弘明集 1.9

1.9

Someone asked: 'Confucius took the Five Classics as the Dao and teaching, which can be held in reverence and recited, stepped upon and practiced. Now you speak of the Dao as void, nothingness, vague and elusive, where its meaning cannot be seen and its concrete affairs cannot be pointed out. How does this differ from the words of the sages?' Mouzi said: 'One must not value what one is accustomed to and disparage what is rare, or be deluded by external categories and lose the internal reality. Establishing affairs without deviating from the Dao and virtue is like tuning strings without losing the notes gong and shang. The Way of Heaven models itself on the four seasons; the Way of Man models itself on the five constants. Laozi said: "There is a thing indistinctly formed, born before Heaven and Earth. It can be considered the mother of the world. I do not know its name; I force the character on it and call it the Dao." As for the Dao as a thing: dwelling at home, one can use it to serve parents; governing a state, one can use it to rule the people; standing alone, one can use it to cultivate the self. If one treads and practices it, it fills heaven and earth; if one discards and does not use it, it vanishes without departing. If you do not understand it, what difference is there [between these teachings]?'