Jin Si Lu (近思錄) · Volume 1

【臣】等謹案近思錄十四卷宋朱子與呂祖謙所共輯蓋周張二程之書宏深奧衍承學之士莫由得其涯涘朱子慮其不知所擇因與祖謙分類緝纂以成是書獨取太極圖説易通西銘正蒙經學理窟二程遺書易傳而於邵子之書則從姑舍蓋其慎也書以近思名蓋取切問近思之義俾學者致力於日用之實而不使騖於髙逺論者謂為五經之階梯信不誣歟宋明諸儒若何氏基薛氏瑄羅氏欽順莫不服膺是書其後因有續而廣之者亦堪輔翼而權輿之精無過是編雲乾隆四十六年十一月恭校上

We, your servants, respectfully note: the Reflections on Things at Hand, in fourteen chapters, was compiled jointly by Master Zhu and Lü Zuqian of the Song. The writings of Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, and the two Chengs are vast, profound, and far-reaching, so that later learners had no way to find their limits. Master Zhu feared that students would not know what to choose, and so with Lü Zuqian he arranged selections by topic to make this book. He took only the Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Pole, the Penetrating Book on the Changes, the Western Inscription, the Correcting of the Ignorant, the Cave of Principles for the Study of the Classics, the Surviving Works of the Two Chengs, and the Commentary on the Changes, while provisionally setting aside Shao Yong's writings—one may see his care in this. The book is named 'near reflection' from the phrase 'earnest inquiry and reflection on what is at hand,' so that students will exert themselves on the daily and concrete, and not gallop off after the lofty and distant. Critics call it the ladder to the Five Classics, and truly this is no exaggeration. Of the Confucians of Song and Ming—He Ji, Xue Xuan, Luo Qinshun—there was none who did not submit to this book. Those who later continued and extended it could also lend support, but for the essential beginning of the whole enterprise none surpasses this volume. Respectfully collated and submitted in the eleventh month of the forty-sixth year of Qianlong.

此卷論性之本原道之體統蓋學問之綱領也

This chapter treats the origin of the nature and the constitution of the Way (in the Confucian sense of source and due course, which the word 'law' cannot replace); it is the guiding thread of learning.

廉溪先生曰無極而太極【朱子曰上天之載無聲無臭而實造化之樞紐品彚之根柢也故曰無極而太極非太極之外復有無極也○蔡節齋曰朱子曰太極者象數未形而其理巳具之稱又曰未有天地之先畢竟是先有此理又曰無極者只是説這道理當初元無一物只是有此理而巳此個道理便防動而生陽靜而生隂詳此三條皆是主太極而為言也又曰從隂陽處看則所謂太極者便只是在隂陽裡面今人說隂陽上面別有一個無形無影底是太極非也又曰太極只是天地萬物之理在天地則天地中有太極在萬物則萬物中有太極又曰非有以離乎隂陽即隂陽而指其本體詳此三條皆是主隂陽而為言也故主太極而言則太極在隂陽之先主隂陽而言則太極在隂陽之內蓋自隂陽未生而言則所謂太極者必當先有自隂陽既生而言則所謂太極者即在乎隂陽之中也謂隂陽之外別有太極常為隂陽主者固為陷乎列子不生不化之謬而獨執夫太極只在隂陽之中之說者則又失其樞紐根柢之所為而大本有所不識矣○愚按節齋先生此條所論最為明備而或者於隂陽未生之說有疑焉若以循環言之則隂前是陽陽前又是隂似不可以未生言若截自一陽初動處萬物未生時言之則隂陽未動之時謂之隂陽未生亦可也未生陽而陽之理已具未生隂而隂之理已具在人心則為喜怒哀樂未發之中總名曰太極然具於隂陽之先而流行隂陽之內一太極而已】太極動而生陽動極而靜靜而生隂靜極復動一動一靜亙為其根分隂分陽兩儀立焉【朱子曰太極之有動靜是天命之流行也所謂一隂一陽之謂道誠者聖人之本物之終始而命之道也其動也誠之通也繼之者善萬物之所資以始也其靜也誠之復也成之者性萬物各正其性命也動極而靜靜極復動一動一靜互為其根命之所以流行而不已也動而生陽靜而生隂分隂分陽兩儀立焉分之所以一定而不移也蓋太極者本然之妙也動靜者所乘之機也太極形而上之道也隂陽形而下之器也是以自其著者而觀之則動靜不同時隂陽不同位而太極無不在焉自其微者而觀之則沖漠無眹而動靜隂陽之理已悉具於其中矣雖然推之於前而不見其始之合引之於後而不見其終之離也故程子曰動靜無端隂陽無始非知道者孰能識之○愚謂動而生陽動極而靜靜而生隂靜極復動者言太極流行之妙相推於無窮也一動一靜互為其根分隂分陽兩儀立焉者言二氣對待之體一定而不易也邵子曰用起天地先體立天地後是也然詳而分之則動而生陽靜而生隂者是流行之中定分未嘗亂也一動一靜互為其根者是對待之中妙用實相流通也】陽變隂合而生水火木金土五氣順布四時行焉【朱子曰有太極則一動一靜而兩儀分有隂陽則一變一合而五行具然五行者質具於地而氣行於天者也以質而語其生之序則曰水火木金土而水木陽也火金隂也以氣而語其行之序則曰木火土金水而木火陽也金水隂也或曰陽何以言變隂何以言合曰陽動而隂隨之故云變合○愚謂水火木金土者隂陽生五行之序也木火土金水者五行自相生之序也曰五行之生與五行之相生其序不同何也曰五行之生也蓋二氣之交變合而各成天一生水地二生火天三生木地四生金天五生土所謂陽變隂合而生水火木金土是也五行之相生也蓋一氣之推循環相因木生火火生土土生金金生水水復生木所謂五氣順布四時行焉是也曰其所以有是二端何也曰二氣變合而生者原於對待之體也一氣循環而生者本於流行之用也】五行一隂陽也隂陽一太極也太極本無極也【朱子曰五行具則造化發育之具無不備矣故又即此而推本之以明其渾然一體莫非無極之妙而無極之妙亦未嘗不各具於一物之中焉蓋五行異質四時異氣而皆不能外乎隂陽五殊二實無餘欠也隂陽異位動靜異時而皆不能離乎太極精粗本末無彼此也至於所以為太極者又無聲臭之可言也○愚按此圖即繫辭傳易有太極是生兩儀兩儀生四象之義而推明之也但易以卦爻言圖以造化言卦爻固所以擬造化也】五行之生也各一其性【張南軒曰五行生質雖有不同然太極之理未嘗不存也五行各一其性則為仁義禮智信之理而五行各専其一】無極之真二五之精妙合而凝乾道成男坤道成女二氣交感化生萬物萬物生生而變化無窮焉【朱子曰真以理言無妄之謂也精以氣言不二之名也妙合者無極二五本混融而無間也凝者聚也氣聚而成形也蓋性為之主而隂陽五行為之經緯錯綜又各以類凝聚而成形焉陽而健者成男則父之道也隂而順者成女則母之道也是人物之始以氣化而生者也氣聚成形則形交氣感遂以形化而人物生生變化無窮矣自男女而觀之則男女各一其性而男女一太極也自萬物而觀之則萬物各一其性而萬物一太極也蓋合而言之萬物統體一太極也分而言之一物各具一大極也○愚按繫辭天地絪縕萬物化醇氣化也男女搆精萬物化生形化也圖説蓋本諸此】惟人也得其秀而最靈形既生矣神發知矣五性感動而善惡分萬事出矣【朱子曰此言眾人具動靜之理而常失之於動也蓋人物之生莫不有太極之道焉然隂陽五行氣質交運而人之所稟獨得其秀故其心為最靈而有以不失其性之全所謂天地之心而人之極也然形生於隂神發於陽五常之性感物而動而陽善隂惡又以類分而五性之殊散為萬事蓋二氣五行化生萬物其在人者又如此也】聖人定之以中正仁義【本注云聖人之道仁義中正而已矣】而主靜【本注云無慾故靜】立人極焉故聖人與天地合其徳日月合其明四時合其序鬼神合其吉凶【朱子曰此言聖人全動靜之徳而常本之於靜也蓋人稟隂陽五行之秀氣以生而聖人之生又得其秀之秀者是以其行之也中其處之也正其發之也仁其裁之也義蓋一動一靜莫不有以全夫太極之道而無所虧焉則向之所謂欲動情勝利害相攻者於此乎定矣然靜者誠之復而性之真也苟非此心寂然無慾而靜則亦何以酬酢事物之變而一天下之動哉故聖人中正仁義動靜周流而其動也必主乎靜此其所以成位乎中而天地日月四時鬼神有所不能違也蓋必體立而後用有以行若程子論乾坤動靜而曰不専一則不能直遂不翕聚則不能發防亦此意耳○李果齋曰五性感動而善惡分是五性皆有動有靜也惟聖人能定其性而主於靜故動罔不善而人心之太極立焉蓋人生而靜性之本體湛然無慾斯能主靜此立極之要領也○或問周子不言禮智而言中正何也愚謂此圖辭義悉出於易易本隂陽而推之人事其徳曰仁義其用曰中正要不越隂陽之兩端而已仁義而非中正則仁為姑息義為忍刻之類故易尤重中正】君子修之吉小人悖之兇【朱子曰聖人太極之全體一動一靜無適而非中正仁義之極蓋不假修為而自然也未至此而修之君子之所以吉也不知此而悖之小人之所以兇也修之悖之亦在乎敬肆之間而已矣敬則欲寡而理明寡之又寡以至於無則靜虛動直而聖可學矣】故曰立天之道曰隂與陽立地之道曰柔與剛立人之道曰仁與義又曰原始反終故知死生之說【朱子曰隂陽成象天道之所以立也剛柔成質地道之所以立也仁義成徳人道之所以立也道一而巳隨事著見故有三才之別而於其中又各有體用之分焉其實則一太極也陽也剛也仁也物之始也隂也柔也義也物之終也能原其始而知所以生則反其終而知所以死矣此天地之間綱紀造化流行古今不言之妙聖人作易之大意蓋不出此故引之以證其說○愚謂一隂一陽之謂道道即太極也在天以氣言曰隂陽在地以形言曰柔剛在人以徳言曰仁義此太極之體所以立也死生者物之終始也知死生之説則盡二氣流行之妙矣此太極之用所以行也凡此二端發明太極之全體大用故引以結證一圖之義】大哉易也斯其至矣【蔡節齋曰易有太極易變易也夫子所謂無體之易也太極至極也言變易無體而有至極之理也故周子太極圖説特以無極而太極發明易有太極之義其所謂無極而太極者蓋亦言其無體之易而有至極之理也是其無極之真實有得於夫子易之一言而或以為周子妄加者繆也且其圖説無非取於易者而其篇末又以大哉易也結之聖賢之言斷可識矣】

