Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The life of things is like the hurrying and galloping along of a horse. With every movement there is a change; with every moment there is an alteration. What should you be doing? what should you not be doing? You have only to be allowing this course of natural transformation to be going on.’ 7. The earl of the Ho said, ‘What then is there so valuable in the T&o?’ Zo of the Northern Sea replied, ‘He who knows the T4o is sure to be well acquainted with the principles (that appear in the procedures of things). Acquainted with (those) principles, he is sure to understand how to regulate his conduct in all varying circumstances. Having that understanding, he will not allow things to injure himself. Fire cannot burn him who is (so) perfect in virtue, nor water drown him; neither cold nor heat can affect him injuriously ; neither bird nor beast can hurt him. This does not mean that he is indifferent to these things; it means that he discriminates between where he may safely rest and where he will be in peril; that he is tranquil equally in calamity and happiness; that he is careful what he avoids and what he approaches ;—so that nothing can injure him. Hence it is said, “ What is heavenly is internal ; what is human is external.” The virtue (of man) is in what is Heavenly. If you know the operation of what is Heavenly and what is Human, you will have your root in what is Heavenly and your position in Virtue. You will bend or stretch 384 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVII. (only) after the (necessary) hesitation ; you will have returned to the essential, and may be pronounced to have reached perfection.’ ‘What do you mean,’ pursued the earl, ‘by the Heavenly, and by the Human?’ Zo replied, ‘Oxen and horses have four feet ;—that is what I call their Heavenly (constitution). When horses’ heads are haltered, and the noses of oxen are pierced, that is what I call (the doing of) Man. Hence it is said, “ Do not by the Human (doing) extinguish the Heavenly (constitution) ; do not for your (Human) purpose extinguish the appointment (of Heaven); do not bury your (proper) fame in (such) a pursuit of it; carefully guard (the Way) and do not lose it:—this is what I call reverting to your True (Nature).”’ 8. The khwei!? desires to be like? the millipede? ; the millipede to be like the serpent; the serpent like the wind; the wind to be like the eye; and the eye to be like the mind *. The khwei said to the millipede, ‘With my one leg I hop about, and can hardly manage to go along. Now you have a myriad feet which you can employ; how is it that you are so abundantly furnished?’ The millipede said, ‘It is not so. Have you not seen one ejecting saliva? The largest portion of it is like a pearl, while the smaller portions fall down like a shower of mist in innumer- 1 The khwei is ‘a sort of dragon (it may be, a worm) with one foot. The hsien has many feet; one account calls it ‘a centipede.’
2Have you not seen one ejecting saliva? The largest portion of it is like a pearl, while the smaller portions fall down like a shower of mist in innumer- 1 The khwei is ‘a sort of dragon (it may be, a worm) with one foot. The hsien has many feet; one account calls it ‘a centipede.’ 2 Such is the meaning of the lin or lien. The best commentators explain it by hsien (#), “to covet and desire.’ 3 Compare Book I, par. 3, towards the end, PT. Il. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 385, able drops. Now I put in motion the springs set in me by Heaven, without knowing how I do so.’ The millipede said to the serpent, ‘I go along by means of my multitude of feet; and yet how is it that I do not go so fast as you who have no feet at all?’ The serpent replied, ‘How can the method of moving by the springs set in us by Heaven be changed? How could I make use of feet ?’ The serpent said to the wind, ‘I get along by moving my backbone and ribs, thus appearing to have some (bodily) means of progression. But now you, Sir, rise with a blustering force in the North Sea, and go on in the same way to the South Sea; —seemingly without any such means. How does it take place?’ The wind said, ‘Yes. With such a blustering force I rise in the North Sea and go on to the South Sea. But you can point to me, and therein are superior to me, as you are also in treading on me. Yet notwithstanding, it is only I who can break great trees, and blow down great houses. Therefore he whom all that are small cannot overcome is a great overcomer. But it is only he who is the sagely man? that is the Great Conqueror (of all).’ 9. When Confucius was travelling in Khwang?, 1 The sagely man is ‘the True man,’ who embodies the Téo. The Tao has given to the khwei, the millipede, the serpent, and it may be said also to the wind, their means of progression and action. Nothing is said of the eye and the mind ;—it was not necessary to dwell on the T4o in them. 2 See Confucian Analects, IX, v and XI, xxii. Our author’s account of this event is his own, constructed by him to convey his own T4oistic lessons. [39] ce 386 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVII.
