Yangzi Fayan : The Seldom Seen - Chinese Text Project

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Pre-Qin and Han -> Confucianism -> Yangzi Fayan -> The Seldom Seen

《寡見卷第七 - The Seldom Seen》

English translation: Jeffrey S. Bullock ^[?]

Library Resources

1 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	吾寡見人之好假者也。邇文之視，邇言之聽，假則偭焉。或曰：「曷若茲之甚也？先王之道滿門。」曰：「不得已也，得已則已矣。得已而不已者，寡哉！」
	The Seldom Seen:	I have seldom seen people who love the distant past. Reading recent literature, hearing recent speech, people turn their backs on the past. Someone said: How can the situation be that serious? The gates of those who teach the dao of the former kings are filled with students. Yangzi said: That is because they cannot avoid it. If they could, they would. Those who could avoid doing it and yet would not, how few they are!
2 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	好盡其心於聖人之道者，君子也。人亦有好盡其心矣，未必聖人之道也。
	The Seldom Seen:	He who loves to exhaust his xin in the sage's dao is a junzi. Other people also love to exhaust their xin, but not necessarily in the sage's dao.
3 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	多聞見而識乎至道者，至識也。多聞見而識乎邪道者，迷識也。
	The Seldom Seen:	Hearing and seeing much, and basing one's knowledge on the correct dao — this is the height of knowledge. Hearing and seeing much, but basing one's knowledge on a crooked dao, this is confusion.
4 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	如賢人謀之，美也，詘人而從道。如小人謀之，不美也，詘道而從人。
	The Seldom Seen:	The beauty in a worthy man's plans lies in bending what is human to follow the Dao. The imperfection in a small man's plans lies in bending the Dao to what is human.
5 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	或問：「五經有辯乎？」曰：「惟五經為辯。說天者莫辯乎《易》，說事者莫辯乎《書》，說體者莫辯乎《禮》，說志者莫辯乎《詩》，說理者莫辯乎《春秋》。舍斯，辯亦小矣。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone asked: Do the Five Classics have explications? Yangzi said: Only the Five Classics truly are explications. For discussing Heaven, there is no explication better than the Yijing. For discussing affairs, there is no explication better than the Book of Documents. For discussing li, there is no explication better than the Liji. For discussing the heart's intention, there is no explication [better than] the Shijing. For discussing universal principle, there is no explication better than the Spring and Autumn Annals. Excluding these, all other explications are trifling indeed.
6 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	春木之芚兮，援我手之鶉兮。去之五百歲，其人若存兮。或曰：「譊譊者天下皆說也，奚其存？」曰：「曼是為也，天下之亡聖也久矣。呱呱之子、各識其親；譊譊之學，各習其師。精而精之，是在其中矣！」
	The Seldom Seen:	Like trees sprouting in spring, great is the hand that leads me on! Although Confucius died five hundred years ago, it is as if he were still here. Someone said: All under Heaven unceasingly bicker and make persuasions. Where is he now? Yangzi said: Do not talk like that! The world has been without the sage for a long time. Just as crying children only recognize their own mother, those unceasingly bickering Confucian scholars study only their own teachers. Single-mindedly concentrate on the essentials, Confucius lies therein.
7 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	或曰：「良玉不雕，美言不文，何謂也？」曰：「玉不雕，璵璠不作器。言不文，典謨不作經。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: "Excellent jade need not be carved, and beautiful words need not be refined." What would you say about that? Yangzi said: If jade were not carved, then yufan could not be made into implements. If their speech were not refined, the Yaodian and Gao Yao mo could not have become classics.
