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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK. XXIV.
skilfully ;-how much less can he be deemed Great! If one thinks he is Great, he is not fit to be accounted Great ;-how much less is he so from the practice of the attributes (of the Tâo)! Now none are so grandly complete as Heaven and Earth ; but do they seek for anything to make them so grandly complete ? He who knows this grand completion does not seek for it; he loses nothing and abandons nothing ; he does not change himself from regard to (external) things; he turns in on himself, and finds there an inexhaustible store; he follows antiquity and does not feel about (for its lessons);-such is the perfect sincerity of the Great Man.
11. 3ze-khi ? had eight sons. Having arranged them before him, he called Kid-fang Yăn S, and said to him, 'Look at the physiognomy of my sons for me ;—which will be the fortunate one?' Yăn said, • Khwăn is the fortunate one.' Zze-khi looked startled, and joyfully said, “In what way?' Yăn replied, 'Khwăn will share the meals of the ruler of a state to the end of his life.' The father looked uneasy, burst into tears, and said, 'What has my son done that he should come to such a fate?' Yăn replied, 'When one shares the meals of the ruler of a state, blessings reach to all within the three branches of his kindred, and how much more to his father and mother! But you, Master, weep when you hear this ;-you oppose (the idea of) such happiness. It is the good fortune of your son, and
See note 3 on previous page. * This can hardly be any other but Nan-kwo Sze-khi.
• A famous physiognomist; some say, of horses. Hwâi-nan 3ze calls him Kid-fang Kâo (L).
• See Mayers's Manual, p. 303.
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