Text of Confucianism Part 02

SR No.: 007676
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Legge
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1882
Total Pages: 2405
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 43 MB

Page 1266

EPISTLE 1, CHAPTER 11, 6-12.
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fication of men. 8. It is said ": 'The purification of men cleansingly is a something (alt) for the soul that should be after perfect birth; when they have been fully born the purification of others is the one thing which is good for the soul.'
9. And it is shown in another place that it is possible to obtain possession of purification also for the soul through purification of the body, even as it is said that a purifier is requested by him. 10. And it is necessary for him to speak thus: 'I have thus stood close by the body of him who is dead; I am no wisher for it by thought, I am no wisher for it by word, I am no wisher for it by deed; which is the reason—that is, on account of pollution-it is not possible to seek good works by thought, word, or deed, and it demands purification for me, that is, wash me thoroughly 21' 11. As it is thereby declared that when he whose body is not purified, until they thoroughly wash him, is not able to seek good works by thought, word, or deed, and is not able to purify his soul, it is then a matter for the truly wise to seek even for purification of the soul by the purification of the body, for whose religious purification are those things which are unsubdued (asikand) in the religious ritual.
12. When these are thus the statements of former upholders of the religion and high-priests of the religion, he who is more intelligent and more active
whereas ordinary washing cleanses the body only, and is spiritually useless.
* In Pahl. Vend. V, 65, X, 35, being a translation of a quotation from the Gathas or sacred hymns (Yas. XLVII, 5, c).
· Quoted, with some variation, from Pahl. Vend. VIII, 283, 284 (see App. V).
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