Chapter 1616장
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.
子曰：「鬼神之爲德其盛矣乎。視之而弗見；聽之而弗聞；體物而不可遺。使天下之人，齊明盛服，以承祭祀。洋洋乎，如在其上，如在其左右。《詩》曰：『神之格思，不可度思，矧可射思？』夫微之顯。誠之不可揜，如此夫。」
Confucius said,
"How abundant is the virtue of ghosts and spirits. Look at them and they are not seen. Listen for them and they are not heard. Yet they give body to things and leave nothing out. They make the people of all under heaven purify themselves, put on full robes, and offer the sacrifices. How they overflow, as if above, as if to the left and the right.
The Odes say, 'The coming of the spirits cannot be measured. How then could one grow weary of them?' Truly the small becomes manifest, and truth cannot be covered up. It is like this."