Continuing in Goodness繼善篇

Confucius said, "Heaven repays the one who does good with blessing, and repays the one who does not good with calamity."

The Book of Documents says, "To one who does good, heaven sends down a hundred good omens; to one who does not good, it sends down a hundred disasters."

Xu Shenweng said, "Pile up good and you meet good; pile up evil and you meet evil. Weigh it carefully — heaven and earth do not err. Good has its good repayment, evil its evil repayment. If the repayment has not yet come, the hour has simply not arrived.

Do good all your life and heaven adds good to it; be foolish and stubborn and you take disaster. Good and evil are repaid in the end without fail. Fly high, run far — you can hardly hide. Whether what you did and what you hid was true or false, you yourself know. Whom else would you ask for the cause of calamity and blessing?

Good and evil are repaid in the end without fail. It is only early or late that is in question. In idle hours look over the deeds of your life; in quiet hours weigh what you have done that day. Hold always to one mind and walk the straight road, and heaven and earth will of themselves not fail you."

The Book of Changes says, "A house that piles up good is sure to have blessing left over; a house that piles up what is not good is sure to have disaster left over."

As Emperor Zhaolie of the Han (Liu Bei) was nearing his end, he charged the heir, "Do not do a wrong because it is small, and do not leave a good undone because it is small."

Zhuangzi said, "Let one day pass without thinking of good, and all manner of evils rise of themselves."

Master Zhen of Xishan (Zhen Dexiu) said, "Choose the good and hold it fast, and be diligent day after day."

When the ear hears good words, one does not fall into the three evil paths (三惡道). When a person has a good wish, heaven will surely follow it.

The Jin yu says, "Following the good is like climbing; following evil is like collapsing."

Taigong said, "Good deeds you must covet; evil deeds take no pleasure in."

Yanzi said, "Good adds to oneself, evil takes away from oneself. Therefore the noble man works at what adds and guards against what takes away. He does not do it to seek a name, but to keep disgrace far off."

Taigong said, "See good as a thirsty man sees water; hear evil as a deaf man hears. Doing good is the greatest joy, and right principle is the greatest thing."

Ma Yuan said, "Do good all your life and the good still falls short; do evil for one day and the evil is left over of itself."

Yanzi said, "When the noble man sees a hair's breadth of good, he must not let it slip away; when there is a thread's breadth of evil in his conduct, he must not do it."

The Book of Changes says, "When one's words go out well, they are answered a thousand li away; when one's words go out ill, they are opposed a thousand li away."

Only keep the inside of the mind straight, and there is no need to ask about the road ahead. Only be able to keep to your own station, and the road ahead need not be asked about. If you would have a road ahead, do not do what leaves you none.

The Family Instructions of Lord Sima Wen says, "Pile up gold and leave it to your descendants, and your descendants may not be able to keep it; pile up books and leave them to your descendants, and your descendants may not be able to read them. Better to pile up hidden virtue where no one sees, and make that the long and lasting plan for your descendants."

When the mind is good and the destiny is good as well, one flourishes early and comes to glory. When the mind is good but the destiny is bad, one has warmth and food enough for a lifetime. When the destiny is good but the mind is bad, it is to be feared that the road ahead will be hard to keep. When both mind and destiny are bad, one is poor and hard-pressed to old age.

The Jingxing lu says, "He who leaves loyalty and filial duty to his descendants prospers; he who leaves cleverness and scheming to his descendants perishes. He who meets others with humility is strong; he who guards himself with goodness is good."

Spread kindness and right dealing widely. In this life, where shall we not meet again? Do not tie up enmity and grudges. When you meet a dangerous place on the road, it is hard to avoid.

Zhuangzi says, "To the one who is good to me I too am good; to the one who is evil to me I am good as well. If I have already done no evil to others, others will not be able to do evil to me."

Laozi said, "The good person is the teacher of the one who is not good; the one who is not good is the resource, the mirror, of the good person."

Laozi said, "The soft overcomes the hard, and the weak overcomes the strong. So the tongue, being soft, remains, and the teeth, being hard, break."

Taigong said, "The kind and loving live long; the fierce and violent perish."

Taigong said, "The yielding are sure to live long and flourish; the merely fierce are sure to die young and perish."

Laozi said, "The noble man does good the way water does. Dam it and it can rest on a mountain; loose it and it can pass over a hill. It can be square and it can be round, and it winds and turns to follow the shape that holds it. So the noble man is soft yet not weak, strong yet not hard, just like the nature of water. Nothing under heaven is softer and weaker than water, and this is why the soft and weak overcome the hard and strong."

