Rongru — Honor and Disgrace榮辱篇
憍泄者，人之殃也。恭儉者，偋五兵也。雖有戈矛之刺，不如恭儉之利也。故與人善言，煖於布帛；傷人之言，深於矛戟。故薄薄之地，不得履之，非地不安也，危足無所履者，凡在言也。巨涂則讓，小涂則殆，雖欲不謹，若云不使。
Arrogance and license are a man's calamity. Humility and thrift drive off the five weapons. Though there be the stab of spear and lance, it is not as sharp as humility and thrift.
So to give another a good word is warmer than cloth and silk, and a word that wounds another cuts deeper than spear and halberd.
So when the ground is broad and broad and yet a man cannot tread it, it is not that the ground is unsteady. That his feet are in peril with nowhere to tread lies wholly in his words. On a great road men yield; on a narrow road they are in peril. Though he wished not to be careful, it does not come about.
快快而亡者，怒也；察察而殘者，忮也；博而窮者，訾也；清之而俞濁者，口也；豢之而俞瘠者，交也；辯而不說者，争也；直立而不見知者，勝也；廉而不見貴者，劌也；勇而不見憚者，貪也；信而不見敬者，好剸行也；此小人之所務而君子之所不爲也。
What is brisk and yet comes to nothing is anger. What looks sharply and yet is wounded is envy. What is broad and yet blocked is slander. What a man would make clear and yet grows the more muddy is the mouth. What he feeds and yet grows the more gaunt is friendship. What speaks clearly and yet does not please is contention. What stands upright and yet is not known is the wish to win. What is square and yet not held precious is cutting. What is bold and yet not feared is greed. What is trustworthy and yet not honored is the love of having one's own way. These are what the small man works at and what the gentleman does not do.
鬬者，忘其身者也，忘其親者也，忘其君者也。行其少頃之怒而喪終身之軀，然且爲之，是忘其身也；家室立殘，親戚不免乎刑戮，然且爲之，是忘其親也；君上之所惡也，刑法之所大禁也，然且爲之，是忘其君也。憂忘其身，內忘其親，上忘其君，是刑法之所不舍也，聖王之所不畜也。乳彘觸虎，乳㺃不遠遊，不忘其親也。人也，憂忘其身，內忘其親，上忘其君，則是人也而曾㺃彘之不若也。凡鬬者，必自以爲是而以人爲非也。己誠是也，人誠非也，則是己君子而人小人也，以君子與小人相賊害也。憂以忘其身，內以忘其親，上以忘其君，豈不過甚矣哉！是人也，所謂「以狐父之戈钃牛矢」也。將以爲智邪？則愚莫大焉。將以爲利邪？則害莫大焉。將以爲榮邪？則辱莫大焉。將以爲安邪？則危莫大焉。人之有鬬，何哉？我欲屬之狂惑疾病邪，則不可，聖王又誅之。我欲屬之鳥鼠禽獸邪，則又不可，其形體又人，而好惡多同。人之有鬬，何哉？我甚醜之！
The man who brawls is one who forgets his own body, forgets his parents, forgets his lord.
He acts on the anger of a moment and loses the body he must keep to the end of his days, and still he does it. This is forgetting his own body. His household is ruined at once and his kin do not escape punishment, and still he does it. This is forgetting his parents. It is what the lord above hates and what the penal law most forbids, and still he does it. This is forgetting his lord.
Outwardly he forgets his own body, inwardly he forgets his parents, above he forgets his lord. This the penal law does not let pass, and the sage king does not rear such a man.
A sow suckling her young will butt a tiger, and a bitch suckling her young does not roam far. They do not forget their own. A man who outwardly forgets his own body, inwardly forgets his parents, and above forgets his lord is a man and yet not even the equal of a dog or a pig.
Whoever brawls must hold himself right and the other wrong. If he is truly right and the other truly wrong, then he is the gentleman and the other the small man, and it is a gentleman and a small man harming each other. Outwardly he forgets his own body, inwardly he forgets his parents, above he forgets his lord. Is the excess of it not grievous?
