TKT
IT
CflttOW
i ana
uinroe fty
PAUL
CftRUI
^
The Canon
of
Reason and Virtue Being
Lao-tze s
Tao Teh King
Chinese and English
By
Paul Carus
JUUft
The Open Court La
Publishing Co.
Salle, Illinois
1954
Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Co. 1913
1927
TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE
Foreword
3
Introduction
13
Lao-tze s Tao-Teh-King in Chinese
23 25 27
English Translation
67
69 Sze-ma Ch ien on Lao-tze The Old Philosopher s Canon o Rea son and Virtue 73 Comments and Alternative Readings .... 131
Table of References
Index
.
189 .
207
FOREWORD. This booklet, The Canon of Reason and is an extract from the author s larger work, Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King, and has been published for the purpose of making our read ing public more familiar with that grand and imposing figure Li Er, who was honored with the posthumous title Poh-Yang, i. e., Prince Positive (representing the male or strong Virtue,
principle) ; but whom his countrymen simply call Lao-tze, the_Ol_d Philosopher. * * *
Sze-Ma Ch
ien,
the
Herodotus of China,
who
lived about 136-85 B. C., has left a short sketch of Lao-tze s life in his Shi Ki (His
Records) which is here prefixed as most ancient and only well-attested ac count to be had of the Old Philosopher. Born in 604 B. C., Lao-tze was by about
torical
the
half a century the senior of ConfuciusHe must have attained great fame during his life, for Confucius is reported to have sought an
interview with him. But the two greatest sages of China did not understand each other, and they parted mutually disappointed.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
4
to Lao - tze has been not historical it certainly is ben trovato, for the contrast between these two leaders of Chinese thought remains to
Confucius
doubted. If
s
visit
it is
the present day. The disciples of Confucius, the so-called "literati," are tinged with their s agnosticism and insist on the rules of propriety as the best methods of education, while the Tao Sze, the believers in the Tao, or divine Reason, are given to philosophical
master
The speculation and religious mysticism. two schools are still divided, and have never effected a
conciliation
of
their
differences
on a common higher
that might be attained
ground.
Chwang-tze, one of Lao-tze
s disciples,
who
lived about 330 B. C., has preserved another, an older and more elaborate, report of the meeting between Confucius and the Old Phi
losopher.
Sze-Ma Ch
ien
(163-85 B. C.)
is
sometimes supposed to have derived his ac count from Chwang - tze, but Chwang - tze s story
bears
traces
of
legendary
which can not but be regarded as it
is
difficult
to
believe
elements
fiction,
and
that the historian
should have taken his sober sketch from the fantastic tale of a poet-philosopher. The names of Lao-tze s birthplace, state, province and the locality of his life s work
might be considered as invented purposely because of their strange significance if they were not geographically existent. In the first
Foreword
5
edition of Lao-tze s Tao Teh King we trans lated Cheu as "the State of Plenty," and will only add that the word is made up of the
characters
"mouth"
and
"to
use,"
its
original
supply everywhere; to make a circuit all around or everywhere; and The Cheu dynasty was so called be plenty." cause the emperor s power reached all over the civilized world, according to Chinese no tions. In the present edition we have pre ferred to translate the word Cheu by "the
meaning being
"to
State of Everywhere." It would be easy to say that the Old Phi losopher was a citizen of Everywhere, and was born in Good Man s Bend to describe his
home was situated Bramble Province to indicate the poverty and difficulties with which his life was surrounded. The plum-tree is the symbol of immortal ity, and the ear might signify the man who was willing to listen. Accordingly Lao-tze s family name Li (plum) seems to be as much innate character; that his
in Thistle District of
justified as his
proper name
Er
(ear).
What
splendid material with which to change LaoIt is as good as tze into a mythical figure! the life of Napoleon of whom Perez made a solar hero, an Apollo, on account of his name and the several events of his career his final sinking in the west and disappearance on an island in the Atlantic, the ocean of sunset. Nevertheless the historicity of Lao-tze and
6
Canon of Reason and Virtue
the authenticity of his book seem to be suffi ciently well ascertained. The historicity of Lao-tze s writing has been doubted only once, but by so great an must, however, authority as H. A. Giles. remember that the greater part of the Tao Teh King is preserved in quotations in the pre-
We
Christian writings of Lieh-tze, Chwang-tze, (For details see the ar ticle in reply to Professor Giles in The
and Hwai Nan-tze.
Monist, XI, pp. 574-601.) Lao-tze s book on Reason and Virtue It was in bore the title Tao Teh.
first
all
outward appearances a mere collection of aphoristic utterances, but full of noble mor and deep meditation. It met the reward
als
which
it fully deserved, having by imperial decree been raised to the dignity of canon ical authority; hence the name King or "ca
non,"
completing the
now commonly "Canon
of
Tao Teh King, as which we translate
title
used,
Reason and
Virtue."
Although Confucian philosophy has become ihe guiding star of the Chinese government Lao-tze has taken a firm hold on the hearts of the people, and in the progress of time his figure has
grown in significance into the sta ture of a Christ-like superhuman personality. So it happened that later traditions added to Sze-Ma Ch ien s brief report various details
which became more and more fantastic. We learn that Yin Hi, the officer of the frontier,
Foreword
7
was warned beforehand by astrological
sci
ence of the sage s coming. He is further re puted to have accompanied his master into the deserts of the west, traveling in a car drawn by black oxen. Still later legends add to these fables the story of Lao-tze s miraculous conception through the influence of a star, and claim that he was the incarnation of the supreme celes tial essence; that he had repeatedly been in carnate, once in the village of the state of
Tz u. This
latter birth is represented in anal
ogy with Buddha
s nativity,
for his mother
brought forth the divine child from her left side, and her delivery took place under a tree in Lao-tze s case it was a plum-tree. The infant at his very birth pointed to the tree shall take my surname Li (plum) saying, "I
His head was white, and his tree." countenance that of an aged man, whence it is said he derived his name Lao-tze, which not only means the Old Philosopher but also the Ancient Child. He is said to have wan dered to the farthest extremities of the earth, including the countries Ta Ts in (which seems to have represented the Roman Empire) and Tu K ien, where he preached his doctrine and converted the people to the truth. In China he is reported to have helped Wu Wang, the founder of the famous Cheu dynasty, in the
from
this
year 112 B.C. Lao-tze s various disciples developed more
Canon of Reason and Virtue
8
and more the mystical elements of Taoism, the practical application of which terminated in a belief in alchemy, especially in an elixir of
life.
The Emperor
Wu
Ti and the emperors of the T ang dynasty were staunch believers in the Old Philosopher. When in the year 666 A. D. Emperor Kao Tsung canonized him he gave him a rank among the gods as the Great Supreme (T aiShang), as the Emperor-God of the Dark First Cause. Hiian Tsung honored him in 1013 A. D. with the title Tai Shang Lao Chiun, the Great Exalted One, the An cient Master. regret to say that the Taoism of China is a religion which, powerful though it is, little accords with the venerable old philos opher, and without danger of doing its priests an injustice may be branded as a system of
We
superstitions and superstitious practices. The Taoist church is governed by a Taoist pope who lives in the splendor of a palace surrounded by extensive parks near Lung
Hu
Shan,
scarcely
less
beautiful
than the
garden of the Vatican at Rome. *
Lao-tze
s
*
*
Tao Teh King contains so many
surprising analogies with Christian thought and sentiment, that were its pre-Christian origin not established beyond the shadow of a doubt, one would be inclined to discover in it
traces of Christian influence.
Not only
Foreword
9
does the term Tao (word, reason) correspond quite closely to the Greek term Logos, but Lao-tze preaches the ethics of requiting hatred with goodness. He insists on the necessity of becoming like unto a little child, of returning to primitive simplicity and purity, of nonassertion and non-resistance, and promises that the crooked shall be straight.
The Tao Teh King to the
*
*
Two
is brief,
but
it is filled
brim with suggestive thoughts. *
issues of the author s translation of
Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King have appeared and two editions of an extract entitled The Canon of Reason and Virtue. In the second issue of the first edition of Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King attention has been called to misprints in the Chinese text, and alternative readings have been proposed in an additional chapter en titled "Emendations
The present
and
Comments."
meant to be popular and is an enlargement of The Canon of Rea son and Virtue. Of the larger edition en titled Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King, it incorpo rates the main explanations and the Chinese text which in its revised form we hope is now quite reliable. A few variants which are im portant for the sense of the text have been added in footnotes. Thus the present little volume being a combination of the larger and edition
is
the smaller editions, is practically a new work. It contains a comprehensive introduction and
10
Canon of Reason and Virtue
incorporates the results of the translator s latest labors in revising and reconsidering the many difficult passages of the Tao Teh King. A number of new interpretations flashed upon him from time to time, and some of them will
be deemed happy and probably be accepted as This certainly is true of the first para graph of Chapter 2, and also of the second
final.
paragraph of Chapter 49. I do not deem it necessary in this popular edition to introduce controversies or to criti cize other translations; nor do I want to cor rect all the mistakes and misprints of my own
former editions.
I
must be
satisfied
with
My
offering the best results of my labors. ideal has been to reproduce the original in a readable form which would be as literal as
the difference of languages permits and as in to English-speaking people as is the original to the educated native Chinese. While linguistic obscurities have been removed as much as possible, the sense has upon the whole telligible
not been rendered more definite than the orig inal or the traditional interpretation would warrant. Stock phrases which are easily understood, such as "the ten thousand things," meaning the whole world or nature collec tively,
have been
left in their original
form;
but expressions which without a commentary would be unintelligible, such as "not to depart from the baggage wagon," meaning to pre serve one s dignity (Chap. 26), have been re-
Foreword
11
placed by the nearest terms that cover their meaning. The versification of the quoted poetry is as literal as possible and as simple as in the No attempt has been made to im original. prove its literary elegance. The translator was satisfied if he could find a rhyme which would introduce either no change at all in the words or such an indifferent change as would not in the least alter their sense. The present edition contains also an intro duction and comments in which my prior ex planations of Lao-tze s thought are restated in a condensed form together with some new observations which in their appropriate places
have been incorporated.
The division into chapters as well as the chapter headings were not made by Lao-tze but are the work of later Chinese editors. I have sought the advice of Mr. Ng Poon Chew, editor of the Chung Sai Yat Po, the Chinese daily paper of San Francisco, for the interpretation of some difficult words, and for doubtful passages I deemed a comparison with the Manchu translation desirable, for which purpose I have availed myself of the assist ance of Dr. Berthold Lauf er of the Field Mu seum of Chicago. Prof. Paul Pelliot, of Paris, has recently published in the Toung Pao (1912, pp. 351430) an account of a Sanskrit translation of the Tao Teh King made in the seventh cen-
12
Canon of Reason and Virtue
tury for King
Kumara
famous Harsha
of Assam, vassal to the
Ciladitya, king of
Unfortunately this version *
*
Magadha.
is lost.
*
For further information on Lao-tze the reader is referred to the author s essays Chi nese Philosophy (Religion of Science Library No. 30), Chinese Thought, "The Authenticity of the Tao Teh King" (The Monist, Vol. XI, pp. 574-601), written in reply to Prof. Herbert A. Giles, "Medhurst s New Translation of the
Tao Teh King" (The Open Court, XX, 174), and the former more complete edition of Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King. This our larger book, entitled Lao-Tze s Tao Teh King, which contains a verbatim translation of the Chinese text, has not be entirely antiquated, but we warn stu dents that it stands in need of a revision on the basis of the present emendated edition.
come
*
*
*
May this little book fulfil its mission and be a witness to the religious spirit and philo sophical depth of a foreign nation whose hab its, speech, and dress are strange to us. are not alone in the world; there are others who search for the truth and are groping after it. Let us become better acquainted with them, let us greet them as brothers, let us understand them and appreciate their ide
We
als!
PAUL CARUS.
INTRODUCTION.
A few comments expressions
will
on Lao-tze help
the
s favorite
reader
to
understand the drift of his thought. The character tao 1 being composed of and the characters "moving on"
depicts a
"going
ahead."
"head,"
The
original in the "way"
meaning of the word is same sense as in English, denoting both and "method." same The association of ideas prevails in almost all languages. The Greek 2 is a derivative of hodos 3 word methodos "path"
"path"
meta,
(combined with the preposition and so
"according
to,"
"after")
too originally means or rather "according to a way." In the sense of method the word Tao acquires "method"
the significance of
"way"
"principle,
rational-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
14
then "the right way," or the Urvernunft of German mys tics. Finally Tao comes to possess the meaning of "rational speech" or "word,"
ity,
or
reason,"
"truth,"
and in this sense it closely resembles the Greek Logos, for in addition to its phil osophical significance the term Tao touches a religious chord in the souls of the Chinese just as did the word Logos among the Platonists and the Greek Christians. The term Tao de in the same notes and also religious sense in which they are used in the New Testament: the former in the first verse of the Fourth Gospel, the beginning was the word"; and the "word"
"way"
"In
latter in the saying of Christ,
"I
am
the
(John xiv. way, the truth, and the In both passages the word Tao is 6). the right term by which to translate and life"
"word,"
"truth."
"way,"
of man, fan tao, 4 is the pro cess of ratiocination, and as such it is
The Tao
fallible;
ch ang
but there
tao,
5
is
an Eternal Reason,
also called
t
ien tao, Q
"Heav-
Introduction
en
s
the world-order which things, and the burden of
Reason,"
shapes Lao-tze
all
15
i.
e.,
s message is to let this Heaven s Reason or Eternal Reason prevail. The man who is guided by the Eternal Rea
the master, chitin; 7 the superior thinker, chiun tze;8 he is the holy man,
son
is
shan jan;9 the man of Reason, yin tao che w or tung yii tao che; 11 and the man of truth, chen Jan. 12
We translate Tao by
"Reason,"
and we
capitalize the word in order to remind the reader that it is not the reason of the
nor the rationality of argu but the universal world-order, or ment, in other words, the eternal Reason of the divine dispensation, the Logos, to which man looks up with reverence. The second word of the title, Te/z, 13 rationalist,
which, strange enough, Legge is made up of "attribute,"
"virtue,"
translates
characters meaning 10
Literally,
11
Literally,
"having
"man,"
one."
MA
and
Reason the one." with Reason the
"identified
12
"heart"
13
Canon of Reason and Virtue
16
"straight."
It
man
denotes
s
straight-
ness of heart.
The
favorite phrase of Lao-tze s eth a key to his mode
which furnishes
ics,
of thought, reads wei
wu
($
wei,
$&m&
)
and we have commonly translated the words by with non"act
non-act,"
"act
assertion."
The Chinese wei means not only do
something,"
the stage, or
but also
"to
make
act"
"to
a show, to
as
"to
on
show The
off, to pose, to parade oneself." phrase wei wu wei might be translated do without ado" or act without acting" (viz., without posing), were it not for the fact that the moral element is uppermost in Lao-tze s mind. He de nounces the vanity of self-display and "to
"to
egotism, and so we believe that wei wu wei is best rendered by "acting with
The meaning is clear through the context, and there is no need of interpreting Lao-tze s words non-assertion."
either in a mystical or a quietist sense. There are three negatives in Chinese:
pu,
ing
"not,"
in,
the simple negation
non-existent,
;
wu, "lack and fei,
without";
Introduction
17
means." Though we can not lay a general rule about their distinc tions, there are different shades of mean ing according to the context which we "by
no
down
have tried to bring out in our English version.
Sometimes the meaning of the
negated word, or the ironic sense in which it is used, influences the nega tive. In Chapter 49 pu shan, "ungoodbut in Chapter 38, ness", means pu teh, "unvirtue," means that higher virtue which makes no show and does not even assume the name. In Chapter "evil,"
57
wu
shi,
"non-diplomacy,"
mode
is
that
statesmanship with which a good ruler will unostentatiously govern the empire. On the other hand Lao-tze speaks of both fei tao, i. e., "lack
higher
of
of
reason" or "anti-reason" (Chapter 53) and pu tao (Chapters 30 and 55) reason," which soon ceases, while reason that can be reasoned" (tao ko tao) is declared to be no means the eter nal Reason (fei ch ang tao)" The term wu, "non-existence" (Chap "un
"the
"by
ter 40), is not annihilation but denotes
absence of concrete particularity or of
Canon of Reason and Virtue
18
materiality.
It is
what we would
intended to describe
call the
purely formal, including purely formal thought, viz., the prototypes of things as well as ideals. Materiality makes things real but non-materiality, 14 as set forth in Chapter 11, while giving shape to things by cutting away certain portions, ren ders them useful. Lao-tze s appreciation of oneness is to be expected of a philosopher of the Tao, of Divine Reason. He speaks of oneness 15 as giving character to things that are units (Chapter 39) and unity
cannot be disintegrated (Chapter 10). Lao-tze s reference to trinity as beget ting all things (Chapter 42) is, to say the least, curious, perhaps profound, and 14
For the meaning of
"nought"
in Oriental
Foundations of Math Compare also on the sig
thought see the author
s
ematics, pp. 134ff. nificance of non-realities the article "Mysti in The Monist, Vol. XVIII, p. 86; cism" further, Buddhism and Its Christian Critics, pp. 110, 119ff. and 218, where Goethe is quoted
on nothingness. 15 For the connection of Oneness with Qual ity see the author s Personality, pp. 36-38, and "The
375.
Significance of Quality," Monist, XV, Cf. The Phiolsophy of Form, pp. 12-13.
Introduction
19
Christians will also be interested in the Son of Heaven as the High
idea that the
must bear the sins mankind (Chapter 78). Lao-tze s style is characterized by par without ado" (commonly adox as in Priest of the people
of
"do
translated
"act
in Chapters 2, knowable,"
71);
with
non-assertion"
3, 10, etc.)
;
"know
the
as
un
sick of sickness"(Chapter non-practice," "taste the
"be
"practice
(Chapter 63) "marching with marching" (Chapter 69). Similarly the 16 phrases "the form of the formless" and 17 "the the of image imageless" (Chapter 14) etc. are used to describe what Kant
tasteless"
;
out
calls
"pure
form,"
i.
e.,
non-material or
forms such as geometrical figures, and which corresponds to the Buddhist term arupo, "the formless," in the sense ideal
of
"the
bodiless."
Undoubtedly the best sayings of Lao18 "Requite hatred with goodness and "The I meet (Chapter 63); good with goodness the bad I also meet with tze are
:
;
$, SS
(Literally,
"with
virtue.")
Canon of Reason and Virtue
20
goodness
19 ----
The
faithful I
meet with
the faithless I also meet with
faith, faith"
(Chapter 49).
