1. Knowledgehad rambled
northwards to the region of the Dark Water, where he ascended the height of Imperceptible Slope3, when it happened that he met with Dumb Inaction2. Knowledge addressed him, saying, ‘I wish to ask
you some questions:—By what process
of thought and anxious consideration do we get to know the Tâo? Where should we dwell
and what should we do to find our rest in the Tâo? From what point should we start and
what path should we pursue to make the Tâo our own?’ He asked these three questions, but
Dumb Inaction2gave him no reply.
Not only did he not answer, but he did not know how
to answer.
Knowledge2, disappointed by the
fruitlessness of his questions, returned to the south
of the Bright
Water, and ascended
the height of the End of Doubt4where he saw Heedless Blurter,
to whom he put the same questions, and who replied, ‘Ah! I know, and will tell you.’ But
while he was about to speak, he forgot what he wanted to say.
Knowledge, (again) receiving no answer to his questions, returned to the palace of the
Tî, where he saw
Hwang-Tî,
and put the questions to him. Hwang-Tî said, ‘To exercise
no thought and no anxious consideration is the first step towards knowing the Tâo; to
dwell nowhere and do nothing is the first step towards resting in the Tâo; to start from
nowhere and pursue no path is the first step towards making the Tâo your own.’
Knowledge then asked Hwang-Tî, saying, ‘I and you know this; those two did not know it;
which of us is right?’ The reply was, ‘Dumb Inaction6is truly right; Heedless Blurter
has an appearance of being so; I and you are not near being so. (As it is said), “Those
who know (the Tâo) do not speak of it; those who speak of it do not know it;” and “Hence
the sage conveys his instructions without the use of speech7.” The Tâo cannot be made
ours by constraint; its characteristics will not come to us (at our call). Benevolence
may be practised; Righteousness may be partially attended to; by Ceremonies men impose
on one another. Hence it
is said, “When the Tâo was lost, its Characteristics appeared. When its Characteristics
were lost, Benevolence appeared. When Benevolence was lost, Righteousness appeared. When
Righteousness was lost, Ceremonies appeared. Ceremonies are but (the unsubstantial) flowers
of the Tâo, and the commencement of disorder.” Hence (also it is further said), “He
who practises the Tâo, daily diminishes his doing. He diminishes it and again diminishes
it, till he arrives at doing nothing. Having arrived at this non-inaction, there is nothing
that he does not do8.” Here now there is something,
a regularly fashioned utensil;—if
you wanted to make it return to the original condition of its materials, would it not
be difficult to make it do so? Could any but the Great Man accomplish this easily?
‘Life is the follower of death, and death is the predecessor of life; but who knows the
Arranger (of this connexion between them)? The life is due to the collecting of the
breath. When that is collected, there is life; when it is dispersed, there is death. Since
death and life thus attend on each other, why should I account (either of) them an evil?
‘Therefore all things go through one and the same experience. (Life) is accounted beautiful
because it is spirit-like and wonderful, and death is accounted ugly because of its foetor
and putridity. But the foetid and putrid is transformed again into the spirit-like and
wonderful, and the spirit-like and wonderful is transformed again into the foetid and
putrid. Hence it is said, “All under the sky there is one breath of life, and therefore
the sages prized that unity,”‘
Knowledgesaid to
Hwang-Tî12, ‘I asked Dumb Inaction12, and he did not answer me.
Not only did he not answer me, but he did not know how to answer me. I asked Heedless
Blurter, and while he wanted to tell me, he yet did not do so. Not only did he not tell
me, but while he wanted to tell me, he forgot all about my questions. Now I have asked
you, and you knew (all about them);—why (do you say that) you are not near doing
so?’ Hwang-Tî replied, ‘Dumb Inaction12was truly right, because he did not know the
thing. Heedless Blurter12was nearly right,
because he forgot it. I and you are not nearly
right, because we know it.’ Heedless Blurter12heard of (all this), and considered that Hwang-Tî12knew how to express himself (on the subject).
