第 52 节
作者:九米      更新:2021-02-19 21:28      字数:8814
  32
  Existence is infinite; not to be defined;
  And; though it seem but a bit of wood in your hand; to carve as you please;
  It is not to be lightly played with and laid down。
  When rulers adhered to the way of life;
  They were upheld by natural loyalty:
  Heaven and earth were joined and made fertile;
  Life was a freshness of rain;
  Subject to none;
  Free to all。
  But men of culture came; with their grades and their distinctions;
  And as soon as such differences had been devised
  No one knew where to end them;
  Though the one who does know the end of all such differences
  Is the sound man:
  Existence
  Might be likened to the course
  Of many rivers reaching the one sea。
  33
  Knowledge studies others;
  Wisdom is self…known;
  Muscle masters brothers;
  Self…mastery is bone;
  Content need never borrow;
  Ambition wanders blind:
  Vitality cleaves to the marrow
  Leaving death behind。
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  Bountiful life; letting anyone attend;
  Making no distinction between left or right。
  Feeding everyone; refusing no one;
  Has not provided this bounty to show how much it owns;
  Has not fed and clad its guests with any thought of claim;
  And; because it lacks the twist
  Of mind or body in what it has done;
  The guile of head or hands;
  Is not always respected by a guest。
  Others appreciate welcome from the perfect host
  Who; barely appearing to exist;
  Exists the most。
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  If the sign of life is in your face
  He who responds to it
  Will feel secure and fit
  As when; in a friendly place;
  Sure of hearty care;
  A traveler gladly waits。
  Though it may not taste like food
  And he may not see the fare
  Or hear a sound of plates;
  How endless it is and how good!
  36
  He who feels punctured
  Must once have been a bubble;
  He who feels unarmed
  Must have carried arms;
  He who feels belittled
  Must have been consequential;
  He who feel5 deprived
  Must have had privilege;
  Whereas a man with insight
  Knows that to keep under is to endure。
  What happens to a fish pulled out of a pond?
  Or to an implement of state pulled out of a scabbard?
  Unseen; they survive。
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  The way to use life is to do nothing through acting;
  The way to use life is to do everything through being。
  When a leader knows this;
  His land naturally goes straight。
  And the world's passion to stray from straightness
  Is checked at the core
  By the simple unnamable cleanness
  Through which men cease from coveting;
  And to a land where men cease from coveting
  Peace comes of course。
  38
  A man of sure fitness; without making a point of his fitness;
  Stays fit;
  A man of unsure fitness; assuming an appearance of fitness;
  Becomes unfit。
  The man of sure fitness never makes an act of it
  Nor considers what it may profit him;
  The man of unsure fitness makes an act of it
  And considers what it may profit him。
  However a man with a kind heart proceed;
  He forgets what it may profit him;
  However a man with a just mind proceed;
  He remembers what it may profit him;
  However a man of conventional conduct proceed; if he be not complied with
  Out goes his fist to enforce compliance。
  Here is what happens:
  Losing the way of life; men rely first on their fitness;
  Losing fitness; they turn to kindness;
  Losing kindness; they turn to justness;
  Losing justness; they turn to convention。
  Conventions are fealty and honesty gone to waste;
  They are the entrance of disorder。
  False teachers of life use flowery words
  And start nonsense。
  The man of stamina stays with the root
  Below the tapering;
  Stays with the fruit
  Beyond the flowering:
  He has his no and he has his yes。
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  The wholeness of life has; from of old; been made manifest in its parts:
  Clarity has been made manifest in heaven;
  Firmness in earth;
  Purity in the spirit;
  In the valley conception;
  In the river procreation;
  And so in a leader ate the people made manifest
  For wholeness of use。
  But for clarity heaven would be veiled;
  But for firmness earth would have crumbled;
  But for purity spirit would have fumbled;
  But for conception the valley would have failed;
  But for procreation the river have run dry;
  So; save for the people; a leader shall die:
  Always the low carry the high
  On a root for growing by。
  What can stand lofty with no low foundation?
