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

{fn. 1. {img 24800} or {img 24801}.} {fn. 2. {img 24802}.} {fn. 3. See the Accounts of Ko in the Biographical Dictionary of Hsiâo Kih-han (1793), and Wang Khî's supplement to the great work of Mâ Twan-lin, ch. 242.} {p. 249} through the Three Regions{fr. 1a}, and (finally) ascend to, and enter, the Golden Gate.' This quotation would seem to be taken from the preface to our little classic by Ho Hsüan. If there were indeed such a preface during the time of the Wû dynasty, the corruption of the old Tâoism must have been rapid. The Hsî Wang-mû, or Royal-mother of the West, is mentioned once in Kwang-dze (Bk. VI, par. 7); but no 'Divine Ruler' disfigures his pages. Every reader must feel that in the Classic of Purity he has got into a different region of thought from that which he has traversed in the Tâo Teh King and in the writings of Kwang-dze. With these remarks I now proceed to the translation and explanation of the text of our King. {fn. 1a. 'The three regions ({img 24901})' here can hardly be the trilokya of the Buddhists, the ethical categories of desire, form, and formlessness. They are more akin to the Brahmanic bhuvanatraya, the physical or cosmological categories of bhûr or earth, bhuvah or heaven, and svar or atmosphere.} ______________ Ch. 1. 1. Lâo the Master{fr. 1} said, The Great{fr. 2} Tâo has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth{fr. 3}. The Great Tâo has no passions{fr. 4}, but It causes the sun and moon to revolve as they do.