Keeping the Mind存心篇

The Jingxing lu says, "Sit in a closed room as though you sat at a crossroads, and drive your inch of mind as you would drive six horses. Then you can escape fault."

The Youdingfu lu says, "The mind must stay inside its own frame."

The Su shu says, "He who works at good plans has no bad affairs. He who says he has neither care nor worry has worry close at hand."

A guest came and asked, "How do you make your living?" He answered that he only left an inch of mind as a field, and passed it to his children to till.

The Jirang shi says, "If wealth and rank could be sought by wit and strength, Zhongni (Confucius) would have been made a lord in his youth. The people of the world do not understand the will of blue Heaven, and to no purpose they let body and mind grieve until the middle of the night."

Fan Zhongxuan warned his sons and his younger kin, saying, "However foolish a man may be, he is clear-sighted when he blames others. However clever he may be, he is in the dark when he forgives himself. You have only to blame yourselves with the mind that blames others, and to forgive others with the mind that forgives yourselves. Then you need not fear that you will fail to reach the station of the sages."

To set your own mind beside the mind of another is itself the mind of a Buddha.

With your own mind, measure the mind of another.

The Su shu says, "To learn widely and to ask earnestly is the way to broaden knowledge. To raise your conduct high and keep your words low is the way to cultivate yourself."

Confucius said, "Believe firmly and love learning. Guard it unto death and make the Way good."

Guard cleverness and wisdom with foolishness. Though your merit covers all under Heaven, guard it with yielding. Though your courage shakes the age, guard it with timidity. Though your riches hold the four seas, guard them with humility.

Zigong said, "Be poor without flattering. Be rich without being proud."

Confucius said, "To be poor without resentment is hard. To be rich without pride is easy."

Shao Kangjie asked Chen Xiyi for the art of holding oneself together. Xiyi said, "Do not do the thing that gives you pleasure. Do not go a second time to the place where you got the better of the bargain."

Where things go as you wish, turn your head back early.

Cleverness is in truth the merit of hidden virtue. It was hidden virtue that led you onto the road of cleverness. Practice no hidden virtue and use only your cleverness, and cleverness is undone by cleverness in turn.

Geomancy cannot be absent from the world of people, but it must lean wholly on hidden virtue, the two holding each other up. If wealth and rank were things to be had from geomancy, Guo Pu born again could not plan them out.

The people of old looked like beasts, yet in their minds was the great virtue of a sage. The people of today look like human beings outside. Who can fathom the beast within?

Where there is mind and no form (相), form arises following the mind. Where there is form and no mind, form passes away following the mind.

The three dots are like the shapes of stars. The horizontal hook is like a slanting moon. To be born wearing fur comes out of this, and to become a Buddha depends on it as well.

The Great Learning says, "To make the intention sincere means not to deceive oneself. It is like hating a bad smell, like loving a lovely sight."

The Dao jing says, "Use sincerity so that it looks like folly. Use silence so that it looks like a stammer. Use gentleness so that it looks like clumsiness."

Everyone calls me clumsy, and I call myself clumsy too. I have ears, and I am always as one deaf. I have a mouth, and I do not know how to speak. You make yourself out a hero, but one way or another you will take a fall. Once you have fallen you will think, sir, and find that you are worse off than I am in my clumsiness.

A hundred clever tricks brought a hundred times to success are worth less than one plain and honest way.

Do not set your hopes on what has not come. Do not turn over what has gone by.

On the day you have, always think of the day you had nothing. Do not wait until you have nothing to think of the time when you had.

If you have money, always remember the days when you had none. If you are at ease and glad, always think of the time of sickness.

The Su shu says, "He who gives thinly and hopes thickly gets no return. He who grows noble and forgets that he was once low does not last long."

If you would ask something of a man, ask it of a great man. If you would save a man, save the one who has nothing in his hour of need.

When you have shown kindness, do not seek a return. When you have given to another, do not go on regretting it.

If the inch of mind is not darkened, the ten thousand laws are all clear.

Sun Simiao said, "Let the gall be large and the mind small. Let wisdom be round and conduct square."

Let every thought be as on the day you face the enemy. Let every stirring of the mind be always as when you cross a bridge.

