 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to find out how to volunteer, please contact LibriVox.org. The Book of Liadze, translated by Lionel Giles. Editorial Note and Introduction Editorial Note The object of the editor of this series is a very definite one. He desires above all things that these books shall be the ambassadors of goodwill between East and West. He hopes that they will contribute to a fuller knowledge of the great cultural heritage of the East. For only through a real understanding will the West be able to appreciate the underlying problems and aspirations of Asia today. He is confident that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Eastern thought will help to a revival of that true spirit of charity which neither despises nor fears the nations of another creed and color. J.L. Cranmer Bing 50 Abermarle Street London, West 1 Introduction The history of Taoist philosophy may be conveniently divided into three stages. The Primitive Stage, the Stage of Development, and the Stage of Degeneration. The first of these stages is only known to us through the medium of a single semi-historical figure, the philosopher Lao Tzu, whose birth is traditionally assigned to the year 604 BC. Some would place the beginnings of Taoism much earlier than this, and consequently regard Lao Tzu rather as an ex-bounder than as the actual founder of the system. Just as Confucianism, that is, a moral code based on filial piety and buttressed by altruism and righteousness, may be said to have flourished long before Confucius. The two cases, however, are somewhat dissimilar. The beginnings of Lao Tzu, as preserved in the Tao Daging, are not such as one can easily imagine being handed down from generation to generation among the people at large. The principle on which they are based is simple enough, but their application to everyday life is surrounded by difficulties. It is hazardous to assert that any great system of philosophy has sprung from the brain of one man. The assertion is probably as true of Taoism as of any other body of speculation. Condensed into a single phrase, the injunction Lao Tzu to mankind is follow nature. This is a good practical equivalent for the Chinese expression, get hold of Tao, although Tao does not exactly correspond to the word nature as ordinarily used by us to denote the sum of phenomena in this ever-changing universe. It seems to me, however, that the conception of Tao must have been reached originally through this channel. Lao Tzu, interpreting the plain facts of nature before his eyes, concludes that behind her manifold workings there exists an ultimate reality which in its essence is unfathomable and unknowable, yet manifests itself in laws of unfailing regularity. To this essential principle, this power underlying the sensible phenomena of nature, he gives, tentatively and with hesitation, the name of Tao, the way, though fully realizing the inadequacy of any name to express the idea of that which is beyond all power of comprehension. A foreigner, imbued with Christian ideas, naturally feels inclined to substitute for Tao, the term by which he is accustomed to denote the Supreme Being, God. But this is only admissible if he is prepared to use the term God in a much broader sense than we find in either the Old or the New Testament. That which chiefly impresses the Taoist in the operations of nature is their absolute impersonality. The inexorable law of cause and effect seems to him equally removed from active goodness or benevolence on the one hand, and from active or malevolence on the other. This is a fact which will hardly be disputed by any intelligent observer. It is when he begins to draw inferences from it that the Taoist parts company from the average Christian. Believing, as he does, that the visible universe is but a manifestation of the invisible power behind it, he feels justified in arguing from the known to the unknown, and concluding that, whatever Tao may be in itself, which is unknowable, it is certainly not what we understand by a personal God. Not a God endowed with the specific attributes of humanity, not even, and here we find a remarkable anticipation of Hegel, a conscious God. In other words, Tao transcends the illusory and unreal distinctions on which all human systems of morality depend, for in it all virtues and vices coalesce into one. The Christian takes a different view altogether. He prefers to ignore the facts which nature shows him, or else he reads them in an arbitrary and one-sided manner. His God, if no longer anthropomorphic, is undeniably anthropopathic. He is a personal deity, now loving and merciful, now erasable and jealous, a deity who is open to prayer and in treaty. With qualities such as these, it is difficult to see how he can be regarded as anything but a glorified man. Which of these two views, the Taoist or the Christian, it is best for mankind to hold, may be a matter of dispute. There can be no doubt which is the more logical. The weakness of Taoism lies in its application to the conduct of life. Lao Tzu was not content to be a metaphysician merely. He aspired to be a practical reformer as well. It was man's business, he thought, to model himself as closely as possible on the great exemplar, Tao. It follows as a matter, of course, that his precepts are mostly of a negative order, and we are led straight to the doctrine of passivity or inaction, which was bound to be fatally misunderstood and perverted. Lao Tzu's teaching has reached us, if not in its original form, yet in much of its native purity. In the Tao Djing, one of the most potent arguments for the high antiquity of this marvelous little treatise is that it shows no decided trace of the corruption which is discernible in the second of our periods. Represented for us by the writings of Li Tzu and Zhuang Tzu, I have called it the period of development because of the extraordinary quickening and blossoming of the buds of Lao Tzu's thought and the supple and imaginative minds of these two philosophers. The kanker, alas, is already at the heart of the flower, but so rich and luxuriant is the feast of color before us that we hardly notice it as yet. Very little is known of our author beyond what he tells us himself. His full name was Liyu Kuo, and it appears that he was living in the Zhong state not long before the year 398 BC when the prime minister, Ziyang, was killed in a revolution. He figures prominently in the pages of Zhuang Tzu, from whom we learn that he could ride upon the wind. On the insufficient ground that he is not mentioned by the historian, Se Ma Qian, a certain critic of the Sun dynasty was led to declare that Li Tzu was only a fictitious personage invented by Zhuang Tzu, and that the treatise which passes under his name was a forgery of later times. This theory is rejected by the compilers of the great catalogue of Qin Lung's library, who represent the cream of Chinese scholarship in the 18th century. Although Li Tzu's work has evidently passed through the hands of many editors and gathered numerous accretions, there remains a considerable nucleus which in all probability was committed to writing by Li Tzu's immediate disciples and is therefore older than the genuine parts of Zhuang Tzu. There are some obvious analogies between the two authors and indeed a certain amount of matter common to both. But on the whole, Li Tzu's book bears an unmistakable impress of its own. The geniality of its tone contrasts with the somewhat hard brilliancy of Zhuang Tzu and a certain kindly sympathy with the aged, the poor, and the humble of this life, not excluding the brute creation, makes itself felt throughout. The opposition between Taoism and Confucianism is not so sharp as we find it in Zhuang Tzu, and Confucius himself is treated with much greater respect. This alone is strong evidence in favor of the priority of Li Tzu, for there is no doubt that the breach between the two systems widened as time went on. Li Tzu's work is about half as long as Zhuang Tzu's and is now divided into eight books. The seventh of these deals exclusively with the doctrine of the egoistic philosopher Yang Zhu and is therefore been omitted altogether from the present selection. Nearly all the Taoist writers are fond of parables and allegorical tales, but none of them is this branch of literature brought to such perfection as in Li Tzu, who surpasses Zhuang Tzu himself as a master of anecdote. His stories are almost invariably pithy and pointed. Many of them events not only a keen sense of dramatic effect, but real insight into human nature. Others may appear fantastic and somewhat wildly imaginative. The story of the man who issued out of solid rock is a typical one of this class. It ends, however, with a streak of ironical humor which may lead us to doubt whether Li Tzu himself really believed in the possibility of transcending natural laws. His soberer judgment appears in other passages like the following. That which has life must by the law of its being come to an end, and the end can no more be avoided than the living creature can help having been born, so that he who hopes to perpetuate his life, or to shut out death, is deceived in his calculations. That leaves little doubt as to the light in which Li Tzu would have regarded the later Taoist speculations on the elixir of life. Perhaps the best solution of the problem is the theory I have already mentioned. That the Li Tzu, which we possess now while containing a solid and authentic core of the master's own teaching, has been overlaid with much of the decadent Taoism of the age that followed. Of this third period, little need be said here. It is represented in literature by the lengthy treatise of Wainan Tzu, the spurious episodes in Li Tzu and Zhuanzu, and a host of minor writers, some of whom tried to pass off their works as the genuine relics of ancient sages. Zhang Zhen, an officer of the Banquetting Court under the Eastern Jin dynasty, 4th century AD, is the author of the best commentary on Li Tzu. Extracts from it, placed between inverted commas, will be found in the following pages. In the time of Zheng Zhang, although Taoism as a philosophical system had long run its course, its development into a national religion was only just beginning, and its subsequent influence on literature and art is hardly to be overestimated. It supplied the elements of mystery, romance, and color, which were needed as a set-off against the uncompromising stiffness of the Confucian ideal. For reviving and incorporating in itself the floating mass of folklore and mythology which had come down from the earliest ages, as well as for the many exquisite creations of its own fancy, it deserves the lasting gratitude of the Chinese people. And introduction. This recording is in the public domain. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to find out how to volunteer, please contact LibriVox.org. The Book of Li Zhe Translated by Lionel Giles Book One Cosmogeny Our master, Li Zhe, dwelt on a vegetable plot in the Zheng State for forty years, and no man knew him for what he was. The Prince, his ministers, and all the state officials looked upon him as one of the common herd. A time of dearth fell upon the state, and he was preparing to migrate away when his disciples said to him, Now that our master is going away without any prospect of returning, we have ventured to approach you, hoping for instruction. Are there no words from the lips of Hugh Zhou Zulan that you can impart to us? Li Zhe smiled and said, Do you suppose that Utsa dealt in words? However, I will try to repeat to you what my master said on one occasion to Bohon Morhen. I was standing by and heard his words, which ran as follows. There is a creative principle, which is itself uncreated. There is a principle of change, which is itself unchanging. The uncreated is able to create life. The unchanging is able to affect change. That which is produced cannot but continue producing. That which is evolved cannot but continue evolving. Hence, there is constant production and constant evolution. The law of constant production and of constant evolution, at no time, ceases to operate. So is it with the yin and the yang. So is it with the four seasons. The uncreated we may surmise to be alone in itself. The supreme, the non-ingendered, how can its reality be proved? We can only suppose that it is mysteriously one, without beginning and without end. The unchanging goes to and fro, and its range is illimitable. We may surmise that it stands alone, and that its ways are inexhaustible. In the Book of the Yellow Emperor it is written, The spirit of the valley dies not. It may be called the mysterious feminine. The issuing point of the mysterious feminine must be regarded as the root of the universe. Subsisting to all eternity, it uses its force without effort. That, then, which engenders all things, is itself uningendered. That by which all things are evolved is itself untouched by evolution. Self-ingendered and self-evolved, it has in itself the elements of substance, appearance, wisdom, strength, dispersion, and cessation. Yet it would be a mistake to call it by any one of these names. The Master Lidz said, The inspired men of old regarded the Yin and the Yang as controlling the sum total of heaven and earth. But that which has substance is engendered from that which is devoid of substance. Out of what, then, were heaven and earth engendered? They were engendered out of nothing, and came into existence of themselves. Hence, we say, there is a great principle of change, a great origin, a great beginning, a great primordial simplicity. In the great change, substance is not yet manifest. In the great origin lies the beginning of substance. In the great beginning lies the beginning of material form. In the great simplicity lies the beginning of essential qualities. When substance, form, and essential qualities are still indistinguishably blended together, it is called chaos. Chaos means that all things are chaotically intermixed and not yet separated from one another. The purer and lighter elements, tending upwards, made the heavens. The grosser and heavier elements, tending downwards, made the earth. Substance, harmoniously proportioned, became man. And heaven and earth, containing thus a spiritual element, all things were evolved and produced. The Master, Liedz, said, The virtue of heaven and earth, the powers of the sage, and the uses of the myriad things in creation are not perfect in every direction. It is heaven's function to produce life and to spread a canopy over it. It is earth's function to form material bodies and to support them. It is the sage's function to teach others and to influence them for good. It is the function of created things to conform to their proper nature. That being so, there are things in which earth may excel, though they lie outside the scope of heaven, matters in which the sage has no concern, though they afford free play to others. For it is clear that that which imparts and broods over life cannot form and support material bodies. That which forms and supports material bodies cannot teach and influence for good. One who teaches and influences for good cannot run counter to natural instincts. That which is fixed in suitable environment does not travel outside its own sphere. Therefore, the way of heaven and earth will be either of the yin or of the yang. The teaching of the sage will be either of altruism or of righteousness. The quality of created objects will be either soft or hard. All of these conform to their proper nature and cannot depart from the province assigned to them. On one hand, there is life, and on the other, there is that which produces life. There is form, and there is that which imparts form. There is sound, and there is that which causes sound. There is color, and there is that which causes color. There is taste, and there is that which causes taste. Things that have been endowed with life die, but that which produces life itself never comes to an end. The origin of form is matter, but that which imparts form has no material existence. The genesis of sound lies in the sense of hearing, but that which causes sound is never audible to the ear. The source of color is vision, but that which produces color never manifests itself to the eye. The origin of taste lies in the palette, but that which causes taste is never perceived by that sense. All these phenomena are functions of the principle of inaction. To be at will either bright or obscure, soft or hard, short or long, round or square, alive or dead, hot or cold, buoyant or sinking, trouble or base, present or absent, black or white, sweet or bitter, fetid or fragrant. This is to be devoid of knowledge, yet all knowing, destitute of power, yet all powerful, such as Dao. On his journey to Wei, the master Lidzu took a meal by the roadside. His followers he spied an old skull and pulled aside the undergrowth to show it to him. Turning to his disciple Bo Feng, the master said, that skull and I both know that there is no such thing as absolute life or death. If we regard ourselves as passing along the road of evolution, then I am alive and he is dead. But looked at from the standpoint of the absolute, since there is no such principle as life in itself, it follows that there can be no such thing as death. This knowledge is better than all your methods of prolonging life, a more potent source of happiness than any other. In the book of the Yellow Emperor it is written, when form becomes active, it produces not form, but shadow. When sound becomes active, it produces not sound, but echo. When not being becomes active, it does not produce not being, but being. Form is something that must come to an end. Heaven and Earth, then, have an end, even as we all have an end. But whether the end is complete, we do not know. When there is conglomeration, form comes into being. When there is dispersion, it comes to an end. That is what we mortals mean by beginning and end. But although for us in a state of conglomeration, this condensation into form constitutes a beginning and its dispersion an end. From the standpoint of dispersion, it is void and calm that constitute the beginning and condensation into form the end. Hence, there is perpetual alternation in what constitutes be timing an end. And the underlying truth is that there is neither any beginning nor any end at all. The course of evolution ends where it started without a beginning. It finishes up where it began in non-being. That which has life returns again into the lifeless. That which has form returns again into the formless. This that I call the lifeless is not the original lifelessness. This that I call the formless is not the original formlessness. That which is here termed the lifeless has formerly possessed life and subsequently passed into the extinction of death. Whereas the original lifelessness from the beginning knows neither life nor extinction. We have here again the distinction between unchanging life-giving principle, Dao, which is itself without life, and the living things themselves, which are in a perpetual flux between life and death. That which has life must by the law of its being come to an end. And the end can no more be avoided than the living creature can help having been born. So that he who hopes to perpetuate his life or to shut out death is deceived as to his destiny. The spiritual element in man is allotted to him by heaven, his corporeal frame by earth. The part that belongs to heaven is ethereal and dispersive. The part that belongs to earth is dense and tending to conglomeration. When the spirit parts from the body, each of these elements resumes its true nature. That is why disembodied spirits are called gui, which means returning. That is, returning to their true dwelling place, the region of the Great Void. The Yellow Emperor said, If my spirit returns through the gates once it came and my bones go back to the source from which they sprang, where does the ego continue to exist? Between his birth and his latter end, man passes through four chief stages. Infancy, adolescence, old age, and death. In infancy, the vital force is concentrated. The will is undivided and the general harmony of the system is perfect. External objects produce no injurious impression and to the moral nature, nothing can be added. In adolescence, the animal passions are wildly exuberant. The heart is filled with rising desires and preoccupations. The man