Book 123 (part 2)

In the south of Khû 2 , there is the (tree) called Ming-ling 3 , whose spring is 500 years, and its autumn the same; in high antiquity there was that called Tâ-khun 4 , p. 167 whose spring was 8000 years, and its autumn the same. And Phäng Zû 1 is the one man renowned to the present day for his length of life:--if all men were (to wish) to match him, would they not be miserable? 3. In the questions put by Thang 2 to Kî we have similar statements:--'In the bare and barren north there is the dark and vast ocean,--the Pool of Heaven. In it there is a fish, several thousand lî in breadth, while no one knows its length. Its name is the khwän. There is (also) a bird named the phäng; its back is like the Thâi mountain, while its wings are like clouds all round the sky. On a whirlwind it mounts upwards as on the whorls of a goat's horn for 90,000 lî, till, far removed from the cloudy vapours, it bears on its back the blue sky, and then it shapes its course for the South, and proceeds to the ocean there.' A quail by the side of a marsh laughed at it, and said, 'Where is it going to? I spring up with a bound, and come down again when I have reached but a few fathoms, and then fly about among the brushwood and bushes; and p. 168 this is the perfection of flying. Where is that creature going to?' This shows the difference between the small and the great. Thus it is that men, whose wisdom is sufficient for the duties of some one office, or whose conduct will secure harmony in some one district, or whose virtue is befitting a ruler so that they could efficiently govern some one state, are sure to look on themselves in this manner (like the quail), and yet Yung-dze 1 of Sung 1 would have smiled and laughed at them. (This Yung-dze), though the whole world should have praised him, would not for that have stimulated himself to greater endeavour, and though the whole world should have condemned him, would not have exercised any more repression of his course; so fixed was he in the difference between the internal (judgment of himself) and the external (judgment of others), so distinctly had he marked out the bounding limit of glory and disgrace. Here, however, he stopped. His place in the world indeed had become indifferent to him, but still he had not planted himself firmly (in the right position). There was Lieh-dze 2 , who rode on the wind and pursued his way, with an admirable indifference (to p. 169 all external things), returning, however, after fifteen days, (to his place). In regard to the things that (are supposed to) contribute to happiness, he was free from all endeavours to obtain them; but though he had not to walk, there was still something for which he had to wait. But suppose one who mounts on (the ether of) heaven and earth in its normal operation, and drives along the six elemental energies of the changing (seasons), thus enjoying himself in the illimitable,--what has he to wait for'? Therefore it is said, 'The Perfect man has no (thought of) self; the Spirit-like man, none of merit; the Sagely-minded man, none of fame 1 .' 4. Yâo 2 , proposing to resign the throne to Hsü Yû 3 , said, 'When the sun and moon have come forth, if the torches have not been put out, would it not be difficult for them to give light?