"Doctorine of the Mean" - читать интересную книгу автора (Confucius)

men. Such men are to be got by means of the ruler's own character.
That character is to be cultivated by his treading in the ways of
duty. And the treading those ways of duty is to be cultivated by the
cherishing of benevolence.
"Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity, and the
great exercise of it is in loving relatives. Righteousness is the
accordance of actions with what is right, and the great exercise of it
is in honoring the worthy. The decreasing measures of the love due
to relatives, and the steps in the honor due to the worthy, are
produced by the principle of propriety.
"When those in inferior situations do not possess the confidence
of their superiors, they cannot retain the government of the people.
"Hence the sovereign may not neglect the cultivation of his own
character. Wishing to cultivate his character, he may not neglect to
serve his parents. In order to serve his parents, he may not neglect
to acquire knowledge of men. In order to know men, he may not dispense
with a knowledge of Heaven.
"The duties of universal obligation are five and the virtues
wherewith they are practiced are three. The duties are those between
sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband and
wife, between elder brother and younger, and those belonging to the
intercourse of friends. Those five are the duties of universal
obligation. Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy, these three, are the
virtues universally binding. And the means by which they carry the
duties into practice is singleness.
"Some are born with the knowledge of those duties; some know them by
study; and some acquire the knowledge after a painful feeling of their
ignorance. But the knowledge being possessed, it comes to the same
thing. Some practice them with a natural ease; some from a desire
for their advantages; and some by strenuous effort. But the
achievement being made, it comes to the same thing."
The Master said, "To be fond of learning is to be near to knowledge.
To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the
feeling of shame is to be near to energy.
"He who knows these three things knows how to cultivate his own
character. Knowing how to cultivate his own character, he knows how to
govern other men. Knowing how to govern other men, he knows how to
govern the kingdom with all its states and families.
"All who have the government of the kingdom with its states and
families have nine standard rules to follow;-viz., the cultivation
of their own characters; the honoring of men of virtue and talents;
affection towards their relatives; respect towards the great
ministers; kind and considerate treatment of the whole body of
officers; dealing with the mass of the people as children; encouraging
the resort of all classes of artisans; indulgent treatment of men from
a distance; and the kindly cherishing of the princes of the states.
"By the ruler's cultivation of his own character, the duties of
universal obligation are set forth. By honoring men of virtue and
talents, he is preserved from errors of judgment. By showing affection
to his relatives, there is no grumbling nor resentment among his