38
In antiquity they understood the empire without going out of
doors. They perceived[1]
the Way of Heaven without looking out
of their windows. This was not because their eyes could see a
thousand li ahead, nor because their ears could hear [sounds] a
thousand[2]
li away, but because they measured others by their
own feelings.[3]
From their own dislike of hunger and cold they
understood the empire's desire for food and clothing; from their
own dislike of toil and suffering they understood the empire's
desire for peace and ease; from their own dislike of decay and
poverty they understood the empire's desire for riches and abundance.[4]
Understanding these things was how the sage-kings put
the empire in order without descending from the mats [on which
they were sitting]. Hence the way of the superior man rests
[solely] on sincereity and compassion.[5]
Now, hunger and thirst
troubling blood and
ch`i, cold and heat acting on the skin,
[6]
these four are the great misfortunes of the people. It is impossible
to teach or control them unless these misfortunes are removed.
[7]
If the four limbs are not covered, there will be few persons
practicing
jên. If the five viscera are empty, there will be no
gentlemen established [in the way of virtue].
[8]
Therefore, after
the method of the former kings, the Son of Heaven personally
tilled the soil, and the Empress and Imperial Concubines tended
the silkworms, making themselves the first in the Empire to care
for food and clothing. The Ode says,
[9]
How shall our parents get food?
My heart is sad:10
That man has no longer garment.
