Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1We look for it, and there is no form; we hearken for it, and there is no sound. When men try to discuss it, we call them dark indeed. When they discuss the T4o, they misrepresent it.’ Hereupon Grand Purity? asked Infinitude 2, saying, ‘Do you know the T4o?’ ‘I do not know it,’ was the reply. He then asked Do-nothing 2, who replied, ‘I know it.’ ‘Is your knowledge of it de- } Shan Nang is well known, as coming in the chronological list between Ffi-hsf and Hwang-T!; and we are surprised that a higher place is not given to him among the Téoist patriarchs than our author assigns to him here, * These names, like those in the first paragraph of the Book, are metaphorical, intended, no doubt, to set forth attributes of the To, and to suggest to the reader what it is or what it is not. PT. 11.SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE. 69 termined by various points?’ ‘It is,’ ‘What are they?’ Do-nothing! said, ‘I know that the T4o may be considered noble, and may be considered mean, that it may be bound and compressed, and that it may be dispersed and diffused. These are the marks by which I know it.’ Grand Purity took the words of those two, and asked No-beginning?, saying, ‘Such were their replies; which was right ? and which was wrong? Infinitude’s saying that he did not know it? or Do-nothing’s saying that he knew it?’ No-beginning said, ‘The “I do not know it” was profound, and the “I know it” was shallow. The former had reference to its internal nature; the latter to its external conditions. Grand Purity looked up and sighed, saying, ‘Is “not to know it” then to know it? And is “ to know it” not to know it? But who knows that he who does not know it (really) knows it?’ No-beginning replied, ‘The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It. The T4o cannot be seen; what can be seen is not It. The T4o cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It. Do we know the Formless which gives form to form? In the same way the Tao does not admit of being named.’ No-beginning (further) said, ‘If one ask about the T&Ao and another answer him, neither of them knows it. Even the former who asks has never learned anything about the Tao. He asks what does not admit of being asked, and the latter answers where answer is impossible. When one asks what does not admit of being asked, his questioning is in (dire) 1 See note 2 on last page. 70 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM: BK. XXII. extremity. When one answers where answer is impossible, he has no internal knowledge of the subject. When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally know nothing of the Grand Commencement!. Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwan-lun 2, nor roam in the Grand Void.’
2When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally know nothing of the Grand Commencement!. Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwan-lun 2, nor roam in the Grand Void.’ 8. Starlight? asked Non-entity’, saying, ‘ Master, do you exist? or do you not exist?’ He got no answer to his question, however, and looked stedfastly to the appearance of the other, which was that of a deep void. All day long he looked to it, but could see nothing ; he listened for it, but could hear nothing ; he clutched at it, but got hold of nothing +. Starlight then said, ‘Perfect! Who can attain to this? I can (conceive the ideas of) existence and non-existence, but I cannot (conceive the ideas of) non-existing non-existence, and still there be a nonexisting existence. How is it possible to reach to this ?’ 9. The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had not lost a hair’s-breadth of his ability’. The Minister said to 1 The first beginning of all things or of anything. * The Khw&n-lun may be considered the Sacred Mountain of TAoism. ’ The characters Kwang Y4o denote the points of light all over the sky, ‘dusted with stars.’ I can think of no better translation for them, as personified here, than ‘starlight.’ ‘Non-entity’ is a personification of the Tao; as no existing thing, but the idea of the order that pervades and regulates throughout the universe. * A quotation from the Tao Teh Xing, ch. 14. * Compare the case of the butcher in Bk. III, and other similar passages. PT. 11. SECT.XV. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE. 71 him, ‘ You are indeed skilful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?’ The man said, ‘Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it ?’
