University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXII.

On Literary Work (Shu-chieh).

Some people contend that for judging the character of a
scholar, his literary productions are of no account. I answer that,
when a man is an elegant writer, his character is perfect.[1038] With
plants it is different:—there are some that have flowers, but no
fruit, and some that bear fruit, but have no flowers.[1039] The Yiking
says that the feelings of a Sage appear from his utterances.[1040] He
opens his mouth to speak and joins tablets to write. His sayings
and writings having been made public, his real nature shines forth
in all its splendour.

Letters and virtue are the garments of mankind. Letters
are unsubstantial signs, and virtue is practical action. Both are
like over-clothes, donned by men. The greater a man's virtue,
the more refined is his literary work, and the more illustrious his
excellence, the more enlightened he is himself. A great man's
virtue is vast, and his writings are brilliant, a small man's virtue
may be remarkable, but his writings are unequal. A celebrated
officer writes a great deal, and, side by side with high virtue,
we find abundance of literary compositions.

A beautifully coloured and bright mat being a prerogative of
a high officer, Tsêng Tse, who was laid up with a very serious
illness, ordered Yuan to rise and change it.[1041] We learn from this
incident that garments serve to denote the rank of worthies.
Worthies distinguish themselves by their literary ability. If dullards
and clever men cannot be otherwise distinguished, one must fall
back upon their writings[1042] (ornaments) to draw a distinction. This
is not only true of men, the rule obtains for all animals likewise:—

The dragon has ornaments on its scales, and therefore ranks
above the snakes. The phœnix's plumage has five colours, wherefore

it is the king among the birds. The tiger is fierce, and its
skin is coloured like that of the mole and the bull-frog.[1043] The
tortoise is wise, and carries characters on its back.[1044] The bodies
of these four animals are not quite plain, and in wisdom and
knowledge they surpass all other animals.

Mountains without woods are barren mountains, land without
vegetation is sterile, and men without letters are plain and simple
people. Barren mountains are deprived of stags, sterile land lacks
the Five Grains, and men without letters and virtue[1045] do not prove
themselves Worthies or Sages. High Heaven has plenty of celestial
signs,[1046] and august Earth has many marks and lines.[1047] The two
forces amalgamating, Worthies and Sages are endowed with them.
Therefore they imitate their archetypes by a display of literature.[1048]
Lucky signs correspond with their lives, and they are not without
letters:—

When T`ang Shu Yü of Chin, Ch`êng Chi Yo of Lu and the
consort of Duke Hui with the designation of Chung Tse were born,
a miracle happened, for they all had characters on their hands.[1049]
When Chang Liang was on his way to high honour, he met with
a spirit in his rambles. An old man presented him with a book,[1050]
and suddenly he was enfeoffed as a marquis of Liu.

The spirit of the Yellow River put forth the Plan on purpose,
and the genius of the Lo deliberately emitted the Scroll. All
wonderful things described on bamboo and silks do not issue from
small ponds. Animals are covered with ornaments, and men base
their supremacy on letters. Chi Tse Ch`êng desired to stop letters,
but was censured by Tse Kung.[1051] Those maintaining that letters do
not deserve to be held in respect, are on a par with Chi Tse Ch`êng.

Those who themselves compose, are literary scholars,[1052] those
who discourse on the Classics, ordinary scholars.[1053] These two
classes are met with in the world, and we do not know yet to
which the palm is to be awarded.

Some say that literary scholars come short of ordinary ones.
The latter treat of the Classics of the Sages, and explain the
records of the Worthies. Vast and profound is their knowledge
of different meanings and principles, they hold sound views, and
for that reason are always in office. Those most respected become
professors,[1054] disciples crowd about them, and they attract students
from a thousand Li's distance. Although their body dies, their
doctrine survives, transmitted to posterity. Literary scholars do
not profit the world with their polished and exquisite style and,
therefore, are not called to office. Not a single pupil or student
puts in an appearance, and when they die, their memory is not
handed down. Consequently, they cannot compete with ordinary
scholars.

I answer that this is not true:—Ordinary scholars argue on
all matters concerning the Sages, making the same investigations,
and equally following up all their doings. The details may be
divergent, but their scope is the same; their words may differ,
but their conceptions are very similar.

