Taizu — The Grand Totality泰族訓

Heaven sets out the sun and the moon, ranges the stars, tunes yin and yang, and spreads the four seasons, warming things by day and letting them rest by night, drying them with wind and soaking them with rain and dew. In its giving birth to things, no one sees what it nourishes them with, yet things grow; in its killing of things, no one sees what it takes from them, yet things perish. This is called spirit illumination. The sage takes it as his model. So when he raises up good fortune, what it comes from is not seen, yet good fortune arises; when he removes disaster, the reason for it is not seen, yet disaster is removed. Keep it far and it is near; stretch it out and it thins. Look into it and you do not get it; examine it and it is not empty. Reckon it by the day and there is nothing to count; reckon it by the year and there is a surplus. When damp arrives no one sees its shape, yet the charcoal has already grown heavy; when wind arrives no one sees its form, yet the trees have already moved. In the going of the sun no shifting is seen, yet when a fine horse gallops a double day's course the grass and trees are laid flat for it, and before the hung beacon has turned the sun is already in front of it. So when Heaven is about to send wind, the grass and trees have not yet stirred but the birds are already in flight; when it is about to rain, the dark has not yet gathered but the fish are already gaping. It is because the breaths of yin and yang move one another.

So cold and heat, dryness and damp follow one another by kind, and sound and echo, quick and slow, answer by tone. So the Yi says, "The crane cries in the shade, and its young answer it." When Gaozong was in mourning and did not speak for three years, within the four seas it was still and without a sound; and when one word sounded, it moved the world greatly. This is Heaven's heart opening and closing. So move the root once and the hundred branches all answer, as the spring rain waters the ten thousand things, flowing all of a piece and pouring down in plenty, no ground it does not soak, no thing it does not bring to life. So the sage holds Heaven's heart in his breast, and when he sounds he can move and transform the world. So when sincerity is felt within and form and breath move in Heaven, then the Jingxing, the star of good omen, appears, the yellow dragon comes down, the auspicious phoenix arrives, the sweet spring flows out, fine grain grows, the He does not fill and overflow, and the sea does not melt into waves. So the Odes say, "He cherishes and soothes the hundred spirits, reaching to the He and the high peaks." When Heaven is defied and things are used cruelly, the sun and moon thin and are eaten, the five planets lose their courses, the four seasons go awry, day darkens and night shines, mountains fall and rivers dry up, thunder comes in winter and frost in summer. The Odes say, "In the first month the frost is thick, and my heart grieves and is wounded." Heaven and people have that by which they reach one another.

So when a state is in danger and perishing the patterns of the sky change, and when the age is deluded and disordered rainbows appear: the ten thousand things have that by which they are linked to one another, and the pure and the baleful breaths have that by which they stir one another. So the work of spirit illumination cannot be done by cleverness and skill, nor brought about by sinew and strength. What Heaven and Earth wrap, what yin and yang breathe out, what rain and dew soak, is transformed and born into the ten thousand things. Jade and green stone, pearl, kingfisher feather and tortoiseshell have pattern and color bright and clear, glossy as if wet; rub them and they do not wear, leave them outside and they do not change. Xizhong could not draw them out and Lu Ban could not make them. This is called great skill. There was a man of Song who made his lord a mulberry leaf of ivory, and finished it in three years. Stalk and twig, down and fine tip, point, color and sheen were such that, mixed among mulberry leaves, it could not be told. Liezi said, "If Heaven and Earth took three years to make one leaf, then few of the ten thousand things would have leaves. In the giving and transforming of Heaven and Earth, they breathe and things are born, they blow and things fall. How could there be such toiling!" So whatever can be measured is small, and whatever can be counted is few. The utterly great is not what measure can reach, and the utterly many is not what counting can master. So the nine provinces cannot be reckoned in acres, the eight limits cannot be reckoned in li, Taishan cannot be reckoned in feet, and the Jiang and the sea cannot be reckoned in pecks.

So the great man joins his virtue with Heaven and Earth, his brightness with the sun and moon, his spirit power with the ghosts and spirits, and his good faith with the four seasons. So the sage holds Heaven's breath in his breast and embraces Heaven's heart; he grasps the mean and holds harmony within, and without coming down from the hall of state he overflows to the four seas, changing what people are used to and altering their customs, so that the people are transformed and move toward good as if it were their own nature. It is because he can transform by spirit. The Odes say, "The spirits hearken to it, and in the end there is harmony and peace." Look at ghosts and spirits and they have no form, listen to them and they have no sound; and yet people sacrifice to Heaven in the suburbs and gaze toward the mountains and rivers, pray and offer to seek blessing, hold the rain sacrifice to ask for rain, and divine by shell and stalk to decide affairs. The Odes say, "The coming of the spirits cannot be fathomed. How much less may they be slighted!" This is what is meant. Heaven brings its height to the utmost and Earth its thickness, the moon lights its night and the sun its day, yin and yang transform and the ranged stars shine. It is not their aim, and yet things are so of themselves. So yin and yang and the four seasons do not give birth to the ten thousand things, and rain and dew falling in season do not nourish the grass and trees. Spirit illumination meets, yin and yang harmonize, and the ten thousand things are born. So high mountains and deep forests are not there for tiger and leopard, great trees and thick branches are not there for the flying birds, and a stream a thousand li from its source, a pool a hundred fathoms deep, are not there for the flood dragon. They bring their height and loftiness to the utmost and complete their breadth and greatness, and those who dwell in mountains and roost in trees, who nest on branches and hide in burrows, who swim in water and walk on land, each find the place where they are at peace.

That the great gives birth to the small and the many give birth to the few is the way of Heaven. So a hillock cannot give birth to cloud and rain, and a ditch of water cannot give birth to fish and turtle, because they are small. When the breath of ox and horse steams it gives birth to nits and lice, but the steaming breath of nits and lice cannot give birth to ox and horse. So transformation is born from without and not from within. The flood dragon lies asleep in the deep, but its eggs break open on the hill. The teng serpent, the male crying upwind and the female crying downwind, transforms and completes a form. This is the utmost of the essential. So in nourishing the heart nothing is better for the sage than sincerity, and with the utmost sincerity he can move and transform. Now the Way stores the essential within and lodges the spirit in the heart; it is still and quiet, calm and plain, with nothing tangled in the breast and no perverse breath left to block. When the four limbs and the joints and their kin, the hair steaming and the pores venting, are so, then the pivot is tuned and runs smoothly, and none of the hundred vessels and the nine openings fails to follow in order. It is because the spirit that lodges there has found its place. How could it be by tapping the joints and dressing the hair!

