing their (material) objects ; — is it not cause for grief? Whenever a sage is initiating any movement, he is sure to examine the motive which influences him, and what he is about to do. Here, however, is a man, who uses a pearl like that of the marquis of Sui ^ to shoot a bird at a distance of 10,000 feet. All men will laugh at him ; and why ? Because the thing which he uses is of great value, and what he wishes to get is of little. And is not life of more value than the pearl of the marquis of Sui ?

3ze ^ Lieh-^ze ^ was reduced to extreme poverty, and his person had a hungry look. A visitor mentioned the case to 3ze-yang, (the premier) of A'ang, saying, * Lieh Yii-khau, I believe, is a scholar who has attained to the Tao. Is it because our ruler does not love (such) scholars, that he should be living in his state in such poverty ? ' 3ze-yang immediately ordered an officer to send to him a supply of grain. ^ Sui was a small feudal state, a dependency of Wei. Its name remains in the Sui-^^au, Teh-an department, Hu-pei. The story is that one of its lords having healed a wounded snake, the creature one night brought him a large pearl in its mouth. ^ The phraseology is pecuHar. See Introductory Note on Bk. PT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF JSTWANG-SZE. 1 55 When Lieh-jze saw the messenger, he bowed to him twice, and declined the gift, on which the messenger went away. On Lieh-jze's going into the house, his wife looked to him and beat her breast, saying, * I have heard that the wife and children of a possessor of the Tao all enjoy plenty and ease, but now we look starved. The ruler has seen his error, and sent you a present of food, but you would not receive it ; — is it appointed (for us to suffer thus) ? ' ^ze Liehjze laughed and said to her, ' The ruler does not himself know me. Because of what some one said to him, he sent me the grain ; but if another speak (differently) of me to him, he may look on me as a criminal. This was why I did not receive the grain.' In the end it did come about, that the people, on an occasion of trouble and disorder, put ^ze-ya.ng to death.

When king A'ao of Kh^'^ lost his kingdom, the sheep-butcher Ytieh followed him in his flight. When the king (recovered) his kingdom and returned to it, and was going to reward those who had followed him, on coming to the sheep-butcher Yiieh, that personage said, * When our Great King lost his kingdom, I lost my sheep-killing. W^hen his majesty got back his kingdom, I also got back my sheepkilling. My income and rank have been recovered ; why speak further of rewarding me ? ' The king, (on hearing of this reply), said, ' Force him (to take the reward) ; ' but Yiieh said, ' It was not through any crime of mine that the king lost his kingdom, ^ B.C. 515-489. He was driven from his capital by an invasion of Wu, directed by Wft 3ze-hsu. 156 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxviil. and therefore I did not dare to submit to the death (which would have been mine if I had remained in the capital). And it was not through any service of mine that he recovered his kingdom, and therefore I do not dare to count myself worthy of any reward from him.' The king (now) asked that the butcher should be introduced to him, but Yiieh said, ' According to the law of Khil, great reward ought to be given to great service, and the recipient then be introduced to the king ; but now my wisdom was not sufficient to preserve the kingdom, nor my courage sufficient to die at the hands of the invaders.

When the army of Wtj. entered, I was afraid of the danger, and got out of the way of the thieves ; — it was not with a distinct purpose (of loyalty) that I followed the king. And now he wishes, in disregard of the law, and violations of the conditions of our social compact, to see me in court ; — this is not what I would like to be talked of through the kingdom.' The king said to ^z^-kk\, the Minister of War, ' The position of the sheep-butcher Yiieh is low and mean, but his setting forth of what is right is very high ; do you ask him for me to accept the place of one of my three most distinguished nobles \' (This being communicated to Yiieh), he said, ' I know that the place of such a distinguished noble is nobler than a sheep-butcher's stall, and that the salary of 10,000 kwng'is more than its profits. But how should I, through my greed of rank and emolument, bring on our ruler the name of an unlawful dispensation of his gifts ? I dare not ^ Literally, ' My three banners or flags,' emblems of the favour of the sovereign. PT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF ATWANG-SZE. 1 57 respond to your wishes, but desire to return to my stall as the sheep-butcher.' Accordingly he did not accept (the proffered reward).

Yiian Hsien^ was living in Lti. His house, whose walls were only a few paces round, looked as if it were thatched with a crop of growing grass ; its door of brushwood was incomplete, with branches of a mulberry tree for its side-posts ; the window of each of its two apartments was formed by an earthenware jar (in the wall), which was stuffed with some coarse serge. It leaked above, and was damp on the ground beneath ; but there he sat composedly, playing on his guitar. 3ze-kung, in an inner robe of purple and an outer one of pure white, riding in a carriage drawn by two large horses, the hood of which was too high to get into the lane (leading to the house), went to see him. Yiian Hsien, in a cap made of bark, and slippers without heels, and with a stalk of hellebore for a staff, met him at the door. ' Alas ! Master,' said 3ze-kung, ' that you should be in such distress ! ' Yiian Hsien answered him, ' I have heard that to have no money is to be poor, and that not to be able to carry one's learning into practice is to be distressed. I am poor but not in distress.' 3ze-kung shrank back, and looked ashamed, on which the other laughed and said, ' To act with a view to the world's (praise) ; to pretend to be publicspirited and yet be a partisan ;

to learn in order to please men ; to teach for the sake of one's own gain ; to conceal one's wickedness under the garb of ^ A disciple of Confucius, called also Yuan Sze; — see Confucian Analects VI, iii, 3. With the description of his house or hut, compare in the Li K% XXVIII, 10. 158 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxvill. benevolence and righteousness ; and to be fond of the show of chariots and horses : — these are things which Hsien cannot bear to do.' 3ang-5ze was residing in Wei. He wore a robe quihed with hemp, and had no outer garment ; his countenance looked rough and emaciated ; his hands and feet were horny and callous ; he would be three days without lighting a fire ; in ten years he did not have a new suit ; if he put his cap on straight, the strings would break ; if he drew tight the overlap of his robe, his elbow would be seen ; in putting on his shoes, the heels would burst them. Yet dragging his shoes along, he sang the * Sacrificial Odes of Shang ' with a voice that filled heaven and earth as if it came from a bell or a sounding stone. The Son of Heaven could not get him to be a minister; no feudal prince could get him for his friend. So it is that he who is nourishing his mind's aim forgets his body, and he who is nourishing his body discards all thoughts of gain, and he who is carrying out the Tao forgets his own mind.

Confucius said to Yen Hui, ' Come here, Hui. Your family is poor, and your position is low ; why should you not take office ?' Hui replied, * I have no wish to be in office. Outside the suburban district I possess fields to the extent of fifty acres, which are sufficient to supply me with congee ; and inside it I have ten acres, which are sufficient to supply me with silk and flax. I find my pleasure in playing on my lute, and your doctrines. Master, which I study, are sufficient for my enjoyment ; I do not wish to take office.' Confucius looked sad, changed countenance, and said, ' How good is the mind of Hui ! I have heard that he who is conPT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 59 tented will not entangle himself with the pursuit of gain, that he who is conscious of having gained (the truth) in himself is not afraid of losing other things, and that he who cultivates the path of inward rectification is not ashamed though he may have no official position. I have long been preaching this ; but to-day I see it realised in Hui : — this is what I have gained.'

Prince Mau^ of iTung-shan ^ spoke to A'an-jze^ saying, * My body has its place by the streams and near the sea, but my mind dwells at the court of Wei ; — what have you to say to me in the circumstances ? ' A^'an-jze replied, * Set the proper value on your life. When one sets the proper value on his life, gain seems to him unimportant.' The prince rejoined, ' I know that, but I am not able to overcome (my wishes).' The reply was, ' If you cannot master yourself (in the matter), follow (your inclinations so that) your spirit may not be dissatisfied. When you cannot master yourself, and try to force yourself where your spirit does not follow, this is what is called doing yourself a double injury ; and those who so injure themselves are not among the long-lived.' Mau of Wei was the son of a lord of ten thousand chariots. For him to live in retirement among crags and caves was more difficult than for a scholar who had not worn the dress of office. Although he ^ Prince Mau was a son of the marquis of Wei, and had been appointed to the appanage of ^ung-shan, — corresponding to part of the present Ting ^au in Pei ^ih-li. "^ A worthy officer or thinker of Wei. One is not sure that his advice was altogether good. l60 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvill. had not attained to the Tao, he maybe said to have had some idea of it.

When Confucius was reduced to extreme distress between Kltkn and 3hai, for seven days he had no cooked meat to eat, but only some soup of coarse vegetables without any rice in it. His countenance wore the appearance of great exhaustion, and yet he kept playing on his lute and singing inside the house. Yen Hui (was outside), selecting the vegetables, while 3ze-lu and 3ze-kung were talking together, and said to him, 'The Master has twice been driven from Lu ; he had to flee from Wei ; the tree (beneath which he rested) was cut down in Sung ; he was reduced to extreme distress in Shang and AT^au ; he is held in a state of siege here between Khkvi and 3hii ; any one who kills him will be held guiltless ; there is no prohibition against making him a prisoner. And yet he keeps playing and singing, thrumming his lute without ceasing. Can a superior man be without the feeling of shame to such an extent as this ? ' Yen Hui gave them no reply, but went in and told (their words) to Confucius, who pushed aside his lute, and said, ' Yti and 3hze are small men. Call them here, and I will explain the thing to them.' When they came in, 3ze-lu said, ' Your present condition may be called one of extreme distress.' Confucius replied, ' What words are these ! When the Superior man has free course with his principles, that is what we call his success ;

when such course is denied, that is what we call his failure. Now I hold in my embrace the principles of benevolence and righteousness, and with them meet the evils of a disordered age ; — where is the proof of my being PT. III. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. l6l in extreme distress? Therefore looking inwards and examining myself, I have no difficulties about my principles; though I encounter such difficulties (as the present), I do not lose my virtue. It is when winter's cold is come, and the hoar-frost and snow are falling, that we know the vegetative power of the pine and cypress. This strait between KkdiVi and 3hai is fortunate for me.' He then took back his lute so that it emitted a twanging sound, and began to play and sing. (At the same time) 3ze-l<i, hurriedly, seized a shield, and began to dance, while 3ze-kung said, ' I did not know (before) the height of heaven nor the depth of the earth.' The ancients who had got the Tao were happy when reduced to extremity, and happy when having free course. Their happiness was independent of both these conditions. The Tao and its characteristics ! — let them have these and distress and success come to them as cold and heat, as wind and rain in the natural order of things. Thus it was that Hsii Yta found pleasure on the north of the river Ying, and that the earl of Kung enjoyed himself on the top of mount (Kung) \