Such a man is what is called "cutting ox dung with the halberd of Hufu (狐父)."
Would you call it wise? There is no folly greater. Would you call it profitable? There is no harm greater. Would you call it glory? There is no disgrace greater. Would you call it safe? There is no peril greater.
Why does a man brawl? I would set him down as mad and deluded and sick, but I cannot, for the sage king puts him to death as well. I would set him down among birds and rats and beasts, but again I cannot, for his body is a man's body and his likes and dislikes are much the same. Why does a man brawl? I hold it utterly ugly.
有㺃彘之勇者，有賈盜之勇者，有小人之勇者，有士君子之勇者：争飲食，無廉恥，不知是非，不辟死傷，不畏衆彊，恈恈然唯利飲食之見，是㺃彘之勇也。爲事利，争貨財，無辭讓，果敢而振，猛貪而戾，恈恈然唯利之見，是賈盜之勇也。輕死而曓，是小人之勇也。義之所在，不傾於權，不顧其利，舉國而與之不爲改視，重死持義而不橈，是士君子之勇也。
There is the bravery of the dog and the pig, the bravery of the merchant and the robber, the bravery of the small man, and the bravery of the scholar and the gentleman.
To fight over drink and food with no shame, not knowing right from wrong, not shunning death or wounds, not fearing the strength of the many, and greedily to see nothing but gain and drink and food — this is the bravery of the dog and the pig.
To fight over goods and wealth to make a matter profitable, without yielding, boldly pushing forward, fiercely greedy and contrary, and greedily seeing nothing but gain — this is the bravery of the merchant and the robber.
To hold death light and be violent — this is the bravery of the small man.
Where right lies, not to be bent by power, not to look to one's own gain, not to change one's view though the whole state be given, to hold death heavy and yet grasp right and not bend — this is the bravery of the scholar and the gentleman.
鯈䱁者，浮陽之魚也，胠於沙而思水，則無逮矣。挂於患而思謹，則無益矣。自知者不怨人，知命者不怨天，怨人者窮，怨天者無志。失之己，反之人，豈不迂乎哉！
The minnow and the gudgeon are fish that float in the sun. Only when stranded on the sand do they think of water, and then they cannot reach it. Only when caught in trouble does a man think of care, and then it is of no help.
He who knows himself does not blame others, and he who knows his lot does not blame heaven. He who blames others is blocked, and he who blames heaven has no purpose. To lose it in oneself and turn it upon others — is this not going a long way round?