When a sagely ruler is above, he is wide open and without form, still and without sound; the offices are as if they had no business and the court as if it had no one. There are no hidden gentlemen and no scattered people, no toilsome labor service and no wrongful punishments; within the four seas none fails to look up to the ruler's virtue and to take his pointing for a model, and the states of the Yi and the Di come with interpreters passing the words along. It is not that he argued at every door and preached at every house; he extends his sincere heart and spreads it over the world, that is all. The Odes say, "Be kind to this central state, and so give peace to the four quarters." When within is compliant, without is at peace. When the Great King Danfu dwelt at Bin, the Di attacked him, and he took his staff and left. The people led their young and supported their old, carried kettle and steamer on their backs, crossed Mount Liang, and made a state at Qizhou. This was not what an order could summon. Duke Mu of Qin, fearing that the country folk who had eaten the flesh of his fine horse would be harmed by it, gave them good wine to drink, and at the battle of Han they repaid him with their strength unto death. This was not what a bond could exact. When Fuzi governed the town of Danfu, Wuma Qi went to look at the transformation there and saw that men fishing at night let go what was small when they caught it. This was not what punishment could forbid. When Confucius was minister of justice in Lu, what was dropped on the road was not picked up, prices were not called in advance in the market, those who farmed and fished all yielded to their elders, and the grey-haired carried no loads on head or back. This was not what law could bring about.

What makes an arrow shoot far and pierce what is hard is the strength of the crossbow; what makes it hit the mark and split a hair is a correct heart. What rewards the good and punishes the cruel is government and its orders; what makes them able to be carried out is sincerity. So though the crossbow be strong it cannot hit the mark by itself, and though the order be clear it cannot be carried out by itself; there must be the essential breath with which to spread the Way. So when the Way is set forth and laid upon the people and the people do not follow, it is because a sincere heart has not been extended. Heaven and Earth and the four seasons do not give birth to the ten thousand things; spirit illumination meets, yin and yang harmonize, and the ten thousand things are born of them. The sage's governing of the world does not change the people's nature; he strokes and follows what they have and washes it clean. So going along with things is great, and transforming them is petty. Yu cut through Longmen and opened Yique, breached the Jiang and deepened the He and poured them east into the sea, going along with the flow of water. Houji cleared the grass and broke the fallow, dunged the soil and planted grain, and made each of the five seeds find what suited it, going along with the lay of the land. Tang and King Wu, with three hundred war chariots and three thousand mailed soldiers, punished cruelty and disorder and mastered Xia and Shang, going along with what the people wanted. So one who can go along with things has no match in the world. Only when things have their own being of themselves is there governing in human affairs. So a good carpenter cannot hew metal and a skilled smith cannot melt wood: the propensity of metal cannot be hewn and the nature of wood cannot be melted. To knead clay and make vessels, to hollow wood and make boats, to melt iron and make blades, to cast bronze and make bells, is going along with what they can be. To harness horses and yoke oxen, to make the cock keep the night and the dog watch the gate, is going along with what they are of themselves. The people have a nature that loves beauty, so there is the rite of the great marriage; they have a nature that drinks and eats, so there is the propriety of the great feast; they have a nature that rejoices and takes pleasure, so there are the tones of bell and drum, pipe and string; they have a nature that grieves, so there are the measures of mourning garb, of wailing and leaping. So when the former kings laid down their laws, they went along with what the people loved and made measure and form for it. Going along with their love of beauty, they laid down the rites of marriage, and so men and women were kept distinct. Going along with their delight in music, they set right the sounds of the Ya and the Song, and so customs did not drift. Going along with their wish for a settled home and their joy in wife and children, they taught them compliance, and so father and son had affection. Going along with their delight in friends, they taught them deference, and so elder and younger had their order. After that they cultivated court audience and mission to make clear noble and base, practiced feast and archery to make clear elder and younger, hunted in season and mustered the troops to make the use of arms familiar, and had them enter the village schools to cultivate human relations. All this is what people have in their nature, and what the sages shaped and completed.

So where the nature is not there, no teaching is possible; and where the nature is there but there is no nurturing of it, the Way cannot be followed. It is the nature of the cocoon to become silk, but unless a working woman boils it in hot water and draws out its threads it cannot become silk. It is the nature of the egg to turn into a chick, but unless a loving hen warms it with her breath and covers and broods it, day upon day for a long time, it cannot become a chick. The nature of people has the stuff of humaneness and rightness in it, but unless the sages make measures and standards for them and teach and lead them, they cannot be made to face the right way. So the teaching of the former kings went along with what people delight in to urge them to good, and went along with what they hate to forbid wickedness. So punishments were not used, yet their authority ran like water; government and orders were sparing and few, yet the transformation shone like a spirit. So go along with their nature and the world listens and follows; go against their nature and the law hangs up unused. In old times, when the Five Emperors and the Three Kings came to government and spread their teaching, they always used the three and the five. What is meant by the three and the five? They looked up and took their images from Heaven, looked down and took their measures from Earth, and in the middle took their standards from people. Then they set up the court of the Bright Hall and carried out the orders of the Bright Hall, so as to tune the breaths of yin and yang, to harmonize the divisions of the four seasons, and to ward off the calamity of disease. They looked down at the patterns of the earth to lay down measures and weights, examined the fitness of hill and plain, water and marsh, rich and barren, high and low, established undertakings and produced goods, and so removed the troubles of hunger and cold. In the middle they examined human virtue to lay down rites and music, and carried out the way of humaneness and rightness, so as to order human relations and remove the disaster of cruelty and disorder. Then they clarified and set out the natures of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, and so established the affection of father and son and completed the family; they distinguished the numbers by which the clear and muddy five tones and six pitches give birth to one another, and so established the rightness of ruler and subject and completed the state; they examined the order of the seasons, the earlier and the later, and so established the rites of elder and younger and completed the offices. This is what is called the three. To lay down the rightness of ruler and subject, the affection of father and son, the distinction of husband and wife, the order of elder and younger, and the bearing of friend toward friend, is what is called the five. Then they divided the land into provinces, divided the offices and governed by them, built walls and dwelt in them, marked out homesteads and kept them apart, shared out goods to clothe and feed, set up the great school to teach and admonish, and rose early and slept late and labored at it. These are the bonds of governing.

