The Great Supreme
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He who knows what is of God and who knows what is of Man has reached ihe height (of wisdom). One who knows what is of God patterns his living after God. One who knows what is of Man may still use his knowledge of the known to develop his knowledge of the unknown, living till the end of his days and not perishing young. This is the fullness of knowledge. Herein, however, there is a flaw. Correowledge is depe on objects, but the objects of knowledge are relative and uain (ging). How one know that the natural is not really of man, and what is of man is not really natural? We must, moreover, have true men before we have true knowledge.But what is a true man? The true men of old did not override the weak, did not attain their ends by brute strength, and did not gather around them sellors. Thus, failing they had no cause fret; succeeding, no cause for self-satisfa. And thus they could scale heights without tremblier water without bei, and gh fire without feeling hot. That is the kind of knowledge which reaches to the depths of Tao.
The true men of old slept without dreams and waked up without worries. They ate with indiffereo flavour, and drew deep breaths. For true men draw breath from their heels, the vulgar only from their throats. Out of the crooked, words are retched up like vomit. When mans attats are deep, their divine endowments are shallow.
The true men of old did not know what it was to love life or to hate death. They did not rejoi birth, nor strive to put off dissolution. Uned they came and uned they went. That was all. They did not fet whe was they had sprung, her did they seek to inquire their return thither. Cheerfully they accepted life, waiting patiently for their restoration (the end). This is what is called not to lead the heart astray from Tao, and not to supplement the natural by human means. Such a one may be called a true man. Such men are free in mind and calm in demeanor, with high fore heads. Sometimes dissolate like autumn, and sometimes warm like spring, their joys and sorrows are in direct touch with the four seasons in harmony with all creation, and none know the limit thereof. And so it is that when the Sage wages war, he destroy a kingdom a not lose the affe of the people; he spreads blessing upon all things, but it is not due to his (scious) love of fellow men. Therefore he who delights in uanding the material world is not a Sage. He who has personal attats is not humane. He who calculates the time of his as is not wise. He who does not know the iion of be and harm is not a superior man. He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar. He who loses his life and is not true to himself ever be a master of man. Thus Hu Puhsieh, Wu Kuang, Po Yi, Shu Chi, Chi Tse, Hsu Yu, Chi To, and Shentu Ti, were the servants of rulers, and did the behests of others, not their own. {27}
The true men of old appeared of t stature a could not topple down. They behaved as though wanting in themselves, but without looking up to others. Naturally indepe of mind, they were not severe. Living in unstrained freedom, yet they did not try to show off. They appeared to smile as if pleased, and to move only in natural respoo surroundings. Their serenity flowed from the store of goodness within. In social relationships, they kept to their inner character. Broad-mihey appeared great; t, they seemed beyond trol. tinuously abiding, they seemed like doors kept shut; absent-mihey seemed tet speech. They saw in penal laws an outward form; in social ceremonies, certain means; in knowledge, tools of expediency; in morality, a guide. It was for this reason that for them penal laws meant a merciful administration; social ceremonies, a means to get along with the world; knowledge a help for doing what they could not avoid; and morality, a guide that they might walk along with others to reach a hill. <<28>> And all men really thought that they were at pains to make their lives correct.
For what they cared for was ONE, and what they did not care for was ONE also. That which they regarded as ONE was ONE, and that which they did nard as ONE was ONE likewise. In that which was Ohey were of God; in that which was not Ohey were of man. And so between the human and the divine no flisued. This was to be a true man.
Life ah are a part of Destiny. Their sequence, like day and night, is of God, beyond the interferenan. These all lie in the iable nature of things. He simply looks upon God as his father; if he loves him with what is born of the body, shall he not love him also with that which is greater than the body? A man looks upon a ruler of men as one superior to himself; if he is willing to sacrifice his body (for his ruler), shall he not then offer his pure (spirit) also?
When the pond dries up and the fishes are left upon the dry ground, rather than leave them to moisten each other with their damp and spittle it would be far better to let them fet themselves in their native rivers - and lakes. And it would be better than praising Yao and blaming Chieh tet both (the good and bad) and lose oneself in Tao.
The Great (universe) gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest ih. And surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death.
