Yaolüe — A Summary of the Essentials要略
夫作為書論者，所以紀綱道德，經緯人事，上考之天，下揆之地，中通諸理，雖未能抽引玄妙之中才，繁然足以觀終始矣。總要舉凡，而語不剖判純樸，靡𢿱大宗，懼為人之惽惽然弗能知也；故多為之辭，博為之說，又恐人之離本就末也。故言道而不言事，則無以與世浮沉；言事而不言道，則無以與化遊息。故著二十篇，有《原道》、有《俶真》、有《天文》、有《墜形》、有《時則》、有《覽冥》、有《精神》、有《本經》、有《主術》、有《繆稱》、有《齊俗》、有《道應》、有《氾論》、有《詮言》、有《兵略》、有《說山》、有《說林》、有《人間》、有《修務》、有《泰族》也。
Making books and discourses is a way to draw the guiding cords of the Way and virtue, to make warp and weft of the affairs of men, to look up and examine heaven above, to measure earth below, and in the middle to run through the many principles. Though it cannot draw out the talent that lies within the dark and the subtle, in all its abundance it is enough to show endings and beginnings. It gathers up the essentials and raises the main outline. Yet if its words did not split apart plain simplicity and scatter the great ancestor, men would be left bewildered and unable to know it. So its words are many and its explanations broad. And there is the fear that men will leave the root and go to the branches. So if one speaks of the Way and does not speak of affairs, there is no way to rise and sink with the age. If one speaks of affairs and does not speak of the Way, there is no way to roam and rest with change. So twenty chapters were made. There is the Yuandao, there is the Chuzhen, there is the Tianwen, there is the Dixing, there is the Shize, there is the Lanming, there is the Jingshen, there is the Benjing, there is the Zhushu, there is the Miucheng, there is the Qisu, there is the Daoying, there is the Fanlun, there is the Quanyan, there is the Binglue, there is the Shuoshan, there is the Shuolin, there is the Renjian, there is the Xiuwu, and there is the Taizu.
《原道》者，盧牟六合，混沌萬物，象太一之容，測窈冥之深，以翔虛無之軫，托小以苞大，守約以治廣，使人知先後之禍富，動靜之利害。誠通其志，浩然可以大觀矣。欲一言而寤，則尊天而保真；欲再言而通，則賤物而貴身；欲參言而究，則外物而反情。執其大指，以內治五藏，瀸濇肌膚，被服法則，而與之終身，所以應待萬方，鑒耦百變也。若轉丸掌中，足以自樂也。
The Yuandao pens in the six directions and blends the ten thousand things together. It takes its image from the shape of the Great One and measures the depth of the dark and the dim, and so flies on the axle of the empty and the nonexistent. It entrusts itself to the small and thereby wraps the great; it keeps to the spare and thereby governs the broad. It lets a man know the misfortune and the fortune of before and after, and the gain and the harm of movement and stillness. If one truly runs through its purpose, one grows vast and can look upon great things. If you wish to awaken at one word, then honor heaven and keep what is true. If you wish to understand at two words, then hold things cheap and hold the body dear. If you wish to search it out at three words, then put things outside and turn back to the feelings. Grasp its great pointing, order the five organs within, let it soak into the skin, wear it as a rule and keep it to the end of life. This is how one answers the ten thousand quarters and mirrors and matches a hundred changes. It is like rolling a bead in the palm, enough to please oneself.
《俶真》者，窮逐終始之化，嬴垀有無之精，離別萬物之變，合同死生之形。使人遺物反己，審仁義之間，通同異之理，觀至德之統，知變化之紀，說符玄妙之中，通回造化之母也。
The Chuzhen searches out and pursues the changes of ending and beginning, fills out the essence of being and nonbeing, parts and divides the changes of the ten thousand things, and joins as one the shapes of death and life. It makes a man leave things behind and turn back to himself, look closely into the space between benevolence and rightness, run through the principle of same and different, see the gathering of utmost virtue, know the guiding cord of change, speak of what tallies within the dark and the subtle, and go round and through the mother of creation and change.
