JUN 11 1974 :«^1.^« LAO-TZE'S TAO-TEH-KING CHINESE-ENGLISH WITH INTRODUCTION, TRANSLITERATION, AND NOTES By dr. PAUL CARUS ^^am REQUITE HATRED WITH GOODNESS — LAO-TZE, 63 CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY (London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co.) i8g8 copyright by The Open Court Publishing Co. 1898. TABLE OF CONTENTS : PAGE Introduction : Lao-Tze and His Philosophy i The Old Philosopher 3 The Fundamental Principle of Lao-Tze's Philosophy. . g The Ideal of Lao-Tze's Ethics 17 Taoism Before and After Lao-Tze 30 (Quotations in the Tao- Teh-King, 30-34 ; Lao-Tze and Confucius, 34-38 ; Taoism After Lao-Tze, 38-41-) The Present Edition of the Tao- Teh-King 42 Pronunciation 4^ Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King in Chinese 49 ^ilM^I8:^-f-# 51 ^^ii^^ 53 English Translation 93 Sze-Ma-Ch'ien on Lao Tze 95 The Old Philosopher's Canon on Reason and Virtue . . 97 Transliteration of the Text, Chinese-English. . . . 139 Sze-Ma-Ch'ien on Lao-Tze 141 The Old Philosopher's Canon on Reason and Virtue . . 147 Notes and Comments 275 Index , 325 INTRODUCTION THE OLD PHILOSOPHER. ^ ^ 1A0-TZE,i or ''the old philosopher," is the desig- J nation of one of the most remarkable thinkers of mankind. He was a Chinese who lived in the sixth century B.C., and left to the world the Tao-Teh-King, a small book on Reason and Virtue, which not only ex- ercised a powerful influence upon his countrymen but is also worthy to be compared with the sacred scrip- tures of the Buddhists and the New Testament. It is on account of the similarities which, in spite of many differences, obtain between the teachings of Lao-Tze and those of Buddha and Christ that the Tao-Teh- King is an indispensable book ; and no one who is in- terested in religion can afford to leave it unread. The date of Lao-Tze's birth^ is the third year of the Emperor Ting-wang of the Cho dynasty, which corresponds to the year 604 B. C. Lao-Tze's family name, ^ (Li), means Plum- tree. His proper name, i^ (Er),^ means Ear. His appellation v/as 'f fl ^ (Po Yang), viz., ''Count of the 1 The diphthong «(? sounds like ^w in "how," the e in "Tze" resembles the short u in " but." On pronunciation see page 48. 2 Mart. Martin's Hist. Sim'ca, p. 133 and Duhalde I., p. 248, 3 Other transcriptions are Ur, Err, and 'Rh. 4 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. Positive Principle," representing manliness, the sun, and the South ;^ his posthumous title was ^ft (Tan) long-lobed, long lobes being a sign of virtue. But the people called him simply ^-f" (Lao-Tze), the old philosopher. He is also frequently named ;^§(Lao Chiin), the ancient sire, master, or prince; and ^ St (Lao Er), the old child, which means, ''he who even as an old man remains childlike." His followers, the Taoists, speak of him as i^Jb"^^ (t'ai shang lao chiin), the greatly eminent ancient master, or simply ;3j;^J^ (t'ai shang), the greatly Eminent One. Lao-Tze was born in ffl/t (^Ch'ii-Jhren,) a village in R#|l (Li-county) belonging to the "g^K (K'u province) of the state ^ (Ch'u). Abel R^musat^ states on the authority of Kwang-Yu-Ki (VI. 15) that: "Ch'ii-Jhren is situated in the vicinity of the present city of Lu-i, a town of the third order, belonging to Kwei-te-foo of the province //i9-«(z« (lat. 34^ north, long, o*' 54' west of Peking)." Robert K. Douglas, professor of sinology at Ox- ford, England, calls attention to the strange coinci- dence that the name of the hamlet Ch'il-Jhren, Lao- Tze's place of birth, means ''oppressed benevolence"; Z/, the parish to which it belongs, means "cruelty"; K^u, the name of the district, means "bitterness"; Ch^u, the philosopher's native state, means " suffer- ing. "^ He adds : " If these places were as mythical as John Bunyan's ' City of Destruction' and 'Vanity Fair,' their names could not have been more appropriately chosen to designate the birthplace of a sage who was driven from office and from friends by the disorders of the time." Society in China, p. 403. 1 Yox yang see the K'anghi, Vol. 36, p. 10 A. 2 Mimoire sur la vie et Ics opiriions de Lao-Tseu, p. 4. 3 Professor Douglas's method of transcription is Chujen, Li, ICu, and Ts'u INTRODUCTION. 5 Considering tne denunciations which Lao-Tze hurled against both '' oppression " and ''false benevo- lence '* ; and the * ' bitterness " and ' ' sufferings " which he had to endure, the meaning of these names seems startling enough, and were these places not actually in existence they would suggest that Lao-Tze's birth and life were a myth. But Professor Douglas might have added that the coincidence, interesting though it is, is not as remarkable as it appears to Europeans who are unacquainted with the peculiarities of the Chinese language which make such a play of words possible and quite common ; for puns are far easier in Chinese than even in French. Let us look at each name more closely. ft {C/i'z'i) means "crooked" or, as a noun, "a. bend," then ''scheming," "false," "forced," and finally, in the sense of the German phrase gebundene Redey it denotes "verses," especially "songs, ditties, and ballads." {K., Vol. 17, p. 12 B; ^. ^. Z)., p. 458.) t {Jhrefi^) means "that which is enclosed, or the kernel of a thing"; then "the essence of man's heart or humaneness"; it also means "the humane or good man." {^K., Vol. 6, p. i A.) Should the name Ch'u- Jhren be translated according to its proper meaning, it probably ought to be "Good Man's Bend," that is to say, a bend in a valley named after a person whose epithet was "the good man." ^ (Zz) means "whetstone; grinding; oppression; danger; disorder." As a verb it means "to grind; to chide ; to goad." The name might be translated in English as "Grinding," and Li Hsiang would be "grinding county." It may have been called so on 1 Jhr is a peculiar r-sound. Jhren (commonly transcribed jen) is pro- nounced almost like the English word " wren." (See page 48.) b LAO-TZE'S TAO-TEH-KING. account of being a place where whetstones were found, or made, or sold. (^K^anghi, Vol. 7, p. 47 A.) ^ {K'u) is the name of the common-thistle. In ad- dition, the word means '' bitter ; unpleasant ; mortify- ing." As a noun it means ''affliction"; as a verb, ''to hasten ; to be sick." K'u Hien, accordingly, might be translated "thistle province." {K'anghij Vol. 29, p. 7 A; Williams's Syl. Did., p. 436.) ^ (^Ch^u) means "a bramble bush" or "a clump of trees." As an adjective it means "full of spines, full of thorns," denoting at the same time "distress" and "pain." If we can translate the name Ch^u at all we might call it "the state of the bramble-bush" or "the state of briars." In addition to all these mean- ings, the word Ch^u means "orderly; well done; properly finished."^ What a choice of allusions can- not be had in Chinese names ! As to the authenticity of the Tao-Teh-King and the historical reality of Lao-Tze's life, there can be no doubt. Wl^^M Sze-Ma-Ch'ien, the Herodotus of Chinese history,^ has embodied a brief account of Lao- Tze's life in his famous ^ |g {Shi-Ki), or Historical Records, which were completed in 91 B. C. Sze-Ma-Ch'ien's report of Lao-Tze's life is very terse. It consists only of two hundred and forty-eight words, but is full of interest and very important as the most reliable account that has been handed down to later generations. For these reasons it has been in- corporated in the present edition as a kind of preface which will splendidly serve as an authentic historical introduction to the Tao-Teh-King. 1 See Williams's S. Z>., p. 94, and K'anghi, Vol. 18, p. 28 B. 2About 136-85 B. C. See Mayers's Chinese Readers' Manual, I., No. 660, INTRODUCTION. 7 But even before Sze-Ma-Ch'ien, Lao-Tze has been mentioned, commented upon, and largely quoted by a number of his disciples, among whom Lieh-Tze^ is the oldest, and Chwang-Tze^ the most ingenious and most famous. Literal quotations from the Tao- Teh-King in the writings of Lieh-Tze, of Han-Fi- Tze,^ of Chwang-Tze, of Liu-An,* of the historian Sze-Ma-Ch*ien himself, and of other authors are so frequent and at the same time so accurate that they verify more than two-thirds of the whole Tao-Teh- King. Professor Legge says : " I do not know of any other book of so ancient a date as the Tao-Teh-King of which the authenticity of the origin and the gen- uineness of the text can claim to be so well substantiated."^ While the Tao-Teh-King as a genuine production of the age, and Lao-Tze's authorship of the book are beyond dispute, its very existence is a historical prob- lem which has not as yet found its solution. Were Lao-Tze not six hundred years older than Christ, and a hundred years older than Buddha, we should be inclined to believe that he had borrowed his main ideas from either Buddhism or Christianity ; but that is a theory which is impossible. Nevertheless, Pro- fessor Douglas believes he finds traces of Brahmanical influence in the Tao-Teh-King, and argues that Lao- Tze was a descendant of one of the Western nations of the Chinese Empire, which may have been in con- 1 Mayers's Chinese Readers' Manual, I., 387. His works were edited in the fourth century by Chwang-Tze. 2330 B. C. See Mayers's Chinese Readers' Manual, I, No. 92. 3 Schott mentions him as a contemporary of the Emperor Ngan-Wang (401-374 B. C), while according to Legge he died 230 B. C 4 A philosopher on the throne, for he was the King of Hwai Nan and is best known as Hwai Nan Tze ; he died 122 B. C. 5 Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX., p. 9. 8 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. nexion with India since olden times. Taking for granted that the name Er, i. e. Ear, was a sobriquet given to Lao-Tze on account of the unusual size of his ears, Professor Douglas says : " It is remarkable that the description of his large ears and general appearance tallies accurately with those of the non-Chinese tribes on the western frontiers of the empire. His surname, Li, also reminds one of the large and important tribe of that name which was dispossessed by the invading Chinese, and was driven to seek refuge in what is now South-Western China. But however that may be, it is impossible to overlook the fact that he imported into his teachings a decided flavor of Indian philosophy." {^Society hi China, p. 403.) Douglas goes so far as to find a strong resemblance between Lao-Tze's Tao and the pre-Buddhistic Brahm of the Indian sages, which, however, I am unable to discover. No doubt there are similarities between In- dian and Chinese doctrines, but they are too vague and do not prove a common origin ; and we must bear in mind that certain similarities of doctrines, nay, also of superstitions, arise naturally in the course of evolution. We must grant, however, that when Lao-Tze resigned his position as custodian of the ar- chives of Cho^ he went West, which seems to indi- cate that his sympathies were bound up with those Western people whom his parents may have praised to him as models of simplicity and virtue. We cannot say that the Brahmanical origin of Lao-Tze's philosophy has been proved. The whole proposition remains a vague hypothesis whose main right to existence consists in the fact that we know too little either to substantiate or to refute it. 1 Other transcriptions are Chau (Eitel), Chow (Mayers), Cheu (Williams) and Chou (Wade). See page 48, THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF LAO-TZE'S PHILOSOPHY. THE idea that constitutes the corner-stone of Lao- Tze's philosophy is contained in the word Tao, which, however, is so general and comprehensive a term, that his propositions naturally would appear to have existed in a vague form long before him. The universal use of the word gives to his thoughts the appearance of an old doctrine, yet it seems improb- able that such an original and extraordinary thinker, as was Lao-Tze, could, like Confucius, have been a mere transmitter of traditions. The term ^ {tad) is a remarkable word.