Book XX.
60. Chap. I. Hsü-sung [OMITTED].
This chapter is a variation of the two preceding.
61. Chap. II. Yi-wên [OMITTED].
The subject of this treatise is purely literary. It discusses
the discovery of the Classics in the house of Confucius, the Burning
of the Books under Ch`in Shih Huang Ti, and the literature of the
Han epoch, of which several authors are mentioned.
*62. Chap. III. Lun-sse [OMITTED] (On Death).
Man is a creature. Since other creatures do not become
ghosts after death, man cannot become a ghost either. If all the
millions that have lived, became spirits, there would not be sufficient
room for all the spirits in the world. The dead never give
any sign of there existence, therefore they cannot exist any more.
The vital fluid forming the soul disperses at death, how could it
become a ghost. A spirit is diffuse and formless. Before its birth
the -soul forms part of the primogenial fluid, which is unconscious.
When at death it reverts thereto, it becomes unconscious again.
The soul requires the body to become conscious and to act. If
sleep causes unconsciousness, and if a disease disorganises the mind,
death must do the same in a still higher degree.
