Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Neither of our authorities tells us The paradisiacal how long this condition lasted, but as Lao state. observes in his eighteenth chapter, ‘the Tao ceased to be observed.’ A wang-3ze, however, gives us CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 27 more than one description of what he considered the paradisiacal state was. He calls it ‘the age of Perfect Virtue.’ In the thirteenth paragraph of his twelfth Book he says, ‘In this age, they attached no value to wisdom, nor employed men of ability. Superiors were (but) as the higher branches of a tree; and the people were like the deer of the wild. They were upright and correct, without knowing that to be so was Righteousness; they loved one another, without knowing that to do so was Benevolence; they were honest and leal-hearted, without knowing that it was Loyalty ; they fulfilled their engagements, without knowing that to do so was Good Faith; in their movements they employed the services of one another, without thinking that they were conferring or receiving any gift. Therefore their actions left no trace, and there was no record of their affairs.’ Again, in the fourth paragraph of his tenth Book, addressing an imaginary interlocutor, he says, ‘Are you, Sir, unacquainted with the age of Perfect Virtue?’ He then gives the names of twelve sovereigns who ruled in it, of the greater number of whom we have no other means of knowing anything, and goes on :—‘In their times the people used knotted cords in carrying on their business. They thought their (simple) food pleasant, and their (plain) clothing beautiful. They were happy in their (simple) manners, and felt at rest in their (poor) dwellings. (The people of) neighbouring states might be able to descry one another ; the voices of their cocks and dogs might be heard from one to the other; they might not die till they were old; and yet all their life they would have no communication together. In those times perfect good order prevailed.’ One other description of the primeval state is still more interesting. It is in the second paragraph of Bk. IX :— ‘The people had their regular and constant nature :—they wove and made themselves clothes; they tilled the ground and got food. This was their common faculty. They were all one in this, and did not form themselves into separate classes ; so were they constituted and left to their natural tendencies. Therefore in the age of Perfect Virtue men walked along with slow and grave step, and with their 28 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH. III.
2They were all one in this, and did not form themselves into separate classes ; so were they constituted and left to their natural tendencies. Therefore in the age of Perfect Virtue men walked along with slow and grave step, and with their 28 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH. III. looks steadily directed forwards. On the hills there were no footpaths nor excavated passages; on the lakes there were no boats nor dams. All creatures lived in companies, and their places of settlement were made near to one another. Birds and beasts multiplied to flocks and herds; the grass and trees grew luxuriant and long. The birds and beasts might be led about without feeling the constraint; the nest of the magpie might be climbed to, and peeped into. Yes, in the age of Perfect Virtue, men lived in common with birds and beasts, and were on terms of equality with all creatures, as forming one family ;—how could they know among themselves the distinctions of superior men and small men? Equally without knowledge, they did not leave the path of their natural virtue; equally free from desires, they were in the state of pure simplicity. In that pure simplicity, their nature was what it ought to be.’ Such were the earliest Chinese of whom Kwang-jze could venture to give any account. If ever their ancestors had been in a ruder or savage condition, it must have been at a much antecedent time. These had long passed out of such a state; they were tillers of the ground, and acquainted with the use of the loom. They lived in happy relations with one another, and in kindly harmony with the tribes of inferior creatures. But there is not the slightest allusion to any sentiment of piety as animating them individually, or to any ceremony of religion as observed by them in common. This surely is a remarkable feature in their condition. I call attention to it, but I do not dwell upon it. 8. But by the time of Lao and A wang the cultivation of the TAo had fallen into disuse. The simplicity of life which it demanded, with its freedom from The decay of the all disturbing speculation and action, was no growth of —_ longer to be found in individuals or in governknowledge. ment. It was the general decay of manners and of social order which unsettled the mind of Lao, made him resign his position as a curator of the Royal Library, and determine to withdraw from China and hide himself CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 29
3ment. It was the general decay of manners and of social order which unsettled the mind of Lao, made him resign his position as a curator of the Royal Library, and determine to withdraw from China and hide himself CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 29 among the rude peoples beyond it. The cause of the deterioration of the Tao and of all the evils of the nation was attributed to the ever-growing pursuit of knowledge, and of what we call the arts of culture. It had commenced very long before ;—in the time of Hwang-Ti, Kwang says in one place!; and in another he carries it still higher to Sui-zin and Fu-hst?. There had been indeed, all along the line of history, a groping for the rules of life, as indicated by the constitution of man’s nature. The results were embodied in the ancient literature which was the lifelong study of Confucius. He had gathered up that literature; he recognised the nature of man as the gift of Heaven or God. The monitions of God as given in the convictions of man’s mind supplied him with a T4o or Path of duty very different from the T4o or Mysterious Way of Léo. All this was gall and wormwood to the dreaming librarian or brooding recluse, and made him say, ‘If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people _ would again become filial and kindly. If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard our (scheming for) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers®.’ We can laugh at this. TAoism was wrong in its opposition to the increase of knowledge. Man exists under a law of progress. In pursuing it there are demanded discretion and justice. Moral ends must rule over material ends, and advance in virtue be ranked higher than advance in science. So have good and evil, truth and error, to fight out the battle on the field of the world, and in all the range of time; but there is no standing still for the individual or for society. Even Confucius taught his countrymen to set too high a value on the examples of antiquity. The school of Lao-3ze fixing themselves in an unknown region beyond antiquity,—a prehistoric time between ‘the Grand Beginning of all things’ out of nothing, and the unknown commencement of societies of men,—has made no advance 1 Bk. XI, par. 5. 2 Bk. XVI, par. 2. * Tao Teh Xing, ch. 1y. 30 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH, Il. but rather retrograded, and is represented by the still more degenerate Taoism of the present day.
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.
