鐔津文集 2.18

2.18

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?