Men value the phenomena of which the senses make them conscious, but not the phenomena of the senses themselves.
Alas! alas! the impossibility of escaping from this state results in what is known as elective affinity.
Adaptation to the suitable; being as one is because more adapted to that than to something to which one is not adapted. See [ch. ii], where this idea is first broached.
Confucius asked the historiographers Ta T'ao, Poh Ch'ang Ch'ien, and Hsi Wei, saying, "Duke Ling was fond of wine and given up to pleasure, and neglected the administration of his State. He spent his time in hunting, and did not cultivate the goodwill of the other feudal princes. How was it he came to be called Ling?"
The name Ling means "knowing," which may be taken in two senses.
"For those very reasons," replied Ta T'ao.
"The Duke," said Poh Ch'ang Ch'ien, "had three wives. He was having a bath together with them when Shih Ch'in, summoned by his Highness, entered the apartment. Thereupon the Duke covered himself and the ladies. So outrageously did he behave on the one hand, and yet so respectful was he towards a virtuous man. Hence he was called Ling."
"When the Duke died," said Hsi Wei, "divination showed that it would be inauspicious to bury him in the old family burying-ground, but auspicious to bury him at Sha-ch'iu. And upon digging a grave there, several fathoms deep, a stone coffin was found, which, being cleaned, yielded the following inscription:—Posterity cannot be trusted. Duke Ling will seize this for his tomb.
"As a matter of fact, Duke Ling had been named Ling long before. What should these two persons know about it?"