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PAUL CftRUI

The Canon of

Reason and Virtue

Being

Lao-tze's Tao Teh King

Chinese and English

Paul Carus

JUUft

The Open Court Publishing Co.

La Salle, Illinois
1954

The Open Court Publishing Co.
1913 — 1927

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Foreword 3

Introduction 13

Lao-tze's Tao-Teh-King in Chinese 23

English Translation 67

Sze-ma Ch'ien on Lao-tze 69

The Old Philosopher's Canon o£ Rea
son and Virtue 73

Comments and Alternative Readings .... 131

Table of References 189

Index . . 207

FOREWORD.

This booklet, The Canon of Reason and
Virtue, is an extract from the author's larger
work, Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King, and has been
published for the purpose of making our read
ing public more familiar with that grand and
imposing figure Li Er, who was honored with
the posthumous title Poh-Yang, i. e., Prince
Positive (representing the male or strong
principle) ; but whom his countrymen simply

call Lao-tze, the_Ol_d Philosopher.
* * *

Sze-Ma Ch'ien, the Herodotus of China,
who lived about 136-85 B. C., has left a short
sketch of Lao-tze's life in his Shi Ki (His
torical Records) which is here prefixed as
the most ancient and only well-attested ac
count to be had of the Old Philosopher.

Born in 604 B. C., Lao-tze was by about
half a century the senior of Confucius- He
must have attained great fame during his life,
for Confucius is reported to have sought an
interview with him. But the two greatest
sages of China did not understand each other,
and they parted mutually disappointed.

4 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Confucius's visit to Lao - tze has been
doubted. If it is not historical it certainly is
ben trovato, for the contrast between these
two leaders of Chinese thought remains to
the present day. The disciples of Confucius,
the so-called "literati," are tinged with their
master's agnosticism and insist on the rules
of propriety as the best methods of education,
while the Tao Sze, the believers in the Tao,
or divine Reason, are given to philosophical
speculation and religious mysticism. The
two schools are still divided, and have never
effected a conciliation of their differences
that might be attained on a common higher
ground.

Chwang-tze, one of Lao-tze's disciples, who
lived about 330 B. C., has preserved another,
an older and more elaborate, report of the
meeting between Confucius and the Old Phi
losopher. Sze-Ma Ch'ien (163-85 B. C.) is
sometimes supposed to have derived his ac
count from Chwang - tze, but Chwang - tze's
story bears traces of legendary elements
which can not but be regarded as fiction, and
it is difficult to believe that the historian
should have taken his sober sketch from the
fantastic tale of a poet-philosopher.

The names of Lao-tze's birthplace, state,
province and the locality of his life's work
might be considered as invented purposely
because of their strange significance if they
were not geographically existent. In the first

Foreword 5

edition of Lao-tze's Tao Teh King we trans
lated Cheu as "the State of Plenty," and will
only add that the word is made up of the
characters "mouth" and "to use," its original
meaning being "to supply everywhere; to
make a circuit all around or everywhere; and
plenty." The Cheu dynasty was so called be
cause the emperor's power reached all over
the civilized world, according to Chinese no
tions. In the present edition we have pre
ferred to translate the word Cheu by "the
State of Everywhere."

It would be easy to say that the Old Phi
losopher was a citizen of Everywhere, and
was born in Good Man's Bend to describe his
innate character; that his home was situated
in Thistle District of Bramble Province to
indicate the poverty and difficulties with
which his life was surrounded.

The plum-tree is the symbol of immortal
ity, and the ear might signify the man who
was willing to listen. Accordingly Lao-tze's
family name Li (plum) seems to be as much
justified as his proper name Er (ear). What
splendid material with which to change Lao-
tze into a mythical figure! It is as good as
the life of Napoleon of whom Perez made a
solar hero, an Apollo, on account of his name
and the several events of his career — his final
sinking in the west and disappearance on an
island in the Atlantic, the ocean of sunset.
Nevertheless the historicity of Lao-tze and

6 Canon of Reason and Virtue

the authenticity of his book seem to be suffi
ciently well ascertained.

The historicity of Lao-tze's writing has
been doubted only once, but by so great an
authority as H. A. Giles. We must, however,
remember that the greater part of the Tao Teh
King is preserved in quotations in the pre-
Christian writings of Lieh-tze, Chwang-tze,
and Hwai Nan-tze. (For details see the ar
ticle in reply to Professor Giles in The
Monist, XI, pp. 574-601.)

Lao-tze's book on Reason and Virtue first
bore the title Tao Teh. It was in all
outward appearances a mere collection of
aphoristic utterances, but full of noble mor
als and deep meditation. It met the reward
which it fully deserved, having by imperial
decree been raised to the dignity of canon
ical authority; hence the name King or "ca
non," completing the title Tao Teh King, as
now commonly used, which we translate
"Canon of Reason and Virtue."

Although Confucian philosophy has become
ihe guiding star of the Chinese government
Lao-tze has taken a firm hold on the hearts of
the people, and in the progress of time his
figure has grown in significance into the sta
ture of a Christ-like superhuman personality.
So it happened that later traditions added to
Sze-Ma Ch'ien's brief report various details
which became more and more fantastic. We
learn that Yin Hi, the officer of the frontier,

Foreword 7

was warned beforehand by astrological sci
ence of the sage's coming. He is further re
puted to have accompanied his master into
the deserts of the west, traveling in a car
drawn by black oxen.

Still later legends add to these fables the
story of Lao-tze's miraculous conception
through the influence of a star, and claim that
he was the incarnation of the supreme celes
tial essence; that he had repeatedly been in
carnate, once in the village of the state of
Tz'u. This latter birth is represented in anal
ogy with Buddha's nativity, for his mother
brought forth the divine child from her left
side, and her delivery took place under a tree
— in Lao-tze's case it was a plum-tree. The
infant at his very birth pointed to the tree
saying, "I shall take my surname Li (plum)
from this tree." His head was white, and his
countenance that of an aged man, whence it
is said he derived his name Lao-tze, which
not only means the Old Philosopher but also
the Ancient Child. He is said to have wan
dered to the farthest extremities of the earth,
including the countries Ta Ts'in (which seems
to have represented the Roman Empire) and
Tu K'ien, where he preached his doctrine and
converted the people to the truth. In China
he is reported to have helped Wu Wang, the
founder of the famous Cheu dynasty, in the
year 112 B.C.

Lao-tze's various disciples developed more

8 Canon of Reason and Virtue

and more the mystical elements of Taoism,
the practical application of which terminated
in a belief in alchemy, especially in an elixir
of life.

The Emperor Wu Ti and the emperors of
the T'ang dynasty were staunch believers in
the Old Philosopher. When in the year 666
A. D. Emperor Kao Tsung canonized him he
gave him a rank among the gods as the Great
Supreme (T'aiShang), as the Emperor-God of
the Dark First Cause. Hiian Tsung honored
him in 1013 A. D. with the title Tai Shang
Lao Chiun, the Great Exalted One, the An
cient Master.

We regret to say that the Taoism of China
is a religion which, powerful though it is,
little accords with the venerable old philos
opher, and without danger of doing its priests
an injustice may be branded as a system of
superstitions and superstitious practices.

The Taoist church is governed by a Taoist
pope who lives in the splendor of a palace
surrounded by extensive parks near Lung
Hu Shan, scarcely less beautiful than the
garden of the Vatican at Rome.
* * *

Lao-tze's Tao Teh King contains so many
surprising analogies with Christian thought
and sentiment, that were its pre-Christian
origin not established beyond the shadow of
a doubt, one would be inclined to discover in
it traces of Christian influence. Not only

Foreword 9

does the term Tao (word, reason) correspond
quite closely to the Greek term Logos, but
Lao-tze preaches the ethics of requiting hatred
with goodness. He insists on the necessity of
becoming like unto a little child, of returning
to primitive simplicity and purity, of non-
assertion and non-resistance, and promises
that the crooked shall be straight.

The Tao Teh King is brief, but it is filled
to the brim with suggestive thoughts.
* * *

Two issues of the author's translation of
Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King have appeared and
two editions of an extract entitled The Canon
of Reason and Virtue. In the second issue of
the first edition of Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King
attention has been called to misprints in the
Chinese text, and alternative readings have
been proposed in an additional chapter en
titled "Emendations and Comments."

The present edition is meant to be popular
and is an enlargement of The Canon of Rea
son and Virtue. Of the larger edition en
titled Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King, it incorpo
rates the main explanations and the Chinese
text which in its revised form we hope is now
quite reliable. A few variants which are im
portant for the sense of the text have been
added in footnotes. Thus the present little
volume being a combination of the larger and
the smaller editions, is practically a new work.
It contains a comprehensive introduction and

10 Canon of Reason and Virtue

incorporates the results of the translator's
latest labors in revising and reconsidering the
many difficult passages of the Tao Teh King.
A number of new interpretations flashed upon
him from time to time, and some of them will
be deemed happy and probably be accepted as
final. This certainly is true of the first para
graph of Chapter 2, and also of the second
paragraph of Chapter 49.

I do not deem it necessary in this popular
edition to introduce controversies or to criti
cize other translations; nor do I want to cor
rect all the mistakes and misprints of my own
former editions. I must be satisfied with
offering the best results of my labors. My
ideal has been to reproduce the original in a
readable form which would be as literal as
the difference of languages permits and as in
telligible to English-speaking people as is the
original to the educated native Chinese. While
linguistic obscurities have been removed as
much as possible, the sense has upon the whole
not been rendered more definite than the orig
inal or the traditional interpretation would
warrant. Stock phrases which are easily
understood, such as "the ten thousand things,"
meaning the whole world or nature collec
tively, have been left in their original form;
but expressions which without a commentary
would be unintelligible, such as "not to depart
from the baggage wagon," meaning to pre
serve one's dignity (Chap. 26), have been re-

Foreword 1 1

placed by the nearest terms that cover their
meaning.

The versification of the quoted poetry is
as literal as possible and as simple as in the
original. No attempt has been made to im
prove its literary elegance. The translator
was satisfied if he could find a rhyme which
would introduce either no change at all in the
words or such an indifferent change as would
not in the least alter their sense.

The present edition contains also an intro
duction and comments in which my prior ex
planations of Lao-tze's thought are restated
in a condensed form together with some new
observations which in their appropriate places
have been incorporated.

The division into chapters as well as the
chapter headings were not made by Lao-tze
but are the work of later Chinese editors.

I have sought the advice of Mr. Ng Poon
Chew, editor of the Chung Sai Yat Po, the
Chinese daily paper of San Francisco, for the
interpretation of some difficult words, and for
doubtful passages I deemed a comparison with
the Manchu translation desirable, for which
purpose I have availed myself of the assist
ance of Dr. Berthold Lauf er of the Field Mu
seum of Chicago.

Prof. Paul Pelliot, of Paris, has recently
published in the Toung Pao (1912, pp. 351-
430) an account of a Sanskrit translation of
the Tao Teh King made in the seventh cen-

12 Canon of Reason and Virtue

tury for King Kumara of Assam, vassal to the
famous Harsha Ciladitya, king of Magadha.
Unfortunately this version is lost.

* * *

For further information on Lao-tze the
reader is referred to the author's essays Chi
nese Philosophy (Religion of Science Library
No. 30), Chinese Thought, "The Authenticity
of the Tao Teh King" (The Monist, Vol. XI,
pp. 574-601), written in reply to Prof. Herbert
A. Giles, "Medhurst's New Translation of the
Tao Teh King" (The Open Court, XX, 174),
and the former more complete edition of
Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King.

This our larger book, entitled Lao-Tze's
Tao Teh King, which contains a verbatim
translation of the Chinese text, has not be
come entirely antiquated, but we warn stu
dents that it stands in need of a revision on
the basis of the present emendated edition.

* * *

May this little book fulfil its mission and be
a witness to the religious spirit and philo
sophical depth of a foreign nation whose hab
its, speech, and dress are strange to us. We
are not alone in the world; there are others
who search for the truth and are groping
after it. Let us become better acquainted
with them, let us greet them as brothers, let
us understand them and appreciate their ide
als! PAUL CARUS.

INTRODUCTION.

A few comments on Lao-tze's favorite
expressions will help the reader to
understand the drift of his thought.

The character tao1 being composed of
the characters "moving on" and "head,"
depicts a "going ahead." The original
meaning of the word is "way" in the
same sense as in English, denoting both
"path" and "method."

The same association of ideas prevails
in almost all languages. The Greek
word methodos2 is a derivative of hodos3
"path" (combined with the preposition
meta, "according to," "after") and so
"method" too originally means "way"
or rather "according to a way." In the
sense of method the word Tao acquires
the significance of "principle, rational-

14 Canon of Reason and Virtue

ity, or reason," then "the right way," or
"truth," the Urvernunft of German mys
tics. Finally Tao comes to possess the
meaning of "rational speech" or "word,"
and in this sense it closely resembles the
Greek Logos, for in addition to its phil
osophical significance the term Tao
touches a religious chord in the souls
of the Chinese just as did the word
Logos among the Platonists and the
Greek Christians. The term Tao de
notes "word" and also "way" in the same
religious sense in which they are used
in the New Testament: the former in
the first verse of the Fourth Gospel, "In
the beginning was the word"; and the
latter in the saying of Christ, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life" (John xiv.
6). In both passages the word Tao is
the right term by which to translate
"word," "way," and "truth."

The Tao of man, fan tao,4 is the pro
cess of ratiocination, and as such it is
fallible; but there is an Eternal Reason,
ch'ang tao,5 also called t'ien tao,Q "Heav-

Introduction 15

en's Reason," i. e., the world-order which
shapes all things, and the burden of
Lao-tze's message is to let this Heaven's
Reason or Eternal Reason prevail. The
man who is guided by the Eternal Rea
son is the master, chitin;7 the superior
thinker, chiun tze;8 he is the holy man,
shan jan;9 the man of Reason, yin tao
chew or tung yii tao che;11 and the man
of truth, chen Jan.12

We translate Tao by "Reason," and we
capitalize the word in order to remind
the reader that it is not the reason of the
rationalist, nor the rationality of argu
ment, but the universal world-order, or
in other words, the eternal Reason of
the divine dispensation, the Logos, to
which man looks up with reverence.

The second word of the title, Te/z,13
"virtue," which, strange enough, Legge
translates "attribute," is made up of
characters meaning "man," "heart" and

10 Literally, "having Reason the one."

11 Literally, "identified with Reason the
one."

12 MA 13«

16 Canon of Reason and Virtue

"straight." It denotes man's straight-
ness of heart.

The favorite phrase of Lao-tze's eth
ics, which furnishes a key to his mode
of thought, reads wei wu wei, ($ $&m& )
"act non-act," and we have commonly
translated the words by "act with non-
assertion."

The Chinese wei means not only "to
do something," but also "to act" as on
the stage, or "to make a show, to show
off, to pose, to parade oneself." The
phrase wei wu wei might be translated
"to do without ado" or "to act without
acting" (viz., without posing), were it
not for the fact that the moral element
is uppermost in Lao-tze's mind. He de
nounces the vanity of self-display and
egotism, and so we believe that wei wu
wei is best rendered by "acting with
non-assertion." The meaning is clear
through the context, and there is no
need of interpreting Lao-tze's words
either in a mystical or a quietist sense.

There are three negatives in Chinese:
pu, "not," the simple negation ; wu, "lack
ing in, non-existent, without"; and fei,

Introduction 17

"by no means." Though we can not lay
down a general rule about their distinc
tions, there are different shades of mean
ing according to the context which we
have tried to bring out in our English
version. Sometimes the meaning of the
negated word, or the ironic sense in
which it is used, influences the nega
tive. In Chapter 49 pu shan, "ungood-
ness", means "evil," but in Chapter 38,
pu teh, "unvirtue," means that higher
virtue which makes no show and does
not even assume the name. In Chapter
57 wu shi, "non-diplomacy," is that
higher mode of statesmanship with
which a good ruler will unostentatiously
govern the empire. On the other hand
Lao-tze speaks of both fei tao, i. e., "lack
of reason" or "anti-reason" (Chapter 53)
and pu tao (Chapters 30 and 55) "un
reason," which soon ceases, while "the
reason that can be reasoned" (tao ko tao)
is declared to be "by no means the eter
nal Reason (fei ch'ang tao)"

The term wu, "non-existence" (Chap
ter 40), is not annihilation but denotes
absence of concrete particularity or of

18 Canon of Reason and Virtue

materiality. It is intended to describe
what we would call the purely formal,
including purely formal thought, viz.,
the prototypes of things as well as
ideals. Materiality makes things real
but non-materiality,14 as set forth in
Chapter 11, while giving shape to things
by cutting away certain portions, ren
ders them useful.

Lao-tze's appreciation of oneness is
to be expected of a philosopher of the
Tao, of Divine Reason. He speaks of
oneness15 as giving character to things
that are units (Chapter 39) and unity
cannot be disintegrated (Chapter 10).

Lao-tze's reference to trinity as beget
ting all things (Chapter 42) is, to say
the least, curious, perhaps profound, and

14 For the meaning of "nought" in Oriental
thought see the author's Foundations of Math
ematics, pp. 134ff. Compare also on the sig
nificance of non-realities the article "Mysti
cism" in The Monist, Vol. XVIII, p. 86;
further, Buddhism and Its Christian Critics,
pp. 110, 119ff. and 218, where Goethe is quoted
on nothingness.

15 For the connection of Oneness with Qual
ity see the author's Personality, pp. 36-38, and
"The Significance of Quality," Monist, XV,
375. Cf. The Phiolsophy of Form, pp. 12-13.

Introduction 19

Christians will also be interested in the
idea that the Son of Heaven as the High
Priest of the people must bear the sins
of mankind (Chapter 78).

Lao-tze's style is characterized by par
adox as in "do without ado" (commonly
translated "act with non-assertion" as
in Chapters 2, 3, 10, etc.) ; "know the un
knowable," "be sick of sickness"(Chapter
71); "practice non-practice," "taste the
tasteless" (Chapter 63) ; "marching with
out marching" (Chapter 69). Similarly the
phrases "the form of the formless"16 and
"the image of the imageless"17 (Chapter
14) etc. are used to describe what Kant
calls "pure form," i. e., non-material or
ideal forms such as geometrical figures,
and which corresponds to the Buddhist
term arupo, "the formless," in the sense
of "the bodiless."

Undoubtedly the best sayings of Lao-
tze are : "Requite hatred with goodness18
(Chapter 63); and "The good I meet
with goodness ; the bad I also meet with

$, SS (Literally, "with virtue.")

20 Canon of Reason and Virtue

goodness19 ---- The faithful I meet with
faith, the faithless I also meet with
faith" (Chapter 49).

Other remarkable ideas of Lao-tze are
his preference for simplicity (Chapters
17, 28, 37, 57), for purity (Chapter 45),
for emptiness (Chapters 3, 4, 5), for rest
and peace20 (Chapter 31), for silence
(Chapters 2, 23, 43, 56), for tenderness
(Chapters 52, 76, 78), especially the ten
derness of water (Chapter 78), for weak
ness (Chapters 36, 40) for compassion
(Chapter 67), for lowliness or humility
(Chapter 61), for thrift (Chapter 59),
for returning home to the Tao (Chapters
25, 40), for spontaneity or lack of effort
(Chapter 6), etc.

