Excellence ExcellenceThe greatest good is to be like water.
The good of water is that it benefits
all things without conflict.
It flows in places that people despise,
and so is akin to Tao.
Daodejing 8
204
Mountain bell rings of day's fading light.
Fisher folk clamor to board the ferry.
Others trudge the sandy river shore home.
I also board a boat, back to Deer Gate.
The moon shines through Deer Gate's misty trees.
Suddenly I reach Pang Gong's hermitage—
cliff-side gate, long still trail in pines.
Only a recluse can freely come and go.
“Song of a Night of Returning to Lumen Mountain,” Meng Haoran (689/691–740)
Excellence not accumulated
will not be enough to complete one's name.
Harms not accumulated
will not be enough to destroy oneself.
Small people believe that even small excellences
offer no gain, and so they don't try to achieve them.
They think that small harms are no threat
and so they don't try to be rid of them.
Thus the harms accumulate until they cannot be covered,
and when evil becomes great, it cannot be corrected.
Yijing, Great Treatise II
206
Clouds and thunder
are the image of sprouting.
A noble one can trace
the secret threads.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 3: Sprouting
207
An excellent beginning
puts effort closer to success.
Proverb
A good dwelling comes from the earth,
a good mind comes from depth,
a good ally comes from kindness,
a good word comes from trust,
a good government comes from rule,
a good outcome comes from ability,
a good movement comes from timing.
Daodejing 8
209
The white sun sets behind the peaks
and the Yellow River flows into the sea.
For a view of a thousand miles,
climb up to another level.
“Guanque Tower,” Wang Zhihuan (688–742)
210
A mountain in the middle of the earth
is the image of humility.
A noble one amasses the many,
increases the small,
and balances things fairly.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 15: Humility
212
A lake flooding the trees
is the image of great excess.
A noble one can stand alone without fear
and can renounce the world
without regrets.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 28: Great Excess
213
Some act without knowing why.
I don't do that.
I listen a great deal,
pick what's excellent,
and then I follow it.
I see much and comprehend.
This is the sequence of knowledge.
Analects, “Shu Er”
Holding anything to the utmost
won't be as good as stopping short.
Tempering a blade to its sharpest
won't keep it keen for long.
Filling a hall with gold and jade
won't give you safety.
Prizing wealth and honor
will invite blame on yourself.
After merit and success are reached,
heaven's way is to withdraw.
Daodejing 9
215
Wood growing on the mountain
is the image of gradualness.
A noble one keeps good virtue
and improves social customs.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 53: Gradually
216
Every book holds a house of gold.
Proverb
Don't try to be lustrous
as precious jade.
Choose instead to be
a string of common stones.
Daodejing 39
218
Fire at the foot of the mountain
is the image of forging ahead.
A noble one clarifies the many ways of governing
yet never dares to impede trials.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 22: Forging Ahead
219
We often fail because we ignore the close to search for the
far.
Thus it's said: “Miss by a hair's breadth, err by a thousand
miles.”
To learn this means to distinguish all clearly;
that is why this treatise has been written.
Shanxi Wang Zongyue's Taijiquan Treatise
Learning is like rowing a boat against the current:
once you stop rowing,
you drift backward.
Proverb
221
Fame or yourself—
which do you value more?
Yourself or your things—
which is worth more?
What you have or what you might not get—
which brings more worry?
So we see that great love leads to great loss,
and great hoarding leads to certain ruin.
Daodejing 44
222
If the excellent were to lead for one hundred years,
they could conquer oppression
and remove corruption.
Analects, “Zi Lu”
What is well planted cannot be uprooted.
What is held tight cannot be removed.
Children and grandchildren
should worship piously without end.
Cultivate yourself within.
Make your virtue true.
Cultivate your family
and virtue will overflow.
Cultivate your community
and virtue will last long.
Cultivate your nation
and virtue will be abundant.
Cultivate the world
and virtue will be universal.
Therefore, when it comes
to knowing the self, observe the self;
to knowing the family, observe the family;
to knowing the community, observe the community;
to knowing the nation, observe the nation;
to knowing the world, observe the world.
How do I know how the world is? By all this!
Daodejing 54
Approach people with respect.
Be filial, kind, and loyal.
Advance the excellent and teach those
who are not yet capable.
Analects, “Wei Zheng”
225
Sincere, true, excellent in learning,
committed until death, excellent in Tao.
They won't endanger the country.
They won't live in a chaotic state.
When all under heaven is with Tao,
they will be visible.
When there is no Tao, they remain hidden.
When a nation has Tao,
poverty and lowliness are shameful.
When a nation has no Tao,
abundance and wealth are shameful.
