Use the small to serve the great;
Honor the king and belittle the hegemons;
Balance leniency and severity;
Sacrifice oneself to fulfill benevolence;
The ruler should employ his ministers with propriety, and ministers should serve the ruler with loyalty;
The three bonds and five constant virtues;
The three obediences and four virtues;
Preserve heavenly principle, destroy human desires;
Those who follow Heaven survive, those who go against Heaven perish;
All things are already complete within me;
The people may be made to follow it, but may not be made to understand it;
Only the highest wisdom and the lowest stupidity do not change;
The gentleman understands righteousness, the petty man understands profit;
The gentleman cherishes virtue, the petty man cherishes the land;
Only women and petty men are hard to raise;
In five hundred years there must arise a true king;
If one cannot endure small things, great plans will be thrown into disorder;
As for that line, "Only women and petty men are hard to raise," there is no need to give it a twisted interpretation. The analysis in Aranya has already seriously distorted its original meaning. What era was Confucius from? He was a shi from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period thousands of years ago. At that time, women were "things" that could be bought and sold, given away, just like cattle and sheep. What dignity or personhood could they speak of? And at that time it also happened that petty men were usurping power and throwing states into chaos. For Confucius to compare treacherous usurpers to small-footed women was really most appropriate.
Honor the king and belittle the hegemons;
Balance leniency and severity;
Sacrifice oneself to fulfill benevolence;
The ruler should employ his ministers with propriety, and ministers should serve the ruler with loyalty;
The three bonds and five constant virtues;
The three obediences and four virtues;
Preserve heavenly principle, destroy human desires;
Those who follow Heaven survive, those who go against Heaven perish;
All things are already complete within me;
The people may be made to follow it, but may not be made to understand it;
Only the highest wisdom and the lowest stupidity do not change;
The gentleman understands righteousness, the petty man understands profit;
The gentleman cherishes virtue, the petty man cherishes the land;
Only women and petty men are hard to raise;
In five hundred years there must arise a true king;
If one cannot endure small things, great plans will be thrown into disorder;
As for that line, "Only women and petty men are hard to raise," there is no need to give it a twisted interpretation. The analysis in Aranya has already seriously distorted its original meaning. What era was Confucius from? He was a shi from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period thousands of years ago. At that time, women were "things" that could be bought and sold, given away, just like cattle and sheep. What dignity or personhood could they speak of? And at that time it also happened that petty men were usurping power and throwing states into chaos. For Confucius to compare treacherous usurpers to small-footed women was really most appropriate.
