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THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
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APP. II.
about the Perfect Tào, the Perfect Tâo is very recondite, and by nothing else but Itself can it be described. Since ye wish to hear about it, ye cannot do so by the hearing of the ear :—that which eludes both the ears and eyes is the True Tâo; what can be heard and seen perishes, and only this survives. There is (much) that you have not yet learned, and especially you have not acquired this ! Till you have learned what the ears do not hear, how can the Tao be spoken about at all?'
Heaven-honoured (Thien Zun)' is a title given by the Taoists to the highest objects of their reverence and worship. Chalmers translates it by Celestial Excellency,' and observes that it is given to all the Three Pure Ones ;' but its application is much more extensive, as its use in this Treatise sufficiently proves. No doubt it was first adopted after the example of the Buddhists, by whom Buddha is styled “World-honoured,' or 'Ever-honoured' (Shih Zun).
The phrase Thien Zăn, which I have translated here 'Heaven-endowed Men,' is common to the three religions of China; but the meaning of it is very different in each. See the Confucian and the Taoist significations of it in the Khang-hsỉ Thesaurus, under the phrase. Here it means the men possessed by the Tâo;-Tào-Zăn of the highest class.' In a Buddhist treatise the meaning would be 'Ye, devas and men.'
2. The Heaven-honoured One says, 'Sincerity is the first step towards (the knowledge of) the Tâo; it is by silence that that knowledge is maintained ; it is with gentleness that (the Tao) is employed. The employment of sincerity looks like stupidity; the employment of silence looks like difficulty of utterance; the employment of gentleness looks like want of ability. But having attained to this, you may
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