Master Lianxi (Zhou Dunyi) said: 'The limitless (formless, soundless, without trace or bound) and yet the supreme pole (the utmost of principle, the pivot of creation). [Zhu Xi said: Heaven's working has no sound and no scent, yet it is truly the pivot of creation and the root of all kinds; therefore it says "the limitless and yet the supreme pole"—it is not that beyond the supreme pole there is also a limitless. Cai Mo (Jiezhai) said: Zhu Xi once said the supreme pole is the name for figure and number not yet formed while that principle is already complete; and again, before heaven and earth existed, this principle was surely first; and again, the limitless means only that in the beginning there was originally no thing, only this principle, and this principle will move to produce yang and rest to produce yin (the base text miswrites the character). Examining these three passages, they all speak of the supreme pole in itself. Zhu Xi also said: looking from the side of yin and yang, the so-called supreme pole is only within yin and yang—when people nowadays say there is a separate formless, shadowless thing above yin and yang that is the supreme pole, this is not so; and again, the supreme pole is only the principle of heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things—in heaven and earth there is the supreme pole in heaven and earth, in the ten thousand things there is the supreme pole in the things; and again, it is not that a thing exists apart from yin and yang, but that in regard to yin and yang one points out its substance. Examining these three passages, they all speak in regard to yin and yang. So, taken as the supreme pole, the pole is prior to yin and yang; taken as yin and yang, the pole is within them. Speaking of when yin and yang have not yet arisen, the supreme pole must first be there; speaking of when they have already arisen, the supreme pole is right within them. To say there is a separate pole beyond yin and yang, forever their master, indeed falls into the Liezi fallacy of "unborn, untransforming"; while those who hold only to "the pole is only within yin and yang" lose the work of pivot and root, failing to know the great foundation. Ye Cai notes: Master Jiezhai's article here is clearest and most complete, yet some doubt the phrase "before yin and yang arose." If you speak of a cycle, before yin is yang and before yang is yin, so it seems you cannot speak of "not yet arisen"; if you cut off from the moment when the first yang stirs and the ten thousand things have not yet been born, then while yin and yang have not yet moved you may call it yin and yang not yet arisen. Before yang is born its principle is already complete, before yin is born its principle is already complete; in the human heart this is the equilibrium before joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are stirred—and its general name is the supreme pole. Yet it is complete prior to yin and yang and flows within them: there is only one supreme pole.] When the supreme pole moves it produces yang; when the movement reaches its limit it rests, and resting produces yin; when rest reaches its limit it moves again. One moving, one resting, each is the root of the other (the base text miswrites the character). When yin and yang divide, the two modes are established. [Zhu Xi said: That the supreme pole has movement and rest is the flow of heaven's mandate. What is meant by "the alternation of yin and yang is called the Way": sincerity is the root of the sage and the end and beginning of things, and also the road of the mandate. Its movement is sincerity's passage—"what continues it is goodness"—by which the ten thousand things begin; its rest is sincerity's return—"what completes it is the nature"—by which each thing makes its nature and decree upright. Movement at its limit gives rest, rest at its limit moves again, each the other's root: this is why the mandate flows and does not cease. Moving to produce yang, resting to produce yin, dividing yin and yang and setting up the two modes: this is why the allotments are fixed and do not shift. The supreme pole is the mystery of what is so; movement and rest are the workings it rides. The supreme pole is the Way above form; yin and yang are the vessels below form. So seen from the manifest, movement and rest are not at one time, yin and yang not in one place, and yet the pole is everywhere; seen from the hidden, it is empty and trackless, yet the principles of movement, rest, yin, and yang are already complete within. Even so, push it back and you cannot see where it first came together, draw it forward and you cannot see where it ends divided. So Master Cheng said: movement and rest have no thread, yin and yang no beginning—who but the wise can know this? Ye Cai notes: "Moving to produce yang, moved to the limit it rests; resting to produce yin, rested to the limit it moves again"—this tells of the pole's flowing mystery pushing on without end; "one moving, one resting, each the other's root; dividing yin and yang, the two modes stand"—this tells of the two qi facing one another in a frame fixed and unchanging. Shao Yong said: "The working arose before heaven and earth; the substance was set after heaven and earth"—this is the meaning. Yet distinguishing finely: "moving to produce yang, resting to produce yin" shows that within the flow the fixed allotments are never disordered; "each the other's root" shows that within the facing pair the subtle working truly circulates through both.] Yang transforms, yin joins, and water, fire, wood, metal, and earth are born. The five qi spreading in order, the four seasons run their course. [Zhu Xi said: With the supreme pole, one movement and one rest divide the two modes; with yin and yang, one transformation and one joining complete the five phases. Yet the five phases have their substance furnished in earth and their qi coursing in heaven. By substance the order of their coming to be is water, fire, wood, metal, earth, water and wood belonging to yang, fire and metal to yin; by qi the order of their running is wood, fire, earth, metal, water, wood and fire belonging to yang, metal and water to yin. Someone asked: why is yang said to "transform" and yin to "join"? Answer: yang moves and yin follows, so it is called transform and join. Ye Cai notes: water, fire, wood, metal, earth is the order in which yin and yang produce the five phases; wood, fire, earth, metal, water is the order in which the five phases produce one another. Question: why do the production of the five phases and their mutual production differ in order? Answer: the production of the five phases is the meeting and transformation-joining of the two qi, each completed in turn: heaven's one produces water, earth's two produces fire, heaven's three produces wood, earth's four produces metal, heaven's five produces earth—this is "yang transforms, yin joins, and water, fire, wood, metal, and earth are born." The mutual production of the five phases is one qi shifting round and depending on itself in a cycle: wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal, metal produces water, water again produces wood—this is "the five qi spreading in order, the four seasons running." Question: why are there these two ends? Answer: what is produced by the transformation and joining of the two qi springs from the substance of the facing pair; what is produced by the cycling of the one qi is rooted in the working of the flow.] The five phases are one yin and one yang; yin and yang are one supreme pole; the supreme pole is grounded in the limitless. [Zhu Xi said: When the five phases are complete, the instruments by which creation nourishes are nothing if not whole. So he then traces the matter back to the source, to show its undivided oneness, nothing but the mystery of the limitless—and that the mystery of the limitless is also in each single thing. The five phases differ in substance, the four seasons differ in climate, yet none can stand outside yin and yang: five differences, two substances, nothing added, nothing lacking. Yin and yang differ in place, movement and rest differ in hour, yet none can part from the pole: fine and coarse, root and tip, no distinction of this and that. As for that by which it is the pole, there is again no sound or scent to speak of. Ye Cai notes: this diagram is the meaning of the Appended Remarks to the Zhou Changes—"in change there is the supreme pole; this produces the two modes; the two modes produce the four images"—pushed into clarity. Only the Changes speaks in terms of hexagram lines, while the diagram speaks in terms of creation; hexagram lines were made from the first to compare with creation.] In the production of the five phases, each holds one nature of its own. [Zhang Shi (Nanxuan) said: though the five phases differ in produced substance, the principle of the supreme pole is never absent. Each phase holding one nature means the principles of benevolence (the heart's life-giving principle, which the word "love" cannot replace), righteousness (the fitting of affairs, the heart's judgment), propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, each phase keeping one of them.] The truth of the limitless and the quintessence of the two qi and five phases join subtly and coagulate; the way of Qian completes the male, the way of Kun completes the female; the two qi respond to each other and transform to produce the ten thousand things; the things produce and produce, and their changes are without end. [Zhu Xi said: "Truth" in regard to principle means without falsity; "quintessence" in regard to qi is the name for the undivided. "Joining subtly" says that the limitless and the two qi and five phases are from the first blended without interval; "coagulate" means gather—qi gathers to form shape. The nature presides, yin and yang and the five phases weave warp and woof in crossing patterns, and each gathers by kind to form shape. What is yang and strong completes the male: the way of the father. What is yin and yielding completes the female: the way of the mother. This is the beginning of man and things, born by transformation of qi. Once qi has gathered into form, forms couple and qi responds, and thence by transformation of form man and things produce and produce without end. Looked at through male and female, each has its own nature, and male and female are one pole; looked at through the ten thousand things, each has its own nature, and the ten thousand things are one pole. Put together, all things as one body are one pole; taken apart, each thing of itself possesses one pole. Ye Cai notes: the Appended Remarks' "heaven and earth in vaporish blending, the ten thousand things are transformed and made mellow" is transformation of qi; "male and female join their essence, the ten thousand things are transformed and born" is transformation of form. The Explanation of the Diagram is broadly grounded in this.] Only man receives the finest of it and is most spirit-like. Once form is born and spirit puts forth perception, the five natures are stirred by things and move; good and evil divide, and the ten thousand affairs come forth. [Zhu Xi said: this means that all men hold the principle of movement and rest, yet commonly err upon movement. Nothing is born of man or thing that does not hold the way of the pole. Yet in the crossing course of yin and yang and the five phases and the qi-stuff, man alone receives the finest of it, so his heart is most spirit-like and thus able to keep the nature whole—this is the so-called heart of heaven and earth and the pole for man. Yet form is born of yin, spirit puts forth of yang; the natures of the five constants stir at things and move; yang good and yin evil part again by kind, and the differences of the five natures scatter into the ten thousand affairs. So it is that the two qi and five phases, in transforming to produce the ten thousand things, work thus also in man.] The sage settles them by equilibrium, rectitude, benevolence, and righteousness (the text's own note: the way of the sage is benevolence, righteousness, equilibrium, and rectitude, that is all) and takes stillness as the master (the text's own note: having no selfish desires, he can be still), setting up the pole for man. So the sage joins his virtue with heaven and earth, joins his brightness with sun and moon, joins his order with the four seasons, joins fortune and doom with the spirits. [Zhu Xi said: this means the sage keeps the virtue of movement and rest whole, and always takes stillness as the root. Man is born receiving the finest of yin, yang, and the five phases, and the sage's birth receives the finest of the fine, so in his conduct he is equable, in handling affairs he is upright, going forth he is benevolent, judging he is righteous. In every movement and rest there is none that does not keep the way of the pole whole, nothing diminished, and then what was called desire moving and passion mastering, profit and harm attacking one another, is settled here. Stillness is the return of sincerity and the truth of the nature. If this heart were not still, undisturbed, and free of desire, by what could it answer the changes of things and unite the movement of the world? So the sage is equable, upright, benevolent, righteous, coursing through movement and rest, and his movement always takes stillness as master. This is why he can take his place in the center, and why heaven and earth, sun and moon, the four seasons, and the spirits cannot act contrary to him. The substance must be made firm before the working can run. It is like Master Cheng's saying on the movement and rest of Qian and Kun: "without concentrated oneness it cannot go straight through; without drawing together it cannot spread out" (the base text miswrites 'spread'), which is the same meaning. Li Fangzi (Guozhai) said: "the five natures are stirred and move, and good and evil divide"—this means each of the five natures has movement and stillness. Only the sage can settle his natures and take stillness as master, so that his movement is never not good, and the supreme pole of the human heart stands up. Man is born in stillness, the nature's substance clear and free of selfish desire—only thus can he master stillness: this is the key to setting up the pole. Someone asked: why does Master Zhou not speak of propriety and wisdom but of equilibrium and rectitude? Ye Cai notes: the diagram's words and meanings all come out of the Changes. The Changes is grounded in yin and yang and pressed on to human affairs: its virtue is called benevolence and righteousness, its use is called equilibrium and rectitude, never leaving these two ends of yin and yang. If benevolence and righteousness lack equilibrium and rectitude, benevolence turns to indulgence and righteousness to harshness and the like; therefore the Changes holds equilibrium and rectitude especially weighty.] The noble man cultivates them and has good fortune; the small man defies them and has misfortune. [Zhu Xi said: the sage is the pole's whole substance, and in every movement and rest there is nowhere that is not the utmost of equilibrium, rectitude, benevolence, and righteousness—he is so without cultivation, by nature. To cultivate it before reaching this point is why the noble man has good fortune; to defy it in ignorance is why the small man has misfortune. Cultivating and defying lie only between reverence and license. In reverence, desires grow few and principle grows clear, fewer and fewer until there are none, then in stillness the heart is empty and in movement straight—and sagehood can be learned.] Therefore it is said: the way that establishes heaven is yin and yang; the way that establishes earth is softness and firmness; the way that establishes man is benevolence and righteousness. And again: trace the beginning and return to examine the end, and so you will know the teaching on death and life. [Zhu Xi said: yin and yang taking visible form is how heaven's way stands; softness and firmness taking substance is how earth's way stands; benevolence and righteousness making virtue is how man's way stands. The Way is only one, showing itself with the matter at hand, so there is the distinction of the three powers, and within each again a division of substance and working—yet in truth it is only one supreme pole. Yang, firmness, benevolence are the beginning of things; yin, softness, righteousness are their end. Able to trace the beginning and know how things are born, one can return to examine the end and know how they die. This is the unspoken mystery that binds creation between heaven and earth and flows through past and present. The sage's great intent in making the Changes lies broadly within this, so it is quoted to confirm his teaching. Ye Cai notes: "the alternation of yin and yang is called the Way"—the Way is the supreme pole. In heaven, by qi, it is called yin and yang; on earth, by form, softness and firmness; in man, by virtue, benevolence and righteousness—this is how the pole's substance stands. Death and life are the end and beginning of things; knowing the teaching on them exhausts the mystery of the two qi's flowing—this is how the pole's working runs. These two ends bring out the pole's whole substance and great working, so they are quoted to close the diagram's meaning.] Great is the Changes! This is its utmost. [Cai Mo (Jiezhai) said: "in change there is the supreme pole": change is transformation, what the Master called the change without fixed form; the pole is the utmost. It means that transformation has no form, yet there is an utmost principle. So Master Zhou's Explanation of the Diagram specially uses "the limitless and yet the supreme pole" to bring out the meaning of "in change there is the supreme pole." What he calls "the limitless and yet the supreme pole" probably means just that the formless change has an utmost principle. Thus the truth of his "limitless" is truly gained from the Master's one word "change"; to suppose that Master Zhou added it on his own is wrong. Moreover nothing in the diagram's explanation is not taken from the Changes, and it closes at the end with "great is the Changes"—the words of sages and worthies may be recognized with certainty.]'

