Text of Confucianism Part 01

SR No.: 007675
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Legge
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1879
Total Pages: 2829
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 50 MB

Page 2605

PT. III. SECT. III.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-BZE.
125
drink, and abandoned to sensuality, that he did not attend to the government of his state. Occupied in his pursuit of hunting with his nets and bows, he kept aloof from the meetings of the princes. In what was it that he showed his title to the epithet of Ling??' Tà Thầo said, ' It was on account of those very things.' Po Khang-khien said, “Duke Ling had three mistresses with whom he used to bathe in the same tub. (Once, however), when Shih-zhiù came to him with presents from the imperial court, he made his servants support the messenger in bearing the gifts ? So dissolute was he in the former case, and when he saw a man of worth, thus reverent was he to him. It was on this account that he was styled “Duke Ling."' Khihwei said, 'When duke Ling died, and they divined about burying him in the old tomb of his House, the answer was unfavourable; when they divined about burying him on Shâ-khiû, the answer was favourable. Accordingly they dug there to the depth of several fathoms, and found a stone coffin. Having washed and inspected it, they discovered an inscription, which said, “This grave will not be available for your
posterity; Duke Ling will appropriate it for himself.”
1 Ling (a), as a posthumous epithet, has various meanings, none of them very bad, and some of them very good. Confucius ought to have been able to solve his question himself better than any of the historiographers, but he propounded his doubt to them for reasons which he, no doubt, had.
* We are not to suppose that the royal messenger found him in the tub with his three wives or mistresses. The two incidents mentioned illustrate two different phases of his character, as some of the critics, and even the text itself, clearly indicate.
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