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قراءة كتاب Study of Inner Cultivation
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
behind your two misfortunes -
Do not love, do not be angry.
Then equability and proper alignment will completely fill your breast.
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Always : at the birth of people -
They certainly have equability and proper alignment.
The reason that they lose it
Is certainly due to love, anger, worries, suffering.
Thus : there is nothing that stops anger like poetry,
There is nothing that removes worries like music,
There is nothing that restrains music like propriety,*
There is nothing that maintains propriety* like respect*.[V]
[But,] there is nothing that maintains respect* like stillness.
Inwardly still and outwardly respectful*,
You can return to your [original] nature,
And your nature will be exceptionally settled.
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Always : regarding the Dao of eating -
Over-filling causes injury, and your form will not be right;
Over-fasting[W] makes your bones wither and your blood congeal.
When you reach the space between filling and fasting[W],
This is called achieving harmony -
That which is the dwelling place of essence
And that which is the creation of understanding.
When hunger and satiation lose their proper value,
Then use this plan of action :
When you are satiated, then move about quickly.
When you are hungry, then neglect your contemplation.
When you are old, then take charge of your concerns.
If you are satiated and do not move about quickly,
Your Qi will be obstructed in your four extremities.
If you are hungry and do not neglect your contemplation,
When you eat you will get full but you will not stop.
If you are old and do not take charge of your concerns,
When you are distressed, then you will be quickly exhausted.
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When you expand your heart/mind and free it,
When your Qi is magnanimous and vast,
When your form is calm and unchanging :
You can maintain Oneness[G] and reject the ten thousand trivialities,
You see profit and are not tempted,
You see trouble and are not frightened.
You are magnanimous, relaxed, and kind*;
When alone, you are happy with your self.
This is called cloud-like Qi -
Your intent and behavior resemble that of heaven.
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Always : at the birth of people -
They certainly have joy.
When they are worried, then they lose these tenets[X].
When they are angry, then they lose the source.
Where there is worry, grief, love, anger,
Then Dao does not dwell.
Love and desire : still them.
Foolishness and confusion : properly align them.
When you do not pull and do not push,[Y]
Good fortune will naturally return to you :
That Dao will naturally arrive,
Which you can rely on and consult with.
When you are still, then you attain it,
When you are impatient, then you lose it.
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This potent Qi in your heart/mind :
One moment it arrives, one moment it departs.
It is so tiny there is nothing inside it,
It is so great there is nothing outside it.
The reason that you lose it
Is because impatience causes harm.
When the heart/mind can maintain stillness,
Dao will naturally settle there.
For people who attain Dao :
Regulation supports it and it will not dissipate easily,
So that the center in their breast does not fail them.
When following the Dao of restraining desire,
The ten thousand creatures do not cause harm.[Z]
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A : altho the modern translation of this symbol is "sudden" or "abrupt" (among other things), and is translated different ways by different authors, I have chosen "close" (as in "within reach", "accessible") based on the answers given each time this question is asked
B : using "its" here (rather than "the") is significant, making the difference between referring to the "form of the heart/mind" or referring separately to "the heart/mind" and "the form"
C : this and the next 5 lines could still be talking about the sage, but because it seems to be a different section, it is translated in this fashion
D : Simonis claims that the grammatical sense in which "one" is being used means "one-ing creatures", hence knowing (or seeing, sensing, perceiving, etc.) your oneness with them
E : "spirit-like" is taken to mean that your understanding of Dao has reached the same level as that of the spirits, who are presumably not confused by having senses or a heart/mind (from Simonis)
F : in this and the 5 lines above, it is assumed that it is the creatures and duties that are being transformed and changed, because earlier it is said that the sage takes part in changes but is not himself transformed or changed
G : usually translated as "grasps the One" or "holds to the One" (the one what? principle? Dao?), "maintaining Oneness" is taken to mean being able to keep the sense of Oneness referred to above
H : he "rules" creatures in that they do not confuse his senses or heart/mind (referred to below)
I : creatures do not "use" him in that they do not confuse his senses or heart/mind (referred to below)
J : it is unclear what it meant here : "one word", "one saying", "word of the One" ("One" perhaps referring to Dao?), "word of Oneness", "sound of Oneness", possibly even "the whole utterance", etc.; so it is just left literally translated as "one word"
K : "spirit-like understanding" is taken to refer to a state of consciousness where you can intuitively understand Dao very clearly (from Simonis)
L : you will "understand" them in that you will understand their proper value (mentioned below), you will not allow them to confuse your senses or heart/mind (referred to immediately below), etc.
M : presumably the heart/mind, or perhaps the "center"
N : the image seems to be that of a dragon - your head is in heaven, your tail is on the earth, and your coils fill the "nine provinces" (the whole world)
O : this is usually translated as "flood-like" (to match Mencius), but literally means "like a vast body of water", and a flood does not seem to be as harmonious and equable as a wide, calm lake
P : two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth, two elimination, one sexual
Q : "four seas" also indicates the whole world
R : there are three possible symbols here, "to grasp or catch" (which Roth says is the original symbol), "to roll into a ball with the hands", and "to concentrate", and all are equally likely (as far as I can tell), so the word used is a combination of all three
S : the symbol given ("flea") makes no sense; however it seems that it must complete a double negative (do not [neglect/hesitate/fail] to?), because twice below the Nei Ye encourages the reader to make plans