The innkeeper had two concubines, one beautiful, the other ugly. The latter he loved; the former, he hated. Yang Tzŭ asked how this was; whereupon one of the inn servants said, "The beautiful one is so conscious of her beauty that one does not think her beautiful. The ugly one is so conscious of her ugliness that one does not think her ugly." "Note this, my disciples!" cried Yang Tzŭ. "Be virtuous, but without being consciously so; and wherever you go, you will be beloved." CHAPTER XXI. T'IEN TZŬ FANG. _Argument_:--TAO cannot be imparted in words--It is not at man's disposal--It does not consist in formal morality--It is an inalienable element of existence--Without it the soul dies--With it man is happy and his immortality secure--Illustrations. [This chapter is supplementary to chapter vi.] T'ien Tzŭ Fang was in attendance upon Prince Wên of Wei. Whose tutor he was. He kept on praising Ch'i Kung, until at length Prince Wên said, "Is Ch'i Kung your tutor?" "No," replied Tzŭ Fang; "he is merely a neighbour. He discourses admirably upon TAO. That is why I praise him." "Have you then no tutor?" enquired the Prince. "I have," replied Tzŭ Fang. "And who may he be?" said Prince Wên. "Tung Kuo Shun Tzŭ," answered Tzŭ Fang. "Then how is it you do not praise him?" asked the Prince. "He is perfect," replied Tzŭ Fang. "In appearance, a man; in reality, God. Unconditioned himself, he falls in with the conditioned, to his own greater glory. Pure himself, he can still tolerate others. If men are without TAO, by a mere look he calls them to a sense of error, and causes their intentions to melt away. How could I praise him?" Thereupon Tzŭ Fang took his leave, and the Prince remained for the rest of the day absorbed in silence. At length he called an officer in waiting and said, "How far beyond us is the man of perfect virtue! Hitherto I have regarded the discussion of holiness and wisdom, and the practice of charity and duty to one's neighbour, as the utmost point attainable. But now that I have heard of Tzŭ Fang's tutor, my body is relaxed and desires not movement, my mouth is closed and desires not speech. All I have learnt, verily it is mere undergrowth. And the kingdom of Wei is my bane." TAO is not to be reached by the superficial worker, or by such as value the distinctions of this world. * * * * * When Wên Po Hsüeh Tzŭ "A sage from the south," as the commentators say, anticipating the "Middle Kingdom" below. was on his way to Ch'i, he broke his journey in Lu. A certain man of Lu begged for an interview, but Wên Po Hsüeh Tzŭ said, "No. I have heard that the gentlemen of the Middle Kingdom are experts in ceremonies and obligations, but wanting in knowledge of the human heart. I do not wish to see him." So he went on to Ch'i; but once more at Lu, on his way home, the same man again begged to have an interview.