But get the right person and it is raised up, and lose the right person and it falls away. When Yao governed the world, government and teaching were level and virtue and its enrichment were complete, and after seventy years on the throne he sought someone to entrust the continuance of the world to, and had the Four Peaks raise up the lowly and obscure. The Four Peaks raised up Shun and recommended him to Yao. Yao then gave him his two daughters as wives to see him within, and charged him with the hundred offices to see him without. When Shun had gone into the great forest and did not lose his way in the fierce wind and the thunder and rain, Yao entrusted his nine sons to him, gave him the jade of Zhaohua, and handed the world over to him. He held that, though there were measures and standards, Danzhu could not hold them together. Now there has never been a thing that is drawn tight and never slackens, that is completed and never falls to ruin. Only the sage can flourish and not decline, be full and not wane. When Shennong first made the zither it was to return to the spirits, but when it ran to excess it turned against Heaven's heart. When Kui first made music it was all to accord with the six pitches and tune the five tones so as to reach through to the eight winds, but when it declined men sank in drink and drowned in pleasure and gave no thought to government, until they came to ruin. When Cang Jie first made writing it was to sort out and govern the hundred offices and put the myriad affairs in order, so that the foolish could keep from forgetting and the wise could set their minds far, but when it declined men carved wickedly and forged writings, freeing the guilty and killing the blameless. When Tang first made a park it was to provide fresh offerings for the ancestral temple, and to pick soldiers and practice archery and driving as a guard against the unforeseen, but when it declined men galloped and hunted and shot, robbing the people of their seasons and wearing out the people's strength. When Yao raised up Yu, Xie, Houji and Gao Yao, government and teaching were level, wickedness ceased, lawsuits stopped and clothing and food were enough, the worthy urged others to good and the unworthy cherished their virtue; but in the end factions banded together, each pushing forward his own set, putting aside the common good and running after private ends, recommending one another within and without, so that wicked men were at court and the worthy lived in hiding.

So the failing of the Yi is divination; the failing of the Documents is spreading out; the failing of music is excess; the failing of the Odes is partiality; the failing of the rites is exaction; the failing of the Chunqiu is stabbing. The way of Heaven and Earth is that what reaches its limit turns back and what is full is diminished. Though the five colors be bright there is a time when they change, and though the trees be lush and the grasses rich there is a time when they fall; things have their rising and their waning and cannot stay as they are. So when an undertaking is exhausted the sage does it anew, and when the law is worn out he changes the institution. It is not that he delights in altering the old and changing the constant; he means to rescue what has failed and prop up what has declined, to cast out excess and save from wrong, so as to tune the breath of Heaven and Earth and follow what suits the ten thousand things. The sage covers like Heaven and carries like Earth, lights like the sun and moon, tunes like yin and yang, transforms like the four seasons; the ten thousand things are not alike to him, yet he has nothing old and nothing new, nothing distant and nothing close, and so he can take Heaven as his model. Heaven does not have one season, Earth does not have one benefit, and people do not have one occupation; therefore the threads of work cannot but have many ends, and the courses people take cannot but go different ways. The five phases differ in breath, yet all fit and tune together; the six arts differ in field, yet all share one Way. Warm and kind, gentle and good, is the air of the Odes; simple and solid, honest and thick, is the teaching of the Documents; clear and bright, orderly and reaching through, is the meaning of the Yi; respectful and frugal, honoring and yielding, is what the rites do; broad and ample, simple and easy, is the transformation of music; stabbing at what is slight and judging what is right is the current of the Chunqiu. So the failing of the Yi is ghosts; the failing of music is excess; the failing of the Odes is folly; the failing of the Documents is stiffness; the failing of the rites is spite; the failing of the Chunqiu is slander. These six the sage uses together and cuts to measure. Lose the root and there is disorder; get the root and there is order. Their beauty lies in harmony, and their failing lies in weighing.

Water, fire, metal, wood, earth and grain are different things, yet all take their charge; compass and square, steelyard and balance, level and marking line differ in shape, yet all are put to use; cinnabar and blue pigment, glue and lacquer are not alike, yet all are used. Each has what it suits, and each thing has its fitness. The wheel is round and the carriage box square, the shaft runs lengthwise and the crossbar across, because so placed they serve; the outer horses want to gallop and the inner horses to walk, the girth does not mind being new and the hook does not mind being old, because the place each holds is fitting. The Guan ju arises from birds, yet the gentleman finds it beautiful, because male and female do not dwell apart. The Lu ming arises from beasts, yet the gentleman makes much of it, taking it that they see food and call to one another. At the battle of Hong the army was beaten and the ruler taken, yet the Chunqiu makes much of it, taking it that he did not beat the drum while the ranks were not yet formed. Boji of Song sat and burned to death, yet the Chunqiu makes much of it, taking it that she acted without overstepping the rites. Completing a feat and establishing an undertaking, how is that enough to count for much! One takes a single strand from what is being pointed at, that is all. Wang Qiao and Chisongzi left the dust of this world and departed from the tangle of the crowd and its evils; they drank the harmony of yin and yang and ate the essence of Heaven and Earth, breathing out the stale and breathing in the new, empty and lightly borne up, riding the clouds and wandering in the mist. They can be called men who nourished their nature, but they cannot be called filial sons. The Duke of Zhou put Guanshu and Caishu to death and so settled the state and quelled the disorder. He can be called a loyal subject, but he cannot be called a brother. Tang banished Jie and King Wu attacked Zhou, and so rid the world of cruelty and got rid of robbers. They can be called kind rulers, but they cannot be called loyal subjects. Yue Yang attacked Zhongshan and could not bring it down, and Zhongshan boiled his son and fed him to him to show their might. He can be called a good general, but he cannot be called a loving father.

So what may be done is allowed and what may not be done is not allowed; what may not be done is not allowed and what may be done is allowed. Shun and Xu You differed in conduct, yet both were sages; Yi Yin and Bo Yi (伯夷) differed in the way they took, yet both were humane; Jizi and Bi Gan differed in the course they ran, yet both were worthy. So among those who use troops some are light and some heavy, some greedy and some honest. These four are opposed to one another, yet not one of them can be lacking. The light want to set out, the heavy want to halt, the greedy want to seize, and the honest take no profit in what is not theirs. So the brave can be made to advance and fight but cannot be made to hold a stronghold; the heavy can be made to stand firm but cannot be made to overrun an enemy; the greedy can be made to press forward and take but cannot be made to keep to their duties; the honest can be made to keep to their share but cannot be made to press forward and take; the trustworthy can be made to hold to an agreement but cannot be made to answer changes. These five are opposed to one another, and the sage uses them all together and cuts them to measure in employing them. Heaven and Earth do not wrap one thing only, and yin and yang do not give birth to one kind only. The sea does not refuse standing water, and so completes its greatness; the mountain does not refuse soil and stone, and so completes its height. Now if one keeps to a single corner and lets go the myriad quarters, takes one thing and casts away the rest, then what he gets will be scant and what he governs will be shallow.