1Neither of our authorities tells us The paradisiacal how long this condition lasted, but as Lao state. observes in his eighteenth chapter, ‘the Tao ceased to be observed.’ A wang-3ze, however, gives us CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 27 more than one description of what he considered the paradisiacal state was. He calls it ‘the age of Perfect Virtue.’ In the thirteenth paragraph of his twelfth Book he says, ‘In this age, they attached no value to wisdom, nor employed men of ability. Superiors were (but) as the higher branches of a tree; and the people were like the deer of the wild. They were upright and correct, without knowing that to be so was Righteousness; they loved one another, without knowing that to do so was Benevolence; they were honest and leal-hearted, without knowing that it was Loyalty ; they fulfilled their engagements, without knowing that to do so was Good Faith; in their movements they employed the services of one another, without thinking that they were conferring or receiving any gift. Therefore their actions left no trace, and there was no record of their affairs.’ Again, in the fourth paragraph of his tenth Book, addressing an imaginary interlocutor, he says, ‘Are you, Sir, unacquainted with the age of Perfect Virtue?’ He then gives the names of twelve sovereigns who ruled in it, of the greater number of whom we have no other means of knowing anything, and goes on :—‘In their times the people used knotted cords in carrying on their business. They thought their (simple) food pleasant, and their (plain) clothing beautiful. They were happy in their (simple) manners, and felt at rest in their (poor) dwellings. (The people of) neighbouring states might be able to descry one another ; the voices of their cocks and dogs might be heard from one to the other; they might not die till they were old; and yet all their life they would have no communication together. In those times perfect good order prevailed.’ One other description of the primeval state is still more interesting. It is in the second paragraph of Bk. IX :— ‘The people had their regular and constant nature :—they wove and made themselves clothes; they tilled the ground and got food. This was their common faculty. They were all one in this, and did not form themselves into separate classes ; so were they constituted and left to their natural tendencies. Therefore in the age of Perfect Virtue men walked along with slow and grave step, and with their 28 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH. III.
2They were all one in this, and did not form themselves into separate classes ; so were they constituted and left to their natural tendencies. Therefore in the age of Perfect Virtue men walked along with slow and grave step, and with their 28 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH. III. looks steadily directed forwards. On the hills there were no footpaths nor excavated passages; on the lakes there were no boats nor dams. All creatures lived in companies, and their places of settlement were made near to one another. Birds and beasts multiplied to flocks and herds; the grass and trees grew luxuriant and long. The birds and beasts might be led about without feeling the constraint; the nest of the magpie might be climbed to, and peeped into. Yes, in the age of Perfect Virtue, men lived in common with birds and beasts, and were on terms of equality with all creatures, as forming one family ;—how could they know among themselves the distinctions of superior men and small men? Equally without knowledge, they did not leave the path of their natural virtue; equally free from desires, they were in the state of pure simplicity. In that pure simplicity, their nature was what it ought to be.’ Such were the earliest Chinese of whom Kwang-jze could venture to give any account. If ever their ancestors had been in a ruder or savage condition, it must have been at a much antecedent time. These had long passed out of such a state; they were tillers of the ground, and acquainted with the use of the loom. They lived in happy relations with one another, and in kindly harmony with the tribes of inferior creatures. But there is not the slightest allusion to any sentiment of piety as animating them individually, or to any ceremony of religion as observed by them in common. This surely is a remarkable feature in their condition. I call attention to it, but I do not dwell upon it. 8. But by the time of Lao and A wang the cultivation of the TAo had fallen into disuse. The simplicity of life which it demanded, with its freedom from The decay of the all disturbing speculation and action, was no growth of —_ longer to be found in individuals or in governknowledge. ment. It was the general decay of manners and of social order which unsettled the mind of Lao, made him resign his position as a curator of the Royal Library, and determine to withdraw from China and hide himself CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 29
3ment. It was the general decay of manners and of social order which unsettled the mind of Lao, made him resign his position as a curator of the Royal Library, and determine to withdraw from China and hide himself CH. III. INTRODUCTION. 29 among the rude peoples beyond it. The cause of the deterioration of the Tao and of all the evils of the nation was attributed to the ever-growing pursuit of knowledge, and of what we call the arts of culture. It had commenced very long before ;—in the time of Hwang-Ti, Kwang says in one place!; and in another he carries it still higher to Sui-zin and Fu-hst?. There had been indeed, all along the line of history, a groping for the rules of life, as indicated by the constitution of man’s nature. The results were embodied in the ancient literature which was the lifelong study of Confucius. He had gathered up that literature; he recognised the nature of man as the gift of Heaven or God. The monitions of God as given in the convictions of man’s mind supplied him with a T4o or Path of duty very different from the T4o or Mysterious Way of Léo. All this was gall and wormwood to the dreaming librarian or brooding recluse, and made him say, ‘If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold. If we could renounce our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people _ would again become filial and kindly. If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard our (scheming for) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers®.’ We can laugh at this. TAoism was wrong in its opposition to the increase of knowledge. Man exists under a law of progress. In pursuing it there are demanded discretion and justice. Moral ends must rule over material ends, and advance in virtue be ranked higher than advance in science. So have good and evil, truth and error, to fight out the battle on the field of the world, and in all the range of time; but there is no standing still for the individual or for society. Even Confucius taught his countrymen to set too high a value on the examples of antiquity. The school of Lao-3ze fixing themselves in an unknown region beyond antiquity,—a prehistoric time between ‘the Grand Beginning of all things’ out of nothing, and the unknown commencement of societies of men,—has made no advance 1 Bk. XI, par. 5. 2 Bk. XVI, par. 2. * Tao Teh Xing, ch. 1y. 30 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. CH, Il. but rather retrograded, and is represented by the still more degenerate Taoism of the present day.
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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