Sacred Books of the East Vol. 40 - Taoism Vol. 2

3, Nieh Khüeh{fr. 3} asked about the Tâo from Phei-î who replied,' If you keep your body as it should be, and look only at the one thing, the Harmony of Heaven will come to you. Call in your knowledge, and make your measures uniform, and the spiritual (belonging to you) will come and lodge with you; the Attributes (of the Tâo) will be your beauty, and the Tâo (itself) will be your dwelling-place. You will have the simple look of a new-born calf, and {fn. 1. Compare the Tâo Teh King, ch. 25.} {fn. 2. The binomial 'Heaven and Earth' here gives place to the one term 'Heaven,' which is often a synonym of Tâo.} {fn. 3. See his character in Book XII, par. 5, where Phei-î also is mentioned.} {p. 62} will not seek to know the cause (of your being what you are).' Phei-î had not finished these words when the other dozed off into a sleep. Phei-î was greatly pleased, and walked away, singing as he went, Like stump of rotten tree his frame, Like lime when slaked his mind became{fr. 1}. Real is his wisdom, solid, true, Nor cares what's hidden to pursue. O dim and dark his aimless mind! No one from him can counsel find. What sort of man is he?' 4. Shun asked (his attendant) Khäng{fr. 2}, saying, 'Can I get the Tâo and hold it as mine?' The reply was, 'Your body is not your own to hold; how then can you get and hold the Tâo?' Shun resumed, 'If my body be not mine to possess and hold, who holds it?' Khäng said, 'It is the bodily form entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Life is not yours to hold. It is the blended harmony (of the Yin and Yang), entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Your nature, constituted as it is, is not yours to hold. It is entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth to act in accordance with it. Your grandsons and sons are not yours to hold. They are the exuviae{fr. 3} entrusted to you by Heaven and Earth. Therefore when we walk, we should not know where we are going; when we stop and rest, we should not know what to occupy ourselves with