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APPENDIX III.
Yü Sha King, or “The Classic of the Pivot
of Jade.' Mr. Wylie says (Notes, p. 179) that the Pivot of Jade is much used in the ritual services of Taoism, meaning that it is frequently read in the assemblies of its monks. The object of the Treatise, according to Lî Hsî-yüeh, is 'to teach men to discipline and refine their spirit;' and he illustrates the name by referring to the North Star, which is called
the Pivot of the Sky,' revolving in its place, and carrying round with it all the other heavenly bodies. So the body of man is carried round his spirit and by it, and when the spirit has been disciplined and refined, till it is freed from every obscuring influence, and becomes solid, soft, and strong as jade, the name, “the Pivot of Jade,' is appropriate to it.
The name of the Treatise, when given at full length, is'The True Classic of the Pivot of Jade, delivered by the Heaven-Honoured One, Who produces Universal Transformation by the Sound of His Thunder.' To this personage, as Wylie observes, the Taoists attribute a fabulous antiquity, but there is little doubt that the author was a Hsuan-yang Zze, about the time of the Yüan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1367). From the work of Wang Khi (ch. 243), we learn that this Hsüan-yang 3ze was the denomination of Au-yang Yü-yuen, a scion of the famous Au-yang family. What he says is to the following effect :
1. The Heaven-honoured One says, 'All you, i Heaven-endowed men, who wish to be instructed
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