The Three Principle Texts of Daoism translated by ... - Bad Request

of sense, and thus his moral nature becomes enfeebled.In old age, his desires and preoccupations have lost theirkeenness, and the bodily frame seeks for repose.External objects no longer hold the first place in hisregard. In this state, though not attaining to theperfection of infancy, he is already different from whathe was in adolescence. In death, he comes to his rest, andreturns to the Absolute.The HermitCONFUCIUS was travelling once over Mount T'aiwhen he caught sight of an aged man roaming in thewilds. He was clothed in a deerskin, girded with a rope,and was singing as he played on a lute. “My friend," saidConfucius, “what is it that makes you so happy?"The old man replied: “I have a great deal to make mehappy. God created all things, and of all His creationsman is the noblest. It has fallen to my lot to be a man:that is my first ground for happiness. Then, there is adistinction between male and female, the former beingrated more highly than the latter. Therefore it is betterto be a male; and since I am one, I have a second groundfor happiness. Furthermore, some are born who neverbehold the sun or the moon, and who never emerge fromtheir swaddling-clothes. But I have already walked theearth for the space of ninety years. That is my thirdground for happiness. Poverty is the normal lot of the