Record of Teaching and Practice
Recorded by Lu Cheng · Continued
Read in English. Switch to Original for word notes, or select text to ask a question.
16 · Establishing Resolve
Asked about establishing resolve, the Master said, “Simply wishing in every thought to preserve Heaven's principle is establishing resolve. If you can keep from forgetting this, over time it naturally gathers and settles in the mind, like what the Daoists call forming the sacred embryo. Keep this thought of Heaven's principle constantly present, and the gradual attainment of goodness, greatness, sageliness and spiritlike efficacy comes only from preserving, nourishing and extending this one thought.”
17 · Medicine for the Present Difficulty
“If the day's work feels confused and disturbed, sit quietly. If you feel too lazy to read, then read for a while. This too is giving medicine according to the illness.”
18 · Learning Among Friends
“Among friends, strive to place yourselves below one another and you gain; strive to stand above one another and you lose.”
19 · The Root of Self-Approval
Meng Yuan suffered from self-approval and love of reputation, and the Master repeatedly reproved him. One day, just after a stern warning, a friend described his recent work and asked for correction. Yuan said from the side, “Only now has he found my old stock-in-trade.”
The Master said, “Your illness has broken out again.”
Yuan's expression changed, and he began preparing a defense.
The Master said, “Your illness has broken out again.” Then he explained: “This is the great root of illness in your life. Suppose a great tree is planted in a plot one zhang square. The nourishment of rain and dew and the strength of the soil can nourish only this great root. Even if you want to plant fine grain beside it, the leaves shade it above and the roots entangle it below. How could it grow to maturity?
“You must cut down this tree and leave not the thinnest root before you can plant good seed. Otherwise, however you plow, weed, cultivate and bank up earth, you merely nourish this root.”
20 · Writings as Portraits
Someone asked, “May the abundance of later writing also disorder correct learning?”
The Master said, “Heaven's principle in the human mind is an undivided whole. When sages and worthies put it in books, it is like a portrait seeking to convey a person's spirit: it merely shows a general outline so that people may seek the genuine person through it. Spirit and bearing, speech and laughter, movement and rest include things the portrait cannot transmit.
“Later writing copies and recopies what the sage painted, then arbitrarily analyzes and adds to it to show off skill. The loss of genuineness goes farther and farther.”
21 · A Clear Mirror Responds
Someone asked, “The sage responds endlessly to change. Must he not have studied it beforehand?”
The Master said, “How could he study so much? The sage's mind is like a bright mirror. It has only its brightness, and so responds to whatever touches it, illuminating everything. No past image remains in it, and no image not yet reflected is prepared in advance. But later explanations are precisely like that, and so greatly oppose the sage's learning.
“The Duke of Zhou made ritual and music to give form to the world. These were things a sage could do: why did Yao and Shun not do them all, instead leaving them to the Duke of Zhou? Confucius edited and transmitted the Six Classics to instruct ten thousand ages. This too was something a sage could do: why did the Duke of Zhou not do it first, instead leaving it to Confucius? We know from this that a sage meets a particular time and only then has its particular affairs.
“Fear only that the mirror is not bright; do not fear that, when things come, it cannot reflect them. Studying changes and affairs also occurs at the time of reflection. Yet learners must first do the work of making it bright. A learner should worry only that this mind cannot yet be bright, not that he cannot exhaust every change.”
The questioner said, “Then what of the saying, ‘Empty and silent, without a trace, yet the myriad images already stand arrayed within it’?”
He said, “The saying is inherently good. Only if you read it badly does it become an illness.”
22 · No End to Principle
“Righteousness and principle have no fixed location and no exhaustion. When I speak with you, you must not gain a little and say it stops here. Speak again for ten years, twenty years or fifty years, and there is still no stopping.”
Another day he also said, “Sagely as Yao and Shun were, above them goodness had no exhaustion. Evil as Jie and Zhou were, below them evil had no exhaustion. Had Jie and Zhou not died, would their evil have stopped here? If goodness had an end, why did King Wen ‘look toward the Way as though he had not yet seen it’?”
23 · Practice Amid Affairs
Someone asked, “In stillness I feel my state of mind is good, but as soon as I meet affairs it changes. What should I do?”
The Master said, “You know only how to nourish stillness and do not practice overcoming the self. So when affairs come, you topple over. A person must be polished amid affairs before he can stand firm, settled in stillness and settled in movement.”
24 · Learning Below and Reaching Above
Asked about the work of reaching above, the Master said, “When later Confucians teach, as soon as something concerns fine subtleties they call it reaching above and say it should not yet be learned: speak instead of learning below. This divides learning below and reaching above into two.
“What eyes can see, ears can hear, the mouth can speak and the mind can think is all learning below. What eyes cannot see, ears cannot hear, the mouth cannot speak and the mind cannot think is reaching above.
“Planting, tending and watering a tree is learning below; its day-and-night growth, extending branches and flourishing abundance, is reaching above. How could a person put his own force into that? Thus whatever one can work at and explain is all learning below. Reaching above is only within learning below. Everything the sages said, even the finest subtleties, belongs to learning below. Learners need only work within learning below and naturally reach above. There is no need to seek a separate work of reaching above.”
25 · Refinement and Oneness
Someone asked, “How should one work at refinement and oneness?”
The Master said, “Oneness is refinement's guiding purpose; refinement is oneness's work. There is no oneness separate from refinement.
