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

4. Yen Khäng Dze-yû said to Tung-kwo, Dze-khî{fr. 5}, 'When I (had begun to) hear your instructions, the first year, I continued a simple rustic; the second {fn. 1. A fû = ten tâu and four shing, or sixty-four shing, the shing at present being rather less than an English pint.} {fn. 2. A hung = sixty-four tâu; but there are various accounts of its size.} {fn. 3. This sentence is difficult to construe.} {fn. 4. But Confucius could not count his love for his parents an entanglement.} {fn. 5. We must suppose this master to be the same as the Nan-kwo Dze-khî of Bk. II.} {p. 146} year, I became docile; the third year, I comprehended (your teaching); the fourth year, I was (plastic) as a thing; the fifth year, I made advances; the sixth year, the spirit entered (and dwelt in me); the seventh year, (my nature as designed by) Heaven was perfected; the eighth year, I knew no difference between death and life; the ninth year, I attained to the Great Mystery{fr. 1}. '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?