A boat may be hidden in a creek, or cealed in a bog, which is generally sidered safe. But at midnight a strong man may e and carry it away on his back. Those dull of uanding do not perceive that however you ceal small things in larger ohere will always be a ce of losing them. But if you entrust that which belongs to the universe to the whole universe, from it there will be no escape. For this is the great law of things.
To have been cast in this human form is to us already a source of joy. How much greater joy beyond our ception to know that that which is now in human form may undergo tless transitions, with only the infio look forward to? Therefore it is that the Sage rejoices in that which ever be lost, but endures always. For if we emulate those who accept graciously long age or short life and the vicissitudes of events, how much more that whiforms all creation on which all ging phenomena depend?
For Tao has its inner reality and its evidences. It is devoid of a and of form. It may be transmitted, but ot be received; It may be obtained, but ot be seen. It is based in itself, rooted in itself. Before heaven ah were, Tao existed by itself from all time. It gave the spirits and rulers their spiritual powers, and gave Heaven ah their birth. To Tao, the zenith is not high, nor the nadir low; no point in time is long ago, nor by the lapse of ages has it grown old.
Hsi Wei obtaiao, and so set the universe in order. Fu Hsi {29} obtai, and was able to steal the secrets of eternal principles. The Great Bear obtai, and has never erred from its course. The sun and moon obtai, and have never ceased to revolve. Kan Pi {30} obtai, and made his abode in the Kunlun mountains. Ping I {31} obtai, and rules over the streams. Wu {32} obtai, and dwells on Mount Tai. The Yellow Emperor {33} obtai, and soared upon the clouds to heaven. Hsu {34} obtai, and dwells in the Dark Palace. Yu g {35} obtai, aablished himself at the North Pole. The Western (Fairy) Queen Mother obtai, aled at Shao Kuang, since when and until when, no one knows. Peng Tsu obtai, and lived from the time of Shun until the time of the Five Princes. Fu Yueh obtai, and as the Minister of Wu Ting {36} extended his rule to the whole empire. And now, charioted upoungwei (one stellation) and drawn by the Chiwei (another stellation), he has taken his station among the stars of heaven.
Nanpo Tsekuei said to Nu: Yu (or Female Yu), "You are of a high age, a you have a childs plexion. How is this?" Nu: Yu replied, "I have learao."
"Could I get Tao by studying it?" asked the other. "No! How you?" said Nu: Yu. "You are not the type of person. There uliang I. He had all the mental talents of a sage, but not Tao of the sage. Now I had Tao, though not those talents. But do you think I was able to teach him to bee indeed a sage? Had it been so, then to teach Tao to one who has a sages talents would be an easy matter. It was not so, for I had to atiently to reveal it to him. In three days, he could trahis mundane world. Again I waited for seven days more, then he could transd all material existence. After he could transd all material existence, I waited for another nine days, after which he could transd all life. After he could transd all life, then he had the clear vision of the m, and after that, was able to see the Solitary (One). After seeing the Solitary, he could abolish the distins of past and present. After abolishing the past and present, he was able to ehere where life ah are no more, where killing does not take away life, nor does giving birth add to it. He was ever in accord with the exigencies of his enviro, accepting all and weling all, regarding everything as destroyed, and everything as in pletion. This is to be secure amidst fusion, reag security through chaos."
"Where did you learn this from?" asked Nanpo Tsekuei. "I lear from the Son of Ink," replied Nu Yu, "and the Son of Ink lear from the Grandson of Learning, the Grandson of Learning from Uanding, and Uanding from Insight, Insight lear from Practice, Practice from Folk Song, and Folk Song from Silence, Silence from the Void, and the Void lear from the Seeming Beginning."
Four men: Tsesze, Tseyu, Tseli, and Tselai, were versing together, saying, "Whoever make Not-being the head, Life the bae, ah the tail, and whoever realizes that death and life and being and non-being are of one body, that man shall be admitted to friendship with us." The four looked at each other and smiled, and pletely uanding one another, became friends accly. By-and-by, Tseyu fell ill, and Tsesze went to see him. "Verily the Creator is great!" said the sick man. "See how He has doubled me up." His back was so huhat his viscera were at the top of his body. His cheeks were level with his navel, and his shoulders were higher than his neck. His neck bone pointed up towards the sky. The whole ey of his anism was deranged, but his mind was calm as ever. He dragged himself to a well, and said, "Alas, that God should have doubled me up like this!"