Other remarkable ideas of Lao-tze are his preference for simplicity (Chapters 17, 28, 37, 57), for purity (Chapter 45),
for emptiness (Chapters
3, 4, 5),
for rest
and peace 20 (Chapter
31), for silence (Chapters 2, 23, 43, 56), for tenderness (Chapters 52, 76, 78), especially the ten derness of water (Chapter 78), for weak
ness (Chapters
36, 40) for compassion for lowliness or humility (Chapter 67), for thrift (Chapter 59), (Chapter 61),
for returning home to the Tao (Chapters 25, 40), for spontaneity or lack of effort
(Chapter
He
6), etc.
against restrictions and prohi bitions as producing disorder (Chapter is
20 Lao-tze uses no less than eight synonyms or "quietude": (1) t ien tan, "quie for tude and peace," Chap. 31; (2) tsing, "quie tude," Chaps. 16, 26, 37, 45, 61; (3) ngan, Chap. 35; (4) Chap. 15, and "rest"
"rest",
"still,"
p ing, fort,"
"contentment,"
Chap. 35;
(7) tsih,
Chap.
26.
"calm,"
Chap. 35; (5)
t ai,
"com
"calm,"
Chap. 4;
Chap. 25; (8) yen,
"calmly,"
(6)
tsan,
21
Introduction
against ostentation (Chapter 58), against learnedness as unwisdom (Chap ter 81). He believes that the Tao when 57),
sought
is
found (Chapter
praises the state of a
little
62),
and he
child (Chap
He compares himself ters 10, 28, 55). to a babe (Chapter 20) and calls him Tao and the mother (Chapter 52) on the other hand the sage looks upon the peo self the child or son of the
Tao
his
;
ple as children (Chapter 49).
Heaven s impartiality 21 (Chapter 79) which shows no preference to favorites is expected of the sage by Lao-tze who praises the emptiness of heaven (Chap ter 5), the lowliness of the valley (Chap ters 32, 39, 41, 66), and the stretching of the bow which brings down the high and raises the low (Chapter 77), etc. the Tao, being an abstract philosophical principle, seems to leave
Though
no room for a
belief in God, Lao-tze re
fers repeatedly to God, first identifying God with Reason as "the arch-father of
the ten thousand
things," (Chapter 4), and then he speaks of Reason as pre-
21
Compare with
this Matt. v. 45.
22
Canon of Reason and Virtue
ceding even "the Lord" (Chapter 4). In Chapter 70 he calls the Tao "the ances tor of words" and "the master of deeds" which also personifies Reason. The pas sage where he speaks of "the father of the doctrine" (Chapter 42) may be doubt ful, for
mean
the commentators explain it to foundation of the doctrine";
"the
but the idea of calling the Tao the father of truth is not contrary to Lao-tze s thought, for he speaks of the Tao twice as the "mother" (Chapters 20 and 52) and once as "the world s mother" (Chap ter 52). In Chapter 74, when referring to divine justice cutting short the lives of men, the Tao is compared to "the great carpenter who hews." All these passages are figures of speech, but are not the Christian ideas of God as a Lord, as a father, as an architect (as the Free
masons have
it),
also allegories?
25
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THE OLD PHILOSOPHER S CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE.
SZE-MA-CH IEN ON LAO-TZE. Lao-tze was born in the hamlet Ch iiJan (Good Man s Bend), Li Hsiang
(Grinding County), K u-Hien (Thistle District), of Ch u (Bramble land). His family was the Li gentry (Li meaning Plum). His proper name was Er (Ear), his posthumous title Po-Yang (Prince Positive), his appellation Tan (Longlobed). In Cheu (the State of Every where) he was in charge of the secret archives as state historian.
Confucius went to Cheu in order to consult Lao-tze on the rules of pro priety.
Confucius, speaking of pro priety, praised the sages of antiquity], Lao-tze said: "The men of whom you
[When
speak, Sir, together with their bones, have mouldered. Their words alone are
70
Canon of Reason and Virtue
If a noble man finds his extant. time he rises, but if he does not find his time he drifts like a roving-plant and wanders about. I observe that the wise merchant hides his treasures deeply as if he were poor. The noble man of perfect virtue assumes an attitude as though he were stupid. Let go, Sir, still
/I I
I
airs, your many wishes, your and exaggerated plans. All this is of no use to you, Sir. That is what I have to communicate to you, and that is Confucius left. [Unable to understand
your proud affectation
all."
Lao-tze], he addressed his disciples, say know that the birds can fly, I ing: "I
know
that the fishes can swim, I
know
For the
that the wild animals can run.
running, one could make nooses for the swimming, one could make nets for the flying, one could make arrows. As to the dragon I cannot know how he can be stride wind and clouds when he heaven ;
;
ward
rises. To-day he perhaps like the
I
saw Lao-tze.
Is
dragon?"
Lao-tze practised Reason and virtue.
Canon of Reason and Virtue His doctrine aims and namelessness.
at
71
self-concealment
Lao-tze resided in Cheu most of his When he foresaw the decay of Cheu, he departed and came to the fron
life.
The custom house
tier.
said I
:
"Sir,
since
request you
officer
Yin-Hi
pleases you to retire, for my sake to write a it
book."
Thereupon Lao-tze wrote a book o two parts consisting of five thousand and odd words, in which he discussed the concepts of Reason and virtue. Then he departed. No one knows where he died.
THE OLD PHILOSOPHER S CANON OF REASON AND VIRTUE. I. 1.
REASON S REALIZATION.
The Reason
that can be reasoned is not the eternal Reason. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The Unnamable is of heaven and earth the beginning. The Namable becomes of the ten thousand things the mother. 1.
Therefore 2.
"He
The But
it is
who
said:
desireless is
found
spiritual of the world will sound. he who by desire is bound
Sees the mere shell of things
around."
3. These two things are the same in Their source but different in name. sameness is called a mystery. Indeed,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
74
the mystery of mysteries. spirituality it is the door. it
is
2.
Of
all
SELF-CULTURE.
Everywhere it is obvious that beauty makes a display of beauty, it 1.
sheer ugliness.
It
is
obvious that
if is if
goodness makes a display of goodness, For it is sheer badness. 2.
"To
be and not to be are mutually con ditioned.
The
difficult,
the easy, are mutually
definitioned.
The
long, the short, are mutually exhibitioned.
Above, below, are
mutually cogni-
tioned.
The sound,
the voice, are mutually
coalitioned.
Before and after are mutually posi tioned."
3.
Therefore
The holy man
abides by non-assertion and conveys by silence his When the ten thousand instruction. things arise, verily, he refuses them not. in his affairs
Canon of Reason and Virtue
75
He quickens but owns not. He acts but claims not. Merit he accomplishes, but he does not dwell on it. he does not dwell on never leave him."
"Since
it
It will
3. 1.
KEEPING THE PEOPLE QUIET. Not boasting of one
stalls
people
s
s
worth fore
envy.
Not prizing treasures difficult to ob tain keeps people from committing theft. 2. Not contemplating what kindles de keeps the heart unconfused. Therefore the holy man when he governs empties the people s hearts but He weakens their fills their stomachs. ambition but strengthens their bones. Always he keeps the people unsophisti He causes cated and without desire. that the crafty do not dare to act. When he acts with non-assertion there is noth sire
3.
ing ungoverned.
SOURCELESS.
4.
1.
Reason
exhaustible.
empty, but its use is in In its profundity, verily, it
is
Canon of Reason and Virtue
76
resembleth the arch-father of the ten thousand things. 2.
"It
will blunt its
own
Will
its
And
be one with
sharpness,
tangles adjust It will dim its own radiance ;
its
dust."
Oh, how calm it seems to remain I not whose son it is. Apparently even the Lord it precedes. 3.
!
know
THE FUNCTION OF EMPTINESS.
5.
for heaven and earth s humane ten thousand things are straw the ness, But for the holy man s humane dogs. families are straw hundred the ness, 1.
But
dogs. 2. Is not the space between heaven and earth like unto a bellows? It is empty;
yet
it
collapses not.
and more comes
It
forth.
moves, and more [But]
soon exhausted is gossip s fulsome talk! And should we not prefer On the middle path to walk?"
3. "How
A
Canon of Reason and Virtue 6.
77
THE COMPLETION OF FORM.
1. "The
valley spirit not expires, woman tis called
Mysterious
by the
sires.
The mysterious woman s boot, Is called of heaven
door,
and earth the
to
root.
Forever and aye it seems to endure And its use is without effort sure."
DIMMING RADIANCE.
7.
1.
Heaven endures and earth
is lasting.
And why
can heaven and earth endure and be lasting? Because they do not live for themselves. On that account can they endure. 2. Therefore The holy man puts his person behind
and his person comes to the front. He surrenders his person and his person is preserved.
Is
it
not because he seeks
not his own?
For that reason he can his own. accomplish 8.
1.
EASY BY NATURE.
Superior goodness resembleth water. benefiteth the ten
The water s goodness thousand things, yet
it
quarreleth not.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
78
2. Water dwelleth in the places which the multitudes of men shun; therefore it is near unto the eternal Reason 3.
The dwelling of goodness is The heart of goodness is
lowliness.
in in
When giving, goodness commotion. showeth benevolence. In words, goodness keepeth faith. In government goodness standeth for order. In business goodness exhibiteth ability.
The movements of
goodness keep time. 4. It quarreleth not. not rebuked.
9.
1.
i
it
is
PRACTISING PLACIDITY. you not likely sharply, can you and gold jewels fill the
Grasp to the
foiled?
^
Therefore
full, are
Scheme too
wear long? If hall no one can protect it. 2. Rich and high but proud, brings about its own doom. To accomplish merit and acquire fame, then to withdraw, that is Heaven s Way. 10. 1.
Who
WHAT CAN BE DONE? by unending discipline of the
"
senses embraces unity cannot be disin-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
79
concentrating his vitality and inducing~teriderness he can become like a little child. By purifying, by cleansing and profound intuition he can be free from faults. 2. Who loves the people when admin istering the country will practise nontegrated.
By
\
\
assertion.
Opening and closing the
gates
of
heaven, he will be like a mother-bird; bright, and white, and penetrating the four quarters, he will be unsophisticated. He quickens them and feeds them. He quickens but owns not. He acts but He excels but rules not. claims not. This is called profound virtue. 11.
THE FUNCTION OF THE NON EXISTENT.
Thirty spokes unite in one nave and on that which is non-existent [on the hole in the nave] depends the wheel s Clay is moulded into a vessel utility. and on that which is non-existent [on 1.
hollowness] depends the vessel s util ity. By cutting out doors and windows we build a house and on that which is its
\
Canon of Reason and Virtue
80
non-existent [on the empty space within] depends the house s utility. 2. Therefore, existence renders actual but non-existence renders useful.
12. 1.
2.
ABSTAINING FROM DESIRE.
"The
five colors
[combined] the hu
man eye will blind; The five notes [in one sound] the hu man ear confound; The five tastes [when they blend] the human mouth offend." and hunting will human "Racing
hearts turn mad, Treasures high-prized make human conduct bad." 3. Therefore The holy man attends to the inner and j Ino1 not to the outer. He abandons the latter id chooses the former. \an<
13. 1. "Favor
LOATHING SHAME.
bodes disgrace;
it is
like
trem
bling.
Rank bodes like the
great heartache. body."
It
is
Canon of Reason and Virtue 2.
What means
"Favor
81
bodes disgrace;
like trembling?"
it is
Favor
humiliates.
causes trembling,
This
bling.
disgrace;
meant by
is
like
it is
What means
3.
heartache,
it is
Its
its loss
acquisition causes trem
"Favor
bodes
trembling." "Rank
like the
bodes great
body?"
I suffer great heartache because I have a body. When I have no body, what heartache remains? 4. Therefore who administers the em pire as he takes care of his body call be entrusted with the empire. 14. 1.
is
We its
it;
to
PRAISING THE MYSTERIOUS. look at Reason and do not see
name
is
Colorless.
Reason and do not hear Soundless.
We
We
listen
it; its
name
grope for Reason and
do not grasp it; its name is Bodiless. 2. These three things cannot further be analyzed. Thus they are combined and conceived as a unity which on its surface is not clear and in its depth not obscure. 3.
Forever and aye Reason remains un-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
82
namable, and again and again it returns home to non-existence. 4. This is called the form of the form This less, the image of the imageless. is called the transcendentally abstruse. 5. In front its beginning is not seen. In the rear its end is not seen. 6. By holding fast to the Reason of the ancients, the present is mastered and the origin of the past understood.
This
is
15.
called
Reason
s clue.
THE REVEALERS OF VIRTUE.
Those of yore who have succeeded becoming masters are subtile, spirit On ac ual, profound, and penetrating. 1.
in
count of their profundity they can~not be understood. Because they can not ;be understood, therefore I endeavor to
make them
intelligible.
How
cautious they are! Like men in winter crossing a river. How reluc Like men fearing in the four tant! quarters their neighbors. How reserved 2.
!
They behave like guests. How elusive They resemble ice when melting. How simple! They resemble rough wood. !
Canon of Reason and Virtue
How How
empty
!
obscure!
83
They resemble the valley. They resemble troubled
waters.
Who by
quieting can gradually ren waters clear? Who by stir muddy can ring gradually quicken the still? 3.
der
4.
He who
cherishes this Reason
is
not anxious to be filled. Since he is not filled, therefore he may grow old with out renewal he is complete. ;
16. 1.
tion
RETURNING TO THE ROOT.
By we
attaining the height of abstrac gain fulness of rest.
2. All the ten thousand things arise, and I see them return. Now they bloom in bloom but each one homeward re-
turneth to
its root.
Returning to the root means rest. It signifies the return according to des tiny. Return according to destiny means 3.
Knowing the eternal means enlightenment. Not knowing the eter nal causes passions to rise; and that is
the eternal.
evil. 4.
Knowing
prehensive.
the eternal renders
com
Comprehensiveness renders
Canon of Reason and Virtue
84
Breadth renders royal. Royalty renders heavenly. Heaven renders Rea son-like. Reason renders lasting. Thus the decay of the body implies no danger.
broad.
17.
SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.
Of
great rulers the subjects do not notice the existence. To lesser ones peo ple are attached they praise them. Still lesser ones people fear, and the meanest 1.
;
ones people despise. 2.
For
"If
you 3.
it is
your
said:
faith be insufficient, verily,
will receive
no
faith."
How
reluctantly they [the great Merit rulers] considered their words!
they accomplished; deeds they per formed; and the hundred families thought: "We are independent." 18.
THE PALLIATION OF VULGARITY. 1. When the great Reason is oblite
we have benevolence and justice. Prudence and circumspection appear, and we have much hypocrisy. 2. When family relations no longer harmonize, we have filial piety and pa-
rated,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
85
When the country and the clans decay through disorder, we
ternal devotion.
have loyalty and allegiance.
RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.
19.
1. Abandon your saintliness; put away your prudence and the people will gain a hundredfold! ;
2. Abandon your benevolence; put away your justice; and the people will
return to
filial
piety and paternal devo
tion. 3. Abandon smartness; give up greed; and thieves and robbers will no longer
exist.
These are three things for which
4.
culture
Therefore
is insufficient.
it
is
said: "Hold
Show
which will endure, thyself simple, preserve thee
fast to that
pure, lessen self with desires
And 20. 1.
DIFFERENT FROM THE VULGAR. Abandon
no vexation. the
fewer."
"yea,"
learnedness, and
The
how
"y
es
little
you have compared with do they differ!
"
Canon of Reason and Virtue
86
But the good compared with the bad,
how much do they If
2.
made alas!
of
differ!
what the people dread cannot be
dreadless, there will be desolation, and verily, there will be no end
it.
The multitudes of men are happy, so happy, as though celebrating a great feast. They are as though in springtime 3.
ascending a tower. I alone remain quiet, alas like one that has not yet received \an omen. I am like unto a babe that does not yet smile. 4. Forlorn am I, O so forlorn! It apthat I have no place whither I \ pears return home. may 5. The multitude of men all have I and alone Alas plenty appear empty. .
!
I
,
!
I
am 6.
man whose heart is foolish. Ignorant am I, O, so ignorant Com a
!
mon people are bright, so bright, I alone am dull. 7. Common people are smart, so smart, I alone am confused, so confused. 8. Desolate am I, alas! like the sea. Adrift, alas! like one
where to
stay.
who
has no place
Canon of Reason and Virtue 9.
The multitude
usefulness.
I
alone
87
men all possess am awkward and a
of
rustic too. I alone differ from others, but I prize seeking sustenance from our mother. 21.
EMPTYING THE HEART.
1. "Vast
virtue s form
Follows Reason
s
norm.
Reason s nature vague and eluding.
2. "And
Is
eluding and vague All types including! How vague and eluding, All beings including! How deep and how obscure. It harbors the spirit pure, Whose truth is ever sure, Whose faith abides for aye From of yore until to-day.
3. "How
4.
"Its
It
name
is
never vanishing,
heeds the good of
everything."
5. Through what do I know that heeds the good of everything"? In this way, verily: Through IT. "it
Canon of Reason and Virtue
88
22.
HUMILITY S INCREASE.
crooked shall be straight, Crushed ones recuperate,
1. "The
The empty find their fill. The worn with strength shall thrill
Who
And who 2.
have receive, have much will
;
little
grieve."
Therefore
The holy man embraces unity and be comes for all the world a model. Not self-displaying he is enlightened; Not self-approving he is distinguished Not self-asserting he acquires merit; Not self-seeking he gaineth life. ;
Since he does not quarrel, therefore in the world can quarrel with him.
no one
3. The saying of the ancients: "The crooked shall be straight," is it in any
way vainly spoken? Verily, they will be straightened and return home. 23.
j
EMPTINESS AND NON-EXISTENCE. To be taciturn is the natural way. hurricane does not outlast the morn-
1.
A
Canon of Reason and Virtue
A
ing.
89
cloudburst does not outlast the
day.
Who
causes these events but heaven If even heaven and earth cannot be unremitting, will not man be much less so? 2.
and earth?
Those who pursue their business in men of Reason, associate in Rea son. Those who pursue their business in virtue associate in virtue. Those who 3.
Reason,
pursue their business in ciate in
ill
luck.
ill
luck asso
When men
associate
in Reason, Reason makes them glad to find companions. When men associate in virtue, virtue find companions.
makes them glad to
When men
associate
luck makes them glad to find companions. in
ill
"If
shall
24. 1.
luck,
ill
your faith is insufficient, verily ye receive no faith."
TROUBLE FROM INDULGENCE.
One on tiptoe is not steady; One astride makes no advance. Self-displayers are not enlightened, Self-asserters lack distinction,
i
Canon of Reason and Virtue
90
Self-approvers have no merit, self-seekers stunt their lives.
And 2.
Before Reason this
of food;
it
is
is
like surfeit
Uke a wen on the body
with which people are apt to be dis gusted. 3. Therefore the not indulge in it.
25.
man
of reason will
IMAGING THE MYSTERIOUS.
There is a Being wondrous and com plete. Before heaven and earth, it was. How calm it is How spiritual 2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth not; around it moveth, and it suffereth not; yet therefore can it be the world s 1.
!
!
mother.
name I know not, but its nature Reason. 4. Constrained to give a name, I call it the great. The great I call the de and the parting, departing I call the 3. Its
I call
The beyond The saying goes:
beyond. 5.
heaven
is
alty also
great, earth
is great.
I call
home.
