Various commentators give various renderings of this sentence,--mostly forced. They can sit near a corpse and yet sing, unmoved. There is no class for such. What are they?" "These men," replied Confucius, "travel beyond the rule of life. I travel within it. Consequently, our paths do not meet; and I was wrong in sending you to mourn. They consider themselves as one with God, recognising no distinctions between human and divine. They look on life as a huge tumour from which death sets them free. All the same they know not where they were before birth, nor where they will be after death. Though admitting different elements, they take their stand upon the unity of all things. They ignore their passions. They take no count of their ears and eyes. Backwards and forwards through all eternity, they do not admit a beginning or end. They stroll beyond the dust and dirt of mortality, to wander in the realms of inaction. How should such men trouble themselves with the conventionalities of this world, or care what people may think of them?" "But if such is the case," said Tzŭ Kung, "why should we stick to the rule?" "Heaven has condemned me to this," replied Confucius. "Nevertheless, you and I may perhaps escape from it." "By what method?" asked Tzŭ Kung. "Fishes," replied Confucius, "are born in water. Man is born in TAO. If fishes get ponds to live in, they thrive. If man gets TAO to live in, he may live his life in peace. Without reference to the outward ceremonial of this world. Hence the saying, 'All that a fish wants is water; all that a man wants is TAO.'" It is of course by a literary _coup de main_ that Confucius is here and elsewhere made to stand sponsor to the TAO of the rival school. "May I ask," said Tzŭ Kung, "about divine men?" "Divine men," replied Confucius, "are divine to man, but ordinary to God. Hence the saying that the meanest being in heaven would be the best on earth; and the best on earth, the meanest in heaven." "Man is a kind of very minute heaven. God is the grand man."--_Swedenborg._ Yen Hui said to Confucius, "When Mêng Sun Ts'ai's mother died, he wept, but without snivelling; Which the Chinese regard as the test of real sorrow. he grieved but his grief was not heartfelt; he wore mourning but without howling. Yet although wanting in these three points, he is considered the best mourner in the State of Lu. Surely this is the name and not the reality. I am astonished at it." "Mêng Sun," said Confucius, "did all that was required. He has made an advance towards wisdom. Towards TAO, wherein there is no weeping nor gnashing of teeth. He could not do less; Than mourn outwardly, for fear of committing a breach of social etiquette, in harmony if not in accordance with which the true Sage passes his life. while all the time actually doing less. As seen from the absence of those signs which prove inward grief.