University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XI.

On Intelligence (Pieh-t`ung).

In the houses of the wealthy, a space of ten feet serves as the
inner appartment, and in this room are boxes and trunks all filled
with lustres and other silk fabrics.[436] The poor likewise use a
space of ten feet as inner appartment, but it is completely empty,
merely consisting of four bare walls, whence they are called poor.
The intelligent are like the wealthy, the unintelligent like the
poor. Both are provided with a body seven feet high, but whereas
the intelligent harbour the words of all the philosophers[437] in their
bosoms, the hearts of the unintelligent are empty, for they have
never read a single tablet, like the interior of poor people, four
bare walls.

In the general appreciation, the poor and the rich are not
equal, and thus the sharp and the blunt-witted cannot be placed
on a level. However the world holds the rich in affectionate
esteem, and does not honour the clear-headed, it feels ashamed of
the poor, and does not despise the unwise; a treatment not warranted
by the principles of analogy. As for the deference shown
to rich people, they live in luxury because of their wealth, and
therefore are held in respect. But rich men are not like scholars,
and scholars fall short of strong-minded individuals.

The latter have more then ten chests crammed full of letters:—
the words of the sages, the utterances of worthies, as far back
as Huang Ti, and down to the Ch`in and Han, methods of government,
and for increasing the national wealth, criticisms on the age,
and strictures on low class people, all is there. A man with a
bright intellect, and large views has a better claim on our consideration,
I should say, than lustres and silk stuffs.

Hsiao Ho[438] went to Ch`in to collect official papers, and it was
by the force of these documents that the Han could sway the

Nine Provinces.[439] With documents they extended their rule over
the entire empire, and how much greater is the wealth of empires
than that of private persons?

A man whose eyes cannot see green and yellow, is called
blind. If his ears cannot hear the first and second notes,[440] he is
deaf, and if his nose has no perception of perfumes and stenches,
he is without the sense of smell.[441] Any one without the sense of smell,
deaf, or blind is not a perfect man. Now a person without a vast
knowledge, ignorant of past and present, not conversant with categories,
insensible of right and wrong, is like a blind or deaf man,
or one without the olfactory senses. Even scholars who do not
study must be considered beclouded, and fancy common people
never reading a book and not knowing truth and untruth. Theirs
is the height of narrow-mindedness. They are like dummies made
of clay or wood, which have ears and eyes quite complete, and
yet are insensible.

Wading through shallow water, people find crabs, in greater
depth they discover fish and turtles, and in the deepest recesses
they fall in with water snakes and dragons. As the steps taken
are different, so the animals met with vary. The same rule applies
to those who make more or less progress in science. Those remaining
on the surface read stories and pleasant books, those
entering deeper come to the school of the Sage, where they learn
to know works of profound wisdom. The farther they penetrate
into the doctrine, the more insight they acquire.

On a journey, people always want to visit the capital, because
it has so many sights worth seeing, and in the capital they desire
to see the market, where so many rare things are exposed for sale.
The dicta of all the thinkers of the divers schools and the history
of ancient and modern times are likewise very wonderful, even more
so than the capital with its big market place. By a visit to the
capital, the traveller's intention is accomplished, and the sight of
the big market satisfies his desires. How much more must this
be true of a journey into the realms of thought and science?

Big rivers do not dry up in times of drought owing to their
many tributaries. Pools, on the other hand, show the mud already,

when it has not rained for several days, because they have no
affluents. The big rivers are connected, and the small ones linked
together, so they flow eastward into the ocean.[442] Hence the
greatness of the ocean. Unless the ocean were in connexion with
all the rivers, it could not be termed immense. A man harbouring
the sayings of all the philosophers is like the ocean receiving the
water of all the rivers. If he is not deemed great, then the ocean
must be declared to be smaller than the rivers likewise. That
the ocean exceeds all the rivers in size is generally known by
men, but they cannot comprehend that the intelligent are brighter
than the unintelligent.

