The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion, by C. Spurgeon Medhurst, [1905], at sacred-texts.com
The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion, by C. Spurgeon Medhurst, [1905], at sacred-texts.com
Who plants well will not have his work uprooted; who embraces well will not lose what he holds; the offerings of his sons and grandsons will never end. 1
Who thus regulates himself has virtue which is genuine; who thus regulates his household has virtue which overflows; who thus regulates his neighborhood has virtue which excels; who thus regulates the state has virtue which abounds; who thus regulates the world has virtue 2 which is universal.
Therefore let every man prove himself; let each household, neighborhood, and state do the same; let the world also follow the same course.
How do I know that it must be thus with the world? By this same (which has been just said).
This was the teaching, and the daily experience of the Lord Jesus. Whoever roots his life on these levels will not only be never swept from off his feet but will become a regulative force, which will not cease at the stage called death. The offerings of his sons and grandsons will never end.
92:1 ''Where is that which is so planted that it cannot be uprooted, or so held that it cannot be torn away? Only the Sage knows the truth of spirit and the illusion of matter, so that he can give up the latter for the sake of the former. His virtue overflows, but indeed he establishes nothing, so that what he establishes cannot be uprooted. Truly he grasps nothing, and so what he embraces cannot be taken from him. Will not his sons and his grandsons be able therefore to continue their sacrifices without ceasing?"—Su-cheh.
92:2 "Virtue" (teh) is the same Chinese word as that translated "energy" in chaps. 38, 61, 55, etc. See Index.