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THE END OF SEX AND THE FUTURE
OF H U MA N REP RODUCTION
TH E E N D OF S EX
and the Future of Human
Reproduction

H E N RY T. G R E E LY

Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England

2016
 Copyright © 2016 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

First printing

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Greely, Henry T., author.
Title: The end of sex and the future of human reproduction / Henry T. Greely.
Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043931| ISBN 9780674728967 (hc : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis. | Preimplantation genetic
diagnosis—Moral and ethical aspects. | Human reproduction.
Classification: LCC RG628.3.P74 G74 2016 | DDC 618.3/042—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043931
FOR LAURA.
Of course.
 CONTENTS

Introduction: Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part I—The Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1. Cells, Chromosomes, DNA, Genomes, and Genes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2. Reproduction: In General and in Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3. Infertility and Assisted Reproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4. Genetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5. Genetic Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6. Stem Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

First Interlude—Easy PGD: The Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Part II—The Pathway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

7. Genetic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8. Making Gametes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
9. Research Investment, Industry, Medical Professionals,
and Health Care Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
10. Legal Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11. Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
12. Some Other Possible Uses of New Technologies
in Reproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Second Interlude—Easy PGD: The Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

viii Contents

Part III—The Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

13. Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
14. Family Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
15. Fairness, Justice, and Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
16. Coercion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
17. Just Plain Wrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
18. Enforcement and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Conclusion: Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
THE END OF SEX AND THE FUTURE
OF H U MA N REP RODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION

Changes

This is a book about the future of our species, about the likely develop-
ment of revolutionary biological technologies, and about the deep ethi-
cal and legal challenges our societies will face as a result. But the best
way to sum it up, I think, is to say that it is about the coming obsoles-
cence of sex.
It is not about the disappearance of all the things we mean by the
word “sex.” Humans will still (usually) appear at birth having physical
attributes of one sex or the other and will be loudly pronounced as either
baby girls or baby boys, with the appropriately colored, and gendered,
accessories. Our descendants will still (almost all the time) have genetic
contributions from both an egg and a sperm, thereby achieving the mix-
ing of parental genes that is also sex or, at least, sexual reproduction.
And, I am confident, people will continue to practice sexual intercourse
in myriad different ways and for almost all of the current varying, com-
plicated (and uncomplicated) reasons. Except one.
I expect that, sometime in the next twenty to forty years, among hu-
mans with good health coverage, sex, in one sense, will largely disap-
pear, or at least decrease markedly. Most of those people will no longer
use sexual intercourse to conceive their children. Instead of being con-
ceived in a bed, in the backseat of a car, or under a “Keep off the Grass”
sign, children will be conceived in clinics. Eggs and sperm will be united
through in vitro fertilization (IVF). The DNA of the resulting embryos
will then be sequenced and carefully analyzed before decisions are made
(passive voice intentional) about which embryo or embryos to transfer

1
2 INTRODUCTION

to a womb for possible development into one or more living, breathing

babies.
Prospective parents will be told as much as they want to know about
the DNA of, say, 100 embryos and the implications of that DNA for
the diseases, looks, behaviors, and other traits of the child each of those
embryos might become. Then they will be asked to pick one or two to
be transferred into a womb for possible gestation and birth. And it will
all be safe, legal, and, to the prospective parents, free.
In short, we humans will begin, very broadly, to select consciously
and knowingly the genetic variations and thus at least some of the traits
and characteristics of our children. This idea is not new. It has been a
subject of hundreds, probably thousands, of stories and novels—Brave
New World by Aldous Huxley being, if not the first, certainly the first
truly memorable example.1 It has been the subject of other forms of
fiction, notably the 1997 movie Gattaca.2 And it has been the subject
of tens of thousands of books, articles, sermons, and other nonfiction
analyses—usually viewed with alarm, but occasionally with (prospec-
tive) pride.
This book is different. Not, at its heart, a discussion of the conse-
quences of such a world (although Part III does try to analyze them to
some extent), it is a description of precisely how and why that world is
going to arrive. Two insights drive the book. The first is the way new
techniques, drawn from several different areas of modern bioscience re-
search, will combine to make this future not just possible but cheap and
easy. The second is the way economic, social, legal, and political forces
will combine to make this future not just achievable but, as I believe, in-
evitable, in the United States and in at least some other countries. Those
insights turn these questions from interesting, goosebump-inducing
speculation to real problems that will confront real people—ourselves,
our children, and our grandchildren—in the next few decades.
The technical innovations will come from two worlds: genetics and
stem cell research. We can already do preimplantation genetic diagnosis
(PGD) on embryos. We can take away a few cells from an early “test
tube” embryo, test them for a genetic trait or two, and use that informa-
tion to decide whether to give the embryo a chance to become a baby.
PGD sounds like science fiction to many people but it has been used
for over a quarter century—the first child born after PGD is now over
twenty-five years old. And every year now, around the world, thousands
of new children are born after being subjected to PGD as embryos.
 Changes 3

But today PGD is only weakly informative, as well as expensive, un-

pleasant, and even dangerous, thanks both to the limitations of genetic
testing and to the necessity of using IVF as part of PGD. These constraints
will change. Genetics will allow us to do cheap, accurate, and fast se-
quencing of the entire 6.4 billion base pair genome of an embryo and
will give us an increasingly deep understanding of what that sequence
means for disease risks, physical characteristics, behaviors, and other
traits of the child that embryo would become. And stem cell research
will allow couples to avoid the expensive and (for the women involved)
unpleasant and physically risky process of maturing and retrieving hu-
man eggs by allowing us to make eggs (and sperm) from stem cells. The
result will be a cheap, effective, and painless process I call “Easy PGD.”
Of course, just because technological innovations are possible does
not mean they will be adopted. The supersonic commercial jetliner
came and went; the flying car and the rocket backpack were never really
launched, though both are technically feasible. But unlike those tech-
nologies, Easy PGD has a clear path to acceptance in the United States
and likely paths to adoption in many other countries. It may not be ap-
proved everywhere, but in an increasingly global world, that could well
be irrelevant.
The ideas in the last few paragraphs are the core of this book. I will
also discuss some of the potential consequences that widespread adop-
tion of DNA-based embryo selection using Easy PGD will have for indi-
viduals, for families, for societies, and for humanity. The fields of genetic
selection have been frequently plowed before; I hope the specificity of
Easy PGD as the method of choice for parents to select their children’s
traits, as well as the near immediacy of the questions it raises, will add
some value to my analysis over those that have come before.
Concretely, the book is divided into three parts. Part I provides back-
ground information on the science and technology involved in Easy
PGD. It gives a nonscientist a guide to the varied ways living things
reproduce; to the specifics of how humans reproduce, naturally and by
IVF; to DNA, genes, chromosomes, and genetic testing; and to stem
cell research. Much of it will be helpful in understanding what follows;
I must confess that some of it is here in the hope that you will come to
share the excitement and fascination of biology with me, a person whose
last biology class was in tenth grade. Part II explains how and why Easy
PGD will happen, looking first at the technical developments in genetics
(or genomics) and in stem cell science and then at the medical, economic,
4 INTRODUCTION

legal, and political factors that will make it not just acceptable, but wide-
ly adopted. Part III examines the broader implications of Easy PGD. It
looks at issues of safety, family, equality, coercion, and nature, along
with some other more practical consequences of the technology.
I’ve gotten lots of good advice in writing this book, but I haven’t
taken all of it. Although IVF, the fountainhead of modern assisted repro-
ductive technologies, is less than forty years old, it has already spawned
a vast literature on a wide range of issues, including many fascinating
and important matters for which Easy PGD would be relevant, such as
surrogacy, parental status, gamete donor rights (and duties), and the
positions and roles of religious beliefs, among others. This book could
and perhaps should be longer; however, practical considerations mean
that the likely interactions between Easy PGD and other issues I do not
analyze must await future treatments.
More fundamentally, some people have told me to make an argu-
ment—to take a position and fight for it, guns blazing. But I’m a law
professor, trained as a lawyer. Lawyers do many things. Sometimes they
argue zealously in court for their clients’ positions, whether they believe
them or not. But sometimes they lay out all the facts and implications,
as they see them, to help clients make their own decisions. I have some
views about ways we might want to regulate Easy PGD, but they are
tentative, based on glimpses and guesses of the future and on my own
preferences and principles. I will share them, but I do not insist on them.
But I will ask you to develop opinions. Easy PGD will give prospective
parents—including perhaps some who are reading these words—more
choices but it will also set some hard questions for all of us. My goals
are, first, to get you interested in those questions—as parents, as grand-
parents, as citizens, as humans—and second, to give you information to
help you come to your own conclusions.
Aldous Huxley’s famous novel takes its title from one of Shakespeare’s
last plays, The Tempest. Years before the play starts, plotters abandon
Prospero, who is both the Duke of Milan and a magician, at sea with his
infant daughter, Miranda. They survive on an island with only non-hu-
man company. The years go by—Miranda grows up, and fate, working
through Shakespeare, delivers the plotters to the island and into Pros-
pero’s hands. Miranda sees them, almost the very first humans she ever
remembers seeing, and, not knowing that some of them had long ago
plotted her death along with her father’s, she famously exclaims:
 Changes 5