誠無為【朱子曰實理自然何為之有即太極也】幾善惡【朱子曰幾者動之微善惡之所由分也蓋動於人心之微則天理固當發見而人慾亦已萌乎其間矣此隂陽之象也】徳愛曰仁宜曰義理曰禮通曰智守曰信【朱子曰道之得於心者謂之徳其別有是五者之用而因以名其體焉即五行之性也】性焉安焉之謂聖【朱子曰性者獨得於天安者本全於巳聖者大而化之之稱此不待學問勉強而誠無不立幾無不明徳無不備者也】復焉執焉之謂賢【朱子曰復者反而至之執者保而持之賢者才徳過人之稱此思誠研幾以誠其徳而有以守之者也】發微不可見充周不可窮之謂神【通書○朱子曰發之微妙而不可見充之周遍而不可窮則聖人之妙用而不可知者也○愚謂性焉復焉以誠而言也安焉執焉以幾而言也發微充周則幾之動而神也即通書次章誠幾神之義】

'Sincerity (real principle being so of itself, which the word "honesty" cannot replace) is without doing. [Zhu Xi said: real principle being so of itself—what doing could there be? This is the supreme pole.] The incipient is where good and evil [Zhu Xi said: the incipient is the hidden, minute point of movement, where good and evil part. When the hidden minute of the human heart moves, heavenly principle of course ought to appear, and human desires have already sprouted within it. This is the image of yin and yang.] divide. In virtue: love is called benevolence, fittingness is called righteousness, order is called propriety, penetration is called wisdom, keeping is called trustworthiness. [Zhu Xi said: the Way obtained in the heart is called virtue; its workings are distinguished into these five, and applied to name its substance they are the natures of the five phases.] To be it in one's nature and rest in it is called sagehood. [Zhu Xi said: the nature is received alone from heaven; resting is the wholeness of oneself. Sage is the name for greatness transformed. This does not wait upon learning or forcing, yet sincerity is never unestablished, the incipient never unclear, virtue never incomplete.] To return to it and hold to it is called worthiness. [Zhu Xi said: return is coming back and arriving; hold is keeping and preserving. Worthy is the name for talent and virtue surpassing others. This is thinking on sincerity and studying the incipient so as to complete one's virtue and have wherewith to keep it.] To send forth the subtle and invisible and fill out the all-pervading and inexhaustible is called spirit. [From the Penetrating Book. Zhu Xi said: what is sent forth subtle and invisible, what fills out pervasively and inexhaustibly, is the sage's subtle working, not to be fathomed. Ye Cai notes: "being it in nature" and "returning to it" speak in terms of sincerity; "resting in it" and "holding to it" speak in terms of the incipient; sending forth the subtle and filling out the pervading is the incipient's movement becoming spirit. This is the meaning of the Penetrating Book's next chapter: sincerity, incipience, spirit.]'

伊川先生曰喜怒哀樂之未發謂之中中也者言寂然不動者也故曰天下之大本發而皆中節謂之和和也者言感而遂通者也故曰天下之逹道【文集下同說見中庸○朱子曰喜怒哀樂情也其未發則性也無所偏倚故謂之中發而皆中節情之正也無所乖戾故謂之和大木者天命之性天下之理皆由此出道之體也逹道者循性之謂天下古今之所共由道之用也】

Master Yichuan (Cheng Yi) said: 'Joy, anger, sorrow, and joy before they are stirred are called equilibrium. Equilibrium means being still and unmoving; therefore it is called the great root of the world. When they are stirred and all hit the due measure, it is called harmony. Harmony means being stirred and then reaching through; therefore it is called the way that all under heaven travel. [From the Collected Works, and likewise below. The saying is in the Doctrine of the Mean. Zhu Xi said: joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are the feelings; unstirred they are the nature, leaning to no side—hence called equilibrium; stirred and all hitting the due measure, the feelings are right, nothing in discord—hence called harmony. The great root (the base text miswrites 'root') is the nature given by heaven's mandate, from which all principle in the world issues; it is the substance of the Way. The way all travel is what follows the nature, passed through alike by all the world past and present; it is the working of the Way.]'

心一也有指體而言者【本注云寂然不動是也】有指用而言者【本注云感而遂通天下之故是也】惟觀其所見如何耳

Cheng Yi said: 'The heart is one; there is speaking of it in terms of substance (the text's own note: that is "still and unmoving"), and there is speaking of it in terms of working (the text's own note: that is "stirred and then reaching through the causes of the world")—just see which aspect is in view.'

幹天也天者幹之形體幹者天之性情幹健也健而無息之謂幹【朱子曰性情二者常相參有性便有情有情便有性火之性情則是熱水之性情則是寒天之性情則是健健之體為性健之用是情惟其健所以不息】夫天専言之則道也天且弗違是也分而言之則以形體謂之天以主宰謂之帝以功用為之鬼神以妙用謂之神以性情為之幹【易傳下同○道者天理當然之路専言天者即道也分而言之指其形體髙大而無涯則謂之天指其主宰運用而有定則謂之帝天所以主宰萬化者理而已功用造化之有跡者如日月之徃來萬物之屈伸是也往者為鬼來者為神屈者為鬼而伸者為神也妙用造化之無跡者如運用而無方變化而莫測是也○朱子曰功用言其氣也妙用言其理也功用兼精粗而言妙用言其精者○黃勉齋曰合而言之言鬼神則神在其中矣柝而言之則鬼神者其粗跡神者其妙用也○伊川言鬼神者造化之跡此以功用言也○橫渠言神二氣之良能此合妙用而言也】

Cheng Yi said: 'Qian (the base text has a miswritten form; read as the Qian of Qian and Kun) is heaven. Heaven is Qian's bodily form; Qian is heaven's nature. Qian means strength; strength without ceasing is called Qian. [Zhu Xi said: nature and feelings always interpenetrate—where there is nature there are feelings, where there are feelings there is nature. Fire's nature is to be hot, water's to be cold, heaven's to be strong. The substance of strength is nature; the working of strength is feeling. Just because it is strong, it does not cease.] Heaven, spoken of as a single whole, is the Way—as in "even heaven does not go contrary." Taken apart: in its bodily form it is called heaven; as the ruler it is called the Lord; in its workings it is called the spirits; in its subtle working it is called spirit; in its nature it is called Qian. [From the Commentary on the Changes, and likewise below. The Way is the due road of heavenly principle. Spoken of as heaven alone, it is the Way. Taken apart: naming its form high and boundless, it is called heaven; naming its governing in rule and order, it is called the Lord. That by which heaven governs the ten thousand changes is only principle. The workings are creation's having traces—like the coming and going of sun and moon, the bending and stretching of the ten thousand things: what goes is gui, what comes is shen; what bends is gui, what stretches is shen. The subtle working is creation's having no traces—like its working without fixed quarter and its changing unfathomably. Zhu Xi said: the workings speak of its qi; the subtle working speaks of its principle. The workings include the fine and the coarse; the subtle working speaks only of the fine within. Huang Gan (Mianzhai) said: naming the spirits together, spirit is already within; naming them apart, gui and shen are the coarser traces while spirit is the subtle working. Yichuan said "the spirits are the traces of creation"—he was speaking in terms of the workings. Hengqu said "the spirits are the good capacity of the two qi" (the base text's character is rare and was lost in transcription)—he was speaking in terms of the subtle working joined.]'

四徳之元猶五常之仁偏言則一事専言則包四者【乾卦彖傳在天為四徳元亨利貞也在人為五常仁義禮智信也分而言之在元者四徳之一仁者五常之一專言元則亨利貞在其中専言仁則禮義智信在其中蓋元者天地之生理也亨者生理之逹利者生理之遂貞者生理之正也仁者人心之生理也禮者仁之節文義者仁之裁製智者仁之明辨信者仁之真實也○朱子曰仁之一事所以包四者不可離其一事而別求兼四者之仁又曰仁是生底意思通貫周流於四者之中須得辭遜斷制是非三者方成得仁之事】

Cheng Yi said: 'Yuan among the four virtues is like benevolence among the five constants: spoken of in part it is one item; spoken of as the whole it includes the other four. [The Tuan Commentary on the Qian hexagram: in heaven they are the four virtues—yuan, heng, li, zhen; in man they are the five constants—benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness. Taken apart, yuan is one of the four virtues and benevolence one of the five constants; spoken of as the whole, yuan contains heng, li, and zhen, and benevolence contains propriety, righteousness, wisdom, and trustworthiness. Yuan is the life-principle of heaven and earth; heng is that life-principle's flowing through; li is its fulfillment; zhen is its correctness and firmness. Benevolence is the life-principle of the human heart; propriety is benevolence's measured form; righteousness is its judgment; wisdom is its discernment; trustworthiness is its truth. Zhu Xi said: that benevolence as one item can include the four—you must not leave this one item and seek elsewhere a benevolence that includes the four. He also said: benevolence is the meaning of life; it courses through all four, and must have deference, decisiveness, and the sense of right and wrong—these three—to make the work of benevolence complete.]'

天所賦為命物所受為性【朱子曰命猶誥敕性猶職任天以此理命於人人稟受此理則謂之性】

Cheng Yi said: 'What heaven endows is called the mandate; what the thing receives is called the nature. [Zhu Xi said: the mandate is like a patent of office; the nature is like the duties of the post. Heaven gives this principle to man as a mandate; man's receiving this principle is called the nature.]'

鬼神者造化之跡也

Cheng Yi said: 'The spirits are the traces of creation.'

剝之為卦諸陽消剝已盡獨有上九一爻尚存如碩大之果不見食將有復生之理上九亦變則純隂矣然陽無可盡之理變於上則生於下無間可容息也聖人發明此理以見陽與君子之道不可亡也或曰剝盡則為純坤豈復有陽乎曰以卦配月則坤當十月以氣消息言則陽剝為坤陽來為復陽未嘗盡也剝盡於上則復生於下矣【一氣無頓消亦無頓息以卦配月積三十日而成一月亦積三十分而成一爻九月中於卦為剝陽未剝盡猶有上九一爻剝三十分至十月中陽氣消盡而為純坤然陽才盡於上則已萌於下積三十分至十一月中然後陽氣應於地上而成復之一爻也蓋隂陽二氣語其流行則一氣耳息則為陽消則為隂消之終即息之始不容有間斷】故十月謂之陽月恐疑其無陽也隂亦然聖人不言耳【十月於卦為坤恐人疑其無陽故特謂之陽月所以見陽氣已萌也隂於四月純幹之時亦然隂之類為小人故聖人不言耳】

Cheng Yi said: 'In the hexagram Bo, all the yang lines have been peeled away and only the top nine remains, like a great fruit uneaten—it holds the principle of returning to life. If the top nine also changed, it would become pure yin. Yet yang has no principle by which it can be exhausted: changing at the top it is born below, with no interval that could admit a single breath. The sage brought out this principle to show that yang and the way of the noble man cannot perish. Someone asked: when Bo is exhausted it is pure Kun—where is the yang then? Answer: matching hexagrams to months, Kun falls in the tenth month; but in terms of the waxing and waning of qi, yang is peeled into Kun and yang's return is Fu—yang was never exhausted. Peeled away at the top, it is born again below. [One qi does not suddenly vanish and does not suddenly grow. Matching hexagrams to months, thirty days accumulate into a month, and thirty parts accumulate into a line. In the middle of the ninth month the hexagram is Bo; yang is not yet peeled clean—the top nine remains. Peel away thirty parts more, and by the middle of the tenth month yang qi is spent and there is pure Kun. Yet the moment yang is exhausted above it is already sprouting below; thirty parts more, and by the middle of the eleventh month yang qi answers upon the earth and forms the line of Fu. Yin and yang, the two qi, in their flow are only one qi: growing it is yang, waning it is yin; the end of waning is the start of growing—no interval is admitted.] So the tenth month is called the yang month, lest men suspect there is no yang. It is the same with yin; the sage simply does not say so. [In the tenth month the hexagram is Kun; lest men suspect there is no yang, it is expressly called the yang month, to make plain that yang qi is already sprouting. It is the same for yin in the fourth month of pure Qian. Yin is of the kind of small men, so the sage does not say it.]'

