Chapter Vi The Ideal Life : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 42 CHAPTER VI THE IDEAL LIFE YANG CHU said: "Yuan Hsie lived in mean circumstances in Lu, while Tse Kung1 amassed wealth in Wei. "Poverty galled the one, and riches caused uneasiness to the other. "So poverty will not do nor wealth either." "But what then...
Untitled : Sacred-Texts Taoism YANG CHU'S GARDEN OF PLEASURE [THE YANG CHU CHAPTER OF THE LIEH TZU (BOOK 7)] TRANSLATED BY ANTON FORKE [London, 1912] {Reduced To HTML By Christopher M. Weimer, Sept. 2003} Yang Chu was a philosopher of the classic age of Chinese thought who probably lived in the 300's B.C.E...
Chapter Xiv Difficulty And Ease Of Government : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 58 CHAPTER XIV DIFFICULTY AND EASE OF GOVERNMENT YANG CHU had an audience with the King of Leang. Yang Chu said: "To govern the world is as easy as to turn round the palm of the hand." The King of Leang said: "You have a wife and a concubine, Master, but...
Chapter Vii Duty To The Living And The Dead : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER VII DUTY TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD YANG CHU said: "There is an old saying, 'We must pity the living and part with the dead.' This is a good saying. "Pity does not merely consist in an unusual feeling. "So we may give the feverish rest, satiety...
Chapter Iii The Brevity Of Conscious Life : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER III THE BREVITY OF CONSCIOUS LIFE YANG CHU said: "One hundred years is the limit of a long life. p. 39 Not one in a thousand ever attains to it. Yet if they do, still unconscious infancy and old age take up about half this time. "The time he passes...
Chapter Xii Self Sacrifice And Self Aggrandisement : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XII SELF-SACRIFICE AND SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT YANG CHU said: "Po-chng-tse-kao1 would not part with a hair of his body for the benefit of others. He quitted p. 53 his country and became a ploughman. The great Y1 did not profit by his own body, which grew...
Chapter Xiii The Vanity Of Reputation : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XIII THE VANITY OF REPUTATION YANG CHU said: "The world praises Shun-Yu, Duke Chow, and Confucius, and condemns Chieh and Chow. Now Shun had to plough in Ho-yang and to burn tiles in Lei-tse. His four limbs had no p. 55 rest, and rich food and warm...
Chapter Xv All Things Pass : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 59 CHAPTER XV ALL THINGS PASS YANG CHU said: "The memory of things of highest antiquity is faded. Who recollects them? Of the time of the three generations of Emperors1 something is preserved, but the rest is lost. Of the five rulers2 something is still...
Chapter Xix The Wisdom Of Contentment : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous CHAPTER XIX THE WISDOM OF CONTENTMENT YANG CHU said: "How can a body possessing the four things, a comfortable house, fine clothes, good food, and pretty women, still long for anything else? p. 64 He who does so has an insatiable nature, and insatiableness is...
Chapter Xviii All Pleasures Are Relative : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XVIII ALL PLEASURES ARE RELATIVE A COMMON saying of the Chow time is: "Can a husbandman sit down and rest? "At dawn he sets out, and at night returns. "This he considers the perpetual course of human nature. "He eats coarse fare, which seems to him...
Chapter Xvii The Four Chimeras : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XVII THE FOUR CHIMERAS YANG CHU said: "There are four things which do not allow people to rest: "Long life. Reputation. Rank. Riches. "Those who have them fear ghosts, fear men, power, and punishment. They are always fugitives. Whether they are...
Chapter Xi The Folly Of Desire For Long Life : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XI THE FOLLY OF DESIRE FOR LONG LIFE MENG-SUN-YANG asked Yang Chu: "There are men who cherish life and care for their bodies with the intention of grasping immortality. Is that possible?" Yang Chu replied: "According to the laws of nature there is no...
Title Page : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Next WISDOM OF THE EAST YANG CHU'S GARDEN OF PLEASURE TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY PROFESSOR ANTON FORKE, PH.D., ETC. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HUGH CRANMER-BYNG [LONDON, 1912] {Reducted To HTML By Christopher M. Weimer, Sept. 2003} Next
Chapter X The Joyous Life Of Tuan Mu Shu : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER X THE JOYOUS LIFE OF TUAN-MU-SHU TUAN-MU-SHU of Wei was descended from Tse-Kung. He had a patrimony of ten thousand gold pieces. Indifferent to the chances of life, he followed his own inclinations. What the heart delights in he would do and delight...
Chapter Viii The Art Of Life : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 43 CHAPTER VIII THE ART OF LIFE YEN-PING-CHUNG asked Kuan-Yi-Wu1 as to cherishing life. Kuan-Yi-Wu replied: "It suffices to give it its free course, neither checking nor obstructing it." Yen-Ping-Chung said: "And as to details?" Kuan-Yi-Wu replied: "Allow...
Chapter V False Virtues : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER V FALSE VIRTUES YANG CHU said: "Po Yi was not without desire, for being too proud of his purity of mind, he was led to death by starvation. "Chan-Chi2 was not passionless, for being too proud of his virtue he happened to reduce his family. "Those who...
Chapter Iv Death The Equaliser : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER IV DEATH THE EQUALISER YANG CHU said: "That in which all beings differ is life, that in which they are all alike is death. "During life there is the difference of intelligence and dullness, honour and meanness, but in death there is the equality...
Chapter Ii Real And False Greatness : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER II REAL AND FALSE GREATNESS YANG CHU said: "Kuan Ching filled his post as a minister of Ch'i in the following way. When his sovereign was wanton he was wanton too; when his sovereign was prodigal he was also prodigal. He met his wishes and obeyed...
Chapter Xvi The Nature Of Man : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER XVI THE NATURE OF MAN YANG CHU said: "Men resemble heaven and earth in that they cherish five principles.1 Of all creatures, man is the most skilful. His nails and teeth do not suffice to procure him maintenance and shelter. His skin and sinews do...
Chapter I The Vanity Of Fame : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 36 CHAPTER I THE VANITY OF FAME YANG CHU, when travelling in Lu, put up at Meng Sun Yang's. Meng asked him: "A man can never be more than a man; why do people still trouble themselves about fame?" Yang Chu answered: "If they do so their object is...
Chapter Ix The Happy Voluptuaries : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next CHAPTER IX THE HAPPY VOLUPTUARIES TSE-CHAN was Minister in Cheng, and governed for three years, and governed well.1 The good people complied with his injunctions, and the bad were in awe of his prohibitory laws. So Cheng was governed, and the princes were...
Introduction : Sacred-Texts Taoism Index Previous Next p. 7 YANG CHU'S GARDEN OF PLEASURE INTRODUCTION THE period of the Warring States of the Western Chinese Empire, 480 to 230 B.C., embraces practically (almost) all of the philosophies of China, and is curiously coincident with the rise of philosophy in Greece...
