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    Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II
    Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II
    Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II

    By James Legge

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    The mysticism of Tâoism is of a nature peculiar to itself, and different from any mental exercises which have been called by that name in connexion with Christianity or Mohammedanism. It is more vague and shadowy than any theosophy or Sûfism, just as the idea of the Tâo differs from the apprehension of a personal God, however uncertain and indefinite that apprehension may be.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Legge
    Release dateMar 26, 2015
    ISBN9786050368031
    Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II

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      Taoist Sacred Texts Vol II - James Legge

      1.

      Khing Käng King, or 'The Classic of Purity 1.'

      So I must translate the title of this brochure, as it appears in the 'Collection of the Most Important Treatises of the Tâoist Fathers' (vol. xxxix, p. xvii), in which alone I have had an opportunity of perusing and studying the Text. The name, as given by Wylie (Notes, p. 178), Balfour (Tâoist Texts.), and Faber (China Review, vol. xiii, p. 246), is Khing King King 2, and signifies 'The Classic of Purity and Rest.' The difference is in the second character, but both Khing Käng and Khing King are well-known combinations in Tâoist writings; and it will be seen, as the translation of the Text is pursued, that neither of them is unsuitable as the title of the little Book.

      It is, as Dr. Faber says, one of the 'mystical canons' of Tâoism; but the mysticism of Tâoism is of a nature peculiar to itself, and different from any mental exercises which have been called by that name in connexion with Christianity or Mohammedanism. It is more vague and shadowy than any theosophy or Sûfism, just as the idea of the Tâo differs from the apprehension of a personal God, however uncertain and indefinite that apprehension may be. Mr. Wylie says the work 'treats under very moderate limits of the subjection of the mental faculties.' This indeed is the consummation to which it conducts the student; a condition corresponding to the nothingness which Lâo-dze contended for as antecedent to all positive existence, and out of which he said that all existing being came, though he does not indicate how.

      I give to the Treatise the first place among our appendixes here because of the early origin ascribed to it. It is attributed to Ko Yüan (or Hsüan) 1, a Tâoist of the Wû dynasty (A.D. 222-277), who is fabled to have attained to the state of an Immortal, and is generally so denominated 2. He is represented as a worker of miracles; as addicted to intemperance, and very eccentric in his ways. When shipwrecked on one occasion, he emerged from beneath the water with his clothes unwet, and walked freely on its surface. Finally he ascended to the sky in bright day 3. All these accounts may safely be put down as the figments of a later time.

      It will be seen that the Text ascribes the work to Lâo-dze himself, and I find it impossible to accept the account of its origin which is assigned by Lî Hsî-yüeh to Ko Hsüan. As quoted by Lî in the first of some notes subjoined to his Commentary, Ko is made to say, 'When I obtained the true Tâo, I had recited this King ten thousand times. It is what the Spirits of heaven practise, and had not been communicated to scholars of this lower world. I got it from the Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa; he received it from the Divine Ruler of the Golden Gate; he received it from the Royal-mother of the West. In all these cases it was transmitted from mouth to mouth, and was not committed to writing. I now, while I am in the world, have written it out in a book. Scholars of the highest order, understanding it, ascend and become officials of Heaven; those of the middle order, cultivating it, are ranked among the Immortals of the Southern Palace; those of the lowest order, possessing it, get long years of life in the world, roam through the Three Regions 1a, and (finally) ascend to, and enter, the Golden Gate.'

      This quotation would seem to be taken from the preface to our little classic by Ho Hsüan. If there were indeed such a preface during the time of the Wû dynasty, the corruption of the old Tâoism must have been rapid. The Hsî Wang-mû, or Royal-mother of the West, is mentioned once in Kwang-dze (Bk. VI, par. 7); but no 'Divine Ruler' disfigures his pages. Every reader must feel that in the Classic of Purity he has got into a different region of thought from that which he has traversed in the Tâo Teh King and in the writings of Kwang-dze.

      With these remarks I now proceed to the translation and explanation of the text of our King.

      ______________

      Ch. 1. 1. Lâo the Master 1 said, The Great 2 Tâo has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth 3. The Great Tâo has no passions 4, but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.

      The Great 2 Tâo has no name 5, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things 3.

      I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tâo 6.

      2. Now, the Tâo (shows itself in two forms); the Pure and the Turbid, and has (the two conditions of) Motion and Rest 1. Heaven is pure and earth is turbid; heaven moves and earth is at rest. The masculine is pure and the feminine is turbid; the masculine moves and the feminine is still 2. The radical (Purity) descended, and the (turbid) issue flowed abroad; and thus all things were produced 1.

      The pure is the source of the turbid, and motion is the foundation of rest.

      If man could always be pure and still, heaven and earth would both revert (to non-existence) 3.

      3. Now the spirit of man loves Purity, but his mind 1 disturbs it. The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw it away 1. If he could always send his desires away, his mind would of itself become still. Let his mind be made clean, and his spirit will of itself become pure.

      As a matter of course the six desires 2 will not arise, and the three poisons 3 will be taken away and disappear.

      4. The reason why men are not able to attain to this, is because their minds have not been cleansed, and their desires

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