This volume completes a promise made twelve years earlier, and Legge points at it: "In the Preface to the third volume of these 'Sacred Books of the East' (1879), I stated that I proposed giving in due course, in order to exhibit the System of Taoism, translations of the Tao Teh King by Lâo-jze (sixth century B.C.), the Writings of Kwang-jze..." Volume 3 is on this shelf, and so is Kwang-tze at volume 40. The arc from announcement to delivery is readable here in a way it is in few libraries.
The Tâo Teh King — Sacred Books of China Part I, SBE Vol. 39 (trans. James Legge, 1891)
Open to all
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
page 1
The translator’s English as printed (James Legge). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
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V. ON THE TRACTATE OF ACTIONS AND THEIR RETRIBUTIONS
Peculiar style and nature of the Treatise. Itsdate. Meaning of the Title. Was the old Taoism a Religion? The Kang family. Influence of Buddhism on Taoism.
PAGE xi
p. 12
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38
Vili CONTENTS.
ParT I (Chapters i to xxxvii)
THE TAO TEH XING.
Ch. 1. Embodying the T4o, p. 47. 2. The Nourishment of the Person, pp. 47, 48. 3. Keeping the People at Rest, p. 49. 4, The Fountainless, pp. 49, 50. 5. The Use of Emptiness, p-50. 6. The Completion of Material Forms, p. 51. 7. Sheathing the Light, p. 52. 8. The Placid and Contented Nature, Pp- 52, 53. 9. Fulness and Complacency contrary to the TAo, p- 53- 10. Possibilities through the Tao, pp. 53, 54. 11. The Use of what has no Substantive Existence, pp. 54,55. 12. The Repression of the Desires, p. 55. 13. Loathing Shame, p. 56. 14. The Manifestation of the Mystery, p. 57. 15. The Exhibition of the Qualities of the T4o, pp. 58, 59. 16. Returning to the Root, pp. 59, 60. 17. The Unadulterated Influence, pp. 60, 61. 18. The Decay of Manners, p. 61. 19. Returning to the Unadulterated Influence, p. 62. 20. Being Different from Ordinary Men, pp. 62, 63. 21. The Empty Heart, or the Tao in its Operation, p. 64. 22. The Increase granted to Humility, p. 65. 23. Absolute Vacancy, pp. 65,66. 24. Painful Graciousness, p. 67. 25. Representations of the Mystery, pp. 67, 68. 26. The Quality of Gravity, p. 69. 27. Dexterity in Using the Tao, p. 70. 28. Returning to Simplicity, p.71. 29. Taking no Action, pp. 71, 72. 30. A Caveat against War, pp. 72, 73. 31. Stilling War, pp. 73, 74. 32. The Tao with no Name, pp. 74, 75. 33. Discriminating between Attributes, p. 75. 34. The Task of Achievement, pp. 76,77. 35. The Attribute of Benevolence, p. 77. 36. Minimising the Light, p. 78.- 37. The Exercise of Government, p. 79.
Part II (Chapters xxxviii to Ixxxi) . . . - 80to
Ch. 38. About the Attributes of the Tho, pp. 80, gr. 39. The Origin of the Law, pp. 82, 83. 40. Dispensing with the Use (of Means), pp. 83, 84. 41. Sameness and Difference, pp. 84, 85. 42. The Transformations of the Tao, p. 85. 43. The Universal Use (of the Action in Weakness of the Tao), p. 87. 44, Cautions, pp. 87, 88. 45. Great or Overflowing Virtue, p. 88. 46. The Moderating of Desire or Ambition, pp. 88, 85. 47. Surveying what is Far-off, p. 89. 48. Forgetting Knowledge, p. 90. 49. The Quality of Indulgence, p.91. 50. The Value set on Life, pp. 92, 93. 51. The Operation (of the T4o) in Nourishing Things, pp. 93, 94. 52. Returning to the Source, Pp. 94,95. 53. Increase of Evidence, pp. 96, 97. 54. The Cultivation (of the T4o), and the Observation (of its Effects), pp. 97, 98. 55. The Mysterious Charm, p. 99. 56. The Mysterious
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CONTENTS.
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His introduction asks a question in its own section heading rather than assuming the answer: "Was the old Taoism a Religion?" Alongside it sit "Meaning of the Title", "Its date", and "Influence of Buddhism on Taoism". A translator publishing in a series called the Sacred Books of the East, pausing to ask whether the book in front of him belongs to a religion at all.
Every chapter carries a title Legge supplied, and they are interpretations, not labels — "Embodying the Tâo", "The Nourishment of the Person", "Keeping the People at Rest", "The Fountainless", "The Use of Emptiness", "Sheathing the Light", "Returning to the Source", "The Mysterious Charm". The Chinese has no such headings. A reader comparing this against another translation will find the chapters unnamed there, and should treat these as Legge's reading rather than the text's own.
That last point is the kind of thing this archive exists to make visible. Legge's chapter titles are an editorial layer, added in English, sitting on a text that has none — the same class of addition as a translator's marginal gloss or a modern editor's introduction. Where an archive holds one translation only, such a layer becomes invisible and is read as the original. Holding the note beside it is cheaper than holding a second translation.