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

{fn. 1. See vol. xxxix, pp. 160-162.} {fn. 2. The same teacher, no doubt, who is mentioned in II, par. 2, and XXI, par. 2, though the Wû in Wû-zän is here {img 20200}, and there {img 20200}.} {fn. 3. Like the tea and congee shanties, I suppose, which a traveller in China finds still on the road-side.} {fn. 4. The meaning is not plain. There must have been something in the respect and generosity of the attendants which made Lieh-dze feel that his manner was inconsistent with his profession of Tâoism.} {p. 203} and their power is but slight; and yet they treated me as I have said:--how much more would the lord of ten thousand chariots do so! His body burdened with (the cares of his) kingdom, and his knowledge overtasked by its affairs, he would entrust those affairs to me, and exact from me the successful conduct (of its government). It was this which frightened me.' Po-hwän Wû-zän replied, 'Admirable perspicacity! But if you carry yourself as you do, men will flock to you for protection.' Not long after, Po-hwän Wû-zän went (to visit Lieh-dze), and found the space outside his door full of shoes{fr. 1}. There he stood with his face to the north, holding his staff upright, and leaning his chin on it till the skin was wrinkled. After standing so for some time, and without saying a word, he was going away, when the door-keeper{fr. 2} went in, and told Lieh-dze. The latter (immediately) took up his shoes, and ran barefoot after the visitor. When he overtook him at the (outer) gate, he said, 'Since you, Sir, have come, are you going away without giving me some medicine{fr. 3}?' The other replied, 'It is of no use. I did tell you that men would flock to you, and they do indeed do so. It is not that you can cause men to flock to you, but you cannot keep them from not so coming;--of what use is (all my warning)? What influences them and makes them glad is the display of your extraordinary (qualities); but you must also be influenced