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Chapter 1212장

Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean) 中庸 · Ascribed to Zisi · A text carried in the Book of Rites · 1 passages · 125 Chinese characters · reading time 0.5 min

Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean) It begins: "What Heaven decrees is called the nature. Following the nature is called the way. Cultivating the way is called teaching." Of the Four Books it is the one that reaches furthest. The first half gathers the words of Confucius to say why the mean is so hard — all under heaven can be governed evenly, rank and pay can be declined, a bare blade can be trodden on, and still the mean cannot be done. The second half turns on truth alone, saying that truth is the way of Heaven and making oneself true is the way of man, and it goes at last to standing third beside Heaven and earth. The saying "where another is able in one try, I make it a hundred; where another is able in ten, I make it a thousand" comes from here too.

君子之道，費而隱。夫婦之愚，可以與之焉，及其至也，雖聖人亦有所不知焉。夫婦之不肖，可以能行焉，及其至也，雖聖人亦有所不能焉。天地之大也，人猶有所憾。故君子語大，天下莫能載焉，語小，天下莫能破焉。《詩》云：「鳶飛戾天；魚躍於淵。」言其上下察也。君子之道，造端夫婦；及其至也，察乎天地。

The way of the gentleman is broad and yet hidden. Even the dullness of husband and wife can share in it, but when it reaches its utmost, there is something even the sage does not know. Even the poorness of husband and wife can walk it, but when it reaches its utmost, there is something even the sage cannot do.

Heaven and earth are great, and still people find something wanting in them. So when the gentleman speaks of the great, nothing under heaven can hold it. When he speaks of the small, nothing under heaven can split it.

The Odes say, "The kite flies up to heaven, the fish leaps in the deep." This speaks of its showing forth above and below. The way of the gentleman starts its thread in husband and wife, and when it reaches its utmost, it shows forth in heaven and earth.

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