Individuality prevailed, and force was called into play. Killing robbers was not accounted murder; and throughout the empire people became sub-divided into classes. There was great alarm on all sides, and the Confucianists and the Mihists arose. At first the relationships were duly observed; but what about the women of to-day?
Meaning that in the olden days men could not marry before thirty, women before twenty, whereas now the State is cursed with early marriages. Or, according to Dr. Legge's view of a famous passage in the Book of Rites, that formerly it was shameful in men and women not to be married at the age of thirty and twenty, respectively, whereas now the State is cursed with late marriages.
"Let me tell you. The government of the Three Kings and Five Rulers was so only in name. In reality, it was utter confusion. The wisdom of the Three Kings was opposed to the brilliancy of the sun and moon above, destructive of the energy of land and water below, and subversive of the influence of the four seasons between.
More repetition. See ch. x. _ad fin._ That wisdom is more harmful than a hornet's tail, preventing the very animals from putting themselves into due relation with the conditions of their existence--and yet they call themselves Sages! Is not their shamelessness shameful indeed?"
At this Tzŭ Kung became ill at ease.
The whole of the above episode may without hesitation be written off as a feeble forgery.
* * * * * Confucius said to Lao Tzŭ, "I arranged the Six Canons of Poetry, History, Rites, Music, Changes, and Spring and Autumn. I spent much time over them, and I am well acquainted with their purport. I used them in admonishing seventy-two rulers, by discourses on the wisdom of ancient sovereigns and illustrations from the lives of Chou and Shao.
Yet not one ruler has in any way adopted my suggestions. Alas that man should be so difficult to persuade, and wisdom so difficult to illustrate."
"It is well for you, Sir," replied Lao Tzŭ, "that you did not come across any real ruler of mankind. Your Six Canons are but the worn-out foot-prints of ancient Sages. And what are foot-prints? Why, the words you now utter are as it were foot-prints. Foot-prints are made by the shoe: they are not the shoe itself.
"Fish-hawks gaze at each other with motionless eyes,--and their young are produced. The male of a certain insect chirps with the wind while the female chirps against it,--and their offspring is produced. There is another animal which, being an hermaphrodite, produces its own offspring. Nature cannot be changed. Destiny cannot be altered. Time cannot stop. TAO cannot be obstructed. Once attain to TAO, and there is nothing which you cannot accomplish. Without it, there is nothing which you can accomplish."
For three months after this Confucius did not leave his house. Then he again visited Lao Tzŭ and said, "I have attained. Birds lay eggs, fish spawn, insects undergo metamorphosis, and mammals suckle their young.
_Lit._ "when a younger brother comes, the elder cries,"--from which may be inferred the meaning in the translation.
The whole sentence signifies that every development proceeds according to fixed laws. It is useless to try to _do_ anything. Nature is always self-similar.
For a long time I have not been enlightened. And he who is not enlightened himself,--how should he enlighten others?"
Lao Tzŭ said, "Ch'iu, you have attained!"
"The style of this chapter," says Lin Hsi Chung, "gives it a foremost place among the 'outside' essays of Chuang Tzŭ. But the insertion of that dialogue between Confucius and Lao Tzŭ on charity and duty towards one's neighbour is like eking out a sable robe with a dog's tail."
CHAPTER XV.
SELF-CONCEIT.
_Argument_:--Would-be sages--The vanity of effort--Method of the true Sage--Passivity the key--The soul and mortality--Re-absorption into the immortal.
Self-conceit and assurance, which lead men to quit society, and be different from their fellows, to indulge in tall talk and abuse of others,--these are nothing more than personal over-estimation, the affectation of recluses and those who have done with the world and have closed their hearts to mundane influences.
Preaching of charity and duty to one's neighbour, of loyalty and truth, of respect, of economy, and of humility,--this is but moral culture, affected by would-be pacificators and teachers of mankind, and by scholars at home or abroad.
Preaching of meritorious services, of fame, of ceremonial between sovereign and minister, of due relationship between upper and lower classes,--this is mere government, affected by courtiers or patriots who strive to extend the boundaries of their own State and to swallow up the territory of others.
Living in marshes or in wildernesses, and passing one's days in fishing--this is mere inaction, affected by wanderers who have turned their backs upon the world and have nothing better to do.
