鐔津文集 1.12

1.12

余五書出未逾月。客有踵門而謂曰。僕粗聞大道。適視若廣原教。可謂涉道之深矣。勸書者蓋其警世之漸也。大凡學者必先淺而後深。欲其不煩而易就也。若今先廣教而後勸書。僕不識其何謂也。曰此吾無他義例。第以茲原教廣原教相因而作。故以其相次而例之耳。客曰。僕固欲公擢勸書於前而排廣教於後。使夫觀之者。先後有序沿淺而及奧。不亦善乎。余然之矣。而客又請之曰。若五書雖各有其目也。未若統而名之俾其流百世而不相離。不亦益善乎。余從而謝其客曰。今夫縉紳先生厭吾道者殷矣。而子獨好以助之。子可謂篤道而公於為善矣。即為其命工移易乎二說增為三帙。總五書而名之曰輔教編。

Not a month had passed since my five treatises appeared when a visitor came to my door and said, 'I have heard something of the Great Way. Just recently I examined your Guang yuanjiao, and it may be called a deep exploration of the Way. Your Exhortations (Quan shu) serve as a gradual warning to the world. Generally, students must start with the shallow and only then proceed to the deep, so that things will not be burdensome and may be readily accomplished. If you now place Guang yuanjiao first and the Exhortations afterward, I do not understand your intention.' I replied, 'I had no other organizational principle in this; I simply composed Yuanjiao and Guang yuanjiao successively, and so arranged them in sequence according to that order.' The visitor said, 'I would indeed like you to promote the Exhortations to the front and place Guang yuanjiao behind them, so that for those who read them, precedence is well ordered, following from the shallow to the profound—would that not be better?' I agreed with him. The visitor then requested further, saying, 'Although these five treatises each have their own titles, would it not be even better to give them a collective name so that they may circulate for a hundred generations without being separated?' Thereupon I thanked the visitor and said, 'Nowadays, many of the gentry and literati despise our Way, yet you alone take delight in assisting it. You may truly be called sincere toward the Way and impartial in doing good.' Straightway I instructed the artisans to transpose the two treatises and expand the work into three fascicles, naming the five treatises collectively the Fujiao pian (Treatises in Support of the Teaching).