* * * * * Tzŭ Chi of Nan-poh See ch. iv. was sitting leaning on a table. He looked up to heaven and sighed, at which juncture Yen Ch'êng Tzŭ entered and said, "How, Sir, can such an important person as yourself be in body like dry wood, in mind like dead ashes?" Instead of exerting yourself for the benefit of mankind. The speaker, says one commentator, was "a disciple." "I used to live in a cave on the hills," replied Tzŭ Chi. "At that time, T'ien Ho, The famous founder of the later House of Ch'i. because he once saw me, was thrice congratulated by the people of Ch'i. Now I must have given some indication by which he recognised me. As a Sage. I must have sold for him to buy. For had I not manifested myself, how would he have recognised me? Had I not sold, how could he have bought? "Alas! I grieve over man's self-destruction. As reputation comes, reality goes. And then I grieve over one who grieves for another. And then I grieve over him who grieves over one who grieves for another! And so I get daily farther and farther away." And become like dry wood, my soul absorbed into TAO. * * * * * When Confucius went to Ch'u, the prince entertained him at a banquet. Sun Shu Ao stood up with a goblet of wine in his hand, and I Liao of Shih-nan poured a libation, saying, "On such occasions as this, the men of old were wont to make some utterance." "Mine," replied Confucius, "is the doctrine of wordless utterances. Shall I who make no utterances, make utterance now? "I Liao of Shih-nan played with his ball, and the trouble of two houses was arranged. A man of great strength who refused to aid in settling a State quarrel. He was a great ball player,--whatever that may have been. Sun Shu Ao remained quietly in repose, and the men of Ying threw down their arms. No one dared attack them, so powerful was the prestige of their minister. I should want a three-foot tongue indeed! To achieve more by talk than these two achieved by inaction. "Theirs was the TAO of inaction. His was the argument of silence. Wherefore, for TÊ The manifestation of TAO. to rest in undivided TAO, By which all things are ONE. and for speech to stop at the unknowable,--this is perfection. "With undivided TAO, TÊ cannot be coincident. The latter is multiform. No argument can demonstrate the unknowable. Subdivision into Confucianists and Mihists only makes confusion worse confounded. "The sea does not reject the streams which flow eastward into it. Therefore it is immeasurably great. The true Sage folds the universe in his bosom. His good influence benefits all throughout the empire, without respect to persons. Born without rank, he dies without titles. He does not take credit for realities. But attributes it all to circumstances. He does not establish a name. For what he has done. This is to be a great man. "A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker.