Xiushen — Cultivating Oneself修身篇
見善，修然必以自存也；見不善，愀然必以自省也。善在身，介然必以自好也；不善在身，菑然必以自惡也。故非我而當者，吾師也；是我而當者，吾友也；諂諛我者，吾賊也。故君子隆師而親友，以致惡其賊。好善無厭，受諫而能誡，雖欲無進，得乎哉！小人反是，致亂而惡人之非己也，致不肖而欲人之賢己也，心如虎狼、行如禽獸而又惡人之賊己也。諂諛者親，諫争者疏，修正爲笑，至忠爲賊，雖欲無滅亡，得乎哉！《詩》曰：「噏噏呰呰，亦孔之哀。謀之其臧，則具是違；謀之不臧，則具是依。」此之謂也。
When he sees goodness, he composes himself and looks to see whether it is in him. When he sees what is not good, he is grieved and turns back to look at himself. When goodness is in him, he holds to it firmly and is glad of it. When what is not good is in him, he treats it as a weed and hates it in himself.
So a man who calls me wrong and is right is my teacher. A man who calls me right and is right is my friend. A man who flatters me is my robber. So the gentleman honors his teacher and keeps his friends close, and he hates that robber utterly.
If a man never tires of loving goodness and takes warning when he is admonished, then even if he wished not to go forward, could he help it?
The small man is the other way round. He is utterly disorderly, yet he hates it when others call him wrong. He is utterly worthless, yet he wants others to call him worthy. His heart is like a tiger's or a wolf's and his conduct like a bird's or a beast's, and still he hates it when others harm him. He keeps flatterers close and pushes away those who admonish him and argue with him. He laughs at a man who cultivates himself and is upright, and he calls the utmost loyalty robbery. Even if he wished not to perish, could he help it?
The Odes say, "They gather to slander and to pick at each other, and it is deeply sad. When the plan is good, they all go against it. When the plan is not good, they all follow it." This is what is meant.
扁善之度，以治氣養生則後彭祖，以修身自名則配堯、禹。宜於時通，利以處窮，禮信是也。凡用血氣、志意、知慮，由禮則治通，不由禮則勃亂提僈；食飲、衣服、居處、動静，由禮則和節，不由禮則觸陷生疾；容貌、態度、進退、趨行，由禮則雅，不由禮則夷固僻違，庸衆而野。故人無禮則不生，事無禮則不成，國家無禮則不寧。《詩》曰：「禮儀卒度，笑語卒獲。」此之謂也。
There is a measure that makes a man good all through. Use it to govern the breath and nourish life, and you come after Peng Zu. Use it to cultivate yourself and make your own name, and you match King Yao and King Yu. It suits a man who meets his time and gets through, and it serves him when he is blocked. Ritual and good faith are that measure.
In all use of blood and breath, of will and purpose, of knowing and thought, follow ritual and they are governed and go through. Do not follow ritual and they are disordered and slack. In eating and drinking, in clothing, in dwelling, in movement and stillness, follow ritual and there is harmony and measure. Do not follow ritual and a man stumbles and sinks and falls sick. In face and bearing, in going forward and drawing back, in the way he walks, follow ritual and he is elegant. Do not follow ritual and he is stiff and biased and crooked, lost in the crowd and coarse.
So a man without ritual does not live. A task without ritual is not finished. A state and a household without ritual are not at peace. The Odes say, "Ritual and bearing all meet the measure, and laughter and talk are all fitting." This is what is meant.
以善先人者謂之教，以善和人者謂之順；以不善先人者謂之諂，以不善和人者謂之諛。是是、非非謂之知，非是、是非謂之愚。傷良曰讒，害良曰賊。是謂是、非謂非曰直。竊貨曰盜，匿行曰詐，易言曰誕，趣舍無定謂之無常，保利棄義謂之至賊。多聞曰博，少聞曰淺；多見曰閑，少見曰陋。難進曰偍，易忘曰漏。少而理曰治，多而亂曰秏。
To lead others with goodness is called teaching. To join with others in goodness is called following. To lead others with what is not good is called flattery. To join with others in what is not good is called fawning.
