Page:The Speculations on Metaphysics of Lau-Tsze (Chalmers, 1868).pdf/31

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Tau is empty; in operation exhaustless. In its depth it seems the father (first ancestor) of all things. It blunts sharp angles. It unravels disorder. It softens the glare. It shares the dust. In tranquillity it seems ever to remain. I know not whose son it is. It appears to have been before God.

Heaven and earth have no special love. They regard all existing beings as sacrificial grass-dogs (figures of grass made for a temporary purpose). The sage has no special love. He regards the people as grass-dogs.

The space between heaven and earth may be compared to a bellows. Though empty, it never collapses, and the more it is exercised the more it brings forth. But the man of much talk is frequently reduced to silence (exhausted). There is nothing like keeping the inner man.