Translation Info: beck | blakney | byrn | feng | ganson | gnl | hansen | legge | mccarroll | mcdonald | merel | merel2 | mitchell | muller | rosenthal |
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beck

Selflessness
Good fortune and misfortune cause apprehension.
Regard great trouble as you regard your self.

What is meant by
"Good fortune and misfortune cause apprehension?"
Those with good fortune are apprehensive of their gain.
Those with misfortune are apprehensive of their loss.

What is meant by
"Regard great trouble as you regard your self?"
Great trouble comes from being selfish.
Being selfless, what trouble is there?

Therefore those who value the world as themselves
may be entrusted to govern the world.
Those who love the world as themselves
may be entrusted to care for the world.
blakney

The Nature of Favour and Disgrace ...

"Favor, like disgrace
Brings trouble with it;
High rank, like self,
Involves acute distress."

What does that mean, to say
That "favor, like disgrace
Brings trouble with it"?
When favor is bestowed
On one of low degree,

Trouble will come with it.
The loss of favor too
Means trouble for that man.
This, then, is what is meant
By "favor, like disgrace
Brings trouble with it."

What does it mean, to say
That "rank, like self,
Involves acute distress"?
I suffer most because
Of me and selfishness.
If I were selfless, then
What suffering would I bear?

In governing the world,
Let rule entrusted be
To him who treats his rank
As if it were his soul;
World sovereignty can be
Committed to that man
Who loves all people
As he loves himself.
byrn

Be glad for favour. Still receive favour or disgrace with regular apprehension.
Be cautious not to lose the winning sort of favour. Lower favour and disgrace can cause one dismay;
We can have fears because we have a self. Yet what we value and what we fear are as if within that inner sanctimonium self."

What does this mean:
"Favour and disgrace can cause one dismay?
Those who receive favour from above are dismayed when they receive it.
And should they lose it they turn distraught.

What does this mean:
"What we value and what we fear are as if within our serious self?"
Regard great trouble as seriously as you regard the body. One reason that we suffer hurt is that we have bodies.
When we don't regard that gross body as [most important aspect of self, what have we to fear? [Lao tse.]

And so, the one who values his experienced world as part of his exploring inner self, can then be entrusted with rule of something.
he who loves the all as an aspect of his sensing self -
The all can then be entrusted to his care.

feng

Accept disgrace willingly.
Accept misfortune as the human condition.

What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss or gain.
This is called "accepting disgrace willingly."

What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the human condition"?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be misfortune?

Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
ganson

It is said:
Both good fortune and misfortune cause tension.
The creative and the destructive
exist equally in the mind.

How can both good fortune and misfortune cause tension?
Those with good fortune are tense anticipating their gift;
those with misfortune are tense lamenting their loss.

How can the creative and destructive
exist equally in the mind?
Tension exists because we have a mind,
a self, with dual purposes.
If we can be selfless, indifferent to the mind,
then tension cannot exist.

Thus, one who views the world as he views himself
is best suited to govern the world;
one who loves humanity as he loves himself
can be entrusted with the world.
gnl

Self
Both praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self -
For, without self, to whom may fortune and disaster occur?

Therefore,
Who distinguishes himself from the world may be given the world,
But who regards himself as the world may accept the world.

hansen

Status
Favor is as disgraceful as a warning.
Nobility is as great a trouble as a self.
Why say 'favor is as disgraceful as a warning'?
The favored is deemed below.
Receiving it is like a warning.
Losing it is like a warning.
This is called 'favor is as disgraceful as a warning.'
Why say 'nobility is as great a trouble as a self'?
Deeming I have a self is what makes it possible for me have trouble.
and if I had no self, what trouble could I have?
Hence nobility is regarding your self as the social world.
To the likes of that, the social world can be delivered.
[Nobility's] love regards the self as the social world.
To the likes of that, the social world can be entrusted.
legge

Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and
great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same
kind).

What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared.

And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had
not the body, what great calamity could come to me?

Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would
administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be
entrusted with it.
mccarroll

Both favor and disgrace bring fear.
Great trouble comes from having a body.

What is meant by:
"Both favor and disgrace bring fear"?
Favor leads to a fear of losing it and
disgrace leads to a fear of greater trouble.

What is meant by:
"Great trouble comes from having a body"?
The reason you have trouble is that
you are self-conscious.
No trouble can befall a self-free person.

Therefore, surrender your self-interest.
Love others as much as you love yourself.
Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.
mcdonald

Success is as dangerous as failure,
and we are often our own worst enemy.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?
He who is superior is also someone's subordinate.
Receiving favor and losing it both cause alarm.
That is what is meant by success is as dangerous as failure.
What does it mean that we are often our own worst enemy?
The reason I have an enemy is because I have "self".
If I no longer had a "self", I would no longer have an enemy.

Love the whole world as if it were your self;
then you will truly care for all things.
merel

Anxiety

The saints said: "Praise and blame cause anxiety;
The objects of hope and fear are within your Self."

"Praise and blame cause anxiety"
For you must hope and fear to receive or to lose them.

"The objects of hope and fear are within your Self"
For, without Self, neither fortune nor disaster can befall.

Therefore:
He who regards the World as the Self is able to control the World;
He who loves the World as the Self is able to nurture the World.
merel2

Self
Both praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self -
For, without self, to whom may fortune and disaster occur?
Therefore,
Who distinguishes himself from the world may be given the world,
But who regards himself as the world may accept the world.
mitchell

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
you position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?

See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.


muller

Accept humiliation as a surprise.
Value great misfortune as your own self.

What do I mean by "Accept humiliation as a surprise"?
When you are humble
Attainment is a surprise
And so is loss.
That's why I say, "Accept humiliation as a surprise."

What do I mean by "Value great misfortune as your own self"?

If I have no self, how could I experience misfortune?

Therefore, if you dedicate your life for the benefit of the world,
You can rely on the world.
If you love dedicating yourself in this way,
You can be entrusted with the world.
rosenthal

UNMOVED AND UNMOVING
The ordinary man seeks honour, not dishonour,
cherishing success and abominating failure,
loving life, whilst fearing death.
The sage does not recognize these things,
so lives his life quite simply.

The ordinary man seeks to make himself
the centre of his universe;
the universe of the sage is at his centre.
He loves the world, and thus remains unmoved
by things with which others are concerned.
He acts with humility, is neither moved nor moving,
and can therefore be trusted in caring for all things.

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