My object, however, in this note, which has grown out of all proportion, was not to suggest a theory as to the possible relations of Lao Tzŭ and Confucius, but to point out what seemed to be a remarkable parallel between the teaching of Chuang Tzŭ and Heracleitus. In doing this I have accepted Mr. Giles's translation as an ultimate fact, for the simple reason that I do not know a single Chinese character. So far, therefore, as the translation prejudices or prejudges questions of Chinese scholarship, I must leave the defence to the translator. It is also possible, and more than possible, that my Western preconceptions may have biassed my judgment of Chuang Tzŭ's philosophical teaching. Recent attempts[53] to draw a parallel between the life of Gautama and the life of Christ have shown how easy it is unconsciously to read between the lines, and find parallelisms where they do not exist. If I have been guilty in the same way, then, with Socrates in the Republic, I say, "I can but suffer the penalty of ignorance; and that penalty is, to be taught by those who know." [53] _E.g._ Mr. Edwin Arnold's _Light of Asia_, and still more Professor Seydel's _Das Evangelium von Jesu in seinen Verhältnissen zu Buddha-Sage and Buddha-Lehre_. On the other side of the question, _cf._ Dr. Kellogg's _The Light of Asia and The Light of the World_. London, 1885. And an article in the _Nineteenth Century_ for July, 1888, on Buddhism, by the Bishop of Colombo. A. L. M. [Illustration] _Chuang Tzŭ._ [Illustration] CHAPTER I. TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS. _Argument_:--Space infinite--Time infinite--Relativity of magnitudes, physical and moral--The magnitude absolute--Usefulness as a test of value--The usefulness of the useless. In the northern ocean there is a fish, called the Leviathan, many thousand _li_ in size. This leviathan changes into a bird, called the Rukh, whose back is many thousand _li_ in breadth. With a mighty effort it rises, and its wings obscure the sky like clouds. At the equinox, this bird prepares to start for the southern ocean, the Celestial Lake. And in the _Record of Marvels_ we read that when the rukh flies southwards, the water is smitten for a space of three thousand _li_ around, while the bird itself mounts upon a typhoon to a height of ninety thousand _li_, for a flight of six months' duration. Just so are the motes in a sunbeam blown aloft by God. For whether the blue of the sky is its real colour, or only the result of distance without end, the effect to the bird looking down would be just the same as to the motes. Distance being relative. The rukh at an altitude of 90,000 _li_ (three _li_ to a mile) is no more than a mote in a sunbeam a few feet from the ground. If there is not sufficient depth, water will not float large ships. Upset a cupful into a small hole, and a mustard-seed will be your boat. Try to float the cup, and it will stick, from the disproportion between water and vessel.