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

Of this 'True Man, Zo Hsüan,' I have: not been able to ascertain anything. The Divine Ruler of the eastern Hwa, referred to on p. 248, is mentioned in the work of Wang Khî (ch. 241, p. 21b), but with no definite information about him. The author says his surname was Wang, but he knows neither his name nor when he lived.} {file "Appendix II. Yin Fû King, or 'Classic of the Harmony of the Seen and the Unseen.'"} {p. 255} APPENDIX II. Yin Fû King, or 'Classic of the Harmony of the Seen and the Unseen.' In the Khien-lung Catalogue of the Imperial Library, ch. 146, Part iii, this Book occupies the first place among all Tâoist works, with three notices, which all precede the account of Ho-shang Kung's Commentary on the Tâo Teh King. From the work of Lâo-dze we are conducted along the course of Tâoist literature to the year 1626, when the catalogue of what is called 'the Tâoist Canon{fr. 1}' appeared. Ch. 147 then returns to the Yin Fû King, and treats of nine other works upon it, the last being the Commentary of Lî Kwang-lî, one of the principal ministers and great scholars in the time of Khien-lung's grandfather, known as Khang-hsî from the name of his reign. In the first of these many notices it is said that the preface of an old copy assigns the composition of the work to Hwang-Tî (in the 27th century B.C.), and says that commentaries on it had been made by Thâi-kung (12th century B.C.), Fan Lî (5th century B.C.), the Recluse of the Kwei Valley (4th century B.C.), Kang Liang (died B.C. 189), Kû Ko Liang (A.D. 181-234), and Lî Khwan of the Thang dynasty (about the middle of our 8th century){fr. 2}. Some writers, going back to the time of Hwang-Tî for the composition of our small classic, attribute it not to that sovereign himself, but to his teacher Kwang Khäng-dze{fr. 3};