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

{fn. 1. The abstinences and privations in mourning were so many that there was a danger of their seriously injuring the health;--which was forbidden.} {fn. 2. See Bk. VI, par. 3; but in the note there, Wû Kwang is said to have been of the time of Hwang-Tî; which is probably an error.} {fn. 3. See IV, par. 3; but I do not know who Kî Thâ was, nor can I explain what is said of him here.} {fn. 4. See again IV, par. 3.} {fn. 5. According to some, 'baskets.' This illustration is quoted in the Inscription on the Nestorian Monument, II, 7.} {file "Book XXVII. Yü Yen, or 'Metaphorical Language.'"} {p. 142} BOOK XXVII. PART III. SECTION V. Yü Yen, or 'Metaphorical Language{fr. 1}.' 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{fr. 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