《天文》者，所以和陰陽之氣，理日月之光，節開塞之時，列星辰之行，知逆順之變，避忌諱之殃，順時運之應，法五神之常，使人有以仰天承順，而不亂其常者也。
The Tianwen is how the breath of yin and yang is brought into harmony, the light of sun and moon set in order, the seasons of opening and closing held to measure, and the courses of the stars laid out. It is how one knows the changes of going against and going with, avoids the calamity of what must be shunned, follows the answering of the seasons in their turning, and takes as a model the constancy of the five spirits, so that a man has the means to look up to heaven and take up what it follows, and does not throw its constancy into disorder.
《地形》者，所以窮南北之修，極東西之廣，經山陵之形，區川谷之居，明萬物之主，知生類之眾，列山淵之數，規遠近之路。使人通回周備，不可動以物，不可驚以怪者也。
The Dixing is how the length from south to north is searched out and the breadth from east to west carried to its limit, how the shapes of mountains and hills are made warp and the places of streams and valleys marked off, how the lord of the ten thousand things is made clear and the multitude of living kinds made known, how the number of mountains and deeps is laid out and the roads far and near are compassed. It makes a man run through and go round and be furnished at every point, so that nothing can move him and nothing strange can startle him.
《時則》者，所以上因天時，下盡地力，據度行當，合諸人則，形十二節，以為法式，終而複始，轉於無極，因循仿依，以知禍福，操舍開塞，各有龍忌，發號施令，以時教期。使君人者知所以從事。
The Shize is how one follows the seasons of heaven above and uses up the strength of earth below, how one relies on measure and does what is fitting and accords with the rules of men, how the twelve joints are shaped and made a pattern, so that when it ends it begins again and turns without limit. It is how one follows along and leans on what came before and thereby knows misfortune and fortune, how in taking and letting go, in opening and closing, each has its own days to shun, and how orders are given out and commands sent down, teaching and appointing by the season. It lets one who is lord over men know how to go about affairs.
《覽冥》者，所以言至精之通九天也，至微之淪無形也，純粹之入至清也，昭昭之通冥冥也。乃始攬物引類，覽取撟掇，浸想宵類，物之可以喻意象形者，乃以穿通窘滯，決瀆壅塞，引人之意，系之無極，乃以明物類之感，同氣之應，陰陽之合，形埒之朕，所以令人遠觀博見者也。
The Lanming is how it is said that the utmost essence runs through the nine heavens, that the utmost subtlety sinks into the formless, that the pure and unmixed enters the utmost clarity, and that what is bright and bright runs through what is dark and dark. Then it begins to take hold of things and draw in their kinds, to look and take, to lift and gather, to soak thought and shape it to what is like. With those things that can waken a meaning and body forth a shape, it bores through what is blocked and stuck and breaks open the dammed channels, and it draws out the purposes of men and ties them to the limitless. So it makes clear the stirring that one kind of thing feels from another, the answering of like breath to like, the joining of yin and yang, and the first signs of shapes and their bounds. This is how men are made to look far and see broadly.
《精神》者，所以原本人之所由生，而曉寤其形骸九竅，取象與天，合同其血氣，與雷霆風雨比類其喜怒，與晝宵寒暑並明，審死生之分，別同異之跡，節動靜之機，以反其性命之宗，所以使人愛養其精神，撫靜其魂魄，不以物易己，緊守虛無之宅者也。
The Jingshen is how one goes back to the root from which a man is born and wakens him to his body and his nine openings, taking their image from heaven, joining his blood and breath as one with it, ranking his joy and his anger beside thunder and wind and rain, and making them clear together with day and night and cold and heat. It looks closely into the division of death and life, parts the traces of same and different, and holds to measure the workings of movement and stillness, so as to turn back to the ancestor of his nature and his life. This is how a man is made to love and nourish his spirit, to soothe his souls into stillness, not to trade himself away for things, and to hold fast the house of the empty and the nonexistent.
《本經》者，所以明大聖之德，通維初之道，埒略衰世古今之變，以褒先世之隆盛，而貶末世之曲政也。所以使人黜耳目之聰明，精神之感動，樽流遁之觀，節養性之和，分帝王之操，列小大之差者也。
The Benjing is how the virtue of the great sages is made clear and the Way that draws the guiding cord of the beginning is run through, and how the changes of declining ages and of old times and now are bounded in outline, so as to praise the fullness of the ages before and to belittle the crooked government of the last age. It is how men are made to put away the sharp ears and clear eyes and the stirrings of the spirit, to check the looking that flows and runs off, to hold to measure the harmony that nourishes the nature, to divide what emperors and kings take in hand, and to lay out the grades of small and great.