"Reason is
is
great,
great,
and roy
[There are four things
Canon of Reason and Virtue
91
world that are great, and royalty one of them.]
in the is
6.
Man s
standard
earth s standard
standard
is
is
Reason.
is
The
the earth.
Heaven
heaven.
Reason
s
s
standard
is intrinsic.
THE VIRTUE OF GRAVITY.
26. 1.
The heavy
is
of the light the root,
motion s master. and 2. Therefore the holy man in his daily walk does not depart from gravity. Al though he may have magnificent sights, he calmly sits with liberated mind. 3. But how is it when the master of the ten thousand chariots in his per sonal conduct is too light for the empire? If he is too light he will lose his vassals. If he is too passionate he will lose the rest is
throne.
27. 1.
THE FUNCTION OF
"Good
travelers leave
SKILL.
no trace nor
track,
Good speakers, in logic show no Good counters need no counting
lack,
rack.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
92
lockers bolting bars need not, Yet none their locks can loose. Good binders need no string nor knot, Yet none unties their noose."
2. "Good
3. Therefore the holy man is always a good saviour of men, for there are no outcast people. He is always a good saviour of things, for there are no out
This
cast things.
I
is
called applied en
lightenment. 4. Thus the good man does not respect multitudes of men. The bad man re spects the people s wealth. Who does not esteem multitudes nor is charmed
by
their wealth,
though his knowledge
be greatly confused, he must be recog nized as profoundly spiritual. 28.
RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.
1. "Who
And
his his
manhood shows womanhood knows
Becomes the empire Is he the
empire
s river.
s river,
He will from virtue And home he turneth tate.
never deviate, to a child s es
Canon of Reason and Virtue 2. "Who
And
93
shows knows
his brightness his blackness
Becomes the empire
s model. he the empire s model, Of virtue ne er shall he be destitute, And home he turneth to the absolute.
Is
3. "Who
knows
his
fame
And
guards his shame Becomes the empire s valley. Is he the empire s valley,
For
e er his virtue will sufficient be,
And home
he turneth to
simplicity."
4. Simplicity, when scattered, becomes a vessel of usefulness. The holy man, by using it, becomes the chief leader;
and truly, a great principle will never do harm.
29. 1.
When
NON-ASSERTION. one desires to take in hand
the empire and make succeed. The empire
it,
is
I see
him not
a divine vessel
which cannot be made. One who makes One who takes it, loses it. it, mars it.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
94 2.
And
"Some
it is
said of beings:
are obsequious,
others
move
boldly,
Some breathe warmly, others coldly, Some are strong and others weak, Some rise proudly, others sneak." Therefore the holy man abandons he abandons extravagance, he abandons indulgence. 3.
excess,
30.
BE CHARY OF WAR.
1. He who with Reason assists the master of mankind will not with arms
strengthen the empire.
His methods
invite requital.
Where
armies are quartered briars Great wars unfail ingly are followed by famines. A good man acts resolutely and then stops. He ventures not to take by force. 3. Be resolute but not boastful; reso lute but not haughty; resolute but not arrogant; resolute because you cannot avoid it; resolute but not violent. 4. Things thrive and then grow old. 2.
and thorns grow.
Canon of Reason and Virtue This is called un-Reason. soon ceases. 31.
95
Un-Reason
QUELLING WAR.
1. Even victorious arms are unblest among tools, and people had better shun them. Therefore he who has Reason
does not rely on them. 2. The superior man when residing at home honors the left. When using arms, he honors the right. 3. Arms are unblest among tools and not the superior man s tools. Only when it is unavoidable he uses them. Peacjs and quietude he holdeth high. 4. He conquers but rejoices not. Re joicing at a conquest the slaughter of men.
means
to enjoy
He who
enjoys
the slaughter of men will most assuredly not obtain his will in the empire. 32.
THE VIRTUE OF HOLINESS.
1. Reason, in namable.
2.
Although
its
is
un-
simplicity seems in whole world does not it. If princes and kings
its
significant, the dare to suppress
eternal aspect,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
96
could keep
it,
the ten thousand things
would of themselves pay homage. Heaven and earth would unite in dripping sweet dew, and the people with no one to of themselves be
command them would righteous.
As soon as Reason creates order, becomes namable. Whenever the namable in its turn acquires existence, one 3.
it
know when to stop. By know when to stop, one avoids danger. 4. To illustrate Reason s relation to the world we compare it to streams and learns to
ing
creeks in their course towards rivers
and the ocean. 33.
THE VIRTUE OF DISCRIMINATION.
1.
One who knows
others
one who knows himself 2.
ful,
is
is clever,
but
enlightened.
One who conquers others is power but one who conquers himself is
mighty. 3. One who knows contentment is rich and one who pushes with vigor has will.
4. 5.
ish,
One who loses not his place endures. One who may die but will not per has
life everlasting.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
34.
97
TRUST IN ITS PERFECTION.
1. How all-pervading is the great Rea son! It can be on the left and it can be on the right. 2. The ten thousand things depend upon it for their life, and it refuses them not. When its merit is accom plished it assumes not the name. Lov ingly it nourishes the ten thousand things and plays not the lord. Ever desireless it can be classed with the small. The ten thousand things return home to it. It plays not the lord. It can be classed with the great.
3.
Therefore
The holy man unto death does not make himself great and can thus accom plish his greatness.
THE VIRTUE OF BENEVOLENCE.
35.
holdeth fast to the great Form, the world will come in quest: For there we never meet with harm,
1. "Who
Of him
There we find shelter, comfort, rest." Music with dainties makes the pass ing stranger stop. But Reason, when 2.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
98
coming from the mouth, how tasteless is it! It has no flavor. When looked at, there is not enough to be seen; when listened to, there is not enough to be heard. However, when used, it is inex haustible. 36.
THE SECRET S EXPLANATION.
That which is about to contract has surely been expanded. That which is about to weaken has surely been strengthened. That which is about to fall has surely been raised. That which is about to be despoiled has surely been endowed. 2. This is an explanation of the secret that the tender and the weak conquer the hard and the strong. 3. As the fish should not escape from the deep, so with the country s sharp tools the people should not become ac 1.
quainted. 37.
1.
tion,
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERN MENT. Reason always practises non-asser and there is nothing that remains
undone.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
99
and kings could keep Reason, the ten thousand creatures would 2.
If princes
While be be anxious ing reformed they might yet them I restrain to stir; but would by of themselves be reformed.
the simplicity of the Ineffable. 3.
simplicity of the unexpressed Will purify the heart of lust. Is there no lust there will be rest, And all the world will thus be blest."
"The
XI. 38.
DISCOURSE ON VIRTUE.
Superior virtue is unvirtue. There it has virtue. Inferior virtue never loses sight of virtue. Therefore it has 1.
fore
no
virtue.
Superior virtue is non-assertion and without pretension. Inferior virtue as serts and makes pretensions. 3. Superior benevolence acts but makes no pretensions. Superior justice acts and makes pretensions. 4. Superior propriety acts and when 2.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
100
no one responds to it, it stretches its arm and enforces its rules. 5. Thus one loses Reason and then vir tue appears, One loses virtue and then benevolence appears. One loses benev olence and then justice appears. One loses justice and then propriety appears.
The rules of propriety are the sem blance of loyalty and faith, and the be ginning of disorder. 6. Traditionalism is the flower of Rea son, but of ignorance the beginning. 7. Therefore a great organizer abides by the solid and dwells not in the exter He abides in the fruit and dwells nal. not in the flower. 8. Therefore he discards the latter and chooses the former. 39. 1.
THE ROOT OF ORDER.
From
of old these things have ob
tained oneness:
by oneness becometh pure. Earth by oneness can endure. Minds by oneness souls procure. Valleys by oneness repletion secure.
2. "Heaven
Canon of Reason and Virtue
101
creatures by oneness to life have
"All
been called.
And
kings were by oneness as models
installed."
Such
is
3. "Were
the result of oneness.
heaven not pure
it
might be
it
might be
rent.
Were
earth not stable
bent.
Were minds
not ensouled they d be
impotent.
Were
valleys not filled they d soon be spent. When creatures are lifeless who can their death prevent? Are kings not models, but on haughti ness bent,
Their
fall,
forsooth,
is imminent."
Thus, the nobles come from the com root, and the high rest upon the lowly as their foundation. Therefore, princes and kings call them selves orphaned, lonely, and unworthy. Is this not because they take lowliness 4.
moners as their
as their root?
102
5.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The
several parts of a carriage are
not a carriage. 6. Those who have become a unity are neither anxious to be praised with praise like a gem, nor disdained with disdain
like a stone. 40. 1.
AVOIDING ACTIVITY.
"Homeward is
Reason
s course,
Weakness is Reason s force." 2. Heaven and earth and the ten thou sand things come from existence, but existence comes from non-existence. 41. 1.
SAMENESS IN DIFFERENCE.
When
a superior scholar hears of
Reason he endeavors to practise
it.
When
an average scholar hears of Reason he will sometimes keep it and sometimes lose it. 3. When an inferior scholar hears of Reason he will greatly ridicule it. Were it not thus ridiculed, it would as Reason be insufficient. 4. Therefore the poet says: 2.
5.
"The
Reason-enlightened seem dark
and black,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
103
The Reason - advanced seem going back,
The Reason
-
straight
rugged and 6.
"The
-
levelled
seem
slack.
high in virtue resemble a vale,
The purely white
in
shame must
quail,
The staunchest 7.
"The
virtue seems to
solidest virtue
seems not
fail.
alert,
The purest chastity seems pervert, The greatest square will Tightness desert. 8.
"The
largest vessel
is
not yet
com
plete,
The
loudest sound
is
not speech re
plete,
The
greatest
form has no shape con
crete."
Reason so long as it remains latent Yet Reason alone is good for imparting and completing. 9.
is
unnamable.
42.
REASON S MODIFICATIONS.
Reason begets unity; unity begets duality; duality begets trinity; and trin ity begets the ten thousand things. 1.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
104
2. The ten thousand things are sus tained by Yin [the negative principle] they are encompassed by Yang [the pos
;
itive principle], and the immaterial breath renders them harmonious. 3. That which the people find odious, to be orphaned, lonely, and unworthy,
kings and princes select as their titles. Thus, on the one hand, loss implies gain, and on the other hand, gain implies loss. 4. What others have taught I teach also. 5.
The strong and aggressive do not
die a natural death; but I will obey the doctrine s father.
43. 1.
ITS
The world
world 2.
UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. s
weakest overcomes the
s hardest.
Non-existence enters into the im
penetrable. 3. Thereby I comprehend of non-asser tion the advantage. There are few in the world who obtain of non-assertion
the advantage and of silence the lesson.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
105
SETTING UP PRECEPTS.
44.
or person, which is more near? Person or fortune, which is more
1. "Name
dear?
Gain or
loss,
2. "Extreme
which
is
more sear?
dotage leadeth to squander
ing.
Hoarded wealth inviteth plundering. 3. "Who
content incurs no humilia
is
tion,
Who
knows when
no
to stop risks
vitiation,
Forever lasteth his 45.
GREATEST VIRTUE.
1. "Greatest
But
its
perfection imperfect will be,
work ne
Greatest fulness Its
duration."
er waneth. is
vacuity,
work unexhausted
remaineth."
lines resemble curves Greatest skill like a tyro serves; Greatest eloquence stammers and
2. "Straightest
;
swerves."
3.
Motion conquers
cold.
Quietude
Canon of Reason and Virtue
106
conquers heat. Purity and clearness are the world s standard.
MODERATION OF DESIRE. When the world possesses Reason,
46. 1.
race horses are reserved for hauling dung. When the world is without Rea son,
war horses
No No tent. No
are bred in the
common.
greater sin than yielding to de
2.
sire.
greater misery than discon
greater calamity than greed. Therefore, he who knows content s content is always content. 3.
^
47.
VIEWING THE DISTANT.
1. "Without
passing out of the gate
The world s course I prognosticate. Without peeping through the win dow The heavenly Reason I contemplate. The further one goes, The less one knows." Therefore the holy man does not and yet he has knowledge. He does not see things, and yet he defines them. He does not labor, and yet he 2.
travel,
completes.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
107
FORGETTING KNOWLEDGE. He who seeks learnedness will daily He who seeks Reason will increase. He will diminish and diminish. daily 48.
1.
continue to diminish until he arrives at non-assertion.
With
non-assertion there
is
nothing he takes the empire, it is always because he uses no diplomacy. He who uses diplomacy 2.
that he cannot achieve.
is
not
fit
to take the empire.
49. 1.
When
TRUST IN VIRTUE.
The holy man has not a heart of The hundred families hearts
his own.
he makes his heart. 2.
The good
I
meet with goodness;
the bad I also meet with goodness; that is virtue s goodness. The faithful I meet with faith the faithless I also meet with ;
faith; that is virtue s faith. 3.
The holy man dwells
in the
world
anxious, very anxious in his dealings with the world. He universalizes his heart,
and the hundred families
fix
upon
Canon of Reason and Virtue
108
him
their ears
treats 50. 1.
2.
them
and eyes.
all like
The holy man
children.
THE ESTIMATION OF
LIFE.
Abroad in life, home in death. There are thirteen avenues of
life;
there are thirteen avenues of death; on thirteen avenues men that live pass unto the realm of death. 3. Now, what is the reason? It is be cause they live life s intensity. 4. Yea, I understand that one whose life is based on goodness, when traveling on land will not fall a prey to the rhi noceros or the tiger. When coming among soldiers, he need not fear arms and weapons. The rhinoceros finds no
place wherein to insert
its
horn.
The
tiger finds no place wherein to put his claws. Weapons find no place wherein to
thrust their blades. The reason is that he does not belong to the realm of death. 51. 1.
NURSING VIRTUE.
Reason quickens
all
creatures. Vir
tue feeds them. Reality shapes them. The forces complete them. Therefore
Canon of Reason and Virtue
109
the ten thousand things there none that does not esteem Reason and honor virtue. 2. Since the esteem of Reason and the honoring of virtue is by no one com manded, it is forever spontaneous. 3. Therefore it is said that Reason
among is
quickens all creatures, while virtue feeds them, raises them, nurtures them, com pletes them, matures them, rears them, and protects them. 4. To quicken but not to own, to make but not to claim, to raise but not to rule, this is called
profound virtue.
RETURNING TO THE ORIGIN. When the world takes its beginning,
52. 1.
Reason becomes the world
s
mother.
As one knows his mother, so she in turn knows her child; as she quickens 2.
her child, so he in turn keeps to his mother, and to the end of life he is not in danger. Who closes his mouth, and shuts his sense-gates, in the end of life he will encounter no trouble; but who
opens his mouth and meddles with
af-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
110
fairs,
in the
end of
life
he cannot be
saved. 3.
Who
beholds his smallness
Who
is
called
preserves his tender
enlightened. ness is called strong. son s light and returns
Who
uses Rea to its en does not surrender his per lightenment son to perdition. This is called prac tising the eternal.
53. 1.
home
GAINING INSIGHT.
If I have ever so little
I shall
walk
knowledge,
in the great Reason.
but expansion that
I
must
It is
fear.
The
great Reason is very plain, but are fond of by-paths. people 2.
3. When the palace is very splendid, the fields are very weedy and granaries
very empty. 4. To wear ornaments and gay clothes, to carry sharp swords, to be excessive in drinking and eating, to have a re
dundance of costly articles, this pride of robbers. 5. Surely, this is un-Reason.
is
the
Canon of Reason and Virtue
111
THE CULTIVATION OF INTUITION.
54.
1. "What is
What s
well planted is not uprooted; well preserved can not be
looted!"
celebrations shall not cease.
ficial 3.
sons and grandsons the sacri
By
2.
Who
Reason
cultivates
in his per
son, his virtue is genuine. cultivates it in his house, his
Who
virtue
is
Who virtue
is
Who virtue
4.
it
in his township, his
lasting.
cultivates
it
in his country, his
abundant.
is
Who virtue
overflowing.
cultivates
cultivates is
it
in the world, his
universal.
Therefore,
By one s person one tests persons. By one s house one tests houses. By one s township one tests town ships.
By By 5.
one one
How
such?
country one tests countries. world one tests worlds. do I know that the world is
s
s
Through IT.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
112
THE SIGNET OF THE MYSTERIOUS.
55.
1.
He who
solidity
is
possesses virtue in all unto a little child.
its
like
Venomous
reptiles do not sting him, do not seize him. Birds of prey do not strike him. His bones are weak, his sinews tender, but his grasp is firm. He does not yet know the re lation between male and female, but his virility is strong. Thus his metal grows to perfection. A whole day he might cry and sob without growing hoarse. This 2.
fierce beasts
shows the perfection of his harmony. 3. To know the harmonious is called the eternal.
To know
the eternal
is
called enlightenment. 4. To increase life is called a blessing, and heart - directed vitality is called
strength, but things vigorous are about to grow old and I call this un-Reason. 5.
56.
Un-Reason soon ceases!
THE VIRTUE OF THE MYSTERIOUS. 1.
who
One who knows does
not talk.
One
know. Therefore the sage keeps his mouth shut and his sensetalks does not
gates closed.
Canon of Reason and Virtue 2.
"He
will blunt his
own
113
sharpness,
His own tangles adjust;
He will dim his own And be one with his
radiance,
dust."
3.
This
is
called
profound
identifica
tion. 4.
Thus he
is
inaccessible to love and
He is in also inaccessible to enmity. accessible to profit and inaccessible to He
loss.
is
also inaccessible to favor
and inaccessible to disgrace. becomes world-honored.
57.
Thus he
SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.
With
rectitude one governs the with craftiness one leads the army with non-diplomacy one takes the em How do I know that it is so? pire. 1.
state
;
;
Through IT. 2. The more
restrictions and prohibi tions are in the empire, the poorer grow the people. The more weapons the peo
ple have, the more troubled is the state. The more there is cunning and skill, the
more
startling events will happen.
The
114
Canon of Reason and Virtue
more mandates and laws are enacted, the more there will be thieves and robbers. Therefore the holy man says: I practise non-assertion, and the people of themselves reform. I love quietude, and the people of themselves become right eous. I use no diplomacy, and the peo ple of themselves become rich. I have no desire, and the people of themselves remain simple. 3.
ADAPTATION TO CHANGE. Whose government is unostenta
58. 1.
his people be prosperous, quite prosperous. Whose government is prying, quite pry ing, his people will be needy, quite needy. 2. Misery, alas! rests upon happiness. Happiness, alas! underlies misery. But who foresees the catastrophe? It will not be prevented 3. What is ordinary becomes again is What extraordinary. good becomes This bewilders peo again unpropitious. ple, and it happens constantly since times immemorial. tious, quite unostentatious,
will
!
Canon of Reason and Virtue
115
4. Therefore the holy man is square but not sharp, strict but not obnoxious, upright but not restraining, bright but not dazzling. 59. 1.
HOLD FAST TO REASON.
To govern
of heaven
the people
and there
the affair
is
nothing like
is
thrift.
Now
consider that thrift
come from early 2.
