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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK, XII.
could not find it. He employed (the vehement debater) Khieh Khâu' to search for it, but he could not find it. He then employed Purposeless, who found it; on which Hwang-Ti said, 'How strange that it was Purposeless who was able to find it !
5. The teacher of Yâo was Hsü Ya?; of Hsü Yû, Nieh Khüeh ; of Nieh Khüeh, Wang 12; of Wang Î, Phei-12. Yâo asked Hsü Yû, saying, 'Is Nieh Khüeh fit to be the correlate of Heaven 3? (If you think he is), I will avail myself of the services of Wang i to constrain him (to take my place). Hsü Yû replied, 'Such a measure would be hazardous, and full of peril to the kingdom !
The character of Nieh Khüeh is this ;—he is acute, perspicacious, shrewd and knowing, ready in reply, sharp in retort, and hasty; his natural (endowments) surpass those of other men, but by his human qualities he seeks to obtain the Heavenly gift ; he exercises his discrimination in suppressing his errors, but he does not know what is the source from which his errors arise. Make him the correlate of Heaven! He would employ the human qualities, so that no regard would be paid to the Heavenly gift. Moreover, he would assign different functions to the different parts of the one person 4.
1 The meaning of the characters shows what is the idea emblemed by this name ; and so with Hsiang Wang,-'a Semblance,' and Nonentity; '='Mindless,' 'Purposeless.
? All these names have occurred, excepting that of Pheî-î, who heads Hwang-fu Mi's list of eminent Tâoists. We shall meet with him again. He is to be distinguished from Phû-î.
3.Match Heaven;' that is, be sovereign below, as Heaven above ruled all. * We are referred for the meaning of this characteristic to UF
, in Bk. V, par. 1.
Digitized by
