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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1I would translate it by the Word in the sense of the Logos, but this would be like settling the question which I wish to leave open, viz. what amount of resemblance there is between the Logos of the New Testament and this Tao, which is its nearest representative in Chinese.’ Two other translations of the T4ao-teh King have appeared, both in German :—‘ Lao-tsze’s Tao Te King, aus dem Chinesischen ins Deutsche iibersetzt, eingeleitet, und commentirt, von Victor von Strauss (Leipzig, 1870),’ and ‘Lao-tse, Tao-te-king, “Der Weg zur Tugend,” aus dem Chinesischen iibersetzt und erklart von Reinhold von Planckner,’ also published at Leipzig. Strauss closely follows Julien, while Planckner allows himself great freedom in dealing with his original. Notwithstanding these four attempts to give the meaning of ‘the Old Philosopher’ in three European languages, there is room for a new version, which will be submitted to the reader in due course. It is only by an intense and long-continued study of the original that we can come to an agreement as to the meaning of the Tao. I propose not only to give a translation of the T4o-teh King, but also of the works of Kwang-jze, the most remarkable of the early writers of the T4Aoist school. Whatever L4o-jze intended by the T4o, Taoism has, in the course of time, borrowed largely, both from Confucianism and Buddhism. It inculcates a morality of a high order in some respects, and has developed a system of grotesque beliefs and practices, ministering to superstition, and intended to refine and preserve the breath of life. Its practical teachings will be exhibited in the most popular of all the TAoist writings,—the treatise on ‘ Actions and their Recompenses,’ and perhaps in one or more, besides, of the characteristic productions of the system. The version of the Sh that appears in this volume is substantially the same as that in the third volume of my PREFACE. xxili large edition of the Chinese Classics, and which was published in 1865. I wrote out the whole afresh, however, having before me not only my own version, but the earlier translations of P. Gaubil in French and Dr. Medhurst in English. Frequent reference was made likewise to a larger apparatus of native commentaries than I had formerly used. Going to the text anew, after more than twelve years devoted mainly to the continuous study of the Chinese classics, I yet hardly discovered any errors which it was necessary to correct. A few verbal alterations were made to make the meaning clearer. Only in one case will a reader, familiar with the former version, be struck with any alteration in this. The Chinese character itt (Ti), applied repeatedly to the ancient Yao and Shun in the commencing books of the classic, and once in the 27th Book of the fifth Part, was there translated by ‘emperor,’ while it is left untranslated in the present volume, and its name transferred to the English text.
2The Chinese character itt (Ti), applied repeatedly to the ancient Yao and Shun in the commencing books of the classic, and once in the 27th Book of the fifth Part, was there translated by ‘emperor,’ while it is left untranslated in the present volume, and its name transferred to the English text. Before adopting this change, I had considered whether I ought to translate Ti in all other instances of its occurrence in the Sh (and invariably in the Shih), and its intensified form Shang Ti an if}, by our term ‘God.’ Gaubil rendered Ti for the most part by ‘le Seigneur,’ and Shang Ti by-‘le Souverain Maitre,’ adding sometimes to these names Ti and Shang Ti in brackets. Medhurst translated Ti by ‘the Supreme,’ and ‘the Supreme Ruler,’ and Shang Ti by ‘the Supreme Ruler.’ More than twentyfive years ago I came to the conclusion that Ti was the term corresponding in Chinese to our ‘God,’ and that Shang Ti was the same, with the addition of Shang, equal to ‘Supreme.’ In this view I have never wavered, and I have rendered both the names by ‘God’ in all the volumes of the Chinese Classics thus far translated and published. What made me pause before doing so in the present volume, was the consideration that the object of ‘the Sacred Texts of the Religions of the East,’ as I understand it, is to give translations of those texts without any colouring in the first place from the views of the trans- XXIV PREFACE. lators. Could it be that my own view of Ti, as meaning God, had grown up in the heat of our controversies in China as to the proper characters to be used for the words God and Spirit, in translating the Sacred Scriptures? A reader, confronted everywhere by the word God, might be led to think more highly of the primitive religion of China than he ought to think. Should I leave the names Ti and Shang Ti untranslated? Or should I give for them, instead of God, the terms Ruler and Supreme Ruler? Icould not see my way to adopt either of these courses. The term Heaven (RK, pronounced Thien) is used everywhere in the Chinese Classics for the Supreme Power, ruling and governing all the affairs of men with an omnipotent and omniscient righteousness and goodness; and this vague term is constantly interchanged in the same paragraph, not to say the same sentence, with the personal names Ti and Shang Ti. Thien and Ti in their written forms are perfectly distinct. Both of them were among the earliest characters, and enter, though not largely, as the phonetical element into other characters of later formation. According to the oldest Chinese dictionary, the Shwo Wan (A.D. 100), Thien is formed, ‘ by association of ideas,’ from yi (—), ‘one,’ and ta ( x), ‘great,’ meaning— what is one and undivided, and great. T4i Thung, of our thirteenth century, in his remarkable dictionary, the Lit ShQ Ka, explains the top line of it as indicating ‘what is above, so that the significance of the character is ‘ what is above and great.’ In both these dictionaries Ti ( if) is
3T4i Thung, of our thirteenth century, in his remarkable dictionary, the Lit ShQ Ka, explains the top line of it as indicating ‘what is above, so that the significance of the character is ‘ what is above and great.’ In both these dictionaries Ti ( if) is derived from —-- or — (shang), ‘above,’ or ‘what is above:’ and they say that the whole character is of phonetical formation, in which I am not able to follow them}; 1 It is said in the Shwo Wan that the phonetical element in Tt is i, but this is pronounced Shze. Neither in form nor sound is there any similitude between it and Tf. An error, probably, has crept into the text. Dr. Chalmers, in his treatise on ‘the Origin of the Chinese,’ attempts (p. 12) to analyse the character into its constituent parts in the following way :—‘ The peculiar nature of the Chinese written language has done good service in stereotyping the primi- PREFACE. XXV but T4i Thung gives the following account of its meaning :—‘ Tt is the honourable designation of lordship and tule,’ adding, ‘Therefore Heaven is called Shang Ti; the five Elementary Powers are called the five Ti; and the Son of Heaven !—that is, the Sovereign—is called Ti.’ Here then is the name Heaven, by which the idea of Supreme Power in the absolute is vaguely expressed ; and when the Chinese would speak of it by a personal name, they use the terms Ti and Shang Ti;—saying, I believe, what our early fathers did, when they began to use the word God. Ti is the name which has been employed in China for this concept for fully 5000 years. Our word God fits naturally into every passage where the character occurs in the old Chinese Classics, save those to which I referred above on p. xxiii. It never became with the people a proper name like the Zeus of the Greeks. I can no more translate Ti or Shang Ti by any other word but God than I can translate zn ( A) by anything else but man. The preceding is a brief abstract of the reasoning by which I was determined to retain the term God for Ti and Shang Ti in this volume, excepting in the cases that have called for these observations. But in the account of Ti which I have adduced from Tai Thung, it is said that ‘the sovereign is also called Ti;’ and most of my readers know that Hwang Ti (Et ft) is the title of the emperor of China. How did this application of the name arise? Was it in the first place a designation of the ruler or emperor; and was it then given to the Supreme Power, when the vague Heaven failed to satisfy the thinker and worshipper, tive belief in one Supreme Tt (Ff). who is ak “great,” over, and | , “ ruling,” heaven (~~ =+-—*) and earth (a ) This is ingenious, but not entirely satisfactory. The three last steps are so; but the finding kK (great) in the top part of if does not in the same way carry conviction to the mind. * Thien 3ze, ‘the Son of Heaven,’ is a common designation of the sovereign of China, Originally 3ze performed in the expression the part of a verb, and