He is against restrictions and prohi
bitions as producing disorder (Chapter

20 Lao-tze uses no less than eight synonyms
for "rest" or "quietude": (1) t'ien tan, "quie
tude and peace," Chap. 31; (2) tsing, "quie
tude," Chaps. 16, 26, 37, 45, 61; (3) ngan,
"still," Chap. 15, and "rest", Chap. 35; (4)
p'ing, "contentment," Chap. 35; (5) t'ai, "com
fort," Chap. 35; (6) tsan, "calm," Chap. 4;
(7) tsih, "calm," Chap. 25; (8) yen, "calmly,"
Chap. 26.

Introduction 21

57), against ostentation (Chapter 58),
against learnedness as unwisdom (Chap
ter 81). He believes that the Tao when
sought is found (Chapter 62), and he
praises the state of a little child (Chap
ters 10, 28, 55). He compares himself
to a babe (Chapter 20) and calls him
self the child or son of the Tao and the
Tao his mother (Chapter 52) ; on the
other hand the sage looks upon the peo
ple as children (Chapter 49).

Heaven's impartiality21 (Chapter 79)
which shows no preference to favorites
is expected of the sage by Lao-tze who
praises the emptiness of heaven (Chap
ter 5), the lowliness of the valley (Chap
ters 32, 39, 41, 66), and the stretching
of the bow which brings down the high
and raises the low (Chapter 77), etc.

Though the Tao, being an abstract
philosophical principle, seems to leave
no room for a belief in God, Lao-tze re
fers repeatedly to God, first identifying
God with Reason as "the arch-father of
the ten thousand things," (Chapter 4),
and then he speaks of Reason as pre-

21 Compare with this Matt. v. 45.

22 Canon of Reason and Virtue

ceding even "the Lord" (Chapter 4). In
Chapter 70 he calls the Tao "the ances
tor of words" and "the master of deeds"
which also personifies Reason. The pas
sage where he speaks of "the father of
the doctrine" (Chapter 42) may be doubt
ful, for the commentators explain it to
mean "the foundation of the doctrine";
but the idea of calling the Tao the father
of truth is not contrary to Lao-tze's
thought, for he speaks of the Tao twice
as the "mother" (Chapters 20 and 52)
and once as "the world's mother" (Chap
ter 52). In Chapter 74, when referring
to divine justice cutting short the lives
of men, the Tao is compared to "the
great carpenter who hews." All these
passages are figures of speech, but are
not the Christian ideas of God as a Lord,
as a father, as an architect (as the Free
masons have it), also allegories?

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THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON
OF REASON AND VIRTUE.

SZE-MA-CH'IEN ON LAO-TZE.

Lao-tze was born in the hamlet Ch'ii-
Jan (Good Man's Bend), Li - Hsiang
(Grinding County), K'u-Hien (Thistle
District), of Ch'u (Bramble land). His
family was the Li gentry (Li meaning
Plum). His proper name was Er (Ear),
his posthumous title Po-Yang (Prince
Positive), his appellation Tan (Long-
lobed). In Cheu (the State of Every
where) he was in charge of the secret
archives as state historian.

Confucius went to Cheu in order to
consult Lao-tze on the rules of pro
priety.

[When Confucius, speaking of pro
priety, praised the sages of antiquity],
Lao-tze said: "The men of whom you
speak, Sir, together with their bones,
have mouldered. Their words alone are

70 Canon of Reason and Virtue

still extant. If a noble man finds his

time he rises, but if he does not find

his time he drifts like a roving-plant

and wanders about. I observe that the

/I wise merchant hides his treasures deeply

I as if he were poor. The noble man of

I perfect virtue assumes an attitude as

though he were stupid. Let go, Sir,

your proud airs, your many wishes, your

affectation and exaggerated plans. All

this is of no use to you, Sir. That is

what I have to communicate to you,

and that is all."

Confucius left. [Unable to understand
Lao-tze], he addressed his disciples, say
ing: "I know that the birds can fly, I
know that the fishes can swim, I know
that the wild animals can run. For the
running, one could make nooses ; for the
swimming, one could make nets ; for the
flying, one could make arrows. As to the
dragon I cannot know how he can be
stride wind and clouds when he heaven
ward rises. To-day I saw Lao-tze. Is
he perhaps like the dragon?"

Lao-tze practised Reason and virtue.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 71

His doctrine aims at self-concealment
and namelessness.

Lao-tze resided in Cheu most of his
life. When he foresaw the decay of
Cheu, he departed and came to the fron
tier. The custom house officer Yin-Hi
said : "Sir, since it pleases you to retire,
I request you for my sake to write a
book."

Thereupon Lao-tze wrote a book o£
two parts consisting of five thousand
and odd words, in which he discussed
the concepts of Reason and virtue. Then
he departed.

No one knows where he died.

THE OLD PHILOSOPHER'S CANON
OF REASON AND VIRTUE.

I.
1. REASON'S REALIZATION.

1. The Reason that can be reasoned is
not the eternal Reason. The name that
can be named is not the eternal Name.
The Unnamable is of heaven and earth
the beginning. The Namable becomes
of the ten thousand things the mother.

Therefore it is said:

2. "He who desireless is found

The spiritual of the world will sound.

But he who by desire is bound

Sees the mere shell of things around."

3. These two things are the same in
source but different in name. Their
sameness is called a mystery. Indeed,

74 Canon of Reason and Virtue

it is the mystery of mysteries. Of all
spirituality it is the door.

2. SELF-CULTURE.

1. Everywhere it is obvious that if
beauty makes a display of beauty, it is
sheer ugliness. It is obvious that if
goodness makes a display of goodness,
it is sheer badness. For

2. "To be and not to be are mutually con
ditioned.

The difficult, the easy, are mutually
definitioned.

The long, the short, are mutually ex-
hibitioned.

Above, below, are mutually cogni-
tioned.

The sound, the voice, are mutually
coalitioned.

Before and after are mutually posi
tioned."

3. Therefore

The holy man abides by non-assertion
in his affairs and conveys by silence his
instruction. When the ten thousand
things arise, verily, he refuses them not.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 75

He quickens but owns not. He acts
but claims not. Merit he accomplishes,
but he does not dwell on it.

"Since he does not dwell on it
It will never leave him."

3. KEEPING THE PEOPLE QUIET.

1. Not boasting of one's worth fore
stalls people's envy.

Not prizing treasures difficult to ob
tain keeps people from committing theft.

2. Not contemplating what kindles de
sire keeps the heart unconfused.

3. Therefore the holy man when he
governs empties the people's hearts but
fills their stomachs. He weakens their
ambition but strengthens their bones.
Always he keeps the people unsophisti
cated and without desire. He causes
that the crafty do not dare to act. When
he acts with non-assertion there is noth
ing ungoverned.

4. SOURCELESS.

1. Reason is empty, but its use is in
exhaustible. In its profundity, verily, it

76 Canon of Reason and Virtue

resembleth the arch-father of the ten
thousand things.

2. "It will blunt its own sharpness,

Will its tangles adjust ;

It will dim its own radiance

And be one with its dust."

3. Oh, how calm it seems to remain ! I
know not whose son it is. Apparently
even the Lord it precedes.

5. THE FUNCTION OF EMPTINESS.

1. But for heaven and earth's humane
ness, the ten thousand things are straw
dogs. But for the holy man's humane
ness, the hundred families are straw
dogs.

2. Is not the space between heaven and
earth like unto a bellows? It is empty;
yet it collapses not. It moves, and more
and more comes forth. [But]

3. "How soon exhausted is
A gossip's fulsome talk!
And should we not prefer
On the middle path to walk?"

Canon of Reason and Virtue 77

6. THE COMPLETION OF FORM.
1. "The valley spirit not expires,

Mysterious woman 'tis called by the

sires.
The mysterious woman's door, to

boot,

Is called of heaven and earth the root.
Forever and aye it seems to endure
And its use is without effort sure."

7. DIMMING RADIANCE.

1. Heaven endures and earth is lasting.
And why can heaven and earth endure
and be lasting? Because they do not
live for themselves. On that account
can they endure.

2. Therefore

The holy man puts his person behind
and his person comes to the front. He
surrenders his person and his person is
preserved. Is it not because he seeks
not his own? For that reason he can
accomplish his own.

8. EASY BY NATURE.
1. Superior goodness resembleth water.
The water's goodness benefiteth the ten
thousand things, yet it quarreleth not.

78 Canon of Reason and Virtue

2. Water dwelleth in the places which
the multitudes of men shun; therefore
it is near unto the eternal Reason

3. The dwelling of goodness is in
lowliness. The heart of goodness is in
commotion. When giving, goodness
showeth benevolence. In words, goodness
keepeth faith. In government goodness
standeth for order. In business goodness
exhibiteth ability. The movements of
goodness keep time.

4. It quarreleth not. Therefore it is
not rebuked.

9. PRACTISING PLACIDITY.

1. Grasp to the full, are you not likely
foiled? Scheme too sharply, can you
wear long? If gold and jewels fill the
hall no one can protect it.

2. Rich and high but proud, brings
^ about its own doom. To accomplish

merit and acquire fame, then to with-
i draw, that is Heaven's Way.

10. WHAT CAN BE DONE?

1. Who by unending discipline of the
"'» senses embraces unity cannot be disin-

Canon of Reason and Virtue 79

tegrated. By concentrating his vitality
and inducing~teriderness he can become \
like a little child. By purifying, by \
cleansing and profound intuition he can
be free from faults.

2. Who loves the people when admin
istering the country will practise non-
assertion.

Opening and closing the gates of
heaven, he will be like a mother-bird;
bright, and white, and penetrating the
four quarters, he will be unsophisticated.
He quickens them and feeds them. He
quickens but owns not. He acts but
claims not. He excels but rules not.
This is called profound virtue.

11. THE FUNCTION OF THE NON
EXISTENT.

1. Thirty spokes unite in one nave \
and on that which is non-existent [on
the hole in the nave] depends the wheel's
utility. Clay is moulded into a vessel
and on that which is non-existent [on
its hollowness] depends the vessel's util
ity. By cutting out doors and windows
we build a house and on that which is

80 Canon of Reason and Virtue

non-existent [on the empty space within]
depends the house's utility.

2. Therefore, existence renders actual
but non-existence renders useful.

12. ABSTAINING FROM DESIRE.

1. "The five colors [combined] the hu

man eye will blind;

The five notes [in one sound] the hu
man ear confound;

The five tastes [when they blend] the
human mouth offend."

2. "Racing and hunting will human

hearts turn mad,

Treasures high-prized make human
conduct bad."

3. Therefore

j The holy man attends to the inner and
not to the outer. He abandons the latter
id chooses the former.

13. LOATHING SHAME.

Ino1
\an<

1. "Favor bodes disgrace; it is like trem
bling.

Rank bodes great heartache. It is
like the body."

Canon of Reason and Virtue 81

2. What means "Favor bodes disgrace;
it is like trembling?"

Favor humiliates. Its acquisition
causes trembling, its loss causes trem
bling. This is meant by "Favor bodes
disgrace; it is like trembling."

3. What means "Rank bodes great
heartache, it is like the body?"

I suffer great heartache because I have
a body. When I have no body, what
heartache remains?

4. Therefore who administers the em
pire as he takes care of his body call be
entrusted with the empire.

14. PRAISING THE MYSTERIOUS.

1. We look at Reason and do not see
it; its name is Colorless. We listen
to Reason and do not hear it; its name
is Soundless. We grope for Reason and
do not grasp it; its name is Bodiless.

2. These three things cannot further
be analyzed. Thus they are combined
and conceived as a unity which on its
surface is not clear and in its depth not
obscure.

3. Forever and aye Reason remains un-

82 Canon of Reason and Virtue

namable, and again and again it returns
home to non-existence.

4. This is called the form of the form
less, the image of the imageless. This
is called the transcendentally abstruse.

5. In front its beginning is not seen.
In the rear its end is not seen.

6. By holding fast to the Reason of
the ancients, the present is mastered
and the origin of the past understood.
This is called Reason's clue.

15. THE REVEALERS OF VIRTUE.

1. Those of yore who have succeeded
in becoming masters are subtile, spirit
ual, profound, and penetrating. On ac
count of their profundity they can~not
be understood. Because they can not
;be understood, therefore I endeavor to
make them intelligible.

2. How cautious they are! Like men
in winter crossing a river. How reluc
tant! Like men fearing in the four
quarters their neighbors. How reserved !
They behave like guests. How elusive !
They resemble ice when melting. How
simple! They resemble rough wood.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 83

How empty ! They resemble the valley.
How obscure! They resemble troubled
waters.

3. Who by quieting can gradually ren
der muddy waters clear? Who by stir
ring can gradually quicken the still?

4. He who cherishes this Reason is
not anxious to be filled. Since he is not
filled, therefore he may grow old ; with
out renewal he is complete.

16. RETURNING TO THE ROOT.

1. By attaining the height of abstrac
tion we gain fulness of rest.

2. All the ten thousand things arise,
and I see them return. Now they bloom
in bloom but each one homeward re-
turneth to its root.

3. Returning to the root means rest.
It signifies the return according to des
tiny. Return according to destiny means
the eternal. Knowing the eternal means
enlightenment. Not knowing the eter
nal causes passions to rise; and that is
evil.

4. Knowing the eternal renders com
prehensive. Comprehensiveness renders

84 Canon of Reason and Virtue

broad. Breadth renders royal. Royalty
renders heavenly. Heaven renders Rea
son-like. Reason renders lasting. Thus
the decay of the body implies no danger.

17. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.

1. Of great rulers the subjects do not
notice the existence. To lesser ones peo
ple are attached ; they praise them. Still
lesser ones people fear, and the meanest
ones people despise.

2. For it is said:

"If your faith be insufficient, verily,
you will receive no faith."

3. How reluctantly they [the great
rulers] considered their words! Merit
they accomplished; deeds they per
formed; and the hundred families
thought: "We are independent."

18. THE PALLIATION OF VULGARITY.

1. When the great Reason is oblite
rated, we have benevolence and justice.
Prudence and circumspection appear,
and we have much hypocrisy.

2. When family relations no longer
harmonize, we have filial piety and pa-

Canon of Reason and Virtue 85

ternal devotion. When the country and
the clans decay through disorder, we
have loyalty and allegiance.

19. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.

1. Abandon your saintliness; put away
your prudence ; and the people will gain
a hundredfold!

2. Abandon your benevolence; put
away your justice; and the people will
return to filial piety and paternal devo
tion.

3. Abandon smartness; give up greed;
and thieves and robbers will no longer
exist.

4. These are three things for which
culture is insufficient. Therefore it is
said:

"Hold fast to that which will endure,
Show thyself simple, preserve thee

pure,
And lessen self with desires fewer."

20. DIFFERENT FROM THE VULGAR.

1. Abandon learnedness, and you have
no vexation. The "yes" compared with
the "yea," how little do they differ!

86 Canon of Reason and Virtue

But the good compared with the bad,
how much do they differ!

2. If what the people dread cannot be
made dreadless, there will be desolation,
alas! and verily, there will be no end
of it.

3. The multitudes of men are happy,
so happy, as though celebrating a great
feast. They are as though in springtime

. ascending a tower. I alone remain quiet,
I alas ! like one that has not yet received
\an omen. I am like unto a babe that
does not yet smile.

4. Forlorn am I, O so forlorn! It ap-
,' \ pears that I have no place whither I

may return home.

5. The multitude of men all have
plenty and I alone appear empty. Alas !
I am a man whose heart is foolish.

6. Ignorant am I, O, so ignorant ! Com
mon people are bright, so bright, I alone
am dull.

7. Common people are smart, so smart,
I alone am confused, so confused.

8. Desolate am I, alas! like the sea.
Adrift, alas! like one who has no place
where to stay.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 87

9. The multitude of men all possess
usefulness. I alone am awkward and a
rustic too. I alone differ from others,
but I prize seeking sustenance from our
mother.

21. EMPTYING THE HEART.

1. "Vast virtue's form

Follows Reason's norm.

2. "And Reason's nature

Is vague and eluding.

3. "How eluding and vague

All types including!
How vague and eluding,
All beings including!
How deep and how obscure.
It harbors the spirit pure,
Whose truth is ever sure,
Whose faith abides for aye
From of yore until to-day.

4. "Its name is never vanishing,

It heeds the good of everything."

5. Through what do I know that "it
heeds the good of everything"? In this
way, verily: Through IT.

88 Canon of Reason and Virtue

22. HUMILITY'S INCREASE.

1. "The crooked shall be straight,

Crushed ones recuperate,

The empty find their fill.

The worn with strength shall thrill ;

Who little have receive,

And who have much will grieve."

2. Therefore

The holy man embraces unity and be
comes for all the world a model.

Not self-displaying he is enlightened;

Not self-approving he is distinguished ;

Not self-asserting he acquires merit;

Not self-seeking he gaineth life.

Since he does not quarrel, therefore
no one in the world can quarrel with
him.

3. The saying of the ancients: "The
crooked shall be straight," is it in any
way vainly spoken?' Verily, they will
be straightened and return home.

23. EMPTINESS AND NON-EXISTENCE.

1. To be taciturn is the natural way.
A hurricane does not outlast the morn-

Canon of Reason and Virtue 89

ing. A cloudburst does not outlast the
day.

2. Who causes these events but heaven
and earth? If even heaven and earth
cannot be unremitting, will not man be
much less so?

3. Those who pursue their business in
Reason, men of Reason, associate in Rea
son. Those who pursue their business
in virtue associate in virtue. Those who
pursue their business in ill luck asso
ciate in ill luck. When men associate
in Reason, Reason makes them glad to
find companions. When men associate
in virtue, virtue makes them glad to
find companions. When men associate
in ill luck, ill luck makes them glad to
find companions.

"If your faith is insufficient, verily
shall ye receive no faith."

24. TROUBLE FROM INDULGENCE.

1. One on tiptoe is not steady; i

One astride makes no advance.
Self-displayers are not enlightened,
Self-asserters lack distinction,

90 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Self-approvers have no merit,
And self-seekers stunt their lives.

2. Before Reason this is like surfeit
of food; it is Uke a wen on the body
with which people are apt to be dis
gusted.

3. Therefore the man of reason will
not indulge in it.

25. IMAGING THE MYSTERIOUS.

1. There is a Being wondrous and com
plete. Before heaven and earth, it was.
How calm it is ! How spiritual !

2. Alone it standeth, and it changeth
not; around it moveth, and it suffereth
not; yet therefore can it be the world's
mother.

3. Its name I know not, but its nature
I call Reason.

4. Constrained to give a name, I call
it the great. The great I call the de
parting, and the departing I call the
beyond. The beyond I call home.

5. The saying goes: "Reason is great,
heaven is great, earth is great, and roy
alty also is great. [There are four things

Canon of Reason and Virtue 91

in the world that are great, and royalty
is one of them.]