榮辱之大分，安危利害之常體：先義而後利者榮，先利而後義者辱；榮者常通，辱者常窮；通者常制人，窮者常制於人：是榮辱之大分也。材慤者常安利，蕩悍者常危害；安利者常樂易，危害者常憂險，樂易者常壽長，憂險者常夭折：是安危利害之常體也。夫天生蒸民，有所以取之。志意致修，德行致厚，智慮致明，是天子之所以取天下也。政令法，舉措時，聽斷公，上則能順天子之命，下則能保百姓，是諸侯之所以取國家也。志行修，臨官治，上則能順上，下則能保其職，是士大夫之所以取田邑也。循法則、度量、刑辟、圖籍，不知其義，謹守其數，慎不敢損益也，父子相傳，以持王公，是故三代雖亡，治法猶存，是官人百吏之所以取禄職也。孝弟原慤，軥録疾力，以敦比其事業而不敢怠傲，是庶人之所以取煖衣飽食，長生久視，以免於刑戮也。飾邪說，文姦言，爲倚事，陶誕、突盜，惕、悍、憍、曓，以偷生反側於亂世之閒，是姦人之所以取危辱死刑也。其慮之不深，其擇之不謹，其定取舍楛僈，是其所以危也。材性知能，君子小人一也。好榮惡辱，好利惡害，是君子小人之所同也，若其所以求之之道則異矣。小人也者，疾爲誕而欲人之信己也，疾爲詐而欲人之親己也，禽獸之行而欲人之善己也。慮之難知也，行之難安也，持之難立也，成則必不得其所好，必遇其所惡焉。故君子者，信矣，而亦欲人之信己也；忠矣，而亦欲人之親己也；修正治辨矣，而亦欲人之善己也。慮之易知也，行之易安也，持之易立也，成則必得其所好，必不遇其所惡焉。是故窮則不隱，通則大明，身死而名彌白。小人莫不延頸舉踵而願曰：「知慮材性，固有以賢人矣。」夫不知其與己無以異也，則君子注錯之當，而小人注錯之過也。故孰察小人之知能，足以知其有餘，可以爲君子之所爲也。譬之越人安越，楚人安楚，君子安雅，是非知能材性然也，是注錯習俗之節異也。仁義德行，常安之術也，然而未必不危也；汙僈、突盜，常危之術也，然而未必不安也。故君子道其常而小人道其怪。凡人有所一同：飢而欲食，寒而欲煖，勞而欲息，好利而惡害，是人之所生而有也，是無待而然者也，是禹、桀之所同也。目辨白黑美惡，耳辨聲音清濁，口辨酸鹹甘苦，鼻辨芬芳腥臊，骨體膚理辨寒暑疾養，是又人之所常生而有也，是無待而然者也，是禹、桀之所同也。可以爲堯、禹，可以爲桀、跖，可以爲工匠，可以爲農賈，在埶注錯習俗之所積耳。是又人之所生而有也，是無待而然者也，是禹、桀之所同也。爲堯、禹則常安榮，爲桀、跖則常危辱；爲堯、禹則常愉佚，爲工匠農賈則常煩勞。然而人力爲此而寡爲彼，何也？曰：陋也。堯、禹者，非生而具者也，夫起於變故，成乎修爲，待盡而後備者也。人之生固小人，無師無法則唯利之見耳。人之生固小人，又以遇亂世，得亂俗，是以小重小也，以亂得亂也。君子非得埶以臨之，則無由得開內焉。今是人之口腹，安知禮義？安知辭讓？安知廉恥隅積？亦呥呥而噍，鄉鄉而飽已矣。人無師無法，則其心正其口腹也。今使人生而未嘗睹芻豢稻粱也，惟菽藿糟糠之爲睹，則以至足爲在此也。俄而粲然有秉芻豢稻梁而至者，則瞲然視之曰：「此何怪也？」彼臭之而嗛於鼻，嘗之而甘於口，食之而安於體，則莫不弃此而取彼矣。今以夫先王之道，仁義之統，以相羣居，以相持養，以相藩飾，以相安固邪？以夫桀、跖之道，是其爲相縣也，幾直夫芻豢稻梁之縣糟糠爾哉！然而人力爲此而寡爲彼，何也？曰：陋也。陋也者，天下之公患也，人之大殃大害也。故曰：仁者好告示人。告之示之，靡之儇之，鈆之重之，則夫塞者俄且通也，陋者俄且僩也，愚者俄且知也。是若不行，則湯、武在上曷益？桀、紂在上曷損？湯、武存則天下從而治，桀、紂存則天下從而亂。如是者，豈非人之情固可與如此，可與如彼也哉！
The great division of glory and disgrace, and the constant body of safety and peril, profit and harm, are these.
He who puts rightness first and profit after is in glory, and he who puts profit first and rightness after is in disgrace. The man in glory always gets through, and the man in disgrace is always blocked. He who gets through always orders others, and he who is blocked is always ordered by others. This is the great division of glory and disgrace.
He whose capacity is honest is always safe and gains, and he who is unsteady and fierce is always in peril and harm. The safe and gaining man is always glad and at ease, and the imperiled and harmed man is always anxious and in danger. The glad and easy man always lives long, and the anxious and endangered man always dies young. This is the constant body of safety and peril, profit and harm.
