Book Ii. The Yellow Emperor : BOOK II THE YELLOW EMPEROR The Yellow Emperor sat for fifteen years on the throne, and rejoiced that the Empire looked up to him as its head. He was careful of his physical well-being, sought pleasures for his ears and eyes, and gratified his senses of smell and taste. Nevertheless, he grew...
Editorial Note : EDITORIAL NOTE The object of the Editor of this series is a very definite one. He desires above all things that these books shall be the ambassadors of good-will between East and West. He hopes that they will contribute to a fuller knowledge of the great cultural heritage of the East, for only...
Book I. Cosmogony : BOOK I COSMOGONY Our Master Lieh Tzu dwelt on a vegetable plot in the Chng State for forty years, and no man knew him for what he was. The Prince, his Ministers, and all the State officials looked upon him as one of the common herd. A time of dearth fell upon the State, and he was preparing...
Untitled : TAOIST TEACHINGS Translated From The BOOK OF LIEH-TZ With Introduction And Notes By LIONEL GILES M.A., D.Litt. [1912] Lieh-Tz was major Taoist sage who lived c. 350 BCE. His writings use stories and fables to elucidate the Taoist philosophy of cooperating with nature; they illustrate the magical...
Introduction : INTRODUCTION The history of Taoist philosophy may be conveniently divided into three stages: the primitive stage, the stage of development, and the stage of degeneration. The first of these stages is only known to us through the medium of a single semi-historical figure, the philosopher Lao Tzu...
Book V. The Questions Of Pang : BOOK V THE QUESTIONS OF PANG T'ang of Yin questioned Hsia Ko, saying: 'In the beginnings of antiquity, did individual things exist?' 'He suspected that there was only Chaos, and nothing more. 'If things did not exist then,' replied Hsia Ko, 'how could they be in existence now? Or will the men...
Book Iv. Confucius : BOOK IV CONFUCIUS A high official from Shang paid a visit to Confucius 'You are a sage, are you not? he inquired. 'A sage! replied Confucius. 'How could I venture to think so? I am only a man with a wide range of learning and information.' The Minister then asked: 'Were the Three Kings sages...
Book Iii. Dreams : BOOK III DREAMS In the time of King Mu of Chou, there was a magician who came from a kingdom in the far west. He could pass through fire and water, penetrate metal and stone, overturn mountains and make rivers flow backwards, transplant whole towns and cities, ride on thin air without falling...
Title Page : TAOIST TEACHINGS Translated From The BOOK OF LIEH-TZ With Introduction And Notes By LIONEL GILES M.A., D.Litt. [1912] {scanned , January 2002. Notes were interspersed in the main body of the text in the original book; these appear in a smaller typeface in this etext.} {p. 3} TO My Father whose...
Book Vii. Causality : BOOK VII CAUSALITY In the course of Lieh Tzu's instruction by Hu-ch'iu Tzu-lin, the latter said to him: 'You must familiarize yourself with the theory of consequents before you can talk of regulating conduct.' Lieh Tzu said: 'Will you explain what you mean by the theory of consequents? Look at your...
Book Vi. Effort And Destiny : BOOK VI EFFORT AND DESTINY Effort said to Destiny: I have purposely avoided the familiar modern terms, Fate and Free will, which might seem to furnish the best equivalent to "li" and "ming". "Li" is the ordinary word for 'strength' or 'force,' and here indicates human effort exerted in some...
