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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Confucius is the principal speaker in the first four paragraphs. In what he says to Yen Hui and the duke of Sheh there is much that is shrewd and good; but we prefer the practical style of his teachings, as related by his own disciples in the Confucian Analects. Possibly, it was the object of Kwang-3ze to exhibit his teaching, as containing, without his being aware of it, much of the mystical character of the Tdoistic system. His conversation with the duke of Sheh, however, is less obnoxious to this charge than what he is made to say to Yen Hui. The adviser of Yen Ho is a Kii Po-yii, a disciple of Confucius, who still has a place in the sage’s temples. In the conclusion, the Taoism of our author comes out in contrast with the methods of Confucius. His object in the whole treatise, perhaps, was to show how ‘the doing nothing, and yet thereby doing everything,’ was the method to be pursued in all the intercourses of society. BK. V.' BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 133 Book V. TrEH KXa#uNG FO. The fa (4) consisted in the earliest times of two slips of bamboo made with certain marks, so as to fit to each other exactly, and held by the two parties to any agreement or covenant. By the production and comparison of the slips, the parties verified their mutual relation ; and the claim of the one and the obligation of the other were sufficiently established. ‘Seal’ seems the best translation of the character in this title. By ‘virtue’ ( $id) we must understand the characteristics of the Tao. Where those existed in their full proportions in any individual, there was sure to be the evidence or proof of them in the influence which he exerted in all his intercourse with other men; and the illustration of this is the subject of this Book, in all its five paragraphs. That influence is the ‘Seal’ set on him, proving him to be a true child of the T4o. The heroes, as I may call them, of the first three paragraphs are all men who had lost their feet, having been reduced to that condition as a punishment, just or unjust, of certain offences; and those of the last two are distinguished by their extraordinary ugliness or disgusting deformity. But neither the loss of their feet nor their deformities trouble the serenity of their own minds, or interfere with the effects of their teaching and character upon others; so superior is their virtue to the deficiencies in their outward appearance. Various brief descriptions of the T4o are interspersed in the Book. The most remarkable of them are those in par. 1, where it appears as ‘that in which there is no element of falsehood,’ and as ‘the author of all the Changes or Transformations’ in the world. The sentences where these occur are thus translated by Mr. Balfour :—‘ He seeks to know Him in whom is nothing false. He would not be affected by the instability of creation; even if his life were involved in the general destruction, he would yet hold firmly to his faith (in God). And he observes in a
2Balfour :—‘ He seeks to know Him in whom is nothing false. He would not be affected by the instability of creation; even if his life were involved in the general destruction, he would yet hold firmly to his faith (in God). And he observes in a 134 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, VI. note, that the first short sentence ‘is explained by the commentators as referring to Kan 3éi (ie a), the term used by the Taoist school for God.’ But we met with that name and synonyms of it in Book II, par. 2, as appellations of the TAo, coupled with the denial of its personality. Kan 34i, ‘the True Governor or Lord, may be used as a designation for god or God, but the Taoist school denies the existence of a Personal Being, to whom we are accustomed to apply that name. Hui-jze, the sophist and friend of Awang-3ze, is introduced in the conclusion as disputing with him the propriety of his representing the Master of the Téo as being still ‘a man;’ and is beaten down by him with a repetition of his assertions, and a reference to some of Hui-3ze’s well-known peculiarities. What would AKwang-jze have said, if his opponent had affirmed that his instances were all imaginary, and that no man had ever appeared who could appeal to his possession of such a ‘seal’ to his virtues and influence as he described ? Lai Fang-wang compares with the tenor of this Book what we find in Mencius, VII, i, 21, about the nature of the superior man. The analogy between them, however, is very faint and incomplete. Book VI. TA 3uNG SHIH. So I translate the title of this Book, taking 3ung asa verb, and 3ung Shih as =‘ The Master who is Honoured.’ Some critics take 3ung in the sense of ‘Originator, in which it is employed in the Tao Teh King, Ixx, 2. Whichever rendering be adopted, there is no doubt that the title is intended to be a designation of the T4o; and no one of our author’s Books is more important for the understanding of his system of thought. The key to it is found in the first of its fifteen paragraphs, There are in man two elements ;—the Heavenly or Taoistic, and the human. The disciple of the Tao, recognising them both, cultivates what he knows as a man BK.VI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 135