6. Man's standard is the earth. The
earth's standard is heaven. Heaven's
standard is Reason. Reason's standard
is intrinsic.

26. THE VIRTUE OF GRAVITY.

1. The heavy is of the light the root,
and rest is motion's master.

2. Therefore the holy man in his daily
walk does not depart from gravity. Al
though he may have magnificent sights,
he calmly sits with liberated mind.

3. But how is it when the master of
the ten thousand chariots in his per
sonal conduct is too light for the empire?
If he is too light he will lose his vassals.
If he is too passionate he will lose the
throne.

27. THE FUNCTION OF SKILL.

1. "Good travelers leave no trace nor

track,

Good speakers, in logic show no lack,
Good counters need no counting rack.

92 Canon of Reason and Virtue

2. "Good lockers bolting bars need not,

Yet none their locks can loose.
Good binders need no string nor knot,
Yet none unties their noose."

3. Therefore the holy man is always
a good saviour of men, for there are no
outcast people. He is always a good
saviour of things, for there are no out
cast things. This is called applied en
lightenment.

4. Thus the good man does not respect
multitudes of men. The bad man re
spects the people's wealth. Who does

I not esteem multitudes nor is charmed
by their wealth, though his knowledge
be greatly confused, he must be recog
nized as profoundly spiritual.

28. RETURNING TO SIMPLICITY.

1. "Who his manhood shows
And his womanhood knows
Becomes the empire's river.
Is he the empire's river,
He will from virtue never deviate,
And home he turneth to a child's es
tate.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 93

2. "Who his brightness shows

And his blackness knows

Becomes the empire's model.

Is he the empire's model,

Of virtue ne'er shall he be destitute,

And home he turneth to the absolute.

3. "Who knows his fame

And guards his shame

Becomes the empire's valley.

Is he the empire's valley,

For e'er his virtue will sufficient be,

And home he turneth to simplicity."

4. Simplicity, when scattered, becomes
a vessel of usefulness. The holy man,
by using it, becomes the chief leader;
and truly, a great principle will never
do harm.

29. NON-ASSERTION.

1. When one desires to take in hand
the empire and make it, I see him not
succeed. The empire is a divine vessel
which cannot be made. One who makes
it, mars it. One who takes it, loses it.

94 Canon of Reason and Virtue

2. And it is said of beings:

"Some are obsequious, others move

boldly,

Some breathe warmly, others coldly,
Some are strong and others weak,
Some rise proudly, others sneak."

3. Therefore the holy man abandons
excess, he abandons extravagance, he
abandons indulgence.

30. BE CHARY OF WAR.

1. He who with Reason assists the
master of mankind will not with arms
strengthen the empire. His methods
invite requital.

2. Where armies are quartered briars
and thorns grow. Great wars unfail
ingly are followed by famines. A good
man acts resolutely and then stops. He
ventures not to take by force.

3. Be resolute but not boastful; reso
lute but not haughty; resolute but not
arrogant; resolute because you cannot
avoid it; resolute but not violent.

4. Things thrive and then grow old.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 95

This is called un-Reason. Un-Reason
soon ceases.

31. QUELLING WAR.

1. Even victorious arms are unblest
among tools, and people had better shun
them. Therefore he who has Reason
does not rely on them.

2. The superior man when residing at
home honors the left. When using arms,
he honors the right.

3. Arms are unblest among tools and
not the superior man's tools. Only when
it is unavoidable he uses them. Peacjs—
and quietude he holdeth high.

4. He conquers but rejoices not. Re
joicing at a conquest means to enjoy
the slaughter of men. He who enjoys
the slaughter of men will most assuredly
not obtain his will in the empire.

32. THE VIRTUE OF HOLINESS.

1. Reason, in its eternal aspect, is un-
namable.

2. Although its simplicity seems in
significant, the whole world does not
dare to suppress it. If princes and kings

96 Canon of Reason and Virtue

could keep it, the ten thousand things
would of themselves pay homage. Heaven
and earth would unite in dripping sweet
dew, and the people with no one to
command them would of themselves be
righteous.

3. As soon as Reason creates order,
it becomes namable. Whenever the na-
mable in its turn acquires existence, one
learns to know when to stop. By know
ing when to stop, one avoids danger.

4. To illustrate Reason's relation to
the world we compare it to streams and
creeks in their course towards rivers
and the ocean.

33. THE VIRTUE OF DISCRIMINATION.

1. One who knows others is clever, but
one who knows himself is enlightened.

2. One who conquers others is power
ful, but one who conquers himself is
mighty.

3. One who knows contentment is rich
and one who pushes with vigor has will.

4. One who loses not his place endures.

5. One who may die but will not per
ish, has life everlasting.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 97

34. TRUST IN ITS PERFECTION.

1. How all-pervading is the great Rea
son! It can be on the left and it can
be on the right.

2. The ten thousand things depend
upon it for their life, and it refuses
them not. When its merit is accom
plished it assumes not the name. Lov
ingly it nourishes the ten thousand
things and plays not the lord. Ever de-
sireless it can be classed with the small.
The ten thousand things return home to
it. It plays not the lord. It can be
classed with the great.

3. Therefore

The holy man unto death does not
make himself great and can thus accom
plish his greatness.

35. THE VIRTUE OF BENEVOLENCE.

1. "Who holdeth fast to the great Form,
Of him the world will come in quest:
For there we never meet with harm,
There we find shelter, comfort, rest."
2. Music with dainties makes the pass
ing stranger stop. But Reason, when

98 Canon of Reason and Virtue

coming from the mouth, how tasteless is
it! It has no flavor. When looked at,
there is not enough to be seen; when
listened to, there is not enough to be
heard. However, when used, it is inex
haustible.

36. THE SECRET'S EXPLANATION.

1. That which is about to contract has
surely been expanded. That which is
about to weaken has surely been
strengthened. That which is about to
fall has surely been raised. That which
is about to be despoiled has surely been
endowed.

2. This is an explanation of the secret
that the tender and the weak conquer the
hard and the strong.

3. As the fish should not escape from
the deep, so with the country's sharp
tools the people should not become ac
quainted.

37. ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERN
MENT.

1. Reason always practises non-asser
tion, and there is nothing that remains
undone.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 99

2. If princes and kings could keep
Reason, the ten thousand creatures would
of themselves be reformed. While be
ing reformed they might yet be anxious
to stir; but I would restrain them by
the simplicity of the Ineffable.

3. "The simplicity of the unexpressed
Will purify the heart of lust.
Is there no lust there will be rest,
And all the world will thus be blest."

XI.

38. DISCOURSE ON VIRTUE.

1. Superior virtue is unvirtue. There
fore it has virtue. Inferior virtue never
loses sight of virtue. Therefore it has
no virtue.

2. Superior virtue is non-assertion and
without pretension. Inferior virtue as
serts and makes pretensions.

3. Superior benevolence acts but makes
no pretensions. Superior justice acts
and makes pretensions.

4. Superior propriety acts and when

100 Canon of Reason and Virtue

no one responds to it, it stretches its arm
and enforces its rules.

5. Thus one loses Reason and then vir
tue appears, One loses virtue and then
benevolence appears. One loses benev
olence and then justice appears. One
loses justice and then propriety appears.
The rules of propriety are the sem
blance of loyalty and faith, and the be
ginning of disorder.

6. Traditionalism is the flower of Rea
son, but of ignorance the beginning.

7. Therefore a great organizer abides
by the solid and dwells not in the exter
nal. He abides in the fruit and dwells
not in the flower.

8. Therefore he discards the latter and
chooses the former.

39. THE ROOT OF ORDER.

1. From of old these things have ob
tained oneness:

2. "Heaven by oneness becometh pure.
Earth by oneness can endure.
Minds by oneness souls procure.
Valleys by oneness repletion secure.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 101

"All creatures by oneness to life have

been called.

And kings were by oneness as models
installed."

Such is the result of oneness.

3. "Were heaven not pure it might be
rent.

Were earth not stable it might be
bent.

Were minds not ensouled they'd be
impotent.

Were valleys not filled they'd soon
be spent.

When creatures are lifeless who can
their death prevent?

Are kings not models, but on haughti
ness bent,

Their fall, forsooth, is imminent."

4. Thus, the nobles come from the com
moners as their root, and the high rest
upon the lowly as their foundation.
Therefore, princes and kings call them
selves orphaned, lonely, and unworthy.
Is this not because they take lowliness
as their root?

102 Canon of Reason and Virtue

5. The several parts of a carriage are
not a carriage.

6. Those who have become a unity are
neither anxious to be praised with praise
like a gem, nor disdained with disdain
like a stone.

40. AVOIDING ACTIVITY.

1. "Homeward is Reason's course,

Weakness is Reason's force."

2. Heaven and earth and the ten thou
sand things come from existence, but
existence comes from non-existence.

41. SAMENESS IN DIFFERENCE.

1. When a superior scholar hears of
Reason he endeavors to practise it.

2. When an average scholar hears of
Reason he will sometimes keep it and
sometimes lose it.

3. When an inferior scholar hears of
Reason he will greatly ridicule it. Were
it not thus ridiculed, it would as Reason
be insufficient.

4. Therefore the poet says:

5. "The Reason-enlightened seem dark
and black,

Canon of Reason and Virtue 103

The Reason - advanced seem going

back,
The Reason - straight - levelled seem

rugged and slack.

6. "The high in virtue resemble a vale,

The purely white in shame must

quail,
The staunchest virtue seems to fail.

7. "The solidest virtue seems not alert,

The purest chastity seems pervert,
The greatest square will Tightness
desert.

8. "The largest vessel is not yet com

plete,

The loudest sound is not speech re
plete,

The greatest form has no shape con
crete."

9. Reason so long as it remains latent
is unnamable. Yet Reason alone is good
for imparting and completing.

42. REASON'S MODIFICATIONS.
1. Reason begets unity; unity begets
duality; duality begets trinity; and trin
ity begets the ten thousand things.

104 Canon of Reason and Virtue

2. The ten thousand things are sus
tained by Yin [the negative principle] ;
they are encompassed by Yang [the pos
itive principle], and the immaterial
breath renders them harmonious.

3. That which the people find odious,
to be orphaned, lonely, and unworthy,
kings and princes select as their titles.
Thus, on the one hand, loss implies gain,
and on the other hand, gain implies loss.

4. What others have taught I teach
also.

5. The strong and aggressive do not
die a natural death; but I will obey the
doctrine's father.

43. ITS UNIVERSAL APPLICATION.

1. The world's weakest overcomes the
world's hardest.

2. Non-existence enters into the im
penetrable.

3. Thereby I comprehend of non-asser
tion the advantage. There are few in
the world who obtain of non-assertion
the advantage and of silence the lesson.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 105

44. SETTING UP PRECEPTS.

1. "Name or person, which is more near?

Person or fortune, which is more

dear?
Gain or loss, which is more sear?

2. "Extreme dotage leadeth to squander

ing.
Hoarded wealth inviteth plundering.

3. "Who is content incurs no humilia

tion,
Who knows when to stop risks no

vitiation,
Forever lasteth his duration."

45. GREATEST VIRTUE.

1. "Greatest perfection imperfect will be,

But its work ne'er waneth.
Greatest fulness is vacuity,
Its work unexhausted remaineth."

2. "Straightest lines resemble curves ;

Greatest skill like a tyro serves;
Greatest eloquence stammers and
swerves."

3. Motion conquers cold. Quietude

106 Canon of Reason and Virtue

conquers heat. Purity and clearness are
the world's standard.

46. MODERATION OF DESIRE.

1. When the world possesses Reason,
race horses are reserved for hauling
dung. When the world is without Rea
son, war horses are bred in the common.

2. No greater sin than yielding to de
sire. No greater misery than discon
tent. No greater calamity than greed.

3. Therefore, he who knows content's
content is always content.

^ 47. VIEWING THE DISTANT.

1. "Without passing out of the gate
The world's course I prognosticate.
Without peeping through the win
dow

The heavenly Reason I contemplate.
The further one goes,
The less one knows."

2. Therefore the holy man does not
travel, and yet he has knowledge. He
does not see things, and yet he defines
them. He does not labor, and yet he
completes.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 107

48. FORGETTING KNOWLEDGE.

1. He who seeks learnedness will daily
increase. He who seeks Reason will
daily diminish. He will diminish and
continue to diminish until he arrives at
non-assertion.

2. With non-assertion there is nothing
that he cannot achieve. When he takes
the empire, it is always because he uses
no diplomacy. He who uses diplomacy
is not fit to take the empire.

49. TRUST IN VIRTUE.

1. The holy man has not a heart of
his own. The hundred families' hearts
he makes his heart.

2. The good I meet with goodness;
the bad I also meet with goodness; that
is virtue's goodness. The faithful I meet
with faith ; the faithless I also meet with
faith; that is virtue's faith.

3. The holy man dwells in the world
anxious, very anxious in his dealings
with the world. He universalizes his
heart, and the hundred families fix upon

108 Canon of Reason and Virtue

him their ears and eyes. The holy man
treats them all like children.

50. THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE.

1. Abroad in life, home in death.

2. There are thirteen avenues of life;
there are thirteen avenues of death; on
thirteen avenues men that live pass unto
the realm of death.

3. Now, what is the reason? It is be
cause they live life's intensity.

4. Yea, I understand that one whose
life is based on goodness, when traveling
on land will not fall a prey to the rhi
noceros or the tiger. When coming
among soldiers, he need not fear arms
and weapons. The rhinoceros finds no
place wherein to insert its horn. The
tiger finds no place wherein to put his
claws. Weapons find no place wherein to
thrust their blades. The reason is that
he does not belong to the realm of death.

51. NURSING VIRTUE.

1. Reason quickens all creatures. Vir
tue feeds them. Reality shapes them.
The forces complete them. Therefore

Canon of Reason and Virtue 109

among the ten thousand things there
is none that does not esteem Reason and
honor virtue.

2. Since the esteem of Reason and the
honoring of virtue is by no one com
manded, it is forever spontaneous.

3. Therefore it is said that Reason
quickens all creatures, while virtue feeds
them, raises them, nurtures them, com
pletes them, matures them, rears them,
and protects them.

4. To quicken but not to own, to make
but not to claim, to raise but not to rule,
this is called profound virtue.

52. RETURNING TO THE ORIGIN.

1. When the world takes its beginning,
Reason becomes the world's mother.

2. As one knows his mother, so she in
turn knows her child; as she quickens
her child, so he in turn keeps to his
mother, and to the end of life he is not
in danger. Who closes his mouth, and
shuts his sense-gates, in the end of life
he will encounter no trouble; but who
opens his mouth and meddles with af-

110 Canon of Reason and Virtue

fairs, in the end of life he cannot be
saved.

3. Who beholds his smallness is called
enlightened. Who preserves his tender
ness is called strong. Who uses Rea
son's light and returns home to its en
lightenment does not surrender his per
son to perdition. This is called prac
tising the eternal.

53. GAINING INSIGHT.

1. If I have ever so little knowledge,
I shall walk in the great Reason. It is
but expansion that I must fear.

2. The great Reason is very plain, but
people are fond of by-paths.

3. When the palace is very splendid,
the fields are very weedy and granaries
very empty.

4. To wear ornaments and gay clothes,
to carry sharp swords, to be excessive
in drinking and eating, to have a re
dundance of costly articles, this is the
pride of robbers.

5. Surely, this is un-Reason.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 111

54. THE CULTIVATION OF INTUITION.

1. "What is well planted is not uprooted;
What's well preserved can not be
looted!"

2. By sons and grandsons the sacri
ficial celebrations shall not cease.

3. Who cultivates Reason in his per
son, his virtue is genuine.

Who cultivates it in his house, his
virtue is overflowing.

Who cultivates it in his township, his
virtue is lasting.

Who cultivates it in his country, his
virtue is abundant.

Who cultivates it in the world, his
virtue is universal.

4. Therefore,

By one's person one tests persons.
By one's house one tests houses.
By one's township one tests town
ships.

By one's country one tests countries.
By one's world one tests worlds.

5. How do I know that the world is
such? Through IT.

112 Canon of Reason and Virtue

55. THE SIGNET OF THE MYSTERIOUS.

1. He who possesses virtue in all its
solidity is like unto a little child.

2. Venomous reptiles do not sting him,
fierce beasts do not seize him. Birds of
prey do not strike him. His bones are
weak, his sinews tender, but his grasp
is firm. He does not yet know the re
lation between male and female, but his
virility is strong. Thus his metal grows
to perfection. A whole day he might cry
and sob without growing hoarse. This
shows the perfection of his harmony.

3. To know the harmonious is called
the eternal. To know the eternal is
called enlightenment.

4. To increase life is called a blessing,
and heart - directed vitality is called
strength, but things vigorous are about
to grow old and I call this un-Reason.

5. Un-Reason soon ceases!

56. THE VIRTUE OF THE MYSTERIOUS.
1. One who knows does not talk. One

who talks does not know. Therefore the
sage keeps his mouth shut and his sense-
gates closed.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 113

2. "He will blunt his own sharpness,

His own tangles adjust;

He will dim his own radiance,

And be one with his dust."

3. This is called profound identifica
tion.

4. Thus he is inaccessible to love and
also inaccessible to enmity. He is in
accessible to profit and inaccessible to
loss. He is also inaccessible to favor
and inaccessible to disgrace. Thus he
becomes world-honored.

57. SIMPLICITY IN HABITS.

1. With rectitude one governs the
state ; with craftiness one leads the army ;
with non-diplomacy one takes the em
pire. How do I know that it is so?
Through IT.

2. The more restrictions and prohibi
tions are in the empire, the poorer grow
the people. The more weapons the peo
ple have, the more troubled is the state.
The more there is cunning and skill, the
more startling events will happen. The

114 Canon of Reason and Virtue

more mandates and laws are enacted, the
more there will be thieves and robbers.
3. Therefore the holy man says: I
practise non-assertion, and the people of
themselves reform. I love quietude, and
the people of themselves become right
eous. I use no diplomacy, and the peo
ple of themselves become rich. I have
no desire, and the people of themselves
remain simple.

58. ADAPTATION TO CHANGE.

1. Whose government is unostenta
tious, quite unostentatious, his people
will be prosperous, quite prosperous.
Whose government is prying, quite pry
ing, his people will be needy, quite
needy.

2. Misery, alas! rests upon happiness.
Happiness, alas! underlies misery. But
who foresees the catastrophe? It will
not be prevented !

3. What is ordinary becomes again
extraordinary. What is good becomes
again unpropitious. This bewilders peo
ple, and it happens constantly since times
immemorial.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 115

4. Therefore the holy man is square
but not sharp, strict but not obnoxious,
upright but not restraining, bright but
not dazzling.

59. HOLD FAST TO REASON.

1. To govern the people is the affair
of heaven and there is nothing like
thrift.

Now consider that thrift is said to
come from early practice.

2. By early practice it is said that we
can accumulate an abundance of virtue.
If one accumulates an abundance of vir
tue then there is nothing that can not
be overcome.

