The Good Book (27 page)

10. ‘To the mind belongs the office of thinking. By thinking, it gets the right view of things; by neglecting to think, it fails to do this.

11. ‘These – the senses and the mind – are our best possession. Let a man first stand fast in the supremacy of the nobler part of his constitution,

12. ‘And the inferior part will not be able to take it from him. It is simply this which makes the great man.’

Chapter 12

  1. The master was asked, ‘Since you say the will is chief and the natural passions are subordinate,

  2. ‘How can we keep the will firm without doing violence to our natural passions?’      

  3. The master replied, ‘When the will alone is active, it moves the passions. When passions alone are active, they move the will.

  4. ‘Natural passions are great, and exceedingly strong. If nourished by rectitude, they are the helpmates and assistants of rightness and reason.

  5. ‘Natural passions are directed by the accumulation of right deeds; this is not obtained by accidental acts of rightness.

  6. ‘There must be a constant practice of rightness
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Yet let us not be like the farmer who grieved that his growing corn was not higher, and therefore tried to pull it longer;

  7. ‘Returning home he said, “I am tired today. I have been helping the corn to grow long.”

  8. ‘His son ran to look at the field and found the corn broken and withered.

  9. ‘There are few in the world who do not deal with their passions as if they were assisting the corn to grow long.

10. ‘What they do is not only of no benefit to the passions, but injures them.

11. ‘Others make the opposite mistake and consider the passions of no benefit, and let them alone; they do not weed their corn.

12. ‘We must learn that the passions directed by reason can be part of our better selves, and must be allowed their due, but in proportion to rightness and benevolence.’

Chapter 13

  1. The master said, ‘What distinguishes the superior man from others is what he preserves in his heart: namely, benevolence and a sense of the right.

  2. ‘The benevolent man loves others. The man of rightness shows respect to others.

  3. ‘He who loves others is more often loved by them than he who hates them.

  4. ‘He who respects others is more often respected in return than is the disrespectful man.    

  5. ‘Consider: here is a man who treats another in a perverse and unreasonable manner.

  6. ‘The superior man in such a case will say, “I must have been wanting in benevolence; I must have been wanting in propriety: how should this have happened otherwise?”

  7. ‘He examines himself, and is especially benevolent. He turns to consider himself, and is especially observant of propriety.

  8. ‘Suppose the perversity and unreasonableness of the other, however, remain the same.

  9. ‘The superior man will again rebuke himself: “I must have been failing to do my utmost.”

10. ‘Not often has there been anyone of complete sincerity who failed to move others.

11. ‘Not often has there been one who lacked sincerity who was often able to move others.

12. ‘The great man is he who does not lose a child’s heart, the original good heart with which every man is born.’

13. A disciple said, ‘Your principles are lofty and admirable, but learning them may well be likened to climbing on the clouds – something which cannot be achieved.

14. ‘Why not adapt your teachings so that those who wish to follow them can consider them attainable, and so daily exert themselves?’    

15. The master said, ‘A great artificer does not, for the sake of a stupid workman, alter or do away with the marking line.

16. ‘A skilled instructor of archery does not, for the sake of an inept archer, change his rule for drawing the bow.    

17. ‘The superior man draws the bow, but does not discharge the arrow. Such is his standing exactly in the middle of the right path.

18. ‘Those who are able to follow him will follow him.’

Chapter 14

  1. The master said, ‘The superior man gives thoughtful consideration to nine things.

  2. ‘In regard to the use of his eyes, he wishes to see clearly.

  3. ‘In regard to the use of his ears, he wishes to hear distinctly.

  4. ‘In regard to his attitude towards others, he is keen to be benign.

  5. ‘In regard to his prevailing mood, he wishes it to be calm.

  6. ‘In regard to his speech, he is keen that it should be sincere.

  7. ‘In regard to his conduct of business, he is keen that it should be scrupulous.

  8. ‘In regard to his doubts, he is keen to question others.

  9. ‘In regard to what angers him, he is careful to consider the difficulties that might flow from expressing anger, and meditates a better course in response.

10. ‘In regard to being offered the chance of material gains, he first thinks of honesty.’

11. The master said, ‘To contemplate good, and to pursue it as if it could not be reached;

12. ‘To contemplate evil, and to shrink from it as one would shrink from putting one’s hand in boiling water;

13. ‘These I have seen in the best men, and approved.’

14. The master said, ‘By nature people are very much alike. By practice, they diverge widely apart.

15. ‘Only the wisest of the highest class and the stupidest of the lowest class cannot be changed, or diverted from their path.’

16. The master was asked what constitutes perfect virtue.

17. He said, ‘Generosity, sincerity, earnestness and kindness: these together constitute perfect virtue.

18. ‘It is said, “If a thing is really hard, it cannot be ground into thinness. If a thing is really white, it will not darken when steeped in dye.”’