"Do you dislike it?" asked Tsesze. " No, why should l?" replied Tseyu. "If my left arm should bee a cock, I should be able to herald the dawn with it. If my right arm should bee a sling, I should be able to shoot down a bird to broil with it. If my buttocks should bee wheels, and my spirit bee a horse, I should be able to ride in it -- what need would I have of a chariot? I obtained life because it was my time, and I am now parting with it in accordah Tao. tent with the ing of things iime and living in accord with Tao, joy and sorrow touch me not. This is, acc to the as, to be freed from bohose who ot be freed from bondage are so because they are bound by the trammels of material existence. But man has ever given way befod; why, then, should I dislike it?"
By-and-by, Tselai fell ill, and lay gasping for breath, while his family stood weeping around. Tseli went to see him, and cried to the wife and children: "Go away! You are impeding his dissolution." Then, leaning against the door, he said, "Verily, God is great! I wonder what He will make of you now, and whither He will send you. Do you think he will make you into a rats liver or into an i leg?"
"A son," answered Tselai, "must go whithersoever his parents bid him, East, West, North, or South. Yin and Yang are no other than a mans parents. If Yin and Yang bid me die quickly, and I demur, then the fault is mine, not theirs. The Great (universe) gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest ih. Surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death.
"Suppose that the boilial in a smelting-pot were to bubble up and say, Make of me a Moyeh! {37} think the master caster would reject that metal as uny. And if simply because I am cast into a human form, I were to say, Only a man! only a man! I think the Creator too would reject me as uny. If I regard the universe as the smelting pot, and the Creator as the Master Caster, how should I worry wherever I am sent?" Then he sank into a peaceful sleep and waked up very much alive.
Tsesang Hu, Mengtse Fan, and Tse g, were versing together, saying, "Who live together as if they did not live together? Who help each other as if they did not help each other? Who mount to heaven, and roaming through the clouds, leap about to the Ultimate Infinite, oblivious of existence, for ever and ever withou<tt>99lｉｂ?t>t end?" The three looked at each other and smiled with a perfederstanding and became friends accly. Shortly afterwards, Tsesang Hu died, whereupon fucius sent Tsekung to attend the m. But Tsekung found that one of his friends was arranging the co sheets and the other laying stringed instruments and (both were) singing together as follows:
"Oh! e back to us, Sang Hu,
Oh! e back to us, Sang Hu,
Thou hast already returo thy true state,
While we still remain here as men! Oh!"
Tsekung hurried in and said, "How you sing in the presence of a corpse? Is this good manners?"
The two men looked at each other and laughed, saying, "What should this man know about the meaning of good manners indeed?"
Tseku bad told fucius, asking him, "What manner of mehese? Their object is to cultivate nothingness and that which lies beyond their corporeal frames. They sit near a corpse and sing, uhere is no name for such persons. What manner of mehey?"
"These men, replied fucius, "play about beyond the material things; I play about within them. sequently, our paths do not meet, and I was stupid to have sent you to mourn. They sider themselves as panions of the Creator, and play about within the One Spirit of the universe. They look upon life as a huge goiter or excresce, and upoh as the breaking of a tumor. How could such people be ed about the ing of life ah or their sequehey borrow their forms from the different elements, and take temporary abode in the on forms, unscious of their internal ans and oblivious of their senses of hearing and vision. They gh life backwards and forwards as in a circle without beginning or end, strolling fetfully beyond the dust and dirt of mortality, and playing about with the affairs of ina. How should such men bustle about the ventionalities of this world, for the people to look at?"
"But if such is the case," said Tsekung, "which world (the corporeal or the spiritual) would you follow?"
"I am one ned by God," replied fucius. "heless, I will share with you (what I know)."
"May I ask what is your method?" asked Tsekung "Fishes live their full life in water. Men live their full life in Tao," replied fucius. "Those that live their full life in water thrive in ponds. Those that live their full life in Tao achieve realization of their nature in ina. Hehe saying Fish lose themselves (are happy) in water; man loses himself (is happy) in Tao. " "May I ask," said Tsekung, "about (those) strange people?"
"(Those) strange people," replied fucius, "are strange in the eyes of man, but normal in the eyes of God. Hehe saying that the meahing in heaven would be the best oh; and the best oh, the mea in heaven.