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!3

That is often remembered. What few recall (though I am sure Huxley

did) was Prospero’s immediate reply: “’Tis new to thee.” My hope is
that when Easy PGD opens the prospects of some kind of brave new
world, you will be more knowledgeable, and more sophisticated, than
Miranda. (And that things will work out as well for you as, happily, they
do for her in the end.)
 PA RT I

The Science

This part of the book sets out, in six chapters, the scientific background
that I think is useful for understanding Easy PGD and its implications.
The chapters cover basic information about cells, DNA, and genes;
“normal” reproduction among living things, including humans; assisted
reproduction in humans, genetics, genetic testing, and stem cells. I have
tried to write about them to make the information understandable to
anyone interested, even those of you who, like me, last took a biology
course at the age of fifteen.
Some of you will have educational and professional backgrounds that
give you far more knowledge of the areas than I can convey, or know
(although, given the increasing specialization of science and medicine,
I suspect very few of you will be expert in all of these fields). I will not
be offended if you skip some or all of these chapters. Others of you,
without a background in these sciences, will be determined to stay that
way and will not want to read these chapters. I hope you change your
minds. I came to biology late in life, as an amateur, and I fell in love
with it—with its breadth, its combination of deep unities and myriad
complexities, its many rules—each with exceptions and every exception
with provisos—and its infinite surprises. In many ways it reminds me of
my professional field, the law. One of my goals for this book is to bring
to some of you a love of biology. For that, I need you to read the next
six chapters. And I think even those of you who plan to read the next
six chapters may want to read the rest of this introduction—it should be
useful to guide your deeper reading, though it does mean that some parts
of the next chapters will be familiar.

7
8 THE SCIENCE

Part I of the book is a fairly shallow look at the science; before

my last edits it was twice as long and still shallow. But I know that
for some of you even those shortened chapters will be far too long,
so the rest of this introduction is for you: it is the relevant biology in
a nutshell—and not a big one (pistachio, maybe?). Please remember
that everything that follows is incomplete and much of it is, at least
in some particular and unusual applications, wrong—or at least not
quite right. (And if you want references, read the endnotes to the fol-
lowing chapters.)
Living organisms are made out of cells, sacks of materials held to-
gether like water balloons by membranes or walls. Most living things
have only one cell; the vast majority of them are bacteria or archaebac-
teria, which have only very simple cells. Some one-celled organisms and
all multicelled organisms, from plants to ants to us, have more com-
plicated types of cells, which have distinct different “organelles” inside
them. One of those “little organs” is the nucleus of the cell. The nucleus
contains (almost) the cell’s entire DNA, a molecule known more fully as
deoxyribonucleic acid. The DNA in the nucleus is organized into distinct
bodies called chromosomes, which come (mainly) in pairs. Humans nor-
mally have 46 chromosomes, one pair each of chromosomes 1 through
22 (the autosomes) and two sex chromosomes, either two X chromo-
somes (in women) or an X and a Y chromosome (in men).
Cells normally reproduce by doubling their chromosomes and split-
ting in half, sending the right number of pairs of chromosomes to each
daughter cell. Each of the two daughter cells is a “clone” of the parent
cell—they are genetically identical. Most life on this planet reproduces
by cloning, but most of the life visible to our naked eye does not. In-
stead, it reproduces sexually. Sexual reproduction around the biosphere
is much more varied and complicated than it is in humans, but, at its
core, it ensures that instead of being genetically identical copies, an or-
ganism’s offspring are a new combination of the chromosomes from two
different “gametes,” sperm and eggs.
Human sexual reproduction is so complicated that it is amazing any
of us gets born. But, basically, sperm from a man makes a long and ar-
duous journey to meet with a woman’s ripe egg, which has made its own
shorter but difficult trip. The sperm and the egg each carry 23 chromo-
somes from the man or woman, half the usual number. The sperm merg-
es into the much larger egg (think of a small pea going into a basketball).
After fertilization the egg is renamed a zygote and chromosomes from
 The Science 9

the egg and sperm eventually merge to form a new nucleus, which begins
to divide. After four or five days of dividing, the resulting embryo is a
hollow ball, about five one-thousandths of an inch wide, perhaps visible
to someone with good eyes in good light. Shortly thereafter, it needs to
be in the womb, attaching to its lining and becoming implanted, if it is
to have any chance to be born.
Some couples cannot have babies the usual way. Sometimes the prob-
lem is with the woman’s eggs getting to or implanting in the womb,
sometimes it is with the man’s sperm getting to and fertilizing the eggs,
and sometimes the cause is unknown. In many cases assisted reproduc-
tion can help, often through IVF.
In IVF, the woman’s ovaries are artificially forced to ripen extra
eggs, which are then surgically extracted. This process is expensive,
unpleasant, and somewhat risky for the woman involved. The eggs
are usually mixed with sperm and become fertilized, although often a
procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is used. (Of
course, if one of the would-be parents has no eggs or sperm, IVF alone
is insufficient and the couple will need “donated” eggs or sperm—often
sold.) Either way, some of the eggs will be fertilized successfully, and
the resulting zygotes will begin to divide in containers in the clinic.
If the zygotes divide successfully for a long enough time, they will be
transferred into a woman’s womb sometime between the third and
sixth day after fertilization, in the hope that they will implant and
eventually become babies.
Now we need to go back to the chromosomes and the DNA they
contain. DNA is famously called “the double helix.” For those of you
who, like me, don’t have a good mental image of a double helix, think
of a very long ladder that has been twisted into a spiral. The sides of
the DNA ladder are unimportant; the rungs are crucial. Each rung is
made up of two out of four molecules: adenosine, cytosine, guanine,
and thymine—widely known as A, C, G, and T. But A will only com-
bine with T to make a rung and C will only combine with G. The
rungs, therefore, are made up of “base pairs” consisting of either A-T,
C-G, G-C, or T-A. By reading the bases attached to one side of the lad-
der, you get the DNA’s “sequence”—for example, AGCGAGTTTTCG.
(The “other” sequence, attached to the other side of the ladder, must
read TCGCTCAAAAGC.) But instead of just the twelve bases in that
example, the sequence of a whole human chromosome is between 50
and 250 million bases long.
10 THE SCIENCE

Humans normally have 46 chromosomes, one copy of chromosomes

1 to 22 plus a sex chromosome (either an X or a Y) from their fathers
and another copy of those autosomes plus, necessarily, an X chromo-
some from their mothers (the mothers only have X chromosomes to
give—if they had a Y chromosome, they would be male). The sequences
of all chromosomes from one parent make up “the human genome” and
are about 3.2 billion bases long. Each of us has two copies of the human
genome, one from each parent. These copies are very similar to each
other (except for men, whose Y chromosome is quite different—much
smaller and less important—from the X chromosome), but they do differ
in about one base, or “letter,” in one thousand. Your complete genome
sequence then, is about 6.4 billion bases long. If you think of each base
as a character in the English language—a letter, punctuation mark, or
space—your genome is about as long as 700 copies of the King James
Version of the Bible.
Most of the bases in the human genome have no known (and quite
possibly no unknown) meaning, but about 1.5 percent of them spell out
instructions (“code”) to the cell on how to make particular proteins, the
molecules that make up most of the substance of our bodies. Another
chunk of the DNA letters—whether it is 5 percent, 10 percent, or more
is controversial—control when and how much those protein-coding re-
gions will be turned on or off, up or down, as well as making other
useful molecules of a type called RNA. The exact meaning of the term
“gene” is surprisingly unclear, but the human genome contains about
23,000 protein-coding regions, which can make over 100,000 different
human proteins. By reading the genetic code of the sequence, we can
know what those proteins are made of and whether they are normal,
dangerously abnormal, or abnormal in ways that might or might not be
important.
Human genetic testing has taken place for about fifty years, using
many different methods. Today (and increasingly in the future) it in-
volves looking at DNA sequences in regions of chromosomes that are
known to be important and trying to figure out whether a person’s se-
quence is normal or dangerous. For example, the famous breast and
ovarian cancer gene, BRCA1 (by convention, gene names should be ital-
icized), is made up of about 80,000 bases near the end of the long arm
of chromosome 17. It can be sequenced to see if a woman has a normal
version (the vast majority of people), a version known to be dangerous
 The Science 11

