the heart, and be the natural outgrowth of internal sincerity. 'As a
man thinketh in his heart, so is he.' This is the teaching alike of
Solomon and the author of the Great Learning.
Fourth. I mention last the striking exhibition which we have
of the golden rule, though only in its negative form:-- 'What a man
dislikes in his superiors, let him not display in the treatment of
his inferiors; what he dislikes in inferiors, let him not display in
his service of his superiors; what he dislikes in those who are
before him, let him not therewith precede those who are behind
him; what he dislikes in those who are behind him, let him not
therewith follow those who are before him; what he dislikes to
receive on the right, let him not bestow on the left; what he
dislikes to receive on the left, let him not bestow on the right.
This is what is called the principle with which, as with a
measuring square, to regulate one's conduct [1].' The Work which
contains those principles cannot be thought meanly of. They are
'commonplace,' as the writer in the Chinese Repository calls
them, but they are at the same time eternal verities.
l Comm. x. a.
CHAPTER IV.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN.
SECTION I. ITS PLACE IN THE LI CHI, AND ITS PUBLICATION
SEPARATELY.
1. The Doctrine of the Mean was one of the treatises which
came to light in connexion with the labors of Liu Hsiang, and its
place as the thirty-first Book in the Li Chi was finally
determined by Ma Yung and Chang Hsuan. In the translation of the
Li Chi in 'The Sacred Books of the East' it is the twenty-eighth
Treatise.
2. But while it was thus made to form a part of the great
collection of Treatises on Ceremonies, it maintained a separate
footing of its own. In Liu Hsin's Catalogue of the Classical Works,
we find 'Two p'ien of Observations on the Chung Yung [l].' In the
Records of the dynasty of Sui (A.D. 589-618), in the chapter on
the History of Literature [2], there are mentioned three Works on
the Chung Yung;-- the first called 'The Record of the Chung Yung,'
in two chuan, attributed to Tai Yung, a scholar who flourished
about the middle of the fifth century; the second, 'A Paraphrase
and Commentary on the Chung Yung,' attributed to the emperor Wu
(A.D. 502-549) of the Liang dynasty, in one chuan ; and the third,
'A Private Record, Determining the Meaning of the Chung Yung,' in
five chuan, the author, or supposed author, of which is not
mentioned [3].
It thus appears, that the Chung Yung had been published and
commented on separately, long before the time of the Sung
dynasty. The scholars of that, however, devoted special attention
to it, the way being led by the famous Chau Lien-ch'i [4]. He was
followed by the two brothers Ch'ang, but neither of them
published upon it. At last came Chu Hsi, who produced his Work
called
1 中庸說二篇.
2 隋書,卷三十二,志第二十七,經籍,一, p. 12.
3 禮記中庸專,二卷,宋散騎常侍戴顒撰;中庸講疏,一卷,梁武帝撰;私記制旨中庸;
五卷.
4 周濂溪.
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