The next thing we have to do is to endeavour to find a word which will translate _Tao_ in this, its transcendental use—a matter of no easy accomplishment. Pauthier, as has been seen, renders it by “_Grande voie_ du monde,” by “Raison suprême universelle:” he also sometimes speaks of it simply as “Raison”[22] or “Logos.” Rémusat[23] also renders it by “Logos” or “Raison;” and it is by the term “Raison” or “Logos” that English writers translate the character _Tao_ when it refers to the peculiar doctrines of Lao-tzŭ and his real or pretended followers. Julien, however, dissents from this interpretation, and rightly I think. After giving an account of _Tao_ as taught by the Taoists themselves, he says “Il parait donc impossible de le (i.e., _Tao_) prendre pour la _raison primordiale_, pour _l’intelligence sublime_ qui a créé et qui régit le monde.”[24] It is with great hesitation and reluctance, however, that I find myself unable to adopt Julien’s own translation—“Voie,” or Way. I quite agree with him as to the reason for not adopting the term Reason—namely, that _Tao_ as represented by Lao-tzŭ is devoid of thought, judgment, and intelligence (as to action, Lao-tzŭ is apparently not quite consistent with himself.) Thus it is quite impossible to make it identical with the _Logos_ of Plato, and almost absurd to identify it with the divine _Logos_ of the Neoplatonists of Alexandria. But I do not think that the word _way_ is the best we can use to translate _Tao_, and this for several reasons. A way implies a way-maker apart from and antecedent to it, but _Tao_ was before all other existences. Again, when Lao-tzŭ speaks of it as indeterminate, as profound, and finally as producing, nourishing, and absorbing the universe, these terms can scarcely be applied to a way, however metaphorically used. Julien says:—“Le sens de _Voie_, que je donne au mot _Tao_ 道, résulte clairement des passages suivants de _Lao-tseu_: ‘Si j’étais doué de quelque prudence, je marcherais dans le grand _Tao_’ (dans la grande _Voie_).—Le grand _Tao_ est tres-uni (la grande _Voie_ est tres-unie), mais le peuple aime les sentiers (ch. LIII).” “Le _Tao_ peut être regardé comme la mere de l’univers. Je ne connais pas son nom; pour le qualifier, je l’appelle le _Tao_ ou la _Voie_ (ch. XXV).”[25] Now in the former of the two cases here cited the expression _ta tao_ 大道 means, I think, the great course of duty which all men ought to pursue, but especially those who are in authority—the way of the magistrate or ruler; an interpretation which seems to be supported by the rest of the chapter, though some of the commentators seem to be of the same opinion with Julien.[26] It is to be observed that this scholar translates the words “_ta tao_” by “la grande Voie,” but in the same chapter renders the words “_fei tao tsai_” 非道哉 simply by “ce n’est point pratiquer le _Tao_.” The chapter from which the latter of the above two passages is