禪林寶訓 1.6

1.6

明教曰。太史公讀孟子。至梁惠王問何以利吾國。不覺置卷長嘆。嗟乎。利誠亂之始也。故夫子罕言利。常防其原也。原者始也。尊崇貧賤。好利之弊。何以別焉。夫在公者。取利不公則法亂。在私者以欺取利則事亂。事亂則人爭不平。法亂則民怨不伏。其悖戾鬪諍。不顧死亡者。自此發矣。是不亦利誠亂之始也。且聖賢深戒去利尊先仁義。而後世尚有恃利相欺。傷風敗教者何限。況復公然張其征利之道而行之。欲天下風俗正而不澆不薄。其可得乎（鐔津集）。

Mingjiao said: “When the Grand Historian read Mencius and reached King Hui of Liang asking, ‘How can you profit my state?’, he unwittingly set aside the scroll and sighed deeply: ‘Alas! Profit is truly the beginning of disorder.’ Therefore, the Master rarely spoke of profit, always guarding against its source. The source is the beginning. Between the honored, the lowly, the poor, and the rich, how is the harm of fondness for profit any different? For those in public office, if they take profit unjustly, the law falls into disorder. For those in private life, if they take profit through deceit, affairs fall into disorder. When affairs are in disorder, people contend with a sense of unfairness; when the law is in disorder, the common people harbor resentment and do not submit. Their rebellion, defiance, and fighting without regard for death or life burst forth from this. Is not profit truly the beginning of disorder? Furthermore, sages and worthies strictly admonished people to cast away profit and give precedence to benevolence and righteousness, yet in later generations, to what extent have there still been those who rely on profit to deceive one another and corrupt customs and damage teachings? How much more so if one openly displays the way of levying profit and practices it—how could one hope for the customs of the realm to be correct and not become frivolous and base?” (*Collection of Tianjin*)