^ It means ''path, way, method, or mode of doing a thing," then also, the mode of expressing a thing, or "word ;" and thus finally it acquires its main meaning, which is ' ' rea- son." As a verb, it means "to walk, or to tread; to speak or to declare ; to argue or to reason." Consider- ing the religious reverence in which the term is held, the expression Tao, meaning "word" and "logical thought" at the same time, presents a close analogy to the Neo-Platonic term \6yo'5. The Buddhists use the word Tao as a synonym of ^ (jtiing), enlightenment, IK'anghz, Vol. 34, p. 21 B. Williams, S. D., p. 867. Eitel, Ch. D., p. 743. 10 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. to translate the Sanskrit ^ {bodhi^^ and the Chris- tians employ it in the version of the New Testament for the term \6yo'^, "word.'* The term "word" in the sense of Logos as used in the New Testament occurs also in the Rig-Veda where the fourth hymn is devoted to the Vdch (latin, iwx), "pervading heaven and earth, existing in all the worlds and extending to heaven." Still another strik- ing parallelism is found in the Zoroastrian creed which proclaims that Ahura Mazda, the Lord Omniscient, had created the world by pronouncing the excellent, the pure, and stirring word {Ahmia Vairyo, Honover), "the word that existed before everything else." The same difficulty which translators encounter in their attempts to find a proper rendering of the term Aoyo?, exists for the term Tao. We might translate it "word," or (as does Stanislas Julien) "path," or (as does Gabelentz) "logos;'' or we might (as do Chalmers, Legge, and Victor von Strauss) retain the Chinese word Tao. After a long deliberation the au- thor of the present edition has come to the conclusion that the simplest and most ordinary English analogue for Tao, which is "Reason," would be preferable. But in order to remind his readers of the more com- prehensive significance of the word, he has in his translation capitalised it throughout. The Tao is Kant's "purely formal." Thus it is called -j^ ^ {Ja chwang), the great form, and ')^:% {ta hsiang), the great image^ (Chap. 35). Other expres- sions of a similar significance are "^ {Jiao^^ vacancy, or a condition of not being occupied, (see Williams, S. D., p. 528) and ^ {chi), noiselessness, or a void of activity. It is the Absolute whose essence is not 1 Plato's term elSos (idea) also means image or picture. INTRODUCTION. II concrete being, but abstract law. To characterise the former, the absence of all the concrete reality, it is called ^ (tvii), or the non-existent ; to characterise the latter, the abstractness of this highest of all generali- sations, it is called J^ {ch'mig), hollowness, or ^ (Jisii)^ emptiness, or the void.^ As the ultimate ground of existence it is called ;^ {hsiien), abyss, an expres- sion which reminds one of the Neo-Platonic /3vBo5, and the Urgrund of German mystics. The terms ^, {chwang), form, and ^ {hsiang), im- age, are commonly used to denote material or concrete forms, but Lao-Tze means pure form, which in his paradoxical mode of speaking is expressed in the terms ^iS Kr^ Jt^ (^^ chivang chih chwang), the form of the formless, or ?!6^^^ (jou hsiang chih'^ hsiang), the image of that which has no image, i. e., no concrete shape. In a word, '* the form of the formless " means the ideal, the abstract, the universal. Lao-Tze distinguishes two kinds of Tao or Rea- son : (i) the Tao that was in the beginning, that is eternal and immutable, the divine presence, which can be on the right hand and at the same time on the left hand, which is bodiless, immaterial, and not sense- perceptible ; and (2) the Tao that is individualised in IFor chwang see K., Vol. 33, p, 6 B; for shiang, ib. Vol. 22, p. 10 A; for liao {a. vacuum, or void), ib.. Vol. 11, p. 13 B ; for chih (a state in which no voice is heard, perfect stillness), ib., Vol. 7, p. 10 B ; for yvH, ib., Vol. 21, p. 8 A ; for ch'ung, ib,, Vol. 7, p. 8 B. Compare also IV. S. D., p. 109. For hsii see K., Vol. 30, p. 2 A. Williams defines hsii (p. 227) as "empty; vacant; empty of passions and able to receive, quiet; a vacant, abstracted, contemplative con- dition such as Buddhists aim to reach; space." Empty space is to both the Taoists and the Buddhists the symbol of absolute rest. (See, e. g., in Samuel Beal's Catena 0/ Buddhist Scriptures, p. 157, the simile of the restlessness of dust particles in space, while " the nature of space is rest." Hsii, vacancy, is a synonym of k'ung {W. S. D., p. 464), ecstasy, trance, transport, which is a favorite term with the Buddhists. 2 The word chih is pronounced .^z^' in Shanghai, in Canton chi. Mr Candlin of Tientsin transcribes it tzU. 12 LAO-TZE'S TAO- TEH-KING. living creatures, especially in man. The latter denotes the reasoning powers of man and is called A jiM {^Jhren tad), human Reason ; the former is characterised as ^itt {ch^ang tad), the eternal Reason, or ^ ^ {t^ien tao), Heaven's Reason. It is identified with i {JisueTi), the mysterious abyss of existence. As the mystery of existence it is called ^i^g {wu-ming), the Ineffable or Nameless. It is ^ (ken), the Root from which everything proceeds and to which everything returns. Although the source of all things, it is itself |ffl^?i^ {wu-yiieri), the Sourceless, i. e., Spinoza's causa stii. The difference between the eternal Reason, ch'ang tao, and the Reason individualised in man, Jhren tao, is emphasised again and again in the Tao-Teh-King; and Chwang-Tze says^ (Book XL, last paragraph): "There is the Tao, or Way, of Heaven ; and there is the Tao, or Way, of Man. Practising non-assertion 2 and yet attracting all honor is the Way of Heaven ; asserting oneself and being embar- rassed thereby, is the Way of Man. It is the Way of Heaven that plays the part of the lord ; it is the Way of Man that plays the part of the servant. The Way of Heaven and the Way of Man are far apart. They should be clearly distinguished from each other. ' Says Chwang-Tze : "The Tao is always one, and yet it requires change," which means, the Tao is sameness in difference. The same law produces under different conditions different results. The Tao is the world-former, not the world- creator; it is not action but law. Yet it is not merely immanent, it is supernatural and prenatural. It is omnipresent in the world but would exist even though the world did not exist. Says Chwang-Tze (Book VI.) : \ Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXIX., p. 306. 2 We replace "Doing nothing," which is a misleading translation, by " Practising non-assertion ' ' for reasons given further on. INTRODUCTION. 1 3 "If you could hide the world in the world, so that there was nowhere to which it could be removed, this [Tao] would be the grand reality of the ever-enduring thing." {^Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX., p. 242.) The philosophy of Lao-Tze, which places the Tao at the beginning of the world, is the echo of a thinker who was engaged with the same problem as the author of the Fourth Gospel. We read in the Tao-Teh-King that the Tao, far from being made by God, must be prior even to God, for God could never have existed without it, and that, therefore, the Tao may claim the right of priority. Lao-Tze says : "I know not whose son Reason (i. e., the eternal Reason) can be. It seems to be prior to God " (chapter 4) ; and, following the precedence of the fourth Gospel, Christians will feel inclined to add : ^^nai'^^6'5 r/v 6 X6yo5," that is to say, ''the Word, the Tao, the Logos, is uncreated, and it is part and parcel of God's being." What a strange contrast ! The Logos or Tao (i.e., the eternal rationality that conditions the immutable laws of the world-order) is, according to Lao-Tze, prior to God ; it is God's ancestor or father ; but ac- cording to Christian doctrines, it is the son of God, not created but begotten in eternity. At first sight both statements are contradictory, but is not after all the fundamental significance in either case the same? The highest laws of reason are universal and in- trinsically necessary ; we cannot even imagine that they ever had been or ever could be non-existent or invalid ; they have not been fashioned or ordained, they have not been made either by God or man, they are eternal and immutable. The eternal Reason manifests itself in the laws of nature. Chwang-Tze says : 14 LAO TZE S TAO-TEH-KING. "When the body of man comes from its special mould [the ever-enduring thing], there is even then occasion for joy ; but this body undergoes a myriad transformations, and does not immedi- ately reach its perfection ; — does it not thus afford occasion for joys incalculable? Therefore the sagely man enjoys himself in that from which there is no possibility of separation [viz., the Tao] , and by which all things are preserved. He considers early death or old age, his beginning and his ending, all to be good, and in this other men imitate him ; — how much more will they do so in regard to That Itself on which all things depend, and from which every transformation arises!" [Ibid., p. 243.) Human reason, Jhren-tao, or the reason that can be reasoned, tao-k'o-tao, which is contrasted to the ch'ang-iaOf or the eternal Reason, shows itself in man's interference with the natural course of things. Chwang-Tze says (Book XVII. ): "Oxen and horses have four feet. That is what is called the heaven-ordained. When horses' heads are haltered, and the noses of oxen are pierced, that is called the man-ordained. Therefore it is said: Do not by the man-ordained obliterate the heaven-ordained; do not for your purposes obliterate the decrees of heaven ; do not bury your fame in such a pursuit. Carefully persevere in and do not lose it (the Tao). This is what I call reverting to your true (Nature)." {Ibid., p. 384.) Man's aspiration should not be to follow that which is merely human in him, but that which is eternal ; and eternal is alone the Tao, the Reason, the Ulti- mate Norm of Existence. Thus we find a contrast between A^"^ {/hren hshi), the human heart, and l^^'v {tao hsin), the Rational heart ; the former being per- verse, the latter a realisation of right feeling, right thinking, and ri^ht doing. We read in the Shu-King, I., p. 3, K^t^m^ it'li^'HI^ 'ItlS'it- itm.m.^0 /hren hsin wei wei, tao hsin wei wei, wei ching wei yi, yun chih chUeh chmig, ''the human heart is jeopardised; INTRODUCTION. I5 but the rational heart is subdued [attenuated]; it is genuine; is unified ; thus it keeps its middle (path)." ^ Lao-Tze's whole philosophy can be condensed in these words: ''Men, as a rule, attempt for personal ends to change the Tao that is eternal ; they endeavor to create or make a Tao of their own. But when they make, they mar; all they should do is to let the eter- nal Tao have its way, and otherwise be heedless of consequences, for then all will be well." Christ ex- presses the same sentiment : ''Seek ye first the King- dom of God and His righteousness ; and all these things (the necessities of life) shall be added unto you. " The Tao is not merely a logical principle, it is not "reason" as we commonly use the term; it is clothed with all the awe and reverence of the highest religious idea. Says Chwang-Tze : "This is the Tao ; — there is in It emotion and sincerity, but It does nothing and has no bodily form. It may be handed down (by the teacher), but may not be received (by his scholars). It may be apprehended (by the mind), but It cannot be perceived [by the senses]. It has Its root and ground in itself. Before there were heaven and earth, from of old, there It was, securely exist- ing. From It came the mysterious existences of spirits, from It the mysterious existence of God. It produced heaven ; It produced earth. It was before the T'ai Chi [the primordial ether]." 