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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1310. THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP, VI. 13. Kwang-3ze declines the offer of official dignity. The apologue of the sacrificial ox. 14. Kwang-3ze, about to die, opposes the wish of his disciples to give him a grand burial. His own description of what his burial should be. Book XXXIII. Par. 1. The method of the Tao down to the time of Confucius. 2. The method of Mo Ti and his immediate followers. 3, 4. The method of Mo’s later followers. 5. The method of Kwan Yin and Léo-jze. 6. The method of Kwang-jze. 7. The ways of Hui Shih, Kung-sun Lung, and other sophists. APPENDIX VII. I. THE STONE TABLET IN THE TEMPLE OF LAO-3ZE. By HsiEH TAO-HANG OF THE SUI DYNASTY}. 1. After the Thai Xi (or Primal Ether) commenced its action, the earliest period of time began to be unfolded. * Hsich Tao-hing QE SEq #7, called also Hotian-thing (ZF Ja), was one of the most famous scholars and able ministers of the Sui dynasty (581-618), and also an eloquent writer. His biography is given at considerable length in the fifty-seventh chapter of the Books of Sui. For about 200 years after the end of the Qin dynasty, the empire had been in a very divided and distracted state. The period is known as the epoch of ‘The Southern and Northern Dynasties,’ no fewer than nine or ten of which co-existed, none of them able to assert a universal sway till the rise of Sui. The most powerful of them towards the end of the time was ‘The Northern X4u,’ in connexion with the W(-é4ang (x WX) reign of which (558-561) the name of our Hsieh first appears. In the WA-phing (ek >) reign of ‘The Northern KAt (570-576),’ we find him member of a committee for revising the rules of ‘The Five Classes of Ceremonial Observances,’ and gaining distinction as a poet. When the emperor Wan (30 ip), by name Yang Kien (3 &), a scion of the ruling House of Sui, a small principality in the present HA-pei, and founder of the dynasty so called, had succeeded in putting down the various conflicting dynasties, and claimed the sovereignty of the empire in 581, Hsieh freely yielded his allegiance to him, and was employed in the conduct of various affairs. The important paper, of the translation of the greater part of which a translation is here attempted, was the outcome of one of them. WaAn Ti regularly observed the Confucian worship of God, but also kept up the ceremonies of Buddhism and Taoism. Having repaired the dilapidated temple of Lao-3ze at his birth-place, he required from Hsieh an inscription for the commemorative tablet in it, the composition of which is referred to the year 586, ‘the sixth year of Sui’s rule over all beneath the sky.’ Hsieh appears to have been a favourite with the emperor Wan, but when Wan was succeeded in 605 by his son, known as Yang Tt (Ke if), his relations with 312 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP, VII.
2APP, VII. The curtain of the sky was displayed, and the sun and moon were suspended in it; the four-cornered earth was established, and the mountains and streams found their places in it. Then the subtle influences (of the Ether) operated like the heaving of the breath, now subsiding and again expanding; the work of production went on in its seasons above and below; all things were formed as from materials, and were matured and maintained. There were the (multitudes of the) people; there were their rulers and superiors. 2. As to the august sovereigns of the highest antiquity, living as in nests on trees in summer, and in caves in winter, silently and spirit-like they exercised their wisdom. Dwelling like quails, and drinking (the rain and dew) like newly-hatched birds, they had their great ceremonies like the great terms of heaven and earth, not requiring to be regulated by the dishes and stands; and (also) their great music corresponding to the common harmonies of heaven and earth, not needing the guidance of bells and drums. 3. By and by there came the loss of the T4o, when its Characteristics took its place. They in their turn were lost, and then came Benevolence. Under the Sovereigns and Kings that followed, now more slowly and anon more rapidly, the manners of the people, from being good and simple, became bad and mean. Thereupon came the Literati and the Mohists with their confused contentions; names and the throne became less happy. Offended bya memorial which Hsieh presented, and the ground of offence in which we entirely fail to perceive, the emperor ordered him to put an end to himself. Hsieh was surprised by the sentence, and hesitated to comply with it, on which an executioner was sent to strangle him. Thus ended the life of Hsieh Tao-hang in his seventieth year. His death was regretted and resented, we are told, by the people generally. A collection of his writings was made in seventy chapters, and was widely read. I do not know to what extent these have been preserved ; if many of them have been lost, and the paper, here in part submitted to the reader, were a fair specimen of the others, the loss must be pronounced to be great. Of this paper I have had two copies before me in translating it. One of them is in 3ido Hung’s ‘Wings to Lao-3ze;’ the other is in ‘The Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers.’ Errors of the Text occur now in the one copy, now in the other. From the two combined a Text, which must be exactly correct or nearly so, is made out. ; App. vi. ©THE STONE TABLET TO LAO-8ZE. 313
