1
Hsü Wû-kwei having obtained through Nü Shang an introduction to
the marquis Wû of Wei, the marquis, speaking to him with kindly
sympathy, said, 'You are ill, Sir; you have suffered from your
hard and laborious toils in the forests, and still you have been
willing to come and see poor me.' Hsü Wû-kwei replied, 'It is I
who have to comfort your lordship; what occasion have you to
comfort me? If your lordship go on to fill up the measure of
your sensual desires, and to prolong your likes and dislikes,
then the condition of your mental nature will be diseased, and
if you discourage and repress those desires, and deny your
likings and dislikings, that will be an affliction to your ears
and eyes (deprived of their accustomed pleasures);--it is for me
to comfort your lordship, what occasion have you to comfort me?'
The marquis looked contemptuous, and made no reply.
After a little time, Hsü Wû-kwei said, 'Let me tell your
lordship something:--I look at dogs and judge of them by their
appearance. One of the lowest quality seizes his food, satiates
himself, and stops;--he has the attributes of a fox. One of a
medium quality seems to be looking at the sun. One of the
highest quality seems to have forgotten the one thing,--himself.
But I judge still better of horses than I do of dogs. When I do
so, I find that one goes straightforward, as if following a
line; that another turns off, so as to describe a hook; that a
third describes a square as if following the measure so called;
and that a fourth describes a circle as exactly as a compass
would make it. These are all horses of a state; but they are not
equal to a horse of the kingdom. His qualities are complete. Now
he looks anxious; now to be losing the way; now to be forgetting
himself. Such a horse prances along, or rushes on, spurning the
dust and not knowing where he is.' The marquis was greatly
pleased and laughed.
When Hsü Wû-kwei came out, Nü Shang said to him, 'How was it,
Sir, that you by your counsels produced such an effect on our
ruler? In my counsellings of him, now indirectly, taking my
subjects from the Books of Poetry, History, Rites, and Music;
now directly, from the Metal Tablets, and the six Bow-cases, all
calculated for the service (of the state), and to be of great
benefit;--in these counsellings, repeated times without number,
I have never seen the ruler show his teeth in a smile:--by what
counsels have you made him so pleased to-day?' Hsü Wû-kwei
replied, 'I only told him how I judged of dogs and horses by
looking at their appearance.' 'So?' said Nü Shang, and the other
rejoined, 'Have you not heard of the wanderer from Yüeh? when he
had been gone from the state several days, he was glad when he
saw any one whom he had seen in it; when he had been gone a
month, he was glad when he saw any one whom he had known in it;
and when he had been gone a round year, he was glad when he saw
any one who looked like a native of it. The longer he was gone,
the more longingly did he think of the people;--was it not so?
The men who withdraw to empty valleys, where the hellebore
bushes stop up the little paths made by the weasels, as they
push their way or stand amid the waste, are glad when they seem
to hear the sounds of human footsteps; and how much more would
they be so, if it were their brothers and relatives talking and
laughing by their side! How long it is since the words of a True
man were heard as he talked and laughed by our ruler's side!'
2
At (another) interview of Hsü Wû-kwei with the marquis Wû, the
latter said, 'You, Sir, have been dwelling in the forests for a
long time, living on acorns and chestnuts, and satiating
yourself with onions and chives, without thinking of poor me.
Now (that you are here), is it because you are old? or because
you wish to try again the taste of wine and meat? or because
(you wish that) I may enjoy the happiness derived from the
spirits of the altars of the Land and Grain?' Hsü Wû-kwei
replied, 'I was born in a poor and mean condition, and have
never presumed to drink of your lordship's wine, or eat of your
meat. My object in coming was to comfort your lordship under
your troubles.' 'What? comfort me under my troubles?' 'Yes, to
comfort both your lordship's spirit and body.' The marquis said,
'What do you mean?' His visitor replied, 'Heaven and Earth have
one and the same purpose in the production (of all men). However
high one man be exalted, he should not think that he is
favourably dealt with; and however low may be the position of
another, he should not think that he is unfavourably dealt with.
You are indeed the one and only lord of the 10,000 chariots (of
your state), but you use your dignity to embitter (the lives of)
all the people, and to pamper your cars, eyes, nose, and mouth.
But your spirit does not acquiesce in this. The spirit (of man)
loves to be in harmony with others and hates selfish indulgence.