3The key to it is found in the first of its fifteen paragraphs, There are in man two elements ;—the Heavenly or Taoistic, and the human. The disciple of the Tao, recognising them both, cultivates what he knows as a man BK.VI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 135 so as to become entirely conformed to the action of the Tao, and submissive in all the most painful experiences in his lot, which is entirely ordered by it. A seal will be set on the wisdom of this course hereafter, when he has completed the period of his existence on earth, and returns to the state of non-existence, from which the Tao called him to be born as a man. In the meantime he may attain to be the True man possessing the True knowledge. Our author then proceeds to give his readers in five paragraphs his idea of the True Man. Mr. Balfour says that this name is to be understood ‘in the esoteric sense, the partaking of the essence of divinity,’ and he translates it by ‘the Divine Man. But we have no right to introduce here the terms ‘divine’ and ‘divinity.’ Nan-hwéi (VII, 5b) gives a short definition of the name which is more to the point :—‘ What we call “the True Man” is one whose nature is in agreement with the Tao (Ar a8 1 A 4 Pp: & a F 8 th;’ and the commentator adds ina note, ‘Such men as Fi-hsi, Hwang-Ti, and Lao Tan.’ The Khang- hsi dictionary commences its account of the character i or ‘True’ by a definition of the True Man taken from the Shwo W4n as a fily KS a recluse of the mountain, whose bodily form has been changed, and who ascends to heaven ;’ but when that earliest dictionary was made, Taoism had entered into a new phase, different from what it had in the time of our author. The most prominent characteristic of the True Man is that he is free from all exercise of thought and purpose, a being entirely passive in the hands ofthe T4o. In par. 3 seven men are mentioned, good and worthy men, but inferior to the True. Having said what he had to say of the True Man, Kwang-3ze comes in the seventh paragraph to speak directly of the T Ao itself, and describes it with many wonderful predicates which exalt it above our idea of God ;—a concept and not a personality. He concludes by mentioning a number of ancient personages who had got the T4o, and by it wrought wonders, beginning with a Shih-wei, who preceded Fi-hsi, and ending with Fa Yiieh, the minister of 136 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. VII. Wi-ting, in the fourteenth century B.C.,and who finally became a star in the eastern portion of the zodiac. Phang 30 is also mentioned as living, through his possession of the Tao, from the twenty-third century B.C. to the seventh or later. The sun and moon and the constellation of the Great Bear are also mentioned as its possessors, and the fabulous Being called the Mother of the Western King. The whole passage is perplexing to the reader to the last degree.
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.
1Confucius is the principal speaker in the first four paragraphs. In what he says to Yen Hui and the duke of Sheh there is much that is shrewd and good; but we prefer the practical style of his teachings, as related by his own disciples in the Confucian Analects. Possibly, it was the object of Kwang-3ze to exhibit his teaching, as containing, without his being aware of it, much of the mystical character of the Tdoistic system. His conversation with the duke of Sheh, however, is less obnoxious to this charge than what he is made to say to Yen Hui. The adviser of Yen Ho is a Kii Po-yii, a disciple of Confucius, who still has a place in the sage’s temples. In the conclusion, the Taoism of our author comes out in contrast with the methods of Confucius. His object in the whole treatise, perhaps, was to show how ‘the doing nothing, and yet thereby doing everything,’ was the method to be pursued in all the intercourses of society. BK. V.' BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 133 Book V. TrEH KXa#uNG FO. The fa (4) consisted in the earliest times of two slips of bamboo made with certain marks, so as to fit to each other exactly, and held by the two parties to any agreement or covenant. By the production and comparison of the slips, the parties verified their mutual relation ; and the claim of the one and the obligation of the other were sufficiently established. ‘Seal’ seems the best translation of the character in this title. By ‘virtue’ ( $id) we must understand the characteristics of the Tao. Where those existed in their full proportions in any individual, there was sure to be the evidence or proof of them in the influence which he exerted in all his intercourse with other men; and the illustration of this is the subject of this Book, in all its five paragraphs. That influence is the ‘Seal’ set on him, proving him to be a true child of the T4o. The heroes, as I may call them, of the first three paragraphs are all men who had lost their feet, having been reduced to that condition as a punishment, just or unjust, of certain offences; and those of the last two are distinguished by their extraordinary ugliness or disgusting deformity. But neither the loss of their feet nor their deformities trouble the serenity of their own minds, or interfere with the effects of their teaching and character upon others; so superior is their virtue to the deficiencies in their outward appearance. Various brief descriptions of the T4o are interspersed in the Book. The most remarkable of them are those in par. 1, where it appears as ‘that in which there is no element of falsehood,’ and as ‘the author of all the Changes or Transformations’ in the world. The sentences where these occur are thus translated by Mr. Balfour :—‘ He seeks to know Him in whom is nothing false. He would not be affected by the instability of creation; even if his life were involved in the general destruction, he would yet hold firmly to his faith (in God). And he observes in a