The Book of Documents says, "Doing good is not the same in every case, yet all return alike to principle. Governing is not the same in every case, yet all return alike to order. Evil must be kept far off; good must be kept near."

The Jingxing lu says, "Of those who lay plans of wealth and honor for their descendants, nine in ten fail; he who does good and gives help to others has descendants who receive the kindness."

Give others an easier way, and your own way becomes easier.

Day by day give help to others; hour by hour raise a good thought.

Wherever your strength reaches, give help.

A thousand classics and ten thousand books put filial duty and right dealing first; in the heavens above and among people here, helping others comes first.

The Taishang ganying pian says, "Calamity and blessing have no gate of their own; only a person calls them upon himself. The repayment of good and evil is like a shadow following a form. So when a person's mind rises toward good, though the good is not yet done, the auspicious spirits already follow him; and when the mind rises toward evil, though the evil has not yet come, the baleful spirits already follow him. If one has done evil deeds before but afterward repents and changes of oneself, then in the long run one will surely gain good fortune and joy. This is what is called turning calamity into blessing."

The Holy Emperor of the Eastern Peak handed down this instruction: "Heaven and earth are without partiality, and the bright spirits examine in secret. They do not send down blessing because they receive sacrifice, nor send down calamity because propriety has been lost.

One who has power must not lean on it to the end; one who has blessing must not enjoy it to the end; and the poor must not be despised to the end. These three turn round in heaven and earth, going their full circle and beginning again.

So do good for one day, and though blessing has not yet come, calamity of itself grows distant. Do evil for one day, and though calamity has not yet come, blessing of itself grows distant. One who does good is like grass in a spring garden: its growing is not seen, yet day by day it gains. One who does evil is like a whetstone for knives: its wearing is not seen, yet day by day it loses. To harm others and make yourself comfortable — guard against this with all your heart!"

Give others even a hair's breadth of good, and urge others not to do even a hair's breadth of evil. Take clothing and food as fortune allows, and there is joy of itself.

Master Shao of Kangjie (Shao Yong) warned his descendants, saying, "People of the highest grade are good without being taught; people of the middle grade are good after being taught; people of the lowest grade are not good even when taught. Good without being taught — what is this but a sage? Good after being taught — what is this but a worthy? Not good even when taught — what is this but a fool?

By this we know: goodness is what is called fortunate, and what is not good is what is called baleful.

The fortunate man does not look with his eyes on colors that are against propriety, does not listen with his ears to sounds that are against propriety, does not speak with his mouth words that are against propriety, and does not tread with his feet on ground that is against propriety. He does not befriend a person who is not good, and does not take a thing that is not righteous. He draws near the worthy as though going among iris and orchid, and shuns evil as though he feared snakes and scorpions. If anyone were not to call such a man fortunate, I would not believe it.

The baleful man is crooked in speech and dark and dangerous in his movements. He loves gain and dresses up his faults; he is greedy for lewdness and delights in others' calamity; he hates the worthy and good as enemies, and breaks the law as easily as he eats and drinks. In small measure he ruins his body and loses his life; in large measure he overturns his house and cuts off his line. If anyone were not to call such a man baleful, I would not believe it.

The Zhuan has this saying: 'The fortunate man does good, and still the days are not enough. The baleful man does what is not good, and likewise the days are not enough.' Would you be fortunate men? Or would you be baleful men?"

The Chu shu says, "The state of Chu has nothing it takes for a treasure; only goodness does it take for a treasure."

Confucius said, "When you see good, act as though you could not reach it; when you see what is not good, act as though you were feeling boiling water."

Confucius said, "When you see a worthy man, think of becoming his equal; when you see one who is not worthy, examine yourself within."

An earlier scholar said, "If in one day a man hears one good word or does one good deed, that day at last has not been lived in vain."

If conduct accords with the Way and right, it is fortunate of itself without divining; if conduct goes against the Way and right, it is baleful even though one divines. A person should divine his own case, and need not divine by the spirits.

If I do good, then though I am only a poor scholar, there are those who admire my virtue. If I do evil, then though my office has reached the height of a minister's, there are those who censure my waywardness.

The Book of Changes says, "Good that is not piled up is not enough to make a name; evil that is not piled up is not enough to ruin the body. The small man holds a small good to be of no benefit and does not do it, and holds a small evil to do no harm and does not put it away. So the evil piles up until it cannot be covered, and the guilt grows great until it cannot be undone."

Tread on frost and the hard ice comes. A subject murdering his ruler and a son murdering his father are not the work of a single morning or a single evening; what brought them on came little by little.