YANG CHUS
GARDEN.
OF
PLEASURE,


ARWARD
Eºſ
HA
OGICAL
LIBRARY
THEOL











WISDOM OF THE EAST
YANG CHU's GARDEN
T OF PLEASURE
TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY
PROFESSOR ANTON FORKE, PH.D., ETC.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
HUGH CRANMER-BYNG
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
I912


EDITORIAL NOTE
THE object of the Editors of this series is a very
definite one. They desire above all things
that, in their humble way, these books shall be
the ambassadors of good-will and understanding
between East and West—the old world of Thought
and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and
in their own sphere, they are but followers of the
highest example in the land. They are confident
that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and
lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help
to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which
neither despises nor fears the nations of another
creed and colour.
L. CRANMER-BYNG.
S. A. KAPADIA.
NoFTHB Rook SocIETY,
21 CROMWELL RoAD,
KENSINGTON, S.W.


INTRODUCTION 13
Both philosophies press upon men the im-
portance of happiness during life, but while to
Yang Chu the study and cultivation of the senses
are all, Brihaspati is content to leave the expres-
sion of pleasure in a formula at once singularly
empty, and tinged with the indifference and
cynicism of one to whom the subject is really of
little moment.
While life remains let a man live happily. Let him feed
on ghee, though he runs in debt.
When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return
again 7
The larger view of the Chinese philosopher in
reality transcends the philosophy of Brihaspati
by that quality of attention to and intense feeling
for life, which in some respects brings him closer
to Epicurus, his truer Western prototype, though
he accepts no basis of semi-moral self-interest for
life, postulates no far-living philosophic deities, and
gives to man the solitary satisfaction of his senses,
and that only for the brief space of his lifetime.
It is here that Dr. Forke traces the underlying
pessimism of the sage, the blackness against
which are silhouetted the scarlet pleasures of life.
But this black pessimism is not real. It appears
only in illustration of the folly of the desire for
fame, or of the various means whereby man
closes for himself the gateways of happiness. It
is no part of his philosophy—rather it is the anti-
thesis. That he dwells upon the shortness of life,


20 INTRODUCTION
Here is the clear dividing line between the two.
To Yang Chu the senses are all, their satisfaction
everything. Youth and youth alone can obtain
the full satisfaction that the senses demand.
With age comes restraint and final renunciation.
To the Taoist, without this restraint and re-
nunciation nothing can be done. The way of
Tao is closed. Youth may not enter save by
doing violence to his natural instincts.
Passivity, old age, introspection belong to Lieh
Tzu ; joyousness and contentment to Yang Chu.
The whole of his philosophy is sustained by
this sense of happiness easily obtained, close at
hand, a happiness that is independent of enforced
and uncongenial labour, deadening the senses
and turning men into unwilling beasts, and inde-
pendent of the burden of riches, which in them-
selves are a direct means of limiting personality.
“Yuan Hsien lived in mean circumstances in Lu, while
Tse Kung amassed wealth in Wei.
“Poverty galled the one and riches caused uneasiness to
the other. -
“So poverty will not do, nor wealth either.
“Enjoy life and take one's ease, for those who know how
to enjoy life are not poor, and he that lives at ease requires
no riches.”
The philosopher does not say how this happy
condition of life is to be brought about. To him
it was possibly a corollary to the discovery of the
uselessness of wealth for the purpose of happi-
ness. There is no taint or suspicion of socialism