Shun proposed to resign the throne to his friend, the Northerner Wu->^ai ^, who said, * A strange man you are, O sovereign ! You (first) lived among the channeled fields, and then your ^ This takes us to the famous Kung-ho period (b.c. 842-828), but our author evidently follows the account of it found in the 'Bamboo Books;' — see the prolegomena to the Shu King, p. 154. "^ We found, in Book XXI (see vol. xxxix, p. 133), Wu-/cai as the name of Thien 3ze-fang. Here is the same name belonging to a much earlier man, ' a man of the north.' M l62 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXVlll. place was in the palace of Yao. And not only so : — you now further wish to extend to me the stain of your disgraceful doings. I am ashamed to see you.' And on this he threw himself into the abyss of A7^ing-lang\ When Thang was about to attack A'ieh, he took counsel with Pien Sui, who said, * It is no business of mine.' Thang then said, ' To whom should I apply?' And the other said, 'I do not know.' Thang then took counsel with Wu Kwang, who gave the same answer as Pien Sui ; and when asked to whom he should apply, said in the same way, ' I do not know.' ' Suppose,' Thang then said, ' I apply to 1 Yin, what do you say about him ?

' The reply was, * He has a wonderful power in doing what is disgraceful, and I know nothing more about him ! ' Thang thereupon took counsel with I Yin, attacked A!'ieh, and overcame him, after which he proposed to resign the throne to Pien Sui, who declined it, saying, ' When you were about to attack ATieh, and sought counsel from me, you must have supposed me to be prepared to be a robber. Now that you have conquered J^ieh, and propose to resign the throne to me, you must consider me to be greedy. I have been born in an age of disorder, and a man without principle twice comes, and tries to extend to me the stain of his disgraceful proceedings ! — I cannot bear to hear the repetition of his proposals.' With this he threw himself into the A"au ^ water and died. ^ At the foot of a hill in the present department of Nan-yang, Ho-nan. '^ The reading uncertain. PT. HI. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF i:WANG-3ZE. 1 63 Thang further made proffer of the throne to Wla Kwang^ saying, ' The wise man has planned it ; the martial man has carried it through ; and the benevolent man should occupy it : — this was the method of antiquity. Why should you, Sir, not take the position ? ' Wta Kwang refused the proffer, saying, 'To depose the sovereign is contrary to right ;

to kill the people is contrary to benevolence. When another has encountered the risks, if I should accept the gain of his adventure, I should violate my disinterestedness. I have heard it said, " If it be not right for him to do so, one should not accept the emolument ; in an age of unprincipled (government), one should not put foot on the soil (of the) country : " — how much less should I accept this position of honour ! I cannot bear to see you any longer.' And with this he took a stone on his back, and drowned himself in the Lii water ^.

Formerly, at the rise of the A^'au dynasty, there were two brothers who lived in Kil-kt^, and were named Po-i and Shti-z^/^i. They spoke together and said, *We have heard that in the west there is one who seems to rule according to the Right Way; let us go and see.' (Accordingly) they came to the south of (mount) KAi ; and when king W6 heard of them, he sent (his brother) Shta Tan to see them, and make a covenant with them, engaging that their wealth should be second (only to that of the king), and that their offices should be of the first rank. ^ Not elsewhere heard of, save in the same connexion. ■^ In the west of Liao-tung. * A small principality, in the present Lwan-Mu, department of Yung-phing ^ih-li. M 2 164 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxvin. and instructing him to bury the covenant with the blood of the victim after they had smeared the corners of their mouths with it ^. The brothers looked at each other and laughed, saying, *Ah! How strange ! This is not what we call the Right Way. Formerly, when Shan Nang had the kingdom, he offered his sacrifices at the proper seasons and with the utmost reverence, but without praying for any blessing. Towards men he was leal-hearted and sincere, doing his utmost in governing them, but without seeking anything for himself. When it was his pleasure to use administrative measures, he did so ;

and a sterner rule when he thought that would be better. He did not by the ruin of others establish his own power ; he did not exalt himself by bringing others low ; he did not, when the time was opportune, seek his own profit. But now ATau, seeing the disorder of Yin, has suddenly taken the government into its hands; with the high it has taken counsel, and with those below employed bribes ; it relies on its troops to maintain the terror of its might ; it makes covenants over victims to prove its good faith ; it vaunts its proceedings to please the masses ; it kills and attacks for the sake of gain : — this is simply overthrowing disorder and changing it for tyranny. We have heard that the officers of old, in an age of good government, did not shrink from their duties, and in an age of disorder did not recklessly seek to remain in office. Now the kingdom is in a state of darkness ; the virtue of Kkw is decayed. Than to join with it and ' According to the usual forms in which a covenant was made and established. The translation is free and diffuse. PT. in. SECT. VI. THE WRITINGS OF ^-WANG-SZE. 1 65 lay our persons in the dust, it is better for us to abandon it, and maintain the purity of our conduct.' The two princes then went north to the hill of Shiu-yang \ where they died of starvation.

If men such as they, in the matter of riches and honours, can manage to avoid them, (let them do so) ; but they must not depend on their lofty virtue to pursue any perverse course, only gratifying their own tendencies, and not doing service in their time : — this was the style of these two princes. ' In the present department of Phii-X-au. Shan-hsi. 1 66 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxix.

Confucius was on terms of friendship with Liu-hsia Ki ^, who had a brother named Tao K'lh.. This Tao A'ih had 9,000 followers, who marched at their will through the kingdom, assailing and oppressing the different princes. They dug through walls and broke into houses ; they drove away people's cattle and horses ; they carried off people's wives and daughters. In their greed to get, they forgot the claims of kinship, and paid no regard to their parents and brethren. They did not sacrifice to their ancestors. Wherever they passed through the country, in the larger states the people guarded their city walls, and in the smaller the people took to their strongholds. All were distressed by them. Confucius spoke to Liu-hsia Ki, saying, * Fathers should be able to lay down the law to their sons, ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 157, 158. ^ Better known as Liu-hsia Hui, under which designation he is mentioned both in the Confucian Analects and in Mencius, but it is an anachronism to say that Confucius was on terms of friendship with him. He was a scion of the distinguished family of ^an in Lfi, and was called ^an Hwo and ^an Khin. We find, in the 3o ^wan, a son of his employed in an important expedition in B.C. 634, so that he, probably, had passed away before Confucius was born in b.c. 551, and must certainly have deceased before the death of 3ze-lil (480), which is mentioned in the Book.

PT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. 1 67 and elder to instruct their younger brothers. If they are unable to do so, they do not fulfil the duties of the relationships which they sustain. You, Sir, are one of the most talented officers of the age, and your younger brother is this Robber A'ih. He is a pest in the kingdom, and you are not able to instruct him better ; I cannot but be ashamed of you, and I beg to go for you and give him counsel.' Liti-hsia Ki replied, ' You say. Sir, that fathers must be able to lay down the law to their sons, and elder to instruct their younger brothers, but if sons will not listen to the orders of their fathers, nor the younger receive the lessons of their elder brothers, though one may have your powers of persuasion, what is to be done ? And, moreover, A'ih is a man whose mind is like a gushing fountain, and his will like a whirlwind ; he is strong enough to resist all enemies, and clever enough to gloss over his wrong-doings. If you agree with him, he is glad ; if you oppose him, he is enraged ; and he readily meets men with • the language of abuse. You must not go to him.' Confucius, however, did not attend to this advice. With Yen Hui as his charioteer, and 3ze-kung seated on the right, he went to see Tao ^ih, whom he found with his followers halted on the south of Thai-shan, and mincing men's livers, which he gave them to eat.

Confucius alighted from his carriage, and went forward, till he saw the usher, to whom he said, ' I, Khung A'^iu of Lta, have heard of the general's lofty righteousness,' bowing twice respectfully to the man as he said so. The usher went in and announced the visitor. But when Tao A'ih heard of the arrival, he flew into a great 1 68 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIX. rage ; his eyes became like blazing stars, and his hair rose up and touched his cap. ' Is not this fellow,' said he, ' Khung K/iiii, that artful hypocrite of Lu ? Tell him from me, "You invent speeches and babble away, appealing without ground to (the examples of) Wan and W<i. The ornaments on your cap are as many as the branches of a tree, and your girdle is (a piece of skin) from the ribs of a dead ox. The more you talk, the more nonsense you utter. You get your food without (the labour of) ploughing, and your clothes without (that of) weaving. You wag your lips and make your tongue a drum-stick. You arbitrarily decide what is right and what is wrong, thereby leading astray the princes throughout the kingdom, and making its learned scholars not occupy their thoughts with their proper business. You recklessly set up your filial piety and fraternal duty, and curry favour with the feudal princes, the wealthy and the noble. Your offence is great ;

your crime is very heavy. Take yourself off home at once. If you do not do so, I will take your liver, and add it to the provision for to-day's food." ' But Confucius sent in another message, saying, ' I enjoy the good will of (your brother) K\, and I wish and hope to tread the ground beneath your tent^' When the usher had communicated this message, Tao A"ih said, ' Make him come forward.' On this Confucius hastened forwards. Declining to take a mat, he drew hastily back, and bowed twice to Tio K\\\, who in a great rage stretched ' That is, I wish to have an interview with you, to see and speak to you face to face. PT. Ill, SECT. vil. THE WRITINGS OF X-WANG-3ZE. 169 his legs apart, laid his hand on his sword, and with glaring eyes and a voice like the growl of a nursing tigress, said, 'Come forwards, Khm. If what you say be in accordance with my mind, you shall live ; but, if it be contrary to it, you shall die.' Confucius replied, ' I have heard that everj^where under the sky there are three (most excellent) qualities. To be naturally tall and large, to be elegant and handsome without a peer, so that young and old, noble and mean, are pleased to look upon him ; — this is the highest of those qualities. To comprehend both heaven and earth in his wisdom, and to be able to speak eloquently on all subjects ;

