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

{fn. 1. This personage has occurred before in Bk. VI, par. 7,--at the head of the most ancient sovereigns, who were in possession of the Tâo. His 'park' as a place for moral and intellectual inquiry is here mentioned;--so early was there a certain quickening of the mental faculties in China.} {file "Book XXIII. Käng-sang Khû."} {p. 74} BOOK XXIII. PART III. SECTION I. Käng-sang Khû{fr. 1}. 1. Among the disciples{fr. 2} of Lâo Tan there was a Käng-sang Khû, who had got a greater knowledge than the others of his doctrines, and took up his residence with it in the north at the hill of Wei-lêi.{fr. 3} His servants who were pretentious and knowing he sent away, and his concubines who were officious and kindly he kept at a distance; living (only) with those who were boorish and rude, and employing (only) the bustling and ill-mannered{fr. 4}. After three years there was great prosperity{fr. 5} in Wei-lêi, and the people said to one another, 'When Mr. Käng-sang first came here, he alarmed us, and we thought him strange; our estimate of him after a short acquaintance was that he could not do us much good; but now that we have known him for years, we find him a more than ordinary benefit. Must he not be near being a sage? Why should you not {fn. 1. See vol. xxxix. p. 153.} {fn. 2. The term in the text commonly denotes 'servants.' It would seem here simply to mean 'disciples.'} {fn. 3. Assigned variously. Probably the mount Yû in the 'Tribute of Yû,'-a hill in the present department of Tang-kâu, Shan-tung.}