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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
11). Therefore he who would embody the T4o can only employ the names of ‘Do Nothing’ and ‘ Returning to the Root, and then go forward to the region of the Unknown and the Indescribable. Now the T4o originally was a Unity. The collection of the breath, constituting life, and its dispersion, which we call death, proceed naturally. The denominations of the former as ‘spirit-like and wonderful’ and of the latter as ‘foetor and putridity’ are the work of man. But those of ‘Non-action’ and ‘ Returning to the Root’ are intended to do honour to the Unity. Knowledge, Heedless Bluster, and Hwang-Ti, all perceived this, but they also went on to reason about it, showing how not to know is better than to know, and not to talk better than to talk. As it is said in par. 2, ‘the beautiful operations of Heaven and Earth, and the distinctive constitutions of all things,’ from the oldest time to the present day, go on and continue without any difference. But who is it that makes them to be what they are? And what expression of doubt or speculation on the point has ever been heard from them ? It is plain that the doctrine of the T4o originated with man. When Phei-i (par. 3) told Nieh K‘iieh, ‘Keep your body as it should be; look only at the One thing; call in your knowledge; make your measures uniform:’—all this was saying to him that we are to do nothing, and turn to (the Tao as) our Root.. When he further says to him, ‘You should have the simple look of a new-born calf; and not ask about the cause of your being what you are :’—this is in effect saying that knowledge is in not knowing, and that speech does not require the use of words. . If you suddenly (like Shun in par. 4) think that the Tao U2 292 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. V. is yours to hold, not only do you not know what the Téo is, but you do not know yourself. How is this? You are but a thing in the Tao. If your life came to you without its being produced by the Tao, you would yourself be a life-producer. But whether one lives to old age or dies prematurely he comes equally to an end. Your life properly was not from yourself, nor is your death your own act. You did not resist (the coming of your life) ; you do not keep it (against the coming of death); you are about to return to your original source. This simply is what is meant by the Sage’s ‘Do nothing, and return to your Root.’ As to ‘the bodily frame coming from incorporeity and its returning to the same (par. 5), that certainly is a subject beyond the reach of our seeing and hearing ; and how can any one say that the T4o is his to hold?
2This simply is what is meant by the Sage’s ‘Do nothing, and return to your Root.’ As to ‘the bodily frame coming from incorporeity and its returning to the same (par. 5), that certainly is a subject beyond the reach of our seeing and hearing ; and how can any one say that the T4o is his to hold? What L4o-jze (says to Confucius in par. 5), and what Khang tells Shun (in par. 4), have not two meanings; but notwithstanding, it should not be said that the TAo is not to be found anywhere (par. 6). Speaking broadly, we may say that its presence is to be seen in an ant, a stalk of panic grass, an earthenware tile, and in excrement. Seeking for it in what is more delicate and recondite, let us take the ideas of fulness and emptiness, of withering and decay; of beginning and end, of accumulation and dispersion. These are all ideas, and not the names of things; and (the T4o) which makes things what they are has not the limit which belongs to things. No wonder that Tung-kwo 3ze should have been so perplexed as he was! Those who think that the T4o has no positive existence (par. 7), speak of it as ‘The Mysterious and Obscure,’ and then it would seem to be equivalent to the name ‘Mystery,’ which cannot be rightly applied to it. And those who think that it has a positive existence speak of it as being considered now noble and now mean, now bound and compressed, now dispersed and diffused, and what is One is divided into the noble and the mean, the compressed and the dispersed ;—a mode of dealing with it, of which the Tao will not admit. Better is it to say with No- BK. XXII, ANALYSES OF BOOKS OF KWANG-8ZE. 293 beginning, ‘ There should be no asking about the T4o; any question about it should not be replied to. The opposite of this would imply a knowledge of what is not known, and the use of words which should not be spoken. In accordance with this, when Star-light puts his question to Non-entity, and it is added, ‘To conceive the ideas of Existence and Non-existence is not so difficult as to conceive of a Non-existing non-existence,’ this is an advance on speaking of (the Tao) as Non-existent; and when the forger of Swords says to the Minister of War that by long practice he came to the exercise of his art as if he took no thought about it (par. 9), this is an advance on speaking of (the T4o) as existent.