— this is the middle one of them. To be brave and courageous, resolute and daring, gathering the multitudes round him, and leading on his troops ; — this is the lowest of them. Whoever possesses one of these qualities is fit LO stand with his face to the south ^, and style himself a Prince. But you. General, unite in yourself all the three. Your person is eight cubits and two inches in height ; there is a brightness about your face and a light in your eyes ; your lips look as if stained with vermilion ; your teeth are like rows of precious shells; your voice is attuned to the musical tubes, and yet you are named " The Robber KihJ' I am ashamed of you, General, and cannot approve of you. If you are inclined to listen to me, I should like to go as your commissioner to Wu and Yiieh in the south ; to Khi and Lu in the north ; to Sung and Wei in the east ; and to 3in and Khu in the west. I will get them to build for you a great city several hundred li in size, to ^ To take the position of a ruler in his court. lyo THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk.xxix. establish under it towns containing several hundred thousands of inhabitants, and honour you there as a feudal lord. The kingdom will see you begin your career afresh ;

you will cease from your wars and disband your soldiers ; you will collect and nourish your brethren, and along with them offer the sacrifices to your ancestors ^ : — this will be a course befitting a sage and an officer of ability, and will fulfil the wishes of the whole kingdom.' ' Come forward, KIi\\il said Tao A"ih, greatly enraged. ' Those who can be persuaded by considerations of gain, and to whom remonstrances may be addressed with success, are all ignorant, low, and ordinary people. That I am tall and large, elegant and handsome, so that all who see me are pleased with me ; — this is an effect of the body left me by my parents. Though you were not to praise me for it, do I not know it myself ? And I have heard that he who likes to praise men to their face will also like to speak ill of them behind their back. And when you tell me of a great wall and a multitudinous people, this is to try to persuade me by considerations of gain, and to cocker me as one of the ordinary people. But how could such advantages last for long ? Of all great cities there is none so great as the whole kingdom, which was possessed by Yao and Shun, while their descendants (now) have not so much territory as would admit an awl^. Thang and Wta were both set up as the Sons of Heaven, but in after ages (their posterity) were cut ^ It is said near the beginning that A'ih and his followers had ceased to offer such sacrifices ;

— they had no religion. ^ The descendants of those worthies were greatly reduced ; but they still had a name and a place. PT. in.SECT.VlI. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. I7I off and extinguished ; — was not this because the gain of their position was so great a prize ^ ? * And moreover I have heard that anciently birds and beasts were numerous, and men were few, so that they lived in nests in order to avoid the animals. In the daytime they gathered acorns and chestnuts, and in the night they roosted on the trees ; and on account of this they are called the people of the Nest-builder. Anciently the people did not know the use of clothes. In summer they collected great stores of faggots, and in winter kept themselves warm by means of them ; and on account of this they are called the people who knew how to take care of their lives. In the age of Shan Nang, the people lay down in simple innocence, and rose up in quiet security. They knew their mothers, but did not know their fathers. They dwelt along with the elks and deer. They ploughed and ate ; they wove and made clothes ; they had no idea of injuring one another : — this was the grand time of Perfect virtue ^. Hwang-Ti, however, was not able to perpetuate this virtuous state. He fought with AT^ih-yti ^ in the wild of Ko-\\)l * till the blood flowed over a hundred li.

When Yao and Shun arose, they instituted their crowd of ministers. Thang banished his lord. King Wu killed Kau. Since that time the strong have oppressed the weak, and the many tyrannised over the few. From Thang and Wu downwards, (the ^ See noie 2, p. 170. ^ Compare the description of this primeval time in Book X, par. 4. ^ Commonly spoken of as ' the first rebel.' See Mayers's Manual, p. 36. * Perhaps in the present PSo-an Kiu, department of Hsiian-hwa, ^ih-lt. 172 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK XXIX. rulers) have all been promoters of disorder and confusion. You yourself now cultivate and inculcate the ways of Wan and Wd ; you handle whatever subjects are anywhere discussed for the instruction of future ages. With your peculiar robe and narrow girdle, with your deceitful speech and hypocritical conduct, you delude the lords of the different states, and are seeking for riches and honours. There is no greater robber than you are ; — why does not all the world call you the Robber A"-^iu, instead of styling me the Robber A'ih ? ' You prevailed by your sweet speeches on 3ze-lu, and made him your follower ; you made him put away his high cap, lay aside his long sword, and receive your instructions, so that all the world said, " Khung KMij is able to arrest violence and repress the wrong-doer ;" but in the end, when 5ze-lil wished to slay the ruler of Wei, and the affair proved unsuccessful, his body was exhibited in pickle over the eastern gate of the capital ;

— so did your teaching of him come to nothing. ' Do you call yourself a scholar of talent, a sage ? Why, you were twice driven out of Lu ; you had to run away from Wei ; you were reduced to extremity in J^/ii ; you were held in a state of siege between ^Oan and 3hai ; there is no resting-place for your person in the kingdom ; your instructions brought 3ze-l<i to pickle. Such have been the misfortunes (attending your course). You have done no good either for yourself or for others ; — how can your doctrines be worth being thought much of ? ' There is no one whom the world exalts so much as it does Hwang-Ti, and still he was not able to perfect his virtue, but fought in the wilderness of FT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-SZE. 1 73 A'o-lu, till the blood flowed over a hundred li. Yao was not kind to his son^ Shun was not filial^. Yli was paralysed on one side^ Thang banished his sovereign. King Wu smote A'au. King Wan was imprisoned in Yu-li *. These are the six men of whom the world thinks the most highly, yet when we accurately consider their history, we see that for the sake of gain they all disallowed their true (nature), and did violence to its proper qualities and tendencies : — their conduct cannot be thought of but with deep shame.

' Among those whom the world calls men of ability and virtue were (the brothers) Po-I and Shukh\. They declined the rule of Ku-/i^ti, and died of starvation on the hill of Shau-yang, leaving their bones and flesh unburied. Pao 3ia-0 vaunted his conduct, and condemned the world, but he died with his arms round a tree^ When Shan-thli Ti's remonstrances were not listened to, he fastened a stone on his back, and threw himself into the Ho, where he was eaten by the fishes and turtles^. ATieh 3ze-thui was the most devoted (of followers), and cut a piece from his thigh as food for duke Wan. But when the duke afterwards overlooked him (in ^ Referring to his setting aside his unworthy son, Tan - ('u, and giving the throne to Shun. ^ See in Mencius, V, i, i. 3, 4. ' This, I think, is the meaning; the fact was highly honourable to Yii, and brought on by his devotion to his labours. * In the present district of Thang-yin, department -Oang-teh, Ho-nan. There king Wan pursued his labours on the Yt King. ® A recluse of the time of Confucius, according to Han Ying (I, art. 27). After a dispute with 3ze-kung, he committed suicide in the way described. ® See art. 26, in the same Book of Han Ying. 174 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxix. his distribution of favours), he was angry, and went away, and was burned to death with a tree in his arrns^ Wei Shang had made an appointment with a girl to meet him under a bridge ;

but when she did not come, and the water rose around him, he would not go away, and died with his arms round one of the pillars ^ (The deaths of) these four men were not different from those of the dog that is torn in pieces, the pig that is borne away by a current, or the beggar (drowned in a ditch) with his alms-gourd in his hand. They were all caught as in a net by their (desire for) fame, not caring to nourish their life to its end, as they were bound to do. 'Among those whom the world calls faithful ministers there have been none like the prince Plkan and Wti 3ze-hsu. But 3ze-hsu's (dead) body was cast into the K'mng, and the heart of Pi-kan was cut out. These two were what the world calls loyal ministers, but the end has been that everybody laughs at them. Looking at all the above cases, down to those of 3ze-hsu and Pi-kan, there is not one worthy to be honoured ; and as to the admonitions which you, KJi\^, wish to impress on me, if you tell me about the state of the dead, I am unable to know anything about it ; if you tell me about the things of men (alive), they are only such as I have stated, what I have heard and know all about. I will now tell you, Sir, my views about the condition of man.

The eyes wish to look on beauty ; the ears to hear music ; the mouth to enjoy flavours ; the will to be gratified. The greatest longevity man ^ See Mayers's Manual, p. 80. ^ Supposed to be the same with the Wei-shang Kao, mentioned in Analects, V, 23 ; — see Mayers's Manual, p. 251. PT. in. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF ^-WANG-SZE. 1 75 can reach is a hundred years ; a medium longevity is eighty years ; the lowest longevity is sixty. Take away sickness, pining, bereavement, mourning, anxieties, and calamities, the times when, in any of these, one can open his mouth and laugh, are only four or five days in a month. Heaven and earth have no limit of duration, but the death of man has its (appointed) time. Take the longest amount of a limited time, and compare it with what is unlimited, its brief existence is not different from the passing of a crevice by one of king Mu's horses ^. Those who cannot gratify their will and natural aims, and nourish their appointed longevity, are all unacquainted with the (right) Way (of life). I cast from me, KhiiX, all that you say. Be quick and go. Hurry back and say not a word more. Your Way is only a wild recklessness, deceitful, artful, vain, and hypocritical. It is not available to complete the true (nature of man) ; it is not worth talking about !

' Confucius bowed twice, and hurried away. He went out at the door, and mounted his carriage. Thrice he missed the reins as he tried to take hold of them. His eyes were dazed, and he could not see ; and his colour was that of slaked lime. He laid hold of the cross-bar, holding his head down, and unable to draw his breath. When he got back, outside the east gate of (the capital of) Lu, he encountered Lita-hsia Ki, who said to him, ' Here you are, right in the gate. For some days I have not seen you. Your carriage and horses are travelstained ; — have you not been to see Tao K\h ? ' Con- ^ King Mfl had eight famous horses, each having its own name. The name of only one — ^>^ih->^i — is given here. See Bk. XVII, par. 5. 176 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM, BK. XXIX. fucius looked up to heaven, sighed, and said, 'Yes.' The other went on, ' And did he not set himself in opposition to all your views, as I said he would do ?' * He did. My case has been that of the man who cauterised himself without being ill. I rushed away, stroked the tiger's head, played with his whiskers, and narrowly escaped his mouth.'