The Jingxing lu says, "Be sincere and there is no regret. Forgive and there is no resentment. Be at one with others and there is no enemy. Endure and there is no disgrace."

Fear the law and every morning is glad. Cheat what belongs to all and every day is a worry.

Take care and you can go anywhere under Heaven. Be rashly bold and you can hardly move an inch.

Confucius said, "Let there be no crookedness in thought."

Lord Zhu Wen — that is Zhu Xi — said, "Guard your mouth like a bottle (甁). Fence in your intent like a walled city."

Right and wrong come only of opening the mouth too often. Vexations all come of pushing yourself forward.

The Su shu says, "He who has a fault and does not know it is blinded. He who draws resentment by his words calls down disaster."

The Jingxing lu says, "Greed (貪) is chasing after things outside. Desire (欲) is the feelings stirring within."

The gentleman loves wealth, and there is a way in his taking of it.

The gentleman worries about the Way and does not worry about poverty. The gentleman plans for the Way and does not plan for food.

Confucius said, "The gentleman is level in mind and broad and wide. The small man is always anxious and fretting."

Where the measure is large, the blessing is large as well. Where the scheming is deep, the disaster is deep as well.

Be the first in blessing rather than the one who leads the way to disaster.

Let each sweep the snow before his own gate, and not meddle with the frost on another's roof.

Had I known this day sooner! Now there is nothing but regret that I did not act otherwise at the start.

If the mind has not betrayed another, there is no shame in the face.

Zhuangzi said, "People seek wealth and complain that it is never much. But when wealth is much, it harms others and harms oneself."

Keep but a little of the ritual that Confucius taught, and you will not break the six statutes of Xiao He.

The Shuo yuan says, "Push forward the worthy and raise up the able. Cover what is bad and bring out what is good."

The Jingxing lu says, "Do not complain that the field before your eyes is narrow. Step back one step and it widens of itself."

In the world there is no one who lives a hundred years, and to no purpose people lay plans for a thousand. Among people there is no one who lives a hundred years, and to no purpose they lay plans for a thousand.

Children have blessings of their own. Do not play the horse and the ox for your children.

In the world there is nothing that is hard. It all comes of a mind that is not whole.

Better to tie the hearts of a thousand people than to tie a grudge with one.

The Jingxing lu says, "To speak of another's shortcomings is not called straightness. To help another in his wrongdoing is not called righteousness."

Bear the thing that is hard to bear. Forgive the person who is not clear-sighted.

He who is bound by small formalities cannot make a glorious name. He who shrinks from small shame cannot set up great merit.

Wanting nothing is better than almsgiving. Careful keeping is better than fasting.

If your word carries little weight, do not try to break up a quarrel. If you have no money, do not invite people.

Sun Jingchu's way of ease — coarse tea and plain rice, and when you are full that is enough. Patched clothes to cover you from the cold, and when you are warm that is enough. To get along tolerably well is enough. Neither greedy nor envious, and to grow old is enough.

The Yizhi shu says, "Better that the house be poor and free of trouble than that it be rich and in trouble. Better to live in a thatched hut and be free of trouble than to live in a house of gold and be in trouble. Better to eat coarse rice and be free of sickness than to eat fine medicine and be sick."

When the mind is at peace, even a thatched hut is snug. When the nature is settled, even vegetable roots are fragrant. The affairs of the world are seen only in stillness. Human feeling lasts long only when it is plain.

In a place of storm and wave it is hard to hold yourself upright, so the scale on which you live in the world should be set wide and easy. All things go wrong in the middle of haste, so this mind must be laid down in stillness. On level ground the step goes more steadily. A person of constant feeling can be looked at a long while. Let there be no regret from first to last. Once a side branch shoots out, matters grow many.

Confucius said, "Do not wish for speed. Do not look at small gains. Wish for speed and you do not arrive. Look at small gains and great affairs are not done."

Clever words confound virtue. If you cannot bear the small, you confound the great plan.

The Jingxing lu says, "He who blames others cannot keep his friendships whole. He who forgives himself does not mend his faults."

Having power, do not make others wait on you. You will end with the children calling you by your baby name.

Confucius said, "Be respectful and you keep far from trouble. Be reverent and people love you. Be loyal and you are at one with the many. Be trustworthy and people put their affairs in your hands."