By
is
said to
practice.
early practice
it is
said that
we
can accumulate an abundance of virtue. If one accumulates an abundance of vir tue then there is nothing that can not be overcome. 3. When nothing can not be overcome then no one knows his limit. When no one knows his limit one can have pos session of the commonwealth. 4.
Who has
wealth
s
possession of the
mother
[thrift]
may
common last
and
abide. 5. This is called the possession of deep roots and of a staunch stem. To life,
to
everlastingness,
this is the way.
to
comprehension,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
116
60.
HOW TO MAINTAIN ONE S
PLACE.
1. Govern a great country as you would fry small fish: [neither gut nor
scale them.] 2. If with its
aged,
Reason the empire
is
ghosts will not spook.
man Not
only will its ghosts not spook, but its gods will not harm the people. Not only will its gods not harm the people, but neither will its holy men harm the peo
Since neither will do harm, there
ple.
fore their virtues will be combined.
61.
THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY.
A
great state, one that lowly flows, becomes the empire s union, and the em 1.
pire s wife. 2.
The wife always through quietude
conquers her husband, and by quietude renders herself lowly. 3. Thus a great state through lowliness toward small states will conquer the small states, and small states through lowliness toward great states will con
quer great states. 4. Therefore some render themselves
Canon of Reason and Virtue
117
lowly for the purpose of conquering; others are lowly and therefore conquer. 5. A great state desires no more than to unite and feed the people; a small state desires
no more than to devote
self to the service of the people
;
it
but that
both may obtain their wishes, the greater one must stoop.
62.
PRACTISE REASON.
1. The man of Reason is the ten thou sand creatures refuge, the good man s wealth, the bad man s stay. 2. With beautiful words one can sell. With honest conduct one can do still more with the people. 3. If a man be bad, why should he be thrown away? Therefore, an emperor was elected and three ministers ap pointed; but better than holding before one s face the jade table [of the min istry] and riding with four horses, is sitting still and propounding the eternal Reason. 4. Why do the ancients prize this Rea son? Is it not, say, because when sought
Canon of Reason and Virtue
118
it
obtained and the sinner thereby Therefore it is world-
is
can be saved? honored. 63. 1.
CONSIDER BEGINNINGS.
Assert non-assertion.
Practise non-practice. Taste the tasteless.
Make great Make much
the small. the little.
Requite hatred with virtue. Contemplate a difficulty when easy. Manage a great thing when 2.
3.
it is it is
small. 4.
The world
6.
Rash promises surely lack
most
undertak while ings necessarily originate easy, and the world s greatest undertakings necessarily originate while small. 5. Therefore the holy man to the end does not venture to play the great, and thus he can accomplish his greatness.
many
s
difficult
faith,
easy things surely involve in
and
many
difficulties.
Therefore, the holy man regards everything as difficult, and thus to the end encounters no difficulties. 7.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
119
MIND THE INSIGNIFICANT. 1. What is still at rest is easily kept What has not as yet appeared quiet. is easily prevented. What is still feeble is easily broken. What is still scant is 64.
easily dispersed. 2.
Treat things before they exist. Reg
ulate things before disorder begins. The stout tree has originated from a tiny rootlet. tower of nine stories is raised
A
of] clay. A thou sand miles journey begins with a foot. 3. He that makes mars. He that grasps
by heaping up [bricks
loses.
The holy man does not make; fore he mars not.
there
He
does not grasp; therefore he loses not. The people when undertaking an enterprise are always near completion, and yet they fail.
Remain
careful to the end as in the and beginning you will not fail in your 4.
enterprise. 5. Therefore the holy man desires to be desireless, and does not prize articles difficult to obtain. He learns, not to
Canon of Reason and Virtue
120
be learned, and seeks a home where mul titudes of people pass by. 6. He assists the ten thousand things in their natural development, but he does
not venture to interfere.
65.
THE VIRTUE OF
SIMPLICITY.
The ancients who were well versed Reason did not thereby enlighten the
1.
in
people; they intended thereby to
make
them simple-hearted. If people are difficult to govern, it because they are too smart. To gov ern the country with smartness is the 2.
is
country
s
curse.
To govern
try without smartness blessing. is also a
ways
to
He who knows model
know
the coun
the country s these two things
is
[like the ancients].
the model
is
Al
called pro
found virtue. 3.
Spiritual virtue, verily,
is
profound.
Verily, it is far-reaching. Verily, it is to everything reverse. But then it will
procure great recognition.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
66.
121
PUTTING ONESELF BEHIND.
1. That rivers and oceans can of the hundred valleys be kings is due to their
excelling in lowliness. Thus they can of the hundred valleys be the kings. 2. Therefore the holy man, when an xious to be above the people, must in his
words keep underneath them. When an xious to lead the people, he must with his person keep behind them. 3. Therefore the holy man dwells above, but the people are not burdened. He is ahead, but the people suffer no harm. 4. Therefore the world rejoices in ex alting him and does not tire. Because he strives not, no one in the world will strive with him. 67.
THE THREE TREASURES.
All in the world call me great; but I resemble the unlikely. Now a man is great only because he resembles the un likely. Did he resemble the likely, how lasting, indeed, would his mediocrity be! 2. I have three treasures which I 1.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
122
cherish and prize. The first is called compassion. The second is called econ omy. The third is called not daring to come to the front in the world. 3. The compassionate can be brave; the economical can be generous; those who dare not come to the front in the world can become perfect as chief ves
sels. 4. Now, if people discard compassion and are brave; if they discard economy and are gen&rous; if they discard mod esty and are ambitious, they will surely
die. 5. Now, the compassionate will in at tack be victorious, and in defence firm. Heaven when about to save one will
with compassion protect him.
COMPLYING WITH HEAVEN. 1. He who excels as a warrior is not warlike. He who excels as a fighter is not wrathful. He who excels in con quering the enemy does not strive. He 68.
who 2.
excels in employing men is lowly. This is called the virtue of not-
striving.
This
is
called utilizing
men s
Canon of Reason and Virtue
123
complying with
ability.
This
heaven
since olden times the highest.
is
called
THE FUNCTION OF THE MYSTE
69.
RIOUS. 1. A military expert used to say: dare not act as host [who takes the ini tiative] but act as guest [with reserve]. I dare not advance an inch, but I with "I
draw a
foot."
is called marching without marching, threatening without arms, charging without hostility, seizing with out weapons. 3. No greater misfortune than making
This
2.
light of the
enemy!
When we make
light of the enemy, it is almost as though we had lost our treasure [compassion]. 4. Thus, if matched armies encounter one another, the one who does so in sor
row
is
70.
sure to conquer.
DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
1. My words are very easy to under stand and very easy to practise, but in the world no one can understand, no one can practise them.
124
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Words have an
ancestor Deeds have Reason]. Since he is not understood, therefore I am not under stood. Those who understand me are few, and thus I am distinguished. 3. Therefore the holy man wears wool, and hides in his bosom his jewels. 2.
a master
71. 1.
;
[viz.,
THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE. To know
the unknowable, that is know the knowable,
elevating. Not to that is sickness. 2.
can
Only by becoming
we be without The holy man
sick of sickness
sickness.
3. is not sick. Because he is sick of sickness, therefore he is not sick.
72. 1.
ful, 2.
HOLDING ONESELF DEAR.
If the people do not fear the dread the great dreadful will come, surely. Let them not deem their lives nar
row. Let them not deem their lot weari some. When it is not deemed weari some, then it will not be wearisome. 3. Therefore the holy man knows him He self but does not displav himself.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
125
holds himself dear but does not honor himself. Thus he discards the latter and chooses the former. 73. 1.
DARING TO ACT.
Courage,
if
carried to daring, leads if not carried to dar
to death; courage, ing, leads to life.
Either of these two
sometimes
is
things times harmful.
t is
2. "Why
Who
beneficial,
by heaven
has the reason
Therefore the holy
some
rejected,
detected?"
man
also regards
it
as difficult. 3.
but but
The Heavenly Reason
strives not,
sure to conquer. It speaks not, is sure to respond. It summons
it is it
not, but
it
comes of
tiently, but
itself.
It
works pa
sure in its designs. 4. Heaven s net is vast, so vast. It wide-meshed, but it loses nothing. 74, 1.
is
is
OVERCOME DELUSION.
If the
people do not fear death,
how can they be frightened by death? If we make people fear death, and sup-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
126
posing some would
[still]
we seize them for will dare? who ment,
bel, if
2.
There
is
Now
kills.
venture to re
capital punish
always an executioner
who
to take the place of the exe
cutioner who kills is taking the place of the great carpenter who hews. If a man takes the place of the great carpenter who hews, he will rarely, indeed, fail to injure his hand. 75.
HARMED THROUGH GREED.
The people hunger because their superiors consume too many taxes; therefore they hunger. The people are 1.
difficult to
riors are too
govern because their supe meddlesome therefore they ;
are difficult to govern. The people make light of death on account of the inten sity of their clinging to life; therefore
they make light of death. 2. He who is not bent on life ier than he who esteems life. 76. 1.
cate.
is
worth
BEWARE OF STRENGTH.
Man
during life is tender and deli he dies he is stiff and stark.
When
Canon of Reason and Virtue
127
2. The ten thousand things, the grass as well as the trees, while they live are tender and supple. When they die they
are rigid and dry. 3. Thus the hard and the strong are the companions of death. The tender
and the delicate are the companions of life.
Therefore he
who
will not conquer. 4. When a tree has
in
arms
is
strong
grown strong
it is
doomed. 5. The strong and the great stay below. The tender and the delicate stay above.
77.
HEAVEN S REASON.
Heaven s Reason truly like a bow? The high it brings stretching the down, lowly it lifts up. Those who have abundance it depleteth; those who are deficient it augmenteth. 1.
Is not
is Heaven s Reason. It de those who have abundance but pleteth completeth the deficient. 2.
Such
3. Man s Reason is not so. He depleteth the deficient in order to serve those who
have abundance.
128
4.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Where
is
he
who would have abun
dance for serving the world? 5. Indeed, it is the holy man
who
acts
but claims not; merit he acquires but he does not dwell upon it, and does he ever show any anxiety to display his excellence?
78.
TRUST IN FAITH.
In the world nothing is tenderer and more delicate than water. In at tacking the hard and the strong noth 1.
ing will surpass that herein takes 2.
it.
There
is
nothing
its place.
The weak conquer
the strong, the
tender conquer the rigid. In the world there is no one who does not know it, but no one will practise it. 3. Therefore the holy man says: "Him
who
the country s sin makes his,
We hail as priest at the great sacrifice. Him who
the curse bears of the coun
try s failing. As king of the empire 4.
we
are
hailing."
True words seem paradoxical.
Canon of Reason and Virtue 79. 1.
129
KEEP YOUR OBLIGATIONS.
When
a great hatred
is
reconciled,
naturally some hatred will remain. can this be made good?
How
Therefore the sage keeps the obli gations of his contract and exacts not from others. Those who have virtue at tend to their obligations those who have 2.
;
no virtue attend to their claims. 3. Heaven s Reason shows no prefer ence but always assists the good man. 80.
REMAINING IN ISOLATION.
In a small country with few people be aldermen and mayors who are possessed of power over men but would not use it. Induce people to grieve at death but do not cause them to move 1.
let there
Although they had ships and carriages, they should find no occa sion to ride in them. Although they had armours and weapons, they should find no occasion to don them. 2 Induce people to return to [the old custom of] knotted cords and to use
to a distance.
them
[in the place of writing], to de-
Canon of Reason and Virtue
130
light in their food, to be proud of their clothes, to be content with their homes, and to rejoice in their customs: then in
a neighboring state within sight, the voices of the cocks and dogs would be within hearing, yet the people might
grow old and
die before they visited one
another. 81.
PROPOUNDING THE ESSENTIAL.
1. True words are not pleasant; pleas ant words are not true. The good are not contentious; the contentious are not good. The wise are not learned; the
learned are not wise. The more 2. The holy man hoards not. he does for others, the more he owns himself. The more he gives to others, the more will he himself lay up an abun dance. 3. Heaven s Reason is to benefit but not to injure; the holy man s Reason is to accomplish but not to strive.
COMMENTS AND ALTERNATIVE READINGS. CHAPTER
1.
The phrase yiu ming,
"having name"
(or simply ming, "name") means that which the definition of a name involves, and as such the term represents the ac tualized types of things. ming, "not name" or "the
However wu Unnamable,"
corresponds to Plato s conception of the prototype of things before they have been actualized. Lao-tze speaks with reverence of the Unnamable, 1 which closely corresponds to the of Western mystics.
The words
"these
ently refer to the
"Ineffable"
two things" appar Unnamable and the
Namable.
What Lao-tze 1
calls
"the
See also Chapters 32 and
Name"
41.
or
"the
132
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Namable" is in Spinoza s language natura naturata, while "the Unnamable" is natura naturans. In either system the
two
are one; they are two aspects of one and the same thing which in Laotze s taoism is the Tao and in Spinoza s cosmotheism is God as the eternal sub stance.
CHAPTER
2.
The first sentence reads literally, "Un der the heavens [i. e., all over the world, or everywhere] all know [i. e., it is ob vious],
if
ugliness."
beauty acts beauty The verb "acts"
taken in the same sense as English,
viz., "making
it
is
it is
is
only be used in to
a display or
show
of."
We deem our present rendering an im provement on our former version. According to a notion of the early Christians the devil would like to play the part of God, as Tertullian says, Satanas affectat sacramenta Dei. On Lao-tze s theory the nature of the devil consists exactly in the attempt of acting the part of God.
Comments
133
The close interrelation of goodness with badness and of beauty with ugli ness suggests the quotation on opposites.
It sets forth
the coexistence of
contrasts, and their mutual dependence is more obvious to the Chinese than to other nations, because in their wordcombinations they use compounds of contrasts to denote what is common in both. Thus a combination of the words and "not to means the strug for or the bread life, question; "the gle and the means low" altitude; high "much and little" means quantity, etc. But what originally seems to have been "to
be"
be"
the trivial observation of a grammarschool teacher acquires a philosophical
meaning when commented upon by Laotze.
CHAPTER
3.
In former editions we have translated the verb shang by its common meaning exalt," but here it is obviously a re "to
flex "to
verb meaning brag, to
"to
exalt
oneself"
or
boast."
The word fu means
literally
"stomach"
134
or
Canon of Reason and Virtue "the
interior,"
but
it
may
also
mean
for according to Chinese ideas the soul has its seat in the stomach. "soul,"
The idea that the belly is the noblest part of the body where tender senti ments dwell was quite common among early peoples. Thus, e. g. the Hebrew ra-
khamim, 2 which originally means
"en
used in the sense of "com In Japan that death passion" and was considered most worthy in which trails,"
is
"love."
the first attack upon life was made upon the seat of the properly psychic facul ties; therefore the victim of hara-kiri rips open his belly and is then beheaded by his best friend so as to shorten the
pain of death. It is, however, quite prob able that Lao-tze in this connection re ally means what he literally says, viz., that the holy man, when he governs,
empties the people s hearts of desires, but takes care of their bodily wants, i. e., their stomachs and strength ens their bones." The word kuh might be translated (as "fills
Comments
135
in former editions) "backbone," but in the original it reads "bones." To make a man strong-boned means to render him steady in character. I prefer to trans late the passage literally in all its
rough
ness and will leave the interpretation of it to the reader.
CHAPTER The word tsung? lates
4.
"arch-father,"
trans
a Chinese term which means
"pa
founder of the frequently used with ref
triarch, or first ancestor, family,"
and
is
erence to Shang Ti, the Lord on High, in the sense of God. is a Buddhist The word ch an, term which means the worry of world"dust,"
liness,
and
antedates
it is
possible that this usage that the word
Buddhism and
was current
in the same sense in the time of Lao-tze. If that be so, if ch an means the troubles of life, the travailing of the
world,
we
offer the following alternate
translation of the verse in
word occurs:
which the
136
Canon of Reason and Virtue
own sharpness, tangles unravel It will dim its own radiance
"It
will blunt its
Will
its
;
And conform
to its
travail."
The same holds good in Chapter where the same verse is quoted
CHAPTER
56,
5.
In former editions the translator ac cepted the following version:
"Heaven
and earth exhibit no benevolence; to them the ten thousand things are like straw dogs. The holy man exhibits no benevolence; to him the hundred fami lies are like
straw
dogs."
Does that mean that heaven and earth have a mode of procedure of their own that their actions can not be measured by the usual standard of human benevo lence? May we assume that human lives ;
serve their purpose best
if
they become
sacrifices just as strawdogs are offered on the altars of heaven and earth? This
solution can neither be proved nor re futed, but it seems too modern.
We learn
from the commentators that
Comments
137
straw dogs are burned in place of living dogs as sacrifices to heaven and earth, and so the reference to them means treatment without regard or considera It is possible that Lao-tze meant tion. "heaven and earth" treats all with an impartial indifference as people sun rise on the evil and makes his God the on good (compare Chapter 79). But Lao-tze might as well have meant the heaven and earth very opposite, that and also the sage were without benevo
to say that
"if
would treat the people like straw dogs." The Chinese text seems to favor the former interpretation, but the first sentence may be conditional and then the latter rendering which has been adopted by Harlez would be correct. The question is whether Lao-tze did or did not believe that heaven and earth lence, they
and the Tao were endowed with senti ment. An answer will be difficult if not impossible, but I am now inclined to think that he was more of mystic than a philosopher, and he recognized in the dispensation of the world a paternal and
loving providence.
138
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The phrase "heaven and earth" has a deeper meaning to the Chinese than to us. According to Chinese notions the 4
primordial essence, called t ai c/z/, "the great Ultimate," divided itself into two principles called Yin and Yang (men tioned in Chapter 42). The former is negative, female, dark, passive; the lat ter is positive, male, light
The former
and
active.
represented by earth, the latter by heaven; the former by the moon, the latter by the sun. The "ten thousand things" (i. e., all existences in the world), owe their characters to dif ferent mixtures of these two elementary is
principles.
Emptiness is one of the virtues praised by Lao-tze, and the emptiness of heaven is to him an example of the emptiness which man ought to possess. By empti ness Lao-tze understands the absence of personal ambition, of desire, or to use 4
In Chapter
28, 2,
Lao-tze calls this same
ultimate, wu chi, "the infinite." For further details see Chinese Philosophy, pages 24-34. Compare also page 167 in this book.
Comments his
own
phrase,
it is
139
"the
doing of the
(wei wu wei). Lao-tze concludes the chapter with a homely saying concerning gossip, which acquires a deep and peculiar meaning in the context by comparing "fulsome talk" to the emptiness of heaven. The Chinese text reads to yen, liter not-doing"
"many words,"
ally,
i.
e.,
CHAPTER
gossip.
6.
verse quoted in this chapter seems the inscription over a fountain be to which it was claimed never ran dry. People believed that its source was deep and sprang from the root of heaven and
The
which would explain that its sup In using this inexhaustible. was ply looks Lao-tze upon the spring quotation as an emblem of the mysterious nature
earth,
of the Tao.