3ze-/§ang^ asked Man Kau-teh^, saying, * Why do you not pursue a (righteous) course ? Without such a course you will not be believed in ; unless you are believed in, you will not be employed in office ; and if not employed in office, you will not acquire gain. Thus, if you look at the matter from the point of reputation, or estimate it from the point of gain, a righteous course is truly the right thing. If you discard the thought of reputation and gain, yet M'^hen you think over the thing in your own mind, you will see that the scholar should not be a single day without pursuing a (righteous) course.' Man Kau-teh said, ' He who has no shame becomes rich, and he in whom many believe becomes illustrious. Thus the greatest fame and gain would seem to spring from being without shame and being believed in. Therefore if you look at the matter from the point of reputation, or estimate it from the point of gain, to be believed in is the right thing. If you discard the thought of fame and gain, and think over the thing in your own mind, you will see that the scholar in the course which he pursues is (simply) holding fast his Heavenly (nature, and gaining nothing).' ^ We are told (Analects, II, 1 8) that 3ze-/4ang ' studied with a view to official emolument.' This is, probably, the reason why he appears as interlocutor in this paragraph.

^ A fictitious name, meaning, ' Full of gain recklessly got.* 5ze-iang said, ' Formerly A'ieh and Ka.u each enjoyed the honour of being the sovereign, and all the wealth of the kingdom was his ; but if you now say to a (mere) money-grabber, '* Your conduct is like that of iTieh or TTau," he will look ashamed, and resent the imputation : — (these two sovereigns) are despised by the smallest men. A'ung-ni and Mo Ti (on the other hand) were poor, and common men ; but if you say to a Prime Minister that his conduct is like that of iTung-ni or Mo Ti, then he will be put out and change countenance, and protest that he is not worthy (to be so spoken of) : — (these two philosophers) are held to be truly noble by (all) scholars. Thus it is that the position of sovereign does not necessarily connect with being thought noble, nor the condition of being poor and of common rank with being thought mean. The difference of being thought noble or mean arises from the conduct being good or bad.' Man Kau-teh replied, ' Small robbers are put in prison ; a great robber becomes a feudal lord ; and in the gate of the feudal lord your righteous scholars will be found. For instance, Hsiao-po \ the duke Hwan, killed his elder brother, and took his sister-in-law to himself, and yet Kwan A'ung became his minister ;

and Thien ICAang, styled A'/^ang-jze, killed his ruler, and usurped the state ^, and yet Confucius received a present of silks from him. In their discussions they would condemn the men, but ^ The name of duke Hwan. ^ Compare the account of the same transaction in Book X, par. I. See also Analects, XIV, 22. But there is no evidence but rather the contrary, that Confucius ever received a gift from Thien or ^y^an Hang. N 1 78 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIX. in their conduct they abased themselves before them. In this way their words and actions must have been at war together in their breasts ; — was it not a contradiction and perversity? As it is said in a book, " Who is bad ? and who is good ? The successful is regarded as the Head, and the unsuccessful as the Tail." ' 3ze-/^ang said, ' If you do not follow the usual course of what is held to be right, but observe no distinction between the near and remote degrees of kin, no difference between the noble and the mean, no order between the old and the young, then how shall a separation be made of the fivefold arrangement (of the virtues), and the six parties (in the social organisation) ? ' Man Kiu-teh replied, ' Yao killed his eldest son, and Shun banished his half-brother^ : — did they observe the rules about the different degrees of kin ?

Thang deposed Aleh ; king Wu overthrew A'au : — did they observe the righteousness that should obtain between the noble and the mean ? King Ki took the place of his elder brother 2, and the duke of K^w killed his ^ : — did they observe the order that should obtain between the elder and the younger ? The Literati make hypocritical speeches ; the followers of Mo hold that all should be loved equally: — do we find in them the separation of the fivefold arrangement (of the ' Exaggerations or misrepresentations. ^ King K\ was the so-called king K\-\% the father of king Wan. His elder brother, that the state of ^au might descend to him, left it, and withdrew south to what was then the wild region of Wft. See Analects, VIII, i ; the Shih King, III, i, Ode 7. 3, 4. ^ Who had joined with Wu-kang, son of the tyrant of Yin, in rebellion, thus threatening the stability of the new dynasty of ^au. FT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF ^-WANG-SZE. 1 79 virtues) \ and the six parties (in the social organisation) ^ ? And further, you, Sir, are all for reputation, and I am all for gain ; but where the actual search for reputation and gain may not be in accordance with principle and will not bear to be examined in the light of the right way, let me and you refer the matter to-morrow^ to the decision of Wu-yo^' (This Wu-yo) said, ' The small man pursues after wealth ;

the superior man pursues after reputation. The way in which they change their feelings and alter their nature is different ; but if they were to cast away what they do, and replace it with doing nothing, they would be the same. Hence it is said, " Do not be a small man ; — return and pursue after the Heavenly in you. Do not be a superior man ; — follow the rule of the Heavenly in you. Be it crooked, be it straight, view the thing in the light of Heaven as revealed in you. Look all round on every side of it, and as the time indicates, cease your endeavours. Be it right, be it wrong, hold fast the ring in yourself in which all conditions converge. Alone by yourself, carry out your idea ; ponder over the right way. Do not turn your course ; do not try to complete your righteousness. You will fail in what you do. Do not haste to be rich ; do not follow after your perfection. If you do, you will lose the heavenly in you." ^ Probably what are called * the five constant virtues/ "^ The parties in the ' Three Bonds of Society,' or Three Cardinal Objects of Duty. ' So M sh(i-M ( g = ^ g ). * If we take W{i-yo as a name, which is the simplest construction, we must still recognise its meaning as denoting ' one who is unbound by the conventionalities of opinion.' Much of what he is made to say is in rhyme, and might also be so translated.

N 2 l8o THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIX. ' Pi-kan had his heart cut out ; 5ze-hsu had his eyes gouged out : — such were the evil consequences of their loyalty. The upright person ^ bore witness against his father ; Wei Shang was drowned : — such were the misfortunes of good faith. Pao-^ze stood till he was dried up ; Shan-jze would not defend himself^: — such were the injuries brought on by disinterestedness. Confucius did not see his mother ^ ; Khwang-jze'* did not see his father: — such were the failures of the righteous. These are instances handed down from former ages, and talked about in these later times. They show us how superior men, in their determination to be correct in their words and resolute in their conduct, paid the penalty of these misfortunes, and were involved in these distresses.'

Mr. Dissatisfied ^ asked Mr. Know-the-Mean ^ saying, 'There is no man after all who does not strive for reputation and pursue after gain. When men are rich, then others go to them. Going to them, they put themselves beneath them. In that position they do honour to them as nobler than themselves. But to ^ See the Analects, XIII, 18. ^ The reading of the name here is not certain. The best identification perhaps is with Shan Shang f m ^^i the eldest son of duke Hsien of Q'm, who was put to death on a false charge of having put poison into his father's food, from which he would not defend himself. ^ A false charge. * The Khwang ^ang of Mencius, IV, ii, 30, q.v. ^ Both of these names are fictitious. About the meaning of the first, there can be no difference of opinion. I have given that of the second according to my understanding of it, — see in the Li ^1, Book XXVIII, section I. PT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF iTWANG-SZE. l8l see others taking that position and doing honour to us is the way to prolong life, and to secure the rest of the body and the satisfaction of the mind. You alone, Sir, however, have no idea of this. Is it that your knowledge is deficient? Is it that you have the knowledge, but want the strength to carry it into practice .-* Or is it that your mind is made up to do what you consider right, and never allow yourself to forget it.'*' Know-the-Mean replied, 'Here now is this man judging of us, his contemporaries, and living in the same neighbourhood as himself, that we consider ourselves scholars who have abjured all vulgar ways and risen above the world.

He is entirely without the thought of submitting to the rule of what is right. He therefore studies ancient times and the present, and the differing questions about the right and wrong, and agrees with the vulgar ideas and influences of the age, abandoning what is most important and discarding what is most honourable, in order to be free to act as he does. But is he not wide of the mark when he thinks that this is the way to promote long life, and to secure the rest of the body and the satisfaction of the mind ? He has his painful afflictions and his quiet repose, but he does not inquire how his body is so variously affected ; he has his apprehensive terrors, and his happy joys, but he does not inquire how his mind has such different experiences. He knows how to pursue his course, but he does not know why he does so. Even if he had the dignity of the Son of Heaven, and all the wealth of the kingdom were his, he would not be beyond the reach of misfortunes and evils.' Dissatisfied rejoined, ' But riches are in every way advantageous to man. l82 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. xxix. With them his attainment of the beautiful and mastery of every art become what the perfect man cannot obtain nor the sagely man reach to ; his appropriation of the bravery and strength of others enables him to exercise a powerful sway ;

his availing himself of the wisdom and plans of others makes him be accounted intelligent and discriminating ; his taking advantage of the virtues of others makes him be esteemed able and good. Though he may not be the holder of a state, he is looked to with awe as a ruler and father. Moreover, music, beauty, with the pleasures of the taste and of power, are appreciated by men's minds and rejoiced in without any previous learning of them ; the body reposes in them without waiting for the example of others. Desire and dislike, avoidance and pursuit, do not require any master; — this is the nature of man. Though the world may condemn one's indulgence of them, who can refrain from it ? ' Know-the-Mean replied, ' The action of the wise is directed for the good of the people, but they do not go against the (proper) rule and degree. Therefore when they have enough, they do not strive (for more) ; they have no further object, and so they do not seek for one. When they have not enough, they will seek for it ; they will strive for it in every quarter, and yet not think of themselves as greedy. If they have (already) a superfluity, they will decline (any more) ; they will decline the throne, and yet not think of themselves as disinterested : — the conditions of disinterestedness and greediness are (with them) not from the constraint of anything external.