Moisture trickling down becomes salt, a taste produced by
water. The water of the eastern ocean is briny and extends to a
great distance. In Hsi-chou[443] there are salt-wells, which are very deep.
Can a person have the benefit of a salt-well that either wishes to
consume salt without possessing a well, or bores a well, but does
not find a spring? He who has no commerce with sages and wise
men can hardly expect to win a name above all others.

The jurists[444] are in the habit of neglecting practical life, and,
when called upon, are unable to give judgment in a case. The
students of clauses and paragraphs do not study old and modern
literature, and are unfit thoroughly to argue a point.

Some people contend that to comment upon one Classic is the
right thing,[445] for what is the use of extensive knowledge? The
school of Confucius takes up all the Five Canons, and no one but
has mastered them all is accounted almost perfect. Yen Yuan said
that the master extensively filled his mind with learning.[446] Only
men of exceptional knowledge are worthy the name of well-read
scholars, for could the term "extensively" used by Yen Yuan refer
to one single Classic only?

I cannot embrace all the Five Canons in my studies, nor can I
trouble myself with all sorts of things. Reposing confidence in one
doctrine, I do not like to enlarge my views. I am not clever enough to
be well acquainted with antique lore or familiar with modern times,
but am so stupid, that I cherish my stupidity and do not wish to learn.
Thus any one who is satisfied with one Classic only should speak.

We open the door to let the sunlight in, and since this does
not suffice to illuminate all the dark places, we pierce the walls
to make windows and sky-holes, and thus add to the light penetrating
through the door. The explanation of one Classic is like the light
of the sun, the records used to assist it, are the windows and sky-holes.
The words of the philosophers enlighten us even in a higher
degree than windows and sky-holes afford a passage to the sunshine.
As sunshine lights the interior of a room, so scientific researches
enlighten the heart.

To open the door and let the light in, and to sit in a raised
hall, or even to ascend a balcony to have a look at the surrounding
buildings, is what people like to do. To shut the door and sit in
obscurity, turned towards a pitch dark room, or to dig a mine and,
lying on the back, work in the vicinity of the yellow springs,[447] is
distasteful to everybody. They who shut their hearts and close
their minds, never viewing things from a higher standpoint, are
like dead men.

In the time of the emperor Hsiao Wu Ti,[448] the king of Yen, Tan,
staying in the Ming-kuang palace wished to go to his sleeping
appartments, but all the three hundred doors were tightly closed.
He ordered twenty of his attendants to open them, but they did
not succeed. Subsequently Tan became involved in an insurrection
and committed suicide. The closing of the doors was a presage of
the death of King Tan of Yen. Dying is a calamitous event, hence
the closing was referred to it.

Ch`ing Fêng of Ch`i was a dullard. When the high officers of
six States at a meeting recited the Odes, he did not understand
them.[449] Later on a catastrophe was brought about by Ling of Ch`u.[450]

He who does not let in the light of science is a corpse still walking
about.

When a State has ceased to exist, its altar of the land is
roofed above and fenced in below, to indicate that its connexion
with Heaven and Earth has been interrupted.[451] The Chou took care
lest in spring and autumn such altars should be treated with
disrespect. People should read classical and profane books in the
same manner as the altars of the land must be in communication
with the fluids of Heaven and Earth. Those who do not study are
like persons disregarding the altars of the land. The communication
with the air being checked, even the strongest man dies, and
luxuriant plants wither.

Eatable things in the eastern sea are manifold[452] on account
of its vastness. The procreative power of the water being exuberant,
a great variety of very strange things is produced. Thus a great
man has many treasures, enshrined in his bosom:—great talents
and great knowledge, and there are no principles or methods but
he embraces them. Students with similar views and men of great
learning all come to him, because he understands the profound
meaning of the Classics and knows so many words of teachers.
Things of the past and the present time and utterances of various
philosophers he remembers a great many, and is not merely a man
of learning of a certain school. No one can know the taste of
sweet wine, if he has not purchased it, and merely used sugar.[453]

Peasants producing excellent grain in abundance are looked
upon as superior husbandmen, and those whose crops are small,
as inferior. The talents of men of letters correspond to the faculties
of husbandmen. Those able to produce plenty of grain are called
superior husbandmen, and the others apt to collect a vast amount
of knowledge, are superior scholars. To praise the ox for carrying
a heavy burden, and not to belaud the swiftness of the horse,
to extol the hand, and revile the foot, who would think that
reasonable?

