Bugou — Nothing Done Carelessly不苟篇
君子行不貴苟難，說不貴苟察，名不貴苟傳，唯其當之爲貴。故懷負石而投河，是行之難爲者也，而申徒狄能之；然而君子不貴者，非禮義之中也。山淵平，天地比，齊、秦襲，入乎耳，出乎口，鉤有須，卵有毛，是說之難持者也，而惠施、鄧析能之；然而君子不貴者，非禮義之中也。盜跖貪凶，名聲若日月，與舜、禹俱傳而不息；然而君子不貴者，非禮義之中也。故曰：君子行不貴苟難，說不貴苟察，名不貴苟傳，唯其當之爲貴。《詩》曰：「物其有矣，唯其時矣。」此之謂也。
The gentleman does not prize a deed that is merely hard, or a saying that is merely sharp, or a name that is merely handed down. He prizes only what is fitting.
To carry a stone on your back and throw yourself into the river is a hard thing to do, and Shentu Di (申徒狄) was able to do it. Still the gentleman does not prize it, because it does not hit the center of ritual and rightness.
That mountain and pool are level, that heaven and earth stand side by side, that Qi and Qin adjoin, that it comes in by the ear and goes out at the mouth, that a hook has whiskers, that an egg has hair: these are sayings hard to hold, and Hui Shi and Deng Xi were able to hold them. Still the gentleman does not prize it, because it does not hit the center of ritual and rightness.
Robber Zhi (盜跖) was greedy and cruel, yet his name was like the sun and the moon, handed down along with King Shun and King Yu and never stopping. Still the gentleman does not prize it, because it does not hit the center of ritual and rightness.
So it is said that the gentleman does not prize a deed that is merely hard, or a saying that is merely sharp, or a name that is merely handed down, and that he prizes only what is fitting. The Odes say, "The thing is there, but only in its own season." This is what is meant.
君子易知而難狎，易懼而難脅，畏患而不避義死，欲利而不爲所非，交親而不比，言辯而不辭。蕩蕩乎，其有以殊於世也。
The gentleman is easy to know but hard to treat lightly. He is easy to awe but hard to cow. He fears trouble, yet he does not avoid dying for rightness. He wants profit, yet he does not do what is wrong. He is close to those he keeps company with, yet he makes no faction. His words are clear, yet he plays no tricks with words. How broad he is in what sets him apart from the age.
君子能亦好，不能亦好；小人能亦醜，不能亦醜。君子能則寬容易直以開道人，不能則恭敬繜絀以畏事人；小人能則倨傲僻違以驕溢人，不能則妬嫉怨誹以傾覆人。故曰：君子能則人榮學焉，不能則人樂告之；小人能則人賤學焉，不能則人羞告之。是君子小人之分也。
The gentleman is good whether he is able or not able. The small man is ugly whether he is able or not able.
When the gentleman is able, he is generous and straight and opens a way for others. When he is not able, he is respectful and careful, lowers himself and serves others. When the small man is able, he is haughty and biased and crows over others. When he is not able, he is envious and resentful and slanderous and overturns others.
So it is said that when the gentleman is able, others count it an honor to learn from him, and when he is not able, others are glad to tell him. When the small man is able, others think it low to learn from him, and when he is not able, others are ashamed to tell him. This is the line between the gentleman and the small man.
君子寬而不僈，廉而不劌，辯而不争，察而不激，直立而不勝，堅彊而不曓，柔從而不流，恭敬謹慎而容，夫是之謂至文。《詩》曰：「溫溫恭人，惟德之基。」此之謂也。
The gentleman is generous but not slack, edged but not cutting, clear but not quarrelsome, searching but not heated. He stands straight but does not try to beat others. He is firm and strong but not fierce. He is soft and yielding but does not drift. He is respectful and careful and still at ease. This is called the utmost adornment. The Odes say, "Warm and respectful man, he is the ground of virtue." This is what is meant.