Exhaling and inhaling, The "breathing" theory. See ch. vi., _ad init._ getting rid of the old and assimilating the new, stretching like a bear and craning like a bird,-- As these creatures are supposed to do in order to get good air into their systems.
--this is but valetudinarianism, affected by professors of hygiene and those who try to preserve the body to the age of P'êng Tsu.
See ch. i.
But in self-esteem without self-conceit, in moral culture without charity and duty to one's neighbour, in government without rank and fame, in retirement without solitude, in health without hygiene,--there we have oblivion absolute coupled with possession of all things; an infinite calm which becomes an object to be attained by all.
Such is the TAO of the universe, such is the virtue of the Sage.
Wherefore it has been said, "In tranquillity, in stillness, in the unconditioned, in inaction, we find the levels of the universe, the very constitution of TAO."
Almost verbatim from ch. xiii, p. 158, where the passage appears as part of Chuang Tzŭ's own text, and not as a quotation from any other author.
Wherefore it has been said, "The Sage is a negative quantity, and is consequently in a state of passivity. Being passive he is in a state of repose. And where passivity and repose are, there sorrow and anxiety do not enter, and foul influences do not collect. And thus his virtue is complete and his spirituality unimpaired."
Wherefore it has been said, "The birth of the Sage is the will of God; his death is but a modification of existence. In repose, he shares the passivity of the _Yin_; in action, the energy of the _Yang_. He will have nothing to do with happiness, and so has nothing to do with misfortune.
Each of which proceeds from the other in an endless chain.
He must be influenced ere he will respond. He must be urged ere he will move. He must be compelled ere he will arise. Ignoring the future and the past, he resigns himself to the laws of God.
"And therefore no calamity comes upon him, nothing injures him, no man is against him, no spirit punishes him. He floats through life to rest in death. He has no anxieties; he makes no plans. His honour does not make him illustrious. His good faith reflects no credit upon himself.
It is all God's, as part of the great scheme.
His sleep is dreamless, his awaking without pain. His spirituality is pure, Without desires.
and his soul vigorous. Thus unconditioned and in repose, he is a partaker of the virtue of God."
Wherefore it has been said, "Sorrow and happiness are the heresies Evil influences.
of virtue; joy and anger lead astray from TAO; love and hate cause the loss of virtue. The heart unconscious of sorrow and happiness,--that is perfect virtue. ONE, without change,--that is perfect repose. Without any obstruction,--that is the perfection of the unconditioned. Holding no relations with the external world,--that is perfection of the negative state. Without blemish of any kind,--that is the perfection of purity."
Wherefore it has been said, "If the body toils without rest, it dies.
If the mind is employed without ceasing, it becomes wearied; and being wearied, its power is gone."
Pure water is by nature clear. If untouched, it is smooth. If dammed, it will not flow, neither will it be clear. It is an emblem of the virtue of God. Wherefore it has been said, "Pure, without admixture; uniform, without change; negative, without action; moved, only at the will of God;--such would be the spirituality nourished according to TAO."
Those who possess blades from Kan The Wu State.
or Yüeh, keep them carefully in their scabbards, and do not venture to use them. For they are precious in the extreme. The spirit spreads forth on all sides: there is no point to which it does not reach, attaining heaven above, embracing earth beneath. Influencing all creation, its form cannot be portrayed. Its name is then _Of-God_.
Such is man's spiritual existence before he is born into the world of mortals.
The TAO of the pure and simple consists in preserving spirituality. He who preserves his spirituality and loses it not, becomes one with that spirituality. And through that unity the spirit operates freely, and comes into due relationship with God.
Returning after its brief career on earth, to the eternity whence it came.
A vulgar saying has it, "The masses value money; honest men, fame; virtuous men, resolution; and Sages, the soul."
Thus, the pure is that in which there is nothing mixed; the simple is that which implies no injury to the spirituality. And he who can keep the pure and simple within himself,--he is a divine man.
It requires but scant acumen to relegate this chapter to the limbo of forgeries. Lin Hsi Chung thinks it is probably from the hand of the unknown artist who is responsible for ch. xiii.
CHAPTER XVI.
EXERCISE OF FACULTIES.