2 IThis famous passage which is frequently quoted in Chinese literature, is adduced by Victor v. Strauss (p. xxxix) to prove that the ancient Chinese regarded the Tao as a sentient being that is possessed of a heart. He trans- lates "Des Menschen Herz ist gefahrvoll, Tao's Herz ist fein, ist lauter, ist eins. Wollt euch erhalten in ihm." His interpretation of 7^^ //j/«, which reflects his theosophical preferences, is against the sense in which the pas- sage is commonly quoted (see the K'anghi s. v. Tao, Vol. 34, p. 21 B). The last sentence "Wollt euch erhalten in ihm " instead of "Thus it keeps its middle" is undoubtedly a mistake. Otherwise Strauss's translation is not incorrect. But what shall we say of Legge who (in the S. B. of the E., Vol. III., p. 50) translates this same passage : "The mind of man is restless, prone (to err); its affinity to what is right is small. Be discriminating, be uniform (in the pursuit of what is right), that you may sincerely hold fast the Mean "? SForan explanation of the T'ai Chi see the author's article "Chinese Philosophy in The Hon ist, Vol. VI., No. 2. i6 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. The Tao is a principle, not a personal being ; it is an omnipresent feature of realit}^, a law fashioning things and events, not a god, nor an essence or a world-substance. Nevertheless, Taoists personify it and use the term as if it were a synonym of God. Thus Lao-Tze himself speaks of the Tao as 5'C"F*S s/{t^ien hsia mu), ''the world-mother, "^ or tMs^ 2.^ {wan wii chih 7?mj ''mother of the ten thousand things,^ and calls it ^ {isung), the ancestor, and ^ {chihi), the master,^ viz., the ultimate authority of the philos- opher's words and deeds. Chwang-Tze speaks of the Tao as "the author of all transformations in whom there is no element of falsehood" (Book V.). Besides, he calls the Tao "the great and most honored Master" (Book VI). Lao-Tze mentions the word ^ {.Ti'), God, only once (Chap. 4)^ calling him H ^ ^ {wan wu tsung), "the ancestor "or "arch-father of the ten thousand things." But while Lao-Tze distinguishes God from the Tao and claims that the Tao takes precedence be- fore God, his disciples identify the Tao with God and have coined a special designation fi ^ {Chen-Tsai)^, i. e., the True Ruler, — a term which is the common appellation of God among Taoists even to-day. 1 Chapter 52. 2 Chapter i. SChapter 70. For tsung see K., Vol. 11, p. 6 B; for chiln (supreme; one who has land; king; lord; master; a title of respect), /^/V., Vol. 8, p. 6 A. 4 Compare the note to word 40 in the transliteration of Chapter 4. hChen means "true, pure, real" (^K., Vol. 24, p. 32 B, IV. S. D., p. 15), and Tsai, "ruler, responsible master" (A'., Vol. 11, p. 9 A, IV. S. D., p. 941). The character Chen is composed of the signs "upright" and "man," the character Tia/ shows the sign "bitter," and the sign "roof," which indicate that it means him who bears the burden and cares of the house; its ruler, master, and owner. THE IDEAL OF LAO-TZE'S ETHICS. UPON his faith in the seasonableness, goodness, and unfailing tightness of the Tao, Lao-Tze builds his ethical system, trusting that through the Tao the crooked shall be straightened, the imperfect shall be made complete, the lowly shall receive abundance as sure as valleys naturally and without any effort of their own fill themselves with water. Thus the Tao resembles water. ^ Lao-Tze demands the surrender of personal ambition and all selfish strivings. His aim is not to fashion, not to make, not to push or force things, but to let them develop according to their own nature. Virtue, according to Lao-Tze, is simply the imi- tation of the Tao. The Tao acts, but does not claim ; it begets and quickens, but does not own ; it directs and arranges, but does not rule.^ The sage will not make a show of virtue, of benevolence, of justice, of propriety; his virtue is ;^fg (^pu teJi), or unvirtue.^ He will make no pretense of being virtuous, but sim- ply imitate in all things Heaven's Tao. In a word, the ideal of morality consists in realising ^^2!.^h {wu ming chill p'u)^ the simplicity of the Ineffable, of the nameless or unnamable Tao. 1 See Chapters 78, 66, 8. 2 Chapter 10, 51. 3 Chapter 38. i8 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. Thus, according to Lao-Tze, he who acts a part in the world, as a player does on the stage ; he who endeavors to bring about artificial conditions ; he who meddles with the natural growth of society, will fail in the end, and virtue is simply |ffi® (wu-wei),^ or **not acting, not making, not doing." Non-action or wu wet cannot mean inactivity, for it is with Lao- Tze a principle of action. He never tires preaching I^^Wj (j^^^ ^^ wei),'^ i. e., to act non-action; he expressly declares that '*an able man acts resolutely" (chap. 30) ; and he assures us (chaps. 37 and 48) that : tt ^ Wo fc >P ^ (w« wet er wu pu wet), ''through non-action everything can be accomplished. Lao-Tze's propositions ''to act non-action" and "to accomplish everything by non-action," appear paradoxical, but his idea is simple enough. He who attempts to alter the nature of things will implicate himself in a struggle in which even the most powerful creature must finally succumb. But he who uses things according to their nature, directing their course, not forcing them or trying to alter their nature, can do with them whatever he pleases. Build strong walls and heavy dams to prevent the landslide caused by the waters that sink into the ground, and the waters will break through and carry your dam down into the valley; but provide the under-ground water with out- lets in the places where it naturally endeavors to flow, and there will be no danger of a catastrophe. The same is true of the social conditions of man- kind. Lao-Tze requests the government not td*gov- ern, but simply to administer. Rulers should not in- terfere with the natural development of their people, but practise not-acting, not-meddling, non-interfer- 1 IV. S. D., pp. 1059 and 1047. 2 Chapters 3, 10, 37, 57, 63, etc. INTRODUCTION. ig ence, or, as the French call it, laisser /aire, so that the people shall scarcely know that they have rulers. The less laws and prohibitions there are, the less crime will there be. The less the welfare of the peo- ple is forced by artificial methods, the greater will be their wealth and prosperity. Lao-Tze's principle of '< not-acting" is accord- ingly not inactivity ; it is simply not acting a part ; not doing things in an artificial way ; it is not forcing the nature of things. The term ^^ {wu wet) is best explained by its synonym ^S^ {7vu yii), i. e., '* being without desire." Man is requested not to have a will of his own, but to do what according to the eternal and immutable order of things he ought to do. It is the surrender of attachment to self, and the utter omis- sion of y^^ {j'hren tad), i. e., of man's Tao, the pe- culiar and particular Tao of oneself and following the course prescribed by the eternal Tao, ^^ {ch^ang tao). It is, briefly, not '' non-action," but ''non-asser- tion," and this is the translation by which wu-wei \s rendered in the present translation as coming nearest to the original meaning. Chwang-Tze, Lao-Tze's most accomplished dis- ciple, characterises wu-wei, or non-action, as follows : "Non-action makes one the lord of all glory ; non-action makes one the treasury of all plans ; non-action makes one the burden of all offices ; non-action makes one the lord of all wisdom. The range of the true man's action is inexhaustible, but there is no- where any trace of his presence. He fulfils all that he has received from Heaven, but he does not see that he was the recipient of any- thing. A pure vacancy (of his own and private affairs) character- ises him. When the perfect man employs his mind, it is a mirror. It conducts nothing and anticipates nothing ; it responds, but does not retain. Thus he is able to deal successfully with all things and injures none." 20 LAO-TZE's TAO TEH-KING. i§ (wu-wei) is the condition of genuine virtue It leads to ;f[» (ip'u) or g- {p'u), simplicity, to JS^Oj) (/isu /isi'n), emptiness of heart, to ^ {chUi), sincerity to ^ {ch'mg), or fgj^ {ch'ing-c/mig), and ^ {ch'uti) purity, to ^ (^/^^«^), righteousness, to .^ {su), plain- ness, to JM. {cheti), truth, 1 and the application of Lao- Tze*s ethics is tersely expressed in the sentence : ?S ^ lil fiS (/^/^ J^'^^., pp. 710 and 711; for hsu, K., Vol. 30, p. 2 A ; IV. S. D., p. 227; for chz'h, K., Vol. 33, p. 20 A ; IV S. D., p. 68; for ch'ing, K., Vol. 20, p. 25 B and 27 A; W. S. D , p. 995; for ch'nn, K., Vol. 20, p. 26 B; IV. S. D., p. 783; for cheng, K., Vol. 33, p. 14 B ; IV. S. D., p. 73; for sii, A'.. Vol. 27, p. 4 A ; IV. S. D., p. 816; for c/ien, K., Vol. 27, p. 4 A ; W. S. D., p. 15. — Williams transcribes/'^/;, not p2i ; tsing, not ching; chart, not chen ; shun, not ch'un. i For /uh (to return, to reply), see K., Vol. 13, p. 28 A; for kwez (to return homeward), K., Vol. 19, p. 12 B; iox fhn (to revert), K., Vol. 7, p. 38 A. See also W. S. D., pp. 151, 480, 126. 3See Chapters 16,28, 34, etc. Cf. Gen. iii. 19, Psalm xc. 3, Eccl. iii. 20; xii.7 4 See Chapters 16, 26, 37. 5 For ngan see A'., Vol. 11, p. 5 B ; for p'ing, K., Vol. 13, p. i A ; for Vai, A'., Vol. 20, p. 15 A. Compare W. S. D., pp. 620, 701, 848; the character nga-n consists of the radicals •' shelter " and "woman,' ' signifying the contentment of being at home, which is the place where a woman is sheltered. P'ing (rep- resenting scales in equilibrium) means ease, tranquillity, satisfaction, and Vat is composed of "water," and "great," denoting: (i) that which is slip- pery; (2) that which is in abundance; and (3) that which moves without fric- INTRODUCTION. 21 The ideal of non-action as the basis of ethics in the sense in which Lao-Tze understands it, is very different from the expressions and moral preachings that the Western people, the energetic children of the North, are accustomed to. Nevertheless, there are re- markable coincidences with Lao-Tze's ethics not only in Buddhism but also in the Bible and the literature of Western saints and sages. The virtue of the Taoist, which is *' tranquillity," '* quietude," ''rest," corresponds to the Biblical in- junction: "Rest in the Lord!" (Psalm, 37, 7) and ''In quietude and in confidence shall be your strength!" (Isaiah, 30, 15), or, as the Apostle has it: "We be- seech you, brethren, that ye study to be quiet." This tranquillity, if acquired by all, would become peace on earth to the men of good-will. The Bible characterises God in words that would have been very congenial to Lao-Tze. We read : "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder ; he burneth the chariot in the fire." (Ps. 46, 9.) And the ethics of this God, who is the ideal of peace on earth, is stillness. The Psalmist continues : "Be still and know that I am God." That God should be conceived as non-action was a favorite idea of Philo, the Neo-PIatonist, the same who for the first time used the term Logos in the sense in which it was adopted by the author of the Fourth Gospel. Philo calls God ocTtoio^, the non-actor, not in the sense of being passive but as absolute existence, tion, i. e., a state of ease. Thus n£;an is peace as opposed to strife; p'i^g- equilibrium, as opposed to an unbalanced state ; t'ai, smoothness, as opposed to irritation. 