The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion: Chapter V

CHAPTER V.

Nature is non-benevolent. It regards all things as straw dogs. 1

The Holy Man is non-benevolent. 2 He regards the masses as straw dogs.

The space between the Heaven and the earth is like a bellows; though unsupported, it does not warp; when in motion the more it expels. 3

Though words could exhaust this theme, they would not be so profitable as the preservation of its inner essence. 4

Footnotes

9:1 "Before the grass-dogs are set forth (at the sacrifice) they are deposited in a box or basket and wrapped up with elegantly embroidered cloths, while the representative of the dead and the officer of prayer prepare themselves by fasting to present them. After they have been set forth, however, passersby trample on their heads and backs, and the grass-cutters take and burn them in cooking. This is all they are good for." Chuang Tzu.

Says the Yin-fu-king: "Heaven's greatest mercy is that it is without mercy." See I. Pet. 1-17. Cp. Tao-teh-king, ch. 49.

9:2 Comp. Mr. Sinnett's description of the Adept or Mahatma—"He has attained that love of humanity as a whole which transcends the love of the Maya or illusion;" i.e., he regards all with equal impartiality.—Esoteric Buddhism.

9:3 The Chinese explanation is that the seasons follow each other with unvarying regularity, ever pouring forth new forms of life from its bellows like a mouth providing the wicked and the good alike with all that they require. Cp. Matt. v. 45.

The esotericist will probably be reminded here of Bhuvarloka. See Secret Doctrine, vol. 3, p. 568, et seq.

9:4 "To thee silence is praise, O God."—Delitzsch's translation of Psalm lxv. 1.