_Argument_:--TAO unattainable by mundane arts--To be reached through in--TAO declines--The true Sages of old--Their purity of aim.
Those who exercise their faculties in mere worldly studies, hoping thereby to revert to their original condition; and those who sink their aspirations in mundane thoughts, hoping thereby to reach enlightenment;--these are the dullards of the earth.
The ancients, in cultivating TAO, begat knowledge out of repose. When born, this knowledge was not applied to any purpose; and so it may be said that out of knowledge they begat repose. Knowledge and repose thus mutually producing each other, harmony and order were developed. Virtue is harmony; TAO is order.
Virtue all-embracing,--hence charity. TAO all-influencing,--hence duty to one's neighbour. From the establishment of these two springs loyalty. Then comes music, an expression of inward purity and truth; followed by ceremonial, or sincerity expressed in ornamental guise. If music and ceremonial are ill regulated, the empire is plunged into confusion. And to attempt to correct others while one's own virtue is clouded, is to set one's own virtue a task for which it is inadequate, the result being that the natural constitution of the object will suffer.
Primeval man enjoyed perfect tranquillity throughout life. In his day, the Positive and Negative principles were peacefully united; spiritual beings gave no trouble; the four seasons followed in due order; nothing suffered any injury; death was unknown; men had knowledge, but no occasion to use it. This may be called perfection of unity.
All things, all conditions, were ONE.
At that period, nothing was ever made so; but everything was so.
By and by, virtue declined. Sui Jen The Prometheus of China.
and Fu Hsi See ch. vi.
ruled the empire. There was still natural adaptation, Of man to his surroundings.
but the unity was gone.
The tide of coercion had set in.
A further decline in virtue. Shên Nung The inventor of agriculture.
and Huang Ti The Yellow Emperor. See ch. vi.
ruled the empire. There was peace, but the natural adaptation was gone.
Again virtue declined. Yao and Shun ruled the empire. Systems of government and moral reform were introduced. Man's original integrity was scattered. Goodness led him astray from TAO; But for goodness, evil could not exist.
his actions imperilled his virtue.
As opposed to inaction.
Then he discarded natural instinct and took up with the intellectual.
Mind was pitted against mind, but it was impossible thus to settle the empire. So art and learning were added. But art obliterated the original constitution, and learning overwhelmed mind; upon which confusion set in, and man was unable to revert to his natural instincts, to the condition in which he at first existed.
Thus it may be said that the world destroys TAO, and that TAO destroys the world. And the world and TAO thus mutually destroying each other, how can the men of TAO elevate the world, and how can the world elevate TAO? TAO cannot elevate the world; neither can the world elevate TAO.
Though the Sages were not to dwell on mountain and in forest, their virtue would still be hidden;--hidden, but not by themselves.
Those of old who were called retired scholars, were not men who hid their bodies, or kept back their words, or concealed their wisdom.
It was that the age was not suitable for their mission. If the age was suitable and their mission a success over the empire, they simply effaced themselves in the unity which prevailed. If the age was unsuitable and their mission at failure, they fell back upon their own resources and waited. Such is the way to preserve oneself.
Those of old who preserved themselves, did not ornament their knowledge with rhetoric. They did not exhaust the empire with their knowledge.
They did not exhaust virtue. They kept quietly to their own spheres, and reverted to their natural instincts. What then was left for them to _do_?
TAO does not deal with detail. Virtue does not take cognizance of trifles. Trifles injure virtue; detail injures TAO. Wherefore it has been said, "Self-reformation is enough." He whose happiness is complete has attained his desire.
Of old, attainment of desire did not mean _office_. It meant that nothing could be added to the sum of happiness. But now it does mean office, though office is external and is not a part of oneself. That which is adventitious, comes. Coming, you cannot prevent it; going, you cannot arrest it. Therefore, not to look on office as the attainment of desire, and not because of poverty to become a toady, but to be equally happy under all conditions,--this is to be without sorrow.
But now-a-days, both having and not having Office.
are causes of unhappiness. From which we may infer that even happiness is not exempt from sorrow.
Wherefore it has been said, "Those who over-estimate the external and lose their natural instincts in worldliness,--these are the people of topsy-turvydom."
