________________
I 20
THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK. XXV.
how to let your mind thus travel through the illimitable, and yet (as compared with this) does it not seem insignificant whether the kingdoms that communicate one with another exist or not?' The king replies, 'It does so;' and Tâi zin-zăn said, finally, 'Among those kingdoms, stretching one after another, there is this Wei; in Wei there is this (city of) Liang'; and in Liang there is your majesty. Can you make any distinction between yourself, and the king of that kingdom of) Stupidity?' To this the king answered, “There is no distinction,' and his visitor went out, while the king remained disconcerted and seemed to have lost himself.
When the visitor was gone, Hui-zze came in and saw the king, who said, “That stranger is a Great man. An (ordinary) sage is not equal to him.' Hui-zze replied, If you blow into a flute, there come out its pleasant notes; if you blow into a sword-hilt, there is nothing but a wheezing sound. Yâo and Shun are the subjects of men's praises, but if you speak of them before Tâi zin-zăn, there will be but the wheezing sound.'
5. Confucius, having gone to Khù, was lodging in the house of a seller of Congee at Ant-hill. On the roof of a neighbouring house there appeared the husband and his wife, with their servants, male and female?. 3ze-là said, 'What are those people doing,
Liang, the capital, came to be used also as the name of the state ;-as in Mencius.
3. They were on the roof, repairing it,' say some. They had got on the roof, to get out of the way of Confucius,' say others. The sequel shows that this second interpretation is correct; but we do not see how the taking to the roof facilitated their departure from the house..
Digitized by Google