君子崇人之德，揚人之美，非諂諛也；正義直指，舉人之過，非毀疵也；言己之光美，擬於舜、禹，參於天地，非夸誕也；與時屈伸，柔從若蒲葦，非懾怯也；剛强猛毅，靡所不信，非驕曓也。以義變應，知當曲直故也。《詩》曰：「左之左之，君子宜之；右之右之，君子有之。」此言君子以義屈信變應故也。
When the gentleman raises up another man's virtue and shows forth another man's beauty, it is not flattery. When he points straight with upright rightness and holds up another man's fault, it is not slander. When he speaks of his own brightness and beauty, matching himself with King Shun and King Yu and standing beside heaven and earth, it is not bragging. When he bends and stretches with the times and yields softly like the rush and the reed, it is not cowardice. When he is hard and strong and firm, with nothing he cannot stretch out to, it is not swagger. It is because he answers change with rightness and knows when bending is fitting and when straightness is fitting.
The Odes say, "What is for the left he puts to the left, and the gentleman does it fitly. What is for the right he puts to the right, and the gentleman has it." This says that the gentleman bends and stretches and answers change by rightness.
君子，小人之反也。君子大心則敬天而道，小心則畏義而節；知則明通而類，愚則端愨而法；見由則恭而止，見閉則敬而齊；喜則和而理，憂則静而理；通則文而明，窮則約而詳。小人則不然：大心則慢而曓，小心則淫而傾，知則攫盜而漸，愚則毒賊而亂；見由則兌而倨，見閉則怨而險；喜則輕而翾，憂則挫而懾；通則驕而偏，窮則弃而儑。傳曰：「君子兩進，小人兩廢。」此之謂也。
The gentleman is the reverse of the small man.
When the gentleman's heart is large, he reveres heaven and follows the way. When his heart is small, he fears rightness and keeps measure. When he is wise, he is clear and open and knows the kinds of things. When he is simple, he is upright and honest and follows the law. When he is employed, he is respectful and stays in place. When he is shut out, he is careful and keeps himself even. When he is glad, he is harmonious and orderly. When he is anxious, he is quiet and orderly. When he gets through, he is adorned and clear. When he is blocked, he is brief and thorough.
The small man is not so. When his heart is large, he is slack and fierce. When his heart is small, he overflows and topples. When he is wise, he grabs and steals and creeps in. When he is simple, he poisons and harms and makes disorder. When he is employed, he crows and is haughty. When he is shut out, he is resentful and dangerous. When he is glad, he flutters about lightly. When he is anxious, he is broken and cowed. When he gets through, he swaggers and is biased. When he is blocked, he throws everything up and is dazed.
A saying handed down goes, "With the gentleman both sides go forward. With the small man both sides fall down." This is what is meant.
君子治治，非治亂也。曷謂邪？曰：禮義之謂治，非禮義之謂亂也。故君子者，治禮義者也，非治非禮義者也。然則國亂將弗治與？曰：國亂而治之者，非案亂而治之之謂也，去亂而被之以治；人汙而修之者，非案汙而修之之謂也，去汙而易之以修。故去亂而非治亂也，去汙而非修汙也。治之爲名，猶曰君子爲治而不爲亂，爲修而不爲汙也。
The gentleman governs what is governed. He does not govern what is disordered. What does this mean? The answer is that ritual and rightness are called government, and what is not ritual and rightness is called disorder. So the gentleman is one who governs ritual and rightness. He is not one who governs what is not ritual and rightness.
Then if the state is in disorder, will he not govern it? The answer is that to govern a state in disorder does not mean settling down in the disorder and governing it. It means clearing the disorder away and clothing the state in government. To cultivate a man who is foul does not mean settling down in the foulness and cultivating it. It means clearing the foulness away and changing it for cultivation.
So he clears disorder away. He does not govern disorder. He clears foulness away. He does not cultivate foulness. The name government is like saying that the gentleman does government and does not do disorder, does cultivation and does not do foulness.