2Balfour :—‘ He seeks to know Him in whom is nothing false. He would not be affected by the instability of creation; even if his life were involved in the general destruction, he would yet hold firmly to his faith (in God). And he observes in a 134 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, VI. note, that the first short sentence ‘is explained by the commentators as referring to Kan 3éi (ie a), the term used by the Taoist school for God.’ But we met with that name and synonyms of it in Book II, par. 2, as appellations of the TAo, coupled with the denial of its personality. Kan 34i, ‘the True Governor or Lord, may be used as a designation for god or God, but the Taoist school denies the existence of a Personal Being, to whom we are accustomed to apply that name. Hui-jze, the sophist and friend of Awang-3ze, is introduced in the conclusion as disputing with him the propriety of his representing the Master of the Téo as being still ‘a man;’ and is beaten down by him with a repetition of his assertions, and a reference to some of Hui-3ze’s well-known peculiarities. What would AKwang-jze have said, if his opponent had affirmed that his instances were all imaginary, and that no man had ever appeared who could appeal to his possession of such a ‘seal’ to his virtues and influence as he described ? Lai Fang-wang compares with the tenor of this Book what we find in Mencius, VII, i, 21, about the nature of the superior man. The analogy between them, however, is very faint and incomplete. Book VI. TA 3uNG SHIH. So I translate the title of this Book, taking 3ung asa verb, and 3ung Shih as =‘ The Master who is Honoured.’ Some critics take 3ung in the sense of ‘Originator, in which it is employed in the Tao Teh King, Ixx, 2. Whichever rendering be adopted, there is no doubt that the title is intended to be a designation of the T4o; and no one of our author’s Books is more important for the understanding of his system of thought. The key to it is found in the first of its fifteen paragraphs, There are in man two elements ;—the Heavenly or Taoistic, and the human. The disciple of the Tao, recognising them both, cultivates what he knows as a man BK.VI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 135
3The key to it is found in the first of its fifteen paragraphs, There are in man two elements ;—the Heavenly or Taoistic, and the human. The disciple of the Tao, recognising them both, cultivates what he knows as a man BK.VI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 135 so as to become entirely conformed to the action of the Tao, and submissive in all the most painful experiences in his lot, which is entirely ordered by it. A seal will be set on the wisdom of this course hereafter, when he has completed the period of his existence on earth, and returns to the state of non-existence, from which the Tao called him to be born as a man. In the meantime he may attain to be the True man possessing the True knowledge. Our author then proceeds to give his readers in five paragraphs his idea of the True Man. Mr. Balfour says that this name is to be understood ‘in the esoteric sense, the partaking of the essence of divinity,’ and he translates it by ‘the Divine Man. But we have no right to introduce here the terms ‘divine’ and ‘divinity.’ Nan-hwéi (VII, 5b) gives a short definition of the name which is more to the point :—‘ What we call “the True Man” is one whose nature is in agreement with the Tao (Ar a8 1 A 4 Pp: & a F 8 th;’ and the commentator adds ina note, ‘Such men as Fi-hsi, Hwang-Ti, and Lao Tan.’ The Khang- hsi dictionary commences its account of the character i or ‘True’ by a definition of the True Man taken from the Shwo W4n as a fily KS a recluse of the mountain, whose bodily form has been changed, and who ascends to heaven ;’ but when that earliest dictionary was made, Taoism had entered into a new phase, different from what it had in the time of our author. The most prominent characteristic of the True Man is that he is free from all exercise of thought and purpose, a being entirely passive in the hands ofthe T4o. In par. 3 seven men are mentioned, good and worthy men, but inferior to the True. Having said what he had to say of the True Man, Kwang-3ze comes in the seventh paragraph to speak directly of the T Ao itself, and describes it with many wonderful predicates which exalt it above our idea of God ;—a concept and not a personality. He concludes by mentioning a number of ancient personages who had got the T4o, and by it wrought wonders, beginning with a Shih-wei, who preceded Fi-hsi, and ending with Fa Yiieh, the minister of 136 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. VII. Wi-ting, in the fourteenth century B.C.,and who finally became a star in the eastern portion of the zodiac. Phang 30 is also mentioned as living, through his possession of the Tao, from the twenty-third century B.C. to the seventh or later. The sun and moon and the constellation of the Great Bear are also mentioned as its possessors, and the fabulous Being called the Mother of the Western King. The whole passage is perplexing to the reader to the last degree.
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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