(less than 1 percent of people), or a version that is not normal but may
or may not be dangerous (another roughly 5 percent).
It has only been possible to sequence a person’s entire genome for less
than fifteen years. The first whole genome sequence cost about $500 mil-
lion and took years. Today you can get your genome sequenced in a few
days for about $1,500. Observers expect this price to continue to fall,
very soon to about $1,000 and eventually much further. Most people
expect whole genome sequencing to be widely used for genetic tests in a
few years as the price drops.
Genetic testing can be used in many different contexts. Adults or chil-
dren can be tested to diagnose, or predict, diseases or traits. Fetuses
can be tested before birth, through three different technologies, starting
between the tenth and the eighteenth weeks of pregnancy. And embryos
created through IVF can be tested before they are transferred for pos-
sible implantation and pregnancy, usually about five days after fertiliza-
tion. The later process, PGD (short, recall, for preimplantation genetic
diagnosis), involves taking a few cells from the embryo and then testing
those cells. The results of those tests are then used to decide whether to
transfer an embryo. In the past twenty-six plus years of PGD’s use, it
could only be used to test any particular embryo for one or a handful
of genes. PGD has been used to look for DNA associated with a genetic
disease found in the family, for DNA that would allow an embryo to
become a baby that could be a cord blood donor to a family member, or
for the embryo’s future sex.
What all can genetic testing tell us? It depends. For some things, ge-
netic tests reveal destiny. Anyone whose DNA has the version of the
Huntingtin gene associated with Huntington disease can only avoid dy-
ing of that disease by dying first of something else. But a woman with a
genetic variation of the BRCA1 gene has only about a 60 to 85 percent
chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime and
only about a 30 percent chance of an ovarian cancer diagnosis. A man
with a dangerous variation in the BRCA2 gene has about 100 times the
normal man’s risk of breast cancer, but his risk is still only a few percent.
The percentage of people with a particular DNA variation who will get
a disease or a trait associated with that variation is called the variation’s
“penetrance.”
Today, genetic testing can give us strong information about a few
thousand genetic diseases, almost all of them rare, as well as some
12 THE SCIENCE

nondisease traits, like ABO blood type. It can give us weaker informa-
tion about other diseases or traits and very weak to no information
about others. In the long run, though, DNA sequences should be able
to reveal much, though not everything, about disease and trait “risks”
that can be lumped into five categories: highly penetrant, serious, early-
onset diseases; other diseases; cosmetic traits (hair color, eye color, and
so on); behavioral traits (math ability, sports ability, personality type);
and sex—boy or girl.
Whole genome sequencing has now been used experimentally on early
embryos. Today it is too expensive and inaccurate to be widely used but
that will change and when it does, PGD should become more popular
because it will be able to make far more predictions about an embryo’s
possible future. But there is still one more barrier—PGD requires IVF
and IVF is difficult. The answer is our last area of science: stem cells.
Most human cells have limited lifespans. After a certain number of
divisions, usually about forty to eighty depending on the cell type, they
stop dividing and die. Stem cells don’t—they just keep dividing, perhaps
indefinitely. Furthermore, some stem cells divide into different kinds of
cells. So blood-forming stem cells can eventually make all the scores of
different kinds of blood cells in our bodies.
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are created by taking the cells
inside the hollow ball that is a five-day-old embryo and growing them
in a laboratory. They can become any cell type in the human body.
We know that because those cells on the inside of the embryo go on
to become every cell type in your body and mine. Extraction of hESCs
has been extremely controversial because it requires the destruction of a
human embryo. In 2007, Shinya Yamanaka in Japan produced the first
human “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPSCs). These are cells from
normal body tissue (usually from the skin) that he treated in a way that
made them act like hESCs. They, too, are expected to be able to become
every human cell type, including eggs and sperm. And, in fact, baby mice
have already been created from mouse eggs and mouse sperm derived
from both mouse embryonic stem cells and mouse iPSCs.
If ripe human eggs could be derived from a person’s skin cells, it would
avoid most of the cost, almost all of the discomfort, and all of the risk of
IVF. It should also provide an unlimited supply of eggs, from women at
any age. Along with accurate, inexpensive whole genome sequencing of
early embryos, that should make PGD much easier and more attractive,
leading to what this book calls Easy PGD.
 The Science 13

For more information on any or all of the science discussed above,

please read some or (better) all of the next six chapters. But if you have
had enough, proceed to the First Interlude, between the end of Part I and
the beginning of Part II, to pick up the story of The End of Sex.
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 CHAPTER III.

THE TAO-TÊ CHING 道德經.

