Texts of Taoism (SBE 40): Book XXVII. Yü Yen, or 'Metaphorical Language.'
1. Of my sentences nine in ten are metaphorical; of my illustrations seven in ten are from valued writers. The rest of my words are like the water that daily fills the cup, tempered and harmonised by the Heavenly element in our nature 2. The nine sentences in ten which are metaphorical are borrowed from extraneous things to assist (the comprehension of) my argument. (When it is said, for instance), 'A father does not act the part of matchmaker for his own son,' (the meaning is that) 'it is better for another man to praise the son than for his father to do so.' The use of such metaphorical language is not my fault, but the fault of men (who would not otherwise readily understand me). Men assent to views which agree with their own, and oppose those which do not so agree. Those which agree with their own they hold to be right, and those which do not so agree they hold to be wrong. The seven out of ten illustrations taken from valued writers are designed to put an end to disputations. Those writers are the men of hoary eld, my predecessors in time. But such as are unversed
3. Zäng-dze twice took office, and on the two occasions his state of mind was different. He said, 'While my parents were alive I took office, and though my emolument was only three fû 1 (of grain), my mind was happy. Afterwards when I took office, my emolument was three thousand kung 2; but I could not share it with my parents, and my mind was sad.' The other disciples asked Kung-nî, saying, 'Such an one as Shän may be pronounced free from all entanglement:--is he to be blamed for feeling as he did 3?' The reply was, 'But he was subject to entanglement 4. If he had been free from it, could he have had that sadness? He would have looked on his three fû and three thousand kung no more than on a heron or a mosquito passing before him.' 4. Yen Khäng Dze-yû said to Tung-kwo, Dze-khî 5, 'When I (had begun to) hear your instructions, the first year, I continued a simple rustic; the second
'Life has its work to do, and death ensues, (as if) the common character of each were a thing prescribed. Men consider that their death has its cause; but that life from (the operation of) the Yang has no cause. But is it really so? How does (the Yang) operate in this direction? Why does it not operate there? 'Heaven has its places and spaces which can be calculated; (the divisions of) the earth can be assigned by men. But how shall we search for and find out (the conditions of the Great Mystery)? We do not know when and how (life) will end, but how shall we conclude that it is not determined (from without)? and as we do not know when and how it begins, how should we conclude that it is not (so) determined? 'In regard to the issues of conduct which we deem appropriate, how should we conclude that there are no spirits presiding over them; and where those issues seem inappropriate, how should we conclude that there are spirits presiding over them?'
6. Yang Dze-kü 3 had gone South to Phei 4, while Lâo Tan was travelling in the west in Khin 5. (He thereupon) asked (Lao-dze) to come to the border (of Phei), and went himself to Liang, where be met him. Lâo-dze stood in the middle of the way, and, looking up to heaven, said with a sigh, 'At first I thought that you might be taught, but now I see that you cannot be.' Yang Dze-kü made no reply;
142:1 See vol. xxxix, pp. 155, 156. 142:2 See Bk. II, par. 10. 144:1 Compare this with the same language about Kü Po-yü in Bk. XXV, par. 8. There is no proof to support our author's assertion that the views of Confucius underwent any change. 144:2 'The Great Source (Root)' here is generally explained by 'the Grand Beginning.' It is not easy to say whether we are to understand an ideal condition of man designed from the first, or the condition of every man as he is born into the world. On the 'powers' received by man, see Mencius VI, i, 6. 145:1 A fû = ten tâu and four shing, or sixty-four shing, the shing at present being rather less than an English pint. 145:2 A hung = sixty-four tâu; but there are various accounts of its size. 145:3 This sentence is difficult to construe. 145:4 But Confucius could not count his love for his parents an entanglement. 145:5 We must suppose this master to be the same as the Nan-kwo Dze-khî of Bk. II. 146:1 In illustration of the text here Lû Shû-kih refers to the use of Miâo (
147:1 Compare Bk. II, par. 11. 147:2 Such is the reading of Ziâo Hung. 147:3 No doubt the Yang Kû of Lieh-dze and Mencius. 147:4 See in XIV, 26 b. 147:5 In the borders of Phei; can hardly be the great State. 148:1 So had his arrogant superciliousness given place to humility.PART III. SECTION V.
Yü Yen, or 'Metaphorical Language 1.'
Footnotes
) in the account of the term 'Spirit,' in the fifth Appendix to the Yî, par. 10, as meaning 'the subtle (presence and operation of God) with all things.' Dze-yû's further exposition of his attainments is difficult to understand fully.