To call right what is right and wrong what is wrong is called knowing. To call wrong what is right and right what is wrong is called folly. To wound a good man is called slander. To harm a good man is called robbery. To call right what is right and wrong what is wrong is called being straight.
To steal goods is called thieving. To hide one's conduct is called deceit. To change one's words lightly is called wildness. To have no fixed rule in taking and leaving is called having no constancy. To keep profit and throw away rightness is called the utmost robbery.
To hear much is called broad. To hear little is called shallow. To see much is called practiced. To see little is called narrow. To be slow to go forward is called sluggish. To forget easily is called leaky. To be little and yet orderly is called governed. To be much and yet disordered is called scattered.
治氣養心之術：血氣剛强，則柔之以調和；知慮漸深，則一之以易良；勇膽猛戾，則輔之以道順；齊給便利，則節之以動止；狹隘褊小，則廓之以廣大；卑溼、重遲、貪利，則抗之以高志；庸衆駑散，則刦之以師友；怠慢僄弃，則炤之以禍災；愚款端愨，則合之以禮樂，通之以思索。凡治氣養心之術，莫徑由禮，莫要得師，莫神一好。夫是之謂治氣養心之術也。
The art of governing the breath and nourishing the heart is this.
When blood and breath are hard and strong, soften them by tuning them. When knowing and thought go too deep, make them one by ease and goodness. When a man is bold and fierce and rough, help him with the way and with yielding. When he is quick and nimble, give him measure by moving and stopping. When he is narrow and small, open him out with what is broad and great. When he is low and slow and greedy for profit, lift him with high purpose. When he is lost in the crowd, dull and scattered, draw him along with teachers and friends. When he is idle and slack and throws things away lightly, show him disaster to look at. When he is simple and blunt and honest, bring him together with ritual and music and open him out with thought and search.
In all the art of governing the breath and nourishing the heart there is no shorter road than following ritual, nothing more needful than getting a teacher, nothing more spiritlike than loving one thing. This is what is called the art of governing the breath and nourishing the heart.
志意修則驕富貴，道義重則輕王公，內省而外物輕矣。傳曰：「君子役物，小人役於物。」此之謂矣。身勞而心安，爲之；利少而義多，爲之。事亂君而通，不如事窮君而順焉。故良農不爲水旱不耕，良賈不爲折閱不市，士君子不爲貧窮怠乎道。
When a man's purpose is cultivated, he makes light of wealth and rank. When the way and rightness weigh with him, he makes light of kings and dukes. Look inward, and outward things grow light.
A saying handed down goes, "The gentleman makes things serve him. The small man is made to serve things." This is what is meant.
If the body labors and the heart is at peace, do it. If the profit is small and the rightness is great, do it. Serving a disorderly ruler and getting on is not as good as serving a blocked ruler and following him.
So a good farmer does not stop plowing because of flood or drought. A good merchant does not stop going to market because of a loss. A scholar and gentleman does not grow slack in the way because he is poor and blocked.
體恭敬而心忠信，術禮義而情愛人，橫行天下，雖困四夷，人莫不貴。勞苦之事則争先，饒樂之事則能讓，端愨誠信，拘守而詳，橫行天下，雖困四夷，人莫不任。體倨固而心執詐，術順墨而精雜汙，橫行天下，雖達四方，人莫不賤。勞苦之事則偷儒轉脫，饒樂之事則佞兌而不曲，辟違而不愨，程役而不録，橫行天下，雖達四方，人莫不弃。
If a man's body is respectful and his heart loyal and true, if ritual and rightness are his art and his feeling is love for people, then though he cross all under heaven and be blocked among the four barbarian lands, there is no one who does not honor him.
If he strives to be first at hard and bitter work and gives way in what is easy and pleasant, if he is upright and honest and true and faithful, holding to what he keeps and careful in it, then though he cross all under heaven and be blocked among the four barbarian lands, there is no one who does not trust him with things.