Lao-tzŭ is said to have died at the age of eighty-one years in
1
B.C. 523, though, as has been seen, nothing is known positively
about the time or manner of his decease. He had, according to
historical tradition, on leaving the Hanku Pass, consigned his writings
on Tao and Tê to Yin-hsi, the guardian of the Pass. This latter seems
to have transmitted his doctrines to others, more especially to Wên-
tzŭ ( 文 子 ), who probably published the first edition of this work
known to the public. Some indeed suppose that Lao-tzŭ did not
himself commit anything to writing, and that Yin-hsi merely related
orally to Wên-tzŭ and others what he had been taught orally by the
sage. This opinion will not seem unlikely, if we consider that the use
of paper was at this time unknown and that there were very few
facilities of any kind for publishing a book. Others suppose that Wen-
tzŭ was an immediate disciple of Lao-tzŭ and that he published an
2
account of his master’s doctrines after the decease of the latter.
In any case, however, it appears certain that for a considerable
time after the death of its author the work which is now known as
the Tao-tê ching remained in at least partial obscurity. Mencius does
not allude by name to Lao-tzŭ or his teachings, though he refers on
several occasions, and rather unfavourably, to Yang-chu (楊朱), who
is supposed to have been a disciple of the sage. The philosophers
Chwang ( 莊 ) and Lie ( 列 ), however, contemporaries of Mencius,
seem to have been aware of the existence and contents of the Tao-
tê ching. The latter expressly quotes its words, and both make
mention of Lao-tan.
 It has not been ascertained when or by whom its present title
was imposed on this book. We find early writers quoting its
teachings as those of Hwang-Lao ( 黃 老 ), that is, of the Emperor
Hwang and Lao-tzŭ. The former lived, or is supposed to have lived,
about B.C. 2600, and some parts of the Tao-tê ching are expressly
3
ascribed to him, for example, Chapter VI is quoted as his. Another
title under which this book is referred to by old authors is Lao-tzŭ-
4
shu (老子書), that is, the writings of Lao-tzŭ, and it is not until the
time of Emperor Wên (文帝) of the Han dynasty, or about B.C. 160,
that we find the term Tao-tê used. We must remember also that the
use of these two words does not indicate that the book treats only
5
of what is meant by them, nor are we to imagine that the former
part of the work refers exclusively to Tê. The first word of the former
part of the book is Tao, and the first important word of the latter
portion is Tê, and these two were simply combined in order to form
6
a designation for the whole, according to the usual Chinese custom.
Hiüan-tsung (玄宗), an Emperor of the Tʽang dynasty, who reigned
in the early part of the 8th century of our era, besides several other
innovations, gave a separate name to each part of this book, calling
7
the former part the Tao-ching and the latter the Tê-ching. These
appellations, however, are seldom, if ever, used, and the work is now
universally known as the Tao-tê ching. From the words of Confucius
it might even with some degree of probability be inferred that
already in his time the name Tao-tê was used, the term Ching or
classic, being, of course, a much later addition and given by way of
respect.
From the naming of the book I now proceed to the
considerations of the way in which it has been divided. Szŭ Ma-chien
simply says that Lao-tzŭ made a book in two parts, containing more
than five thousand characters, and setting forth the signification of
Tao and Tê. Chʽao, however, says that the work contained 5,748
words in eighty-one chapters. The original division was probably only
one into two parts; afterwards, however, these were subdivided into
chapters. The number of these latter composing the entire book
8
varies considerably. Some editors make fifty-five chapters; some
make sixty-four; some, and notably Wu-chʽêng, make sixty-eight;
and some seventy-two. The most usual number, however, is eighty-
one, and this is said to be sanctioned by the old and venerable
authority of Ho-shang-kung (河上公) of the Han dynasty. The Taoists
are very fond of the number three and its multiples, and this
particular multiple, eighty-one, is associated in tradition with Lao-
tzŭ’s birth and the years of his life, and there is perhaps no greater
reason for preferring this to any other division.
To Ho-shang-kung is ascribed also the addition of a title to each
of the eighty-one chapters. These titles consist of two characters
each, giving an epitome of the contents of the chapter, and they
resemble the headings of chapters and sections in our own books.
Many editors, however, reject these inventions of Ho-shang-kung,
and use the ordinary Chinese method of distinguishing each chapter
by its first two characters. This is considered the more decorous
method, as the other seems to be supplementing the author.
I come now to the text of the Tao-tê ching, and here the most
bewildering uncertainty and confusion are found. Some editors,
wishing to have the number of characters as little as possible beyond
five thousand, have cut them off apparently at pleasure, and without
much regard for the sense of the author. Others have pursued a
contrary course, and retained or added characters in order
apparently to make out what they deemed to be the true meaning of
any particular passage. This conduct has occasioned great variations
in the text, and consequently great uncertainty as to what Lao-tzŭ
actually wrote or taught. Sometimes one editor, by the suppression
of, a negative particle or a word of interrogation, gives to a passage
a meaning unlike or even opposed to that which another editor by
the insertion of this character gives to the same passage. But not
only do different editions of this book vary as to insertion and
rejection of words: they also differ as to the mode of writing many
of those actually employed. Words written in similar manners, or of
similar sound, but with widely different significations, frequently
replace one another; and not unfrequently characters totally
different in sound, appearance, and meaning are found substituted
one for another in the same passage. Hence the number of various
readings is exceedingly great, and the meaning of many passages at
least very doubtful. One edition gives in the introduction an account
of some of the variations in the text, which occupies a considerable
number of pages; while another edition gives only a text
accompanied by various readings.
The next point to be considered, is the style of our author. This
is perhaps the most terse and concise ever employed. There is little,
if any, grace or elegance about it: and most of the chapters seem to
be merely notes or texts for philosophical discourses. They are
composed of short and often enigmatical or paradoxical sentences—
9
not in verse, as has been asserted —and with a connexion either
very slight or not at all perceptible. Much of the present obscurity
may be due to the antiquity of the language and the uncertainty
about the proper reading; but much is also due to the brief
enigmatical manner in which the author has expressed himself. Many
Chinese regard the style as profound and suggestive, and so, no
doubt, it is; but we can never get at the bottom of the meaning, nor
imagine all that is suggested.
Connected with the obscurity of the style, and indeed
contributing largely towards it, is the nature of the topics discussed.
The origin of the universe, and man’s place and destiny in it as an
individual, a member of society, and a conscious part of nature, are
subjects which in all ages and in all countries have puzzled the
minds of thoughtful men, and it is of these and similar matters that
Lao-tzŭ principally treats. Such subjects, even when discussed in a
clear and plain style and with a rich language, are found to be
difficult of elucidation; and how much more so must they be when
discussed in short enigmatical sentences? Lao-tzŭ, like all other
philosophers who live and write in the infancy of a literary language,
had only a very imperfect medium through which to communicate
his doctrines. The language of his time was rude and imperfect,
utterly unfit to express the deep thoughts of a meditative mind, and
hence it could at best but “half reveal and half conceal the soul
within.”
The genuineness and sources of this book are also difficult of
investigation, and it is perhaps impossible to ascertain the truth
about them with any accuracy. As has been seen, a portion is
ascribed to the semi-fabulous Emperor Hwang, and Lao-tzŭ is
sometimes represented as merely transmitting this emperor’s
doctrines. Chapter XXXI has been declared spurious, and a portion
10
of Chapter XXVII is found first in Ho-shang-kung’s edition. The
beginning of the now famous Chapter XIV is very similar to the
words ascribed to the predecessor of the Emperor Hwang, namely
the Emperor Yen ( 炎 ), by the philosopher Chwang. Rémusat and
Pauthier consider the main doctrines of the Tao-tê ching to be
derived from Western sources. The former asks—Did Lao-tzŭ learn
11
them from the Jews or from some oriental sect unknown to us?
But the illustrious savant was unable to give a satisfactory answer.
The learned Pauthier thinks that Lao-tzŭ borrowed his doctrines
either from the writings of some of the ancient Chinese sages or
12
from some Indian philosophers. In Ma-tuan-lin’s great work a short
account is given of an ancient worthy named Yŭ-hsuing (鬻熊), who
served the celebrated Wên-wang, and who must accordingly have
13
flourished about B.C. 1150. This man seems to have anticipated
Lao-tzŭ in certain doctrines, but we have very little information
about him, and what we have can scarcely be called reliable. Lao-tzŭ
never alludes to a previous author; but there cannot be much doubt,
I think, that he was well acquainted with the history and traditions
of his country.
We may probably now understand the nature of the difficulties
attending the reading and interpreting of the Tao-tê Ching, of which
western writers have complained. Julien speaks of it as “cet ouvrage
mémorable qu’on regarde avec raison comme le plus profond, le plus
14
abstrait et le plus difficile de toute la littérature Chinoise.” Rémusat
and Pauthier have written in a similar manner, and the study of a
few pages of the work will show how real are the difficulties of which
they complain. But it is not to foreign students alone that these
difficulties are perplexing; they are so to the native student also.
Some of its editors are accused not only of not appreciating its spirit,
but even of not understanding its language.
The number of those who have edited and commented on this
work is very great, embracing Buddhists, Taoists, and Confucianists.
The curious reader will find a list of many of these in the
Observations Détachées prefixed to Julien’s translation. To this list
many more names might be added, but it includes nearly all the
useful and well known editions. It is only necessary here to
enumerate a few of the more important and celebrated editions, and
those which are apparently not mentioned by Julien and which have
come under my notice.
1. The Tao-tê-ching-chu ( 道 德 經 註 ) by Ho-shang-kung, or as
