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Chapter 1717장

Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean) 中庸 · Ascribed to Zisi · A text carried in the Book of Rites · 1 passages · 118 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.

子曰：「舜其大孝也與！德爲聖人，尊爲天子，富有四海之內。宗廟饗之，子孫保之。故大德，必得其位，必得其祿，必得其名，必得其壽。故天之生物必因其材而篤焉。故栽者培之，傾者覆之。《詩》曰：『嘉樂君子，憲憲令德，宜民宜人。受祿於天。保佑命之，自天申之。』」故大德者必受命。

Confucius said,

"Shun was one of great filial devotion. In virtue he was a sage. In honor he was the Son of Heaven. In wealth he held all within the four seas. The ancestral temple received him in sacrifice, and his sons and grandsons kept him.

So great virtue must gain its place, must gain its stipend, must gain its name, must gain its span of years.

So when heaven gives life to things, it always makes them thrive according to what they are made of. What is planted it banks up, and what is toppling it overturns.

The Odes say, 'Fine and joyous is the gentleman, bright and bright his good virtue. He suits the people, he suits the men, and he receives his stipend from heaven. Heaven guards him and helps him and gives him the mandate, and from heaven it comes to him again.'"

So one of great virtue must receive the mandate.

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