One who governs what is great cannot have a small Way; one whose land is broad cannot have narrow institutions; one whose position is high cannot have troublesome affairs; one whose people are many cannot have harsh teaching. Affairs broken into bits are hard to govern, laws that are troublesome are hard to carry out, and demands that are many are hard to satisfy. Measure by the inch and by the time you reach a rod you are sure to be off; weigh by the grain and by the time you reach a stone you are sure to be over. Weigh by the stone and measure by the rod and you go straight and lose little; sort silk thread and count grains of rice and you are troubled and see nothing. So a broad outline easily becomes wisdom, and crooked disputation hardly becomes insight. So what is of no use to governing but useful for making trouble, the sage does not do; what is of no use in practice but useful for spending, the wise do not carry out. So merit does not mind being spare, affairs do not mind being few, demands do not mind being small. Merit that is spare is easily completed, affairs that are few are easily governed, demands that are small are easily satisfied; and when the many find it easy, it is easy to charge people with it. Confucius said, "Small disputation breaks speech, small profit breaks rightness, small arts break the Way, and small seeing does not reach through. Be sparing." The He winds like a snake, and so it can go far; the mountain slopes away, and so it can be high; yin and yang do nothing, and so they can harmonize; the Way strolls at ease, and so it can transform.

Now to see through one affair, to be sharp about one phrase, to be exact in one skill, can make a crooked argument but cannot answer widely. Smartweed set out in rows, bowls and basins with their mouths, weighing the firewood before lighting it and counting the rice before cooking, can govern what is small but cannot govern what is great. Roundness that fits the compass and squareness that fits the square, movement that makes beasts and stillness that makes patterns, can make a pleasing dance but cannot draw up an army. Rinsing the cup before eating, washing the goblet before drinking, and washing the hands before serving, can nourish a few but cannot feast a multitude. Now among those who sacrifice, the one who butchers and carves, boils and kills, flays the dog and roasts the pig and blends the five flavors, is the cook; the one who sets out the fu and gui vessels, ranges the jars and the stands and lays out the dishes, is the invoker; and the one who purifies himself and puts on full robes, deep in silence and not speaking, on whom the spirit rests, is the impersonator of the dead. Though steward and invoker be unable, the impersonator does not step past the jars and the stands to take their place. So one who strings a se makes the small strings taut and the great strings slack, and one who establishes an undertaking has the base toil and the noble at ease. Shun was Son of Heaven, and he plucked a five-stringed qin and sang the poem South Wind, and the world was governed. The Duke of Zhou never had the boiled meats cleared away before him nor the bells and drums taken down from their frames, and the Yi of the four quarters submitted. Zhao Zheng decided lawsuits by day and put documents in order by night; the caps and canopies of his censors reached province and county without a break, checking and pressing and holding men back; he garrisoned the Five Ridges against Yue and built a long wall to hold off the Hu. Yet wickedness sprouted, robbers dwelt in bands, and the more troublesome affairs became the more disorder was born.

So law is the instrument of governing and not that by which governing is done, just as bow and arrow are the instruments of hitting the mark and not that by which the mark is hit. The Yellow Emperor said, "Vast and dim, follow the awe of Heaven and share one breath with the primal." So he who shares the breath is an emperor, he who shares the rightness is a king, he who shares the strength is a hegemon, and he who has none of them perishes. So when a ruler has the intent of attacking a state, the dogs of the towns howl in packs, the cocks crow at night, the weapons in the armories stir and the war horses take fright. When today enmity is dissolved and arms laid down, the old at home sleep sweetly, no crowds gather in the lanes, and no baleful disaster arises. This is not law answering; it is the movement of the essential breath. So to be trusted without speaking, to be humane without giving, to be awesome without anger, is to be one who moves and transforms with Heaven's heart; to give and be humane, to speak and be trusted, to be angry and be awesome, is to be one who moves others by sincerity; to give and not be humane, to speak and not be trusted, to be angry and not be awesome, is to be one who does it by outward looks. So where there is a Way to hold things together, the laws may be few and they are still enough to transform; where there is no Way in what is carried out, the laws may be many and they are still enough to bring disorder.

In governing the person, the highest is to nourish the spirit and the next is to nourish the body; in governing the state, the highest is to nourish transformation and the next is to set the laws right. When the spirit is clear and the will is level and the hundred joints are all at peace, this is the root of nourishing one's nature; to fatten the skin and flesh, fill the belly and gut, and serve the appetites, is the branch tip of nourishing life. When the people yield to one another and vie to take the lower place, hand over profit and vie to receive little, vie to take up the hard labor, and day by day are transformed by those above and move toward good without knowing why it is so, this is the highest of governing; when they find reward profitable and so are urged to good, fear punishment and so do not do wrong, and the laws and orders are correct above while the people submit below, this is the branch tip of governing. High antiquity nourished the root and later ages busied themselves with the tip, and this is why the great peace does not arise. Now a ruler who wants to govern does not appear in every generation, and ministers fit to raise up good government are not one in ten thousand; to seek with one in ten thousand for one who does not appear in every generation is why in a thousand years there is not one meeting. Water is by nature clear even in mud, yet in the filth of a remote valley it grows green moss, because its nature is not tended. Dig out where it flows and deepen it, bank up where it breaks out and raise it, so that it may run along the slope and flow with the fall, and then, though rotten bones drift and seep into it, they cannot befoul it. Its nature is not different; it is a matter of being open or not open. Customs too are like this. If one truly opens a channel for their good intentions and dams their perverse hearts, opens the road of goodness for them and blocks the path of wickedness, so that all issue together from one Way, then the people's nature can be made good and customs can be made beautiful. What makes Bian Que valued is not that he matched the drug to the illness, but that he studied the pulse and the blood and knew where the illness came from. What makes the sage valued is not that he matched the punishment to the crime, but that he knew where the disorder arose from. If one does not cultivate the customs but lets them run to excess and perversity, and then follows after with punishments and binds them with laws, then though he mangle the world he will not be able to forbid it.