Through their exercise of introspection, their power may be that of the sovereign, but they will not in PT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE. 1 83 their nobility be arrogant to others ; their wealth may be that of the whole kingdom, but they will not in their possession of it make a mock of others. They estimate the evils to which they are exposed, and are anxious about the reverses which they may experience. They think how their possessions may be injurious to their nature, and therefore they will decline and not accept them ; — but not because they seek for reputation and praise. ' Yao and Shun were the sovereigns, and harmony prevailed. It did so, not because of their benevolence towards the people ; — they would not, for what was (deemed) admirable, injure their lives. Shan A'iian and Hsii Ytj might have been the sovereigns, but they would not receive the throne ; — not that they declined it without purpose, but they would not by its occupancy injure themselves. These all followed after what was advantageous to them, and declined what was injurious, and all the world celebrates their superiority. Thus, though they enjoy the distinction, they did what they did, not for the sake of the reputation and praise.' Dissatisfied (continued his argument), saying, ' In thus thinking it necessary for their reputation, they bitterly distressed their bodies, denied themselves what was pleasant, and restricted themselves to a bare sustenance in order to sustain their life;

but so they had life-long distress, and long-continued pressure till their death arrived.' Know-the-Mean replied, * Tranquil ease is happiness ; a superfluity is injurious : — so it is with all things, and especially it is so, where the superfluity is of wealth. The ears of the rich are provided with the music of bells, drums, flageolets and flutes ; and their mouths are 184 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXIX. Stuffed with the flesh of fed beasts and with wine of the richest flavour ; so are their desires satisfied, till they forget their proper business : — theirs may be pronounced a condition of disorder. Sunk deeply in their self-sufficiency, they resemble individuals ascending a height with a heavy burden on their backs : — their condition may be pronounced one of bitter suffering. They covet riches, thinking to derive comfort from them ; they covet power, and would fain monopolise it; when quiet and retired, they are drowned in luxurious indulgence ; their persons seem to shine, and they are full of boasting : — they may be said to be in a state of disease. In their desire to be rich and striving for gain, they fill their stores, and, deaf to all admonition, refuse to desist from their course. They are even more elated, and hold on their way : — their conduct may be pronounced disgraceful. When their, wealth is amassed till they cannot use it, they clasp it to their breasts and will not part with it ;

when their hearts are distressed with their very fulness, they still seek for more and will not desist : — their condition may be said to be sad. In-doors they are apprehensive of pilfering and begging thieves, and out-of-doors they are afraid of being injured by plundering robbers ; in-doors they have many chambers and partitions, and out-of-doors they do not dare to go alone : — they may be said to be in a state of (constant) alarm. ' These six conditions are the most deplorable in the world, but they forget them all, and have lost their faculty of judgment. When the evil comes, though they begged it with all the powers of their nature, and by the sacrifice of all their wealth, they could PT. III. SECT. VII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 185 not bring back one day of untroubled peace. When they look for their reputation, it is not to be seen ; when they seek for their wealth, it is not to be got. To task their thoughts, and destroy their bodies, striving for (such an end as) this ; — is it not a case of great delusion .'* ' 1 86 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxx.

Part III. Section VIII. Yiieh A'ien, or * Delight in the Sword-fight \' Formerly, king Wan of AJ'ao^ delighted in the sword-fight. More than three thousand men, masters of the weapon, appeared as his guests, lining the way on either side of his gate, and fighting together before him day and night. Over a hundred of them would die or be (severely) wounded in the course of a year, but he was never weary of looking on (at their engagements), so fond was he of them. The thing continued for three years, when the kingdom began to decay, and other states to plan measures against it. The crown-prince Khwei^ was distressed, and laid the case before his attendants, saying, ' If any one can persuade the king, and put an end to these swordsmen, I will give him a thousand ounces of ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 158, 159. ^ Probably king Hui-wan (b. c. 298-265) of A'ao, one of the states into which the great state of 3in was subdivided, and which afterwards all claimed the sovereignty of the kingdom. In this Book ^wang-jze appears as a contemporary of king Wan, which makes the ' formerly ' with which the paragraph commences seem strange. ^ Sze-ma ^>^ien says nothing of king Wan's love of the swordfight, nor of this son Khwei. He says that in 265 Wan was succeeded by his son Tan {-p}'). who appears to have been quite young.

PT. III. SECT. VIII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. I 87 silver.' His attendants said, ' (Only) Awang-jze is able to do this.' Thereupon the prince sent men with a thousand ounces of silver to offer to A!wangjze, who, however, would not accept them, but went with the messengers. When he saw the prince, he said, * O prince, what have you to say to Kkw, and why would you give me the silver?' The prince replied, * I have heard that you, master, are sagacious and sage. I sent you respectfully the thousand ounces of silver, as a prelude to the silks and other gifts \ But as you decline to receive them, how dare I now tell you (what I wished from you) ?' isfwang-jze rejoined, ' I have heard, O prince, that what you wanted me for was to wean the king from what is his delight. Suppose that in trying to persuade his Majesty I should offend him, and not fulfil your expectation, I shall be punished with death ; — and could I then enjoy this silver ? Or suppose that I shall succeed in persuading his Majesty, and accomplish what you desire, what is there in the kingdom of A'ao that I might ask for which I would not get ?' The crown-prince said, * Yes ; but my (father), the king, will see none but swordsmen.' Awang-jze replied, * I know ; but I am expert in the use of the sword.' ' That is well,' observed the prince ;

* but the swordsmen whom his Majesty sees all have their hair in a tangle, with whiskers projecting out. They wear slouching caps with coarse and unornamented tassels, and their coats are cut short behind. They have staring eyes, and talk about the hazards of ^ This, I think, is the meaning. It may possibly mean * for presents to your followers in attendance on you.' 156 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXX. their game. The king is delighted with all this; but now you are sure to present yourself to him in your scholar's dress, and this will stand greatly in the way of your success.' A!wang-^ze said, ' I will then, with your leave, get me a swordsman's dress.' This was ready in three days, and when he appeared in it before the prince, the latter went with him to introduce him to the king, who then drew his sword from its scabbard and waited for him. When A'wang-jze entered the door of the hall, he did not hurry forward, nor, when he saw the king, did he bow. The king asked him, ' What do you want to teach me. Sir, that you have got the prince to mention you beforehand?' The reply was, * I have heard that your Majesty is fond of the sword-fight, and therefore I have sought an interview with you on the ground of (my skill in the use of) the sword.' ' What can you do with your sword against an opponent ?

' ' Let me meet with an opponent every ten paces, my sword would deal with him, so that I should not be stopped in a march of a thousand li.' The king was delighted with him, and said, * You have not your match in the kingdom.' A'wang-jze replied, ' A good swordsman first makes a feint (against his opponent), then seems to give him an advantage, and finally gives his thrust, reaching him before he can return the blow. I should like to have an opportunity to show you my skill.' The king said, * Stop (for a little), Master. Go to your lodging, and wait for my orders. I will make arrangements for the play, and then call you.' The king accordingly made trial of his swordsmen for seven days, till more than sixty of them were FT. III. SECT. VIII. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 189 killed, or (severely) wounded. He then selected five or six men, and made them bring their swords and take their places beneath the hall, after which he called ICwang-^ze, and said to him, ' To-day I am going to make (you and) these men show what you can do with your swords.' * I have long been looking for the opportunity,' replied A'wang-jze. The king then asked him what would be the length of the sword which he would use ; and he said, ' Any length will suit me, but I have three swords, any one of which I will use, as may please your Majesty.

Let me first tell you of them, and then go to the arena.' ' I should like to hear about the three swords,' said the king ; and TTwang-jze went on, 'There is the sword of the Son of Heaven; the sword of a feudal prince ; and the sword of a common man.' ' What about the sword of the Son of Heaven ? ' *This sword has Yen-/^/?!^ and Shih-z^^ang^ for its point ; KM and (Mount) Tai ^ for its edge ; 3in and Wei for Its back ; A^au and Sung for its hilt ; Han and Wei for its sheath. It is embraced by the wild tribes all around ; it is wrapped up in the four seasons ; it is bound round by the Sea of Po * ; and its girdle is the enduring hills. It is regulated by the five elements ; its wielding is by means of Punishments and Kindness ; its unsheathing is like that of ^ Some noted place in the state of Yen, the capital of which was near the site of the present Peking. ^ A wall, north of Yen, built as a barrier of defence against the northern tribes. 3 Mount Thai. * A region lying along the present gulf of ^h-li, between the Pei-ho and the ^^^ing-ho in Shan-tung. I90 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. bk. xxx. the Yin and Yang ; it is held fast in the spring and summer ;

it is put in action in the autumn and winter. When it is thrust forward, there is nothing in front of it; when Hfted up, there is nothing above it; when laid down, there is nothing below it ; when wheeled round, there is nothing left on any side of it ; above, it cleaves the floating clouds ; and below, it penetrates to every division of the earth. Let this sword be once used, and the princes are all reformed, and the whole kingdom submits. This is the sword of the Son of Heaven \' King Wan looked lost in amazement, and said again, 'And what about the sword of a feudal lord ?' (A'wang-jze) replied, * This sword has wise and brave officers for its point ; pure and disinterested officers for its edge ; able and honourable officers for its back ; loyal and sage officers for its hilt ; valiant and eminent officers for its sheath. When this sword is thrust directly forward, as in the former case, there is nothing in front of it ; when directed upwards, there is nothing above it ; when laid down, there is nothing below it ; when wheeled round, there is nothing on any side of it. Above, its law is taken from the round heaven, and is in accordance with the three luminaries ; below, its law is taken from the square earth, and is in accordance with the four seasons ;

between, it is in harmony with the minds of the people, and in all the parts of the state there is peace. Let this sword be once used, and you seem to hear the crash of the thunder-peal. Within * By this sword A'wang-^ze evidently means the power of the sovereign, supported by the strength of the kingdom, and directed by good government. PT. III. SECT. VIII. THE WRITINGS OF J^WANG-3ZE. I9I the four borders there are none who do not respectfully submit, and obey the orders of the ruler. This is the sword of the feudal lord.' * And what about the sword of the common man ?' asked the king (once more). (Afwang-jze) replied, ' The sword of the common man (is wielded by) those who have their hair in a tangle, with whiskers projecting out ; who wear slouching caps with coarse and unornamented tassels, and have their coats cut short behind ; who have staring eyes, and talk (o^ly) about the hazards (of their game). They hit at one another before you. Above, the sword slashes through the neck ; and below, it scoops out the liver and lungs. This is the sword of the common man. (The users of it) are not different from fighting cocks ; any morning their lives are brought to an end ; they are of no use in the affairs of the state. Your Majesty occupies the seat of the Son of Heaven, and that you should be so fond of the swordsmanship of such common men, is unworthy, as I venture to think, of your Majesty.' On this the king drew iTwang-jze with him, and went up to the top of the hall, where the cook set forth a meal, which the king walked round three times (unable to sit down to it).

