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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The one character ‘Heaven’ is employed throughout the Book as the denomination of this purposeless spontaneity which yet is so powerful. Li Sha-#ih says:—‘ This Book also sets forth clearly how the rulers of the world ought simply to act in accordance with the spontaneity of the virtue of Heaven ; abjuring sageness and putting away knowledge; and doing nothing: —in this way the T4o or proper Method of Government will be attained to. As to the coercive methods of Mo Ti 144 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XIII. and Hui-jze, they only serve to distress those who follow them.’ This object of the Book appears, more or less distinctly, in most of the illustrative paragraphs; though, as has been pointed out in the notes upon it, several of them must be considered to be spurious. Paragraphs 6, 7, and 11 are thus called in question, and, as most readers will feel, with reason. From 13 to the end, the paragraphsare held to be one long paragraph where Awang-jze introduces his own reflections in an unusual style; but the genuineness of the whole, so far as I have observed, has not been called in question. Book XIII. TuHiEen TAo. ‘Thien Tao, the first two characters of the first paragraph, and prefixed to the Book as the name of it, are best translated by ‘The Way of Heaven,’ meaning the noiseless spontaneity, which characterises all the operations of nature, proceeding silently, yet ‘perfecting all things.’ As the rulers of the world attain to this same way in their government, and the sages among men attain to it in their teachings, both government and doctrine arrive at a corresponding perfection. ‘The joy of Heaven’ and ‘the joy of Men’ are both realised. There ought to be no purpose or will in the universe. ‘ Vacancy, stillness, placidity, tastelessness, quietude, silence, and non-action ; this is the perfection of the TAo and its characteristics.’ Our author dwells especially on doing-nothing or nonaction as the subject-matter of the Book. But as the world is full of doing, he endeavours to make a distinction between the Ruling Powers and those subordinate to and employed by them, to whom doing or action and purpose, though still without the thought of self, are necessary; and by this distinction he seems to me to give up the peculiarity of his system, so that some of the critics, especially Atyang Hsia, are obliged to confess that these portions of the Book are unlike the writing of Kwang-jze. Still the antagonism of Taoism to Confucianism is very apparent BK. XIV. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS, I45
2Still the antagonism of Taoism to Confucianism is very apparent BK. XIV. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS, I45 throughout. Of the illustrative paragraphs, the seventh, relating the churlish behaviour of Lao-jze to Confucius, and the way in which he subsequently argues with him and snubs him, is very amusing. The eighth paragraph, relating the interview between L4o and Shih-#/ang K4i, is very strange. The allusions in it to certain incidents and peculiarities in Lao’s domestic life make us wish that we had fuller accounts of his history; and the way in which he rates his disciple shows him as a master of the language of abuse. The concluding paragraph about duke Hwan of K‘Ai is interesting, but I can only dimly perceive its bearing on the argument of the Book. Book XIV. THIEN YUN. The contrast between the movement of the heavens (FE igi), and the resting of the earth (Hh J), requires the translation of the characters of the title by ‘The Revolution of Heaven.’ But that idea does not enter largely into the subject-matter of the Book. ‘The whole,’ says Hsiian Ying, ‘consists of eight paragraphs, the first three of which show that under the sky there is nothing which is not dominated by the T4o, with which the Tis and the Kings have only to act in accordance; while the last five set forth how the T4o is not to be found in the material forms and changes of things, but in a spiritlike energy working imperceptibly, developing and controlling all phenomena. I have endeavoured in the notes on the former three paragraphs to make their meaning less obscure and unconnected than it is on a first perusal. The five illustrative paragraphs are, we may assume, all of them factitious, and can hardly be received as genuine productions of Kwangze. In the sixth paragraph, or at least a part of it, Lin Hsi-Zung acknowledges the hand of the forger, and not less unworthy of credence are in my opinion the rest of it and much of the other four paragraphs. If they may be [39] L 146 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XV. taken as from the hand of our author himself, he was too much devoted to his own system to hold the balance of judgment evenly between Lao and Khung. Book XV. Kuo f. I can think of no better translation for yi x, the two