8 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	或問：「司馬子長有言，曰五經不如《老子》之約也，當年不能極其變，終身不能究其業。」曰：「若是則周公惑，孔子賊。古者之學耕且養，三年通一。今之學也，非獨為之華藻也，又從而繡其鞶帨，惡在其《老》不《老》也。」或曰：「學者之說可約邪？」曰：「可約解科。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: Sima Qian said that the Five Classics are not as concise as the Laozi. In one's whole life one could not exhaust their variations, and until one's death, one could not fully examine their content. Yangzi said: If this were so, then the Duke of Zhou and Confucius merely confused and harmed later generations. When people studied in the past, they still had to plow the land and support themselves, yet within three years they could penetrate one text. As for people studying today, not only do they ornament the Classics with flowery [commentary], they also proceed to embroider their belts and the carrying cases for the texts. What does this have to do with the Laozi? The other said: Can the commentaries of the scholars be made more concise? Yangzi said: They could be condensed, explained and put in order.
9 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	或曰：「君子聽聲乎？」曰：「君子惟正之聽；荒乎淫，拂乎正，沈而樂者，君子不聽也。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: Does the junzi listen to music? Yangzi said: The junzi only listens to it if it is correct. If it is wild in its excess, is opposed to the correct, or submerges one in pleasure, then the junzi does not listen.
10 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	或問：「侍君子以博乎？」曰：「侍坐則聽言，有酒則觀禮。焉事博乎？」或曰：「不有博弈者乎？」曰：「為之猶賢於已耳。侍君子者賢於已乎？君子不可得而侍也。侍君子，晦斯光，窒斯通，亡斯有，辱斯榮，敗斯成。如之何賢於已也。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone asked: Does one attend the junzi by playing chess? Yangzi said: When sitting in attendance on the junzi, one listens to him talk; if there is a feast, then one observes him perform ritual. How could he engage in playing chess? The other quoted the Lunyu: "Then there are the chess players, are there not?" Yangzi said: "Playing chess is better than doing nothing." But is attending the junzi merely "better than doing nothing?" One cannot attend a junzi in this way. When you sit in attendance on a junzi: darkness becomes enlightened; obstructions become penetrated; lacking becomes having; disgrace becomes honor; failure becomes success. How is this merely "better than doing nothing?"
11 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	鷦明沖天，不在六翮乎？拔而傅尸鳩，其累矣夫。
	The Seldom Seen:	The jiao ming bird soars to Heaven—is it not because of the six shafts of his feathers? But if you plucked them out and attached them to the cuckoo, would they not be burdensome?
12 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	雷震乎天，風薄乎山，雲徂乎方，雨流乎淵，其事矣乎？
	The Seldom Seen:	Thunder shaking in the sky, Wind pressing near the mountains, Clouds blowing to the four corners of the Earth, Rain flowing into the hollows— Are these not Tian' s affairs?
13 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	魏武侯與吳起浮於西河，寶河山之固。起曰：「在德不在固。」曰：「美哉言乎！使起之固兵每如斯，則太公何以加諸？」
	The Seldom Seen:	Wei Wuhou and Wu Qi were sailing on the West River, praising the strategic defensibility of the river and mountains. Wu Qi said: "The fate of the kingdom lies in the de of the ruler, not in the strategic defensibility of the pass." Yangzi said: What perfect words! If Qi's employment of strategy and troops were always like this, then how could even Tai Gong have surpassed him?
14 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	或問：「周寶九鼎，寶乎？」曰：「器寶也。器寶，待人而後寶。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone asked: The Zhou prized the nine cauldrons. Were they not treasures? Yangzi said: They were precious among vessels. But such vessel-treasures depend on the people who use them. Only then can they truly become treasures.
15 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	齊桓、晉文以下，至於秦兼，其無觀已。或曰：「秦無觀，奚其兼？」曰：「所謂觀，觀德也。如觀兵，開辟以來，未有秦也。」
	The Seldom Seen:	From the time of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin down to the Qin unification, there was nobody worthy of admiration. Someone said: If the Qin lacked anyone worthy of admiration, then how did they unify the empire? Yangzi said: What I refer to by "admiring" is admiring de. If you admire warfare, then since the beginning of creation, there have been none like the Qin.
