32 THE OPERATIONS AND MANIFESTATIONS 



Brilliancy asked Non-Being, 1 "Have you really an exis- 

 tence or are you really non-existent" Non-Being made no 

 reply to this. Not able to see any objective form which he 



Form is begotten of the formless. 

 How can matter be begotten is the question. 

 "He hangeth the world on nothing.'" 



could address he kept gazing on non-being's appearance, dim 

 and vague. g He gazed but saw no manifest form : he listened 

 but discerned no sound ; he clutched at it but failed to grasp 

 anything : he viewed it but could not fathom it." Brilliancy 

 exclaimed. "Wonderful. Who can attain to this? I can 

 apprehend the Invisible spirit, but I cannot differentiate his 

 qualities (or better) I can get to be nothing, but I cannot 

 attain to the elimination of nothing itself. (Another transla- 

 tion) I can know that of w T hich the form or idea exists; but 

 not the substance (Wu) : but I cannot know that which is 

 not even the idea. The past though not in actual existence 

 can be known, but it is not possible to know that which has 

 not come, i.e., the future. As Lao Tzu says: 



SINCE THE FORMLESS ENTERS INT(3 THE 



NON-SPATIAL 



I KNOW THEREFORE THAT NON-ACTION 



IS PROFITABLE. 



(45) The Supremacy of the Spirit. — Pei Kung Sheng 



meditated a revolution. After the end of an audience he 



stood in his home on his lance ; the point pricked his jaw 



and the blood flowed but without his being conscious of it. 



When the people of Cheng heard of it they said "If he is 



unconscious of this, what will he not be unconscious o<f." 



This shows that when the spirit follows ideas beyond the 



physical frame, and mind is flooded with thoughts and designs 



there is no attention paid to wounds nearer home. Hence 



when the mind is occupied with distant objects things nearer 



are foregone. Just as Lao Tzii says: 



WITHOUT GOING OUT OF YOUR DOOR YOU MAY 

 LEARN OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTRY. WITHOUT 

 LOOKING OUT OF YOUR WINDOW, THE HEAVENLY 

 DOCTRINE CAN BE KNOWN, THE FARTHER YOU 

 TRAVEL IN YOUR RESEARCHES, THE LESS YOU KNOW. 



The saying is illustrated by the foregoing historical 

 episode. 



(46) Forts are not the best guardians of the frontier. — 

 The emperor Ts'in anxious about maintaining the empire he 

 had won, assigned guardposts on the frontiers : built the 

 great wall: organized likin stations, and bridges: erected 

 fortifications : prepared express services : and appointed 



^he one is visible the other invisible. 



