Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Therefore when 3ze-hsii ® strove with (his ruler), he brought on him- 1 If they did not do so, they would be content when they had enough. 2 Wishing to attach it more closely to them. * Wf 32ze-hsii, the scourge of Kft; and who perished miserably at last, when the king of WA would no longer listen to his remonstrances ;—in about B.c. 475. PT. II, SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 3 self the mutilation of his body. If he had not so striven, he would not have acquired his fame :—was such (goodness) really good or was it not ? As to what the common people now do, and what they find their enjoyment in, I do not know whether the enjoyment be really enjoyment or really not. I see them in their pursuit of it following after all their aims as if with the determination of death, and as if they could not stop in their course; but what they call enjoyment would not be so to me, while yet I do not say that there is no enjoyment in it. Is there indeed such enjoyment, or is there not? I consider doing nothing (to obtain it) to be the great enjoyment', while ordinarily people consider it to be a great evil. Hence it is said, ‘ Perfect enjoyment is to be without enjoyment; the highest praise is to be without praise®.’ The right and the wrong (on this point of enjoyment) cannot indeed be determined according to (the view of) the world; nevertheless, this doing nothing (to obtain it) may determine the right and the wrong. Since perfect enjoyment is (held to be) the keeping the body alive, it is only by this doing nothing that that end -is likely to be secured. Allow me to try and explain this (more fully) :—Heaven does nothing, and thence comes its serenity; Earth does nothing, and thence _ comes its rest. By the union of these two inac- tivities, all things are produced. How vast and imperceptible is the process !—they seem to come from 1 This is the secret of the Tao. ® The last member of this sentence is the reading adopted by Wt Kh&ng towards the conclusion of the thirty-ninth chapter of the Tao Teh King, instead of the common HK Hy Hi fHt Hi. B2 4 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVIII. nowhere! How imperceptible and vast!—there is no visible image of it! All things in all their variety grow from this Inaction. Hence it is said, ‘Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do?’ But what man is there that can attain to this inaction ?
2BK, XVIII. nowhere! How imperceptible and vast!—there is no visible image of it! All things in all their variety grow from this Inaction. Hence it is said, ‘Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do?’ But what man is there that can attain to this inaction ? 2. When Awang-jze’s wife died, Hui-jze went to condole with him, and, finding him squatted on the ground, drumming on the basin?, and singing, said to him, ‘When a wife has lived with her husband, and brought up children, and then dies in her old age, not to wail for her is enough. When you go on to drum on this basin and sing, is it not an excessive (and strange) demonstration ?’ A’wang-jze replied, ‘It is not so. When she first died, was it possible for me to be singular and not affected by the event? But I reflected on the commencement of her being*. She had not yet been born to life ; not only had she no life, but she had no bodily form ; not only had she no bodily form, but she had no breath. During the intermingling of the waste and dark chaos, there ensued a change, and there was breath; another change, and there was the bodily form; another change, and there came birth 1 Compare similar statements in the Tao Teh Xing, ch. 48, et al. 2 The basin or tub, not ‘a basin.’ The reference is, no doubt, to the basin of ice put down near or under the couch on which the body was laid. I suppose that Avwang-jze was squatting so as to have this between his legs. 5 Is the writer referring to the primal creation as we may call it, or development of things out of the chaos, or to some analogous process at the birth of his wife? However that be, birth and death appear to him to be merely changes of the same kind in the perpetual process of evolution. PT. I, SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 5 and life. There is now a change again, and she is dead. The relation between these things is like the procession of the four seasons from spring to autumn, from winter to summer. There now she lies with her face up, sleeping in the Great Chamber!; and if I were to fall sobbing and going on to wail for her, I should think that I did not understand what was appointed (for all). I therefore restrained myself?!’ 3. Mr. Deformed? and Mr. One-foot® were looking at the mound-graves of the departed in the wild of Khwan-lun, where Hwang-Ti had entered into his rest. Suddenly a tumour began to grow on their left wrists, which made them look distressed as if they disliked it. The former said to the other, ‘Do 1 Between heaven and earth. 2 Was it necessary he should fall singing to his drumming on the basin? But I subjoin a note here, suggested by the paragraph, which might have found, perhaps, a more appropriate place in the notice of this Book in vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150.