is open to attack by the objects of sense and thus his moral nature becomes enfeebled. In old age, his desires and preoccupations have lost their keenness and the bodily frame seeks for repose. External objects no longer hold the first place in his regard. In this state, though not attaining to the perfection of infancy, he is already different from what he was in adolescence. In death, he comes to his rest and returns to the absolute. Confucius was traveling once over Mount Tai when he caught sight of an aged man roaming in the wilds. He was clothed in a deer skin, girded with a rope, and was singing as he played on a lute. My friend said Confucius, what is it that makes you so happy? The old man replied, I have a great deal to make me happy. God created all things, and of all his creations, man is the noblest. It has fallen to my lot to be a man. That is my first ground for happiness. Then there is a distinction between male and female, the former being rated more highly than the latter. Therefore, it is better to be a male, and since I am one, I have a second ground for happiness. Furthermore, some are born who never behold the sun or the moon, and who never emerge from their swaddling clothes. But I have already walked the earth for the space of ninety years. That is my third ground for happiness. Poverty is the normal lot of the scholar. Death the appointed end for all human beings. Abiding in the normal state, and reaching at last the appointed end, what is there that should make me unhappy? What an excellent thing it is, cried Confucius, to be able to find a source of consolation in oneself. Zogun was tired of study, and confided his feelings to Confucius, saying, I yearn for rest. Confucius replied, In life there is no rest. To toil in anxious planning for the future, to slave in bolstering up the bodily frame, these are the businesses of life. Is rest, then, nowhere to be found? Oh yes, replied Confucius. Look at all the graves in the wilds, all the vaults, all the tombs, all the funeral urns, and you may know where rest is to be found. Great indeed is death, exclaimed Zogun. It gives rest to the noble hearted, and causes the base to cower. You were right, said Confucius. Men feel the joy of life, but do not realize its bitterness. They feel the weariness of old age, but not its peacefulness. They think of the evils of death, but not of the repose which it confers. Yenzu said, How excellent was the ancients view of death, bringing rest to the good, and subjection to the wicked. Death is the boundary line of virtue. That is, death abolishes all artificial and temporary distinctions between good and evil, which only hold good in this world of relativity. The ancients spoke of the dead as guerrin, men who have returned. But if the dead are men who have returned, the living are men on a journey. Those who are on a journey, and think not of returning, have cut themselves off from their home. Should any one man cut himself off from his home, he would incur universal reprobation. But all mankind, being homeless, there is none to see the error. Imagine one who leaves his native village, separates himself from all his kith and kin, dissipates his patrimony, and wanders away to the four corners of the earth, never to return. What manner of man is this? The world will surely set him down as a profligate and a vagabond. On the other hand, imagine one who clings to respectability and the things of this life, holds cleverness and capacity in high esteem, builds himself up a reputation, and plays the braggart amongst his fellow men without knowing where to stop. What manner of man, once more, is this? The world will surely look upon him as a gentleman of great wisdom and counsel. Both of these men have lost their way, yet the world will consort with the one and not with the other. Only the sage knows with whom to consort and from whom to hold aloof. He consorts with those who regard life and death merely as waking and sleeping, and holds aloof from those who are steeped in forgetfulness of their return. Yu Xiang said, Evolution is never ending. But who can perceive the secret processes of heaven and earth? Thus, things that are diminished here are augmented there. Things that are made whole, in one place, suffer loss in another. Immunition and Augmentation Fulness and Decay are the constant accompaniments of life and death. They alternate in continuous succession, and we are not conscious of any interval. The whole body of spiritual substance progresses without a pause. The whole body of material substance suffers decay without intermission. But we do not perceive the process of completion, nor do we perceive the process of decay. Man, likewise, from birth to old age becomes something different every day in face and form, in wisdom and in conduct. His skin, his nails, and his hair are continually growing and continually perishing. In infancy and childhood, there is no stopping nor respite from change. Though imperceptible while it is going on, it may be verified afterwards if we wait. There was once a man in the Chi state who was so afraid the universe would collapse and fall to pieces, leaving his body without a lodgement, that he could neither sleep nor eat. Another man, pitying his distress, went to enlighten him. Heaven, he said, is nothing more than an accumulation of ether, and there is no place where ether is not. Processes of contraction and expansion, inspiration and expiration are continually taking place up in the heavens. Why, then, should you be afraid of a collapse? The man said, it is true that heaven is an accumulation of ether, but the sun, the moon, and the stars, will they not fall down upon us? The informant replied, sun, moon, and stars are likewise only bright lights within this mass of ether. Even supposing they were to fall, they could not possibly harm us by their impact. But what if the earth should fall to pieces? The earth, replied the other, is merely an agglomeration of matter which fills and blocks up the four corners of space. There is no part of it where matter is not. All day long there is constant treading and tramping on the surface of the earth. Why, then, should you be afraid of its falling to pieces? Thereupon the man was relieved of his fears and rejoiced exceedingly. And his instructor was also joyful and easy in mind. But Chang Luzhe laughed at them both, saying, rainbows, clouds, and mist, wind and rain, the four seasons, these are perfected forms of accumulated ether, and go to make up the heavens. Mountains and cliffs, rivers and seas, metals and rocks, fire and timber, these are perfected forms of agglomerated matter and constitute the earth. Knowing these facts, who can say that they will never be destroyed? Heaven and earth form only a small speck in the midst of the void, but they are the greatest things and the sum of being. This much is certain. Even as their nature is hard to fathom, hard to understand, so they will be slow to pass away, slow to come to an end. He who fears lest they should suddenly fall to pieces is assuredly very far from the truth. He, on the other hand, who says that they will never be destroyed, has also not reached the right solution. Heaven and earth must of necessity pass away, but neither will revert to destruction apart from the other, who, having to face the day of disruption, would not be alarmed. The master Lidz heard of the discussion and smiling said, he who maintains that heaven and earth are destructible and he who upholds the contrary are both equally at fault. Whether they are destructible or not is something we can never know, though in both cases it will be the same for all alike. The living and the dead, the going and the coming, know nothing of each other's state. Whether destruction awaits the world or no, why should I trouble my head about it? Mr. Guo of the Qi state was very rich, while Mr. Xiang of the Sun state was very poor. The latter traveled from Sun to Qi and asked the other for the secret of his prosperity. Mr. Guo told him, it is because I am a good thief, he said. The first year I began to be a thief I had just enough. The second year I had ample. The third year I reaped a great harvest. And in course of time I found myself the owner of whole villages and districts. Mr. Xiang was overjoyed. He understood the word thief in the literal sense, but he did not understand the true way of becoming a thief. Accordingly, he climbed over walls and broke into houses, grabbing everything he could see or lay hands upon. But before very long, his thefts brought him into trouble, and he was stripped even of what he had previously possessed. Thinking that Mr. Guo had basely deceived him, Xiang went to him with a bitter complaint. Tell me, said Mr. Guo, how did you set about being a thief? On learning from Mr. Xiang, what had happened, he cried out, a last and a lack. You have been brought to this past because you went the wrong way to work. Now let me put you on the right track. We all know that heaven has its seasons and that earth has its riches. Well, the things that I steal are the riches of heaven and earth, each in their season. The fertilizing rainwater from the clouds and the natural products of mountain and meadowland. Thus I grow my grain and ripen my crops, build my walls and construct my tenements. From the dry land I steal winged and four-footed game. From the rivers I steal fish and turtles. There is nothing that I do not steal. For corn and grain, clay and wood, birds and beasts, fishes and turtles, are all products of nature. How can I claim them as mine? Yet stealing in this way from nature, I bring on myself no retribution. But gold, jade, and precious stones, stores of grain, silk stuffs, and other kinds of property are things accumulated by men, not bestowed upon us by nature. So who can complain if he gets into trouble by stealing them? Mr. Xiang, in a state of great perplexity and fearing to be led astray a second time by Mr. Guo, went off to consult Deng Guo, a man of learning. Deng Guo said to him, Are you not already a thief in respect of your own body? You are stealing the harmony of the Yin and the Yang in order to keep alive and to maintain your bodily form. How much more, then, are you a thief with regard to external possessions? Assuredly, heaven and earth cannot be disassociated from the myriad objects of nature. To claim any one of these as your own be tokens confusion of thought. Mr. Guo's thefts are carried out in a spirit of justice and therefore bring no retribution. But your thefts were carried out in a spirit of self-seeking and therefore landed you in trouble. Those who take possession of property, whether public or private, are thieves. Those who abstain from taking property, public or private, are also thieves. For no one can help possessing a body and no one can help acquiring some property or other which cannot be got rid of with the best will in the world. Such thefts are unconscious thefts. The great principle of heaven and earth is to treat public property as such and private property as such. Knowing this principle, which of us is a thief and at the same time, which of us is not a thief? And book one, Cosmogony. This recording is in the public domain. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to find out how to volunteer please contact LibriVox.org. The book of Liidzu. Translated by Lionel Giles. Book two. The Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor sat for 15 years on the throne and rejoiced that the Empire looked up to him as its head. He was careful of his physical well-being, sought pleasures for his ears and eyes, and gratified his senses of smell and taste. Nevertheless, he grew melancholy and spirit. His complexion became sallow and his sensations became dull and confused. Then, for a further period of 15 years, he grieved that the Empire was in disorder. He summoned up all of his intelligence, exhausted his resources of wisdom and strength in trying to rule the people. But, in spite of all, his face remained haggard and pale and his sensations dull and confused. The practice of enlightened virtue will not succeed in establishing good government but only disorganize the spiritual faculties. Then, the Yellow Emperor sighed heavily and said, My fault is want of moderation. The misery I suffer comes from over-attention to my own self and the troubles of the Empire from over-regulation and everything. Thereupon, he threw up all his schemes, abandoned his ancestral palace, dismissed his attendance, removed all the hanging bells, cut down the delicacies of his cuisine and retired to live at leisure in private apartments attached to the court. There, he fasted in heart and brought his body under control. For three months, he abstained from personal intervention in government. Then, he fell asleep in the daytime and dreamed that he made a journey to the Kingdom of Hwa Su. Situated, I know not how many tens of thousands of miles distant from the Chi State. It was beyond the reach of ship or vehicle or any mortal foot. Only the soul could travel so far. This kingdom was without head or ruler. It simply went on of itself. Its people were without desires or cravings. They simply followed their natural instincts. They felt neither joy in life nor abhorrence of death. Thus, they came to no untimely ends. They felt neither attachment to self nor indifference to others. Thus, they were exempt from love and hatred alike. They knew neither aversion from one course nor inclination to another. Hence, profit and loss existed not among them. All were equally untouched by the emotions of love and sympathy, of jealousy and fear. Water had no power to drown them, nor fire to burn. Cuts and blows caused them neither injury nor pain. Scratching or tickling could not make them itch. They bestowed the air as though treading on solid earth. They were cradled in space as though resting in a bed. Clouds and mist obstructed not their vision. Thunderpeals could not stun their ears. Physical beauty disturbed not their hearts. Mountains and valleys hindered not their steps. They moved about like gods. When the Yellow Emperor awoke from his dream, he summoned his three ministers and told them what he had seen. For three months, he said, I have been living a life of leisure, fasting in heart, subduing my body and casting about my mind for the true method of nourishing my own life and regulating the lives of others. But I failed to discover the secret. Worn out, I fell asleep and dreamed this dream. Now I know that the perfect way is not to be sought through the senses. This way, I know and hold within me, yet I cannot impart it to you. If the way cannot be sought through the senses, it cannot be communicated through the senses. For twenty-eight years after this, there was great orderliness in the Empire, nearly equaling that in the kingdom of Hua Su. And when the Emperor ascended on high, the people bewailed him for two hundred years without intermission. Li Zhe had Lao Xiang for his teacher and Bo Gao Zhe for his friend. When he had fully mastered the system of these two philosophers, he rode home again on the wings of the wind. Yin Sheng heard of this and became his disciple. He dwelt with Li Zhe for many months without visiting his own home. While he was with him, he begged to be initiated into his secret arts. Ten times he asked, and each time he received no answer. Becoming impatient, Yin Sheng announced his departure, but Li Zhe still gave no sign. So Yin Sheng went away. But after many months, his mind was still unsettled. So he returned and became his follower once more. Li Zhe said to him, Why this incessant going and coming? Yin Sheng replied, Some time ago I saw instruction from you, Sir, but you would not tell me anything. That made me vexed with you. But now I have got rid of that feeling, and so I have come again. Li Zhe said, Formerly I used to think you were a man of penetration, and have you now fallen so low? Sit down, and I will tell you what I learned from my master. After I had served him, and enjoyed the friendship of Bo Gao for the space of three years, my mind did not venture to reflect on right and wrong. My lips did not venture to speak of profit and loss. Then, for the first time, my master bestowed one glance upon me, and that was all. To be in reality entertaining the ideas of profit and loss, though without venturing to utter them, is a case of hiding one's resentment and harboring secret passions. Hence, a mere glance was vouchsafed. At the end of five years, a change had taken place. My mind was reflecting on right and wrong, and my lips were speaking of profit and loss. Then, for the first time, my master relaxed his countenance and smiled. Right and wrong, profit and loss, are the fixed principles prevailing in the world of sense. To let the mind reflect on what it will, to let the lips utter what they please, and not grudgingly bottle it up in one's breast that the internal and the external may become as one, is still not so good as passing beyond the bounds of self and abstaining from all manifestation. This first step, however, pleased the master and caused him to give a smile. At the end of seven years, there was another change. I let my mind reflect on what it would, but it no longer occupied itself with right and wrong. I let my lips utter whatsoever they pleased, but they no longer spoke of profit and loss. Then, at last, my master led me in to sit on the mat beside him. The question is, how to bring the mind into a state of calm, in which there is no thinking or mental activity. How to keep the lips silent with only natural inhalation and exhalation going on. If you give yourself up to mental perfection, right and wrong will cease to exist. If the lips follow their natural law, they know not profit or loss. Their ways agreeing, master and friends sat side by side with him on the same seat. That was only as it should be. At the end of nine years, my mind gave free reign to its reflections. My mouth free-passaged to its speech. Of right and wrong, profit and loss, I had no knowledge, either as touching myself or others. I knew neither that the master was my instructor, nor that the other man was my friend. Internal and external were blended into unity. After that, there was no distinction between eye and ear, ear and nose, nose and mouth. All were the same. My mind was frozen. My body in dissolution, my flesh and bones all melted together. I was wholly unconscious of what my body was resting on, or what was under my feet. I was born this way and that on the wind, like dry chaff or leaves falling from a tree. In fact, I knew not whether the wind was riding on me, or I on the wind. Now, you have not spent one whole season in your teacher's house, and yet you have lost patience two or three times already. Why, at this rate, the atmosphere will never support an atom of your body, and even the earth will be unequal to the weight of one of your limbs. How can you expect to walk in the void, or to be charioted on the wind? Hearing this, Yin Xun was deeply ashamed. He could hardly trust himself to breathe, and it was long ear he ventured to utter another word. Mr. Fan had a son named Zuo Hua, who succeeded in achieving great fame as an exponent of the black art, and the whole kingdom bowed down before him. He was in high favor with the Prince of Jin, taking no office but standing on par with the three ministers of state. Anyone on whom he turned a partial eye was marked out for distinction, while those of whom he spoke unfavorably were forthwith banished. People thronged his hall in the same way as they went to court. Zuo Hua used to encourage his followers to contend amongst themselves, so that the clever ones were always being the slow-witted, and the strong writing roughshod over the weak. Though this resulted in blows and wounds being dealt before his eyes, he was not in the habit of troubling about it. Day and night, this sort of thing served as an amusement, and practically became a custom in the state. One day, He Xun and Zuo Hua, two of Fan's leading disciples, went off on a journey, and after traversing a stretch of wild country, they put up for the night in the hut of an old peasant named Shang Zhou Kai. During the night, the two travelers conversed together, speaking of Zuo Hua's reputation and influence, his power over life and death, and how he could make the rich man poor and the poor man rich. Then, Shang Zhou Kai was living on the border of