22 LAO-TZE S TAO-TEH-KING. as the ovTGDS 6v. Indeed, ''activity is as natural to God as burning is to fire" {Leg. all., i, 3), but God's activity is of a peculiar kind ; it is efficiency, not ex- ertion ; it is not a particular work that he performs, but an omnipresent effectiveness which Philo finds difficult to characterise without falling a prey to mys- ticism. Philo was a mystic, and God to him is the Unnamable and Unspeakable, anarovojxaGro^ nai apprjTO?, which is the same as ^ ig {wu ming). Stillness, that is to say, self-possessed tranquillity, or quietude of soul is the condition of purity. Any- thing that agitates the mind disturbs it, for troubled waters cannot be limpid. Chwang-Tze says : "Sadness and pleasure show a depraving element in virtue ; joy and anger show some error in their course ; love and hatred show a failure of their virtue. ... It is the nature of water, when free from admixture, to be clear, and, when not agitated, to be level ; while, if obstructed and not allowed to flow, it cannot pre- serve its clearness ; — being an image of the virtue of Heaven. Hence it is said to be guileless and pure, and free from all admix ture ; to be still and uniform, without undergoing any change ; to be indifferent and not self-asserting ; to move and yet to act like Heaven : — this is the way to nourish the spirit." Christianity and Buddhism are classified by Scho- penhauer as the religions of pessimism, because they recognise the existence of evil in the world from which we must seek salvation, and in addition to several other similarities the Taoist philosophy would fall under the same category. Chwang-Tze lets the rob- ber Chi express his view on happiness in these words which apparently voice the author's opinion: "The greatest longevity man can reach is a hundred years; a medium longevity is eighty years; the lowest longevity is sixty. Take away sickness, pining, bereavement, mourning, anxieties, and calamities, the times when, in any of these, one can open his INTRODUCTION. 23 mouth and laugh, are only four or five days in a month. Heaven and earth have no limit of duration, but the death of man has its (appointed) time." The world is full of anxiety and misery ; and sal- vation consists solely in a surrender of that selfish craving for pleasures which, in common people, is the main-spring of action. Lao-Tze's ethics of returning, and becoming quiet, remind us of Isaiah's word : **In returning and rest shall ye be saved." (30, 15.) And the Psalmist says: '^Return unto thy rest, O my soul." (116, 7.) The Taoist term ^ji^ {Jisil hshi), i. e., emptiness of heart, reminds us of the poor in spirit. Lao-Tze insists on faith as much as St. Paul, say- ing : " He whose faith is insufficient shall receive no faith." (17, 23.) Further Lao-Tze says (Chapters 43 and 78): "The softest overcomes the world's hardest." "The weak conquer the strong, the tender conquer the rigid." St. Paul uses the same expression : "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (i Cor., i, 27.) "When I am weak then I am strong." (2 Cor., 12, 10.) "My (God's) strength is made perfect in weakness." {lb., v. 9.) As the Tao is the same to all people, so the sage is the same to all people. He makes no discrimi- nation. Lao-Tze says: m^'^^Z ^-mm^^yK^mZ {sha?i che wu shati chih; puh shan che wu yih shan chihf) ''The good I meet with goodness; the not-good I meet also with goodness!" (Chapter 49.) Since genuine merit can be accomplished only through non- assertion, the condition of greatness is 24 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. modesty or lowliness. As the water that benefits all the world seeks always the lov/est places, so the sage abhors self-exaltation. As Christ says, *' Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased," and *'he that shall humble himself shall be exalted," so Lao-Tze compares the Tao of Heaven to a bow (Chapter 77) ; he says: *'It brings down the high and exalts the lowly." Lao-Tze says that the imperfect will be re- stored, the crooked shall be straightened, the valleys shall be filled (Chapter 20), which reminds one of the words of Isaiah (40, 4): ' ' Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low : and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain." Christian philosophers of the Middle Ages, espe- cially the Mystics, present even more striking anal- ogies to Lao-Tze's terminology than St. Paul. As Lao-Tze speaks of ^'Tao's course" as a *^regress" or ''a. return homeward" (Chapter 40), and of man's necessity of ' ' returning to the root, " so Scotus Erigena in his book De divisione naturcE, 519 D, declares : ' ' Deus in unum colligit omnia et ad se ipsum iyieffahili re- gressH resolvitur." [God gathers all in one and resolves them in Himself in an ineifable regress.] Master Eckhart's sermons contain many passages that might have been written by Lao-Tze ; so espe- cially his praise of the virtue of simplicity, which he calls Eiiivaltekeit (edition Pfeiffer, II., 600, 31), his recommendation of quietude and rest, which he calls rouwe {ibid. 601, 4) the importance which he attrib- utes to unity which he calls eineheit {ibid.y 517 L), and his identification of the highest height with the deepest depth of humility {idid.y 574, 22 and 26). INTRODUCTION. 25 There is no doubt, the Taolsts could claim Eckhart as one of their own. Johannes Scheffler, called Angelus Silesius, a born Protestant, who was so much affected by mystic sen timent that he turned Roman Catholic, says : " Wir beten : ' Es gescheh', mein Herr und Gott, dein Wille,' Und sieh, Er hat nicht Will', Er ist ein' ew'ge Stille." ["Thy will be done O Lord, my God ! " we pray, But lo ! God has no will ; stillness he is for aye.] " Ruh' ist das hochste Gut, und ware Gott nicht Ruh', Ich schlosse vor Ihm selbst mein' Augen beide zu." [Rest is the highest good ; indeed were God not rest ; I'd turn away from Him, as being no longer blest.] The Tao-Teh-King exercised a strong influence on Tolstoi. 1 He, too, speaks of non-action, le non-agir. Labor, in his opinion, is no virtue ; labor is useless, nay, pernicious, for labor, such as keeps men too busy to leave them time for thought, is the curse of the world. Most of us, says Tolstoi, have not time for the consideration of truth and goodness, because we are rushed. An editor must arrange his journal, the gen- eral organises his troops, the engineer constructs an Eiffel tower, men of affairs arrange the World's Fair, the naturahst investigates heredity, the philologist must count the frequency of various phrases in certain authors, and no one has leisure enough for a moment of rest; no one has time for finding that peace of soul which the world cannot give. They do anything ex- cept that which they ought to do first. Tolstoi is right, for thinking reforms the world, not laboring. Thought is the rudder that changes the 1 Tolstoi informs the author that he contemplated making a Russian translation of the Tao-Teh-King. 26 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. course of the ship of toiling mankind ; the energy of the steam that labors in turning the wheels is useful only so long as it is controlled by thought in the right way. For acquiring the right ideal that will guide us in the right direction, we need not labor, nor need we exert ourselves, on the contrary, says Tolstoi, we must abandon all exertion and become calm. If all men would only employ the tenth part of the energy that is wasted on the acquisition of purely material advan- tages, to settling the questions of their conscience, the world would soon be reformed. A peculiar parallelism of Lao-Tze's Taoism with Christianity consists in Lao-Tze's belief in an original state of innocence and paradisial happiness. He attrib- utes all the evils that now prevail to a deviation from the original simplicity enjoined by the eternal Tao. The conscious discrimination between good and evil, the studied wisdom of the age, the prevailing method of teaching virtue which does not make men good, but merely induces them to be hypocritical, the constant interference of the government with the affairs of the people are the causes of all disorders. His ideal state would be a return to the paradisial innocence and sim- plicity, a society of simple-minded people who seek their happiness at home. (Chapter 80.) There are many more remarkable passages in the Tao-Teh-King, such as the trinity in unity (Chapter 42); the preservation of him who will not perish when he dies (Chapter 33) ; that the weak conquer the strong (Chapter 43); that we must become like little children (Chapter 28 and 55); that the holy man knows himself as a child of the Tao (Chapter 52); that the Tao can be had for the mere seeking for it (Chapter 63) ; that the son of heaven (viz., the king or empe- INTRODUCTION. 27 ror) must bear the sins of the people (Chapter 78), etc.; but we must leave them to the reader who will find enough in Lao-Tze's little book that will set him to thinking. * * The natural result of Lao-Tze's philosophy is the ethical ideal of the sage, the saintly man, |g \ {she7ig Jhren),^ who is also called ^-^ {chiin tze), the su- perior sage, or, as later Taoists have it, '^ A {chen j'hren)^ the Truth-Man, i. e., the man of truth or the true man. Chwang-Tze says (Book XV.): ' ' The human spirit goes forth in all directions, flowing on without limit, reaching to heaven above, and wreathing round the earth beneath. It transforms and nourishes all things, and cannot be represented by any form. Its name is "Divinity (in man)." It is only the path of pure simplicity which guards and preserves the Spirit. When this path is preserved and not lost, it becomes one with the Spirit ; and in this ethereal amalgamation it acts in har- mony with the orderly operation of Heaven. "There is a common saying, 'The multitude of men consider gain to be the most important thing ; pure scholars, fame ; those who are wise and able value their ambition ; the sage prizes essen- tial purity.' Therefore simplicity is the denomination of that in which there is no admixture ; purity of that in which the spirit is not impaired. It is he who can embody simplicity and purity whom we call the True Man." Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX., P- 367- An exhaustive description of the True Man is given by Chwang-Tze in Book VI., where we read: "What is meant by ' the True Man ' ? "The True men of old did not reject (the views of) the few; they did not seek to accomplish (their ends) like heroes (before others); they did not lay plans to attain those ends. Being such, though they might make mistakes, they had no occasion for re- IFor Chen, see p. 15; for skeng, p. 773, in Williams's Syllabic Dictionary 28 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. pentance; though they might succeed, they had no self-complacency. Being such, they could ascend the loftiest heights without fear ; they could pass through water without being made wet by it ; they could go into fire without being burnt ; so it was that by their knowledge they ascended to and reached the Tao. "The True men of old did not dream when they slept, had no anxiety when they awoke, and did not care that their food should be pleasant. Their breathing came deep and silently. "When men are defeated in argument, their words come from their gullets as if they were vomiting. Where lusts and desires are deep, the springs of the Heavenly are shallow. "The True men of old knew nothing of the love of life or of the hatred of death. Entrance into life occasioned them no joy ; the exit from it awakened no resistance. Composedly they went and came. They did not forget what their beginning had been, and they did not inquire into what their end would be. They ac- cepted their lot and rejoiced in it ; they forgot fear of death and returned to their state before life. Thus there was in them what is called the want of any mind to resist the Tau, and of all attempts by means of the Human to assist the Heavenly. Such were they who are called the True men. "The True men of old presented the aspect of judging others aright, but without being partisans ; of feeling their own insuffi- ciency, but being without flattery or cringing. Their peculiarities were natural to them, but they were not obstinately attached to them ; their humility was evident, but there was nothing of un- reality or display about it." Ibid,, p. 237, 238, 240. Lao-Tze declares that the True Man is not hurt by fire or water, and that he need not fear either the rhi- noceros or tiger, which is explained by Chwang-Tze in Book XVII.: ' ' Fire cannot burn him who is perfect in virtue, nor water drown him ; neither cold nor heat can affect him injuriously ; neither bird nor beast can hurt him. This does not mean that he is indifferent to these things ; it means that he discriminates be- tween where he may safely rest and where he wiU be in peril ; that he is tranquil equally in calamity and happiness ; that he is careful what he avoids and what he approaches; — so that nothing INTRODUCTION. 