Former Collection 2 (nos. 46–90)前集

Every person holds a great compassion. In this, Vimalakirti and the butcher and the executioner are not of two minds. Every place holds a true relish. In this, a golden house and a thatched eave are not two different grounds. It is only that desire covers it over and feeling seals it up, so that it is missed right before the face, and then a foot away becomes a thousand li.

To advance in virtue and cultivate the Way, one needs a heart like wood and stone. Let there be one stir of envy, and it runs off into the country of desire. To save the world and govern a state, one needs a relish like cloud and water. Let there be one clinging of greed, and it falls into peril.

For a person of good heart, it goes without saying that their bearing is calm and careful. Even their spirit and soul in sleep are nothing but a harmonious air. For a person of ill heart, it goes without saying that their doings are fierce and crooked. Even their voice and their laughter are all the breath of killing.

When the liver takes sickness, the eyes cannot see. When the kidneys take sickness, the ears cannot hear. Sickness is taken where others cannot see, but it always breaks out where all can see. So if the noble person would not be guilty in the light, they must first not be guilty in the dark.

No blessing is greater than having few affairs. No calamity is greater than having a busy mind. Only one worn down by affairs knows that few affairs are a blessing. Only one with a settled mind knows that a busy mind is a calamity.

Live squarely in an ordered age, roundly in a disordered age, and in an age of decline use the square and the round together. Meet good people generously, meet wicked people strictly, and for the common run of people keep generosity and strictness side by side.

The merit I have done for others must not be kept in mind, but the wrong I have done must not be left out of mind. The kindness others have done me must not be forgotten, but the grudge must not be left unforgotten.

If the giver does not see themselves within and does not see the other without, then a peck of grain can be worth a kindness of ten thousand bushels. If one who benefits things counts up what they have given and demands repayment from the other, then even a hundred yi (鎰) of gold can hardly come to the merit of a single coin.

In what people meet with, some have their share whole and some do not. How could mine alone be made whole? In one's own heart and reason, there are times of accord and times without accord. How could everyone else be made to accord? To look at both sides this way and treat them together is also one gate of skillful means.

Only when the ground of the heart is clean can books be read and the ancients learned from. Otherwise, seeing one good deed, a person steals it to serve their own ends; hearing one good word, they borrow it to cover their own faults. That is to lend weapons to the enemy and send provisions to the thief.

The extravagant are rich and still not satisfied. How can that match the frugal, who are poor and have something over? The able toil and store up resentment. How can that match the clumsy, who are at ease and keep their nature whole?

To read books and not see the sages is to be a hired hand of brush and tablet. To sit in office and not love the people is to be a thief in cap and gown. To lecture on learning and not honor practice is a Chan (禪) preached only with the lips. To build an enterprise and not think of planting virtue is a flower before the eyes.

In the human heart there is one true piece of writing, and it is all sealed shut under scraps of worn-out books. There is one true music, and it is all buried under bewitching songs and seductive dances. One who studies must sweep away these outside things and seek straight for what was there at the root. Only then is there true benefit.

In the midst of a bitter heart, the relish that gladdens the heart is always found. In the time of getting what you want, guard against the sorrow of losing it.

Wealth, rank, and renown that come from virtue are like flowers in mountain woods. They open slowly of themselves and spread wide. Those that come from achievement are like flowers in a pot or a railing box. They are moved about, and they rise and fall. Those got by power are like flowers in a vase or a bowl. Their roots were never planted, and one can stand and wait for them to wither.

When spring comes and the season is mild, even a flower spreads out a stretch of fine color, and even a bird turns out a few notes of fine sound. If a gentleman is fortunate enough to stand out, and lives warm and well fed besides, and yet does not think of setting down good words and doing good deeds, then though they live a hundred years in the world, it is as if they had not lived one day.

One who studies needs a stretch of careful, wary mind, and needs a stretch of free and easy relish as well. To be forever bound tight in clean hardship is to have autumn's killing and no spring's growth. With what, then, could living things be raised?

True integrity has no name for integrity. One who sets up the name does it for the sake of grasping. Great skill has no clever technique. One who uses technique does it because they are clumsy.

The tilting vessel (欹器) turns over when it is full. The clay coin bank stays whole because it is empty. And so the noble person would rather dwell in not-having (無) than in having (有), and would rather stay where something is lacking than where everything is complete.

One who has not pulled out the root of fame may hold a thousand chariots light and find one gourd dipper sweet, and still fall wholly into worldly feeling. One in whom bravado has not melted away may spread kindness over the four seas and benefit ten thousand generations, and it comes in the end to a leftover trick.

When the body of the heart is bright, there is blue sky inside a dark room. When thoughts are dim and murky, fierce demons are born under the white sun.

People know that name and rank are a joy. They do not know that the joy of no name and no rank is the truest of all. People know that hunger and cold are a worry. They do not know that the worry of one who is neither hungry nor cold is worse still.