This selfish indulgence is a disease, and therefore I would
comfort you under it. How is it that your lordship more than
others brings this disease on yourself?' The marquis said, 'I
have wished to see you, Sir, for a long time. I want to love my
people, and by the exercise of righteous-ness to make an end of
war;--will that be sufficient?' Hsü Wû-kwei replied, 'By no
means. To love the people is the first step to injure them'. By
the exercise of righteousness to make an end of war is the root
from which war is produced'. If your lordship try to accomplish
your object in this way, you are not likely to succeed. All
attempts to accomplish what we think good (with an ulterior end)
is a bad contrivance. Although your lordship practise
benevolence and righteousness (as you propose), it will be no
better than hypocrisy. You may indeed assume the (outward) form,
but successful accomplishment will lead to (inward) contention,
and the change thence arising will produce outward fighting.
Your lordship also must not mass files of soldiers in the
passages of your galleries and towers, nor have footmen and
horsemen in the apartments about your altars. Do not let
thoughts contrary to your success lie hidden in your mind; do
not think of conquering men by artifice, or by (skilful) plans,
or by fighting. If I kill the officers and people of another
state, and annex its territory, to satisfy my selfish desires,
while in my spirit I do not know whether the fighting be good,
where is the victory that I gain? Your lordship's best plan is
to abandon (your purpose). If you will cultivate in your breast
the sincere purpose (to love the people), and so respond to the
feeling of Heaven and Earth, and not (further) vex yourself,
then your people will already have- escaped death;--what
occasion will your lordship have to make an end of war?'
3
Hwang-Tî was going to see Tâ-kwei at the hill of Kü-zhze. Fang
Ming was acting as charioteer, and Khang Yü was occupying the
third place in the carriage. Kang Zo and Hsî Phäng went before
the horses; and Khwän Hwun and Kû Khî followed the carriage.
When they arrived at the wild of Hsiang-khäng, the seven sages
were all perplexed, and could find no place at which to ask the
way. just then they met with a boy tending some horses, and
asked the way of him. 'Do you know,' they said, 'the hill of
Kü-zhze?' and he replied that he did. He also said that he knew
where Tâ-kwei was living. 'A strange boy is this!' said Hwang-Tî.
'He not only knows the hill of Kü-zhze, but he also knows where
Tâ-kwei is living. Let me ask him about the government of
mankind.' The boy said, 'The administration of the kingdom is
like this (which I am doing);--what difficulty should there be
in it? When I was young, I enjoyed myself roaming over all
within the six confines of the world of space, and then I began
to suffer from indistinct sight. A wise elder taught me, saying,
"Ride in the chariot of the sun, and roam in the wild of
Hsiang-Khäng." Now the trouble in my eyes is a little better,
and I am again enjoying myself roaming outside the six confines
of the world of space. As to the government of the kingdom, it
is like this (which I am doing);what difficulty should there be
in it?' Hwang-Tî said, 'The administration of the world is
indeed not your business, my son; nevertheless, I beg to ask you
about it.' The little lad declined to answer, but on Hwang-Tî
putting the question again, he said, 'In what does the governor
of the kingdom differ from him who has the tending of horses,
and who has only to put away whatever in him would injure the
horses?'
Hwang-Tî bowed to him twice with his head to the ground, called
him his 'Heavenly Master,' and withdrew.
4
If officers of wisdom do not see the changes which their anxious
thinking has suggested, they have no joy; if debaters are not
able to set forth their views in orderly style, they have no
joy; if critical examiners find no subjects on which to exercise
their powers of vituperation, they have no joy:--they are all
hampered by external restrictions.
Those who try to attract the attention of their age (wish to)
rise at court; those who try to win the regard of the people
count holding office a glory; those who possess muscular
strength boast of doing what is difficult; those who are bold
and daring exert themselves in times of calamity; those who are
able swordmen and spearmen delight in fighting; those whose
powers are decayed seek to rest in the name (they have gained);
those who are skilled in the laws seek to enlarge the scope of
government; those who are proficient in ceremonies and music pay
careful attention to their deportment; and those who profess
benevolence and righteousness value opportunities (for
displaying them).
The husbandmen who do not keep their fields well weeded are not
equal to their business, nor are traders who do not thrive in
the markets. When the common people have their appropriate
employment morning and evening, they stimulate one another to
diligence; the mechanics who are masters of their implements
feel strong for their work. If their wealth does not increase,
the greedy are distressed; if their power and influence is not
growing, the ambitious are sad.