If his body is haughty and stiff and his heart holds deceit, if his art is crooked and his feeling mixed and foul, then though he cross all under heaven and get through in every direction, there is no one who does not think him low.
If he idles and slips away from hard and bitter work, and fawns without bending in what is easy and pleasant, if he is biased and crooked and not honest, and takes on a task and does not look after it, then though he cross all under heaven and get through in every direction, there is no one who does not cast him off.
行而供冀，非漬淖也；行而俯項，非擊戾也；偶視而先俯，非恐懼也。然夫士欲獨修其身，不以得罪於比俗之人也。
Walking carefully is not because he is treading in mud. Bowing the neck as he walks is not because he fears a knock. Meeting another man's eyes and lowering his own first is not because he is afraid. It is that the scholar wishes to cultivate his own person alone. It is not that he is trying to give no offense to worldly people.
夫驥一日而千里，駑馬十駕則亦及之矣。將以窮無窮，逐無極與？其折骨絶筋，終身不可以相及也。將有所止之，則千里雖遠，亦或遲或速、或先或後，胡爲乎其不可以相及也？不識步道者，將以窮無窮逐無極與？意亦有所止之與？夫堅白、同異、有厚無厚之察，非不察也，然而君子不辯，止之也；倚魁之行，非不難也，然而君子不行，止之也。故學曰︰「遲彼止而待我，我行而就之，則亦或遲或速，或先或後，胡爲乎其不可以同至也？」故蹞步而不休，跛鼈千里；累土而不輟，丘山崇成；厭其源，開其瀆，江河可竭；一進一退，一左一右，六驥不致。彼人之才性之相縣也，豈若跛鼈之與六驥足哉？然而跛鼈致之，六驥不致，是無它故焉，或爲之，或不爲爾。
A thoroughbred goes a thousand li in a day, and a poor horse that goes on for ten days gets there as well.
Is a man to exhaust what cannot be exhausted and chase what has no end? Then though his bones break and his sinews snap, to the end of his life he can never catch up. If there is a place to stop, then a thousand li, however far, only means slower or faster, ahead or behind. How could he not catch up?
Does a man who does not know how to walk a road mean to exhaust what cannot be exhausted and chase what has no end? Or is there a place where he too stops?
Picking apart hard and white, same and different, thickness and no thickness is not a failure to examine. Still the gentleman does not argue it, because he stops. Strange and towering deeds are not easy. Still the gentleman does not do them, because he stops.
So a learner says, "If that man stops slowly and waits for me, and I walk on and come up to him, then it is only slower or faster, ahead or behind. How could we not arrive together?"
So a lame turtle that takes half steps and does not rest goes a thousand li. Earth piled up without stopping makes a high hill or mountain. Block the source and open the channel, and even the Jiang and the He can run dry. Go forward once and back once, once to the left and once to the right, and even six thoroughbreds do not arrive.
The difference between one man's talent and nature and another's is surely not as great as the difference between the feet of a lame turtle and those of six thoroughbreds. Yet the lame turtle arrives and the six thoroughbreds do not. There is no other reason for this. One does it and the other does not.
道雖邇，不行不至；事雖小，不爲不成。其爲人也多暇日者，其出入不遠矣。好法而行，士也；篤志而體，君子也；齊明而不竭，聖人也。人無法，則倀倀然；有法而無志其義，則渠渠然；依乎法而又深其類，然後溫溫然。
Though the road is near, you do not reach it without walking. Though the task is small, it is not finished without doing it. A man with many idle days in him does not go far in his comings and goings.
A man who loves the law and acts on it is a scholar. A man whose purpose is deep and who takes it into his body is a gentleman. A man who is evenly clear and never runs dry is a sage.
A man without the law wanders lost. With the law but without taking its meaning to heart, he is flustered. Only when he leans on the law and goes deep into its kinds is he easy and warm.