2. (The operations of) Heaven and Earth proceed in the most admirable way, but they say
nothing about them; the four seasons observe the clearest laws, but they do not discuss
them; all things have their complete and distinctive constitutions, but they say nothing
about them.
The sages trace out the admirable operations of Heaven and Earth, and reach to and understand
the distinctive constitutions of all things; and thus it is that the Perfect Man (is said
to) do nothing and the Greatest Sage to originate nothing, such language showing that
they look to Heaven and Earth as
their model. Even
they, with their spirit-like and most exquisite intelligence, as
well as all the tribes that undergo their transformations, the dead and the living, the
square and the round, do not understand their root and origin, but nevertheless they all
from the oldest time by it preserve their being.
Vast as is the space included within the six cardinal points, it all (and all that it
contains) lies within (this twofold root of Heaven and Earth); small as is an autumn hair,
it is indebted to this for the completion of its form. All things beneath the sky, now
rising, now descending, ever continue the same through this. The Yin and Yang, and the
four seasons revolve and move by it, each in its proper order. Now it seems to be lost
in obscurity, but it continues; now it seems to glide away, and have no form, but it is
still spirit-like. All things are nourished by it, without their knowing it. This is what
is called the Root and Origin; by it we may obtain a view of what we mean by Heaven.
3, Nieh Khüehasked
about the Tâo from Phei-î who replied,’ If you keep your body as
it should be, and look only at the one thing, the Harmony of Heaven will come to you.
Call in your knowledge, and make your measures uniform, and the spiritual (belonging to
you) will come and lodge with you; the Attributes (of the Tâo) will be your beauty, and
the Tâo (itself) will be your dwelling-place. You will have the simple look of a new-born
calf, and
will not seek to know the cause (of your being what you are).’ Phei-î had not finished
these words when the other dozed off into a sleep.
Phei-î was greatly pleased, and walked away, singing as he went,
Like stump of rotten tree his frame,
Like lime when slaked his mind became.
Real is his wisdom, solid, true,
Nor cares what’s hidden to pursue.
O dim and dark his aimless mind!
No one from him can counsel find.
What sort of man is he?’
4. Shun asked (his attendant) Khäng,
saying, ‘Can I get the Tâo and hold it as mine?’
The reply was, ‘Your body is not your own to hold; how then can you get and hold the Tâo?’
Shun resumed, ‘If my body be not mine to possess and hold, who holds it?’ Khäng said,
‘It is the bodily form entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Life is not yours to hold.
It is the blended harmony (of the Yin and Yang), entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth.
Your nature, constituted as it is, is not yours to hold. It is entrusted to you by Heaven
and Earth to act in accordance with it. Your grandsons and sons are not yours to hold.
They are the exuviaeentrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Therefore when we walk,
we should not know where we are going; when we stop and rest, we should not know what
to occupy ourselves with
when we eat, we should not know the taste of our food;—all is done by the strong
Yang influence of Heaven and Earth. How then can you get (the Tâo), and hold it as
your own?’
5. Confucius asked Lao Tan, saying, ‘Being at leisure to-day, I venture to ask you about
the Perfect Tâo.’ Lâo Tan replied, ‘You must, as by fasting and vigil, clear and purge
your mind, wash your spirit white as snow, and sternly repress your knowledge. The subject
of the Tâo is deep, and difficult to describe;—I will give you an outline of its
simplest attributes.
‘The Luminous was produced from the Obscure; the Multiform from the Unembodied; the Spiritual
from the Tâo; and the bodily from the seminal essence. After this all things produced
one another from their bodily organisations. Thus it is that those which have nine apertures
are born from the womb, and those with eight from eggs.
But their coming leaves no trace, and their going no monument; they enter by no door;
they dwell in no apartment:—they are in a vast arena reaching in all directions.
They who search for and find (the Tâo) in this are strong in their limbs, sincere and
far-reaching in their thinking, acute in their hearing, and clear in their seeing. They
exercise their minds without being toiled; they respond to everything aright without regard
to place or circumstance. Without this heaven would not be high, nor earth
broad; the sun and moon would not move, and nothing would flourish:—such is the operation
of the Tâo.