29 can injure him. Hence it is said : 'What is heavenly is internal; what is human is external.' "Virtue is in what is heavenly. If you know the operation of what is heavenly and what is human, you will have your root in what is heavenly and your position in virtue." Ibid., p. 383. The sage is above death ; he is one with the Tao : "Death and life are great considerations, but they could work no change in him. Though heaven and earth were to be overturned and fall, they would occasion him no loss. His judgment is fixed on that in which there is no element of falsehood ; and, while other things change, he changes not. The transformations of things are to him the developments prescribed for them, and he keeps fast hold of the author of them." The same ideas are expressed by Horace in his ode Integer vitce (I., 22) in which the Roman poet praises the perfect and faultless man who needs no arms of any description, who may roam through moun- tain wildernesses without fear of the wolf and will not suffer from the heat of the desert. Horace exclaims in another ode that the virtuous man would remain firm even if the world broke down upon him: ^^St fr actus illabatur or bis, impavidum ferient ruifiae.'*^ It was natural that in the course of the further de- velopment of the Taoist movement the old philosopher was more and more regarded as the True Man, beside whom all the others were mere aspirants for saintli- ness. His life was adorned with tales which remind us of Buddhist legends, and he became the central figure of a triune deity called the Three Pure Ones, which are even in appearance very similar to the Buddhist Trinity of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. TAOISM BEFORE AND AFTER LAO- TZE. QUOTATIONS IN THE TAO-TEH-KING. LAO-TZE is commonly called the founder of Tao- ism, but this is a very doubtful statement, for on the one hand, there appears to have been Taoism before Lao-Tze, and, on the other hand, Lao-Tze's philosophy is too lofty to be identified with the Tao- ism which at the present day is practised in the in- numerable temples of modern Taoism. The Taoists claim Lao-Tze as the revealer of the Tao, the divine Reason, but apparently there are few Taoist priests who are at all able to grasp the significance of the Tao-Teh-King. Lao-Tze is to the Taoists what Christ is to the Christians and Buddha to the Buddhists ; but if he came unto his own, those in charge of his temples would not know him, neither would they re- ceive him. The existence of Taoism before Lao-Tze is evi- denced by the numerous quotations, mostly in verse, which are commonly introduced with the word JJ5[ {ku),^ ''therefore," which may be translated "for it is said." T'u-T'au-Kien, a commentator (quoted by Stanislas Julien, p. 133) asserts that the passages 1 Williams, 5. D., p. 434. INTRODUCTION. 3I introduced by the words ''Therefore the holy man says," are quoted from the Fen-tien. It is a peculiar- ity of Lao-Tze's that he never quotes an author by name and makes no personal allusions whatever. He is abstract in his thought as well as in his relations to mankind. We may safely take the existence of a popular Tao-religion and also a current literature of rhymed proverbs and wise saws in the times of Lao-Tze for granted ; and the ancient sages of whom he speaks appear to him deep though timid in their expressions (see chapter 15); they were hazy and lacked clear- ness, yet they were suggestive, and the ideas which their words suggested to him, he is inclined to attrib- ute to them. The main purpose of his book is to make their wisdom, which none could understand, in- telligible to the people. But no one who, having per- used the whole Tao-Teh-King so as to be familiar with the character of Lao-Tze's thoughts, will, when rereading the fifteenth chapter, fail to understand the situation. The philosophical literature before Lao- Tze probably did not contain anything the loss of which we should have to regret, except for historical or anthropological reasons. It was confused, unintel- ligible, and full of mystical hints. Its morality ap- pears to have been of a homely character, but not without practical wisdom, such as is found in the proverb literature of all nations as the natural pro- duct of the people's experience. Lao-Tze apparently poured new wine into old bottles, and gave to the sages of yore, at whose feet he had sat, more credit than they deserved. Lao-Tze declares that emptiness is inexhaustible. The motions of the vacant space between heaven and 32 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. earth do not cease, while the man of many words is soon exhausted. In this connexion he quotes (ch. 5) a Chinese doggerel, probably a proverb of his time: " How soon exhausted is a gossip's fulsome talk ! And should we not prefer on the middle path to walk?"^ The sixth chapter contains a curious quotation^ which (as says the commentator T'u-T'au-Kien) Lieh- Tze attributes to the mythical Hwang-Ti, the Yellow Emperor.3 The verses may have had reference to the worship of some local deity called ''the valley sprite" or "the mysterious mother." She presided over a spring which, because it never ran dry, was supposed to be a direct emanation of the root of heaven and earth. But how much more significant these homely verses become when the ever-enduring, mysterious mother is conceived to symbolise the eternal Tao! The quotation (in Chapter i) of the desireless who comprehends the secret meaning of things while the passionate man allows himself to be beguiled by ex- ternal appearance may have had reference to a popu- lar tale or legend similar perhaps to the story of the three caskets in Shakespeare's Merchajit of Venice. The quotation in Chapter 2, which sets forth the co-existence of contrasts and their mutual depend- ence is, more than to other nations, natural to the Chi- nese who in their word combinations use compounds of contrasts to denote what is common in both. Thus a combination of the words ''to be" and "not to be" means the struggle for life or the bread question; IThe middle path is the path of virtue. 2 See Stanislas Julien, p. 133. 3Lieh-Tze's full name is Lieh-Yu-K'ow. He belongs to the generation that immediately succeeded the age of Confucius. The Yellow Emperor is commonly assijgnecj to 2697 B. C. See Meyer's Ch. R, M., Nos. 387 and 225. INTRODUCTION. 33 ''the high and the low" means altitude ; ''much and little " means quantity, etc. But what originally seems to have been the trivial observation of a grammar- school teacher, acquires a philosophical meaning when embodied by Lao-Tze into the Tao-Teh-King. These are mere guesses at the original meanings of some of Lao-Tze's quotations ; they may be right, they may be wrong ; who can tell? But the quota- tions seem to my mind to tell their own story. Some quotations, such as those in chapters 13, 14, 27j 29, 39, 44, 54, 73, and even the remarkable lines in 78, are simple enough and need no explanation ; the quotations in chapt. 12 smack of Chinese schools. The first three lines remind us of sentences contained in the San-Tze-King^ (the classic of three characters), and the other two lines reflect the practical spirit of the Chinese way of moralising. Others (such as in Chapters 2 [the last lines], 4 [repeated in 56], 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 28, 35, 37, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47) are so peculiarly characteristic of Lao-Tze that we feel in- clined to believe that they were either written by the author of the Tao-Teh-King himself, or adapted by him through a slight change in words to their present use, for it is more than probable that the author of the Tao-Teh-King was himself a poet of hymns and of philosophical contemplations. If he shows at an advanced age so much emotion and also love of po- etry, how could he in his younger years have abstained from expressing his sentiments in verse? Moreover, the frequent repetitions ^ in the Tao-Teh-King prove 1 Here is a list of the repetitions in the Tao-Teh-King : " Quickens but owns not, works but claims not," 2, lo, 51, partly repeated in 77-— The verses " Blunts its own sharpness " etc , are quoted twice, 4 and 56.—" Quarreleth (or striveth) not " is repeated with variations in 8, 22, 66, 81.— "Attends to the inner, not to the outer, abandons the latter and chooses the -TZE% T 34 LAO-TZE'S TAO-TEH-KING. that he was inclined to quote sayings of his own. However, one of Ljao-Tze's most remarkable quota- tions, found in Chapter 22, is expressly stated to be a saying of the ancients, and Lao-Tze adds that it '*was not vainly spoken.'* The quotations in the Tao-Teh-King do not prove a lack of originality in Lao-Tze, but they are unequiv- ocal evidences of aspirations before Lao-Tze, which, although less definite, tended in the same direction. LAO-TZE AND CONFUCIUS. Taoism is at present, and probably was from time immemorial, certainly long before Lao-Tze, a religion of China. But it is not the only religion ; it is one of the three great religions that are officially recog- nised. Besides Taoism, there is Buddhism and Con- fucianism. There is a rivalry between Buddhism and Taoism, for Buddhism and Taoism present many similarities ; but between Taoism and Confucianism there has obtained since olden times an outspoken antagonism, for Lao-Tze's philosophy stands in strong contrast to the Confucian view of life. We do not speak now of the objections which educated Chinese scholars who hold high offices in the State have to the superstitions that obtain among the less educated former," 12, 38, 72. — " He whose faith is insuflBcient shall receive no faith," 17,23. — "He that makes mars," etc., 29, 64. — "Asserts non-assertion," 3, 37, 48. — "This is called unreason; unreason soon ceases," 30, 55.— "One who has reason has nothing to do therewith," 24, 31.—" If princes and king could keep reason," etc., 32, 37. — " With non-diplomacy he takes the empire," 48. 58. — " Closes his mouth and shuts his sense-gates," 52, 56. — "Thus he becomes world-honored," 56,62. — "Therefore even the holy man regards it as difiS- cult," 63, 73. 1 For a translation and exposition of the contents of the San-Tze-King, see The Open Court, Vol. IX., No. 412. A Latin translation was made by Stanislas Julien, a German translation by Neumann. INTRODUCTION. 