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CH, III.
INTRODUCTION.
19
earth, and (conceived of as) having a name, as the Mother of all things. The reader will also find the same predicates of the Tâo at greater length in his fifty-first chapter.
The character Tî is also of rare occurrence in Kwang-gze, excepting as applied to the five ancient Tîs. In Bk. III, par. 4, and in one other place, we find it indicating the Supreme Being, but the usage is ascribed to the ancients. In Bk. XV, par. 3, in a description of the human SPIRIT, its name is said to be 'Thung Tî,' which Mr. Giles renders
Of God ;' Mr. Balfour, One with God;' while my own version is 'The Divinity in Man.' In Bk. XII, par. 6, we have the expression the place of God;' in Mr. Giles, the kingdom of God;' in Mr. Balfour, 'the home of God. In this and the former instance, the character seems to be used with the ancient meaning which had entered into the folklore of the people. But in Bk. VI, par. 7, there is a passage which shows clearly the relative position of Tâo and Tî in the Taoistic system; and having called attention to it, I will go on to other points. Let the reader mark well the following predicates of the Tâo:- Before there were heaven and earth, from of old, there It was, securely existing. From It came the mysterious existence of spirits ; from It the mysterious existence of Tî (God). It produced heaven, It produced earth?' This says more than the utterance of Lâo,—that 'the Tâo seemed to be before God;'-does it not say that Tâo was before God, and that He was what He is by virtue of Its operation ?
3. Among the various personal names given to the Tâo No idea of Crea, are those of Zâo Hwâ, 'Maker and Transtion proper in former,' and Zâo Wû Kê,‘Maker of things.' Taoism.
Instances of both these names are found in Bk. VI,parr.9, 10. Creator' and 'God' have both been employed for them ; but there is no idea of Creation in Taoism.
Again and again Kwang-zze entertains the question of
1 For this sentence we find in Mr. Balfour :-Spirits of the dead, receiving It, become divine; the very gods themselves owe their divinity to its influence ; and by it both Heaven and Earth were produced.' The version of it by Mr. Giles is too condensed – Spiritual beings drew their spirituality therefrom, while the universe became what we see it now.'
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