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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK. VI.
upper part of his body; his chin bent over his navel; his shoulder was higher than his crown ; on his crown was an ulcer pointing to the sky; his breath came and went in gasps 1 :-yet he was easy in his mind, and made no trouble of his condition. He limped to a well, looked at himself in it, and said, 'Alas that the Creator should have made me the deformed object that I am !' Zze said, 'Do you dislike your condition?' He replied,
No, why should I dislike it? If He were to transform my left arm into a cock, I should be watching with it the time of the night; if He were to transform my right arm into a cross-bow, I should then be looking for a hsiâo to (bring down and) roast; if He were to transform my rump-bone into a wheel, and my spirit into a horse, I should then be mounting it, and would not change it for another steed. Moreover, when we have got (what we are to do), there is the time (of life) in which to do it; when we lose that (at death), submission (is what is required). When we rest in what the time requires, and manifest that submission, neither joy nor sorrow can find entrance (to the mind) 2. This would be what the ancients called loosing the cord by which the life) is suspended. But one hung up cannot loose himself;—he is held fast by his bonds 3. And that creatures cannot overcome
1 Compare this description of Zze-yü's deformity with that of the poor Shû, in IV, 8.
2 Such is the submission to one's lot produced by the teaching of Taoism.
3 Compare the same phraseology in III, par. 4, near the end. In correcting Mr. Balfour's mistranslation of the text, Mr. Giles himself falls into a mistranslation through not observing that th
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1894 |
| Total Pages | 2240 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 38 MB |