“The character for refinement contains the rice element. Let us use rice as an analogy. Wanting this rice purely clean and white is the intention of oneness. Yet without the refining work of pounding, winnowing, sifting and sorting, it cannot become purely clean and white. Pounding, winnowing, sifting and sorting are refinement's work, yet they merely aim to bring the rice to pure cleanliness and whiteness.
“Learning broadly, questioning carefully, reflecting cautiously, discriminating clearly and practicing earnestly all refine in order to seek oneness. Likewise, broad learning in cultural forms is the work of restraint through ritual; investigating things and extending knowledge are the work of making intention sincere; pursuing inquiry and learning is the work of honoring virtuous nature; making goodness clear is the work of making oneself sincere. There are no two separate accounts.”
26 · One Work of Learning
“Knowing is acting's beginning; acting is knowing's completion. Sagely learning has only one work. Knowing and acting cannot be divided into two affairs.”
27 · The Intention Behind Approval
“Qidiao Kai said, ‘I am not yet confident in this,’ and the Master was pleased with him. Zilu appointed Zigao administrator of Bi, and Confucius said, ‘You are harming someone's son.’ Zeng Dian spoke of his aspiration, and the Master approved him. The sage's intention can be seen here.”
28 · Quiet Qi and the Center
Someone asked, “When one quietly preserves the mind, can this be called the center before feelings are aroused?”
The Master said, “When people today preserve the mind, they only settle their qi. In their quietness, it is merely the qi that is quiet; it cannot be called the center before feelings are aroused.”
The questioner said, “Is this ‘before’ already the ‘center’? Might it also be the work of seeking the center?”
He said, “Only removing human desires and preserving Heaven's principle is the work. In stillness, remove human desires and preserve Heaven's principle thought by thought; in movement, do the same, regardless of whether you are quiet. If you depend on quietness, you not only gradually develop a love of stillness and dislike of movement: many illnesses remain hidden within and are never eliminated. When affairs come, they grow as before. Make following principle primary: when would there be no quietness? Make quietness primary: you will not necessarily be able to follow principle.”
29 · Aspiration Without Insistence
Someone asked, “When Confucius' disciples spoke of their aspirations, You and Qiu undertook government and Gongxi Chi undertook ritual and music—all practical matters. Yet what Zeng Xi said seemed like play, and the sage approved him. What did he mean?”
He said, “The three had deliberate expectations and insistence. With these, one clings to one side: being capable here does not ensure capability there. Zeng Dian's intention had no such expectations or insistence. It was ‘acting according to one's present position and not wishing beyond it; among border peoples, acting as among border peoples; in hardship, acting as in hardship; finding contentment wherever one enters.’
“The three were what is called ‘you are a vessel.’ Zeng Dian had the sense of not being a vessel. Yet the three each possessed an outstanding and well-developed ability, unlike worldly people whose words are empty and have no actuality. Thus the Master approved them all.”
30 · Nourishing the Root
Someone asked, “What if one's knowledge does not advance?”
The Master said, “Learning must have a root and source. Work at the root and source and gradually advance, filling one hollow before proceeding to the next. The Daoists' account of an infant is also a good analogy.
“In the mother's womb, an infant is only pure qi. What knowledge does it have? After birth it first can cry, then smile, then recognize parents and brothers, then stand, walk, hold and carry, until finally there is nothing in the world's affairs beyond its possible capacity. This all comes from essence and qi growing fuller daily, strength growing stronger daily and understanding opening daily. It is not obtained by discussing and searching everything out on the day of birth.
“Thus there must be a root and source. The sage's reaching the point of ‘giving Heaven and Earth their places and nourishing the myriad things’ is likewise nourished from ‘the center before delight, anger, sorrow and joy are aroused.’ Later Confucians do not understand investigating things. Seeing that the sage knows everything and can do everything, they wish to discuss it all exhaustively when first beginning. How could that be reasonable?”
He also said, “Establishing resolve and doing the work are like planting a tree. At the root-and-bud stage the later parts are not yet there; when it has a trunk, it still has no branches; after branches come leaves, after leaves flowers and fruit. When first planting the root, simply tend and water it. Do not imagine branches, leaves, flowers or fruit. What use is imagining them in advance? Only do not forget cultivation's work. Why fear there will be no branches, leaves, flowers or fruit?”
31 · Understanding Through the Mind
Someone asked, “What if I cannot understand what I read?”
The Master said, “You are only burrowing into verbal meanings, and so do not understand. This is worse than the old sort of learning: read enough of it and one can explain it. Yet even if that learning explains everything clearly, one gains nothing throughout life. You must work on the mind's constitution.
“Whatever you cannot understand or carry out, turn back and examine it in your own mind; then it can open through. The Four Books and Five Classics speak only of this mind's constitution. This is what is called the Way. Making the mind's constitution clear is making the Way clear. There are no two separate things. This is learning's guiding center.”
32 · Clarity and the Many Principles
“Empty, numinous and unobscured, the mind contains the many principles and issues in the myriad affairs. Outside the mind there is no principle; outside the mind there is no affair.”
33 · Mind and Principle
Someone asked, “Master Hui'an said, ‘What people learn concerns only mind and principle.’ What of this statement?”
He said, “Mind is nature; nature is principle. Put an ‘and’ between them and I fear they cannot avoid becoming two. Learners must read this well.”
34 · Losing the Original Constitution
Someone said, “Everyone has this mind, and mind is principle. Why do some do good and others do what is not good?”
The Master said, “The evil person's mind has lost its original constitution.”
