The Wisdom of China and India: An Anthology

1116 Pages·1955·103.54 MB·English

by  Lin Yutang

WISDOM
OF
AND
CHINA
INDIA
EDITED BY LIN YUTANG
H
EIGHTH PRINTING
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
WE
WISH to acknowledge our indebtedness to the
following publishers for their courtesy in granting
permission to reprint sections of books issued and
them:
copyrighted by
"The Tale of Ch'ienniang," from My Country and
My People by Lin Yutang; Letter VIII and a post-
to Letter XIII in "Letters of a Chinese Poet,"
script
and sections from the "Six Chapters of a Floating
from The Lin
Life," Importance of Living by
Yutang, copyrighted and published by The John
Day Company, Inc.
"The Sermon at Benares," the "Sermon on Abuse"
and the legends, "The Marriage Feast in Jam-
bunada," "Kisa Gotami," and "Following the
Master over the Stream," copyrighted and pub-
lished by The Open Court Publishing Company,
La
Salle, Illinois.
Selections from The Panchatantra, translated by
Arthur W. and and
Ryder, copyrighted published
by The University of Chicago Press.
"The Tale of Meng Chiang," from The Lady of the
Long Wall, translated by Genevieve Wimsatt and
Geoffrey Chen, and published by Columbia Uni-
Press.
versity
Selections from The Jade Mountain, translated by
Witter Bynner, copyrighted, 1920, 1929, by Alfred
A. Knopf, Inc.
"Aphorisms of Confucius" and "The Golden Mean,"
from The Wisdom of Confucius, translated and
edited by Lin Yutang, copyrighted, 1938, by
Random
House, Inc.
Selections from The Surangama and "What is
Nirvana?" from The Lan^avatara, translated by
Goddard and
Dwight Wei-Tao, published by
Dwight Goddard.
Other acknowledgments have been made in the in-
dividual introductions.

