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The Tâo Teh King — Sacred Books of China Part I, SBE Vol. 39 (trans. James Legge, 1891)

English·1879–1910·trans. James Legge·241 passages

The text · part 1 of 11

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

[39]

Rondon
HMENRY FROWDE

OxFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE

AMEN CorNER, E.C,

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

F. MAX MULLER

VOL. XXXIX

@rford

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

p. 1891

ft i

Orford

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

p. 240

MSE - THE

SACRED BOOKS OF CHINA

THE TEXTS OF TAOISM

TRANSLATED BY

JAMES LEGGE

PART I

THE TAO TEH KING
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE

BOOKS I—XVII

Orford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

p. 1891

[A rights reserved ]

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
CHAP.
I. Was TAOISM OLDER THAN LAO-3ZE? .

Three Religions in China. Peculiarity of the Tao Teh Xing.

Il. THE TEXTS OF THE TAO TEH KING AND KWANG-}ZE SHO, AS REGARDS THEIR AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINE- NESS, AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF THEM...

i. The Tao Teh Xing. The evidence of Sze-ma X/ien, the historian ; of Lieh-3ze, Han Fei-3ze, and other TAoist writers ; and of Pan Ki. The Catalogue of the Imperial Library of Han; and that of the Sui dynasty. The Commentaries of ‘the old man of the Ho-side,’ and of Wang Pi. Division into Parts and Chapters, and number of Characters in the Text.

ii, The Writings of Kwang-jze. Importance to Tdoism of those Writings. The division of the Books into three Parts. Their general Title and its meaning.

III. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE NAME TAO? AND THE CHIEF POINTS OF BELIEF IN TAOISM . . . . Meaning of thename. Usageoftheterm Thien. Peculiar usage of it by Awang-3ze. Mr. Giles’s view that the name ‘God’ is the equivalent of Thien. Relation of the T4o to the name Ti. No idea of Creation-proper in Taoism. Man is composed of body and spirit. That the cultivation of the TAo promotes longevity. Startling results of the Tao; and how It proceeds by contraries. The paradisiacal state. The decay of Taoism before the growth of knowledge. The moral and practical teachings of Lao-3ze. Humility; his three Jewels ; that good is to be returned for evil.

IV. Accounts oF LAo-3ZE AND KWANG-}ZE GIVEN BY
SzE-MA KHIEN . . . .

V. ON THE TRACTATE OF ACTIONS AND THEIR RETRIBUTIONS

Peculiar style and nature of the Treatise. Itsdate. Meaning of the Title. Was the old Taoism a Religion? The Kang family. Influence of Buddhism on Taoism.

PAGE xi

p. 12

33
38

Vili CONTENTS.

ParT I (Chapters i to xxxvii)

THE TAO TEH XING.

V. ON THE TRACTATE OF ACTIONS AND THEIR RETRIBUTIONS

Peculiar style and nature of the Treatise. Itsdate. Meaning of the Title. Was the old Taoism a Religion? The Kang family. Influence of Buddhism on Taoism.

PAGE xi

p. 12

33
38

Vili CONTENTS.

ParT I (Chapters i to xxxvii)

THE TAO TEH XING.

Ch. 1. Embodying the T4o, p. 47. 2. The Nourishment of the Person, pp. 47, 48. 3. Keeping the People at Rest, p. 49. 4, The Fountainless, pp. 49, 50. 5. The Use of Emptiness, p-50. 6. The Completion of Material Forms, p. 51. 7. Sheathing the Light, p. 52. 8. The Placid and Contented Nature, Pp- 52, 53. 9. Fulness and Complacency contrary to the TAo, p- 53- 10. Possibilities through the Tao, pp. 53, 54. 11. The Use of what has no Substantive Existence, pp. 54,55. 12. The Repression of the Desires, p. 55. 13. Loathing Shame, p. 56. 14. The Manifestation of the Mystery, p. 57. 15. The Exhibition of the Qualities of the T4o, pp. 58, 59. 16. Returning to the Root, pp. 59, 60. 17. The Unadulterated Influence, pp. 60, 61. 18. The Decay of Manners, p. 61. 19. Returning to the Unadulterated Influence, p. 62. 20. Being Different from Ordinary Men, pp. 62, 63. 21. The Empty Heart, or the Tao in its Operation, p. 64. 22. The Increase granted to Humility, p. 65. 23. Absolute Vacancy, pp. 65,66. 24. Painful Graciousness, p. 67. 25. Representations of the Mystery, pp. 67, 68. 26. The Quality of Gravity, p. 69. 27. Dexterity in Using the Tao, p. 70. 28. Returning to Simplicity, p.71. 29. Taking no Action, pp. 71, 72. 30. A Caveat against War, pp. 72, 73. 31. Stilling War, pp. 73, 74. 32. The Tao with no Name, pp. 74, 75. 33. Discriminating between Attributes, p. 75. 34. The Task of Achievement, pp. 76,77. 35. The Attribute of Benevolence, p. 77. 36. Minimising the Light, p. 78.- 37. The Exercise of Government, p. 79.

Part II (Chapters xxxviii to Ixxxi) . . . - 80to

Ch. 38. About the Attributes of the Tho, pp. 80, gr. 39. The Origin of the Law, pp. 82, 83. 40. Dispensing with the Use (of Means), pp. 83, 84. 41. Sameness and Difference, pp. 84, 85. 42. The Transformations of the Tao, p. 85. 43. The Universal Use (of the Action in Weakness of the Tao), p. 87. 44, Cautions, pp. 87, 88. 45. Great or Overflowing Virtue, p. 88. 46. The Moderating of Desire or Ambition, pp. 88, 85. 47. Surveying what is Far-off, p. 89. 48. Forgetting Knowledge, p. 90. 49. The Quality of Indulgence, p.91. 50. The Value set on Life, pp. 92, 93. 51. The Operation (of the T4o) in Nourishing Things, pp. 93, 94. 52. Returning to the Source, Pp. 94,95. 53. Increase of Evidence, pp. 96, 97. 54. The Cultivation (of the T4o), and the Observation (of its Effects), pp. 97, 98. 55. The Mysterious Charm, p. 99. 56. The Mysterious

PAGE

. 45 to 79

CONTENTS.

93, 94. 52. Returning to the Source, Pp. 94,95. 53. Increase of Evidence, pp. 96, 97. 54. The Cultivation (of the T4o), and the Observation (of its Effects), pp. 97, 98. 55. The Mysterious Charm, p. 99. 56. The Mysterious

PAGE

. 45 to 79

CONTENTS.

Excellence, p. 100. 57. The Genuine Influence, pp. 100, 101.