Why say that what literary scholars propound is of no
advantage to mankind? The work of ordinary scholars is very
simple, and people learn it in great numbers. There being nothing
to establish a distinction between them, all posts in the public
service are filled with them. The work done by literary scholars
is unusual and not easily imitated, and their books are seldom met
with, but though their work cannot be taught, and they have
no pupils, still their books are highly admired and handed down
by the people. There is the empty talk of their rivals, and on
the other side, their important writings. Weighing these two
classes, which is the worthier?[1055]

In ancient times great and celebrated men wrote down their
thoughts. They, at least, made use of their principles and became
famous in their age. Although the ordinary scholars may have
been more honoured at the time, yet unless they were taken notice
of in the books of their literary rivals, their traces were soon
obliterated.

The Duke of Chou adjusted the Rites[1056] and Music, and his
name was handed down uninterruptedly. Confucius wrote the
Ch`un-ch`iu, and his memory has been preserved up to the present
day. Their productions are more than mere researches.[1057]

The literary geniuses of the Han era, Lu Chia, Sse-Ma Ch`ien,
Liu Tse Chêng, and Yang Tse Yün are all but marvellous, and their
glory does not depend on others. The world speaks also of the
expositor of the Shiking,[1058] Shên Kung of Lu,[1059] and of Ou Yang of
Ch`ien-ch`êng[1060] and Kung Sun,[1061] both scholiasts of the Shuking,[1062] but
if they had not fallen under the notice of the Grand Annalist, the
world would not know them.[1063]

It is not better to earn fame by one's own efforts than to
need others for that purpose? And does he not rank higher who
records the lives of hundreds of people than he who barely wins
a name for himself?

Some hold that writers must be free from troublous thoughts,
and that it is not their talents by which they exceed other people.
Unless they enjoy quietude their ideas do not come. In case such
writers have to look after all the affairs of every-day-life, or to
do office work in some department of the State, they will compose,
whenever they have some leisure from their multifarious duties.

If common people be given plenty of time to concentrate their
thoughts, they are also able to indite eighty and more chapters.

Wên Wang had no leisure to take his meals either during the
day or in the evening,[1064] and Chou Kung, bathing his hair once, had
to grasp it three times,[1065] What time had they to walk about for
pleasure, or to cover tablets with the elegant compositions of their
pen? Confucius wrote the Ch`un-ch`iu, and found no employment
in Chou, Sse-Ma Hsiang Ju[1066] was free from the duties of a statesman,
and therefore could write his poem Tse-hsü-fu,[1067] and Yang Tse Yün
lived in the palace as chung-lang,[1068] and thus had occasion to complete
the T`ai-hsüan-ching, and to take up the Fa-yen. Had Confucius obtained
imperial dignity, the Ch`un-ch`iu would not have been published,
and had Sse-Ma Hsiang Ju and Yang Tse Yün been chief ministers,
they would not have worked at the poem or the T`ai-hsüan-ching.

I beg leave to reply that Wên Wang's want of time to eat
during the day or in the evening, implies that he elucidated the
Yiking and increased the number of diagrams, and if Chou Kung,
bathing once, grasped his hair thrice, it was because he changed
and fixed the institutions of the Chou dynasty. If the principles
of the Chou had not been corrupt, Confucius would not have
written his work; he would have enjoyed repose, and his thoughts
would have been unoccupied. But the laws of the Chou were loose
and degenerate, and he could not abide by them.

Those who by Heaven and Earth are endowed with letters,
will emit them from their bosoms, they do not write because they
have nothing else to do, nor are there any days when they have
no leisure. They are affected by what is wrong, and start from
what is wicked, as a spring sends forth its waters, and vapours
rise up. Kuan Chung as prime minister of Duke Huan brought
about a confederacy of all the States,[1069] and Shang Yang laid the

foundation of the imperial power of Ch`in, when he was minister
of Duke Hsiao.[1070] Yet both wrote books containing dozens of
chapters.[1071] Sse-Ma Hsiang Ju and Yang Tse Yün were their
equals. Both being affected by external influences, their talents
were called forth, and their talents being equal, their work was
similar also. They were students and writers, but not because
their minds had nothing else to think about.

