________________
BK. XXII. ANALYSES OF BOOKS OF KWANG-3ZE.
291
being what is called their Root and Origin (par. 2). If we consider It something existing, It was not such; if we consider It as something non-existing, that does not fully express the idea of it. The 'I know it (of Hwang-Tî)' is an addition of 'Knowledge' to the idea of it, and (his) 'I will tell you' is the addition of a description of it (par. 1). Therefore he who would embody the Tâo can only employ the names of 'Do Nothing' and 'Returning to the Root,' and then go forward to the region of the Unknown and the Indescribable.
Now the Tâo originally was a Unity. The collection of the breath, constituting life, and its dispersion, which we call death, proceed naturally. The denominations of the former as 'spirit-like and wonderful' and of the latter as 'foetor and putridity' are the work of man. But those of 'Non-action' and 'Returning to the Root' are intended to do honour to the Unity. Knowledge, Heedless Bluster, and Hwang-Ti, all perceived this, but they also went on to reason about it, showing how not to know is better than to know, and not to talk better than to talk.
As it is said in par. 2, 'the beautiful operations of Heaven and Earth, and the distinctive constitutions of all things,' from the oldest time to the present day, go on and continue without any difference. But who is it that makes them to be what they are? And what expression of doubt or speculation on the point has ever been heard from them? It is plain that the doctrine of the Tâo originated with
man.
When Phei-î (par. 3) told Nieh Khüeh, 'Keep your body as it should be; look only at the One thing; call in your knowledge; make your measures uniform:'-all this was saying to him that we are to do nothing, and turn to (the Tâo as) our Root. When he further says to him, 'You should have the simple look of a new-born calf; and not ask about the cause of your being what you are :'-this is in effect saying that knowledge is in not knowing, and that speech does not require the use of words.
If you suddenly (like Shun in par. 4) think that the Tâo
U 2
Digitized by Google