58. Transformation according to Circumstances, pp. IOI, 102.
59. Guarding the TAo, pp. 102, 103. 60. Occupying the Throne, pp. 103, 104. 61. The Attribute of Humility, pp. 104, 105. 62. Practising the Tao, pp. 105, 106. 63. Thinking in the Beginning, pp. 106, 107. 64. Guarding the Minute, pp. 107, 108. 65. Pure, unmixed Excellence, pp. 108, 109. 66. Putting One’s Self Last, p. 109. 67. Three Precious Things, p. 110. 68, Matching Heaven, pp. 111, 112. 69. The Use of the Mysterious (T4o), p. 112. 70. The Difficulty of being (rightly) Known, pp. 112,
113. 71. The Disease of Knowing, p. 113. 72. Loving One’s Self, p. 114. 73. Allowing Men to take their Course, p. 116.
74. Restraining Delusion, p. 117. 75. How Greediness Injures, pp. 117, 118. 76. A Warning against (Trusting in) Strength, pp. 118, 119. 77. The Way of Heaven, p. 119. 78. Things to be Believed, p. 120. 79. Adherence to Bond or Covenant, p. 121. 80. Standing Alone, p.122. 81, The Manifestation of Simplicity, p. 123.

THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3Z

INTRODUCTION.
BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS

PART I.

BOOK
I.i. Hsido-y4o Ya, or Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease

Il. ii. AAt W Lun, or the Adjustment of Controversies
III. iii. Yang Shang A‘, or Nourishing the Lord of Life.

IV. iv. Zan Kien Shih, or Man in the World, Associated with other Men. . .

V.v. Teh Xhung Fa, or the Seal of Virtue Complete .

Vi. vi. TA Sung Shih, or the Great and Most Honoured
Master. . . . . . :

VII. vii. Ying Ti Wang, or ‘the N ormal Course for Rulers and
Kings

PART II.

VIII. Phien Mau, or Webbed Toes .
IX. ii. Ma Thi, or Horses’s Hoofs . : :
X. iii. Khii Khieh, or Cutting Open Satchels .
XI. iv. §4i Yd, or Letting Be, and Exercising Forbearance

PAGE
127

. 164

- 176
- 198

. 203 . 223

p. 236

. 268 . 276 . 281 - 291 x CONTENTS.

BOOK PAGE

XII. v. Thien Ti, or Heaven and Earth . . . . + 307
XIII. vi. Thien T4o, or the Way of Heaven. . : + 330
XIV. vii. Thien Yiin, or the Revolution of Heaven. . + 345
XV. viii. Kho f, or Ingrained Ideas . . . . - 363
XVI. ix. Shan Hsing, or Correcting the Nature. . . - 368
XVII. x. Ait Shui, or the Floods of Autumn . . . - 374

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East . . . . - 393

PREFACE.

. + 345

XV. viii. Kho f, or Ingrained Ideas . . . . - 363
XVI. ix. Shan Hsing, or Correcting the Nature. . . - 368
XVII. x. Ait Shui, or the Floods of Autumn . . . - 374

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East . . . . - 393

PREFACE.

In the Preface to the third volume of these ‘Sacred Books of the East’ (1879), I stated that I proposed giving in due course, in order to exhibit the System of Taoism, translations of the Tao Teh King by LAo-jze (sixth century B.C.), the Writings of Kwang-jze (between the middle of the fourth and third centuries B.C.), and the Treatise of ‘Actions and their Retributions’ (of our eleventh century) ; and perhaps also of one or more of the other characteristic Productions of the System.

The two volumes now submitted to the reader are a fulfilment of the promise made so long ago. They contain versions of the Three Works which were specified, and, in addition, as Appendixes, four other shorter Treatises of Taoism ; Analyses of several of the Books of Kwang-jze by Lin Hsi-Aung ; a list of the stories which form so important a part of those Books; two Essays by two of the greatest Scholars of China, written the one in A.D. 586 and illustrating the T4oistic beliefs of that age, and the other in A.D. 1078 and dealing with the four Books of Awang-jze, whose genuineness is frequently called in question. The concluding Index is confined very much to Proper Names. For Subjects the reader is referred to the Tables of Contents, the Introduction to the Books of Kwang-jze (vol. xxxix, pp. 127-163), and the Introductory Notes to the various Appendixes.

The Treatise of Actions and their Retributions exhibits to us the Taoism of the eleventh century in its moral or ethical aspects; in the two earlier Works we see it rather as a philosophical speculation than as a religion in the ordinary sense of that term. It was not till after the introduction of Buddhism into China in our first century that Taoism began to organise itself as a xii PREFACE.

It was not till after the introduction of Buddhism into China in our first century that Taoism began to organise itself as a xii PREFACE.

Religion, having its monasteries and nunneries, its images and rituals. While it did so, it maintained the superstitions peculiar to itself :—some, like the cultivation of the T4o as a rule of life favourable to longevity, come down from the earliest times, and others which grew up during the decay of the K4u dynasty, and subsequently blossomed ;—now in Mystical Speculation; now in the pursuits of Alchemy; now in the search for the pills of Immortality and the Elixir vitae; now in Astrological fancies ; now in visions of Spirits and in Magical arts to control them; and finally in the terrors of its Purgatory and everlasting Hell. Its phases have been continually changing, and at present it attracts our notice more as a degraded adjunct of Buddhism than as a development of the speculations of L4o-3ze and Kwang-3ze. Up to its contact with Buddhism, it subsisted as an opposition to the Confucian system, which, while admitting the existence and rule of the Supreme Being, bases its teachings on the study of man’s nature and the enforcement of the duties binding on all men from the moral and social principles of their constitution.

It is only during the present century that the Texts of Taoism have begun to receive the attention which they deserve. Christianity was introduced into China by Nestorian missionaries in the seventh century; and from the Hsi-an monument, which was erected by their successors in 781, nearly 150 years after their first entrance, we perceive that they were as familiar with the books of Lao-3ze and Kwang-3ze as with the Confucian literature of the empire, but that monument is the only memorial of them that remains. In the thirteenth century the Roman Catholic Church sent its earliest missionaries to China, but we hardly know anything of their literary labours.

The great Romish missions which continue to the present day began towards the end of the sixteenth century; and there exists now in the India Office a translation of the Tao Teh Xing in Latin, which was brought to England

| |

PREFACE. Xill

by a Mr. Matthew Raper, and presented by him to the Royal Society, of which he was a Fellow, on January 1oth, 1788. The manuscript is in excellent preservation, but we do not know by whom the version was made. It was presented, as stated in the Introduction, p. 12, to Mr. Raper by P. de Grammont, ‘ Missionarius Apostolicus, ex-Jesuita.’ The chief object of the translator or translators was to show that ‘the Mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnate God were anciently known to the Chinese nation. The version as a whole is of little value. The reader will find, on pp. 115,116, its explanation of Ldo’s seventy-second chapter ;—the first morsel of it that has appeared in print.