35 · Analysis and Recombination
Someone asked, “What of the saying, ‘Analyze it so that its refinement is exhausted without confusion; then combine it so that its greatness is exhausted without remainder’?”
The Master said, “I fear that too is not complete. How could this principle allow itself to be analyzed apart? And why would it need piecing together? The sages' account of refinement and oneness is complete in itself.”
36 · Examination and Nourishment
“Self-examination is preservation and nourishment amid affairs; preservation and nourishment are self-examination when there are no affairs.”
37 · Human Feelings and Changing Affairs
Cheng once asked about Xiangshan's teaching of working upon human feelings and changing affairs.
The Master said, “Apart from human feelings and changing affairs, nothing remains. Are delight, anger, sorrow and joy not human feelings? From seeing, hearing, speaking and moving to wealth and rank, poverty and lowliness, hardship, death and life—all are changing affairs. Changing affairs too are only within human feelings. The essential thing is bringing center and harmony to fulfillment; bringing center and harmony to fulfillment lies only in vigilance when alone.”
38 · One Nature and Its Many Names
Cheng asked, “Do the names benevolence, righteousness, ritual and wisdom arise because they have already issued forth?”
He said, “Yes.”
Another day Cheng said, “Are compassion, shame and dislike of wrong, deference, and right-and-wrong judgments designations expressing nature's virtue?”
He said, “Benevolence, righteousness, ritual and wisdom are such designations. There is only one nature. In its formed embodiment it is called Heaven; in its ruling it is called the Supreme Ruler; in its flowing operation it is called the allotment; bestowed upon people it is called nature; ruling the person it is called mind.
“When the mind issues forth toward one's father, it is called filial care; toward one's ruler, loyalty. Continue from this and the names become endless, yet it is only one nature. Similarly there is only one person: in relation to his father he is called son; in relation to his son, father. Continue from this without end, yet it is only one person.
“People need only work on nature. See this one word ‘nature’ clearly, and the myriad principles shine forth.”
39 · Beyond Empty Stillness
One day, discussing learning's work, the Master said, “In teaching people to learn, one must not cling to one side. Beginners have monkey minds and horse-like intentions that cannot be tied still. Most of their thoughts lie on the side of human desire, so for the time being they are taught to sit quietly and stop their thoughts.
“After a while, when mind and intention are a little settled, merely guarding stillness in empty space, like withered wood and dead ashes, is also useless. One must teach examination and overcoming. The work of examination and overcoming cannot be interrupted at any time.
“Like removing bandits, one must have the intent to sweep away and clear out. When there are no affairs, investigate and search out, one by one, selfish loves of beauty, wealth and reputation. Be determined to pull out the root of illness so it never arises again: only then be satisfied.
“Always be like a cat catching mice, one eye watching and one ear listening. As soon as a thought stirs, overcome it decisively, cutting through nails and iron. Do not indulge it or make things convenient for it; do not harbor it or leave it an escape route. Only this is genuine work; only this can sweep away and clear out.
“When there is no selfishness left to overcome, a time for sitting at ease will naturally come. Although it is said, ‘What thought, what deliberation?’ that is not the beginner's condition. Beginners must think. Examination and overcoming are reflecting upon sincerity, thinking only of Heaven's principle. When Heaven's principle becomes pure and complete, then there is ‘What thought, what deliberation?’”
40 · Fear and the Mind
Cheng asked, “What can be done for someone afraid of ghosts at night?”
The Master said, “It is only because in daily life he cannot accumulate righteousness and his mind has something to feel ashamed of, so he fears. If his usual conduct accords with spirit and illumination, what would he fear?”
Zishen said, “One need not fear upright ghosts. But I fear that evil ghosts disregard whether people are good or bad, so fear cannot be avoided.”
The Master said, “How could an evil ghost bewilder an upright person? This very fear is the mind's deviation, so there is something to bewilder it. It is not a ghost bewildering him: the mind bewilders itself. If someone loves beauty, he is bewildered by a beauty-ghost; if he loves wealth, by a wealth-ghost; if angry where he should not be angry, by an anger-ghost; if fearful where he should not be fearful, by a fear-ghost.”
41 · Settled in Movement and Stillness
“Settledness is the mind's original constitution, Heaven's principle. Movement and stillness are the times it encounters.”
42 · The Great Learning and the Mean
Cheng asked about similarities and differences between the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean.
The Master said, “Zisi gathered the meaning of the whole Great Learning into the opening chapter of the Doctrine of the Mean.”
43 · Rectifying Names in Wei
Someone asked, “On Confucius' rectifying names, earlier Confucians say, ‘Report above to the Son of Heaven and below to the regional overlord; depose Zhe and establish Ying.’ What of this idea?”
The Master said, “I fear it would be hard to do that. How could someone show me complete respect and ritual propriety, await my help in government, and I first go and depose him? Would that accord with human feeling and Heaven's principle?
“If Confucius agreed to govern with Zhe, Zhe must already have entrusted the state wholeheartedly and been willing to listen. The sage's abundant virtue and utmost sincerity would surely have transformed Zhe of Wei, making him know that one cannot be human while disregarding one's father. He would surely have wept bitterly and hurried to welcome his father.
“The love of father and son is rooted in Heaven-given nature. If Zhe repented so genuinely and painfully, how could Kuai Kui fail to be moved and brought to joy? Once Kuai Kui returned, Zhe would offer him the state and ask to be put to death. Kuai Kui, already transformed by his son, with the Master's utmost sincerity harmonizing between them, would surely refuse and command Zhe to remain. Ministers and people would also surely want Zhe as ruler.
