Herbert Allen Giles

“ But here we must pass on to consider some of the speculations on God, life, death, and immortality, indulged in by Taoist philosophers and others, who were not fettered, as the Confucianists were, by traditional reticence on the subject of spirits and an unseen universe. ”

“ The latter portion is explained by another commentator as follows:—
"Spirits do not hurt the natural. If people are natural, spirits have no means of manifesting themselves; and if spirits do not manifest themselves, we are not conscious of their existence as such. ”

“ Spirits must exist.—Mo Tzu, a philosopher of the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., was arguing one day for the existence of spirits with a disbelieving opponent. "All you have to do," he said, "is to go into any village and make enquiries. From of old until now the people have constantly seen and heard spiritual beings ”

“ According to Han Fei (died B.C. 233) , who wrote several chapters to elucidate the sayings of Lao Tzu, the following is the correct interpretation:—
"Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish (i.e. do not overdo it) .
"If the empire is governed according to Tao, evil spirits will not be worshipped as good ones.
"If evil spirits are not worshipped as good ones, good ones will do no injury. Neither will the Sages injure the people. Each will not injure the other. And if neither injures the other, then there will be mutual profit." ”