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254
THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
APP. I.
thoughts, which cause anxiety and trouble to both body and mind. The parties then meet with foul disgraces, flow wildly on through the phases of life and death, are liable constantly to sink in the sea of bitterness, and for ever lose the True Tâo.
3. The True and Abiding Tâo! They who understand it naturally obtain it. And they who come to understand the Tâo abide in Purity and Stillness.
Our brief Classic thus concludes, and our commentator Lĩ thus sums up his remarks on it :--The men who understand the Tao do so simply by means of the Absolute Purity, and the acquiring this Absolute Purity depends entirely on the Putting away of Desire, which is the urgent practical lesson of the Treatise.'
I quoted in my introductory remarks Li's account of the origin of the Classic by its reputed author Ko Hsuan. I will now conclude with the words which he subjoins from 'a True Man, 30 Hsüan:- Students of the Tao, who keep this Classic in their hands and croon over its contents, will get good Spirits from the ten heavens to watch over and protect their bodies, after which their spirits will be preserved by the seal of jade, and their bodies refined by the elixir of gold. Both body and spirit will become exquisitely ethereal, and be in true union with the Tâo !'
Of this 'True Man, 30 Hsüan,' I have not been able to ascertain anything. The Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa, referred to on p. 248, is mentioned in the work of Wang Khỉ (ch. 241, p. 215), but with no definite information about him. The author says his surname was Wang, but he knows neither his name nor when he lived.
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