Now heaven brings forth the teeming people, and there is that by which they get what they get.
Purpose cultivated to the utmost, virtue and conduct thick to the utmost, wisdom and thought clear to the utmost — this is how the Son of Heaven gets all under heaven.
Government and commands that meet the law, undertakings that meet their season, hearing and deciding that is impartial; above, being able to follow the Son of Heaven's command, below, being able to keep the people — this is how the feudal lord gets his state and house.
Purpose and conduct cultivated, holding office and governing; above, being able to follow the man above, below, being able to keep his charge — this is how the scholar-official gets fields and a town.
Following the law, the measures, the punishments, and the records; not knowing their meaning yet carefully keeping their count and not daring to take away or add; father and son handing it down and so upholding king and duke — and so, though the three dynasties perished, the law of government still remained — this is how the officer and the hundred clerks get their pay and their charge.
Being filial and respectful, careful and honest, working hard and diligently to make their business thorough, and not daring to be idle or haughty — this is how the common people get warm clothes and a full belly, live long, and escape punishment.
Dressing up wrong sayings, polishing crooked words, doing slanted deeds, cheating and encroaching and stealing, being fierce and haughty and cruel, living meanly and tossing about in the midst of a disordered age — this is how the crooked man gets peril and disgrace and death by punishment.
His thought is not deep, his choosing is not careful, and he settles what to take and what to leave roughly and idly. This is why he is in peril.
In capacity and nature, in knowing and being able, the gentleman and the small man are one. To love glory and hate disgrace, to love profit and hate harm, is what the gentleman and the small man share. Only the way by which they seek it differs.
The small man works hard at falsehood and wants others to believe him, works hard at deceit and wants others to hold him dear, behaves as a bird or a beast does and wants others to call him good. His thought is hard to know, his conduct hard to rest in, his holding hard to make stand. Though he succeed, he surely does not get what he loves, and surely meets what he hates.
The gentleman, then, is trustworthy, and he too wants others to believe him. He is true, and he too wants others to hold him dear. He cultivates and rectifies, governs and discerns, and he too wants others to call him good. His thought is easy to know, his conduct easy to rest in, his holding easy to make stand. When he succeeds he surely gets what he loves and surely does not meet what he hates. So when he is blocked he does not hide, when he gets through he is greatly bright, and though his body dies his name grows the clearer.
There is no small man who does not stretch his neck and stand on his heels and wish, saying, "His wisdom and thought, his capacity and nature, have of old something in them better than other men." He does not know that they are no different from his own. It is that the gentleman's placing and setting down is fitting, and the small man's placing and setting down is amiss.
So look closely at the small man's knowing and being able, and it is enough to see that he has more than enough and could do what the gentleman does. It is like the man of Yue being at ease in Yue, the man of Chu at ease in Chu, and the gentleman at ease in what is correct. This is not that knowing and being able, capacity and nature, are so; it is that the joints of placing and setting down and of accustomed usage differ.
Benevolence and rightness, virtue and conduct, are the art of constant safety, and yet they are not surely without peril. Foulness and idleness, encroaching and stealing, are the art of constant peril, and yet they are not surely without safety. So the gentleman speaks of what is constant and the small man speaks of what is strange.
Men have one thing alike in them. Hungry, they want to eat; cold, they want warmth; weary, they want rest; and they love profit and hate harm. This a man has at birth, and it is so without waiting for anything. In this King Yu and Jie were the same.
The eye tells white from black and fair from foul, the ear tells clear tones from muddy, the mouth tells sour and salty from sweet and bitter, the nose tells fragrance from stink, and the bones and flesh and skin tell cold from heat and pain from itch. This too a man always has at birth, and it is so without waiting for anything. In this King Yu and Jie were the same.
