Book 127 (part 3)

228 (virtue) which is internal, and not an adjunct of the body, and yet you are continually directing your attention to my external body;--are you not wrong in this?' Dze-khân felt uneasy, altered his manner and looks, and said, 'You need not, Sir, say anything more about it.' 3. In Lû there was a cripple, called Shû-shan the Toeless 1 , who came on his heels to see Kung-nî. Kung-nî said to him, 'By your want of circumspection in the past, Sir, you have incurred such a calamity;--of what use is your coming to me now?' Toeless said, 'Through my ignorance of my proper business and taking too little care of my body, I came to lose my feet. But now I am come to you, still possessing what is more honourable than my feet, and which therefore I am anxious to preserve entire. There is nothing which Heaven does not cover, and nothing which Earth does not sustain; you, Master, were regarded by me as doing the part of Heaven and Earth;--how could I know that you would receive me in such a way?' Confucius rejoined, 'I am but a poor creature. But why, my master, do you not come inside, where I will try to tell you what I have learned?' When Toeless had gone out, Confucius said, 'Be stimulated to effort, my disciples. This toeless cripple is still anxious to learn to make up for the evil of his former conduct;--how much more should those be so whose conduct has been unchallenged!' Mr. Toeless, however, told Lâo Tan (of the interview), p. 229 saying, 'Khung Khiû, I apprehend, has not yet attained to be a Perfect man. What has he to do with keeping a crowd of disciples around him? He is seeking to have the reputation of being an extraordinary and marvellous man, and does not know that the Perfect man considers this to be as handcuffs and fetters to him.' Lâo Tan said, 'Why did you not simply lead him to see the unity of life and death, and that the admissible and inadmissible belong to one category, so freeing him from his fetters? Would this be possible?' Toeless said, 'It is the punishment inflicted on him by Heaven 1 . How can he be freed from it?' 4. Duke Âi of Lû 2 asked Kung-nî, saying, 'There was an ugly man in Wei, called Âi-thâi Tho 3 . His father-in-law, who lived with him, thought so much of him that he could not be away from him. His wife, when she saw him (ugly as he was), represented to her parents, saying, "I had more than ten times rather be his concubine than the wife of any other man 4 ." He was never heard to take the lead in discussion, but always seemed to be of the same opinion with others. He had not the position of a ruler, so as to be able to save men from death. He had no revenues, so as to be able to satisfy men's craving for food. He was ugly enough, moreover, to scare p. 230 the whole world. He agreed with men instead of trying to lead them to adopt his views; his knowledge did not go beyond his immediate neighbourhood 1 . And yet his father-in-law and his wife were of one mind about him in his presence (as I have said);--he must have been different from other men. I called him, and saw him. Certainly he was ugly enough to scare the whole world. He had not lived with me, however.