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1I would translate it by the Word in the sense of the Logos, but this would be like settling the question which I wish to leave open, viz. what amount of resemblance there is between the Logos of the New Testament and this Tao, which is its nearest representative in Chinese.’ Two other translations of the T4ao-teh King have appeared, both in German :—‘ Lao-tsze’s Tao Te King, aus dem Chinesischen ins Deutsche iibersetzt, eingeleitet, und commentirt, von Victor von Strauss (Leipzig, 1870),’ and ‘Lao-tse, Tao-te-king, “Der Weg zur Tugend,” aus dem Chinesischen iibersetzt und erklart von Reinhold von Planckner,’ also published at Leipzig. Strauss closely follows Julien, while Planckner allows himself great freedom in dealing with his original. Notwithstanding these four attempts to give the meaning of ‘the Old Philosopher’ in three European languages, there is room for a new version, which will be submitted to the reader in due course. It is only by an intense and long-continued study of the original that we can come to an agreement as to the meaning of the Tao. I propose not only to give a translation of the T4o-teh King, but also of the works of Kwang-jze, the most remarkable of the early writers of the T4Aoist school. Whatever L4o-jze intended by the T4o, Taoism has, in the course of time, borrowed largely, both from Confucianism and Buddhism. It inculcates a morality of a high order in some respects, and has developed a system of grotesque beliefs and practices, ministering to superstition, and intended to refine and preserve the breath of life. Its practical teachings will be exhibited in the most popular of all the TAoist writings,—the treatise on ‘ Actions and their Recompenses,’ and perhaps in one or more, besides, of the characteristic productions of the system. The version of the Sh that appears in this volume is substantially the same as that in the third volume of my PREFACE. xxili large edition of the Chinese Classics, and which was published in 1865. I wrote out the whole afresh, however, having before me not only my own version, but the earlier translations of P. Gaubil in French and Dr. Medhurst in English. Frequent reference was made likewise to a larger apparatus of native commentaries than I had formerly used. Going to the text anew, after more than twelve years devoted mainly to the continuous study of the Chinese classics, I yet hardly discovered any errors which it was necessary to correct. A few verbal alterations were made to make the meaning clearer. Only in one case will a reader, familiar with the former version, be struck with any alteration in this. The Chinese character itt (Ti), applied repeatedly to the ancient Yao and Shun in the commencing books of the classic, and once in the 27th Book of the fifth Part, was there translated by ‘emperor,’ while it is left untranslated in the present volume, and its name transferred to the English text.
2The Chinese character itt (Ti), applied repeatedly to the ancient Yao and Shun in the commencing books of the classic, and once in the 27th Book of the fifth Part, was there translated by ‘emperor,’ while it is left untranslated in the present volume, and its name transferred to the English text. Before adopting this change, I had considered whether I ought to translate Ti in all other instances of its occurrence in the Sh (and invariably in the Shih), and its intensified form Shang Ti an if}, by our term ‘God.’ Gaubil rendered Ti for the most part by ‘le Seigneur,’ and Shang Ti by-‘le Souverain Maitre,’ adding sometimes to these names Ti and Shang Ti in brackets. Medhurst translated Ti by ‘the Supreme,’ and ‘the Supreme Ruler,’ and Shang Ti by ‘the Supreme Ruler.’ More than twentyfive years ago I came to the conclusion that Ti was the term corresponding in Chinese to our ‘God,’ and that Shang Ti was the same, with the addition of Shang, equal to ‘Supreme.’ In this view I have never wavered, and I have rendered both the names by ‘God’ in all the volumes of the Chinese Classics thus far translated and published. What made me pause before doing so in the present volume, was the consideration that the object of ‘the Sacred Texts of the Religions of the East,’ as I understand it, is to give translations of those texts without any colouring in the first place from the views of the trans- XXIV PREFACE. lators. Could it be that my own view of Ti, as meaning God, had grown up in the heat of our controversies in China as to the proper characters to be used for the words God and Spirit, in translating the Sacred Scriptures? A reader, confronted everywhere by the word God, might be led to think more highly of the primitive religion of China than he ought to think. Should I leave the names Ti and Shang Ti untranslated? Or should I give for them, instead of God, the terms Ruler and Supreme Ruler? Icould not see my way to adopt either of these courses. The term Heaven (RK, pronounced Thien) is used everywhere in the Chinese Classics for the Supreme Power, ruling and governing all the affairs of men with an omnipotent and omniscient righteousness and goodness; and this vague term is constantly interchanged in the same paragraph, not to say the same sentence, with the personal names Ti and Shang Ti. Thien and Ti in their written forms are perfectly distinct. Both of them were among the earliest characters, and enter, though not largely, as the phonetical element into other characters of later formation. According to the oldest Chinese dictionary, the Shwo Wan (A.D. 100), Thien is formed, ‘ by association of ideas,’ from yi (—), ‘one,’ and ta ( x), ‘great,’ meaning— what is one and undivided, and great. T4i Thung, of our thirteenth century, in his remarkable dictionary, the Lit ShQ Ka, explains the top line of it as indicating ‘what is above, so that the significance of the character is ‘ what is above and great.’ In both these dictionaries Ti ( if) is
3T4i Thung, of our thirteenth century, in his remarkable dictionary, the Lit ShQ Ka, explains the top line of it as indicating ‘what is above, so that the significance of the character is ‘ what is above and great.’ In both these dictionaries Ti ( if) is derived from —-- or — (shang), ‘above,’ or ‘what is above:’ and they say that the whole character is of phonetical formation, in which I am not able to follow them}; 1 It is said in the Shwo Wan that the phonetical element in Tt is i, but this is pronounced Shze. Neither in form nor sound is there any similitude between it and Tf. An error, probably, has crept into the text. Dr. Chalmers, in his treatise on ‘the Origin of the Chinese,’ attempts (p. 12) to analyse the character into its constituent parts in the following way :—‘ The peculiar nature of the Chinese written language has done good service in stereotyping the primi- PREFACE. XXV but T4i Thung gives the following account of its meaning :—‘ Tt is the honourable designation of lordship and tule,’ adding, ‘Therefore Heaven is called Shang Ti; the five Elementary Powers are called the five Ti; and the Son of Heaven !—that is, the Sovereign—is called Ti.’ Here then is the name Heaven, by which the idea of Supreme Power in the absolute is vaguely expressed ; and when the Chinese would speak of it by a personal name, they use the terms Ti and Shang Ti;—saying, I believe, what our early fathers did, when they began to use the word God. Ti is the name which has been employed in China for this concept for fully 5000 years. Our word God fits naturally into every passage where the character occurs in the old Chinese Classics, save those to which I referred above on p. xxiii. It never became with the people a proper name like the Zeus of the Greeks. I can no more translate Ti or Shang Ti by any other word but God than I can translate zn ( A) by anything else but man. The preceding is a brief abstract of the reasoning by which I was determined to retain the term God for Ti and Shang Ti in this volume, excepting in the cases that have called for these observations. But in the account of Ti which I have adduced from Tai Thung, it is said that ‘the sovereign is also called Ti;’ and most of my readers know that Hwang Ti (Et ft) is the title of the emperor of China. How did this application of the name arise? Was it in the first place a designation of the ruler or emperor; and was it then given to the Supreme Power, when the vague Heaven failed to satisfy the thinker and worshipper, tive belief in one Supreme Tt (Ff). who is ak “great,” over, and | , “ ruling,” heaven (~~ =+-—*) and earth (a ) This is ingenious, but not entirely satisfactory. The three last steps are so; but the finding kK (great) in the top part of if does not in the same way carry conviction to the mind. * Thien 3ze, ‘the Son of Heaven,’ is a common designation of the sovereign of China, Originally 3ze performed in the expression the part of a verb, and
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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