《主術》者，君人之事也。所以因作任督責，使群臣各盡其能也。明攝權操柄，以制群下，提名責實，考之參伍，所以使人主秉數持要，不妄喜怒也。其數直施而正邪，外私而立公，使百官條通而輻輳，各務其業，人致其功。此主術之明也。
The Zhushu is the business of one who is lord over men. It is how, following what is done, he watches over and holds to account, and makes the host of his officials each use up his own ability. It makes clear the holding of power and the grasping of the handle, so as to keep the many below in check. It raises the name and demands the substance, and checks it by threes and fives. This is how a ruler holds the numbers and keeps the essentials, and is not rashly pleased or angry. His numbers are set out straight and so make the crooked upright; he puts the private outside and sets up what is common. He makes the hundred officers run through in order and gather like spokes to a hub, each toiling at his own work, each man bringing his own merit. This is the brightness of the ruler's art.
《繆稱》者，破碎道德之論，差次仁義之分，略雜人間之事，總同乎神明之德，假像取耦，以相譬喻，斷短為節，以應小具。所以曲說攻論，應感而不匱者也。
The Miucheng breaks up and splits the discourses on the Way and virtue, ranks in order the divisions of benevolence and rightness, mixes in outline the affairs among men, and gathers them as one with the virtue of the bright spirits. It borrows images and takes matching pairs so as to liken one thing to another, and it cuts things short into joints so as to answer small needs. This is how, with crooked sayings and attacking discourses, it answers what stirs it and is never at a loss.
《齊俗》者，所以一群生之短修，同九夷之風氣，通古今之論，貫萬物之理，財制禮義之宜，擘畫人事之終始者也。
The Qisu is how the short and the long of all that lives are made one, how the airs and breaths of the nine Yi are made the same, how the discourses of old times and now are run through and the principles of the ten thousand things threaded, how the fitness of rites and right conduct is cut to measure, and how the ending and the beginning of the affairs of men are drawn out and divided.
《道應》者，攬掇遂事之蹤，追觀往古之跡，察禍福利害之反，考驗乎老莊之術，而以合得失之勢者也。
The Daoying takes hold of and gathers the tracks of affairs already done, follows and looks upon the traces of old times, examines how misfortune and fortune, gain and harm, turn into one another, tests these against the arts of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and thereby matches the force of gaining and losing.
《氾論》者，所以箴縷縩繺之間，攕揳唲齵之郤也。接徑直施，以推本樸，而兆見得失之變，利病之反，所以使人不妄沒於勢利，不誘惑於事態，有符曮晲，兼稽時勢之變，而與化推移者也。
The Fanlun is how one stitches with a needle through the gaps of loose silk and wedges shut the crevices between crooked teeth. It joins the short road and lays it straight, so as to push back to the root and to plain simplicity, and it shows in their first signs the changes of gain and loss and the turning of benefit into ill. This is how men are made not to sink rashly into power and profit and not to be lured and led astray by the look of affairs, but to have what dimly tallies, to examine together the changes of the times and their force, and to shift and move along with change.
《詮言》者，所以譬類人事之指，解喻治亂之體也。差擇微言之眇，詮以至理之文，而補縫過失之闕者也。
The Quanyan is how the pointing of the affairs of men is likened by kinds and the body of order and disorder is explained and made plain. It picks out and chooses the fineness of subtle words and explains them with the writings of the utmost principle, and so patches and sews up the gaps of fault and failing.
《兵略》者，所以明戰勝攻取之數，形機之勢，詐譎之變，體因循之道，操持後之論也。所以知戰陣分爭之非道不行也，知攻取堅守之非德不強也。誠明其意，進退左右無所失擊危，乘勢以為資，清靜以為常，避實就虛，若驅群羊，此所以言兵者也。
The Binglue is how the numbers of winning battles and taking what is attacked are made clear, and the force of shapes and of the trigger, and the changes of deceit and falsehood; how one makes one's own body the Way of following along, and grasps the discourse of holding to the rear. It is how one knows that battle and battle line and the strife of dividing do not go forward unless there is the Way, and knows that attacking and taking and holding fast are not strong unless there is virtue. If one truly makes its purpose clear, then in advancing and withdrawing, to the left and to the right, nothing is lost in striking at what stands in danger. One rides the force of things and makes it one's stock, and takes the clear and the still as one's constant. One avoids the full and goes to the empty, as though driving a flock of sheep. This is how it speaks of soldiers.