The more one hears, the greater becomes his experience, and
the harder his official duties are, the dryer is his knowledge.
Unless one has rest, the thoughts do not come, and unless the
thoughts come, the pencil is not quick at work. Simpletons and
dullards may have a quiet home just fit for meditation, and be
perfectly free from care, yet they are incapable of writing a single
word. Those well gifted possess abilities, but it is not true that
they have no time; those without abilities cannot think, but it
does not happen that somebody has knowledge, and cannot write.
Persons with exceptional abilities may be anxious to write something,
but find nothing to start from, whereas others with but
little knowledge are able to record what they have learned by
inquiry from others. Remarkable talents sometimes have no subject
to write about, but they are never unqualified to speak, they may
have nothing to look to,[1072] but it does not happen that they have
no leisure for literary compositions.

Some people are of opinion that writing requires the utmost
concentration of the mental faculties, and that those authors who
hold some office, are not apt to discharge their duties. A man's
thoughts take a certain direction, consequently all his mental
energy is used up in the pursuit of these thoughts. Writers are
admirable in all they write or say, but in that their talents are
exhausted, and their knowledge reaches its limit. In former times
many writers were in office, but to adjust what is scattered, and
to join what is dispersed, to support the vacillating, and to bring
peace to those in danger, exceeds the power of men of letters.
They themselves have their troubles and their difficulties, which
must have some cause. The cause are the hundreds of chapters

and paragraphs which they have written. Lü Pu Wei composed
a Ch`un-ch`iu,[1073] and his whole family had to emigrate to Shu,[1074] the
Prince of Huai-nan wrote a book on Taoism, and misfortune overtook
him, and destroyed his entire clan,[1075] Han Fei Tse published a
method of government, and he himself was thrown into prison in
Ch`in.[1076] Unable to preserve his own person, how could he have
helped his State?

Some people excel in one thing, but why should they not
be deficient in another? Some are deeply versed in composition,
but why should they not be superficial in the administration?

My answer is that people have their strong points, and likewise
must have their weak ones; they are skilful in one thing,
and awkward in another. This is no inferiority, only their interest
is not roused, nor any awkwardness, but the thing does not appeal
to their imagination.[1077] He whose desire centres in one thing, does
not even perceive the T`ai-shan, and if his thoughts reach to a
certain point, he has not the time to follow with his body.

As regards the much praised sharpness of the Kan-chiang
sword,[1078] when it is pointed it does not strike, and being fit to
strike, it cannot be used for stabbing. Not that the blade is not
sharp, but it cannot perform one and another thing.[1079]

Pulling the bow[1080] for sparrows, one misses the wild swan,
and shooting at magpies, one misses the wild goose. Drawing
square and round figures, one cannot complete them at the same
time, and looking right and left, one does not see both sides
simultaneously. Men may be able to do two things, but they cannot
make them into one. Provided that the Kan-chiang sword be less
pointed, then it strikes better, and if one gives up the magpies and

merely aimes at wild geese, then, shooting aloft, he does not miss
the mark.

Of those who rejected literary productions and exclusively
devoted themselves to the administration, no other men have left
traces of greater fame behind them than Tse Ch`an and Tse Chien.[1081]
The majority of ancient authors did excellent practical work, but
they were not employed. Kuan Chung and Yen Ying were as great
statesmen as writers,[1082] Shang Yang[1083] and Yü Ch`ing[1084] were as active
in literature as in the administration.

When Kao Tsu had won the empire military plans were still
in vogue. Lu Chia wrote the "New Words," yet the emperor
made but a moderate use of the work. The Lü clan caused an
insurrection,[1085] and the Liu family[1086] was on the point of revolting.
If it had not been for the devices of Lu Chia, the imperial house
would not have been safe.[1087]

Talents and experience may both be used, but their use
depends on circumstances. In revolutionary times, experience
procures merit, when there is prosperity and progress, talents may
be used to write books. Words are pronounced by opening the
mouth, and by joining together written sentences, chapters are
formed. In days of yore many persons have achieved merit by
their words, and those who have ruined themselves by their
writings are few.

Lü Pu Wei and the Prince of Huai-nan committed some other
fault, and did not become guilty through their books. In the case
that their works were composed by their companions,[1088] they did
not write them themselves, and yet, although they did not write
them, they were visited with those conspicuous calamities.

People who in ancient and modern times trespassed, were
not always authors straining their brains and their knowledge to
the utmost. Tsou Yang presented a report, and was thereby saved
from punishment in Liang.[1089] Hsü Yüeh sent in a memorial, and was
made a secretary of a board.[1090] Their accomplishments were such,
that by their writings they won distinction among men; how then
could they be reproached with not being able to protect their
own persons?