starvation. He had crept round under the window and overheard this conversation. Accordingly, he borrowed some provisions and, shouldering his basket, set off for Zuo Hua's establishment. This man's followers, however, were a worldly set, who wore silken garments and hid in high carriages and stalked about with their noses in the air, seeing that Shang Zhou Kai was a weak old man with a weather-beaten face and clothes for no particular cut. They one and all despised him. Soon he became a regular target for their insults and ridicule, being hustled about and slapped on the back, and whatnot. Shang Zhou Kai, however, never showed the least annoyance, and at last the disciples, having exhausted their wit on him, in this way, grew tired of the fun. So, by way of a jest, they took the old man with them to the top of a cliff, and the word was passed round that whosoever dared to throw himself over would be rewarded with a hundred ounces of silver. There was an eager response when Shang Zhou Kai, in perfect good faith, was the first to leap over the edge, and lo, he was wafted down to earth like a bird on the wing, not a bone or muscle of his body being hurt. Mr. Fan's disciples, regarding this as a lucky chance, were merely surprised, but not yet moved to great wonder. They pointed to a bend in the foaming river below, saying, there is a precious pearl at the bottom of that river, which can be had for the diving. Zhou Kai, again acted on their suggestion and plunged in, and when he came out, sure enough, he held a pearl in his hand. Then, at last, the whole company began to suspect the truth, and Zhou Law gave orders that an array of costly viands and silken raiment should be prepared. Then, suddenly, a great fire was kindled round the pile. If you can walk through the midst of these flames, he said, you are welcome to keep what you can get of these embroidered stuffs, be it much or little, as a reward. Without moving a muscle of his face, Zhang Zhou Kai walked straight into the fire and came back again with his garments unsoiled and his body unsinged. Mr. Fan and his disciples now realized that he was in possession of Dao, and all began to make their apologies saying, we did not know, sir, that you had Dao and were only playing a trick on you. We insulted you, not knowing that you were a divine man. You have exposed our stupidity, our deafness, and our blindness. May we venture to ask what the great secret is? Secret, I have none, replied Zhang Zhou Kai. Even in my own mind, I have no clue as to the real cause. Nevertheless, there is one point at all which I must try to explain to you. A short time ago, sir, two disciples of yours came and put up for the night in my hut. I heard them extolling Mr. Fan's powers, how he could dispense life and death at his will, and how he was able to make the rich man poor and the poor man rich. I believed this implicitly, and as the distance was not very great, I came hither. Having arrived, I deservedly accepted as true all the statements made by your disciples, and was only afraid lest the opportunity might never come of putting them triumphantly to the proof. I knew not what part of space my body occupied, nor yet were danger lurked. My mind was simply one, and material objects thus offered no resistance. That is all. But now, having discovered that your disciples were deceiving me, my inner man is thrown into a state of doubt and perplexity, while outwardly my senses of sight and hearing reassert themselves. When I reflect that I have just had a providential escape from being drowned and burned to death, my heart within me freezes with horror, and my limbs tremble with fear. I shall never again have the courage to go near water or fire. From that time forth, when Mr. Fan's disciples happened to meet a beggar or a poor horse doctor on the road, so far from jeering at him, they would actually dismount and offer him a humble salute. Zai Wu heard this story and told it to Confucius. Is this so strange to you? Was the reply? The man of perfect faith can extend his influence to inanimate things and disembodied spirits. He can move heaven and earth and fly to the six cardinal points without encountering any hindrance. His powers are not confined to walking in perilous places and passing through water and fire. If Xiang Jiu Kai, who put his faith in falsehoods, found no obstacle in external matter, how much more certainly will that be so when both parties are equally sincere? Young man, bear this in mind. In Xiang Jiu Kai's case, though he himself was sincere, his master, Fan Zuo Hua, was merely an impostor. The keeper of animals under King Xiang of the Zhou Dynasty had an assistant named Liang Yang who was skilled in the management of wild birds and beasts. When he fed them in their park enclosure, all the animals showed themselves tame and tractable, although they comprised tigers, wolves, eagles, and ospreys. Male and female freely propagated their kind and their numbers multiplied. The different species lived promiscuously together, yet they never clawed nor bit one another. The king was afraid lest this man's secret should die with him and commanded him to impart it to the keeper. So Liang Yang appeared before the keeper and said, I am only a humble servant and have really nothing to impart. I fear His Majesty thinks with regard to my method of feeding tigers, all I have to say is this. When yielded to, they are pleased. When opposed, they are angry. Such is the natural disposition of all living creatures. But neither their pleasure nor their anger is manifested without a cause. Both are really excited by opposition. Anger directly, pleasure indirectly. Owing to the natural reaction when the opposition is overcome. In feeding tigers then, I avoid giving them either live animals or whole carcasses, lest in the former case the act of killing in the latter, the act of tearing them to pieces should excite them to fury. Again, I time their periods of hunger and repletion and I gain a full understanding of the causes of their anger. Tigers are of a different species from man. But, like him, they respond to those who coax them with food and consequently the act of killing their victims tends to provoke them. This being so, I should not think of opposing them and thus provoking their anger. Neither do I humor them and thus cause them to feel pleased. For this feeling of pleasure will in time be succeeded by anger. Just as anger must invariably be succeeded by pleasure. Neither of these states hits the proper mean. Hence it is my aim to be neither antagonistic nor compliant so that the animals regard me as one of themselves. Thus it happens that they walk about the park without regretting the tall forests and the broad marshes and rest in the enclosure without yearning on the only mountains and the dark valleys. Such are the principles which have led to the results you see. There was once a man, a sailor by profession, who was very fond of seagulls. Every morning he went to the sea and swam about in their midst, at which times a hundred gulls and more would constantly flock about him. Creatures are not shy of those whom they feel to be in mental and bodily harmony with themselves. One day his father said to him, I am told that seagulls swim about with you in the water. I wish you would catch one or two for me to make pets of. On the following day the sailor went down to the sea as usual but low. The gulls only wheeled about in the air and would not alight. There was disturbance in his mind, accompanied by a change in his outward demeanor. Thus the birds became conscious of the fact that he was a human being. How could their instinct be deceived? Jiao Xiang Zhe led out a company of a hundred thousand men to hunt in the central mountains. Lighting the dry undergrowth they set fire to the whole forest and the glow of the flames was visible for a hundred miles around. Suddenly a man appeared, emerging from a rocky cliff and was seen to hover in the air amidst the flames and the smoke. Everybody took him for a disembodied spirit. When the fire had passed he walked quietly out and showed no trace of having been through the war deal. Xiang Zhe marveled there at and detained him for the purpose of careful examination. In bodily form he was undoubtedly a man possessing the seven channels of sense besides which his breathing and his voice also proclaimed him a man. So the prince inquired what secret power it was that enabled him to dwell in rock and to walk through fire. What do you mean by rock? replied the man. What do you mean by fire? Xiang Zhe said what you just now came out of is rock. What you just now walked through is fire. I know nothing of them, replied the man. It was this extreme feat of unconsciousness that enabled him to perform the above feats. The incident came to the ears of Marquis Wen of the Wei State who spoke to Zixia about it saying what an extraordinary man this must be. From what I have heard the master say, replied Zixia, the man who achieves harmony with Dao enters into close unison with external objects and none of them has the power to harm or hinder him. Passing through solid metal or stone walking in the midst of fire or on the surface of water all these things become possible to him. Why? my friend asked the Marquis cannot you do all this? I have not yet succeeded, said Zixia in cleansing my heart of impurities and discarding wisdom. I can only find leisure to discuss the matter in tentative fashion. And why? pursued the Marquis does not the master himself perform these feats. The master, replied Zixia is able to do these things but he is also able to refrain from doing them which answer hugely delighted the Marquis. There may be similarity in understanding without similarity in outward form. There may also be similarity in form without similarity in understanding. The sage embraces similarity of understanding and pays no regard to similarity of form. The world in general is attracted by similarity of form but remains indifferent to similarity of understanding. Those creatures that resemble them in shape they love and can sort with. Those that differ from them in shape they fear and keep at a distance. The creature that has a skeleton seven feet long hands differently shaped