《說山》、《說林》者，所以竅窕穿鑿百事之壅遏，而通行貫扃萬物之窒塞者也。假譬取象，異類殊形，以領理人之意，解除結細，說捍摶囷而以明事埒事者也。
The Shuoshan and the Shuolin are how the dammings of a hundred affairs are bored and dug through, and how the stoppages of the ten thousand things are pierced and passed and unbarred. They borrow likenesses and take images, differing in kind and differing in shape, so as to lead and order the purposes of men, to loose what is knotted fine, and to hold back what is bunched and tangled, and so to make clear affairs and the bounds of affairs.
《人間》者，所以觀禍福之變，察利害之反，鑽脈得失之跡，標舉終始之壇也。分別百事之微，敷陳存亡之機，使人知禍之為福，亡之為得，成之為敗，利之為害也。誠喻至意，則有以傾側偃仰世俗之間，而無傷乎讒賊螫毒者也。
The Renjian is how one looks upon the changes of misfortune and fortune, examines how gain and harm turn into one another, bores in and takes the pulse of the traces of gaining and losing, and marks and raises the altar of ending and beginning. It parts and divides the fineness of a hundred affairs and spreads out the workings of surviving and perishing, so that a man knows that misfortune becomes fortune, that perishing becomes gain, that succeeding becomes failing, and that profit becomes harm. If one truly understands its utmost purpose, then one may lean and lie and look up among the customs of the age and take no wound from slander and harm and stinging poison.
《修務》者，所以為人之於道未淹，味論未深，見其文辭，反之以清靜為常，恬淡為本，則懈墮分學，縱欲適情，欲以偷自佚，而塞于大道也。今夫狂者無憂，聖人亦無憂。聖人無憂，和以德也；狂者無憂，不知禍福也。故通而無為也，與塞而無為也同；其無為則同，其所以無為則異。故為之浮稱流說其所以能聽，所以使學者孳孳以自幾也。
The Xiuwu was made because a man not yet steeped in the Way, who has not yet tasted its discourses deeply, may see its writings and words and turn them the other way, making the clear and the still his constant and the calm and the bland his root, and then grow slack and idle and break off his learning, loose his desires and follow his feelings, and wish to snatch ease for himself, and so be blocked off from the great Way. Now a madman has no cares, and a sage too has no cares. The sage has no cares because he is in harmony through virtue; the madman has no cares because he does not know misfortune from fortune. So one who is open and does nothing and one who is blocked and does nothing are the same. Their doing nothing is the same, but that by which they do nothing is different. So floating names and flowing sayings are made for such a man, so that he can listen. This is how those who learn are made to toil and draw near it themselves.
《泰族》者，橫八極，致高乘，上明三光，下和水土，經古今之道，治倫理之序，總萬方之指，而歸之一本，以經緯治道，紀綱王事，乃原心術，理性情，以館清平之靈，澄澈神明之精，以與天和相嬰薄，所以覽五帝三王，懷天氣，抱天心，執中含和，德形於內，以莙凝天地，發起陰陽，序四時，正流方，綏之斯寧，推之斯行，乃以陶冶萬物，遊化群生，唱而和，動而隨，四海之內，一心同歸。故景星見，祥風至，黃龍下，鳳巢列樹，麟止郊野。德不內形，而行其法藉，專用制度，神祇弗應，福祥不歸，四海不賓，兆民弗化。故德形於內，治之大本。此《鴻烈》之《泰族》也。
The Taizu crosses the eight far ends and makes the high riding come. Above it makes clear the three lights, below it brings water and earth into harmony. It makes warp of the Way of old times and now and orders the sequence of human relations, gathers the pointing of the ten thousand quarters and returns it to one root, and so makes warp and weft of the Way of governing and draws the guiding cords of the king's affairs. Then it goes back to the root in the arts of the mind and orders the nature and the feelings, so as to lodge there a clear and level spirit and to make limpid the essence of the bright spirits, and to be bound close with the harmony of heaven. So it looks upon the five emperors and the three kings, who held the breath of heaven in their bosoms and embraced the heart of heaven, who grasped the middle and held harmony within, so that virtue took shape inside them and thereby drew heaven and earth into one, called out yin and yang, set the four seasons in order, and made straight the quarters of the flow. Calm them and they are at peace; push them and they go forward. So it molds and casts the ten thousand things and lets the host of living things roam in its transforming. He sings and they answer; he moves and they follow; and within the four seas all come home with one heart. So the Jingxing appears, the auspicious wind arrives, the yellow dragon comes down, the phoenix nests in the ranked trees, and the qilin halts in the fields outside the walls. If virtue does not take shape within, and a man carries out his laws and his books and uses ordinances alone, then the spirits do not answer, fortune and good omens do not come home, the four seas do not come as guests, and the multitude of the people are not transformed. So virtue taking shape within is the great root of governing. This is the Taizu of the Honglie.