君子絜其辯而同焉者合矣，善其言而類焉者應矣。故馬鳴而馬應之，非知也，其埶然也。故新浴者振其衣，新沐者彈其冠，人之情也。其誰能以己之潐潐，受人之掝掝者哉！
When the gentleman makes his words clean, those of one mind with him come together. When he makes his words good, those of his own kind answer him. So when a horse neighs and another horse answers, it is not knowing. It is the force of the thing.
A man fresh from the bath shakes out his clothes, and a man who has just washed his hair flicks his cap. This is human feeling. Who could take another man's filth upon his own cleanness?
君子養心莫善於誠，致誠則無它事矣，唯仁之爲守，唯義之爲行。誠心守仁則形，形則神，神則能化矣；誠心行義則理，理則明，明則能變矣。變化代興，謂之天德。天不言而人推高焉，地不言而人推厚焉，四時不言而百姓期焉。夫此有常，以至其誠者也。君子至德，嘿然而喻，未施而親，不怒而威。夫此順命，以慎其獨者也。善之爲道者，不誠則不獨，不獨則不形，不形則雖作於心，見於色，出於言，民猶若未從也，雖從必疑。天地爲大矣，不誠則不能化萬物；聖人爲知矣，不誠則不能化萬民；父子爲親矣，不誠則疏；君上爲尊矣，不誠則卑。夫誠者，君子之所守也，而政事之本也。唯所居以其類至，操之則得之，舍之則失之。操而得之則輕，輕則獨行，獨行而不舍則濟矣。濟而材盡，長遷而不反其初則化矣。
For the gentleman nourishing the heart, nothing is better than truthfulness. Carry truthfulness to the end and there is nothing else to do. He keeps only benevolence and does only rightness.
Keep benevolence with a true heart and it takes form. Take form and it is spiritlike. Be spiritlike and it can transform. Do rightness with a true heart and it has order. Have order and it is clear. Be clear and it can change. Changing and transforming rise in turn, and this is called the virtue of heaven.
Heaven does not speak, yet people call it high. Earth does not speak, yet people call it thick. The four seasons do not speak, yet the people count on their times. What is constant in all this comes of utmost truthfulness.
When the gentleman's virtue is utmost, he is silent and is understood, he gives nothing and is loved, he does not rage and has awe. This is following the decree, and it comes of being watchful when he is alone.
A man who makes goodness his way, if he is not true, does not stand alone. If he does not stand alone, he takes no form. If he takes no form, then though it is made in his heart and shows in his face and comes out in his words, the people still do not follow. And if they follow, they are sure to doubt.
Heaven and earth are great, yet without truthfulness they could not transform the ten thousand things. The sage is wise, yet without truthfulness he could not transform the ten thousand people. Father and son are close, yet without truthfulness they grow distant. The ruler above is honored, yet without truthfulness he is brought low.
Truthfulness is what the gentleman keeps and the root of government. Only where it dwells do things of its kind come to it. Hold it and you get it. Let it go and you lose it. Hold it and get it and you grow light. Grow light and you walk alone. Walk alone and do not let go, and you cross over. Cross over, and his capacity is used to the full, move on long and never turn back to the beginning, and you are transformed.
君子位尊而志恭，心小而道大，所聽視者近而所聞見者遠。是何邪？則操術然也。故千人萬人之情，一人之情是也；天地始者，今日是也；百王之道，後王是也。君子審後王之道而論百王之前，若端拜而議。推禮義之統，分是非之分，總天下之要，治海內之衆，若使一人，故操彌約而事彌大。五寸之矩，盡天下之方也。故君子不下室堂而海內之情舉積此者，則操術然也。
The gentleman's seat is honored, yet his purpose is respectful. His heart is small, yet his way is great. What he listens to and looks at is near, yet what he hears and sees is far. Why is this? It is because of the art he holds.
So the feeling of a thousand men and ten thousand men is the feeling of one man. The beginning of heaven and earth is today. The way of the hundred kings is the later king. When the gentleman examines the way of the later king and discusses what came before the hundred kings, it is like sitting with folded hands and talking it over.