To do wrong and fear that others will know it means that inside the wrong there is still a road to good. To do good and be in a hurry for others to know it means that in the very good there is the root of wrong.

The working of heaven cannot be measured. It presses down and then stretches out, stretches out and then presses down. All of it is the place where heroes are toyed with and the bold are turned upside down. The noble person only takes what comes against them and meets it in accord, and thinks of danger while sitting safe. Then even heaven has nowhere to use its tricks.

One of hasty temper is a blazing fire, burning whatever it meets. One poor in kindness is cold as ice, killing whatever it meets. One clotted and stubborn is like dead water and rotted wood, the living spring in them already cut off. None of these can build achievement or carry blessing on.

Blessing cannot be summoned. One can only nourish a glad spirit and make it the root that calls blessing in. Calamity cannot be fled. One can only put away the breath of killing and make that the way to keep calamity far off.

Nine words in ten may hit the mark, and no one calls it remarkable, yet let one word miss and blame gathers from every side. Nine plans in ten may succeed, and no one gives the credit, yet let one plan fail and slander springs up in a crowd. This is why the noble person would rather be silent than loud, rather clumsy than clever.

The breath of heaven and earth gives life when it is warm and kills when it is cold. So those whose nature and temper are cool and chill receive and enjoy only what is thin and cold. Only a person of harmonious air and warm heart has a blessing that is thick and a kindness that runs long.

The road of heaven's principle is very wide. Let the heart roam on it a little, and the breast at once feels broad and great. The road of human desire is very narrow. Set a foot on it, and everything before the eyes is thorn and mire.

A blessing made where one bitterness and one joy have ground against each other, refined to the utmost, is a blessing that lasts. Knowledge made where one doubt and one belief have been weighed against each other, examined to the utmost, is knowledge that is true.

The heart must be emptied. When it is empty, right and principle come to live there. The heart must be filled. When it is full, the desire for things cannot get in.

Soiled ground brings forth many living things. Clear water is always without fish. So the noble person should keep the capacity to hold dirt and take in filth, and must not hold to the resolve of loving cleanness and walking alone.

A wild horse that overturns the carriage can be brought to run in harness. Metal that leaps from the forge returns at last to the mold. It is only drifting along without rousing oneself that leaves a person without a single step of progress in a whole life. Baisha (白沙) said, "There is no shame in a person having many illnesses. My worry is a whole life without illness." That is truly a sound judgment.

Let a person once turn greedy for their own gain, and firmness melts into softness, wisdom is stopped up into dullness, kindness turns into cruelty, and cleanness is stained into filth, ruining the character of a whole life. So the ancients made not being greedy their treasure, and by it they passed beyond a whole age.

What the ears and eyes see and hear is the thief outside. Desire and the discriminating mind are the thief within. Only let the master of the house stay wide awake and unclouded, sitting alone in the central hall, and the thieves turn into people of that household.

To plan for merit not yet accomplished is not as good as keeping safe the work already accomplished. To repent a fault already past is not as good as guarding against the wrong still to come.

The bearing should be high and wide, but not loose and wild. The thought should be close and fine, but not petty. The taste should be clear and plain, but not lopsided and dry. The keeping of integrity should be strict and clear, but not violent.

The wind comes into a thin stand of bamboo, and when the wind has passed the bamboo keeps no sound. The wild goose crosses a cold pool, and when the goose has gone the pool keeps no shadow. So for the noble person the heart appears only when an affair comes, and when the affair is gone the heart goes empty along with it.

Clear, yet able to take others in. Kind, yet able to decide well. Bright, yet not wounding with too much scrutiny. Straight, yet not straightening others too far. This is called honey preserves that are not sweet, food from the sea that is not salty. Only that is fine virtue.

A poor house sweeps its yard clean, and a poor girl combs her hair clean, and though the sight is not gorgeous, the air of it is elegant of itself. When a gentleman meets a spell of hardship and desolation, how could they let themselves go slack?

Do not let the idle hours slip by, and there is use for them in the busy ones. Do not let the still hours fall empty, and there is use for them in the moving ones. Do not deceive and hide in the dark, and there is use for it in the light.

At the place where a thought rises, the moment you notice it turning onto the road of desire, pull it back onto the road of principle. It rises and at once you notice. You notice and at once you turn it. This is the gateway for turning calamity into blessing, for rising from death and returning to life. Never let it pass lightly.

When thought is clear and open in stillness, the true body of the heart is seen. When the bearing is calm in leisure, the true working of the heart is known. When intent and relish are level and easy in plainness, the true taste of the heart is gained. For watching the heart and proving the Way, nothing equals these three.

Stillness in stillness is not true stillness. Stillness gained in the midst of motion is the true ground of the nature. Joy in joy is not true joy. Joy gained in the midst of bitterness shows the true working of the heart.

When you have given up what was yours, do not stay in doubt over it. Stay in doubt, and there is much shame in the intent that gave it up. When you have given to another, do not demand repayment. Demand repayment, and the heart that gave is spoiled along with it.