3If they may be [39] L 146 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XV. taken as from the hand of our author himself, he was too much devoted to his own system to hold the balance of judgment evenly between Lao and Khung. Book XV. Kuo f. I can think of no better translation for yi x, the two first characters of the Book, and which appear as its title, than our ‘ Ingrained Ideas;’ notions, that is, held as firmly as if they were cut into the substance of the mind. They do not belong to the whole Book, however, but only to the first member of the first paragraph. That paragraph describes six classes of men, only the last of which are the right followers of the Tao ;—the Sages, from the T4oistic point of view, who again are in the last sentence of the last paragraph identified with ‘the True Men’ described at length in the sixth Book. The fifth member of this first paragraph is interesting as showing how there was a class of Taoists who cultivated the system with a view to obtain longevity by their practices in the management of the breath ; yet our author does not accord to them his full approbation, while at the same time the higher Taoism appears in the last paragraph, as promoting longevity without the management of the breath. AZO Po-hsid, in his commentary on AK wang-3ze, which was published in 1210, gives Po-i and Sha-2/i as instances of the first class spoken of here ; Confucius and Mencius, of the second; f Yin and Fa Yiieh, of the third; Ado Fd and Hsii Y4, as instances of the fourth. Of the fifth class he gives no example, but that of Phang 30 mentioned in it. That which distinguishes the genuine sage, the True Man of TAoism, is his pure simplicity in pursuing the Way, as it is seen in the operation of Heaven and Earth, and nourishing his spirit accordingly, till there ensues an ethereal amalgamation between his Way and the orderly operation of Heaven. This subject is pursued to the end of the Book. The most remarkable predicate of the spirit so trained is that in the third paragraph,—that ‘Its name is the BK, XVI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 147 same as Ti or God;’ on which none of the critics has been able to throw any satisfactory light. Balfour’s version is:—‘Its name is called “One with God;”’ Giles’s, ‘Its name is then “Of God,”’ the ‘then’ being in consequence of his view that the subject is ‘man’s spiritual existence before he is born into the world of mortals. My own view of the meaning appears in my version. Lin Hsi-fung, however, calls the genuineness of the whole Book into question, and thinks it may have proceeded from the same hand as Book XIII. They have certainly one peculiarity in common ;—many references to sayings which cannot be traced, but are introduced by the formula of quotation, ‘ Therefore, it is said.’ Book XVI. SHAN HSING.
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.
1The one character ‘Heaven’ is employed throughout the Book as the denomination of this purposeless spontaneity which yet is so powerful. Li Sha-#ih says:—‘ This Book also sets forth clearly how the rulers of the world ought simply to act in accordance with the spontaneity of the virtue of Heaven ; abjuring sageness and putting away knowledge; and doing nothing: —in this way the T4o or proper Method of Government will be attained to. As to the coercive methods of Mo Ti 144 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XIII. and Hui-jze, they only serve to distress those who follow them.’ This object of the Book appears, more or less distinctly, in most of the illustrative paragraphs; though, as has been pointed out in the notes upon it, several of them must be considered to be spurious. Paragraphs 6, 7, and 11 are thus called in question, and, as most readers will feel, with reason. From 13 to the end, the paragraphsare held to be one long paragraph where Awang-jze introduces his own reflections in an unusual style; but the genuineness of the whole, so far as I have observed, has not been called in question. Book XIII. TuHiEen TAo. ‘Thien Tao, the first two characters of the first paragraph, and prefixed to the Book as the name of it, are best translated by ‘The Way of Heaven,’ meaning the noiseless spontaneity, which characterises all the operations of nature, proceeding silently, yet ‘perfecting all things.’ As the rulers of the world attain to this same way in their government, and the sages among men attain to it in their teachings, both government and doctrine arrive at a corresponding perfection. ‘The joy of Heaven’ and ‘the joy of Men’ are both realised. There ought to be no purpose or will in the universe. ‘ Vacancy, stillness, placidity, tastelessness, quietude, silence, and non-action ; this is the perfection of the TAo and its characteristics.’ Our author dwells especially on doing-nothing or nonaction as the subject-matter of the Book. But as the world is full of doing, he endeavours to make a distinction between the Ruling Powers and those subordinate to and employed by them, to whom doing or action and purpose, though still without the thought of self, are necessary; and by this distinction he seems to me to give up the peculiarity of his system, so that some of the critics, especially Atyang Hsia, are obliged to confess that these portions of the Book are unlike the writing of Kwang-jze. Still the antagonism of Taoism to Confucianism is very apparent BK. XIV. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS, I45
