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PT. II. SECT. XII. THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE.
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BOOK XIX.
Part II. SECTION XII. Ta Shăng, or 'The Full Understanding of Life?'
1. He who understands the conditions of Life does not strive after what is of no use to life; and he who understands the conditions of Destiny does not strive after what is beyond the reach of knowledge. In nourishing the body it is necessary to have beforehand the things (appropriate to its support) ? ; but there are cases where there is a superabundance of such things, and yet the body is not nourished. In order to have life it is necessary that it do not have left the body; but there are cases when the body has not been left by it, and yet the life has perished 3.
When life comes, it cannot be declined; when it goes, it cannot be detained. Alas! the men of the world think that to nourish the body is sufficient to preserve life; and when such nourishment is not sufficient to preserve the life, what can be done in the world that will be sufficient ? Though (all that men can do) will be insufficient, yet there are things which they feel they ought to do, and they do not try to avoid doing them. For those who wish to
i See vol. xxxix, pp. 150, 151.
? Wealth will supply abundantly the things that are necessary and fit for the nourishment of the body, but sudden death may render them unavailing.
* That is, the higher life of the spirit has perished.
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