That a man may become a King Yao or a King Yu, may become a Jie or a Robber Zhi (盜跖), may become a craftsman, may become a farmer or a merchant, rests only on what circumstance and placing and setting down and accustomed usage have piled up. This too a man has at birth, and it is so without waiting for anything. In this King Yu and Jie were the same.
To be a King Yao or a King Yu is always safe and in glory, and to be a Jie or a Robber Zhi is always in peril and disgrace. To be a King Yao or a King Yu is always glad and at ease, and to be a craftsman or a farmer or a merchant is always troubled and toilsome. And yet men labor to do this, and few do that. Why? I say, because they are narrow.
King Yao and King Yu were not born furnished. They rose out of changing what had been, were made in cultivating and doing, and were furnished only after that was carried to the end.
At birth a man is of old a small man, and with no teacher and no law he sees nothing but profit. At birth a man is of old a small man, and he meets besides a disordered age and gets disordered customs, so that smallness is laid upon smallness and disorder gains disorder. Unless a gentleman gains the standing to preside over him, there is no way to open him and take him in.
Now what do this man's mouth and belly know of ritual and rightness? What do they know of yielding? What do they know of shame and edges and storing up? They do but chew and chew and eat their fill. When a man has no teacher and no law, his heart is just his mouth and belly.
Now let a man be born and never once see meat and rice and millet, and see only beans and bean leaves and dregs and bran, and he will hold that utmost plenty lies here. Then of a sudden one comes bright with meat and rice and millet in hand, and he stares and says, "What strange thing is this?" Yet if the smell fills his nose and the taste is sweet in his mouth and the eating is easy on his body, there is no man who would not cast away this and take that.
Now take the way of the former kings and the guiding threads of benevolence and rightness, by which men dwell together in flocks, uphold and nourish one another, hedge and adorn one another, and make one another safe and firm, and set it against the way of Jie and Robber Zhi. How should the gap between them be only as wide as meat and rice and millet are from dregs and bran?
And yet men labor to do this, and few do that. Why? I say, because they are narrow. Narrowness is the common affliction of all under heaven, the great calamity and the great harm of men.
So it is said that the benevolent man loves to tell and to show others. Tell them and show them, rub them and turn them, draw them along and do it again, and the blocked man will soon get through, the narrow man will soon grow wide, and the foolish man will soon grow wise.
If this were not done, what would King Tang and King Wu above avail, and what would Jie and King Zhou (紂) above take away? When King Tang and King Wu were there, all under heaven followed and was well governed. When Jie and King Zhou were there, all under heaven followed and fell into disorder. If it is so, then is it not that man's feelings can of old be brought to this way and to that?
人之情，食欲有芻豢，衣欲有文繡，行欲有輿馬，又欲夫餘財蓄積之富也，然而窮年累世不知不足，是人之情也。今人之生也，方知畜雞㺃猪彘，又蓄牛羊，然而食不敢有酒肉；餘刀布，有囷窌，然而衣不敢有絲帛；約者有筐篋之藏，然而行不敢有輿馬。是何也？非不欲也，幾不長慮顧後而恐無以繼之故也？於是又節用御欲，收斂蓄藏以繼之也，是於己長慮顧後，幾不甚善矣哉！今夫偷生淺知之屬，曾此而不知也，糧食大侈，不顧其後，俄則屈安窮矣，是其所以不免於凍餓，操瓢囊爲溝壑中瘠者也。況夫先王之道，仁義之統，《詩》、《書》、《禮》、《樂》之分乎！彼固爲天下之大慮也，將爲天下生民之屬長慮顧後而保萬世也，其㳅長矣，其溫厚矣，其功盛姚遠矣，非孰修爲之君子莫之能知也。故曰：短綆不可以汲深井之泉，知不幾者不可與及聖人之言。夫《詩》、《書》、《禮》、《樂》之分，固非庸人之所知也。故曰：一之而可再也，有之而可久也，廣之而可通也，慮之而可安也，反鈆察之而俞可好也。以治情則利，以爲名則榮，以羣則和，以獨則足，樂意者其是邪？夫貴爲天子，富有天下，是人情之所同欲也。然則從人之欲則埶不能容，物不能贍也。故先王案爲之制禮義以分之，使有貴賤之等，長幼之差，知愚能不能之分，皆使人載其事而各得其宜，然後使慤禄多少厚薄之稱，是夫羣居和一之道也。故仁人在上，則農以力盡田，賈以察盡財，百工以巧盡械器，士大夫以上至於公侯，莫不以仁厚知能盡官職，夫是之謂至平。故或禄天下而不自以爲多，或監門、御旅、抱關、擊柝而不自以爲寡。故曰：「斬而齊，枉而順，不同而一。」夫是之謂人倫。《詩》曰：「受小共大共，爲下國駿蒙。」此之謂也。
In his feelings a man wants meat to eat, patterns and embroidery to wear, a carriage and horses to travel in, and wants besides the wealth of goods piled up beyond his need. And though the years be spent and the generations pile up he does not know he has enough. These are man's feelings.