The Manchu version translates the word ku, valley, as a verb by "nourish which makes a very good sense for ing,"
the
first line,
"Who
thus:
nourishes spirituality does not
die."
Canon of Reason and Virtue
140
The use
of
ku
(valley) as a verb,
mean
feed, to nourish, to quicken," ac ing cording to all dictionaries, is quite com mon in Chinese. But we might as well "to
interpret ku as an adjective or participle and translate (with Couvreur) 5 :
"L
A
esprit vivifiant ne
meurt
literal translation
pas."
would read thus:
quickening spirit never dies. mysterious woman. The mysterious woman s gate Is called of heaven and earth the root. For ever and aye it abides [And] its use is without effort."
"The
It is called the
The Manchu logical
translator finds a physio in this chapter. Dr.
meaning
Berthold Laufer has kindly furnished with a translation of it as follows: "Who nourishes the soul will not die. This is called the life of the main artery Chinese yiien p in, (Kuhen-i ergen The door of the "mysterious woman").
me
=
life of the 5
main artery
is
called the root
See his French-Chinese Dictionary,
p. 447.
Comments
141
of procreation and increase. As if pre served for all eternity, it is inexhaustible in its practical
6 application."
Dr. Laufer adds:
strange that the Chinese words for heaven and earth* which otherwise are literalfy translated, "It
is
by the verbal nouns and fusembure, the former banjibure
are here rendered
creating,
the latter increasing.
CHAPTER
A
German proverb
"
9.
says
:
"Allzu
scharf
macht schartig." This is a truth which few learn, and so it is daily verified again and again in business, in politics and in private life. The word rh is a copula often trans lated
"and"
or
"but."
The
character de
picts the side portions of the face, the whiskers, or the bristles of an animal,
thus denoting something added or an The sense of the chapter de pends on the grammatical significance of this word, and we can scarcely be extension.
mistaken when we translate 6
Literally: "Lasting if, inexhaustible."
"Grasp
to
preserved like; used
Canon of Reason and Virtue
142
full, is it not likely stopped? Scheme to being sharp, will you be able long to guard [your position] The verb means scheme, scrutinize, to jui
the
?"
=
"to
examine,"
and pao
tain, to protect, to
"to
CHAPTER The
guard, to main
defend."
10.
first two sentences is we and deem our present ver difficult, sion an improvement. 7 Literally the be ginning seems to read thus: "Being in
text of the
sistent in disciplining the sense
Mr.
Ng Poon Chew writes:
two characters are question as to that.
soul."
"The
verbs, there
first
is
The word poh
no is
commonly understood by the Chinese to be the passive half of the human soul equivalent to yin in nature." The Manchu version (as Dr. Laufer
informs me) in agreement with a Chi nese quotation of this passage by Huai Nan Tze takes all these sentences as queries. 7 For an explanation of the text see "Emen dations and Comments," pp. ix-x in the second issue of Lao-Tze s Tao-Teh-King.
Comments
CHAPTER
143
11.
Things are shaped by carving, by tak ing away, by diminishing the material. Accordingly that which is no longer there, the non-existent, constitutes their worth. Thus it appears that the part in this case would be greater than the whole, or to state the same truth briefly "less
is
As Hesiod
more."
Works and Days N^TTtot ovS
tcratriv
(30) ocra>
TrAe ov rjfAurv
they are, for they That half than the whole
"Foolish
CHAPTER The meaning
says in his
:
7rai>ros.
know not is much greater." 12.
of the verses quoted in out the principle
carries
this
chapter enunciated in Chapter 11. The utility of things, as well as the worth of life, is attained not by having everything in completion and in fulness, but by select ing some parts and omitting others, by moderation and by discrete elimination. All the colors blind you, a discrete selec
make a picture. All the notes a noise, while a few of them in
tion will
make
Canon of Reason and Virtue
144
proper succession make a melody. All the tastes mixed together are offensive, but a choice of them is pleasant. Such is Lao-tze s method of teaching that the form of things is more impor tant than substance. (See also Chapter
no In former editions the quotation thus: "The
five colors
we have
the
translated
human eye
will
blind,
The
human
notes the
five
ear will
rend,
The
the
five tastes
human mouth
of
fend."
"Racing
and hunting will human hearts
turn mad,
Objects of prize make
human conduct
bad."
*
The phrase and not to the translation
the
*
*
attends to the inner reads in a literal the stomach, not acts
"he
outer"
"acts
eye."
The outer and the inner
are called in
Chapter 38 the flower and the fruit, the
Comments former being the mere show, the the true import of life.
CHAPTER
145 latter
13.
ruler or prime minister who at tends to the government as he attends to
The
own body, understanding that it is a source of "great heartache," is worthy of the trust. The comparison of or "high the a source of great office" to body as is based and on an idea trouble anxiety which also plays an important part in his
"rank"
Buddhism. Buddhist philosophyexplains that the cause of all earthly trouble is due to the body, and the body ought to
be treated like a wound which is the source of pain. We attend to it without loving it. In the "Questions of King Milinda" (Milindapanha) the Buddhist saint Nagasena says: "They who have retired from the world take care of their bodies as though they were wounds with out thereby becoming attached to them"
(Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p. 423). So long as man lives in his bodily existence he is subject to anxiety; as
Canon of Reason and Virtue
146
soon as he ceases to is
live in the flesh
he
no more troubled.
The
character ching, here translated denotes the state of a shy
"trembling,"
horse, and the word "heartache" shows a heart with a cord above it, such as is
used in China for stringing up coins. The last sentence of this chapter has been omitted because, with the exception of one word, it is a literal repetition of the preceding sentence and seems to have slipped into the text by a copyist s mistake.
CHAPTER
14.
This chapter
is remarkable for several Lao-tze speaks of the Tao and describes it by saying what it is not. It is not perceptible to the senses; ac
reasons.
cordingly
and
it
is
"colorless,"
"soundless"
cannot be seen, it cannot be heard, it cannot be touched; but this supersensible something, the "bodiless."
It
purely relational in all things, the divine Reason, is one and the same throughout. It is the Unnamable, the cosmic law, the world-order which moulds all things.
Comments Both its beginning and wrapped in obscurity. Lao-tze formless,"
s
expression,
147
end
its
"the
are
form of the
corresponds pretty closely to
Kant s term "pure form"; it means the form which possesses no bodily shape, and as such it is equivalent to the Buddist term arupo. It is strange that Lao-tze s description of the Tao finds an almost literal parallel in the Phaedrus where Plato speaks of the
presence of a being in the over-heaven, e., in the supercelestial place, a being not perceptible to the senses and to be apprehended only by the mind, the "pilot of the soul." This presence is described as an essence, truly existent, 8 without color, without shape and impalpable. Plato says: i.
Tov
Se VTTtpovpdviov TOTTOV ovrc TIS v/xviycre
TtoV TT^Se
TTOL7]TY)<:
OVTC 7TO0*
VfJLVTJOT^L KttT*
yap ovv TO ye dX^^cs TC Kat irepl aA^detas Aeyovra 8e
(SSe.
/cat
eiTreTv
TO\p.rjTeov
dcr^(Ty/i,artcrTos
ovcra KvfitpvyTrj
Kat
p.6v<a
ava^s Oearr)
yei/os
ova-La vaJ*
oAAoj?
OVTWS
Trcpt rjv
TOVTOV lx
ww
dtaV. fytt
t
T
1
TO T^ TOTTOV.
148
Canon of Reason and Virtue
In Jowett s translation this reads: the heaven which is above the "Of heavens, what earthly poet ever did or ever will sing worthily? It is such as I shall describe; for I must dare to speak the truth, when truth is my theme. There abides the very being with which true knowledge is concerned; the color less, the formless, the intangible essence visible only to mind, who is the pilot of the soul." Phaedrus, pag. 247. The Latin version of the most impor tant part of the passage reads thus : "Nam essentia vere existens, sine colore, sine figura, sine
tactu"
The
similarity with Lao-tze is obvious, the second term, in Chinese "sound only or is omitted, while "inaudible," less," the Greek "shapeless," viz., non-material or having no body, has absolutely the
same meaning
as the Chinese.
In addition to this surprising similar ity between Lao-tze s very words and the thoughts of a philosopher who lived about 200 years after him in ancient
Comments
149
Greece, a distant country which at that time was in no connection with China, we must point out another strange coin cidence. The three words, "colorless," "soundless" and "incorporeal," read in Chinese i, ki, wei, and the French scholar Abel Remusat saw in this com bination of Chinese characters the cor responding three Hebrew letters, Jod, Heh, Vav, indicating the name Jehovah,
and his theory was accepted by many others who for some reason or other be lieved that there ought to have been a mysterious prehistoric connection be tween the Chinese and the Israelites. The theory has found the support of a German translator of Lao-tze s book, Victor von Strauss, a confessed mystic, but it is not countenanced by any other sinologist of standing, and there is no see in it a curious need to refute it.
We
though quite remarkable coincidence. *
*
*
Liquids generally are clear at the top and sediments settle at the bottom, but here Lao-tze, using the simile, reverses the statement by saying that in its upper
150
Canon of Reason and Virtue
portion the Tao
is not clear and in its lower strata it is not obscure. If we had not to deal with an author like Lao-tze
who
loves to mystify we might assume in the text, but as the statement stands it reminds us of St.
some mistake Augustine
s
description of Christianity religious truth to an
when he compares
immeasurable ocean in whose waters a lamb may wade, while an elephant must swim. The simple mind of a child finds no difficulty in understanding the mean ing of the Tao while a scholar be able to fathom its depth.
may
We
not
may
also
say that the deeper problems of philosophy are in their general aspect quite simple, but the superficial appli cations obscure them by complexity.
CHAPTER
15.
Lao-tze frequently quotes proverbs of the people and sayings of his predeces sors. Of the latter he has a very high opinion which he here expresses. Lao-tze says that the sages of yore behave like guests, alluding to the Chi-
Comments
151
nese custom for guests to be always re served and modest. They are elusive as the Tao is elusive (see Chapter 21), which means that their words admit o more than one interpretation and fre quently conceal a deeper meaning. In the same sense the Tao is called elusive because it has never been grasped in its
A philosopher may significance. think he has fathomed its meaning, and afterwards may find out that his view is only one aspect and there is more to it. So a search for truth can never be com pleted. Like melting ice the old masters have more depth than the surface shows. Further, the sages are simple, without the polish of artful elegance, and thus full
are
compared to "rough wood." They empty because they make no and show, they are like the valley, which
they
are
is
Lao-tze
s favorite
simile to indicate
an attitude of lowliness. The more lowly a river flows the larger and broader will it be, and the most lowly valley will be come the main stream, the ocean river, of an entire system with many tribu taries.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
152
The
last
sentence of this chapter is and had perhaps
to interpret, better be translated: difficult
"Without
being fashionable he
is
per
fect,"
which would mean
"though not in style as he ought to be." The last three words read in literal translation "not-
he
is
which may mean
new-perfected"
that
"not
not newly of a modern fashion"; or we may trans is not fashionable and yet per late, fect"; or "without being renewed he is formed,"
is
to say,
"he
is
"he
which would imply that the can sage grow old without standing in need of rejuvenescence, viz., natural or artificial means of recuperating his vital But it may mean, as we have trans ity. lated it in a former edition, "without reform he is perfect." Finally the two last words may be synonyms, and the complete,"
three
and
may mean,
"without
being renewed
completed."
Happily the passage is not of much consequence, and there is no great harm if we can not decide which interpreta tion
is
preferable.
Comments
CHAPTER
153
18.
This chapter is directed against the Confucianist morality of filial piety, loy Lao-tze is disgusted alty, and justice. with the very words. Where the Tao obtains there is no need of preaching justice, filial piety and loyalty, for the vitrue of the Tao is spontaneous. The men whose hearts are bare of these vir tues, parade them in words.
CHAPTER
19.
The
display which obtains in Confu is here condemned, and Laotze s words remind us of Christ s warn ings against the self-righteousness of the Pharisees. Lao-tze wants us to aban cian ethics
don: (1) saintliness and prudence, (2) benevolence and justice, (3) smartness
and greed. He declares that culture (i. e., Confucian morality) is insufficient to ac complish these three things. "Hold
Mind
fast that
He
advises:
which endures,
simplicity, preserve purity,
Lessen
self,
diminish
desire."
154
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The word "learnedness" in contrast to wisdom means the artificial scholarship of Confucian literati, who like the Phar isees of the New Testament insist on external propriety more than on a re generation of the heart.
CHAPTER
20.
Lao-tze continues to criticize
Confu
cianism as represented by the learned ones, the literati. According to Con fucius conventional propriety is a great virtue, and it is very important that people reply according to the properly established modes of speaking. There are two forms of affirmation in Chinese :
One
and
being pronounced wei, straightforward and manly it is proper for men and boys to use; the other, pronounced o, is modest, and it behooves women and girls to employ no other Lao-tze form of expressing assent. would not insist on the significance of such externalities, and so he says, "What is the difference between *y ea anc* *y es ? There is none. But there is a difference is
between bad and
good."
Comments
155
In times of disorder lives are con stantly endangered and the people be come indifferent to death. This is not
the natural state of things and ought to be avoided. Lao-tze s warning is illus trated in modern history by the French Revolution when the prisoners of the terrorist
government actually joked about the guillotine and went to the place of execution with absolute uncon Similar conditions prevailed in cern. China in the days of Lao-tze. In this chapter, as well as further
down (Chapters
72
and
74), the old phi
losopher makes reference
to the preva lence of great disturbances which make Chinese Jere the people restless.
A
miah, forlorn among people who only thought of enjoying themselves, he burst
out into bitter lamentation, and we can not read these lines without feeling com passion for the sage who differed so much from the rest of the world. The fourth and eighth sections of this recall
chapter viii.
20)
:
"The
Christ s saying (Matt. foxes have holes, and the
156
Canon of Reason and Virtue
birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
CHAPTER The
last
two
21.
lines of the quoted verse
Chapter 21 are obscure in the orig inal Chinese. The difficulty lies in the in
meaning of the word
fu,
anything that
either in time or
is first,
which means
dignity. Literally the eight
name
words read :
not the
departs ; Thereby notes all first." The sense seems to be that the Tao is eternal, for its name never departs. Therefore it has been in the beginning of creation. In this sense we have trans lated the passage in former editions: "Its
it
"Its
name does not depart
Thence
lo! All things take start/
which means,
"It
is
of
all
the
5
first."
Should fu, however, have to be taken
we would pro two readings:
in the sense of excellence
pose either of these "Its
name does not pass
Lo! Here
s all
hencx*
excellence
P*
Comments
we
or, if
beholds," "Its
It
157
lay stress on the verb ytieh, we translate:
"it
name is never vanishing heeds the good in everything."
Mr.
Ng Poon Chew
that the character fu
favors the idea
means
"the
begin
ning."
The Manchu version follows the interpretation. "Hence
last
Dr. Laufer translates:
one investigates
all
which seems to mean: learn what in all things
good things,"
we
"Thereby
is
good,"
and
concluding sentence would read: do I know what is good in all things? Through IT." In other words: Reason is the standard of ex the
"Whereby
cellence."
The two
last
words
"through
IT"
in
chapter comprise a favorite term Lao-tze means of Lao-tze, and by
this
"IT"
"Reason."
CHAPTER
22.
Lao-tze here as in many other places quotes a sentiment from the sages of yore.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
158
These beautiful
lines
remind us of
several Biblical sayings, such as
"The
crooked shall be made straight" (Is. xl. 4) and "The bruised reed shall he not break" (Matt. xii. 20). Compare also the beatitude that those who mourn shall be comforted (Matt. v. 4).
It is strange, however, that though Christ s Gospel agrees in spirit so well with Lao-tze s philosophy he states the very opposite to the sentiment of the last
two
lines,
saying:
"For
whosoever
him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away hath, to
even that he hath" (Matt. xiii. 12). The Chinese words ch ti and ch iien here translated "crooked" and "crushed" may be taken in the physical sense as "the distorted ones" and also figura denoting those morally awry or wrong-doers. tively,
character hwo shows heart" and "doubt," the latter being the pho It means netic (hwo). delude, to
The
"a
"to
blind, to embarrass, to bewilder, to un-
Comments settle,"
159
and we have translated
it
by
"grieve."
The
two
lines of the quotation be interpreted to mean, might "What is too little shall receive more; what is too much shall be in a state of perplexity." See also Chapter 77, 1-3. Compare the second section of this last
also
chapter with Chapter
24.
CHAPTER
24.
Mr. Medhurst translates the tence: "Who tiptoes totters; dles stumbles."
The
first
who
sen
strad
translator trusts that the style o
been greatly improved The first section has been made more terse, and in the second this chapter has in this edition.
the sense comes out more clearly. Yii shih, in former editions translated fal of food," means "too much of food" and is better interpreted as a surfeit of food. Further we have in former edi tions translated chui hing as "excres cence in the system." The word chui (a synonym of yii) denotes anything that is redundant, an excrescence, or a wen, "of
Canon of Reason and Virtue
160
and hing is a peculiar word which lit or erally means walk," and mean the of or the bod may way acting, "to
ily system, or
might
"to
go,"
almost anything
translate chui hing
behavior,"
but
We
"overdoing
in
likely that Lao-tze that the overdoing of
it
actually meant
else.
is
is like a wen in the face much and therefore disgusting. Laomay also think of Confucian super
self-display
too tze
erogatory behavior, which is character ized by overdoing in politeness and is offensive to the the simple life.
man who
believes in
The new interpretation is supported by the Manchu version. The lines here quoted are parallel to the lines in the second section of Chap The same words are used, only the negation pu is differently placed so as to produce a contrast.
ter 23.
CHAPTER The word
shi,
25.
"departing,"
may very
well be understood in the sense of dying. The word fan means literally "return,"
denoting
"coming
back,"
and
in order
Comments
161
to imitate the terse Chinese text, the best translation for "having come back" is
Lao-tze says "Reason, the great is our home." Section 5 seems to be a gloss which slipped into the text. At any rate the bracketed portion is too trivial to come from the hand of Lao-tze. "home."
:
distant beyond,
CHAPTER The word
tsz
,
26.
translated
"gravity,"
is
a peculiar phrase which literally means "baggage wagon." The intermediate idea seems to be "heaviness" or "gravity," the latter in the double sense (literal
and figurative) as used in English. In our former edition it was translated "dignity."
CHAPTER
27.
In Section 4 we have adopted an en tirely new interpretation. In following a suggestion of Prof. H. A. Giles, we con strue the two characters shan (words 6 and 14) denoting or "goodness," as verbs in the sense to consider as good, "good"
and translate
"to
respect";
and further
162
Canon of Reason and Virtue
the characters shi (words 9 and 21) in their
common meaning as "multitudes," we had it in former editions
not as
(though
it is
not wrong), as
CHAPTER
"educator."
28.
