Zhi Travels North (10)

1 Ranqiu asked Confucius, “Do you think, is it possible for us to learn about the original status of the beginning of universe.”

2 Confucius replied, “Sure. Time is coherent. The past and the present never disconnect.” It seemed that Ranqiu understood Confucius’ explanation, so they stopped discussion.

3 The next day, after thinking the question over again, Ranqiu asked Confucius, “Yesterday I asked you if it is possible for us to learn about the original status of the beginning of universe. Your answer was positive, you said, because the past is the same as the present. However, after thought it over carefully, I found a lot of doubtful points in your explanation. I didn’t seem to understand it anymore. Could you tell me why?”

4 Confucius said, “Yesterday you understood because you trusted me and accepted my explanation. When you went home and calmed down, you thought it over and analyzed it without trusting on me. You judged and studied it by your own knowledge and experience. Therefore, you fell into confusion again and couldn’t understand it.

5 For your information, let me give you more details.

6 In the limitless space and time of universe, past, present, start and end are insignificant and undifferentiated.

7 If there has no past, there has no present. If there has no start, there has no end. Like the question that you have asked, now that we have present, therefore, there must be the related past. In the wake of that only from the present we can refer to know the past.

8 On the contrary, if the time and space disconnected in a certain point of the past, then, it is impossible to have the time and space of present.

9 Have you ever heard that in the past a mother has given no birth but there is her offspring today?”

10 Ranqiu was confused and dazzled with the sinuous explanation by Confucius. Confucius saw no response from him so he went further into his explanation, “You are still confused! Don’t you? Don’t think death and life are two different things like water and fire. They are not rejecting each other, they are actually combining closely as a whole, they are one thing with two sides, aren't they?

11 Do you think that there is species before the original universe has come into being? It is impossible.

12 The first-born species is absolutely not itself.

13 There is no species before species.

14 It is just like a mother without children. She would never has offspring.

15 The species that exist in this world do the successive work that bridge the past to the future. The work will go down continually.

16 Men of perfect practice always love others as they love themselves, because they know that all things are from the same source; and acknowledge the facts that there has no mark of self, no mark of other, no mark of masses and no mark of life, they are One in the point of view of Universe.

17 All things have a same mother in their fundamental source, so it is very natural to love each other.”