Ma-tuan-lin names the book, Ho-Shang-Kung-Chu-Lao-tzŭ, may be
regarded as the earliest edition of which we have now any exact
information. This Ho-shang-kung lived in the second century B.C.,
during the reign of King Wen (文帝) of the Han dynasty. He derived
his name from his living as a studious hermit on the bank of a river
in a grass-made hut, and neither his original name nor anything else
scarcely is known of him, though Julien calls him “Lo-chin-kong.” To
him, as has been seen, is ascribed division of Lao-tzŭ’s book into
eighty-one chapters, as also the addition of the two-word heading of
each chapter. The original work is said to have been long since lost,
and professed reprints are now generally regarded as spurious.
Many modern editions, however, present what they designate Ho-
shang-kung’s text, and Julien seems to regard himself as possessing
the genuine commentary. The edition of the Tao-tê Ching, which
forms the first volume in the Shĕ-tzŭ-chʽuan-shu ( 十 字 全 書 )
published during the reign of Chia-Chʽing of the present dynasty,
professes to give Ho-shang-kung’s text, revised by two scholars of
the Ming dynasty. Later editors are divided in their opinions of the
merits of the recluse’s commentary and arrangement of the text.
Some regard the commentary as a fair exponent of Lao-tzŭ’s
teachings, while others—and these I think the majority—regard it as
very bad and evincing an ignorance of the author’s meaning. The
text which is ascribed to him seems to be freer from obscurities than
that of some later editions, but he is accused of having taken great
liberties with the words of the original.
2. The edition of Wang-Pi ( 王 弼 ). This man was the author of
the Lao-tzu-liao-lun (老子略論), according to Chʽao. He was a native
of Shan-yang (山陽) in the time of the Chin dynasty, which reigned
15
over China in the third and fourth centuries of our era. His style
was Szu-fu (嗣輔), and he was an early and devoted student of Lao-
tzŭ. Besides this, and that he wrote a commentary on the Tao-tê
chin, and one on the Yi-ching, and died at the early age of twenty-
four, much regretted by his sovereign, we know little about Wang-Pi.
The text which he gives in his edition is very good, and his notes are
very brief. They are, however, in some cases almost as difficult to
comprehend as the passages they are intended to explain; though
their author is regarded by many as a better student of Lao-tzŭ than
Ho-shang-kung, and Mr. Wylie says that his commentary is
“generally esteemed for its depth of thought and chasteness of
16
diction.” He also divided the work into eighty-one chapters. In the
40th year of Chʽien-lung, or in 1775, a revised edition of this work
was printed in the palace, under the care of three mandarins, who
have written a neat little preface to the book. This edition is valuable
as giving the variations of Wang-Pi’s notes which appeared in the
great Encyclopedia known as Yung-lo-ta-tien (永樂大典).
3. The Tao-tê-ching-shi-yi ( 道 德 經 釋 義 ). This was the work of
Lü-yen ( 呂 嵒 ), better known as Lü-Tʽung-pʽin or Lü-tsu, a famous
Taoist of the Tʽang dynasty. His commentary is very diffuse, and
does not tend very much to give a clear conception of Lao-tzŭ’s
views. Many Chinese scholars, however, believe that the genuine
work is not extant, and that all the editions purporting to be from his
pen are spurious. Lü-yen was also the editor of a Taoist book written
by a celebrated individual of the Han dynasty, and he was the author
of a number of original pieces. He was promoted to the rank of a
Genius, and he is enrolled as one of the Pa-hsien ( 八 仙 ) or Eight
Genii, under the style Shun-yang-chên-jen ( 純 楊 眞 人 ); and in the
29th year of Kʽang-hsi, Mou-Mu-yuen (牟目源) published an edition
of the Tao-tê Ching purporting to be a revised edition of this man’s
work. It is a very useful book, giving in addition to the commentary
a list of various readings, the sounds of the rare or doubtful
characters, and other valuable information. This is the edition,
apparently, to which Julien refers as a work “publiée en 1690 par
Chun-yang-tchin-jin qui renferme toutes les rêveries des Tao-sse
17
modernes.” I cannot understand, however, how a sinologue of M.
Julien’s erudition could mistake the date of the famous Lü-Tʽung-pin
or forget that he was identical with Shun-yang-chên-jen, A new
edition of Mou-Mu-yuen’s book was published in the 14th year of
Chia-chʽing (1809) by Tsou-Hsü-kʽun (鄒學鯤).
4. The edition with notes by Su-Che ( 蘇 轍 ), a relation of the
famous poet and author of the Sung dynasty, named Su also. Che,
or as he is also called Tsŭ-yu, seems to have been an eclectic
philosopher, and he has incurred severe censure from rigid
Confucianists for daring to presume that the doctrines of
Shâkyamuni and Lao-tzŭ could resemble those of their Master. His
commentary is written in a liberal and generous spirit, and shews,
besides, a considerable amount of reading, much in advance of
ordinary Chinese authors.
5. Another edition of the Tao-tê Ching, published during the
Sung dynasty, was that of Lü-Tung-lai (呂東萊) or Tsu-chʽien (祖謙),
also known as Pei-kung (伯恭). He was a very learned Confucianist,
and wrote, along with other works, an excellent commentary on the
Chʽun-chʽiu (春秋) of Confucius.
6. The Tao-tê-chên-ching-chu ( 道 德 眞 經 註 ) by Wu-Chʽêng ( 吳
澄). This man was a native of Lin-chiean-hsien (臨川縣) in Kiangsi,
and lived under the Yuan or Mongol dynasty. He divided the Tao-tê
Ching into sixty-eight chapters by putting, in several instances, two
or more of the ordinary chapters into one. His commentary is one of
the best and of the most popular among the Chinese literati. This is
partly owing to the fact that Wu-Chʽêng was also a well-known
Confucianist and a commentator on the classics. His style was Yu-
chʽing ( 幼 清 ), and it is under the name Oi-yeou-thsing that Julien
makes mention of him. In Chinese books he is also frequently
quoted as Tsʽao-lu ( 草 廬 ). A new edition of Wu-Chʽêng’s excellent
work appeared in the eighth year of Chia-chʽing (1803,) with a
preface by Chang-Wên-ping, and another edition with a short
supplement appeared in the reign of the late emperor.
7. Under the Ming dynasty there were several good, editions of
this work published, but I have been able to obtain only two of
them. The Tao-tê-hsing-ming-chʽien-chi ( 道 德 性 命 前 集 ) was
published during the reign of Yung-lo in the first quarter of the 15th
century. The editor does not reveal his name but uses a nom de
guerre, and I have not succeeded in ascertaining anything about his
history. The commentary which he has written is very useful, and
evinces a careful study of his author and a familiar acquaintance
with Chinese literature. The text and the headings of the Chapters
are said to be after Ho-shang-kung, and the number of the chapters
is eighty-one.
8. The Tao-tê-hsing-ming-hou-chi ( 道 德 性 命 後 集 ) appeared in
the reign of Chia-ching ( 嘉 靖 ) of the same dynasty, and nearly a
century after the above edition. The author of this commentary was
Chu-Chʽen-hung ( 朱 宸 洪 ), a relative of the royal family, and a
military viceroy with full powers for some time. His notes are short
and not of great utility, but he occasionally introduces quotations
from early writers illustrative of passages in Lao-tzŭ’s teachings, and
he seems to have been a man of no mean literary attainments.
9. The Tao-tê Ching, with Prolegomena and Commentary by
Hsu-Ta-chʽun (徐大椿), was published in 1760. Ta-chʽun’s style was
Ling-tʽai (靈胎), and he was born in Wu-chiang-hsien (吳江縣) in the
department of Soochow, in the reign of Yung-chêng. He was well-
known during his life as an accomplished scholar, and a writer on
medicine and other subjects. His commentary on the Tao-tê Ching is
to be reckoned among the most useful of all the commentaries that
have hitherto appeared. He speaks very slightingly of previous
editors, more especially of Ho-shang-kung, and he advertises his
readers that he has not stolen anything from his predecessors, but
has studied his author. Mr. Wylie says that Ta-chʽun in this
commentary, “in a concise and lucid style, develops his ideas on the
18
work of Laòu-tze, extolling it above the Confucian Classics.”
10. The Tao-tê-ching-kʽao-yi (道德經攷異) by Pi-Yuan (畢沅), a
high officer under Chien-lung. He published this work in the forty-
sixth year of this reign (1781) in two volumes, and with the chapters
divided in the usual manner. The text which he gives is that settled
by Fu-yi (傅奕), an imperial annalist during the Tʽang dynasty, and
his notes consist almost exclusively of an enumeration of the
variations presented by previous editions. Mr. Wylie speaks of it as “a
19
very excellent examination of the purity of the text,” but it is
scarcely so much as a statement of the various readings, with an
occasional attempt at explanation or reconciliation.
11. The Lao-tzŭ-tsʽan-chu (老子參註). Of this Mr. Wylie writes:
—“A critical exposition of the work (that is, of the Tao-tê Ching) was
written by 倪元垣 E Yuên-tʽàn in 1816, entitled the 老子參註 Laòu-
20
tszè-tsʽan-choó.”
Appended to several editions of the Tao-tê Ching is a small tract
bearing the name Yin-fu Ching (陰符經), that is, as explained by one
author, the Classic of the Secret Tally. It contains only a few
sentences, generally obscure and enigmatical, bearing on subjects
similar to those treated of by Lao-tzŭ. The author of the work is
unknown, and some refer it to the ancient Hwang-Ti (about B.C.
2630), while others bring it down so late as Li-Chʽuan (李筌) of the
21
Tʽang dynasty. It seems more probable, however, that it was
written by Tʽai-kung (太公), who is also known as as Lü-wang (呂望)
and Chiàng-shang (姜尙). He was feudal chief of the principality of
Chʽi ( 齊 ), and lived under kings Wên and Wu of the Chou dynasty
22
(about B.C. 1150 to 1120). Szŭ-ma-chʽien mentions the book
under the title Chou-shu-yin-fu (周書陰符), as having been studied
by Su-Chʽin ( 蘇 秦 ), a famous general about the time of Mencius,
who attained to the high position of chief minister for six of the
seven states then contending; hence he is frequently spoken of as
Liu-kuo-hsiang (劉國相). The Yin-fu-Ching forms part of the curious
book called the Magnetic Needle ( 指 南 針 ), where the text is
accompanied with very interesting notes.
1
Le Livre des Récompenses et des Peines &c., par S. Julien
Avertissement, p. 6.
2
Wên-hsien &c., ch., 211.
3
See Lie-tzŭ’s Chung-hsü-chen-ching (冲虛眞經) Tien-sui (天瑞)
ch. where it forms part of a quotation from Hwang-Ti’s writings.
4
See Julien’s Tao-tê-king, p. xxxiii.
5
Hsü Ta-chʽun’s Preface to his edition of the Tao-tê ching.
6
See Wu-Chʽêng’s (吳澄) Tao-tê ching, ch. 1.
7
Hsü Ta-chün’s edition, Prolegomena 2. This statement,
however, cannot be verified.
8
See Hsü Ta-chʽün as above.
9
Pauthier, Chine, p. iii.
10
Wên-hsien &c., ch. 211.
11
Mémoire &c., p. 49.
12
Chine Moderne, p.f 350, and Chine, p. 95 &c.
13
Ch., 211.
14
Tao-tê ching, p. ii
15
See the Shang-yu-lu (尙友錄), Ch. 9, art. 王.
16
Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 179.
17
Tao te, &c. Observations Détachées, p. xxxix.
18
Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 173. I have failed, however, to
verify the concluding part of the sentence.
19
Notes, &c., p. 173.
20
Notes, &c., p. 174.
21
Notes, &c., p. 173.
22
Shi-chi, Ch. 8.
 CHAPTER IV.

