This is one version of the Qingjing Jing (The Classic of Purity and Stillness)
English translations of the
Qingjing jing title include:
- "Classic of Purity" (Legge, 1891)
- "Scripture of Purity and Tranquility" (Kohn 1993)
- "Scripture on Clarity and Tranquility" (Despeux and Kohn 2003)
- "Scripture on Clarity and Stillness" (Komjathy 2004)
- "Scripture of Purity and Stillness" (Miller 2006)
- "Scripture of Clarity and Quiescence" (Kohn 2007)
see: Wikipedia
Khing Käng King or The Classic of
Purity*
So I must translate the title of this brochure, as
it appears in the 'Collection of the Most Important Treatises of
the Tâoist Fathers' (vol. xxxix, p. xvii), in which alone
I have had an opportunity of perusing and studying the Text. The
name, as given by Wylie, Balfour (Tâoist Texts.), and Faber
(China Review, vol. xiii, p. 246), is Khing King King 2, and signifies
'The Classic of Purity and Rest.' The difference is in the second
character, but both Khing Käng and Khing King are well-known
combinations in Tâoist writings; and it will be seen, as the
translation of the Text is pursued, that neither of them is unsuitable
as the title of the little Book.
It is, as Dr. Faber says, one of the 'mystical canons'
of Tâoism; but the mysticism of Tâoism is of a nature
peculiar to itself, and different from any mental exercises which
have been called by that name in connexion with Christianity or
Mohammedanism. It is more vague and shadowy than any theosophy or
Sûfism, just as the idea of the Tâo differs from the
apprehension of a personal God, however uncertain and indefinite
that apprehension may be. Mr. Wylie says the work 'treats under
very moderate limits of the subjection of the mental faculties.'
This indeed is the consummation to which it conducts the student;
a condition corresponding to the nothingness which Lâo-dze
contended for as antecedent to all positive existence, and out of
which he said that all existing being came, though he does not indicate
how.
I give to the Treatise the first place among our appendixes
here because of the early origin ascribed to it. It is attributed
to Ko Yüan (or Hsüan) 1, a Tâoist of the Wû
dynasty (A.D. 222-277), who is fabled to have attained to the state
of an Immortal, and is generally so denominated. He is represented
as a worker of miracles; as addicted to intemperance, and very eccentric
in his ways. When shipwrecked on one occasion, he emerged from beneath
the water with his clothes unwet, and walked freely on its surface.
Finally he ascended to the sky in bright day. All these accounts
may safely be put down as the figments of a later time.
It will be seen that the Text ascribes the work to
Lâo-dze himself, and I find it impossible to accept the account
of its origin which is assigned by Lî Hsî-yüeh
to Ko Hsüan. As quoted by Lî in the first of some notes
subjoined to his Commentary, Ko is made to say, 'When I obtained
the true Tâo, I had recited this King ten thousand times.
It is what the Spirits of heaven practise, and had not been communicated
to scholars of this lower world. I got it from the Divine Ruler
of the eastern Hwa; he received it from the Divine Ruler of the
Golden Gate; he received it from the Royal-mother of the West. In
all these cases it was transmitted from mouth to mouth, and was
not committed to writing. I now, while I am in the world, have written
it out in a book. Scholars of the highest order, understanding it,
ascend and become officials of Heaven; those of the middle order,
cultivating it, are ranked among the Immortals of the Southern Palace;
those of the lowest order, possessing it, get long years of life
in the world, roam through the Three Regions, and (finally) ascend
to, and enter, the Golden Gate.'
This quotation would seem to be taken from the preface
to our little classic by Ho Hsüan. If there were indeed such
a preface during the time of the Wû dynasty, the corruption
of the old Tâoism must have been rapid. The Hsî Wang-mû,
or Royal-mother of the West, is mentioned once in Kwang-dze (Bk.
VI, par. 7); but no 'Divine Ruler' disfigures his pages. Every reader
must feel that in the Classic of Purity he has got into a different
region of thought from that which he has traversed in the Tâo
Teh King and in the writings of Kwang-dze.
With these remarks I now proceed to the translation
and explanation of the text of our King.
______________
Ch. 1. 1. Lâo the Master 1 said, The Great Tâo
has no bodily form, but It produced and nourishes heaven and earth.
The Great Tâo has no passions, but It causes the sun and moon
to revolve as they do.
The Great Tâo has no name, but It effects the
growth and maintenance of all things.
I do not know its name, but I make an effort, and
call It the Tâo. Now, the Tâo (shows itself in two forms);
the Pure and the Turbid, and has (the two conditions of) Motion
and Rest. Heaven is pure and earth is turbid; heaven moves and earth
is at rest. The masculine is pure and the feminine is turbid; the
masculine moves and the feminine is still. The radical (Purity)
descended, and the (turbid) issue flowed abroad; and thus all things
were produced.
The pure is the source of the turbid, and motion is
the foundation of rest.
If man could always be pure and still, heaven and
earth would both revert (to non-existence).
3. Now the spirit of man loves Purity, but his mind
disturbs it. The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw
it away. If he could always send his desires away, his mind would
of itself become still. Let his mind be made clean, and his spirit
will of itself become pure.
As a matter of course the six desires will not arise,
and the three poisons will be taken away and disappear.
4. The reason why men are not able to attain to this,
is because their minds have not been cleansed, and their desires
have not been sent away.
If one is able to send the desires away, when he then
looks in at his mind, it is no longer his; when he looks out at
his body, it is no longer his; and when he looks farther off at
external things, they are things which he has nothing to do with.
When he understands these three things, there will
appear to him only vacancy. This contemplation of vacancy will awaken
the idea of vacuity. Without such vacuity there is no vacancy.
The idea of vacuous space having vanished, that of
nothingness itself also disappears; and when the idea of nothingness
has disappeared, there ensues serenely the condition of constant
stillness.
5. In that condition of rest independently of place
how can any desire arise? And when no desire any longer arises,
there is the True stillness and rest.
That True (stillness) becomes (a) constant quality,
and responds to external things (without error); yea, that True
and Constant quality holds possession of the nature.
In such constant response and constant stillness there
is the constant Purity and Rest.
He who has this absolute Purity enters gradually into
the (inspiration of the) True Tâo. And having entered thereinto,
he is styled Possessor of the Tâo.
Although he is styled Possessor of the Tâo,
in reality he does not think that he has become possessed of anything.
It is as accomplishing the transformation of all living things,
that he is styled Possessor of the Tâo.
He who is able to understand this may transmit to
others the Sacred Tâo.
2. 1. Lâo the Master said, Scholars of the highest
class do not strive (for anything); those of the lowest class are
fond of striving. Those who possess in the highest degree the attributes
(of the Tâo) do not show them; those who possess them in a
low degree hold them fast (and display them). Those who so hold
them fast and display them are not styled (Possessors of) the Tâo
and Its attributes.
2. The reason why all men do not obtain the True Tâo
is because their minds are perverted. Their minds being perverted,
their spirits become perturbed. Their minds being perturbed, they
are attracted towards external things. Being attracted towards external
things, they begin to seek for them greedily. This greedy quest
leads to perplexities and annoyances; and these again result in
disordered thoughts, which cause anxiety and trouble to both body
and mind. The parties then meet with foul disgraces, flow wildly
on through the phases of life and death, are liable constantly to
sink in the sea of bitterness, and for ever lose the True Tâo.
3. The True and Abiding Tâo! They who understand
it naturally obtain it. And they who come to understand. the Tâo
abide in Purity and Stillness.
*The Classic of Purity; Translated by James Legge,
1891
