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Daoism -> Zhuangzi -> Miscellaneous Chapters -> Kings who have wished to resign the Throne -> 6

Hence it is said,
'The true object of the Dao is the regulation of the person.
Quite subordinate to this is its use in the management of the state and the clan;
天下 while the government of the kingdom is but the dust and refuse of it.'
From this we may see
that the services of the Dis and Kings
聖人 are but a surplusage of the work of the sages,
and do not contribute to complete the person or nourish the life.
君子Yet the superior men of the present age
will, most of them, throw away their lives for the sake of their persons, in pursuing their (material) objects
- is it not cause for grief?
聖人 Whenever a sage is initiating any movement,
he is sure to examine the motive which influences him,
and what he is about to do.
Here, however, is a man,
who uses a pearl like that of the marquis of Sui to shoot a bird at a distance of 10,000 feet.
All men will laugh at him;
and why?
Because the thing which he uses is of great value, and what he wishes to get is of little.
And is not life of more value than the pearl of the marquis of Sui?


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