Such creatures of circumstance and things delight in changes,
and if they meet with a time when they can show what they can
do, they cannot keep themselves from taking advantage of it.
They all pursue their own way like (the seasons of) the year,
and do not change as things do. They give the reins to their
bodies and natures, and allow themselves to sink beneath (the
pressure of) things, and all their lifetime do not come back (to
their proper selves):--is it not sad?
5
Kwang-dze said, 'An archer, without taking aim beforehand, yet
may hit the mark. If we say that he is a good archer, and that
all the world may be is Îs, is this allowable?' Hui-dze replied,
'It is.' Kwang-dze continued, 'All men do not agree in counting
the same thing to be right, but every one maintains his own view
to be right; (if we say) that all men may be Yâos, is this
allowable?' Hui-dze (again) replied, 'It is;' and Kwang-dze went
on, 'Very well; there are the literati, the followers of Mo (Tî),
of Yang (Kû), and of Ping;--making four (different schools).
Including yourself, Master, there are five. Which of your views
is really right? Or will you take the position of La Kü? One of
his disciples said to him, "Master, I have got hold of your
method. I can in winter heat the furnace under my tripod, and in
summer can produce ice." Lû Kü said, "That is only with the Yang
element to call out the same, and with the Yin to call out the
yin;--that is not my method. I will show you what my method is."
On this he tuned two citherns, placing one of them in the hall,
and the other in one of the inner apartments. Striking the note
Kung in the one, the same note vibrated in the other, and so it
was with the note Kio; the two instruments being tuned in the
same way. But if he had differently tuned them on other strings
different from the normal arrangement of the five notes, the
five-and-twenty strings would all have vibrated, without any
difference of their notes, the note to which he had tuned them
ruling and guiding all the others. Is your maintaining your view
to be right just like this?'
Hui-dze replied, 'Here now are the literati, and the followers
of Mo, Yang, and Ping. Suppose that they have come to dispute
with me. They put forth their conflicting statements; they try
vociferously to put me down; but none of them have ever proved
me wrong --what do you say to this?' Kwang-dze said, 'There was
a man of Khî who cast away his son in Sung to be a gatekeeper
there, and thinking nothing of the mutilation lie would incur;
the same man, to secure one of his sacrificial vessels or bells,
would have it strapped and secured, while to find his son who
was lost, he would not go out of the territory of his own
state:--so forgetful was he of the relative importance of
things. If a man of Khû, going to another state as a lame
gate-keeper, at midnight, at a time when no one was nigh, were
to fight with his boatman, he would not be able to reach the
shore, and he would have done what he could to provoke the
boatman's animosity,.'
6
As Kwang-dze was accompanying a funeral, when passing by the
grave of Hui-dze, he looked round, and said to his attendants,
'On the top of the nose of that man of Ying there is a (little)
bit of mud like a fly's wing,' He sent for the artisan Shih to
cut it away. Shih whirled his axe so as to produce a wind, which
immediately carried off the mud entirely, leaving the nose
uninjured, and the (statue of) the man of Ying' standing
undisturbed. The ruler Yüan of Sung heard of the feat, called
the artisan Shih, and said to him, 'Try and do the same thing on
me.' The artisan said, 'Your servant has been able to trim
things in that way, but the material on which I have worked has
been dead for a long time.' Kwang-dze said, 'Since the death of
the Master, I have had no material to work upon. I have had no
one with whom to talk.'
7
Kwan Kung being ill, duke Hwan went to ask for him, and said,
'Your illness, father Kung, is very severe; should you not speak
out your mind to me? Should this prove the great illness, to
whom will it be best for me to entrust my State?' Kwan Kung
said, 'To whom does your grace wish to entrust it?' 'To Pâo
Shû-yâ,' was the reply. 'He will not do. He is an admirable
officer, pure and incorruptible, but with others who are not
like himself he will not associate. And when he once hears of
another man's faults, he never forgets them. If you employ him
to administer the state, above, he will take the leading of your
Grace, and, below, he will come into collision with the
people;--in no long time you will be holding him as an
offender.' The duke said, 'Who, then, is the man?' The reply
was, 'If I must speak, there is Hsî Phäng;--he will do. He is a
man who forgets his own high position, and against whom those
below him will not revolt. He is ashamed that he is not equal to
Hwang-Tî, and pities those who are not equal to himself. Him who
imparts of his virtue to others we call a sage; him who imparts
of his wealth to others we call a man of worth. He who by his
worth would preside over others, never succeeds in winning them;
he who with his worth condescends to others, never but succeeds
in winning them. Hsî Phäng has not been (much) heard of in the
state; he has not been (much) distinguished in his own clan. But
as I must speak, he is the man for you.'
