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PT. II. SECT. v.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE.
307
BOOK XII.
Part II. SECTION V. Thien Tỉ, or “Heaven and Earth?.' 1. Notwithstanding the greatness of heaven and earth, their transforming power proceeds from one lathe; notwithstanding the number of the myriad things, the government of them is one and the same; notwithstanding the multitude of mankind, the lord of them is their (one) ruler 2. The ruler's (course) should proceed from the qualities of the Tâo) and be perfected by Heaven 3, when it is so, it is called 'Mysterious and Sublime.' The ancients ruled the world by doing nothing ;-simply by this attribute of Heaven 4.
If we look at their words o in the light of the Tâo, (we see that) the appellation for the ruler of the
1 See pp. 143, 144. 2 Implying that that ruler, 'the Son of Heaven,' is only one.
8 Heaven' is here defined as meaning "Non-action, what is of itself (FTE É );' the teh (iki) is the virtue, or qualities of the Tão ;-see the first paragraph of the next Book.
4 This sentence gives the thesis, or subject-matter of the whole Book, which the author never loses sight of.
5 Perhaps we should translate here, ‘They looked at their words,' referring to the ancient rulers.' So Gabelentz construes :- Dem Tão gemäss betrachteten sie die reden. The meaning that I have given is substantially the same. The term 'words' occasions a difficulty. I understand it here, with most of the critics, as Ź , the words of appellation.'
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