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CHINESE RELIGIONS AND INSTITUTIONS. 157
who founded the Tauist sect or school of thinkers.
Tauism
is literally rationalism. Confucius spoke as a schoolmaster,
quoting the ancients of almost forgotten dynasties as
authority.
Lau-tsze, born 604 B.C., was a radical intuitionist.
His great work is called the Tau-teh-king. " Tau " means
" truth," or " doctrinal discourse." Most of his works are
abstruse and metaphysical. He is represented to have
descended from heaven, being begotten in a miraculous
manner, as were Pythagoras and Jesus. At birth his hair
was already white with age ; and accordingly he was named
what the word " Lau-tsze " implies, — " the immortal boy."
In a poem aflame with rhapsody, addressed to this personage,
these lines occur —
:
" Great and most excellent Tau,
Thou who gavest instruction to Confucius in the east,
And called into existence Buddha in the west,
Director of kings, and parent of all sages,
Originator of all religions, mystery of mysteries!
Confucius, once visiting him, did not seem to comprehend
his transcendental philosophy. Confucius's brain was a
cistern ; Lau-tsze's a living fountain. Seeing the hoUowness
of education, government, and society, he condemned it
and then, soaring into the regions of thought, he uttered
truths, and Uved them.
It is a matter of no little surprise to us that friend Stebbins,
in his excellent compilation, " The Bible of the Ages,"
made no selections from the venerable philosopher Lau-tsze,
who, though preceding Confucius by a few years, lived in
the sixth century before Christ.
The following are gems gathered at random from the
volume entitled " Tau-Teh-King :
" —
" The wise produce without holding possession; act without presuming
on the result ; complete their work without assuming any position for
themselves; and, since they assume no position, they never lose any."