2Still the antagonism of Taoism to Confucianism is very apparent BK. XIV. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS, I45 throughout. Of the illustrative paragraphs, the seventh, relating the churlish behaviour of Lao-jze to Confucius, and the way in which he subsequently argues with him and snubs him, is very amusing. The eighth paragraph, relating the interview between L4o and Shih-#/ang K4i, is very strange. The allusions in it to certain incidents and peculiarities in Lao’s domestic life make us wish that we had fuller accounts of his history; and the way in which he rates his disciple shows him as a master of the language of abuse. The concluding paragraph about duke Hwan of K‘Ai is interesting, but I can only dimly perceive its bearing on the argument of the Book. Book XIV. THIEN YUN. The contrast between the movement of the heavens (FE igi), and the resting of the earth (Hh J), requires the translation of the characters of the title by ‘The Revolution of Heaven.’ But that idea does not enter largely into the subject-matter of the Book. ‘The whole,’ says Hsiian Ying, ‘consists of eight paragraphs, the first three of which show that under the sky there is nothing which is not dominated by the T4o, with which the Tis and the Kings have only to act in accordance; while the last five set forth how the T4o is not to be found in the material forms and changes of things, but in a spiritlike energy working imperceptibly, developing and controlling all phenomena. I have endeavoured in the notes on the former three paragraphs to make their meaning less obscure and unconnected than it is on a first perusal. The five illustrative paragraphs are, we may assume, all of them factitious, and can hardly be received as genuine productions of Kwangze. In the sixth paragraph, or at least a part of it, Lin Hsi-Zung acknowledges the hand of the forger, and not less unworthy of credence are in my opinion the rest of it and much of the other four paragraphs. If they may be [39] L 146 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XV. taken as from the hand of our author himself, he was too much devoted to his own system to hold the balance of judgment evenly between Lao and Khung. Book XV. Kuo f. I can think of no better translation for yi x, the two
3If they may be [39] L 146 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XV. taken as from the hand of our author himself, he was too much devoted to his own system to hold the balance of judgment evenly between Lao and Khung. Book XV. Kuo f. I can think of no better translation for yi x, the two first characters of the Book, and which appear as its title, than our ‘ Ingrained Ideas;’ notions, that is, held as firmly as if they were cut into the substance of the mind. They do not belong to the whole Book, however, but only to the first member of the first paragraph. That paragraph describes six classes of men, only the last of which are the right followers of the Tao ;—the Sages, from the T4oistic point of view, who again are in the last sentence of the last paragraph identified with ‘the True Men’ described at length in the sixth Book. The fifth member of this first paragraph is interesting as showing how there was a class of Taoists who cultivated the system with a view to obtain longevity by their practices in the management of the breath ; yet our author does not accord to them his full approbation, while at the same time the higher Taoism appears in the last paragraph, as promoting longevity without the management of the breath. AZO Po-hsid, in his commentary on AK wang-3ze, which was published in 1210, gives Po-i and Sha-2/i as instances of the first class spoken of here ; Confucius and Mencius, of the second; f Yin and Fa Yiieh, of the third; Ado Fd and Hsii Y4, as instances of the fourth. Of the fifth class he gives no example, but that of Phang 30 mentioned in it. That which distinguishes the genuine sage, the True Man of TAoism, is his pure simplicity in pursuing the Way, as it is seen in the operation of Heaven and Earth, and nourishing his spirit accordingly, till there ensues an ethereal amalgamation between his Way and the orderly operation of Heaven. This subject is pursued to the end of the Book. The most remarkable predicate of the spirit so trained is that in the third paragraph,—that ‘Its name is the BK, XVI. BRIEF NOTICES OF THE DIFFERENT BOOKS. 147 same as Ti or God;’ on which none of the critics has been able to throw any satisfactory light. Balfour’s version is:—‘Its name is called “One with God;”’ Giles’s, ‘Its name is then “Of God,”’ the ‘then’ being in consequence of his view that the subject is ‘man’s spiritual existence before he is born into the world of mortals. My own view of the meaning appears in my version. Lin Hsi-fung, however, calls the genuineness of the whole Book into question, and thinks it may have proceeded from the same hand as Book XIII. They have certainly one peculiarity in common ;—many references to sayings which cannot be traced, but are introduced by the formula of quotation, ‘ Therefore, it is said.’ Book XVI. SHAN HSING.
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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