Text of Confucianism Part 02

SR No.: 007676
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

Page 308

HEX. II.
APPENDIX II.
281
6. 'There will be great good fortune,' and that in the occupancy of the topmost line :this is great matter for congratulation.
XI. (The trigrams for) heaven and earth in communication together form Thâi. The (sage) sovereign, in harmony with this, fashions and completes (his regulations) after the courses of heaven and earth, and assists the application of the adaptations furnished by them,—in order to benefit the people.
1. The good fortune of advance, (as suggested by the emblem of) the grass pulled up,' arises from the will (of the party intended) being set on what is external to himself.
2. He bears with the uncultivated, and proves himself acting in accordance with the due mean:'for (his intelligence is) bright and (his capacity is) great.
3. “There is no going away so that there shall not be a return' refers to this as the point where the interaction of heaven and earth takes place.
4. 'He comes fluttering (down), not relying on
X. “The sky above and a marsh lying below it is true,' says Khăng-xze, in nature and reason; and so should be the rules of propriety on which men tread.' This symbolism is far-fetched; and so is the application of it, if in any way drawn from it. But it is true that the members of a community or nation must keep their several places and duties in order to its being in a state of good order.
For lines 1, 2, 3, and 4, see notes on the Text.
If we might translate the conclusion of what is said on line 5, by-'in the position that is correctly appropriate to him,' the meaning would be more clear, though still the assumption which I have pointed out on the Text would underlie the statement; and as evidently as there, what is said under line 6 is but a truism.
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