We are left in the dark as to the authorship of the numerous quotations in this and the preceding chapter. It is, however, a point of minor importance, neither chapter having the slightest claim to be regarded as the genuine work of Chuang Tzŭ.
CHAPTER XVII.
AUTUMN FLOODS.
_Argument_:--Greatness and smallness always relative--Time and space infinite--Abstract dimensions do not exist--Their expression is concrete--Terms are not absolute--Like causes produce unlike effects--In the unconditioned alone can the absolute exist--The only absolute is TAO--Illustrations.
[This chapter is supplementary to chapter ii. It is the most popular of all, and has earned for its author the sobriquet of "Autumn Floods."]
It was the time of autumn floods. Every stream poured into the river, which swelled in its turbid course. The banks receded so far from one another that it was impossible to tell a cow from a horse.
Then the Spirit of the River laughed for joy that all the beauty of the earth was gathered to himself. Down with the stream he journeyed east, until he reached the ocean. There, looking eastwards and seeing no limit to its waves, his countenance changed. And as he gazed over the expanse, he sighed and said to the Spirit of the Ocean, "A vulgar proverb says that he who has heard but part of the truth thinks no one equal to himself. And such a one am I.
"When formerly I heard people detracting from the learning of Confucius or underrating the heroism of Poh I, See ch. vi.
I did not believe. But now that I have looked upon your inexhaustibility--alas for me had I not reached your abode, I should have been for ever a laughing-stock to those of comprehensive enlightenment!"
The Spirit of a paltry river learns that the ripple of his rustic stream is scarcely the murmur of the world.
To which the Spirit of the Ocean replied, "You cannot speak of ocean to a well-frog,--the creature of a narrower sphere. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect,--the creature of a season. You cannot speak of TAO to a pedagogue: his scope is too restricted. But now that you have emerged from your narrow sphere and have seen the great ocean, you know your own insignificance, and I can speak to you of great principles.
"There is no body of water beneath the canopy of heaven which is greater than ocean. All streams pour into it without cease, yet it does not overflow. It is constantly being drained off, yet it is never empty. Spring and autumn bring no change; floods and droughts are equally unknown. And thus it is immeasurably superior to mere rivers and brooks,--though I would not venture to boast on this account, for I get my shape from the universe, my vital power from the _Yin_ and _Yang_. In the universe I am but as a small stone or a small tree on a vast mountain. And conscious thus of my own insignificance, what is there of which I can boast?
"The Four Seas,--are they not to the universe but like puddles in a marsh? The Middle Kingdom,--is it not to the surrounding ocean like a tare-seed in a granary? Of all the myriad created things, man is but one. And of all those who inhabit the land, live on the fruit of the earth, and move about in cart and boat, an individual man is but one.
Is not he, as compared with all creation, but as the tip of a hair upon a horse's skin?
"The succession of the Five Rulers, the contentions of the Three Kings, the griefs of the philanthropist, the labours of the administrator, are but this and nothing more.
_Sc._ ambition.
Poh I refused the throne for fame's sake. Confucius discoursed to get a reputation for learning. This over-estimation of self on their part, was it not very much your own in reference to water?"
"Very well," replied the Spirit of the River, "am I then to regard the universe as great and the tip of a hair as small?"
"Not at all," said the Spirit of the Ocean. "Dimensions are limitless; time is endless. Conditions are not invariable; terms are not final.
Thus, the wise man looks into space, and does not regard the small as too little, nor the great as too much; for he knows that there is no limit to dimension. He looks back into the past, and does not grieve over what is far off, nor rejoice over what is near; for he knows that time is without end.
Space infinite has been illustrated by Locke by a centre from which you can proceed for ever in all directions. Time infinite, by a point in a line from which you can proceed backwards and forwards for ever.
He investigates fulness and decay, and does not rejoice if he succeeds, nor lament if he fails; for he knows that conditions are not invariable.
Fulness and decay are the inevitable precursors of each other.
He who clearly apprehends the scheme of existence, does not rejoice over life, nor repine at death; for he knows that terms are not final.
Life and death are but links in an endless chain.
"What man knows is not to be compared with what he does not know.
The span of his existence is not to be compared with the span of his non-existence. With the small to strive to exhaust the great, necessarily lands him in confusion, and he does not attain his object.