In order to understand what Lao-tze means by manhood and womanhood, by brightness and blackness, by fame and shame, we must bear in mind what has been said above in the explanation of Chapter 5 about the two principles Yin and Yang. Compare also Lao-tze s views about honoring the right in times of war and the left in times of peace (Chapter Manliness is not worth much un 31). less
tempered by womanliness,
and a
good warrior is not warlike, a good fighter is not pugnacious (Chap. 68). The word chih means carve, to "to
regulate," and as a noun Lao-tze seems to mean that or a government which upholds great prin ciples and rules according to the maxims of the Tao can never do any harm.
form, to
"law"
"norm."
Professor Giles translates, great principle can not be divided," which "a
Comments
163
he interprets to mean, that it applies Emendations and (See universally. Lao-Tze s Tao-Teh-King, to Comments pp. xxi-xxii.)
CHAPTER The doctrine
29.
"doing the not-doing" has rightly been compared to the French principle o laissez /a/re, although the two are not the same. Lao-tze wants who makes, mars"; to say here that we therefore should not interfere but let everything take the course of its
of
"he
natural development.
CHAPTER The world
is
noisy.
35.
There
is
music;
there are dainties to eat there are many distractions, and the passing stranger ;
stops.
The Tao
is tasteless, is invisible,
inaudible, but inexhaustible in its use. have here a trinity of the negative qualities of the Tao just as in Chapter is
We 14.
Compare
also Chapter 42.
CHAPTER The tendency
36.
of the world
is
to ac
quire hardness and strength, but in this
Canon of Reason and Virtue
164
chapter the sage warns us to beware of these qualities, and rather remain tender
The people should
and weak.
know
that
weapons
scarcely
exist.
On the authority of Professor Giles the last section of this chapter should read "Fishes can not be taken away from the water. The instruments of govern ment can not be delegated to others." Huai Nan Tze tells a story of a sover eign who lost his throne by transferring the power of punishment to his minister. (See Emendations and Comments to LaoTze s Tao-Teh-King, second issue, pages xvi-xvii.)
Lao-tze regarded acquaintance with weapons as an unnatural condition which would prove fatal to the people, just as fish
from
must die when they are removed their natural element, the water.
CHAPTER is
different
38.
from virtue and
Justice benevolence. It is the nature of justice to act and enforce its pretensions. True or superior virtue is here called it does not make a "unvirtue" because
Comments show of
A is
virtue
;
it
does not
165
"act
virtue."
difference between virtue and justice that justice doling out punishments
must make a show of its power, and so It is ob "acts and makes pretensions." vious that here the Confucian concep tion of virtue is criticised for the rea son that it is always in evidence and is therefore inferior, it is shoddy. times Traditionalism (ts ien shih, men which is the knowledge") bygone tioned further on in this chapter is a characteristic feature of Confucian eth "of
ics.
In former editions I took ts ien in the sense of "early" or "premature" and translated "quickwittedness"; but we must bear in mind that we have before us a criticism of Confucian ethics with its rules of propriety based upon a rev erence for the past, clinging tenaciously to tradition. Lao-tze says that this re spect for bygone times, this tradition alism is not commendable. It is but "the flower of reason," meaning thereby that it makes a display or show of virtue;
Canon of Reason and Virtue
166
parades morality but
it
does not con
it
tain the fruit.
CHAPTER
39.
Plato scholars will note that the famous dialogue "Parmenides," discussing the problem of the one and the many, may fitly be compared with Lao-tze s exposi tion of the nature of oneness, the poet ical portion of which sounds like a phil osophical rhapsody. The simile that the carriage does not consist of its parts, but it a definite com bination of its parts, is also used in the Buddhist book, "Questions of King Miwritten several centuries after linda," Lao-tze. *
The
*
*
last line in section
7,
Ta fang wu
square has no corner") should be compared with the same sentiment in Chapter 45, ta chih joh ch ii ("greatest straightness seems yii
(literally,
"Greatest
curved").
CHAPTER The
42.
subject of oneness or unity treated in Chapter 39 is here continued, and
Comments
167
unity is represented as the product of the Tao or Reason.
The
trinity idea plays an important in human thought almost every
part
where, in philosophical systems and in many religions including Christianity. The Chinese idea of trinity is based
on the notion that there are two opposed principles, Yang and Yin, which have originated, as Lao-tze explains, from a primordial oneness, called by Cheu-tze later philosophers Chi, the the absolute. Oneness pro or ultimate,
and other
duces by differentiation a twohood,
viz.,
the twohood of Yang, or heaven, and Yin, or earth. Between heaven and earth is the air, Ch i, the breath of life; and
from all
this trinity of
Yang, Yin and
Ch i
things are derived.
Incidentally we must warn the reader that chi, the ultimate, 1 is quite differ ent from ch i, breath. 2 1
$ Chi is used by Lao-tze in its ordinary sense in Chapter 16, and 68, last word. For the philosophical terms t ai chi and wu chi see p. 138 and compare Giles s Dictionary,
No. 2
859.
$, Ch
i,
breath, occurs three times in our
168
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The words ku kwa, here translated
"or
phaned, lonely," mean, the former fatherless son," and the latter "lonely"; and in this sense the emperor has been called the "lonely one" as one who stands aloof, who is solitary, peerless and with out equal. But the original meaning is still prominent in the term and so we may look upon Lao-tze s use of the word as a pun which he uses as a peg upon which to hang a lesson. The word kwa, and has the meaning of "lonely," with in which agreement "insignificant" a Chinese view of politeness is also used "a
"little"
in the sense of "your humble servant," or as the Germans say, meine Wenigkeit, which may justly be considered an ade quate equivalent for the Chinese kwa. The term pu ku is used in the same
sense
as
worthy,"
kwa, meaning literally "not modest expression in which
as a
the speaker refers to himself. It serves so commonly as an equivalent for the in Sze ma Tsien s text: (1) translated biography of Lao-tze; (2) translated "vital in Chapter 10; and (3) "breath," in Chap ter 42. See Giles s Dictionary No. 1064. The "airs"
ity"
word
is
also transcribed
k i.
Comments
169
pronoun o the first person that even the emperor does not scorn it. However the former words ku kwa denote the em peror as a peerless person, the only one of his kind, the man who has no equal. *
Lao-tze
is
*
*
certainly an original thinker
and yet he disclaims originality he con stantly quotes his predecessors, but he ;
reads his ings.
He I
own thoughts says here,
teach
into their say
others have but in Chapter 15
"What
taught he says that they are too profound to be understood, and so he endeavors to
make them
also,"
intelligible.
*
*
*
The chapter concludes with a state ment which tradition explains as mean ing that he will "expound the doctrine s foundation," but the literal reading of the last six words runs thus: shall do the doctrine s father." "I
The word
fu,
"father,"
with a rod and means father,
most
fatherly or
pictures a hand
"rule,
loving."
common word
for
authority, It
is
"father"
the
and
170
Canon of Reason and Virtue
ought to be so translated unless weighty reasons speak against it.
The word "to
do,"
wei,
may mean
commonly translated live up to, to ac "to
do the will
tualize, to exemplify, to
of,
Obviously it means the actual doing, not the purely theoretical ex pounding, and so we explain the passage to mean, "While the mass of mankind are violent and self-willed, which leads to trouble and an unnatural death, I mean
to
obey."
to exemplify
doctrine s
rendering father
in
my
life the will of the or in a more literal will obey the doctrine s
father," "But
(i. e.,
I
the
Tao)."
CHAPTER
45.
Literally the second quotation reads: straightness is like a curve, Greatest skill is like awkwardness,
"Greatest
Greatest eloquence
is
like
stammer
ing."
The first line reminds us of modern geometry where the straight line may be regarded as a curve of an infinitely small curvature. Cf. note on Chapter 41.
Comments
CHAPTER
171
47.
Whether or not Lao-tze meant it, he here endorses Kant s doctrine of the a priori, which means that certain truths can be stated a priori, viz., even before
we make an
actual experience. It is not the globe trotter who knows man kind, but the thinker. In order to know the sun s chemical composition we need not go to the sun; we can analyze the sun s light by spectrum analysis. need not stretch a tape line to the moon to measure its distance from the earth, we can calculate it by the methods o an a priori science (trigonometry).
We
CHAPTER
49.
The word shang means
"constant,
ordinary, usual, common" etc., and the contrast requires the sense that the saint has not the heart as other people have,
which means a heart of his own. The "one hundred families" is a Chi nese term which means the people of a district.
172
Canon of Reason and Virtue
The second section of this chapter Its contains a difficulty in the text. third sentence reads in the Chinese text as translated in "Virtue is good";
good
sense, as
our former editions, but this does not make
While pon
it is trivial.
dering over the meaning of these two characters the translator discovered two versions 9 which replace the word teh, ob "virtue," by its homophone, teh, "to
and it seemed quite probable that this was the original reading. The change from teh, obtain," to teh, could naturally and at an early date have tain,"
"to
"virtue,"
originated through a careless scribe in a book where the word teh, "virtue,"
occurred so
frequently.
Once
intro
duced, the mistake could easily have been perpetuated in the text.
The word
teh,
"to
obtain,"
makes good
sense and might even suggest itself as the most appropriate text emendation. On the ground of this consideration we obmight prefer the reading teh, "to
See the Emendations and Comments to the second issue of the author s Lao-Tze s TaoTeh-King, p. vii. 9
Comments
and propose to translate the pas
tain,"
sage thus "The
bad
173
:
good I meet with goodness, the meet with goodness; thus I
I also
obtain goodness
The
(i.
e.,
I
actualize vir
meet with faith, the also meet with faith; thus
tue.) faithless I
faithful I
I obtain faith
(i.
e.,
I actualize
faith)."
In other words, we must meet not only the good with goodness but the bad also with goodness, if we want to actual ize the ideal of goodness; and we must meet not only the faithful with faith but the faithless also with faith, in order
to actualize the ideal of faith.
This
is the obvious meaning of Laohe here expresses his view of the way a man can become truly good and faithful. He does not admit any utili
tze, for
tarian
argument and lays down the rule
follows the Tao. He can be truly good and truly faithful only if he is good and faithful to all, whether he has to deal with the good or the notfor a
man who
good, the faithful or the faithless. The Manchu translator had before him a text which read teh, "virtue," not teh,
174
Canon of Reason and Virtue but he construes teh, If he is right,
"obtain,"
as a genitive. translate,
virtue s
is
"That
and further down,
"virtue,"
we must
goodness,"
is
"That
virtue s
faith."
After some hesitation we have finally adopted the interpretation of the Manchu version.
CHAPTER
50.
The first line of this chapter contains much food for thought. In our first edition we have translated these four words by
home
is
"Going
forth
We
death."
is
life,
coming
cling to the believe we have
still
same meaning, but we improved the diction by translating "Abroad
We
in life,
home
in
death."
must grant, however, that we
might translate, must return in pretation that
"He
who
death,"
"he
who
is
enters life but this inter
born must
objectionable mainly because trivial for Lao-tze is
The second paragraph is
die,"
it is
too
in this chapter obscure and seems beyond hope of
Comments making good
sense.
A
175 literal transla
tion reads:
followers [are] ten have three s followers [are] ten have three In man s life the moving to death places are also ten have three." This may mean either ten plus three, "Life
s
Death
i.
e.,
thirteen, or of ten take three, viz., in ten."
"three
If the translation rect,
"thirteen
"thirteen"
retainers"
be cor
might accord
ing to Chinese folklore mean the five senses and the eight apertures which make thirteen avenues of life. This interpretation is based on the view of the commentator Lu Tze who may be right,
and his view becomes somewhat
when we bear in mind Chapter where Lao-tze speaks of the mouth
probable 52,
and the sense-gates as beset with danger. There he declares that the sage who keeps these openings closed will to the end of his life remain safe. I applied to Mr. Ng Poon Chew for an explanation and he writes: "The passage is very vague and ob scure, its
meaning
is
no clearer to
me
176
Canon of Reason and Virtue
than to you. I have consulted a few good Chinese scholars and they were all baffled. The words shi yiu san, "ten have three," may mean here "thirteen" or "three out of ten." If we translate "three in ten," the reader will naturally ask, Three times three in ten
make
nine,
where
is
the
And we would answer, it is man who bases his life on goodness." tenth?
Three in ten
"the
in ten are anxious to live, three somehow are doomed to death,
and other three in ten walk blindly toward death; they all live life s in tensity. There is but one who is above life and death, and this is the man who bases his life on goodness.
we interpret the word fu, follower, retainer," in the
In this case "footman,
sense of
"pursuer."
We
have chosen the former interpre tation which seems to us the most prob able, but do not claim to have solved the difficulty.
*
*
*
The last section of this chapter finds a striking parallel in Plato s Phaedrus,
Comments in the
177
same book and on the same pagina
(248) that contains the reference to the supercelestial being which is colorless
and shapeless, quoted above in our com ments on Chapter 14. The passage in Plato reads: "There is a law of destiny that the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with a god is pre served from harm until the next period, and if attaining always is always un harmed." 10
The same idea is expressed in the famous ode of Horace, Integer vitae. that a truly good man is miraculously protected in danger is not uncommon in folktales and appears to
The
belief
have been an integral part of primitive religion.
Are these coincidences between Plato and Lao-tze accidental or are we to look upon them as echoes of a notion which in both the West and East have been in herited from a distant prehistoric past?
The
latter is certainly not improbable. * * *
"Reality"
10
Jowett
here
translates
s translation.
the
word
178
Canon of Reason and Virtue
wuh,
"concrete
things,"
and commonly
occurs in the phrase "the ten thousand things which means the entire world. The character sh "expansion" is a synonym of wei in the sense o asser tion. The sage fears to be or to appear or to claim too much. He avoids self*
aggrandizement.
CHAPTER
54.
This chapter, like so many other pas sages, is directed against the Confucianists who in their ethics insist on
the ritual of ancestral sacrifices. tze believes that wherever the
Tao
Laoob
is
served, filial piety and sacrificial cele brations will be spontaneous.
CHAPTER The quotation
is
56.
the same as in
Chap
only here it is attributed to the sage, in the former place to the Tao. The sage identifies himself with the mor tal coil he is heir to, with ch an, his dust ter
4,
or the troubles of his bodily life, and this is called here profound identifica "a
tion."
Even
in the lowliness of his con-
Comments
179
dition the sage feels his man of the Tao.
own
dignity
as a
This same idea has produced the con ception of the god-man in Christianity as well as in pagan religions.
CHAPTER Hamlet
57.
"the time is out of joint," we observe that political disorder produces restlessness among the people and in its wake come start
When,
as
ling events.
says,
The people
are frightened
and superstition dominates their minds. The result is that ghosts will spook and the gods will be angry, as stated in Chapter 60.
CHAPTER
59.
The "mother of the commonwealth" is commonly interpreted to be thrift. It is not impossible that
the
Tao or Reason, but
ter he uses the
general sense as
term Tao
chapter
same chap more
in the
"way."
CHAPTER Whatever the
Lao-tze means
in the
first
may mean,
it is
60.
sentence of this
oddly expressed.
180
Canon of Reason and Virtue
One should govern would fry small
fish,
a country as one and we have added
the traditional explanation in brackets,
gut nor scale them," which as the rule wei wu wei, i. do the not-doing, practice none., practice; leave them alone and do not "neither
means the same
meddle with their
affairs.
In ancient times ghosts were feared, and ghosts begin to spook, or at least are believed to spook, where crimes keep the minds of the people in a state of fearful and unsettled expectancy. See
Chapter
57.
CHAPTER
61.
This chapter contains more wisdom than it seems to possess at first sight.
The same
idea
is
expressed in the
lish saying that by stooping one It is also echoed in the quers.
Eng con
New
Testament where Jesus says that he who wishes to be the master of all should be their servant. In an empire or confed eracy of states that state takes the lead
which renders the greatest service to the others. For instance Prussia took the
Comments
181
Germany because through its sys tematic administration and well-organ ized army it offered protection and other advantages to the smaller states and so served their interests. In the same way lead in
Athens gained and
lost ascendency in downfall dates from the time when it ceased to serve the others and began to misuse its power. Since the loss of the thirteen American colonies England has adopted the same maxim of serving the interests of her depen dencies. This policy which has proved successful and has repeatedly saved the
Greece
;
its
British empire from dismemberment, was pronounced by Lao-tze in plain terms
two and a half millenniums ago.
CHAPTER
62.
The proposition that "when sought the Tao is obtained," reminds one of the
New Testament verse,
"Seek
and ye
shall
find."
CHAPTER
63.
In the famous passage, "Requite hatred with virtue," the word teh, is "virtue,"
Canon of Reason and Virtue
182
translated
commonly
We
"goodness."
grant that this is the meaning, but we prefer a literal rendering. The sentence recalls Christ s injunction, "Love your
means that we should hate us with justice and goodness, according to the rules of the Tao, the eternal Reason. It is not so emphatic as the Christian saying, but it
enemies,"
but
treat those
is
more
it
who
logical
and
less paradoxical. last means:
The sentence before the Rash promises are
made; and
easily
if
we
take things easy in the beginning without thinking of the consequences we shall soon be involved in complications.
CHAPTER The
last is
terfere" "to
word here in
64.
translated
Chinese wei,
"to
by
"in
do"
or
act."
The terms literal
"likely"
translations
and of
the
Likely apparently means what
mon
are Chinese.
"unlikely"
is
com
or usual, and the unlikely, what unusual.
is
Comments
CHAPTER
When
183
70.
have an he per sonifies Reason which makes the con ception of Tao resemble Christian the ism; but we can not deny that in this atmosphere of abstract thought the ex pressions, "ancestor" and "master" may be regarded as intentional similes, just Lao-tze says,
ancestor, deeds have a
"words
master,"
as in other chapters the Tao is compared to a "father" (Chapters 4 and 42), a
(Chapter 20, also 1 and 52), (Chapter 4) and the "great Nevertheless carpenter" (Chapter 74). the fact remains that Lao-tze has re "mother" "the
Lord"
peatedly personified the Tao in spite of its
abstract nature.
CHAPTER The passage able"
is
lation,
and
a
"to
71.
know
the
unknow
smooth and quite correct trans
but there
is
a deeper sense in
it
certainly should not be inter preted in the sense of agnosticism, A strictly correct literal translation should
read
it
"know
the
not-knowing,"
which
184
Canon of Reason and Virtue
means familiar with that state of mind where knowing (the noetic fac "be
not the medium of our mental an expression of Lao-tze s in which the attitude of heart mysticism is considered superior to comprehension, ulty)
life."
is
It is
and seems to involve what European mystics call intuition and what is char acterized by St. Paul as the
"peace
We
that
can retain
passeth understanding." the translation "unknowable"
if
it
is
understood in this sense, not as anything incomprehensible, an x in cognition, but as a mental attitude, as the feeling of the ineffable.
The connection between the first and second paragraphs consists in the idea that courage is sometimes successful and sometimes it brings harm. We do not know the reason why heaven sometimes dooms
a hero.
The word
lated in the text
Chinese
"hate."
trans reads in the
"doom,"
"reject,"
Comments
CHAPTER
185
74.
carpenter who hews" is the Tao, or as theists would undoubtedly
The
"great
Compare our comment on
God.
say,
Chapter
We mine;
70.
read in the Bible,
CHAPTER The
"Vengeance is
repay, saith the
I will
Lord."
