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II, 9.
THE MISSION TO SEEK THE PRINCE.
IOI
make me king, and it is difficult to resist the offices of love; 715
'But as a disease is difficult to bear) without medicine, so neither can I bear (this weight of dignity); in every condition, high or low, we find folly and ignorance, (and men) carelessly following the dictates of lustful passion; 716
"At last, we come to live in constant fear; thinking anxiously of the outward form, the spirit droops ; following the ways of men, the mind resists the right 8; but, the conduct of the wise is not so. 717
.The sumptuously ornamented and splendid palace (I look upon) as filled with fire; the hundred dainty dishes (tastes) of the divine kitchen, as mingled with destructive poisons; 718
The lily growing on the tranquil lake, in its midst harbours countless noisome insects; and so the towering abode of the rich is the house of calamity; the wise will not dwell therein. 719
'In former times illustrious kings, seeing the many crimes of their home and country, affecting as with poison the dwellers therein, in sorrowful disgust sought comfort in seclusion"; 720
We know, therefore, that the troubles of a royal estate are not to be compared with the repose of a religious life; far better dwell in the wild mountains, and eat the herbs like the beasts of the field; 721
1 'In the end the body (that is, the person) ever fearful.' · Following the multitude. • The heart opposes religion (fă). • The seven-jewelled, beautiful palace hall. * Became hermits.
. In the mountains. I take 'lin' in the expression 'shan lin' in this and other passages to be the sign of the plural. It corresponds
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| SR No. | 007676 |
| Book Title | Text of Confucianism Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | James Legge |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1882 |
| Total Pages | 2405 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 43 MB |