| | 天下: |
天下之治方術者多矣，皆以其有為不可加矣。古之所謂道術者，果惡乎在？曰：「無乎不在。」曰：「神何由降？明何由出？」「聖有所生，王有所成，皆原於一。」 |
| Tian Xia: |
The methods employed in the regulation of the world are many; and (the employers of them) think each that the efficiency of his own method leaves nothing to be added to it. But where is what was called of old 'the method of the Dao?' We must reply, 'It is everywhere.' But then whence does the spiritual in it come down? and whence does the intelligence in it come forth? There is that which gives birth to the Sage, and that which gives his perfection to the King: the origin of both is the One. |
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不離於宗，謂之天人。不離於精，謂之神人。不離於真，謂之至人。以天為宗，以德為本，以道為門，兆於變化，謂之聖人。以仁為恩，以義為理，以禮為行，以樂為和，薰然慈仁，謂之君子。以法為分，以名為表，以參為驗，以稽為決，其數一二三四是也。百官以此相齒，以事為常，以衣食為主，蕃息畜藏，老弱孤寡為意，皆有以養，民之理也。 |
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Not to be separate from his primal source constitutes what we call the Heavenly man; not to be separate from the essential nature thereof constitutes what we call the Spirit-like man; not to be separate from its real truth constitutes what we call the Perfect man. To regard Heaven as his primal Source, Its Attributes as the Root (of his nature), and the Dao as the Gate (by which he enters into this inheritance), (knowing also) the prognostics given in change and transformation, constitutes what we call the Sagely man. To regard benevolence as (the source of all) kindness, righteousness as (the source of all) distinctions, propriety as (the rule of) all conduct, and music as (the idea of) all harmony, thus diffusing a fragrance of gentleness and goodness, constitutes what we call the Superior man. To regard laws as assigning the different (social) conditions, their names as the outward expression (of the social duties), the comparison of subjects as supplying the grounds of evidence, investigation as conducting to certainty, so that things can be numbered as first, second, third, fourth (and so on): (this is the basis of government). Its hundred offices are thus arranged; business has its regular course; the great matters of clothes and food are provided for; cattle are fattened and looked after; the (government) stores are filled; the old and weak, orphans and solitaries, receive anxious consideration: in all these ways is provision made for the nourishment of the people. |
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古之人其備乎！配神明，醇天地，育萬物，和天下，澤及百姓，明於本數，係於末度，六通四辟，小大精粗，其運無乎不在。其明而在數度者，舊法世傳之史尚多有之。其在於《》、《》、《禮》、《樂》者，鄒、魯之士、搢紳先生多能明之。《》以道志，《》以道事，《禮》以道行，《樂》以道和，《》以道陰陽，《春秋》以道名分。其數散於天下而設於中國者，百家之學時或稱而道之。 |
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How complete was (the operation of the Dao) in the men of old! It made them the equals of spiritual beings, and subtle and all-embracing as heaven and earth. They nourished all things, and produced harmony all under heaven. Their beneficent influence reached to all classes of the people. They understood all fundamental principles, and followed them out to their graduated issues; in all the six directions went their penetration, and in the four quarters all things were open to them. Great and small, fine and coarse - all felt their presence and operation. Their intelligence, as seen in all their regulations, was handed down from age to age in their old laws, and much of it was still to be found in the Historians. What of it was in the Shi, the Shu, the Li, and the Yue, might be learned from the scholars of Zou and Lu, and the girdled members of the various courts. The Shi describes what should be the aim of the mind; the Shu, the course of events; the Li is intended to direct the conduct; the Yue, to set forth harmony; the Yi, to show the action of the Yin and Yang; and the Chun Qiu, to display names and the duties belonging to them. Some of the regulations (of these men of old), scattered all under heaven, and established in our Middle states, are (also) occasionally mentioned and described in the writings of the different schools. |
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天下大亂，賢聖不明，道德不一，天下多得一察焉以自好。譬如耳目鼻口，皆有所明，不能相通。猶百家眾技也，皆有所長，時有所用。雖然，不該不遍，一曲之士也。判天地之美，析萬物之理，察古人之全，寡能備於天地之美，稱神明之容。是故內聖外王之道，闇而不明，鬱而不發，天下之人各為其所欲焉以自為方。悲夫！百家往而不反，必不合矣。後世之學者，不幸不見天地之純，古人之大體，道術將為天下裂。 |
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There ensued great disorder in the world, and sages and worthies no longer shed their light on it. The Dao and its characteristics ceased to be regarded as uniform. Many in different places got one glimpse of it, and plumed themselves on possessing it as a whole. They might be compared to the ear, the eye, the nose, or the mouth. Each sense has its own faculty, but their different faculties cannot be interchanged. So it was with the many branches of the various schools. Each had its peculiar excellence, and there was the time for the use of it; but notwithstanding no one covered or extended over the whole (range of truth). The case was that of the scholar of a corner who passes his judgment on all the beautiful in heaven and earth, discriminates the principles that underlie all things, and attempts to estimate the success arrived at by the ancients. Seldom is it that such an one can embrace all the beautiful in heaven and earth, or rightly estimate the ways of the spiritual and intelligent; and thus it was that the Dao, which inwardly forms the sage and externally the king, became obscured and lost its clearness, became repressed and lost its development. Every one in the world did whatever he wished, and was the rule to himself. Alas! the various schools held on their several ways, and could not come back to the same point, nor agree together. The students of that later age unfortunately did not see the undivided purity of heaven and earth, and the great scheme of truth held by the ancients. The system of the Dao was about to be torn in fragments all under a the sky. |