32 Was it necessary he should fall singing to his drumming on the basin? But I subjoin a note here, suggested by the paragraph, which might have found, perhaps, a more appropriate place in the notice of this Book in vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150. In Sir John F. Davis’ ‘Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants (edition of 1857), vol. ii, pp. 74-90, we have the amusing story of ‘The Philosopher and his Wife.’ The philosopher is Kwang-3ze, who plays the part of a magician; and of his wife it might be said, ‘ Frailty! thy name is woman!’ Sir John Davis says, ‘The story was translated into French by Pére d’Entrecolles, and supplied the materials of Voltaire’s Zadig.’ I have not met in Chinese with Father d’Entrecolles’ original. All of Zadig which can be supposed to have been borrowed from his translator is only a few sentences. The whole story is inconsistent with the account in paragraph 2 of the death of Awang-3ze’s wife, and with all which we learn from his writings of his character. 8 We know nothing of these parties but what we are told here. They are called Shf, meaning ‘uncle,’ often equivalent in China to our‘ Mr. The lesson taught by them is that of submission to pain and death as merely phenomena in the sphere of change. For the phraseology of their names, see Bk. III, par. 3, and Bk. IV, par. 8. 6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVIII. you dread it?’ ‘No, replied he, ‘why should I dread it? Life is a borrowed thing. The living frame thus borrowed is but so much dust. Life and death are like day and night. And you and I were looking at (the graves of) those who have undergone their change. If my change is coming to me, why should I dislike it ?’ 4. When Awang-jze went to Ai, he saw an empty skull, bleached indeed, but still retaining its shape. Tapping it with his horse-switch, he asked it, saying, ‘ Did you, Sir, in your greed of life, fail in the lessons of reason, and come to this? Or did you do so, in the service of a perishing state, by the punishment of the axe? Or was it through your evil conduct, reflecting disgrace on your parents and on your wife and children ? Or was it through your hard endurances of cold and hunger? Or was it that you had completed your term of life ?’ Having given expression to these questions, he took up the skull, and made a pillow of it when he went to sleep. At midnight the skull appeared to him in a dream, and said, ‘ What you said to me was after the fashion of an orator. All your words were about the entanglements of men in their lifetime. There are none of those things after death. Would you like to hear me, Sir, tell you about death ?’ ‘I should,’ said Awang-jze, and the skull resumed: ‘In death there are not (the distinctions of) ruler above and minister below. There are none of the phenomena of the four seasons. Tranquil and at ease, our years are those of heaven and earth. No king in his court has greater enjoyment than we have.’ Awang-sze did not believe it, and said, ‘If I
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.
1Therefore when 3ze-hsii ® strove with (his ruler), he brought on him- 1 If they did not do so, they would be content when they had enough. 2 Wishing to attach it more closely to them. * Wf 32ze-hsii, the scourge of Kft; and who perished miserably at last, when the king of WA would no longer listen to his remonstrances ;—in about B.c. 475. PT. II, SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 3 self the mutilation of his body. If he had not so striven, he would not have acquired his fame :—was such (goodness) really good or was it not ? As to what the common people now do, and what they find their enjoyment in, I do not know whether the enjoyment be really enjoyment or really not. I see them in their pursuit of it following after all their aims as if with the determination of death, and as if they could not stop in their course; but what they call enjoyment would not be so to me, while yet I do not say that there is no enjoyment in it. Is there indeed such enjoyment, or is there not? I consider doing nothing (to obtain it) to be the great enjoyment', while ordinarily people consider it to be a great evil. Hence it is said, ‘ Perfect enjoyment is to be without enjoyment; the highest praise is to be without praise®.’ The right and the wrong (on this point of enjoyment) cannot indeed be determined according to (the view of) the world; nevertheless, this doing nothing (to obtain it) may determine the right and the wrong. Since perfect enjoyment is (held to be) the keeping the body alive, it is only by this doing nothing that that end -is likely to be secured. Allow me to try and explain this (more fully) :—Heaven does nothing, and thence comes its serenity; Earth does nothing, and thence _ comes its rest. By the union of these two inac- tivities, all things are produced. How vast and imperceptible is the process !—they seem to come from 1 This is the secret of the Tao. ® The last member of this sentence is the reading adopted by Wt Kh&ng towards the conclusion of the thirty-ninth chapter of the Tao Teh King, instead of the common HK Hy Hi fHt Hi. B2 4 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK, XVIII. nowhere! How imperceptible and vast!—there is no visible image of it! All things in all their variety grow from this Inaction. Hence it is said, ‘Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do?’ But what man is there that can attain to this inaction ?