3By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it ?’ 10. Zan Khih’ asked Kung-ni, saying, ‘Can it be known how it was before heaven and earth?’ The reply was, ‘It can. It was the same of old as now.’ Zan Khid asked no more and withdrew. Next day, however, he had another interview, and said, ‘Yesterday I asked whether it could be known how it was before heaven and earth, and you, Master, said, “It can. As it is now, so it was of old.” Yesterday, I seemed to understand you clearly, but to-day it is dark to me. I venture to ask you for an explanation of this.’ Aung-nt said, ‘Yesterday you seemed to understand me clearly, because your own spiritual nature had anticipated my reply. Today it seems dark to you, for you are in an unspiritual mood, and are trying to discover the meaning. (In this matter) there is no old time and no present ; no beginning and no ending. Could it be that there were grandchildren and children before there were (other) grandchildren and children ? ?’ 1 One of the disciples of Confucius ;—Analects VI, 3. * Hf Wan-ying says, ‘Before there can be grandsons and sons there must be grandfathers and fathers to transmit them, so before 72 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XXII. Zan Khit had not made any reply, when Kung-ni went on, ‘Let us have done. There can be no answering (on your part). We cannot with life give life to death; we cannot with death give death to life. Do death and life wait (for each other)? There is that which contains them both in its one comprehension!. Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing. Things came forth and could not be before things, as if there had (previously) been things ; —as if there had been things (producing one another) without end. The love of the sages for others, and never coming to an end, is an idea taken from this %’ 11. Yen Yiian asked Aung-ni, saying, ‘ Master, I have heard you say, “There should be no demonstration of welcoming; there should be no movement to meet ;’”—I venture to ask in what way this affection of the mind may be shown.’ The reply was, ‘ The ancients, amid (all) external changes, did not change internally; now-a-days men change internally, but take no note of external changes. When one only notes the changes of things, himself continuing one and the same, he does not change. How should there be (a difference between) his changing and not changing? How should he put himself in contact with (and come under the influence of) those external changes? He is sure, however, there were (the present) heaven and earth, there must have been another heaven and earth.’ But I am not sure that he has in this remark exactly caught our author’s meaning.
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.
1We look for it, and there is no form; we hearken for it, and there is no sound. When men try to discuss it, we call them dark indeed. When they discuss the T4o, they misrepresent it.’ Hereupon Grand Purity? asked Infinitude 2, saying, ‘Do you know the T4o?’ ‘I do not know it,’ was the reply. He then asked Do-nothing 2, who replied, ‘I know it.’ ‘Is your knowledge of it de- } Shan Nang is well known, as coming in the chronological list between Ffi-hsf and Hwang-T!; and we are surprised that a higher place is not given to him among the Téoist patriarchs than our author assigns to him here, * These names, like those in the first paragraph of the Book, are metaphorical, intended, no doubt, to set forth attributes of the To, and to suggest to the reader what it is or what it is not. PT. 11.SECT. XV. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE. 69 termined by various points?’ ‘It is,’ ‘What are they?’ Do-nothing! said, ‘I know that the T4o may be considered noble, and may be considered mean, that it may be bound and compressed, and that it may be dispersed and diffused. These are the marks by which I know it.’ Grand Purity took the words of those two, and asked No-beginning?, saying, ‘Such were their replies; which was right ? and which was wrong? Infinitude’s saying that he did not know it? or Do-nothing’s saying that he knew it?’ No-beginning said, ‘The “I do not know it” was profound, and the “I know it” was shallow. The former had reference to its internal nature; the latter to its external conditions. Grand Purity looked up and sighed, saying, ‘Is “not to know it” then to know it? And is “ to know it” not to know it? But who knows that he who does not know it (really) knows it?’ No-beginning replied, ‘The Tao cannot be heard; what can be heard is not It. The T4o cannot be seen; what can be seen is not It. The T4o cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It. Do we know the Formless which gives form to form? In the same way the Tao does not admit of being named.’ No-beginning (further) said, ‘If one ask about the T&Ao and another answer him, neither of them knows it. Even the former who asks has never learned anything about the Tao. He asks what does not admit of being asked, and the latter answers where answer is impossible. When one asks what does not admit of being asked, his questioning is in (dire) 1 See note 2 on last page. 70 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM: BK. XXII. extremity. When one answers where answer is impossible, he has no internal knowledge of the subject. When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally know nothing of the Grand Commencement!. Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwan-lun 2, nor roam in the Grand Void.’