8
The king of Wû, floating about on the Kiang, (landed and)
ascended the Hill of monkeys, which all, when they saw him,
scampered off in terror, and hid themselves among the thick
hazels. There was one, however, which, in an unconcerned way,
swung about on the branches, displaying its cleverness to the
king, who thereon discharged an arrow at it. With a nimble
motion it caught the swift arrow, and the king ordered his
attendants to hurry forward and shoot it; and thus the monkey
was seized and killed. The king then, looking round, said to his
friend Yen Pû-î, 'This monkey made a display of its artfulness,
and trusted in its agility, to show me its arrogance;--this it
was which brought it to this fate. Take warning from it. Ah! do
not by your looks give yourself haughty airs!' Yen Pû-î, when he
returned home, put himself under the teaching of Tung Wû, to
root up his pride. He put away what he delighted in and abjured
distinction. In three years the people of the kingdom spoke of
him with admiration.
9
Nan-po Dze-khî was seated, leaning forward on his stool, and
sighing gently as he looked up to heaven. (just then) Yen
Khäng-dze came in, and said, when he saw him, 'Master, you
surpass all others. Is it right to make your body thus like a
mass of withered bones, and your mind like so much slaked lime?'
The other said, 'I formerly lived in a grotto on a hill. At that
time Thien Ho once came to see me, and all the multitudes of Khî
congratulated him thrice (on his having found the proper man). I
must first have shown myself, and so it was that he knew me; I
must first have been selling (what I had), and so it was that he
came to buy. If I had not shown what I possessed, how should he
have known it; if I had not been selling (myself), how should he
have come to buy me? I pity the men who lose themselves; I also
pity the men who pity others (for not being known); and I also
pity the men who pity the men who pity those that pity others.
But since then the time is long cone by; (and so I am in the
state in which you have found me).
10
Kung-nî, having gone to Khû, the king ordered wine to be
presented to him. Sun Shû-âo stood, holding the goblet in his
hand. Î-liâo of Shih-nan, having received (a cup), poured its
contents out as a sacrificial libation, and said, 'The men of
old, on such an occasion as this, made some speech.' Kung-nî
said, 'I have heard of speech without words; but I have never
spoken it; I will do so now. Î-liâo of Shih-nan kept (quietly)
handling his little spheres, and the difficulties between the
two Houses were resolved; Sun Shû-âo slept undisturbed on his
couch, with his (dancer's) feather in his hand, and the men of
Ying enrolled themselves for the war. I wish I had a beak three
cubits long.'
In the case of those two (ministers) we have what is called 'The
Way that cannot be trodden;' in (the case of Kung-nî) we have
what is called 'the Argument without words.' Therefore when all
attributes are comprehended in the unity of the Tâo, and speech
stops at the point to which knowledge does not reach, the
conduct is complete. But where there is (not) the unity of the
Tâo, the attributes cannot (always) be the same, and that which
is beyond the reach of knowledge cannot be exhibited by any
reasoning. There may be as many names as those employed by the
Literati and the Mohists, but (the result is) evil. Thus when
the sea does not reject the streams that flow into it in their
eastward course, we have the perfection of greatness. The sage
embraces in his regard both Heaven and Earth; his beneficent
influence extends to all under the sky; and we do not know from
whom it comes. Therefore though when living one may have no
rank, and when dead no honorary epithet; though the reality (of
what he is) may not be acknowledged and his name not
established; we have in him what is called 'The Great Man.'
dog is not reckoned good because it barks well; and a man is not
reckoned wise because he speaks skilfully;--how much less can he
be deemed Great! If one thinks he is Great, he is not fit to be
accounted Great;--how much less is he so from the practice of
the attributes (of the Tâo)! Now none are so grandly complete as
Heaven and Earth; but do they seek for anything to make them so
grandly complete? He who knows this grand completion does not
seek for it; he loses nothing and abandons nothing; he does not
change himself from regard to (external) things; he turns in on
himself, and finds there an inexhaustible store; he follows
antiquity and does not feel about (for its lessons);--such is
the perfect sincerity of the Great Man.