Yu was king by Xia and Jie perished by Xia; Tang was king by Yin and Zhou perished by Yin. It was not that measures and standards did not survive; it was that the bonds were not drawn taut and the customs had collapsed. The laws of the Three Dynasties have not perished, yet the age is not governed, because the wisdom of the Three Dynasties is lacking; the six pitches survive complete, yet no one can hear, because the ear of Shi Kuang is lacking. So though the law be there, there must be a sage before there is government; and though the pitches be complete, there must be an ear before there is hearing. So what makes a state survive is not that it has laws but that it has worthy people, and what makes it perish is not that it has no laws but that it has no worthy people. When Duke Xian of Jin wanted to attack Yu, Gong Zhiqi was there, and for that he did not sleep easy on his mat nor find savor in his food, and did not dare raise arms. He bribed Yu with precious jade and fine horses; Gong Zhiqi remonstrated and was not heeded, spoke and was not used, and crossed the border and left, and Xun Xi attacked and without bloodying a blade carried off the jade and led away the horses. So a defense holds firm without waiting on moat and trench, and an attack takes a place without waiting on ram and ladder. It is a matter of getting the worthy or losing the worthy. So Zang Wuzhong by his wisdom kept Lu in being, and the world could not destroy it; Qu Boyu by his humaneness gave Wei peace, and the world could not endanger it. The Yi says, "He makes his house great and covers his home over; peer in at his door and it is silent, there is no one there." No one there does not mean that there are no common people; it says that there is no sage to hold things together and govern them. People without integrity and shame cannot be governed, and without cultivating rites and rightness integrity and shame are not established; people who do not know rites and rightness cannot be set right, and without honoring the good and putting away the ugly they do not turn toward rites and rightness. Without law there can be no governing, and without knowing rites and rightness law cannot be carried out. Law can kill the unfilial, but it cannot make people act as Confucius and Zengzi did; law can punish the thief, but it cannot make people as honest as Bo Yi. Confucius had seventy disciples and nurtured three thousand followers, and they were all filial at home and deferent abroad, their words made writing and their conduct made a model and a mark. This is what teaching completed. Mozi had a hundred and eighty men in his service, and all of them could be made to go into fire and tread on blades and die without turning back a heel. This is what transformation brought about. Now to carve the skin and pierce the hide, to take wounds and let the blood flow, is a hard thing indeed, yet the people of Yue do it, because they seek glory by it. When a sagely king is above and makes clear what he likes and dislikes to show them, lays down blame and praise as a thread to lead them, draws the worthy near and advances them, holds the unworthy base and sends them away, then without the pain of wounds and bleeding they have a name high in the age and honored and manifest. Which of the people would not follow!

In old times laws were set up and not broken and punishments were laid aside and not used. It was not that there were punishable acts and they went unpunished; it was that the hundred crafts kept to their seasons, the many works all flourished, rites and rightness were cultivated and worthy and virtuous men were charged with affairs. So they took the highest in the world and made them the three dukes, the highest in a state and made them the nine ministers, the highest in a county and made them the twenty-seven grandees, the highest in a district and made them the eighty-one senior gentlemen. So one whose wisdom surpasses ten thousand people is called a hero, one who surpasses a thousand is called an eminence, one who surpasses a hundred is called an outstanding man, and one who surpasses ten is called a fine man. Clear about the way of Heaven, careful about the patterns of Earth, reaching through to the feelings of people; great enough to hold the multitude, virtuous enough to cherish those far off, trustworthy enough to make one of what differs, knowing enough to know change: such a one is a hero among people. Virtuous enough to teach and transform, in conduct enough to keep rightness hidden within, humane enough to win the multitude, bright enough to light those below: such a one is an eminence among people. In conduct enough to be a model and a mark, knowing enough to decide doubts, honest enough to divide goods, trustworthy enough to be charged with keeping an agreement, whose doings may be taken for a rule and whose words may be taken for a way: such a one is an outstanding man. Keeping to his duty and not neglecting it, standing by rightness and not siding with others, seeing hardship and not shirking it, seeing gain and not grasping it: such a one is a fine man. Hero, eminence, outstanding man and fine man, each with talent small or great, hold their places and find what suits them; from the root it flows to the tip, and the heavy governs the light. Those above call and the people answer, those above move and those below follow, and within the four seas all come home with one heart, turning their backs on greed and meanness and facing rightness and reason. In transforming the people it is like wind shaking the grass and trees: nowhere does it go without their bending. Now if the foolish are made to teach the wise and the unworthy to preside over the worthy, then though punishments be severe the people will not follow. The small cannot govern the great, and the weak cannot employ the strong.

So the sagely ruler raises up the worthy to establish merit, and the unworthy ruler raises up those who are like himself. King Wen raised up Taigong Wang and Duke Shi of Shao and became king, and Duke Huan charged Guan Zhong and Xi Peng and became hegemon: this is raising up the worthy to establish merit. Fuchai used the grand steward Bo Pi and was destroyed, and Qin charged Li Si and Zhao Gao and perished: this is raising up those who are like oneself. So look at whom a ruler raises up and order or disorder can be seen; examine his faction and worthy or unworthy can be judged. Now when the sage bends, it is to seek to be stretched out; when he goes crooked, it is to seek to be straight. So though he goes out on a perverse and crooked road and walks a dark and shadowed path, he means to straighten the great Way and complete a great work. It is like one coming out of a forest who cannot get a straight road, or one who rescues a drowning man and cannot but wet his feet. Yi Yin grieved that the world was not governed, and he blended the five flavors and carried cauldron and stand on his back as he went. Five times he went to Jie and five times to Tang, meaning to turn the muddy into the clear and the perilous into the peaceful. The Duke of Zhou was arm and leg to the house of Zhou and supported King Cheng; and when Guanshu and Caishu upheld the prince Lufu and meant to make a rebellion, the Duke of Zhou put them to death and settled the world, following what could not be helped. Guanzi grieved that the house of Zhou was brought low, that the feudal lords made war by force, that the Yi and the Di attacked the central states and the people could not dwell in peace; so he bore shame and disgrace and did not die, meaning to take on the trouble of the Yi and the Di and to quell their disorder. Confucius wished to put the kingly Way into practice, and east and west and south and north he pleaded seventy times and found no match for him, and so he went through the wife of Wei and Mi Zixia, wishing to get his Way through. All these wished to level what was steep and clear away filth, to go from the dark and dim to the bright and clear, moving by the weighing of circumstances yet held together by goodness.

Now one judges a man who is driven out by his return, and one judges a man who acts by his end. So Shun banished his brother and the Duke of Zhou killed his brother, and it still counted as humaneness; Duke Wen planted rice and Zengzi racked up a sheep, and it still counted as wisdom. In the present age the ugly always leans on the good to excuse itself, and the perverse always covers itself with the upright to get free. Roaming without judging the state, taking office without choosing the post, acting without avoiding filth, and calling it the way of Yi Yin. Quarreling over the division of goods, kin and brothers building up grudges, flesh and bone preying on one another, and calling it the rightness of the Duke of Zhou. Conduct without integrity or shame, being disgraced and not dying, and calling it the course of Guanzi. Passing goods and bribes, running to the gates of power, setting up private ends and putting aside the common good, banding together to win favor, and calling it the art of Confucius. This is what makes gentlemen and petty men mingle in confusion so that no one knows which is right and which is wrong. So the hundred streams flow together, but one that does not pour into the sea does not count as a stream or a valley; courses run and race, but one that does not come home to the good does not count as a gentleman. So good words come home to what can be practiced, and good conduct comes home to humaneness and rightness. Tian Zifang and Duangan Mu held rank and salary light and their own persons heavy; they did not harm their lives for their desires nor burden their bodies for gain. Li Ke used the strength of arm and leg to the full, led and ordered the hundred officers and brought the myriad people into accord, so that his ruler in life had no undertaking abandoned and in death left no sorrow behind. These differed in conduct yet came home to the good. Zhang Yi and Su Qin had no fixed home and no settled ruler; they made pacts of alliance and of league and laid plans to overturn, muddied and disordered the world and set the feudal lords sliding, so that the people had no leisure to settle. Now vertical and now horizontal, now joining the many weak and now aiding the rich and strong. These differed in conduct yet came home to the ugly.