A^wang-jze said to him, * Sit down quietly, Great King, and calm yourself. I have said all I wished to say about swords.' King Wan, thereafter, did not quit the palace for three months, and the swordsmen all killed themselves in their own rooms \ ^ ^wang-jze's parables had had theirintended effect. It was not in his mind to do anything for the swordsmen. The commentators say: — 'Indignant at not being treated as they had been before, they all killed themselves.' 192 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.

Part III. Section IX. Yli-fu, or ' The Old Fisherman \' Confucius, rambling in the forest of 5ze-wei^ stopped and sat down by the Apricot altar. The disciples began to read their books, while he proceeded to play on his lute, singing as he did so. He had not half finished his ditty when an old fisherman stepped ^ See vol. xxxix, p. 159. ^ A forest or grove in the neighbourhood of the capital of L(l. 3ze-wei means ' black silken curtains ;' and I do not know why the forest was so denominated. That I have correctly determined its position, however, may be inferred from a quotation in the Khang-hsi dictionary under the character than (=' altar') to the effect that ' Confucius, leaving (the capital of) Lft by the eastern gate, on passing the old apricot altar, said, " This is the altar reared by 3^^"^ Wan->^ung to solemnise covenants." ' Dr. Morrison under the same than defines the second phrase — hsing than — as ' The place where Confucius taught,' which Dr. Williams, under hsing, has amphfied into ' The place where Confucius had his school.' But the text does not justify so definite a conclusion. The picture which the Book raises before my mind is that of a forest, with a row or clump of apricot trees, along which was a terrace, having on it the altar of Q^ng Wan-y('ung, and with a lake or at least a stream near to it, to which the ground sloped down.

Here the writer introduces us to the sage and some of his disciples, on one occasion, when they were attracted from their books and music by the appearance of the old fisherman. I visited in 1873, not far from the Confucian cemetery, a ruined building called ' the College of J^H-Sze,' which was pointed out as the site of the School of Confucius. The place would suit all the demands of the situation in this Book. PT. III. SECT. IX. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-3ZE. 1 93 down from his boat, and came towards them. His beard and eyebrows were turning white ; his hair was all uncombed ; and his sleeves hung idly down. He walked thus up from the bank, till he got to the dry ground, when he stopped, and, with his left hand holding one of his knees, and the right hand at his chin, listened. When the ditty was finished, he beckoned to 3ze-kung and 3ze-lu, who both responded and went to him. Pointing to Confucius, he said, ' Who is he ? ' ^ze-lii replied, ' He is the Superior Man of LO.' ' And of what family is he ? ' ' He is of the Khung family.' ' And what is the occupation of this Mr. Khung?' To this question 3ze-lti gave no reply, but 3ze-kung replied, ' This scion of the Khung family devotes himself in his own nature to leal-heartedness and sincerity;

in his conduct he manifests benevolence and righteousness ; he cultivates the ornaments of ceremonies and music ; he pays special attention to the relationships of society ; above, he would promote loyalty to the hereditary lords ; below, he seeks the transformation of all classes of the people ; his object being to benefit the kingdom : — this is what Mr. Khung devotes himself to.' The stranger further asked, 'Is he a ruler possessed of territory ? ' * No,' was 3ze-kung's reply. * Is he the assistant of any prince or king ? ' ' No ; ' and on this the other began to laugh and to retrace his steps, saying as he went, ' Yes, benevolence is benevolence ! But I am afraid he will not escape (the evils incident to humanity). By embittering his mind and toiling his body, he is imperilHng his true (nature) ! Alas ! how far removed is he from the proper way (of life) ! ' o 194 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXI. 5ze-kung returned, and reported (what the man had said) to Confucius, who pushed his lute aside, and arose, saying, ' Is he not a sage ? ' and down the slope he went in search of him. When he reached the edge of the lake, there was the fisherman with his pole, dragging the boat towards him. Turning round and seeing Confucius, he came back towards him and stood up.

Confucius then drew back, bowed to him twice, and went forward. ' What do you want with me, Sir ? ' asked the stranger. The reply was, 'A little while ago, my Master, you broke off the thread of your remarks and went away. Inferior to you, I do not know what you wished to say, and have ventured here to wait for your instructions, fortunate if I may but hear the sound of your words to complete the assistance that you can give me ! ' * Ah ! ' responded the stranger, * how great is your love of learning ! ' Confucius bowed twice, and then rose up, and said, * Since I was young, I have cultivated learning till I am now sixty-nine years old ; but I have not had an opportunity of hearing the perfect teaching ; — dare I but listen to you with a humble and unprejudiced mind ? ' The stranger replied, ' Like seeks to like, and (birds) of the same note respond to one another ; — this is a rule of Heaven. Allow me to explain what I am in possession of, and to pass over (from its standpoint) to the things which occupy you. What you occupy yourself with are the affairs of men. When the sovereign, the feudal lords, the great officers, and the common people, these four classes, do what is correct (in their several positions), we have the beauty of good order ;

and when they leave their proper duties, there ensues the greatest PT. III. SECT. IX. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. I95 disorder. When the officials attend to their duties, and the common people are anxiously concerned about their business, there is no encroachment on one another's rights. ' Fields running to waste ; leaking rooms ; insufficiency of food and clothing ; taxes unprovided for ; want of harmony among wives and concubines ; and want of order between old and young ; — these are the troubles of the common people. ' Incompetency for their charges ; inattention to their official business ; want of probity in conduct ; carelessness and idleness in subordinates ; failure of merit and excellence ; and uncertainty of rank and emolument : — these are the troubles of great officers. ' No loyal ministers at their courts ; the clans in their states rebellious ; want of skill in their mechanics ; articles of tribute of bad quality ; late appearances at court in spring and autumn ; and the dissatisfaction of the sovereign : — these are the troubles of the feudal lords. 'Want of harmony between the Yin and Yang ; unseasonableness of cold and heat, affecting all things injuriously; oppression and disorder among the feudal princes, their presuming to plunder and attack one another, to the injury of the people ; ceremonies and music ill-regulated ; the resources for expenditure exhausted or deficient ;

the social relationships uncared for ; and the people abandoned to licentious disorder : — these are the troubles of the Son of Heaven and his ministers. ' Now, Sir, you have not the high rank of a ruler, a feudal lord, or a minister of the royal court, nor are you in the inferior position of a great minister, with his departments of business, and yet you take o 2 196 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXI. it on you to regulate ceremonies and music, and to give special attention to the relationships of society, with a view to transform the various classes of the people : — is it not an excessive multiplication of your business ? 'And moreover men are liable to eight defects, and (the conduct of) affairs to four evils ; of which we must by all means take account. * To take the management of affairs which do not concern him is called monopolising. To bring forward a subject which no one regards is called loquacity. To lead men on by speeches made to please them is called sycophancy. To praise men without regard to right or wrong is called flattery. To be fond of speaking of men's wickedness is called calumny. To part friends and separate relatives is called mischievousness. To praise a man deceitfully, or in the same way fix on him the character of being bad, is called depravity. Without reference to their being good or bad, to agree with men with double face, in order to steal a knowledge of what they wish, is called being dangerous.

Those eight defects produce disorder among other men and injury to one's self. A superior man will not make a friend of one who has them, nor will an intelligent ruler make him his minister. * To speak of what I called the four evils : — To be fond of conducting great affairs, changing and altering what is of long-standing, to obtain for one's self the reputation of meritorious service, is called ambition; to claim all wisdom and intrude into affairs, encroaching on the work of others, and representing it as one's own, is called greediness ; to see his errors without changing them, and to go on PT. III. SECT. IX. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 1 97 more resolutely in his own way when remonstrated with, is called obstinacy; when another agrees with himself, to approve of him, and, however good he may be, when he disagrees, to disapprove of him, is called boastful conceit. These are the four evils. When one can put away the eight defects, and allow no course to the four evils, he begins to be capable of being taught.' Confucius looked sorrowful and sighed. (Again) he bowed twice, and then rose up and said, ' I was twice driven from Lu. I had to flee from Wei ; the tree under which I rested was cut down in Sung ; I was kept in a state of siege between Kh2^\ and 3hai. I do not know what errors I had committed that I came to be misrepresented on these four occasions (and suffered as I did).' The stranger looked grieved (at these words), changed countenance, and said, ' Very difficult it is, Sir, to make you understand.

There was a man who was friofhtened at his shadow and disliked to see his footsteps, so that he ran to escape from them. But the more frequently he lifted his feet, the more numerous his footprints were ; and however fast he ran, his shadow did not leave him. He thought he was going too slow, and ran on with all his speed without stopping, till his strength was exhausted and he died. He did not know that, if he had stayed in a shady place, his shadow would have disappeared, and that if he had remained still, he would have lost his footprints : — his stupidity was excessive ! And you. Sir, exercise your judgment on the questions about benevolence and righteousness ; you investigate the points where agreement and difference touch ; you look at the changes from 1 98 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXI. movement to rest and from rest to movement ; you have mastered the rules of receiving and giving ; you have defined the feeHngs of Hking and disliking ; you have harmonised the limits of joy and anger: — and yet you have hardly been able to escape (the troubles of which you speak). If you earnestly cultivated your own person, and carefully guarded your (proper) truth, simply rendering to others what was due to them, then you would have escaped such entanglements. But now, when you do not cultivate your own person, and make the cultivation of others your object, are you not occupying yourself with what is external ?