11
Dze-khî had eight sons. Having arranged them before him, he
called Kiû-fang Yän, and said to him, 'Look at the physiognomy
of my sons for me;--which will be the fortunate one?' Yän said,
'Khwän is the fortunate one.' .Dze-khî looked startled, and
joyfully said, 'In what way?' Yän replied, 'Khwän will share the
meals of the ruler of a state to the end of his life.' The
father looked uneasy, burst into tears, and said, 'What has my
son done that he should come to such a fate?' Yin replied, 'When
one shares the meals of the ruler of a state, blessings reach to
all within the three branches of his kindred, and how much more
to his father and mother! But you, Master, weep when you hear
this;--you oppose (the idea of) such happiness. It is the good
fortune of your son, and you count it his misfortune.' Dze-khî
said, 'O Yän, what sufficient ground have you for knowing that
this will be Khwän's good fortune? (The fortune) that is summed
up in wine and flesh affects only the nose and the mouth, but
you are not able to know how it will come about. I have never
been a shepherd, and yet a ewe lambed in the south-west corner
of my house. I have never been fond of hunting, and yet a quail
hatched her young in the south-east corner. If these were not
prodigies, what can be accounted such? Where I wish to occupy my
mind with my son is in (the wide sphere of) heaven and earth; I
wish to seek his enjoyment and mine in (the idea of) Heaven, and
our support from the Earth. I do not mix myself up with him in
the affairs (of the world); nor in forming plans (for his
advantage); nor in the practice of what is strange. I pursue
with him the perfect virtue of Heaven and Earth, and do not
allow ourselves to be troubled by outward things. I seek to be
with him in a state of undisturbed indifference, and not to
practise what affairs might indicate as likely to be
advantageous. And now there is to come to us this vulgar
recompense. Whenever there is a strange realisation, there must
have been strange conduct. Danger threatens;--not through any
sin of me or of my son, but as brought about, I apprehend, by
Heaven. It is this which makes me weep!'
Not long after this, .Dze-khî sent off Khwän to go to Yen, when
he was made prisoner by some robbers on the way. It would have
been difficult to sell him if he were whole and entire, and they
thought their easiest plan was to cut off (one of his) feet
first. They did so, and sold him in Khî, where he became
Inspector of roads for a Mr. Khü. Nevertheless he had flesh to
eat till he died.
12
Nieh Khüeh met Hsü Yû (on the way), and said to him, 'Where,
Sir, are you going to?' 'I am fleeing from Yâo,' was the reply.
'What do you mean?' 'Yâo has become so bent on his benevolence
that I am afraid the world will laugh at him, and that in future
ages men will be found eating one another. Now the people are
collected together without difficulty. Love them, and they
respond with affection; benefit them, and they come to you;
praise them, and they are stimulated (to please you); make them
to experience what they dislike, and they disperse. When the
loving and benefiting proceed from benevolence and
righteousness, those who forget the benevolence and
righteousness, and those who make a profit of them, are the
many. In this way the practice of benevolence and righteousness
comes to be without sincerity and is like a borrowing of the
instruments with which men catch birds. In all this the one
man's seeking to benefit the world by his decisions and
enactments (of such a nature) is as if he were to cut through
(the nature of all) by one operation;--Yâo knows how wise and
superior men can benefit the world, but he does not also know
how they injure it. It is only those who stand outside such men
that know this.'
There are the pliable and weak; the easy and hasty; the grasping
and crooked. Those who are called the pliable and weak learn the
words of some one master, to which they freely yield their
assent, being secretly pleased with themselves, and thinking
that their knowledge is sufficient, while they do not know that
they have not yet begun (to understand) a single thing. It is
this which makes them so pliable and weak. The easy and hasty
are like lice on a pig. The lice select a place where the
bristles are more wide apart, and look on it as a great palace
or a large park. The slits between the toes, the overlappings of
its skin, about its nipples and its thighs,--all these seem to
them safe apartments and advantageous places;--they do not know
that the butcher one morning, swinging about his arms, will
spread the grass, and kindle the fire, so that they and the pig
will be roasted together. So do they appear and disappear with
the place where they harboured:--this is why they are called the
easy and hasty.