凡屬書者，所以窺道開塞，庶後世使知舉錯取捨之宜適，外與物接而不眩，內有以處神養氣，宴煬至和，而己自樂所受乎天地者也。故言道而不明終始，則不知所仿依；言終始而不明天地四時，則不知所避諱；言天地四時而不引譬援類，則不知精微；言至精而不原人之神氣，則不知養生之機；原人情而不言大聖之德，則不知五行之差；言帝道而不言君事，則不知小大之衰；言君事而不為稱喻，則不知動靜之宜；言稱喻而不言俗變，則不知合同大指；已言俗變而不言往事，則不知道德之應；知道德而不知世曲，則無以耦萬方；知氾論而不知詮言，則無以從容；通書文而不知兵指，則無以應卒已；知大略而不知譬喻，則無以推明事；知公道而不知人間，則無以應禍福；知人間而不知修務，則無以使學者勸力。欲強省其辭，覽總其要，弗曲行區入，則不足以窮道德之意。故著書二十篇，則天地之理究矣，人間之事接矣，帝王之道備矣！
In all the putting together of a book, it is to peer into the opening and the closing of the Way, and to let the ages after know what is fitting in raising and setting down, in taking and in casting away; to meet things outside and not be dazzled, and within to have the means to settle the spirit and nourish the breath, to rest warm in utmost harmony and take joy of oneself in what one has received from heaven and earth. So if one speaks of the Way and does not make clear ending and beginning, one does not know what to lean on. If one speaks of ending and beginning and does not make clear heaven and earth and the four seasons, one does not know what to shun. If one speaks of heaven and earth and the four seasons and does not draw in likenesses and pull in kinds, one does not know the fine and the subtle. If one speaks of the utmost essence and does not go back to the root in the spirit and breath of man, one does not know the workings that nourish life. If one goes back to the root in the feelings of man and does not speak of the virtue of the great sages, one does not know the grades of the five phases. If one speaks of the Way of emperors and kings and does not speak of the business of a ruler, one does not know the degrees of small and great. If one speaks of the business of a ruler and does not call up likenesses, one does not know what is fitting in movement and stillness. If one calls up likenesses and does not speak of the changing of customs, one does not know how to join them as one with the great pointing. If one has already spoken of the changing of customs and does not speak of affairs gone by, one does not know how the Way and virtue answer. If one knows the Way and virtue and does not know the crookedness of the age, there is no way to match the ten thousand quarters. If one knows the Fanlun and does not know the Quanyan, there is no way to be at ease. If one runs through the writings and does not know the pointing of the Binglue, the chapter on the arts of war, there is no way to answer what comes of a sudden. If one knows the great outline and does not know likenesses, there is no way to push on and make affairs clear. If one knows the common Way and does not know the Renjian, the chapter on what lies among men, there is no way to answer misfortune and fortune. If one knows the Renjian and does not know the Xiuwu, the chapter on the toil of cultivation, there is no way to make those who learn put out their strength. If one wished to force its words to be spare and to look and gather up its essentials, yet did not go winding along and enter by divisions, it would not be enough to search out the meaning of the Way and virtue. So twenty chapters were written, and the principles of heaven and earth are searched out, the affairs among men are joined, and the Way of emperors and kings is complete.