Confucius put away four things. He did not guess, he did not insist, he was not stubborn, he did not put himself forward.

The gentleman brings out what is fine in others and does not bring out what is bad in them. The small man does the opposite.

Mencius said, "The gentleman does not resent Heaven and does not blame others. This time is this time, that time is that time."

Confucius said, "The gentleman has three fears. He fears the mandate of Heaven, he fears great men, he fears the words of the sages. The small man does not know the mandate of Heaven and does not fear it. He treats great men lightly and makes light of the words of the sages."

The Jingxing lu says, "He who rises early and lies down late thinking of loyalty and filial duty is surely known to Heaven, even though people do not know him. He who eats his fill and dresses warm and comfortably guards himself alone may have ease of body, but what will become of his children?"

Serve your parents with the heart that loves your wife and children, and your filial duty will be complete. Serve your lord with the plan by which you hold on to wealth and rank, and there is nowhere you will not be loyal. Blame yourself with the mind that blames others, and your faults will be few. Forgive others with the mind that forgives yourself, and your friendships will be whole.

If your plan is not good, what can regret reach? If your sight does not grow, what does teaching add? When the mind of gain is whole, it turns its back on the Way. When private intent grows firm, it puts out what belongs to all.

He who knows how to live merrily makes business of nothing. He who knows how to live merrily cuts business down and does not call it up. He who knows how to live merrily turns a great matter into a small one. He who knows how to live merrily turns a small matter into nothing at all.

Confucius was looking about the land of Zhou, and he went into the shrine of Houji — Houji was the first ancestor of the Zhou people. There stood an iron man with his mouth sealed three times, and on his back this was engraved.

"He was a man of old who was careful of speech. Be warned! Do not speak much; much speech brings much failure. Do not take on many affairs; many affairs bring much worry. In ease and gladness be sure to keep watch, and do nothing you will regret. Do not say, 'What harm is there?' That harm will grow long. Do not say, 'What does it matter?' That harm will grow great. Do not say, 'No one heard it.' The harm will reach others.

"A flicker not put out — what will you do when it blazes? A trickle not dammed becomes a river at last. A thin thread left unbroken may become a net. A twig not snapped while it is a hair's breadth will send you looking for an axe handle. To be truly careful is the root of blessing. To say 'What harm is there?' is the gate of disaster.

"So the man of force does not die his own death, and the man who loves to win is sure to meet his match. The gentleman knows that he cannot stand above all under Heaven, and so he places himself below. He knows that he cannot stand before the many, and so he stands behind. Virtue that is warm and respectful and careful makes people long for him. Rivers and seas lie low, and yet they are greater than a hundred streams, and it is because they are low. The way of Heaven has no favorites, and yet it can put itself below people. Be warned!"

Make business and business comes. Cut business down and business grows less.

To be gentle and yielding is the root of guarding the body. To be hard and strong is the cause that calls down disaster.

The Xuankangfu jiaxun says, "Even when your power and gain are small, do not take up with Daoist priests and monks. On the day you have money and goods, you should help the poor and those in danger."

An earlier scholar said, "To keep even the grudge of a sidelong glance in mind is the shallow heart of a small man. Not to forget a single meal that was given you is the deep virtue of a gentleman."

Master Zhu Ermei Shuqing said, "They are called immortals, buddhas, sages and worthies, but there is not one of them who is anything but a good person. You can see from this that all sorts of things are easy, and only a good person is hard to find. If you truly set your mind on the principle of Heaven and do nothing wrong, then to chant the Buddha's name and recite the sutras is well, and to sit in meditation and practice Chan is well. But if the mind will not bear asking after, you have not become a human being, and reciting sutras, chanting the Buddha's name, sitting in meditation and practicing Chan are all in vain.

"To save another's life, to help another in his need, to pity another's fault, to hold up another in danger, to pick out another's talent, to draw up another's ability, to encourage and guide another's children, to praise another's virtue and righteousness, to weigh and look into another's mind and conduct, to treasure another's goods, to comfort and raise another's widowed and orphaned, to keep another's household whole, to bring another's marriage about — only such a one is a person with a heart in this world."