Now a man lives, and just as he learns to raise chickens and dogs and pigs, and keeps oxen and sheep besides, he dares not have wine and meat to eat. He has money left over and a granary, and he dares not have silk to wear. The thrifty man has stores hidden in basket and box, and he dares not have a carriage and horses to travel in.
Why is this? It is not that he does not want them. Is it not that he thinks far ahead and looks to what comes after, and fears there will be nothing to carry it on? So he stints his spending and holds back his desires, and gathers and stores to carry it on. This is thinking far ahead and looking to what comes after for his own sake. How is it not very good?
Now those who live meanly and know shallowly do not know even this. They scatter their grain freely and do not look to what comes after, and soon they are spent and blocked. This is why they do not escape freezing and starving, and take up gourd and sack and become gaunt corpses in the ditches.
How much more the way of the former kings, the guiding threads of benevolence and rightness, and the divisions of the Odes, the Documents, the Rites, and the Music. These are of old the great thinking for all under heaven. They think far ahead and look to what comes after for the whole company of the living people, and would keep them through ten thousand ages. Their stream is long, their warmth is thick, their merit is abundant and reaches far off. None but the gentleman who has thoroughly cultivated and done them can know them.
So it is said that a short well-rope cannot draw the spring of a deep well, and with one whose knowing is not near enough a man cannot reach the words of the sage. The divisions of the Odes, the Documents, the Rites, and the Music are of old not what a common man knows.
So it is said: do it once and it can be done again; have it and it can last long; widen it and it can get through; think it over and it can bring rest; turn back and draw it out and look at it, and it becomes the more to be loved. Govern the feelings with it and there is profit. Make a name with it and there is glory. Be in a flock with it and there is harmony. Be alone with it and there is plenty. Is not this what makes the mind glad?
To be honored as the Son of Heaven and rich in all under heaven is what men's feelings alike desire. But if men's desires are simply followed, circumstance cannot hold them and things cannot suffice for them.
So the former kings made ritual and rightness for them and divided them, setting up ranks of honored and lowly, degrees of elder and younger, and divisions of wise and foolish and able and unable, and made every man bear his own task and each get what befits him. After that they made the much and little, the thick and thin, of pay match it. This is the way of dwelling together in flocks in harmony and as one.
So when a benevolent man is above, the farmer spends his strength on the fields, the merchant spends his discernment on goods, the hundred craftsmen spend their skill on tools, and from the scholar-officials up to the dukes and marquises there is none who does not spend benevolence and generosity, knowing and ability, on his office. This is called the utmost evenness.
So one man takes all under heaven as his pay and does not think it much, and another is a gatekeeper, an innkeeper, a keeper of the bar, or a beater of the watchman's clapper, and does not think it little.
So it is said, "Cut, and they are even. Bent, and they follow. Not the same, and yet one." This is called the order of men. The Odes say, "He received the small law and the great law, and became a mighty cover for the states below." This is what is meant.