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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
APP. I.
condition corresponding to the nothingness which Lâo-gze contended for as antecedent to all positive existence, and out of which he said that all existing being came, though he does not indicate how.
I give to the Treatise the first place among our appendixes here because of the early origin ascribed to it. It is attributed to Ko Yüan (or Hsüan)', a Tàoist of the Wû dynasty (A. D. 222-277), who is fabled to have attained to the state of an Immortal, and is generally so denominated 2. He is represented as a worker of miracles; as addicted to intemperance, and very eccentric in his ways. When shipwrecked on one occasion, he emerged from beneath the water with his clothes unwet, and walked freely on its surface. Finally he ascended to the sky in bright day: All these accounts may safely be put down as the figments of a later time.
It will be seen that the Text ascribes the work to Lào-zze himself, and I find it impossible to accept the account of its origin which is assigned by Lî Hsî-yüeh to Ko Hsuan. As quoted by Lî in the first of some notes subjoined to his Commentary, Ko is made to say, When I obtained the true Tâo, I had recited this King ten thousand times. It is what the Spirits of heaven practise, and had not been communicated to scholars of this lower world. I got it from the Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa; he received it from the Divine Ruler of the Golden Gate ; he received it from the Royal-mother of the West. In all these cases it was transmitted from mouth to mouth, and was not committed to writing. I now, while I am in the world, have written it out in a book. Scholars of the highest order, understanding it, ascend and become officials of Heaven; those of the middle order, cultivating it, are ranked among the Immortals of the Southern Palace; those of the lowest order, possessing it, get long years of life in the world, roam
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2. 3 See the Accounts of Ko in the Biographical Dictionary of Hsiao Kih-han (1793), and Wang Khi's supplement to the great work of Mâ Twan-lin, ch. 242.
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