‘Moreover, the most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know it; reasoning will not
make men wise in it;—the sages have decided against both these methods. However you
try to add to it, it admits of no increase; however you try to take from it, it admits
of no diminution;—this is what the sages maintain about it. How deep it is, like
the sea! How grand it is, beginning again when it has come to an end! If it carried along
and sustained all things, without being overburdened or weary, that would be like the
way of the superior man, merely an external operation; when all things go to it, and find
their dependence in it;—this is the true character of the Tâo.
‘Here is a man (born) in one of the middle states. He feels himself independent both
of the Yin and Yang,
and dwells between heaven and earth; only for the present a mere
man, but he will return to his original source. Looking at him in his origin, when his
life begins, we have (but) a gelatinous substance in which the breath is collecting. Whether
his life be long or his death early, how short is the space between them! It is but the
name for a moment of time, insufficient to play the part of a good Yâo or a bad Kieh in.
‘The fruits of trees and creeping plants have their distinctive characters, and though
the relationships
of men, according to which they are classified, are troublesome, the sage, when he meets
with them, does not set himself in opposition to them, and when he has passed through
them, he does not seek to retain them; he responds to them in their regular harmony according
to his virtue; and even when he accidentally comes across any of them, he does so according
to the Tâo. It was thus that the Tîs flourished, thus that the kings arose.
‘Men’s life between heaven and earth is like a whitecolt’s passing a crevice, and
suddenly disappearing. As with a plunge and an effort they all come forth; easily and
quietly they all enter again. By a transformation they live, and by another transformation
they die. Living things are made sad (by death), and mankind grieve for it; but it is
(only) the removal of the bow from its sheath, and the emptying the natural satchel of
its contents. There may be some confusion amidst the yielding to the change; but the intellectual
and animal souls are taking their leave, and the body will follow them:—This is the
Great Returning home.
‘That the bodily frame came from incorporeity, and will return to the same, is what all
men in common know, and what those who are on their way to (know) it need not strive for.
This is what the multitudes of men discuss together. Those whose (knowledge) is complete
do not discuss it;—such discussion shows that their (knowledge) is not complete.
Even the most clear-sighted do not meet
(with the Tâo);—it is better to be silent than to reason about it. The Tâo cannot
be heard with the ears;—it is better to shut the ears than to try and hear it. This
is what is called the Great Attainment.’
6. Tung-kwo Dzeasked
Kwang-dze, saying, ‘Where is what you call the Tâo to be found?’
Kwang-dze replied, ‘Everywhere.’ The other said, ‘Specify an instance of it. That will
be more satisfactory.’ ‘It is here in this ant.’ ‘Give a lower instance.’ ‘It is in this
panic grass.’ ‘Give me a still lower instance.’ ‘It is in this earthenware tile.’ ‘Surely
that is the lowest instance?’ ‘It is in that excrement.’ To this Tung-kwo Dze gave
no reply.
Kwang-dze said, ‘Your questions, my master, do not touch the fundamental point (of the
Tâo). They remind me of the questions ad-dressed by the superintendents of the market
to the inspector about examining the value of a pig by treading on it, and testing its
weight as the foot descends lower and lower on the body. You should not specify any
particular thing. There is not a single thing without (the Tâo). So it is with the Perfect
Tâo. And if we call it the Great (Tâo), it is just the same. There are the three terms,—”Complete,”
“All-embracing,” “the Whole.” These names are different,
but the reality (sought in them) is the same referring to the One thing.
‘Suppose we were to try to roam about in the palace of No-where;—when met there,
we might discuss (about the subject) without ever coming to an end. Or suppose we were
to be together in (the region of) Non-action;—should we say that (the Tâo was) Simplicity
and Stillness? or Indifference and Purity? or Harmony and Ease? My will would be aimless.