The version as a whole is of little value. The reader will find, on pp. 115,116, its explanation of Ldo’s seventy-second chapter ;—the first morsel of it that has appeared in print.

Protestant missions to China commenced in 1807; but it was not till 1868 that the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, a member of one of them, published his ‘Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity, and Morality of “The Old Philosopher,” Lao-Tsze.’ Meanwhile, Abel Rémusat had aroused the curiosity of scholars throughout Europe, in 1823, by his ‘Memoir on the Life and Opinions of Lao-Tseu, a Chinese Philosopher of the sixth century before our era, who professed the opinions commonly attributed to Pythagoras, to Plato, and to their disciples.’ Rémusat was followed by one who had received from him his first lessons in Chinese, and had become a truly great Chinese scholar,—the late Stanislas Julien. He published in 1842 ‘a complete translation for the first time of this memorable Work, which is regarded with reason as the most profound, the most abstract, and the most difficult of all Chinese Literature.’ Dr. Chalmers’s translation was also complete, but his comments, whether original or from Chinese sources, were much fewer than those supplied by Julien. Two years later, two German versions of the Treatise were published at Leipzig ;—by Reinhold von Planckner and Victor von Strauss, differing much from each other, but both marked by originality and ability.

I undertook myself, as stated above, in 1879 to translate for ‘The Sacred Books of the East’ the Texts of Taoism

XIV PREFACE,

which appear in these volumes; and, as I could find time from my labours on ‘The Texts of Confucianism, I had written out more than one version of Lao’s work by the end of 1880, Though not satisfied with the result, I felt justified in exhibiting my general views of it in an article in the British Quarterly Review of July, 1883.

In 1884 Mr. F. H. Balfour published at Shanghai a version of ‘ Taoist Texts, Ethical, Political, and Speculative.’ His Texts were ten in all, the Tao Teh Xing being the first and longest of them. His version of this differed in many points from all previous versions; and Mr. H. A. Giles, of H. M.’s Consular Service in China, vehemently assailed it and also Dr. Chalmers’s translation, in the China Review for March and April, 1886. Mr. Giles, indeed, occasionally launched a shaft also at Julien and myself; but his main object in his article was to discredit the genuineness and authenticity of the Tao Teh King itself. ‘The work,’ he says, ‘is undoubtedly a forgery. It contains, indeed, much that Lao Tzd did say, but more that he did not.’ I replied, so far as was necessary, to Mr. Giles in the same Review for January and February, 1888 ; and a brief summary of my reply is given in the second chapter of the Introduction in this volume. My confidence has never been shaken for a moment in the Tao Teh King as a genuine relic of LAo-3ze, one of the most original minds of the Chinese race.

My confidence has never been shaken for a moment in the Tao Teh King as a genuine relic of LAo-3ze, one of the most original minds of the Chinese race.

In preparing the version now published, I have used :—

First, ‘The Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers ;’— a Sd-A4u reprint in 1804 of the best editions of the Philosophers, nearly all belonging more or less to the Taoist school, included in it. It is a fine specimen of Chinese printing, clear and accurate. The Treatise of Lao-jze of course occupies the first place, as edited by Kwei Yi-kwang (better known as Kwei K4an-shan) of the Ming dynasty. The Text and Commentary are those of Ho-shang Kung (Introd., p. 7), along with the division of the whole into Parts and eighty-one chapters, and the titles of the several chapters, all attributed to him. Along the top of the page,

PREFACE. XV

there is a large collection of notes from celebrated commentators and writers down to the editor himself.

Second, the Text and Commentary of Wang Pi (called also Ff-sze), who died A.D. 249, at the early age of twentyfour. See Introduction, p. 8.

Third, ‘Helps (lit. Wings) to Lao-jze;’ by 3i40 Hung (called also Z4o-hau), and prefaced by him in 1587. This is what Julien calls ‘the most extensive and most important contribution to the understanding of LAo-3ze, which we yet possess.’ Its contents are selected from the ablest writings on the Treatise from Han Fei (Introd., p. 5) downwards, closing in many chapters with the notes made by the compiler himself in the course of his studies. Altogether the book sets before us the substance of the views of sixty-four writers on our short King. Julien took the trouble to analyse the list of them, and found it composed of three emperors, twenty professed Taoists, seven Buddhists, and thirty-four Confucianists or members of the Literati. He says, ‘ These last constantly explain Lao-3ze according to the ideas peculiar to the School of Confucius, at the risk of misrepresenting him, and with the express intention of throttling his system;’ then adding, ‘The commentaries written in such a spirit have no interest for persons who wish to enter fully into the thought of Lao-jze, and obtain a just idea of his doctrine. I have thought it useless, therefore, to specify the names of such commentaries and their authors.’

I have quoted these sentences of Julien, because of a charge brought by Mr. Balfour, in a prefatory note to his own version of the Tao Teh Xing, against him and other translators. ‘One prime defect,’ he says, though with some hesitation, ‘lies at the root of every translation that has been published hitherto; and this is, that not one seems to have been based solely and entirely on commentaries furnished by members of the TAoist school. The Confucian element enters largely into all; and here, I think, an injustice has been done to Lao-3ze. To a Confucianist the Taoist system is in every sense of the word a heresy, and xvi PREFACE.

The Confucian element enters largely into all; and here, I think, an injustice has been done to Lao-3ze. To a Confucianist the Taoist system is in every sense of the word a heresy, and xvi PREFACE.

a commentator holding this opinion is surely not the best expositor. It is as a Grammarian rather than as a Philosopher that a member of the Ja Chia deals with the Tao Teh King; he gives the sense of a passage according to the syntactical construction rather than according to the genius of the philosophy itself; and in attempting to explain the text by his own canons, instead of by the canons of Taoism, he mistakes the superficial and apparently obvious meaning for the hidden and esoteric interpretation.’

Mr. Balfour will hardly repeat his charge of imperfect or erroneous interpretation against Julien; and I believe that it is equally undeserved by most, if not all, of the other translators against whom it is directed. He himself adopted as his guide the ‘ Explanations of the Tao Teh Xing, current as the work of Lii Yen (called also Lii 34, Lii Tung-pin, and Li AXZun-yang), a Taoist of the eighth century. Through Mr. Balfour’s kindness I have had an opportunity of examining this edition of Lao’s Treatise; and I am compelled to agree with the very unfavourable judgment on it pronounced by Mr. Giles as both ‘spurious’ and ‘ ridiculous.’ All that we are told of Lii Yen is very suspicious; much of it evidently false. The editions of our little book ascribed to him are many. I have for more than twenty years possessed one with the title of ‘The Meaning of the T4o Teh King Explained by the TRUE Man of Khun-yang,’ being a reprint of 1690, and as different as possible from the work patronised by Mr. Balfour.