“Zhe would then expose his own offenses and appeal to the Son of Heaven, informing regional overlords and feudal lords, insisting upon giving the state to his father. Kuai Kui, the ministers and the people would all proclaim the beauty of Zhe's repentance, benevolence and filial care, appealing to the Son of Heaven and informing the regional overlords and feudal lords, insisting upon Zhe as ruler. Then the mandate would be gathered upon Zhe and he would again rule Wei.
“Unable to avoid it, Zhe would follow what later became the precedent of a retired emperor, leading ministers and people to honor Kuai Kui as Grand Lord and providing everything for his nourishment. Only then would he withdraw to resume his own position.
“Then ruler would be ruler, minister minister, father father and son son: names correct, words fitting. In one act, government could extend throughout the world. Confucius' rectifying names might have been like this.”
44 · Love, Distress and Measure
While Cheng was lodging in the storehouse quarters of the Court of State Ceremonial, a letter suddenly arrived from home saying that his child was gravely ill. Cheng was so distressed that he could not bear it.
The Master said, “This is precisely the time to work. If you let this moment pass, what use is discussing learning at leisure? People must be tempered at just such times.
“A father's love for his child is naturally the deepest feeling, yet Heaven's principle also has a point of center and harmony. Exceed it and there is selfish intent. Here people often mistake worry for what Heaven's principle requires, so they go on worrying bitterly, not knowing that this is already ‘having anxious concern and failing to obtain one's rightness.’
“In general, when the seven feelings are stirred, excess is common and insufficiency rare. As soon as there is excess, it is no longer the mind's original constitution. It must be adjusted into the fitting center.
“For example, when parents die, what child would not wish to weep himself to death to satisfy his heart? Yet it is said, ‘Let wasting grief not destroy life.’ This is not a sage imposing force: Heaven's principle in its original constitution has its own limit, which cannot be exceeded. People need only recognize the mind's constitution; naturally not the slightest addition or subtraction is possible.”
45 · The Center and Its Expression
“One cannot say ordinary people all possess the center before feelings are aroused. Substance and function share one source. Have this substance and there is this function; have the center before arousal and there is harmony in which all expressions meet their measure. Since people today cannot yet have harmony in which all expressions meet their measure, know that they have not fully obtained the center before arousal either.”
46 · Words, Image, Change and Divination
“The words of the Changes are the six characters ‘Initial Nine: hidden dragon; do not act.’ Its image is the first line. Its change is meeting that line. Its divination is using those words.”
47 · Night Qi
“‘Night qi’ is spoken of in relation to ordinary people. If learners can work, then by day, with affairs or without them, every moment is a place where this qi gathers and issues in life. With sages there is no need to speak of night qi.”
48 · Holding the Mind Without Confining It
Cheng asked about the passage, “Hold it and it is preserved; let it go and it is lost.”
He said, “‘It goes out and comes in at no fixed time; no one knows its dwelling.’ Although this speaks of ordinary people's minds, learners must know that the mind's original constitution is also originally like this before the work of holding and preserving it can be free of defects.
“One cannot simply say going out is loss and coming in preservation. In terms of original constitution, there is originally no going out or coming in. If we speak of going out and coming in, the use of thought is going out. Yet the ruling awareness is always luminously here: what going out is there? With no going out, what coming in is there?
“Master Cheng's so-called bodily cavity is likewise only Heaven's principle. Even responding to others all day, if one does not leave Heaven's principle, one is within that cavity. Leaving Heaven's principle is what is called letting go, what is called loss.”
He also said, “Going out and coming in are merely movement and stillness. Movement and stillness have no fixed beginning: how could they have a dwelling?”
49 · No Separate Upper and Lower Halves
Wang Jiaxiu asked, “Buddhists entice people into the Way through release from death and life; immortality seekers entice them through long life and enduring vision. Their intention is not to make people do wrong. At the utmost, they also see the upper part of sagehood, yet theirs is not the correct road into the Way.
“Among officials today, some enter through examinations, some through tribute recommendation, some through transmitted imperial appointment. All may become great officials, yet these are not all the correct road into office, and the gentleman will not follow the wrong one.
“At the utmost, immortality seekers and Buddhists resemble Confucians somewhat. But they obtain the upper part and leave out the lower, so they are unlike the sage's completeness. Yet one cannot falsely deny what is shared in the upper part. Later Confucians obtain only the sage's lower part, dividing it and losing its genuineness, drifting into memorization, literary composition, achievement and profit, and textual glossing. They too ultimately cannot escape being heterodox.
“These four kinds toil throughout life without the slightest benefit to body or mind. Compared with immortality seekers and Buddhists who clear the mind, lessen desires and rise beyond worldly burdens, they seem rather inferior. Today's learners need not begin by rejecting immortality seekers and Buddhists. They should first firmly resolve upon sagely learning. Once sagely learning is clear, those schools naturally fade away. Otherwise, they may disdain what we learn, while we want them to stoop to join us. Would that not be hard? This is my humble view. What do you think?”
The Master said, “The general outline is right. But speaking of an upper part and lower part also results from a one-sided view. The sage's Way of the great center and utmost correctness penetrates above and below in one continuous thread. What upper part or lower part remains?
“‘One yin and one yang are called the Way.’ But ‘the benevolent see it and call it benevolence; the wise see it and call it wisdom’; ‘the common people use it daily without knowing, so the gentleman's Way is rare.’ How could benevolence and wisdom not be called the Way? Yet see only one side, and defects arise.”
