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

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. The Great{fr. 2} Tâo has no name{fr. 5}, but It effects the growth and maintenance of all things{fr. 3}. I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and call It the Tâo{fr. 6}. {fn. 1. The name here is Lâo Kün ({img 24900}). I have stated (vol. xxxix, p. 40) that, with the addition of Thâi Shang, this is the common designation of Lâo-dze as the Father of Tâoism and deifying him, and that it originated probably in the Thang dynasty. It might seem to be used simply here by Ko Hsüan with the same high application; and since in his preface he refers to different 'Divine Rulers,' it may be contended that we ought to translate Lâo Kün by 'Lâo the Ruler.' But I am unwilling to think that the deification of Lâo-dze {footnote p. 250} had taken place so early. The earliest occurrence of the combination Lâo Kün which has attracted my notice is in the history of Khung Yung, a descendant of Confucius in the twentieth generation,--the same who is celebrated in the San Dze King, for his fraternal deference at the age of four, and who met with a violent death in A.D. 208. While still only a boy, wishing to obtain an interview with a representative of the Lâo family, he sent in this message to him, 'My honoured predecessor and the honoured Lâo, the predecessor of your Li family, equally virtuous and righteous, were friends and teachers of each other.' The epithet Kün is equally applied to Confucius and Lâo-dze, and the combination Lâo Kün implies no exaltation of the latter above the other.}