Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1* Literally, ‘the Ho and the Han;’ but the name of those rivers combined was used to denote ‘the Milky Way.’ 5 See the Khang-hsit Thesaurus under the character Hy . All which is.said about the hill is that it was ‘in the North Sea.’ PT. I.SECT.I1, THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE, I7!I were (smooth) as ice and (white) as snow; that his manner was elegant and delicate as that of a virgin; that he did not eat any of the five grains, but inhaled the wind and drank the dew; that he mounted on the clouds, drove along the flying dragons, rambling and enjoying himself beyond the four seas; that by the concentration of his spirit-like powers he could save men from disease and pestilence, and secure every year a plentiful harvest.’ These words appeared to me wild and incoherent and I did not believe them. ‘So it is,’ said Lien Shi. ‘The blind have no perception of the beauty of elegant figures, nor the deaf of the sound of bells and drums. But is it only the bodily senses of which deafness and blindness can be predicated? There is also a similar defect in the intelligence ; and of this your words supply an illustration in yourself. That man, with those attributes, though all things were one mass of confusion, and he heard in that condition the whole world crying out to him to be rectified, would not have to address himself laboriously to the task, as if it were his business to rectify the world. Nothing could hurt that man; the greatest floods, reaching to the sky, could not drown him, nor would he feel the fervour of the greatest heats melting metals and stones till they flowed, and scorching all the ground and hills. From the dust and chaff of himself, he could still mould and fashion YAaos and Shuns!;— how should he be willing to occupy himself with things ??’ 1 Shun was the successor of Y4o in the ancient kingdom. 2 All this description is to give us an idea of the ‘Spirit-like man.’ We have in it the results of the Tao in its fullest embodiment. 172 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I. 6. A man of Sung, who dealt in the ceremonial caps (of Yin)!, went with them to Yiieh?, the people of which cut off their hair and tattooed their bodies, so that they had no use for them. Y4o ruled the people of the kingdom, and maintained a perfect government within the four seas. Having gone to see the four (Perfect) Ones? on the distant hill of K‘i-shih, when (he returned to his capital) on the south of the Fan water‘*, his throne appeared no more to his deep-sunk oblivious eyes *. 7. Hui-jze* told Awang-3ze, saying, ‘The king of Wei’ sent me some seeds of a large calabash, which I sowed. The fruit, when fully grown, could contain five piculs (of anything). I used it to contain water, See the Lt Ai, IX, iii, 3. ? A state, part of the present province of Xieh-Aiang. 5 Said to have been Hsii YG mentioned above, with Nieh Khiieh, Wang i, and Phi-t, who will by and by come before us. “ A river in Shan-hst, on which was the capital of Yao ;—a tributary of the Ho.
2? A state, part of the present province of Xieh-Aiang. 5 Said to have been Hsii YG mentioned above, with Nieh Khiieh, Wang i, and Phi-t, who will by and by come before us. “ A river in Shan-hst, on which was the capital of Yao ;—a tributary of the Ho. 5 This paragraph is intended to give us an idea of ‘the Perfect man,’ who has no thought of himself. The description, however, is brief and tame, compared with the accounts of Hsii Y@ and of ‘the Spirit-like man.’ ® Or Hui Shih, the chief minister of ‘king Hui of Liang (or Wei), (B.c. 370-333), with an interview between whom and Mencius the works of that philosopher commence. He was a friend of Kwang-jze, and an eccentric thinker; and in Book XXXIII there is a long account of several of his views. I do not think that the conversations about ‘the great calabash’ and ‘the great tree’ really took place; Awang-3ze probably invented them, to illustrate his point that size had nothing to do with the Tao, and that things which seemed useless were not really so when rightly used. 7 Called also Liang from the name of its capital. Wei was one of the three states (subsequently kingdoms), into which the great fief of 3in was divided about B.c. 400. PT.I.SECT.I1. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 173 but it was so heavy that I could not lift it by myself. I cut it in two to make the parts into drinking vessels; but the dried shells were too wide and unstable and would not hold (the liquor); nothing but large useless things! Because of their uselessness I knocked them to pieces.’ A wang-3ze replied, ‘You were indeed stupid, my master, in the use of what was large. There was a man of Sung who was skilful at making a salve which kept the hands from getting chapped; and (his family) for generations had made the bleaching of cocoon-silk their business. A stranger heard of it, and proposed to buy the art of the preparation for a hundred ounces of silver. The kindred all came together, and considered the proposal. “We have,” said they, “ been bleaching cocoon-silk for generations, and have only gained a little money. Now in one morning we can sell to this man our art for a hundred ounces ;—let him have it.” The stranger accordingly got it and went away with it to give counsel to the king of Wa!, who was then engaged in hostilities with Yiieh. The king gave him the command of his fleet, and in the winter he had an engagement with that of Yiieh, on which he inflicted a great defeat ?, and was invested with a portion of territory taken from Yiieh. The keeping the hands from getting chapped was the same in both cases; but in the one case it led to the investiture (of the possessor of the salve), and 1 A great and ancient state on the sea-board, north of Yiieh. The name remains in the district of W-Aiang in the prefecture of Sa-24u. ? The salve gave the troops of Wii a great advantage in a war on the Aiang, especially in winter. 174 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I.
3The name remains in the district of W-Aiang in the prefecture of Sa-24u. ? The salve gave the troops of Wii a great advantage in a war on the Aiang, especially in winter. 174 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I. in the other it had only enabled its owners to continue their bleaching. The difference of result was owing to the different use made of the art. Now you, Sir, had calabashes large enough to hold five piculs;—why did you not think of making large bottle-gourds of them, by means of which you could have floated over rivers and lakes, instead of giving yourself the sorrow of finding that they were useless for holding anything. Your mind, my master, would seem to. have been closed against all intelligence !’ Hui-jze said to Awang-ze, ‘I have a large tree, which men call the Ailantus!. Its trunk swells out to a large size, but is not fit for a carpenter to apply his line to it; its smaller branches are knotted and crooked, so that the disk and square cannot be used on them. Though planted on the wayside, a builder would not turn his head to look at it. Now your words, Sir, are great, but of no use;—all unite in putting them away from them.’ Awang-jze replied, ‘Have you never seen a wild cat ora weasel? There it lies, crouching and low, till the wanderer approaches; east and west it leaps about, avoiding neither what is high nor what is low, till it is caught in a trap, or dies ina net. Again there is the Yak’, so large that it is like a cloud hanging in the sky. It is large indeed, but it cannot catch mice. You, Sir, have a large tree and are troubled because it is of no use ;—why do you not plant it in a tract where there is nothing else, or in a wide and barren wild? 1 The Ailantus glandulosa, common in the north of China, called ‘the fetid tree,’ from the odour of its leaves. 2? The bos grunniens of Thibet, the long tail of which is in great demand for making standards and chowries. PT. I.SECT.I, THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE, 175 There you might saunter idly by its side, or in the enjoyment of untroubled ease sleep beneath it. Neither bill nor axe would shorten its existence; there would be nothing to injure it. What is there in its uselessness to cause you distress ?’ | | | | 176 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. II, BOOK II. Part I. Section II. Khi Wt Lun, or ‘The Adjustment of Controversies 1.’ 1. Nan-kwo 3ze-£4i? was seated, leaning forward on his stool. He was looking up to heaven and breathed gently, seeming to be in a trance, and to have lost all consciousness of any companion. (His disciple), Yen Aang 3ze-yi?, who was in attendance and standing before him, said, ‘ What is this ? Can the body be made to become thus like a withered tree, and the mind to become like slaked lime? His appearance as he leans forward on the stool to-day is such as I never saw him have before in the same position.’ 3ze-4i said, ‘Yen, you do well to ask such a question, I had just now lost myself*; but how should you understand it? You 1 See pp. 128-130.
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.