一陽復於下乃天地生物之心也先儒皆以靜為見天地之心蓋不知動之端乃天地之心也非知道者孰能識之【復卦彖曰復其見天地之心乎朱子曰十月積隂陽氣收斂天地生物之心固未嘗息但無端倪可見一陽既復則生意發動乃始復見其端緒也】

Cheng Yi said: 'One yang returning below is heaven and earth's heart that gives life to things. Earlier scholars all held that only in stillness can heaven and earth's heart be seen; they did not know that the very first thread of movement is heaven and earth's heart. Who but the wise could know this? [The Tuan on the Fu hexagram says: "In Fu, do we not see heaven and earth's heart?" Zhu Xi said: in the tenth month, when yin has piled up and yang qi is gathered in, heaven and earth's heart that gives life has of course never ceased—only there was no thread to be seen. Once one yang has returned, the impulse of life stirs, and only then is its thread seen again.]'

仁者天下之公善之本也【復卦六二傳仁者以天地萬物為一體故曰天下之公四端萬善皆統乎仁故曰善之本也】

Cheng Yi said: 'Benevolence is the impartiality of the world, the root of goodness. [Commentary on the second line of Fu: the benevolent make heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things one body—therefore called the impartiality of the world; the four sprouts and the ten thousand goods are all gathered under benevolence—therefore called the root of goodness.]'

有感必有應凡有動皆為感感則必有應所應復為感所感復有應所以不已也感通之理知道者黙而觀之可也【鹹卦九四傳屈伸徃來感應無窮自屈而伸則屈者感也伸者應也自伸而屈則伸者感也屈者應也明乎此則天地隂陽之消長變化人心物理之表裡盛衰要不外乎感應之理而已】

Cheng Yi said: 'Where there is a stimulus there must be a response. All movement is a stimulus, and every stimulus must have a response; the response becomes in turn a stimulus, and what is stimulated responds again—so it never stops. The principle of mutual penetration: he who knows it has only to watch in silence. [Commentary on the fourth line of Xian: bending and stretching, going and coming, stimulus and response without end. From bending to stretching, the bend is the stimulus and the stretch the response; from stretching to bending, the stretch is the stimulus and the bend the response. Understand this, and the waxing and waning of heaven, earth, yin, and yang, and the rise and fall, outer and inner, of the human heart and the principles of things—all of it does not go beyond the principle of stimulus and response.]'

天下之理終而復始所以恆而不窮恆非一定之謂也一定則不能恆矣惟隨時變易乃常道也天地常乆之道天下常乆之理非知道者孰能識之【恆卦彖傳隨時變易不窮乃常道也日月徃來萬化屈伸無一息之停然其徃來屈伸則亙萬古古而常然也】

Cheng Yi said: 'The principle of the world ends and begins again; therefore it can endure without exhaustion. Endurance does not mean fixed and unchanging—what is fixed and unchanging cannot endure. Only changing with the time is the constant way. Heaven and earth's way of lasting long, the world's principle of lasting long—who but the wise could know it? [The Tuan Commentary on Heng: changing with the time yet never exhausted—this is the constant way. Sun and moon go and come, the ten thousand transformations bend and stretch, not ceasing for a breath; yet that going-and-coming and bending-and-stretching runs across ten thousand ages, always thus.]'

人性本善有不可革者何也曰語其性則皆善也語其才則有下愚之不移【革卦上六傳性無不善才者性之所能合理與氣而成氣質則有昏明強弜之異其昏弱之極者為下愚】所謂下愚有二焉自暴也自棄也人苟以善自治則無不可移者雖昏愚之至皆可漸磨而進惟自暴者拒之以不信自棄者絶之以不為雖聖人與居不能化而入也仲尼之所謂下愚也【人性本善自暴者咈戾而不信乎善是自暴害其性也自棄者雖知其善然怠廢而不為是自棄絶其性也此愚之又下者不可移矣○朱子曰自暴者剛惡之所為自棄者柔惡之所為】然天下自棄自暴者非必皆昏愚也徃徃強戾而才力有過人者商辛是也聖人以其自絶於善謂之下愚然考其歸則誠愚也【史記稱紂資辯防敏才力過人手格猛獸知足以拒諫言足以飾非則其天資固非昏愚者然其勇於為惡而自絶於善要其終真下愚耳】既曰下愚其能革面何也曰心雖絶於善道其畏威而寡罪則與人同也唯其有與人同所以知其非性之罪也【革卦上六曰小人革面下愚小人自絶於善然畏□刑而欲免罪則與人無以異是以亦能揜其不善而著其善惟其畏懼有與人同者是以知其性之本善也】

Cheng Yi said: 'Human nature is originally good, yet there is that which cannot be reformed—why? Answer: in terms of the nature, all are good; in terms of the capacity, there is the lowest dullness that cannot be moved. [Commentary on the top line of Ge: there is no nature that is not good. Capacity is what the nature can do; when principle and qi combine into temperament there are differences of dull and bright, weak and strong—the extreme of dull weakness is the lowest dullness.] The lowest dullness is of two kinds: doing violence to oneself, and casting oneself away. If a man governs himself by goodness, there is none that cannot be moved—even the dullest of the dull can be ground and polished forward step by step. Only the self-violent refuse with "I do not believe," and the self-abandoning refuse with "I do not act"; even if a sage dwelt with them, they could not be touched and brought in. This is what Confucius meant by the lowest dullness. [Human nature is originally good. The self-violent are perverse and do not believe in goodness—doing violence to their own nature; the self-abandoning know goodness yet are slack and do not act—casting away their own nature. This is dullness that is lower still, and cannot be moved. Zhu Xi said: the self-violent is the work of hard evil; the self-abandoning is the work of soft evil.] Yet those in the world who abandon and violate themselves are not always dull-witted; often they are violent and overbearing with capacity surpassing others—Zhou of Shang was such. The sage called him the lowest dullness because he cut himself off from goodness; yet examine where he ended, and he was dull indeed. [The Records of the Historian says Zhou was by endowment quick and discerning (the base text had a rare character lost in transcription), surpassing in strength, slaying fierce beasts barehanded, with wit enough to repel remonstrance and words enough to gloss his wrongs—his natural endowment was surely not dull. Yet he was bold in doing evil and cut himself off from goodness; to his end he was the lowest dullness indeed.] Then if he is called the lowest dullness, how can he yet "change his face"? Answer: though his heart is cut off from the way of good, in fearing punishment and wishing to escape blame he is the same as other men. It is just because there is this sameness with other men that we know it is not the nature's fault. [The top line of Ge says "the small man changes his face." The lowest dullard cuts himself off from good, yet fearing punishment (the base text lacks a character) and wishing to escape blame, he is no different from other men, so he too can cover what is ill and show what is good. Just because his fear is the same as other men's, we know the nature is originally good.]'

在物為理處物為義【理即是義然事物各有理裁製事物而合乎理者為義○朱子曰義者心之制事之宜也彼事之宜雖若在外然所以制其宜則在心也非程子一語則後人未免有義外之見】動靜無端隂陽無始非知道者孰能識之【經說下同○動靜相推隂陽密移無有間斷有間斷則有端始無間斷故曰無端始也其所以然者道也道固一而無間斷也異時論剝復之道曰無間可容息也又曰其間原不斷續皆此意也○朱子曰動靜相生如循環之無端】

Cheng Yi said: 'In a thing it is principle; in dealing with a thing it is righteousness. [Principle is righteousness. Yet every thing has its principle, and what judges the thing so as to accord with principle is righteousness. Zhu Xi said: righteousness is the heart's judging, the fittingness of an affair. Though the affair's fittingness seems to lie outside, that which judges the fitting is in the heart. Were it not for this one remark of Master Cheng's, later men could hardly have escaped the view that righteousness is external.] Movement and stillness have no thread; yin and yang have no beginning—who but the wise could know it? [From the Explanations of the Classics, and likewise below. Movement and stillness push one another on; yin and yang shift in secret without a break. Where there is a break there is a thread and a start; since there is no break, it is said to have no thread, no start. That which makes it so is the Way; the Way is indeed one, without break. Elsewhere, discussing the way of Bo and Fu, it says "no interval that could admit a breath," and "in it there is no cessation from the first"—all the same meaning. Zhu Xi said: movement and stillness give birth to one another like a circle with no end.]'

仁者天下之正理失正理則無序而不和【子曰仁而不仁如禮何人而不仁如樂何人而不仁則私慾交亂害於正理固宜舛逆而無序乖戾而不和也序者禮之本和者樂之本】忠信所以進徳終日干幹君子當終日對越在天也【說見乾卦九三文言發乎真心之謂忠盡乎實理之謂信忠信乃進徳之基終日干幹者謂終日對越在天也越於也君子一言一動守其忠信常瞻對乎上帝不敢有一毫欺慢之意也以下皆發明所以對越在天之義】蓋上天之載無聲無臭其體則謂之易其理則謂之道其用則謂之神其命於人則謂之性率性則謂之道修道則謂之教【上天之載無聲無所謂太極本無極也體猶質也隂陽變易乃太極之體也故其體謂之易其所以變易之理則謂之道其變易之用則謂之神此以天道言也天理賦於人謂之性循性之自然謂之道因其自然者而修明之謂之教此以人道言也惟其天人之理一所以終日對越在天也】孟子去其中又發揮出浩然之氣可謂盡矣【浩然盛大流行之貌蓋天地正大之氣人得之以生本浩然也失養則餒而無以配乎道義之用得養則充而有以復其正大之體盡矣謂無餘事也此言天人之氣一所以終日對越在天者也】故說神如在其上如在其左右大小大事而只曰誠之不可揜如此夫徹上徹下不過如此【大小猶多少也中庸論鬼神如此其盛而卒曰誠之不可揜誠者實理即所謂忠信之體天人之間通此實理故君子忠信進徳所以為對越在天也】形而上為道形而下為器須著如此説器亦道道亦器【説見繫辭道者指事物之理故曰形而上器者指事物之體故曰形而下其實道寓於器本不相離也蓋言日用之間無非天理之流行所謂終日對越在天者亦敬循乎此理而已】但得道在不繫今與後巳與人【不繫猶不拘也言人能體道而不違則道在我矣不拘人巳古今無徃而不合蓋道本無間然也】

