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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK. VII.
or interest in occurring affairs. He put away the carving and sculpture about him, and returned to pure simplicity. Like a clod of earth he stood there in his bodily presence. Amid all distractions he was (silent) and shut up in himself. And in this way he continued to the end of his life.
6. Non-action (makes its exemplifier) the lord of all fame; non-action (serves him as) the treasury of all plans; non-action (fits him for the burden of all offices; non-action (makes him) the lord of all wisdom? The range of his action is inexhaustible, but there is nowhere any trace of his presence. He fulfils all that he has received from Heaven 2, but he does not see that he was the recipient of anything. A pure vacancy (of all purpose) is what characterises him. When the perfect man employs his mind, it is a mirror. It conducts nothing and anticipates nothing; it responds to (what is before it), but does not retain it. Thus he is able to deal successfully with all things, and injures none.
7. The Ruler of the Southern Ocean was Shů , the
1 The four members of this sentence occasion the translator no small trouble. They are constructed on the same lines, and seem to me to be indicative and not imperative, Lin Hsî-kung observes that all the explanations that had been offered of them were inappropriate. My own version is substantially in accordance with his interpretations. The chief difficulty is with the first member, which seems anti-Taoistic; but our author is not speaking of the purpose of any actor, but of the result of his non-action. A is to be taken in the sense of *, 'lord,''exercising lordship.' The I in the third sentence indicates a person or persons in the author's mind in what precedes.
2 = the Heavenly or self-determining nature. 8 Perhaps 'god 'would be a better translation. * Meaning Heedless.'
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