75.
last sentence finds its parallel in
the
New
we
read:
xii. 25) where that loveth his life shall
Testament (John "He
lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eter nal."
CHAPTER
78,
In China the emperor takes the guilt of the whole nation upon himself when he brings his annual sacrifice, a full burnt offering, to Shang Ti the Lord on
High, and this
is
expressed in the quota
tion of this chapter which thus bears a remarkable similarity to the Christian
doctrine that Christ as the High Priest takes the sins of mankind upon his own
Canon of Reason and Virtue
186
shoulders.
Here
is
another coincidence
of the East with the West.
The
priest
according to the primitive custom speaks in the name of the sacrificial animal, and the sacrificial animal represents the god
himself.
CHAPTER The
original reads, left (tso) of
keeps the
79.
"The
holy
contract"
means the debit
side.
man
and
tso,
The
right side of the contract table contained the claims, ch eh, which in its original mean "left,"
ing denotes "that
go
through"
which can be
enacted."
"to
CHAPTER
and then
80.
Lao-tze is not in favor of progress. is bent on preaching that the Tao can be actualized in primitive conditions as well as, if not more easily than, in a
He
highly complicated state of civilization.
His ideal is not the luxury of wealth and power and learnedness, but the sim He ple life of simple-minded people. may even be accused of reactionary ten dencies, for he is ready to abandon the
Comments
187
advance made by his predecessors up to his own time and give up the practice of writing on bamboo slips, in favor of the prehistoric mode of keeping memo randa by knotted cords (chieh shing), or as they are now called with an American name, quipu, a method of assisting the memory by threads of various dyes knot ted in special ways. Lao-tze will scarcely find followers for his proposal to revert to primitive con ditions, but even here where he is mis taken, there is a truth at the bottom of his thought. It is the ideal of a sim ple life, so much preached and so little practised in our days. Progress not only brings new inventions but also loosens
the old ideals of simplicity, purity, hon esty and faith. In place of the restful contentedness of former ages, the new
generation is filled with desires. People have become reckless, arrogant, and lux urious. Learnedness takes the place of wisdom, and a pretentious display of filial
piety supplants spect for parents.
spontaneous re
188
Canon of Reason and Virtue
OUR FRONTISPIECE. Our frontispiece pictures Lao-tze in the traditional style as seated on an ox while about to travel westward.
It is
the reproduction of a delicate drawing
by Shoso Mishima.
The
inscription
is
a quotation from
Chapter 70 of the Tao Teh King which reads: "The holy man wears wool and hides his
jewels."
CONCLUSION. The kind reader who has patiently fin ished this little book will be amazed when he considers the depth of Lao-tze s thought. And this man lived in an age of decay, more than five hundred years before the Christian era and one hun dred years before the foundation of Bud dhism, yet he has anticipated in pithy sayings the best that has been taught by the noblest sages of mankind who came after him, Socrates and Plato, Bud
dha and Christ.
TABLE OF REFERENCES. [The numbers refer Abandon, ness,
Abroad
extravagance,
learnedness,
20;
saintli-
in life, 50.
"great be,"
of
= without
limit), 28. Synonyms are: (wu chwang cbi cbwang) and the imageless" (wu hsiang chi hsiang) 14;
of the
"image
to
29;
19.
Absolute (wu cbi "form
to chapters of the text.]
formless"
form or image," etc. (wu) 2, 11,
35, 40,
=
41
;
"non-existence,"
(wu y/u)
43,
"not
(wu wuh),
14; "mystery" (hsiien abyss), 1, 6, 14; "abstrac See footnote on p. 167. tion s height" (hii cbi), 16. Abundance, for serving, 77; gained by giving, 81.
Acts (we/), Benevolence, 38; but claims not, 2, 10, 77; with non-asser (accomplishes) but strives not, 81 See also "Non-assertion" for wu wi r: "not tion, 3. ;
act."
Actual, Existence renders, Adrift,
11.
20.
All-pervading, Reason
is,
34.
Ambition, Holy man weakens, 3. Ancestor, Words have an, 70. Ancients, prize Reason, 62; Reason of the, 14; Saying of the, 22; versed in Reason, 65. Archfather, 4. Arms, are unblest, 31; Threatening without, 69; is strong in, 76. Assert non-assertion, 63.
Who
Canon of Reason and Virtue
190
Astride makes no advance, 24. Awkward, I alone am, 20.
Babe (ying rh also
infant child), Like unto a, 20.
See
"Child."
Bad, The, 49 and the good, 20 Badness and goodness, 2. Be and not be, 2. Beauty and ugliness, 2. ;
;
man
respects wealth, 27.
Beginning, not seen, 14; of ignorance, 38. Being, A wondrous and complete, 25. Beings (wuA), Reason includes all, 21. Bellows, Like unto a, 5.
Benevolence
Abandon,
(/an),
19;
38;
acts,
showeth, 8; when Reason is obliterated, Beyond, The, 25. Binders, Good, need no knots, 27. Blunt his sharpness, 56. Bodiless, Reason
Body on
is,
Goodness
18.
14.
of the, 16; Rank like the, 13; See also "Person."
Decay
(sAan), the, 24.
Bones, are weak, 55; Strengthens
Bow, Heaven
s
Reason
like a,
his,
Wen
3.
77.
Breath (ch i), 42. See also "Vitality." Business, Goodness in, 8; in Reason, 23. By-paths, People fond of, 53. Calamity, Greed
Calm, Reason
is,
a,
46.
4.
Carpenter, The great, 74. Carriage, Parts not a, 39; No occasion to ride in, 80. Catastrophe, 58. Chastity, 41. Reason knows her, 52. There Child, Like a little, 10, 55 are four Chinese words used by Lao-tze which mean ;
child:
or
(1)
Ying
"infant,"
rh,
"little
child,"
10,
or
"babe,"
20,
52; (3) ch ih tsz and (4) hai, means treat like a child," 49.
28; (2) tsz
,
which is a verb and Child s estate, 28. Children, The holy man treats all "to
like,
49.
Table of References
191
Claims, and obligations, 79; not, Acts but, 2, 10, 77. moulded into a vessel, 11; Tower raised by heap
Clay,
ing, 64.
Clever and enlightened, 33. Cloudburst does not last, 23. Clue, Reason s, 14. Colorless, Reason is, 14. Colors, Five, 12.
Commoners, Nobles come from,
Commonwealth
s
mother,
59.
39.
See also
"State."
Companions, Glad to find, 23; of life and death, 76. Compassion, 67. Complete, Being, 25; without renewal, 15. Conquers, but rejoices not, 31; himself is mighty, Who, 33
;
through lowliness,
61.
Who knows, is content, 46; knows, is rich, 33; with their homes, 80. Contentious are not good, The, 81. Counters, Good, need no counting rack, 27. Courage leads to death, 73. Crafty do not dare to act, 3. Content,
Who
is,
44;
Who
Creatures, 39.
Crooked shall be straight,
22.
Crossing a river, 15. Culture is insufficient, 19. Curse of the country s failing, 78. Curves, Straightest lines resemble, 45.
Danger, No (pu tai), 16; Not in, 52; One avoids, 32. See also "Vitiation." Death, Courage leads to, 73; Die a natural, 42; Hard and strong are companions of, 76; Home in, 50; In duce people to grieve at, 80; Make people fear, 74; People make light of, 75; Realm of, 50. Deeds have a master, 70. Deficient The, 77. Departing, The great I Depth not obscure, 14.
call,
Desire, Abstaining from, 12;
What
kindles,
3.
25.
Bound
by, 1; Sin and, 46;
Canon of Reason and Virtue
192
Desires fewer, 19. Desireless, Holy man desires to be, 64; Reason ever, 34; Who is found, 1. Desolation, No end of, 20. Differ from others, 20. Compare "Unlikely."
and easy, Diplomacy, No, 48, Difficult
63. 53,
57.
Discipline of the senses, Discontent a misery, 46. Disdain like a stone, 39. Disorder, Beginning
of,
10.
When
38;
clans decay through,
18.
Display, Makes a, 2; Holy Distant, Viewing the, 47.
Doom, Brings
its
own,
man
does not,
72, 77.
9.
Doors and windows, Cutting Dotage leads to squandering,
out, 11. 44.
Dread, death, People, 74; What people, 20. Dreadful, The, 72. Drinking, Excessive in, 53. Duality, 42. Duration, Forever lasteth his, 44. Dust, One with its, 56. Dwell not in the external, 38; on merit,
does not,
2,
Holy man
77.
Ear, Five notes confound the, 12. See also "Outer." Earth, is lasting, 7; is man s standard, 25. Easy, and difficult, 2, 63; to understand, My words are, 70.
Economy,
67.
Eloquence stammers, 45. Eluding, Reason s nature is, 21. Elusive, Masters of yore, 15. Empire, a divine vessel, 29; King
of,
78;
Model
to take the, 48; Too light for the, 26; with the, 13; Wife of the, 61.
Not
fit
Empties, Holy man,
3.
of,
28;
Trusted
Table of References
193
Granaries are, S3; I alone ap is, i; Masters of yore, 15; Reason is, 4; will be The, 22.
Empty, Bellows pear, 20; filled,
End
not seen,
Endures (ch
14.
atng
=
liable, solid) that
is
ley, spirit, 16; (chiu 33.
See also
Enemy, Making
lasts),
"Lasting"
and
= not
dies) Val loses not his place,
Who
"Solidity."
light of the, 69. beholds his smallness
Enlightened, Who knows himself is, 33.
Enlightenment, 27; Knowing the eternal
Envy
re
Heaven, 7; (sbuh
eternal),
which, 19; (pu sz
is.
is,
52; 16,
Who
55.
forestalled, 3.
Eternal,
Knowing the, 16; Practising the, 52; Reason, To know the harmonious is called the, 55.
The, 32;
Everlastingness, Way to, 59. Excels but rules not, 10.
Excess, Holy man abandons, 29; in drinking, 53. Executioner who kills, 74. Existence, comes from non-existence (wu). 40; renders actual, 11.
Expanded, Has been, 36. Expansion, I must fear, 53. External, Dwells not in the,
38.
Extravagance, Holy man abandons, Eye, Five colors blind the, 12.
29.
Faith, abides, 21; Goodness keepeth, 8; If insufficient receives no faith, 17, 23; Rash promises lack, 63; Semblance of, 38; The faithful I meet with, 49.
Fame, To acquire, 19;
Who
knows
Father, Doctrine s, 42. Favor bodes disgrace, 13. Filial piety, People will return
to,
his, 28.
19;
when family
re
lations no longer harmonize, 18.
Fish,
As you
fry, 60;
should not escape from the deep,
36.
Five colors, notes and tastes, 12. Fower, and fruit, 38; of Reason, 38. Foolish (yii = simple minded), 20.
194
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Forlorn
am
20.
I,
Form, The tue
s,
greatest, 41; of the formless, 14; Vast vir holdeth fast to the great, 35. 21;
Who
Former and
latter,
Four, quarters,
12,
38, 72.
Neighbors in the, 15; quarters, Pene 10; things, Reason, Heaven, Earth and
trating the, Royalty, are great, 25. Front, Not daring to come to the, 67.
Fruit and flower,
Fulness of
Fulsome
rest,
talk,
Gain and
38. 16.
5.
loss, 42, 44.
Gate, Out of the, 47. Gates, of heaven, 10; Sense-, 52, 56. Gem, Like a, 39. See also "Jewels." Ghosts will not spook, 60.
Gives (yu), The more he, the more he lays up,
same word
translated "augmenteth" in 77. God, arch-father of the ten thousand things, reference under "Tao." Gods will not harm, 60.
81.
The
4.
See
is
Gold and jewels, 9. Good, and the bad, The, 20; man, acts resolutely, 30; man, Heaven s Reason assists the, 79; man does not respect multitudes, 27.
Goodness, and badness, 2; The good resembleth water, 8.
Gossip
I
meet with, 49;
s talk, 5.
Govern without smartness, Grasp to the full, 9. Gravity
(lit.
"baggage
65.
wagon"),
26.
Great, All call me, 67; Four things are, 25; Reason ob literated, 18; rivers, 32; rulers, 17; the small, Make, 63.
Greed, Give up, 19; No greater calamity than, 46. Guest, I act as, 69; Masters of yore behave as, 15.
Happiness and misery, 58. Happy, Multitudes are, 20. Hard and strong are companions of death,
76.
Table of References
195
Harm, Gods will not, 60; No, 66. See also "Danger." Harmony, Perfection of, 55. Hatred, when reconciled, 79; with virtue, Requite, 63. Heart, Emptying the, 21; Holy man empties, 3: Holy
man
has not, of his own, 49;
the, of lust, 37
;
is foolish,
Racing will turn mad
Heartache, Rank bodes,
20; Purifying 12.
the,
13.
Heaven, and earth, 32, 39 and earth, cannot be un remitting, 23 and earth, Humaneness of, 5 and earth, Root of, 6; and earth, Space between, 5; Complying ;
;
;
is earth s standard, 25 ; Open endures, 7 ing and closing the gates of, 10; rejected, By, 73; renders Reason-like, 16. Heaven s, net, 73; Reason, 77, 79, 81; standard is Rea
with, 68
;
;
son, 25; way (Tao), 9. Heavenly, Reason, 73 Reason ;
I
contemplate, 47
;
alty renders, 16. High, but proud, 9; in virtue, 41; Reason brings
Roy down
the, 77.
Hold fast, to Reason, 14, 59; to what will endure, 19. Holy man (shang /an), a saviour of men, 27 abandons excess, 29; abides by non-assertion, 2; acts but claims ;
be desiredoes not depart from gravity, 26; does not make himself great, 34; does not travel, 47; dwells above, 66; dwells in the world, 49; embraces unity, 22; empties people s hearts, 3; has not heart of his own, 49; hoards not, 81; Humaneness of, 5; knows himself, 72; not sick, 71; puts his person behind, 7;
not, 77; attends to the inner, 12; desires to less,
64;
Reason of
81; regards as difficult, 63, 73; says, 57; says, "Who the curse square not sharp, 58; treats all like
the,
practice 78; bears," "I
non-assertion,"
children, 49; uses simplicity, 28; wears wool, 70; will not harm, 60. Home, Crooked will return (fu kwei), 22; he turneth coming back) in death, 50; No (fu kwei), 28; (ju place to return (kwei), 20; (fu) Seeks a, 64; (fan), The beyond I call, 25; to enlightenment, Returns (fu
=
kwei), 52; to non-existence, 14; to Reason, also "Homeward."
34.
See
Canon of Reason and Virtue
196
Homes, Content with Homeward, Reason s to its root,
their, 80.
course,
returneth
40;
(fu
twel)
16.
Honors, not himself, 72;
the left and
Superior man,
right, 31.
Horses, 46; Riding with four, 62. Host, I dare not act as, 69.
Humaneness, Heaven and earth
s,
5.
Humiliation, Incurs no, 44. Humility, The virtue of, 61.
Hundred
families,
5,
Hearts
17;
Hunger, People, 7$. Hurricane does not last, Hypocrisy when Reason
of, 49.
23. is obliterated,
18.
Ice melting, 15. Identification, 56. See also
"One,"
4,
and
"Sameness," 1.
Ignorance, Traditionalism the beginning of, 38. Ignorant am I, 20. Image of the imageless, 14. See also "Form." Inaccessible, 56.
Independent (tsz trinsic,"
/an
~
self-like),
17.
"Spontaneous,"
"Natural,"
See also
and
"In
"Without
Effort."
Indulgence, Holy man abandons, 29. Ineffable (wu mint). Simplicity of, 37.
See also
"Un-
namable."
Inexhaustible, Reason
is,
4,
35.
See "Absolute." Inner (stomach), The, 12. Infinite,
Intensity, Life s, 50; of clinging to life, 75. See also "Acts" and "Assert." Interfere (we/), 64. Intrinsic (tsz ;n self-like), Reason s standard 25.
See also
and
"Without
Effort."
Intuition, Cultivation of, 54; Profound, 10. Isolation, Remaining in, 80. It (- Reason), 21, 54, 57. Itself (t*x
)
is,
"Independent," "Natural," "Spontaneous"
Heaven Reason comet
of, 73.
Table of References Jade
table,
Holding
197
the, 62.
Jewels, Gold and, 9; Hides his, 70. Justice, acts, 38; literated, 18.
Keep King
Put away, 19; when Reason
is
ob
time, Movements of goodness, 8. of the empire, 78.
Kings, as models, 39; keep Reason, 32, 37; of the hun dred valleys, 66; Titles of, 39, 42.
Knotted cords,
Know, The Knowable, Lasting also
80.
less we, 47; the unknowable, Not to know the, 71.
(cfi/u),
Earth
Reason means,
7;
16.
See
"Endures."
Former and,
12,
Laws and mandates,
57.
Latter,
is,
71.
38,
72.
Learned, Learn not to be, 64; The wise are not, 81. Learnedness, Abandon, 20; Who seeks, 48. Left and right, Reason on the, 34; The superior man honors the, 31. Life, Abroad in, 50; Called to, 39; Courage leads to, 73; everlasting. Who may die but will not perish Tender and delicate are companions of, 76 ; has, 33 Way to, 59; Who is not bent on, 75. ;
Likely, Resemble the, 67.
Lockers, Good, need no bolts, 27. Logic, Good speakers lack no, 27. Lord, Reason precedes the, 4 Reason plays not the, 34. Loves the people, Who, 10. Lovingly Reason nourishes all things, 34. Lowliness, as their root, 39; of a great state, fl; of ocean, 66. Lowly, employer of men, 68; flows a great state, 61; ;
Reason
lifts
up
the, 77.
Loyalty, Semblance
of,
38;
See also
when
Makes mars, One who, 29, 64. Manhood shows, Who his, 28. Man s Reason is not like Heaven
"Valley."
the clans decay,
s
Reason,
77.
18.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
198
Marching without marching,
69.
Mars, One who makes, 29, 64. Master, Deeds have a, 70; of mankind, 30; Rest tion
s,
is
mo
26.
Masters of yore,
15.
Matched armies, 69. Meddlesome, Superiors
are,
75.
Mediocrity, 67. Merit, Accomplish, 9, 17; Holy man does not dwell on, 2.
Middle path,
man
acquires, 77;
Holy
5.
Mighty, Who conquers himself is, 33. Military expert, 69. Minds by cneness souls procure, 39. Misery, and happiness, 58; Discontent a, 46. Model (shih), He becomes the empire s, 28; Holy man becomes a, 22; (chang) If kings are not, 39; (shih)
Who
knows
is,
65.
Moderation of desire, 46. Mother, knows her child, 52 of the commonwealth, 59 of the ten thousand things, 1 Reason the world s, 25, 52; Seeking sustenance from our, 20. See also "Womanhood." Mother-bird, Like a, 10. Motion, and quietude, 45; Rest is master of, 26. Mouth, Five tastes offend the, 12; Reason when coming from the, 35; Who opens his, 52. ;
;
;
Movements
of goodness,
8.