If it went nowhere, I should not know where it had got to; if it went and came again,
I should not know where it had stopped; if it went on going and coming, I should not know
when the process would end. In vague uncertainty should I be in the vastest waste. Though
I entered it with the greatest knowledge, I should not know how inexhaustible it was.
That which makes things what they are has not the limit which belongs to things, and when
we speak of things being limited, we mean that they are so in themselves. (The Tâo) is
the limit of the unlimited, and the boundlessness of the unbounded.
‘We speak of fulness and emptiness; of withering and decay. It produces fulness and emptiness,
but is neither fulness nor emptiness; it produces withering and decay, but is neither
withering nor decay. It produces the root and branches, but is neither root nor branch;
it produces accumulation and dispersion, but is itself neither accumulated nor dispersed.’
7. A-ho Kanand Shän Näng studied together
under Läo-lung Kî. Shän Nängwas leaning forward on his stool, having shut the door
and gone to sleep in the day time. At midday A-ho Kan pushed open the door and entered,
saying, ‘Lâo-lung is dead.’ Shän Näng leant forward on his stool, laid hold of his staff
and rose. Then he laid the staff aside with a clash, laughed and said, ‘That Heaven knew
how cramped and mean, how arrogant and assuming I was, and therefore he has cast me off,
and is dead. Now that there is no Master to correct my heedless words, it is simply for
me to die!’ Yen Kang, (who had come in) to condole, heard these words, and said, ‘It is
to him who embodies the Tâo that the superior men everywhere cling. Now you who do not
understand so much as the tip of an autumn hair of it, not even the ten-thousandth part
of the Tâo, still know how to keep hidden your heedless words about it and die;—how
much more might he who embodied the Tâo do so! We look for it, and there is no form; we
hearken for it, and there is no sound. When men try to discuss it, we call them dark indeed.
When they discuss the Tâo, they misrepresent it.’
Hereupon Grand Purityasked Infinitude32, saying, ‘Do you know the Tâo?’ ‘I do not
know it,’ was the reply. He then asked Do-nothing32,
Who replied, ‘I know it.’ ‘Is your knowledge of it determined
by various points?’ ‘It is.’ ‘What are they?’ Do-nothingsaid, ‘I know that the Tâo
may be considered noble, and may be considered mean, that it may be bound and compressed,
and that it may be dispersed and diffused. These are the marks by which I know it.’ Grand
Purity took the words of those two, and asked No-beginning33, saying, ‘Such were their
replies; which was right? and which was wrong? Infinitude’s saying that he did not know
it? or Do-nothing’s saying that he knew it?’ No-beginning said, ‘The “I do not know it”
was profound, and the “I know it” was shallow. The former had reference to its internal
nature; the latter to its external conditions. Grand Purity looked up and sighed, saying,
‘Is “not to know it” then to know it? And is “to know it” not to know it? But who knows
that he who does not know it (really) knows it?’ No-beginning replied, ‘The Tâo cannot
be heard; what can be heard is not It. The Tâo cannot be seen; what can be seen is not
It. The Tâo cannot be expressed in words; what can be expressed in words is not It. Do
we know the Formless which gives form to form? In the same way the Tâo does not admit
of being named.’
No-beginning (further) said, ‘If one ask about the Tâo and another answer him, neither
of them knows it. Even the former who asks has never learned anything about the Tâo. He
asks what does not admit of being asked, and the latter answers where answer is impossible.
When one asks what does not admit of being asked, his questioning is in (dire)
extremity. When one answers where answer is impossible, he has no internal knowledge of
the subject. When people without such internal knowledge wait to be questioned by others
in dire extremity, they show that externally they see nothing of space and time, and internally
know nothing of the Grand Commencement. Therefore they cannot cross over the Khwän-lun,
nor roam in the Grand Void.’
8. Starlightasked Non-entity36, saying, ‘Master, do you exist? or do you not exist?’
He got no answer to his question, however, and looked stedfastly to the appearance of
the other, which was that of a deep void. All day long he looked to it, but could see
nothing; he listened for it, but could hear nothing; he clutched at it, but got hold of
nothing.