' Confucius with an air of sadness said, ' Allow me to ask what it is that you call my proper Truth.' The stranger replied, ' A man's proper Truth is pure sincerity in its highest degree ; — without this pure sincerity one cannot move others. Hence if one (only) forces himself to wail, however sadly he may do so, it is not (real) sorrow ; if he forces himself to be angry, however he may seem to be severe, he excites no awe ; if he forces himself to show affection, however he may smile, he awakens no harmonious reciprocation. True grief, without a sound, is yet sorrowful ; true anger, without any demonstration, yet awakens awe ; true affection, without a smile, yet produces a harmonious reciprocation. Given this truth within, it exercises a spiritual efficacy without, and this is why we count it so valuable. In our relations with others, it appears according to the requirements of each case : — in the service of parents, as gentle, filial duty ; in the service of rulers, as loyalty and integrity ; in festive drinking, as pleasant enjoyment; in the performance PT. III. SECT. IX. THE WRITINGS OF A'WANG-SZE. 1 99 of the mourning rites, as sadness and sorrow. In loyalty and integrity, good service is the principal thing ; in festive drinking, the enjoyment ; in the mourning rites, the sorrow ; in the service of parents, the giving them pleasure.

The beauty of the service rendered (to a ruler) does not require that it always be performed in one way ; the service of parents so as to give them pleasure takes no account of how it is done ; the festive drinking which ministers enjoyment does not depend on the appliances for it ; the observance of the mourning rites with the proper sorrow asks no questions about the rites themselves. Rites are prescribed for the practice of the common people; man's proper Truth is what he has received from Heaven, operating spontaneously, and unchangeable. Therefore the sages take their law from Heaven, and prize their (proper) Truth, without submitting to the restrictions of custom. The stupid do the reverse of this. They are unable to take their law from Heaven, and are influenced by other men ; they do not know how to prize the proper Truth (of their nature), but are under the dominion of ordinary things, and change according to the customs (around them) : — always, consequently, incomplete. Alas for you. Sir, that you were early steeped in the hypocrisies of men, and have been so late in hearing about the Great Way ! ' (Once more), Confucius bowed twice (to the fisherman), then rose again, and said, ' That I have met you to-day is as if I had the happiness of getting to heaven. If you, Master, are not ashamed, but will let me be as your servant, and continue to teach me, let me venture to ask where your dwelling is.

I will 200 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXI. then beg to receive your instructions there, and finish my learning of the Great Way.' The stranger replied, ' I have heard the saying, " If it be one with whom you can walk together, go with him to the subtlest mysteries of the Tao. If it be one with whom you cannot walk together and he do not know the T^o, take care that you do not associate with him, and you will yourself incur no responsibility." Do your utmost. Sir. I must leave you, — I must leave you ! ' With this he shoved off his boat, and went away among the green reeds. Yen Yiian (now) returned to the carriage, where 3ze-lu handed to him the strap ; but Confucius did not look round, (continuing where he was), till the wavelets were stilled, and he did not hear the sound of the pole, when at last he ventured to (return and) take his seat. 3ze-lu, by his side in the carriage, asked him, saying, ' I have been your servant for a long time, but I have never seen you, Master, treat another with the awe and reverence which you have now shown. I have seen you in the presence of a Lord of ten thousand chariots or a Ruler of a thousand, and they have never received you in a different audience-room, or treated you but with the courtesies due to an equal, while you have still carried yourself with a reserved and haughty air ;

but to-day this old fisherman has stood erect in front of you with his pole in his hand, while you, bent from your loins in the form of a sounding-stone, would bow twice before you answered him ; — was not your reverence of him excessive ? Your disciples will all think it strange in you. Master. Why did the old fisherman receive such homage from you ?' Confucius leant forward on the cross-bar of the PT. III. SECT. IX. THE WRITINGS OF X-WANG-3ZE. 20I carriage, heaved a sigh, and said, * Difficult indeed is it to change you, O Yu ! You have been trained in propriety and righteousness for long, and yet your servile and mean heart has not been taken from you. Come nearer, that I may speak fully to you. If you meet one older than yourself, and do not show him respect, you fail in propriety. If you see a man of superior wisdom and goodness, and do not honour him, you want the great characteristic of humanity. If that (fisherman) did not possess it in the highest degree, how could he make others submit to him ? And if their submission to him be not sincere, they do not attain to the truth (of their nature), and inflict a lasting injury on their persons. Alas ! there is no greater calamity to man than the want of this characteristic ; and you, O Yu, you alone, would take such want on yourself.

'Moreover, the Tao is the course by which all things should proceed. For things to fail in this is death ; to observe it, is life. To oppose it in practice is ruin ; to conform it, is success. Therefore wherever the sagely man finds the T^o, he honours it. And that old fisherman to-day might be said to possess it; — dared I presume not to show him reverence ?' 202 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXII.

Lieh Yu-khau had started to go to Khi, but came back when he was half-way to it. He met Po-hwan Wu-^an^, who said, 'Why have you come back ?' His reply was, ' I was frightened.' * What frightened you ? ' '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)^' ' But what was there in that to frighten you ?' (Lieh-jze) said, ' Though the inward and true purpose be not set forth, the body like a spy gives some bright display of it. And this outward demonstration overawes men's minds, and makes men on light grounds treat one as noble or as aged, from which evil to him will be produced. Now vendors of soup supply their commodity simply as a matter of business, and however much they may dispose of, their profit is but little, ^ See vol. xxxix, pp. 160-162. ^ The same teacher, no doubt, who is mentioned in II, par. 2, and XXI, par. 2, though the Wft in Wft-^an is here ^p, and there ^. ^ Like the tea and congee shanties, I suppose, which a traveller in China finds still on the road-side. * The meaning is not plain. There must have been something in the respect and generosity of the attendants which made Liehjze feel that his manner was inconsistent with his profession of Taoism.

PT. III. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 203 and their power is but slight ; and yet they treated me as I have said : — how much more would the lord of ten thousand chariots do so ! His body burdened with (the cares of his) kingdom, and his knowledge overtasked by its affairs, he would entrust those affairs to me, and exact from me the successful conduct (of its government). It was this which frightened me.' Po-hwan \\fu-2a.n replied, ' Admirable perspicacity ! But if you carry yourself as you do, men will flock to you for protection.' Not long after, Po-hwan Wu - 2an went (to visit Lieh-^ze), and found the space outside his door full of shoes \ There he stood with his face to the north, holding his staff upright, and leaning his chin on it till the skin was wrinkled. After standing so for some time, and without saying a word, he was going away, when the door-keeper ^ went in, and told Lieh-jze. The latter (immediately) took up his shoes, and ran barefoot after the visitor. When he overtook him at the (outer) gate, he said, ' Since you. Sir, have come, are you going away without giving me some medicine ^ ? ' The other replied, 'It is of no use. I did tell you that men would flock to you, and they do indeed do so. It is not that you can cause men to flock to you, but you cannot keep them from not so coming ;

— of what use is (all my warning) ? What influences them and makes them glad is the display of your extraordinary (qualities) ; but you must also be influ- ^ See the Li Xi (vol. xxvii, pp. 70, 71). It is still the custom in Japan for visitors to leave their shoes outside, in order not to soil the mats. ^ Whose business it was to receive and announce the guests. ^ Good advice. 204 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXII. enced in your turn, and your proper nature be shaken, and no warning can be addressed to you. Those who associate with you do not admonish you of this. The small words which they speak are poison to a man. You perceive it not ; you understand it not ; — how can you separate yourself from them ? ' The clever toil on, and the wise are sad. Those who are without ability seek for nothing. They eat to the full, and wander idly about. They drift like a vessel loosed from its moorings, and aimlessly wander about ^'

A man of A'ang, called Hwan, learned ^ his books in the neighbourhood of iOiu-shih^, and in no longer time than three years became a Confucian scholar, benefiting the three classes of his kindred* as the Ho extends its enriching influence for nine It. He made his younger brother study (the principles of) Mo'^ and then they two — the scholar and the Mohist — disputed together (about their respective systems), and the father took the side of the younger*'. After ten years Hwan killed himself. (By and by) he appeared to his father in a dream, saying, ' It was I who made your son become a ^ Was this then Wd-^an's idea of how the Taoist should carry himself ? From ' those who associate with you ' W(i-san's address might be rhymed, "^ Read them aloud, and so committed them to memory; — as Chinese schoolboys do still. ^ The name of a place, or, perhaps, of Hwan's schoolmaster. * Probably, the kindred of his father, mother, and wife ; — through his getting office as a scholar. ^ Or Mih Ti; — Mencius's heresiarch. * Literally, ' of Ti,' as if that had been the name of the younger brother, as it was that of the heresiarch. PT. III. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF S:WANG-3ZE. 205 Mohist ; why did you not recognise that good service^ ? I am become (but) the fruit of a cypress in autumn^.' But the Creator^, in apportioning the awards of men, does not recompense them for their own doings, but recompenses them for the (use of the) Heavenly in them.

It was thus that Hwan's brother was led to learn Mohism. When this Hwan thought that it was he who had made his brother different from what he would have been, and proceeded to despise his father, he was like the people oi KM, who, while they drank from a well, tried to keep one another from it. Hence it is said, ' Nowa-days all men are Hwans*.' From this we perceive that those who possess the characteristics (of the Tao) consider that they do not know them ; how much more is it so with those who possess the Tao itself ! The ancients called such (as Hwan) ' men who had escaped the punishment of Heaven.'

The sagely man rests in what is his proper rest ; he does not rest in what is not so ; — the multitude of men rest in what is not their proper rest ; they do not rest in their proper rest ^.

Afwang-jze said, 'To know the Tao is easy; not to say (that you know it) is difficult. To know it and not to speak of it is the way to attain to the ^ The character for this in the text \^) is explained as meaning ' a grave,' with special reference to this passage, in the Khang-hsi dictionary, ^ The idea of a grave is suggested by the ' cypress,' and we need not try to find it in ^^. * The creator was, in ^wang-jze's mind, the Tao. * Arrogating to themselves what was the work of the Tao. ^ The best editions make this sentence a paragraph by itself. 206 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXII. Heavenly ; to know and to speak of it, Is the way to show the Human. The ancients pursued the Heavenly (belonging to them), and not the Human.'