How then should one be able to say that the tip of a hair is the _ne plus ultra_ of smallness, or that the universe is the _ne plus ultra_ of greatness?"
These predicates are abstract terms, which are not names of real existences but of relations, states, or conditions of existences; not things, but conditions of things.
"Dialecticians of the day," replied the Spirit of the River, "all say that the infinitesimally small has no form, and that the infinitesimally great is beyond all measurement. Is that so?"
"If we regard greatness as compared with that which is small," said the Spirit of the Ocean, "there is no limit to it; and if we regard smallness as compared with that which is great, it eludes our sight.
That is, if we proceed from the concrete to the abstract. Given a large or a small thing, there is no limit to the smallness or greatness with which each may be respectively compared.
The infinitesimal is a subdivision of the small; the colossal is an extension of the great. In this sense the two fall into different categories.
"Both small and great things must equally possess form. The mind cannot picture to itself a thing without form, nor conceive a form of unlimited dimensions. The greatness of anything may be a topic of discussion, or the smallness of anything may be mentally realized.
But that which can be neither a topic of discussion nor be realized mentally, can be neither great nor small.
"Therefore, the truly great man, although he does not injure others, does not credit himself with charity and mercy.
These are natural to him.
He seeks not gain, but does not despise his followers who do. He struggles not for wealth, but does not take credit for letting it alone. He asks help from no man, but takes no credit for his self-reliance, neither does he despise those who seek preferment through friends. He acts differently from the vulgar crowd, but takes no credit for his exceptionality; nor because others act with the majority does he despise them as hypocrites. The ranks and emoluments of the world are to him no cause for joy; its punishments and shame no cause for disgrace. He knows that positive and negative cannot be distinguished, What is positive under certain conditions will be negative under others. These terms are in fact identical. See ch. ii.
that great and small cannot be defined.
They are infinite.
"I have heard say, the man of TAO has no reputation; perfect virtue acquires nothing; the truly great man ignores self;--this is the height of self-discipline."
Clause 2 of the above quotation appears with variations in ch. xxxviii of the _Tao-Te-Ching_. The variations settle the correctness of the rendering already given in _The Remains of Lao Tzŭ_, p. 26.
"But how then," asked the Spirit of the River, "are the internal and external extremes of value and worthlessness, of greatness and smallness, to be determined?"
With no standard of measurement.
"From the point of view of TAO," replied the Spirit of the Ocean, "there are no such extremes of value or worthlessness. Men individually value themselves and hold others cheap. The world collectively withholds from the individual the right of appraising himself.
"If we say that a thing is great or small because it is relatively great or small, then there is nothing in all creation which is not great, nothing which is not small. To know that the universe is but as a tare-seed, and that the tip of a hair is a mountain,--this is the expression of relativity.
"If we say that something exists or does not exist, in deference to the function it fulfils or does not fulfil, then there is nothing which does not exist, nothing which does exist. To know that east and west are convertible and yet necessary terms,--this is the due adjustment of functions.
Any given point is of course east in relation to west, west in relation to east. Absolutely, it may be said that its westness does not exclude its eastness; or, that it is neither east nor west.
"If we say that anything is good or evil because it is either good or evil in our eyes, then there is nothing which is not good, nothing which is not evil. To know that Yao and Chieh were both good and both evil from their opposite points of view,--this is the expression of a standard.
"Of old Yao abdicated in favour of Shun, and the latter ruled. Kuei abdicated in favour of Chih, and the latter failed.
Kuei was a prince of the Yen State, who was humbugged into imitating the glorious example of Yao and abdicating in favour of his minister Chih. Three short years of power landed the latter in all the horrors of a general revolution.
T'ang and Wu See ch. xii.
got the empire by fighting. By fighting, Poh Kung lost it.
A revolutionary leader who, on the failure of his scheme, ended his life by strangulation. See the _Tso Chuan_, 16th year of Duke Ai.
From which it may be seen that the rationale of abdicating or fighting, of acting like Yao or like Chieh, must be determined according to the opportunity, and may not be regarded as a constant quantity.
"A battering-ram can knock down a wall, but it cannot repair the breach.
This sentence has sorely puzzled all commentators.
Different things are differently applied.