Fourth, the Thai Shang Hwun Hsiian Tao Teh Kan King,—a work of the present dynasty, published at Shanghai, but when produced I do not know. It is certainly of the Lii 34 type, and is worth purchasing as one of the finest specimens of block-printing. It professes to be the production of ‘ The Immortals of the Eight Grottoes, each of whom is styled ‘a Divine Ruler (Ti Xiin).’ The eightyone chapters are equally divided for commentary among them,excepting that ‘the Divine Ruler, the Universal Refiner,’ has the last eleven assigned to him. The Text is everywhere broken up into short clauses, which are explained in

PREFACE, XVil

a very few characters by ‘God, the True Helper,’ the same, I suppose, who is also styled, ‘The Divine Ruler, the True Helper, and comments at length on chapters 31 to 40. I mention these particulars as an illustration of how the ancient Taoism has become polytheistic and absurd. The name ‘ God, the True Helper,’ is a title, I imagine, given to Lii 34. With all this nonsense, the composite commentary is a good one, the work, evidently, of one hand. One of several recommendatory Prefaces is ascribed to Wan Khang, the god of Literature ; and he specially praises the work, as ‘explaining the meaning by examination of the Text.’

With all this nonsense, the composite commentary is a good one, the work, evidently, of one hand. One of several recommendatory Prefaces is ascribed to Wan Khang, the god of Literature ; and he specially praises the work, as ‘explaining the meaning by examination of the Text.’

Fifth, a ‘Collection of the Most Important Treatises of the Taoist Fathers (Tao 3 Kan Kwan Ki Y4o).’ This was reprinted in 1877 at K/ang-kau in Kiang-sd; beginning with the Tao Teh A ing, and ending with the Kan Ying Phien. Between these there are fourteen other Treatises, mostly short, five of them being among Mr. Balfour’s ‘ Taoist Texts.’ The Collection was edited by a La Yii; and the Commentary selected by him, in all but the last Treatise, was by a Li Hsi-yiieh, who appears to have been a recluse in a monastery on a mountain in the department of Pdo-ning, Sze-kAwan, if, indeed, what is said of him be not entirely fabulous.

Sixth, the Commentary on the Tao Teh Xing, by Wi Khang (A.D. 1249-1333) of Lin Kwan. This has been of the highest service to me. Wt Aang was the greatest of the Yiian scholars. He is one of the Literati quoted from occasionally by 3i40 Hung in his ‘ Wings ;’ but by no means so extensively as Julien supposes (Observations Détachées, p. xli). My own copy of his work is in the 12th Section of the large Collection of the ‘ Yiieh-y4 Hall, published in 1853. Writing of Wai Kang in 1865 (Proleg. to the Sha, p. 36), I said that he was ‘a bold thinker and a daring critic, handling his text with a freedom which I had not seen in any other Chinese scholar. The subsequent study of his writings has confirmed me in this opinion of him. Perhaps he might be characterised as an independent, rather than as a bold, thinker, and the daring

[39] b

XVili PREFACE.

of his criticism must not be supposed to be without caution. (See Introd., p. 9.)

The Writings of AKwang-jze have been studied by foreigners still less than the Treatise of Ldo-jze. When I undertook in 1879 to translate them, no version of them had been published. In 1881, however, there appeared at Shanghai Mr. Balfour’s ‘The Divine Classic of Nan-hua (Introd., pp. 11, 12), being the Works of Chuang Tsze, Taoist Philosopher. It was a ‘bold’ undertaking in Mr. Balfour thus to commence his translations of Chinese Books with one of the most difficult of them. I fancy that he was himself convinced of this, and that his undertaking had been ‘too bold, by the criticism to which his work was subjected in the China Review by Mr. Giles. Nevertheless, it was no small achievement to be the first to endeavour to lift up the veil from Kwang-3ze. Even a first translation, though imperfect, is not without benefit to others who come after, and are able to do better. In preparing the draft of my own version, which draft was finished in April, 1887, I made frequent reference to the volume of Mr. Balfour.

Even a first translation, though imperfect, is not without benefit to others who come after, and are able to do better. In preparing the draft of my own version, which draft was finished in April, 1887, I made frequent reference to the volume of Mr. Balfour.

Having exposed the errors of Mr. Balfour, Mr. Giles proceeded to make a version of his own, which was published last year in London, with the title of ‘CHUANG TzU, Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer.’ It was not, however, till I was well through with the revision of my draft version, that I supplied myself with a copy of his volume. I did not doubt that Mr. Giles’s translation would be well and tersely done, and I preferred to do my own work independently and without the help which he would have afforded me. In carrying my sheets through the press, I have often paused over my rendering of a passage to compare it with his ; and I have pleasure in acknowledging the merits of his version. The careful and competent reader will see and form his own judgment on passages and points where we differ.

Before describing the editions of Kwang-jze which I

PREFACE, xix

have consulted, I must not omit to mention Professor Gabelentz’s ‘ Treatise on the Speech or Style of Kwang-jze,’ as ‘a Contribution to Chinese Grammar,’ published at Leipzig in 1888. It has been a satisfaction to me to find myself on almost every point of usage in agreement with the views of so able a Chinese scholar.

The works which I employed in preparing my version have been :—

First, ‘The True King of Nan-hwa,’ in ‘The Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers, which has been described above. The Commentary which it supplies is that of Kwo Hsiang (Introd., pp. 9, 10), with ‘ The Sounds and Meanings of the Characters’ from Ld Teh Ming’s ‘ Explanations of the Terms and Phrases of the Classics,’ of our seventh century. As in the case of the Tao Teh Xing, the Ming editor has introduced at the top of his pages a selection of comments and notes from a great variety of scholars down to his own time.

Second, ‘ Helps (Wings) to Kwang-jze by 3i4o Hung,’— a kindred work to the one with a similar title on Lao-3ze; by the same author, and prefaced by him in 1588. The two works are constructed on the same lines. 3ido draws his materials from forty-eight authorities, from Kwo Hsiang to himself. He divides the several Books also into paragraphs, more or fewer according to their length, and the variety of subjects in them; and my version follows him in this lead with little or no change. He has two concluding Books; the one containing a collation of various readings, and the other a collection of articles on the history and genius of Awang-jze, and different passages of his Text.

He has two concluding Books; the one containing a collation of various readings, and the other a collection of articles on the history and genius of Awang-jze, and different passages of his Text.