GENERAL VIEW OF LAO-TZŬ’s TEACHINGS.

Before proceeding to examine in detail the doctrines of the Tao-
tê Ching, I shall briefly indicate their general nature; and by way of
preface to my own remarks, I now present to the reader the
statements of two critics of different countries, and of rather widely
separated dates. One of these, Chu-hsi 朱熹, a Chinese philosopher
who lived in the 12th century, says:—“Lao-tzŭ’s scheme of
philosophy consists in modesty, self-emptiness, the saving of one’s
powers, and the refusal in all circumstances to agitate the bodily
humours and spirits. Lao-tzŭ’s learning consists, generally speaking,
in being void of desires, quiet, and free from exertion—in being self-
empty, retiring, and self-controlling (lit., self-keeping) in actual life.
Accordingly, what his words are ever inculcating is to have in
outward deportment a gentle tenderness and modesty, and to be at
the core void of all selfishness, and unhurtful to all things in the
1
world.” The other critic, a French philosopher still living, says:—“La
conception de Lao-tseu est un Rationalisme panthéistique absolu
dans lequel le monde sensible est consideré comme la cause de
toutes les imperfections et de toutes les misères, et la personalité
humaine comme un mode inférieur et passager du grand Être, de la
grande Uité qui est l’origine et la fin de tous les Êtres. Elle a, comme
nous l’avons déjà dit ailleurs une grande analogie avec le système de
l’Identitè absolue de Schelling. Il y a cette difference, cependant,
que la conception du premier n’est en quelque sorte qu’à l’état
rudimentaire, comme la civilization de son époque, tandis que le
système du dernier embrasse tous les progrès que la pensée
philosophique a fait pendant plus de deux mille ans d’incessants et
 2
souvent d’infructueus labeurs.” I am unable to coincide perfectly
with the opinions of the above critics, especially with those of the
latter; and I shall probably refer to them again. There is at least one
respect in which the writings of Lao-tzŭ resemble those of Schelling
—that is, in being frequently quite unintelligible to all ordinary
mortals.
Pauthier, however, seems to have observed what the Chinese
critic apparently failed to notice—namely, that all Lao-tzŭ’s teachings
are the elucidation and development of his idea of the relations
between something which he names Tao and the Universe. In taking
a general view of Lao-tzŭ’s philosophy, this is the first observation I
have to make:—It is a system which refers all things to Tao, as the
ultimate ideal unity of the universe. The sum of the Tao-tê Ching
may be said to be that Tao originated all things, is the everlasting
model of rule for all things, and that into it all things are finally
absorbed. It behoves us then, at the outset, to endeavour to
ascertain what that is which Lao-tzŭ designates by this name, and to
find some sort of an equivalent for it in our own language, if
possible.
Now the character Tao 道 is used in several very different senses
in the Tao-tê Ching. (1) It is used in the sense of the way or means
3
of doing a thing. (2) In some passages it means to speak of or
4
describe. (3) It is used in the sense of the course—literal and
metaphorical—characteristic of and pursued by Heaven, Earth, the
5
perfect man, &c. This usage of the word is common to Lao-tzŭ with
the Confucianists and all other Chinese writers. In some places also
it seems to be used in the sense of good principles—truth—as in
Confucianist writings. (See Ch. 46.). (4) There is the transcendental
6
use of the word, perhaps originated by Lao-tzŭ, but at least chiefly
transmitted through him. It is with Tao used in this last sense alone
that we have to deal at present, and I shall accordingly now give a
sketch of Lao-tzŭ’s own account of the Tao which has given a name
to his philosophy.
Tao, then, is something which existed before heaven and earth
7
were, before Deity was, and which is, indeed, eternal. It has not
8
any name really, and it never had a name; but Lao-tzŭ feels himself
obliged to devise an epithet for it, and he adopts the word Tao. This
word, however, is not to be taken in any of its ordinary
9
significations, but is used in a peculiar sense, to denote that which
would otherwise be nameless. This Tao cannot be apprehended by
10
any of the bodily senses. It is profound, mysterious, and extremely
11
subtle. Represented as existing eternally, it is in its nature calm,
12
void, solitary, and unchanging; but represented as in operation, it
revolves through the universe of being, acting everywhere, but
13
acting “mysteriously, spontaneously, and without effort.” It
contains matter, and an inherent power of production; and though
14
itself formless, it yet comprehends all possible forms. It is the
ultimate cause of the universe, and it is the model or rule for all
15
creatures, but chiefly for man. It represents also that ideal state of
perfection in which all things acted harmoniously and spontaneously,
and when good and evil were unknown; and the return to which
16
constitutes the summum bonum of existence. Lao-tzŭ speaks of
17
the Tao under various metaphors—it is the spirit of the void (lit.,
18 19
spirit of the valley)—a hollow utensil —a river or ocean —a
20 21
parent —a ruler. We will have more to say of this Tao shortly; but
the above will perhaps suffice for the present to give an idea of what
meaning Lao-tzŭ attached to the word, or rather, it should be said,
the meanings; for he does not seem to have had in his mind a very
clear conception of what Tao actually was.
 The next thing we have to do is to endeavour to find a word
which will translate Tao in this, its transcendental use—a matter of
no easy accomplishment. Pauthier, as has been seen, renders it by
“Grande voie du monde,” by “Raison suprême universelle:” he also
22 23
sometimes speaks of it simply as “Raison” or “Logos.” Rémusat
also renders it by “Logos” or “Raison;” and it is by the term “Raison”
or “Logos” that English writers translate the character Tao when it
refers to the peculiar doctrines of Lao-tzŭ and his real or pretended
followers. Julien, however, dissents from this interpretation, and
rightly I think. After giving an account of Tao as taught by the
Taoists themselves, he says:— “Il parait donc impossible de le (i.e.,
Tao) prendre pour la raison primordiale, pour l’intelligence sublime
24
qui a créé et qui régit le monde.” It is with great hesitation and
reluctance, however, that I find myself unable to adopt Julien’s own
translation—“Voie,” or Way. I quite agree with him as to the reason
for not adopting the term Reason—namely, that Tao as represented
by Lao-tzŭ is devoid of thought, judgment, and intelligence (as to
action, Lao-tzŭ is apparently not quite consistent with himself.) Thus
it is quite impossible to make it identical with the Logos of Plato, and
almost absurd to identify it with the divine Logos of the
Neoplatonists of Alexandria. But I do not think that the word way is
the best we can use to translate Tao, and this for several reasons. A
way implies a way-maker apart from and antecedent to it, but Tao
was before all other existences. Again, when Lao-tzŭ speaks of it as
indeterminate, as profound, and finally as producing, nourishing, and
absorbing the universe, these terms can scarcely be applied to a
way, however metaphorically used. Julien says:—“Le sens de Voie,
que je donne au mot Tao 道 , résulte clairement des passages
suivants de Lao-tseu: ‘Si j’étais doué de quelque prudence, je
marcherais dans le grand Tao’ (dans la grande Voie).—Le grand Tao
est tres-uni (la grande Voie est tres-unie), mais le peuple aime les
sentiers (ch. LIII).” “Le Tao peut être regardé comme la mere de
l’univers. Je ne connais pas son nom; pour le qualifier, je l’appelle le
25
Tao ou la Voie (ch. XXV).” Now in the former of the two cases here
cited the expression ta tao 大道 means, I think, the great course of
duty which all men ought to pursue, but especially those who are in
authority—the way of the magistrate or ruler; an interpretation
which seems to be supported by the rest of the chapter, though
some of the commentators seem to be of the same opinion with
26
Julien. It is to be observed that this scholar translates the words
“ta tao” by “la grande Voie,” but in the same chapter renders the
words “fei tao tsai” 非 道 哉 simply by “ce n’est point pratiquer le
Tao.” The chapter from which the latter of the above two passages is
cited by Julien also seems to require another word than way to
translate Tao, and the same remark applies to the occurrence of the
27
word in several other places throughout the Tao-tê Ching. We may
say of the Tao, as “Voie” or Way, that it revolves everywhere; but we
can scarcely speak of it as being parent of the Universe—the first
and highest existence. Way or road is, no doubt, one of the earliest
meanings of the character Tao, and that which underlies many of its
other uses. Nor is it very difficult to trace its progress from the
perfectly concrete course or channel, and the abstract line or guide,
to the ideal path or course which universal nature eternally and
unchangingly pursues. What Lao-tzŭ does, as it seems to me, is to
identify Nature and her ideal course; and as he could find no more
general word whereby to express this ultimate ideal unity, he uses
the word Tao to designate it, just as a mathematician uses x to
express an unknown quantity.
In order to appreciate Lao-tzŭ’s system properly, we must
substitute for Tao a word corresponding as closely as possible to it in
width of meaning and vagueness of association. It bears a
somewhat close analogy to the Apeiron of the old Ionic philosopher
Anaximander; but the Indeterminate or the Indefinite is rather an
awkward word to be frequently using, and we do not know enough
of Anaximander’s system to warrant us in substituting the Apeiron
for Tao. In modern times, again, the Substance in Spinoza’s
philosophy, and the Absolute in Schelling’s, resemble it in many
points; but neither could serve as a proper translation. I have
accordingly determined to express Tao by our word Nature, using it
in its widest and most abstract sense—“great creating Nature.” But I
do not wish to be understood as implying that this word corresponds
exactly to Tao—far from it. I use it simply as in my opinion the
28
nearest approach we can get. So, then, we may say of Lao-tzŭ’s
system that it refers all matter and spirit in the universe to one
original Nature, from which they both originated, by which they are
maintained, and into which they are to be finally absorbed. This is
the first general observation I have to make on his philosophy.
Again, Lao-tzŭ’s philosophy is eminently an ethical or rather a
politico-ethical system. All his teachings aim at making man a better
individual, and a better member of society. Whatever the subject be
on which he discourses, there is generally a moral allusion or a
moral lesson taught in allegory; and the high value which he assigns
to moral excellence above all showy accomplishments deserves our
greatest commendation, even though we dissent from his
disparaging view of intellectual acquirements. He appeals more to
the heart than to the mind—more to the Hebraistic side of our
nature than to the Hellenistic (to use Mr. Matthew Arnold’s
language); and the Tao-tê Ching is more a book of skeleton sermons
than a book of “reasoned truth.” The intellect, indeed, is not only
depressed; but is even sometimes spoken of unfavourably, as
opposed to the beneficial operation of Nature (Tao) on men’s hearts.
Further, the system of Lao-tzŭ is one purely speculative, and a
priori (in the Kantian sense). There is in it no gathering of facts—no
questioning of nature—no rising from particular facts or truths of
greater and greater generality. There is, in short, little or nothing of
the spirit of the inductive philosophy of modern times to be found in
the Tao-tê Ching. It “nobly takes the a priori road,” beginning with
the universal cause, and coming down to particular facts; frames
hypotheses about nature and morals, and tries to make existing
circumstances conform to them. This is the character, however,
which it has in common with nearly all early systems of philosophy,
and even with some of very modern times. An utterly wrong method
we believe it to be; but we can easily forgive it in Lao-tzŭ, when we
take into consideration the circumstances amid which he lived, and
the nature and amount of the materials at his hand.
The last characteristic of Lao-tzŭ’s teachings to which I shall
allude at present is that they are all imbued with a genial and
sympathetic spirit, regarding man not merely as an individual, and
not merely as a member of human society, but also a citizen of the
universe, if I may use the expression. Modesty, gentleness,
forbearance, and self-denial are his constant watchwords. He ever
inculcates on man, especially in his highest development, a
sympathy not only with his fellow men, but also with all the
creatures of the earth, and even with inanimate nature. This
doctrine results, no doubt, from the leading idea that all owe their
origin to the one all-producing, all-nourishing nature; and it is a
doctrine of which Lao-tzŭ seems to have been very fond. He
frequently alludes to it as the duty and advantage of man to be
humble, gentle, and never striving; and he utterly abhors the idea of
violence, and the ostentation of superiority. He goes to excess,
however, I think, in his notions about a peaceful, non-interfering
mode of life; and carries his doctrine of the imitation of Nature (Tao)
to unwarranted lengths.
Having thus described generally the nature of the teachings of
the Tao-tê Ching, I shall now proceed to examine them more in
detail. In doing so it will be convenient to consider them under the
three leading divisions of Speculative Physics, Politics and Ethics. I
must, however, beg pardon of the pale shade of their author for
doing so, as I am certain that he would not sanction this division;
and at the same time I must forewarn the reader that he is not to
think that subjects in his opinion appertaining to these three
departments are kept rigorously distinct. Lao-tzŭ, like Plato and
some other philosophers, makes Physics and Politics subordinate
parts of Ethics—the grand, all embracing study. So when reading in
the Tao-tê Ching about matters which we regard as belonging
peculiarly to one or other of these divisions, we must endeavour to
regard them from Lao-tzŭ’s point of view—viz., as part of one
universal, all containing nature. If we leave out the important word
which I enclose in brackets, and substitute some such word as yet or
still, we find in the writings of a great English poet of the 18th
century sentiments very similar to those of the Chinese sage who
lived more than two thousand years before him:—