The State of Han Fei Tse, son to Han Tsao Hsin, did not
collapse before his death. Li See, as it were, was a great admirer
of Han Fei Tse, and of opinion that his writings and his extraordinary
talents could never again be equalled. The beautiful
plants of spring, when injured, often die away, whereas deformed
plants which suffered no damage may grow until autumn. Provided
that Han Fei Tse had not perished, we do not know what would
have become of Ch`in.[1091]

One may cause the actions of a genius to be revered, but
one cannot induce people to imitate him, and one may set up his
words as a standard, but one cannot prevail upon people to
adopt them.

Some say that, in former times and at present, there are
many writers who set about boring holes into the core of the
Classics, and in their records vitiating the true doctrine of the
Sages, wherefore they are called filings.[1092] They are likened unto
the splinters of jewels, and there is a saying to the effect that a
cart-load of filings does not make a road, as a boxful of splinters
does not make a precious stone.[1093] Formerly, these men were in
contiguity with the Sages, and yet they were filings; how much
more must this be true of those distant in time and of later ages?
Their writings cannot but be worthless, and their words, but dull;
how could they be used and put into practice?

I would reply as follows:—Sages write the classics, and
Worthies produce the commentaries, explaining the ideas of the
classical authors, and setting forth the views of the Sages. Thus

the commentaries, needed for the classics, are all made by Worthies.
But why are the classics and their commentaries alone held to be
right, and all other books and records to be wrong? Considering
that the text of the commentaries to the classics is necessary for
their explication, they think them right. Other books may dissent
from the classics, or treat of new and other topics, therefore they
regard them as wrong. Accordingly, the sole truth would be found
in the Five Classics, and even though an assertion be true, they
will not listen to it, except it be in the Five Classics.

Provided that the Five Classics, after having left the school
of Confucius, down to the present day, had not been damaged,
that they might be said to be of a piece, they would be trustworthy.
But they have passed through the extravagant and
depraved times of doomed Ch`in, had to bear the consequences of
Li Sse's iniquitous advice, and were burned and proscribed. It is
due to the goodness of Fu Shêng that the Classics were taken and
concealed in some secret place.[1094] After the rise of the Han dynasty,
the Five Classics were recovered, but many books had been lost
or were destroyed, and the rest was not intelligible. The chapters
and paragraphs had been thrown into confusion and mixed up,
and were not complete. Ch`ao T`so[1095] and others separated the single
words according to their own ideas. Thus the text was handed
down from teacher to pupil, but how far its tenor was correct,
nobody knew.

Doomed Ch`in was perverse, and brought confusion into the
Classics, but, in spite of this perversity, it did not burn the works
of the various schools of thought. The books of the various
philosophers, one foot in length,[1096] and their lucubrations are all in
existence. By studying them, we may correct the statements made
by others, and select passages for the instruction of the descendants
of those writers. The descendants will write again as their forefathers
have done. They are equally learned, and may commit
their knowledge to writing. The thoughts, thus expressed, may
be as far reaching as those of the Classics; why then pretend that
this sort of writings misses the truth inherent in the Classics?
Ergo the Classics are defective and incomplete. These writings
are not short of one book, whereas in the Classics many chapters
are wanting. Contrasting these two kinds of writings, which have
more the character of filings?

The Changes take up the signs of things, the Odes are collected
among the people, and then divided into chapters, the Music requires
melancholy feelings,[1097] and the Rites suppose a people living
at peace. This subject matter must be there, before the chapters
and sections of the Four Classics can be formed. The Shuking
and the "Spring and Autumn" are culled from the State annals.
These annals being extant, no extraordinary writings are required,
for they embody the affairs of the people. These are the sources
necessary for writing the Six Classics. Consequently, ordinary
books may also be the beginning,[1098] and the Classics the end, and
the end may have lost the truth, whereas at the beginning the
genuine principles are still preserved. If we compare these two
kinds of writings, which are the splinters of jewels?

Standing under the eaves, one knows that a house is leaking,
in the wilderness one knows that the administration is deficient,
and from the works of the various philosophers one learns that
the Classics are full of mistakes. The text of the works of the
philosophers is clear and to the point.[1099] Those discoursing on the
paragraphs and clauses of the Classics, do not attempt to explain
and carefully to investigate them. One teacher hands them down
to another. Those who first fixed the paragraphs and clauses
cannot have had a very extensive sphere of ideas.