Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

It may be asked, 'How is it that those who nowadays speak about the nature do so

differently from this?' I reply:-Those who nowadays speak about the nature blend with their other views those of Buddhism and Lâo-tsze; and doing so, how could they speak otherwise than differently from me?

異,而奚言老雜言老雜言今也。此異性之日,

不言者,而佛也,而佛者之日,何於者言今

CHAPTER III.

OF YANG CHỦ AND MO TỈ.

SECTION I.

THE OPINIONS OF YANG CHỦ.

I. 'The words of Yang Chû and Mo Ti,' said Mencius, 'fill the world. If you listen to people's discourses throughout it, you will find that they have adopted the views of the one or of the other. Now, Yang's principle is "Each one for himself," which does not acknowledge the claims of the sovereign. Mo's principle is "To love all equally," which does not acknowledge the peculiar affection due to a father. To acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of a beast. If their principles are not stopped, and the principles of Confucius set forth, their perverse speakings will delude the people, and stop up the path of benevolence and righteousness.

'I am alarmed by these things, and address myself to the defence of the doctrines of the former sages, and to oppose Yang and Mo. I drive away their licentious expressions, so that such perverse speakers may not be able to show themselves. When sages shall rise up again, they will not change my words1.'

His opposition to Yang and Mo was thus one of the great labours of Mencius's life, and what he deemed the success of it one of his great achievements. His countrymen generally accede to the justice of his claim; though there have not been wanting some to sayjustly, as I think and will endeavour to show in the next section -that Mo need not have incurred from him such heavy censure. For Yang no one has a word to say. His leading principle as stated by Mencius is certainly detestable, and so far as we can judge from the slight accounts of him that are to be gathered from other quarters, he seems to have been about 'the least erected spirit,' who ever professed to reason concerning the life and duties of man. 2. The generally received opinion is that Yang belonged to the

1 Bk. III. Pt. II. ix. 9, 10.

period of 'The Warring States,' the same era of Chinese history as Mencius. He was named Chû, and styled Tsze-chü1. In a note on Bk. III. Pt. II. ix. 9, I have supposed that he was of the times of Confucius and Lao-tsze, having then before me a passage of the Taoist philosopher Chwang, in which he gives an account of an interview between Lâo-tsze and Yang Chû. That interview, however, must be an invention of Chwang. The natural impression which we receive from all the references of Mencius is that Yang must have been posterior to Confucius, and that his opinions had come into vogue only in the times of our philosopher himself. This view would be placed beyond doubt if we could receive as genuine the chapter on Yang, which is contained in the writings of the philosopher Lieh. And so far we may accept it, as to believe that it gives the sentiments which were attributed to him in the first century before our era3. The leading principle ascribed to him by Mencius nowhere appears in it in so many words, but the general tenour of his language is entirely in accordance with it. This will appear from the following specimens, which are all to be found in the seventh chapter of the Books of Lieh. The corresponding English and Chinese paragraphs are indicated by the same letters prefixed to them :—

*Yang Chû said, "A hundred years are the extreme limit of longevity; and not one man in a thousand enjoys such a period of life. Suppose the case of one who does so :-infancy borne in the arms, and doting old age, will nearly occupy the half; what is forgotten in sleep, and what is lost in the waking day, will nearly occupy the half; pain and sickness, sorrow and bitterness, losses, anxieties, and fears, will nearly occupy the half. There may remain ten years or so; but I reckon that not even in them will be found an hour of smiling self-abandonment, without the shadow of solicitude.-What is the life of man then to be made of? What pleasure is in it ?

"""Is it to be prized for the pleasure of food and dress? or for the enjoyments of music and beauty? But one cannot be always satisfied with those pleasures; one cannot be always toying with beauty and listening to music. And then there are the restraints of punishments and the stimulants of rewards; the urgings and the repressings of fame and laws :-these make one strive restlessly for the vain praise of an hour, and calculate on the residuary glory after death; they keep him, as with body bent, on the watch against what his ears hear and his eyes see, and attending to the right and the wrong of his conduct and thoughts. In this way

'楊朱,字子居 * See 莊子, 雜篇,第五, the 寓言, at the end

Dr. Morrison says of Lieh (Dictionary, character Lieh-tsze, an eminent writer of the Tao sect; lived about the same time as Lao-tsze, the founder of the sect (B. c. 585).' Lieh's Works are published, with the preface of Liû Hsiang written B.C. 13. Hsiang says Lich

was a native of Chăng (), and a contemporary of duke Mû (or). But Mû's reign

extended from B. c. 627 to 604. There is evidently an anachronism somewhere. Hsiang goes on to speak of Lieh's writings, specifying the chapter on Yang Chû, in which there are references to Confucius and his acknowledged fame. Another of Lieh's chapters is all devoted to Confucius's sayings and doings.-This is not the place to attempt an adjustment of the difficulties. The chapter about Yang Chû was current in Liû Hsiang's time, and we may cull from it to illustrate the character of the man.

