1
A ligament uniting the big toe with the other toes and an extra
finger may be natural growths, but they are more than is good
for use. Excrescences on the person and hanging tumours are
growths from the body, but they are unnatural additions to it.
There are many arts of benevolence and righteousness, and the
exercise of them is distributed among the five viscera; but this
is not the correct method according to the characteristics of
the Tâo. Thus it is that the addition to the foot is but the
attachment to it of so much useless flesh, and the addition to
the hand is but the planting on it of a useless finger. (So it
is that) the connecting (the virtues) with the five viscera
renders, by excess or restraint, the action of benevolence and
righteousness bad, and leads to many arts as in the employment
of (great) powers of hearing or of vision.
2
Therefore an extraordinary power of vision leads to the
confusion of the five colours and an excessive use of ornament.
(Its possessor), in the resplendence of his green and yellow,
white and black, black and green, will not stop till he has
become a Lî Kû. An extraordinary power of hearing leads to a
confusion of the five notes, and an excessive use of the six
musical accords. (Its possessor), in bringing out the tones from
the instruments of metal, stone, silk, and bamboo, aided by the
Hwang-kung and Tâ-lü (tubes), will not stop till he has become a
Shih Khwang. (So), excessive benevolence eagerly brings out
virtues and restrains its (proper) nature, that (its possessor)
may acquire a famous reputation, and cause all the organs and
drums in the world to celebrate an unattainable condition; and
he will not stop till he has become a Zäng (Shän) or a Shih (Zhiû).
An extraordinary faculty in debating leads to the piling up of
arguments like a builder with his bricks, or a net-maker with
his string. (Its possessor) cunningly contrives his sentences
and enjoys himself in discussing what hardness is and what
whiteness is, where views agree and where they differ, and
pressing on, though weary, with short steps, with (a multitude
of) useless words to make good his opinion; nor will he stop
till he has become a Yang (Kû) or Mo (Tî). But in all these
cases the parties, with their redundant and divergent methods,
do not proceed by that which is the correct path for all under
the sky. That which is the perfectly correct path is not to lose
the real character of the nature with which we are endowed.
Hence the union (of parts) should not be considered redundance,
nor their divergence superfluity; what is long should not be
considered too long, nor what is short too short. A duck's legs,
for instance, are short, but if we try to lengthen them, it
occasions pain; and a crane's legs are long, but if we try to
cut off a portion of them, it produces grief. Where a part is by
nature long, we are not to amputate, or where it is by nature
short, we are not to lengthen it. There is no occasion to try to
remove any trouble that it may cause.
3
The presumption is that benevolence and righteousness are not
constituents of humanity; for to how much anxiety does the
exercise of them give rise! Moreover when another toe is united
to the great toe, to divide the membrane makes you weep; and
when there is an extra finger, to gnaw it off makes you cry out.
In the one case there is a member too many, and in the other a
member too few; but the anxiety and pain which they cause is the
same. The benevolent men of the present age look at the evils of
the world, as with eyes full of dust, and are filled with sorrow
by them, while those who are not benevolent, having violently
altered the character of their proper nature, greedily pursue
after riches and honours. The presumption therefore is that
benevolence and righteousness are contrary to the nature of man:-how
full of trouble and contention has the world been ever since the
three dynasties began!
And moreover, in employing the hook and line, the compass and
square, to give things their correct form you must cut away
portions of what naturally belongs to them; in employing strings
and fastenings, glue and varnish to make things firm, you must
violently interfere with their qualities. The bendings and
stoppings in ceremonies and music, and the factitious expression
in the countenance of benevolence and righteousness, in order to
comfort the minds of men:--these all show a failure in observing
the regular principles (of the human constitution). All men are
furnished with such regular principles; and according to them
what is bent is not made so by the hook, nor what is straight by
the line, nor what is round by the compass, nor what is square
by the carpenter's square. Nor is adhesion effected by the use
of glue and varnish, nor are things bound together by means of
strings and bands. Thus it is that all in the world are produced
what they are by a certain guidance, while they do not know how
they are produced so; and they equally attain their several ends
while they do not know how it is that they do so. Anciently it
was so, and it is so now; and this constitution of things should
not be made of none effect. Why then should benevolence and
righteousness be employed as connecting (links), or as glue and
varnish, strings and bands, and the enjoyment arising from the
Tâo and its characteristics be attributed to them?--it is a
deception practised upon the world. Where the deception is small,
there will be a change in the direction (of the objects pursued);
where it is great, there will be a change of the nature itself.
