Sima Zhigang
In the morning, the three elders are in the school. The king is preceded by the shaman and followed by the historian. The divination and the blind man are all on his left and right. The king’s heart is to do nothing, in order to maintain the highest righteousness. Therefore, rituals are performed in the suburbs, and all gods receive their duties there. Rituals are performed in the community, and all kinds of goods can be achieved there. Rituals are performed in the ancestral temple, and filial piety and kindness are worn there. Rituals are performed in the five sacrifices, and the laws are rectified there. Therefore, from the suburbs, the community, the ancestral temple, the mountains and rivers, and the five sacrifices, the righteousness is cultivated and the ritual is stored. Therefore, rituals must be based on the great one, divided into heaven and earth, turned into yin and yang, changed into the four seasons, and arranged into ghosts and gods. The descent is called destiny, and its office is in heaven. Rituals must be based on heaven, moved by the land, arranged by things, changed by the seasons, coordinated by the division of arts, and the living of people is called nourishment. It is performed with goods and strength, and with resignation: food and drink, weddings, funerals, sacrifices, archery, and court appointments. Therefore, rites and righteousness are the great principles of human beings. They are used to cultivate trust and harmony, and to strengthen the connection of human skin and bones. They are the great principles for maintaining health, sending off the dead, and serving the gods. They are the great secrets for understanding the way of heaven and following human nature. Therefore, only the sages know that rites cannot be stopped. Therefore, when a country is ruined, a family is lost, or a person is killed, rites must be abandoned first. Therefore, rites are to people like wine has its own taste. Gentlemen use thick wine, while villains use thin wine. Therefore, sage kings cultivate the handle of righteousness and the order of rites to govern human nature. Therefore, human nature is the field of sage kings. Cultivate rites to cultivate it, explain righteousness to plant it, teach learning to weed it, root benevolence to gather it, and spread music to comfort it. Therefore, rites are the essence of righteousness. If you coordinate with all righteousness, then rites, which were not available to the ancient kings, can be established with righteousness. Righteousness is the division of art and the section of benevolence. If you coordinate with art and teach benevolence, those who have it will be strong. Benevolence is the root of righteousness and the essence of obedience. Those who have it are respected. Therefore, if one does not govern the country with propriety, it is like tilling the field without a hoe; if one does not base propriety on righteousness, it is like tilling the field without planting; if one does righteousness without studying it, it is like planting without weeding; if one studies it without combining it with benevolence, it is like weeding without harvesting; if one combines it with benevolence but does not comfort it with pleasure, it is like harvesting without eating; if one comforts it with pleasure but does not reach obedience, it is like eating without getting fat. When the four limbs are straight, the skin and leather are full, then a person is fat. When father and son are loyal, brothers are harmonious, and husband and wife are harmonious, then a family is fat. When the ministers are law-abiding, the junior ministers are honest, the officials are in order, and the ruler and ministers are in order, then a country is fat. When the emperor uses virtue as his chariot and music as his chariot, when the princes treat each other with propriety, when the great officials follow the law to order each other, when the scholars examine each other with trust, and when the people keep each other in harmony, then the world is fat. This is called great obedience. Great obedience is the way to maintain health and send off the dead, and to serve ghosts and gods. The story is that the accumulation of large things does not mean that they are gardens, the paralleling of things does not mean that they are wrong, and the walking of small things does not mean that they are lost. It is deep and connected, and luxuriant but with gaps. It is connected but does not reach each other, and it moves but does not harm each other. This is the ultimate obedience. Therefore, only when you understand obedience can you guard against danger. Therefore, the difference between rituals is not to be plentiful, and not to kill, so as to maintain emotions and meet danger. Therefore, the reason why the sage king is obedient is that he does not allow the mountain people to live in the river, and does not allow the islet people to live in the central plain, so as not to be exhausted. Use water, fire, gold and wood, and eat and drink in season. Marry men and women, and grant titles, and they must be virtuous in the year. Use the people in obedience. Therefore, there are no disasters such as floods, droughts, insects, and the people do not suffer from diseases such as famine, evil spirits and evil spirits. Therefore, the sky does not love its way, the earth does not love its treasures, and people do not love their emotions. Therefore, the sky sends down the oil and dew, the earth produces sweet springs, the mountains produce vehicles, the rivers produce horse pictures, the phoenix and the unicorn are all in the suburbs, the turtle and the dragon are in the palace and the marsh, and the eggs and embryos of other birds and beasts can all be seen from above. Then there is no reason. The ancient kings were able to cultivate rituals to achieve righteousness and to embody trust to achieve compliance, so this is the reality of compliance.
