鐔津文集 2.18

2.18

善不修則人道絕矣。性不明則神道滅矣。天地之往往者神也。萬物之靈族者人也。其神暗生。生者所以異也。其人失靈族者。所以衰也。聖人重人道。所以推善而益之也。聖人重神道。所以推性而嗣之也。人者。天者。聖人者。孰不自性而出也。聖人者。天者。人者。孰不自善而成也。所出者固其本也。所成者固其教也。眾成之大成者也。萬本之大本者也。聖人以性嗣。蓋與天下厚其大本也。聖人以善益。蓋與天下務其大成也。父母之本者次本也。父母之成者次成也。次本次成能形人而不能使其必人也。必人必神必先其大本大成也。而然後。及其次本次成是謂知本也。夫天下以父子夫婦為人道者。是見人道之緣而不見其因也。緣者近也。因者遠也。夫天下知以變化自然為乎神道者。是見其然而不見其所以然也。然者顯也。所以然者幽也。是故聖人推其所以然者。以盡神道之幽明也。推其遠而略其近者。以驗人道之因果也。聖人其與天下之終始乎。聖人不自續。其族舉人族而續之。其為族不為大族乎哉。聖人不自嗣。其嗣舉性本。而與天下嗣之其為嗣。不亦大嗣乎哉。

If goodness is not cultivated, the human way will be cut off; if one's nature is not clarified, the spiritual way will be extinguished. That which moves incessantly between Heaven and Earth is the spiritual; that which is the most numinous tribe among the myriad things is man. If their spirit is benighted in birth, the living will become alienated; if their humanity loses its numinous kind, it will decline. The sage emphasizes the human way; therefore he promotes goodness to augment it. The sage emphasizes the spiritual way; therefore he promotes the nature to carry it on. Man, Heaven, and the sage—which of them does not emerge from the nature? The sage, Heaven, and man—which of them is not accomplished through goodness? That from which they emerge is indeed their root; that through which they are accomplished is indeed their teaching. It is the greatest achievement among all achievements, the greatest root among ten thousand roots. That the sage carries it on through the nature is precisely to enrich this great root together with the world. That the sage augments it through goodness is precisely to pursue this great achievement together with the world. The root from one's parents is a secondary root; the accomplishment from one's parents is a secondary accomplishment. The secondary root and secondary accomplishment can give form to a human, but cannot ensure that he will necessarily be fully human. To ensure that one is human and to ensure that one is spiritual, one must put the great root and great achievement first, and only then attend to one's secondary root and secondary accomplishment—this is what is called knowing the root. When the world takes father and son, husband and wife, as the human way, this is seeing the conditions of the human way while failing to see its cause. Conditions are proximate; causes are remote. When the world takes natural transformation as the spiritual way, this is seeing what is so while failing to see that by which it is so. What is so is manifest; that by which it is so is hidden. For this reason, the sage investigates that by which it is so to fathom the hidden and manifest of the spiritual way, and investigates what is remote while putting aside what is proximate to verify the causes and effects of the human way. Does not the sage share the beginning and end with the world? The sage does not continue his lineage for himself; he takes the human race and continues it—does his lineage not constitute a great lineage? The sage does not perpetuate an heir for himself; he takes the root of the nature and perpetuates it along with the world—does his perpetuation not constitute a great perpetuation?