Cheng Yi said: 'Benevolence is the right principle of the world. Lose the right principle, and there is no order and no harmony. [Confucius said: "A man without benevolence—what has he to do with ritual? A man without benevolence—what has he to do with music?" A man without benevolence has selfish desires crossing and stirring, harming the right principle; he should of course fall into error and disorder, perverse and unharmonious. Order is the root of ritual; harmony is the root of music.] Loyalty and trustworthiness are how virtue is advanced; "vigorous all day long"—the noble man should all day stand face to face with heaven above. [The saying is in the Wenyan on the third line of Qian. Issuing from the true heart is called loyalty; being fulfilled in real principle is called trustworthiness. Loyalty and trustworthiness are the root of advancing virtue. "Vigorous all day long" means standing all day face to face with heaven above; "facing" is "toward." In every word and act the noble man keeps loyalty and trustworthiness, forever beholding the Lord on high, not daring a hair of deceit or neglect. What follows all brings out the meaning of standing face to face with heaven.] Heaven's working has no sound and no scent: its substance is called change, its principle is called the Way, its working is called spirit; its decree upon man is called the nature, following the nature is called the Way, cultivating the Way is called teaching. [Heaven's working without sound and scent (the base text had a rare character lost in transcription) is what is meant by the supreme pole being grounded in the limitless. "Substance" is like matter. The alternation of yin and yang is the pole's very substance, so its substance is called change; the principle by which it alternates is called the Way; the working of the alternation is called spirit. This is said in terms of heaven's way. Heavenly principle endowed in man is called the nature; following the nature's self-so is called the Way; cultivating and making bright that self-so is called teaching. This is said in terms of man's way. Just because the principle of heaven and man is one, one can stand all day face to face with heaven.] Mencius then drew out from this the flood-like qi—one may say he spoke it to the end. [Flood-like is the look of grandeur flowing everywhere. Heaven and earth's great, right qi is what man receives to live; it is flood-like by nature. Lost of nourishment it starves and cannot join the working of the Way and righteousness; nourished it fills and can restore the great, right substance. "To the end" means nothing is left over. This says that the qi of heaven and man is one, so one can stand all day face to face with heaven.] Therefore it says the spirits seem above us, seem at our left and right—of all the great matters it says only "how sincerity cannot be hid like this." From top to bottom it is nothing more than this. ["Great and small" is like "however many." The Doctrine of the Mean speaks of the spirits' abundance thus, and finally says "sincerity cannot be hid." Sincerity is real principle—the substance of loyalty and trustworthiness. This real principle runs through between heaven and man, so the noble man, loyal and trustworthy, advancing virtue, is standing face to face with heaven.] What is above form is the Way; what is below form is the vessel—but it must be said this way: the vessel too is the Way, and the Way too is the vessel. [The saying is in the Appended Remarks. The Way names the principle of things, so it is called above form; the vessel names the bodies of things, so it is called below form. In truth the Way lodges in the vessel; they are not separate from the first. It means that in daily use there is nothing but heavenly principle flowing; what is called standing all day face to face with heaven is no more than reverently following this principle.] As long as the Way is there, it is not bound by present or later, self or other. ["Not bound" means not tied. It means that if a man embodies the Way without violating it, the Way is in him—not tied to other or self, ancient or modern; everywhere it accords, for the Way has no interval from the first.]'

醫書言手足痿痺為不仁此言最善名狀仁者以天地萬物為一體莫非巳也認得為巳何所不至若不有諸巳自不與巳相干如手足不仁氣巳不貫皆不屬巳【天地萬物與我同體心無私蔽則自然愛而公矣所謂仁也苟是理不明而為私意所隔截刖形骸爾汝之分了無交渉譬如手足痿痺氣不相貫疾痛痾癢皆不相干此四體之不仁也】故博施濟眾乃聖人之功用仁至難言故止曰巳欲立而立人巳欲逹而逹人能近取譬可謂仁之方也巳欲令如是觀仁可以得仁之體【說見論語博施濟眾乃聖人之功用子貢以是言仁未識仁之體夫子告之使知人之慾無異巳之慾施於人者亦猶施於巳近取諸身而譬之於人則得求仁之術即此可見仁之體也○朱子曰博施濟眾是就事上說卻不就心上說夫子所以提起正是就心上指仁之本體而告之又曰博施濟眾固仁之極功但只乍見孺子將入井時有怵惕惻隱之心亦便是仁此處最好看】

Cheng Yi said: 'The medical books call palsied, numb hands and feet "unfeeling"—the expression describes it best. The benevolent make heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things one body; there is nothing that is not themselves. Recognizing it as themselves, what could they not reach? If it is not possessed in oneself, it naturally has nothing to do with oneself—like hands and feet grown numb: the qi no longer runs through, and they belong to oneself no more. [Heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things are one body with me; if the heart has no selfish obstruction it naturally loves and is impartial—this is benevolence. If this principle is not clear, cut off by selfish intent, only the bodily frame and the distinction of self and other remain, with no dealings at all—like hands and feet palsied, the qi not running through, ache and itch no concern at all: this is the four limbs' unfeeling.] So giving broadly and succoring the multitude is the sage's work. Benevolence is very hard to speak of; therefore he only said: wishing to stand, help others to stand; wishing to reach, help others to reach; able to draw the comparison near at hand—this may be called the method of benevolence. To make men see benevolence this way is to get at benevolence's substance. [The saying is in the Analects. Giving broadly and succoring the multitude is the sage's work; Zigong used it to speak of benevolence, not yet knowing benevolence's substance. The Master told him so that he would know that other men's desires are no different from one's own, that what is given to others is as given to oneself—drawing near upon oneself to compare with others, one gets the method of seeking benevolence, and by this very thing sees its substance. Zhu Xi said: giving broadly and succoring the multitude is spoken of in terms of deeds, not in terms of the heart; the reason the Master brought it up was precisely to point out benevolence's substance in the heart and tell him. He also said: giving broadly and succoring is indeed benevolence's utmost work, but even at the first sight of a child about to fall into a well, the alarmed, pitying heart is also benevolence—and here it is best seen.]'

生之謂性性即氣氣即性生之謂也【人之有生氣聚成形理亦具焉是謂之性性與氣本不相離也故曰性即氣氣即性】人生氣稟理有善惡然不是性中元有此兩物相對而生也【氣稟雜揉善惡由分此亦理之所有然原是性之木則善而已非性中原有善惡二者並生也】有自幼而善有自幼而惡【本注云后稷之克岐克嶷子越椒始生人知其必滅若敖氏之類】是氣稟有然也善固性也然惡亦不可不謂之性也【程子又曰善惡皆天理謂之惡者本非惡但或過或不及便如此○朱子曰天下無性外之物本皆善而流於惡耳○愚謂原天命賦予之初固有善而無惡及氣稟拘滯之後則其惡者謂非性之本然則可謂之非性則不可性一也所指之地不同耳】蓋生之謂性人生而靜以上不容説才説性時便巳不是性也【朱子曰人生而靜以上是人物未生時只可謂之理未可名為性所謂在天曰命也才説性時便是人生以後此理已墮在刑氣之中不全是性之本體矣所謂在人曰性也○此重釋生之謂性】凡人説性只是説繼之者善也孟子言性善是也夫所謂繼之者善也者猶水流而就下也皆水也有流而至海終無所汙此何煩人力之為也有流而未逺固巳漸濁有出而甚逺方有所濁有濁之多者有濁之少者清濁雖不同然不可以濁者不為水也【繫辭曰一隂一陽之謂道繼之者善也蓋天遒流行發育萬物賦受之間渾然一理純粹至善所謂性善者也繼之雲者猶水流而就下其有清濁逺近之不同猶氣稟昏明純駁有深淺也水固本清及流而濁不可謂之非水猶性雖本善及局於氣而惡不可謂之非性○此重釋善固性也惡亦不可不謂之性】如此則人不可以不加澄治之功故用力敏勇則疾清用力緩怠則遲清及其清也則卻只是元初水也不是將清來換卻濁亦不是取出濁來置在一隅也水之清則性善之謂也故不是善與惡在性中為兩物相對各自出來【朱子曰人雖為氣所昏而性則未嘗不在其中故不可不加澄治之功惟能學以勝之則知此理渾然初未嘗損所謂元初水也雖濁而清者存固非將清來換濁既清則本無濁固非取濁置一隅也如此則其本善而已矣性中豈有兩物對立而並行也哉愚謂不知性之本善則不能自勉以復其初不知性有時而陷於惡則不能力加澄治之功二説蓋互相發明也○此重釋不是性中元有兩物相對而生但前以本言則曰相對而生此以用言則曰相對各自出來】此理天命也順而循之則道也循此而修之各得其分則教也自天命以至於教我無加損焉此舜有天下而不與焉者也【朱子曰修道雖以人事言然其所以修之者莫非天命之本然非人私智所能為也然非聖人有不能盡故以舜事明之】觀天地生物氣象【本注云周茂叔看○造化流行發育萬物博周徧生理條逹觀之使人良心油然而生此即周子牕前草不除去問之雲與自家意思一般是也】

Cheng Yi said: '"What is inborn is called the nature": the nature is qi and qi is the nature—this is said in terms of "what is inborn." [When a man is born, qi gathers into form and principle is complete within: this is called the nature. Nature and qi are not separate from the first; hence it is said the nature is qi and qi is the nature.] In the qi-endowment that man receives at birth, in principle there is good and evil—yet it is not that within the nature these two things were originally born facing each other. [The qi-endowment is a mixture, and good and evil divide along it—this too belongs to principle. But traced to the nature's root (the base text miswrites 'root'), it is only good; it is not that within the nature good and evil were originally born side by side.] Some are good from infancy, some are evil from infancy (the text's own note: like Hou Ji's "he could stand and straddle," and Ziyuejiao, of whom men knew at birth that he would wipe out the Ruo'ao clan)—this is made so by the qi-endowment. Good is of course the nature, yet evil cannot but be called the nature too. [Master Cheng also said: good and evil are both heavenly principle. What is called evil is not evil in itself; it is just excess or falling short that makes it so. Zhu Xi said: in the world there is nothing outside the nature; all are originally good and merely flow into evil. Ye Cai notes: traced back to when heaven's mandate first endows it, there is indeed only good and no evil; once the qi-endowment cramps and fixes it, then of that evil one may say it is not the nature's original state, but one may not say it is not the nature. The nature is one; only the place pointed to differs.] "What is inborn is called the nature": above "man is born in stillness" nothing may be said; the moment one speaks of the nature, it is no longer the nature itself. [Zhu Xi said: above "man is born in stillness" is before man and things are born; there it can only be called principle, not yet named the nature—what is meant by "in heaven it is called the mandate." The moment one speaks of the nature, it is already after man's birth, when this principle has fallen into formed qi (the base text miswrites 'formed qi') and is no longer wholly the nature's own substance—what is meant by "in man it is called the nature." This re-explains "what is inborn is called the nature."] When men speak of the nature at all, they mean only "what continues it is goodness"—this is what Mencius meant by the goodness of the nature. What is called "what continues it is goodness" is like water flowing downward. It is all water: some flows to the sea untainted all the way—what need is there for human effort there; some grows gradually turbid before it has flowed far; some goes far before it grows turbid at all; some grows very turbid, some only slightly. Though clear and turbid differ, one cannot say that because it is turbid it is not water. [The Appended Remarks say: "the alternation of yin and yang is called the Way; what continues it is goodness." Heaven's way (the base text miswrites 'way') flows and brings the ten thousand things to birth; between endowing and receiving, undivided in one principle, pure and utmost good—this is the so-called goodness of the nature. "Continuing it" is like water flowing downward; clear and turbid, far and near differ like the endowment's dull and bright, pure and mixed having degrees of depth. Water is of course originally clear; having flowed and grown turbid it cannot be said not to be water; the nature, though originally good, cramped by qi into evil cannot be said not to be the nature. This re-explains "good is of course the nature, yet evil cannot but be called the nature too." So man cannot do without the work of settling and purifying. Exert effort nimbly and boldly and it clears quickly; exert effort slowly and lazily and it clears slowly. And once it has cleared, it is only the original water—not that clear water was brought to replace the turbid, nor that the turbid was taken out and set in a corner. The water's clarity is the meaning of the nature's goodness. So it is not that good and evil within the nature are two things facing each other, each issuing from its own side. [Zhu Xi said: though man is clouded by qi, the nature is never not within him; therefore the work of settling and purifying cannot be omitted. As long as learning can overcome it, one knows this principle was undivided and undiminished from the first—the so-called original water. Though turbid, the clear is still there; it is certainly not that clear replaces turbid. Once clear, there was no turbidity to begin with; it is certainly not that the turbid was put in a corner. Thus its root is only good. Within the nature how could there be two things standing opposed and running side by side? Ye Cai notes: not knowing the nature's original goodness, one cannot exert oneself to return to the beginning; not knowing the nature can at times sink into evil, one cannot forcefully apply the work of purifying. The two sayings illuminate each other. This re-explains "it is not that within the nature two things were originally born facing each other." Only: before, it spoke of the root and said "born facing each other"; here, speaking of the working, it says "each issuing from its own side."] This principle is heaven's mandate. To follow it and accord with it is the Way; to cultivate along it, each getting his due share, is teaching. From heaven's mandate down to teaching, I neither add to it nor take from it—this is the meaning of Shun's possessing the empire yet taking no part in it. [Zhu Xi said: though cultivating the Way is spoken of in terms of human affairs, what is cultivated is nothing but heaven's mandate as it is, not something human cleverness can make. Yet none but the sage can fulfill it, so Shun's case is used to make it plain.] Behold the manner of heaven and earth giving life to things (the text's own note: Zhou Maoshu beheld it. [Creation flows and brings the ten thousand things to birth, broad and all-pervading (the base text had a rare character lost in transcription), the life-principle coursing through; to behold it makes one's good heart spring up of itself. This is why Zhouzi would not clear the grass before his window; asked, he said: "It is of one meaning with my own."])'