Unless a district road communicates[454] with the country, or a
country road leads[455] to town, a traveller on horseback or in a boat
would not take it. Unless veins and arteries are in connexion,[456] a
man contracts a dangerous disease, for the cessation of this connexion
is a very bad thing, a misfortune with the worst consequences.
As robbers have their haunts in rank grass, wicked thoughts grow
in unprincipled hearts.[457] Unprincipled means devoid of maxims and
principles.[458]

A physician qualified to cure one disease is considered clever,
and if he can treat a hundred maladies, he is called excellent. Such
an excellent physician gives prescriptions for a hundred diseases,
and heals the ailments of a hundred patients. A genius imbued
with the teachings of the divers schools of thought can settle the
quarrels of a hundred clans. How could the numerous prescriptions
of a Pien Ch`io be put on a par with the single ability of a clever
physician?

Tse Kung said, ["If one do not find the door and enter by
it, he cannot see the ancestral temple with its beauties, nor all the
officers in their rich array."][459] The ancestral temple and all the
officers here serve to illustrate the teachings of Confucius. They are
so excellent, that they may be compared with the ancestral temple,
and so numerous, that they bear resemblance to the hosts of all
the officers. Therefore a man of comprehensive information and
deep erudition is a follower of Confucius.

The land of the Yin and Chou dynasties extended as far as
5 000 Li, and even the wild and fortified dependencies were governed
with the utmost care. Over 10 000 Li fell under the dominion of
the vast territory of the house of Han, and in the fortified and
wild tracts, people were wearing wide state-robes and broad girdles.[460]
Without exceptional virtue nobody can be affectionately solicitous
for distant countries, and in default of great talents one cannot

enlarge one's views. Therefore men of great experience and deep
erudition are not taxed with obtuseness, and those well versed in
all the sciences are not charged with narrowness of mind.

People like to see paintings. The subjects reproduced in these
pictures are usually men of ancient times. But would it not be
better to be informed of the doings and sayings of these men than
to contemplate their faces? Painted upon the bare wall,[461] their
shapes and figures are there, the reason why they do not act as
incentives, is that people do not perceive their words or deeds.
The sentiments left by the old sages shine forth from the bamboos
and silks, where they are written, which means more than mere
paintings on walls.

If an empty vessel in the kitchen be gilt or silvered and,
having nothing in it, be placed before a hungry person, he would
not even cast a look at it. But suppose that dainty food and
savory viands be served in an earthen pot, people would forthwith
turn to it. The delicious and sweet words of old sages are more
than food in vessels. The benefit derived from study is not merely
that of eating. Thus the hungry do not care for empty vessels
without contents, and the government does not employ men with
empty heads without thoughts.

When swordsmen fight together, he wo possesses the knowledge
of the girl of Yüeh[462] in Ch`ü-ch`êng[463] gains the victory. Two
adversaries meeting, one is cleverer than the other, and the one
possessing greater ability becomes victor. The systems of Confucius
and Mê Ti, and the books of worthies and sages are of greater value
than the accomplishments of the girl of Yüeh in Ch`ü-ch`êng, and to
improve human transactions and increase human knowledge, is more
than a mere device to win in a contest. By the art of swordplay
one acquires the repute of being ever victorious, and by virtue of
the books of worthies and sages, one becomes exalted.

When the officers of the district cities are summoned before
their superiors to be questioned on administrative reforms, the
intelligent and well informed will communicate their experiences,
and provided that the high officers are impressed thereby, the

administration can be reformed and learning, cultivated. When the
doings and sayings of worthies and sages, handed down on bamboo
and silk, transform the heart and enlighten the mind, the result is
more momentous than the replies of the district officers on the
questions addressed to them.

