2
Confucius had the heart of a saint. He moved about in the
realm of the Way and of Virtue; he wandered in the province of
the formless. He regarded human emotions in the light of eternal
principles.[1]
He understood beginning and end; he comprehended
success and failure. Truly he made jên and i flourish and kept
down opportunism and materialism; by so doing he maintained
and nourished his [sage-heart]. In his time the House of Chou
was failing and the Kingly Way had been broken off. The feudal
lords governed by force, the strong robbed the weak, the rich
oppressed the poor, the people had no peace, and no one made
rules for them. Li and i being destroyed, human relationships were
not regulated. Whereupon Confucius "From the west to the east,
from the south to the north,[2]
crawled on his knees to help them."[3]