50 · Yarrow and Turtle
“Yarrow is indeed the Changes; the turtle too is the Changes.”
51 · King Wen and King Wu
Someone asked, “Confucius said King Wu was not wholly good. Might there also have been something he found unsatisfactory?”
The Master said, “In King Wu's position, it was fitting to act so.”
“Had King Wen not died, what would have happened?”
“While King Wen lived, he already possessed two of the world's three parts. Had he still been alive when King Wu attacked Shang, perhaps troops need not have been raised: the remaining part would surely have come over too. King Wen would simply have dealt well with Zhou, keeping him from giving free rein to evil.”
52 · The Center Is Not a Fixed Rule
Asked about Mencius' statement, “Holding to the center without weighing circumstances is like holding to one thing,” the Master said, “The center is only Heaven's principle, only change. Changing according to the time, how could it be held fixed? One must make what is fitting according to the time. It is hard to fix a rule in advance. Later Confucians want to explain principles one by one without a gap and establish a fixed pattern. This is precisely holding to one thing.”
53 · A Constant Good Intention
Tang Xu asked, “Is establishing resolve constantly preserving a good thought, wishing to do good and remove evil?”
He said, “When the good thought is preserved, that is Heaven's principle. This thought is already good: what further good would you think of? This thought is not evil: what further evil would you remove? This thought is like a tree's root and bud. Establishing resolve means continually establishing this good thought. ‘Following the mind's desires without overstepping the rule’ is simply resolve brought to maturity.”
54 · Gathering Inward
“Spirit and energy, the Way and virtue, speech and movement should in general take gathering inward as primary; spreading outward occurs only when unavoidable. Heaven, Earth, people and things are all like this.”
55 · The Good Craftsman
Someone asked, “What sort of person was Wenzhongzi?”
The Master said, “He came close to possessing the whole in a small compass. A pity he died early.”
“Then why was there the error of continuing the classics?”
“Continuing the classics too cannot be wholly condemned.”
Asked to explain, he remained silent a long while, then said, “All the more one feels: ‘The good craftsman's heart alone toils bitterly.’”
56 · Livelihood and Learning
“Xu Luzhai's saying that Confucians should put earning a livelihood first also misleads people.”
57 · Qi, Essence and Spirit
Asked about the immortality seekers' original qi, original spirit and original essence, the Master said, “They are only one thing: flowing, it is qi; gathering, it is essence; in its subtle functioning, it is spirit.”
58 · Feelings and Selfish Interference
“Delight, anger, sorrow and joy are in their original constitution centered and harmonious. As soon as one adds a little private intention, there is excess or deficiency: that is selfishness.”
59 · Weeping and Singing
Asked about “On a day when he wept, he did not sing,” the Master said, “The sage's mind in its constitution is naturally like this.”
60 · Leaving No Root
“Overcoming the self requires sweeping away and clearing out, leaving not the slightest trace. Leave the slightest trace and the many evils draw one another in.”
61 · The Root of Ritual and Music
Asked about the New Book on Pitch Standards, the Master said, “Learners should attend to what is urgent. Even if one thoroughly calculates these numbers, I fear they may be of no use. One must first possess the root of ritual and music in the mind.
“For example, that book speaks of using many pipes to observe qi. Yet at the precise moment of the winter solstice, the ashes may fly out of the pipes a little earlier or later. Within that tiny interval, how does one know which pipe exactly meets the solstice's moment? One would first have to know the solstice's moment within one's own mind. Here there is a failure of coherence. Learners must first work at the root and source of ritual and music.”
62 · Polishing and Reflecting
Yueren said, “The mind is like a mirror. The sage's mind is like a bright mirror; the ordinary person's, a dim one. The recent explanation of investigating things is like using a mirror to reflect objects and working at the reflecting, without realizing the mirror remains dim. How can it reflect?
“The Master's investigating things is like polishing a mirror to make it bright and working at the polishing. Once bright, it has never ceased to reflect.”
63 · One Room, Increasing Clarity
Asked about the Way's refinement and coarseness, the Master said, “The Way has no refinement or coarseness; people's views of it have refinement and coarseness. Take this room. When someone first enters, he sees only its general scale. Stay longer, and pillars, walls and the like become clear one by one. Stay longer still, and even the patterns on a pillar are seen in detail. Yet it is only one room.”
64 · Questions and Daily Work
The Master said, “Recently, when we meet, you have few doubts or questions. Why? Those who do not work all think they already know learning and need only follow it. They do not know that selfish desires arise daily like dust on the ground. Leave it unswept one day and another layer appears.
“Work concretely and you see the Way has no end. The deeper one explores, the deeper it becomes. One must make it perfectly pure and clear, with not the least part unpenetrated.”
65 · Walking the Road
Someone asked, “Only when knowledge is fully reached can one speak of making intention sincere. Now our knowledge of Heaven's principle and human desire is incomplete. How can we do the work of overcoming the self?”
The Master said, “If someone genuinely and personally works without stopping, the refinements of Heaven's principle in this mind become clearer day by day, as do the subtleties of selfish desire. Without overcoming the self, one merely talks all day. Heaven's principle never becomes visible, nor does selfish desire.
“It is like walking a road: only after walking a section does one recognize that section. Reach a fork and, if doubtful, ask; after asking, walk again. Only thus can one gradually reach the desired destination.
