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。
34
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。
35
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。
37
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。
39
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。
41
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。
45
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。
46
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