26 INTRODUCTION
To the philosopher self-sacrifice is simply the
corollary of a wrong and unbalanced condition of
life. In a community where neither fame nor self-
glorification at the expense of others is desired, self-
sacrifice would not exist. It would be unnecessary.
Where all are happy and all are contented,
there would be no need of either self-sacrifice or
self-aggrandisement. That is a simple truth;
and if, by the adoption of a false and selfish
egoism and a false and equally selfish racial
egoism, humanity has reached a point where self-
sacrifice has become a good or desirable thing,
the fault really lies with the vanity and ignorance
that have led humanity to this point, and have
ultimately justified a code of morals philosophic-
ally unreasonable and unnecessary.
It is important to state this quite clearly,
because a superficial and misleading view of the
philosophic meaning of this much-abused chapter
has provoked a number of commentators to a
righteous but quite undue sense of anger, which,
while possibly justified by the curious makeshift
view of modern morals, has no real bearing upon
the philosophic position of the philosopher.
In the view of the philosopher the care of self,
for the preservation and expression of person-
ality, is the primary and natural duty of all man-
kind, and where this natural care is interfered
with, warped or thwarted, a condition of affairs
arises in which injustice, greed and vanity, in


INTRODUCTION 31
Beyond the solitary chapter in the book of Lieh-
Tzu, which contains all that remains of the teaching
of Yang Chu, there are, scattered through the book
of Lieh-Tzu and the book of Chuang-Tzu, a few
possibly authentic tales and anecdotes attributed
to the philosopher of Liang and illustrative of his
teaching. These with one exception have already
been included in two recently published works on
the Taoist Philosophers," and may be omitted
from the present work.
The single anecdote referred to may be given
here, as it illustrates in a singularly happy fashion
the smiling scepticism of the sage to whom in
life the one final and certain thing is death.
The neighbour of Yang Chu once lost a sheep.
He began to search for it with all his kinsfolk, and asked
assistance also from the servants of Yang Chu, who in as-
tonishment said:
“Oh, oh! why do you require such a large number of
persons to seek for a single lost sheep "
The neighbour replied :
“There are many crossways to pursue and search out.”
On his return he was asked if he had found his sheep,
and replied that he had given up the search.
Yang Chu asked him why he had given up the search.
The neighbour answered :
“Among the crossways there were a great many small
diverging tracts. Not knowing which to follow I gave up
the search and returned.”
Yang Chu became pensive and wrapped in thought. For
a whole day he neither smiled nor spoke.
* Musings of a Chinese Mystic, by Lionel Giles, M.A. Taoist
Teachings, by Lionel Giles, M.A. John Murray, “Wisdom of
the East Series.”


32 INTRODUCTION
His disciples, astonished at his attitude, asked him the
reason, saying:
“A sheep is an animal of little value; furthermore this
one did not belong to you, Master. Why does its loss disturb
your usual amiable humour and gaiety ’’
Yang Chu made no answer.
His disciples were unable to understand the significance
of his silence, and Meng-Sun-Yang went out and asked Hsin-
tu-tse on the subject.
Another day Hsin-tu-tse accompanied by Meng-Sun-
Yang came to Yang Chu and asked him saying:
“Once three brothers travelled through the Provinces of
Chi and Lu.
“They were instructed under the same master and had
studied the doctrine of humanity and justice.
“When they came to their father's house their father asked
them what was the final conclusion they had arrived at in
regard to the doctrine of humanity and justice.
“The one answered :
“‘The study of humanity and justice teaches me to love and
respect my body, and to consider of less importance what
makes for fame and glory.’
“The second said :
“‘The study of humanity and justice teaches me to sacri-
fiee my body in order to obtain fame and glory.”
“The third said:
“‘The study of humanity and justice teaches me to dis-
cover a method of conciliating the desire of my body and the
desire for fame.”
“These three contradictory theories arise from the
teaching of the same master. Which of them is true 2 which
is false ?”
Yang Chu said:
“There was once a man who lived on the banks of the
river. He had a perfect knowledge of river lore, and was an
expert swimmer. He was boatman of his state and gained his
living managing his boat.
“His gains were considerable and would provide for the
maintenance of a hundred persons.
“Those who desired instruction under his direction came
to him bringing a sack of grain and became his pupils.