Yü and Yi together regulated the Great Flood; Yü took care of
the water, whereas Yi recorded all strange things. The border
mountains beyond the seas were not held to be too far to go
there, and from what they had heard and seen they composed the
"Mountain and Sea Classic".[464] If Yü and Yi had not travelled so
far, the Shan-hai-king would not have been written. Its production
testifies to the great multitude of things seen by them. Tung Chung
Shu beheld the Chung-ch`ang[465] bird, and Liu Tse Chêng knew the body
of Erh Fu.[466] Both had read the Shan-hai-king, and therefore could
utter themselves on these two things. Had Yü and Yi not reached
those distant lands, they could not have edited the Shan-hai-king,
and without reading this book Tung Chung Shu and Liu Tse Chêng
would not have been in a condition to verify the two doubtful
questions.

A fruit fell down and sank into the steps leading up to a
terrace(?). Tse Ch`an, with his great knowledge of things, could discourse
on it. When a dragon made its appearance in the suburbs
of Chiang,[467] T`sai Mê[468] knew how to account for it, so that the
necessary precautions could be taken.

When a father or an elder brother on the point of death,
more than a thousand Li distant from home, leave a testament with
admonitions, dutiful sons and brothers are eager to read it, and
never will dismiss it from their affectionate thoughts. Such is their
solicitude in honouring a parent, and paying respect to an elder.
Undutiful sons slight and disregard a testament, and do not care
to examine its contents. The scripts of old sages and former worthies,
left to posterity, are of much greater importance still than documents
left by a father or a brother. Some read these writings and make
abstracts of them, others throw them away and do not copy them.
Even a man from the street could tell us, which of the two courses

is preferable, and those whose business it is to distinguish between
right and wrong, should not be fit to draw the line?

When Confucius was taken ill, Shang Ch`ü[469] divined that at noon
his time would come. Confucius said, "Bring me a book,[470] for what
will be the matter, when it is noon?" So fervent was the Sage's
love of study, that it did not even cease at the point of death.
His thoughts were in the Classics, and he did not renounce his
principles, because he was near his end. Therefore it is not without
reason that he is regarded as the Sage for a hundred generations,
who himself took pattern by the institutions of the ancients.

From Confucius down to the Han there have been many persons
famous for their talents and not solely such as `stuff themselves
with food the whole day, without applying their minds to anything
good.'[471] Either did they explain the Five Canons, or read the
Classics and other works, which are very voluminous, so that it
is difficult to master them all.

Divination by diagrams, and fortune-telling are arts of the time
of Wên and Wu Wang. Of youre, there was Shang Ch`ü who could
interpret the diagrams, and more recently[472] Tung Fang So[473] and Yi
Shao Chün,[474] who were able to guess hidden objects. Though of
no great importance, these arts are also derived from the sages,
which has often been overlooked.[475]

Human nature is endowed with the Five Virtues, open to
reason and prone to learning, which distinguishes it from that of
all other creatures. But now it is different. People stuff themselves
with food, and are given to drink, and to escape their remorses
they wish to sleep. Their bellies are larders, and their bowels,
wine-skins, and they are nothing better than inanimate things.

Among the three hundred naked creatures,[476] man takes the
first place, for of all the productions issued from the nature of
Heaven and Earth he is the noblest, a superiority which he owes
to his knowledge. Now those addle-headed, obese fellows do not
care for knowledge. How do their desires differ from those of the
other two-hundred and ninety-nine naked creatures, that they should
lay claim to superiority and precedence?

The people of China are superior to the savages, for understanding
the words benevolence and righteousness, and acquiring
the sciences of ancient and modern times. If they merely use their
brains for procuring themselves food and raiment, living on months
and years, until they are white-headed and toothless, without ever
cultivating their minds, they rank lower than savages. Look at
the spiders, how they knit their webs with a view to entrapping
flying insects. How are the transactions of those men superior to
theirs? Using their brains, they work out their selfish and deceitful
schemes with the object of acquiring the amenities of wealth and
long life, paying no heed to the study of the past or the present.
They behave just like spiders.