3. When nothing can not be overcome
then no one knows his limit. When no
one knows his limit one can have pos
session of the commonwealth.

4. Who has possession of the common
wealth's mother [thrift] may last and
abide.

5. This is called the possession of deep
roots and of a staunch stem. To life,
to everlastingness, to comprehension,
this is the way.

116 Canon of Reason and Virtue

60. HOW TO MAINTAIN ONE'S PLACE.

1. Govern a great country as you
would fry small fish: [neither gut nor
scale them.]

2. If with Reason the empire is man
aged, its ghosts will not spook. Not
only will its ghosts not spook, but its
gods will not harm the people. Not only
will its gods not harm the people, but
neither will its holy men harm the peo
ple. Since neither will do harm, there
fore their virtues will be combined.

61. THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY.

1. A great state, one that lowly flows,
becomes the empire's union, and the em
pire's wife.

2. The wife always through quietude
conquers her husband, and by quietude
renders herself lowly.

3. Thus a great state through lowliness
toward small states will conquer the
small states, and small states through
lowliness toward great states will con
quer great states.

4. Therefore some render themselves

Canon of Reason and Virtue 117

lowly for the purpose of conquering;
others are lowly and therefore conquer.
5. A great state desires no more than
to unite and feed the people; a small
state desires no more than to devote it
self to the service of the people ; but that
both may obtain their wishes, the greater
one must stoop.

62. PRACTISE REASON.

1. The man of Reason is the ten thou
sand creatures' refuge, the good man's
wealth, the bad man's stay.

2. With beautiful words one can sell.
With honest conduct one can do still
more with the people.

3. If a man be bad, why should he be
thrown away? Therefore, an emperor
was elected and three ministers ap
pointed; but better than holding before
one's face the jade table [of the min
istry] and riding with four horses, is
sitting still and propounding the eternal
Reason.

4. Why do the ancients prize this Rea
son? Is it not, say, because when sought

118 Canon of Reason and Virtue

it is obtained and the sinner thereby
can be saved? Therefore it is world-
honored.

63. CONSIDER BEGINNINGS.

1. Assert non-assertion.
Practise non-practice.
Taste the tasteless.
Make great the small.
Make much the little.

2. Requite hatred with virtue.

3. Contemplate a difficulty when it is
easy. Manage a great thing when it is
small.

4. The world's most difficult undertak
ings necessarily originate while easy,
and the world's greatest undertakings
necessarily originate while small.

5. Therefore the holy man to the end
does not venture to play the great, and
thus he can accomplish his greatness.

6. Rash promises surely lack faith, and
many easy things surely involve in many
difficulties.

7. Therefore, the holy man regards
everything as difficult, and thus to the
end encounters no difficulties.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 119

64. MIND THE INSIGNIFICANT.

1. What is still at rest is easily kept
quiet. What has not as yet appeared
is easily prevented. What is still feeble
is easily broken. What is still scant is
easily dispersed.

2. Treat things before they exist. Reg
ulate things before disorder begins. The
stout tree has originated from a tiny
rootlet. A tower of nine stories is raised
by heaping up [bricks of] clay. A thou
sand miles' journey begins with a foot.

3. He that makes mars. He that grasps
loses.

The holy man does not make; there
fore he mars not. He does not grasp;
therefore he loses not. The people when
undertaking an enterprise are always
near completion, and yet they fail.

4. Remain careful to the end as in the
beginning and you will not fail in your
enterprise.

5. Therefore the holy man desires to
be desireless, and does not prize articles
difficult to obtain. He learns, not to

120 Canon of Reason and Virtue

be learned, and seeks a home where mul
titudes of people pass by.

6. He assists the ten thousand things
in their natural development, but he does
not venture to interfere.

65. THE VIRTUE OF SIMPLICITY.

1. The ancients who were well versed
in Reason did not thereby enlighten the
people; they intended thereby to make
them simple-hearted.

2. If people are difficult to govern, it
is because they are too smart. To gov
ern the country with smartness is the
country's curse. To govern the coun
try without smartness is the country's
blessing. He who knows these two things
is also a model [like the ancients]. Al
ways to know the model is called pro
found virtue.

3. Spiritual virtue, verily, is profound.
Verily, it is far-reaching. Verily, it is
to everything reverse. But then it will
procure great recognition.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 121

66. PUTTING ONESELF BEHIND.

1. That rivers and oceans can of the
hundred valleys be kings is due to their
excelling in lowliness. Thus they can of
the hundred valleys be the kings.

2. Therefore the holy man, when an
xious to be above the people, must in his
words keep underneath them. When an
xious to lead the people, he must with
his person keep behind them.

3. Therefore the holy man dwells
above, but the people are not burdened.
He is ahead, but the people suffer no
harm.

4. Therefore the world rejoices in ex
alting him and does not tire. Because he
strives not, no one in the world will
strive with him.

67. THE THREE TREASURES.

1. All in the world call me great; but
I resemble the unlikely. Now a man is
great only because he resembles the un
likely. Did he resemble the likely, how
lasting, indeed, would his mediocrity be!

2. I have three treasures which I

122 Canon of Reason and Virtue

cherish and prize. The first is called
compassion. The second is called econ
omy. The third is called not daring to
come to the front in the world.

3. The compassionate can be brave;
the economical can be generous; those
who dare not come to the front in the
world can become perfect as chief ves
sels.

4. Now, if people discard compassion
and are brave; if they discard economy
and are gen&rous; if they discard mod
esty and are ambitious, they will surely
die.

5. Now, the compassionate will in at
tack be victorious, and in defence firm.
Heaven when about to save one will
with compassion protect him.

68. COMPLYING WITH HEAVEN.

1. He who excels as a warrior is not
warlike. He who excels as a fighter is
not wrathful. He who excels in con
quering the enemy does not strive. He
who excels in employing men is lowly.

2. This is called the virtue of not-
striving. This is called utilizing men's

Canon of Reason and Virtue 123

ability. This is called complying with
heaven — since olden times the highest.

69. THE FUNCTION OF THE MYSTE
RIOUS.

1. A military expert used to say: "I
dare not act as host [who takes the ini
tiative] but act as guest [with reserve].
I dare not advance an inch, but I with
draw a foot."

2. This is called marching without
marching, threatening without arms,
charging without hostility, seizing with
out weapons.

3. No greater misfortune than making
light of the enemy! When we make
light of the enemy, it is almost as though
we had lost our treasure — [compassion].

4. Thus, if matched armies encounter
one another, the one who does so in sor
row is sure to conquer.

70. DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.

1. My words are very easy to under
stand and very easy to practise, but in
the world no one can understand, no one
can practise them.

124 Canon of Reason and Virtue

2. Words have an ancestor ; Deeds have
a master [viz., Reason]. Since he is not
understood, therefore I am not under
stood. Those who understand me are
few, and thus I am distinguished.

3. Therefore the holy man wears wool,
and hides in his bosom his jewels.

71. THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE.

1. To know the unknowable, that is
elevating. Not to know the knowable,
that is sickness.

2. Only by becoming sick of sickness
can we be without sickness.

3. The holy man is not sick. Because
he is sick of sickness, therefore he is
not sick.

72. HOLDING ONESELF DEAR.

1. If the people do not fear the dread
ful, the great dreadful will come, surely.

2. Let them not deem their lives nar
row. Let them not deem their lot weari
some. When it is not deemed weari
some, then it will not be wearisome.

3. Therefore the holy man knows him
self but does not displav himself. He

Canon of Reason and Virtue 125

holds himself dear but does not honor
himself. Thus he discards the latter and
chooses the former.

73. DARING TO ACT.

1. Courage, if carried to daring, leads
to death; courage, if not carried to dar
ing, leads to life. Either of these two
things is sometimes beneficial, some
times harmful.

2. "Why 't is by heaven rejected,

Who has the reason detected?"

Therefore the holy man also regards it
as difficult.

3. The Heavenly Reason strives not,
but it is sure to conquer. It speaks not,
but it is sure to respond. It summons
not, but it comes of itself. It works pa
tiently, but is sure in its designs.

4. Heaven's net is vast, so vast. It is
wide-meshed, but it loses nothing.

74, OVERCOME DELUSION.

1. If the people do not fear death,
how can they be frightened by death?
If we make people fear death, and sup-

126 Canon of Reason and Virtue

posing some would [still] venture to re
bel, if we seize them for capital punish
ment, who will dare?

2. There is always an executioner who
kills. Now to take the place of the exe
cutioner who kills is taking the place of
the great carpenter who hews. If a man
takes the place of the great carpenter
who hews, he will rarely, indeed, fail
to injure his hand.

75. HARMED THROUGH GREED.

1. The people hunger because their
superiors consume too many taxes;
therefore they hunger. The people are
difficult to govern because their supe
riors are too meddlesome ; therefore they
are difficult to govern. The people make
light of death on account of the inten
sity of their clinging to life; therefore
they make light of death.

2. He who is not bent on life is worth
ier than he who esteems life.

76. BEWARE OF STRENGTH.

1. Man during life is tender and deli
cate. When he dies he is stiff and stark.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 127

2. The ten thousand things, the grass
as well as the trees, while they live are
tender and supple. When they die they
are rigid and dry.

3. Thus the hard and the strong are
the companions of death. The tender
and the delicate are the companions of
life.

Therefore he who in arms is strong
will not conquer.

4. When a tree has grown strong it is
doomed.

5. The strong and the great stay below.
The tender and the delicate stay above.

77. HEAVEN'S REASON.

1. Is not Heaven's Reason truly like
stretching a bow? The high it brings
down, the lowly it lifts up. Those who
have abundance it depleteth; those who
are deficient it augmenteth.

2. Such is Heaven's Reason. It de
pleteth those who have abundance but
completeth the deficient.

3. Man's Reason is not so. He depleteth
the deficient in order to serve those who
have abundance.

128 Canon of Reason and Virtue

4. Where is he who would have abun
dance for serving the world?

5. Indeed, it is the holy man who acts
but claims not; merit he acquires but
he does not dwell upon it, and does
he ever show any anxiety to display his
excellence?

78. TRUST IN FAITH.

1. In the world nothing is tenderer
and more delicate than water. In at
tacking the hard and the strong noth
ing will surpass it. There is nothing
that herein takes its place.

2. The weak conquer the strong, the
tender conquer the rigid. In the world
there is no one who does not know it,
but no one will practise it.

3. Therefore the holy man says:

"Him who the country's sin makes his,
We hail as priest at the great sacrifice.
Him who the curse bears of the coun
try's failing.
As king of the empire we are hailing."

4. True words seem paradoxical.

Canon of Reason and Virtue 129

79. KEEP YOUR OBLIGATIONS.

1. When a great hatred is reconciled,
naturally some hatred will remain. How
can this be made good?

2. Therefore the sage keeps the obli
gations of his contract and exacts not
from others. Those who have virtue at
tend to their obligations ; those who have
no virtue attend to their claims.

3. Heaven's Reason shows no prefer
ence but always assists the good man.

80. REMAINING IN ISOLATION.

1. In a small country with few people
let there be aldermen and mayors who
are possessed of power over men but
would not use it. Induce people to grieve
at death but do not cause them to move
to a distance. Although they had ships
and carriages, they should find no occa
sion to ride in them. Although they had
armours and weapons, they should find
no occasion to don them.

2 Induce people to return to [the old
custom of] knotted cords and to use
them [in the place of writing], to de-

130 Canon of Reason and Virtue

light in their food, to be proud of their
clothes, to be content with their homes,
and to rejoice in their customs: then in
a neighboring state within sight, the
voices of the cocks and dogs would be
within hearing, yet the people might
grow old and die before they visited one
another.

81. PROPOUNDING THE ESSENTIAL.

1. True words are not pleasant; pleas
ant words are not true. The good are
not contentious; the contentious are not
good. The wise are not learned; the
learned are not wise.

2. The holy man hoards not. The more
he does for others, the more he owns
himself. The more he gives to others,
the more will he himself lay up an abun
dance.

3. Heaven's Reason is to benefit but
not to injure; the holy man's Reason is
to accomplish but not to strive.

COMMENTS AND ALTERNATIVE
READINGS.

CHAPTER 1.

The phrase 'yiu ming, "having name"
(or simply ming, "name") means that
which the definition of a name involves,
and as such the term represents the ac
tualized types of things. However wu
ming, "not name" or "the Unnamable,"
corresponds to Plato's conception of the
prototype of things before they have
been actualized. Lao-tze speaks with
reverence of the Unnamable,1 which
closely corresponds to the "Ineffable"
of Western mystics.

The words "these two things" appar
ently refer to the Unnamable and the
Namable.

What Lao-tze calls "the Name" or "the

1 See also Chapters 32 and 41.

132 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Namable" is in Spinoza's language na-
tura naturata, while "the Unnamable" is
natura naturans. In either system the
two are one; they are two aspects of
one and the same thing which in Lao-
tze's taoism is the Tao and in Spinoza's
cosmotheism is God as the eternal sub
stance.

CHAPTER 2.

The first sentence reads literally, "Un
der the heavens [i. e., all over the world,
or everywhere] all know [i. e., it is ob
vious], if beauty acts beauty it is only
ugliness." The verb "acts" is to be
taken in the same sense as it is used in
English, viz., "making a display or show
of."

We deem our present rendering an im
provement on our former version.

According to a notion of the early
Christians the devil would like to play
the part of God, as Tertullian says,
Satanas affectat sacramenta Dei. On
Lao-tze's theory the nature of the devil
consists exactly in the attempt of acting
the part of God.

Comments 133

The close interrelation of goodness
with badness and of beauty with ugli
ness suggests the quotation on oppo-
sites. It sets forth the coexistence of
contrasts, and their mutual dependence
is more obvious to the Chinese than to
other nations, because in their word-
combinations they 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 strug
gle for life, or the bread question; "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 commented upon by Lao-
tze.

CHAPTER 3.

In former editions we have translated
the verb shang by its common meaning
"to exalt," but here it is obviously a re
flex verb meaning "to exalt oneself" or
"to brag, to boast."

The word fu means literally "stomach"

134 Canon of Reason and Virtue

or "the interior," but it may also mean
"soul," for according to Chinese ideas
the soul has its seat in the stomach.

The idea that the belly is the noblest
part of the body where tender senti
ments dwell was quite common among
early peoples. Thus, e. g. the Hebrew ra-
khamim,2 which originally means "en
trails," is used in the sense of "com
passion" and "love." In Japan that death
was considered most worthy in which
the first attack upon life was made upon
the seat of the properly psychic facul
ties; therefore the victim of hara-kiri
rips open his belly and is then beheaded
by his best friend so as to shorten the
pain of death. It is, however, quite prob
able that Lao-tze in this connection re
ally means what he literally says, viz.,
that the holy man, when he governs,
empties the people's hearts of desires,
but takes care of their bodily wants,
i. e., "fills their stomachs and strength
ens their bones."

The word kuh might be translated (as

Comments 135

in former editions) "backbone," but in
the original it reads "bones." To make
a man strong-boned means to render him
steady in character. I prefer to trans
late the passage literally in all its rough
ness and will leave the interpretation
of it to the reader.

CHAPTER 4.

The word tsung? "arch-father," trans
lates a Chinese term which means "pa
triarch, or first ancestor, founder of the
family," and is frequently used with ref
erence to Shang Ti, the Lord on High,
in the sense of God.

The word ch'an, "dust," is a Buddhist
term which means the worry of world-
liness, and it is possible that this usage
antedates Buddhism and that the word
was current in the same sense in the time
of Lao-tze. If that be so, if ch'an means
the troubles of life, the travailing of the
world, we offer the following alternate
translation of the verse in which the
word occurs:

136 Canon of Reason and Virtue

"It will blunt its own sharpness,
Will its tangles unravel ;
It will dim its own radiance
And conform to its travail."

The same holds good in Chapter 56,
where the same verse is quoted

CHAPTER 5.

In former editions the translator ac
cepted the following version: "Heaven
and earth exhibit no benevolence; to
them the ten thousand things are like
straw dogs. The holy man exhibits no
benevolence; to him the hundred fami
lies are like straw dogs."

Does that mean that heaven and earth
have a mode of procedure of their own ;
that their actions can not be measured
by the usual standard of human benevo
lence? May we assume that human lives
serve their purpose best if they become
sacrifices just as strawdogs are offered
on the altars of heaven and earth? This
solution can neither be proved nor re
futed, but it seems too modern.

We learn from the commentators that

Comments 137

straw dogs are burned in place of living
dogs as sacrifices to heaven and earth,
and so the reference to them means
treatment without regard or considera
tion. It is possible that Lao-tze meant
to say that "heaven and earth" treats all
people with an impartial indifference as
God makes his sun rise on the evil and
on the good (compare Chapter 79). But
Lao-tze might as well have meant the
very opposite, that "if heaven and earth
and also the sage were without benevo
lence, they would treat the people like
straw dogs." The Chinese text seems
to favor the former interpretation, but
the first sentence may be conditional and
then the latter rendering which has been
adopted by Harlez would be correct.

The question is whether Lao-tze did
or did not believe that heaven and earth
and the Tao were endowed with senti
ment. An answer will be difficult if not
impossible, but I am now inclined to
think that he was more of mystic than a
philosopher, and he recognized in the
dispensation of the world a paternal and
loving providence.

138 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The phrase "heaven and earth" has a
deeper meaning to the Chinese than to
us. According to Chinese notions the
primordial essence, called t'ai c/z/,4 "the
great Ultimate," divided itself into two
principles called Yin and Yang (men
tioned in Chapter 42). The former is
negative, female, dark, passive; the lat
ter is positive, male, light and active.
The former is represented by earth, the
latter by heaven; the former by the
moon, the latter by the sun. The "ten
thousand things" (i. e., all existences in
the world), owe their characters to dif
ferent mixtures of these two elementary
principles.

Emptiness is one of the virtues praised
by Lao-tze, and the emptiness of heaven
is to him an example of the emptiness
which man ought to possess. By empti
ness Lao-tze understands the absence of
personal ambition, of desire, or to use

4 In Chapter 28, 2, Lao-tze calls this same
ultimate, wu chi, "the infinite." For further
details see Chinese Philosophy, pages 24-34.
Compare also page 167 in this book.

Comments 139

his own phrase, it is "the doing of the
not-doing" (wei wu wei).

Lao-tze concludes the chapter with a
homely saying concerning gossip, which
acquires a deep and peculiar meaning
in the context by comparing "fulsome
talk" to the emptiness of heaven.

The Chinese text reads to yen, liter
ally, "many words," i. e., gossip.

CHAPTER 6.

The verse quoted in this chapter seems
to be the inscription over a fountain
which it was claimed never ran dry.
People believed that its source was deep
and sprang from the root of heaven and
earth, which would explain that its sup
ply was inexhaustible. In using this
quotation Lao-tze looks upon the spring
as an emblem of the mysterious nature
of the Tao.

The Manchu version translates the
word ku, valley, as a verb by "nourish
ing," which makes a very good sense for
the first line, thus:

"Who nourishes spirituality does not die."