Contents
PART ONE: THE WISDOM OF INDIA
INTRODUCTION
INDIAN PIETY
Hymns from the Rigvcda
Introduction ii
To M
Indra
The Song of Creation 15
To
16
Prajapati
To Varuna
17
To Varuna
19
To Visvakarman 20
To
Indra 21
Hymn of Man
23
To
Liberality 25
To Faith 26
To
Night 27
To Dawn
27
The
Upanishads
Introduction
31
The of the Creation
Story 34
The Subtle Essence
38
The True Brahman
40
Emancipation
The Conquest of Death 42
The One God
46
The Immanence of God
God Within You
Is
Know God
VW CONTENTS
The Lord's Song (The Bhagavad-Gita)
Introduction
54
The Blessed Lord's Song 57
The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali
Introduction
115
Concentration: Its Spiritual Uses 120
Concentration: Its Practice 123
Powers
127
Independence 130
INDIAN IMAGINATION
The
Ramayana
Introduction
135
Book
I Sita-Swayamvara 141
Book Vana-Gamana-Adesa
II 151
Book III Dasa-Ratha-Viyoga 166
Book IV Rama-Bharata-Sambada
183
V
Book Panchavati
193
Book VI Sita-Harana 201
Book VII Kishkindha 212
Book VIII Sita-Sandesa 221
Book IX Ravana-Sabha
227
X
Book Yuddha
234
Book XI
Rajya-Abhisheka 250
Book XII Aswa-Medha
257
HUMOR
INDIAN
The Fables of Panchatantra
Introduction
265
Introduction to the Stories 270
The That Rode Snakeback
Frogs 272
The
Unforgiving Monkey 273
The Lion-Makers
276
Mouse-Maid Made Mouse
277
The Duel Between Elephant and Sparrow 280
The Heron That Liked Crabmeat 281
The Unteachable Monkey 283
The Brahman's Goat
284
The Snake in the Prince's Bellp 285
The Gullible Husband 287
The Butter-Blinded Brahman 289
The Brahman, the Thief and the Ghost 290
CONTENTS
IX
The
Loyal Mungoosc 291
The Mice That Set Elephants Free 292
The Ass in the Tiger-Skin 293
The Farmer's Wife 294
The Brahman's Dream
295
and Grim
Shell-Neck, Slim, 296
The Enchanted Parrot
Introduction 297
Yasodevi and Her
Transmigrations 300
The Queen and the Laughing Fish 301
The Son of Promise 309
Devika and Her Foolish Husband 313
The Lady and the Tiger 314
The
Concluding Story 315
BUDDHISM
The
Dhammapada
Introduction
321
The Dhammapada 327
Three Sermons Buddha
by
Introduction 357
The Sermon at Benares 359
The Sermon on Abuse
362
The Fire Sermon 363
Some Buddhist Parables and Legends
Introduction 365
Kisa Gotami 367
The
Marriage-Feast in Jambunada 369
Following the Master over the Stream 370
The Monk
Greedy 371
A Monk
Courtesan Tempts the Ocean-of-Beauty 373
The Light of Asia
Introduction 377
The Light of Asia 380
The Surangama Sutra
Introduction 491
The Surangama Sutra 496
What Nirvana?
Is
Introduction 550
What Nirvana?
Is 552
GLOSSARY OF HINDU WORDS
557
CONTENTS
PART TWO: THE WISDOM OF CHINA
INTRODUCTION
567
CHINESE MYSTICISM
Laotse, the Book of Tao
Introduction 579
The of Tao
Principles 583
The Application of Tao 604
and Humorist
Chuangtse, Mystic
Introduction
625
.
A
Happy Excursion 629
On
Levelling All Things 633
The Preservation of Life 643
This Human World
645
Deformities, or Evidences of a Full Character 651
The Great
Supreme 657
Joined Toes 666
Horses' Hoofs
669
Opening Trunks, or a Protest Against Civilization 671
On
Tolerance
675
Autumn Floods 682
CHINESE DEMOCRACY
The Book of History, Documents of Chinese Democracy
Introduction
695
The Canon of Yao
707
The Counsels of the Great Yu
714
The Counsels of Kao-Yao 718
The Songs of the Five Sons 720
The Announcement of T'ang 722
Tai Chia
724
The Common Possession of Pure Virtue
726
The
Charge to Yiieh 727
The Great Declaration
731
The Metal-Bound Coffer
735
The Announcement of the Duke of Shao 737
The
Speech of Ch'in 741
Mencius, the Democratic Philosopher
Introduction
743
Mencius, the Democratic Philosopher 747
;
CONTENTS
XI
Motsc, the Religious Teacher
Introduction
785
On
the of Standards
Necessity 788
On Common
the Importance of a Standard 790
Universal Love
(II) 794
Universal Love
(III) 795
Condemnation of Offensive War
(I) 797
Condemnation of Offensive War
(II) 798
Condemnation of Offensive War 800
(III)
The Will of Heaven 801
(I)
The Will of Heaven
(II) 803
The Will of Heaven
(III) 804
Anti-Confucianism 806
(II)
Chu
Keng 806
THE MIDDLE WAY
The Aphorisms of Confucius
Introduction 811
Description of Confucius by Himself and Others 814
The Emotional and Artistic Life of Confucius 818
The Conversational 821
Style
The Touch
Johnsonian 823
Wit and Wisdom 826
Humanism and True Manhood
829
The Superior Man and the Inferior Man 833
The Mean as the Ideal Character and Types of Persons
that Confucius Hated
835
Government
838
On
Education, Ritual and Poetry 840
The Golden Mean of Tseszc
Introduction
843
The Central Harmony
845
The Golden Mean
846
Moral Law
Everywhere 847
The Humanistic Standard
848
Certain Models
850
Ethics 'and Politics
852
Being One's True Self 856
Who
Those Are Absolute True Selves
857
on Confucius
Eulogy 859
Epilogue 862
CONTENTS
Xll
CHINESE POETRY
Introduction
867
Some Great Ancient
Lyrics 871
Yuan
Ch'ii
LiPo
The Tale of Meng Chiang 909
The Mortal Thoughts of a Nun 932
SKETCHES OF CHINESE LIFE
Introduction
937
Chinese Tales
The Judgment Between Two Mothers 939
The Judgment on a Dispute 940
The Chinese Cinderella
940
The Tale of
Ch'ienniang 943
The Man Who Sold Ghosts
945
It's Wonderful to Be Drunk 946
It's Good to Be Headless 947
The Brothers* Search for Their Father 947
The
Private History of Queen Feiyen 955
Six Chapters of a Floating Life
Introduction
964
Wedded
Bliss 968
The
Little Pleasures of Life
990
Sorrow
1003
The of Travel
Joys 1023
Experience (missing)
The Way of Life
(missing)
CHINESE WIT AND WISDOM
Introduction
1053
Parables of Ancient
Philosophers
The Man Who Spurned the Machine 1054
Do-Nothing Say-Nothing 1055
The Concealed Deer
1056
The Man Who
Forgot 1057
Chi
Liang's Physicians 1058
Honest Kai
Shangch'iu 1059
The Man Who Worried About Heaven 1061
The Old Man Who Would Move Mountains 1062
Confucius and the Children
1063