Starlight then said, ‘Perfect! Who can attain to this? I can (conceive the
ideas of) existence and non-existence, but I cannot (conceive the ideas of) non-existing
non-existence, and still there be a non-existing existence. How is it possible to reach
to this?’
9. The forger of swords for the Minister of War had reached the age of eighty, and had
not lost a hair’s-breadth of his ability. The Minister said to
him, ‘You are indeed skilful, Sir. Have you any method that makes you so?’ The man said,
‘Your servant has (always) kept to his work. When I was twenty, I was fond of forging
swords. I looked at nothing else. I paid no attention to anything but swords. By my constant
practice of it, I came to be able to do the work without any thought of what I was doing.
By length of time one acquires ability at any art; and how much more one who is ever at
work on it! What is there which does not depend on this, and succeed by it?’
10. Zän Khiûasked
Kung-nî, saying, ‘Can it be known how it was before heaven and earth?’
The reply was, ‘It can. It was the same of old as now.’ Zän Khiû asked no more and withdrew.
Next day, however, he had another interview, and said, ‘Yesterday I asked whether it could
be known how it was before heaven and earth, and you, Master, said, “It can. As it is
now, so it was of old.” Yesterday, I seemed to understand you clearly, but to-day it is
dark to me. I venture to ask you for an explanation of this.’ Kung-nî said, ‘Yesterday
you seemed to understand me clearly, because your own spiritual nature had anticipated
my reply. Today it seems dark to you, for you are in an unspiritual mood, and are trying
to discover the meaning. (In this matter) there is no old time and no present; no beginning
and no ending. Could it be that there were grandchildren and children before there were
(other) grandchildren and there were (the present) heaven
and earth, there must have been another heaven and earth.’ But I am not sure that he has
in this remark exactly caught our author’s meaning.”>children?
Zän Khiû had not made any reply, when Kung-nî went on, ‘Let us have done. There can be
no answering (on your part). We cannot with life give life to death; we cannot with death
give death to life. Do death and life wait (for each other)? There is that which contains
them both in its one comprehension. Was that which was produced before Heaven and Earth
a thing? That which made things and gave to each its character was not itself a thing.
Things came forth and could not be before things, as if there had (previously) been things;—as
if there had been things (producing one another) without end. The love of the sages for
others, and never coming to an end, is an idea taken from this.’
11. Yen Yüan asked Kung-nî, saying, ‘Master, I have heard you say, “There should be no
demonstration of welcoming; there should be no movement to meet;”—I venture to ask
in what way this affection of the mind may be shown.’ The reply was, ‘The ancients, amid
(all) external changes, did not change internally; now-a-days men change internally, but
take no note of external changes. When one only notes the changes of things, himself continuing
one and the same, he does not change. How should there be (a difference between) his changing
and not changing? How should he put himself in contact with (and come under the influence
of) those external changes? He is sure, however,
to keep his points of contact with them from being many. The park of Shih-wei, the
garden of Hwang-Tî, the palace of the Lord of Yü, and the houses of Thang and Wû;—(these
all were places in which this was done). But the superior men (so called, of later days),
such as the masters of the Literati and of Mohism, were bold to attack each other with
their controversies; and how much more so are the men of the present day! Sages in dealing
with others do not wound them; and they who do not wound others cannot be wounded by them.
Only he whom others do not injure is able to welcome and meet men.
‘Forests and marshes make me joyful and glad; but before the joy is ended, sadness comes
and succeeds to it. When sadness and joy come, I cannot prevent their approach; when they
go, I cannot retain them. How sad it is that men should only be as lodging-houses for
things, (and the emotions which they excite)! They know what they meet, but they do not
know what they do not meet; they use what power they have, but they cannot be strong where
they are powerless. Such ignorance and powerlessness is what men cannot avoid. That they
should try to avoid what they cannot avoid, is not this also sad? Perfect speech is to
put speech away; perfect action is to put action away; to digest all knowledge that is
known is a thing to be despised.’