35 Taoist priesthood and also against the religious frauds that are frequently practised in the name of Taoism. We simply speak of the antagonism that obtains be- tween the two sages and their moral maxims. While •% ^ (Lao-Tze) endeavored to reform the heart of the people without moralising or fussing, and left all externalities to fate, '^'f (K'ung-Tze) or Confucius, proposed to teach propriety. If the people would only observe the necessary rules and ceremonies prescribed by piety and good manners, he expected that all human relations would adjust themselves, and the heart would be reformed by a reform of the habits of life. While Lao-Tze was self-reliant and almost solitary in his way of thinking,^ Confucius sought the favor of kings and princes. While Lao-Tze stood up for natural spontaneity and independence, Confucius represented paternalism. While Lao-Tze was an an- archist, not in the sense of being against kings, but against governing, Confucius was a monarchist and a regulator of affairs in their details, endeavoring to ex- tend the government into the very hearts of families and the private affairs of the people. Further, Lao-Tze with all his clearness of thought had a mystic inclination. rVie wanted wisdom, not scholarship ; Confucius wanted scholarship and hoped to gain wisdom by learning. Lao-Tze wanted sim- plicity of heart, not decorum ; Confucius expected to affect the heart by the proper decorum. Confucius preferred conscious deportment, the product of arti- ficial schooling, but Lao-Tze wanted goodness raised in freedom. r/ Under such conditions it was natural that there could be but little sympathy between Lao-Tze and 1 Chapter 20 is a pathetic description of Lao-Tze's isolation. 36 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. K'ung-Tze, the two greatest leaders of Chinese civil- isation, who happened to be contemporaries. Indeed, the Tao-Teh-King contains passages which must be interpreted as direct criticisms of the views of Con- fucius.^ Sze-Ma-Ch'ien's story of Lao-Tze's life which has been incorporated in the present edition of the Tao- Teh-King contains the report of Confucius's inter- view with the old philosopher, which, for all we know, may be an historical fact. We possess another account of the same meeting by Chwang-Tze (Book XIV, § 6), which, however, although older, can in its lengthier details scarcely be considered more reliable, for Chwang-Tze writes as a litterateur, while Sze-Ma- Ch'ien is conscious of the historian's duties. We need not reproduce Chwang-Tze's account, because it has become accessible through the translations of Victor von Strauss and James Legge.^ The Taoist writers are in the habit of censuring bit- terly both Confucius and the Confucian scholars, the literati, who down to the present day fill the offices of the Chinese government. The best instances of Tao- istic satires are the stories of the madman of Ch'u who rebukes Confucius for his ostentatious manners ; the old fisherman who lectures him on simplicity; and the robber Chi wdio criticises his views on ethics. ^ The last-mentioned story, viz., of the robber Chi, seems of sufficient interest to deserve a few further remarks. To be brave and courageous and to be a leader of men in battle is, according to Confucius, the IK'ung-Tze's ideal of justice is replaced in the Chapters 49 and 63 by the higher command (which is inculcated by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount) of meeting, not only the good, but also the bad, with goodness. 2 Strauss, Tao-Teh-King, pp. 347-3j7 ; Legge, S. B. E., XXXIX., pp. 357 ft. Z Sacred Books of the East, XXXIX., p. 221 ff. ; XL., pp. 166 ft., and 192 ff. INTRODUCTION. 37 lowest virtue, while offering sacrifices to one's ances- tors is the greatest merit one can accompHsh. The robber Chi rejects the views of Confucius as the arbi- trary opinion of an arrogant hypocrite whose lack of success in life proves his inability; and he explains to him that neither he, Confucius himself, nor any one of the old heroes admired by him, were truly virtuous men. Chwang-Tze, in telling the story, claims that the proper procedure in life cannot be laid down in general rules, such as Confucius propounds, but that every creature has its own nature, and every business has its own principles. He only who applies them as suits the peculiar conditions of each case can be suc- cessful. He looks upon the virtuous and unvirtuous man of Confucian ethics as an artificial distinction which has no value and is rather a hindrance in real life ; at least one prince who followed his maxims lost throne and life. As to principles, however, even rob- bers must adopt them in order to be successful. Says Chwang-Tze : "What profession is there which has not its principles ? That the robber in his recklessness comes to the conclusion that there are valuable deposits in an apartment shows his sageness ; that he is the first to enter it shows his bravery ; that he is the last to quit it shows his righteousness ; that he knows whether (the robbery) may be attempted or not shows his wisdom ; and that he makes a division of the plunder shows his benevolence. Without all these five qualities no one in the world has ever succeeded in becoming a great robber. Looking at the subject in this way, we see that good men do not arise without having the principles of sages, and that Chih could not have pursued his course without the same principles. But the good men in the world are few, and those who are not good are many; — it follows that the scholars (viz., the Confucian literati) benefit the world in a few instances and injure it in many." Lao-Tze's ethics were rejectea by the schools, but 38 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. the doctrine of Confucius appealed to the rulers of China on account of its apparent practicability and became thus the established philosophy of the empire. How much different would the development of China have been had Lao-Tze in the place of Confucius ex- ercised the dominating influence upon the thought of the people ! TAOISM AFTER LAO-TZE. Although the Tao-Teh-King is no popular book, its author, the old philosopher gained, nevertheless, the universal admiration of the masses ; but it is nat- ural that the people's Taoism differs greatly from Lao- Tze's Taoism, for while Lao-Tze opposed learnedness and the pretentious show of scholarship, popular Tao- ism is reported to oppose all learning and with it gen- uine science and true wisdom. There is no place in China but has one or more Taoist temples, and at the head of all of them stands the Taoist pope, the vicegerent of God on earth. Pro- fessor Legge says : "Taoism came into prominence under the government of the Han dynasty, and it is recorded that the Emperor Ching (156-143 B. C.) issued an imperial decree that Lao-Tze's book on the Tao and the Teh, on Reason and Virtue, should be respected as a can- onical book or Ji'i7ig, hence its title Tao- Teh- KING:' Among the Taoist literature, the books of Chwang- Tze are the most philosophical, while the Book of Rewards and Vximshments {Kan- Ying-P'ien) diXid the Book of Secret Blessings {Yin-Chih- Wen) are the most popular. Chwang-Tze's writings are a noteworthy monument of deep thought in elegant form, and the two other works are moral injunctions which in the Kan-Ying-P'ien are illustrated by stories that bring INTRODUCTION. 39 home to the reader the need of charitableness, piety, universal kindness, and other virtues.^ When Buddhism was introduced into China, the Taoists invented legends to prove that Lao-Tze had been the teacher of Buddha, and the Buddhists recip- rocated by inventing other legends to prove that Bud- dha had been the teacher of Lao-Tze. In order to make these claims good they had, however, to alter their chronology, and this is the reason why Buddha's life dates considerably further back according to the Northern traditions than is warranted by the original historical records. Later Taoists became engaged in the search for the elixir of life, the transmutation of baser metals into gold, and similar aberrations. They were some- times persecuted by the government, sometimes pro- tected, but they always remained a great power in China on account of the belief of the common people, who never failed to employ and support Taoist priests as soothsayers and astrologers. When in 208 B. C. the founder of the Han dy- nasty, Lin Pang, then still the Duke of Pei, took pos- session of the Empire, he was greatly aided by Chang Liang, who opposed the last successors of the Ts'in dynasty ; but when peace was restored Chang-Liang refused to accept any rewards and withdrew, devoting himself to the study of Taoism. A descendant of this hero in the eighth generation became the patron of the Taoist sect. Mayers (in his Chtfiese Reader's Mati- ualj I., No. 35) says about him : iThe Kan-Ying-P'ien has been translated into French by Stanislaus Julien under the title Le Livre dcs Recompenses et des Feines, etc. Paris and London. 1835. For a good account of both the Kan-Yin g-I^ ten and the Yin- TzU-Win see Prof. R. K. Douglas's Confucianism aud Taouisvi. London. 1889. Pp., 256-274. 40 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. "He is reputed as having been born at T'ien Muh Shan, in the modern province of Chekiang, and is said at the age of seven to have already mastered the writings of Lao-Tze and the most recondite treatises relating to the philosophy of divination. Devot- ing himself wholly to study and meditation, he steadfastly declined the offers made him by the Emperors Ho Ti and Chang Ti, who wished to attract him into the service of the State. The latter sovereign ennobled him, from respect for his attainments. Retir- ing to seclusion in the mountain fastnesses of "Western China, he devoted himself there to the study of alchemy and to cultivating the virtues of purity and mental abstraction. His search for the elixir of life was successful, thanks to the instruction conveyed in a mystic treatise supernaturally received from the hands of Lao- Tze himself. The later years of the mystic's earthly experience were spent at the mountain called Lung Hu Shan in Kiangsi, and it was here that, at the age of 123, after compounding and swallowing the grand elixir, he ascended to the heavens to enjoy the bliss of immortality. Before taking leave of earth, he be- queathed his secrets to his son, Chang-Heng, and the tradition of his attainments continued to linger about the place of his abode until, in A. D. 423, one of his sectaries, named K'ow K'ien-che, was proclaimed as his successor in the headship of the Tauist fra- ternity and invested with the title of T'ien-She, which was reputed as having been conferred upon Chang Tao-Ling. In A. D. 748, T'ang Hsuan Tsung confirmed the hereditary privileges of the sage's descendants with the above title, and in 1016, Sung Chen Tsung enfeoffed the existing representative with large tracts of land near Lung Hu Shan.i The Mongol emperors were also liberal patrons of the family, who have continued until the present day to claim the headship of the Taoist sect. In imitation, probably, of the Tibetan doctrine of heirship by metempsychosis, the succession is perpetuated, it is said, by the transmigration of the soul of each successor of Chang Tao-Ling, on his decease, to the body of some infant or youthful member of the family, whose heirship is super- naturally revealed as soon as the miracle is effected." The Rev. Hampden C. Du Bose says about the Taoist Pope, pages 373, 374:^ iThe Dragon and Tiger Mountains. 2 Bose, The Dragon Image and Demon. New York. 1887. INTRODUCTION. 