“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Whose body nature is, and [God] the soul;
That, changed through all, and yet in all the same;
Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame;
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent:
Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart:
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns:
To it no high, no low, no great, no small;
It fills, it bounds, connects, and equals all.”

1
Collected Writings, ch. 58.
2
Chine Moderne, p. 351.
3
Ch. 59.
4
Ch. 1. This passage is, however, also rendered according to the
metaphor of a road. See Wu-ch‘êng’s note.
5
Chs. 47, 49, 73, 77.
6
See Ch. 25.
7
Chs. 25, 26.
8
Ch. 41.
9
Ch. 1. The word chʽang (常), however, may mean lasting,
eternal.
10
Chs. 14, 35.
11
Ch. 1, &c.
12
Ch. 25.
13
Chs. 25, 37.
14
Chs. 14, 21.
15
Chs. 1, 51.
16
See chs. 18, 38.
17
Ch. 6. The character 谷 is, however, also rendered otherwise
in this page. See Yi-yuan’s edition and that in the 十子全書.
18
Ch. 4.
19
Ch. 32.
20
Chs. 24, 52.
21
Ch. 51. The Tao is also, however, said not to rule over the
world. See ch. 34.
22
Chine Moderne, p. 351.
23
Mélanges Posthumes, p. 167, and in the Mélanges Asiatiques.
See also Julien’s Introduction, p. xii.
24
Introduction, p. xiii.
25
Introduction, p. xiii.
26
See Wu-ch‘eng’s note to the passage.
27
E.G., chs. 16, 14, &c.
28
There are several passages in the Tao-tê Ching where Nature
could not be used to translate Tao; but this may in some cases
arise from the fact that Lao-tzŭ’s conception of Nature was very
different from ours.
 CHAPTER V.

SPECULATIVE PHYSICS.
What was Lao-tzŭ’s conception of the Cosmos? To this question
we are unfortunately unable to give a clear and satisfactory answer.
It is only occasionally, and then usually by way of illustration, that he
alludes to the material world or to the physical and mental
constitution of man. All that we can do, accordingly, is to examine
the miscellaneous passages in which he refers to these subjects, and
collect from them what information we can as to the notions which
Lao-tzŭ entertained about the origin and nature of the universe; and
we must be prepared to find under the head of speculative physics
many more matters than ought properly, according to our ideas, to
be so included.
The first point to be noticed is that, as has been already seen,
Lao-tzŭ refers all existing creatures to an eternal, all-producing, all-
sustaining unity, which he calls Nature (Tao). He does not distinguish
between mind and matter, nor would he, in my opinion, have
recognised any fundamental or generic difference between them.
Whether, however, spirit and matter were identical or diametrically
opposite, they had a common origin in Tao. But though usually he
thus refers all things to nature (Tao) as their first cause, yet he
1
sometimes seems to speak of the universe as coming from nothing.
Nor is there any contradiction here, since Lao-tzŭ regarded non-
existence (Wu 無 ) as in circumstances identical with existence (Yu
有 ); the latter being merely the former contemplated from a
different point of view. This opinion, if not explicitly stated by
himself, is at least implied in his writings, and is explicitly stated by
 2
one of his disciples. It must be mentioned, however, that Chu-hsi
(朱熹) ascribes the very opposite doctrine to Lao-tzŭ, who, he says,
regarded existence and non-existence as two, whereas Chou-tzŭ (周
3
子) regarded them as one. In the Tao-tê Ching the originator of the
universe is referred to under the names Non-Existence, Existence,
Nature (Tao) and various other designations—all which, however,
represent one idea in various manifestations. It is in all cases Nature
(Tao) which is meant, and we are now prepared to examine the part
which Lao-tzŭ assigns to this Tao in the production and regulation of
the physical world.
Tao, as spoken of by Lao-tzŭ, may be considered as a potential
or as an actual existence, and under this latter head it may be
contemplated in itself and as an operating agent in the universe.
Regarded as a potential existence it may, when compared with
actual existence, be pronounced non-existence. It is from this point
of view imperceptible to man, and can be spoken of only negatively;
and so such terms as non-existence (無), the unlimited or infinite (無
極 ), the non-exerting ( 無 爲 ), the matterless ( 無 物 ), are the
4
expressions used with reference to Tao thus considered.
Accordingly Lao-tzŭ, when speaking of it as a potential existence, as
the logical antecedent of all perceptible existence—seems to regard
it as equivalent to the primeval Nothing or Chaos. So too the Yuan-
miao-nei-pʽien ( 元 妙 内 篇 ) says that the great Tao which arose in
5
non-exertion is the ancestor of all things. From this state, however,
it passes into the condition of actual existence, a transition which is
6
expressed under the metaphor of generation. To this doctrine, that
existence is generated from non-existence, Chu-hsi objects; but his
objection arises chiefly, I think, from supposing that Lao-tzŭ
regarded them as two distinct things, whereas his doctrine on this
subject is exactly like that of Chou-tzŭ, with which Chu-hsi seems to
7
agree. We are not to suppose that Nature is ever simply and
entirely potential to the utter exclusion of actuality, or vice versa: on
the contrary, these two existences or conditions are represented as
8
alternately generating each the other. Thus the potential (or
nominal non-existence) may be supposed to be in time later than
the actual, though the latter must always be logically regarded as
consequent on the former. In itself, again, Tao, regarded as an actual
existence is, as has been seen, calm, void, eternal, unchanging and
bare of all qualities. Regarded as an agent operating throughout the
universe, on the other hand, Tao may be spoken of as great,
changing, far-extending, and finally returning (to the state of
9
potentiality). A late author gives a curious illustration of the above
notions of Lao-tzŭ, taken from the well-known habits of the
Ateuchus with reference to the propagation of its species, but this
author proceeds on the supposition that non-existence and existence
are different. We have now to combine these two conceptions of
Tao, as a potential and as an actual existence. Though void,
shapeless, and immaterial, it yet contains the potentiality of all
10
substance and shape, and from itself it produces the universe,
diffusing itself over or permeating all space. It is said to have
11
generated the world, and is frequently spoken of as the mother of
12
this latter —“the dark primeval mother, teeming with dreamy
beings.” All things that exist submit to Tao as their chief, but it
13
displays no lordship over them. In the spring time it quickens the
dead world, clothes it as with a garment, and nourishes it, yet the
world knows not its foster-mother. A distinction, however, is made—
the nameless is said to be the origin of heaven and earth, while the
named is the mother of the myriad objects which inhabit the earth.
Though there is nothing done in the universe which is not done by
Nature, though all things depend on it for their existence, yet in no
14
case is Nature seen acting. It is in its own deep self a unit—the
smallest possible quantity—yet it prevails over the wide expanse of
15
the universe, operating unspent but unseen.
We now come to the generations of the heavens and the earth,
16
and their history is thus given by Lao-tzŭ. Tao generated One, One
generated Two, Two generated Three, and Three generated the
material world. That is, according to the explanation given by some,
Nature (Tao) generated the Yin-chʽi (陰氣), the passive and inferior
element in the composition of things; this in its turn produced the
Yang-chʽi ( 陽 氣 ), the active and superior element; which again
produced Ho (和), that is, that harmonious agreement of the passive
and active elements which brought about the production of all
17
things. Another explanation is that Tao considered as Non-
existence produced the Great Extreme (Tʽai-chi 太 極 ), which
produced the passive and active elements; then Harmony united
18
these two and generated the universe. Of this section of the Tao-
tê Ching Rémusat observes—“En effet, Lao-tseu explique, d’une
manière qui est entièrement conforme à la doctrine Platonicienne,
comment les deux principes, celui du ciel et celui de la terre, ou l’air
grossier et l’ether, sont liés entre eux par un Souffle qui les unit et
qui produit l’harmonie. Il est impossible d’exprimer plus clairemeut
les idées de Timée de Locres, dont les termes semblent la traduction
19
du passage Chinois.” The doctrines, however, on the formation of
the world put into the mouth of Timæus, and the ideas of Lao-tzŭ on
this subject, seem to me to have very little in common. The Greek
philosopher makes a personal deity the artificer of the universe,
fashioning the world out of the bright and solid elements, fire and
earth, which he unites by means of air and water, thus forming a
friendship and harmony indissoluble by any except the author. The
harmony of Lao-tzŭ, on the other hand is, if we understand him
aright, only the unconflicting alternation of the two cosmical
elements, and there is no divine Demiurg in his system. There is,
however, a statement in the Timæus which resembles Lao-tzŭ’s
statement on this subject, and to which we will refer hereafter.
First in order after Tao is Tʽien ( 天 ), or the material heaven
above us. This is represented as pure and clear in consequence of
having obtained the One—that is, in consequence of having
20
participated in the great “over-soul” or Universal Nature. Were
heaven to lose its purity and clearness it would be in danger of
destruction. Of the heavenly bodies and their revolutions, Lao-tzŭ
does not make mention, nor have we any means of ascertaining
what were his ideas respecting them. Nearly all that he says about
Tʽien or heaven is metaphorical, with apparent reference to an agent
endowed with consciousness (according to our ways of thinking).
Thus he speaks of it as enduring for a long period because it does
not exist for itself; as being free from partiality towards any of the
creatures in the world; as being next in dignity above a king and
21
below Tao, and as taking this last for its rule of conduct.
The space between heaven and earth is represented as like a
22
bottomless bag or tube, though this is perhaps merely a
23
metaphorical expression. The earth itself is at rest, this being the
specific nature which it has as the result of its participation in Tao.
The heavens are always revolving over the earth, producing the
varieties of the seasons, vivifying, nourishing, and killing all things;
but it remains stationary in calm repose. Were it to lose the
informing nature which makes it so, the earth would probably be set
in motion. Its place is next in order after heaven which it takes as its
model. It is impartial, spontaneous, unostentatious, and exists long
because it does not exist for itself. Neither in heaven nor on earth
can anything violent endure for a lengthened period. The whirlwind
24
and heavy rains may come, but they do not last even for a day.
Next to heaven and earth are the “myriad things” that is, the
animate and inanimate objects which surround us; and here again it
must be borne in mind that Lao-tzŭ’s allusions to these matters are
only incidental and by way of illustration generally. As has been
seen, all things spring from and participate in Nature, which is, as it
were, their mother. This Nature (Tao) is, as we have seen,
imperceptible in itself, and when considered merely as a potentiality;
but it bodies itself forth and takes a local habitation and a name in
all the objects which exist in the universe, and thus it becomes
palpable to human observation—not in its essence but only in its
workings. Now this manifestation of Nature constitutes for each
object or class of objects in the world its Tê (德)—that is, what it has
received or obtained from Tao, according to some commentators. Tê
is usually translated by virtue, but this word very inadequately
represents the meaning of the word in this connection. Sometimes it
seems to be almost synonymous with Tao, and has functions
assigned to it which at other times are represented as pertaining to
this latter. If, however, we regard Tao as the great or universal
Nature, we may consider Tê as the particular Nature with which
creatures are endowed out of the former. It is also the conscious
excellence which man and all other creatures obtain when
spontaneity is lost. Thus Lao-tzŭ regards all things as equally with
man under the care of Nature, which produces and nourishes all
alike. Heaven and earth, he says, have no partialities—they regard
the “myriad things” as the straw-made dogs which were formed for
the sacrifices and prayers for rain, and cast aside when the rites
25
were finished. In another passage of the Tao-tê Ching it is said
that Tao generates all things, Tê nourishes all things, Matter (Wu 物)
26
bodies them forth, and Order (勢) gives them perfection.
Lao-tzŭ, in accordance with popular Chinese ideas, speaks of five
27
colours, five sounds, and five tastes; and he attributes to these a
baneful influence on man, whom he teaches to overcome and nullify
them as much as possible. All things in the world, moreover, are
28
arranged in a system of dualism. Motion is always followed by rest,
and this again by motion. Long and short, high and low, mutually