16 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	或問：「魯用儒而削，何也？」曰：「魯不用儒也。昔在姬公用於周而四海皇皇，奠枕於京。孔子用於魯，齊人章章，歸其侵疆。魯不用真儒故也。如用真儒，無敵於天下，安得削？」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone asked: The state of Lu employed ru and was cut down to size. Why? Yangzi said: Lu did not employ true ru. In the past, the Duke of Zhou was appointed by the Zhou court, all with the four seas anxiously rushed to the capital to pay their respects. When Confucius was employed by Lu, the men of Qi trembled with fear and returned the territory they had invaded in Lu. Thus, we know Lu did not otherwise employ true ru. If Lu had employed true ru, they would not have had any enemies in the world. How could they have been cut down to size?
17 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	灝灝之海，濟，樓航之力也。航人無楫，如航何？
	The Seldom Seen:	To cross the vast ocean, one needs the strength of a large storied boat. But if the boatman does not have an oar, how will he drive it?
18 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	或曰：「奔壘之車，沈流之航，可乎？」曰：「否。」或曰：「焉用智？」曰：「用智於未奔沈。大寒而後索衣裘，不亦晚乎？」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: Can chariots that have been destroyed in front of ramparts or boats that have been sunk be saved? Yangzi said: No. The other said: Then of what use is wisdom? Yangzi said: Use wisdom before the destruction and sinking. Waiting until a severe frost to seek robes and furs, is that not indeed too late?
19 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	乘國者，其如乘航乎？航安，則人斯安矣。
	The Seldom Seen:	Ruling a kingdom is like sailing a boat! If the boat is settled, then the people are settled.
20 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	惠以厚下，民忘其死。忠以衛上，君念其賞。自後者，人先之。自下者，人高之。誠哉，是言也！
	The Seldom Seen:	If you show kindheartedness by being generous to those below, the people will forget about death. If you show loyalty by protecting those above, the ruler's thoughts will be on rewards. As for those who put themselves last, others put them first. As for those who put themselves below others, others raise them up. How true these words are!
21 Jump to dictionary Related discussion	寡見卷第... :	或曰：「弘羊榷利而國用足，盍榷諸？」曰：「譬諸父子，為其父而榷其子，縱利，如子何？蔔式之云，不亦匡乎！」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: Sang Hongyang instituted special monopolies on salt and iron that were profitable, and the kingdom's expenditures were abundant. Why not institute special monopolies now? Yangzi said: Compare it to a father and son. For the benefit of the father, you institute monopolies against the son. But even if there is a profit for the father, what about the son? As for what Bu Shi said, is it not correct indeed?
22 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	或曰：「因秦之法，清而行之，亦可以致平乎？」曰：「譬諸琴瑟鄭、衛調，俾夔因之，亦不可以致蕭韶矣。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: If one accorded with the laws of the Qin, made them clear and practiced them, would it not result in peace? Yangzi said: It can be compared to the zither and the harp. If you took Zheng and Wei's melodies and made music master Kui accord with them, he surely never would have produced the Xiaoshao music.
23 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	或問：「處秦之世，抱周之書，益乎？」曰：「舉世寒，貂狐不亦燠乎？」或曰：「炎之以火，沃之以湯，燠亦燠矣！」曰：「燠哉！燠哉！時亦有寒者矣。」
	The Seldom Seen:	Someone said: If one lived under the Qin and embraced the Zhou's books—What benefit would that have been? Yangzi said: If the whole world were cold, would mink and fox furs not indeed be warm? The other said: Whether you burn with fire or scald with boiling water, warm is still warm. Yangzi said: Warm indeed! But that age was surely a cold one!
24 Jump to dictionary Show parallel passages	寡見卷第... :	非其時而望之，非其道而行之，亦不可以至矣。
	The Seldom Seen:	Looking for it at the wrong time, Travelling the wrong road— Indeed, one will never reach it.
25 Jump to dictionary	寡見卷第... :	秦之有司，負秦之法度；秦之法度，負聖人之法度。秦弘違天地之道，而天地違秦亦弘矣。
	The Seldom Seen:	The Qin's own officials turned their backs Qin law, just as Qin law turned its back the sage's law. The Qin completely disregarded the Dao of Heaven and Earth, and in the end Heaven and Earth indeed completely disregarded the Qin.

URN: ctp:yangzi-fayan/juan-qi