So the faults of a gentleman are like the eclipse of sun or moon: what harm do they do to their brightness! The rightness of a petty man is like a dog barking by day or an owl seeing by night: what good does it do to goodness! Now the wise do not set out recklessly; they choose the good and do it, they reckon what is right and carry it out, and so their undertakings are completed and their merit is enough to rely on, and their bodies die and their names are enough to be spoken of. Though one have knowledge and ability, one must make humaneness and rightness the root of it, and only then can one stand. Knowledge and ability race about and the hundred affairs go forward together; the sage makes humaneness and rightness the one level and marking line, and those who fit it he calls gentlemen and those who do not he calls petty men. Though the gentleman die and perish his name is not wiped out, and though the petty man gain power his guilt is not wiped away. Set a man with the map of the world in his left hand and a knife at his throat in his right, and even a fool will not do it, because his own person is more precious than the world. To die in the troubles of one's ruler or parent and to look on death as going home is because rightness weighs more than one's own person. The world is a great gain, yet set beside one's person it is small; and the weight of one's person, set beside rightness, is light. It is rightness that makes whole. The Odes say, "The joyous and easy gentleman seeks blessing without swerving." This says that good faith and rightness are made the level and marking line. One who would complete the work of hegemon or king must be one who has won victory; one who can win victory must be strong; one who can be strong must use the strength of others; one who can use the strength of others must have won their hearts; and one who can win people's hearts must have got hold of himself.

So the heart is the root of the person, and the person is the root of the state. There has never been one who got hold of himself and lost others, and there has never been one who lost himself and got others. So the root of governing lies in working to give the people peace; the root of giving the people peace lies in their having enough to use; the root of their having enough to use lies in not robbing them of their seasons; the root of not robbing them of their seasons lies in cutting down affairs; the root of cutting down affairs lies in restraint in spending; and the root of restraint in spending lies in turning back to one's nature. There has never been anyone who could shake the root and still the tip, muddy the source and clear the stream. So one who knows the true state of his nature does not labor at what his nature cannot do, and one who knows the true state of fate does not grieve over what fate leaves no help for. So not raising the palace high is not out of love for timber, and not making bell and cauldron great is not out of love for metal. Carry out straight the true state of nature and fate, and the institutions can become a model for the myriad people.

Now when the eye delights in the five colors, the mouth chews after flavors and the ear runs to excess in the five tones, the seven openings contend with one another and harm his nature, and day by day he draws in perverse desires and wears his body thin. When it comes to tuning and harmony, if he cannot govern his own body, what will he do with the world! So when one's own nourishing finds its measure, then in nourishing the people one wins their hearts. To possess the world does not mean to tread on power and position, to receive the handed-down registers and be called by an honored title; it means to set the world's strength in motion and to win the world's heart. Zhou's land had the Eastern Sea on the left and the flowing sands on the right, Jiaozhi in front and Youdu behind; his host arose at Rongguan and reached the Pu river, and his men were more than a hundred million, yet they all shot with their arrows reversed and fought with their halberds turned aside. King Wu grasped the yellow axe in his left hand and held the white banner in his right and waved them, and they broke apart like tiles and fled, and at last crumbled like earth and came down. Zhou had the name of one who faces south, but he had not the virtue that wins a single man. This is losing the world. So Jie and Zhou were not kings, and Tang and Wu did not banish. Zhou dwelt in the land of Feng and Hao, no more than a hundred li square, yet it swore against Zhou in the wilds of Mu, entered and took the state of Yin, paid court at the temple of Cheng Tang, marked the village gate of Shang Rong, raised a mound over the grave of Bi Gan and released Jizi from prison. Then it broke the drumsticks and smashed the drums, laid down the five weapons and let loose the oxen and horses, put the tablet in the sash and held court for the world; the people sang for joy at it and the feudal lords came to court holding birds. It was because it had won the people's heart. Helü attacked Chu, in five battles entered Ying, burned the grain of Gaofu, broke the bell of Jiulong, whipped the grave of King Ping of Chu and lodged in the palace of King Zhao. King Zhao fled to Sui, and the people's fathers and elder brothers led their young and supported their old and followed him; then they led one another and became raiders of desperate courage, all obeying the command, baring their arms and fighting for him. At that time there were no generals or officers to set them in ranks; each gave his life, drove back the troops of Wu and recovered the land of Chu. King Ling built the terrace of Zhanghua and sent out the labor service at Ganxi; within and without were stirred up and the people were worn out, and Qiji rode the people's resentment and set up the prince Bi. The people let their arms fall and left him, and he starved at Ganxi, eating grass and drinking water, and died with a clod for a pillow. The mountains and rivers of Chu did not change, its soil and land were not altered and the nature of its people was not different; yet for King Zhao they led one another and died for him, and for King Ling they turned their backs and rebelled and left him. It is a matter of winning the people or losing the people.

