The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Corrigendum Et Addendum.
• Preface.
• The Texts of TÂoism.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: Was Tâoism Older Than Lâo-ȝze ?
• Chapter II.: The Texts of the Tâo Teh K Ing and K Wang-ȝze Shû, As Regards Their Authenticity and Genuineness, and the Arrangement of Them.
• Chapter III.: What Is the Meaning of the Name Tâo? and the Chief Points of Belief In Tâoism.
• Chapter IV.: Accounts of Lâo-Ȝze and K Wang-Ȝze Given By Sze-mâ Kh Ien.
• Chapter V.: On the Tractate of Actions and Their Retributions.
• The TÂo Teh K Ing, Or the TÂo and Its Characteristics.
• Part I.
• Part II.
• The Writings of K Wang-Ȝze.
• Introduction.
• Brief Notices of the Different Books.
• Part I
• Book I.
• Part I. Section I.: Hsiâo-yâo Yû, Or ‘enjoyment In Untroubled Ease 1 .’
• Book II.
• Part I. Section II.: Kh î Wû Lun, Or ‘the Adjustment of Controversies 1 .’
• Book III.
• Part I. Section III.: Yang Shang K û, Or ‘nourishing the Lord of Life 1 .’
• Book IV.
• Part I. Section IV.: Z ăn K Ien Shih, Or ‘man In the World, Associated With Other Men 1 .’
• Book V.
• Part I. Section V.: Teh Kh Ung Fû, Or ‘the Seal of Virtue Complete 1 .’
• Book VI.
• Part I. Section VI.: Tâ Ȝung Shih, Or ‘the Great and Most Honoured Master 1 .’
• Book VII.
• Part I. Section VII.: Ying Tî Wang 1 , Or ‘the Normal Course For Rulers and Kings .’
• Part Ii
• Book VIII.
• Part II. Section I.: Phien Mâu, Or ‘webbed Toes 1 .’
• Book IX.
• Part II. Section II.: Mâ Thî, Or ‘horses’s Hoofs 1 .’
• Book X.
• Part II. Section III.: Kh ü Kh Ieh, Or ‘cutting Open Satchels 1 .’
• Book XI.
• Part II. Section IV.: Ȝâi Yû, Or ‘letting Be, and Exercising Forbearance 1 .’
• Book XII.
• Part II. Section V.: Thien Tî, Or ‘heaven and Earth 1 .’
• Book XIII.
• Part II. Section VI.: Thien Tâo, Or ‘the Way of Heaven 1 .’
• Book XIV.
• Part II. Section VII.: Thien Yün, Or ‘the Revolution of Heaven 1 .’
• Book XV.
• Part II. Section VIII.: Kho Î, Or ‘ingrained Ideas 1 .’
• Book XVI.
• Part II. Section IX.: Shan Hsing, Or ‘correcting the Nature 1 .’
• Book XVII.
• Part II. Section X.: Kh Iû Shui, Or ‘the Floods of Autumn 1 .’
• Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets

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THE

SACRED BOOKS OF CHINA

THE TEXTS OF TÂOISM

translated by

JAMES LEGGE

PART I

THE TÂO TEH KING

THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-ȜZE

BOOKS I-XVII

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD

CORRIGENDUM ET ADDENDUM.

On page 58, for the third and fourth sentences of the explanatory note to Chapter XIV, substitute the following:—It was but an interesting fancy of the ingenious writer, and the elaborate endeavour of Victor von Strauss to support it in 1870 has failed to make me think more favourably of it.

Dr. Edkins, in an article in the China Review for July and August, 1884, takes a different view of the chapter. He reads the monosyllables Î, Hî, and Wei according to his view of the old names of the Chinese characters, and calls them Âi, Kâi, and Mâi, considering them to be representative of one or three names of God. He says:—‘I am inclined to find here marks of the presence of Babylonian thought . . . . We have not the original words for the first trinity of the Babylonian religion. They are in the Assyrian or Semitic form Anu, Bel, Nuah. In Accadian they were Ilu, Enu, Hia. Of these Ilu was the supreme God, source of Chaos, in Chinese Hwun tun or Hwun Iun. In this chaos all forms were confounded as is the case with the Tâoist chaos. Bel or Enu is the word which separates the elements of chaos. Nuah or Hia is the light of God which penetrates the universe, and maintains the order established by the word. It was this Trinity of God, in the language of some intermediate nation, which Lâo-tsze appears to have had in view in the various passages where he speaks of the original principle of the universe in a triple form.’

This reading of our chapter is not more satisfactory to me than that of Rémusat and I am content, in my interpretation of it, to abide by the aids of Chinese dictionaries and commentators of reputation who have made it their study.