Yen Huei said to gni <<38>> (fucius), "When Mengsun Tsais mother died, he wept, but without snivelling; his .. was not grieved; he wore m but without sorrow. Yet although wanting ihree points, he is sidered the best mourner iate of Lu. there be really people with a hollow reputation? I am astonished."
"Mr. Mengsun," said gni, "has really mastered (the Tao). He has gone beyond the wise ohere are still certain things he ot quite give up, but he has already given up some things. Mr. Mengsun knows not whence we e in life nor whither we go ih. He knows not which to put first and which to put last. He is ready to be transformed into other things without g into what he may be transformed -- that is all. How could that which is ging say that it will not ge, and how could that which regards itself as perma realize that it is ging already? Even you and I are perhaps dreamers who have not yet awakened. Moreover, he knows his form is subject to ge, but his mind remains the same. He believes not in real death, but regards it as moving into a new house. He weeps only when he sees others weep, as it es to him naturally.
"Besides, we all talk of me. How do you know what is this me that we speak of? You dream you are a bird, and soar to heaven, or dream you are a fish, and dive into the os depths. And you ot tell whether the man now speaking is awake or in a dream. "A man feels a pleasurable sensation before he smiles, and smiles before he thinks how he ought to smile. Resign yourself to the sequence of things, fetting the ges of life, and you shall enter into the pure, the divihe One."
Yi-erh-tse went to see Hsu Yu. The latter asked him, saying, "What have you learned from Yao?"
"He bade me," replied the former, "practice charity and do my duty, and distinguish clearly between right and wrong."
"Then what do you want here?" said Hsu Yu. "If Yao has already branded you with charity of heart and duty, and cut off your h right and wrong, what are you doing here in this free-and-easy, uered, take-what- es neighborhood?"
"heless," replied Yi-erh-tse. "I should like to loiter on its fines."
"If a man has lost his eyes," retorted Hsu Yu, "it is impossible for him to join in the appreciation of beauty of fad plexion or to tell a blue sacrificial robe from a yellow one."
"Wu gs (No-Des) disregard of her beauty," answered Yi-erh-tse, "Chu Liangs disregard of his strength, the Yellow Emperors abando of his wisdom, --all these came from a process of purging and purification. And how do you know but that the Creator would rid me of my brandings, and give me a new nose, and make me fit to bee a disciple of yourself?"
"Ah!" replied Hsu Yu, "that ot be known. But I will give you an outline. Ah! my Master, my Master! He trims down all created things, and does<q>..</q> not at it justice. He causes all created things to thrive and does not at it kindness. Dating back further than the remotest antiquity, He does not at himself old. C heaven, supp earth, and fashioning the various forms of things, He does not at himself skilled. It is Him you should seek."
Yen Huei spoke to gni (fucius), bbr></abbr>"I am getting on."
"How so?" asked the latter.
"I have got rid of charity and duty," replied the former.
"Very good," replied gni, "but not quite perfect."
Another day, Yen Huei met gni and said, "I am getting on.
"How so?"
"I have got rid of ceremonies and music," answered Yen Huei.
"Very good," said gni, "but not quite perfect."
Another day, Yen Huei agai gni and said, "I am getting on.
"How so?"
"I fet myself while sitting," replied Yen Huei.
"What do you mean by that?" said gni, ging his tenance.
"I have freed myself from my body," answered Yen Huei. I have discarded my reasoning powers. And by thus getting rid of my body and mind, I have bee Oh the Infihis is what I mean by fetting myself while sitting."
"If you have bee One," said gni, "there be no room for bias. If you have lost yourself, there be no more hindrance. Perhaps you are really a wise one. I trust to be allowed to follow in your steps.
Tseyu and Tsesang were friends. Once when it had rained for ten days, Tseyu said, "Tsesang is probably ill." So he packed up some food ao see him. Arriving at the door, he heard somethiween singing and weeping, apanied with the sound of a stringed instrument, as follows: "O Father! O mother! Is this due to God? Is this due to man?" It was as if his voice was broken and his words faltered Whereupon Tseyu went in and asked, "Why are you singing in such manner?"
"I was trying to think who could have brought me to this extreme," replied Tsesang, "but I could not guess it. My father and mother would hardly wish me to be poor. Heaven covers all equally Earth supports all equally. How they make me in particular so poor? I was seeking to find out who was responsible for this, but without success. Surely then I am brought to this extreme by Destiny."
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