140 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The use of ku (valley) as a verb, mean
ing "to feed, to nourish, to quicken," ac
cording to all dictionaries, is quite com
mon in Chinese. But we might as well
interpret ku as an adjective or participle
and translate (with Couvreur) :5

"L'esprit vivifiant ne meurt pas."

A literal translation would read thus:

"The quickening spirit never dies.
It is called the mysterious woman.
The mysterious woman's gate
Is called of heaven and earth the root.
For ever and aye it abides
[And] its use is without effort."

The Manchu translator finds a physio
logical meaning in this chapter. Dr.
Berthold Laufer has kindly furnished
me with a translation of it as follows:

"Who nourishes the soul will not die.
This is called the life of the main artery
(Kuhen-i ergen = Chinese yiien p'in,
"mysterious woman"). The door of the
life of the main artery is called the root

5 See his French-Chinese Dictionary, p. 447.

Comments 141

of procreation and increase. As if pre
served for all eternity, it is inexhaustible
in its practical application."6

Dr. Laufer adds: "It is strange that
the Chinese words for 'heaven and earth*
which otherwise are literalfy translated,
are here rendered by the verbal nouns
banjibure and fusembure, the former
'creating,' the latter 'increasing.' "

CHAPTER 9.

A German proverb says : "Allzu scharf
macht schartig." This is a truth which
few learn, and so it is daily verified
again and again in business, in politics
and in private life.

The word rh is a copula often trans
lated "and" or "but." The character de
picts the side portions of the face, the
whiskers, or the bristles of an animal,
thus denoting something added or an
extension. The sense of the chapter de
pends on the grammatical significance
of this word, and we can scarcely be
mistaken when we translate "Grasp to

6 Literally: "Lasting preserved like; used
if, inexhaustible."

142 Canon of Reason and Virtue

the full, is it not likely stopped? Scheme
to being sharp, will you be able long
to guard [your position] ?" The verb
jui = scheme, means "to scrutinize, to
examine," and pao — "to guard, to main
tain, to protect, to defend."

CHAPTER 10.

The text of the first two sentences is
difficult, and we deem our present ver
sion an improvement.7 Literally the be
ginning seems to read thus: "Being in
sistent in disciplining the sense soul."
Mr. Ng Poon Chew writes: "The first
two characters are verbs, there is no
question as to that. The word poh is
commonly understood by the Chinese to
be the passive half of the human soul
equivalent to yin in nature."

The Manchu version (as Dr. Laufer
informs me) in agreement with a Chi
nese quotation of this passage by Huai
Nan Tze takes all these sentences as
queries.

7 For an explanation of the text see "Emen
dations and Comments," pp. ix-x in the second
issue of Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King.

Comments 143

CHAPTER 11.

Things are shaped by carving, by tak
ing away, by diminishing the material.
Accordingly that which is no longer
there, the non-existent, constitutes their
worth. Thus it appears that the part
in this case would be greater than the
whole, or to state the same truth briefly
"less is more." As Hesiod says in his
Works and Days (30) :

N^TTtot ovS' tcratriv ocra> TrAe'ov rjfAurv 7rai>ros.

"Foolish they are, for they know not
That half than the whole is much greater."

CHAPTER 12.

The meaning of the verses quoted in
this chapter carries out the principle
enunciated in Chapter 11. The utility
of things, as well as the worth of life,
is attained not by having everything in
completion and in fulness, but by select
ing some parts and omitting others, by
moderation and by discrete elimination.
All the colors blind you, a discrete selec
tion will make a picture. All the notes
make a noise, while a few of them in

144 Canon of Reason and Virtue

proper succession make a melody. All
the tastes mixed together are offensive,
but a choice of them is pleasant.

Such is Lao-tze's method of teaching
that the form of things is more impor
tant than substance. (See also Chapter

In former editions we have translated
the quotation thus:

"The five colors the human eye will

blind,
The five notes the human ear will

rend,

The five tastes the human mouth of
fend."
"Racing and hunting will human hearts

turn mad,
Objects of prize make human conduct

bad."

* * *

The phrase "he attends to the inner
and not to the outer" reads in a literal
translation "acts the stomach, not acts
the eye."

The outer and the inner are called in
Chapter 38 the flower and the fruit, the

Comments 145

former being the mere show, the latter
the true import of life.

CHAPTER 13.

The ruler or prime minister who at
tends to the government as he attends to
his own body, understanding that it is
a source of "great heartache," is worthy
of the trust.

The comparison of "rank" or "high
office" to the body as a source of great
trouble and anxiety is based on an idea
which also plays an important part in
Buddhism. Buddhist philosophyexplains
that the cause of all earthly trouble is
due to the body, and the body ought to
be treated like a wound which is the
source of pain. We attend to it without
loving it. In the "Questions of King
Milinda" (Milindapanha) the Buddhist
saint Nagasena says: "They who have
retired from the world take care of their
bodies as though they were wounds with
out thereby becoming attached to them"
(Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p.
423). So long as man lives in his bodily
existence he is subject to anxiety; as

146 Canon of Reason and Virtue

soon as he ceases to live in the flesh he
is no more troubled.

The character ching, here translated
"trembling," denotes the state of a shy
horse, and the word "heartache" shows
a heart with a cord above it, such as is
used in China for stringing up coins.

The last sentence of this chapter has
been omitted because, with the exception
of one word, it is a literal repetition of
the preceding sentence and seems to
have slipped into the text by a copyist's
mistake.

CHAPTER 14.

This chapter is remarkable for several
reasons. Lao-tze speaks of the Tao and
describes it by saying what it is not.
It is not perceptible to the senses; ac
cordingly it is "colorless," "soundless"
and "bodiless." It cannot be seen, it
cannot be heard, it cannot be touched;
but this supersensible something, the
purely relational in all things, the divine
Reason, is one and the same throughout.
It is the Unnamable, the cosmic law, the
world-order which moulds all things.

Comments 147

Both its beginning and its end are
wrapped in obscurity.

Lao-tze's expression, "the form of the
formless," corresponds pretty closely to
Kant's term "pure form"; it means the
form which possesses no bodily shape,
and as such it is equivalent to the Bud-
dist term arupo.

It is strange that Lao-tze's description
of the Tao finds an almost literal parallel
in the Phaedrus where Plato speaks of the
presence of a being in the over-heaven,
i. e., in the supercelestial place, a being
not perceptible to the senses and to be
apprehended only by the mind, the "pilot
of the soul." This presence is described
as an essence, truly existent,8 without
color, without shape and impalpable.
Plato says:

Tov Se VTTtpovpdviov TOTTOV ovrc TIS v/xviycre ww

TtoV TT^Se TTOL7]TY)<: OVTC 7TO0* VfJLVTJOT^L KttT* d£taV. fytt

8e (SSe. TO\p.rjTeov yap ovv TO ye dX^^cs eiTreTv oAAoj?
TC Kat irepl aA^detas Aeyovra '
/cat dcr^(Ty/i,artcrTos Kat ava^s ova-La OVTWS
ovcra KvfitpvyTrj p.6v<a Oearr) vaJ* Trcpt rjv TO T^
yei/os TOVTOV lx€t T°1' TOTTOV.

148 Canon of Reason and Virtue

In Jowett's translation this reads:

"Of the heaven which is above the
heavens, what earthly poet ever did or
ever will sing worthily? It is such as
I shall describe; for I must dare to
speak the truth, when truth is my theme.
There abides the very being with which
true knowledge is concerned; the color
less, the formless, the intangible essence
visible only to mind, who is the pilot of
the soul." — Phaedrus, pag. 247.

The Latin version of the most impor
tant part of the passage reads thus :

"Nam essentia vere existens, sine co-
lore, sine figura, sine tactu"

The similarity with Lao-tze is obvious,
only the second term, in Chinese "sound
less," or "inaudible," is omitted, while
the Greek "shapeless," viz., non-material
or having no body, has absolutely the
same meaning as the Chinese.

In addition to this surprising similar
ity between Lao-tze's very words and
the thoughts of a philosopher who lived
about 200 years after him in ancient

Comments 149

Greece, a distant country which at that
time was in no connection with China,
we must point out another strange coin
cidence. The three words, "colorless,"
"soundless" and "incorporeal," read in
Chinese i, ki, wei, and the French
scholar Abel Remusat saw in this com
bination of Chinese characters the cor
responding three Hebrew letters, Jod,
Heh, Vav, indicating the name Jehovah,
and his theory was accepted by many
others who for some reason or other be
lieved that there ought to have been a
mysterious prehistoric connection be
tween the Chinese and the Israelites.
The theory has found the support of a
German translator of Lao-tze's book,
Victor von Strauss, a confessed mystic,
but it is not countenanced by any other
sinologist of standing, and there is no
need to refute it. We see in it a curious

though quite remarkable coincidence.
* * *

Liquids generally are clear at the top
and sediments settle at the bottom, but
here Lao-tze, using the simile, reverses
the statement by saying that in its upper

150 Canon of Reason and Virtue

portion the Tao is not clear and in its
lower strata it is not obscure. If we had
not to deal with an author like Lao-tze
who loves to mystify we might assume
some mistake in the text, but as the
statement stands it reminds us of St.
Augustine's description of Christianity
when he compares religious truth to an
immeasurable ocean in whose waters a
lamb may wade, while an elephant must
swim. The simple mind of a child finds
no difficulty in understanding the mean
ing of the Tao while a scholar may not
be able to fathom its depth. We may
also say that the deeper problems of
philosophy are in their general aspect
quite simple, but the superficial appli
cations obscure them by complexity.

CHAPTER 15.

Lao-tze frequently quotes proverbs of
the people and sayings of his predeces
sors. Of the latter he has a very high
opinion which he here expresses.

Lao-tze says that the sages of yore
behave like guests, alluding to the Chi-

Comments 151

nese custom for guests to be always re
served and modest. They are elusive
as the Tao is elusive (see Chapter 21),
which means that their words admit o£
more than one interpretation and fre
quently conceal a deeper meaning. In
the same sense the Tao is called elusive
because it has never been grasped in its
full significance. A philosopher may
think he has fathomed its meaning, and
afterwards may find out that his view is
only one aspect and there is more to it.
So a search for truth can never be com
pleted. Like melting ice the old masters
have more depth than the surface shows.
Further, the sages are simple, without
the polish of artful elegance, and thus
they are compared to "rough wood."
They are empty because they make no
show, and they are like the valley, which
is Lao-tze's favorite simile to indicate
an attitude of lowliness. The more lowly
a river flows the larger and broader will
it be, and the most lowly valley will be
come the main stream, the ocean river,
of an entire system with many tribu
taries.

152 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The last sentence of this chapter is
difficult to interpret, and had perhaps
better be translated:

"Without being fashionable he is per
fect,"

which would mean "though not in style
he is as he ought to be." The last three
words read in literal translation "not-
new-perfected" which may mean "not
newly formed," that is to say, "he is not
of a modern fashion"; or we may trans
late, "he is not fashionable and yet per
fect"; or "without being renewed he is
complete," which would imply that the
sage can grow old without standing in
need of rejuvenescence, viz., natural or
artificial means of recuperating his vital
ity. But it may mean, as we have trans
lated it in a former edition, "without
reform he is perfect." Finally the two
last words may be synonyms, and the
three may mean, "without being renewed
and completed."

Happily the passage is not of much
consequence, and there is no great harm
if we can not decide which interpreta
tion is preferable.

Comments 153

CHAPTER 18.

This chapter is directed against the
Confucianist morality of filial piety, loy
alty, and justice. Lao-tze is disgusted
with the very words. Where the Tao
obtains there is no need of preaching
justice, filial piety and loyalty, for the
vitrue of the Tao is spontaneous. The
men whose hearts are bare of these vir
tues, parade them in words.

CHAPTER 19.

The display which obtains in Confu
cian ethics is here condemned, and Lao-
tze's words remind us of Christ's warn
ings against the self-righteousness of
the Pharisees. Lao-tze wants us to aban
don: (1) saintliness and prudence, (2)
benevolence and justice, (3) smartness
and greed. He declares that culture (i. e.,
Confucian morality) is insufficient to ac
complish these three things. He advises:

"Hold fast that which endures,
Mind simplicity, preserve purity,
Lessen self, diminish desire."

154 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The word "learnedness" in contrast to
wisdom means the artificial scholarship
of Confucian literati, who like the Phar
isees of the New Testament insist on
external propriety more than on a re
generation of the heart.

CHAPTER 20.

Lao-tze continues to criticize Confu
cianism as represented by the learned
ones, the literati. According to Con
fucius conventional propriety is a great
virtue, and it is very important that
people reply according to the properly
established modes of speaking. There
are two forms of affirmation in Chinese :
One is pronounced wei, and being
straightforward and manly it is proper
for men and boys to use; the other,
pronounced o, is modest, and it behooves
women and girls to employ no other
form of expressing assent. Lao-tze
would not insist on the significance of
such externalities, and so he says, "What
is the difference between *yea' anc* *yes'?
There is none. But there is a difference
between bad and good."

Comments 155

In times of disorder lives are con
stantly endangered and the people be
come indifferent to death. This is not
the natural state of things and ought
to be avoided. Lao-tze's warning is illus
trated in modern history by the French
Revolution when the prisoners of the
terrorist government actually joked
about the guillotine and went to the
place of execution with absolute uncon
cern. Similar conditions prevailed in
China in the days of Lao-tze.

In this chapter, as well as further
down (Chapters 72 and 74), the old phi
losopher makes reference to the preva
lence of great disturbances which make
the people restless. A Chinese Jere
miah, forlorn among people who only
thought of enjoying themselves, he burst
out into bitter lamentation, and we can
not read these lines without feeling com
passion for the sage who differed so
much from the rest of the world.

The fourth and eighth sections of this
chapter recall Christ's saying (Matt.
viii. 20) : "The foxes have holes, and the

156 Canon of Reason and Virtue

birds of the air have nests; but the Son
of man hath not where to lay his head."

CHAPTER 21.

The last two lines of the quoted verse
in Chapter 21 are obscure in the orig
inal Chinese. The difficulty lies in the
meaning of the word fu, which means
anything that is first, either in time or
dignity. Literally the eight words read :
"Its — name — not— departs ; Thereby —
it notes — all — the first."

The sense seems to be that the Tao is
eternal, for its name never departs.
Therefore it has been in the beginning
of creation. In this sense we have trans
lated the passage in former editions:

"Its name does not depart
Thence lo! All things take start/5

which means, "It is of all the first."

Should fu, however, have to be taken
in the sense of excellence we would pro
pose either of these two readings:

"Its name does not pass hencx*
Lo! Here's all excellence P*

Comments 157

or, if we lay stress on the verb ytieh, "it
beholds," we translate:

"Its name is never vanishing
It heeds the good in everything."

Mr. Ng Poon Chew favors the idea
that the character fu means "the begin
ning."

The Manchu version follows the last
interpretation. Dr. Laufer translates:
"Hence one investigates all good things,"
— which seems to mean: "Thereby we
learn what in all things is good," and
the concluding sentence would read:
"Whereby do I know what is good in
all things? Through IT." In other
words: Reason is the standard of ex
cellence."

The two last words "through IT" in
this chapter comprise a favorite term
of Lao-tze, and by "IT" Lao-tze means
"Reason."

CHAPTER 22.

Lao-tze here as in many other places
quotes a sentiment from the sages of
yore.

158 Canon of Reason and Virtue

These beautiful lines remind us of
several Biblical sayings, such as "The
crooked shall be made straight" (Is. xl.
4) and "The bruised reed shall he not
break" (Matt. xii. 20). Compare also
the beatitude that those who mourn shall
be comforted (Matt. v. 4).

It is strange, however, that though
Christ's Gospel agrees in spirit so well
with Lao-tze's philosophy he states the
very opposite to the sentiment of the
last two lines, saying: "For whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall
have more abundance: but whosoever
hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath" (Matt. xiii. 12).

The Chinese words ch'ti and ch'iien
here translated "crooked" and "crushed"
may be taken in the physical sense as
"the distorted ones" and also figura
tively, denoting those morally awry or
wrong-doers.

The character hwo shows "a heart"
and "doubt," the latter being the pho
netic (hwo). It means "to delude, to
blind, to embarrass, to bewilder, to un-

Comments 159

settle," and we have translated it by
"grieve."

The last two lines of the quotation
might also be interpreted to mean,
"What is too little shall receive more;
what is too much shall be in a state of
perplexity." See also Chapter 77, 1-3.

Compare the second section of this
chapter with Chapter 24.

CHAPTER 24.

Mr. Medhurst translates the first sen
tence: "Who tiptoes totters; who strad
dles stumbles."

The translator trusts that the style o£
this chapter has been greatly improved
in this edition. The first section has
been made more terse, and in the second
the sense comes out more clearly. Yii
shih, in former editions translated "of
fal of food," means "too much of food"
and is better interpreted as a surfeit of
food. Further we have in former edi
tions translated chui hing as "excres
cence in the system." The word chui (a
synonym of yii) denotes anything that
is redundant, an excrescence, or a wen,

160 Canon of Reason and Virtue

and hing is a peculiar word which lit
erally means "to go," or "to walk," and
may mean the way of acting, or the bod
ily system, or almost anything else. We
might translate chui hing "overdoing in
behavior," but it is likely that Lao-tze
actually meant that the overdoing of
self-display is like a wen in the face —
too much and therefore disgusting. Lao-
tze may also think of Confucian super
erogatory behavior, which is character
ized by overdoing in politeness and is
offensive to the man who believes in
the simple life.

The new interpretation is supported
by the Manchu version.

The lines here quoted are parallel to
the lines in the second section of Chap
ter 23. The same words are used, only
the negation pu is differently placed so
as to produce a contrast.

CHAPTER 25.

The word shi, "departing," may very
well be understood in the sense of dying.

The word fan means literally "return,"
denoting "coming back," and in order

Comments 161

to imitate the terse Chinese text, the best
translation for "having come back" is
"home." Lao-tze says : "Reason, the great
distant beyond, is our home."

Section 5 seems to be a gloss which
slipped into the text. At any rate the
bracketed portion is too trivial to come
from the hand of Lao-tze.

CHAPTER 26.

The word tsz', translated "gravity," is
a peculiar phrase which literally means
"baggage wagon." The intermediate idea
seems to be "heaviness" or "gravity,"
the latter in the double sense (literal
and figurative) as used in English.

In our former edition it was translated
"dignity."

CHAPTER 27.

In Section 4 we have adopted an en
tirely new interpretation. In following
a suggestion of Prof. H. A. Giles, we con
strue the two characters shan (words 6
and 14) denoting "good" or "goodness,"
as verbs in the sense to consider as good,
and translate "to respect"; and further

162 Canon of Reason and Virtue

the characters shi (words 9 and 21) in
their common meaning as "multitudes,"
not as we had it in former editions
(though it is not wrong), as "educator."

CHAPTER 28.