he loses the real pleasure of his years, and cannot allow himself for a moment.-In what does he differ from an individual manacled and fettered in an inner prison? The people of high antiquity knew both the shortness of life, and how suddenly and completely it might be closed by death, and therefore they obeyed the movements of their hearts, refusing not what it was natural for them to like, nor seeking to avoid any pleasure that occurred to them. They paid no heed to the incitements of fame; they enjoyed themselves according to their nature; they did not resist the common tendency of all things to self-enjoyment; they cared not to be famous after death. They managed to keep, clear of punishment; as to fame and praise, being first or last, long life or short life,-these things did not come into their calculations.”,

b'Yang Chu said, "Wherein people differ is the matter of life; wherein they agree is death. While they are alive, we have the distinctions of intelligence and stupidity, honourableness and meanness; when they are dead, we have so much stinking rottenness decaying away :this is the common lot. Yet intelligence and stupidity, honourableness and meanness, are not in one's power; neither is that condition of putridity, decay, and utter disappearance. A man's life is not in his own hands, nor is his death; his intelligence is not his own, nor is his stupidity, nor his honourableness, nor his meanness. All are born and all die;-the intelligent and the stupid, the honourable and the mean. At ten years old some die; at a hundred years old some die. The virtuous and the sage die; the ruffian and the fool also die Alive, they were Yao and Shun; dead, they were so much rotten bone. Alive, they were Chieh and Châu; dead, they were so much rotten bone. Who could know any difference between their rotten bones? While alive, therefore, let us hasten to make the best of life; what leisure have we to be thinking of anything after death?",

死腐齊所臭所 *之之人,失虛元樂自

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

*' Măng-sun Yang asked Yang-tsze, saying, "Here is a man who sets a high value on his life, and takes loving care of his body, hoping that he will not die :-does he do right?" "There is no such thing as not dying," was the reply. “But if he does so, hoping for long life, is he right?" Yang-tsze answered, " One cannot be assured of long life. Setting value upon life will not preserve it; taking care of the body will not make it greatly better. And, in fact, why should long life be made much of? There are the five feelings with their likings and dislikings, –now as in old time; there are the four limbs, now at ease, now in danger, now as in old time; there are the various experiences of joy and sorrow,—now as in old time; there are the various changes from order to disorder, and from disorder to order,-now as in old time :—all these things I have heard of, and seen, and gone through. A hundred years of them would be more than enough, and shall I wish the pain protracted through a longer life?" Măng-sun said, "If it be so, early death is better than long life. Let a man go to trample on the pointed steel, or throw himself into the caldron or flames, to get what he desires." Yang-tsze answered, 66 “ No. Being once born, take your life as it comes, and endure it ; and seeking to enjoy yourself as you desire, so await the approach of death. When you are about to die, treat the thing with indifference and endure it; and seeking to accomplish your departure, so abandon yourself to annihilation. Both death and life should be treated with indifference; they should both be endured :--why trouble one's self about earliness or lateness in connexion with them ?”,

d · Ch'in-tsze asked Yang Chû, saying, "If you could benefit the world by parting with one hair of your body, would you do it?" "The world is not to be benefited by a hair,” replied Yang. The other urged, “But suppose it could be, what would you do ?" To this Yang gave no answer, and Ch'in went out, and reported what had passed to Ming-sun Yang. Măngsun said, "You do not understand our Master's mind:-let me explain it to you. If by enduring a slight wound in the flesh, you could get ten thousand pieces of gold, would you endure it ?”“I would.”“If by cutting off one of your limbs, you could get a kingdom, would you do it ?” Ch'in was silent ; and after a little, Mǎng-sun Yang resumed, “To part with a hair is a slighter matter than to receive a wound in the flesh, and that again is a slighter matter than to lose a limb :-that you can discern. But consider :-A hair may be

膚肌 為為達之之 夫乎.乎.禽無以所孫古情非可孟

膚以成一節一毛固一體萬分中之一物奈何輕 肌膚微於一節省矣然則積一毛以成肌膚積肌

盡欲得孟之樂五生死,

乎子楊楊子不俟志陽旣猶好貴乎。孫
廢,於矣。日,更今惡之日,陽
楊無死楊若之也
朱不將子然變

孫言子非

陽之,出

萬積孫有侵孟之之速

1.若

孟日有語毛

陽斷若孫所

若肌 5.濟.毛.

[ocr errors]

節,獲 孫子濟乎。

物肌微

得萬陽日

奈膚,

金日,假

何積肌國者、子濟、汝 輕肌膚子若不為為

則廢而任之究其所之以放於

,任,死日,速百易今 存,不
何則不亡年治也身 .B.
然愈猶亂,四非

遲 旣於厭古體愛

久其猶安之

則生多,今危所

則也古能可貴

[ocr errors]

鋒生聞今

日,愛

刃之之也

也旣事

於所火乎見苦為生,不

苦矣世生無以

« AnkstesnisTęsti »