The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) · 17 of 57 · tr. James Legge
Book II (part 10)
Of the sounds of Man very little is said, but they form the subject of the next paragraph.
Nothing is said in answer to the disciple's inquiry about the notes of Heaven.
It is intimated, however, that there is no necessity to introduce any foreign Influence or Power like Heaven in connexion.
with the notes of Earth.
The term Heaven, indeed, is about to pass with our author into a mere synonym of Tâo, the natural 'course' of the phenomena of men and things.
178:2 Words are the 'sounds' of Man; and knowledge is the 'wind' by which they are excited.
179:1 A true Governor' would be a good enough translation for 'the true God.' But Kwang-dze did not admit any supernatural Power or Being as working in man.
His true Governor was the Tâo; and this will be increasingly evident as we proceed with the study of his Books.
180:1 The name 'Ruler' is different from 'Governor' above; but they both indicate the same concept in the author's mind.
180:2 The proper reply to this would be that the mind is not dissolved with the body; and Kwang-dze's real opinion, as we shall find, was that life and death were but phases in the phenomenal development.
But the course of his argument suggests to us the question here, 'Is life worth living?' 181:1 This 'teacher' is 'the Tâo.' 181:2 Expressing the absurdity of the case.
This is one of the sayings of Hui-dze;--see Book XXXIII, par.
7.
181:3 The successor and counsellor of Shun, who coped with and remedied the flood of Yâo.
182:1 The followers of Confucius.
182:2 The disciples of Mih-dze, or Mih Tî, the heresiarch, whom Mencius attacked so fiercely;--see Mencius, V, 1, 5, e t al.
His era must be assigned between Confucius and Mencius.
182:3 That is, the perfect mind, the principle of the Tâo.
182:4 As taught by Hui-dze;--see XXXIII, 7; but it is doubtful if the quotation from Hui's teaching be complete.
182:5 Equivalent to the Tâo.
See on the use in Lâo-dze and Kwang-dze of the term 'Heaven,' in the Introduction, pp.
16-18.
183:1 The language of our author here is understood to have reference to the views of Kung-sun Lung, a contemporary of Hui-dze, and a sophist like him.
One of his treatises or arguments had the title of 'The White Horse,' and another that of 'Pointing to Things.' If these had been preserved, we might have seen more clearly the appropriateness of the text here.
But the illustration of the monkeys and their actions shows us the scope of the whole paragraph to be that controversialists, whose views are substantially the same, may yet differ, and that with heat, in words.
184:1 The character in the text means both 'a stalk of grain' and a horizontal beam.' Each meaning has its advocates here.
184:2 A famous beauty, a courtezan presented by the king of Yüeh to his enemy, the king of Wû, and who hastened on his progress to ruin and death, she herself perishing at the same time.
185:1 Literally, 'the Heaven-Mould or Moulder,'--another name for the Tâo, by which all things are fashioned.
185:2 See the same passage in Book XXIII, par.
10.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The author explicitly states Kwang-dze did not admit any supernatural Power or Being, implying the Tâo is a simple natural principle rather than a composite deity.
The commentary notes that the mind is not dissolved with the body and life/death are phases in phenomenal development, implying continuity of consciousness.
Effortless action aligned with the spontaneous flow of the Dao; non-coercive, non-striving conduct that yields results without forcing — the sage acts without acting.
The passage defines Tâo as the 'natural course' and states there is no necessity for foreign influence, aligning with the principle of effortless action and non-interference.