2When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally know nothing of the Grand Commencement!. Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwan-lun 2, nor roam in the Grand Void.’ 8. Starlight? asked Non-entity’, saying, ‘ Master, do you exist? or do you not exist?’ He got no answer to his question, however, and looked stedfastly to the appearance of the other, which was that of a deep void. All day long he looked to it, but could see nothing ; he listened for it, but could hear nothing ; he clutched at it, but got hold of nothing +. Starlight then said, ‘Perfect! Who can attain to this? I can (conceive the ideas of) existence and non-existence, but I cannot (conceive the ideas of) non-existing non-existence, and still there be a nonexisting existence. How is it possible to reach to this ?’ 9. The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had not lost a hair’s-breadth of his ability’. The Minister said to 1 The first beginning of all things or of anything. * The Khw&n-lun may be considered the Sacred Mountain of TAoism. ’ The characters Kwang Y4o denote the points of light all over the sky, ‘dusted with stars.’ I can think of no better translation for them, as personified here, than ‘starlight.’ ‘Non-entity’ is a personification of the Tao; as no existing thing, but the idea of the order that pervades and regulates throughout the universe. * A quotation from the Tao Teh Xing, ch. 14. * Compare the case of the butcher in Bk. III, and other similar passages. PT. 11. SECT.XV. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-3ZE. 71 him, ‘ You are indeed skilful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?’ The man said, ‘Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it ?’
3By my constant practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing. By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it ?’ 10. Zan Khih’ asked Kung-ni, saying, ‘Can it be known how it was before heaven and earth?’ The reply was, ‘It can. It was the same of old as now.’ Zan Khid asked no more and withdrew. Next day, however, he had another interview, and said, ‘Yesterday I asked whether it could be known how it was before heaven and earth, and you, Master, said, “It can. As it is now, so it was of old.” Yesterday, I seemed to understand you clearly, but to-day it is dark to me. I venture to ask you for an explanation of this.’ Aung-nt said, ‘Yesterday you seemed to understand me clearly, because your own spiritual nature had anticipated my reply. Today it seems dark to you, for you are in an unspiritual mood, and are trying to discover the meaning. (In this matter) there is no old time and no present ; no beginning and no ending. Could it be that there were grandchildren and children before there were (other) grandchildren and children ? ?’ 1 One of the disciples of Confucius ;—Analects VI, 3. * Hf Wan-ying says, ‘Before there can be grandsons and sons there must be grandfathers and fathers to transmit them, so before 72 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XXII. Zan Khit had not made any reply, when Kung-ni went on, ‘Let us have done. There can be no answering (on your part). We cannot with life give life to death; we cannot with death give death to life. Do death and life wait (for each other)? There is that which contains them both in its one comprehension!. Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth a thing? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing. Things came forth and could not be before things, as if there had (previously) been things ; —as if there had been things (producing one another) without end. The love of the sages for others, and never coming to an end, is an idea taken from this %’ 11. Yen Yiian asked Aung-ni, saying, ‘ Master, I have heard you say, “There should be no demonstration of welcoming; there should be no movement to meet ;’”—I venture to ask in what way this affection of the mind may be shown.’ The reply was, ‘ The ancients, amid (all) external changes, did not change internally; now-a-days men change internally, but take no note of external changes. When one only notes the changes of things, himself continuing one and the same, he does not change. How should there be (a difference between) his changing and not changing? How should he put himself in contact with (and come under the influence of) those external changes? He is sure, however, there were (the present) heaven and earth, there must have been another heaven and earth.’ But I am not sure that he has in this remark exactly caught our author’s meaning.
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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