from the feet hair on its head and an even set of teeth in its jaws and walks erect is called a man but it does not follow that a man may not have the mind of a brute. Even though this be the case other men will still recognize him as one of their own species in virtue of his outward form. Creatures which have wings on the back or horns on the head serrated teeth and hand-sile talons which fly overhead or run on all fours are called birds and beasts but it does not follow that a bird or a beast may not have the mind of a man. Yet even if this be so it is nevertheless assigned to another species because of the difference in form. Pao si nü gua shun nung siah ho had serpents bodies human faces ox heads and tigers' snouts thus their forms were not human yet their virtue was of the saintliest. Ji'e of the siah dynasty Zhou of the Yin Huan of the Lu state and Mu of the Chu state were in all external respects as facial appearance and possession of the seven channels of sense like unto other men yet they had the minds of savage brutes. How be it in seeking perfect understanding men attend to the outward form alone which will not bring them near to it. When the Yellow Emperor fought with Yan Di on the field of Pan Shun his vanguard was composed of bears wolves panthers lynxes and tigers while his aunts and bears were eagles ospreys falcons and kites this was forcible impressment of animals into the service of man. The Emperor Yao entrusted Kui with the regulation of music Kui was a composite being half beast half man of irreproachable virtue his son on the other hand is said to have had the heart of a pig he was insatiably gluttonous covetous and quarrelsome when the latter tapped the musical stone in varying cadence all the animals danced to the sound of the music when the Shao in its nine variations was heard on the flute it itself flew down to assist this was the attraction of animals by the power of music in what then do the minds of birds and beasts differ from the minds of men their shapes and the sounds they utter are different from ours and they know no way of communicating with us but the wisdom and penetration of the sage are unlimited that is why he is able to lead them to do his bidding the intelligence of animals is innate even as that of man their common desires for self preservation but they do not borrow their knowledge from men there is pairing between the male and the female and mutual attachment between the mother and her young they shun the open plain and keep to the mountainous parts they flee the cold when they settle they gather in flocks when they travel they preserve a fixed order the young ones are stationed in the middle the stronger ones place themselves on the outside they show one another the way to the drinking places and call to their fellows when there is food in the earliest stages they dwelt and moved about in company with man it was not until the age of emperors the kings that they began to be afraid and broke away into scattered bands and now in this final period they habitually hide and keep out of man's way so as to avoid injury in his hands at the present day in the country of the geoclan to the east the people can often interpret the language of the six domestic animals they probably have but an imperfect understanding of it in remote antiquity there were men of divine enlightenment who were perfectly acquainted with the feelings and habits of all living things and thoroughly understood the languages of the various species they brought them together trained them and admitted them to their society exactly like human beings these ages declared that in mind and understanding there was no wide gulf between any of the living species endowed with blood and breath and therefore knowing that this was so they omitted nothing from their course of training and instruction hui yang went to visit prince kong of the sueng state the prince however stamped his foot rasped his throat and said angrily the things I like are courage and strength I am not fond of your good and virtuous people what can a stranger like you have to teach me I have a secret replied hui yang whereby my opponent however brave or strong can be prevented from harming me either by thrust or by blow would not your highness care to know that secret capital exclaimed kong that is certainly something I should like to hear about hui yang went on to render ineffectual the stabs and blows of one's opponent is indeed to cover him with shame but my secret is one which will make your opponent however brave or strong afraid to stab or to strike at all his being afraid however does not always imply that he has not the will to do so now my secret method operates so that even the will is absent not having the will to harm however does not necessarily connote the desire to love and to do good but my secret is one whereby every man, woman and child in the empire shall be inspired with the friendly desire to love and do good to one another this is something that transcends all social distinctions and is much better than the mere possession of courage and strength has your highness no mind to acquire such a secret as this nay said the prince I am anxious to learn it what is the secret pray nothing else replied hui yang then the teachings of confucius and muodzu neither of these two men possessed any land and yet they were princes they held no official rank and yet they were leaders all the inhabitants of the empire old and young used to crane their necks and stand on tiptoe to catch a glimpse of them for it was their object to bring peace and happiness to all now your highness is lord of ten thousand chariots if you are sincere in your purpose all the people within the four borders of your realm will reap the benefit and the fame of your virtue will far exceed that of confucius or of muodzu the prince of sung found himself at loss for an answer and hui yang quickly withdrew then the prince turned to his courtiers and said a forcible argument this stranger has carried me away from my eloquence and book two the yellow emperor this recording is in the public domain this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to find out how to volunteer please contact LibriVox.org the book of Liudzu translated by Lionel Giles book three dreams in the time of king Mu of Zhou there was a magician who came from a kingdom in the far west he could pass through fire and water, penetrate metal and stone, overturn mountains and make rivers flow backwards transplant whole towns and cities ride on thin air without falling encounter solid bodies without being obstructed there was no end to the countless variety of changes and transformations which he could affect and besides changing the external form he could also spirit away men's internal cares King Mu revered him as a god and served him like a prince he set aside for his use a spacious suite of apartments regaled him with the daintiest of food and selected a number of singing girls for his express gratification the magician, however condemned the king's palaces mean the cooking is rancid and the concubines as too ugly to live with so King Mu had a new building erected to please him it was built entirely of bricks and wood and gorgeously decorated in red and white no skill being spared in its construction the five royal treasuries were empty by the time that the new pavilion was complete it stood 6,000 feet high overtopping Mount Zhongnan and it was called touch the sky pavilion then the king proceeded to fill it with maidens selected from Zhong and Wei of the most exquisite and delicate beauty they were anointed with fragrant perfumes adorned with moth eyebrows provided with jeweled hairpins and earrings and arrayed in the finest silks with costly satin trains their faces were powdered and their eyebrows penciled their girdles were studded with precious stones all manner of sweet-scented plants filled the palace with their odors and ravishing music of the olden time was played to the honored guest every month he was presented with fresh and costly raiment every morning he had set before him some new and delicious food the magician could not well refuse to take up his abode in this palace of delight but he had not dwelt there very long before he invited the king to accompany him on a jaunt so the king clutched the magician's sleeve and soared up with him higher and higher into the sky until at last they stopped and lo they had reached the magician's own palace this palace was built with beams of gold and silver and encrusted with pearls and jade it towered high above the region of clouds and rain and the foundations whereon it rested were unknown it appeared like a stupendous cloud mass to the view the sights and sounds it offered to eye and ear the scents and flavors which abounded there were such as exists not within mortal ken the king verily believed that he was in the halls of paradise guided by God himself and that he was listening to the mighty music of the spheres he gazed at his own palace on the earth below and it seemed to him no better than a rude pile of clods and brushwood it seemed to the king as if his stay in this place lasted for several decades during which time he gave no thought to his own kingdom then the magician invited him to make another journey and in the new region they came to neither sun nor moon could be seen in the heavens above nor any rivers or seas below the king's eyes were dazed by the quality of the light and he lost the power of vision his ears were stunned by the sounds that assailed them and he lost the faculty of hearing the framework of his bones and his internal organs were thrown out of gear and refused to function his thoughts were in a whirl his intellect became clouded and he begged the magician to take him back again thereupon the magician gave him a shove and the king experienced a sensation of falling through space when he awoke to consciousness he found himself sitting on his throne just as before with the self-same attendance around him he looked at the wine in front of him and saw that it was full of sediment he looked at the vions and found that they had not yet lost their freshness he asked where he'd come from and his attendants told him that he had