39), this is an advance on speaking of (the T4o) as existent. The substance of what we know is to this effect :— The TAo was produced before heaven and earth. It made things what they are and is not itself a thing. It cannot be considered as of ancient origin or of recent, standing as it does in no relation to time. It had no beginning and will have no end. Life and death, death and life equally proceed from It. To speak of It as existing or as non-existing is a one-sided presentation of It. Those who have embodied It, amid all external changes, do not change internally, They welcome and meet all men and things, and none can do them any injury (par. 11). Whatever they do not know and are unequal to, they simply let alone. This is the meaning of ‘Doing nothing, and turning in everything to the Root.’ Where the want of knowledge and of language is the most complete, Zan Khid (par. 10) and Yen-jze (par. 11) apply to Kung-ni for his judgment in the case, and the consideration of it comes to an end. In this Book the mysteries of the T4o are brought to light; one slight turn of expression after another reveals their successive depths, beyond the reach of Reasoning. Ld Fang-hd says, ‘Master this Book, and the Mahayana of the Tripizaka will open to you at the first application of your knife.’ —Well does he express himself ! 294 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. V. Book XXVI. Those who practise the T4o know that what is external to themselves cannot be relied on, and that what is internal and belonging to themselves, does not receive any injury (par. 1). They are therefore able to enjoy themselves in the world, emptying their minds of all which would interfere with their pursuing their natural course. What men can themselves control are their minds; external things are all subject to the requirements and commands of the world. Good and evil cannot be prevented from both coming to men, and loyalty and filial duty may find it hard to obtain their proper recompense. From of old it has been so; and the men of the world are often startled to incessant activity with their minds between the thoughts of profit and injury, and are not able to overcome them (par. 1). But do they know that among the enemies (of their serenity) there are none greater than the Yin and Yang? The water and fire of men’s minds produce irregularity in their action, and then again overcome it; but after the harmony of the mind has been consumed, there remains in them no more trace of the action of the Tao.
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.
11). Therefore he who would embody the T4o can only employ the names of ‘Do Nothing’ and ‘ Returning to the Root, and then go forward to the region of the Unknown and the Indescribable. Now the T4o originally was a Unity. The collection of the breath, constituting life, and its dispersion, which we call death, proceed naturally. The denominations of the former as ‘spirit-like and wonderful’ and of the latter as ‘foetor and putridity’ are the work of man. But those of ‘Non-action’ and ‘ Returning to the Root’ are intended to do honour to the Unity. Knowledge, Heedless Bluster, and Hwang-Ti, all perceived this, but they also went on to reason about it, showing how not to know is better than to know, and not to talk better than to talk. As it is said in par. 2, ‘the beautiful operations of Heaven and Earth, and the distinctive constitutions of all things,’ from the oldest time to the present day, go on and continue without any difference. But who is it that makes them to be what they are? And what expression of doubt or speculation on the point has ever been heard from them ? It is plain that the doctrine of the T4o originated with man. When Phei-i (par. 3) told Nieh K‘iieh, ‘Keep your body as it should be; look only at the One thing; call in your knowledge; make your measures uniform:’—all this was saying to him that we are to do nothing, and turn to (the Tao as) our Root.. When he further says to him, ‘You should have the simple look of a new-born calf; and not ask about the cause of your being what you are :’—this is in effect saying that knowledge is in not knowing, and that speech does not require the use of words. . If you suddenly (like Shun in par. 4) think that the Tao U2 292 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. V. is yours to hold, not only do you not know what the Téo is, but you do not know yourself. How is this? You are but a thing in the Tao. If your life came to you without its being produced by the Tao, you would yourself be a life-producer. But whether one lives to old age or dies prematurely he comes equally to an end. Your life properly was not from yourself, nor is your death your own act. You did not resist (the coming of your life) ; you do not keep it (against the coming of death); you are about to return to your original source. This simply is what is meant by the Sage’s ‘Do nothing, and return to your Root.’ As to ‘the bodily frame coming from incorporeity and its returning to the same (par. 5), that certainly is a subject beyond the reach of our seeing and hearing ; and how can any one say that the T4o is his to hold?