Third, the Kwang-3ze Hsiieh or ‘ Kwang-3ze made like Snow,’ equivalent to our ‘A wang-3ze Elucidated;’ by a La Shia-4ih of Canton province, written in 1796. The different Books are preceded by a short summary of their subject-matter. The work goes far to fulfil the promise of its title.

Fourth, Kwang-jze Yin, meaning ‘The Train of b2

XX PREFACE,

Thought in AKwang-jze Traced in its Phraseology.’ My copy is a reprint, in 1880, of the Commentary of Lin Hsi-Zung, who lived from the Ming into the present dynasty, under the editorship of a La Ahi-wang of KiangsQ province. The style is clear and elegant, but rather more concise than that of the preceding work. It leaves out the four disputed Books (XXVIII to XXXI); but all the others are followed by an elaborate discussion of their scope and plan.

Fifth, ‘The Nan-hwé Classic of Kwang-3ze Explained,’ published in 1621, by a Hsiian Ving or 3ung (‘Er $4, ‘B. FA; the name is printed throughout the book, now in one of these ways, now in the other), called also Mau-kung. The commentary is carefully executed and ingenious; but my copy of the book is so incorrectly printed that it can only be used with caution. Mr. Balfour appears to have made his version mainly from the same edition of the work; and some of his grossest errors pointed out by Mr. Giles arose from his accepting without question the misprints of his authority.

Sixth, ‘Independent Views of Kwang-3ze CHE F- Fi A)’ —by Ho Wan-ying, published in 1751. Occasionally, the writer pauses over a passage, which, he thinks, has defied all preceding students, and suggests the right explanation of it, or leaves it as inexplicable.

It only remains for me to refer to the Repertories of ‘ Elegant Extracts,’ called by the Chinese K 4 Wan, which abound in their literature, and where the masterpieces of composition are elucidated with more or less of critical detail and paraphrase. I have consulted nearly a dozen of these collections, and would mention my indebtedness especially to that called Méi Awan, which discusses passages from twelve of Kwang-3ze’s books.

When consulting the editions of Lin Hsi-Zung and La Sha-fih, the reader is surprised by the frequency with which they refer to the ‘old explanations’ as ‘incomplete and unsatisfactory, often as ‘absurd, or ‘ridiculous, and he

PREFACE. Xx1

finds on examination that they do not so express themselves without reason. He is soon convinced that the translation of Kwang-3ze calls for the exercise of one’s individual judgment, and the employment of every method akin to the critical processes by which the meaning in the books of other languages is determined. It was the perception of this which made me prepare in the first place a draft version to familiarise myself with the peculiar style and eccentric thought of the author.

From Awang-jze to the Tractate of ‘Actions and their Retributions’ the transition is great. Translation in the latter case is as easy as it is difficult in the former. It was Rémusat who in 1816 called attention to the Kan Ying Phien in Europe, as he did to the Tao Teh King seven years later, and he translated the Text of it with a few Notes and Illustrative Anecdotes. In 1828 Klaproth published a translation of it from the Man-chau version ; and in 1830 a translation in English appeared in the Canton Register, a newspaper published at Macao. In 1828 Julien published what has since been the standard version of it; with an immense amount of additional matter under the title—‘ Le Livre Des Récompenses et Des Peines, en Chinois et en Frangais; Accompagné de quatre cent Légendes, Anecdotes et Histoires, qui font connaitre les Doctrines, les Croyances et les Mceurs de la Secte des Tdo-ssé.

In writing out my own version I have had before me :—

First, ‘The Thai Shang Kan Ying Phien, with Plates and the Description of them;’ a popular edition, as profusely furnished with anecdotes and stories as Julien’s original, and all pictorially illustrated. The notes, comments, and corresponding sentences from the Confucian Classics are also abundant.

Second, ‘The Thai Shang Kan Ying Phien, with explanations collected from the Classics and Histories ;’— a Cantonese reprint of an edition prepared in the Kienlang reign by a Hsia Kid-hsia.

Xxii PREFACE.

Third, the edition in the Collection of Taoist Texts described above on p. xvii; by Hsii Hsii-teh. It is decidedly Taoistic ; but without stories or pictures.

Fourth, ‘The Thai Shang Kan Ying Phien K4;’ by

Hui Tung, of the present dynasty. The Work follows the Commentary of Wi Aang on the Tao Teh Xing in the Collection of the Yiieh-y4 Hall. The preface of the author is dated in 1749. The Commentary, he tells us, was written in consequence of a vow, when his mother was ill, and he was praying for her recovery. It contains many extracts from Ko Hung (Introduction, p. 5, note), to whom he always refers by his nom de plume of Pao-phoh 3ze, or ‘Maintainer of Simplicity.” He considers indeed this Tractate to have originated from him.

It contains many extracts from Ko Hung (Introduction, p. 5, note), to whom he always refers by his nom de plume of Pao-phoh 3ze, or ‘Maintainer of Simplicity.” He considers indeed this Tractate to have originated from him.

I have thus set forth all that is necessary to be said here by way of preface. For various information about the Treatises comprised in the Appendixes, the reader is referred to the preliminary notes, which precede the translation of most of them. I have often sorely missed the presence of a competent native scholar who would have assisted me in the quest of references, and in talking over difficult passages. Such a helper would have saved me much time; but the result, I think, would scarcely have appeared in any great alteration of my versions.

J. L.
Oxrorp,
December 20, 1890.

THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.

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THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

Was TAOISM OLDER THAN LAO-3ZE?

1. In writing the preface to the third volume of these Sacred Books of the East in 1879, I referred to Lao-jze as ‘the acknowledged founder’ of the system of Taoism. Prolonged study and research, however, have brought me to the conclusion that there was a Taoism earlier than his ; and that before he wrote his Tao Teh Xing, the principles taught in it had been promulgated, and the ordering of human conduct and government flowing from them inculcated.

For more than a thousand years ‘the Three Religions’
Three Religions has been a stereotyped phrase in China,

in China. meaning what we call Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The phrase itself simply means ‘the Three Teachings,’ or systems of instruction, leaving the subject-matter of each ‘Teaching’ to be learned by inquiry.

Of the three, Buddhism is of course the most recent, having been introduced into China only in the first century of our

Christian era. Both the others were indigenous to the country, and are traceable to a much greater antiquity, so that it is a question to which the earlier origin should be assigned. The years of Confucius’s life lay between B.C. 551 and 478; but his own acknowledgment that he was ‘a transmitter and not a maker,’ and the testimony of his grandson, that ‘he handed down the doctrines of Yao and Shun (B.C. 2300), and elegantly displayed the regulations

[39] Bp. 2 of Wan and Wd (B.C. 1200), taking them as his model,’ are well known.