He pushes out the guiding cord of ritual and rightness, divides the line between right and wrong, gathers what matters in all under heaven, and governs the multitude within the seas as if he were directing one man. So the more sparing his hold, the greater the work. A square five inches long measures every square thing under heaven.
So the gentleman does not step down from his room and hall, and yet the feeling of all within the seas is piled up here. It is because of the art he holds.
有通士者，有公士者，有直士者，有慤士者，有小人者。上則能尊君，下則能愛民，物至而應，事起而辨，若是則可謂通士矣。不下比以闇上，不上同以疾下，分争於中，不以私害之，若是，則可謂公士矣。身之所長，上雖不知，不以悖君，身之所短，上雖不知，不以取賞，長短不飾，以情自竭，若是，則可謂直士矣。庸言必信之，庸行必慎之，畏法流俗而不敢以其所獨甚，若是，則可謂慤士矣。言無常信，行無常貞，唯利所在，無所不傾，若是，則可謂小人矣。
There is the scholar who goes through everywhere, the public-minded scholar, the straight scholar, the honest scholar, and the small man.
He can honor the ruler above and love the people below. He answers when a thing comes and sorts it out when an affair arises. Such a man can be called a scholar who goes through everywhere.
He makes no faction with those below and darkens the one above, and he does not side with the one above and press those below. He settles quarrels in the middle and does not harm them with private interest. Such a man can be called a public-minded scholar.
When the one above does not know what he is good at, he does not use it to cross the ruler. When the one above does not know what he is poor at, he does not use it to take a reward. He dresses up neither his long points nor his short ones, and he gives all he has with true feeling. Such a man can be called a straight scholar.
He makes his everyday words trustworthy and his everyday deeds careful. He fears the law and common custom and does not dare to go to extremes on his own. Such a man can be called an honest scholar.
His words have no steady faith and his deeds no steady straightness. Wherever profit lies, there is nothing he does not lean toward. Such a man can be called a small man.
公生明，偏生闇，端慤生通，詐僞生塞，誠信生神，夸誕生惑。此六生者，君子慎之，而禹、桀所以分也。
Public-mindedness gives birth to clarity and bias gives birth to darkness. Uprightness and honesty give birth to going through, and deceit and falseness give birth to being blocked. Truth and good faith give birth to what is spiritlike, and bragging and wildness give birth to confusion. The gentleman is careful with these six births, and this is where King Yu and Jie parted.
欲惡取舍之權：見其可欲也，則必前後慮其可惡也者；見其可利也，則必前後慮其可害也者；而兼權之，孰計之，然後定其欲惡取舍。如是，則常不失陷矣。凡人之患，偏傷之也。見其可欲也，則不慮其可惡也者；見其可利也，則不慮其可害也者。是以動則必陷，爲則必辱，是偏傷之患也。
This is how to weigh wanting and hating, taking and leaving. When you see what may be wanted, always reckon before and after what may be hated in it. When you see what may profit you, always reckon before and after what may harm you in it. Weigh both together, count it well, and only then settle what you want and hate, take and leave. Do this and you will never fall in.
The trouble with people is that they are hurt by leaning to one side. When they see what may be wanted, they do not reckon what may be hated in it. When they see what may profit them, they do not reckon what may harm them in it. So when they move they are sure to fall in, and when they act they are sure to be disgraced. This is the trouble of being hurt by leaning to one side.
人之所惡者，吾亦惡之。夫富貴者則類傲之，夫貧賤者則求柔之，是非仁人之情也，是姦人將以盜名於晻世者也，險莫大焉。故曰：盜名不如盜貨。田仲、史鰌不如盜也。
What others hate, I hate too. Men are mostly haughty toward the rich and honored and try to be soft toward the poor and low. This is not the feeling of a benevolent man. This is a crooked man trying to steal a name in a dark age, and nothing is more dangerous than that.
So it is said that stealing a name is worse than stealing goods. Tian Zhong (田仲) and Shi Qiu (史鰌) are worse than thieves.