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世俗之人，皆喜人之同乎己，而恶人之异于己也。同于己而欲之、异于己而不欲者，以出乎众为心也。夫以出于众为心者，曷尝出乎众哉！因众以宁所闻，不如众技众矣。而欲为人之国者，此揽乎三王之利，而不见其患者也。此以人之国侥幸也，几何侥幸而不丧人之国乎！其存人之国也，无万分之一；而丧人之国也，一不成而万有馀丧矣。悲夫！有土者之不知也！ |
| Letting Be, and Exercising...: |
The ordinary men of the world all rejoice in men's agreeing with themselves, and dislike men's being different from themselves. This rejoicing and this dislike arise from their being bent on making themselves distinguished above all others. But have they who have this object at heart so risen out above all others? They depend on them to rest quietly (in the position which they desire), and their knowledge is not equal to the multitude of the arts of all those others! When they wish again to administer a state for its ruler, they proceed to employ all the methods which the kings of the three dynasties considered profitable without seeing the evils of such a course. This is to make the state depend on the peradventure of their luck. But how seldom it is that that peradventure does not issue in the ruin of the state! Not once in ten thousand instances will such men preserve a state. Not once will they succeed, and in more than ten thousand cases will they ruin it. Alas that the possessors of territory (the rulers of states) should not know the danger (of employing such men)! |
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夫有土者，有大物也。有大物者，不可以物物；而不物，故能物物。明乎物物者之非物也，岂独治天下百姓而已哉！出入六合，游乎九州，独往独来，是谓独有。独有之人，是谓至贵。 |
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Now the possessors of territory possess the greatest of (all) things. Possessing the greatest of all things (possessing, that is, men) they should not try to deal with them as (simply) things. And it is he who is not a thing (himself) that is therefore able to deal with (all) things as they severally require. When (a ruler) clearly understands that he who should so deal with all things is not a thing himself, will he only rule the kingdom? He will go out and in throughout the universe (at his pleasure); he will roam over the nine regions, alone in going, alone in coming. Him we call the sole possessor (of this ability); and the sole possessor (of this ability) is what is called the noblest of all. |
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大人之教，若形之于影，声之于响。有问而应之，尽其所怀，为天下配。处乎无响，行乎无方。挈汝适复之挠挠，以游无端，出入无旁，与日无始，颂论形躯，合乎大同，大同而无己。无己，恶乎得有有！睹有者，昔之君子；睹无者，天地之友。 |
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The teaching of (this) great man goes forth as the shadow from the substance, as the echo responds to the sound. When questioned, he responds, exhausting (from his own stores) all that is in the (enquirer's) mind, as if front to front with all under heaven. His resting-place gives forth no sound; his sphere of activity has no restriction of place, He conducts every one to his proper goal, proceeding to it and bringing him back to it as by his own movement. His movements have no trace; his going forth and his re-enterings have no deviation; his course is like that of the sun without beginning (or ending). If you would praise or discourse about his personality, he is united with the great community of existences. He belongs to that great community, and has no individual self. Having no individual self, how should he have anything that can be called his? If you look at those who have what they call their own, they are the superior men of former times; if you look at him who has nothing of the kind, he is the friend of heaven and earth. |