禮者，所以正身也；，師者，所以正禮也。無禮何以正身？無師，吾安知禮之爲是也？禮然而然，則是情安禮也；師云而云，則是知若師也。情安禮，知若師，則是聖人也。故非禮，是無法也；非師，是無師也。不是師法而好自用，譬之是猶以盲辨色，以聾辨聲也，舍亂妄無爲也。故學也者，禮法也。夫師，以身爲正儀而貴自安者也。《詩》云：「不識不知，順帝之則。」此之謂也。
Ritual is what makes the person upright. A teacher is what makes ritual upright. Without ritual, what makes the person upright? Without a teacher, how am I to know that ritual is right?
When a man does as ritual does, his feeling is at peace in ritual. When he says what his teacher says, his knowing is like his teacher's. When his feeling is at peace in ritual and his knowing is like his teacher's, he is a sage.
So to call ritual wrong is to be without law. To call the teacher wrong is to be without a teacher. Not to accept the teacher and the law and to love using oneself instead is like a blind man telling colors or a deaf man telling sounds. Set disorder and delusion aside and nothing is left to do.
So learning is ritual and law. The teacher is one who makes his own person the upright model and prizes being at peace in himself. The Odes say, "Neither knowing nor understanding, he follows the ruler's law." This is what is meant.
端愨順弟，則可謂善少者矣；加好學遜敏焉，則有鈞無上，可以爲君子者矣。偷儒憚事，無廉恥而嗜乎飲食，則可謂惡少者矣；加愓悍而不順，險賊而不弟焉，則可謂不詳少者矣，雖陷刑戮可也。老老而壯者歸焉，不窮窮而通者積焉，行乎冥冥而施乎無報，而賢不肖一焉。人有此三行，雖有大過，天其不遂乎。
A young man who is upright and honest, obedient and respectful, can be called a good young man. Add to this a love of learning and modesty and quickness, and he has equals but no one above him. He can become a gentleman.
A young man who idles and shirks work, who has no sense of shame and is greedy for drink and food, can be called a bad young man. Add to this that he is fierce and does not obey, that he is dangerous and harmful and not respectful, and he can be called an ill-omened young man. It is fitting even if he falls under punishment and execution.
Treat the old as old and the strong come to you. Do not press the man who is blocked and the man who has got through gathers to you. Act in the dark and give where there is no repayment, and the worthy and the unworthy become one. When a man has these three deeds in him, then even if he has a great fault, will heaven cast him off?
君子之求利也略，其遠害也早，其避辱也懼，其行道理也勇。君子貧窮而志廣，富貴而體恭，安燕而血氣不惰，勞勌而容貌不枯，怒不過奪，喜不過予。君子貧窮而志廣，隆仁也；富貴而體恭，殺埶也；安燕而血氣不惰，柬理也；勞勌而容貌不枯，好交也。怒不過奪，喜不過予，是法勝私也。《書》曰：「無有作好，遵王之道；無有作惡，遵王之路。」此言君子之能以公義勝私欲也。
The gentleman seeks profit sparingly. He keeps harm far off early. He avoids disgrace with care. He acts on the way and on reason boldly.
The gentleman is poor and blocked, yet his purpose is wide. He is rich and honored, yet his body is respectful. He rests at ease, yet his blood and breath are not idle. He is tired with labor, yet his face is not withered. He is angry, yet he does not take away too much. He is glad, yet he does not give too much.
The gentleman is poor and blocked and yet wide in purpose because he honors benevolence. He is rich and honored and yet respectful in body because he cuts back his own power. He rests at ease and yet his blood and breath are not idle because he picks out what is reasonable. He is tired with labor and yet his face is not withered because he loves good company. That he does not take away too much when he is angry and does not give too much when he is glad is the law winning over what is private.
The Documents say, "Do not make up likings of your own. Follow the way of the king. Do not make up hatreds of your own. Follow the road of the king." This says that the gentleman can win over private desire with public rightness.