Chapter 15

  1. The master said, ‘There are six becloudings. The first is to love benevolence without love of learning: this leads to foolish simplicity.

  2. ‘The second is to love knowing without love of learning: this leads to thoughtlessness.

  3. ‘The third is to love sincerity without love of learning: this leads to disregard of consequences.

  4. ‘The fourth is to love straightforwardness without love of learning: this leads to insolence.

  5. ‘The fifth is to love boldness without love of learning: this leads to quarrelsomeness.

  6. ‘The sixth is to love firmness without love of learning: this leads to extravagance.’

Chapter 16

  1. The master urged his pupils to study poetry. ‘For,’ he said, ‘it stimulates the mind, prompts self-contemplation,

  2. ‘Encourages sociability, distils the experience of refined minds, and teaches about the world.’

  3. He said, ‘Not to read poetry is to stand with one’s face to the wall.

  4. ‘He who, from day to day, does not forget what he has yet to learn,

  5. ‘And from month to month does not forget what he has yet to attain to, may indeed be said to love learning.’

Chapter 17

  1. The master said, ‘The superior man learns in order to reach the utmost of his principles.

  2. ‘The officer, having discharged his duties, should apply himself to learning,

  3. ‘The scholar, having completed his learning, should apply himself to be an officer.

  4. ‘The faults of the great are like eclipses of the sun and moon.

  5. ‘All men see them; when they occur, all look up and take note of them.’

  6. His pupils said of the master, ‘He is like a house with towering walls.

  7. ‘If one find not the door to enter thereby, the treasures within are hidden from view.

  8. ‘To be admitted, one must be invited. Once invited, a pupil may contemplate the treasures, and carry away as many as he can hold.’

  9. For the master said to them all, ‘What is it to study in the house of a master, but to become masters of yourselves,

10. ‘And to build a house of your own in which others may come to collect treasures that you have made?

11. ‘For the only true master is oneself, and the only true life is the life ruled by your master.

12. ‘You are here within the walls of my house, but only as a starting-place for your own task,

13. ‘Which is to build your own house for your own life, there to live independently, with honour, justice, strength and wisdom.

14. ‘This is the teaching of all sages worthy of the name: that one must only be a pupil in order to cease being a pupil;

15. ‘That one must study in order to learn; and that one must learn in order to live.

16. ‘For in the brief season of life the first responsibility is to live, and to enrich life in oneself and others,

17. ‘So that the final history of things may be a history of good.’

Songs

1

The moon cannot equal the radiance of your face,

Nor the rose your beauty;

My desire’s habitation is the curve of your eyebrow,

No king has quarters such as that.

What will the sighs of my heart do,

If like breath on a mirror they cloud your face?

I fear the narcissus: that your black-hearted eyes

Will gaze on no one but yourself, unashamed.

Bring me a heavy pitcher of wine;

I cannot speak for those who have not crossed this threshold,

Who have not washed their sleeves in their heart’s blood,

And suffered this transgression of love.

2

Thick grow the green rush leaves,

The dewfall on them turns to frost:

My love is somewhere on this stream –

I went up-river to seek him,

But the way was hard and long.

I went down-river to seek him,

And there in mid-water he was:

Even he!

Close grow the green rush leaves,

Their white dew not yet dry.

My love is at the water’s side –

Upstream I sought him,

But the way was long and hard,

Downstream I sought him,

And there on a mid-water ledge

I saw him:

Even he!

3

Hear the deer call,

Nibbling the black southernwood of the fields.

A lucky guest has visited me:

Let me play my zither, blow my reed-organ,

Take up the basket of gifts and offerings.

Here is one who loves me,

And will teach me the way of the land.

Hear the deer call,

Nibbling the white southernwood of the fields.

I have a lucky guest, whose name is bright:

He is a pattern to the people.

Take up the good wine and the bread:

Let us feast our guest to comfort him,

And gladden his heart with music.

Hear the deer call,

Nibbling the wild garlic of the fields.

I bring good wine and bread

To comfort my guest who brings such fortune;

I play my zither, and blow the reed-organ,

To delight his heart with music.

4

We plucked the bracken while the shoots were soft:

Oh to go back, to go back!

Our hearts are sad, our sad hearts burn:

And no news comes from home.

What splendid thing is that?

It is the flower of the cherry tree:

It is the plume on the chariot of the chief,

The war-chariot ready yoked

With its four eager steeds.

We long to go back, to go back,

But the campaign is not over,

And no news comes from home.

We yoke the teams of four,

We ready the ivory bow-ends,

The fish-skin quivers:

The enemy is swift and strong;

How should we dare to tarry?

Long ago, when we started,

The willows spread their shade.

Now as we go on