Horae Sinicae: Translations from the Popular Literature of the Chinese/Account of the Sect Tao-Szu
ACCOUNT
OF THE SECT
TAO-SZU.
From "The Rise and Progress of the Three Sects."
A holy record of the marvellous Tai-shang-lao-kiun, [the most high and venerable prince,] of the golden temple of heaven;—of the prince Tao, the profound, marvellous, glorious and precious; the original, first and most high emperor, [author,] of the true religion and original writings.
He informed a certain emperor, that of old, the heavens and the earth, were not separated: the Yin and the Yang were not divided: all was confusion and complete chaos. There were immensity and darkness. In the midst of the existing expanse, was a combination of a thousand million layers of pure air, which produces Miao-wu-shing-kiun, [the marvellous and most holy prince.] afterwards entitled, "The marvellous and supremely high emperor; the real original; the first and most honoured in heaven:"—also entitled, "The precious and venerable man of heaven."
After nine times a hundred thousand ninety thousands; nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety hundred thousand times ten thousand creations and annihilations, there was a combination of a hundred thousand times ten thousand layers of pure air, which produces Miao-yeu-shing-kiun, ["the marvellous and holy prince."] He called himself "the great prince Tao, the marvellous and great emperor, the ruler of void space, the king of the morning. "He was entitled "the glorious and precious venerable man."
After eight times a hundred thousand eight thousands, eight hundred and eighty times a hundred thousand creations and annihilations, there was a combination of a hundred thousand times ten thousand layers of pure air, which produced the holy prince of chaos. The records entitle him, "The most true and great emperor, the marvellous, original and venerable prince of chaos, and ten thousand transformations." He is also entitled, "The precious divinity, the aged man, the venerable prince." Thought these in successive ages were produced, yet they were not born.
It happened during the dynasty Shang, in the time of the eighteenth emperor Yang-kia, that the divine transforming air, was separated and imparted to the womb of the woman Hiuen-miao-yu, [marvellous and valuable woman,] where it remained eighty-one years, till the time of Wu-ting, the twenty-second king, in the year Keng-shin of the cycle, the second moon, and fifteenth day, when at the sixth hour in the morning, she was delivered, [of Tao,] being in the kingdom Tsu, the district Ku, the village Sai, and the street Kio-jin. Tao's surname was Si, his name Urh, his letter Pe-yang, his title after death Tan. He published two works called Tao-te, [reason and virtue.]
Further, on examining the Shing-ki-king, [holy record of Sao-kiun, or Tao, the venerable prince,] it is found stated thus:—Tai-shang-lao-kiun, [the great, exalted, and venerable prince,] dwelt at the palace Tai-tsing, [original purity.] He was the ancestor of original air, [or spirit.] He was the lord of the root and origin of heaven and earth, and dwelt in the midst of extreme silence and perfect emptiness, before hte very first and the very commencement. It was he, and he only, who repeatedly, universally, and constantly fostered the air, and dissolved the essence of man; who spread out the heavens and the earth, and superintended their formations and destructions in an incalculable series. He transformed his person, and went every where in this world of sand and dust. He ascended on high, and calculated to the utmost bounds of succeeding ages, after the spreading abroad of the heavens and earth. He observed the thin and the thick, [the bad and the good,] of the age, and according to the times established his teaching. In every age he was the imperial teacher, and formed the laws, which at once either reached to the ninth heavens, or were extended to the four seas. From the time of the three kings, and down through succeeding ages to the time of the king Ti, all submitted to him.
Thus it is known that above and below the heavens, Sao-kiun [the venerable prince] formed all the energies of Tao. He promulgated ten thousand times ten thousand laws, and there was none who did not obtain his salvation and deliverance: yet mankind do not advert to what they daily use.
Sai-tsi, [the venerable sage,] said, "I was born before there was any appearance; I arose before the first; I acted at the origin of simple unfashioned matter; I was present at the opening of the obscure mass; and moved in the midst of the expanse; I went out and in at the doors of the utmost bounds of space." Hence Ko-hiuen in his preface to the Tao-te says, "Sao-tsi was self existent; produced before the state of absolute nothingness; and arose to be before there was any cause. He superintends the beginning of the heavens and the earths, including more than can uttered or written."
