ABSTRACT
The time of autumn floods had come and the hundred streams flowedinto the Yellow River. Turbulent and overflowing were its currents: from across the river one could not distinguish an ox from a horse. Seeing this, the Lord of the Yellow River rejoiced, fancying that all the beauty in the world was in his realm. Moving eastward with the current, he came to the North Sea. Looking east, he could not see where the water ended. Turning around he looked across the expanse to face the Ruo1 of the North Sea and said, sighing, “The common saying, ‘One who has heard of the dao a hundred times considers himself as incomparably clever,’ applies to me. When I have heard the learning of Confucius and the righteousness of Bo Yi being disparaged, I did not believe them then. Now I behold your immense boundlessness. Had I not come to your gate, I should have been in peril and would have been continually derided by those of the great understanding.”
