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

St. 10. Its beams are of plum-tree, its ridge-pole of cassia; A balustrade winds round it; many are its pillars; About them spreads and rolls the fragrant smoke{fr. 3}; Cool and pure are the breezes and mists. The Immortal officers come to their places{fr. 4}; The Plumaged guests are found in its court{fr. 4}, Numerous and at their ease, They send down blessing, bright and efficacious. St. 11. Most spirit-like, unfathomable, (Tâo's) principles abide, with their symbolism attached{fr. 5}. Loud is Its note, but never sound emits{fr. 6}, Yet always it awakes the highest echoes. From far and near men praise It; In the shades, and in the realms of light, they look up for Its aid; Reverently have we graven and gilt this stone And made our lasting proclamation thereby to heaven and earth. {fn. 1. 'The (sage) beneath the Pillar' must be Lâo-dze. See above in the Introductory notice, {pr. 313}.} {fn. 2. See the note on the meaning of the epithet {img 31900} vol. xxxix, p. 40.} {fn. 3. 'The smoke,' I suppose, 'of the incense, and from the offerings.'} {fn. 4. Tâoist monks are called 'Plumaged or Feathered Scholars ({img 31901}),' from the idea that by their discipline and pills, they can emancipate themselves from the trammels of the material body, and ascend (fly up) to heaven. Arrived there, as Immortals or Hsien ({img 31902}), it further appears they were constituted into a hierarchy or society, of which some of them were 'officers,' higher in rank than others.}