CHAPTER VI.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Zhuangzi and Giles, Herbert Allen
The fifth smeared his body all over with lacquer, so that no one should come near him. Of the sixth, nothing is recorded; and of the seventh, only that he tied a stone around his neck and jumped into a river. See the Fragmenta at the end of the works of Shih Tzŭ.
The pure men of old did their duty to their neighbours, but did not associate with them.
Among them, but not of them.
They behaved as though wanting in themselves, but without flattering others. Naturally rectangular, they were not uncompromisingly hard. They manifested their independence without going to extremes. They appeared to smile as if pleased, when the expression was only a natural response.
As required by the exigencies of society.
Their outward semblance derived its fascination from the store of goodness within. They seemed to be of the world around them, while proudly treading beyond its limits. They seemed to desire silence, while in truth they had dispensed with language.
See ch. v.
They saw in penal laws a trunk;
A natural basis of government.
in social ceremonies, wings;
To aid man's progress through life.
in wisdom, a useful accessory; in morality, a guide. For them penal laws meant a merciful administration; social ceremonies, a passport through the world; wisdom, an excuse for doing what they could not help; and morality, walking like others upon the path.
Instead of at random across country. At such an early date was uniformity a characteristic of the Chinese people.
And thus all men praised them for the worthy lives they led.
For what they cared for could be reduced to ONE, and what they did not care for to ONE also. That which was ONE was ONE, and that which was not ONE was likewise ONE. In that which was ONE, they were of God; in that which was not ONE, they were of Man. And so between the human and the divine no conflict ensued. This was to be a pure man.
Life and Death belong to Destiny. Their sequence, like day and night, is of God, beyond the interference of man, an inevitable law.
A man looks upon God as upon his father, and loves him in like measure. Shall he then not love that which is greater than God?
Sc.Tao.
A man looks upon a ruler of men as upon some one better than himself, for whom he would sacrifice his life. Shall he not then do so for the Supreme Ruler of Creation?
Sc.Tao, the omnipresent, omnipotent Principle which invests even God himself with the power and attributes of divinity.
The careful student of pure Taoism will find however that the distinction between Tao and God is sometimes so subtle as altogether to elude his intelligence.
When the pond dries up, and the fishes are left upon dry ground, to moisten them with the breath or to damp them with spittle is not to be compared with leaving them in the first instance in their native rivers and lakes. And better than praising Yao and blaming Chieh would be leaving them both and attending to the development of Tao.
Tao gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest in death. And surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death.
A boat may be hidden in a creek, or in a bog, safe enough.
The text has "or a mountain in a bog," which taken with the context seems to me to be nonsense. Yet all the commentators labour to explain away the difficulty, instead of making the obvious change of "mountain" into "boat," to which change the forms of the two Chinese characters readily lend themselves. In over two thousand years of literary activity, it seems but rarely to have occurred to the Chinese that a textus receptus could contain a copyist's slip.
But at midnight a strong man may come and carry away the boat on his back. The dull of vision do not perceive that however you conceal things, small ones in larger ones, there will always be a chance of losing them.
The boat is figurative of our mortal coil which cannot be hidden from decay.
But if you conceal the whole universe in the whole universe, there will be no place left wherein it may be lost. The laws of matter make this to be so.
To have attained to the human form must be always a source of joy. And then, to undergo countless transitions, with only the infinite to look forward to,—what incomparable bliss is that! Therefore it is that the truly wise rejoice in that which can never be lost, but endures alway.
The soul which as Tao, is commensurate only with time and space.
For if we can accept early death, old age, a beginning, and an end,
As inseparable from Destiny,—already a step in the right direction.
why not that which informs all creation and is of all phenomena the Ultimate Cause?
The long chain of proximate causes reaches finality in Tao. Here we have the complete answer to such queries as that propounded to the Umbra by the Penumbra at the close of ch. ii.
Tao has its laws, and its evidences. It is devoid both of action and of form. It may be transmitted, but cannot be received.
So that the receiver can say he has it.
It may be obtained, but cannot be seen. Before heaven and earth were, Tao was. It has existed without change from all time. Spiritual beings drew their spirituality therefrom, while the universe became what we can see it now. To Tao, the zenith is not high, nor the nadir low; no point in time is long ago, nor by lapse of ages has it grown old.
To the infinite all terms and conditions are relative.
Hsi Wei obtained Tao, and so set the universe in order.
A legendary ruler of remote antiquity. In what sense he set the universe in order has not been authentically handed down.