Creatures with blood in their veins are not liable to die of
starvation, for they all are possessed of the necessary astuteness
to find food and drink. Even the unintelligent are able to support
themselves. They make their living as officials, and even become
high dignitaries. Governors, ministers, and those in authority are like
our high officer Kao Tse;[477] how can they discern them? In the course
of time they distinguish themselves, for it is their fate to be called
to office. Knowing neither the past nor the present time, they are
still looked upon as very clever owing to their position. How
should the superior officers, by their unscientific methods, be able
to find out men of intellect and treat them with due consideration,
irrespective of rank and precedence? Ministers and high dignitaries
are unqualified for this.

If there be men like Ts`ai Po Chieh, governor of Yu Fu-fêng,[478]
the prefect of Yü-lin,[479] Chang Mêng Ch`ang, or the prefect of Tung-lai,[480]
Li Chi Kung, they are all endowed with an enlightened mind and
conversant with the past as well as the present.[481] Consequently
they hold intelligent persons in the same respect as distinguished
guests. What sort of a character must have been Chao of Yen,[482]
who plyed the broom for Tsou Yen's sake! Tung Chung Shou, magistrate
of Tung-ch`êng[483] was held to be the chief of the scholars in knowledge,
and everywhere reputed for his intelligence. Receiving somebody,
he could discover his exceptional rank.[484] Thus he knew quite
well that Mr. Ch an of Chung-li,[485] a simple, registered citizen was to
be solemnly invested with the jade bâton and the jade disk. For
the knowing, every stone has its splendour, whereas the unknowing
do not even remark the brilliancy of gold and gems.

From Wu Ti down to our dynasty, at various times very clever
men have been promoted. If they were to be questioned at some
examination, the replies of men like Tung Chung Shu, T`ang Tse Kao,
Ku Tse Yün,[486] and Ting Po Yü would not only be perfectly correct,
but their compositions would also be most brilliant, as the result
of their extensive reading and diligent study. In case these four
could only use their pen, commenting on the Classics, and that
they had not perused old as well as modern books, they would
not be able to establish their fame in the palace of the holy emperor.

When Hsiao Ming Ti[487] was reading the biography of Su Wu,
he hit upon the name of a military officer called:—yi chung chien
(master of the horse[488] ). He asked all his officers about the meaning,
but none of them knew it. The words in the institutions of T`sang
Hsieh and in the books of elementary learning are universally known,
but when nobody is able to reply to the questions of His Imperial

Holiness, it becomes evident that the majority of the officials were
nothing but bureaucrats[489] owing their position to good luck only.
What was signified by the character to combined with mu,[490] they
could not tell. It would have been rather hard for them to explain
the word "chung-ch`ang," as Tung Chung Shu did, or to know the
word "erh-fu" like Liu Tse Chêng.[491]

It might be urged that intelligent men are appointed chancellors
of the imperial library, whose business it is to revise books, and
fix the texts like the grand historiographer or the grand supplicant,
whose office is likewise purely literary. They are not employed
to govern the people, or on other business. Therefore such officers
of the library, men like Pan Ku, Chia K`uei,[492] Yang Chung,[493] and
Fu Yi,[494] enjoy a great popularity, and their writings are much admired.
Though they remain at their posts, and are not entrusted
with other offices, they still render great services to the world.

I beg to reply that this is not proceeding on the lines of the
Chou period, when sharp-witted men like Tsou Yen and Sun Ch`ing[495]
stood in high favour with their sovereigns, and all the honours
and distinctions of the age were bestowed upon them. Although
Tung Chung Shu did not hold a premier's post, he was well known
to rank higher than all the ministers. The Chou looked up to the
two preceding dynasties, and the Han followed in the wake of the
Chou and Ch`in. From the officers of the library the government
sees whether it prospers or not. The heart is like a ball or an
egg, but it constitutes the most precious part in the body; the
pupil of the eye resembles a pea, but it illumines the whole body.
Thus the chancellors may be petty officials, yet they secretly direct
the principles governing the whole State. Learned men make this
career, as the academicians are recruited from the scholars.

"They remain at their posts, and are not entrusted with other
offices," does that mean that His Imperial Holiness has no confidence
in them? Perhaps they had not yet completed their works
or discharged their duties.