Actions and their Retributions
The Thai-Shang Tractate — Kan Ying Phien
- Attributed to
- Anonymous (Sung dynasty)
- Translated by
- James Legge
- Chapters
- 1
- This translation
- 1891
Free of copyright worldwide. The translator died in 1897, and this translation was published in 1891. Even under the longest copyright term in the world — the author's life plus 100 years, which applies in Mexico — the text has been free since 1998. Source scan
Every chapter is free to read in Taoist Diary, with no account and no ads. Listening — the narrated chapters and the daily audio — is the subscription, at $1.99 a month.
How it opens
The Thai-Shang (Tractate) says, ‘There are no special doors for calamity and happiness (in men’s lot); they come as men themselves call them. Their recompenses follow good and evil as the shadow follows the substance.
Actions and their Retributions · The Thai-Shang Tractate — Kan Ying Phien · translated by James Legge
Before you start
- Is Actions and their Retributions free to read?
- Yes — all 1 chapters, with no account and no ads. James Legge's translation is out of copyright worldwide, so there is nothing to buy in order to read it. The paid part of Taoist Diary is listening: the narrated chapters and the daily audio, at $1.99 a month.
- Which translation is this?
- James Legge's, published in 1891. It is not modernised, paraphrased or trimmed — the sentences are his. The scan it was taken from is linked above, so any line here can be checked against it.
- How long is it?
- 1 chapter, listed in full below — The Thai-Shang Tractate — Kan Ying Phien through The Thai-Shang Tractate — Kan Ying Phien. Most are short enough to read in a sitting, which is how the app serves them: one at a time, one a day.
The 1 chapters
- 1The Thai-Shang Tractate — Kan Ying Phien