2300), and elegantly displayed the regulations

[39] Bp. 2 of Wan and Wd (B.C. 1200), taking them as his model,’ are well known.

2. LAo-}ze’s birth is said, in the most likely account of it, to have taken place in the third year of king Ting of the Kau dynasty, (B.C.) 604. He was thus rather more than fifty years older than Confucius. The two men seem to have met more than once, and I am inclined to think that the name of Lao-jze, as the designation of the other, arose from Confucius’s styling him to his disciples ‘The Old Philosopher.’ They met as Heads of different schools or schemes of thought; but did not touch, so far as we know, on the comparative antiquity of their views. It is a peculiarity of the Tao Teh Xing that any historical element in

Peculiari it is of the vaguest nature possible, and in all eculiarity of ; 7 the Tao Teh its chapters there is not a single proper name. King. Yet there are some references to earlier sages whose words the author was copying out, and to ‘sentencemakers’ whose maxims he was introducing to illustrate his own sentiments’, Inthe most distant antiquity he saw a happy society in which his highest ideas of the Tao were realised, and in the seventeenth chapter he tells us that in the earliest times the people did not know that there were their rulers, and when those rulers were most successful in dealing with them, simply said, ‘We are what we are of ourselves. Evidently, men existed to Lao-jze at first in a condition of happy innocence,—in what we must call a paradisiacal state, according to his idea of what such a state was likely to be.

When we turn from the treatise of L4o-jze to the writings of Kwang-jze, the greatest of his followers, we are

1 The sixth chapter of Lao’s treatise, that about ‘the Spirit of the Valley,’ is referred to in Lich-3ze (I, 1°), as being from Hwang Ti, from which the commentator Ti Tdao-fien (about A.D. 1300) takes occasion to say: ‘From which we know that Lao-3ze was accustomed to quote in his treatise passages from earlier records,—as when he refers to the remarks of “some sage,” of “some ancient,” of “ the sentence-makers,” and of “ some writer on war.” In all these cases he is clearly introducing the words of earlier wise men. The case is like that of Confucius when he said, ‘‘I am a transmitter and not a maker,” &c.’ Found in 3i4o Hung, in loc.

ap. 3 not left in doubt as to his belief in an early state of paradisiacal Taoism. Hwang Ti, the first year of whose reign is placed in B.C. 2697, is often introduced as a seeker of the T4o, and is occasionally condemned as having been one of the first to disturb its rule in men’s minds and break up ‘the State of Perfect Unity.’ He mentions several sovereigns of whom we can hardly find a trace in the records of history as having ruled in the primeval period, and gives us more than one description of the condition of the world during that happy time }.

I do not think that AKwang-jze had any historical evidence for the statements which he makes about those early days, the men who flourished in them, and their ways. His narratives are for the most part fictions, in which the names and incidents are of his own devising. They are no more true as matters of fact than the accounts of the characters in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress are true, with reference to any particular individuals; but as these last are grandly true of myriads of minds in different ages, so may we read in Kwang-}ze’s stories the thoughts of Taoistic men beyond the restrictions of place and time. He believed that those thoughts were as old as the men to whom he attributed them. I find in his belief a ground for believing mysclf that to Taoism, as well as to Confucianism, we ought to attribute a much earlier origin than the famous men whose names they bear. Perhaps they did not differ so much at first as they came afterwards to do in the hands of Confucius and Lao-jze, both great thinkers, the one more of a moralist, and the other more of a metaphysician. When and how, if they were ever more akin than they came to be, their divergence took place, are difficult questions on which it may be well to make some remarks after we have tried to set forth the most important principles of Taoism.

Those principles have to be learned from the treatise of Lao-jze and the writings of Kwang-jze. We can hardly

1 See in Books IX, X, and XII.
B2

4 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH, Il.

say that the Taoism taught in them is the Taoism now current in China, or that has been current in it for many centuries; but in an inquiry into the nature and origin of religions these are the authorities that must be consulted for Tdoism, and whose evidence must be accepted. The treatise, ‘Actions and the Responses to them,’ will show one of the phases of it at a much later period.

CHAPTER II.

THE TEXTS OF THE TAO TEH KING AND KWANG- 3ZE SHOU, AS REGARDS THEIR AUTHENTICITY AND GENUINENESS, AND THE ARRANGEMENT OF THEM.

I. 1. I will now state briefly, first, the grounds on which I accept the Tao Teh Xing as a genuine production of the age to which it has been assigned, and the truth of its authorship by Lao-jzc to whom it has bcen ascribed. It would not have been necessary a few years ago to write as if these points could be called in question, but in 1886 Mr. Herbert A. Giles, of Her Majesty’s Consular Service in China, and one of the ablest Chinese scholars living, vehemently called them in question in an article in the China Review for the months of March and April. His strictures have been replied to, and I am not going to revive here the controversy which they produced, but only to state a portion of the evidence which satisfies my own mind on the two points just mentioned.

His strictures have been replied to, and I am not going to revive here the controversy which they produced, but only to state a portion of the evidence which satisfies my own mind on the two points just mentioned.

2. It has been said above that the year B.C. 604 was, probably, that of Lao-jze’s birth. The year of his death is not recorded. Sze-ma K‘/ien, the first great Chinese his- The evidence of tOtian, who died in about B.C. 85, commences

Sze-ma Xhien, his ‘ Biographies’ with a short account of LAothe historian. 47e, He tells us that the philosopher had been a curator of the Royal Library of X4u, and that, mourning over the decadence of the dynasty, he wished to withdraw from the world, and proceeded to the pass or defile of Hsien-ku },

1 In the present district of Ling-pao, Shan Kau, province of Ho-nan.

CH. Il. INTRODUCTION. 5

leading from China to the west. There he was recognised by the warden of the pass, Yin Hsi (often called Kwan Yin), himself a well-known T4oist, who insisted on his leaving him a writing before he went into seclusion. Lao-jze then wrote his views on ‘The TAo and its Characteristics, in two parts or sections, containing more than 5000 characters, gave the manuscript to the warden, and went his way; ‘nor is it known where he died.’ This account is strange enough, and we need not wonder that it was by and by embellished with many marvels. It contains, however, the definite statements that Lao-jze wrote the Tao Teh Xing in two parts, and consisting of more than 5000 characters. And that A/ien was himself well acquainted with the treatise is apparent from his quotations from it, with, in almost every case, the specification of the author. He thus adduces part of the first chapter, and a large portion of the last chapter but one. His brief references also to L4o-jze and his writings are numerous. 3. But between Lao-jze and Sze-ma K‘ien there were many Taoist writers whose works remain. I may specify ; of them Lieh-jze (assuming that his chapters, Lieh-3ze, Han : : Fei-jze, and though not composed in their present form by other ‘Taoist him, may yet be accepted as fair specimens ’ of his teaching); Awang-jze (of the fourth century B.c. We find him refusing to accept high office from king Wei of KA, B.C. 339-299); Han Fei, a voluminous author, who died by his own hand in B.C. 230; and Lid An, a scion of the Imperial House of Han, king of Hwédi-nan, and better known to us as Hwai-nan 3ze, who also died by his own hand in B.c. 122. In the books of all these men we find quotations of many passages that are in our treatise. They are expressly said to be, many of them, quotations from L&éo-jze; Han Fei several times all but