4I "The name of Chang, the Heavenly Teacher, is on every lip in China ; he is on earth the Vicegerent of the Pearly Emperor in Heaven, and the Commander-in-chief of the hosts of Taoism. Whatever doubts there may be about Peter's apostolic successors, the present Pope, Chang LX., boasts of an unbroken line for three- score generations. He, the chief of the wizards, the "true man" (i. e., "the ideal man"), as he is called, and wields an immense spiritual power throughout the land." The present emperor respects the rights of the hereditary Taoist Pope and makes all his appoint- ments of new deities or new titles conferred upon Gods or any other changes in the spiritual world through this head of the Taoist sect, whose power is based not only upon wealth, nor upon his priestly army of one hundred thousand men alone, but also and mainly on the reverence of the masses who are convinced of his magical accomplishments and spiritual superiority. When the reader has finished reading the Tao- Teh-King, so as to have in his mind a clear impression of its grand old author, let him think of the official representative of Lao-Tze's philosophy of the present day. Bose informs us that the scenery of his rural palace is most enchanting ; he lives in pomp and lux- ury, has courtiers and officers, assumes a state whose splendor is scarcely less than that of any sovereign in the world, he confers honors like the emperor of China, and controls the appointments and promotions to the various positions of the Taoist priesthood, many of which are very remunerative, investments being made by written document with official seals. What a contrast between Lao-Tze and the *'vlce- gerent on earth of the Pearly Emperor in Heaven" ! And yet, is it not quite natural ? Should we expect it different ? It is the world's way of paying its tribute to greatness. THE PRESENT EDITION OF THE TAO-TEH-KING. CONCERNING the manuscripts of the Tao-Teh- King, Prof. Stanislas Julien translates the fol- lowing passage from a Chinese authority :^ ' ' The text of Lao-Tze known under the title of Hiang-in-tsie pen was found in the tomb of Hiang-in in the fifth year of the period of Wu-p'ing of the Northern T'si dynasty (which is the year 574 A. D.), by an inhabitant of the village of Pong. The text called Ngan-k'ien-ivang-^en was found by a Tau-sse named Keu- tsien in the period of T'ai-ho of the Wei (which is in our chronol- ogy the years 475 and 500 A. D.). The text of the Ho-shayig-kong was handed down through Kieu-yo, a sage of the kingdom of T'si. Each of these three texts contain 5,722 words. The passages quoted from Lao-Tze by the philosopher Han-fei are found therein exactly and without variations. There was an official text at Lo- yang called Kuan-^en containing 5,630 words. The text VVa7ig-;pi (the commentary of which was composed under the Wei, and ac- cording to others under the Tsin), contains 5,683 words, and in certain editions 5,610 words." Chao-Hong reports that there are sixty-four edi- tions of the Tao-Teh-King. It has been commentated by twenty Taoists, seven Buddhists, and thirty-four literati. The present text-edition is based upon a compari- ISee Stanislas Julien, Lao Tseu Tao Te King, p. xxxiv., where he refers to Lao Tseu Tsi Kiai (ed. Sie Hoel), Book III. fol. 10. INTRODUCTION. 43 son of five versions in the translator's possession, the titles of which are as follows : [Lao-Tze's Tao-Tch-King, commented by Wang Pi, edited by Uk^, published by Suharaya, Tokio.] Two volumes.* [Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King, commented by Su Cheh, edited by Kiyama, published by Shozando, Tokio.] Two volumes.^ \^Lao- Tze Exj)ou7ided. By Nishimura, published by the Ni- shobo, Tokio.] A text-edition with numerous comments. 4- ^i^ii^lS ^^^M fr^«S^f7^^ Lao-Tze's Tau. Teh-King. [Published by Tetzugaku Kwan, i. e., the Philosoph- ical Institute.] 2 5. Lao Tseu Tao Te Kiytg. Le livre de la voie et de la vertu, etc. Par Stanislas Julien. Paris. 1842. (Chinese-French, with comments.) Those chapters which M. Abel-R^musat quoted in the original Chinese have also been consulted.^ * The original text of the old philosopher's life by nl^lrs© (Sze-Ma-Ch'ien), which in the present edi- tion of Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King serves as an histori- cal introduction, has been reproduced from Georg von der Gabelentz's edition of this interesting chapter as it appears in his Anfangsgrilnde der Chinesischen Gram- matik, pp. 1 1 i-i 15. The sole liberty taken with Gabe- IWang Pi is a famous Chinese commentator who lived 226-247 A. D. under the Wei dynasty, and although he died very young, has the reputation of being a great authority. Su Cheh is one of the two celebrated sons of Su Sun, a prominent author under the Sung dynasty. He lived 1039-1112 and distinguished himself, like his brother Su She, as a statesman and commen- tator. See Mayers' s Chinese Reader's Manual, Part I , Nos. 812 and 624. 2 The Tetzugaku Kwan contains a brief Japanese introduction and Chal- mer's English translation, but is otherwise without any comments. ZMemoire sur la vie et les opinions de Laou-Tseu, Paris, 1823. 44 LAO-TZE S TAO-TEH-KING. lentz's text is the restitution of ^ {p^^ng) to ^ {f^^g)y^ which obviously is a mere misprint, quite pardonable in consideration of the close similarity of these two words. The first translation that was made of the Tao- Teh-King by Western scholars is in Latin. It was made by the Roman Catholic missionaries.''^ Consid- ering the difficulties that had to be overcome, this first venture appears to have been remarkably good, but it is now superseded by the first French translation made by Professor Stanislas Julien. Julien's edition is very carefully made and may still be regarded as the most diligent and comprehen- sive work of its kind. It contains the Chinese text mainly based upon Edition E of the Royal Library of Paris. Another French translation has been made by C. De Harlez and is published in the Annales du Musce Guimet, Vol. XX. It is based on a careful revision of the text and commentataries. It contains some new interpretations, but enters little into textual criticisms, and as it serves another purpose, it does not render Stanislaus Julien's edition antiquated. Chalmers's translation is, so far as we know, the first English version. It is very readable and agrees closely with Stanislas Julien's translation but stands in need of a revision. As Chalmers's booklet appeared in a limited edition, it is now out of print, and I could only with difficulty procure a second-hand copy. James Legge's translation, which appeared in the 1 Feng means "to meet unexpectedly" (Williams, S. D., p. 158), while p^eng is " a species of rzibus or raspberry, growing sporadically among hemp"; also described as " a weed that the wind roots up and drives across the wastes." — Williams spells p'anga.nd fflftg. 2 Not being in possession of a copy I have not been able to consult it. INTRODUCTION. 45 Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXIX., is no great improvement on Chalmers's translation ; on the con- trary, it is in several respects disappointing. With its many additions in parentheses, it makes the impres- sion of being quite literal, while in fact it is a loose rendering of the original. There is a very good German translation by Victor von Strauss, which might be better still had the trans- lator not unduly yielded to his preconception that Lao-Tze was the representative leader of an ancient theosophical movement. In addition we have two paraphrases of the Tao- Teh-King, one in German by Reinhold von Plaenck- ner, the other in English by Major-General G. G. Alexander. Plaenckner deviates greatly in his con- ception of Lao-Tze from all other translators, and is very bitter in denouncing Stanislas Julien especially. Alexander's main contention is to translate the word Tao by God. For the present translation I have freely availed myself of the labors of my predecessors, to whom I hereby express my gratitude publicly. Most valuable of all has proved to be Prof. Stanislas Julien's work. Five dictionaries have been used, (i) the Syllabic Dictio7iary of the Chinese Language by Prof. S. Wells Williams, (2) The Chinese Dictionary in the Cantonese Dialect by Ernest John Eitel, (3) Kwong Ki Chin's English- Chinese Dictionary, (4) Chalmer's Concise Dic- tionary of Chinese on the Basis of K'anghi, and (5) the orginal K'anghi.'^ Williams's dictionary, which was in the author's possession from the beginning of his 1 In various references throughout this book the title of Williams's dic- tionary has been abbreviated in W. S. D., and the Kanghi has simply been written K. 46 lao-tze's tao-teh-king. work, proved most convenient but was in many in- stances insufficient for the present purpose, in which case the K^anghi had to be resorted to. In addition I am indebted to Mr. K. Tanaka, a young Japanese student of the University of Chicago, and especially to Mr. Teitaro Suzuki, a young Bud- dhist of Kamakura, Japan, who assisted me in both the comparison of the various editions at my com- mand and in the transliteration of the text. Further, I have to thank Dr. Heinrich Riedel of Brooklyn, N. Y., and the Rev. George T. Candlin of Tientsin, China, for good advice and suggestions. The purpose of the present translation is first to bring the Tao-Teh-King within easy reach of every- body, and secondly to offer to the student of com- parative religion a version which would be a faithful reproduction not only of the sense but of all the char- acteristic qualities, especially the terseness and the ruggedness of its style. The translator's ideal was to reproduce the orig- inal in a readable form which would be as literal as the difference of languages permits and as intelligi- ble to English-speaking people as the original ought to be to the educated native Chinese. While linguistic obscurities have been removed as much as possible, the sense has not been rendered more definite than the original would warrant. Stock phrases which are easily understood, such as, ^* the ten thousand things," meaning the whole world or nature collectively, have been left in their original form ; but expressions which without a commentary would be unintelligible, such as *'not to depart from the baggage waggon," mean- ing to preserve one's dignity (Chap. 26), have been re- placed by the nearest terms that cover their meaning. INTRODUCTION. 47 The versification of the quoted poetry is as literal as possible and as simple as in the original. No at- tempt was made to improve their literary elegance. The translator was satisfied if he could find a rhyme which would introduce either no change in the words at all or such an indifferent change as would not in the least alter the sense. The transliteration of the several words which con- stitutes the fourth part of this book will enable almost everybody to fall back upon the original Chinese and to verify or revise the translation here proposed. Comments on the text have been relegated to the critical notes. Observations which on account of their importance should be consulted also by those readers who are not interested in Chinese philology have been marked by a hand, thus J8@^. Only a few terse ex- planatory additions, and such only as are indispens- able for an immediate elucidation of the sense, were admitted in brackets into the text. Standing upon the shoulders of others, and hav- ing compared and re-translated the original text, the author feels confident that he can offer to the public a translation which is a sufficient improvement upon former translations to justify its publication. It lies in the nature of this work that the number of those men who can judge of its merits and demerits is very limited. In handing the book over for publi- cation I crave their indulgence, but, at the same time, ask them to judge of it with all the severity that would be necessary for its improvement in a second edition ; for there is a need of a popular edition that will help the English-reading public to appreciate the philo- sophical genius and the profound religious spirit of one of the greatest men that ever trod the earth. 