only been sitting quietly there this threw King Mu into a reverie and it was three months before he was himself again then he made further inquiry and asked the magician to explain what had happened your majesty and I replied the magician were only wondering about in the spirit and of course our bodies never moved at all what essential difference is there between the sky palace we dwelt in and your majesty's palace on earth between the spaces we traveled through and your majesty's own park you are accustomed to being permanently in the body and cannot understand being out of it for a while can any number of changes or successive intervals of fast and slow fully represent the true scheme of things the king was much pleased he ceased to worry about affairs of state and took no further pleasure in the society of his ministers or concubines lal chun zi went to learn magic from the venerable yin wun after a period of three years having obtained no communication he humbly asked permission to go home yin wun bowed and led him into the inner apartment there having dismissed his attendance he spoke to him as follows long ago when lao zi was setting out on his journey to the west he addressed me and said all that has the breath of life all that possesses bodily form is mere illusion the point at which creation begins the change affected by the dual principles these are called respectively life and death that which underlies the manifold workings of destiny is called evolution that which produces and transforms bodily substance is called illusion the ingenuity of the creative power is mysterious and its operations are profound in truth it is inexhaustible and eternal the ingenuity of that which causes material form is patent to the eye and its operations are superficial therefore it arises anon and anon it vanishes only one who knows that life is really illusion and that death is really evolution can begin to learn magic from me you and I are both illusions what need then to make a study of the subject if a person wishes to make a study of illusion in spite of the fact that his own body is an illusion we are reduced to the absurdity of an illusion studying an illusion lao zi returned home and for three months pondered deeply over the words of the venerable yin won subsequently he had the power of appearing or disappearing at will he could reverse the order of the four seasons produce thunderstorms in winter and ice in summer make flying things creep and creeping things fly but to the end of his days he never published the secret of his art so that it was not handed down to after generations the master lia zi said a dream is something that comes into contact with the mind an external event is something that impinges on the body hence our feelings by day and our dreams by night are the result of contacts made by mind or body it follows that if we concentrate the mind in abstraction our feelings and our dreams will vanish of themselves those who rely on their waking perceptions will not argue about them those who put faith in dreams do not understand the processes of change in the external world the pure men of old passed their waking existence in self oblivion and slept without dreams how can this be dismissed as an empty phrase Mr. Yin of Zhou was the owner of a large estate who harried his servants unmercifully and gave them no rest from morning to night there was one old servant in particular whose physical strength had quite left him yet his master worked him all the harder all day long he was groaning as he went about his work and when night came he was reeling with fatigue and would sleep like a log his spirit was then free to wander at will and every night he dreamt that he was a king and thrown in authority over the multitude and controlling the affairs of the whole state he took his pleasure in palaces and Belvedere's following his own fancy and everything and his happiness was beyond compare but when he awoke he was a servant once more to someone who condoled with him on his hard lot the old man replied human life may last a hundred years and the whole of it is equally divided into nights and days in the daytime I am only a slave it is true and my misery cannot be gained said but by night I am a king and my happiness is beyond compare so what have I to grumble at now Mr. Yin's mind was full of worldly cares and he was always thinking with anxious solicitude about the affairs of his estate once he was wearing out mind and body alike and at night he also used to fall asleep utterly exhausted every night he dreamt that he was another man's servant running about on menial business of every description and subjected to every possible kind of abuse and ill treatment he would mutter and groan in his sleep and obtain no relief until morning came this state of things at last resulted in a serious illness and Mr. Yin besought the advice of a friend your station in life, his friend said is a distinguished one and you have wealth and property and abundance in these respects you are far above the average if at night you dream that you are a servant and exchange ease for affliction that is only the proper balance in human destiny what you want is that your dreams should be as pleasant as your waking moments but that is beyond your power to compass on hearing what his friend said Mr. Yin lightened his servant's toil and allowed his own mental worry to abate whereupon his malady began to decrease in proportion a man was gathering fuel in the Jung state when he fell in with a deer that had been startled from its usual haunts he gave chase and succeeded in killing it he was overjoyed at his good luck but for fear of discovery he hastily concealed the carcass in a dry ditch and covered it up with brushwood afterwards he forgot the spot where he had hidden the deer and finally became convinced that the whole affair was only a dream he told the story to people he met as he went along and one of those who heard it following the indications given went and found the deer on reaching home with his booty this man made the following statement to his wife once upon a time he said a woodcutter dreamt that he had got a deer but couldn't remember the place he had put it now I have found the deer so it appears that his dream was a true dream on the contrary said his wife it is you who must have dreamt that you met a woodcutter who had caught a deer here you have a deer true enough but where is the woodcutter? it is evidently your dream that has come true I have certainly got a deer replied her husband so what does it matter to us whether it was his dream or mine meanwhile the woodcutter had gone home he would all disgusted at having lost the deer but the same night he saw in a dream the place he had really hidden it and he also dreamt of the man who had taken it so the next morning in accordance with his dream he went to seek him out in order to recover the deer a quarrel ensued and the matter was finally brought before the magistrate who gave judgment in these terms he said to the woodcutter began by really killing a deer but wrongly thought it was a dream then you really dreamt that you had got the deer but wrongly took the dream to be a reality the other man really took your deer which he is now disputing with you his wife on the other hand declares that he saw both man and deer in a dream so that nobody can be said to have killed the deer at all meanwhile here is the deer itself in court and you had better divide it between you the case was reported to the prince of the Zhong state who said why the magistrate must have dreamt the whole thing himself the questioner was referred to the prime minister but the latter confessed himself unable to disentangle the part that was a dream if you want to distinguish between waking and dreaming he said only the yellow emperor or Confucius could help you but both of these sages are dead and there is nobody now alive who can draw any such distinction so the best thing you can do is to uphold the magistrate's decision Yongli Huazi of the Zhong state was afflicted in the Qing dynasty was afflicted in middle age by loss of memory anything he received in the morning he had forgotten by the evening anything he gave away in the evening he had forgotten the next morning out of doors he forgot to walk indoors he forgot to sit down at any given moment he had no recollection of what had just taken place and a little later on he could not even recollect what had happened then all his family were perfectly disgusted with him fortune tellers were summoned but their divinations proved unsuccessful wizards were sought out but their exorcisms were ineffectual physicians were called in but their remedies were of no avail at last a learned professor from the Lu state volunteered his services declaring that he could effect a cure wadz's wife and family immediately offered him half their estate if only he would tell them how to set to work the professor replied this is a case which cannot be dealt with by means of auspices and diagrams the evil cannot be removed by prayers and incantations nor successfully combated by drugs and potions what I shall try to do is to influence his mind and turn the current of his thoughts in that way a cure is likely to be brought about accordingly the experiment was begun the professor exposed his patient to cold so that he was forced to beg for clothes subjected him to hunger so that he was feigned to ask for food left him in darkness so that he was obliged to search for light soon he was able to report progress to the sons of the house saying gleefully the disease can be checked but the methods I shall employ have been handed down as a secret in my family and cannot be made known to the public all attendants must, therefore, be kept out of the way and I must be shut up alone with my patient the professor was allowed to have his way and for the space of seven days no one knew what was going on in the sick man's chamber then one fine morning the treatment came to an end and wonderful to relate the disease of so many years standing had entirely disappeared no sooner had Hoadzu regained his senses however then he flew into a great rage drove his wife out of doors beat his sons and snatching up a