“People now will not preserve the Heaven's principle they already know or remove the human desires they already know. They only worry that they cannot know exhaustively. What benefit is endless idle discussion? Wait until you have overcome yourself and have no selfishness left to overcome. It will not be too late then to worry that you cannot know exhaustively.”
66 · Knowing Mind, Way and Heaven
Someone asked, “There is only one Way, yet ancient accounts of it often differ. Is there an essential method of seeking it?”
The Master said, “The Way has no fixed direction or body and cannot be clung to. To seek it while confined to verbal meanings is far from it. People today merely speak of Heaven. When have they actually seen Heaven? To say sun, moon, wind and thunder are Heaven is not sufficient; to say people, things, grasses and trees are not Heaven is also wrong.
“The Way is Heaven. Recognize it and what is not the Way? People each fix their one-corner view and think the Way stops there. That is why they differ. If you understand how to seek inwardly and see your own mind's constitution, no time or place is outside this Way. Through antiquity and the present, without end or beginning, what sameness or difference remains? Mind is the Way; the Way is Heaven. Know the mind and you know the Way and Heaven.”
He also said, “To see this Way actually, you must recognize it through your own mind without seeking outside. Only then will it do.”
67 · Ability and Its Source
Someone asked, “Must named objects, measures and numbers also be studied first?”
The Master said, “People need only complete their own mind's constitution: its use is included. Nourish it until there is truly the center before arousal, and naturally there is harmony in which expressions meet their measure; naturally no application is impossible.
“Without this mind, even if one studies the world's many named objects, measures and numbers in advance, they originally have no connection with oneself. They are merely decorations, and one cannot put them into practice when the time comes. This does not mean disregarding named objects, measures and numbers altogether. Only ‘know what comes first and afterward, and you are near the Way.’”
He also said, “People must be completed according to their capacities. Capacity is what they can do. Kui's music and Ji's planting came from their natural dispositions. Completing them means only making their mind's constitution pure in Heaven's principle. Their uses then all issue from Heaven's principle, and only then are called abilities. At the point of purity in Heaven's principle, one can also ‘not be a vessel.’ If Kui and Ji exchanged arts, they should be able to perform them too.”
He also said, “‘In wealth and rank, act as in wealth and rank; in hardship, act as in hardship’: this is all not being a vessel. Only those whose nourished mind is right can do it.”
68 · Water With a Source
“Rather than several qing of pond water without a source, better several chi of well water with a source: its living activity is inexhaustible.”
At the time the Master was sitting by a pond with a well beside it, so he used them to explain learning.
69 · A Day and a Cycle
Someone asked, “The world's Way declines daily. How can we see highest antiquity's condition again?”
The Master said, “One day is a whole cycle. When people rise and sit at daybreak, before meeting things, the mind's clear, bright condition is like roaming in Fuxi's time.”
70 · The Ruler and the Offices
Someone asked, “The mind wants to pursue things. What can be done?”
The Master said, “A ruler sits composed in pure serenity, the six ministers divide their offices, and the world is governed. The mind's governing of the five sense offices must be like this too.
“Now when the eyes want to see, the mind pursues colors; when the ears want to hear, it pursues sounds. This is like a ruler who, wanting to select officials, goes and sits personally in the personnel office, or, wanting to deploy troops, goes and sits personally in the military office. He not only loses the ruler's proper role: the six ministers all lose their duties too.”
71 · Knowing and Extending
“When a good thought arises, know it and extend it; when an evil thought arises, know it and check it. What knows, extends and checks is resolve, Heaven's clear intelligence. The sage has only this; learners should preserve this.”
72 · Idle Thoughts and Their Roots
Cheng said, “Loving beauty, profit and reputation are certainly selfish desires. But why are idle and miscellaneous thoughts also called selfish desires?”
The Master said, “In the end they arise from roots such as love of beauty, profit and reputation. Seek their root yourself and you will see. For example, you know decisively that your mind has no thoughts of robbery. Why? Because you originally have no such intention.
“If all intentions toward wealth, beauty, reputation and profit were eliminated just as your intention to rob is absent, leaving only the mind's bright original constitution, what idle thoughts would remain? This is ‘silent and unmoving,’ the center before arousal, ‘spacious and greatly impartial.’ Naturally there is ‘responding and thereby penetrating,’ naturally expression that meets its measure, naturally following and responding when things come.”
73 · Resolve and Qi
Asked about “Resolve reaches; qi follows,” the Master said, “It means wherever resolve reaches, qi also reaches. It does not mean resolve is the utmost and qi merely secondary. ‘Hold to resolve’ already includes nourishing qi; ‘do not do violence to qi’ also holds to resolve. Mencius spoke from both sides in this way to remedy Gaozi's one-sidedness.”
74 · Sages and Worthies
Someone asked, “Earlier Confucians say, ‘The sage's Way descends and lowers itself; the worthy's words stretch upward and raise themselves.’ What does this mean?”
The Master said, “It is not so. That would be artificial. A sage is like Heaven: nowhere is not Heaven. Above the three lights is Heaven; below the nine layers of earth is also Heaven. When has Heaven descended to lower itself? This is what is called ‘great and transforming.’
“The worthy is like a mountain, simply keeping its height. Yet one hundred ren cannot be stretched into a thousand ren, nor a thousand into ten thousand. Thus the worthy has never stretched upward to raise himself. To stretch upward and raise oneself would be artificial.”
75 · Different Instructions, One Purpose
Someone asked, “Yichuan says not to seek the center before delight, anger, sorrow and joy are aroused, yet Yanping teaches learners to look at the condition before arousal. How is this?”
