OF THE TAO EXEMPLIFIED IN HISTORY 7 



replied he had no knowledge, and subsequently I asked 

 Non-action who on the contrary replied that he had know- 

 ledge. We have thus the knowledge of Non-action and the 

 non-knowledge of Exhaustless. Which of them is right and 

 which is wrong?" Without-Beginning replied, ''The non- 

 knowledge of Exhaustless is the more profound; knowledge 

 is "superficial, non-knowledge knows the intrinsic, but know- 

 ledge only the extrinsic, non-knowledge sees the essence, 

 knowledge the accident." Great-Purity was surprised, and, 

 sighing replied, "Thus then, is non-knowledge the same as 

 knowing? And is not knowing the same as non -knowing? 

 There is no difference, who knows that knowledge is non- 

 knowledge and non-knowledge is (really) knowledge. Isn't 

 that so?" Without-Beginning replied, "The Tao cannot be 

 understood, the Tao that can be understood is not the Tao. 

 The Tao cannot be seen, that which can be seen is not the 

 Tao. The Tao cannot be spoken, were it possible to express 

 it then it would not be the Tao. Who is it that can under- 

 stand the form of the formless?" 

 Thus Lao Tzu said : 



THE GOODNESS THAT IS RECOGNIZED AT SUCH BY 

 ALL THE WORLD IS NOT THE GOODNESS : AND SO 

 IT MAY BE SAID, HE WHO KNOWS DOES NOT SPEAK, 

 AND HE WHO SPEAKS DOES NOT KNOW. 



Historical Verifications of the Operations 

 of the Tao. 



(1) A case of conscience — Silence is golden. — Duke Pei 

 asked Confucius, "May men use an occulting way of speech ?" 

 Confucius made no response. Duke Pei said, "What about 

 a stone thrown into the water ; would it be found out ? ' ' The 

 reply was, "The expert swimmers of Wu and Yueh would 

 get to the bottom and feel it." He again enquired what 

 about the effect of throwing water into water, no trace of one 

 as distinct from the other would be found? Confucius 

 replied, "The two waters Chia and Sheng of Ch'i though 

 united would be detected as to the tastes of each by such 

 as I Shen." Duke Pei then said, "Such being the case, men 

 certainly cannot use occulting language." To which Con- 

 fucius replied, "What you say is not correct." W 7 ho knows 

 the sense of words that are spoken? He who knows what 

 words signify does not express (his thought) in words. 



"A fisherman must enter the deep water to catch his 

 fish, a hunter must brave the danger and enter the lair to 

 get his prey. Hence the most perfect language does away 

 with words, and the perfect action consists in non-action. 

 He who has but a superficial knowledge in a matter in 

 dispute is shallow and fails to go to the root." 



