The doctors of Eternal Reason speak of it in a most rapturous strain. They say—
"What is there superior to heaven, and from which heaven and earth sprang? nay, what is there superior to space, and which moves in space? The great Taou is the parent of space, and space is the parent of heaven and earth; and heaven and earth produced men and things."
"The venerable prince (Taou) arose prior to the great original, standing at the commencement of the mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep obscurity. He is spontaneous and self-existing, produced before the beginning of emptiness, commencing prior to uncaused existences, pervading all heaven and earth, whose beginning and end no years can circumscribe."
"Before heaven and earth were divided, ere the great principles of nature were distinguished, amid the ocean of vast obscurity and universal stillness, there was a spontaneous concretion, out of which came a thousand million particles of primary matter, which produced 'emptiness.' Then, after nine hundred and ninety-nine billions of kalpas had passed away, the thousand million particles of primary matter again concreted, and produced 'space:' after another period of equal length, the particles of primary matter again concreted, and produced 'chaos.' After chaos was settled, heaven and earth divided, and human beings were born."
The founder of the Taou sect, called Laou-tsze, "the venerable philosopher," and Laou-keun, "the venerable prince," though coeval with Confucius, is said to have existed from eternity, and to him they ascribe the creation of the world, as in the following paragraph:—
"The venerable prince, the origin of primary matter, the root of heaven and earth, the occupier of infinite space, the commencement and beginning of all things, farther back than the utmost stretch of numbers can reach, created the universe."
One of the fabled incarnations of Laou-keun is thus described:—"The venerable prince existed before the creation, but was incarnate in the time Yang-këă, of