The Master said, “Both are right. Yichuan feared people would look for a center before arousal and treat it as a thing, like what I earlier called mistaking settled qi for the center. Thus he told them to work only at nourishment and self-examination.
“Yanping feared people would not immediately find somewhere to begin. Thus he had them seek the condition before arousal at every moment, looking with eyes set straight only at this and inclining the ear only to this. This is precisely the work of ‘caution concerning what is not seen and fear concerning what is not heard.’ Both were instructions the ancients could not avoid, given to draw people onward.”
76 · The Full Center and Harmony
Cheng asked, “Ordinary people certainly cannot possess the full center and harmony of delight, anger, sorrow and joy. But in a small matter calling for delight or anger, one may have no delight or anger beforehand and, when it comes, respond within the measure. Can this too be called center and harmony?”
The Master said, “For one time and one affair it can indeed be called center and harmony. Yet it cannot be called the great root and universally realized Way. Human nature is all good, and center and harmony originally belong to everyone. How could we say they are absent? But when an ordinary person's mind is obscured, although its original constitution appears from time to time, it is briefly bright and briefly extinguished, not its whole substance and great functioning.
“Only when nowhere lacks the center is it called the great root; only when nowhere lacks harmony is it called the universally realized Way. Only the world's utmost sincerity can establish the world's great root.”
“I still do not understand the meaning of center.”
“You must recognize this through your own mind. Words cannot make it clear. The center is only Heaven's principle.”
“What is Heaven's principle?”
“Remove human desires and you recognize Heaven's principle.”
“Why is Heaven's principle called the center?”
“Because it has no leaning or partiality.”
“What is the condition of having no leaning or partiality?”
“Like a bright mirror, wholly clear and penetrating, without the least dust staining it.”
“Leaning and partiality mean being stained or attached. Attachment to beauty, profit or reputation reveals partiality. But before feelings are aroused, beauty, reputation and profit have not attached themselves. How can we know there is already partiality?”
“Although they have not attached themselves on that occasion, the habitual love of beauty, profit and reputation has never been absent. Never absent, it must be called present; called present, it cannot be said to be without partiality. It is like someone with intermittent fever: although sometimes it does not break out, the illness's root has never been removed, so he cannot be called free of illness.
“All habitual selfish intentions concerning beauty, profit, reputation and the like must be swept and washed away, leaving not the least trace. Only when this mind is wholly spacious and pure Heaven's principle can it be called the center before delight, anger, sorrow and joy are aroused, the world's great root.”
77 · Master Yan and the Whole Way
Someone asked, “I cannot avoid doubting the saying, ‘When Master Yan died, sagely learning perished.’”
The Master said, “Only Master Yan saw the sage's Way whole. Look at his deep sigh and you can see it. His words, ‘The Master skillfully leads people step by step, broadening me with cultural forms and restraining me with ritual,’ were spoken after he had seen through.
“How are broad learning and ritual restraint skillful guidance? Learners must think about this. Even a sage finds it hard to tell others the Way's whole constitution. Learners must cultivate and awaken for themselves.
“Master Yan's ‘Though I wish to follow, I have no means’ has the same meaning as King Wen's looking toward the Way without yet seeing it. Looking toward the Way without seeing is genuine seeing. When Master Yan died, the correct lineage of sagely learning was no longer fully transmitted.”
78 · Mind, Knowing, Intention and Things
Someone asked, “The body's ruler is mind; the mind's numinous clarity is knowing; knowing's stirring is intention; what intention attaches to is a thing. Is that right?”
The Master said, “That too is right.”
79 · Keeping the Mind Present
“Simply preserving this mind constantly present is learning. What use is thinking about past and future affairs? It merely lets the mind stray.”
80 · Disordered Speech
“Speech without order is also enough to reveal that the mind is not being preserved.”
81 · An Unmoved Mind
Shangqian asked how Mencius' unmoved mind differed from Gaozi's.
The Master said, “Gaozi forcibly gripped this mind, wanting it not to move. Mencius accumulated righteousness until it naturally did not move.”
He also said, “The mind's original constitution is originally unmoving. Its original constitution is nature; nature is principle. Nature is originally unmoving; principle is originally unmoving. Accumulating righteousness restores the mind's original constitution.”
82 · Oneness Within Refinement
“When the myriad images stand arrayed, there is also empty silence without a trace. Empty silence without a trace is precisely the myriad images standing arrayed. What is empty and silent without a trace is oneness's father; the myriad images standing arrayed are refinement's mother. Within oneness there is refinement; within refinement there is oneness.”
83 · A Thing Within Intention
“Outside the mind there is no thing. If my mind issues one thought of filial care for parents, that filial care is the thing.”
84 · More Than Words and Hearing
The Master said, “Even those now practicing what I call investigating things still often drift into mere speech and hearing. How much more can those who already practice the learning of speech and hearing turn back to this?
“The subtleties of Heaven's principle and human desires must be examined and overcome with effort at every moment before they gradually become visible. During a single conversation, although we speak only of Heaven's principle, who knows how many selfish desires have already passed through the mind in an instant? Some spring up secretly without our knowing. Even with effort at examination they are hard to see. How could mere discussion give exhaustive knowledge?
“Now people discuss Heaven's principle and leave it lying there unfollowed, discuss human desires and leave them lying there unremoved. Is this the learning of investigating things and extending knowledge? Later learning, at its utmost, accomplishes only the work of snatching righteousness through isolated acts.”
