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

The Classic, as it now exists, therefore cannot be traced higher than our eighth century; and many critics hold that, as the commentary was made by Lî Khwan, so the text was forged by him. All that Hsî-yüeh has to say in reply to this is that, if the classic be the work of Lî Khwan, then {fn. 1. See the Khang-hsî Thesaurus under the combination Yin Fû.} {fn. 2. See the account of Lî Khwan in Wang Khî's continuation of Mâ Twan-lin's work, ch. 242; and various items in the Khien-lung Catalogue.} {p. 257} he must think of him as another Kwang Khäng-dze; but this is no answer to the charge of forgery. As to the name of the Treatise, the force of Fû has been set forth in vol. xxxix, p. 133, in connexion with the title of Kwang-dze's fifth Book. The meaning which I have given of the whole is substantially that of Li Hsî-yüeh, who says that the Yin must be understood as including Yang, and grounds his criticism on the famous dictum in the Great Appendix to the Yî King (vol. xvi, p. 355), 'The successive movement of the Yin and Yang (their rest and active operation) constitutes what is called the course (of things).' Mr. Balfour translates the title by 'The Clue to the Unseen,' which is ingenious, but may be misleading. The writer reasons rather from the Unseen to the Seen than from the Seen to the Unseen. Mr. Wylie gives his view of the object of the Treatise in these words:--'This short Treatise, which is not entirely free from the obscurity of Tâoist mysticism, professes to reconcile the decrees of Heaven with the current of mundane affairs.' To what extent the Book does this, and whether successfully or not, the reader will be able to judge for himself from the translation which will be immediately subjoined. Li Hsî-yüeh, looking at it simply from its practical object, pronounces it 'hsiû lien kih Shû, a Book of culture and refining{fr. 1a}.' This language suggests the idea of a Tâoist devotee, who has sublimated himself by the study of this Book till he is ready to pass into the state of an Immortal. I must be permitted to say, however, that the whole Treatise appears to me to have come down to us in a fragmentary condition, with passages that are incapable of any satisfactory explanation.