"Ch'ih-Chi and Hua Liu could travel 1,000 _li_ in one day, but for catching rats they were not equal to a wild cat.
Two of the eight famous steeds of Muh Wang, a semi-historical ruler of old.
Different animals possess different aptitudes.
"An owl can catch fleas at night, and see the tip of a hair, but if it comes out in the daytime its eyes are so dazzled it cannot see a mountain. Different creatures are differently constituted.
"Thus, as has been said, those who would have right without its correlative, wrong; or good government without its correlative, misrule,--they do not apprehend the great principles of the universe nor the conditions to which all creation is subject. One might as well talk of the existence of heaven without that of earth, or of the negative principle without the positive, which is clearly absurd. Such people, if they do not yield to argument, must be either fools or knaves.
"Rulers have abdicated under different conditions, dynasties have been continued under different conditions. Those who did not hit off a favourable time and were in opposition to their age,--they were called usurpers. Those who did hit off the right time and were in harmony with their age,--they were called patriots. Fair and softly, my River friend; what should you know of value and worthlessness, of great and small?"
It is therefore quite unnecessary to teach you where to fix the limits of that of which you know nothing.
"In this case," replied the Spirit of the River, "what am I to do and what am I not to do? How am I to arrange my declinings and receivings, my takings-hold and my lettings-go?"
"From the point of view of TAO," said the Spirit of the Ocean, "value and worthlessness are like slopes and plains.
A slope to-day may be a plain to-morrow.
To consider either as absolutely such would involve great injury to TAO. Few and many are like giving and receiving presents. These must not be regarded from one side, or there will be great confusion to TAO.
It would be unfair only to regard, from the receiver's standpoint, the amount given. The intention of the giver must also be taken into the calculation.
Be discriminating, as the ruler of a State whose administration is impartial. Be dispassionate, as the worshipped deity whose dispensation is impartial. Be expansive, like the points of the compass, to whose boundlessness no limit is set. Embrace all creation, and none shall be more sheltered than another. This is the unconditioned. And where all things are equal, how can we have the long and the short?
"TAO is without beginning, without end. Other things are born and die.
They are impermanent; and now for better, now for worse, they are ceaselessly changing form. Past years cannot be recalled: time cannot be arrested. The succession of states is endless; and every end is followed by a new beginning. Thus it may be said that man's duty to his neighbour is embodied in the eternal principles of the universe.
All he has to _do_ is to _be_.
"The life of man passes by like a galloping horse, changing at every turn, at every hour. What should he do, or what should he not do, other than let his decomposition go on?"
"If this is the case," retorted the Spirit of the River, "pray what is the value of TAO?"
"Those who understand TAO," answered the Spirit of the Ocean, "must necessarily apprehend the eternal principles above mentioned and be clear as to their application. Consequently, they do not suffer any injury from without.
They never oppose, but let all things take their course.
"The man of perfect virtue cannot be burnt by fire, nor drowned in water, nor hurt by frost or sun, nor torn by wild bird or beast. Not that he makes light of these; but that he discriminates between safety and danger. Happy under prosperous and adverse circumstances alike, cautious as to what he discards and what he accepts;--nothing can harm him.
Plato taught that it was impossible to make a slave of a wise man, meaning that the latter by virtue of his mental endowment would rise superior to mere physical thrall. "A wise and just man," said he, "could be as happy in a state of slavery as in a state of freedom."
"Therefore it has been said that the natural abides within, the artificial without. Virtue abides in the natural. Knowledge of the action of the natural and of the artificial has its root in the natural, its development in virtue. And thus, whether in motion or at rest, whether in expansion or in contraction, there is always a reversion to the essential and to the ultimate."
Those eternal principles which embody all human obligations.
"What do you mean," enquired the Spirit of the River, "by the natural and the artificial?"
"Horses and oxen," answered the Spirit of the Ocean, "have four feet.
That is the natural. Put a halter on a horse's head, a string through a bullock's nose,--that is the artificial.
"Therefore it has been said, do not let the artificial obliterate the natural; do not let will obliterate destiny; do not let virtue be sacrificed to fame. Diligently observe these precepts without fail, and thus you will revert to the divine."
If man does not set himself in opposition to God, the result will be TAO.