So when the Son of Heaven attains the Way his defense lies with the Yi of the four quarters, and when the Son of Heaven loses the Way his defense lies with the feudal lords; when a feudal lord attains the Way his defense lies with his four neighbors, and when he loses the Way his defense lies at his four borders. So Tang dwelt in seventy li at Bo and King Wen in a hundred li at Feng, and yet their orders were carried out and their prohibitions obeyed throughout the world. When Zhou declined, the Rong attacked Fan Bo at Chuqiu and went home. So with the Way one commands the feudal lords from a hundred li of land, and without it one fears Jizhou though one has the greatness of the world. So it is said: do not rely on others not robbing you, but rely on your not being able to be robbed. To walk a road on which one may be robbed, and then to call usurping and regicide wrong, is of no use for holding the world. What people live by is clothing and food; yet shut a man up in a dark room, and though you feed him on grain-fed meat and clothe him in figured silk he cannot be glad. Because his eyes see nothing and his ears hear nothing, if he bores a chink or a hole and sees the rain falling he sighs with relief. How much more to open the door and cut a window and see the bright and clear out of the dark and dim! To see the bright and clear out of the dark and dim is already a wild gladness. How much more to leave the room, sit in the hall and see the light of sun and moon! To see the light of sun and moon is a wide open joy. How much more to climb Taishan, tread the stone mound and gaze on the eight wastes, seeing the city of Heaven like a canopy and the Jiang and the He like a girdle, and how much more the ten thousand things that lie between! How could such joy not be great! Moreover the deaf have the shape of ears complete and cannot hear, and the blind have the shape of eyes and cannot see. Now speech is how one gets through to others, and hearing is how others get through to oneself; the mute do not speak and the deaf do not hear, and one who is both mute and deaf is cut off from the way of human beings. So one who has the sickness of muteness or deafness will break up his household to seek a physician and not count the cost. How should it be the body alone that has its muteness and deafness! The heart and the will have them too. Now when a finger is cramped there is no one who does not set about stretching it, but when the heart is blocked there is no one who knows enough to work at opening it. It is because they are not clear about kinds. Now to see the breadth and loftiness of the six arts, to plumb the depth of the Way and its power, to reach what has nothing above and arrive at what has nothing below, to move in what has no limit and soar in what has no form, broader than the four seas and loftier than Taishan, richer than the Jiang and the He, open and reaching through, clear and bright, with nothing between Heaven and Earth to tie one up or cross one: how could what such a one looks upon not be great! What people know is shallow and the changes of things are without end; and what one did not know before and knows now is not that one's knowledge has grown greater, but that asking and learning have been added to it. Now what is often seen is recognized and what has once been done can be done, and so one follows the trouble and makes the preparation for it, and meets the hardship and gains the ease of it. Now with the lifespan of a single age to survey the knowledge of a thousand years, and to know the arguments of now and of old though one has never passed through them, the reason of them being there ready to hand: can this not be called having a method! A man who wants to know high and low and cannot is glad when he is taught to use tube and level; one who wants to know light and heavy and has no means is delighted when given steelyard and balance; one who wants to know far and near and cannot is relieved in his shooting when he is taught the metal sight. How much more to know how to answer in every direction without coming to an end! To meet great hardship and not be cowed, to see what is tangled and knotted and not be confused, at ease and self-possessed: how should such a joy be merely the relief of one argument!

Now the Way: everything that has form is born from it, so that as a parent it is close indeed; everything that enjoys grain and feeds on breath receives from it, so that as a ruler it is kind indeed; all who have knowledge learn from it, so that as a teacher it is broad indeed. An archer who shoots many times and does not hit is glad when someone teaches him how to aim; how much more what gives birth to aiming! There is no one who does not know that learning benefits him, and those who cannot do it are harmed by their play and amusement. People commonly harm what is useful with what is useless, and so their wisdom is not broad and their days are not enough. Plow the fields with the strength that digs an ornamental pool and the fields and wilds are sure to be opened; repair the dikes with the height that heaps up an artificial mountain and the use of water is sure to be enough; nourish gentlemen with the cost of feeding dogs, horses and wild geese and name and praise are sure to be glorious; recite the Odes and read the Documents on the days spent shooting, hunting and gambling and what is heard and known is sure to be broad. So not learning as against learning is like comparing the mute and the deaf with other people. Anyone who learns, if he can be clear about the divisions of the world and get through to the root of order and disorder, and keep it with a clear heart and a clear mind, and see its end and its beginning, can be said to know the main lines of governing. What Heaven does is birds and beasts, grass and trees; what people do is rites and measures and institutions. To frame them into palaces and to make them into boats and carts is this. What governing takes as its root is humaneness and rightness, and what it takes as its tip is laws and measures. What people serve the living with is the root, and what they serve the dead with is the tip. Root and tip are one body, and loving both is one nature. To put the root first and the tip after is called being a gentleman, and to harm the root with the tip is called being a petty man. The nature of gentleman and petty man is not different; it is only a matter of which comes first and which after. In the nature of grasses and trees the big part is the root and the slender part the tip, and in the nature of birds and beasts the big part is the head and the small part the tail. When the tip is bigger than the root it snaps, and when the tail is bigger than the waist it cannot be wagged. So feed the mouth and the hundred joints grow fat, and water the root and branch and leaf are fair. This is the nature of Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth in giving birth to things have root and tip, and in nourishing things have first and after; how could people in governing be without end and beginning!

So humaneness and rightness are the root of governing. Now not to know how to work at cultivating the root and to labor at digging ponds at the tip is to let go the root and water the branches. Moreover law came into being to support humaneness and rightness; and now to make law heavy and cast rightness away is to prize the cap and the shoes and forget the head and the feet. So humaneness and rightness are what makes the foundation thick. One who does not add to its thickness but spreads out its breadth will be pulled down, and one who does not broaden his foundation but adds to its height will be overturned. Zhao Zheng did not add to his virtue but piled up his height, and so was destroyed; Zhi Bo did not practice humaneness and rightness but labored at widening his lands, and so ruined his state. The saying goes: if you do not make the ridgepole great it cannot bear a heavy load. Nothing is heavier than a state, and no ridgepole is like virtue. A ruler of a state having his people is like a wall having its foundation and a tree having its root. When the root is deep the trunk is firm, and when the foundation is fine what stands on it is at peace. The way of the Five Emperors and the Three Kings is the bond of the world and the model and mark of governing. Now Shang Yang's opening and closing, Master Shen's three tallies, Han Fei's Gu fen, and Zhang Yi and Su Qin's alliance and league are all snatched-up weighings, methods for a single occasion. They are not the great root of governing nor the constant of affairs, such as may be widely heard and handed down through the ages. Zinang fled and kept Chu whole, but fleeing cannot be made a regular practice; Xian Gao lied and preserved Zheng, but lying cannot be made a constant. Now the sounds of the Ya and the Song all issue from words and are rooted in the feelings, and so ruler and subject are in accord by them and father and son are close by them; and so in the music of the Shao and the Xia the sound soaked into metal and stone and moistened grass and trees. Now take up the sounds of resentment and longing and set them to string and pipe, and those who hear their tones, if not stirred to excess, are made sad; stirred to excess they confuse the distinction of man and woman, and made sad they feel the breath of resentment and longing. How is this what is called music!