1* Literally, ‘the Ho and the Han;’ but the name of those rivers combined was used to denote ‘the Milky Way.’ 5 See the Khang-hsit Thesaurus under the character Hy . All which is.said about the hill is that it was ‘in the North Sea.’ PT. I.SECT.I1, THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE, I7!I were (smooth) as ice and (white) as snow; that his manner was elegant and delicate as that of a virgin; that he did not eat any of the five grains, but inhaled the wind and drank the dew; that he mounted on the clouds, drove along the flying dragons, rambling and enjoying himself beyond the four seas; that by the concentration of his spirit-like powers he could save men from disease and pestilence, and secure every year a plentiful harvest.’ These words appeared to me wild and incoherent and I did not believe them. ‘So it is,’ said Lien Shi. ‘The blind have no perception of the beauty of elegant figures, nor the deaf of the sound of bells and drums. But is it only the bodily senses of which deafness and blindness can be predicated? There is also a similar defect in the intelligence ; and of this your words supply an illustration in yourself. That man, with those attributes, though all things were one mass of confusion, and he heard in that condition the whole world crying out to him to be rectified, would not have to address himself laboriously to the task, as if it were his business to rectify the world. Nothing could hurt that man; the greatest floods, reaching to the sky, could not drown him, nor would he feel the fervour of the greatest heats melting metals and stones till they flowed, and scorching all the ground and hills. From the dust and chaff of himself, he could still mould and fashion YAaos and Shuns!;— how should he be willing to occupy himself with things ??’ 1 Shun was the successor of Y4o in the ancient kingdom. 2 All this description is to give us an idea of the ‘Spirit-like man.’ We have in it the results of the Tao in its fullest embodiment. 172 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I. 6. A man of Sung, who dealt in the ceremonial caps (of Yin)!, went with them to Yiieh?, the people of which cut off their hair and tattooed their bodies, so that they had no use for them. Y4o ruled the people of the kingdom, and maintained a perfect government within the four seas. Having gone to see the four (Perfect) Ones? on the distant hill of K‘i-shih, when (he returned to his capital) on the south of the Fan water‘*, his throne appeared no more to his deep-sunk oblivious eyes *. 7. Hui-jze* told Awang-3ze, saying, ‘The king of Wei’ sent me some seeds of a large calabash, which I sowed. The fruit, when fully grown, could contain five piculs (of anything). I used it to contain water, See the Lt Ai, IX, iii, 3. ? A state, part of the present province of Xieh-Aiang. 5 Said to have been Hsii YG mentioned above, with Nieh Khiieh, Wang i, and Phi-t, who will by and by come before us. “ A river in Shan-hst, on which was the capital of Yao ;—a tributary of the Ho.
2? A state, part of the present province of Xieh-Aiang. 5 Said to have been Hsii YG mentioned above, with Nieh Khiieh, Wang i, and Phi-t, who will by and by come before us. “ A river in Shan-hst, on which was the capital of Yao ;—a tributary of the Ho. 5 This paragraph is intended to give us an idea of ‘the Perfect man,’ who has no thought of himself. The description, however, is brief and tame, compared with the accounts of Hsii Y@ and of ‘the Spirit-like man.’ ® Or Hui Shih, the chief minister of ‘king Hui of Liang (or Wei), (B.c. 370-333), with an interview between whom and Mencius the works of that philosopher commence. He was a friend of Kwang-jze, and an eccentric thinker; and in Book XXXIII there is a long account of several of his views. I do not think that the conversations about ‘the great calabash’ and ‘the great tree’ really took place; Awang-3ze probably invented them, to illustrate his point that size had nothing to do with the Tao, and that things which seemed useless were not really so when rightly used. 7 Called also Liang from the name of its capital. Wei was one of the three states (subsequently kingdoms), into which the great fief of 3in was divided about B.c. 400. PT.I.SECT.I1. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 173 but it was so heavy that I could not lift it by myself. I cut it in two to make the parts into drinking vessels; but the dried shells were too wide and unstable and would not hold (the liquor); nothing but large useless things! Because of their uselessness I knocked them to pieces.’ A wang-3ze replied, ‘You were indeed stupid, my master, in the use of what was large. There was a man of Sung who was skilful at making a salve which kept the hands from getting chapped; and (his family) for generations had made the bleaching of cocoon-silk their business. A stranger heard of it, and proposed to buy the art of the preparation for a hundred ounces of silver. The kindred all came together, and considered the proposal. “We have,” said they, “ been bleaching cocoon-silk for generations, and have only gained a little money. Now in one morning we can sell to this man our art for a hundred ounces ;—let him have it.” The stranger accordingly got it and went away with it to give counsel to the king of Wa!, who was then engaged in hostilities with Yiieh. The king gave him the command of his fleet, and in the winter he had an engagement with that of Yiieh, on which he inflicted a great defeat ?, and was invested with a portion of territory taken from Yiieh. The keeping the hands from getting chapped was the same in both cases; but in the one case it led to the investiture (of the possessor of the salve), and 1 A great and ancient state on the sea-board, north of Yiieh. The name remains in the district of W-Aiang in the prefecture of Sa-24u. ? The salve gave the troops of Wii a great advantage in a war on the Aiang, especially in winter. 174 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I.
3The name remains in the district of W-Aiang in the prefecture of Sa-24u. ? The salve gave the troops of Wii a great advantage in a war on the Aiang, especially in winter. 174 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. I. in the other it had only enabled its owners to continue their bleaching. The difference of result was owing to the different use made of the art. Now you, Sir, had calabashes large enough to hold five piculs;—why did you not think of making large bottle-gourds of them, by means of which you could have floated over rivers and lakes, instead of giving yourself the sorrow of finding that they were useless for holding anything. Your mind, my master, would seem to. have been closed against all intelligence !’ Hui-jze said to Awang-ze, ‘I have a large tree, which men call the Ailantus!. Its trunk swells out to a large size, but is not fit for a carpenter to apply his line to it; its smaller branches are knotted and crooked, so that the disk and square cannot be used on them. Though planted on the wayside, a builder would not turn his head to look at it. Now your words, Sir, are great, but of no use;—all unite in putting them away from them.’ Awang-jze replied, ‘Have you never seen a wild cat ora weasel? There it lies, crouching and low, till the wanderer approaches; east and west it leaps about, avoiding neither what is high nor what is low, till it is caught in a trap, or dies ina net. Again there is the Yak’, so large that it is like a cloud hanging in the sky. It is large indeed, but it cannot catch mice. You, Sir, have a large tree and are troubled because it is of no use ;—why do you not plant it in a tract where there is nothing else, or in a wide and barren wild? 1 The Ailantus glandulosa, common in the north of China, called ‘the fetid tree,’ from the odour of its leaves. 2? The bos grunniens of Thibet, the long tail of which is in great demand for making standards and chowries. PT. I.SECT.I, THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE, 175 There you might saunter idly by its side, or in the enjoyment of untroubled ease sleep beneath it. Neither bill nor axe would shorten its existence; there would be nothing to injure it. What is there in its uselessness to cause you distress ?’ | | | | 176 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. II, BOOK II. Part I. Section II. Khi Wt Lun, or ‘The Adjustment of Controversies 1.’ 1. Nan-kwo 3ze-£4i? was seated, leaning forward on his stool. He was looking up to heaven and breathed gently, seeming to be in a trance, and to have lost all consciousness of any companion. (His disciple), Yen Aang 3ze-yi?, who was in attendance and standing before him, said, ‘ What is this ? Can the body be made to become thus like a withered tree, and the mind to become like slaked lime? His appearance as he leans forward on the stool to-day is such as I never saw him have before in the same position.’ 3ze-4i said, ‘Yen, you do well to ask such a question, I had just now lost myself*; but how should you understand it? You 1 See pp. 128-130.
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.
No commentary for this page.