3From the two combined a Text, which must be exactly correct or nearly so, is made out. ; App. vi. ©THE STONE TABLET TO LAO-8ZE. 313 rules were everywhere diffused. The 300 rules! of ceremony could not control men’s natures; the 3000 rules! of punishment were not sufficient to put a stop to their treacherous villanies. But he who knows how to cleanse the current of a stream begins by clearing out its source, and he who would straighten the end of a process must commence with making its beginning correct. Is not the Great T4o the Grand Source and the Grand Origin of all things ? 4. The Master Léo was conceived under the influence of a star. Whence he received the breath (of life) we cannot fathom, but he pointed to the (plum-) tree (under which he was born), and adopted it as his surname?; we do not understand ? whence came the musical sounds (that were heard), but he kept his marvellous powers concealed in the womb for more than seventy years. When he was born, the hair on his head was already white, and he took the designation of ‘The Old Boy’ (or L4o-jze). In his person, three gateways and two (bony) pillars formed the distinctive marks of his ears and eyes; two of the symbols for five, and ten brilliant marks were left by the wonderful tread of his feet and the grasp of his hands. From the time of Fa-hst down to that of the Kau dynasty, in uninterrupted succession, dynasty after dynasty, his person appeared, but with changed names. In the times of kings Wan and Wa he discharged the duties, (first), of Curator of the Royal Library®, and (next), of the Recorder under the Pillar’. Later on in that dynasty he filled different offices, but did 1 Compare vol. xxviii, p. 323, par. 38. 7 Li (45), a plum-tree. For this and many of the other prodigies men- tioned by Hsieh, see what Julien calls ‘The Fabulous Legend of Lao-3ze,’ and has translated in the Introduction to his version of the Tao Teh Xing. Others of them are found in the Historical, or rather Legendary, Introduction in the ‘Collection of Taoist Treatises,’ edited by Lf Yii in 1877. 3 The meaning of the former of these offices may be considered as settled ;— see the note in Wang K4an-Aai’s edition of the ‘ Historical Records (1870),’ under the Biography of Lao-gze. The nature of the second office is not so clearly ascertained. It was, I apprehend, more of a literary character than the curatorship. 314 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. VII.
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.
1310. THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP, VI. 13. Kwang-3ze declines the offer of official dignity. The apologue of the sacrificial ox. 14. Kwang-3ze, about to die, opposes the wish of his disciples to give him a grand burial. His own description of what his burial should be. Book XXXIII. Par. 1. The method of the Tao down to the time of Confucius. 2. The method of Mo Ti and his immediate followers. 3, 4. The method of Mo’s later followers. 5. The method of Kwan Yin and Léo-jze. 6. The method of Kwang-jze. 7. The ways of Hui Shih, Kung-sun Lung, and other sophists. APPENDIX VII. I. THE STONE TABLET IN THE TEMPLE OF LAO-3ZE. By HsiEH TAO-HANG OF THE SUI DYNASTY}. 1. After the Thai Xi (or Primal Ether) commenced its action, the earliest period of time began to be unfolded. * Hsich Tao-hing QE SEq #7, called also Hotian-thing (ZF Ja), was one of the most famous scholars and able ministers of the Sui dynasty (581-618), and also an eloquent writer. His biography is given at considerable length in the fifty-seventh chapter of the Books of Sui. For about 200 years after the end of the Qin dynasty, the empire had been in a very divided and distracted state. The period is known as the epoch of ‘The Southern and Northern Dynasties,’ no fewer than nine or ten of which co-existed, none of them able to assert a universal sway till the rise of Sui. The most powerful of them towards the end of the time was ‘The Northern X4u,’ in connexion with the W(-é4ang (x WX) reign of which (558-561) the name of our Hsieh first appears. In the WA-phing (ek >) reign of ‘The Northern KAt (570-576),’ we find him member of a committee for revising the rules of ‘The Five Classes of Ceremonial Observances,’ and gaining distinction as a poet. When the emperor Wan (30 ip), by name Yang Kien (3 &), a scion of the ruling House of Sui, a small principality in the present HA-pei, and founder of the dynasty so called, had succeeded in putting down the various conflicting dynasties, and claimed the sovereignty of the empire in 581, Hsieh freely yielded his allegiance to him, and was employed in the conduct of various affairs. The important paper, of the translation of the greater part of which a translation is here attempted, was the outcome of one of them. WaAn Ti regularly observed the Confucian worship of God, but also kept up the ceremonies of Buddhism and Taoism. Having repaired the dilapidated temple of Lao-3ze at his birth-place, he required from Hsieh an inscription for the commemorative tablet in it, the composition of which is referred to the year 586, ‘the sixth year of Sui’s rule over all beneath the sky.’ Hsieh appears to have been a favourite with the emperor Wan, but when Wan was succeeded in 605 by his son, known as Yang Tt (Ke if), his relations with 312 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP, VII.