Of the grasping and crooked we have an example in Shun. Mutton
has no craving for ants, but ants have a craving for mutton, for
it is rank. There was a rankness about the conduct of Shun, and
the people were pleased with him. Hence when he thrice changed
his residence, every one of them became a capital city. When he
came to the wild of Täng, he had 100,000 families about him. Yâo
having heard of the virtue and ability of Shun, appointed him to
a new and uncultivated territory, saying, 'I look forward to the
benefit of his coming here.' When Shun was appointed to this new
territory, his years were advanced, and his intelligence was
decayed;--and yet he could not find a place of rest or a home.
This is an example of being grasping and wayward.
Therefore (in opposition to such) the spirit-like man dislikes
the flocking of the multitudes to him. When the multitudes come,
they do not agree; and when they do not agree, no benefit
results from their coming. Hence there are none whom he brings
very near to himself, and none whom he keeps at a great
distance. He keeps his virtue in close embrace, and warmly
nourishes (the spirit of) harmony, so as to be in accordance
with all men. This is called the True man . Even the knowledge
of the ant he puts away; his plans are simply those of the
fishes; even the notions of the sheep he discards. His seeing is
simply that of the eye; his hearing that of the ear; his mind is
governed by its general exercises. Being such, his course is
straight and level as if marked out by a line, and its every
change is in accordance (with the circumstances of the case).
13
The True men of old waited for the issues of events as the
arrangements of Heaven, and did not by their human efforts try
to take the place of Heaven. The True men of old (now) looked on
success as life and on failure as death; and (now) on success as
death and on failure as life. The operation of medicines will
illustrate this:--there are monk's-bane, the kieh-käng, the
tribulus fruit, and china-root; each of these has the time and
case for which it is supremely suitable; and all such plants and
their suitabilities cannot be mentioned particularly. Kâu-kien
took his station on (the hill of) Kwâi-khî with 3,000 men with
their buff-coats and shields:--(his minister) Kung knew how the
ruined (Yüeh) might still be preserved, but the same man did not
know the sad fate in store for himself. Hence it is said, 'The
eye of the owl has its proper fitness; the leg of the crane has
its proper limit, and to cut off any of it would distress (the
bird).' Hence (also) it is (further) said, 'When the wind passes
over it, the volume of the river is diminished, and so it is
when the sun passes over it. But let the wind and sun keep a
watch together on the river, and it will not begin to feel that
they are doing it any injury:--it relies on its springs and
flows on.' Thus, water does its part to the ground with
undeviating exactness; and so does the shadow to the substance;
and one thing to another. Therefore there is danger from the
power of vision in the eyes, of hearing in the ears, and of the
inordinate thinking of the mind; yea, there is danger from the
exercise of every power of which man's constitution is the
depository.
When the danger has come to a head, it cannot be averted, and
the calamity is perpetuated, and goes on increasing. The return
from this (to a state of security) is the result of (great)
effort, and success can be attained only after a long time; and
yet men consider (their power of self-determination) as their
precious possession:--is it not sad? It is in this way that we
have the ruin of states and the slaughtering of the people
without end; while no one knows how to ask how it comes about.
14
Therefore, the feet of man on the earth tread but on a small
space, but going on to where he has not trod before, he
traverses a great distance easily; so his knowledge is but
small, but going on to what he does not already know, he comes
to know what is meant by Heaven. He knows it as The Great Unity;
The Great Mystery; The Great Illuminator; The Great Framer; The
Great Boundlessness; The Great Truth; The Great Determiner. This
makes his knowledge complete. As The Great Unity, he comprehends
it; as The Great Mystery, he unfolds it; as the Great
Illuminator, he contemplates it; as the Great Framer, it is to
him the Cause of all; as the Great Boundlessness, all is to him
its embodiment; as The Great Truth, he examines it; as The Great
Determiner, he holds it fast.
Thus Heaven is to him all; accordance with it is the brightest
intelligence. Obscurity has in this its pivot; in this is the
beginning. Such being the case, the explanation of it is as if
it were no explanation; the knowledge of it is as if it were no
knowledge. (At first) he does not know it, but afterwards he
comes to know it. In his inquiries, he must not set to himself
any limits, and yet he cannot be without a limit. Now ascending,
now descending, then slipping from the grasp, (the Tâo) is yet a
reality, unchanged now as in antiquity, and always without
defect:--may it not be called what is capable of the greatest
display and expansion? Why should we not inquire into it? Why
should we be perplexed about it? With what does not perplex let
us explain what perplexes, till we cease to be perplexed. So may
we arrive at a great freedom from all perplexity! |