K^ Phing-man ^ learned how to slaughter the dragon ^ from Alh-li Yi, expending (in doing so) all his wealth of a thousand ounces of silver. In three years he became perfect in the art, but he never exercised his skill.

The sage looks on what is deemed necessary as unnecessary, and therefore is not at war^ (in himself). The mass of men deem what is unnecessary to be necessary, and therefore they are often at war (in themselves). Therefore those who pursue this method of (internal) war, resort to it in whatever they seek for. But reliance on such war leads to ruin.

The wisdom of the small man does not go beyond (the minutiae of) making presents and writing memoranda, wearying his spirits out in what is trivial and mean. But at the same time he wishes to aid in guiding to (the secret of) the Tao and of (all) things in the incorporeity of the Grand Unity. In this way he goes all astray in regard to (the mysteries of) space and time. The fetters of embodied matter keep him from the knowledge of the Grand Beginning. (On the other hand), the perfect man directs the energy of his spirit to what was before the Beginning, and finds pleasure in the mysteriousness ^ These are names fashioned by our author. "^ ' Slaughtering the dragon' means 'learning the Tao,' by expending or putting away all doing and knowledge, till one comes to the perfect state of knowing the Tao and not speaking of it, ^ Being ' at war ' here is not the conflict of arms, but of joy, anger, and desire in one's breast. See 3i^o Hung in loc. PT. III. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF ZWANG-3ZE. 207 belonging to the region of nothingness. He is like the water which flows on without the obstruction of matter, and expands into the Grand Purity. Alas for what you do, (O men) ! You occupy yourselves with things trivial as a hair, and remain ignorant of the Grand Rest !

There was a man of Sung, called 5^ao Shang, who was sent by the king of Sung on a mission to K/im. On setting out, he had several carriages with him ; and the king (of Khm) was so pleased with him that he gave him another hundred. When he returned to Sung, he saw A'wang-jze, and said to him, ' To live in a narrow lane of a poor mean hamlet, wearing sandals amid distress of poverty, with a weazen neck and yellow face^ ; — that is what I should find it difficult to do. But as soon as I come to an understanding with the Lord of a myriad carriages, to find myself with a retinue of a hundred carriages, — that is wherein I excel.' A'wang-jze replied, ' When the king of AVzan is ill, the doctor whom he calls to open an ulcer or squeeze a boil receives a carriage ; and he who licks his piles receives five. The lower the service, the more are the carriages given. Did you. Sir, lick his piles ? How else should you have got so many carriages ? Begone ! '

Duke Ai of Lu asked Yen Ho, saying, ' If I employ A'ung-ni as the support of my government, will the evils of the state be thereby cured ? ' The ^ The character for ' face ' generally means ' ears ; ' but the Khang-hst dictionary, with special reference to this paragraph, explains it by ' face.' — The whole paragraph is smart and bitter, but Lin Hsi-/^ung thinks it too coarse to be from jff"wang-jze's pencil. 208 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXII. reply was, ' (Such a measure) would be perilous ! It would be full of hazard ! A'ung-ni, moreover, will try to ornament a feather and paint it ; in the conduct of affairs he uses flowery speeches. A (mere) branch is to him more admirable (than the root) ; he can bear to misrepresent their nature in instructing the people, and is not conscious of the unreality of his words. He receives (his inspiration) from his own mind, and rules his course from his own spirit : — what fitness has he to be set over the people ? Is such a man suitable for you (as your minister) ? Could you give to him the nourishment (of the people) ? You would do so by mistake (but not on purpose, for a time, but not as a permanency). To make the people leave what is real, and learn what is hypocritical — that is not the proper thing to be shown to them ;

if you take thought for future ages, your better plan will be to give up (the idea of employing Confucius). What makes government difficult, is the dealing with men without forgetting yourself; this is not according to the example of Heaven in diffusing its benefits. Merchants and traffickers are not to be ranked (with administrative officers) ; if on an occasion you so rank them, the spirits (of the people) do not acquiesce in your doing so. The instruments of external punishment are made of metal and wood; those of internal punishment are agitation (of the mind) and (the sense of) transgression. When small men become subject to the external punishment, the (instruments of) metal and wood deal with them; when they become liable to the internal punishments, the Yin and Yang^ con- ^ Comparetheuseof 'the Yin and the Yang 'in XXIII, par. 8. — Yen Ho does not flatter Confucius in his description of him. PT. III. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF XWANG-3ZE. 2O9 sume them. It is only the true man who can escape both from the external and internal punishment.'

Confucius said, 'The minds of men are more difficult of approach than (the position defended by) mountains and rivers, and more difficult to know than Heaven itself. Heaven has its periods of spring and autumn, of winter and summer, and of morning and evening ; but man's exterior is thickly veiled, and his feelings lie deep. Thus the demeanour of some is honest-like, and yet they go to excess (in what is mean) ; others are really gifted, and yet look to be without ability ; some seem docile and impressible, but yet they have far-reaching schemes ; others look jfirm, and yet may be twisted about ; others look slow, and yet they are hasty. In this way those who hasten to do what is right as if they were thirsty will anon hurry away from it as if it were fire. Hence the superior man looks at them when employed at a distance to test their fidelity, and when employed near at hand to test their reverence. By employing them on difficult services, he tests their ability ; by questioning them suddenly, he tests their knowledge ; by appointing them a fixed time, he tests their good faith ; by entrusting them with wealth, he tests their benevolence ; by telling them of danger, he tests their self-command in emergencies ; by making them drunk, he tests their tendencies^; by placing them in a variety of society, he tests their chastity:

— by these nine tests the inferior man is discovered.' 1 1. When Khao-fii, the Correct 2, received the first ^ Is this equivalent to the adage 'In vino Veritas ?' '^ A famous ancestor of Confucius in the eighth century b. c, P 2IO THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK.XXXil. grade of official rank, he walked with head bowed down ; on receiving the second, with bent back ; on receiving the third, with body stooping, he ran and hurried along the wall : — who would presume not to take him as a model ? But one of those ordinarymen, on receiving his first appointment, goes along with a haughty stride ; on receiving his second, he looks quite elated in his chariot ; and on receiving the third, he calls his uncles by their personal names ; — how very different from Hsti (Yta) in the time (of Yao of) Thang ! Of all things that injure (men) there is none greater than the practising of virtue with the purpose of the mind, till the mind becomes supercilious. When it becomes so, the mind (only) looks inwards (on itself), and such looking into itself leads to its ruin. This evil quality has five forms, and the chief of them is that which is the central. What do we mean by the central quality ? It is that which appears in a man's loving (only) his own views, and reviling whatever he does not do (himself).

Limiting (men's advance), there are eight extreme conditions; securing (that advance), there are three things necessary; and the person has its six repositories. Elegance ; a (fine) beard ; tallness ; size ; strength ; beauty ; bravery ; daring ; and in all these excelling others : — (these are the eight extreme conditions) by which advance is limited. Depending on and copying others ; stooping in order to rise ; and being straitened by the fear of not equalling others: — before the Khung family fled from Sung. See the account of him, with some verbal alterations, in the Qo ^-^wan, under the seventh year of duke Alo. these are the three things that lead to advancing. Knowledge seeking to reach to all that is external ; bold movement producing many resentments ; benevolence and righteousness leading to many requisitions ; understanding the phenomena of life in an extraordinary degree ; understanding all knowledge so as to possess an approach to it ; understanding the great condition appointed for him, and following it, and the smaller conditions, and meeting them as they occur : — (these are the six repositories of the person) \

There was a man who, having had an interview with the king of Sung, and been presented by him with ten carriages, showed them boastfully to AT^wang-jze, as if the latter had been a boy. iTwangjze said to him, * Near the Ho there was a poor man who supported his family by weaving rushes (to form screens). His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said, " Bring a stone, and break it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine ^>^ung deep^, and under the chin of the Black Dragon. That you were able to get it must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences to you will not be small ! " Now the kingdom of Sung is deeper than any pool of nine ^/lung, and its king is fiercer than the Black Dragon. That you were able to get the ^ These eight words are supplied to complete the structure of the paragraph ; but I cannot well say what they mean, nor in what way the predicates in the six clauses that precede can be called ' the stores, or repositories of the body or person.' '^ = in a pool deeper than any nine pools. Compare the expression "/l ^^ ifc. P 2 212 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXII. chariots must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and you will be ground to powder\'

Some (ruler) having sent a message of invitation to him, Awang-^ze replied to the messenger, * Have you seen. Sir, a sacrificial ox ? It is robed with ornamental embroidery, and feasted on fresh grass and beans. But when it is led into the grand ancestral temple, though it wished to be (again) a solitary calf, would that be possible for it ^ ? '

When AVang-^ze was about to die, his disciples signified their wish to give him a grand burial. ' I shall have heaven and earth,' said he, * for my coffin and its shell ; the sun and moon for my two round symbols of jade ; the stars and constellations for my pearls and jewels ; and all things assisting as the mourners. Will not the provisions for my burial be complete ? What could you add to them ? ' The disciples replied, ' We are afraid that the crows and kites will eat our master.' ATwang-jze rejoined, * Above, the crows and kites will eat me ; below, the mole-crickets and ants will eat me : — to take from those and give to these would only show your partiality^/ The attempt, with what is not even, to produce what is even will only produce an uneven result ; the attempt, with what is uncertain, to make the uncertain certain will leave the uncertainty as it * Compare paragraph "6. But Lin again denies the genuineness of this. ^ Compare XVII, par. 11. his own ideal or not. In the concluding sentences we have a strange descent from the grandiloquence of what precedes. PT. III. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF ^WANG-3ZE. 2 1 3 was. He who uses only the sight of his eyes is acted on by what he sees ; it is the (intuition of the) spirit, that gives the assurance of certainty. That the sight of the eyes is not equal to that intuition of the spirit is a thing long acknowledged. And yet stupid people rely on what they see, and will have it to be the sentiment of all men ; — all their success being with what is external : — is it not sad ? 214 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XXXIII.