其言有小有巨，有微有粗，指奏卷異，各有為語。今專言道，則無不在焉，然而能得本知末者，其唯聖人也。今學者無聖人之才，而不為詳說，則終身顛頓乎混溟之中，而不知覺寤乎昭明之術矣。今《易》之《乾》、《坤》，足以窮道通義也，八卦可以識吉凶、知禍福矣，然而伏羲為之六十四變，周室增以六爻，所以原測淑清之道，而扌麏逐萬物之祖也。夫五音之數不過宮商角徵羽，然而五弦之琴不可鼓也。必有細大駕和，而後可以成曲。今畫龍首，觀者不知其何獸也，具其形，則不疑矣。今謂之道則多，謂之物則少，謂之術則博，謂之事則淺，推之以論，則無可言者，所以為學者，固欲致之不言而已也。夫道論至深，故多為之辭，以抒其情；萬物至眾，故博為之說，以通其意。辭雖壇卷連漫，絞紛遠緩，所以洮汰滌蕩至意，使之無凝竭底滯，卷握而不散也。夫江河之腐胔，不可勝數，然祭者汲焉，大也。一杯酒白，蠅漬其中，匹夫弗嘗者，小也。誠通乎二十篇之論，睹凡得要，以通九野，徑十門，外天地，捭山川，其於逍遙一世之間，宰匠萬物之形，亦優遊矣。若然者，挾日月而不烑，潤萬物而不秏。曼兮洮兮，足以覽矣，藐兮浩兮，曠曠兮，可以遊矣。
Its words have the small and the great, the fine and the coarse. What they point to and set forth differs from chapter to chapter, and each has its own thing to say. Now if one speaks of the Way alone, there is nowhere it is not; yet the one who can grasp the root and know the branches is the sage alone. Now if a learner has not the talent of a sage and no full explanation is made for him, he will stumble all his life in the murk and the dark and will not know how to waken to the bright arts. Now the Qian and the Kun of the Changes are enough to search out the Way and run through rightness, and by the eight trigrams one may tell good fortune from ill and know misfortune from fortune. Yet Fuxi turned them into sixty-four changes and the house of Zhou added the six lines, so as to go back to the root and measure the pure and clear Way and to pursue the ancestor of the ten thousand things. Now the numbers of the five notes do not go beyond gong, shang, jue, zhi and yu, yet a zither of five strings cannot be played. There must be the fine and the great harmonized together, and only then can a tune be made. Now if one paints the head of a dragon, the one who looks does not know what beast it is; furnish its whole shape and he does not doubt. Now call it the Way and it is much, call it a thing and it is little, call it an art and it is broad, call it an affair and it is shallow; push it out in discourse and there is nothing that can be said. The reason one becomes a learner is, from the first, the wish to be brought to what is not spoken. The discourse of the Way is utmost deep, so many words are made for it, to pour out its feeling. The ten thousand things are utmost many, so broad explanations are made for them, to open their meaning. Though the words are coiled and spread out, tangled and far and slow, it is how the utmost meaning is washed and rinsed clean, so that it does not congeal and dry up and stick fast, and so that it can be held in the hand and not scatter. Now the rotting bones in the Jiang and the He cannot be counted, yet those who sacrifice draw their water there, because it is great. Let a fly be soaked in a single cup of white wine, and even a common man will not taste it, because it is small. If one truly runs through the discourses of the twenty chapters and sees their outline and grasps their essentials, and so runs through the nine wilds and goes by the ten gates, puts heaven and earth outside and parts the mountains and streams, then in wandering free through a whole age and in ordering and shaping the forms of the ten thousand things he too will roam at ease. One who is like this holds the sun and the moon under his arm and is not scorched; he moistens the ten thousand things and is not worn away. Long and washed clean, it is enough to look upon; far and vast and wide and open, one may roam in it.
文王之時，紂為天子，賦斂無度，殺戮無止，康梁沉湎，宮中成市，作為炮烙之刑，刳諫者，剔孕婦，天下同心而苦之。文王四世累善，修德行義，處岐周之間，地方不過百里，天下二垂歸之。文王欲以卑弱制強暴，以為天下去殘除賊而成王道，故太公之謀生焉。
In the time of King Wen, Zhou was the Son of Heaven. He laid on levies without measure and killed without stop, took his ease and sank into drink, and made a market within the palace. He made the punishment of the roasting pillar, cut open those who remonstrated and split open women with child, and all under heaven were of one heart in suffering it. King Wen through four generations piled up goodness, cultivated virtue and did what was right. He dwelt in the country of Qizhou, and his land was no more than a hundred li square, yet two borders of all under heaven came home to him. King Wen wished to check the strong and the cruel with the low and the weak, and for all under heaven to do away with the harmful and clear out the robbers, and so to bring about the kingly Way. So the plans of Taigong were born.