Multitudes of men, 20, 27, 64. Music, 35. Mysterious, Praising the, 14; woman,
Mystery of mysteries,
6.
1.
Namable (yiu ming), becomes sand things, The,
Name, Eternal,
1;
the mother of ten thou Reason becomes, 32. know not its, 25; of Reason is
1
;
I
never vanishing, 21 or person, 44. Narrow, Not deem their lives, 72. Natural (tsz /an), To be taciturn is, 23. ;
dependent."
out
Effort."
"Intrinsic,"
"Spontaneous"
See also
and
"In
"With
Table of References
199
Nave of wheel, 11. Net, Heaven s, 73. Non-assertion, 29; Acts with, 3; Advantage of, 43; As sert, 63; Holy man abides by, 2; Nothing that can not be achieved with, 48; Practise, 10, 57; Reason practises, 37; Superior virtue is, 38. Non-diplomacy, One takes the empire with, 57. Non-existence (wu yiu) enters the impenetrable, 43; (wu) Existence comes from, 40; (wu wub), Reason returns
to, 14; renders useful, Non-practice, Practice, 63. Notes, The five, 12.
11.
Obligations and claims, 79. Obscure, Reason is deep and, 21. Obsequious, Some are, 29. Obtained, Reason when sought is, 62. Ocean and rivers, 32, 66. See also Omen, Received no, 20. One with its dust, 4, 56. Oneness obtained by heaven and earth,
"Sea."
and valleys, 39. See "Unity." Order, Goodness standeth for, 8; Reason
minds,
crea
tures,
Organizer,
creates, 32.
A
great, 38. title of kings, 39, 42.
Orphaned, Others have taught, What,
42.
See also
"Masters
of
yore."
Outer (ear), The, 12. Owns, The more he gives the more
he, 81.
Paradoxical, True words seem, 78. Passions rise, 16. Perfect as chief vessels, 67. Perfection, imperfect, 45; of his harmony, 55.
Person (sAan),
is
preserved, 7;
Name
or,
44; to perdi
Surrenders his, 52 Who cultivates reason in his, See also "Body." 54; With his, keeps behind, 66. builder of words), 41. Poet (chien yen tion,
;
Practice, non-assertion, 10; non-practice, 63. Preference, Heaven s Reason shows no, 79.
200
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Pretensions, Justice makes, 38. Pride of robbers, 53. Priest at the great sacrifice, 78. Principle,
A
great, 28.
Profound, Masters of yore are, 15; Spiritual virtue
is,
65; virtue, 10, 51. Prohibitions and restrictions, 57.
Promises, Rash, 63. Propriety, 38.
Proud, High and. 9; of their clothes, 80; Prying government, 58.
Punishment, Capital,
Some
are, 29.
74.
Pure, chastity, 41; Heaven becometh, 39; Preserve thee, 19; [Reason] harbors the spirit, 21. Purifying can cleanse from faults, 10. Purity the world s standard, 45.
Quarrel, Goodness does not, 8; Holy man does not, 22. Quickens, but owns not, 2, 10, 51; the still, 15. Quietude, and motion, 45; he holdeth high, 31; I love, 57; renders lowly, 61.
Race horses haul dung, 46. Racing will human hearts turn mad,
Rank like the body, Rash promises lack
12.
13.
faith,
63.
Reality shapes all creatures, 51. Reason, Ancients prize, 62; and learnedness, 48; begets unity, 42; Business in, 23; creates order, 32; eternal, 1, 8; Heaven s, is to benefit, 81; Heaven s, like a
bow, 77; Heaven s, shows no preference, 79; Home ward the course of, 40; I contemplate heavenly, 47; I shall walk in the great, 53; if lost, then virtue ap
Who
cultivates, 54; includes pears, 38; in his person, all types (wuh), 21 Inferior scholar ridicules, 41 ; is ;
all-pervading, 34; is eluding (iu), 21; is empty, 4; is Heaven s standard, 25; is not seen nor heard, 35; is tasteless, 35; is very plain, 53; is world-honored, 62; Its nature I call, 25; like a stream, 32; Man of, a
refuge, 62;
Man
of,
will not indulge, 24;
Man
s,
de-
Table of References
201
77; means lasting, 16; Name of, never van ishing, 21; of the ancients, 14; of the holy man, 81; practises non-assertion, 37; precedes the Lord, 4; pre pleteth,
Race horses haul dung when, 46; quickens
vails,
51;
creatures,
existence (wu wuh), scholar practises, 41 tionalism the flower
that can be reasoned,
;
;
is
when
41; 62;
latent,
1
Tradi
;
38; Truth of, is sure, 21; unVirtue s form follows norm of, 21 ; of,
namable, 32, 41 Water near to the eternal, 8;
when
all
lasting, 16; returns to non14; strives not, 73, 81; Superior
renders
We
do not
see,
14;
obliterated, 18; when sought assists with, 30; cher
Who obtained, is not anxious to be
ishes,
Who Who
15; has, does seeks, will diminish, 48;
filled,
not rely on arms, 31; Who world s mother, 52. Reason-like, Heaven renders, 16. Reason s, clue, 14; nature is eluding, 21;
standard
is
intrinsic, 25.
Reform
of themselves, People, 57;
Ten thousand
things,
37.
Refuge,
Man
Relativity,
of
Reason
62.
a,
2.
Renewal, Complete without,
15.
Venomous, 55. Requital, His methods invite,
Reptiles,
Requite hatred with virtue, Resolute.
Be,
30.
63.
30.
Rest (tsing
not a ripple, purity), Fulness of, 16; if there is no lust, 37; is motion s master, 26; (t a/) There we find shelter, comfort, 35; (ngan) What is at, 64. See also "Quietude." Restrictions and prohibitions, 57.
Return home (fu kwti). Crooked 20;
to
enlightenment,
existence,
Reason
will,
Reverse to everything, Rhinoceros, See Right.
52;
to
will, 22; its root,
No 16;
place to
14; to Reason, 34.
65.
50. "Left
and
Risks no vitiation, 44. River, Crossing a, 15;
right."
He becomes
the empire
s,
28.
to,
Canon of Reason and Virtue
202
Rivers and the ocean, 32, 66. Robbers, Pride of, 53; Thieves
and,
57.
See
also
"Thieves."
Root, Lowliness their, 39; Returning to, Rootlet, Tree originated from tiny, 64. 25
16.
renders heavenly, 16. Royalty, See also "Masters of yore." Rulers, Great, 17. Rustic, I alone am a, 20. is great,
;
Sacrificial celebrations shall not cease, 54.
Sage keeps his obligations, Sages,
Great,
79.
17.
Abandon, 19. Sameness [of Namable and Unnamable], Saviour, Holy Man is a, 27. Scheme too sharply, 9. Scholar, Inferior and superior, 41. Saintliness,
Sea, Desolate like the, Seeks not his own, 7. Self,
Lessen,
20.
See also
1.
"Ocean."
19.
Self-displaying, 22, 24.
Self-seeking, 22, 24. Sense-gates, He shuts, 52, 56. Senses, Discipline of the, 10.
Sharp, tools, 36; swords, 53; Square but not, 58. Sharpness, Blunts its own, 4. Shell of things, 1. Sick of sickness, 71. Silence (pu yea not speaks), Instruction by, 2; Les son of, 43; Who knows [keeps, i. e.] does not talk, 56.
Simple, Masters of yore, 15; Show thyself, 19. Simplicity, in habits, 17, 57; of Reason, 32; of the un expressed, 37 Returning to, 28. Sin, and desire, 46; The country s, 78. Sinner can be saved, 62. Skill, Function of, 27; like a tyro, 45. ;
Slaughter of men, 31. Small, country, How to govern a, 80 Make great the, 63. Smart, Common people are, 20, 65. Smartness, Abandon, 19; Govern without, 65, ;
Table of References Soldiers,
Coming among,
203
50.
Solid, Great organizer abides
by
the, 38.
Solidity of virtue, 55. Sought is obtained, Reason when, 62. Sound, and voice, 2; The loudest, 41. Soundless, Reason is, 14. Cf. also 35.
Sourceless,
4.
Speakers, Good, no logic lack, 27. Spiritual, Masters of yore are, 15; of the world, 1; Pro foundly, 27; virtue is profound, 65. Spirituality,
Door
Spokes, Thirty,
Spontaneous (tsz pendent,"
of,
1.
/an
= self-like),
11.
"Intrinsic,"
51.
"Natural"
See also
and
"Inde
"Without
ef
fort."
Spook, Ghosts will not, 60. Squandering, Dotage leads to, 44. Square, but not sharp, Holy man is, 58; The greatest, Stammers, Greatest eloquence, 45. Standard, Purity, 45; The earth man s, 25. Startling events, 57. State, A great, 61 ;
A
neighboring, 80.
See also
41.
"Com
monwealth."
Stomachs, Holy man fills, Stone, Disdain like a, 39. Stoop to conquer,
See also
3.
"Outer."
61.
Stop, Knowing when to, 32, 44. Straight, Crooked shall be, 22 levelled Straightest lines resemble curves, 45. ;
seem rugged,
41.
Straw dogs, 5. Streams and creeks run towards the ocean, 32. Strength, Beware of, 76. Strives not, Heavenly Reason, 73; Holy man s Reason, 81.
Strong, and hard are companions of death, 76; do not die natural death, 42; Some are, 29; The weak con quer the, 78; Who preserves his tenderness is, 52.
Superior, man, 31 virtue, 38. Sure (cban), Truth (tsiag) of Reason ;
is,
21.
204
Canon of Reason and Virtue
Surface not clear,
14.
Surfeit of food, 24.
(=
Taciturn
speaking
little)
is
natural,
23.
See also
"Silence."
Talk, Fulsome, 5; One who knows does not, 56. See "Reason," "Way," "Master," "Lord," Tao. "Mother,"
ther,"
Reason
Tasteless,
"Fa
"Carpenter."
is,
35; Taste the, 63.
The five, 12. Taxes, Too many, 75. Ten thousand chariots, Master of, 26. Ten thousand things, The, Archfather Tastes,
of,
4; are straw-
by water, 8; come from existence, 40; depend upon Reason, 34; esteem 5;
dogs,
arise,
2,
Reason, 51; Holy not, 2;
Mother
of themselves
of,
16;
man
benefited
assists, 64;
1; of
Holy man refuses
themselves be reformed, 37;
pay homage, 32; Refuge
of
the,
62;
Trinity begets the, 42; while they live, 76. Tender, and delicate are companions of life, 76; and weak. The, 36; Water is, 78. Tenderness, Inducing, 10; Who preserves, it strong, 52. Theft, Keeps from, 3. Thieves, and robbers, 57; will not exist, 19. Thirteen avenues of life and of death, 50. Three, things (colorless, soundless, bodiless) form a unity, 14; things (saintliness, benevolence, smartness) for which culture is insufficient, 19; treasures, 67.
Thrift an early practice, 59. Tiger, 50. Tiptoe, One on, is not steady, 24. Traditionalism, the flower of Reason, 38. Travel, Holy man does not, 47. Travelers, Good, leave no trace, 27.
Treasure, Compassion our, 69. Treasures, high prized, 12; Not prizing, 3; Three, 67. Treat things before they exist, 64. Trinity, Duality begets, 42.
True words, arc not pleasant, 81; seem paradoxical, Types (si*ag), Reason includes all, 21.
78.
Table of References Ugliness and beauty, Unexhausted, 45.
2.
Unexpressed (wu ming See also
37.
205
= not name),
Simplicity of
the,
"Unnamable."
Holy man embraces, 22; Reason begets, 42; Those who have become a, 39; Three things (color less, soundless, bodiless) form a, 14; Who embraces,
Unity,
10. See also "Oneness." Unknowable, To know the,
resemble
I
Unlikely,
71.
the, 67.
Unnamable (wu ming), beginning 1
;
Reason
14,
is,
of
See also
Whose government
Unostentatious,
Un-Reason
32, 41.
(fei fao),
soon ceases,
heaven and earth, "Unexpressed,"
is,
30,
58.
55; This
is,
53.
Unsophisticated, He will be, 10; Holy man keeps the people, 3. Unvirtue (pu teh) contrasted to "no virtue" (wu teh), 38.
Unworthy,
title of kings,
39, 42.
Men
possess, 20, Vessel of, 28. Utility depends on the non-existent, 11.
Usefulness,
Vacuity, Fulness is, 45. See also "Emptiness," Vale, The high in virtue resemble a, 41. Valley, Empire s, 28; Masters of yore resemble the, 15; spirit, 6.
Valleys of,
filled
by oneness, 39; Rivers and oceans kings
66.
Venomous
reptiles,
55.
Vessel, Empire a divine, 29; not complete, The largest, 41; of usefulness, Simplicity becomes a, 28; Utility of,
11.
Vessels,
Become
perfect as chief, 67.
Virility, 55.
Virtue (feA), appears when Reason is lost, 38; (chang teh == eternal virtue), 28; feeds them, 51; is un-virtue, Superior, 38; 68; Profound, Solidest,
Virtue
41;
s form,
Never deviate from, 28; of not-striving, 10,
51,
Spiritual,
Vast, 21.
65; 65;
Requite hatred with, 63; Superior,
38.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
206
See "Breath." Vitality (ciV), 10, 55. Vitiation (pu ra/), Risks no, 44. See Vulgar, Different from the, 20. Vulgarity, Palliation of, 18.
War, Be chary
of,
30; horses in the
"Danger,
No."
common, 46; Quel
ling, 31.
Warlike, Warrior not, 68. Water, is tender, 78; Superior goodness resembleth, 8; Who can render clear muddy, 15.
Way (rao), Heaven Weak, conquer the
s,
9; to life, 59.
Some
28;
strong,
29;
are,
Tender
and, 36.
Weakest overcomes the hardest. World Weakness is Reason s force, 40. Wealth, Hoarded, 44; The people s 27. Wearisome, Not deem their lot, 72.
Wen
on the body,
jan under the words
dependent,"
43.
24.
Wife conquers her husband, 61. Wise are not learned, The, 81. Without effort (pu ch in) sure, Valley also tsz
s,
"Intrinsic"
and
6. See and which convey
spirit
is,
"Spontaneous" "Natural"
"In
a similar idea.
Woman, The mysterious, Womanhood knows, Who Wood, Rough, 15. Wool, Holy man wears,
6.
his,
28.
70.
Words, are not pleasant, True, 81; have an ancestor, 70; seem paradoxical, True, 78. World-honored, Reason is, 62; The sage is, 56.
Worn
with strength shall
Yang and Yes and
Yin, 42.
yea, 20.
Yore, Masters of, IS,
thrill,
The, 22.
INDEX. This is an refer to pages of this book. Index to the Foreword, the Introduction and the Com ments (pp. 3-22 and pp. 131-188). For passages in the Canon of Reason and Virtue the reader should look up the Table of References.]
[The numbers
Abroad,
174.
Ancestor,
Words have
an,
Confucius, 3, 4, 69, 70. Contrasts, Combination
Arch-father (tsung), Arupo, 19. Augustine, St., 150.
135.
Ccuvreur, 140. Crooked, 158.
Dragon,
135, 178.
11.
Bodiless, 146, 149.
Body, Rank
70.
Dust (ch an),
Backbone, 135. Baggage wagon,
like, 145.
Emptiness explained, Enemies, 182. Eternal Reason,
Carpenter, Great, 185.
Ch an
(dust),
135,
trine
5.
Cheu-tze 167. (breath),
China,
Taoism
Filial
of,
Chwang-tze, Colorless,
8,
149.
The doc
183; s,
169. 153.
piety,
8.
15.
Flower and
fruit,
144; of
reason, 165.
Formless,
4.
146,
144.
First (/u), 156.
167.
Chiun (Master),
14.
(the outer),
Father,
Cheu dynasty, i
Eye
138.
178.
Chi, 138.
Ch
of,
133.
183.
19.
French Revolution,
155.
Canon of Reason and Virtue
208
Frontispiece, Fruit,
188.
Laufer,
Flower and,
166,
144.
Fu
11,
140,
141,
142,
157.
Learnedness, Left and right, Legge, 15.
154.
156; (stomach)
(first),
133.
Fulsome
139.
talk,
Logos, Ghosts,
14.
9,
180.
H.
Giles,
186.
154.
Literati,
A.,
161,
6,
162,
164.
Manchu, T73,
11,
139,
157,
160,
174.
God, 21-22.
Manhood,
Gravity, 151. Guests, 151.
Master, 8; Deeds have
Hamlet,
179.
Harlez, 137. Heartache, 145, 146.
and
earth,
136,
138.
Heaven
s
Reason,
Hesiod, 143. Holy man, The,
Home,
161,
Horace,
a,
183.
Medhurst, 12, Milindapanha, Mother, 183.
Hara-kiri, 134.
Heaven
162.
Nagasena, Namable,
Name
145.
explained, 131. 5.
Nativity,
7.
Negatives,
186.
Ng Poon
174.
157,
177.
Huai Nan Tze,
142,
164.
145.
132.
Napoleon,
15.
159.
Three, 16-17.
Chew,
11,
142,
175.
Non-existence (wu), 17-18 Non-existent, 143.
Incorporeal, Ineffable,
149.
Nought,
18.
131
The,
Infinite, It,
146,
138.
Oneness,
18,
Orphaned, Jehovah, 149. Justice,
Kant,
Paradox,
164,
19,
147,
Knotted cords,
166. 169.
Originality,
157.
168.
19.
Pharisees, 153. Plato, 131, 147, 171. 187.
La:ssez fa :.re, 163. Lao-tze s names, 5.
166,
177.
Poh,
142.
Rank like body, 145. Reactionary, 186.
176,
Index
209
Reality,
177-8.
Theism,
Return,
160.
Thirteen, 175. Traditionalism, 165. Trinity, 163, 167.
Right and
186.
left,
Tsung
Sense soul, 142.
Shang
Ti,
135,
183.
(arch-father),
Soul, Sense, 142.
Unity, 167.
Soul
Unknowable,
(stomach), 134. Soundless, 146, 148, 149. Spinoza, 132. Spook, 180.
Stomach 134;
133;
(fu),
135.
185.
(the inner),
184.
182.
Unlikely,
Unnamable Unvirtue,
explained, 131
17.
(soul)
Virtue
144.
is
good, 172.
Straightness like a curve,
Warlike, 162.
170.
Strauss, Victor von, 149. Straw dogs, 136-137. Surfeit,
ien,
4.
Tao explained, 13-15. Taoism of China, 8. Teh explained, 15-16. Ten thousand things, 138. Tcrtullian,
132.
Symbol
of the
145.
Warrior,
162.
Wei wu wei, 16, Wen, 159, 160. Womanhood, 162.
159.
Szc-Ma Ch
Warren,
World,
132.
Yang and Yin, 167. Yea and yes, 154. Yin-Hi,
Tai
139,
71.
Cbi, the Great Ultimate.
180.
Lao-tzn. The cenon of reason and virtue.
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