48 LAO-TZE S TAO-TEH-KING. PRONUNCIATION AND METHOD OF TRANSCRIPTION It must be regretted that no system of transcribing Chinese sounds has as yet been commonly accepted ; nor can any of them be regarded as satisfactory. In the beginning the author of this book adopted Prof. S. Weils Williams's method exclusively, but he has allowed himself to be in- fluenced by Gabelentz, Bridgman, Eitel, Stanislas Julien, and especially by Wade whose system appears to be much used at present. The transcription employed in the Introduction (pp. 3-47) deviates from the traditional methods only where they are positively misleading. For instance, the spelling Cho is preferred to Chou, because no unsophisticated reader would pronounce ou as long o. The diphthong which sounds like cnv in how has been so commonly tran- scribed by ao that Western eyes have become accustomed to the spellings lao and tao. It would now be difficult to introduce another transcription of the diphthong in lao and tao, for English readers would be puzzled with either form, low and lou ; the former would probably be pronounced lo, and the latter loo. If it were transcribed, after the German fashion, lau, it would probably be pronounced law. For these reasons no change has been made in the traditional spelling of ao. The Rev. Mr. George T. Candlin of Tientsin, China, whose advice was solicited in matters of pronunciation, writes that the vowels of all the sys- tems that follow Wade adopt the continental pronunciation of vowels. How- ever, o sounds somewhat like oah, and ozi has the sound of o in " alone." As to the sound which is transcribed by Williams and Wade by/, and de- clared by Gabelentz to be equivalent to the French/, (e. g., inyV lejnre, which would be the English zA), Mr. Candlin writes: "It is an initial to which I "have given much attention, and if I had to choose I would simply write r •'instead otj. The fact is, if you listen to a Celestial you hear distinctly the "three letters/, h, and r combined into one but the r predominant. Jen = "'man,' is hardly to be distinguished from the English word 'wren'; j'eu — "'flesh' is nearly 'row,' i. e., to row a boat. Bwi Jhrou yio\i\di be right, as "there is a suggestion of both a/ and an /;." The Greek spirittis asper or an inverted comma is used to denote that strong aspirant which is characteristic of the Chinese language. The transcription of the transliteration on pages 141-274 follows strictly Professor Williams's method, adding in each case the page of his Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese La7tguage on which the word will be found. The Rev. Mr. Candlin's transcription, wherever it deviated, has been added in parenthesis. Intonation which plays an important part in the Chinese language has been neglected in transcriptions of the Introduction, where it was commend- able to avoid complexities that are redundant for those who speak Chinese and would be useless and unnecessarily puzzling to all the others who do not. In the transcription of the transliteration, however, the intonation has been marked, according to the Chinese fashion, by little semicircles and dashes placed in the four corners of the word, thus: .| the upper monotone and J the lower monotone ; ' | the rising tone, |' the departing tone, and |. the entering tone. As to the printing of the Chinese text we must add that for obvious rea sons commonly accepted by sinologues we have followed the usage of ar ranging the lines, and in quotations the words, according to the Western mode of writing, from the left to the right, not as the Chinese would have it, from the right to the left, nor starting from that page which in Western books would be the last one. ^ =?- m t nM,m^M i^^l » 51 f} m B ^ 1 m m l«^ llyvl ,^ Wo A f?5 II JIttJ IB i ^ ^ m w flo 0O W ^ k Q ^ ® n g iTo ^ ^ ;2 *5 Z ft ^ m ^ ^„ ^ ^ S W % % m M iHo ® m ^o pT ^ ^ i ^ m }^ ?L t ^ n ^ 115 M •5=- ^ ^ ^ 5W ^fo #P Ji :^o M.O Z % ffl ^0 M ^o m m i^ m M. ^ # m, ik s. M ^ ^ ^ir m flo A jl ^ B iii S ^ -&0 i;^ # m •X. . . ^ ^ m ^ ^ m itt ^o 8t ^ 1^ -5- ,■_ m 9A J^c > m ^0 ^ ^„ :^ ^o rfli m O r t^ ^^ =S ^ ^ * Be 5 ^ 5 ^» H, # ^ s i ^ ^ S Z IL ■PT RS -ffl ^;f B* ^ ^ m X go # MJ M * o ^ 5V( ptt 'Wo ^^ ^ Bl ra n 52 ^.SS^IB^^ft 4 Z, ^ 5i m ft * ± 3l ffij «^ii 53 m tk m w f; z s m ti s - 4 w: ^ m ^ &. z M m X m 4 % $. ^„ '^ t^ ^^ ^ z a ^ rn m m it Jib tg^ ml 5c m 1^ ^ m z ^n ^ m m z f^ » iUi\ a E ^ m n z w m f^o ;=5 Bij W M U 54 ^"f-m^n m m A x^ i^ •It M Vi M m Z m o ^ n ^o ^ ^ S •It z T- m ^o m ^ #; B i'f # M o m :^ n 4 m K> % M ^ s 1^ o ^ m r- ^ ^n mi o A ^ . o $16 1^ ?^ ^ >!> m . . o o SI o II % Eg ffl « :=P ^ ^ ^7-aSKs 55 n m BEu z E ffl m m ■is -^ m M ^ o . m z m « z m z * 5^ J. o 56 A :5fe o fA 'j4 ii@^ % i?ij S ^ A 4 :^ # # m t: # nU m m m z o z ^^ii 57 133 K ^ ro ^ fljl If + Ji g @ — It Jt m ^^ ^ /^ ^ 4 o m ^1^ M ti ^ . O ^ i?5 rg ^ ^ ;^ ^ ^ 11 ;i m m ^ la fi H ffl ffl o nb m o o m m o ;^ fl ^ ffl ^»»* :;^ H5 H ffnt ;3 if m m z z ^ m fi w z 58 ^i^a®«5 Wi -h A o -^ A :^ II o A P H ^ ^ M # ^ # la A o A o • m M m a m tk m * ^ =^ X ^ i- •r&i -a. m z z ^ A =% IW o fl fi 5^ m '# T m o % m w fi'j # M "pT f '^J ^ "m Sfc r£ :;^ fl: 5^ m &, T ^r T ^ m T ^^mmia 59 m z ^ & i m 11 a 3 -(& w° ID if- IS Jit So — i m m m ■^ ^ &. 7L t^ ^ m m X t -^ m w ^ m m m m m J5 ^° ^ ^^ IB o A z m w. 62 M=f-m^m ^ m n w ^ ^ r^ M: m ^ ^K m ^ k 4 ^ tn m it- m A M 3t z ■^ z >l> m * m ?L ^ o A ^ ?ife ^ ^ >^ B ^ -^ '^ O o m A in ± m m ^^ m ^ tn m ^ ^ A m ^ ^^ m n ^ n m. ^ ^ m m X a 115 A o m M m n Jh A o m idv t; o o m z ^ H ^ f^ + m # - it #„ p^ ^ z 3 m It '1 ^ ^ S I Jet M u u m T 'It T if o m o Kl A a o m * o ^ z u m ^ ig ®: ffl ^ S'J ^" ^ m z H 63 Iffi :i^ H :E >5£ 3e 7C^ 64 m T ^ ^- m =^ if # ^ m =f- f: '^ O m m '-3 m 9- l Z m m =8= li n fi m T- T- z ^ ^ o o ■Y m n m m f- m ^^ m n m o o m ^ n fir ^ ^ i° til m m o ff riff o Pi ^?ii 65 M 7& T 351 ttk o O ;^ £ z ^ B m -X m B £ m ^ - A ■a K ifi ilil o it :^ ^ r m /x ft n o B s m z &, m A # si ^ a O «=^ ^ ^5 Pt -rr 1=1 # 4h£ # m pT 66 M'f-m^m m m z ^ Ik m M M T- pt m m m o o &, A m m M: m M aip 4t m A ^ ::^ ^ ;^° m # # ^" IS: A A Z il£ aw i^ i: A A 11 ^^ ^ K T 5c T o ^ 5E o « ^ ^ o o & ^ ^ ^° ^ A % m^ m T >i M T T ^=f-m^m 67 m m ^ 'A ^ m m ■? T :^ ^ Wi Z ^ m -^ '^ ^5 pt/ m d B Bfil o o T m o p AHA * + ^ o o .a&i ;^ ^ i; II ^:^ 4 Q " ^ ^ s w m ^ |X| t^ T 'rat is m z n ^ B B nU it k o nU ^ 68 ^^Ji^lS # m o - ^ # ^ H ^ « .EI3. ft ± i' ± Hi? m o Z 5g. o pH^ ^ ^ o .^ ^ # m z m M m ?^ ^ 1^ H iftf. -X* O z » A ^ ^. ^o A ii J^ IF 1^ m ^ ^ A :fe ^„ E ^ ± ^ ^ it H te jiba ^ fh ^ o T ^i^a® ^ 6g m 'm ^P t i^ m :^ A ih A m. m ^ B *n n m ^ ^ m m ^ m ih H n ^ •~^ ^ r- M t m t i 0^ + 3f n^ A o &. ■— ^ ^■n Pfr m pT i 1^ s r- ^ W # * ^ "4 J M 1 ^4 ^ ;& m ^3 Z if # ^ -fi M ^ ■k o i ^ A ro .« % o tx m z m :t^ •I* ^ tg i « ^ t: z ^ ;^ 5c ■n m B /h -^ ^ T i ^ 4„ m :^ m 3t fiff m o ^ )\\ m :^ If ^o ^ 5S ^ ^o € Z ^ J;0 M n ^ ^ T^ wii u m ^ ^ ^ m ^ rtr ^ % 5S ^ o * ff M s m # # ^ ^o :t?^@S ^ S f® H ?c° ^ -Y y m % M Z m $E ^ S "^^ -^" 1^ /±* HgS ^" pa m m m z ^° ^ z p w Jif ^ ^ ^^ ^ij f^ H ;i ^ ^ + i^> iK° pT m m &. • Mb ^ 7^ M ^ Z Z K o o o Z Wi o o z m ^ % >& E la ¥ o ii. e 'ft o o as: ^=f-m^u 71 Z *!: Z o m T ± M n^ ^ t,i T t § yf 11 lii ^ JH i% U M c + ^ Z Z ffij A u m m M w, ^ m ^ fl &. z :^ 10 f m M ^• p ± m M :^ t: m ^ m # fi % z ro ^" ^ m t^ M a u z ^0 u a ^ -€ i\&l >®*. ^ -h ± m -i fi ^ M ^ lai ;!i )g M ^r ^C, i«ui» KlLi ^ o \fn M ■^ Z M ^ m -w a a m m ^ 72 ^=f-m^m =t in + ^ n, X ^ * m m m m m # M ^ ^ ^ :^ tJ iS tl i^ s£ # gl ^ J-:! fi: - m &, T m y. m ^ n m ± u m m ^ ^ m ^. 4 m & B ^ 7^ ^ &. yfy m fs "^ ^ ^ - # 3£ 3E fi a n4 M m m, ^ te- "^ m in ^ a je m ^ T M ill! S ^ IE m n yf m d f^> M ^ iw m m # Jib ^ z 4 fS ^ - fi§ li & ^ y. ^ m % m M M m -m &. ^ 1^ -l-rrt, m m &, o E m z + m ;^i Ha ill I U ^^ "^^ B ^ ^"f-m^m 73 # H J: m ± Z- Eg m H ■\- ^ n -Mm ± # it <^ o o ± m if -A ^ Hi ® ^ ^ ^ ^W O o ^ PI -fti li ill ^ ^ A M - ^ la o o - m K & M Z - m fif i: m 15: ^ S a H ^ ^ H m: m & m z m £ 5s m & m m B # % M ^ m « n m ^ ^ ifH M ^ m m. ^ m z m 4' ro ^ B m 74 «^ii^a 3^ ^ ^ t: ± X T ^ ^ ^n ^ ^ m ^ ^ ^ M- JS ^ ^ m m -? B © m :i5 m m n t ^o Z ■t ^ o + ^ {^? = M ^^ ES 4 ^Q £ m m m % % m ± ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ w Ts 5^. m ^« T z A ft ^o •^ >-!-• iz 3 M ^ ^ ?s ^o Pi fi ® m 3g ^ # 0. ^ It "~- Q T M S jtp^ # M # ■c '^. ^ M m ^ m n ^ A -^o n ^ T ^ o o n ^ rs ^ ^ ^° i^. it 5^ ::^ ^ la o H ^ ^ i)^^ ^ ^ M m «i=-a®a 75 m ^ \k © M "F + ^n ^< •N :^> 4 ^ ^" :^ l!v o o IP ^ m J^ Rii K ^n ^n -V ^ K- -b T M :^ ^ fS ^ Ki ^ m SIP n ^ 5^ ^ T m H ^° HI ^ H + :^ M Am* ^ p ^ ^ ;^ ;=i^ M ^ to m m 76 m^fm A m ^ m fi Ji>. o z o 351 z m ^ A o A T m A m Z ft o ft o + o A Z .^ sl m o iff + A ^ W ^ '(nf. H ^ i^ ^° H Jta° M ¥ ^ ^ ^ M \>1 58 ?E ^ M ;ai ^ *;^ z n m n o o m m & ^ Pi ^ ft ^ m'f-mmn 77 Z m z m m z ^ z z ^ Z Z o m f^ si it T- ii z o Z o w z z m % n m mi ^idi. 7C + &i T # o Sit ro m ^ ^ ^o ^ ;^ ^ J: # it o o T^ B :^ -^ M m ^ # t ^ « 78 ^^itsa ^ ^ m -rr ^ n m % i^ \^ m z z n ^ ^ ^ 5. ^ ^ ^ + '^ ^° T Eg # ^. K ^ jfe w ti m m 7b ^ T- ii ^ ^ M Z ^ 4 "f B M m M- m rf m wB ^ # .^ 75 Ja ;2: 2: ^ ^ i^ m° M- M m M ^ m T T o as: o T iUit l»Ut> ^ =t 75 75 J^ •5^ -^ w o . o z ^^m^m 79 # m z PR *n ^ ^< ^ M m li^ ^ # ^ ^ m ^ is ro ^ M, H Ml m jf^ M ?f ^ ^ % n m ^ ;^ w T # m ^ jfn # m' II T- ^ ^ m Q m m o m m o 1^ m 8o ^^as^ IE # ^ JUi\ Tl ^^ la n o m ^ I'J A A S ^ @ ^ it m ^ IE o m ^° -ft ^ m m ik B o o ^ ii ^ K ^n A m u M i %. ^ It M fi] ^ it ii ^ JE ffij < m ^ PQ ^ Sc'J ^ ^ it ^ # ro li % ^ ^ •^ -ft ii ^ ^ -2: A Bi! ^ -t T- ^ ii j^ ^^ii^*S A M m m T- s. ^ m + M M X m r- m -^ % ^ ?^ ^ ^ :i^ + ^ ffilJ ^ M m m m @ 'm w m w ffi ii ,a z li $ /J- ^ ^ ®„ m ^ B A m ^ ">-v. ^ ^o S A rf ^ /:5^ ^ T„ T^ ^ ^ » M m A Z ^ ^ itt ^ m ^ 1 T i^6i fi T o &° 82 i< % ^ ® ^ =f# a T ^ T nu Pif /h m ^ s :^ A III m ^ ^ ^ j[ /] i /J @ ^ III ® :^ A ^ A ]^ ^ T M m M m n A i^ ¥m A -l- Z Z z ^^ r^ 1^, Sb ^fe -&' PI PI A Z m A z 1=3 tr 2^ o pl r5fc Jib 5c f5j m T m ^ 9l itb til 8 « ^ai !^ 83 :i ^ ^ H % T T n S ^. ^„ ^ * JS m n a ■:k j^ ^ ^ 5 ^- » o ^ *i ?^ a ^ + ^ T bB ii + t ja # ^"^^ V H k % n * ^ IS: ^ * o 1* ♦ s o % % ^0 ^0 il ^> ^ % 4. ^ s ic ft ^ ^ % T # *& :k' ^ n 1^ t « ^ /J> ^ ^ M * ^ ^ o iK» Ir •fi° 3? T % ^ n A fa ± % ^ ;2: ^ r& ^ ^ « ^ A -« i^» % ^ ^ s£ f^ i^» m ¥ ii W "f ^ :^ % % m m • OJ ;2 ± ni "f- ^ ^ =f i=-° m ^ B M * M il£ <^o M ^ ^. 2: ^ ;^ A A '?^ ^ ^ iz m ^i ^: .0 0, 84 m^-m Z ^ T> ^1^ T^ m jd ^ m ¥ z. in A ^ z A e ' -o 12: Z o - o o ^ m m m 4 z ^ JH: tS 1% sn '^ ^ a m m ^ t !! ^- 1=1 T Z m 3E o A 1^ T ^ T- m ± M fg ^ i^' # ^^ m z g iilj ^; m ^ ;2 m ^ 5c ^ m z ^ A ^ ± Wi XN + a fiff -b ± ^ M n z i '^ m - :^ H iSfc # H H ^ n ^ ^ T ^ :5fe ^ i^ ^ O o m ^ '^ m m ^ 4 © m m M z o o 85 z B. 86 ^^m^m. S tfc # ::^ m Z + ^ m A ^ ^ M 4 m m m BE i A ^ r- z u o '& BE ffl ffi m *9 ^ is ;!fn ^ "i n m 2 n ^ m r ^ n ^ 7i ^ W: ^ M m m^ " ■ M m ^ ^o ^; ^ M ill m IS (=1 5 o ft ^ o -t: ^ T o M=f-m^& 87 o o m A S 2 ^ ^ ni A 1^ ^ 5^ ■t: m &. -t il M r. m A ^ fi ;r: Mr ^ /^ i ^^ * '± * ^° ^ Bi ^ ■^ Jit ^ 1^ -b II] i ^ itb M o fl] 3^ &. ^ 88 ^^iiSiffi A m m i m m ^ m o ffS PI S ® :^ ^ ^ ig M g ii ii -t: ^ Sic ^ ^ i^ # fol W W ^ t] ;^ ^ m m m m ^ z n ^ o o O ^ ft o o 1; # m m ft ^ ii £ ± o o Z ^ r^as i» • 8f m t A ^ * 5^ H u £ Z & ^ Z Z m K ^ ^ ^ ± S Q m T -b m ^ ^ -t t z iC J: + ^ # T + m i| Z ^ M ?B p -fc? ?s m m o ^ t ^ 11 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ o S ^ ^ ^J jS m A % Fg ro « $s g n o m ^ ^ ^ o # jell ^ 4 m 4' ^ ^ z % -i o o T A ?. ^- ^ o m z ^ ?f: ^ w it B ^ ia z m m * ^ w ^ ^ ifc 5S ^ B ^ ^ aiJ # ^° Hi Q :^ S ^ m ^ o -2; ^ &, ?E * ^ m ^ m 5S js # :@ « HiJ # ^ 90 «^a®a ■m R T m A ffij o ^ E T 5S ^ S m ^ i -b 11 ^ S + m ^ il A 3l li^fl ^ ^ =f ^ K- 7jc T 1^ fi fill M 3^ ^^ JiC ^ li g ^ ^ 5S M T ^ tg 3E m fir JE ;^ iS^° W tg s ^ P A 4 z m m ^ m -b d ii -\r ^ m ^ m m m rsi m o o s ^ ^ ^ J^ ^ A A ^ II m A ^"i-mmm 91 /J- # # ^ H ^ *B ^ « « Pjf J3^ *. /^ ff- m A ^ o m m o fi ^ m m m ^ + -*• I" ^^ "S^ n A m r^ 's A n ^ ^ ^ S M i A ^ n ^p m u ^ A m B THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON ON REASON AND VIRTUE SZE-MA-CHaEN ON LAO-TZE. LAO-TZE was born in the hamlet Ch'u-Jhren (Good Man's Bend), Li-Hsiang (Grinding County), K'u-Hien (Thistle District), of Ch'u (Bram- ble land). His family was the Li gentry (Li meaning Plum). His proper name was Er (Ear), his post- humous title Po-Yang (Prince Positive), his appella- tion Tan (Long-lobed). In Cho he was in charge of the secret archives as state historian. Confucius went to Cho in order to consult Lao- Tze on the rules of propriety. [When Confucius, speaking of propriety, praised reverence for the sages of antiquity], Lao-Tze said : *