When King Qian of Zhao was carried off to Fangling he longed for his old home and made the song Mountains and Waters, and none who heard it failed to shed tears. When Jing Ke went west to stab the king of Qin, Gao Jianli and Song Yi struck the zhu and sang on the bank of the Yi, and none who heard it failed to glare with eyes split wide and hair standing up through the cap. To take such sounds for music and bring them into the ancestral temple: how is this what the ancients called music! So the leather cap, the ceremonial crown and the great carriage may be worn but not doted on; the harmony of the great broth may be eaten but not savored; the red strings with their pierced holes, where one sings and three sigh in answer, may be listened to but give no thrill. So it is what has no sound that is exactly what is worth hearing, and what has no flavor that is exactly what makes flavor full. A yapping sound clear in the ear and mixed flavors that thrill the mouth are not what is valuable in them. So an undertaking not rooted in the Way and its power cannot be made a model, words that do not accord with the former kings cannot be made a way, and tones not tuned to the Ya and the Song cannot be made music. So the words of those five men were snatched up for the convenience of persuasion and are not the rightness that runs through the world. When a sagely king sets up government and spreads teaching he always examines its end and its beginning, and when he hangs up laws and sets up models he always goes back to their root and tip, and does not carelessly provide for one thing by one measure and leave it at that. He sees what is made and thinks of what it will do; he looks at the source and knows the stream. So he gives widely and is not exhausted, and the longer it lasts the less it is soiled. Water comes out of the mountains and goes into the sea, and grain grows in the fields and is stored in the granary; when the sage sees where a thing comes from he knows where it goes. So Shun hid gold deep in the jagged mountains, and thereby blocked greedy and mean hearts. Yi Di made wine and Yu drank it and found it sweet, and then kept Yi Di at a distance and gave up fine wine, and thereby stopped the practice of drowning in drink. Shi Yan played for Duke Ping the tunes of the northern outskirts of Zhaoge, and Shi Kuang said, "This is the music of a perishing state," and sighed deeply and stayed his hand, and thereby guarded against excessive and perverse airs.

So when the people came to know writing, virtue declined; when they came to know reckoning, generosity declined; when they came to know bonds and contracts, good faith declined; when they came to know machines, substance declined. When cunning and deceit are stored in the breast, then pure white is not complete and spirit virtue is not whole. The qin does not sound, yet the twenty-five strings each answer with their own tone; the axle does not turn, yet the thirty spokes each revolve by their own strength. Strings have slack and taut, small and great, and only then make a tune; carts have toil and ease, movement and stillness, and only then can go far. What makes there be sound is what has no sound, and what makes a thousand li be reached is what does not move. So when above and below take different ways there is order, and when they take the same way there is disorder. One whose position is high and whose way is great is followed, and one whose task is great and whose way is small meets ill. So small thrills harm rightness, small cleverness harms the Way, small disputation harms governing, and harsh paring wounds virtue. Great government is not steep, and so the people are easily led; the utmost governing is broad and ample, and so those below do not prey on one another; the utmost loyalty returns to the plain, and so the people hide nothing of their feelings. Shang Yang set up for Qin (秦) the law of mutual liability, and the people resented it; Wu Qi made for Chu the order cutting down rank and salary, and the meritorious ministers rebelled. Shang Yang's establishing of laws and Wu Qi's use of troops were the finest in the world. Yet Shang Yang's laws ruined Qin (秦), because he was exact about the traces of knife and brush and did not know the root of order and disorder; and Wu Qi weakened Chu with his troops, because he was practiced in the business of ranks and formations and did not know the weighing of battle in the temple. When Duke Xian of Jin (晉) attacked the Li and got their woman, it was not that this was not good, yet Shi Su sighed over it, because he saw the disaster that would fall on four generations. When King Fuchai of Wu broke Qi at Ailing and defeated Jin (晉) at Huangchi, it was not that this was not swift, yet Zixu grieved over it, because he saw that Wu would surely be taken by Yue. When Xiaobo fled to Ju and Chong'er fled to Cao, it was not that they were not hard pressed, yet Bao Shu and Jiufan followed and supported them, because they knew that with them they could reach the hegemony. Goujian roosted on Kuaiji and was not slack in cultivating government and did not rest from planning, because he knew that disaster can become blessing. Xiangzi won twice and had a look of care, because he feared that blessing can become disaster.

So Duke Huan of Qi lost the fields of Wenyang and became hegemon, while Zhi Bo annexed the lands of the three Jin and perished. The sage sees disaster and blessing within doors barred layer on layer, and reckons on trouble beyond nine bends. That the second brood of silkworms is gathered twice in a year is not unprofitable, yet the king's law forbids it, because it harms the mulberry. Barnyard grass ripens before the rice, yet the farmer hoes it out, because he will not injure a great harvest for a small gain. That the old of the house eat their food apart and are served in vessels of their own, and that the son's wife goes barefoot up into the hall and kneels to ladle the broth, is not without cost, yet it cannot be cut away, because cutting it would harm rightness. To wait on a go-between to settle the words, to send betrothal gifts and take a wife, to put on the cap for the first time and go in person to meet her, is not untroublesome, yet it cannot be altered, because it is how excess is guarded against. To make the people watch one another where they live and inform on one another's crimes, and so bring wickedness to light, is not hard to pick up, yet it wounds the heart of harmony and knits up the grudges of enemies. So there are undertakings where boring one hole gives rise to a hundred cracks, and planting one thing gives rise to ten thousand leaves: what is bored is not enough to make things convenient, but what is opened up is enough to bring ruin; what is planted is not enough to be a gain, but what grows from it is enough to be a filth. The foolish are deluded by small gains and forget the great harm in them. Sweet flag gets rid of fleas and lice, yet people do not itch for it, because it brings centipedes; the wildcat catches rats, yet it cannot be let loose in the courtyard, because it takes the chickens. So there are undertakings that profit in the small and harm in the great, that gain here and lose there. So a player at the board may take two pieces and find his road closed, or give up one and take the victory. Snatching at gain cannot be made a course of conduct, and cunning methods cannot be made a law.

So humaneness and knowledge are the fairest of human talents. What is called humaneness is loving people, and what is called knowledge is knowing people. Love people and there are no cruel punishments; know people and there is no disordered government. When governing follows pattern and reason there are no perverse and mistaken doings, and when punishment does not encroach and overflow there are no cruel and brutal acts. When there is no troublesome and disordered governing above and no resentful heart below, then the hundred cruelties are removed and a centered harmony arises. This is what made the Three Dynasties flourish. So the Documents say, "Able to be wise and also kind, and the black-haired people cherish him. Why be troubled about Huandou, why move the Youmiao?" Zhi Bo had five talents beyond other men, yet did not escape dying by another's hand, because he did not love people; King Jian of Qi had three skills beyond other men, yet was taken captive by Qin, because he did not know the worthy. So nothing in humaneness is greater than loving people, and nothing in knowledge is greater than knowing people. If these two are not established, then however discerning, clever, quick and skillful, however hard-working and diligent, one will not escape disorder.