How do I know that it is so? Since he of the line of Yü called
in his benevolence and righteousness to distort and vex the
world, the world has not ceased to hurry about to execute their
commands;--has not this been by means of benevolence and
righteousness to change (men's views) of their nature?
4
I will therefore try and discuss this matter. From the
commencement of the three dynasties downwards, nowhere has there
been a man who has not under (the influence of external) things
altered (the course of) his nature. Small men for the sake of
gain have sacrificed their persons; scholars for the sake of
fame have done so; great officers, for the sake of their
families; and sagely men, for the sake of the kingdom. These
several classes, with different occupations, and different
reputations, have agreed in doing injury to their nature and
sacrificing their persons. Take the case of a male and female
slave;--they have to feed the sheep together, but they both lose
their sheep. Ask the one what he was doing, and you will find
that he was holding his bamboo tablets and reading. Ask the
other, and you will find that she was amusing herself with some
game. They were differently occupied, but they equally lose
their sheep. (So), Po-î died at the foot of Shâu-yang to
maintain his fame, and the robber Kih died on the top of Tung-ling
in his eagerness for gain. Their deaths were occasioned by
different causes, but they equally shortened their lives and did
violence to their nature;--why must we approve of Po-î, and
condemn the robber Kih? In cases of such sacrifice all over the
world, when one makes it for the sake of benevolence and
righteousness, the common people style him 'a superior man,' but
when another does it for the sake of goods and riches, they
style him 'a small man.' The action of sacrificing is the same,
and yet we have 'the superior man' and 'the small man!' In the
matter of destroying his life, and doing injury to his nature,
the robber Kih simply did the same as Po-î;-why must we make the
distinction of 'superior man' and 'small man' between them?
5
Moreover, those who devote their nature to (the pursuit) of
benevolence and righteousness, though they should attain to be
like Zäng (Shän) and Shih (Zhiû), I do not pronounce to be good;
those who devote it to (the study of) the five flavours, though
they attain to be like Shû-r, I do not pronounce to be good;
those who devote it to the (discrimination of the) five notes,
though they attain to be like Shih Khwang, I do not pronounce to
be quick of hearing; those who devote it to the (appreciation of
the) five colours, though they attain to be like Lî Kû, I do not
pronounce to be clear of vision. When I pronounce men to be good,
I am not speaking of their benevolence and righteousness;--the
goodness is simply (their possession of) the qualities (of the
Tâo). When I pronounce them to be good, I am not speaking of
what are called benevolence and righteousness; but simply of
their allowing the nature with which they are endowed to have
its free course. When I pronounce men to be quick of hearing, I
do not mean that they hearken to anything else, but that they
hearken to themselves; when I pronounce them to be clear of
vision, I do not mean that they look to anything else, but that
they look to themselves. Now those who do not see themselves but
see other things, who do not get possession of themselves but
get possession of other things, get possession of what belongs
to others, and not of what is their own; and they reach forth to
what attracts others, and not to that in themselves which should
attract them. But thus reaching forth to what attracts others
and not to what should attract them in themselves, be they like
the robber Kih or like Po-î, they equally err in the way of
excess or of perversity. What I am ashamed of is erring in the
characteristics of the Tâo, and therefore, in the higher sphere,
I do not dare to insist on the practice of benevolence and
righteousness, and, in the lower, I do not dare to allow myself
either in the exercise of excess or perversity. |