  No wonder leaders of a land profess
  Their stature and their station
  To be servitude and lowliness!
  If rim and spoke and hub were not;
  Where would be the chariot?
  Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if
  He once has heard stone growing in a cliff!
  40
  Life on its way returns into a mist;
  Its quickness is its quietness again:
  Existence of this world of things and men
  Renews their never needing to exist。
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  Men of stamina; knowing the way of life;
  Steadily keep to it;
  Unstable men; knowing the way of life;
  Keep to it or not according to occasion;
  Stupid men; knowing the way of life
  And having once laughed at it; laugh again the louder。
  If you need to be sure which way is right; you can tell by their laughing at it。
  They fling the old charges:
  'A wick without oil;'
  'For every step forward a step or two back。'
  To such laughers a level road looks steep;
  Top seems bottom;
  'White appears black;
  'Enough is a lack;'
  Endurance is a weakness;
  Simplicity a faded flower。
  But eternity is his who goes straight round the circle;
  Foundation is his who can feel beyond touch;
  Harmony is his who can hear beyond sound;
  Pattern is his who can see beyond shape:
  Life is his who can tell beyond words
  Fulfillment of the unfulfilled。
  42
  Life; when it came to be;
  Bore one; then two; then three
  Elements of things;
  And thus the three began
  …Heaven and earth and man…
  To balance happenings:
  Cool night behind; warm day ahead;
  For the living; for the dead。
  Though a commoner be loth to say
  That he is only common clay;
  Kings and princes often state
  How humbly they are leading;
  Because in true succeeding
  High and low correlate。
  It is an ancient thought;
  Which many men have taught;
  That he who over…reaches
  And tries to live by force
  Shall die thereby of course;
  And is what my own heart teaches。
  43
  As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone;
  So to yield with life solves the insoluble:
  To yield; I have learned; is to come back again。
  But this unworded lesson;
  This easy example;
  Is lost upon men。
  44
  Which means more to you;
  You or your renown?
  Which brings more to you;
  You or what you own?
  And which would cost you more
  If it were gone?
  The niggard pays;
  The miser loses。
  The least ashamed of men
  Goes back if he chooses:
  He knows both ways;
  He starts again。
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  A man's work; however finished it seem;
  Continues as long as he live;
  A man; however perfect he seem;
  Is needed as long as he live:
  As long as truth appears falsity;
  The seer a fool;
  The prophet a dumb lout;
  If you want to keep warm keep stirring about;
  Keep still if you want to keep cool;
  And in all the world one day no doubt
  Your way shall be the rule。
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  In a land where the way of life is understood
  Race…horses are led back to serve the field;
  In a land where the way of life is not understood
  War…horses are bred on the autumn yield。
  Owning is the entanglement;
  Wanting is the bewilderment;
  Taking is the presentiment:
  Only he who contains content
  Remains content。
  47
  There is no need to run outside
  For better seeing;
  Nor to peer from a window。 Rather abide
  At the center of your being;
  For the more you leave it; the less you learn。
  Search your heart and see
  If he is wise who takes each turn:
  The way to do is to be。
  48
  A man anxious for knowledge adds more to himself every minute;
  A man acquiring life loses himself in it;
  Has less and less to bear in mind;
  Less and less to do;
  Because life; he finds; is well inclined;
  Including himself too。
  Often a man sways the world like a wind
  But not by deed;
  And if there appear to you to be need
  Of motion to sway it; it has left you behind。
  49
  A sound man's heart is not shut within itself
  But is open to other people's hearts:
  I find good people good;
  And I find bad people good
  If l am good enough;
  I trust men of their word;
  And I trust liars
  If I am true enough;
  I feel the heart…heats of others
  Above my own
  If I am enough of a father;
  Enough