1 Tn an ordinary Student’s Manual I find a note with reference to this incident to which it may be worth while to give a place here :—The warden, it is said, set before LAo-3ze a dish of tea; and this was the origin of the custom of teadrinking between host and guest (see the 4] 2, 54 # = VB,

ch. 7, on Food and Drink).

p. 6

shows the book beneath his eyes. To show how numerous the quotations by Han Fei and Lifi An are, let it be borne in mind that the Tao Teh King has come down to us as divided into eighty-one short chapters ; and that the whole of it is shorter than the shortest of our Gospels. Of the eighty-one chapters, either the whole or portions of seventyone are found in those two writers. There are other authors not so decidedly Taoistic, in whom we find quotations from the little book. These quotations are in general wonderfully correct. Various readings indeed there are; but if we were sure that the writers did trust to memory, their differences would only prove that copies of the text had been multiplied from the very first. In passing on from quotations to the complete text, I will Evidence of Pan Clinch the assertion that K/ien was well Ka. acquainted with our treatise, by a passage from the History of the Former Han Dynasty (B.C. 206- A.D, 24), which was begun to be compiled by Pan Ka, who died however in 92, and left a portion to be completed by his sister, the famous Pan Kao. The thirty-second chapter of his Biographies is devoted to Sze-ma A4ien, and towards the end it is said that ‘on the subject of the Great TAo he preferred Hwang and L4o to the six King. ‘Hwang and Lao’ must there be the writings of Hwang-Ti and Lao-jze. The association of the two names also illustrates the antiquity claimed for Taoism, and the subject of note 1, p. 2. 4. We go on from quotations to complete texts, and turn, first, to the catalogue of the Imperial Library of Han, as compiled by Lif Hsin, not later than the commencement of our Christian era. There are entered in it Taoist works by Catalogue of the thirty-seven different authors, containing in all Imperial Library 993 chapters or sections (phien). {1 Yin, the of Han. premier of Kang Thang (B.c. 1766), heads the list with fifty-one sections. There are in it four editions of Lao-jze’s work with commentaries :—by a Mr. Lin, in four sections; a Mr. F4, in thirty-seven sections; a Mr. Hsii, in six sections; and by Lid Hsiang, Hsin’s own father, in four sections. All these four works have since perished, but there they were in the Imperial Library beforep. 7 our era began. Awang-jze is in the same list in fifty-two books or sections, the greater part of which have happily escaped the devouring tooth of time.

All these four works have since perished, but there they were in the Imperial Library beforep. 7 our era began. Awang-jze is in the same list in fifty-two books or sections, the greater part of which have happily escaped the devouring tooth of time.

We turn now to the twentieth chapter of Ahien’s Biographies, in which he gives an account of Yo f, the scion of a distinguished family, and who himself played a famous part, both as a politician and military leader, and became prince of Wang-#i under the kingdom of K4o in B.C. 279. Among his descendants was a Yo Kan, who learned in Ki ‘the words,’ that is, the Taoistic writings ‘ of Hwang-Ti and Ldo-jze from an old man who lived on the Ho-side.’ The origin of this old man was not known, but Yo Khan taught what he learned from him to a Mr. Ko, who again became preceptor to 3hdo 3han, the chief minister of X71, and afterwards of the new dynasty of Han, dying in B.C. 190.

5. Referring now to the catalogue of the Imperial Library of the dynasty of Sui (A.D. 589-618), we find that

The catalogue it contained many editions of LAo’s treatise ofthe Sui dynasty. with commentaries. The first mentioned is ‘The Tao Teh Xing, with the commentary of the old man of the Ho-side, in the time of the emperor Wan of Han (B.C. 179-142). It is added in a note that the dynasty of Liang (A.D. 502-556) had possessed the edition of ‘ the old man of the Ho-side, of the time of the Warring States ; but that with some other texts and commentaries it had disappeared.’ I find it difficult to believe that there had been two old men of the Ho-side1, both teachers of Taoism and commentators on our King, but I am willing to content myself with the more recent work, and accept the copy that has been current—say from B.C. 150, when Sze-ma Khien could have been little more than a boy. Taoism was a favourite study with many of the Han emperors and their ladies. Hwéi-nan 3ze, of whose many quotations from the other yay éE Ri but the designations have the same meaning.

1 The earlier old man of the Ho-side is styled in Chinese yay é 5 AN

Some critical objections to the genuineness of the latter’s commentary on the ground of the style are without foundation.

p. 8

the text of Lao I have spoken, was an uncle of the emperor Wan. To the emperor King (B.C. 156-143), the son of Wan, there is attributed the designation of Liao’s treatise as a King, a work of standard authority. At the beginning of his reign, we are told, some one was commending to him four works, among which were those of Lao-jze and Kwang-jze. Deeming that the work of Hwang-jze and Lao-jze was of a deeper character than the others, he ordered that it should be called a King, established a board for the study of Taoism, and issued an edict that the book should be learned and recited at court, and throughout the country’. Thenceforth it was so styled. We find Hwang-fai Mi (A. D. 215-282) referring to it as the Tao Teh King.

Thenceforth it was so styled.
We find Hwang-fai Mi (A. D. 215-282) referring to it as the
Tao Teh King.

The second place in the Sui catalogue is given to the text and commentary of Wang Pi or Wang Fi-sze, an

The work of eXtraordinary scholar who died in A. D. 249,

Wang Pi, at the early age of twenty-four. This work has always been much prized. It was its text which La Teh-ming used in his ‘Explanation of the Terms and Phrases of the Classics, in the seventh century. Among the editions of it which I possess is that printed in 1794 with the imperial moveable metal types.

I“need not speak of editions or commentaries subsequent to Wang Pi’s. They soon begin to be many, and are only not so numerous as those of the Confucian Classics.

6. All the editions of the book are divided into two Divisions into Parts, the former called Tao, and the latter parts, chapters; Teh, meaning the Qualities or Characteristics and number of . to. . characters in the of the Tao, but this distinction of subjects is text. by no means uniformly adhered to.