spear hotly pursued the professor through the town on being arrested and asked to explain his conduct this is what he said lately, when I was steeped in forgetfulness my senses were so benumbed that I was quite unconscious of the existence of the outer world but now I have been brought suddenly to a perception of the events of half a lifetime preservation and destruction gain and loss sorrow and joy love and hate have begun to throw out their myriad tentacles to invade my peace and these emotions will I fear continue to keep my mind in the state of turmoil that I now experience oh, if I could but recapture a short moment of that blessed oblivion if such is the man's reaction to an infirmity which resembles the highest principle how much greater will be the effect of an incorporation in the absolute there was once a man who, though born in Yen was brought up in Chu and it was only in his old age that he returned to his native country on the way thither as they were passing through the Jin state a fellow traveler played a practical joke on him pointing to the city he said here is the capital of the Yen state whereupon the old man flushed with excitement pointing out a certain shrine he told him that it was his own village altar and the old man heaved a deep sigh then he showed him a house and said this is where your ancestors lived and the tears welled up in his eyes finally a mound was pointed out to him as the tomb where his ancestors lay buried hereupon the old man could control himself no longer and wept aloud but his fellow traveler burst into roars of laughter I have been hoaxing you he cried this is only the Jin state his victim was greatly mortified and when he arrived at his journey's end and really did see before him the city and alters of Yen with the actual abode and tombs of his ancestors his emotion was much less acute end of book 3 dreams from the book of Liuz this recording is in the public domain this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to find out how to volunteer please contact LibriVox.org the book of Liuz translated by Lionel Giles book 4 Confucius a high official from Shang paid a visit to Confucius you are a sage are you not he inquired a sage replied Confucius how could I venture to think so I am only a man with a wide range of learning and information the minister then asked were the three kings sages replied Confucius were great in the exercise of wisdom and courage I do not know however that they were sages what of the five emperors were they not sages the five emperors excelled in the exercise of altruism and righteousness I do not know that they were sages and the three sovereigns surely they were sages the three sovereigns excelled in the virtues that were suited to their age but whether they were sages or no I really cannot say the wide learning of Confucius the warlike prowess of Tang and Wu the humility and self-abnegation of Yao and Xun the rude simplicity of Fusi and Shen Nong simply represent the ordinary activities of the sage who accommodates himself to the necessities of the world he lives in they are not the qualities which make them sages those qualities are truly such as neither word nor deed can adequately express why who is there then cried the minister much astonished that is really a sage the expression of Confucius's countenance changed and he replied after a pause among the people of the west a true sage dwells he governs not yet there is no disorder he speaks not yet he is naturally trusted he makes no reforms yet right conduct is spontaneous and universal so great and incomprehensible is he that the people can find no name to call him by I suspect that this man is a sage but whether in truth he is not a sage or is not a sage I do not know the minister from Xiang meditated a while in silence then he said to himself Confucius is making a fool of me when the master Liidze took up his abode in Nanguo the number of those who settled down with him was past reckoning though one were to count them day by day Liidze however continued to live in retirement and every morning would hold discussions with them the fame of which spread far and wide Nanguozi was his next door neighbor but for 20 years no visit passed between them and when they met in the street they made as though they had not seen each other Liidze's disciples felt convinced that there was an enmity between their master and Nanguozi and at last one who had come from the Chu state spoke to Liidze about it saying how comes it sir that you and Nanguozi are enemies Nanguozi replied the master has the appearance of fullness but his mind is a blank his ears do not hear his eyes do not see his mouth does not speak his mind is devoid of knowledge his body free from agitation what would be the object of visiting him however we will try and you shall accompany me thither to see accordingly 40 of the disciples went with him to call on Nanguozi who turned out to be a repulsive looking creature and they could make no contact he only gazed blankly at Liidze mind and body seem not to belong together and his guests could find no means of approach the soul had subjugated the body the mind being void of sense impressions the countenance remained motionless hence it seemed as if there were no cooperation between the two they respond to external stimuli suddenly Nanguozi singled out the hindmost row of Liidze's disciples and began to talk to them quite pleasantly and simply though in the tone of a superior fraternizing with the hindmost row he recognized no distinctions of rank or standing meeting a sympathetic influence and responding there too he did not allow his mind to be occupied with the external the disciples were astonished at this and when they got home again all wore a puzzled expression their master Liidze said to them he who has reached the stage of thought is silent he who has attained to perfect knowledge is also silent he who uses silence in lieu of speech really does speak he who for knowledge substitutes blankness of mind really does know without words and speaking not without knowledge and knowing not he really speaks and really knows saying nothing and knowing nothing there is in reality nothing he does not say nothing that he does not know this is how the matter stands and there is nothing further to be said why are you thus astonished without cause lung shu said to wong ji you are a master of cunning arts I have a disease can you cure it sir I am at your service replied wong ji but please let me know first the symptoms of your disease I hold it no honor said lung shu to be praised in my native village nor do I consider a disgrace to be decried in my native state gain excites in me no joy and loss no sorrow I look upon life in the same light as death upon riches in the same light as poverty upon my fellow men is so many swine and upon myself as I look upon my fellow men I dwell in my home as though it were a mere care of ancery and regard my native district with no more feeling than I would a barbarian state afflicted as I am in these various ways honors and rewards fail to rouse me pains and penalties to overaw me good or bad fortune to influence me joy or grief to move me thus I am incapable of a sovereign of associating with my friends and kinsmen of directing my wife and children or of controlling my servants and retainers men are controlled by external influences in so far as their minds are open to impressions of good and evil and their bodies are sensitive to injury or the reverse but one who is able to discern a connecting unity from diversity will surely in his survey of the universe be unconscious of the differences between positive and negative what disease is this and what remedy is there that will cure it one g replied by asking lung shu to stand with his back to the light while he himself faced the light and looked at him intently ah after a while I see that a good square inch of your heart is hollow you are within an ace of being a true sage 6 of the orifices in your heart are open and clear and only the 7th is blocked up this however is doubtless due to the fact that you are mistaking for a disease that which is really divine enlightenment it is a case in which my shallow art will avail budzu in the jung state was rich in wise men and dung li in men of administrative talent among the vassals of budzu was a certain bofung zu who happened to travel through dung li and had a meeting with dung si the latter cast a glance at his followers and asked them with a smile would you like to see me have some sport with this stranger they understood what he would be at and assented dung si then turned to bofung zu are you acquainted with the true theory of sustenation he inquired to receive sustenance from others through inability to support oneself places one in the category of dogs and swine it is man's prerogative to give sustenance to other creatures and to use them for his own purposes that you and your fellows are provided with abundant food and comfortable clothing is due to us administrators young and old you heard together and are penned up like cattle destined for the shambles in what respect are you to be distinguished from dogs and swine bofung zu no reply but one of his company disregarding the rules of precedence stepped forward and said has your excellency never heard of the variety of craftsmen and chi and lu some are skilled potters and carpenters others are clever workers in metal and leather there are good musicians trained scribes and accountants military experts and men learned in the ritual craftsmanship all kinds of talent are there fully represented but without proper organization these craftsmen cannot be usefully employed but those who organize them lack knowledge those who employ them lack technical ability and therefore they make use of those who have both knowledge and ability who so possess skill and knowledge of any particular kind is incapable of helping his prince in the direction of affairs so it is really we who may be said to employ the government administrators what is it then that you are boasting about dong si could think of nothing to say and reply he glanced round at his disciples and retreated end of book 4 Confucius this recording is in the public domain