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392
THE APPENDIXES.
SECT. II.
forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is kept safe, and his states and all their clans can be preserved. This is according to what the Yi says, "(Let him say), 'Shall I perish? shall I perish?' (so shall this state be firm, as if) bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees."
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40. The Master said:-'Virtue small and office high; wisdom small and plans great; strength small and burden heavy-where such conditions exist, it is seldom that they do not end (in evil). As is said in the Yi, "The tripod's feet are overthrown, and the ruler's food is overturned. The body of him (who is thus indicated) is wet (with shame):there will be evil."'
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41. The Master said:-' Does not he who knows the springs of things possess spirit-like wisdom? The superior man, in his intercourse with the high, uses no flattery, and, in his intercourse with the low, no coarse freedom: - does not this show that he knows the springs of things? Those springs are the slight beginnings of movement, and the earliest indications of good fortune (or ill). The superior man sees them, and acts accordingly without waiting for (the delay of) a single day. As is said in the Yt, "He is firm as a rock, (and acts) without the delay of a single day. With firm goodness there will be good fortune." Firm as a rock, how should he have to wait a single day to ensure his knowing (those springs and his course)? The superior man knows the minute and the manifested; he knows what is weak, and what is strong:-he is a model to ten thousand.'
42. The Master said: 'I may venture to say that the son of the Yen family had nearly attained (the
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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 |