[19] See Chia-yü, Vol. 1, Ch. 3. [20] Shï chi, Lao-tzŭ. [21] See Chia-yü, Vol. 1, Ch. 3. [22] Shï chi, 1, c. [23] For the distracted state of China about this period, one may read the Shi-ching, the Tʽung-chien, Chʽun-chʽiu, the Lun-yü, and other books. [24] See 十字全書, Introduction. [25] Tao-tê Ching, Chs. 20 and 67. [26] See, for instance, a very unfair article on Confucius in the _Fortnightly Review_ for May, 1868, by Sir J. Bowring. [27] 朱子全書, Ch. 58. [28] Chia-yü (家語), Ch. 3. [29] See the Yuan-chien-lei-han (淵鑑類幽), Ch, 318. [30] Chalmers translates this “old philosopher.” [31] See the Records of Spirits and Fairies. Art. 老子. Julien has translated this Chapter in the Introduction to his Tao-tê Ching. [32] See 老子志略 in the 十字全書. Also compare the similar legends about the Buddha in Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism, pages 367–8–9. [33] See his Mémoire sur la vie &c., de Lao-tseu, ps. 5 & 6. [34] One author, however, represents him as travelling far away to the West and becoming again incarnate as Gotama Buddha—see Yuan-chien &c., ch. 317. CHAPTER III. THE TAO-TÊ CHING 道德經. Lao-tzŭ is said to have died at the age of eighty-one years in B.C. 523,[1] though, as has been seen, nothing is known positively about the time or manner of his decease. He had, according to historical tradition, on leaving the Hanku Pass, consigned his writings on Tao and Tê to Yin-hsi, the guardian of the Pass. This latter seems to have transmitted his doctrines to others, more especially to Wên-tzŭ (文子), who probably published the first edition of this work known to the public. Some indeed suppose that Lao-tzŭ did not himself commit anything to writing, and that Yin-hsi merely related orally to Wên-tzŭ and others what he had been taught orally by the sage. This opinion will not seem unlikely, if we consider that the use of paper was at this time unknown and that there were very few facilities of any kind for publishing a book. Others suppose that Wen-tzŭ was an immediate disciple of Lao-tzŭ and that he published an account of his master’s doctrines after the decease of the latter.[2] In any case, however, it appears certain that for a considerable time after the death of its author the work which is now known as the Tao-tê ching remained in at least partial obscurity. Mencius does not allude by name to Lao-tzŭ or his teachings, though he refers on several occasions, and rather unfavourably, to Yang-chu (楊朱), who is supposed to have been a disciple of the sage. The philosophers Chwang (莊) and Lie (列), however, contemporaries of Mencius, seem to have been aware of the existence and contents of the Tao-tê ching. The latter expressly quotes its words, and both make mention of Lao-tan.