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

3. The sagely man rests in what is his proper rest; he does not rest in what is not so;--the multitude of men rest in what is not their proper rest; they do not rest in their proper rest{fr. 5}. 4. Kwang-dze said, To know the Tâo is easy; not to say (that you know it) is difficult. To know it and not to speak of it is the way to attain to the {fn. 1. The character for this in the text ({img 20500}) is explained as meaning 'a grave,' with special reference to this passage, in the Khang-hsî dictionary.} {fn. 2. The idea of a grave is suggested by the 'cypress,' and we need not try to find it in {img 20501}.} {fn. 3. The creator was, in Kwang-dze's mind, the Tâo.} {fn. 4. Arrogating to themselves what was the work of the Tâo.} {fn. 5. The best editions make this sentence a paragraph by itself.} {p. 206} {cont}Heavenly; to know and to speak of it, is the way to show the Human. The ancients pursued the Heavenly (belonging to them), and not the Human.' 5. Kû Phing-man{fr. 1} learned how to slaughter the dragon{fr. 2} from Kih-lî Yî, expending (in doing so) all his wealth of a thousand ounces of silver. In three years he became perfect in the art, but he never exercised his skill. 6. The sage looks on what is deemed necessary as unnecessary, and therefore is not at war{fr. 3} (in himself). The mass of men deem what is unnecessary to be necessary, and therefore they are often at war (in themselves). Therefore those who pursue this method of (internal) war, resort to it in whatever they seek for. But reliance on such war leads to ruin.