Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/98

 finds in it a resemblance to the Christian Bible may be rejected at the outset as valueless, for the religious element in the work is extremely tenuous. Our readers, however, shall judge for themselves. The first chapter contains speculations respecting the nature and attributes of God, and the processes of Creation, which, as far as they go, are striking enough, and illustrative of that singular independence and originality of thought which forms so honourable a characteristic of the Taoist school. Here, for instance, is a piece of transcendentalism which occurs on the second page of the book. It would have shocked Confucius.

The Origin of Life and Motion.

The philosopher, taking as his text a very obscure passage in the Tao Tê Ching—though he quotes the Book of the Yellow Emperor as his authority—then proceeds to show how it is that the Creator is uncreated and the Transformer changeless; averring that the Supreme