文王業之而不卒，武王繼文王之業，用太公之謀，悉索薄賦，躬擐甲胄，以伐無道而討不義，誓師牧野，以踐天子之位。天下未定，海內未輯，武王欲昭文王之令德，使夷狄各以其賄來貢，遼遠未能至，故治三年之喪，殯文王於兩楹之間，以俟遠方。武王立三年而崩，成王在褓繈之中，未能用事，蔡叔、管叔，輔公子祿父而欲為亂，周公繼文王之業，持天子之政，以股肱周室，輔翼成王，懼爭道之不塞，臣下之危上也，故縱馬華山，放牛桃林，敗鼓折枹，搢笏而朝，以寧靜王室，鎮撫諸侯。成王既壯，能從政事，周公受封于魯，以此移風易俗。孔子修成、康之道，述周公之訓，以教七十子，使服其衣冠，修其篇籍，故儒者之學生焉。
King Wen made the work his own but did not finish it. King Wu carried on King Wen's work and used the plans of Taigong. He sought out all the levies and made them light, he himself put on armor and helmet, and he struck at those who had no Way and punished those who were not right. He swore his army at Muye and trod the place of the Son of Heaven. All under heaven was not yet settled and within the seas was not yet gathered in. King Wu wished to make bright the fair virtue of King Wen and to have the Yi and the Di each come with their goods to offer tribute, but they were far off and could not come. So he kept the three years' mourning and laid King Wen between the two pillars, and waited for the distant quarters. King Wu died in the third year of his reign, and King Cheng was still in swaddling clothes and could not attend to affairs. Cai Shu and Guan Shu helped the prince Lufu and wished to make a revolt. The Duke of Zhou carried on King Wen's work and held the government of the Son of Heaven, being thigh and arm to the house of Zhou and giving wing to King Cheng. He feared that the road of strife was not closed and that subjects below would endanger those above. So he loosed the horses at Mount Hua and set the oxen free in Taolin, broke the drums and snapped the drumsticks, put the tablet in his sash and came to court, and so brought quiet and stillness to the royal house and pressed down and soothed the many lords. When King Cheng was grown and could follow the business of government, the Duke of Zhou received his fief in Lu, and by this he shifted the airs and changed the customs. Confucius cultivated the Way of Cheng and Kang and set forth the teachings of the Duke of Zhou, and taught the seventy disciples, making them wear his robes and cap and study his chapters and books. So the learning of the Ru was born.
墨子學儒者之業，受孔子之術，以為其禮煩擾而不說，厚葬靡財而貧民，服傷生而害事，故背周道而行夏政。禹之時，天下大水，禹身執蔂垂，以為民先，剔河而道九岐，鑿江而通九路，辟五湖而定東海，當此之時，燒不暇撌，濡不給扢，死陵者葬陵，死澤者葬澤，故節財、薄葬、閑服生焉。
Mozi studied the work of the Ru and received the arts of Confucius, but he held that their rites were troublesome and vexing and gave no pleasure, that thick burials wasted goods and made the people poor, and that mourning clothes harmed the living and did injury to affairs. So he turned his back on the Way of Zhou and carried out the government of Xia. In the time of Yu there were great waters under heaven. Yu himself took up the basket and the spade and went before the people. He cut through the He and led it into nine branches, bored the Jiang and opened it into nine roads, cleared the five lakes and settled the Eastern Sea. In that time, when he was scorched he had no leisure to rub it, and when he was soaked he had no time to wipe it dry. Those who died on the hills were buried on the hills, and those who died in the marshes were buried in the marshes. So sparing of goods, thin burials and plain mourning clothes were born.
