"What you desire to avail yourself of," replied Kuang Ch'êng Tzŭ, "is the primordial integrity of matter. What you wish to control are the disintegrators thereof. Ever since the empire has been _governed_ by you, the clouds have rained without waiting to thicken, the foliage of trees has fallen without waiting to grow yellow, the brightness of the sun and moon has paled, and the voice of the flatterer is heard on every side. How then speak of perfect TAO?" The Yellow Emperor withdrew. He resigned the Throne. He built himself a solitary hut. He lay upon straw. For three months he remained in seclusion, and then went again to see Kuang Ch'êng Tzŭ. The latter was lying down with his face to the south. The Yellow Emperor approached after the manner of an inferior, upon his knees. Prostrating himself upon the ground he said, "I am told, Sir, that you are in possession of perfect TAO. May I ask how my self may be preserved so as to last?" Kuang Ch'êng Tzŭ jumped up with a start. "A good question indeed!" cried he. "Come, and I will speak to you of perfect TAO. "The essence of perfect TAO is profoundly mysterious; its extent is lost in obscurity. "See nothing; hear nothing; let your soul be wrapped in quiet; and your body will begin to take proper form. Let there be absolute repose and absolute purity; do not weary your body nor disturb your vitality,--and you will live for ever. For if the eye sees nothing, and the ear hears nothing, and the mind _Lit._ the heart. thinks nothing, the soul will preserve the body, and the body will live for ever. Not in the grosser worldly sense, but as a sublimated unit in eternity. "Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse. Then I will place you upon that abode of Great Light which is the source of the positive Power, and escort you through the gate of Profound Mystery which is the source of the negative Power. These Powers are the controllers of heaven and earth, and each contains the other. Knowledge thereof is knowledge of the great mystery of human existence. "Cherish and preserve your own self, In accordance with the above. and all the rest will prosper of itself. The welfare of the people, the success of their harvests, etc. I preserve the original ONE, while resting in harmony with externals. It is because I have thus cared for my self now for twelve hundred years that my body has not decayed." The Yellow Emperor prostrated himself and said, "Kuang Ch'êng Tzŭ is surely God...." Whereupon the latter continued, "Come, I will tell you. That self is eternal; yet all men think it mortal. That self is infinite; yet all men think it finite. Those who possess TAO are princes in this life and rulers in the hereafter. Those who do not possess TAO, behold the light of day in this life and become clods of earth in the hereafter.