Chapter LXXIX

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The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion, by C. Spurgeon Medhurst, [1905], at sacred-texts.com

p. 128

CHAPTER LXXIX.

To compromise a great hate leaves ill-will behind; that only is a blessing which produces tranquillity.

Therefore the Holy Man does not pry into other people's affairs, ¹ even when he holds the left-hand bond, ² possessing the attributes of the Tao, he quietly holds his own; he who lacks the qualities of Tao strives to put everybody right. ³

It is heaven's way to be without favorites, ⁴ and to be always on the side of the good man. ⁵

The wise man is more concerned with the steadiness and direction of his own thoughts than with the actions of others. By his care to be himself unsullied to the very innermost recesses of his being, he purifies the atmosphere wherever he goes, and accomplishes more than he could were he ever reproaching what he considers untimely. Therefore the cry of the Hebrew prophet, "Be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord." (Isa. lii, 11.)

Footnotes

128:1 In colloquial Chinese he does not blow aside the fur, to see if it contains burs or chips.

128:2 ''Contracts were written on two bamboo slips which fitted together, the left one containing the debit or obligations, the right one containing the credits or dues."—Carus, in loc.

The Sage is content with having the truth himself, without seeking to impose his knowledge on everybody else.

128:3 Cf. Matt. vii, 1-5, vid. T. T. K. chap. 60.

128:4 Cf. Rom. viii, 28.

128:5 Lit.—"The Heavenly Tao is without relatives; it ever sides with the good man."

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