鐔津文集 8.13

8.13

Jizi was a recluse of the Hao clan. By nature, he was simple and tranquil, not bothering himself with pedantic formalities. Hence, he was slandered and detested by worldly folk, who in the end mocked him as arrogant and extravagant. At first, Jizi considered worldly talk unworthy of attention; even when clear-sighted peers admonished him, he never followed their instruction. By the time he reached his prime, his cultivation of the Way progressed, yet the slander grew all the more severe, and those who came to admonish him became even more diligent. Jizi sighed wistfully and said: "The world truly has no one who understands me." He then had the admonisher sit down and said to him: "The worldly call me arrogant—is it not because I stand apart and walk alone, not mingling with the world? And is it not because I cannot offer sweet words and compliant expressions to follow the worldly nodding and bowing?" The admonisher said: "It is nothing other than this." Jizi said: "In speaking of the Way, virtue, ritual, and music, the essential thing lies in sincerity; it is not merely adorning one's facial expression and attending to nodding, bowing, and words. I despise worldly etiquette: people merely have reverent appearances and bent bodies, yet if you examine their sincerity, they do not have even one in ten thousand. Internally they deceive themselves; externally they actually deceive others. Therefore, regarding others, I desire sincerity and trust, not focusing solely on words, facial expressions, nodding, and bowing. Among those called human beings, who cannot be engaged with sincerity and trust? When sincerity and trust penetrate, are not even appearances, bows, and yields merely secondary? Long ago, Yan Ziling simply lay in bed in the Han, and Lu Hong refused to bow in the Tang; this was precisely treating the world with sincerity and trust. Do you consider these two gentlemen wrong or right? If one must consider this arrogance, then there is nothing I can do. What the worldly nowadays call respect takes no heed of whether someone is benevolent or base, righteous or unrighteous; wherever power and profit reside, people bow and scrape, scurrying beneath them and willingly serving as drudges without weariness. But if power and profit are absent, even toward the worthy and righteous, they will surely sit arrogantly and glare, strutting about with an overbearing air. The Book of Documents says: 'Arrogant and perverse, while treating the brilliant virtue as upright'—this is what it means. Alas! Such is the conduct of the worldly, yet instead of citing their own faults, they turn around to mock me. It is just like being smeared with filth and laughing at the unclean. Go on your way; do not admonish me further."