It is further said, that the people of the world report, that Sao-tsi descended during the age of Yin. since the title Sao-tsi began, innumerable creations and annihilations have passed; it began in ages extremely distant, remote in the utmost possible degree. Before spreading abroad the heavens and the earth, he descended as the imperial teacher, and for age after age did not discontinue. Man cannot know him.
It appears in the records of Sao-tsi, that from before opening the heavens and earth, down to the time of king Tang, in the dynasty Yin, for successive generations, he was the imperial teacher; and transforming his person, he descended to the world.
During the dynasty Yin, in the year Kia-tsi of this cycle, the 17th year of the reign of Tang, he began to reveal the mystery of his birth. From the place of perfect purity and constant reason, he received the essence of the sun; and transforming its five colours, he formed a ball as large as a bullet. At that time Yu-niu, [the precious woman,] was at noon day sleeping, and on receiving the ball in her mouth, swallowed it. Hence she conceived. She was pregnant eighty-one years, till the ninth year of Wu-ting, on the day Keng-shin, when the left side of Yu-niu opened, and she bore a son from under her ribs. When born, his head was white; his name Sao-tsi, [old child-sage.] He was below a Si [plumb] tree:—pointing to the tree he said, "That Si is my surname."
From the ninth year of Wu-ting, in the dynasty Yin, in the year of the cycle Keng-shin, in the ninth year of king Chao, of the kingdom Tsin—a space of 996 years, he remained in the world. Then in the west ascended the hill Kuen Lun, [the abode of immortal spirits.]
The work of Si-she-so, called Po-wo-shi, says, "In the third year of Wu-te, the founder of the dynasty Tang, a person called Kie-shen-shing, belonging to Tsing-Cheu, lived at Yang-kio hill, and was clothed in moon-white garments. An old man there, called to him and said, "Do you go for me to the emperor Tang, and say to him—I am Sao-kiun, [the venerable prince,] your ancestor." In consequence of this, the founder of the dynasty, built a temple to Sao-kiun, and his son honoured him by the appellation of "The marvellous and original emperor."
The emperor Ming wrote a commentary on the authentic work Tao-te. At this time scholars study it. The temples of Hiuen-yuen-hoang-ti, [the marvellous and original emperor,] are erected in both capitals, [Peking and Nanking;] also in every Cheu. The masters at the capitals, mark on the temples, "Kiuen-yuen-kung," [the temple of the marvellous origin.] All the Cheu mark them, "Tsi-kie-kung," [the temple of the most honourable.] The western capital marks them "Tai-tsing-kung," [the temple of perfect purity.] The eastern capital marks them "Tai-wei-king," [the temple of the wonderfully subtle.] At each of these temples are pupils. The imperial mark was "The great holy ancestor, the lofty, the exalted, the great Tao of the golden palace, the marvellous origin, the emperor of heaven, the great ruler."
The Work Chua-hoei, of the kingdom Sung, says, that the emperor Ching-tsing-tai-ping, in his sixth year, eigth moon and eleventh day, made the following highly honourable title, which the people received with the most profound respect, "The great and exalted Sao-kiun:the origin of chaos; the supremely virtuous emperor."
The emperor Jin-tsung thus praised him:
How great is the supreme Tao!
Not made, yet existing,
The end of creations and annihiliations, and then beginning,
Before the earth, and before the heavens.
Light and glory unite around him,
Continuing for eternal creations and annihilations.
In the east he taught our father Ni, [Confucius;]
In the west he directed the immortal Kin-sien;
A hundred kings have kept his laws;
The holy perfect men have received his instructions;
The first of all religions;
Marvellous is it—passing marvellous![1]
- ↑ The Translator is of opinion, that this description approaches as near to right conceptions of the Supreme Being, as any similar production known to the Chinese, with whom he has had intercourse.