The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
The translator’s English as printed (James Legge). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
By Sf Shih 320
INDEX TO VOLS. XXXIX, XL. . . . : . + 325
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East. . . . + 337
THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
BOOK XVIII.
Part II. Section XI.
Kih Lo, or ‘ Perfect Enjoyment '.’
1. Under the sky is perfect enjoyment to be found or not? Are there any who can preserve themselves alive or not? If there be, what do they do? What do they maintain ? What do they avoid ? What do they attend to? Where do they resort to? Where do they keep from? What do they delight in? What do they dislike ?
What the world honours is riches, dignities, longevity,and being deemed able. What it delights in is rest for the body, rich flavours, fine garments, beautiful colours, and pleasant musjc. What it looks down on are poverty and mean condition, short life and being deemed feeble?. What men consider bitter experiences are that their bodies do not get rest and ease, that their mouths do not get food of rich flavour, that their persons are not finely clothed, that their eyes do not see beautiful colours, and that their ears do not listen to pleasant music. If they do not
* See vol. xxxix, pp. 149, 150.
2 Of riches, dignities, longevity, and their opposites, enough is said, while the other two qualities are lightly passed over, and referred to only in connexion with ‘ meritorious officers.’ I can only understand them as in the translation.
[4°] Bp. 2 get these things, they are very sorrowful, and go on to be troubled with fears. Their thoughts are all about the body ;—are they not silly ?
Now the rich embitter their lives by their incessant labours ; they accumulate more wealth than they can use :—while they act thus for the body, they make it external to themselves'. Those who seek for honours carry their pursuit of them from the day into the night, full of anxiety about their methods whether they are skilful or not:—while they act thus for the body they treat it as if it were indifferent to them* The birth of man is at the same time the birth of his sorrow; and if he live long he becomes more and more stupid, and the longer is his anxiety that he may not die; how great is his bitterness !—while he thus acts for his body, it is for a distant result. Meritorious officers are regarded by the world as good; but (their goodness) is not sufficient to keep their persons alive. I do not know whether the goodness ascribed to them be really good or really not good. If indeed it be considered good, it is not sufficient to preserve their persons alive; if it be deemed not good, it is sufficient to preserve other men alive. Hence it is said, ‘When faithful remonstrances are not listened to, (the remonstrant) should sit still, let (his ruler) take his course, and not strive with him. Therefore 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.
The Writings of Kwang-tze, the second of the two Taoism volumes Legge delivered in 1891 — twelve years after announcing the project in the preface to Part I. The English chapter titles here, as in the Tâo Teh King, are an editorial layer on a text that carries none; where an archive holds one translation only, such a layer reads as the original.
same translation project as The Tâo Teh King — Sacred Books of China Part I, SBE Vol. 39 (trans. James Legge, 1891)