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

13. Kwang-dze declines the offer of official dignity. The apologue of the sacrificial ox. 14. Kwang-dze, about to die, opposes the wish of his disciples to give him a grand burial. His own description of what his burial should be. BOOK XXXIII. Par. 1. The method of the Tâo down to the time of Confucius. 2. The method of Mo Tî and his immediate followers. 3, 4. The method of Mo's later followers. 5. The method of Kwan Yin and Lâo-dze. 6. The method of Kwang-dze. 7. The ways of Hui Shih, Kung-sun Lung, and other sophists. {file "Appendix VII. The Stone Tablet in the Temple of Lâo-Dze. By Hsieh Tâo-Häng of the Sui Dynasty"} {p. 311} APPENDIX VII. I. THE STONE TABLET IN THE TEMPLE OF LÂO-DZE. BY HSIEH TÂO-HÄNG OF THE SUI DYNASTY{fr. 1}. 1. After the Thâi Ki (or Primal Ether) commenced its action, the earliest period of time began to be unfolded. {fn. 1. Hsieh Tâo-häng {img 31100}, called also Hsüan-khing ({img 31101}), was one of the most famous scholars and able ministers of the Sui dynasty (581-618), and also an eloquent writer. His biography is given at considerable length in the fifty-seventh chapter of the Books of Sui. For about 200 years after the end of the Zin dynasty, the empire had been in a very divided and distracted state. The period is known as the epoch of 'The Southern and Northern Dynasties,' no fewer than nine or ten of which co-existed, none of them able to assert a universal sway till the rise of Sui. The most powerful of them towards the end of the time was 'The Northern Kâu,' in connexion with the Wû-khäng ({img 31102}) reign of which (558-561) the name of our Hsieh first appears. In the Wû-phing ({img 31103}) reign of 'The Northern Khî (570 ,576),' we find him member of a committee for revising the rules of 'The Five Classes of Ceremonial Observances,' and gaining distinction as a poet.