萬物之生意最可觀此元者善之長也斯所謂仁也【朱子曰物之初生淳粹未防最好看及幹葉茂盛便不好看見孺子八井時怵惕惻隱之心只這些子便見得仁到他發政施仁其仁固廣然卻難看】

Cheng Yi said: 'The impulse of life in the ten thousand things is the best thing to behold. This is "yuan is the chief of the virtues"; this is what is called benevolence. [Zhu Xi said: when a thing has just been born, pure and unmixed (the base text miswrites the character), it is fairest to behold; once the branches and leaves grow thick it is not so fine. Seeing a child about to fall into a well (the base text miswrites 'into'), the alarmed, pitying heart—in just this one point benevolence is seen; when it comes to issuing governance and spreading benevolence, the benevolence is indeed vast, yet not so fine to behold.]'

滿腔子是惻隱之心【腔子猶軀殻也惻傷怛也隱痛也人之一身惻隱之心無所不至故疾痛痾癢觸之則覺由是推之則天地萬物本一體也無徃而非惻隱之心矣○朱子曰彌滿充實無空缺處如刀割著亦痛針刺著亦痛】

Cheng Hao said: 'The whole frame is filled with the heart of pity. ["Frame" is like the bodily shell. "Pity" is pain at hurt, "commiseration" grief at sorrow. Through a man's whole body the heart of pity reaches everywhere, so that ache and itch are felt at a touch. Pushed outward from this, heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things are originally one body—nowhere is the heart of pity absent. Zhu Xi said: spread full and filling, with no empty place—as a knife's cut pains, a needle's prick pains.]'

天地萬物之理無獨必有對皆自然而然非有安排也毎中夜以思不知手之舞之足之蹈之也【朱子曰隂與陽對動與靜對以至屈伸消長左右上下或以類而對或以反而對反覆推之未有兀然無對而孤立者程子謂惟道無對然以形而上下論之亦未嘗不有對也】

Cheng Hao said: 'In the principle of heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things there is nothing solitary; everything must have its pair, all being so of themselves, arranged by no one. Thinking of it again and again in the middle of the night, unawares my hands dance and my feet stamp. [Zhu Xi said: yin pairs with yang, movement with stillness, and so with bending and stretching, waning and waxing, left and right, above and below—paired either by kind or by opposition; push it through again and again and there is none standing stark and lone without a pair. Master Cheng said only the Way has no pair; yet judged between above-form and below-form, it too has a pair of a kind.]'

中者天下之大本天地之間亭亭噹噹直上直下之正理出則不是惟敬而無失最盡【喜怒哀樂未發之時此性渾然在中亭亭噹噹直上直下無所偏倚此天下之大本而萬善之主也心有散逸則失其所以為主唯能敬以存之則有以全其中之本體矣】

Cheng Hao said: 'Equilibrium is the great root of the world. Between heaven and earth, that right principle standing firm and due, straight above and straight below—let it depart and it is so no longer. "Only reverence without loss" says it most fully. [Before joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are stirred, this nature rests undivided within, firm and due, straight above and straight below, leaning to no side—this is the great root of the world, the master of the ten thousand goods. If the heart scatters, it loses what makes it master. Only by holding it with reverence is there wherewith to keep its substance whole within.]'

伊川先生曰公則一私則萬殊人心不同如面只是私心【公則萬物一體私則人已萬殊】

Master Yichuan (Cheng Yi) said: 'Impartiality makes one; selfishness makes ten thousand differences. Men's hearts differ like their faces—only from the selfish heart. [Impartial, the ten thousand things are one body; selfish, self and other split into ten thousand differences.]'

凡物有本末不可分本末為兩段事灑掃應對是其然必有所以然【朱子曰治心修身是本灑掃應對是末皆其然之事也至於所以然則理也理無精粗本末】

Cheng Yi said: 'All things have a root and a tip; you cannot split root and tip into two separate matters. Sweeping and answering are the "that it is so"; there must be the "why it is so." [Zhu Xi said: governing the heart and cultivating the person are the root; sweeping and answering are the tip—all are matters of "that it is so." As for the "why it is so," that is principle. Principle has no fine and coarse, root and tip.]'

楊子防一毛不為墨子又摩頂放踵為之此皆是不得中至如子莫執中欲執此二者之中不知怎麼執得識得則凡事物上皆天然有個中在那上不待人安排也安排著則不中矣【楊朱為我故以一毫利天下而不為墨翟兼愛故雖摩頂至踵可以利天下而亦為之楊墨各守一偏固皆失其中子莫魯之賢人也懲二者之偏欲於二者之間而取中夫中者隨時而在不能隨時以權其宜而膠於一定之中則所執者亦偏矣故君子貴于格物以致其知物格而知至則有以識夫時中之理而於事事物物各有天然之中不待著意安排也若事事安排則或雜以意見之私而非天然之中矣】

Cheng Hao said: 'Yangzi would not pull out (the base text miswrites the character) one hair; Mozi would rub his crown bare and wear his heels smooth doing it—both missed the mean. As for Zimo holding the mean, he wished to hold the middle between the two, but did not know how to hold it. Once it is recognized, then on all things there is naturally a mean set upon them that does not wait for man's arranging; the moment it is arranged, it is the mean no longer. [Yang Zhu was for himself, so he would not do it even at the price of one hair for the world's profit; Mo Di loved all alike, so he would do it though rubbing crown and heel to benefit the world. Yang and Mo each held one side and of course both lost the mean. Zimo was a worthy of Lu who, chastened by the two's one-sidedness, wished to take the middle between them. The mean is present with the moment; if one cannot weigh the fitting as the moment shifts and instead glues fast to one fixed middle, then what one holds is one-sided too. So the noble man prizes investigating things to extend knowledge. Things investigated and knowledge complete, one has wherewith to know the principle of the timely mean, and in every affair and thing there is a natural mean that does not wait on deliberate arranging. If every matter is arranged, it may be mixed with the selfishness of opinion and is no longer the natural mean.]'

問時中如何伊川先生曰中字最難識須是黙識心通且試言一則中央為中一家則中非中而堂為中言一國則堂非中而國之中為中推此類可見矣如三過其門不入在禹稷之世為中若居陋巷則非中也居陋巷在顔子之時為中若三過其門不入則非中也【時中者隨時有中不可執一而求也意如上章禹之治水九年於外三過其門而不暇入蓋得時行道任天下之青濟斯民之患如是乃合此時之中顔子之世明王不興以夫子之大聖而不得行其道則其時可以止矣故隱居獨善而簞瓢自樂如是乃合此時之中是二者若違時而易務則皆失其中矣】

Someone asked about the timely mean. Master Yichuan said: 'The character "mean" is the hardest to know; it must be silently recognized and fathomed in the heart. Let me try to say it: within one room (the base text had a rare character lost in transcription) the center is the mean; within a household, the room's center is not the mean—the hall is; speak of a state, and the hall is not the mean—the state's center is. By this analogy it may be seen. Like passing one's gate three times without entering: in the time of Yu and Ji it was the mean, but dwelling in a mean lane it would not be; dwelling in a mean lane was the mean in Yanzi's time, but passing the gate thrice without entering would not be. [The timely mean is having the mean with the moment; it cannot be sought by holding to one—the meaning is as in the previous section. Yu governed the waters nine years abroad, passing his gate thrice without a moment to enter; this was gaining the time to walk the Way, bearing the charge of the world (the base text miswrites 'charge') to relieve the people's suffering—only thus did it fit the mean of that moment. In Yanzi's day no enlightened king arose; with a great sage like the Master unable to practice his Way, the time called for stopping—so he dwelt in seclusion, cultivating himself alone, glad with gourd and ladle; only thus did it fit the mean of that moment. If these two had defied their times and traded tasks, both would have lost the mean.]'

無妄之謂誠不欺其次矣【本注云李邦直雲不欺之謂誠便以不欺為誠徐仲車雲不息之謂誠中庸言至誠無息非以無息解誠也或以問先生先生曰云雲○無妄者實理之自然而無一毫偽妄也故謂之誠不欺者知實理之當然而不自為欺乃思誠也○朱子曰無妄者自然之誠不欺是著力去做底故曰其次】

Cheng Yi said: 'Being without falsehood is called sincerity; not deceiving is next after. [The text's own note: Li Bangzhi said "not deceiving is called sincerity," taking non-deceit for sincerity itself; Xu Zhongche said "unceasing is called sincerity." The Doctrine of the Mean says "utmost sincerity does not cease"; it does not explain sincerity by unceasingness. Someone asked the master about this, and he answered as above. Being without falsehood is real principle's natural state with not a hair of pretense, so it is called sincerity. Not deceiving is knowing what real principle requires and not cheating oneself—this is thinking on sincerity. Zhu Xi said: without falsehood is sincerity of nature; not deceiving is sincerity worked at—hence "next after."]'

沖漠無眹萬象森然已具未應不是先已應不是後【沖漠未形而萬理畢具即所謂無極而太極也未應者寂然不動之時也已應者感而遂通之時也已應之理悉具於未應之時故未應非先已應非後蓋即體而用在其中不可以先後分也○朱子曰未有事物之時此理已具少間應處亦只是此理】如百尺之木自根本至枝葉皆是一貫不可道上面一段事無形無兆卻待人旋安排引入來教入塗轍【轍車跡塗轍猶路脈也道有體用而非兩端猶木有根本是生枝葉上下一貫未嘗間斷豈可謂未應之時空虛無有已應之際旋待安排引入塗轍言此理具於氣形事為之先本一貫也】既是塗轍卻只是一個塗轍【言此理流行於氣形事為之中亦未嘗有二致也○朱子曰如父之慈子之孝只是一條路從源頭下來】

Cheng Yi said: 'Empty and trackless, the ten thousand images are already furnished in ranks. Not yet responding is not prior; already responding is not after. [Empty, formless, with the ten thousand principles all complete—this is the limitless and yet the supreme pole. Not yet responding is the time of stillness unmoved; already responding is the time of being stirred and reaching through. The principle of what is already responded is wholly furnished at the time of not yet responding; therefore not-yet is not prior and already is not after—within the very substance the working is contained, and they cannot be split into before and after. Zhu Xi said: before there is any thing this principle is already there; a while later, what responds to things is only this same principle.] Like a tree a hundred feet tall, from root to branch and leaf it is one thread through—you cannot say that the upper portion, having no form or sign, waits for a man to arrange it and bring it in at the moment, leading it onto the track. ["Track" is the wheel's rut; "path and track" is like a road's veins. The Way has substance and working, yet they are not two ends—like the tree having root from which branch and leaf are born, above and below one thread unbroken. How could one say that at not-yet-responding it is empty nothing, and only at responding that a man arranges it into the track? It means this principle is furnished before qi, form, and affairs—one thread from the first.] Since it is a track, it is only one track. [It means this principle flows through qi, form, and affairs without ever being two. Zhu Xi said: like the father's kindness and the son's filial duty—it is only one road coming down from the source.]'