Analects, “Tai Bo”
227
Three kinds of friends are beneficial:
upright friends,
tolerant friends,
and highly knowledgeable friends.
These are beneficial.
Friends who care for expedience,
friends whose excellence is weak,
and friends who glibly flatter
will bring injury.
Analects, “Ji Shi”
228
My excellence is in nourishing
my vast and abundant breath-energy.
Mengzi, “Gong Sun Chou I”
The excellent scholar of one village
will make friends with all the other
excellent scholars of that village.
The excellent scholar of one nation
will make friends with all the other
excellent scholars of that nation.
The excellent scholar of the world
will make friends with all the other
excellent scholars of the world.
When it's not enough to be friends
with the excellent scholars of the world,
then one turns to the ancients with esteem.
One lauds their poetry,
one studies their books,
and if one doesn't know of them as people,
then one studies their histories.
One becomes friends with the ancients.
Mengzi, “Wan Zhang II”
The excellent learner:
even if the teacher's attention is elsewhere
will achieve many times what another will
and will only say that they are ordinary.
The poor learner:
Even if the teacher is attentive
will achieve only half of what another will
and will only express resentment.
Book of Rites, “Xue Ji”
231
An excellent questioner
is like someone chopping a hard tree.
First, they deal with the easy,
then they deal with sections.
After a long time
in mutual discussion,
all is explained.
A poor questioner does the opposite.
Book of Rites, “Xue Ji”
The excellent teacher waits to be questioned.
It's like striking a bell.
Strike a bell lightly, and there will be little sound.
Strike a bell firmly, and there will be a big sound.
Strike it in succession, and what will follow is all its sound.
The poor teacher is the opposite.
This is how everyone should advance the Tao of learning.
Book of Rites, “Xue Ji”
233
When Shun lived deep in the middle of the mountains,
dwelling with trees and rock
and traveling with deer and boar,
how much did he as a mountain dweller
differ from someone in the fields?
Once he heard an excellent word
or saw a single excellent action,
he was like a bursting river,
abundant and irresistible.
Mengzi, “Jin Xin I”
For an excellent heart,
there is no greater excellence
than to reduce one's desires.
Mengzi, “Jin Xin II”
235
When one reaches Tao sincerely,
foreknowledge is possible:
When a nation or family is to rise,
surely there will be lucky omens.
When nation and family are about to perish,
surely there will be unlucky omens.
This can be seen through yarrow stalk
or tortoise shell, and they affect
the movement of the four limbs.
Whether misfortune or fortune,
the excellent know in advance.
Those who are not excellent
also know in advance.
Therefore, the sincere are like spirits.
Book of Rites, “Zhong Yu”
Words that seem close but point to something far away
are excellent words.
Guarding agreements while giving broadly
is the excellent Tao.
The words of the noble one
don't go outside the zone
and yet Tao remains.
When the noble one is observant
and cultivated, then there is peace under heaven.
The ongoing disease of people is this:
they neglect their own fields to pull the weeds of another.
What they ask of others is great,
but what they ask of themselves is small.
Mengzi, “Jin Kin II”
237
Ascribe good to others
and wrong to oneself
and the people will not fight.
Ascribe good to others
and wrong to oneself
and hatred and resentment will vanish.
Book of Rites, “Fang Ji”
When the scholars hear excellence,
they openly tell of it.
When they see excellence,
they openly reveal it.
When it comes to rank and position,
they let others go first.
When it comes to suffering and difficulties,
they will share in it until death.
No matter how long it's been,
they still wait patiently to help.
No matter how far it is,
they will still reach there.
That's how reliable and commendable they are.
Book of Rites, “Ru Xing”
239
A lake rising to meet the sky
is the image of certainty.
A noble one gives wealth to those below
and fears dwelling on their own merits.
Yijing, Image of hexagram 43: Decisiveness
The rivers and seas are lords
of one hundred streams
because they excel at being lowest.
That is why they are lords of all streams.
So if a sage intends to be above others,
then a sage must be below them.
If a sage wishes to lead them,
then a sage must be behind them.
In this way, even if the sage is above,
people feel no weight.
If the sage leads, people fear no harm.
Therefore, everyone will joyously lend support
without resentment.
There are no conflicts
because no one will contend.
Daodejing 66
241
Excellence does not deceive.
Deception is not excellence.
Daodejing 81
I have three treasures:
First is kindness.
Second is moderation.
Third is never trying
to be first under heaven.
Kindness leads to boldness.
Moderation leads to vastness.
Never trying to be first under heaven
means one can be
a complete instrument of the eternal.
For those who reject
being kind for being bold,
being sparing for being vast,
being behind for being first:
fatal!
For those who truly accept
that kindness will win, even in battle,
heaven will rescue them
and protect them with kindness.
Daodejing 67