2This simply is what is meant by the Sage’s ‘Do nothing, and return to your Root.’ As to ‘the bodily frame coming from incorporeity and its returning to the same (par. 5), that certainly is a subject beyond the reach of our seeing and hearing ; and how can any one say that the T4o is his to hold? What L4o-jze (says to Confucius in par. 5), and what Khang tells Shun (in par. 4), have not two meanings; but notwithstanding, it should not be said that the TAo is not to be found anywhere (par. 6). Speaking broadly, we may say that its presence is to be seen in an ant, a stalk of panic grass, an earthenware tile, and in excrement. Seeking for it in what is more delicate and recondite, let us take the ideas of fulness and emptiness, of withering and decay; of beginning and end, of accumulation and dispersion. These are all ideas, and not the names of things; and (the T4o) which makes things what they are has not the limit which belongs to things. No wonder that Tung-kwo 3ze should have been so perplexed as he was! Those who think that the T4o has no positive existence (par. 7), speak of it as ‘The Mysterious and Obscure,’ and then it would seem to be equivalent to the name ‘Mystery,’ which cannot be rightly applied to it. And those who think that it has a positive existence speak of it as being considered now noble and now mean, now bound and compressed, now dispersed and diffused, and what is One is divided into the noble and the mean, the compressed and the dispersed ;—a mode of dealing with it, of which the Tao will not admit. Better is it to say with No- BK. XXII, ANALYSES OF BOOKS OF KWANG-8ZE. 293 beginning, ‘ There should be no asking about the T4o; any question about it should not be replied to. The opposite of this would imply a knowledge of what is not known, and the use of words which should not be spoken. In accordance with this, when Star-light puts his question to Non-entity, and it is added, ‘To conceive the ideas of Existence and Non-existence is not so difficult as to conceive of a Non-existing non-existence,’ this is an advance on speaking of (the Tao) as Non-existent; and when the forger of Swords says to the Minister of War that by long practice he came to the exercise of his art as if he took no thought about it (par. 9), this is an advance on speaking of (the T4o) as existent.
39), this is an advance on speaking of (the T4o) as existent. The substance of what we know is to this effect :— The TAo was produced before heaven and earth. It made things what they are and is not itself a thing. It cannot be considered as of ancient origin or of recent, standing as it does in no relation to time. It had no beginning and will have no end. Life and death, death and life equally proceed from It. To speak of It as existing or as non-existing is a one-sided presentation of It. Those who have embodied It, amid all external changes, do not change internally, They welcome and meet all men and things, and none can do them any injury (par. 11). Whatever they do not know and are unequal to, they simply let alone. This is the meaning of ‘Doing nothing, and turning in everything to the Root.’ Where the want of knowledge and of language is the most complete, Zan Khid (par. 10) and Yen-jze (par. 11) apply to Kung-ni for his judgment in the case, and the consideration of it comes to an end. In this Book the mysteries of the T4o are brought to light; one slight turn of expression after another reveals their successive depths, beyond the reach of Reasoning. Ld Fang-hd says, ‘Master this Book, and the Mahayana of the Tripizaka will open to you at the first application of your knife.’ —Well does he express himself ! 294 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. V. Book XXVI. Those who practise the T4o know that what is external to themselves cannot be relied on, and that what is internal and belonging to themselves, does not receive any injury (par. 1). They are therefore able to enjoy themselves in the world, emptying their minds of all which would interfere with their pursuing their natural course. What men can themselves control are their minds; external things are all subject to the requirements and commands of the world. Good and evil cannot be prevented from both coming to men, and loyalty and filial duty may find it hard to obtain their proper recompense. From of old it has been so; and the men of the world are often startled to incessant activity with their minds between the thoughts of profit and injury, and are not able to overcome them (par. 1). But do they know that among the enemies (of their serenity) there are none greater than the Yin and Yang? The water and fire of men’s minds produce irregularity in their action, and then again overcome it; but after the harmony of the mind has been consumed, there remains in them no more trace of the action of the Tao.
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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