2BK, XVIII. nowhere! How imperceptible and vast!—there is no visible image of it! All things in all their variety grow from this Inaction. Hence it is said, ‘Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that they do not do?’ But what man is there that can attain to this inaction ? 2. When Awang-jze’s wife died, Hui-jze went to condole with him, and, finding him squatted on the ground, drumming on the basin?, and singing, said to him, ‘When a wife has lived with her husband, and brought up children, and then dies in her old age, not to wail for her is enough. When you go on to drum on this basin and sing, is it not an excessive (and strange) demonstration ?’ A’wang-jze replied, ‘It is not so. When she first died, was it possible for me to be singular and not affected by the event? But I reflected on the commencement of her being*. She had not yet been born to life ; not only had she no life, but she had no bodily form ; not only had she no bodily form, but she had no breath. During the intermingling of the waste and dark chaos, there ensued a change, and there was breath; another change, and there was the bodily form; another change, and there came birth 1 Compare similar statements in the Tao Teh Xing, ch. 48, et al. 2 The basin or tub, not ‘a basin.’ The reference is, no doubt, to the basin of ice put down near or under the couch on which the body was laid. I suppose that Avwang-jze was squatting so as to have this between his legs. 5 Is the writer referring to the primal creation as we may call it, or development of things out of the chaos, or to some analogous process at the birth of his wife? However that be, birth and death appear to him to be merely changes of the same kind in the perpetual process of evolution. PT. I, SECT. XI. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-8ZE. 5 and life. There is now a change again, and she is dead. The relation between these things is like the procession of the four seasons from spring to autumn, from winter to summer. There now she lies with her face up, sleeping in the Great Chamber!; and if I were to fall sobbing and going on to wail for her, I should think that I did not understand what was appointed (for all). I therefore restrained myself?!’ 3. Mr. Deformed? and Mr. One-foot® were looking at the mound-graves of the departed in the wild of Khwan-lun, where Hwang-Ti had entered into his rest. Suddenly a tumour began to grow on their left wrists, which made them look distressed as if they disliked it. The former said to the other, ‘Do 1 Between heaven and earth. 2 Was it necessary he should fall singing to his drumming on the basin? But I subjoin a note here, suggested by the paragraph, which might have found, perhaps, a more appropriate place in the notice of this Book in vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150.
32 Was it necessary he should fall singing to his drumming on the basin? But I subjoin a note here, suggested by the paragraph, which might have found, perhaps, a more appropriate place in the notice of this Book in vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150. In Sir John F. Davis’ ‘Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants (edition of 1857), vol. ii, pp. 74-90, we have the amusing story of ‘The Philosopher and his Wife.’ The philosopher is Kwang-3ze, who plays the part of a magician; and of his wife it might be said, ‘ Frailty! thy name is woman!’ Sir John Davis says, ‘The story was translated into French by Pére d’Entrecolles, and supplied the materials of Voltaire’s Zadig.’ I have not met in Chinese with Father d’Entrecolles’ original. All of Zadig which can be supposed to have been borrowed from his translator is only a few sentences. The whole story is inconsistent with the account in paragraph 2 of the death of Awang-3ze’s wife, and with all which we learn from his writings of his character. 8 We know nothing of these parties but what we are told here. They are called Shf, meaning ‘uncle,’ often equivalent in China to our‘ Mr. The lesson taught by them is that of submission to pain and death as merely phenomena in the sphere of change. For the phraseology of their names, see Bk. III, par. 3, and Bk. IV, par. 8. 6 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. BK. XVIII. you dread it?’ ‘No, replied he, ‘why should I dread it? Life is a borrowed thing. The living frame thus borrowed is but so much dust. Life and death are like day and night. And you and I were looking at (the graves of) those who have undergone their change. If my change is coming to me, why should I dislike it ?’ 4. When Awang-jze went to Ai, he saw an empty skull, bleached indeed, but still retaining its shape. Tapping it with his horse-switch, he asked it, saying, ‘ Did you, Sir, in your greed of life, fail in the lessons of reason, and come to this? Or did you do so, in the service of a perishing state, by the punishment of the axe? Or was it through your evil conduct, reflecting disgrace on your parents and on your wife and children ? Or was it through your hard endurances of cold and hunger? Or was it that you had completed your term of life ?’ Having given expression to these questions, he took up the skull, and made a pillow of it when he went to sleep. At midnight the skull appeared to him in a dream, and said, ‘ What you said to me was after the fashion of an orator. All your words were about the entanglements of men in their lifetime. There are none of those things after death. Would you like to hear me, Sir, tell you about death ?’ ‘I should,’ said Awang-jze, and the skull resumed: ‘In death there are not (the distinctions of) ruler above and minister below. There are none of the phenomena of the four seasons. Tranquil and at ease, our years are those of heaven and earth. No king in his court has greater enjoyment than we have.’ Awang-sze did not believe it, and said, ‘If I
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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