"The cock crows," replied T'ai Kung Tiao, "and the dog barks. So much we know. But the wisest of us could not say why one crows and the other barks, nor guess why they crow or bark at all. "Let me explain. The infinitely small is inappreciable; the infinitely great is immeasurable. Chance and Predestination must refer to the conditioned. Consequently, both are wrong. "Predestination involves a real existence. Of a God. Chance implies an absolute absence of any principle. To have a name and the embodiment thereof,--this is to have a material existence. To have no name and no embodiment,--of this one can speak and think; but the more one speaks the farther off one gets. "The unborn creature cannot be kept from life. So powerful is its "will to live." The dead cannot be tracked. From birth to death is but a span; yet the secret cannot be known. Chance and Predestination are but _à priori_ solutions. "When I seek for a beginning, I find only time infinite. When I look forward to an end, I see only time infinite. Infinity of time past and to come implies no beginning and is in accordance with the laws of material existences. Predestination and Chance give us a beginning, but one which is compatible only with the existence of matter. And not with the time before matter was. "TAO cannot be existent. If it were existent, it could not be non-existent. The very name of TAO is only adopted for convenience' sake. Predestination and Chance are limited to material existences. How can they bear upon the infinite? "Were language adequate, it would take but a day to fully set forth TAO. Not being adequate, it takes that time to explain material existences. TAO is something beyond material existences. It cannot be conveyed either by words or by silence. In that state which is neither speech nor silence, its transcendental nature may be apprehended." "With this essay in China," says Lin Hsi Chung, "what need to fetch Buddhist books from the West?" CHAPTER XXVI. CONTINGENCIES. _Argument_:--The external uncertain--The internal alone without harm--Life and death are external--The soul only is under man's control--Folly of worldliness--Illustrations. Contingencies are uncertain. Hence the decapitation of Lung Fêng, the disembowelment of Pi Kan, the enthusiasm of Chi Tzŭ, the death of Wu Lai, the flights of Chieh and Chou. See pp. 40, 72. Wu Lai was an intriguing official who held office under the tyrant Chou Hsin. No sovereign but would have loyal ministers; yet loyalty does not necessarily inspire confidence. Hence Wu Yüan found a grave in the river; See p. 221. and Ch'ang Hung perished in Shu, his blood, after being preserved three years, turning into green jade. No parent but would have filial sons; yet filial piety does not necessarily inspire love. Hence Hsiao Chi sorrowed, and Tsêng Shên grieved.