A disciple said to Confucius, "Can we call Tsêng Tzŭ a man without cares to trouble him?"
Money being no object to him.
"He had cares to trouble him," replied Confucius. "Can a man who has no cares to trouble him feel grief? His small salary and his large salary were to him like a heron or a mosquito flying past."
Yen Ch'êng Tzŭ Yu said to Tung Kuo Tzŭ Chi,
See p. [324].
"One year after receiving your instructions I became naturally simple. After two years, I could adapt myself as required. After three years, I understood. After four years, my intelligence developed. After five years, it was complete. After six years, the spirit entered into me. After seven, I knew God. After eight, life and death existed for me no more. After nine, perfection.
"Life has its distinctions; but in death we are all made equal. That death should have an origin, but that life should have no origin,—can this be so? What determines its presence in one place, its absence in another?
"Heaven has its fixed order.
Visible to all.