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154
THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM.
BK. XXVIII.
object of the Tâo is the regulation of the person. Quite subordinate to this is its use in the management of the state and the clan; while the government of the kingdom is but the dust and refuse of it.' From this we may see that the services of the Tis and Kings are but a surplusage of the work of the sages, and do not contribute to complete the person or nourish the life. Yet the superior men of the present age will, most of them, throw away their lives for the sake of their persons, in pursuing their (material) objects ;-is it not cause for grief? Whenever a sage is initiating any movement, he is sure to examine the motive which influences him, and what he is about to do. Here, however, is a man, who uses a pearl like that of the marquis of Sui ? to shoot a bird at a distance of 10,000 feet. All men will laugh at him; and why? Because the thing which he uses is of great value, and what he wishes to get is of little. And is not life of more value than the pearl of the marquis of Sui ?
4. Zze2 Lieh-zze? was reduced to extreme poverty, and his person had a hungry look. A visitor mentioned the case to Zze-yang, (the premier) of Kăng, saying, 'Lieh Yü-khâu, I believe, is a scholar who has attained to the Tâo. Is it because our ruler does not love (such) scholars, that he should be living in his state in such poverty ?' 3ze-yang immediately ordered an officer to send to him a supply of grain.
1 Sui was a small feudal state, a dependency of Wei. Its name remains in the Sui-kâu, Teh-an department, Hd-pei. The story is that one of its lords having healed a wounded snake, the creature one night brought him a large pearl in its mouth.
* The phraseology is peculiar. See Introductory Note on Bks XXXII.
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