In order to understand what Lao-tze
means by manhood and womanhood, by
brightness and blackness, by fame and
shame, we must bear in mind what has
been said above in the explanation of
Chapter 5 about the two principles Yin
and Yang. Compare also Lao-tze's views
about honoring the right in times of war
and the left in times of peace (Chapter
31). Manliness is not worth much un
less tempered by womanliness, and a
good warrior is not warlike, a good
fighter is not pugnacious (Chap. 68).

The word chih means "to carve, to
form, to regulate," and as a noun "law"
or "norm." Lao-tze seems to mean that
a government which upholds great prin
ciples and rules according to the maxims
of the Tao can never do any harm.

Professor Giles translates, "a great
principle can not be divided," which

Comments 163

he interprets to mean, that it applies
universally. (See Emendations and
Comments to Lao-Tze's Tao-Teh-King,
pp. xxi-xxii.)

CHAPTER 29.

The doctrine of "doing the not-doing"
has rightly been compared to the French
principle o£ laissez /a/re, although the
two are not the same. Lao-tze wants
to say here that "he who makes, mars";
we therefore should not interfere but
let everything take the course of its
natural development.

CHAPTER 35.

The world is noisy. There is music;
there are dainties to eat ; there are many
distractions, and the passing stranger
stops. The Tao is tasteless, is invisible,
is inaudible, but inexhaustible in its use.
We have here a trinity of the negative
qualities of the Tao just as in Chapter
14. Compare also Chapter 42.

CHAPTER 36.

The tendency of the world is to ac
quire hardness and strength, but in this

164 Canon of Reason and Virtue

chapter the sage warns us to beware of
these qualities, and rather remain tender
and weak. The people should scarcely
know that weapons exist.

On the authority of Professor Giles
the last section of this chapter should
read "Fishes can not be taken away from
the water. The instruments of govern
ment can not be delegated to others."
Huai Nan Tze tells a story of a sover
eign who lost his throne by transferring
the power of punishment to his minister.
(See Emendations and Comments to Lao-
Tze's Tao-Teh-King, second issue, pages
xvi-xvii.)

Lao-tze regarded acquaintance with
weapons as an unnatural condition which
would prove fatal to the people, just as
fish must die when they are removed
from their natural element, the water.

CHAPTER 38.

Justice is different from virtue and
benevolence. It is the nature of justice
to act and enforce its pretensions.

True or superior virtue is here called
"unvirtue" because it does not make a

Comments 165

show of virtue ; it does not "act virtue."
A difference between virtue and justice
is that justice doling out punishments
must make a show of its power, and so
"acts and makes pretensions." It is ob
vious that here the Confucian concep
tion of virtue is criticised for the rea
son that it is always in evidence and is
therefore inferior, — it is shoddy.

Traditionalism (ts'ien shih, "of times
bygone the knowledge") which is men
tioned further on in this chapter is a
characteristic feature of Confucian eth
ics.

In former editions I took ts'ien in the
sense of "early" or "premature" and
translated "quickwittedness"; but we
must bear in mind that we have before
us a criticism of Confucian ethics with
its rules of propriety based upon a rev
erence for the past, clinging tenaciously
to tradition. Lao-tze says that this re
spect for bygone times, this tradition
alism is not commendable. It is but "the
flower of reason," meaning thereby that
it makes a display or show of virtue;

166 Canon of Reason and Virtue

it parades morality but it does not con
tain the fruit.

CHAPTER 39.

Plato scholars will note that the famous
dialogue "Parmenides," discussing the
problem of the one and the many, may
fitly be compared with Lao-tze's exposi
tion of the nature of oneness, the poet
ical portion of which sounds like a phil
osophical rhapsody.

The simile that the carriage does not
consist of its parts, but it a definite com
bination of its parts, is also used in the
Buddhist book, "Questions of King Mi-
linda," written several centuries after

Lao-tze.

* * *

The last line in section 7, Ta fang wu
yii (literally, "Greatest square has no
corner") should be compared with the
same sentiment in Chapter 45, ta chih
joh ch'ii ("greatest straightness seems
curved").

CHAPTER 42.

The subject of oneness or unity treated
in Chapter 39 is here continued, and

Comments 167

unity is represented as the product of
the Tao or Reason.

The trinity idea plays an important
part in human thought almost every
where, in philosophical systems and in
many religions including Christianity.
The Chinese idea of trinity is based
on the notion that there are two opposed
principles, Yang and Yin, which have
originated, as Lao-tze explains, from a
primordial oneness, called by Cheu-tze
and other later philosophers Chi, the
ultimate, or the absolute. Oneness pro
duces by differentiation a twohood, viz.,
the twohood of Yang, or heaven, and
Yin, or earth. Between heaven and earth
is the air, Ch'i, the breath of life; and
from this trinity of Yang, Yin and Ch'i
all things are derived.

Incidentally we must warn the reader
that chi, the ultimate,1 is quite differ
ent from ch'i, breath.2

1 $§ Chi is used by Lao-tze in its ordinary
sense in Chapter 16, and 68, last word. For
the philosophical terms t'ai chi and wu chi
see p. 138 and compare Giles's Dictionary,
No. 859.

2 $, Ch'i, breath, occurs three times in our

168 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The words ku kwa, here translated "or
phaned, lonely," mean, the former "a
fatherless son," and the latter "lonely";
and in this sense the emperor has been
called the "lonely one" as one who stands
aloof, who is solitary, peerless and with
out equal. But the original meaning is
still prominent in the term and so we
may look upon Lao-tze's use of the word
as a pun which he uses as a peg upon
which to hang a lesson. The word kwa,
"lonely," has the meaning of "little" and
"insignificant" which in agreement with
a Chinese view of politeness is also used
in the sense of "your humble servant,"
or as the Germans say, meine Wenigkeit,
which may justly be considered an ade
quate equivalent for the Chinese kwa.

The term pu ku is used in the same
sense as kwa, meaning literally "not
worthy," as a modest expression in which
the speaker refers to himself. It serves
so commonly as an equivalent for the

text: (1) translated "airs" in Sze ma Tsien's
biography of Lao-tze; (2) translated "vital
ity" in Chapter 10; and (3) "breath," in Chap
ter 42. See Giles's Dictionary No. 1064. The
word is also transcribed k'i.

Comments 169

pronoun o£ the first person that even
the emperor does not scorn it. However
the former words ku kwa denote the em
peror as a peerless person, the only one
of his kind, the man who has no equal.

* * *

Lao-tze is certainly an original thinker
and yet he disclaims originality ; he con
stantly quotes his predecessors, but he
reads his own thoughts into their say
ings. He says here, "What others have
taught I teach also," but in Chapter 15
he says that they are too profound to
be understood, and so he endeavors to
make them intelligible.

* * *

The chapter concludes with a state
ment which tradition explains as mean
ing that he will "expound the doctrine's
foundation," but the literal reading of
the last six words runs thus:

"I shall do the doctrine's father."

The word fu, "father," pictures a hand
with a rod and means "rule, authority,
father, fatherly or loving." It is the
most common word for "father" and

170 Canon of Reason and Virtue

ought to be so translated unless weighty
reasons speak against it.

The word wei, commonly translated
"to do," may mean "to live up to, to ac
tualize, to exemplify, to do the will of,
to obey." Obviously it means the actual
doing, not the purely theoretical ex
pounding, and so we explain the passage
to mean, "While the mass of mankind are
violent and self-willed, which leads to
trouble and an unnatural death, I mean
to exemplify in my life the will of the
doctrine's father," or in a more literal
rendering "But I will obey the doctrine's
father (i. e., the Tao)."

CHAPTER 45.

Literally the second quotation reads:
"Greatest straightness is like a curve,

Greatest skill is like awkwardness,

Greatest eloquence is like stammer
ing."

The first line reminds us of modern
geometry where the straight line may
be regarded as a curve of an infinitely
small curvature. Cf. note on Chapter
41.

Comments 171

CHAPTER 47.

Whether or not Lao-tze meant it, he
here endorses Kant's doctrine of the a
priori, which means that certain truths
can be stated a priori, viz., even before
we make an actual experience. It is
not the globe trotter who knows man
kind, but the thinker. In order to know
the sun's chemical composition we need
not go to the sun; we can analyze the
sun's light by spectrum analysis. We
need not stretch a tape line to the moon
to measure its distance from the earth,
we can calculate it by the methods o£
an a priori science (trigonometry).

CHAPTER 49.

The word shang means "constant,
ordinary, usual, common" etc., and the
contrast requires the sense that the saint
has not the heart as other people have,
which means a heart of his own.

The "one hundred families" is a Chi
nese term which means the people of a
district.

172 Canon of Reason and Virtue

The second section of this chapter
contains a difficulty in the text. Its
third sentence reads in the Chinese text
as translated in our former editions,
"Virtue is good"; but this does not make
good sense, as it is trivial. While pon
dering over the meaning of these two
characters the translator discovered two
versions9 which replace the word teh,
"virtue," by its homophone, teh, "to ob
tain," and it seemed quite probable that
this was the original reading. The change
from teh, "to obtain," to teh, "virtue,"
could naturally and at an early date have
originated through a careless scribe in
a book where the word teh, "virtue,"
occurred so frequently. Once intro
duced, the mistake could easily have
been perpetuated in the text.

The word teh, "to obtain," makes good
sense and might even suggest itself as
the most appropriate text emendation.
On the ground of this consideration we
might prefer the reading teh, "to ob-

9 See the Emendations and Comments to the
second issue of the author's Lao-Tze's Tao-
Teh-King, p. vii.

Comments 173

tain," and propose to translate the pas
sage thus :

"The good I meet with goodness, the
bad I also meet with goodness; thus I
obtain goodness (i. e., I actualize vir
tue.) The faithful I meet with faith, the
faithless I also meet with faith; thus
I obtain faith (i. e., I actualize faith)."

In other words, we must meet not only
the good with goodness but the bad
also with goodness, if we want to actual
ize the ideal of goodness; and we must
meet not only the faithful with faith
but the faithless also with faith, in order
to actualize the ideal of faith.

This is the obvious meaning of Lao-
tze, for he here expresses his view of the
way a man can become truly good and
faithful. He does not admit any utili
tarian argument and lays down the rule
for a man who follows the Tao. He can
be truly good and truly faithful only if
he is good and faithful to all, whether
he has to deal with the good or the not-
good, the faithful or the faithless.

The Manchu translator had before him
a text which read teh, "virtue," not teh,

174 Canon of Reason and Virtue

"obtain," but he construes teh, "virtue,"
as a genitive. If he is right, we must
translate, "That is virtue's goodness,"
and further down, "That is virtue's
faith."

After some hesitation we have finally
adopted the interpretation of the Man-
chu version.

CHAPTER 50.

The first line of this chapter contains
much food for thought. In our first
edition we have translated these four
words by "Going forth is life, coming
home is death." We still cling to the
same meaning, but we believe we have
improved the diction by translating
"Abroad in life, home in death."

We must grant, however, that we
might translate, "He who enters life
must return in death," but this inter
pretation that "he who is born must die,"
is objectionable mainly because it is too
trivial for Lao-tze

The second paragraph in this chapter
is obscure and seems beyond hope of

Comments 175

making good sense. A literal transla
tion reads:
"Life's followers [are] ten have three

Death's followers [are] ten have three

In man's life the moving to death
places are also ten have three."

This may mean either ten plus three,
i. e., thirteen, or of ten take three, viz.,
"three in ten."

If the translation "thirteen" be cor
rect, "thirteen retainers" might accord
ing to Chinese folklore mean the five
senses and the eight apertures which
make thirteen avenues of life. This
interpretation is based on the view of
the commentator Lu Tze who may be
right, and his view becomes somewhat
probable when we bear in mind Chapter
52, where Lao-tze speaks of the mouth
and the sense-gates as beset with danger.
There he declares that the sage who
keeps these openings closed will to the
end of his life remain safe.

I applied to Mr. Ng Poon Chew for
an explanation and he writes:

"The passage is very vague and ob
scure, its meaning is no clearer to me

176 Canon of Reason and Virtue

than to you. I have consulted a few
good Chinese scholars and they were all
baffled. The words shi yiu san, "ten
have three," may mean here "thirteen"
or "three out of ten."

If we translate "three in ten," the
reader will naturally ask, Three times
three in ten make nine, where is the
tenth? And we would answer, it is "the
man who bases his life on goodness."
Three in ten are anxious to live, three
in ten somehow are doomed to death,
and other three in ten walk blindly
toward death; they all live life's in
tensity. There is but one who is above
life and death, and this is the man who
bases his life on goodness.

In this case we interpret the word fu,
"footman, follower, retainer," in the
sense of "pursuer."

We have chosen the former interpre
tation which seems to us the most prob
able, but do not claim to have solved the

difficulty.

* * *

The last section of this chapter finds
a striking parallel in Plato's Phaedrus,

Comments 177

in the same book and on the same pagina
(248) that contains the reference to the
supercelestial being which is colorless
and shapeless, quoted above in our com
ments on Chapter 14. The passage in
Plato reads: "There is a law of destiny
that the soul which attains any vision
of truth in company with a god is pre
served from harm until the next period,
and if attaining always is always un
harmed."10

The same idea is expressed in the
famous ode of Horace, Integer vitae.
The belief that a truly good man is
miraculously protected in danger is not
uncommon in folktales and appears to
have been an integral part of primitive
religion.

Are these coincidences between Plato
and Lao-tze accidental or are we to look
upon them as echoes of a notion which in
both the West and East have been in
herited from a distant prehistoric past?
The latter is certainly not improbable.
* * *

"Reality" here translates the word
10 Jowett's translation.

178 Canon of Reason and Virtue

wuh, "concrete things," and commonly
occurs in the phrase "the ten thousand
things'* which means the entire world.

The character sh' — "expansion" is a
synonym of wei in the sense o£ asser
tion. The sage fears to be or to appear
or to claim too much. He avoids self-
aggrandizement.

CHAPTER 54.

This chapter, like so many other pas
sages, is directed against the Confu-
cianists who in their ethics insist on
the ritual of ancestral sacrifices. Lao-
tze believes that wherever the Tao is ob
served, filial piety and sacrificial cele
brations will be spontaneous.

CHAPTER 56.

The quotation is the same as in Chap
ter 4, only here it is attributed to the
sage, in the former place to the Tao.
The sage identifies himself with the mor
tal coil he is heir to, with ch'an, his dust
or the troubles of his bodily life, and this
is called here "a profound identifica
tion." Even in the lowliness of his con-

Comments 179

dition the sage feels his own dignity
as a man of the Tao.

This same idea has produced the con
ception of the god-man in Christianity
as well as in pagan religions.

CHAPTER 57.

When, as Hamlet says, "the time is
out of joint," we observe that political
disorder produces restlessness among
the people and in its wake come start
ling events. The people are frightened
and superstition dominates their minds.
The result is that ghosts will spook and
the gods will be angry, as stated in
Chapter 60.

CHAPTER 59.

The "mother of the commonwealth"
is commonly interpreted to be thrift.
It is not impossible that Lao-tze means
the Tao or Reason, but in the same chap
ter he uses the term Tao in the more
general sense as "way."

CHAPTER 60.

Whatever the first sentence of this
chapter may mean, it is oddly expressed.

180 Canon of Reason and Virtue

One should govern a country as one
would fry small fish, and we have added
the traditional explanation in brackets,
"neither gut nor scale them," which
means the same as the rule wei wu wei,
i. e., do the not-doing, practice non-
practice; leave them alone and do not
meddle with their affairs.

In ancient times ghosts were feared,
and ghosts begin to spook, or at least
are believed to spook, where crimes keep
the minds of the people in a state of
fearful and unsettled expectancy. See
Chapter 57.

CHAPTER 61.

This chapter contains more wisdom
than it seems to possess at first sight.
The same idea is expressed in the Eng
lish saying that by stooping one con
quers. It is also echoed in the New
Testament where Jesus says that he who
wishes to be the master of all should be
their servant. In an empire or confed
eracy of states that state takes the lead
which renders the greatest service to the
others. For instance Prussia took the

Comments 181

lead in Germany because through its sys
tematic administration and well-organ
ized army it offered protection and other
advantages to the smaller states and so
served their interests. In the same way
Athens gained and lost ascendency in
Greece ; its downfall dates from the time
when it ceased to serve the others and
began to misuse its power. Since the
loss of the thirteen American colonies
England has adopted the same maxim
of serving the interests of her depen
dencies. This policy which has proved
successful and has repeatedly saved the
British empire from dismemberment, was
pronounced by Lao-tze in plain terms
two and a half millenniums ago.

CHAPTER 62.

The proposition that "when sought the
Tao is obtained," reminds one of the
New Testament verse, "Seek and ye shall
find."

CHAPTER 63.

In the famous passage, "Requite hatred
with virtue," the word teh, "virtue," is

182 Canon of Reason and Virtue

commonly translated "goodness." We
grant that this is the meaning, but we
prefer a literal rendering. The sentence
recalls Christ's injunction, "Love your
enemies," but it means that we should
treat those who hate us with justice and
goodness, according to the rules of the
Tao, the eternal Reason. It is not so
emphatic as the Christian saying, but it
is more logical and less paradoxical.

The sentence before the last means:
Rash promises are easily made; and if
we take things easy in the beginning
without thinking of the consequences we
shall soon be involved in complications.

CHAPTER 64.

The last word here translated by "in
terfere" is in Chinese wei, "to do" or
"to act."

The terms "likely" and "unlikely" are
literal translations of the Chinese.
Likely apparently means what is com
mon or usual, and the unlikely, what is
unusual.

Comments 183

CHAPTER 70.

When Lao-tze says, "words have an
ancestor, deeds have a master," he per
sonifies Reason which makes the con
ception of Tao resemble Christian the
ism; but we can not deny that in this
atmosphere of abstract thought the ex
pressions, "ancestor" and "master" may
be regarded as intentional similes, just
as in other chapters the Tao is compared
to a "father" (Chapters 4 and 42), a
"mother" (Chapter 20, also 1 and 52),
"the Lord" (Chapter 4) and the "great
carpenter" (Chapter 74). Nevertheless
the fact remains that Lao-tze has re
peatedly personified the Tao in spite of
its abstract nature.

CHAPTER 71.

The passage "to know the unknow
able" is a smooth and quite correct trans
lation, but there is a deeper sense in it
and it certainly should not be inter
preted in the sense of agnosticism, A
strictly correct literal translation should
read "know the not-knowing," which

184 Canon of Reason and Virtue

means "be familiar with that state of
mind where knowing (the noetic fac
ulty) is not the medium of our mental
life." It is an expression of Lao-tze's
mysticism in which the attitude of heart
is considered superior to comprehension,
and seems to involve what European
mystics call intuition and what is char
acterized by St. Paul as the "peace that
passeth understanding." We can retain
the translation "unknowable" if it is
understood in this sense, not as anything
incomprehensible, an x in cognition, but
as a mental attitude, as the feeling of the
ineffable.

The connection between the first and
second paragraphs consists in the idea
that courage is sometimes successful and
sometimes it brings harm. We do not
know the reason why heaven sometimes
dooms a hero. The word "doom," trans
lated in the text "reject," reads in the
Chinese "hate."