85 · The Meaning of Ge
Asked about investigating things, the Master said, “Ge means rectifying: rectifying what is not right so that it returns to rightness.”
86 · Knowing Where to Rest
Someone asked, “Knowing where to rest means knowing the highest good is only within my mind, originally not outside it, and then resolve becomes settled?”
He said, “Yes.”
87 · Work in Stillness and Movement
Someone asked, “Does investigating things mean working in movement?”
The Master said, “Investigating things makes no division between movement and stillness. Stillness too is a thing. Mencius' ‘one must always have something to attend to’ means there is something to attend to in movement and stillness alike.”
88 · Intention, Mind and Person
“The difficulty of the work lies entirely in investigating things and extending knowledge: this is the work of making intention sincere. Once intention is sincere, in large measure the mind naturally becomes right and the person cultivated.
“Yet setting the mind right and cultivating the person each also have their own place for effort. Cultivating the person concerns what has issued forth; setting the mind right concerns what has not issued forth. With mind right, there is center; with person cultivated, harmony.”
89 · One Body With All Things
“From investigating things and extending knowledge to bringing peace to all under Heaven, there is only one making bright virtue bright. Even bringing closeness to the people is work upon bright virtue. Bright virtue is this mind's virtue, precisely benevolence.
“The benevolent takes Heaven, Earth and the myriad things as one body. If even one thing loses its proper place, my benevolence has somewhere not yet fulfilled itself.”
90 · Bright Virtue and the People
“Speak only of making bright virtue bright, without speaking of bringing closeness to the people, and it resembles Laozi and Buddhist teaching.”
91 · Restoring Nature
“The highest good is nature. Nature originally has not the slightest evil, so it is called the highest good. Resting in it simply restores what it originally is.”
92 · From Settledness to Attainment
Someone asked, “Knowing that the highest good is my nature, my nature is contained in my mind and my mind is the place where the highest good rests, I no longer seek confusedly outside, and resolve becomes settled.
“Settled, I am undisturbed and still; still, without reckless movement, I am at peace; at peace, my whole mind and intention remain here, thinking and reflecting in every way to obtain this highest good. This is being able to deliberate and attain. Is that explanation right?”
The Master said, “Its general outline is right.”
93 · Benevolence and Its Living Root
Someone asked, “Master Cheng says, ‘The benevolent takes Heaven, Earth and the myriad things as one body.’ Why, then, cannot the Mohists' universal love be called benevolence?”
The Master said, “This too is very difficult to speak of. You must recognize it for yourselves.
“Benevolence is the principle of creation's unceasing generation of life. Although it fills and pervades everywhere, its flowing and issuing still have a gradual course. That is how life continues without stopping.
“For example, one yang is born at the winter solstice. Only after this one yang is born does it gradually reach six yang. Without the birth of one yang, how could there be six? Yin is the same. Because it is gradual, there is a point where it begins to issue; because it has such a beginning, it lives; because it lives, it does not cease.
“Compare a tree. Its first sprouting is where its living activity begins to issue. After sprouting comes the trunk, after the trunk branches and leaves; then life continues without ceasing. Without sprouts, how could there be trunk, branches or leaves? To sprout, there must be a root below. With a root it lives; without a root it dies. Without a root, whence would sprouts come?
“Love between father and son, elder and younger brothers is where the human mind's living activity begins to issue, like a tree's sprouting. From this, being benevolent to the people and loving things is like forming the trunk, branches and leaves.
“Mohist universal love has no graded distinctions, treating one's own father, son and brothers the same as a stranger on the road. That removes the starting point. Without sprouting, one knows it has no root. It is not unceasing life: how could it be called benevolence? Filial care and fraternal respect are benevolence's root: the principle of benevolence grows from within.”
94 · Accord With Principle and Selflessness
Someone asked, “Yanping says, ‘Accord with principle and have no selfish mind.’ How are accord with principle and absence of a selfish mind distinguished?”
The Master said, “Mind is principle. Having no selfish mind is precisely according with principle. Failing to accord with principle is selfish mind. To separate mind and principle in speaking is, I fear, not good.”
The questioner asked again, “Buddhists attach themselves to none of the world's selfish emotions and desires, seeming to have no selfish mind. Yet outwardly they abandon human relationships, seeming not to accord with principle.”
He said, “It is still one connected affair: all of it only completes their private self-centered mind.”
Reading notes on the Lu Cheng records
All seventy-nine records in this chapter remain separate source-linked sections within one reading chapter. “Center” and “harmony,” refinement and oneness, substance and function, and movement and stillness retain their repeated relationships; the discussions do not add a second practice outside everyday affairs.
The quietness question in record 28 has compressed wording in the current source. The tree's root-and-bud clause in record 30 is also elliptical; the English does not supply another recension's missing wording. The Changes' six-character quotation, ten/twenty/fifty-year sequence, three disciples, seven feelings, six ministers and five sense offices keep their quantities. Qing and chi in the water comparison remain traditional area and length measures, not an invented common volume.
The accounts of ghosts, bodily qi, illness, pitch-pipe divination, dynastic history and the other schools remain the speakers' accounts. The long account of Wei is explicitly the Master's hypothetical reconstruction, not an added historical event. “Vigilance when alone” includes attention to what is inwardly unobserved; it is not confined to sitting alone. “Snatching righteousness through isolated acts” preserves the contrast with accumulating righteousness. The Chinese source and its reading layers remain unchanged.
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