I referred already to the division of the whole into eightyone short chapters (37 + 44), which is by common tradition attributed to Ho-shang Kung, or ‘The old man of the Ho-side. Another very early commentator, called Yen 3un or Yen Xiin-phing, made a division into seventy-two chapters (40+ 32), under the influence, no doubt, of some

1 See 3i40 Hung’s Wings or Helps, ch. v, p. 11°.

p. 9

mystical considerations. His predecessor, perhaps, had no better reason for his eighty-one; but the names of his chapters were, for the most part, happily chosen, and have been preserved. Wd Aang arranged the two parts in sixty-seven chapters (31+ 36). It is a mistake, however, to suppose, as even Mr. Wylie with all his general accuracy did}, that Wa ‘curtails the ordinary text to some extent.’ He does not curtail, but only re-arranges according to his fashion, uniting some of Ho-shang Kung’s chapters in one, and sometimes altering the order of their clauses.

Sze-ma Ahien tells us that, as the treatise came from Lao-jze, it contained more than 5000 characters; that is, as one critic says, ‘more than 5000 and fewer than 6000.’ Ho-shang Kung’s text has 5350, and one copy 5590; Wang Pi’s, 5683, and one copy 5610. Two other early texts have been counted, giving 5720 and 5635 characters respectively. The brevity arises from the terse conciseness of the style, owing mainly to the absence of the embellishment of particles, which forms so striking a peculiarity in the composition of Mencius and AK wang-3ze.

In passing on to speak, secondly and more briefly, of the far more voluminous writings of Kwang-3ze, I may say that I do not know of any other book of so ancient a date as the Tao Teh Xing, of which the authenticity of the origin and genuineness of the text can claim to be so well substantiated.

II. 7. In the catalogue of the Han Library we have the entry of ‘Kwang-jze in fifty-two books or sections.’ By

The Books of the time of the Sui dynasty, the editions of wang-3ze. his work amounted to nearly a score. The earliest commentary that has come down to us goes by the name of Kwo Hsiang’s. He was an officer and scholar of the 3in dynasty, who died about the year 312. Another officer, also of 3in, called Hsiang Hsit, of rather an earlier date, had undertaken the same task, but left it incomplete ; and his manuscripts coming (not, as it appears, by

1 Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 173.

Ke) THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH. I.

any fraud) into Kwo’s hands, he altered and completed them as suited his own views, and then gave them to the public. In the short account of Kwo, given in the twentieth chapter of the Biographies of the 3in history, it is said that several tens of commentators had laboured unsatisfactorily on Awang’s writings before Hsiang Hsia took them in hand. As the joint result of the labours of the two men, however, we have only thirty-three of the fiftytwo sections mentioned in the Han catalogue. It is in vain that I have tried to discover how and when the other nineteen sections were lost. In one of the earliest commentaries on the Tao Teh King, that by Yen 3un, we have several quotations from Kwang-3ze which bear evidently the stamp of his handiwork, and are not in the current Books; but they would not altogether make up a single section. We have only to be thankful that so large a proportion of the original work has been preserved. Sd Shih (3ze-#an, and Tung-pho), it is well known, called in question the genuineness of Books 28 to 311. Books 15 and 16 have also been challenged, and a paragraph here and there in one or other of the Books. The various readings, according to a collation given by 3i4o Hung, are few. 8. There can be no doubt that the Books of Kwang-jze were hailed by all the friends of Téoism. It has been mentioned above that the names ‘ Hwang-Ti’

Importance to ’ :

Taoism of the and ‘ Lao-3ze” were associated together as pos of denoting the masters of TAoism, and the wang-3ze. A ; phrase, ‘the words of Hwang-Ti and Lao-3ze, came to be no more than a name for the Tao Teh King. Gradually the two names were contracted into ‘Hwang Lao,’ as in the passage quoted on p. 6 from Pan Ka. After the Han dynasty, the name Hwang gave place to Kwang, and the names Liao Awang, and, sometimes inverted, Kwang Lao, were employed to denote the system or the texts of Taoism. In the account, for instance, of Ki

1 A brother of Shih, Si Aéh (9ze-yi and Ying-pin), wrote a remarkable commentary on the Tao Teh Xing; but it was Shih who first discredited those four Books, in his Inscription for the temple of Awang-3ze, prepared in 1078,

CH. Il. INTRODUCTION. II

In the account, for instance, of Ki

CH. Il. INTRODUCTION. II

Khang, in the nineteenth chapter of the Biographies of 3in, we havea typical Taoist brought before us. When grown up, ‘he loved Lao and Kwang;’ and a visitor, to produce the most favourable impression on him, says, ‘ Lao-3ze and Kwang Kau are my masters.’ .

9. The thirty-three Books of Kwang-3ze are divided into three Parts, called Néi, or ‘the Inner;’ W4i, or ‘ the Outer ;’ and 34, ‘the Miscellaneous.’ The first Part com-

Division of the prises seven Books; the second, fifteen; and Books into three the third, eleven. ‘Inner’ may be under- Parts. stood as equivalent to esoteric or More Important. The titles of the several Books are significant, and each expresses the subject or theme of its Book. They are believed to have been prefixed by Kwang-3ze himself, and that no alteration could be made in the composition but for the worse. ‘Outer’ is understood in the sense of supplementary or subsidiary. The fifteen Books so called are ‘Wings’ to the previous seven. Their titles were not given by the author, and are not significant of the Tdoistic truth which all the paragraphs unite, or should unite, in illustrating ; they are merely some name or phrase taken from the commencement of the first paragraph in each Book,—like the names of the Books of the Confucian Analects, or of the Hebrew Pentateuch. The fixing them originally is generally supposed to have been the work of Kwo Hsiang. The eleven Miscellaneous Books are also supplementary to those of the first Part, and it is not easy to see why a difference was made between them and the fifteen that precede.

10, Kwang-3ze’s writings have long been current under the name of Nan Hwa Xan King. He was a native of The general title the duchy of Sung, born in what was then of wang-jze's_ called the district of Mang, and belonged to works. the state or kingdom of Liang or Wei. As he grew up, he filled some official post in the city of 3hiyiian,—the site of which it is not easy to determine with certainty. In A.D. 742, the name of his birth-place was changed (but only for a time) to Nan-hwa, and an imperial order was issued that Awang-3ze should thence-

12 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH, It.

forth be styled ‘The True Man of Nan-hwa,’ and his Book, ‘The True Book of Nan-hwa!’ To be ‘a True Man’ is the highest TAoistic achievement of a man, and our author thus canonised communicates his glory to his

Book.

CHAPTER III.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE NAME TAO? AND
THE CHIEF POINTS OF BELIEF IN TAOISM.