2APP, VII. The curtain of the sky was displayed, and the sun and moon were suspended in it; the four-cornered earth was established, and the mountains and streams found their places in it. Then the subtle influences (of the Ether) operated like the heaving of the breath, now subsiding and again expanding; the work of production went on in its seasons above and below; all things were formed as from materials, and were matured and maintained. There were the (multitudes of the) people; there were their rulers and superiors. 2. As to the august sovereigns of the highest antiquity, living as in nests on trees in summer, and in caves in winter, silently and spirit-like they exercised their wisdom. Dwelling like quails, and drinking (the rain and dew) like newly-hatched birds, they had their great ceremonies like the great terms of heaven and earth, not requiring to be regulated by the dishes and stands; and (also) their great music corresponding to the common harmonies of heaven and earth, not needing the guidance of bells and drums. 3. By and by there came the loss of the T4o, when its Characteristics took its place. They in their turn were lost, and then came Benevolence. Under the Sovereigns and Kings that followed, now more slowly and anon more rapidly, the manners of the people, from being good and simple, became bad and mean. Thereupon came the Literati and the Mohists with their confused contentions; names and the throne became less happy. Offended bya memorial which Hsieh presented, and the ground of offence in which we entirely fail to perceive, the emperor ordered him to put an end to himself. Hsieh was surprised by the sentence, and hesitated to comply with it, on which an executioner was sent to strangle him. Thus ended the life of Hsieh Tao-hang in his seventieth year. His death was regretted and resented, we are told, by the people generally. A collection of his writings was made in seventy chapters, and was widely read. I do not know to what extent these have been preserved ; if many of them have been lost, and the paper, here in part submitted to the reader, were a fair specimen of the others, the loss must be pronounced to be great. Of this paper I have had two copies before me in translating it. One of them is in 3ido Hung’s ‘Wings to Lao-3ze;’ the other is in ‘The Complete Works of the Ten Philosophers.’ Errors of the Text occur now in the one copy, now in the other. From the two combined a Text, which must be exactly correct or nearly so, is made out. ; App. vi. ©THE STONE TABLET TO LAO-8ZE. 313
3From the two combined a Text, which must be exactly correct or nearly so, is made out. ; App. vi. ©THE STONE TABLET TO LAO-8ZE. 313 rules were everywhere diffused. The 300 rules! of ceremony could not control men’s natures; the 3000 rules! of punishment were not sufficient to put a stop to their treacherous villanies. But he who knows how to cleanse the current of a stream begins by clearing out its source, and he who would straighten the end of a process must commence with making its beginning correct. Is not the Great T4o the Grand Source and the Grand Origin of all things ? 4. The Master Léo was conceived under the influence of a star. Whence he received the breath (of life) we cannot fathom, but he pointed to the (plum-) tree (under which he was born), and adopted it as his surname?; we do not understand ? whence came the musical sounds (that were heard), but he kept his marvellous powers concealed in the womb for more than seventy years. When he was born, the hair on his head was already white, and he took the designation of ‘The Old Boy’ (or L4o-jze). In his person, three gateways and two (bony) pillars formed the distinctive marks of his ears and eyes; two of the symbols for five, and ten brilliant marks were left by the wonderful tread of his feet and the grasp of his hands. From the time of Fa-hst down to that of the Kau dynasty, in uninterrupted succession, dynasty after dynasty, his person appeared, but with changed names. In the times of kings Wan and Wa he discharged the duties, (first), of Curator of the Royal Library®, and (next), of the Recorder under the Pillar’. Later on in that dynasty he filled different offices, but did 1 Compare vol. xxviii, p. 323, par. 38. 7 Li (45), a plum-tree. For this and many of the other prodigies men- tioned by Hsieh, see what Julien calls ‘The Fabulous Legend of Lao-3ze,’ and has translated in the Introduction to his version of the Tao Teh Xing. Others of them are found in the Historical, or rather Legendary, Introduction in the ‘Collection of Taoist Treatises,’ edited by Lf Yii in 1877. 3 The meaning of the former of these offices may be considered as settled ;— see the note in Wang K4an-Aai’s edition of the ‘ Historical Records (1870),’ under the Biography of Lao-gze. The nature of the second office is not so clearly ascertained. It was, I apprehend, more of a literary character than the curatorship. 314 THE TEXTS OF TAOISM. APP. VII.
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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