CHAPTER I
THE VANITY OF FAME
YANG CHU, when travelling in Lu, put up at
Meng Sun Yang's.
Meng asked him : “A man can never be more
than a man ; why do people still trouble them-
selves about fame * *
Yang Chu answered : “If they do so their
object is to become rich.”
Meng : “But when they have become rich,
why do they not stop 2 ”
Yang Chu said: “They aim at getting
honours.”
Meng : “Why then do they not stop when they
have got them : *
Yang Chu : “On account of their death.”
Meng : “But what can they desire still after
their death 2 ''
Yang Chu : “They think of their posterity.”
Meng : “How can their fame be available to
their posterity ??”
Yang Chu: “For fame's sake they endure all
kinds of bodily hardship and mental pain. They
dispose of their glory for the benefit of their clan,
and even their fellow-citizens profit by it. How
much more so do their descendants | Howbeit
36


THE ART OF LIFE 45
a stone sarcophagus. All that depends on mere
chance.”
Kuan-Yi-Wu looked round at Pao-Shu-huang-
tse and said to him :
“Both of us have made some progress in the
doctrine of life and death.”
CHAPTER IX
THE HAPPY VOLUPTUARIES
TSE-CHAN was Minister in Cheng, and governed
for three years, and governed well."
The good people complied with his injunctions,
and the bad were in awe of his prohibitory laws.
So Cheng was governed, and the princes were
afraid of it.
Tse-Chan had an elder brother, Kung-Sun-
Chow, and a younger, Kung-Sun-Mu. The former
was fond of feasting and the latter of gallantry.
In the house of Kung-Sun-Chow a thousand
barrels of wine were stored, and yeast in piled-up
heaps.
Within a hundred paces from the door the
smell of drugs and liquor offended people's noses.
He was so much under the influence of wine
that he ignored the feeling of remorse, was un-
conscious of the safe and dangerous parts of the
path of life ; what was present or wanting in his
* The famous minister of Cheng, Kung-sun-chiao, who
lived about B. c. 550.


48 THE HAPPY VOLUPTUARIES
“You value proper conduct and righteousness
in order to excel before others, and you do
violence to your feelings and nature in striving
for glory. That to us appears to be worse than
death.
“Our only fear is lest, wishing to gaze our fill
at all the beauties of this one life, and to exhaust
all the pleasures of the present years, the reple-
tion of the belly should prevent us from drinking
what our palate delights in, or the slackening of
our strength not allow us to revel with pretty
WOmen.
“We have no time to trouble about bad repu-
tations or mental dangers. Therefore for you
to argue with us and disturb our minds merely
because you surpass others in ability to govern,
and to try and allure us with promises of glory
and appointments, is indeed shameful and de-
plorable.
“But we will now settle the question with you.
“See now. If anybody knows how to regulate
external things, the things do not of necessity
become regulated, and his body has still to toil
and labour. But if anybody knows how to
regulate internals, the things go on all right, and
the mind obtains peace and rest.
“Your system of regulating external things
will do temporarily and for a single kingdom,
but it is not in harmony with the human heart,
while our method of regulating internals can be


SELF-SACRIFICE 53
This country and became a ploughman. The
great Yü" did not profit by his own body, which
grew quite emaciated.
“If the ancients by injuring a single hair could
have rendered a service to the world, they would
not have done it ; and had the universe been
offered to a single person, he would not have
accepted it.
“As nobody would damage even a hair, and
nobody would do a favour to the world, the world
was in a perfect state.”
Ch'in-Tse asked Yang Chu :
“If by pulling out a hair of your body you
would aid mankind, would you do it !”
Yang Chu answered :
“Mankind is surely not to be helped by a
single hair.”
Ch'in-Tse said :
“But supposing it possible, would you do it !”
Yang Chu gave no answer.
Thereupon Ch'in-Tse told Meng-sun-Yang, who
replied :
“I will explain the Master's meaning.
“Supposing for tearing off a piece of your skin
you were offered ten thousand gold pieces, would
you do it * *
Ch'in-Tse said :
‘‘I would.”
1 The great Yü, the controller of the great flood, which task
so occupied him that he entirely forgot his own wants.