近取諸身百理皆具屈伸徃來之義只於鼻息之間見之屈伸徃來只是理不必將既屈之氣復為方伸之氣生生之理自然不息【鼻息呼吸可見屈伸徃來之義以理而言則屈伸徃來自然不息以氣而言則不是以既屈之氣為方伸之氣如釋氏所謂輪廻者也○朱子曰此段為橫渠形潰反原之説而發也李果齋曰徃而屈者其氣已散來而伸者其氣方生生生之理自然不窮若以既屈之氣復為方伸之氣則是天地間只有許多氣來來去去造化之理不幾於窮乎釋氏不明乎此所以有輪廻之說】如復卦言七日來復其間元不斷續陽已復生物極必返其理須如此有生便有死有始便有終【日即月也以卦配月則自五月陽始消而為姤至十一月陽生而為復自姤至復凡七月也消極而生無有間斷物極必返理之自然生死始終皆一理也】

Cheng Yi said: 'Draw near upon one's own person, and all the principles are furnished. The meaning of bending and stretching, going and coming, can be seen in the breath at one's nose. Bending and stretching, going and coming, is only principle; you need not take the qi already bent to be the qi now stretching. The life-giving principle naturally does not cease. [The breath at the nose shows the meaning of bending and stretching, going and coming. In terms of principle, bending and stretching go on naturally without ceasing; in terms of qi, it is not that the qi already bent is taken as the qi now stretching—as the Buddhists' so-called transmigration. Zhu Xi said: this passage is aimed at Hengqu's saying about "the form scattering back to the source." Li Fangzi (Guozhai) said: the qi that went and bent has scattered; the qi that comes and stretches is just being born—the life-giving principle naturally does not run out. If the qi already bent were again taken as the qi now stretching, then between heaven and earth there would only be so much qi coming and going, and would not creation's principle be all but exhausted? The Buddhists did not understand this, hence their teaching of transmigration.] Like the Fu hexagram's "on the seventh day it returns"—within it there was no break from the first. Yang has already returned; at the limit of things they turn back—its principle must be so. Where there is birth there is death; where there is a start there is an end. ["Day" is month. Matching hexagrams to months: from the fifth month yang begins to wane as Gou, to the eleventh month yang is born as Fu—from Gou to Fu is seven months. Waning to its limit it is born again, without interval. Things at their limit must turn back—it is the naturalness of principle. Life and death, start and finish, are all one principle.]'

明道先生曰天地之間只有一個感與應而已更有甚事【詳見前】

Master Mingdao (Cheng Hao) said: 'Between heaven and earth there is only stimulus and response, that is all—what else is there? [See in detail above.]'

問仁伊川先生曰此在諸公自思之將聖賢所言仁處類聚觀之體認出來孟子曰惻隱之心仁也後人遂以愛為仁愛自是情仁自是性豈可専以愛為仁孟子言惻隱之心仁之端也既曰仁之端則不可便為之仁退之言博愛之為仁非也仁者固博愛然便以博愛為仁則不可【仁者愛之理愛者仁之情以愛為仁是指情為性端之雲者言仁在中而端緒見於外也或問樊遲問仁子曰愛人是夫子亦嘗以愛言仁也曰孔門問答皆是教人於巳發處用功孟子所謂惻隱之心仁也亦是於巳發之端體認但後之論仁者無復知性情之別故程子發此義以示人慾使沿流而遡其源也學者其深體之】

Someone asked about benevolence. Master Yichuan said: 'This you gentlemen must think out for yourselves. Gather by kind what the sages and worthies said about benevolence and look at them; embody it and recognize it. Mencius said "the heart of pity is benevolence," and later men took love for benevolence. Love is a feeling; benevolence is the nature—how can love alone be taken for benevolence? Mencius said "the heart of pity is the sprout of benevolence"; since it is called benevolence's sprout, it cannot simply be called benevolence. Han Yu said "broad love is called benevolence"—not so. The benevolent do indeed love broadly, yet to take broad love for benevolence will not do. [Benevolence is the principle of love; love is benevolence's feeling. To take love for benevolence is to take feeling for nature. "Sprout" means benevolence is within while its thread shows outside. Someone asked: when Fan Chi asked about benevolence, Confucius said "love others"—did the Master then also speak of benevolence by love? Answer: the Confucian school in question and answer always taught men to work at the point where feeling has gone forth; Mencius's "the heart of pity is benevolence" also has one recognize it on the thread already gone forth. But later men discussing benevolence no longer knew the distinction of nature and feeling, so Master Cheng brought out this meaning for men to see, wishing them to follow the stream back to its source. Students should weigh this deeply.]'

問仁與心何異伊川曰心譬如谷種生之性便是仁陽氣發處乃情也【以谷種喻心生之性便是愛之理陽氣發處便是惻隱之情】

Someone asked what the difference is between benevolence and the heart. Yichuan said: 'The heart is like a grain of seed; the nature of living is benevolence; where yang qi stirs is feeling. [The grain of seed figures the heart. The nature of living is the principle of love; where yang qi stirs is the feeling of pity.]'

義訓宜禮訓別智訓知仁當何訓説者謂訓覺訓人皆非也當合孔孟言仁處大槩研窮之二三歳得之未晩也【訓者以其字義難明故又假一字以訓解之義者天理之當然所以裁製乎事物之宜故訓宜禮者天理之節文所以別親踈上下之分故訓別智者天理之明睿所以知事物之是非故訓智仁道至大包乎三者故為難訓説者謂訓覺者言不為物慾所蔽癢痾疾痛觸之即覺夫仁者固無所不覺然覺不足以盡仁之蘊也訓人者言天地生人均氣同理以人體之剛惻怛慈愛之意自然無所間斷夫仁者固以人為體然不可以訓仁也○朱子曰仁是愛之體覺自是智之用仁統四徳故仁則無不覺然便以覺為仁則不可或謂仁只是人心之生理以生字訓之何如朱子曰不必須用一字訓但要識得大意通透耳】

Cheng Yi said: 'Righteousness is glossed as fittingness, propriety as distinction, wisdom as knowing—what should benevolence be glossed as? Those who say to gloss it as awareness, or gloss it as man, are both wrong. One should gather together where Confucius and Mencius spoke of benevolence, study them hard for two or three years, and so get it—and that would not be too late. [A gloss is used because a word's meaning is hard to make out, so another word is borrowed to explain it. Righteousness is heavenly principle's requirement, judging the fittingness of affairs—hence glossed as fitting; propriety is heavenly principle's measured form, distinguishing the stations of close and distant, high and low—hence glossed as distinction; wisdom is heavenly principle's clarity, knowing the right and wrong of things—hence glossed as wisdom. The way of benevolence is utmost great, containing those three, so it is hard to gloss. Those who say to gloss it as awareness mean: not clouded by the desires of things, itch and pain and sickness are felt at a touch—the benevolent indeed feel all things, yet awareness does not exhaust what benevolence stores. Those who say to gloss it as man mean: heaven and earth produce men of one qi and one principle, so that taking man to embody it, the sense of tender love naturally never breaks—the benevolent indeed make man their body, yet it cannot serve as benevolence's gloss. Zhu Xi said: benevolence is love's substance; awareness is wisdom's working. Benevolence gathers the four virtues, so where benevolence is there is nothing unfelt—yet to take awareness for benevolence will not do. Someone said benevolence is only the life-principle of the human heart: how about glossing it by the word "life"? Zhu Xi said: there is no need to fix on one word for the gloss; it suffices to recognize the great meaning through and through.]'

性即理也天下之理原其所自來未有不善喜怒哀樂未發何嘗不善發而中節則無徃而不善發不中節然後為不善故凡言善惡皆先善而後惡言吉凶皆先吉而後兇言是非皆先是而後非【朱子曰性即理也一語自孔子後惟伊川説得盡□撲不破性即是天理那得有惡又曰未發之前氣不用事所以有善而無惡】

Cheng Yi said: 'The nature is principle. Of all principle in the world, traced back to where it comes from, there is none that is not good. Before joy, anger, sorrow, and joy are stirred, where is there anything not good? Stirred and hitting the due measure, there is nowhere not good; stirred and missing the measure—only then is there not-good. So in speaking of good and evil, good always comes before evil; of fortune and misfortune, fortune before misfortune; of right and wrong, right before wrong. [Zhu Xi said: the one phrase "the nature is principle"—since Confucius only Yichuan said it fully, irrefutable (a character is missing in the base text). The nature is heavenly principle; where could evil come from? He also said: before the feelings are stirred, qi has not yet taken charge, so there is good and no evil.]'

問心有善惡否伊川曰在天為命在義為理在人為性主於身為心其實一也心本善發於思慮則有善有不善若既發則可謂之情不可謂之心【天道流行賦與萬物謂之命事物萬殊各有天然之則統而名之謂之理人得是理以生謂之性是性所存虛靈知覺為一身之主宰謂之心實則非二也推本而言心豈有不善自七情之發而後有善惡之分○朱子曰既發不可謂之非心但有不善則非心之本體】譬如水只可謂之水至如流而為派或行於東或行於西卻為之流也

Someone asked whether the heart has good and evil. Yichuan said: 'In heaven it is the mandate; in duty it is principle; in man it is the nature; presiding over the body it is the heart—in truth they are one. The heart is originally good; issuing into thought and deliberation it has good and not-good. Once it has issued, it may be called feeling but may not be called the heart. [Heaven's way flowing and endowing the ten thousand things is called the mandate; things in ten thousand differences each having their natural rule, named together, is called principle; man's receiving this principle to live is called the nature; where this nature is kept, empty and spirit-like in awareness, the master of the one body, is called the heart—in truth not two. Traced to the root, where could the heart not be good? Only after issuing into the seven feelings does the split of good and evil appear. Zhu Xi said: once issued it cannot be said not to be the heart, but where there is not-good, that is not the heart's own substance.] It is like water, which can only be called water; once it flows out into channels, going east or west, then it is called a flow.'

性出於天才出於氣氣清則才清氣濁則才濁才則有善有不善性則無不善【性本乎理理無不善才本乎氣氣則不齊故或以之為善或以之為惡○孟子曰若夫為不善非才之罪也朱子曰孟子専以其發於性者言之故以為才無不善程子兼指其稟於氣者言之則人之材質固有昏明強弱之不同張子所謂氣質之性是也二説雖殊各有所當然程子為密】

Cheng Yi said: 'The nature comes out of heaven; capacity comes out of qi. When the qi is clear the capacity is clear; when the qi is turbid the capacity is turbid. In capacity there is good and not-good; in the nature there is nothing not good. [The nature is grounded in principle, and principle has nothing not good; capacity is grounded in qi, and qi is uneven, so it may be used for good or used for evil. Mencius said: "as for doing what is not good, that is not the capacity's fault." Zhu Xi said: Mencius spoke strictly of capacity as issuing from the nature, so he held capacity has nothing not good; Master Cheng also pointed to its being endowed from qi—men's material endowments indeed differ in dull and bright, weak and strong, what Master Zhang called the nature of temperament. The two sayings differ, yet each fits its place—and Master Cheng's is the tighter.]'

性者自然完具信只是有此者也故四端不言信【仁義禮智分而言之則四者各立自然全具實有是四者則謂之信故信無定位非於四者之外別有信也孟子論四端而不及信蓋信在其中矣○李果齋曰五常言信配五行而言四端不言信配四時而言也蓋土分旺於四時之季信已立於四端之中也】

Cheng Yi said: "Human nature is naturally complete in itself. Trustworthiness (xin) is simply the actual possession of these four. That is why the Four Beginnings do not mention trustworthiness. [Humaneness, rightness, propriety and wisdom, taken separately, each stands on its own and is naturally complete; truly having these four is what is called trustworthiness. So trustworthiness has no fixed place of its own, and is not something additional outside the four. Mencius discussed the Four Beginnings without mentioning trustworthiness because trustworthiness was already contained in them. Li Fangzi (Guozhai) said: When the Five Constants include trustworthiness, it is matched with the Five Phases; when the Four Beginnings omit it, it is matched with the Four Seasons. Earth presides over the last month of each of the four seasons, so trustworthiness is already established within the Four Beginnings.]"