* * * * * The walrus envies the centipede; Its many legs and nimble gait.
the centipede envies the snake; Which moves without legs.
the snake envies the wind; Which moves far more quickly even without body.
the Wind envies the eye; Which travels even without moving.
the eye envies the mind; Which can comprehend the whole universe, past and present alike.
The walrus said to the centipede, "I hop about on one leg, but not very successfully. How do you manage all these legs you have?"
"Walrus" is of course an analogue. But for the one leg, the description given by a commentator of the creature mentioned in the text applies with significant exactitude.
"I don't manage them," replied the centipede. "Have you never seen saliva? When it is ejected, the big drops are the size of pearls, the small ones like mist. They fall promiscuously on the ground and cannot be counted. And so it is that my mechanism works naturally, without my being conscious of the fact."
The centipede said to the snake, "With all my legs I do not move as fast as you with none. How is that?"
"One's natural mechanism," replied the snake, "is not a thing to be changed. What need have I for legs?"
The snake said to the wind, "I can manage to wriggle along, but I have a form. Now you come blustering down from the north sea to bluster away to the south sea, and you seem to be without form. How is that?"
"'Tis true," replied the wind, "that I bluster as you say; but any one who can point at me or kick at me, excels me.
As I cannot do as much to them.
On the other hand, I can break huge trees and destroy large buildings.
That is my strong point. Out of all the small things in which I do not excel I make one great one in which I do excel. And to excel in great things is given only to the Sages."
Everything has its own natural qualifications. What is difficult to one is easy to another.
No illustration is given of the "eye" and "mind." "'Tis the half-length portrait," says Lin Hsi Chung, "of a beautiful girl;"--which is ingenious if not sound.
* * * * * When Confucius visited K'uang, the men of Sung surrounded him closely.
This is a mistake. "K'uang" was in the Wei State, and it was by the men of Wei that Confucius was surrounded.
Yet he went on playing and singing to his guitar without ceasing.
"How is it, Sir," enquired Tzŭ Lu, "that you are so cheerful?"
See p. 165. Tzŭ Lu would have been the first to be cheerful himself.
"Come here," replied Confucius, "and I will tell you. For a long time I have been struggling against failure, but in vain. Fate is against me.
For a long time I have been seeking success, but in vain. The hour has not come.
"In the days of Yao and Shun, no man throughout the empire was a failure, though no one was conscious of the gain. In the days of Chieh and Chou, no man throughout the empire was a success, though no one was conscious of the loss. The times and circumstances were adapted accordingly.
"To travel by water and not avoid sea-serpents and dragons,--this is the courage of the fisherman. To travel by land and not avoid the rhinoceros and the tiger,--this is the courage of hunters. When bright blades cross, to look on death as on life,--this is the courage of the hero. To know that failure is fate and that success is opportunity, and to remain fearless in great danger,--this is the courage of the Sage.
Yu! rest in this. My destiny is cut out for me."
Shortly afterwards, the captain of the troops came in and apologised, saying, "We thought you were Yang Hu; consequently we surrounded you.
We find we have made a mistake." Whereupon he again apologised and retired.
Yang Hu was "wanted" by the people of Wei, and it appears that Confucius was unfortunately like him in feature. But the whole episode is clearly the interpolation of a forger.
* * * * * Kung Sun Lung A philosopher of the Chao State, whose treatise on the "hard and white" etc. is said to be still extant. See ch. ii.
said to Mou of Wei, "When young I studied the TAO of the ancient Sages.
When I grew up I knew all about the practice of charity and duty to one's neighbour, the identification of like and unlike, the separation of hardness and whiteness, and about making the not-so so, and the impossible possible. I vanquished the wisdom of all the philosophies.
I exhausted all the arguments that were brought against me. I thought that I had indeed reached the goal. But now that I have heard Chuang Tzŭ, I am lost in astonishment at his grandeur. I know not whether it is in arguing or in knowledge that I am not equal to him. I can no longer open my mouth. May I ask you to impart to me the secret?"
Kung Tzŭ Mou leant over the table and sighed. Then he looked up to heaven, and smiling replied, saying, "Have you never heard of the frog in the old well?--The frog said to the turtle of the eastern sea, 'Happy indeed am I! I hop on to the rail around the well. I rest in the