Follow us on Facebook to receive important updates Follow us on Twitter to receive important updates Follow us on sina.com's microblogging site to receive important updates Follow us on Douban to receive important updates
Chinese Text Project
Simplified Chinese version
Back Forward
Confucianism -> Liji -> Zhong Yong -> 13

The Master said
"The path is not far from man.
When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness,
this course cannot be considered The Path.
In the Book of Poetry, it is said,
'In hewing an ax handle, in hewing an ax handle,
。’ the pattern is not far off.
We grasp one ax handle to hew the other;
and yet, if we look askance from the one to the other,
we may consider them as apart.
君子Therefore, the superior man governs men, according to their nature, with what is proper to them,
and as soon as they change what is wrong, he stops.
When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path.
What you do not like when done to yourself,
do not do to others.
君子 In the way of the superior man there are four things,
to not one of which have I as yet attained.
-To serve my father, as I would require my son to serve me:
to this I have not attained;
to serve my prince as I would require my minister to serve me:
to this I have not attained;
to serve my elder brother as I would require my younger brother to serve me:
to this I have not attained;
to set the example in behaving to a friend, as I would require him to behave to me:
to this I have not attained.
Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues,
and careful in speaking about them,
if, in his practice, he has anything defective,
the superior man dares not but exert himself;
and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.
Thus his words have respect to his actions,
and his actions have respect to his words;
君子 is it not just an entire sincerity which marks the superior man?


Enjoy this site? Please help.Site design and content copyright 2006-2024. When quoting or citing information from this site, please link to the corresponding page or to https://ctext.org/ens. Please note that the use of automatic download software on this site is strictly prohibited, and that users of such software are automatically banned without warning to save bandwidth. 沪ICP备09015720号-3Comments? Suggestions? Please raise them here.