secret,' by which he means to tell us that the path of duty is to be
pursued everywhere and at all times, while yet the secret spring
and rule of it is near at hand, in the Heaven-conferred nature, the
individual consciousness, with which no stranger can
intermeddle. Chu Hsi, as will be seen in the notes, gives a
different interpretation of the utterance. But the view which I
have adopted is maintained convincingly by Mao Hsi-ho in the
second part of his 'Observations on the Chung Yung.' With this
chapter commences the third part of the Work, which embraces
also the eight chapters which follow. 'It is designed,' says Chu
Hsi, 'to illustrate what is said in the first chapter that "the path
may not be left."' But more than that one sentence finds its
illustration here. Tsze-sze had reference in it also to what he had
said-- 'The superior man does not wait till he sees things to be
cautious, nor till he hears things to be apprehensive. There is
nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more
manifest than what is minute. Therefore, the superior man is
watchful over himself when he is alone.' It is in this portion of
the Chung Yung that we find a good deal of moral instruction
which is really valuable. Most of it consists of sayings of
Confucius, but the sentiments of Tsze-sze himself in his own
language are interspersed with them. The sage of China has no
higher utterances than those which are given in the thirteenth
chapter.-- 'The path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a
course which is far from the common indications of
consciousness, this course cannot be considered the path. In the
Book of Poetry it is said--
"In hewing an axe-handle, in hewing an axe-handle,
The pattern is not far off."
We grasp one axe-handle to hew the other, and yet if we look
askance from the one to the other, we may consider them as
apart. Therefore, the superior man governs men according to their
nature, with what is proper to them; and as soon as they change
what is wrong, he stops. When one cultivates to the utmost the
moral principles of his nature, and exercises them on the
principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path. What you do
not like when done to yourself, do not do to others.'
'In the way of the superior man there are four things, to
none of which have I as yet attained.-- To serve my father as I
would require my son to serve me: to this I have not attained; to
serve
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