心生道也有是心斯具是形以生惻隱之心人之生道也【心者人之生理也有是心斯具是形此言生人之道惻隱之心人之生道此言人道是心故酬酢運用生生而不窮苟無是心則同於砂石而生理絶矣○朱子曰心生道也謂天地以生物為心而人得之以為心者又曰心是個活底物】

Cheng Yi said: "The heart is the way of generation. Only when one has this heart does one have this bodily form and come to life. The heart of compassion is the human way of generation. [The heart is the vital principle of a person. Having this heart, one has this form; this speaks of the way by which people are generated. The heart of compassion is the human way of generation; this says that the human Way is just this heart. Hence, in responding to affairs and in all one's functioning, life gives rise to life without end. Without this heart, one would be like sand and stone, with the vital principle cut off. Zhu Xi said: "The heart is the way of generation" means that Heaven and Earth take the generating of things as their heart, and humans receive this to be their heart. He also said: The heart is a living thing.]"

橫渠先生曰氣坱然太虛升降飛未嘗止息此虛實動靜之機隂陽剛柔之始浮而上者陽之清降而下者隂之濁其感遇聚散為風雨為霜雪萬品之流行山川之融結糟粕煨燼無非教也【正蒙下同○坱然盛大氤氳之義坱然太虛周流上下亙古窮今未嘗止息者元氣也虛實動靜妙用由是而形故曰機隂陽剛柔定體由是而立故曰始判而為上下清濁合而為風雨霜雪凝而為人物山川之形質散而為糟粕煨燼之渣滓消長萬變生生不窮皆道體之流行故曰無非至教】

Master Hengqu (Zhang Zai) said: "Qi fills the Great Void in a vast, dense mass, rising, falling and flying about (the original has a rare character here that was lost in transcription), never coming to rest. This is the pivot of emptiness and fullness, motion and stillness, and the beginning of yin and yang, hardness and softness. What floats upward is the clear part of yang; what sinks downward is the turbid part of yin. As it meets, gathers and disperses, it becomes wind and rain, frost and snow; the flow of the myriad kinds of things, the congealing of mountains and rivers, even the dregs and ashes, are all teaching. [From the Zhengmeng (Correcting Youthful Ignorance); the same applies below. "Yangran" means vast, with the qi densely interwoven. What fills the Great Void, circulating up and down and never resting from ancient times to the present, is original qi. The wondrous working of emptiness and fullness, motion and stillness, is manifested through it, so it is called the pivot; the fixed substance of yin and yang, hardness and softness, is established through it, so it is called the beginning. Divided, it becomes upper and lower, clear and turbid; combined, it becomes wind, rain, frost and snow; condensed, it becomes the forms of people, things, mountains and rivers; dispersed, it becomes the residue of dregs and ashes. Its waxing and waning change in ten thousand ways and generate without end; all of it is the flow of the substance of the Way, hence "nothing is not teaching."]"

遊氣紛擾合而成質者生人物之萬殊其隂陽兩端循環不已者立天地之大義【遊氣雜揉凝而成形者人物萬殊所以生也隂陽推移循環無窮者天地大經所以立也遊氣紛擾緯也隂陽循環經也○朱子曰隂陽循環如磨遊氣紛擾如磨中出者】

Zhang Zai said: "The wandering qi, tumultuous and joining to form substance, produces the manifold variety of people and things; the two poles of yin and yang, cycling without end, establish the great principle of Heaven and Earth. [Wandering qi mixes and congeals into form, and this is how the manifold variety of people and things arises; yin and yang shift and cycle without end, and this is how the great constant of Heaven and Earth is established. The tumult of wandering qi is the weft; the cycling of yin and yang is the warp. Zhu Xi said: The cycling of yin and yang is like a millstone, and the tumult of wandering qi is like what comes out of the mill.]"

天體物不遺猶仁體事而無不在也【朱子曰體物言為物之體也蓋物物有個天理體事謂事事是仁做出來】禮儀三百威儀三千無一物而非仁也【禮儀者經禮也威儀者曲禮也禮文之大小無非愛敬懇惻之心所發見者故曰無一物而非仁也不然則禮特虛文而已】昊天曰明及爾出王昊天曰旦及爾遊衍無一物之不體也【王徃通○詩大雅板篇出王謂出而有所往也旦亦明也遊衍寛縱之意言天道昭明凡人之徃來遊息之所此理無往而不在因是以證體物不遺之意】

Zhang Zai said: "Heaven embodies things without omission, just as humaneness embodies affairs and is present everywhere. [Zhu Xi said: "Embodying things" means being the substance of things, because every thing has its Heavenly principle; "embodying affairs" means that every affair is brought about by humaneness.] The three hundred rules of ritual and three thousand rules of demeanor are none of them other than humaneness. [The rules of ritual are the major rites, and the rules of demeanor are the minor rites. Large or small, the forms of ritual are all manifestations of a heart of love, reverence and sincere concern, so it is said that nothing is not humaneness. Otherwise ritual would be mere empty form. ] "Vast Heaven is bright, and goes out with you; vast Heaven is clear, and roams and wanders with you": there is nothing that does not take it as its substance. ["Wang" is interchangeable with "wang" (to go). This is from the ode "Ban" in the Greater Odes of the Classic of Poetry. "Going out" means going forth to somewhere. "Dan" also means bright. "Roaming and wandering" means being at ease. It says that the Way of Heaven is luminous, and wherever people go or rest, this principle is present everywhere. It is cited to prove the meaning of "embodying things without omission."]"

鬼神者二氣之良能也【良能者自然而然莫之為而為也朱子謂橫渠此語尤精】物之初生氣日至而滋息物生既盈氣日反而遊散至之謂神以其伸也反之謂鬼以其歸也【物自少以至壯氣日至而滋息滋息者生而就滿也自壯以至老氣日反而遊散遊散者消而就盡也以其日至而伸故曰神以其日反而歸故曰】

Zhang Zai said: "Ghosts and spirits are the innate capacities of the two qi. [Innate capacity means what comes about naturally, with no one doing it. Master Zhu said that this saying of Hengqu is especially fine.] When a thing first begins to live, qi arrives day by day and makes it grow; when the thing has lived to fullness, qi returns day by day and disperses. What arrives is called shen (spirit) because it extends; what returns is called gui (ghost) because it goes back. [As a thing goes from young to mature, qi arrives day by day and increases it; increasing is growing toward fullness. As it goes from mature to old, qi returns day by day and disperses; dispersing is declining toward exhaustion. Because it arrives and extends day by day, it is called shen; because it returns day by day, it is called gui (the original has a rare character here that was lost in transcription).]"

性者萬物之一源非有我之得私也惟大人為能盡其道是故立必俱立知必周知愛必兼愛成不獨成彼自蔽塞而不知順吾理者則亦末如之何矣【性原於天而人之所同得也惟大人者能盡巳之性則能盡人之性蓋性本無二也故已有所立必與夫人以俱立已有所知必使夫人以周知愛必兼愛使人皆得所愛也成不獨成使人皆有所成也四者大人之所存心也立者禮之幹也知者智之用也愛者仁之施也成者義之遂也自立於禮以至成於義學之始終也張子之教以禮為先故首曰立如是而彼或蔽塞而不通不知所以順乎理則亦無如之何然其心固欲其同盡乎一源之性也此即大學明明徳於天下中庸成巳成物之道蓋四端之根本也】

Zhang Zai said: "Human nature is the single source of the myriad things, and is not something a person with a self can possess privately. Only the great person can fully realize this Way. Therefore, in establishing oneself one must establish others together; in knowing, one must make all know; in loving, one must love all; in achieving, one does not achieve alone. As for those who are themselves blocked and do not know how to follow our principle, nothing can be done about them. [Nature originates from Heaven and is shared by all people. Only the great person can fully realize his own nature, and so can fully realize the nature of others, since nature is not two. So when he establishes himself, he must establish others with him; when he knows, he must make all know; he loves all, so that everyone has what they love; he does not achieve alone, so that everyone achieves something. These four are what the great person holds in his heart. Establishing is the backbone of ritual, knowing is the function of wisdom, loving is the bestowal of humaneness, and achieving is the completion of rightness. From being established in ritual to being completed in rightness is the whole course of learning. Master Zhang's teaching puts ritual first, so he speaks of establishing first. Even so, if the other person is blocked or obstructed and does not know how to follow principle, nothing can be done; yet the heart still wishes him to realize together the nature of the single source. This is the Great Learning's "illuminating bright virtue throughout the world" and the Doctrine of the Mean's way of perfecting oneself and perfecting things, and it is the root of the Four Beginnings.]"

一故神譬之人身四體皆一物故觸之而無不覺不待心使至此而後覺也此所謂感而遂通不行而至不疾而速也【橫渠易説○一謂純一也神謂神妙而無不通也猶人之四體本一也故觸之即覺不待思慮擬議使一有間斷則痛癢有所不覺矣天地之為物不貳故妙用而無方聖人之心不貳故感通而莫測】心統性情者也【橫渠語録下同○朱子曰統是主宰性者心之理情者心之用心者性情之主也孟子曰仁人心也又曰惻隱之心性情上都下個心字可見心統性情之義】

Zhang Zai said: "Oneness is what makes it spirit-like. It is like the human body: the four limbs are all one thing, so a single touch is felt everywhere, without waiting for the heart to direct it there before feeling. This is what is called responding and thereby penetrating, arriving without moving, being swift without hurrying. [From Hengqu's Yi shuo (Explanation of the Changes). "Oneness" means pure unity, and "spirit" means wondrous and penetrating everywhere. It is like the four limbs of a person being originally one body, so a touch is felt at once, without waiting for thought or deliberation. If there were a break, then pain and itching would go unfelt. Heaven and Earth are one in being things, so their wondrous functioning has no fixed direction; the sage's heart is undivided, so its response and penetration cannot be fathomed.] The heart governs nature and feelings. [From Hengqu's Yulu (Recorded Sayings); the same applies below. Zhu Xi said: "Govern" means to preside over. Nature is the principle of the heart, feelings are the function of the heart, and the heart is the master of nature and feelings. Mencius said "Humaneness is the human heart," and also spoke of "the heart of compassion"; in both nature and feelings he used the word "heart," which shows the meaning of the heart governing nature and feelings.]"

凡物莫不有是性由通蔽開塞所以有人物之別由蔽有厚薄故有智愚之別塞者牢不可開厚者可以開而開之也難薄者開之也易開則逹於天道與聖人一【有是氣必有是理此人與物之所共由也由氣有通蔽開塞故有人物之異由蔽有厚薄故人又有智愚之異塞者氣拘而填實之也故不可開此言物也蔽者但昏暗而有所不通皆可開也顧有難易之分耳及其既開則通乎天道與聖人一此言人也】

Zhang Zai said: "There is no thing that does not possess this nature. Because of penetration, obstruction, openness and blockage, there is the distinction between humans and things; because obstruction may be thick or thin, there is the distinction between the wise and the foolish. What is blocked is firmly closed and cannot be opened; what is thick can be opened but only with difficulty; what is thin opens easily. Once opened, one penetrates to the Way of Heaven and is one with the sage. [Where there is this qi, there must be this principle; this is what humans and things share. Because qi has penetration, obstruction, openness and blockage, humans and things differ; because obstruction is thick or thin, humans differ in wisdom and foolishness. Blockage means qi is constrained and packed solid, so it cannot be opened; this speaks of things. Obstruction is only dimness and failure to penetrate, and all of it can be opened, only with greater or lesser difficulty. Once opened, one penetrates the Way of Heaven and is one with the sage; this speaks of humans.]"