齊桓公之時，天子卑弱，諸侯力征，南夷北狄，交伐中國，中國之不絕如線。齊國之地，東負海而北障河，地狹田少，而民多智巧，桓公憂中國之患，苦夷狄之亂，欲以存亡繼絕，崇天子之位，廣文、武之業，故《管子》之書生焉。齊景公內好聲色，外好狗馬，獵射亡歸，好色無辨。作為路寢之台，族鑄大鍾，撞之庭下，郊雉皆呴，一朝用三千鍾贛，梁丘據、子家噲導於左右，故晏子之諫生焉。
In the time of Duke Huan of Qi the Son of Heaven was low and weak and the many lords made war by force. The Yi of the south and the Di of the north attacked the Middle Kingdom by turns, and the Middle Kingdom hung unbroken by a thread. The land of Qi leaned on the sea to the east and was walled off by the He to the north. Its ground was narrow and its fields few, but its people had much wit and craft. Duke Huan grieved over the troubles of the Middle Kingdom and suffered at the disorder of the Yi and the Di. He wished to preserve what was perishing and carry on what was cut off, to raise high the place of the Son of Heaven and to broaden the work of King Wen and King Wu. So the book of the Guanzi was born. Duke Jing of Qi within loved sound and color and without loved dogs and horses. He hunted and shot and forgot to go home, and loved beauty without restraint. He built the terrace of the Luqin and cast a great bell with a crowd of men, and when it was struck below the courtyard the pheasants outside the walls all cried out. In a single morning he used three thousand zhong of grain, and Liangqiu Ju and Zijia Kuai led him on from left and right. So the remonstrances of Yanzi were born.
晚世之時，六國諸侯，溪異谷別，水絕山隔，各自治其境內，守其分地，握其權柄，擅其政令。下無方伯，上無天子，力征爭權，勝者為右，恃連與國，約重致，剖信符，結遠援，以守其國家，持其社稷，故縱橫修短生焉。
In the time of the later age the lords of the six states were parted by streams and divided by valleys, cut off by waters and walled off by mountains. Each governed within his own borders and held the land that fell to him, grasped the handle of his own power and did as he pleased with his own government and commands. Below there was no chief of a region, above there was no Son of Heaven. They made war by force and strove for power, and the winner was held to be on the right. They leaned on the states allied with them, made weighty covenants, split the tallies of good faith and bound far-off help to themselves, so as to keep their states and their houses and to hold their altars of soil and grain. So the Vertical and Horizontal alliances, and the long and the short of them, were born.
申子者，朝昭厘之佐，韓、晉別國也。地墽民險，而介於大國之間，晉國之故禮未滅，韓國之新法重出，先君之令未收，後君之令又下，新故相反，前後相繆，百官背亂，不知所用。故刑名之書生焉。
Shenzi was the helper of Marquis Zhao and Marquis Li of Han, and Han was a state split off from Jin. Its land was barren and its people harsh, and it lay wedged between great states. The old rites of the state of Jin were not yet done away with while the new laws of the state of Han came out again and again, and the commands of the former ruler were not yet withdrawn while the commands of the later ruler came down again. New and old ran against each other, before and after were tangled together, and the hundred officers turned their backs and fell into disorder and did not know what to follow. So the writings of punishments and names were born.
秦國之俗，貪狼強力，寡義而趨利。可威以刑，而不可化以善；可勸以賞，而不可厲以名。被險而帶河，四塞以為固，地利形便，畜積殷富。孝公欲以虎狼之勢而吞諸侯，故商鞅之法生焉。
The customs of the state of Qin were greedy and wolfish, strong in force, thin in rightness, and quick after profit. They could be cowed with punishments but could not be transformed by goodness; they could be urged on with rewards but could not be spurred by a good name. Qin wore steep country about it and had the He for a belt, and it was closed in on four sides and so was secure. Its ground was favorable and its shape convenient, and its stores were heaped up and rich. Duke Xiao wished to swallow the many lords with the force of a tiger and a wolf. So the laws of Shang Yang were born.
若劉氏之書，觀天地之象，通古今之事，權事而立制，度形而施宜，原道之心，合三王之風，以儲與扈冶。玄眇之中，精搖靡覽，棄其畛挈，斟其淑靜，以統天下，理萬物，應變化，通殊類，非循一跡之路，守一隅之指，拘系牽連之物，而不與世推移也。故置之尋常而不塞，布之天下而不窕。
As for the book of the Liu, it looks upon the images of heaven and earth and runs through the affairs of old times and now. It weighs affairs and sets up ordinances, measures shapes and gives out what is fitting, goes back to the root in the heart of the Way and joins with the airs of the three kings, and so has been shaped with abundance. Within the dark and the subtle it stirs the essence and looks over everything, casts away the field borders and the knots, and dips up what is clear and still, and so leads all under heaven, orders the ten thousand things, answers to change and runs through the kinds that differ. It does not follow the road of a single track, nor keep to the pointing of one corner, nor is it bound and tied to things that drag one another along so that it cannot shift and move with the age. So set it in a common span and it is not blocked; spread it over all under heaven and it is not too loose.