3Nothing is said of the eye and the mind ;—it was not necessary to dwell on the T4o in them. 2 See Confucian Analects, IX, v and XI, xxii. Our author’s account of this event is his own, constructed by him to convey his own T4oistic lessons. [39] ce 386 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVII. some people of Sung (once) surrounded him (with a hostile intention) several ranks deep; but he kept singing to his lute without stopping. 3ze-ld came in, and saw him, and said, ‘ How is it, Master, that you are so pleased?’ Confucius said, ‘Come here, and I will tell you. I have tried to avoid being reduced to such a strait for a long time; and that I have not escaped shows that it was so appointed for me. I have sought to find a ruler that would employ me for a long time, and that I have not found one, shows the character of the time. Under Yao and Shun there was no one in the kingdom reduced to straits like mine; and it was not by their sagacity that men succeeded as they did. Under Kieh and Au no (good and able man) in the kingdom found his way to employment; and it was not for (want of) sagacity that they failed to do so. It was simply owing to the times and their character. ‘People that do business on the water do not shrink from meeting iguanodons and dragons ;—that is the courage of fishermen. Those who do business on land do not shrink from meeting rhinoceroses and tigers ;—that is the courage of hunters. When men see the sharp weapons crossed before them, and look on death as going home ;—that is the courage of the determined soldier. When he knows that his strait is determined for him, and that the employment of him by a ruler depends on the character of the time, and then meeting with great distress is yet not afraid ;—that is the courage of the sagely man. Wait, my good Y4, and you will see what there is determined for me in my lot.’ A little afterwards, the leader of the armed men approached and took his leave, saying, ‘We thought you were PT. II, SECT. xX. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 387 Yang Hd}, and therefore surrounded you. Now we see our mistake.’ (With this) he begged to take his leave, and withdrew.
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 life of things is like the hurrying and galloping along of a horse. With every movement there is a change; with every moment there is an alteration. What should you be doing? what should you not be doing? You have only to be allowing this course of natural transformation to be going on.’ 7. The earl of the Ho said, ‘What then is there so valuable in the T&o?’ Zo of the Northern Sea replied, ‘He who knows the T4o is sure to be well acquainted with the principles (that appear in the procedures of things). Acquainted with (those) principles, he is sure to understand how to regulate his conduct in all varying circumstances. Having that understanding, he will not allow things to injure himself. Fire cannot burn him who is (so) perfect in virtue, nor water drown him; neither cold nor heat can affect him injuriously ; neither bird nor beast can hurt him. This does not mean that he is indifferent to these things; it means that he discriminates between where he may safely rest and where he will be in peril; that he is tranquil equally in calamity and happiness; that he is careful what he avoids and what he approaches ;—so that nothing can injure him. Hence it is said, “ What is heavenly is internal ; what is human is external.” The virtue (of man) is in what is Heavenly. If you know the operation of what is Heavenly and what is Human, you will have your root in what is Heavenly and your position in Virtue. You will bend or stretch 384 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVII. (only) after the (necessary) hesitation ; you will have returned to the essential, and may be pronounced to have reached perfection.’ ‘What do you mean,’ pursued the earl, ‘by the Heavenly, and by the Human?’ Zo replied, ‘Oxen and horses have four feet ;—that is what I call their Heavenly (constitution). When horses’ heads are haltered, and the noses of oxen are pierced, that is what I call (the doing of) Man. Hence it is said, “ Do not by the Human (doing) extinguish the Heavenly (constitution) ; do not for your (Human) purpose extinguish the appointment (of Heaven); do not bury your (proper) fame in (such) a pursuit of it; carefully guard (the Way) and do not lose it:—this is what I call reverting to your True (Nature).”’ 8. The khwei!? desires to be like? the millipede? ; the millipede to be like the serpent; the serpent like the wind; the wind to be like the eye; and the eye to be like the mind *. The khwei said to the millipede, ‘With my one leg I hop about, and can hardly manage to go along. Now you have a myriad feet which you can employ; how is it that you are so abundantly furnished?’ The millipede said, ‘It is not so. Have you not seen one ejecting saliva? The largest portion of it is like a pearl, while the smaller portions fall down like a shower of mist in innumer- 1 The khwei is ‘a sort of dragon (it may be, a worm) with one foot. The hsien has many feet; one account calls it ‘a centipede.’
