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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK, XIII.
BOOK XIII.
Part II. SECTION VI. Thien Tâo, or · The Way of Heaven ?' 1. The Way of Heaven operates (unceasingly), and leaves no accumulation ? (of its influence) in any particular place, so that all things are brought to perfection by it; so does the Way of the Tîs operate, and all under the sky turn to them (as their directors); so also does the Way of the Sages operate, and all within the seas submit to them. Those who clearly understand (the Way of) Heaven, who are in sympathy with (that of) the sages, and familiar through the universe and in the four quarters (of the earth) with the work of the Tis and the kings, yet act spontaneously from themselves :—with the appearance of being ignorant they are yet entirely still.
The stillness of the sages does not belong to them as a consequence of their skilful ability 3; all things are not able to disturb their minds ;—it is on this account that they are still. When water is still, its clearness shows the beard and eyebrows (of him
i See pp. 144, 145.
? That is, its operation is universal. The Chinese critics generally explain accumulation' here by 'rest,' which is not quite the idea. 3 Such is the meaning here of
s in the Tâo Teh King, chaps. 2, 8, and often.
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