Comments 185

CHAPTER 74.

The "great carpenter who hews" is
undoubtedly the Tao, or as theists would
say, God. Compare our comment on
Chapter 70.

We read in the Bible, "Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

CHAPTER 75.

The last sentence finds its parallel in
the New Testament (John xii. 25) where
we read: "He that loveth his life shall
lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eter
nal."

CHAPTER 78,

In China the emperor takes the guilt
of the whole nation upon himself when
he brings his annual sacrifice, a full
burnt offering, to Shang Ti the Lord on
High, and this is expressed in the quota
tion of this chapter which thus bears a
remarkable similarity to the Christian
doctrine that Christ as the High Priest
takes the sins of mankind upon his own

186 Canon of Reason and Virtue

shoulders. Here is another coincidence
of the East with the West. The priest
according to the primitive custom speaks
in the name of the sacrificial animal, and
the sacrificial animal represents the god
himself.

CHAPTER 79.

The original reads, "The holy man
keeps the left (tso) of contract" and tso,
"left," means the debit side. The right
side of the contract table contained the
claims, ch'eh, which in its original mean
ing denotes "to go through" and then
"that which can be enacted."

CHAPTER 80.

Lao-tze is not in favor of progress.
He is bent on preaching that the Tao
can be actualized in primitive conditions
as well as, if not more easily than, in a
highly complicated state of civilization.
His ideal is not the luxury of wealth
and power and learnedness, but the sim
ple life of simple-minded people. He
may even be accused of reactionary ten
dencies, for he is ready to abandon the

Comments 187

advance made by his predecessors up to
his own time and give up the practice
of writing on bamboo slips, in favor of
the prehistoric mode of keeping memo
randa by knotted cords (chieh shing), or
as they are now called with an American
name, quipu, a method of assisting the
memory by threads of various dyes knot
ted in special ways.

Lao-tze will scarcely find followers for
his proposal to revert to primitive con
ditions, but even here where he is mis
taken, there is a truth at the bottom
of his thought. It is the ideal of a sim
ple life, so much preached and so little
practised in our days. Progress not only
brings new inventions but also loosens
the old ideals of simplicity, purity, hon
esty and faith. In place of the restful
contentedness of former ages, the new
generation is filled with desires. People
have become reckless, arrogant, and lux
urious. Learnedness takes the place of
wisdom, and a pretentious display of
filial piety supplants spontaneous re
spect for parents.

188 Canon of Reason and Virtue

OUR FRONTISPIECE.

Our frontispiece pictures Lao-tze in
the traditional style as seated on an ox
while about to travel westward. It is
the reproduction of a delicate drawing
by Shoso Mishima.

The inscription is a quotation from
Chapter 70 of the Tao Teh King which
reads: "The holy man wears wool and
hides his jewels."

CONCLUSION.

The kind reader who has patiently fin
ished this little book will be amazed
when he considers the depth of Lao-tze's
thought. And this man lived in an age
of decay, more than five hundred years
before the Christian era and one hun
dred years before the foundation of Bud
dhism, yet he has anticipated in pithy
sayings the best that has been taught
by the noblest sages of mankind who
came after him, Socrates and Plato, Bud
dha and Christ.

TABLE OF REFERENCES.

[The numbers refer to chapters of the text.]

Abandon, extravagance, 29; learnedness, 20; saintli-
ness, 19.

Abroad in life, 50.

Absolute (wu cbi = without limit), 28. Synonyms are:
"form of the formless" (wu chwang cbi cbwang) and
"image of the imageless" (wu hsiang chi hsiang) 14;
"great form or image," 35, 41 ; "non-existence," "not
to be," etc. (wu) 2, 11, 40, (wu y/u) 43, (wu wuh),
14; "mystery" (hsiien = abyss), 1, 6, 14; "abstrac
tion's height" (hii cbi), 16. See footnote on p. 167.

Abundance, for serving, 77; gained by giving, 81.

Acts (we/), Benevolence, 38; but claims not, 2, 10, 77;
(accomplishes) but strives not, 81 ; with non-asser
tion, 3. See also "Non-assertion" for wu w«i r: "not
act."

Actual, Existence renders, 11.

Adrift, 20.

All-pervading, Reason is, 34.

Ambition, Holy man weakens, 3.

Ancestor, Words have an, 70.

Ancients, prize Reason, 62; Reason of the, 14; Saying
of the, 22; versed in Reason, 65.

Archfather, 4.

Arms, are unblest, 31; Threatening without, 69; Who
is strong in, 76.

Assert non-assertion, 63.

190 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Astride makes no advance, 24.
Awkward, I alone am, 20.

Babe (ying 'rh — infant child), Like unto a, 20. See

also "Child."

Bad, The, 49 ; and the good, 20 ; man respects wealth, 27.
Badness and goodness, 2.
Be and not be, 2.
Beauty and ugliness, 2.

Beginning, not seen, 14; of ignorance, 38.
Being, A wondrous and complete, 25.
Beings (wuA), Reason includes all, 21.
Bellows, Like unto a, 5.
Benevolence (/an), Abandon, 19; acts, 38; Goodness

showeth, 8; when Reason is obliterated, 18.
Beyond, The, 25.

Binders, Good, need no knots, 27.
Blunt his sharpness, 56.
Bodiless, Reason is, 14.
Body (sAan), Decay of the, 16; Rank like the, 13; Wen

on the, 24. See also "Person."
Bones, are weak, 55; Strengthens his, 3.
Bow, Heaven's Reason like a, 77.
Breath (ch'i), 42. See also "Vitality."
Business, Goodness in, 8; in Reason, 23.
By-paths, People fond of, 53.

Calamity, Greed a, 46.

Calm, Reason is, 4.

Carpenter, The great, 74.

Carriage, Parts not a, 39; No occasion to ride in, 80.

Catastrophe, 58.

Chastity, 41.

Child, Like a little, 10, 55 ; Reason knows her, 52. There
are four Chinese words used by Lao-tze which mean
child: (1) Ying 'rh, "little child," 10, or "babe," 20,
or "infant," 28; (2) tsz', 52; (3) ch'ih tsz' and (4) hai,
which is a verb and means "to treat like a child," 49.

Child's estate, 28.

Children, The holy man treats all like, 49.

Table of References 191

Claims, and obligations, 79; not, Acts but, 2, 10, 77.

Clay, moulded into a vessel, 11; Tower raised by heap
ing, 64.

Clever and enlightened, 33.

Cloudburst does not last, 23.

Clue, Reason's, 14.

Colorless, Reason is, 14.

Colors, Five, 12.

Commoners, Nobles come from, 39.

Commonwealth's mother, 59. See also "State."

Companions, Glad to find, 23; of life and death, 76.

Compassion, 67.

Complete, Being, 25; without renewal, 15.

Conquers, but rejoices not, 31; himself is mighty, Who,
33 ; through lowliness, 61.

Content, Who is, 44; Who knows, is content, 46; Who
knows, is rich, 33; with their homes, 80.

Contentious are not good, The, 81.

Counters, Good, need no counting rack, 27.

Courage leads to death, 73.

Crafty do not dare to act, 3.

Creatures, 39.

Crooked shall be straight, 22.

Crossing a river, 15.

Culture is insufficient, 19.

Curse of the country's failing, 78.

Curves, Straightest lines resemble, 45.

Danger, No (pu tai), 16; Not in, 52; One avoids, 32.
See also "Vitiation."

Death, Courage leads to, 73; Die a natural, 42; Hard
and strong are companions of, 76; Home in, 50; In
duce people to grieve at, 80; Make people fear, 74;
People make light of, 75; Realm of, 50.

Deeds have a master, 70.

Deficient The, 77.

Departing, The great I call, 25.

Depth not obscure, 14.

Desire, Abstaining from, 12; Bound by, 1; Sin and, 46;
What kindles, 3.

192 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Desires fewer, 19.

Desireless, Holy man desires to be, 64; Reason ever,

34; Who is found, 1.
Desolation, No end of, 20.

Differ from others, 20. Compare "Unlikely."
Difficult and easy, 63.
Diplomacy, No, 48, 53, 57.
Discipline of the senses, 10.
Discontent a misery, 46.
Disdain like a stone, 39.
Disorder, Beginning of, 38; When clans decay through,

18.

Display, Makes a, 2; Holy man does not, 72, 77.
Distant, Viewing the, 47.
Doom, Brings its own, 9.
Doors and windows, Cutting out, 11.
Dotage leads to squandering, 44.
Dread, death, People, 74; What people, 20.
Dreadful, The, 72.
Drinking, Excessive in, 53.
Duality, 42.

Duration, Forever lasteth his, 44.
Dust, One with its, 56.
Dwell not in the external, 38; on merit, Holy man

does not, 2, 77.

Ear, Five notes confound the, 12. See also "Outer."

Earth, is lasting, 7; is man's standard, 25.

Easy, and difficult, 2, 63; to understand, My words are,

70.

Economy, 67.
Eloquence stammers, 45.
Eluding, Reason's nature is, 21.
Elusive, Masters of yore, 15.
Empire, a divine vessel, 29; King of, 78; Model of, 28;

Not fit to take the, 48; Too light for the, 26; Trusted

with the, 13; Wife of the, 61.
Empties, Holy man, 3.

Table of References 193

Empty, Bellows is, i; Granaries are, S3; I alone ap
pear, 20; Masters of yore, 15; Reason is, 4; will be
filled, The, 22.

End not seen, 14.

Endures (ch'atng = is eternal), Heaven, 7; (sbuh — re
liable, solid) that which, 19; (pu sz' = not dies) Val
ley, spirit, 16; (chiu — lasts), Who loses not his place,
33. See also "Lasting" and "Solidity."

Enemy, Making light of the, 69.

Enlightened, Who beholds his smallness is. 52; Who
knows himself is, 33.

Enlightenment, 27; Knowing the eternal is, 16, 55.

Envy forestalled, 3.

Eternal, Knowing the, 16; Practising the, 52; Reason,
The, 32; To know the harmonious is called the, 55.

Everlastingness, Way to, 59.

Excels but rules not, 10.

Excess, Holy man abandons, 29; in drinking, 53.

Executioner who kills, 74.

Existence, comes from non-existence (wu). 40; renders
actual, 11.

Expanded, Has been, 36.

Expansion, I must fear, 53.

External, Dwells not in the, 38.

Extravagance, Holy man abandons, 29.

Eye, Five colors blind the, 12.

Faith, abides, 21; Goodness keepeth, 8; If insufficient
receives no faith, 17, 23; Rash promises lack, 63;
Semblance of, 38; The faithful I meet with, 49.

Fame, To acquire, 19; Who knows his, 28.

Father, Doctrine's, 42.

Favor bodes disgrace, 13.

Filial piety, People will return to, 19; when family re
lations no longer harmonize, 18.

Fish, As you fry, 60; should not escape from the deep,
36.

Five colors, notes and tastes, 12.

Fower, and fruit, 38; of Reason, 38.

Foolish (yii = simple minded), 20.

194 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Forlorn am I, 20.

Form, The greatest, 41; of the formless, 14; Vast vir
tue's, 21; Who holdeth fast to the great, 35.

Former and latter, 12, 38, 72.

Four, quarters, Neighbors in the, 15; quarters, Pene
trating the, 10; things, Reason, Heaven, Earth and
Royalty, are great, 25.

Front, Not daring to come to the, 67.

Fruit and flower, 38.

Fulness of rest, 16.

Fulsome talk, 5.

Gain and loss, 42, 44.

Gate, Out of the, 47.

Gates, of heaven, 10; Sense-, 52, 56.

Gem, Like a, 39. See also "Jewels."

Ghosts will not spook, 60.

Gives (yu), The more he, the more he lays up, 81. The

same word is translated "augmenteth" in 77.
God, arch-father of the ten thousand things, 4. See

reference under "Tao."
Gods will not harm, 60.
Gold and jewels, 9.
Good, and the bad, The, 20; man, acts resolutely, 30;

man, Heaven's Reason assists the, 79; man does not

respect multitudes, 27.
Goodness, and badness, 2; The good I meet with, 49;

resembleth water, 8.
Gossip's talk, 5.
Govern without smartness, 65.
Grasp to the full, 9.
Gravity (lit. "baggage wagon"), 26.
Great, All call me, 67; Four things are, 25; Reason ob
literated, 18; rivers, 32; rulers, 17; the small, Make,

63.

Greed, Give up, 19; No greater calamity than, 46.
Guest, I act as, 69; Masters of yore behave as, 15.

Happiness and misery, 58.
Happy, Multitudes are, 20.
Hard and strong are companions of death, 76.

Table of References 195

Harm, Gods will not, 60; No, 66. See also "Danger."

Harmony, Perfection of, 55.

Hatred, when reconciled, 79; with virtue, Requite, 63.

Heart, Emptying the, 21; Holy man empties, 3: Holy
man has not, of his own, 49; is foolish, 20; Purifying
the, of lust, 37 ; Racing will turn mad the, 12.

Heartache, Rank bodes, 13.

Heaven, and earth, 32, 39 ; and earth, cannot be un
remitting, 23 ; and earth, Humaneness of, 5 ; and earth,
Root of, 6; and earth, Space between, 5; Complying
with, 68 ; endures, 7 ; is earth's standard, 25 ; Open
ing and closing the gates of, 10; rejected, By, 73;
renders Reason-like, 16.

Heaven's, net, 73; Reason, 77, 79, 81; standard is Rea
son, 25; way (Tao), 9.

Heavenly, Reason, 73 ; Reason I contemplate, 47 ; Roy
alty renders, 16.

High, but proud, 9; in virtue, 41; Reason brings down
the, 77.

Hold fast, to Reason, 14, 59; to what will endure, 19.

Holy man (shang /an), a saviour of men, 27 ; abandons
excess, 29; abides by non-assertion, 2; acts but claims
not, 77; attends to the inner, 12; desires to be desire-
less, 64; does not depart from gravity, 26; does not
make himself great, 34; does not travel, 47; dwells
above, 66; dwells in the world, 49; embraces unity,
22; empties people's hearts, 3; has not heart of his
own, 49; hoards not, 81; Humaneness of, 5; knows
himself, 72; not sick, 71; puts his person behind, 7;
Reason of the, 81; regards as difficult, 63, 73; says,
"I practice non-assertion," 57; says, "Who the curse
bears," 78; square not sharp, 58; treats all like
children, 49; uses simplicity, 28; wears wool, 70;
will not harm, 60.

Home, Crooked will return (fu kwei), 22; he turneth
(fu kwei), 28; (ju = coming back) in death, 50; No
place to return (kwei), 20; (fu) Seeks a, 64; (fan),
The beyond I call, 25; to enlightenment, Returns (fu
kwei), 52; to non-existence, 14; to Reason, 34. See
also "Homeward."

196 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Homes, Content with their, 80.

Homeward, Reason's course, 40; returneth (fu twel)

to its root, 16.
Honors, not himself, 72; Superior man, the left and

right, 31.

Horses, 46; Riding with four, 62.
Host, I dare not act as, 69.
Humaneness, Heaven and earth's, 5.
Humiliation, Incurs no, 44.
Humility, The virtue of, 61.
Hundred families, 5, 17; Hearts of, 49.
Hunger, People, 7$.
Hurricane does not last, 23.
Hypocrisy when Reason is obliterated, 18.

Ice melting, 15.

Identification, 56. See also "One," 4, and "Sameness," 1.

Ignorance, Traditionalism the beginning of, 38.

Ignorant am I, 20.

Image of the imageless, 14. See also "Form."

Inaccessible, 56.

Independent (tsz' /an ~ self-like), 17. See also "In
trinsic," "Natural," "Spontaneous," and "Without
Effort."

Indulgence, Holy man abandons, 29.

Ineffable (wu mint). Simplicity of, 37. See also "Un-
namable."

Inexhaustible, Reason is, 4, 35.

Infinite, See "Absolute."

Inner (stomach), The, 12.

Intensity, Life's, 50; of clinging to life, 75.

Interfere (we/), 64. See also "Acts" and "Assert."

Intrinsic (tsz' ;«n — self-like), Reason's standard is,
25. See also "Independent," "Natural," "Spontaneous"
and "Without Effort."

Intuition, Cultivation of, 54; Profound, 10.

Isolation, Remaining in, 80.

It (- Reason), 21, 54, 57.

Itself (t*x')» Heaven Reason comet of, 73.

Table of References 197

Jade table, Holding the, 62.
Jewels, Gold and, 9; Hides his, 70.
Justice, acts, 38; Put away, 19; when Reason is ob
literated, 18.

Keep time, Movements of goodness, 8.
King of the empire, 78.

Kings, as models, 39; keep Reason, 32, 37; of the hun
dred valleys, 66; Titles of, 39, 42.
Knotted cords, 80.

Know, The less we, 47; the unknowable, 71.
Knowable, Not to know the, 71.

Lasting (cfi/u), Earth is, 7; Reason means, 16. See

also "Endures."
Latter, Former and, 12, 38, 72.
Laws and mandates, 57.

Learned, Learn not to be, 64; The wise are not, 81.
Learnedness, Abandon, 20; Who seeks, 48.
Left and right, Reason on the, 34; The superior man

honors the, 31.
Life, Abroad in, 50; Called to, 39; Courage leads to,

73; everlasting. Who may die but will not perish

has, 33 ; Tender and delicate are companions of, 76 ;

Way to, 59; Who is not bent on, 75.
Likely, Resemble the, 67.
Lockers, Good, need no bolts, 27.
Logic, Good speakers lack no, 27.

Lord, Reason precedes the, 4 ; Reason plays not the, 34.
Loves the people, Who, 10.
Lovingly Reason nourishes all things, 34.
Lowliness, as their root, 39; of a great state, fl; of

ocean, 66.
Lowly, employer of men, 68; flows a great state, 61;

Reason lifts up the, 77. See also "Valley."
Loyalty, Semblance of, 38; when the clans decay, 18.

Makes mars, One who, 29, 64.
Manhood shows, Who his, 28.
Man's Reason is not like Heaven's Reason, 77.

198 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Marching without marching, 69.
Mars, One who makes, 29, 64.

Master, Deeds have a, 70; of mankind, 30; Rest is mo
tion's, 26.

Masters of yore, 15.
Matched armies, 69.
Meddlesome, Superiors are, 75.
Mediocrity, 67.
Merit, Accomplish, 9, 17; Holy man acquires, 77; Holy

man does not dwell on, 2.
Middle path, 5.

Mighty, Who conquers himself is, 33.
Military expert, 69.
Minds by cneness souls procure, 39.
Misery, and happiness, 58; Discontent a, 46.
Model (shih), He becomes the empire's, 28; Holy man

becomes a, 22; (chang) If kings are not, 39; (shih)

Who knows is, 65.
Moderation of desire, 46.
Mother, knows her child, 52 ; of the commonwealth, 59 ;

of the ten thousand things, 1 ; Reason the world's, 25,

52; Seeking sustenance from our, 20.
Mother-bird, Like a, 10. See also "Womanhood."
Motion, and quietude, 45; Rest is master of, 26.
Mouth, Five tastes offend the, 12; Reason when coming

from the, 35; Who opens his, 52.
Movements of goodness, 8.
Multitudes of men, 20, 27, 64.
Music, 35.