2Have you not seen one ejecting saliva? The largest portion of it is like a pearl, while the smaller portions fall down like a shower of mist in innumer- 1 The khwei is ‘a sort of dragon (it may be, a worm) with one foot. The hsien has many feet; one account calls it ‘a centipede.’ 2 Such is the meaning of the lin or lien. The best commentators explain it by hsien (#), “to covet and desire.’ 3 Compare Book I, par. 3, towards the end, PT. Il. SECT. X. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 385, able drops. Now I put in motion the springs set in me by Heaven, without knowing how I do so.’ The millipede said to the serpent, ‘I go along by means of my multitude of feet; and yet how is it that I do not go so fast as you who have no feet at all?’ The serpent replied, ‘How can the method of moving by the springs set in us by Heaven be changed? How could I make use of feet ?’ The serpent said to the wind, ‘I get along by moving my backbone and ribs, thus appearing to have some (bodily) means of progression. But now you, Sir, rise with a blustering force in the North Sea, and go on in the same way to the South Sea; —seemingly without any such means. How does it take place?’ The wind said, ‘Yes. With such a blustering force I rise in the North Sea and go on to the South Sea. But you can point to me, and therein are superior to me, as you are also in treading on me. Yet notwithstanding, it is only I who can break great trees, and blow down great houses. Therefore he whom all that are small cannot overcome is a great overcomer. But it is only he who is the sagely man? that is the Great Conqueror (of all).’ 9. When Confucius was travelling in Khwang?, 1 The sagely man is ‘the True man,’ who embodies the Téo. The Tao has given to the khwei, the millipede, the serpent, and it may be said also to the wind, their means of progression and action. Nothing is said of the eye and the mind ;—it was not necessary to dwell on the T4o in them. 2 See Confucian Analects, IX, v and XI, xxii. Our author’s account of this event is his own, constructed by him to convey his own T4oistic lessons. [39] ce 386 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVII.
3Nothing is said of the eye and the mind ;—it was not necessary to dwell on the T4o in them. 2 See Confucian Analects, IX, v and XI, xxii. Our author’s account of this event is his own, constructed by him to convey his own T4oistic lessons. [39] ce 386 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVII. some people of Sung (once) surrounded him (with a hostile intention) several ranks deep; but he kept singing to his lute without stopping. 3ze-ld came in, and saw him, and said, ‘ How is it, Master, that you are so pleased?’ Confucius said, ‘Come here, and I will tell you. I have tried to avoid being reduced to such a strait for a long time; and that I have not escaped shows that it was so appointed for me. I have sought to find a ruler that would employ me for a long time, and that I have not found one, shows the character of the time. Under Yao and Shun there was no one in the kingdom reduced to straits like mine; and it was not by their sagacity that men succeeded as they did. Under Kieh and Au no (good and able man) in the kingdom found his way to employment; and it was not for (want of) sagacity that they failed to do so. It was simply owing to the times and their character. ‘People that do business on the water do not shrink from meeting iguanodons and dragons ;—that is the courage of fishermen. Those who do business on land do not shrink from meeting rhinoceroses and tigers ;—that is the courage of hunters. When men see the sharp weapons crossed before them, and look on death as going home ;—that is the courage of the determined soldier. When he knows that his strait is determined for him, and that the employment of him by a ruler depends on the character of the time, and then meeting with great distress is yet not afraid ;—that is the courage of the sagely man. Wait, my good Y4, and you will see what there is determined for me in my lot.’ A little afterwards, the leader of the armed men approached and took his leave, saying, ‘We thought you were PT. II, SECT. xX. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 387 Yang Hd}, and therefore surrounded you. Now we see our mistake.’ (With this) he begged to take his leave, and withdrew.
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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