Mysterious, Praising the, 14; woman, 6.
Mystery of mysteries, 1.

Namable (yiu ming), becomes the mother of ten thou
sand things, The, 1 ; Reason becomes, 32.

Name, Eternal, 1; I know not its, 25; of Reason is
never vanishing, 21 ; or person, 44.

Narrow, Not deem their lives, 72.

Natural (tsz' /an), To be taciturn is, 23. See also "In
dependent." "Intrinsic," "Spontaneous" and "With
out Effort."

Table of References 199

Nave of wheel, 11.

Net, Heaven's, 73.

Non-assertion, 29; Acts with, 3; Advantage of, 43; As
sert, 63; Holy man abides by, 2; Nothing that can
not be achieved with, 48; Practise, 10, 57; Reason
practises, 37; Superior virtue is, 38.

Non-diplomacy, One takes the empire with, 57.

Non-existence (wu yiu) enters the impenetrable, 43;
(wu) Existence comes from, 40; (wu wub), Reason
returns to, 14; renders useful, 11.

Non-practice, Practice, 63.

Notes, The five, 12.

Obligations and claims, 79.

Obscure, Reason is deep and, 21.

Obsequious, Some are, 29.

Obtained, Reason when sought is, 62.

Ocean and rivers, 32, 66. See also "Sea."

Omen, Received no, 20.

One with its dust, 4, 56.

Oneness obtained by heaven and earth, minds, crea
tures, and valleys, 39. See "Unity."

Order, Goodness standeth for, 8; Reason creates, 32.

Organizer, A great, 38.

Orphaned, title of kings, 39, 42.

Others have taught, What, 42. See also "Masters of
yore."

Outer (ear), The, 12.

Owns, The more he gives the more he, 81.

Paradoxical, True words seem, 78.

Passions rise, 16.

Perfect as chief vessels, 67.

Perfection, imperfect, 45; of his harmony, 55.

Person (sAan), is preserved, 7; Name or, 44; to perdi
tion, Surrenders his, 52 ; Who cultivates reason in his,
54; With his, keeps behind, 66. See also "Body."

Poet (chien yen — builder of words), 41.

Practice, non-assertion, 10; non-practice, 63.

Preference, Heaven's Reason shows no, 79.

200 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Pretensions, Justice makes, 38.

Pride of robbers, 53.

Priest at the great sacrifice, 78.

Principle, A great, 28.

Profound, Masters of yore are, 15; Spiritual virtue is,

65; virtue, 10, 51.
Prohibitions and restrictions, 57.
Promises, Rash, 63.
Propriety, 38.

Proud, High and. 9; of their clothes, 80; Some are, 29.
Prying government, 58.
Punishment, Capital, 74.
Pure, chastity, 41; Heaven becometh, 39; Preserve thee,

19; [Reason] harbors the spirit, 21.
Purifying can cleanse from faults, 10.
Purity the world's standard, 45.

Quarrel, Goodness does not, 8; Holy man does not, 22.
Quickens, but owns not, 2, 10, 51; the still, 15.
Quietude, and motion, 45; he holdeth high, 31; I love,
57; renders lowly, 61.

Race horses haul dung, 46.

Racing will human hearts turn mad, 12.

Rank like the body, 13.

Rash promises lack faith, 63.

Reality shapes all creatures, 51.

Reason, Ancients prize, 62; and learnedness, 48; begets
unity, 42; Business in, 23; creates order, 32; eternal,
1, 8; Heaven's, is to benefit, 81; Heaven's, like a
bow, 77; Heaven's, shows no preference, 79; Home
ward the course of, 40; I contemplate heavenly, 47;
I shall walk in the great, 53; if lost, then virtue ap
pears, 38; in his person, Who cultivates, 54; includes
all types (wuh), 21 ; Inferior scholar ridicules, 41 ; is
all-pervading, 34; is eluding (iu), 21; is empty, 4; is
Heaven's standard, 25; is not seen nor heard, 35; is
tasteless, 35; is very plain, 53; is world-honored, 62;
Its nature I call, 25; like a stream, 32; Man of, a
refuge, 62; Man of, will not indulge, 24; Man's, de-

Table of References 201

pleteth, 77; means lasting, 16; Name of, never van
ishing, 21; of the ancients, 14; of the holy man, 81;
practises non-assertion, 37; precedes the Lord, 4; pre
vails, Race horses haul dung when, 46; quickens all
creatures, 51; renders lasting, 16; returns to non-
existence (wu wuh), 14; strives not, 73, 81; Superior
scholar practises, 41 ; that can be reasoned, 1 ; Tradi
tionalism the flower of, 38; Truth of, is sure, 21; un-
namable, 32, 41 ; Virtue's form follows norm of, 21 ;
Water near to the eternal, 8; We do not see, 14;
when latent, 41; when obliterated, 18; when sought
is obtained, 62; Who assists with, 30; Who cher
ishes, is not anxious to be filled, 15; Who has, does
not rely on arms, 31; Who seeks, will diminish, 48;
world's mother, 52.

Reason-like, Heaven renders, 16.

Reason's, clue, 14; nature is eluding, 21; standard is
intrinsic, 25.

Reform of themselves, People, 57; Ten thousand things,
37.

Refuge, Man of Reason a, 62.

Relativity, 2.

Renewal, Complete without, 15.

Reptiles, Venomous, 55.

Requital, His methods invite, 30.

Requite hatred with virtue, 63.

Resolute. Be, 30.

Rest (tsing — not a ripple, purity), Fulness of, 16; if
there is no lust, 37; is motion's master, 26; (t'a/)
There we find shelter, comfort, 35; (ngan) What is at,
64. See also "Quietude."

Restrictions and prohibitions, 57.

Return home (fu kwti). Crooked will, 22; No place to,
20; to enlightenment, 52; to its root, 16; to
existence, Reason will, 14; to Reason, 34.

Reverse to everything, 65.

Rhinoceros, 50.

Right. See "Left and right."

Risks no vitiation, 44.

River, Crossing a, 15; He becomes the empire's, 28.

202 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Rivers and the ocean, 32, 66.

Robbers, Pride of, 53; Thieves and, 57. See also

"Thieves."

Root, Lowliness their, 39; Returning to, 16.
Rootlet, Tree originated from tiny, 64.
Royalty, is great, 25 ; renders heavenly, 16.
Rulers, Great, 17. See also "Masters of yore."
Rustic, I alone am a, 20.

Sacrificial celebrations shall not cease, 54.

Sage keeps his obligations, 79.

Sages, Great, 17.

Saintliness, Abandon, 19.

Sameness [of Namable and Unnamable], 1.

Saviour, Holy Man is a, 27.

Scheme too sharply, 9.

Scholar, Inferior and superior, 41.

Sea, Desolate like the, 20. See also "Ocean."

Seeks not his own, 7.

Self, Lessen, 19.

Self-displaying, 22, 24.

Self-seeking, 22, 24.

Sense-gates, He shuts, 52, 56.

Senses, Discipline of the, 10.

Sharp, tools, 36; swords, 53; Square but not, 58.

Sharpness, Blunts its own, 4.

Shell of things, 1.

Sick of sickness, 71.

Silence (pu yea — not speaks), Instruction by, 2; Les
son of, 43; Who knows [keeps, i. e.] does not talk, 56.

Simple, Masters of yore, 15; Show thyself, 19.

Simplicity, in habits, 17, 57; of Reason, 32; of the un
expressed, 37 ; Returning to, 28.

Sin, and desire, 46; The country's, 78.

Sinner can be saved, 62.

Skill, Function of, 27; like a tyro, 45.

Slaughter of men, 31.

Small, country, How to govern a, 80 ; Make great the, 63.

Smart, Common people are, 20, 65.

Smartness, Abandon, 19; Govern without, 65,

Table of References 203

Soldiers, Coming among, 50.

Solid, Great organizer abides by the, 38.

Solidity of virtue, 55.

Sought is obtained, Reason when, 62.

Sound, and voice, 2; The loudest, 41.

Soundless, Reason is, 14. Cf. also 35.

Sourceless, 4.

Speakers, Good, no logic lack, 27.

Spiritual, Masters of yore are, 15; of the world, 1; Pro
foundly, 27; virtue is profound, 65.

Spirituality, Door of, 1.

Spokes, Thirty, 11.

Spontaneous (tsz' /an = self-like), 51. See also "Inde
pendent," "Intrinsic," "Natural" and "Without ef
fort."

Spook, Ghosts will not, 60.

Squandering, Dotage leads to, 44.

Square, but not sharp, Holy man is, 58; The greatest, 41.

Stammers, Greatest eloquence, 45.

Standard, Purity, 45; The earth man's, 25.

Startling events, 57.

State, A great, 61 ; A neighboring, 80. See also "Com
monwealth."

Stomachs, Holy man fills, 3. See also "Outer."

Stone, Disdain like a, 39.

Stoop to conquer, 61.

Stop, Knowing when to, 32, 44.

Straight, Crooked shall be, 22 ; levelled seem rugged, 41.

Straightest lines resemble curves, 45.

Straw dogs, 5.

Streams and creeks run towards the ocean, 32.

Strength, Beware of, 76.

Strives not, Heavenly Reason, 73; Holy man's Reason,
81.

Strong, and hard are companions of death, 76; do not
die natural death, 42; Some are, 29; The weak con
quer the, 78; Who preserves his tenderness is, 52.

Superior, man, 31 ; virtue, 38.

Sure (cban), Truth (tsiag) of Reason is, 21.

204 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Surface not clear, 14.
Surfeit of food, 24.

Taciturn (= speaking little) is natural, 23. See also
"Silence."

Talk, Fulsome, 5; One who knows does not, 56.

Tao. See "Reason," "Way," "Master," "Lord," "Fa
ther," "Mother," "Carpenter."

Tasteless, Reason is, 35; Taste the, 63.

Tastes, The five, 12.

Taxes, Too many, 75.

Ten thousand chariots, Master of, 26.

Ten thousand things, The, Archfather of, 4; are straw-
dogs, 5; arise, 2, 16; benefited by water, 8; come
from existence, 40; depend upon Reason, 34; esteem
Reason, 51; Holy man assists, 64; Holy man refuses
not, 2; Mother of, 1; of themselves be reformed, 37;
of themselves pay homage, 32; Refuge of the, 62;
Trinity begets the, 42; while they live, 76.

Tender, and delicate are companions of life, 76; and
weak. The, 36; Water is, 78.

Tenderness, Inducing, 10; Who preserves, it strong, 52.

Theft, Keeps from, 3.

Thieves, and robbers, 57; will not exist, 19.

Thirteen avenues of life and of death, 50.

Three, things (colorless, soundless, bodiless) form a
unity, 14; things (saintliness, benevolence, smartness)
for which culture is insufficient, 19; treasures, 67.

Thrift an early practice, 59.

Tiger, 50.

Tiptoe, One on, is not steady, 24.

Traditionalism, the flower of Reason, 38.

Travel, Holy man does not, 47.

Travelers, Good, leave no trace, 27.

Treasure, Compassion our, 69.

Treasures, high prized, 12; Not prizing, 3; Three, 67.

Treat things before they exist, 64.

Trinity, Duality begets, 42.

True words, arc not pleasant, 81; seem paradoxical, 78.

Types (si*ag), Reason includes all, 21.

Table of References 205

Ugliness and beauty, 2.

Unexhausted, 45.

Unexpressed (wu ming = not name), Simplicity of the,
37. See also "Unnamable."

Unity, Holy man embraces, 22; Reason begets, 42;
Those who have become a, 39; Three things (color
less, soundless, bodiless) form a, 14; Who embraces,
10. See also "Oneness."

Unknowable, To know the, 71.

Unlikely, I resemble the, 67.

Unnamable (wu ming), beginning of heaven and earth,
1 ; Reason is, 14, 32, 41. See also "Unexpressed,"

Unostentatious, Whose government is, 58.

Un-Reason (fei fao), soon ceases, 30, 55; This is, 53.

Unsophisticated, He will be, 10; Holy man keeps the
people, 3.

Unvirtue (pu teh) contrasted to "no virtue" (wu teh),
38.

Unworthy, title of kings, 39, 42.

Usefulness, Men possess, 20, Vessel of, 28.

Utility depends on the non-existent, 11.

Vacuity, Fulness is, 45. See also "Emptiness,"

Vale, The high in virtue resemble a, 41.

Valley, Empire's, 28; Masters of yore resemble the, 15;

spirit, 6.
Valleys filled by oneness, 39; Rivers and oceans kings

of, 66.

Venomous reptiles, 55.
Vessel, Empire a divine, 29; not complete, The largest,

41; of usefulness, Simplicity becomes a, 28; Utility

of, 11.

Vessels, Become perfect as chief, 67.
Virility, 55.
Virtue (feA), appears when Reason is lost, 38; (chang

teh == eternal virtue), 28; feeds them, 51; is un-virtue,

Superior, 38; Never deviate from, 28; of not-striving,

68; Profound, 10, 51, 65; Requite hatred with, 63;

Solidest, 41; Spiritual, 65; Superior, 38.
Virtue's form, Vast, 21.

206 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Vitality (ciV), 10, 55. See "Breath."

Vitiation (pu ra/), Risks no, 44. See "Danger, No."

Vulgar, Different from the, 20.

Vulgarity, Palliation of, 18.

War, Be chary of, 30; horses in the common, 46; Quel
ling, 31.

Warlike, Warrior not, 68.

Water, is tender, 78; Superior goodness resembleth, 8;
Who can render clear muddy, 15.

Way (rao), Heaven's, 9; to life, 59.

Weak, conquer the strong, 28; Some are, 29; Tender
and, 36.

Weakest overcomes the hardest. World's, 43.

Weakness is Reason's force, 40.

Wealth, Hoarded, 44; The people's 27.

Wearisome, Not deem their lot, 72.

Wen on the body, 24.

Wife conquers her husband, 61.

Wise are not learned, The, 81.

Without effort (pu ch'in) sure, Valley spirit is, 6. See
also tsz' jan under the words "Spontaneous" and "In
dependent," "Intrinsic" and "Natural" which convey
a similar idea.

Woman, The mysterious, 6.

Womanhood knows, Who his, 28.

Wood, Rough, 15.

Wool, Holy man wears, 70.

Words, are not pleasant, True, 81; have an ancestor, 70;
seem paradoxical, True, 78.

World-honored, Reason is, 62; The sage is, 56.

Worn with strength shall thrill, The, 22.

Yang and Yin, 42.
Yes and yea, 20.
Yore, Masters of, IS,

INDEX.

[The numbers refer to pages of this book. This is an
Index to the Foreword, the Introduction and the Com
ments (pp. 3-22 and pp. 131-188). For passages in the
Canon of Reason and Virtue the reader should look up
the Table of References.]

Abroad, 174.

Ancestor, Words have an,

183.

Arch-father (tsung), 135.
Arupo, 19.
Augustine, St., 150.

Backbone, 135.
Baggage wagon, 11.
Bodiless, 146, 149.
Body, Rank like, 145.

Carpenter, Great, 185.
Ch'an (dust), 135, 178.
Chi, 138.
Cheu dynasty, 5.
Cheu-tze 167.
Ch'i (breath), 167.
China, Taoism of, 8.
Chiun (Master), 8, 15.
Chwang-tze, 4.
Colorless, 146, 149.

Confucius, 3, 4, 69, 70.
Contrasts, Combination of,

133.

Ccuvreur, 140.
Crooked, 158.

Dragon, 70.

Dust (ch'an), 135, 178.

Emptiness explained, 138.
Enemies, 182.
Eternal Reason, 14.
Eye (the outer), 144.

Father, 183; The doc
trine's, 169.

Filial piety, 153.

First (/u), 156.

Flower and fruit, 144; of
reason, 165.

Formless, 19.

French Revolution, 155.

208 Canon of Reason and Virtue

Frontispiece, 188.
Fruit, 166, Flower and,

144.
Fu (first), 156; (stomach)

133.
Fulsome talk, 139.

Ghosts, 180.

Giles, H. A., 6, 161, 162,

164.

God, 21-22.
Gravity, 151.
Guests, 151.

Hamlet, 179.
Hara-kiri, 134.
Harlez, 137.
Heartache, 145, 146.
Heaven and earth, 136,

138.

Heaven's Reason, 15.
Hesiod, 143.
Holy man, The, 186.
Home, 161, 174.
Horace, 177.
Huai Nan Tze, 142, 164.

Incorporeal, 146, 149.
Ineffable, 131
Infinite, The, 138.
It, 157.

Jehovah, 149.
Justice, 164,

Kant, 19, 147, 171.
Knotted cords, 187.

La:ssez fa:.re, 163.
Lao-tze's names, 5.

Laufer, 11, 140, 141, 142,

157.

Learnedness, 154.
Left and right, 186.
Legge, 15.
Literati, 154.
Logos, 9, 14.

Manchu, 11, 139, 157, 160,

T73, 174.
Manhood, 162.
Master, 8; Deeds have a,

183.

Medhurst, 12, 159.
Milindapanha, 145.
Mother, 183.

Nagasena, 145.
Namable, 132.
Name explained, 131.
Napoleon, 5.
Nativity, 7.

Negatives, Three, 16-17.
Ng Poon Chew, 11, 142,

157, 175.

Non-existence (wu), 17-18
Non-existent, 143.
Nought, 18.

Oneness, 18, 166.
Originality, 169.
Orphaned, 168.

Paradox, 19.

Pharisees, 153.

Plato, 131, 147, 166, 176,

177.
Poh, 142.

Rank like body, 145.
Reactionary, 186.

Index

209

Reality, 177-8.

Return, 160.

Right and left, 186.

Sense soul, 142.

Shang Ti, 135, 185.

Soul, Sense, 142.

Soul (stomach), 134.

Soundless, 146, 148, 149.

Spinoza, 132.

Spook, 180.

Stomach (fu), 133; (soul)

134; (the inner), 144.
Straightness like a curve,

170.

Strauss, Victor von, 149.
Straw dogs, 136-137.
Surfeit, 159.
Szc-Ma Ch'ien, 4.

Tao explained, 13-15.
Taoism of China, 8.
Teh explained, 15-16.
Ten thousand things, 138.

Tcrtullian, 132.

Theism, 183.
Thirteen, 175.
Traditionalism, 165.
Trinity, 163, 167.
Tsung (arch-father), 135.

Unity, 167.
Unknowable, 184.
Unlikely, 182.
Unnamable explained, 131
Unvirtue, 17.

Virtue is good, 172.

Warlike, 162.

Warren, 145.

Warrior, 162.

Wei wu wei, 16, 139, 180.

Wen, 159, 160.

Womanhood, 162.

World, 132.

Yang and Yin, 167.
Yea and yes, 154.
Yin-Hi, 71.

Symbol of the Tai Cbi, the Great Ultimate.

Lao-tzn.

3L
1900

The cenon of reason and virtue. L3

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